38 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



strange deserted camp, feeling as if I had reached 

 a corner of fairyland. 



I now had the opportunity of seeing some Pygmy 

 Women ; hitherto I had seen only the men, but now, 

 so very friendly were they, that they brought even 

 their women to see me. They were very comely little 

 creatures and most attractive, with very light skins, 

 lighter even than the men, being a light tan colour ; 

 the usual flat nose and thick lips of the negro, iand 

 black curly hair ; but their eyes were of singular 

 beauty ; so bright and quick and restless were they 

 that not for a second did they seem to fix their gaze 

 upon anything. They were smaller than the men, 

 and would average about 3 feet 10 inches in height. 

 One of the women had a little child fastened to her 

 back with a bit of bark cloth a pretty little boy. I 

 wanted to nurse him, but she very quickly turned away 

 and took the child from out of my reach. She was 

 only a Pygmy, but she had a mother's heart ; she 

 loved her babe, and feared lest I might injure it. 



One of the Pygmy women was found at Mboga by 

 Bishop Tucker when he visited the place in 1898, 

 and she was photographed by his side. Her height 

 was just under four feet ; she had well -developed limbs 

 and a bright, intelligent mind. She had lived for 

 some years amongst the people of Mboga as a slave, 

 but seemed to be quite contented with her lot. 



Strange as it may seem, these Pygmies have their 

 religion ; it has been said that they have none, but 

 in passing through the forest I often found signs of 

 Pygmy worship. At the foot of some of the huge 

 trees I picked up several times little bundles of food 

 neatly tied up in rough bark cloth, sometimes a few 



