AMONG THE PIGMIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 25

AMONG THE PIGMIES

MISSIONARIES FROM BELGIAN CONGO LITTLE PEOPLE AFRAID After having spent two years in Central Africa, in the heart of the Pigmy country, Mr. B. H. Williams, a member of the Unevangelised Africa Mission, arrived at Sydney at the end of last month on furlough, accompanied by his wife. The mission station to which Mr. Williams is attached is situated on the equator, in the Belgian Congo, and is 150 miles from the nearest civilised community. Owing to the timid shy natures of the Pigmies, Mr. Williams said very few converts had been made among them. They were naturally reserved, and were frightened of white men. The only way their confidence could be gained was by offering them small packages of salt, a commodity which was denied them by the natives, who held them more or less in subjection. They had their own native dialect, but also spoke the Kinur.di language, which was the native tongue of the Buswaga tribe, in whose midst they lived. The pigmies were the hunters for both races, and the Buswaga natives were agriculturists. Both races lived in comparative harmony, and tribal wars were events of the past. During the two years that the mission station had been established, he added, about 200 natives had been converted. About 275.000 natives lived within the mission's field of operations. The difficulty in the path of mission work was the native prejudice against white men which, however, was being slowly undermined.