AFRICAN PIGMIES AND THEIR PECULIARITIES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6496, 27 May 1899, Page 2

AFRICAN PIGMIES AND THEIR PECULIARITIES.

■ ' Pigmies are strong/ sinfe^y arid i muscular, \ I fearless 'and : daring; J writes - ; Odptaiii' ' Gray ; Burrows: They liaive a dislike 'for. .water, ; and • are^not ' : cleanly ih ; iheir habits sis cire' other tribes. Very' few :of .the'in can swim, arid' probably tney know ;' nothing of ih>-. art, living, as they do, chiefly on' diy land. The dress of the pigmies is V6ry "simple. The men wear a plain strip of cloth round the loins, the women simply a bunch of leavesV They have . v© ' ornaments of any kind—^a fact which shows tbeir low development, for women, as a rule, desire and use ornaments asf attractions in savage life as : weli as "ill civilised. Possibly, when the hew pigiriy yomah arrives " she will introduce necklaces and earrings. Musical instruments'.are unknown .fco 'them. ' Even their) dancing is ,. conducted ' ; without any . sweeter sound; haht the'rliythoiicai tappuig of ' a bow. with, an arrow. "Their whole' idea .. of dancing is W s]kut : round in a 1 circle, with tateii 1 ' legs quite stiif; beating time ~with : bow amd arrow, as just mentioned, and adding absurd emphasis to the general effect by their set and soEemn countenances. Having no religion, no family ties, no joy in sports' or games, arid no fixed' liome, their one object and ■occupation is hunting, at which they' are such, adepts that it is a sight to see them handle their small bows and arrows, which are not' poisoned. As a rule the pigmies take up their abode near a village ot aonio big chief, where they are sure of finding large banana plantations. Though they grow no food of any kind on their own account, .they are extremely fond of the unripe long banana, and their method of obtaining this delicacy is simple. Oh returning from" a. day^s hunting the. pigmy carefully wraps xig several l^inall pieces of n^eat in grass or leayesj ,. 'betiikes : hpaseilf to the n^areit baiaana plantaltipn, and,' hayipg^selecied th.c. bunches , of banaiiks he .requires j shins up the ..tree,,, cute down the blanches selected, ancl iui payment affixes one of the small packets of. meat to the stem by a little •wwoden. skewer. By this means h© SATISFIES HIS CONSCIENCE, - and can declare that; he has not. stolen the bananas, but only > bought them,, for the pigmy, as we have seen, is very .angry at the merest suggestion of theft. >Each village has a chief, but there are no gradations of rank among the people. Every man fights for his own chief, and nas no knowledge of combination, only fighting when necesr sity demands it. When they attack j strangers in the bush they keep so close that nothing is seen of them except their, arrows, but in the open they are very plucky. Owning no' territory, and having nothing to make war for on their own account, they squat among this tribe or that,. according to convenience, but they show- no particular attachment to any one spot, wandering wee Ishmaelites as they are! Native, chiefs often try to get hold of pigmy boys, whom they adopt, arid who become a sort of body-, guard to . them, arid spies on their own people. While I was staying at Nigangara Station Dv Brency came in to spend a few days. He also had a pigmy boy in his service, being content like myself to suffer the troubles he caused for the sake of having such a good servant. But two pigmies in the same station were productive of more excitement than was pleasant. At first they regarded one another somewhat shyly,' riot to say with suspicion; and would have nothing to do with each other. From severe neutrality it came to defensive hostility, and before long to open warfare. . Both were vindictive little wretches, KEVER SO HAPPY AS WHEN QUARRELLING. 1 As it was a wise policy to be oh good.tenris with the soldiers and " food-servants," they reserved their spite for their own kind, and were at one another's throats all day long, and on tho most trivial grounds. "One would get a. little more food than the.otHer;'' there would be sufficient reason for a figHt; and they would race each other in bolting/their banana in order to get in the 'first --blows: but fighting was always subservient to fe I dxn ?'r Wh« n they had battered: • each others little heads with their, puny fists, a Houssa, or perhaps a white : officer, would come out to, see whart the din was « ™ V> and " vvould; separate the combatants. Well why should he have more food, than I had? • ■ would-be the proud exp^natiori: After all, he's only a pigiriy !" • This with %reat scorn, .and the necessary vows of vengeance from the victim of outraged dignity. •. , ;:f- ■ ■. '; ,-.