THE PIGMIES. 19 



arrow remains in the flesh, but the shaft which is dragged after 

 him, keeps on checking the course of the animal which is soon 

 captured. 



The Mincopie canoe has deservedly attracted the attention of 

 the English. It is cut out of the trunk of a tree : outside, it is 

 highly finished ; the sides are very thin, and the bottom very 

 thick. Being thus naturally ballasted, it cannot capsize and even 

 when riddled with bullets it does not sink. 



They are propelled by paddles, with marvellous speed. The gig 

 and cutter of the Pluto, manned by picked crews, had a trial with 

 a Mincopie canoe, and were completely beaten ; the victory of the 

 savages was owing to the superiority of their workmanship. ( x ) 



It is useless my dwelling any longer on the various manufac- 

 tures of these islanders and mentioning their harpoons, nets, &c, 

 Here, again, they prove themselves to be equal, and at times 

 much superior to other races placed in the same conditions of life. 

 The collection made by Mr. Man and the plates which accompany the 

 paper of Greneral Lane-Fox are sufficient to refute all that has been 

 said concerning the intellectual degradation of the Mincopies. 



It is otherwise with regard to the Aetas, whom persecution keeps 

 in a continual wandering state, and there is nothing surprising in 

 the fact. The only weapons they use in war or hunting expedi- 

 tions are a short spear, a bow, and one single kind of arrow. But 

 these latter are poisoned, and the slightest wound, if not deadly, 

 causes, at least, long and acute suffering, which La Gironnieke 

 has described from his own experience. ( 2 ) 



(1) Mouat, Adventures, p. 315. 



(2) La G-ironniere was wounded in the finger by one of these arrows, 

 in the removal of the skeleton of an Aeta (the first that was sent to 

 Europe and which is now at the Paris Museum). He took no notice of the 

 wound which he took for the scratch of a thorn. After three days, however, the 

 poison began to act, and fearful suffering ensued ; the whole arm was inflamed 

 and the pain extended to the chest. After a whole month of torture, the sick 

 man was reduced to the last extremity. He recovered, however, but, for 

 more than a year, he felt pains in the chest. These symptoms recall, in no 

 way, what travellers and experimenters tell us of the effect of known poisons. 

 It would seem as if the poison used by Aetas was of a special kind. But 

 perhaps also the treatment had something to do with the sufferings of the 

 intrepid traveller. 



