STANLEY’S BATTLE WITH THE AFRICAN DWARFS.

Kumara Times, Issue 542, 22 June 1878, Page 4

STANLEY’S BATTLE WITH THE AFRICAN DWARFS.

At a meeting of the South African Philosophical Society, at Cape Town, Mr Stanley, gave a long account of his expedition in Africa, and the perils he tnet with. The following is his description of an encounter with the tribe of dwarfs :—The first notice we had of any disturbance was one day when one of our women went down to get water. We saw there an arrow in her breast. We asked her who did it and she said one of the little men.. Then they all swarmed about us just like bees. They began piff piff with their bows and arrows. The war cries of these little savages were perfectly deafening. Although they are such little men, they make the forest ring with their cries. We were not prepared for this attack, and began to pull down the village in order to surround ourselves with a palisade, so that we might have some defence against the arrows. The battle began, and very dreadful it was. Thei e was no rest. It was shooting day and sight, and always clouds of arrows pouring in on us, These little men fought in relays, one troop relieving another. Just as soon as one troop was tired, they got another force to .take their place. As they fought in relays day .and night, we got wearied out, and many of ns died of thirst, and more ' -were wounded. Then we bad fired away all our shot, although wo had plenty of powder left, so we were obliged to put heads and things into our guns and fire them away at the savages. We were quite shut up. Some of the boldest of us managed to,get out and kill a few of. the little savages, but it was of tio use after all. At last we had a council of war, and we fancied that if we could get hold of the King of the Dwarfs, it would be all right. So a •dozen of the boldest of us determined to try it, and we went into the woods and hid. One man went into one tree, and another into another, and so on. It so happened that one of us was a man who could throw the knob-stick very well, and he threw it at the King as be came along and knocked him down. Then there was a general scuffle, and whites and dwarfs were all scrambling together in a heap. We got down and carried the insensible King into the camp. Then we told the dwarfs, by means of the King, that if they did not stop the war we would kill the King. They would stop the war if we would only give him up. So we gave the King up, but the war •did not stop. It began again, and went •on worse and worse, day and night until there were very few of us left. Then ■those who still remained alive thought that, it was necessary to try to get «,way before they, too, were killed. In the dead of night we got out of this foj’est and tried to make our way home. 'One lost the track and the savages trailed us up. Every step of the road was marked with a corpse, until the few survivig (ouly five men) were left to tell the fate, and I am one of them This is the history of the Dw;arfs !