28 THE PIGMIES. 



Dr. Touchaed has remarked on the recent disappearance of a 

 G-abonese race, the ATcoas ( x ) a small group of whom were never- 

 theless in 1868, still established in the woods north of the river 

 Nazareth. Admiral Eleueiot de Langle was able to photo- 

 graph one of them who was a real dwarf. ( 2 ) It is the same 

 with regard to the M'Boalous, ClieJcianis or Osiekanis visited by 

 M. M. Touchaed ( 3 ) and Mae che. ( 4 ) Smothered between the 

 Fans and the Pongoes, they are fast dying out like their brethren, 

 the Akoas. 



By grouping together the information procured by these various 

 photographs and descriptions, M. Hamy has been able to draw an 

 almost complete portrait of some of these African dwarfs. The 

 Akoa, examined by Admiral Fleueiot, " seemed to be forty years 

 "old and was from l m 39 to 1* 40 in height. He was most 



" beautifully proportioned He had a fairly good head, his hair 



l< was well placed, and less woolly than those of Negroes properly 

 " so called ; the nose was straight and the commissure of the lips 

 w ' well defined, exhibiting in no way the bestial stamp so common 

 " with certain African types. ( 5 ) " The photograph justifies this 

 description. The head is globular, but relatively strong. The 

 length of it, as compared to the total height of the individual 

 comes very close to the ratio already mentioned by M. Hamy with 

 reference to a Babongo (1/6). (°) The countenance is just a little 

 prognathous. The muscles of the thorax and upper limbs present 

 outlines at the same time developed and rounded ; the lower limbs 

 however are more slender, the feet are decidedly flat, and the heels 

 rather too projecting. ( 7 ) 



( i ) Notice sur le Galon. {Revue maritime et coloniale, vol. Ill, p. 9) 



(2) Croisihres a la cote cVAfriquc, 1868 (Tour clu Monde, 1876, p. 279 

 and plate p. 283 ). Owing to a.i oversight, this Aiwa or Altoua (Tleuriot) 

 is described as an Ohonyo. 



(s) Loc. cit., p. 9. 



(+) Trois voyages dans TAfrique occidcntale, p. 106. 



(5) Letter of the Admiral quoted by M. Hamy, loc. cit., p. 84. 



(°) This is the highest ratio yet recorded among human beings. The Ne- 

 grilloswould surpass the Negritos in this respect. 



(7) Hamy, loc. cit., p. 84, 



