Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 37.djvu/676

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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.

THE AFRICAN PYGMIES.

By A. WERNER.

NOT the least interesting of the discoveries made by Mr. Stanley on his latest expedition is that of the Wambatti—the dwarf tribe living between the upper Aruhwimi and the Nepoko. It has long been a well-known fact that the Pygmies of Homer, Herodotus, and Ktesias—those of whom Pliny speaks as "dwelling among the marshes where the Nile rises"[1]—are something more than mere mythical beings: and almost every exploration of any importance undertaken of late years has thrown fresh

light on the existence of a primitive African race, of whom the Wambatti, Akkas, Obongo, Watwa, and Bushmen are, in all probability, scattered fragments.

A glance at the accompanying rough map will show how numerous are the tribes—usually designated dwarfs or pygmies—whose marked resemblance to each other, and marked difference from the people among whom they are scattered, are recognized


  1. Hist. Nat, vi, 35.