388 MODERN ACCOUNT. 



appeared perfectly familiar with the plate of the 

 ant-eating monkeys, to which he always referred 

 as his authority for his strange tale. The fullest 

 account of these dwarfs is found in Major Harris's 

 recent work, " The Highlands of ^Ethiopia," where 

 we are told, " Both sexes go perfectly naked, and 

 have thick pouting lips, diminutive eyes, and flat 

 noses." " They are ignorant of the use of fire." 

 " Fruits are their principal food, and to obtain 

 these, women as well as men ascend the trees in 

 numbers, and in their quarrels and scrambles not 

 unfrequently throw each other from the branches." 

 " They have no king, no laws, no arts, no arms, 

 possess neither flocks nor herds, are not hunters, 

 do not cultivate the soil, but subsist entirely upon 

 fruits, roots, mice, reptiles, ants, and honey." These, 

 such as they are described, cannot certainly be men 

 possessing reasoning powers, and without that 

 necessary characteristic of human nature, I cannot 

 conceive how the idea could have been entertained 

 for an instant, that the Doko belonged to our 

 species, or that they could have been believed to be 

 the dwarfs, supposed to exist in Africa by those 

 ancient authors who have in their works treated 

 upon the subject. Had it been shown that they 

 possessed any attribute of humanity ; a knowledge 

 of Gocl, for example, beyond a mere prostration 

 with their feet against a tree, and a calling upon 

 " Yare! Yare!" when in trouble or pain; or of 

 social order beyond mere gregarious instinct ; or of 



