CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE PYGMY RAGES OF MEN 



THE tradition of the existence of dwarfs, not as isolated 

 examples, but as a race with their own customs, 

 government, and language is familiar among civilised people, 

 and exists among scattered and remote savages. We have 

 all heard of them in that treasury of primitive beliefs — the 

 nursery. Therefore, the fact that there are at this moment 

 in various parts of the world dwarf or pygmy tribes of 

 men, living in proximity to but apart from those races 

 which have a stature identical with our own, has a great 

 fascination and interest. Some few races of men have an 

 average height of an inch, or thereabouts, greater than that 

 of the people of the British Islands, whilst some are 

 shorter by as much as two or three inches. But, on the 

 whole, it may be said that, putting aside the pygmy races, 

 of which I am about to write, mankind generally does not 

 show a very striking range of normal stature — the mass 

 in any race or region of the globe varying from 5 ft. 4in. 

 to sft. 8in., and tending to the higher rather than the 

 lower figure. 



The pygmy races are sharply separated from normal 

 mankind by as much as a foot, and even more, in average 

 stature, ranging from 4ft. to something less than 4ft. i lin. in 

 height. They are, enumerating them in the order of their 

 purity of race and completeness of their isolation : (i) The 



