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BAMBUTE (sometimes incorrectly called...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 304 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAMBUTE (sometimes incorrectly called See also:BATWA)  , a See also:race of pygmies of the Semliki See also:Forest, on the western See also:borders of the See also:Uganda See also:Protectorate between See also:Albert See also:Nyanza and Albert See also:Edward Nyanza . They probably See also:form merely a See also:branch of the See also:pygmy race of See also:Equatorial See also:Africa, represented farther See also:west by H. von Wissmann's See also:Batwa (q.v.) . Their complexion varies from reddish-yellow to brownish-See also:black, with See also:head-See also:hair often of a russet-See also:brown, and See also:body-hair, black and bristly on upper See also:lip, See also:chin, See also:chest, axillae and pubes, yellowish and fleecy on cheeks, back and limbs . Their See also:average height is 4 ft . 9 in . Even when forced to keep clean, their skins give out a rancid odour, some-thing (See also:Sir H . H . See also:Johnston says) between the See also:smell of a See also:monkey and a See also:negro . Their faces are remarkable for the See also:long upper lip, and the bridgeless See also:nose with enormous alae (the See also:cartilage of the nose above the nostrils) . Like the Batwa they are See also:nomad hunters, See also:building only huts of sticks and leaves, and living in the forest, where they See also:hunt the largest See also:game with no weapon but a tiny See also:bow from which they shoot poisoned arrows . Sir H . H .

Johnston states that the See also:

Bambute have a See also:good See also:idea of See also:drawing, and with a sharpened stick can See also:sketch in See also:sand or mud the beasts and birds known to them . The Bambute do not See also:tattoo or scar, nor have they any love of See also:ornament, wearing no See also:ear-rings, necklets, anklets, &c . The upper incisors and canines are sharpened to a point . In the forests they go quite naked . They speak a corrupted form of the dialects of their negro neighbours . They have a See also:peculiar way of singing their words . Their voices are See also:low and musical and the See also:pronunciation is singularly staccato, every syllable being separately uttered . They show no trace of spirit or ancestor See also:worship, but have. some idea that See also:thunder, See also:lightning and See also:rain are manifestations of an Evil See also:Power, and that the dead are reincarnated in the red See also:bush-See also:pig . They have no tribal See also:government, accepting as temporary lawgiver some See also:adept See also:hunter . See also:Marriage is by See also:purchase; See also:polygamy seems to exist, but the domestic affections are strong . The dead are buried in dug See also:graves, and See also:food, See also:tobacco and weapons are often placed with the See also:corpse . The Bambute are very musical, though they are uninventive as regards See also:instruments .

They have many songs which they sing well and they See also:

dance with spirit . See A. de Quatrefages, The Pygmies (Eng. edit . 1895) ; Sir H . H . Johnston, Uganda Protectorate (1902) .

End of Article: BAMBUTE (sometimes incorrectly called BATWA)
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