stature, black or _dark_ brown, with broad round heads, and crinkly or
woolly hair. They are often called _negritos_, or little negroes.

An Englishman named Man lived for some years in the Andaman Islands and
became much interested in the little blacks. He learned their language
and has described their customs.

The Mincopies are true savages, living entirely on wild food; they are
gentle and non-savage in disposition. The islands are well supplied with
food. “The sea which washes their coasts is full of fish and abounds
with turtles; the jungles are filled with wild pigs; the bees furnish
abundance of wild honey.” From plants they get roots and fruits. They
have no cultivated fields and no domestic animals. Although savages,
these little people know how to build good houses. These are huts some
thirty-five by forty feet; the framework is of posts and poles and the
firm thatch is of palm leaves. The huts are arranged about an oval or
elliptical cleared space, where they hold their dances. When off on long
hunting trips the Mincopies build rude shelters of branches and leaves.
In their villages boys and girls, unless they are still babies, do not
sleep in the houses with grown persons, but there are two special
sleeping houses—one for boys and the other for girls. In the houses of
the Mincopies fires are kept burning. It is said that these people do
not know how to kindle fire; if this is true, they are almost the only
people who are ignorant of this important knowledge. They are careful of
the fires they have and feed them well.

Unless they think they have some reason to fear strangers, the Mincopies
receive them kindly. The little children are taught to respect visitors.
“They are the first served; the best dishes are offered to them; they
are accompanied at their departure; before separating they clasp hands,
and instead of embracing they blow in each other’s faces; then they
engage in an affectionate dialogue. Finally they separate with mutual
promises of meeting again.”

The adoption of children is common among Mincopies. It is rare that any
child remains with its parents after it is six or seven years old. Some
friend of the family wishes to show his friendship and asks to adopt the
child. The little one goes to his house and belongs to him. The parents
may visit him in his new home, but no longer have any control over him.
His new father may do what he likes with him, even to giving him away to
some other person who may wish to adopt him. When children are about
twelve years of age, they begin a fast, which is kept up until they are
almost men and women; during that time they must not eat turtle, pork,
fish, or honey. After several years of thus fasting, they may again eat
these foods.

There are rules about foods for grown persons, too. During certain parts
of the year they must not eat some kinds of roots and fruits; their god
Puluga will be displeased if they do. Children must not eat the flesh of
the two water animals, the dugong and porpoise. And to _every_ person
there is some one kind of food which he must not eat in all his life;
this forbidden food differs with the persons.

We have said a good deal about the kindness of the Mincopies: they are
not always good. They have their quarrels and battles like the rest of
the world. They are quick-tempered and often become angry for a small
offence. When a Mincopy _is_ angry, he acts like a naughty child,
striking and breaking everything around him, even his own choicest
treasures. Trouble sometimes breaks out between two tribes in the midst
of a feast. In their wars they destroy and carry off property; they take
no prisoners among the men, killing the wounded, but children of the
enemy are usually kept alive and kindly treated. Sometimes they try to
harm enemies by witchcraft, or conjuring. They think that Puluga
dislikes the smell of burning beeswax and will, in his anger, send forth
a storm. So, when they know that their enemy is going fishing or
hunting, they burn beeswax so that the angry Puluga will send a storm.

[Illustration: ANDAMAN MINCOPIES (TYLOR).]

Most curious is the funeral of a child among the Andamanese. When a
little one dies there is general weeping. Parents and friends paint
their bodies with clay; their heads are fresh shaved, and upon them,
over the forehead, men place a lump of clay, while women put one upon
the top of the head. The mother prepares the little body for burial; she
shaves and paints the head, neck, wrists, and knees with red ochre; she
then folds the little body together and wraps it in great leaves and
binds the bundle thus made with cords. The grave is dug in the floor of
the hut, under the fireplace. After gently blowing a few times upon the
little face in farewell, the child is buried and the fire is rebuilt
over the grave. The mother leaves a few drops of her own milk in a cup
on the grave. The hut is then deserted, a garland of rushes being
fastened around it to show that a death has taken place. The whole
village then moves, that the child’s spirit may not be disturbed. After
three months of mourning, they all return. The little skeleton is dug
up, the bones are painted red or yellow and distributed as keepsakes to
the friends, who wear them as necklaces in memory of the dead child.
This seems dreadful to us, but our people often keep locks of hair cut
from a dead child’s head; it is the same thing. At this time the lumps
of clay, signs of mourning, are removed from the heads and foreheads.
Some days later, there is a gathering of all the friends. The father,
holding his remaining children in his arms, sings a mourning song: the
women take part in the chorus, and all the rest cry noisily. The parents
then dance “the dance of tears,” after which they withdraw to the hut.
The visitors keep up the dance some hours longer.

                                  XXI.
                                 ARABS.

The old home of the Arabs was Arabia; to-day they are found not only in
Arabia, but over half of Asia and all of Northern Africa. Their great
wanderings began with the founding of Mohammedanism about the year 622
A.D. Full of zeal, the Arabs carried the new religion in every
direction.

The Arab is a white man, but a dark one. His language belongs to the
Semitic family and resembles the old Hebrew language. Arabic is a soft
and poetical language which is spoken to-day by myriads of people who
are not Arabs by blood. The Arab is of moderate stature; he is thin but
muscular, and has great endurance; he has a long head and a narrow, oval
face; his nose is long, thin, and prominent; his hair and eyes are
black.

We always think of the Arab as dwelling in tents. This is only partly
true. In Arabia itself about one-fourth of the Arabs are wandering
tent-dwellers; in Northern Africa, especially near the great desert,
many are nomadic. But everywhere we also find settled, town-inhabiting
Arabs also.

The tents of the desert Arabs are large, low, and flat; the covering is
a firm wool and camel’s-hair cloth. During the daytime, at least, the
sides are raised to permit the air to circulate. These tents are easily
taken down and packed, and as easily set up. Desert Arabs have flocks of
sheep and herds of goats, camels, and horses. Every one has heard of the
beauty, gentleness, and spirit of the Arabian horses—the finest perhaps
in the world. Their owners love them and treat them as tenderly as
children. Horses are rarely used by Arabs as draught animals or burden
bearers, but only for riding. The camel it is upon which the Arab packs
his heavy burdens for desert travel. The nomad Arab lives chiefly on
food drawn from his flocks and herds. Mutton is his most important meat;
couscous is a favorite food (see Kabyles). The nomad Arabs are
pillagers, and fall upon caravans of traders to rob them. Still they are
hospitable to the stranger who comes to their tent asking shelter; in
fact, they treat him with the greatest politeness. A table is set before
him; he is given water to wash his hands; the master himself receives
the food from the servants and places it before his guest. The Arabs
admire strength and agility, and at evening, before their tents, the
young men of the encampment practise tumbling, wrestling, hurling, and
other feats of strength.

[Illustration: CAMEL AND PALANQUIN (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]

The town Arabs live in comfortable houses. Most of these are of a single
story, though some are of two; they enclose a central open court; they
are flat-roofed; a large gateway gives entrance to the court, and is
high enough for a man on horseback to ride through. The flat house tops
make a favorite resting-place in the cool of the day. Streets in Arab
towns are narrow, crooked, and filthy. In Arab towns are noticed at once
many domes and minarets: the domes usually mark some famous grave; the
minarets, mosques. These graves are those of some pious Mohammedan
saint. There are thousands of them to which the Arabs flock to say their
prayers and to be cured of disease. Often at such tombs dervishes go
through with their strange performances. Some pierce themselves with
swords, with no signs of pain; others spin around and around on their
heels until one wearies of watching them, and wonders why they do not
fall.

The town Arab is more particular about his religion than the Bedouin
dweller in the desert. He must—and every good Mohammedan _should_—wash
his hands before eating; he must pray five times a day with his face
turned toward Mecca. Mecca is so sacred to them because it was the home
of Mohammed; every Arab and other good Mohammedan tries, once in his
life, to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he must see the _Kaabah_, or
black-stone. Arabs are much given to pious exclamations. Thus before
eating or beginning any business they say _Bismallah_, which means _In
God’s name_, and on finishing the meal or successfully completing the
business they say _Hamdouallah_, _Praise God_. This piety does not
interfere with the town Arab driving hard bargains in business. He loves
trade and money. He frequently goes in caravans to trade in other
places. The Arabs, too, are the slave-traders in Africa. This cruel
business has not yet been stopped completely. The traders buy negroes
where they can, and hunt them almost like wild animals when they cannot
buy them. In some places the hunted beings take refuge in trees, which
have been prepared as places of safety from which they defend
themselves.

Formerly the Arabs were more important than now. Seven or eight hundred
years ago Arabia was the world’s centre of learning—or at least the Arab
cities were. At a time, when Europe had lost much of what she once
possessed, the Arab world was full of philosophers, physicians, poets,
and astrologers. From the Arabs Europe gained much of the knowledge that
we now possess. But those bright days of Arabian glory are past. To-day
the boys in Arab schools learn little but reading, writing, and
arithmetic. They learn long passages from the Koran—the sacred book of
Mohammedanism. The little fellows—for girls do not go to school—sit on
the floor, and all study aloud, the louder the better, because then the
teacher will know that they _are_ studying.

