[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

168 WITH NATIVES IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC

chat in the presence of strangers, and are very
hospitable. I do not know if these are accidental
impressions, but I can only say that I always felt
safer and more comfortable in a village where the
majority of the inhabitants belonged to the small
race.

With all this the pygmies are by no means
helpless or even inferior, compared to their tall
neighbours. Possibly, in former days, they may have
been driven from their homes in the plains back into
the mountains, but at present they are quite equal
to the tall race, and the “salt-water men ” are even
a little afraid of their small neighbours inland. What
they lack in size and strength they make up in speed
and suppleness and temperament. The barrier be-
tween the races has disappeared, and the mixing
process is hastened by the fact that the small race
frequently sells its women to the tall one. It is rare
for a woman from the coast to settle in the mountains,
still, it occurs frequently enough to alloy the purity of
the pygmy race, and in no village have I found more
than about 70 per cent. of real pygmies.

In the afternoon we came to the chief’s dwelling.
The old man lived there alone with his wife, quietly
and happily, venerated by all the other people. It
was touching to see the little couple, delicate as two
dolls, who seemed to love each other sincerely, a
most uncommon occurrence in Melanesia. I really
had too much respect for the old people to trouble
them with my measuring instruments, but I could
not resist taking their pictures. After consulting her