REVISITING MY PYGMY HOSTS
By Paul Schebesta
Dr. Sehebesta's books on the in- habitants of the Congo fall into a category about halfway between the
academic works of anthropologists and the more lurid efforts of popular traveloguers. In the present volume (Hutchinson, 18s.), he describes his latest visit to the Ituri forests to study in greater detail the social life of the pygmies. Readers of his earlier books need not fear repetition, for the author carries his investigations into more intimate aspects of character and custom than he was previously able to do, and is not concerned with living conditions with which he has already dealt. The pygmies are a suspicious, secretive people, and Dr. Schebe_sta had to wait patiently for years, gradu- ally winning their confidence, before he was permitted to observe the course of tribal and domestic life and learn their tradition and folk-lore. His patience was well rewarded, as this most inter- esting book shows.
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