                                 XXII.
                    THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA: KABYLES.

We rightly think of Africa as the home of the negroes, but it is a
mistake to think that no other peoples dwell in that continent. The
peoples of North Africa are white peoples; their complexions are often
dark, but in head, form, features, and character they are like
Europeans, rather than negroes. There are many types in North Africa.
There are the modern Egyptians, who look like their great and famous
distant ancestors; there are the Berbers and Kabyles, of whom we shall
say more later; there are Arabs; there are “Jews,” especially in
Algeria, Morocco, and the other Barbary States; there are Moors also,
who are a mixed people with some negro blood.

True Negro-Africa begins near the Equator and stretches southward. The
Sudan is the great negro country. There are four areas in this Sudanese
negro belt: the upper Nile valley, the Sudan proper, the Senegambian
district, and Guinea. In these four sections the people are negroes,
though here and there somewhat mixed. Most of Africa south of this negro
belt is occupied by negroids, who consist of many tribes and resemble
negroes in their narrow heads and woolly hair; they are, however, less
dark in color, more graceful in build, and more intelligent. Scattered
here and there in Equatorial Africa are bands of Pygmies, men and women
among whom are like boys and girls among us in size. In far Southern
Africa live the Bushmen and Hottentots, among negroid tribes.

The Kabyles are among the most interesting of North African peoples.
There are two types, the dark and the light Kabyles. The latter have
light skin, fair hair, blue eyes, and much resemble the light whites of
Europe. The Kabyles are tall, well built, and active. They are
industrious and love labor. They are a mountain people and love their
home. Their towns are located upon the slopes or on the summits. The
houses are usually of one story and have flat roofs. There are two
rooms,—one for the family and the other for the animals. When there are
two stories to a house, it shows that the owner has a married son living
with him; the upper story has been built above the old house for the
young couple. A little garden always surrounds the house. The Kabyl
country is rather cold, and the houses are not widely separated, so that
they assist in protecting each other against the winds. In winter the
family lives in a sort of cellar under the house.

[Illustration: GROUP OF KABYLES: ALGERIA (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]

The Kabyles work hard to raise their little crops. Their fields are down
in valleys or are terraced out on the hill slopes. They raise barley,
wheat, gourds, cucumbers, and melons; they raise flax; they have some
common cultivated plants that have been introduced from Mexico, as the
prickly-pear cactus, maguey, maize, tobacco, and potato. The prickly
pear and maguey are so common that landscapes in Algeria resemble those
of Mexico. The Kabyles raise apples, pears, apricots, olives, figs,
grapes, and nuts. They keep bees, and have quite a trade in wax. The men
are good workers in metals and leather, and trade their wares to their
neighbors.

The women, like all women in the Mohammedan world, delight in jewelry
and ornaments, and as they are not wearers of veils they have a good
chance to display their treasures. Couscous is a favorite food in
Northern Africa, not only among Kabyles, but Arabs and other peoples.
Kabyl women spend much of their time in its preparation. Flour is mixed
with water into a sort of thick dough, which is divided into little
masses which are rolled between the fingers. These little pellets,
almost like seeds, they steam and eat with bits of meat and hot, peppery
sauce.

The Kabyles love horseback riding, and are bold hunters. They fight
bravely in defence of their homes. Among their amusements, perhaps
falconry stands first. The falcon, you know, is a bird much like a hawk,
which is trained to chase and kill or capture smaller birds or animals.
It is carried to the field by the hunter on horseback. The bird is
perched upon its master’s wrist, and is blinded by a hood over its head.
When the hunter sees game, he unhoods the falcon and lets it fly after
the victim.

[Illustration: MAKING COUSCOUS IN THE DESERT (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH).]

                                 XXIII.
                                NEGROES.

We have already spoken of the district of true negroes. In the Sudan
they are at their best and purest type. The skin is almost black; the
head long and narrow; the face narrow; the hair kinky and woolly. The
lower part of the face projects far beyond the upper part. The lips are
thick. Negroes have an odor which is peculiar to them, and which most
white persons dislike. Many of the negro tribes are composed of persons
who are tall, strong, and well built.

Almost all negroes are agriculturists, living in settled villages. Their
houses are usually round huts. The Bongo of the upper Nile build huts
about twenty feet in diameter and the same in height, which are firm and
well built, though made only of poles and thatch. The entrance is so low
that one crawls into the hut on hands and knees. On the conical roof are
built benches of straw, on which persons sit to overlook and guard the
planted fields. The floor inside the hut is made of hard, well-beaten
clay. Skins of animals serve as beds. The Wolofs of the Sudan make very
similar huts, but do not construct the seats on the roof. Among both
tribes they build little granaries near the huts; these are made of
basketwork and are set up on posts to place them out of reach of
animals.

The African negroes are fond of bright colors and tawdry ornaments.
Objects of metal and glass beads are particularly prized. They use rings
of iron, copper, and brass of all sizes for the arms, legs, and fingers.
Sometimes so many rings will be put upon the arms that they completely
cover them. The negroes in some tribes pierce ears, noses, and lips for
inserting ornaments. The Bongo women, for example, pierce a series of
holes along the rim of each ear, along the edges of the nose, and at the
corners of the mouth, and through each hole they thrust a short bit of
grass stalk. The men in negro tribes often bear a tribal mark; this is
usually the scar or scars left by cutting lines or patterns on the face
or chest. Thus the mark of one tribe might be three cuts across each
cheek; that of another a pattern of criss-cross lines upon the forehead;
another tribe in the central lake district had a line of wart-like
swellings, at equal distances from each other, extending from the root
of the nose to the top of the forehead. All these tribal marks were cut
in childhood, and the cutting must have been painful. It is said that
the Bornu baby boys have one hundred and three cuts made on their little
bodies for their tribal sign.

African negroes often dress their hair into strange and curious forms,
as do also the neighboring negroids. They build it up into great horns,
train it out in little strings, the ends of which they fasten to a
wooden ring, build it into thick mats or wigs, and insert all sorts of
fibres, beads, and ornaments in it. Of course such carefully trained
hair must not be spoiled by lying on it, so they have the same sort of
wooden pillows as the Fiji Islanders, to keep the head off the ground.

These wooden pillows are often decorated with carvings of human and
animal figures. Many negroes delight in wood-carving and sometimes make
strange masses of many human and animal figures crowded together in the
most curious way. These they paint in bright colors. Near the west coast
of Africa several tribes are ivory carvers, and their artists will cover
an elephant’s tusk with human figures, animal forms, and geometrical
designs; no space will be lost; every spot will be filled.

[Illustration: NEGRO SMITHS AT WORK (RATZEL).]

Most of the negro tribes know how to weave, and some of their cloth made
from grass or vegetable fibres is closely and well woven. The most
remarkable art of the negroes, however, is their working of iron. They
know how to get iron from its ore and to work it into desired forms.
They build a little conical smelting furnace or oven of clay, into which
they put their fuel and ore. They then blow air through the fire with
their rude bellows. This consists of two earthen vessels, or boxes of
some sort, over the top of which bladders or skin are tied; tubes lead
from these vessels and the lower end of a stick is tied to the middle of
each bladder covering. The smith takes the upper ends of the sticks in
his hands and works them up and down, first one and then the other. He
thus forces air first into one tube and then into the other: these two
tubes end in a single clay tube which conducts the air into the furnace.
After the blacksmith gets his iron from the ore he works it with heat
and beating to the forms wanted. At Benin City, which was at the head of
a dreadful negro kingdom, they had learned how to cast bronze and made
wonderful objects in it. They made rings, bells, animal figures, plaques
with human figures represented on them, and masks of the human head of
life size.

Negroes love music and have many instruments, not only rattles, drums,
whistles, flutes, and trumpets, but stringed instruments also. In some
tribes there are wandering minstrels, who go from place to place playing
on their three-stringed guitar and singing songs in praise of the chief
or king whom they visit. They sing in his praise if he pays them well;
if, however, he is stingy, their songs make bitter fun of him. These
minstrels are either men or women: they are feared and disliked, but
well treated, as no one wishes to gain their ill will.

Some of the most brutal and cruel acts in the world are done among negro
kingdoms like Ashanti, Dahomey, and Benin. No human life is there safe.
The king orders instant death to those who offend him. The executioner’s
knife is kept busy. Cruel butcheries are connected with their religion,
and sometimes the king will have dozens, scores, or even hundreds of men
killed to carry messages to his dead father. It is also among negroes
that we find cannibalism existing in revolting forms and frightful
belief in witchcraft. Any old man or old woman may be accused, at any
time, of being a witch: it takes little to prove their guilt, and they
are speedily executed.

Negroes often believe that some men can change themselves into wild
animals and then resume their own form. They are especially afraid of
man-leopards: not unfrequently men who have been thought to be such have
been executed. We cannot, however, blame the negroes much for such
ideas. Not long ago white Europeans generally believed in werewolves (or
manwolves), and there are still districts in Europe where such beliefs
exist.

Many African negroes wear charms to protect themselves against harm.
Such charms are called _gri-gris_. Almost anything may be a gri-gri: a
part of some animal, a plant, a curious stone. Where the negroes have
had much to do with Arabs or other Mohammedans a favorite gri-gri is a
verse from the Koran, written on paper done up in a little leathern
pouch and hung about the neck. Sometimes a man will be almost covered
with gri-gris. He may have so many “as to weigh thirty pounds,” and they
may hamper him so “that he must be helped in mounting a horse.”

