The Eastern Congo 



The anthropology of the Pygmy races, and of those known 

 as the Wambute, has been exhaustively dealt with in many 

 books, and it is not therefore my intention to write a great 

 deal about them. When I paid a visit to their camps in the 

 forest it was with the intention of taking moving picture 

 studies of the Pygmy at Home, an intention to a certain 

 extent original (one must be original in these days). For, 

 whereas their life's study has been made some time ago, 

 their family life has seldom been presented to the public 

 exactly as it is and as the kine-camera makes it possible for 

 people at home to see it. 



As it is now surmised, the Pygmy in prehistoric times 

 was probably evolved from negroid tribes that originally 

 migrated into Africa from Nearer Asia. The type is not, as 

 has been supposed, closely allied to the Bushman of South 

 Africa. The language of the Wambute, as well as other 

 forest dwarfs, would appear to reflect the tongue spoken 

 by the neighbouring tribes amongst whom they live. To me, 

 however their speech resembled calls of animals, especially 

 monkeys, more than a language ; they seemed to use intona- 

 tions more than words, especially when calling loudly to 

 each other in the forest ; this was due no doubt, in part, to 

 the echoes that form in the tree " galleries," but this quahty 

 in their speech always persisted — to my ear at least ! 



Respecting their range, the Pygmies are to be found 

 spread about over the entire basin of the Congo, with a 

 leaning to the north-west, north-east and east. Their limit 

 to the west reaches right up to the Cameroons, and on the east 

 as far as Mount Elgon and Lake Eyassi, dwarf races being found 

 even on Lake Rudolph. Their skulls being lowest in the 

 scale of human development are characterised by a prog- 



162 



