NOVEMBBB 1, 1900.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



261 



type, this being specially mai-ked in the projection 

 of the jaws, the eversiou of the lips, and the width and 

 flatness of the nose. In a convexity of the prolilc 

 below the nose Akkas display a chai-acter often met with 

 among Bnshmen. 



From the vai-ious accounts that have been given 

 of their mode of life, it appeal's that Akkas, like other 

 African rac«s of Pygmies, live chiefly by the chase, 

 using bows, arrows, and lances with great dexterity, 

 and slaying such large animals as elephants, buffaloes, 

 and chimpanzees with compai-ative ease. On account of 

 this dexterity in the use of weapons, as well as from 

 their skill in hunting, their great bodily activity, 

 and their pereonal courage, they ai-e much esteemed 

 as soldiers by the Negro ti-ibes among whom they dwell, 

 and whom they frequently serve as mercenai-ics. In 

 other respects they appeal", however, to avoid their 

 neighbours, living in communities by themselves in 

 tribal divisions, each of which has its own chief or king. 

 No protection against cold being neccssai^y in the 

 tropical climate of equatorial Africa, raost of them go 

 about completely naked, those men who wear any cover- 

 ing at all being generally content with a piece of beaten 

 bark suspended I'ound ■ the waist, while the women 

 have only two or three leaves. No ornaments of any 

 kind are worn by the former, while the latter do not 

 pierce their ears. Although they are superior to the 

 Australians in being acquainted with the mode of 

 obtaining fire, yet they are by no means skilful in 

 this operation, and they are accordingly in the habit 

 of keeping trunks of fallen timber smouldering in 

 certain suitable situations to which the members of 

 the tribe can repair when they require a light. Each 

 family manages its own affairs, and wives are purchased 

 from their fathei^s for the consideration of a certain 

 number of arrows. Unlike Negroes, these people are 

 entirely free from superstitions of every kind, so that 

 there are no witch doctors nor sorcerers among them ; 

 even the widely spread dread of the " evil eye ' being, 

 according to Major Casati, unknown among them. 

 Judging from the circumstance that they bury their dead 

 on the spot where they expire, without any ceremony 

 and with no monument, it would seem, too, that they 

 have little if any conception of a future existence or 

 of a divine ruler of the world. 



Many of the Akkas live entirely without shelter, 

 save such as is afforded by the forest thickets or the 

 overhanging banks of streams. Others, however, erect 

 hemispherical huts, thatched with broad leaves, and 

 having a diameter of about 6i, with a height in the 

 centre of somewhat less than 5 feet. Generally these 

 primitive erections are scattered about at random in 

 the forest or on the hills, although in rare instances 

 they are aggregated into villages. These people are in 

 the habit of exchanging the products of the chase with 

 their Negro neighbours for arrows and lances, but use 

 no other implements, a sharp arrow fulfilling the purpose 

 of a knife; they possess no vessels of any description, 

 drinking water from the streams in the hollow of the 

 hand. Although they will eat almost any animal sub- 

 stance, inclusive of locusts and white ants, they have 

 the saving virtue that they are not cannibals ; and they 

 never use salt. Neither do they keep poultry or other 

 domesticated animals; and the arts of agriculture and 

 horticulture are unknown among them. After a success- 

 ful hunt, they are stated by Major Casati (from whose 

 account we are laxgely quoting) to visit the banana 

 plantations of their neighbours, where for every bunch of 

 fruit that they sell a piece of meat is substituted. When, 



however, they have nothing to oiler by way of exchange, 

 they are not above acquiring a bunch of bananas by 

 the simple expedient of stealing it; and they not un- 

 frequently make raids upon their taller but less wai"likc 

 neighbour's for the purpose of carrying off those and 

 such other vegetable products as they can lay hands 

 upon. They are, indeed, pjissionately fond of vegetable 

 food, of which they will devour almost incredible quan- 

 tities when opportunity occui-s, being at all times en- 

 dowed with a marvellous capacity for food. 



In addition to their bows, arrows, and small lances, 

 in the use of which they display remarkable skill, the 

 Akkas carry small shields, of about 20 inches in length 

 by 12 in width, which they manufacture themselves 

 by plaiting strips of balk. In elephant and buff;ilo 

 hunting they resort to the cruel method of first blinding 

 the unfortunate animal with ai'rows and then hai'i-ying 

 it to death witli their lances. The use of nooses and 

 nets, either on land or in the water is (juite unknown 

 among these primitive little peojjlc, who arc likewise 

 unacquainted with angling. Consequently, their only 

 method of capturing fish is by damming off some portion 

 of a stream or pool, and then laboriously baling out the 

 water until its denizens ai'e left in the mud. 



Turning to the consideration of the affinities of the 

 Akkas and their kin, we are confronted with a problem 

 of great difficulty, and one to which oui" present means 

 of information do not admit of giving a decisive solution. 

 It has been suggested by a Swiss anthropologist that 

 certain prehistoric human remains discovered at Schaff- 

 hausen indicate the occurrence of Negrillo Pygmies 

 in Europe; but this hypothesis, to say the least, seems 

 to stand in need of confirmation. Putting this aside, 

 almost the only safe statement that can be made is 

 that Negrillos form a branch of the great Negroid stock. 

 Before their chai-acteristics were as well known as at 

 present (and there is still room for much advance in 

 this respect) they were considered to be neai' allies of 

 the Bushmen; but, as Dr. Deniker well observes, 

 there is little or no foundation for this idea, as there are 

 few features common to the two races, while the dis- 

 similarities are many and strongly marked. Neither 

 have we any decisive evidence of a close relationship 

 between the Pygmies of Asia on the one hand and 

 those of Africa on the other, although both are included 

 by Mr. A. H. Keane under the title of Negrito. 



But the whole question of the origin and relation- 

 ships of the Negroid stock is still involved in such a 

 maze of confusion and uncertainty that it is very diffi- 

 cult to find even a single firm starting point upon whicn 

 to base further inductions. According, however, to the 

 best of authorities, it seems probable that the Bushmen 

 indicate the most primitive and generalised represen- 

 tatives of this stock with which we are acquainted. 

 And if this be so, it follows that the black skin of the 

 true Negroes and of the Pygmies is an acquired and 

 not a primitive feature; support to this theory being 

 afforded by the fact that Negro infants ai-e much lighter 

 coloured than their parents. Possibly then, both Bantu 

 Negroes and the Akka Pygmies are diverging branches 

 from a stock related to' the modem Bushmen. But 

 whether we are to look upon the Asiatic Pygmies as 

 more closely allied to the Akkas than to any other 

 Negro races may for the present bo left an open question. 



It may be added that if the light-coloured Bushmen 

 be really the most primitive type of the Negroid stock, 

 a death blow is delivered to the theory of a specially 

 near relationship between the latter and the black- 

 skinned Anthropoid Apes of Equatorial Africa. 



