NEW POINTS ABOUT PIGMIES.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 687, 25 November 1921, Page 8

NEW POINTS ABOUT PIGMIES.

In various parts of Asia and Africa there are found those curious dwarflike races known to anthropologists as pigmies. They inhabit almost exclusively regions lying _ on the borders of those zones inhabited by other races of men —regions which are either waterless steppes such as those occupied by the bush folk in South Africa, the Kalahari, or else dense primeval forests such as the forest dwarfs of Central Africa, the Andamanese along the Bay of Bengal,, and the Negritoes of the Philippine Islands. It is not possible to draw a sharp line of distinction between these races, and the rest of mankind since the varying degrees found in the size of the body forms a connection between them and the taller races living near them. These intermediates, however, appear to be the of racial crossings. Thus, the Senoi and the Semang upon the Malay Peninsula and the Taola of the Celebes Islands, can hardly be regarded as pigmies, though they are undoubtedly closely related to the Andamanese and 1 (the Negritoes ; they are hybrids between an original pigmy population and later adventurers, an,dl there are constantly found among them individuals who resemble more or less closely other primitive races. Upon the islanu of New Guinea also the blood of the original pigmies has been mingled With that of the Melanesians who made their appearance after. The Negritoes of the Philippines are the pigmies which have longest been known to Europeans since the Spaniards came across them in.'very early Rinses. Before the immigration of the Malays they appear to have occupied the entire group of islands, although to-day they have been driven to find retreat in remote mountainous forests ; they are most abundant at the present time m Northern Luzon,* but small remnants of them are to be found on almost all the islands of (the Philippine group. They number about 23,000, whereas the Adamanese have been reduced to a poulation of 2000. Among the African pigmies the bush folk or forest folk have been almost entirely exterminated, while the dwarfs of the primeval forests from the Cameroon as far .as the East African seashore a,re still pretty numerous ancs well distributed, for the- reason th*t the dense forest shelters them against both negro tribes and European explorers and settlers. Thus far the shortest heights found in anv grown man are as follows :■ —Negrifco, 128 ; Andamanese, 138; Kung bush folk, 142 ; Hei’kum, bush folk, 149; Babinga, 140 cm. The proportions of the body boar a close relation to the stature in pigmies, especially as .regards the great length of the trunk compared to (that of the legs,. A connection is veiy generally found! between a low stature and childish proportions. Besides their small size pigmies are distinguished! by various other marks, such as the delicacy o! the hands and feet, the childish form of the forehead, the convex upper lip and the short, broad ear without a lobe or With a gi’own-on lobe The colour varies among different tribes, being sometimes a light brown like that of a dead leaf, sometimes rusty black as in the case of the Negritoes, dark brown as in the Andamanese, or even pale reddish yellow as in some of the forest pigmies. While some authorities have nelcl that pigmies are the result of •retrogression in higher races, she best modern view seems to be that this is a mistake, and that they are merely admirably adapted! zo the conditions under which they are forced Up exist. They are believed to be older than the talleiv! peoples which live in the vicinity.—“ Scientific American.’’