Races and Peoples: Lectures on the Science of Ethnography

by Daniel G. Brinton

I. The Negrillos.

This diminutive form of the Spanish word negro, black, is applied to an unusually small variety of the race, which by several careful writers is believed to be the oldest of all the African varieties, and at one time to have occupied the most of the continent. Herodotus and other classical authors speak of the Pygmies of Ethiopia, and there is sufficient evidence to show that in his day they dwelt in localities as far north as the 18th degree of latitude.[116]

For a long time modern skepticism assigned these statements to the realms of fable, but the rapid exploration of Central Africa in this century proves their general correctness. Many travellers, especially Du Chaillu, Schweinfurth, Stanley, and Emin Bey, have seen and described these dwarfs, and a few of them have been brought to Europe.

At present they are not found more than two degrees north of the equator, whence they extend southward into the territory of the Congo. Their various tribes are known by different names, as Akkas, Tikkitikkis, Batuas, Dokos, Obongos, Vouatouas, etc.

The height of the male is four feet six to eight inches, the body is symmetrical and remarkably agile, the facial angle is exceedingly low (about 60°-65°), the face markedly prognathic, the chin retreating, the lips protruding, and the ears large and ugly. The color is not black, but a dark reddish brown, and the skull has a tendency to a globular form. The nose is flat (about 55°), and there is a strong odor to the skin. The hair is woolly, and in tufts, and the body is covered with coarse short hairs, “so that the surface feels like a piece of felt.”[117]

These extraordinary people have no settled abodes, build no towns, cultivate nothing. They depend entirely on hunting and fishing, and the barter of the products of the chase to agricultural tribes. They are skilful in the use of the bow, employing small poisoned arrows, and also manufacture spears. Voracious cannibals and unerring marksmen, they are looked on with dread by the negroes around them.

Of their religion we have no knowledge further than that they have an extreme dread of strange objects, lest some malignant influence lurk in them.

In the south of Africa we find another group of tribes, the Bushmen and Hottentots, also of small stature, and in many respects resembling the Akkas. They are equally far removed from the true negroes, and it is the opinion of some very competent observers, notably the German travelers, Schweinfurth and Fritsch, that all these dwarf tribes belong to the same stock.[118] The objection to this chiefly is that the Bushmen are often dolichocephalic, but so also are some of the Akkas, and at any rate this consideration is not alone of sufficient weight to be decisive. There is little doubt but that this dwarf stock extended over Madagascar, where they were known as Quimos or Kimos, and are believed still to exist in the southern part of the island.[119]

The Bushmen are much better known than the Akkas. They dwell in and around the great Kalihari desert, usually in a half-famished condition, and on the lowest social scale. They are wandering hunters, making use of the bow and arrow, and are not cannibals.

The Hottentots are a mixture of the Bushmen and the Negroid-Bantu tribes in their vicinity. They are taller than the Bushmen, better nourished, and lead a pastoral life, possessing herds of cows and fixed habitations. Their language is remarkable for the number of its “inspirates,” or “click” sounds, to form which one must draw in the breath, similar to some we use in urging horses. In form it is agglutinative. In these respects and in others, it resembles the dialects of the Bushmen, and those who are competent to speak on the subject believe that both can be traced to a common source.[120]

The Hottentot is rather a hopeless case for civilizing efforts. He hates profoundly work, either physical or mental, and is passionately fond of rum and tobacco, or failing the latter, he will stupefy himself by smoking the wild hemp. He is too indolent to attempt agriculture, and is content to live on milk, raw roots, and the product of the chase.

Some of the English travellers, on the other hand, say the Hottentots have as much wit as their neighbors, the Dutch boors! Certain it is that before they were oppressed by the whites, they possessed herds of cows, goats and sheep, dressed hides, dug wells, manufactured pottery, in some places tilled the ground and built fixed villages or kraals.

The oft-repeated assertion that they are destitute of religion is, like all such, utterly false. On the contrary, they have quite a developed mythology, perform rites and say prayers. Their principal deity is Tsunigoam, to whom they appeal as “the father of all things” and “our master.” At the rise of certain stars they hold festivals in honor of the gods of light, and they believe the spirits of the dead wander about and should be placated.[121] Their cult, indeed, compares favorably with that of classic Greece.