A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the AncientsTyson, Edward
History
A Philological Essay Concerning the Pygmies of the Ancients
Tyson, Edward
Dwarfs (Persons); Fairies; Pygmies
In Loango there is a tribe called Babonko, which was described by Battell
in 1625, in the work entitled "Purchas his Pilgrimes," in the following
terms:--"To the north-east of Mani-Kesock are a kind of little people
called Matimbas; which are no bigger than boyes of twelve yeares old, but
very thicke, and live only upon flesh, which they kill in the woods with
their bows and darts. They pay tribute to Mani-Kesock, and bring all their
elephants' teeth and tayles to him. They will not enter into any of the
Maramba's houses, nor will suffer any one to come where they dwell. And if
by chance any Maramba or people of Longo pass where they dwell, they will
forsake that place and go to another. The women carry bows and arrows as
well as the men. And one of these will walk in the woods alone and kill
the Pongos with their poysoned arrows." It is somewhat surprising that
Tyson, who gives in his essay (p. 80) the account of the same people
published at a later date (1686) by Dapper, should have missed his
fellow-countryman's narrative. The existence of this tribe has been
established by a German expedition, one of the members of which, Dr.
Falkenstein, photographed and measured an adult male whose stature was
four feet six inches.
Krapf[A] states that in the south of Schoa, in a part of Abyssinia as yet
unworked, the Dokos live, who are not taller than four feet. According to
his account, they are of a dark olive colour, with thick prominent lips,
flat noses, small eyes, and long flowing hair. They have no dwellings,
temples, holy trees, chiefs, or weapons, live on roots and fruit, and are
ignorant of fire. Another group was described by Mollieu in 1818 as
inhabiting Tenda-Maié, near the Rio Grande, but very little is known about
them. In a work entitled "The Dwarfs of Mount Atlas," Halliburton[B] has
brought forward a number of statements to prove that a tribe of dwarfs,
named like those of Central Africa, Akkas, of a reddish complexion and
with short woolly hair, live in the district adjoining Soos. These dwarfs
have been alluded to by Harris and Dönnenburg,[C] but Mr. Harold Crichton
Browne,[D] who has explored neighbouring districts, is of opinion that
there is no such tribe, and that the accounts of them have been based upon
the examination of sporadic examples of dwarfishness met with in that as
in other parts of the world.
[Footnote A: _Morgenblatt_, 1853 (quoted by Schaafhausen, _Arch. f.
Anth._, 1866, p. 166).]
[Footnote B: London, Nutt, 1891.]
[Footnote C: _Nature_, 1892, ii. 616.]
[Footnote A: _Nature_, 1892, i. 269.]
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