174 Return to the River. 
kind of little people called Matimbas, who are no 
bigger than boys twelve years old, but are very 
thick, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in 
the woods with bows and darts.” Of the Aykas 
south of the Welle River, discovered by Dr. 
Schweinfurth, I need hardly speak. It is not 
a little curious to find these confirmations of He- 
rodotean reports about dwarfish tribes in the far 
interior, the Dokos and the Wabilikimo, so long 
current at Zanzibar Island, and so long looked 
upon as mere fables. 
Our departure from Mbata had broken the spell, 
and Forteune did keep his word; I was com¬ 
pelled in simple justice to cry “ Peccavi.” On the 
very evening of our arrival at Glass Town the 
youth Kanga brought me a noble specimen of 
what he called a Nchfgo Mpolo, sent by For- 
teune’s bushmen; an old male with brown eyes 
and dark pupils. When placed in an arm-chair, 
he ludicrously suggested a pot-bellied and patri¬ 
archal negro considerably the worse for liquor. 
From crown to sole he measured 4 feet iof 
inches, and from finger-tip to finger-tip 6 feet 
1 inch. The girth of the head round ears 
and eyebrows was 1 foot 11 inches; of the chest, 
3 feet 2 inches; above the hip joints, 2 feet 
4 inches; of the arms below the shoulder, 2 feet 
5 inches; and of the legs, 2 feet 5 inches. Evi¬ 
dently these are very handsome proportions, con- 
