Man, Past and PresentKeane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
History
Man, Past and Present
Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry)
Anthropology; Ethnology
From some of the peculiarities of the Achua (Wochua) Negrilloes met by
Junker south of the Welle one can understand why these little people
were such favourites with the old Egyptian kings. These were
"distinguished by sharp powers of observation, amazing talent for
mimicry, and a good memory. A striking proof of this was afforded by an
Achua whom I had seen and measured four years previously in Rumbek, and
now again met at Gambari's. His comic ways and quick nimble movements
made this little fellow the clown of our society. He imitated with
marvellous fidelity the peculiarities of persons whom he had once seen;
for instance, the gestures and facial expressions of Jussuf Pasha
esh-Shelahis and of Haj Halil at their devotions, as well as the address
and movements of Emin Pasha, 'with the four eyes' (spectacles). His
imitation of Hawash Effendi in a towering rage, storming and abusing
everybody, was a great success; and now he took me off to the life,
rehearsing after four years, down to the minutest details, and with
surprising accuracy, my anthropometric performance when measuring his
body at Rumbek[300]."
A somewhat similar account is given by Ludwig Wolf of the Ba-Twa pygmies
visited by him and Wissmann in the Kassai region. Here are whole
villages in the forest-glades inhabited by little people with an average
height of about 4 feet 3 inches. They are nomads, occupied exclusively
with hunting and the preparation of palm-wine, and are regarded by their
Ba-Kubu neighbours as benevolent little people, whose special mission is
to provide the surrounding tribes with game and palm-wine in exchange
for manioc, maize, and bananas[301].
Despite the above-mentioned deviations, occurring chiefly about the
borderlands, considerable uniformity both of physical and mental
characters is found to prevail amongst the typical Negrillo groups
scattered in small hunting communities all over the Welle, Semliki,
Congo, and Ogowai woodlands. Their main characters are thus described.
Their skin is of a reddish or yellowish brown in colour, sometimes very
dark. Their height varies from 1.37 m. to 1.45 m. (4 ft. 4-1/4 in. to 4
ft. 9-1/4 in.[302]). Their hair is very short and woolly, usually of a
dark rusty brown colour; the face hair is variable, but the body is
usually covered with a light downy hair. The cephalic index is 79. The
nose is very broad and exceptionally flattened at the root; the lips are
usually thin, and the upper one long; the eyes are protuberant; the face
is sometimes prognathic. Steatopygia occurs. They are a markedly
intelligent people, innately musical, cunning, revengeful and suspicious
in disposition, but they never steal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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