The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1933, Page 95

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER 95

women are only about three and one-fourth feet
high. Their mode of living is most simple in every
way, and their religious ideas are so crude that they
have no word to designate a higher being. Though
a very happy-go-lucky people upon the whole, their
peace of mind is frequently disturbed by the thought
of evil spirits, who, they think, inhabit the animals
and plants around them.

These pigmies are found in the heart of the
Nassau Mountains, toward the western end of the
island. They are a very friendly folk, willing to ex-
change presents with visitors and not inclined to
haggle much over the price of anything they may
wish to sell. They are very timid and desperately
poor according to our standards; but what they
have they are willing to share in the way of hospi-
tality with their guests.

Mentally they are much like children and are
amazed at the simplest and most matter-of-fact
things. Thus they were delighted when permitted
to thumb the pages of a note-book owned by one of
the members of the exploring party which first dis-
covered them a few years ago. Whenever a visiting
pigmy would come to the village where the explor-
ing party made its headquarters, he would be shown
the book, and the owner of the book would find no
peace until he permitted one of the pigmies to take
the book and thumb its pages before the visitor.
And every time the operation would bring forth ex-
pressions of delight and amazement from all the
spectators, from him who saw the fumbling of the
pages for the first time as well as from those who
had seen the thumbing many times before.

These pigmies respect the divine institution of
marriage. They have several strange marriage cus-
toms. When a man has saved enough to support a
wife, he must first pass an ordeal before he can
claim the woman of his choice as his wife. The rela-
tives of the bride shoot arrows at him for an hour,
and he is expected to dodge these missiles as best he
can. After he has stood the test, he builds a house,
and the marriage ceremony takes place. A part of
this ceremony is quite painful for the young bride;
for it consists in the chopping off of one of her
fingers with a stone ax by the husband-to-be. If the
wife should die, the husband chops off one of his
own fingers. The women are much fewer in number
than the men, and so the competition for brides is
very keen among them. :

The tools and weapons of these Papuan pigmies,
knives, axes, and other utensils, are all of stone.
They have permanent villages and for a livelihood

carry on a primitive form of farming. These small
folk clear their fields with great difficulty, partly be-
cause of the dense vegetable growth, partly because
of their own feeble strength, and partly because of
their poor tools. After they have cleared a patch,
they fence it in as a protection against the wild pigs,
which are found in the surrounding forests in great
numbers.

Their main food is a kind of sweet potato.
Sugar-cane is considered a delicacy. Lemons and
several kinds of berries give some variety to their
fare. They hunt the wild pigs of the jungle, and
a wild pig roast is the main attraction at their
feasts. These little people are adepts with the bow
and arrow, and many a pig falls a victim to their
good marksmanship. Upon the arrival of visitors
a young pig, kept for the purpose, as was the fatted
calf in Bible days, is trussed to a pole and shot with
an arrow, and then a feast of roast pork is prepared
in honor of the visitor.

These little people smoke, but they know nothing
of alcoholic drinks. The men smoke their tobacco
in pipes, while the women and children indulge in
cigarets. The tobacco is rolled into long ropes and
then cured. Their white discoverers report that
these pigmies drink very little water; they drink
only at infrequent intervals and then very small
quantities.

Thus, then, even at this late day in the history
of the world there are hitherto unknown peoples
found living in isolated places of the globe and
walking “in darkness and in the shadow of death,”
peoples with immortal souls, bought with the same
precious blood of Jesus which also redeemed us from
sin, death, and the power of the devil that we might
be His own and live under Him in His kingdom™
here in time and hereafter in eternity. And it is
with reference to these poor pigmies that Jesus tells
us also: Go ye and teach them all things I have
commanded you and baptize them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

F. J. L.

Buddha’s Tooth.

In the ancient city of Kandy, which lies seventy-
five miles by rail from Colombo on “Ceylon’s isle,”
there stands the Dalada-Maligawa, 7.¢., Palace of
the Tooth. This temple of Buddha, built like a
fortress, is overshadowed by a six-cornered tower
with a golden roof. The building is surrounded by
a deep moat, filled with clear water, where number-