We have already told you that the Arabs still hunt negro slaves. Many of
the negro tribes themselves keep slaves—thus the Wolofs do so. They,
however, treat their slaves more kindly than the Arabs do.

                                 XXIV.
                               NEGROIDS.

The negroids of Southern and Eastern Africa resemble the negroes. They
are generally tall; they have a fine dark brown color, long narrow
heads, hair less kinky and woolly than the negroes, flat nose and thick
lips. They do not have the negro’s odor. The negroids comprise many
different tribes, but all speak related languages known as the Bantu
languages. The tribes we shall consider are the Zulus, Kaffirs, and
Waganda.

The Zulus and Kaffirs wear generally but little clothing. A man wears a
cord about the waist with flaps of leather hanging from it in front and
behind; the woman wears a fringed girdle about her waist. Sometimes they
wear a mantle of hairy skins. At great festivals the men deck themselves
finely. A traveller, describing a young man who was going visiting,
says: “He will wear furs, among them the Angora goat; feathers in his
head-dress; globular tufts of beautiful feathers on his forehead or at
the back of his head; eagle feathers in fine head-dresses, as also
ostrich, lory, and peacock feathers. He ties so many tufts and tails to
his waist girdle that he may almost be said to wear a kilt.”

The negroids, like the negroes, are agriculturists and live in towns of
huts. Some tribes are raisers of cattle and have large herds that yield
milk, meat, and skins. They are hunters, too, and that on a large scale.
They set up long hedges or lines of brush and stakes, which converge
toward certain points where they dig pits and cover them. They then
scatter over a large district and beat it, scaring in the animals and
driving them between the lines of brush into the pits, where they easily
kill them.

The two great weapons of the southern negroids are the _kerry_ and the
_assegai_. The kerry is a short wooden club with a knob at the end. This
is thrown at the game. The assegai is a spear, the shaft of which is
long and slender and the head of which, made of iron, is long and wide.
Assegais are used all through South and Central Africa. The form and
size of the blade varies with tribes: sometimes it is two feet in length
and several inches across. Mrs. French-Sheldon saw the assegai maker, in
one tribe she visited, using a natural leaf as his pattern, and he was
careful to exactly copy its form. Both negro and negroid tribes in some
parts of Africa, especially Western Central Africa, use throwing-knives;
they are made from a flat piece of iron, worked into several blades
projecting in different directions. They are thrown through the air, and
some one of the ugly blades is quite sure to strike.

Kaffirs and Zulus make long oval shields almost as tall as themselves,
for protection in battle. A cowskin, with the hair on, is stretched over
a light and simple wooden frame. Each great section of Africans has its
own kind of shield. The Niam-Niams and some Congo tribes weave beautiful
close and light shields of wicker or basket work; they are long and
narrow, and protect the whole body. The splints of which they are woven
differ in color and are worked into rather handsome patterns. In Nubia
they use shields made of thick and heavy hide, like elephant or
rhinoceros hide; these are circular, not very large, and have a round or
conical knob or boss raised at the centre.

[Illustration: WAGANDA MUSICIANS (RATZEL).]

Kaffirs and Zulus are fond of war and are brave in battle. They have war
dances in which they are inflamed for the fray. A Kaffir who slays an
enemy may have a great gash cut in his leg on his return home to show
that fact. The scars of such gashes are objects of great pride. The
Kaffirs are fine speakers and their speeches on important occasions are
stirring and impressive. Like negroes, the negroids delight in music and
have many instruments. None, however, is a greater favorite than the
noisy drum.

Among Zulus and Kaffirs, the sorcerer is much feared and dreaded. When
men are ill, or in trouble, they go to him for help and advice. He goes
through with many strange performances. The people believe that he can
detect thieves and find stolen property, that he can bewitch and cure
bewitchment; he is frequently, also, a rain-maker. There is much
jealousy between the sorcerers or rain-makers in a tribe, and they
sometimes challenge each other to tests of their power. The description
of such a test between two rain-makers, in one of Rider Haggard’s books,
is probably true to life.

                                  XXV.
                                PYGMIES.

Many centuries ago, the Greek writers, Homer, Herodotus, and Aristotle,
spoke of dwarf peoples, whom they called _Pygmies_, living in Africa. On
an ancient Egyptian wall there is painted a queer little dwarf-like
figure with the word _Akka_ written near it. It is plain that little
African peoples were known both to the Greeks and Egyptians. But for
hundreds of years after the old Greek writers and Egyptian artists were
dead, no one believed in real Pygmies. Every one felt that the accounts
of them were “travellers’ lies,” told to amuse people. But travellers
who have been going into Africa during the last two hundred years and
more have from time to time told us of such tribes, and to-day there can
be no doubt of their existence. There are really Pygmies, and they are
curious and interesting.

When the great German traveller Schweinfurth was visiting King Munza of
the Monbuttus in “the heart of Africa,” he learned that tribes of
Pygmies lived near. There were nine clusters of them, and they were
called _Akkas_—just like the little creature represented on the old
Egyptian wall—and each cluster had its own chief. At one time
Schweinfurth saw several hundred of these little people together. Munza
traded one of these Pygmies, whose name was Neevoué, to Schweinfurth.
The traveller was kind to the little fellow, and wanted to take him to
Germany, but Neevoué died in Egypt. He was a cruel little creature, not
very bright, and had great difficulty in learning. Later on, in Ashango
Land, much farther to the west, Du Chaillu found the dwarf Obongos, whom
he described, and whose houses he pictured. An Italian traveller named
Miani secured two Akkas in trade. He planned to take them to Italy, but
he died on his journey home. His two Pygmies, however, reached Italy,
where a kind-hearted nobleman took care of them. They were gay and
happy, though fitful, and were rather quick to learn; they learned to
speak, read, and write Italian.

[Illustration: HUTS OF ASHANGO-LAND DWARFS (DU CHAILLU).]

So much was known about the Pygmies before Stanley’s journey. He saw
many of them, and tells a good deal about them and their life. The Akkas
were the tribe he saw. They measure from three feet to four feet and six
inches; a full-grown man weighs about ninety pounds. Some of them have
long heads, long, narrow faces, small, reddish eyes placed near
together, and are sour looking and morose. The others have round faces
with fine, large, bright eyes placed wide apart, high foreheads, skin of
a rich ivory-yellow color. All African Pygmies seem to have their bodies
covered with short, rather stiff, grayish hair. Stanley says the Akkas
place their villages near the towns of bigger people, and that sometimes
eight to twelve Pygmy villages will surround one negro (or negroid)
town. These Pygmies are lively and active; they do not cultivate any
plants, but devote themselves to hunting.

They use little bows and arrows, and small spears. The tips of the
arrows and spears are often poisoned. With these weapons these little
folk attack and kill antelopes, buffalo, and even elephants. They dig
pitfalls and make traps. Some of their traps are like sheds, the roofs
of which are held in place by vines; bananas and nuts are placed in
these as bait; when chimpanzees or other animals try to take the bait,
the roof falls. The Pygmies catch birds for their feathers, and hunt for
wild honey.

The Pygmies use two kinds of arrow poison. One is dark and thick and
made from the leaves of a plant quite like our Jack-in-the-pulpit or
Indian turnip. The other is believed to be made from red ants,—which are
dried and crushed to powder,—mixed with palm oil. Both are said to act
quickly when fresh. Stanley mentions one man who died within one minute
from a small wound in his right arm and chest. When the poison is old it
acts less rapidly.

These Pygmies live in low oval huts, with doors two or three feet high.
The houses are arranged in a circle about an open cleared space, in
which the chief’s house stands. About one hundred yards from the
village, along every path that leads to it, is a little guard house,
only big enough for two Pygmies. These are guard houses and toll
stations, and all strangers who pass must pay toll. The Pygmies are
usually on good terms with their big neighbors, and both are useful to
the other. The little people sell their ivory, skins, honey, and poison
to their neighbors, or trade them for vegetable food. The Pygmies, keen
and watchful, are good pickets for the others, and often warn them of
danger from approaching enemies.

                                 XXVI.
                        BUSHMEN AND HOTTENTOTS.

Far to the south in Africa, in and about the Desert of Kalahari, live
the Bushmen. They are somewhat like the Pygmies. They are
little—full-grown men being from four feet to four feet six inches in
stature. They are of a yellow-brown color; their hair is black and
kinky, but appears to grow in little tufts with bare spaces between; the
jaws project and the lips are thick; they wrinkle early. They are quick
and lively in movements, and are bold hunters.

Little bands of them wander from place to place, without any fixed home.
They build no houses. Usually they live in holes among the rocks; at
most, they build rude, temporary shelters. They live chiefly on game,
which they kill with the bow and arrow, or sometimes with the spear.
They sometimes trail an animal a long distance, and when they overtake
and kill it, stop at the spot to eat it. They are wonderful at following
the trail of either animals or men, and see signs of their having passed
which a white man would never notice. They get a hard living; they
gather seeds and roots, fruits and gums; they hunt the honey of wild
bees; they catch lizards and snakes. They are so fond of the white
grubs, or pupæ of ants—which we usually, but wrongly, call ants’
eggs—that the Boers, living near the little people, call them “Bushmen’s
rice.” They also eat the huge eggs of the ostrich, and make water
vessels out of the empty shells.

