THE PIGMIES. 27 



In 1625, Battel first made known certain facts ascertained by him 

 in the Loan go. ( l ) 



At eight days march to the east of Cape Negro, ( 2 ) is found, 

 according to him, the Mani-Kesock territory, to the north-east 

 of which "lives a race of Pigmies, called Matim ha s, Their sta- 

 " tnre hardly exceeds that of an ordinary boy of twelve, they 

 "are all most uncommonly stout. They feed on the flesh of 

 < ! animals which they kill with arrows. They pay to Mani-Kesock 

 "a tribute of elephants' tusks and tails. Though their disposition 

 " is by no means fierce they absolutely refuse to enter into the 

 " houses of the Marambas or receive them in their own town.-?. 

 "The women are as skilful as the men in archery, and are not 

 "afraid of penetrating alone into the depth of the woods, with 

 "no other protection than their poisoned arrows. ( 3 ) " 



Without mentioning the source of his information, Dapper gives 

 details of the same kind regarding the Mimos or JBakhe-Bakkes whom 

 he places a little further south, in the very heart of Loango. ( 4 ) 



More recent observations, the latest of which does not go back 

 farther that 1861, (_ 5 ) have come to hand to confirm these ancient 

 data. The Bakke-Bakkcs of Dapper were discovered again in 

 Loango, under the name of Bakonlcos, by a Grerman expedition 

 who brought back portraits and photographs. ( 6 ) 



0) Andrew Battel, an English sailor, taken prisoner by the Portuguese 

 in 1589, was carried away to Congo, where he remained a captive for nearly 

 eighteen years. He published his adventures in Purchas' collection. Walc- 

 kenaur gave a detailed summary of this narrative after calling atten- 

 tion to the evident veracity which characterises it. Histoire generate des 

 Voyages, vol. XIII, p. 12 and 431). 



( 2 ) This is not the Cape Negro situated South of Benguela, 16° 3' south- 

 latitude and 9° 34' east longitude (Malte-Brun). The Cape Negro, alluded to 

 by Battel bounds on the west the Bay of Magomba, and is perhaps Cape Yumba 

 which Malte-Brun places 3° 30' South Latitude. 



( 3 ) Histoire generate des Voyages, vol. XIII, p. 441. 

 (*) Description de la Basse Ethiopie. 



(5) F. Touchard, Notice svr te Gabon in the Mevve maritime et colonial,' 

 vol. Ill, p. 9, quoted by M. Hamy in his Essai de coordination den materiaw.fi 

 recemment recueillis sur Vethnologie des Negrilles on Pygmees de VAfrique 

 eanatoriale, {Bulletin de la Societe d'anthropologie de Paris, 1879, p. 82). 



(e) Zeitsch rift fur Ethiiologie, 1874— R. Hartmann, Die Negritier, PL 

 XIII. These and many of the following bibliographical references regarding 

 i he history of Western Negrillos are borrowed from M. Hamy's work. 



