TRIBULATIONS OF A PIGMY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 996, 25 May 1911, Page 4

TRIBULATIONS OF A PIGMY.

A VICTIM OF HOSPITALITY (?) STRANGE LIFE HISTORY. The man whose occupation takes him to the Law Courts has many opportunities for observing and studying the best and the worst which go to make infinite variety in the natures of offenders brought up for punishment. Men of all kinds may be seen. The timid, the brave ; the intellectual rogue, the mental degenerate, the hardened criminal, the unlucky, weak-willed backslider ; they form a deeply interesting kaleidoscopic view of human nature for the man who looks and learns.

One of the most unusual and interesting breakers of the law 7 appeared recently at the Napier Magistrate’s Court on a charge of drunkenness (says a contemporary). He was a diminutive little chap: Andrew Poulka (‘‘Aboo”) by name, standing under four feet in height, au African Pigmy, living well up to the standard ot beauty which his race is known to possess, Andrew had imbibed too Ireely at Hastings a few days before, and had been undergoing repairs in Napier gaol. When charged with the offence he pleaded guilty, and then in broken English, but with a touch of true eloquence, pathetically sketched his history. He states that he is about sixty years of age, and his wrinkled face certainly gives a colour of truth to this assertion. Far from being mentally deficient, he exhibits an unusual amount of intelligence. His head, of the brachycephalic type, is large and well formed. He belongs to the Hama llama tribe of Pigmies, which inhabits Central Africa. He states that he knew Stanley, the great explorer, and on coming to Zanzibar he, with his father and mother, who were both under 3ft. 6in. high, were taken by a German doctor named Fritz and brought to New Zealand, where he w 7 as exhibited in halls, etc. This was about 20 years ago, and he toured through Napier, Wellington and all the principal towns. After making all the money in this way that was possible, Poulka says this rascal basely, deserted him and his parents at Woodville. His father, he states, was 109 years of age, and his mother was 60. Both died in New Zealand, and Andrew was left to shift for himself. Since then he has been a stranger in a strange country, earning now and then a little money in order to live, or, rather, to exist. On coming to town, men (?) buy drink ior him and then amuse themselves with his strange antics. It may seem a curious thing to some 1 "ople that au African Pigmy could have any love for home, but Andrew Poulka still hopes and longs for the time when he will again live among his own people, where, he says, he has plenty of land and money. He is only a little nigger, but if his story is true he deserves sympathy, noi. ill-treatment, from the people.