THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 555 



of humanity. His guides advised him to take a small party, so 

 as to make but little noise, for the dwarfs were very wild and 

 would run as soon as they saw a stranger. Securing a few 

 guides, he set out and in due time came upon a dwarf village, in 

 a secluded part of the woods, consisting of twelve singular little 

 huts constructed of the branches of trees. But the inhabitants 

 had observed the approach of the strangers and fled. 



Leaving the abandoned huts, they continued their way through 

 the forest ; and presently, within a quarter of a mile, they came 

 on another village, composed, like the first, of about a dozen 

 ill-constructed huts, scattered about, without any regular order, 

 in a small open space. The dwellings had been newly made, for 

 the branches of trees of which they were formed had still their 

 leaves on them, quite fresh. Approaching with the greatest 

 caution, in order not to alarm the wild inmates, the Ashango 

 guide held up a bunch of beads in a friendly way ; but all this 

 care was fruitless, for the men had gone when they came up. 

 Their flight was hurried. Hastening to the huts, they luckily 

 found three old women and one young man, who had not had 

 time to run away, besides several children, the latter being hid 

 in one of the huts. 



The little holes which served as doors were closed by fresh- 

 gathered branches of trees, with their foliage, stuck in the 

 ground. Du Chaillu finally succeeded in approaching the tremb- 

 ling creatures, their powers of motion seeming to be paralyzed 

 by fear. One of the old women, in the course of a short time, 

 lost all her shyness, and began to ridicule the men for having 

 run away. She said they were as timid as the nchende (squirrel), 

 who cried " que ! que !" and she twisted her little body into odd 

 contortions with such droll effect that they all laughed. But 

 when Du Chaillu attempted to measure her with his tape-line 

 she imagined it was some sort of a s-nake, and trembled so 

 violently that he was compelled to desist until her fears were 

 again quieted. 



During subsequent visits to the little people he succeeded in 

 measuring several of them, and found that they averaged about 