-. : They had no objection to being scolded in genuine anger; . and took a '-rating' manfully; but to be, Seated as. children, or, worst of all, to bp > laughed at, was more than they would- stand/ A" soldier was looking on amusedly at one, of their mimic battles one afternoon; in _ the drill-yard, The cause of war was ' a 'Battered' helmet that one of us had discarded. My pigmy had it on, and was defending his nine points of the law against his fellow-pigmy: The soldier made a jeering comment on my boy, who left: .his own ouarrel, and, without a moment's hesitation, threw half a brick at the head of the- soldier with all the .force . of which , :his little arm and big rage were capable. It would have hurt the Houssa more if it .'had Jiit him on the shins; as it was, it merely stunned him. Then the young rascal resumed his ... DEFENCE OF THE HELMET. One of. the most astonishing: characteristics of those strange little people is tfieir abnormal., appetite for all sorts of food. Bananas are their chief delight. A pigmy, I have no hesitation in saying, eats, as a rule, twice as much as will suffice a fullgrown man. He wjll take a. stalk containing, about sixty bananas, seat himself, and eat them all at a ineal— besTdes other food. Then he. will. lie^and groan throughout the 'i night, until ihorriing. comes, "when ..lie is; ready to repeat the operation. "'A ! consequent and characteristic feature of his race is the distented' abdomen ; but that considered, it' is difficult- to imagine where he manages to stow the enormous quantity of food he '■■' can consume »t- a meali'. • Occa- ... sionally, when I have expressed surprisewhen, for instance, . he has surpassed even himself, he has assumed an uninterested air, as though, the matter were merely the most commonplace occurrence in- the world, and j the question, one to be waived. . . The pigmies have a curious ; method of fighting, which I have had. occasion to. observe several times.. A stranger . passing through the bush along a track is fair game to them, and they, therefore, conceal themselves when they hear footsteps. aT>r>roaching. It does not take much. covert to. hide a pigmy. . As the unsuspecting victim goes by they send their little arrows, at him, and, if the shot has told, the pigmy' who has fired jumps up, utters a. little cry, and. pate his right aim with bis left-, immediately afterwards diving behind .a. bush, plant or tree trunk. The pigmies do the. same when j they are .fighting, against excessive. numbers in regular bush warfare. ONE GENTLE ART •.->..",,.:] employed, against.- the.- stranger. -. who'comes • by their wayjis. amusing' in. its display of : cunning/ The pigmy fastens, a cord to -his foot- ; at one end,," affixing-. the. other- to the bough of -a. tree -.that iriay "stretch across the . forest path! Then concealing himself a few yards off he waits till he hears someone coming, when he gently, agitates the string.so as to shake the bough. Now the least thing of this kind, the slightest rustle or noise attracts the attention of the native, who, from motives of self-preservation, is brought up to notice, all the signs of- the bush.. • Accordingly he stands still to set what is coming,- and while he watches the curiously-moving: branch, is promptly . shot in the back by the concealed pigmy. " Brit," said the pigmy, when rebuked for such treachery, "he , was -a- stranger, fie had no business to be there." ■■ v Where, one of. their; number dies he is buried, .and- there:is anend.-to him andids memory-.-- . They.. wear.no mourriing^ nor : -dp they ereCt'ari^fmiemorials.'over.ithe graves v pf their . deatdi-. .-:i-iExcellent seryants,,, they, are Tieryrfoßd of .depki^;.tliemßel.yesv^out in : ziie. ol4^.clotbes;of. ; l^iFi^asters, the fit" may be. They will strut about with an old hat, several sizes too large, coming down over their eyes, or augment their scanty costume by the addition of a tie, not in fun, but in the most serious manner possible, the nearest approach to the- decorative, instinct I observed.