Their bows are small and their arrows are hardly more than a foot in
length; the points of bone, stone, or iron are poisoned, and are so
attached to the shaft that they separate and remain in the wound. The
spear and darts which they use are also small and have poisoned tips. In
the quivers with their arrows they carry a little sharpening stone for
grinding the points and a brush for applying the poison. For digging
roots the Bushmen use a pointed stick, which is weighted with a stone
ring. These few simple weapons and tools are all that these poor people
possess, except a few wooden dishes and a smoking pipe, which is said to
be owned by a whole family or band.

Livingstone says that their arrow poison comes from a sort of
caterpillar or grub, which they crush and dip the arrow tip into. They
always clean their nails carefully after handling the poison, as it
causes damage if it comes into contact with any scratch or cut. The pain
caused by the poison is so great as almost to make the man who has been
wounded crazy. When a lion has been struck with one of these poisoned
arrows he roars terribly and bites and tears the ground and trees. To
cure a person who has been bitten they use an ointment made of the
crushed caterpillar mixed with grease. They believe that the caterpillar
is hungry for grease; when it does not find fat in a person it kills
him; when they supply it the fat it wants, it does no harm. It is said
that this caterpillar is sacred and that they pray to it, asking it to
give them plenty of game when they are hunting.

[Illustration: GORA-PLAYER: BUSHMAN (RATZEL).]

These little people are fond of music and drawing. Their finest musical
instrument is a _gora_. This is a hunter’s bow, with a ring on the bow
string. By sliding this ring they change the note which it gives when
twanged. The twang of a bowstring is not a very loud sound; to increase
it a gourd is hung to the lower end of the bow. All over the country of
the Bushmen cliffs and the walls of caves are covered with their
pictures, which represent animals, birds, and men; hunting scenes and
battles are also represented. These pictures are sometimes just pecked
out in the rock; sometimes they are painted; sometimes they are first
pecked out and then filled with color. The colors most used in these
pictures are red, yellow, and black.

The negroid Kaffirs and the Hottentots who live near the poor Bushmen
hate them and harm them. Meeting them on the road, they sometimes kill
them without pity. In 1804 a Kaffir who went to Cape Town on business
found a Bushman boy eleven years old working as a servant in the
government building. He killed the little fellow with a spear. This, of
course, was long ago, but it shows how the Kaffirs despise the Bushmen.

The Hottentots live near the Bushmen and are a mixture between them and
the negroids. They are taller than the Bushmen, but have much the same
yellowish brown skin color and the same sort of hair. Their language,
too, is much like that of the Bushmen. In both languages there are some
strange sounds, hard for white men to pronounce, called “clicks.” These
sounds come in the middle of words, and are called “clicks” because they
sound something like the sound made in driving horses. Among the Bushmen
there are nine different sounds of this kind; the Hottentots have only
four.

[Illustration: BUSHMAN ROCK PICTURE (RATZEL).]

The Hottentots are cattle-raisers, but do not cultivate plants. They
gather wild fruits and dig roots. They move with their herds from one
pasture to another; their settlements are called _kraals_. Their huts
are dome-shaped and consist of a light framework of poles over which
mattings are hung. When they move it takes only a few minutes to take
the houses to pieces and pack them on to their cattle. The huts are
always set up in a circle, enclosing a clear space where the cattle are
herded.

Both men and women of the Hottentots wear fur caps, and it is considered
indecent for a woman to be seen with her head bare. Hottentot clothing
consists of leather aprons and cloaks. Hottentots rarely kill their
cattle, which they keep for milk rather than for meat.

They are quite warlike, and each tribe has a leader. They honor brave
warriors. They are gay in disposition and like to say sharp and funny
things about each other; this often leads to quarrels and fights. When a
man is angry with another, he takes a handful of dust and offers it to
him; if the offender is willing to fight, he seizes the hand and
scatters the dust on the ground; if he refuses to fight, the angry man
throws the dust upon him to show that he is a coward. In fighting to
settle quarrels, they kick and club each other and even use spears.

[Illustration: HOTTENTOT KRAAL (RATZEL).]

The Hottentots have many songs and prayers which they repeat to, or
about, their sacred beings. Among their stories are some about the
rabbit and his adventures. They worship the stars which we call the
Pleiades. When these stars rise for the first time in the year, the
people greet them. Mothers take their babies in their arms and teach
them to stretch out their little hands toward the friendly stars. They
then have a dance and sing a song in honor of one of their gods. There
is a large insect called the _mantis_, which, when it stands still,
raises its long front legs into a curious position; the Hottentots think
that it is praying. When a praying mantis appears in a kraal every one
is pleased, as they think it brings good luck. No one thinks of killing
it, and they make an offering to it.

When a Hottentot man goes hunting, his wife kindles a fire at home and
does nothing while he is gone but carefully tend it. They believe if she
lets it go out that he will fail in his hunting. Hottentot conjurers are
thought to be great snake charmers. It is said that they can hiss in
such a way that all the snakes in the district will be attracted to
them. So much are these conjurers feared that every one wears some
object about him to protect himself against their power.

                                 XXVII.
                                MALAYS.

The Malays live in the Malay Peninsula, on the great islands near
it,—Sumatra, Borneo, and Java,—and on a host of lesser islands in that
part of the world. They also form part of the population of the great
island, Madagascar, lying east of Africa.

They are short, with brown skin, dark eyes, straight and coarse black
hair, and broad, round heads. Their forms are slight and graceful. They
are active and gay, quick and intelligent; they are easily offended, do
not readily forgive injuries, and are often deceitful and treacherous.

The Malays are believed to have come from the continent of Asia not more
than three thousand years ago.

They are fairly industrious in working their fields, the most important
crop from which is rice. They have other crops, however, and also raise
many fruits. They use the buffalo as a help in field work and for
drawing carts. Those Malays who live near the coast fish, and use both
fresh and salted fish for food. They are good sailors, making journeys
by water to China, Australia and other islands. They are shrewd in
trading. Formerly, many Malays were bold pirates, as indeed in some
parts they still are.

Malay houses are usually built of boards, are rectangular in form, and
have a two-pitched roof. They are almost everywhere, set up on posts
quite high above ground, and must be reached by means of ladders.

The Malays are great chewers of betel nut. A piece of the nut is mixed
with a little lime, placed in a leaf, and chewed. It colors the saliva
red and stains the teeth a brownish black. So used are the Malays to
these stained teeth that they no longer admire white teeth. Of a man
whose teeth are not stained with betel they will say, “he has teeth like
a dog,” and seem to consider it a disgrace. They even chip off or file
away the enamel on the front of the teeth of children so that they may
become sooner blackened.

[Illustration: MALAY FAMILY: JAVA (VERNEAU).]

All Malays like amusement; even the most civilized celebrate many
festivals. Animal fights and theatrical performances are favorites.
Almost every man among the Malays keeps a fighting cock of which he is
proud and fond; while he works in his field, the bird is tied by a cord
to a stake near him, and he stops now and again to stroke and pet him.
Cock-fights take place frequently, but the birds are not allowed—as in
Mexico—to kill each other. The bull-fights in the Malay region are also
much less cruel than those of Mexico and Spain. In these countries the
bull is made to fight against a trained company of human fighters; among
the Malays he fights another animal of his own kind. The Malay
buffalo-tiger fight is famous. A buffalo and tiger are placed in a pen
together and then excited until they attack each other. The buffalo is
quite frequently the victor. Most curious, however, is the battle
between crickets. The contest between these insects is watched with
great interest and excitement by the Malays. It occurs also in Japan.

Malays delight in dances and the theatre. At the World’s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago there was a complete Javanese village. It
contained a dance house where dances were given to the sound of the
strange gongs and other musical instruments of the Javan people. The
dancing was by girls who were gayly dressed in velvet, silk, and satin
with gold and silver tinsel. They wore curious gilt helmets. They did
not dance with their feet, but kept time to the music by graceful
movements of the arms, hands, head, and eyes. In the same building they
gave plays, in which the players wore small and curious masks of wood.
In other plays, somewhat like our Punch and Judy, puppets were moved and
played the parts. The Javanese also have shadow plays, where jointed
human figures, cut from cardboard, are moved by sticks and their shadows
are thrown upon a screen.

[Illustration: BUFFALO CART: JAVA (RATZEL).]

“Running amuck” is fearfully common among Malays. Suddenly a man, on the
street or in some public place, becomes insane with a desire to kill.
Seizing a weapon, he starts down a street filled with people and strikes
right and left at every one as he runs. The police hurry after the
murderer and are usually compelled to kill him before his dreadful work
can be stopped. The Malays are really a nervous and excitable people; it
is said that frequently a steady look at a person will throw him into a
trance or hypnotized state.

[Illustration: KRISES: JAVA (RATZEL).]

