THE WORLD S WONDERS. Oo7 



proportion to their bodies ; the palms of their hands were white. 

 Their arms, legs, and breasts were thickly covered with hair, 

 which grew in curly tufts like that on their heads. They plant 

 nothing, and depend partly for their vegetable food on roots, 

 berries, and nuts, which they find in the forest ; indeed, the men 

 spend most of their days and many of their nights in the woods, 

 and their excessive shyness is probably due in part to this fact. 

 Their appetite for animal food is more like that of a carnivorous 

 beast than that of a man. They trap leopards, wild boars, ante- 

 lope, and monkeys, and devour the carcasses like ravenous 

 animals. Their traps were placed so thickly around their villages 

 that on several occasions Du Chaillu had his legs caught in them. 



These dwarfs are entirely unlike those encountered by Stanley 

 on the Congo river. The latter were fierce and desperate canni- 

 bals, while those seen by Du Chaillu were very timid and mild, 

 and, though exceedingly fond of meat, were never known to eat 

 human flesh. 



The Akka tribe of dwarfs, who inhabit a country several hun- 

 dred miles west of Gondokoro, are also described as being canni- 

 bals, but not fierce like those seen by Stanley. Col. Long, 

 previously mentioned as one of Gen. Gordon's staff officers, led 

 an expedition into this country in 1875, and captured several of 

 these people. One of them, a female, was at first very much 

 alarmed, and refused to eat for several days, assigning as a reason 

 that if she became fat the white man would eat her. She was 

 entirely naked except a small covering of leaves before and 

 behind, even less extensive than the fig-leaf covering mentioned 

 in the Bible. When she saw that the white man did not intend 

 to eat her she grew tamer, and eventually became very docile 

 and communicative. Her people live in the high jungle grass, 

 and are armed with little spears with which they attack and slay 

 the elephant and other game ; but they very rarely engage in war 

 with other tribes. They are about the same size as the dwarfs 

 described by Stanley and Du Chaillu. 



