240 THE PYGMY RAGES OF MEN 



growing side by side. The difference in size in these 

 cases cannot be traced to any insufficiency of nutrition in 

 the smaller kind. 



It is evident that difference of size in animals has some 

 deep-lying cause, which is not merely the greater or less 

 abundance of food. Numerous specimens of a perfectly 

 well-formed elephant, closely allied in structure to the 

 Indian elephant, but only 3 ft. high, are found fossil in 

 Malta and the neighbouring Mediterranean region, and 

 in Liberia a species of hippopotamus, distinct from that of 

 other African regions, is common, which is not bigger than 

 a common pig. Pygmy hogs, pygmy deer, pygmy 

 buffaloes (and many other pygmy animals) are known as 

 thriving wild species, so that it seems clear that there are 

 other causes at work than semi-starvation in the produc- 

 tion of pygmy races. 



A second suggestion which is sometimes made is that 

 the smaller race, or smaller species of two allied forms, is 

 the original one, and that the larger forms have developed 

 from these and established themselves, without completely 

 destroying the smaller original race. This view has at 

 various times been favoured in regard to the pygmy race 

 of man. There is something plausible in the view that 

 these little men are nearer than normal mankind are to 

 the monkeys, and the fur-like hairiness of their skin has 

 been cited in support of it ; but a fatal objection is that 

 the men of the pure pygmy race of Africa and Asia are 

 really not more, but less, monkey-like than many full-sized 

 savages. They have heads and faces nearer in shape tc 

 those of Europeans than have the Australians, the Tas- 

 manians, and the negroes. They are more intelligent, 

 shrewd, and skilful than their full-sized neighbours. It is 

 quite possible that they are a very ancient race more 

 ancient, in their isolation and freedom from complicated 

 customs, habits, and modes of life than other savages 