Of the various weapons used by the Malays the _kris_ seems to be the
favorite. In Java this was often a remarkable object. A kris is a short
sword or dagger with a fine steel blade which ends in a point, and the
sides of which are wavy instead of straight. Probably they think of this
as a stinging serpent; anyway the handle is frequently in the form of a
serpent’s head. Sometimes this handle is finely carved and often it is
set with gems. Some that belonged to the old Javan princes were a mass
of precious stones. The sheath for the kris might be plain, but it might
also be decorated with carvings or encrusted with jewels.

Strangest of the Malays are the Dyaks of Borneo and the Battaks of
Sumatra. Both are a little larger and have longer heads than the
Javanese. The Dyaks are great “head-hunters.” No man is respected until
he has brought in a head as a trophy. Usually only the skull is kept;
sometimes this will be engraved with patterns or stained with coloring
matter; sometimes designs are cut in the bone and foil is set in the
patterns. The Battaks are industrious and have made progress in many
ways. They have a system of writing. Inscriptions are usually carved
upon staves of bamboo; they also have books made of strips of palm or
other vegetable substances. The Battaks are among the most dreadful of
cannibals.

                                XXVIII.
                    THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES.

The Philippine Islands lie northeast from the great Malay Islands. The
group extends for one thousand miles and includes almost two thousand
islands of sizes from barren rock masses too small for use up to the
great Island of Luzon, which is about the size of Ohio. All together the
islands have an area equal to that of New York and the New England
States united. It is uncertain how large a population occupy the
islands, but it is probably between seven and eight million.

Dr. Blumentritt, an Austrian who has studied the Philippine peoples for
many years, says that fifty-one different languages are spoken among
them. He thinks that the peoples have come at various times to the
islands from various places. He believes that the first people here were
the negritos and that they once occupied the whole region. Perhaps three
thousand years ago Malay tribes, a good deal like the Dyaks of Borneo,
crowded in upon the unfortunate little natives, seizing their land and
driving them into the mountains of the interior and to the more remote
parts of the coast. Later, from eighteen hundred to fourteen hundred
years ago, other Malays crowded in, but this time they were more like
those of Java. Much later, only about five hundred years ago, a third
lot of Malays, bold and hardy seamen, began a movement into the islands.
But just then the Spaniards discovered the Philippines and checked these
pirates before they had gained much of a foothold. Blumentritt speaks of
these invasions of Malays as the first, second, and third Malay
migrations.

[Illustration: PHILIPPINE NEGRITO (MEYER).]

The negritos, or old population, are a little people much like the
Mincopies of the Andaman Islands. They are short, black skinned, and
crinkly haired. They do not live to be old, but a person of thirty or
forty looks as if much older. They build no true houses; in bad weather
they put up rude shelters. They are wanderers and have no agriculture;
they make no pottery; they wear but little clothing; some scar or
tattoo; they are fond of ornaments. Their chief weapon is the bow and
arrow, though they also have spears. They are skilful in throwing
stones. They make fire by friction, sawing one sharp piece of bamboo
across another. If a negrito dies, his fellows believe he was bewitched
by some Tagal or other Malay, and will not be satisfied until one has
been killed in revenge. When two negritos wish to swear friendship, they
cut their arms and each sucks blood from the other; they thus become of
one blood and are like brothers. They used to send messages by knotting
grass which either had a meaning itself or helped the person who carried
it to remember what he had been told. There are now perhaps twenty
thousand negritos and they live mostly on the larger islands—Luzon,
Mindanao, and Negros.

Many tribes in the Philippines represent the first Malay invasion. They
are much alike in life and character; all are bold and cruel; most of
them are head-hunters. They depend, in part, on agriculture, and have
settled villages which are usually in the mountains or forests. The
Igorrotes are a good example of them. They live in North Luzon. Both men
and women tattoo; they gild their teeth and are fond of ornaments. The
men go armed with spears, bows and arrows, and knives. Their peculiar
weapon, however, is a hatchet-knife called _ligua_; the thin broad
blade, set like that of a hatchet, has a concave cutting edge which runs
into a long point above. The houses of the Igorrotes are large,
rectangular, and raised on piles. These people are good agriculturists,
tending their fields—which they irrigate—with care. The girls of the
village are in charge of an old woman, and they all live and sleep
together in one special house; this is unlike the other houses of the
village and is not set up on posts. The Igorrotes have much respect for
the souls of their ancestors. In each village there is a sacred tree in
which they believe these souls abide. Though industrious and settled the
Igorrotes are dreadful head-hunters. They organize war-parties to attack
neighboring tribes for victims. The party shown in the picture were on
such an errand. Only a few days after the photograph was taken they fell
upon a Tingian village, killed thirty-nine persons, and carried away
twenty-five heads as trophies.

[Illustration: HOUSES OF IGORROTES (MEYER).]

The Tagals, one of the tribes of the second invasion, are the most
important of the Philippine peoples. They industriously work their
fields and raise rice, yams, maize, and several fleshy-root plants. Of
fruits they cultivate mangoes, bananas, pineapples, cocoanuts, and
others. Of industrial plants they produce manila hemp, cotton, indigo,
and tobacco. Many of these plants they have only had since the coming of
the Spaniards. They have long had domestic animals, among them the
buffalo, pig, dog, hens, and ducks. The Tagals have towns of
considerable size, with well-built houses perched on posts. They are
well dressed in good cloth woven by the women. They are fond of gain and
good traders. They are active in body and mind. They delight in poetry,
and it is said “boys on the street will improvise by the yard.” The
Tagals write their language with an alphabet which was probably brought
from India _long_ ago. They formerly wrote on bamboo or on the bark of
certain trees. The Tagals are passionately fond of cock-fighting. Every
one chews betel nut.

[Illustration: HEAD-HUNTING PARTY: IGORROTES (MEYER).]

As to the third migration, it failed to reach the great island of Luzon.
The immigrants were Mohammedan Malays from Borneo. They were sea-rovers
and pirates. They gained possession of the Sulu Islands, the farthest to
the southwest of the Philippines, and had landed on Mindanao when the
arrival of the Spaniards put an end to their movements. They are usually
called _Moros_ or Moors, from their religion. They are polygamous and
keep slaves. Their ruler is called the Sultan of Sulu.

Such are the people of the Philippines: at least fifty-one tribes,
speaking as many different languages. But there are also many foreigners
there: thousands of Japanese and Chinese; descendants of American
Indians, brought by the old Spaniards from Mexico and Peru; Spaniards
and other whites. And lastly there are all sorts of _mestizos_, or mixed
persons, produced by the intermarriage of all these so many different
stocks—native and foreign.

                                 XXIX.
                              MELANESIANS.

Several great groups of people occupy the vast island world of the
Pacific. We have already spoken of the Malays. In Australia live many
tribes differing in language and customs. They are mostly dark brown
with bushy or curly hair. They are savages in culture. South of
Australia, in Van Diemen’s Land, or Tasmania, there formerly lived a
dark brown people, not tall in stature, with peculiar features and long
curly hair; they are now all gone. North of Australia, in Papua or New
Guinea, are many tribes with curious and interesting arts and customs.
The real Papuans are dark brown in color and have woolly hair, which,
like that of the Bushmen, _seems_ to grow in tufts with bare spaces
between. They are of medium stature. The islands to the east and south
of Australia and New Guinea are occupied by black, woolly-haired tribes,
who are called Melanesians, and who are related to the Papuans. Among
them are the natives of Fiji, New Britain, New Ireland, and the Solomon
Islands.

The Fijians of fifty years ago will well represent the Melanesians.
Thomas Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, will give us our facts.

The Fijian hair-dressing was striking. Each chief had a special
hair-dresser, who frequently spent several hours a day in arranging his
master’s hair. The hairs were trained to stand out from the head so as
to form a great mass that might be trimmed into curious shapes. This
smooth, soft, solid, cushion-like mass of hair was stained with
colors—jet black naturally, it might be blue-black, ashy white, or
shades of red. The whole mass of hair, except a band in front, might be
black, while _that_ was white; sometimes the hair behind was twisted
into cords ending with tassels; one man had a knot of fiery red hair on
the crown while the rest of his head was shaved; sometimes the hair mass
measured four feet or more in circumference. Such grand hair-dressing
would be ruined by lying down with the head on the ground—so the Fijians
had a wooden head-rest or pillow, which was set under the neck and held
the head up, off the ground.

[Illustration: FIJIAN (RATZEL).]

Men wore a long sash of bark cloth, which was anywhere from three to one
hundred yards long. This was passed between the legs and wound around
the waist any number of times; if it were long and the man wanted to
present a _fine_ appearance it was folded several times up against the
upper part of his body; the ends were allowed to trail behind. The men
wore a turban of the same material, but fine and gauzy; from four to six
feet long, it was wrapped around the head, several times if need be; if
the hair mass was large, however, it would go little more than once.
Women wore little but a fringed waist band, which hung to the knees.

Like the Polynesians, from whom they probably learned it, the Fijians
used much _kava_, a drink which produces a stupefied or intoxicated
condition. The preparation of kava for the king was a great occasion.
The great kava bowl, made of wood carefully polished, was placed upon
the ground. The guests seated themselves around it. A number of young
men took pieces of the root from which the drink was to be made and
chewed them well in their mouths; they stacked up the pellets in the
dish; water was poured in until the bowl was nearly full and the balls
of chewed root were well stirred about and squeezed in it. Then a man,
especially trained to the work, strained them out with a bunch of fibre,
in which, by twisting, he squeezed the pellets until no more juice or
water ran out. The liquid was now ready for drinking. Prayer and song
had accompanied the making of the kava. The king, receiving a cupful
from a servant, spilled a little to the gods, and then drank. The others
then drank in their order. It was a high honor to drink next after the
king.

