PAPUAN PYGMIES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 49, 28 February 1927, Page 10

PAPUAN PYGMIES

SURVIVORS OF STONIi AGE

(Received 28th February, 2 p.m.)

NEW YOKE, 27th February. After spending over six months in the interior of New Guinea, mostly in Dutch territory, Professor Stirling (leader of j the Smithsonian Institute and the Dutch Government Expedition) has returned. He brings many specimens showing the life of the pygmies. He found that the pygmies were the original inhabitants, now crowded into the deepest interior by later savages They were living in the Stone Age, a scattered race of people four foot high with reddish kinky hair and chocolate complexions. They are largely an agricultural race, the women doing the heavy work and the men hunting. They are shy and superstitious, but friendly and honest. Their burial customs indicate that they are not, cannibals. Their marriage rites are preceded ty the ceremony of taking the bridegroom into a clearing and shooting arrows at him, which he must dodge or return. If he survives, the ordeal proves his courage. He gives sufficient money in-shells and the wedding, proceeds, ending in the bridegroom amputating his wife's index finger at the first joint instead of using a ring. Their only clothing consists of nets slung ever the head and shoulders for carrying weapons and other loads. They live in scattered, hidden villages in inaccessible regions. They have no relations with other villages, even for war against a common enemy. , The expedition mapped out a considerable area of previously unknown country.