CONGO PYGMIES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 49, 26 February 1921, Page 14

CONGO PYGMIES

AN EXPLORER'S EXPERIENCES

Most explorers in the jungle return with thrilling tales of -narrow ©scapes from belligerSnt natives,' but Dr: Leorard John Vanderbergh', who Tecently,. worked among arid photographed a hitherto almost unknown race of pygmies in the Congo, offers something new in narratives of adventure. Dr. Vanderbergh found that the tribe of Mambuti, who inhabit the region about 200 miles west of Lake Albert. Nyanza, were diffi- . cult to approach: nol because of their murderous propensities but because of their extreme pacifism. ■ Dr. Vanderbergh's recent expedition was of a missionary nature-'-for nine years he was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church among the natives of the Uganda—and at the same time- he took pictures for the American Museum of Natural .History. "Although you will fiud a few scattered references to the Mambuti in certain books," remarked Dr. VanderbeTgh, "I belie re I may claim to be the first whits man to sco more than three or four of the pygmies togethor at a time, and I am confident that. I anrthe first to live among thorn and to observe their mode of life in their own villages. ' On the way to their haunts I fell in with a party of French people, who when they learned my mission laughed, and advised me to save my time. But thanks to tho aid of a chief of a neighbouring tribe which controls the Mambuti, the veil was lifted for me.

THEY FEAR FULL-SIZED ALIENS.

"Tho -Mambuti, I believe, are the smallest people in tjie world, the average height being about 4 feet 2 inches. They are timid folk, weak, ,-helpless beings, and they are dominated by the surrounding tribes. It seems that they have been taught to believe that white men, East Indians, or Arabs will kill them on sight, and for this reason we found it difficult to approach them." Typical of tho unheroic spirit of the Mambuti is the manner -in which _ they hunt elephants. The pygmies are absolutely primitive', arid they, live on the roots and herbs which they find, and 1 on such game- as they may be able to capture. '■

".However, they^ are surprisingly skilled practical botanists. .They can recognise the poisonous growths of' the jungle, and they even know the proper antidotes. They fight only infrequently, but when some one is wounded by a poisoned arrow the victim may be' restored by the use of the antidote. This, however, Is the only ' culture' which the Mambuti may be said to have." THE CONGO SINCE LEOPOLD'S - TIME.' Although the Mambuti fear tho white men, Dr. Vanderbergh asserts that their terror is groundless. "Conditions is the Congo have changed completely since the agitation against the atrocities under Leopold," he observed. "The propaganda against the mistreatment of the- blacks was effective. As a result the natives are altogetherl out of hand. Some, of the more intelligent tribes are willing to work in the mines for a little whila to earn clothes —those of them that wear clothes —or to get trinkets. But the white men are powerless to make them work. ' • "On one of our trips our native porters left us to go over to'an official,' and one of the natives acted so badly that the- official had liim flc-Vcd. It was not a severe punishment, but the native threatened to go to the courts about it. The official bad to. buy him, off with presents, for the^courts seem to decide uniformly against the white men -in disputes.' Nowhere was there ever a more complete reversal of conditions than there has beeii in the Congo."