Through unknown African countries; the first expedition from Somaliland to Lake Lamu . ey, EminPasha, Harris, and others, are of a common origin with theDume. The Dume are five or six inches taller tlian thepygmies described in various books of travel, and are muchdarker in color, so that I am led to believe thev are notquite pure-blooded ; but their uniformity in size disprovesthe idea that they have degenerated in recent years, whichis the case with the Bunno and one or two other tribeswhich I shall mention later on. Formerly they lived prin-cipally by hunting, and they still kill a great ma
Through unknown African countries; the first expedition from Somaliland to Lake Lamu . ey, EminPasha, Harris, and others, are of a common origin with theDume. The Dume are five or six inches taller tlian thepygmies described in various books of travel, and are muchdarker in color, so that I am led to believe thev are notquite pure-blooded ; but their uniformity in size disprovesthe idea that they have degenerated in recent years, whichis the case with the Bunno and one or two other tribeswhich I shall mention later on. Formerly they lived prin-cipally by hunting, and they still kill a great many ele- DESCRIPTION OF THP: DUME PV(;MIES. 275 phants with their poisoned arrows; but by the gradualencroachment of other tribes, most of the game in theneighborhood of the Dume has been driven away. TheDume now number about a thousand souls, and arewretchedly poor. They raise a few sheep and goats,and cultivate ten acres of land in the Galana valley;but being one of the lowest races in the scale of humanity,their wants are few, and they do not try to improve theircondition. *V;:#:. DUME ORXAMEXTS. The Bura had provided me with a guide who couldspeak a little Galla, as well as the language used by theDume, and it was from him that I got my informationconcerning the pygmies. About ten years ago the Dumewere conquered by the Bura, and have since been underthe rule of the Bura chief, Arshal Shada, so that they ha\elost much of their former war-like spirit. I saw only half a dozen spears among them, and aboutas many small round leather shields; but they all carried 276 THROUGH UNKNOWN AFRICAN COUNTRIES. bows, and quivers full of poisoned arrows. The first lot ofDume that came to the camp seemed as if they expectedto be murdered, and it was a long time before I could getthem to trust me. When I tried to photograph them they rushed out ofthe camp in terror, and every time I lit a match, or didsomething they could not understand, they rose to theirfeet and moved a little way off. Afte
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Keywords: ., booka, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory
