"Certainly," said Doctor Bronson, "and they seem to extend nearly across the continent under the line of the equator, though not entirely so. They are not dwarfs in the ordinary meaning of the word, but simply a people of diminutive stature. They are generally of a lighter complexion than the true Ethiopian, and with some of them the body is more or less thickly covered with hair. Some travellers have described them as only three or four feet high, but their statements are unconfirmed. The Bushmen of South Africa are of the same reduced proportions as the Akkas, and the measurements we have of them are almost identical with those taken by Dr. Schweinfurth among the Akkas." One of the boys asked Doctor Bronson what his opinion was concerning the origin of these little people. The Doctor replied that he could do no better than quote from the learned explorer from whom he had taken the account of the Nyam-Nyams: "Scarcely a doubt can exist but that all these people, like the Bushmen of South Africa, may be considered as the scattered remains of an aboriginal population now becoming extinct; and their isolated and sporadic existence bears out the hypothesis. For centuries after centuries Africa has been experiencing the effects of many immigrations. For thousands of years one nation has been driving out another; and, as the result of repeated subjugations and interminglings of race with race, such manifold changes have been introduced into the conditions of existence that the succession of new phases, like the development in the world of plants, appears almost, as it were, to open a glimpse into the infinite." [Illustration: STANDING FOR HIS PORTRAIT.] CHAPTER XI. ARRIVAL AT AFUDDO.--DIVISION OF ROUTES.--FRANK'S DEPARTURE. [Illustration: CROSSING A MARSH.] The weather in the early part of the march from Gondokoro was fine, but Abdul predicted that it was too beautiful to last. Sure enough, it came on to rain one morning, and Frank pronounced it the "wettest rain" he had seen for some time. It poured as though great flood-gates had been opened in the sky, and rendered the ground so soft that the feet of the horses sunk out of sight in the mud. Occasionally the way led over marshes, which were not difficult to cross in the dry season, but when soaked with water they became anything but agreeable. It was dangerous to remain on horseback, owing to the liability to stumbling of the animals, and in such places our friends were obliged to dismount and make their way on foot. [Illustration: A WET ROAD.]