BUSHMEN A DISTINCT RACE 
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to preserve their lives, by fleeing and constantly hiding 
amongst the inaccessible portion of the mountainous country 
bounding the High- from the Lowlands in South Africa, has 
influenced their well-being, and has shown its consequences 
in the stunted figures of this hardly pressed tribe. While 
acknowledging the similarity of form and feature between 
these people, I feel compelled to submit that there are other 
inherent qualities not dependent on physical causes, that must 
account for the permanent diminutive stature of the Bushmen, 
else why do they not develop increased physique when sub¬ 
jected to a peaceful existence and liberal diet for a generation 
or two, circumstances some of these individuals who have come 
under my observation have enjoyed? They remain small even 
under the most advantageous circumstances. There are but 
few families of pure Bushmen surviving at present, and these 
are fast degenerating through intermar¬ 
riage with outside elements, thus justifying 
the prediction that the Bushmen proper 
will shortly be an extinct race, and soon 
our succeeding generation will only hear 
of the past existence of these pygmies as 
a matter of history, and from remains 
found in obscure graves. 
It has not been my fortune yet to see 
any of the Central African pygmies, the 
Akka; but, judging from the published 
illustrations, I have little hesitation in 
stating that these are a distinct race from 
the Bushmen, although much of the 
same stature. Where they appear to 
fail most in comparison with the Bush¬ 
man is in the formation of chin, which 
in the Akka is small and weak, while 
in the Bushman it is of much stronger proportions. 
Bushmen have the peculiar flat face of the Hottentot, with 
enormous cheek bones, and almost without a prominent nose, 