[Illustration: PILE-DWELLING VILLAGE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).]

[Illustration: CANOE: NEW GUINEA (RATZEL).]

The Fijians carved neat bowls and other vessels from wood. The kava
bowls, though usually plain, were carefully cut and beautifully
polished. The Fijians—almost alone of Pacific Islanders—made pottery;
the vessels were in various strange though rather graceful forms, and
were somewhat glazed. They made remarkable war clubs of fine, heavy,
dark woods which varied much in form, were decorated with carving, and
were handsomely polished. Fijians were not good sailors, but they made
better canoes than some of those made by Polynesians, who _were_ bold
sailors. It is said that the Tongans (Polynesians) gave up their own
style of canoe to adopt that of the Fijians. The canoes were, like those
of many of the Pacific Islands, double canoes; two canoes of the same
shape and size were placed side by side—with some little space
between—and united by a platform of boards; one sail was sometimes
hoisted; paddles were used for sculling and a great steering oar was
employed. A much larger book than this would be needed for describing
all the craft used on the water by Malayans, Melanesians, and
Polynesians. The Fijians enjoyed music and had two or three kinds of
drums, sticks that were beaten together, pan-pipes, a bamboo jew’s-harp,
a conch-shell trumpet, and a little flute that was blown by the nose.

The Fijians were a polite people—that is, they had rules about
greetings, behavior, and the treatment of superiors. One curious rule
was that a servant or inferior, in case his master fell or got into some
ridiculous position, must also fall or place himself in a similar
ridiculous position. Afterward it was expected that he would be rewarded
for his politeness. Mr. Williams tells us an incident that illustrates
this practice:—

“One day I came to a long bridge formed of a single cocoanut tree, which
was thrown across a rapid stream, the opposite bank of which was two or
three feet lower, so that the declivity was too steep to be comfortable.
The pole was also wet and slippery, and thus my crossing safely was very
doubtful. Just as I commenced the experiment a heathen said, with much
animation, ‘To-day I shall have a musket.’ I had, however, just then to
heed my steps more than his words, and so succeeded in reaching the
other side safely. When I asked him why he spoke of a musket, the man
replied, ‘I felt certain you would fall in attempting to go over, and I
should have fallen after you; and, as the bridge is high, the water
rapid, and you a gentleman, you would not have thought of giving me less
than a musket.’”

The _tabu_ is one of the most curious habits of Pacific Islanders.
Though it occurred in Fiji, it was Polynesian, rather than Melanesian.
Tabu was forbidding persons to touch, or use, or make some object.
Chiefs and priests set most of the tabus, but lesser people might
sometimes do so. A man might tabu all the cocoanuts in a district,
setting up some sign or mark to show that he had done so; no one might
thereafter touch a nut there until the tabu had been removed. A chief
might tabu a man’s working; he could not do work of any kind until the
chief removed the tabu. A chief might tabu the building of canoes by the
people of a certain village; the people thenceforth would need to secure
canoes from others. Thousands of tabus were set, and they made much
trouble and inconvenience. The man who broke a tabu was punished,
sometimes by death.

The Fijians were dreadful cannibals. England governed Fiji for many
years, and it was believed that the practice had disappeared. A few old
men were considered almost as curiosities because they had eaten flesh
of men and were called “the last of the cannibals.” Then suddenly in
1889 the old custom broke out again. A party of Fijians killed some
victims and ate them in a cave. A party in pursuit found evidence of the
dreadful feast. Among these were some of the curious wooden forks used
because it was not proper that the flesh should be touched with the
fingers!

                                  XXX.
                              POLYNESIANS.

The Pacific Islands lying east from the Melanesian Islands, beginning
with New Zealand and stretching to Easter Island, were occupied by
Polynesians. The best known of their island groups were New Zealand, the
Society Islands, Samoa, and the Hawaiian Islands. These islands are
either volcanic islands or coral islands, and the natural animal and
vegetable life occurring on them is less varied than on the great
islands lying nearer to the Asiatic or Australian continents.

The Polynesians present a fine type. They are often tall and well built;
their skins, though brown, are frequently light; the features are
regular and the faces handsome. They are quick and intelligent, think
and reason well, take new ideas readily, and are fond of beauty. They
were barbarians, but had made so much progress that they were at the
border-line of civilization. Living in a mass of islands that presented
few natural resources, they had made the most of everything nature gave
them.

[Illustration: TATTOOED NEW ZEALANDER (VERNEAU).]

Many Polynesian tribes tattoo. Elaborate patterns are pricked into the
skin, with lines of needles set side by side and dipped in color. The
New Zealanders tattooed their faces with curious curved-line patterns,
each line had its proper place, and the patterns probably had a meaning.
The Marquesas Islanders covered their bodies with elaborate and graceful
patterns. The process was painful and only a small space was done at one
time; the whole work required years.

Polynesian dress differed somewhat with the region. In New Zealand fine,
soft, and flexible robes and blankets were woven of the native flax. In
Hawaii the king and chiefs had wonderful feather cloaks which hung to
the knees or even to the ankles. The little feathers of which these were
composed were red and yellow; a garment composed only of yellow feathers
could be worn only by the king; when both colors of feathers were used,
they were arranged in diamond-shaped or other ornamental forms, with
spots and lines of dark purple or black feathers. Besides the cloaks,
there were tippets of feathers, which were generally worn by lower
chiefs, who had not, or might not have, feather cloaks. In these feather
garments the dress was made of a sort of netted foundation, into which
these bright feathers were worked. Chiefs also had wonderful helmets of
wickerwork which were covered with feathers. The helmet might be simple,
just fitting the head, or large, ridged, or crested, and rising high
above the head. In some islands the clothing consisted of a fringed
girdle hanging from the waist to the knees.

[Illustration: HELMETS AND IDOL-HEADS OF FEATHERS: HAWAII (RATZEL).]

But everywhere in Polynesia the common dress was made of _tapa_. This
was a kind of paper or cloth beaten out of the bark of certain trees.
The bark was removed from the tree and soaked in water; it was laid upon
a large piece of wood and beaten with a sort of club or mallet. This was
made of hard wood and was round at one end for being taken in the hand;
the remainder was squared, and the four faces were either smooth or
ribbed by longitudinal grooves. By this beating the wood was separated
into its fibres, and these were mashed together into a sheet of firm
paper or cloth. This tapa differs with the tree from the bark of which
it is made. Some is thin and dark brown; that from the bark of the
breadfruit tree is fawn-colored; that from the paper-mulberry, best and
finest of all, is beautifully white. The women were so expert at beating
tapa that single strips, four yards wide and two hundred yards long,
were beaten. Such cloth might be left plain, or it might be stained with
colors, or it might be stamped with patterns. Wooden blocks or strips of
bamboo were carved with designs which were smeared with color and
stamped on the cloth; sometimes ferns were laid in coloring matter, then
the form transferred to the tapa.

The two chief food supplies in Polynesia were breadfruit and cocoanuts;
yams (much like sweet potatoes) and bananas were plenty. A favorite food
in places is _poi_, a sort of gruel or pudding made from the root of
_taro_. It was not eaten with a spoon, but the finger was dipped into it
and stirred around to get a good load of the sticky stuff on it, when it
was stuck into the mouth and sucked clean. Fish were much eaten, though
not all kinds nor at all times.

The Polynesian oven was a hole, three or four feet across, and a foot
deep, dug in the ground. The bottom was lined with stones, which were
covered with dry leaves, upon which a brisk fire was built. When the
stones were red-hot, the dust and ashes were brushed out of the oven,
and the potatoes, yams, and taro, or the pigs, dogs, fish, and birds
were wrapped in leaves, and laid upon the hot stones. When all the food
to be cooked had been neatly placed, leaves were laid above them, and
hot stones on these. All was then covered in with leaves and earth, and
left until thoroughly baked through.

Many of the strange peoples we have considered are filthy; Polynesians
were unusually cleanly, and bathed frequently. In some islands surf
bathing was the chief sport. Every traveller to Hawaii has described the
practice. Babies were taken into the sea by their mothers within two or
three days of their birth, and could swim as soon as they could walk.
Old and young, men and women, bathe in the surf, and the heavier the
waves the greater the sport. The surf-bathing board was five or six feet
long, and a foot wide; it was carefully polished. Taking his board and
pushing it before him, the man swam far out to sea, diving under the
billows as he met them. When far enough out, he lay himself on the end
of the board and waited for a great wave. When it came, he poised
himself on its very crest, and paddling with hands and feet rode in upon
it almost to the shore.

