413 



Semang use the rubbing method and also the fire saw. The Negritos use the 

 fire saw, which is also the method adopted by the Tapiro Pigmies. The Equa- 

 torial Pigmies and the Bushmen both use the fire drill, exclusively. 



According to all authors, the Central African Pigmies use the language 

 of the adjacent tribes, generally corrupt Bantu dialects. They are good linguists 

 and pick up languages very quickly. The language is sometimes an archaic 

 form of Negro language, or it may be the language of a people separated from 

 them by the territory of several other tribes. Whether they also have a primi- 

 tive language of their own does not seem to be certain. An investigation in 

 relation to this point which w^as made on the Pigmies during their European 

 visit led to no definite results. The Bushmen have a characteristic language 

 which, like the Hottentots, abounds in clicks, palatal, dental, labial, inspiratory, 

 and expiratory. As there are six kinds of these clicks used in conversation, 

 they give the language an explosive character quite unlike any other in the 

 world. The Andamanese are the only other Pigmies who have a language of 

 their own. It resembles the Tasmanian in being a complicated system of pre- 

 fixes and suffixes. Man says that the general principle of its construction is 

 agglutination pure and simple. The Semang, though retaining a few elements 

 of their original language, commonly use that of their neighbours, the Sakei 

 and other races of the Malay Peninsula. The Aetas speak the Malay- 

 Polynesian languages of the various tribes with which they come in contact 

 such as the Tagals and Vicols. Little is known of the language of the New 

 Guinea Pigmies, but they generally understand their Papuan neighbours. 



Counting is met with in its most primitive form amongst the Pigmies. I 

 can find nothing under this head as regards the Equatorial race, except that Von 

 Luschan got his Pigmies to count up to ten in Bantu. For five and ten they 

 used the Bantu word for hand, a common method in Central Africa. The 

 Bushmen have words to express one, two, and three, and count further up to 

 ten by combining these, raising one hand for five and two for ten. The 

 Andamanese only enumerate one and two, after this holding up one finger 

 after another and saying this, and this, and this, until they come to ten, when 

 they show both hands and say "all." They have in addition a complicated 

 ordinal system quite peculiar to themselves. The Semang seem, as regards 

 enumeration, to have reached the same stage as the Andamanese and the Negritos. 

 As regards the New Guinea Pigmies we have no details, but Williamson tells 

 us that the Mafulu have words for one and two, and, combining these, count up 

 on their fingers and toes to twenty. When a large number has to be counted 

 several individuals have to contribute their digits (vide "Mafulu Mountain 

 People of British New Guinea," p. 227). 



Books Consulted. 



1868— Du Chaillu, P., "Savage Africa." 



1873 — Schweinfurth, G., "The Heart of Africa." 



1883 — Man, E. H., "On the x-\boriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands." 



1890— Stanlev, H. M., "In Darkest Africa." 



1890— Roth, H. L., "The Aborigines of Tasmania." 



1891 — Casati, G., "Ten Years in Equatoria." 



1892 — Schlichter, "The Pygmy Tribes of Africa," Scottish Geographical 



Magazine, viii., 296. 

 1895 — Quatre fages, A. De, "The Pygmies." 

 1902— Johnstone, Sir H. H., "The Uganda Protectorate." 

 1903 — Kloss, C. B., "In the Andamans and Nicobars." 

 190^1 — Reed, A. W\, "The Negritos of Zambales." 

 1905— Stow, G. W., "The Native Races of South Africa." 



