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Show The African Pj-pnlci. '" The name of dwarfs, applied by some to these people, has been objected to as implying deformity or arrested growth, and therefore conveying a wrong impression. im-pression. Nothing of the kind can be said, of the African pygmies, who, though of short stature, are well shaped people of perfectly normal formation. It is true that the Hottentots and Bushmen Bush-men show certain strange anatomical peculiarities, but these may be said to be more or less accidental, being, in part at least, the result of special and unfavorable un-favorable conditions of life. The -pygmies are nomadio in their habits, and neither keep cattle nor till tho ground, but live by hunting and snaring wild animals and birds, or, under the most unfavorable circumstances, circum-stances, on wild fruits, roots and berries. I Their weapons are always bows and ar- rows, the latter usually poisoned the I resource of the weak, They have no fixed abode, and if they build shelters at all only construct rude huts of branches. They have no government, gov-ernment, nor do thoy form regular communities; com-munities; they usually wander about, like our gypsies, in hordes composed of a few families each. This, however, depends de-pends on the nature of the country in the parched deserts of the south they are not even united to this extent. Sometimes Some-times they are to a certain extent dependent de-pendent on more powerful tribes, who afford them protection iu return for certain cer-tain services. Their notions of the Unseen, Un-seen, when they have any, would appear 'to be of the very crudest. Their languages lan-guages seem to be distinct from others, related among themselves and very peculiar. pe-culiar. A Werner in Popular Science Monthly. |