The Polynesians were warriors, and their battles were cruel and bloody.
They rarely ventured into battle until their gods, through their
priests, promised them success. To prepare themselves for war they
practised in warlike arts. Thus they slung stones at marks, threw
javelins, and wrestled. It is said that, in slinging, they were able to
strike a small stick at fifty yards’ distance, four times out of five.
In their javelin practice, the man at whom the weapon was thrown often
caught it and hurled it back; some were so skilled that they “would
allow six men to throw their javelins at them, which they would either
catch and return on their assailants, or so dextrously turn aside that
they fell harmless to the ground.” In going to war, a chief summoned all
his friends and subordinates. When they had gathered, the
gods—especially the war gods—were brought out to assist and encourage
them. During the battle there was great noise and confusion; effort was
made to kill the great chiefs of the enemy, so that their followers
might be discouraged. Many were killed. Survivors fled to some fortress,
or the mountains, or found safety in one of the curious “places of
refuge,” within whose sacred precincts no harm could be done them.

For weapons, the Hawaiians had spears of great length, javelins, clubs
which were used both for thrusting and striking, a hard wood dagger, and
slings often made of human hair. On the Kingsmill Islands the natives
made weapons, in many shapes or sizes, of wooden shafts, along the sides
of which great numbers of sharks’ teeth were securely lashed. These
weapons were used both for thrusting and striking, and were fearful
things on naked bodies. In those same islands, and on account of these
shark-tooth weapons, the natives had curious protective clothing or
armor of cocoanut fibre.

[Illustration: KINGSMILL ISLANDER (TYLOR).]

Many Polynesians were cannibals: some of them dreadful cannibals. Their
eating of human flesh was often connected with their religion. They had
many gods, whom they represented by idols. The Hawaiian war god is an
example. His idol was an image four or five feet high; the upper part
was of wickerwork covered with red feathers; the hideous face was
supplied with a great mouth with triple rows of dog’s or shark’s teeth;
the eyes were of shell, and upon the head was a helmet crested with long
tresses of human hair.

                                 XXXI.
                              CONCLUSION.

We have spoken of many Strange Peoples. We have gone around the world in
our search. But after all we have examined but a small part. Remember
that there are fifty-one peoples at least in the Philippines alone. We
have not examined the Australians, or the unfortunate Tasmanians, or the
many tribes of Siberia, or the sixty native populations of India. We
have omitted great nations like the southeast Asians,—Siamese, Burmese,
Annamese. In fact there are many times more Strange Peoples in the world
whom we have _not_ examined, than whom we have. But we have examined
enough, I hope, to learn that they are interesting and deserve our
acquaintance and our sympathy.

There are few unknown peoples left. Travellers have gone to almost all
parts of the world. The spots which represent absolutely unexplored
regions on our maps are now neither large nor numerous. There are many
peoples about whom we know little, but there are not many who are
actually unknown. Those that may be discovered hereafter will be
interesting, but they are not likely to be very different from those now
known.

Many of the Strange Peoples are becoming less “strange” every year. Old
customs and peculiar practices are dying out in every part of the world.
Travellers, missionaries, and merchants from white men’s lands are
taking our ideas, our tools, our weapons, our dress, our learning, our
religion, and our vices to the remotest parts of the world. Some of the
Strange Peoples here described have already lost most of their old
customs. The Polynesians and Fijians have little of the old life which
we have described. Many American Indian tribes have changed less. Some
populations have still changed little. But a tribe must indeed be remote
and difficult of access to actually escape our touch absolutely. Usually
the change is _not_ improvement. Other people more quickly adopt our
vices than our virtues. Many tribes have become drunken, diseased, and
depraved through the white man’s influence. It is rare, indeed, that a
lower people gains in happiness or virtue by contact with “higher
civilization.”

Many of the Strange Peoples will disappear. The Tasmanians were killed
off almost like so many animals by the English. American Indian tribes
have suffered almost as badly at our hands. Many tribes have gone;
others are going. The Lipans were once a fairly numerous tribe. In 1892
I saw all who were left in the United States—four women and one man; six
months later I saw them again—the man was dead and only four women
remained. The Tonkaways are dying out at the rate of one-third each
eight years. The Polynesians, strong, handsome, active, and happy as
they were when James Cook visited their islands little more than one
hundred years ago, have dwindled, and fifty years more may blot them
from the earth. Not all American Indian tribes are dying out; it is
possible too that Polynesian decline began before Cook’s travels. But it
is certain that on the whole the changes brought by the newcomers sealed
the doom of the Indian and Polynesian.

There have always been movements of peoples from place to place. We have
seen the Malays pouring three great masses of immigrants into the
Philippines. There are white peoples in Asia; there are yellow peoples
in Europe. Recently plenty of whites and of blacks have poured into
America. Such movements contain some danger. The fair whites will
probably never be able to live in the tropical lands. A certain sort of
skin, hair, nose, breathing apparatus, is necessary for men who are to
live and prosper in low, hot, marshy parts of Africa. For Germans to try
to _colonize_ equatorial Africa is probably a fatal blunder. So far as
we know the dark whites—Spaniards, Italians, south Frenchmen—make better
tropical colonizers than we do; but even they are not successful. The
negro is a bad colonizer, he hardly holds his own even in our Southern
states. Of all the peoples of the globe the Chinese seem to be the best
able to colonize differing countries. He seems to go to hot lands and
cold lands, to small islands and to great continents, but flourishes
everywhere. So true is this that some writers have urged that Africa be
opened up for settlement to the crowded millions of the old empire. For
most peoples, however, migration, if they _must_ migrate, is best along
the lines of latitude into lands as much like the old home as possible.
Many Scandinavians live to-day happily where Wisconsin, Iowa, and
Michigan join; and they may be expected to prosper there, for land and
water, soil and products, scenery and climate, are there much what they
were in the fatherland.

                LIST OF BOOKS REGARDING STRANGE PEOPLES.

This list makes no pretension to completeness; a few only of the many
books of the kind are mentioned. Those with a prefixed asterisk will be
useful to teachers; those without will interest children; those followed
by an asterisk have directly contributed to this book in reading matter
or illustration.

 ARNOLD: Japonica.*

 BATCHELLER: The Ainu of Japan.*

 BRAMHALL: The Wee Ones of Japan.*

 *BRINTON: Races and Peoples.

 DU CHAILLU: The Land of the Dwarfs.*

 *DENIKER: The Races of Man.

 DOOLITTLE: Social Life of the Chinese.*

 ELLIS: Polynesian Researches.*

 FIELDE: A Corner of Cathay.

 HEARN: Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan.

 HUC: Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China.*

 *KEANE: Ethnology.

 *KEANE: Man; Past and Present.

 LANE: The Modern Egyptians.

 LEONOWENS: The English Governess at the Siamese Court.

 *LOWELL: Chosön.*

 *LUBBOCK: Origin of Civilization.

 *LUMMIS: The Land of Poco Tiempo.*

 MARSHALL: Phrenologist among the Todas.*

 *MEYER: Album von Philippinen-Typen.*

 MILN: Little Folk of Many Lands.*

 NANSEN: Eskimo Life.

 *PESCHEL: The Races of Man.

 DE QUATREFAGES: The Pygmies.

 *RATZEL: History of Mankind.

 *RATZEL: Völkerkunde.*

 *RÉCLUS: Primitive Folk.

 ROCKHILL: The Land of the Lamas.

 SCHWEINFURTH: The Heart of Africa.*

 SMITH: Chinese Characteristics.

 STANLEY: In Darkest Africa.*

 *TURNER: Samoa.

 *TYLOR: Anthropology.*

 *VERNEAU: Les Races Humaines.*

 WALLACE: The Malay Archipelago.

 WARD: India and the Hindoos.*

 WILLIAMS: Fiji and the Fijians.*

                             ADVERTISEMENTS

 ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
 ║                          AMERICAN INDIANS                           ║
 ║                                                                     ║
 ║                     BY FREDERICK STARR, PH.D.,                      ║
 ║                                                                     ║
 ║    _Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago_.    ║
 ║                                                                     ║
 ║  Cloth. 240 Pages.      Fully Illustrated.       Price, 45 Cents.   ║
 ║                                                                     ║
 ║                   D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,                    ║
 ║       BOSTON.                NEW YORK.               CHICAGO.       ║
 ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

=W. N. Hailman=, _Supt. of Schools, Dayton, O., formerly U. S.
Commissioner of Indian Schools_: The book is beyond question the most
attractive and conscientious presentation of the subject I have met.

=M. V. O’Shea=, _School of Education, Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wis._: I am glad to say that I regard Starr’s “American Indians” as one
of the most appropriate books for grammar grade reading that I have
seen.

=Richard E. Dodge=, _Prof. in Teacher’s College, Columbia Univ._, in
“The Journal of School Geography”: The name of the author is a
sufficient guarantee as to the accuracy and value of the little book
whose title is noted above. We have long needed a well-written and true
account of the much misused and misunderstood American Indians, and more
especially an account that would appeal to the young, and give them
different impressions from those gathered from nursery tales, school
primers or Cooper’s stories. The book is attractive in general
appearance, in typography, and illustration, and is well divided into
thirty-three short chapters, each devoted to a pertinent topic. It deals
with all the aspects of Indian life, as is shown by the following
selected chapter headings—Houses, Dress, the Baby and Child, War,
Hunting and Fishing, Picture Writing, Money, Medicine Men and Secret
Societies, Dances and Ceremonials, The Algonquins, the Six Nations, the
Creeks, the Cherokees, The Pueblos, Totem Posts, The Aztecs, etc. The
author has made good use of authorities and includes notes concerning
each author quoted. The book shows that great care has been expended in
selecting and organizing materials, and is authoritative. It should
receive a hearty welcome, and be used not only in schools, but in homes,
as a book for boys and girls, or as a book for a parent to use in
selecting true facts for family talks and conferences. Two valuable maps
are included in the text, and are both very pertinent.

