Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 49.djvu/63

Rh that his race dwelt farther south. From information given him by this negrito chieftain, this eminent traveler and scientist came to the conclusion that the country of the pygmies was situated about 30° north latitude and 25° east longitude. (I may state, parenthetically, that the pygmies of Africa are Called negrillos by some anthropologists; why, I know not, for it is generally conceded that the eastern and western pygmies are generically of the same stock. If this be denied, the doctrine of polygenesis must be accepted as true. But while a firm believer in polygenesis, I yet believe that these widely separated tribes of negritos originally sprang from the same root-stock. Their dissemination over such a wide area has been due to one of two causes: either, in times long past, some of them have been carried across the Indian Ocean by storms, or at one time Africa extended across the ocean even as far as Australia. The mighty cataclysm that changed the Sea of Sahara into the Desert of Sahara, by elevating the northern portion of Africa, probably occasioned a corresponding subsidence, and the eastern portion of the continent, save Australia, the Andaman Islands, and the Malayan Archipelago, was covered by the ocean.)

Chaillé-Long says, in Three Prophets, when returning from the country of King Munza: "I brought back with me, besides the six hundred Niam-Niam warriors, who had joined me in the battles against inimical tribes, . . . a specimen adult woman of the Ticki-Ticki, or Akka pygmy race. Ticki-Ticki is now in Cairo, and is a favorite plaything—being quite an acrobat—in the harem of the Khedive's mother." That adventurous Frenchman and most entertaining writer, Paul du Chaillu, met with pygmies at Niembonai, latitude 1° 58' 54" south, and longitude 11° 56' 38" east. Here they were known as Ohongos. He says, in Equatorial Africa, that during his stay in the village of Niembonai he succeeded in measuring six adults, all women save one—a young adult man. The height of the women ranged from four feet four and a half inches to five feet, while the height of the young man was four feet six inches. Finally, Stanley came across these little people at Avatiko, a village near the river Lenda. Two of the pygmies, a man and a woman, were captured by his men and