THE PIGMIES. 31 



readies l m 60. Among the Akoas, the average height of the men 

 varies from l m 50 to 1 52, that of the women being l m 40 to l m 43. 

 ( T ) At the same time, the complexion is lighter, prognathism 

 diminishes and the general outline is elegant especially among the 

 women, whose rounded faces have a pleasant expression. It is 

 evident that the negro type proper is modified in places by 

 a distinct ethnological element, and we may consider the whole 

 of this region 'as haying been in former times, and still being to 

 some extent, a centre of a Negrillo population. I shall further 

 on refer again to the distinction which has thus to be made 

 between the past and the present. 



I am inclined to consider as a centre of the same kind, another 

 small territory, the Tenda-Maie, situated much further north and 

 west, in, a bend of the Bio-Grande. Mollten, who visited these 

 regions in 1818, says " there is but little uniformity in the general 

 " characteristics of the physiognomy of these Negroes but the 

 " natives of the village of Faran are remarkable for their small 

 (i stature, slender limbs and the softness of their voice. They are 

 " the true African Pigmies." ( 2 ) However incomplete this short 

 description may be, it is easy to see that Tenda Maie is inhabited 

 by a mixed population, of which these Pigmies are an element. 



Although Tenda Maie is somewhat distant from the spot 

 where the Nasamons ( 3 ) of Herodotus were taken prisoners, yet 

 it is difficult not to connect the diminutive men alluded to by the 

 Grreek historian with Mollien's Pigmies. The upper basins 

 of the liio- Grande and Niger are not far apart and we may admit, 

 without difficulty, that they were inhabied, in former days, by men 

 of the same race. 



pygy as existing among- the women though he saw them quite close. Some 

 uncertainty, which cranial measurements alone could remove, still prevails 

 therefore with regard to the ethnical affinities of the Obongos. (Du Chaillu, 

 V Afrique sauvage, p. 260.) 



(1) Maeche Trots voyages dans VAfrique occideatale, p. 312. 



( a ) Voyage dans I "inter i 'ear de VAfrique, aiix sources du Senegal et de la 

 Gamble, second edn. vol. II, p. 216. 'The village of Faran is situated about 

 11° 16' west longitude and 10° 68' north latitude. 



(s) Vide Part I, p. 