=Journal of Education, Boston, Mass.=: The book is interesting and
instructive throughout, and should be read widely in school and out.

=The American, Philadelphia, Pa.=: This book, prepared especially for
younger people, is a careful, interesting history of the chief tribes of
North American Indians, their peculiarities and ways of life. The
picture drawn is good and highly instructive.

=Tribune, Chicago, Ill.=: Professor Starr is already a recognized
authority on Indian lore, having a personal acquaintance with some
thirty tribes, from Alaska to Yucatan. His book condenses into 240 pages
the main facts gathered by students and explorers among the red men
since the discovery of America. One cannot read many pages without
feeling that the author is deeply in sympathy with the people of whom he
is writing.

                          Supplementary Reading

                   _A Classified List for all Grades._

 GRADE I. Bass’s The Beginner’s Reader                               .25
     Badlam’s Primer                                                 .25
     Fuller’s Illustrated Primer                                     .25
     Griel’s Glimpses of Nature for Little Folks                     .30
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book I                                    .25
     Regal’s Lessons for Little Readers                              .35

 GRADE II. Warren’s From September to June with Nature               .35
     Badlam’s First Reader                                           .30
     Bass’s Stories of Plant Life                                    .25
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book I                                    .25
     Snedden’s Docas, the Indian Boy                                 .35
     Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature, Readers No. 1              .25

 GRADE III. Heart of Oak Readers, Book II                            .35
     Pratt’s America’s Story, Beginner’s Book                        .35
     Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 2              .35
     Miller’s My Saturday Bird Class                                 .25
     Firth’s Stories of Old Greece                                   .30
     Bass’s Stories of Animal life                                   .35
     Spear’s Leaves and Flowers                                      .25

 GRADE IV. Bass’s Stories of Pioneer Life                            .40
     Brown’s Alice and Tom                                           .40
     Grinnell’s Our Feathered Friends                                .30
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book III                                  .45
     Pratt’s America’s Story—Discoverers and Explorers               .40
     Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 3              .45
     GRADE V. Bull’s Fridtjof Nansen                                 .30
     Grinnell’s Our Feathered Friends                                .30
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book III                                  .45
     Pratt’s America’s Story—The Earlier Colonies                    .00
     Kupfer’s Stories of Long Ago                                    .35

 GRADE VI. Starr’s Strange Peoples                                   .40
     Bull’s Fridtjof Nansen                                          .30
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV                                   .50
     Pratt’s America’s Story—The Colonial Period                     .00
     Dole’s The Young Citizen                                        .45

 GRADE VII. Starr’s American Indians                                 .45
     Penniman’s School Poetry Book                                   .30
     Pratt’s America’s Story—The Revolution and the Republic         .00
     Eckstorm’s The Bird Book                                        .60
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book IV                                   .50
     Wright’s Seaside and Wayside Nature Readers, No. 4              .50

 GRADES VIII _and_ IX. Heart of Oak Readers, Book V                  .55
     Heart of Oak Readers, Book VI                                   .60
     Dole’s The American Citizen                                     .80
     Shaler’s First Book in Geology (boards)                         .40
     Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield                                  .50
     Addison’s Sir Roger de Coverley                                 .35

              _Descriptive circulars sent free on request._

                         Elementary Mathematics

  =Atwood’s Complete Graded Arithmetic.= Presents a carefully graded
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    eighth year. Part I, 30 cts.; Part II, 65 cts.

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  =Branson’s Methods in Teaching Arithmetic.= 15 cts.

  =Hanus’s Geometry in the Grammar Schools.= An essay, with outline of
    work for the last three years of the grammar school. 25 cts.

  =Howland’s Drill Cards.= For middle grades in arithmetic. Each, 3
    cts.; per hundred, $2.40.

  =Hunt’s Geometry for Grammar Schools.= The definitions and elementary
    concepts are to be taught concretely, by much measuring, and by the
    making of models and diagrams by the pupils. 30 cts.

  =Pierce’s Review Number Cards.= Two cards, for second and third year
    pupils. Each, 3 cts.; per hundred, $2.40.

  =Safford’s Mathematical Teaching.= A monograph, with applications. 25
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  =Sloane’s Practical Lessons in Fractions.= 25 cts. Set of six fraction
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  =Sutton and Kimbrough’s Pupils’ Series of Arithmetics.= Lower Book,
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  =The New Arithmetic.= By 300 teachers. Little theory and much
    practice. An excellent review book. 65 cts.

  =Walsh’s Arithmetics.= On the “spiral advancement” plan, and perfectly
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    course in common school mathematics. In two series:—

    _Three Book Series_—Elementary, 30 cts.; Intermediate, 35 cts.;
       Higher, 65 cts.
    _Two Book Series_—Primary, 30 cts.; Grammar school, 65 cts.

  =Walsh’s Algebra and Geometry for Grammar Grades.= Three chapters from
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  =White’s Two Years with Numbers.= For second and third year classes.
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  =White’s Junior Arithmetic.= For fourth and fifth years. 45 cts.

  =White’s Senior Arithmetic.= 65 cts.

       _For advanced works see our list of books in Mathematics._

                      Drawing and Manual Training.

  =Thompson’s New Short Course in Drawing.= A practical, well-balanced
    system, based on correct principles. Can be taught by the ordinary
    teacher and learned by the ordinary pupil. Books I-IV, 6 × 9 inches,
    per dozen, $1.20. Books V-VIII, 9 × 12 inches, per dozen, $1.75.
    Manual to Books I-IV, 40 cts. Manual to Books V-VIII, 40 cts.
    Two-Book Course: Book A, per dozen, $1.20; Book B, per dozen, $1.75;
    Manual, 40 cts.

  =Thompson’s Æsthetic Series of Drawing.= This series includes the
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    cents.

  =Thompson’s Educational and Industrial Drawing.=

    Primary Free-Hand Series (Nos. 1–4). Each No., per doz., $1.00.
       Manual, 40 cts.
    Advanced Free-Hand Series (Nos. 5–8). Each No., per doz., $1.50.
    Model and Object Series (Nos. 1–3). Each No., per doz., $1.75.
       Manual, 35 cts.
    Mechanical Series (Nos. 1–6). Each No., per doz., $2.00. Manual, 75
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  =Thompson’s Manual Training No. 1.= Clay modeling, stick laying, paper
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  =Thompson’s Manual Training No. 2.= Mechanical drawing, clay
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  =Drawing Models.= Individual sets and class sets of models are made to
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  =Anthony’s Mechanical Drawing.= 98 pages of text, and 32 folding
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  =Anthony’s Machine Drawing.= 65 pages of text, and 18 folding plates.
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  =Anthony’s Essentials of Gearing.= 84 pages of text, and 15 folding
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  =Daniels’s Freehand Lettering.= 34 pages of text, and 13 folding
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  =Seidel’s Industrial Instruction= (Smith). A refutation of all
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  =Waldo’s Descriptive Geometry.= A large number of problems
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  =Whitaker’s How to use Woodworking Tools.= Lessons in the uses of the
    hammer, knife, plane, rule, square, gauge, chisel, saw and auger.
    104 pages. 60 cents.

  =Woodward’s Manual Training School.= Its aims, methods and results;
    with detailed courses of instruction in shop-work. Illustrated. 374
    pages. Octavo. $2.00.

              _Sent postpaid by mail on receipt of price._

                 America’s Story for America’s Children

      A series of history readers by Mara L. Pratt. In five books.

=Book I.—The Beginner’s Book.= This is introductory to the series, and
is adapted to third and fourth year classes. Its purpose is to develop
centers of interest, and to present the picturesque and personal
incidents connected with the greater events in our history.

The book contains about sixty illustrations, four of which are in color.
Cloth. 132 pages. 35 cents.

=Book II.—Exploration and Discovery: 1000–1609.= The second book tells
the story of the great discoverers and explorers from the time of Leif
Ericson to Henry Hudson. It portrays the pomp and pride of the Spanish,
the simple life and customs of the aborigines, and the sturdy temper of
the early English and Dutch navigators.

A large number of illustrations from authentic sources add to the
interest and value of the stories. Cloth. 160 pages. 40 cents.

=Book III.—The Colonies.= The story of the founding of the first
settlements on this continent, and of the beginnings of the thirteen
colonies. The style is animated and attractive; the subject matter
includes the results of the most recent research, and the most accurate
data that are available concerning the earlier colonial period.

                                                            [_In press._

=Book IV= treats of the early settlements in the Mississippi Valley, the
French and Indian Wars, etc., and gives vivid and definite ideas of the
heroes of the later colonial period.

                                                            [_In press._

=Book V= tells the story of the Revolution, the causes that led to it,
and of the men who guided the development of events and laid the
foundations of the Republic. The victories of peace, and the growth of
the nation in wealth and power are also set forth.

                                                      [_In preparation._

                      D. C. HEATH & CO. Publishers

                     BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON

                          TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

 1. Silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling.
 2. Archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings retained as printed.
 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.