Akkas

Akkas, the northernmost group of the Negritos, a dwarfish negro population, which are scattered in isolated communities over a great part of the Central African forest zone. The Akkas appear to be confined chiefly to the region stretching south from Monbuttuland about the head waters of the Welle. They have been carefully studied by Dr. Schweinfurth, who met some of them at the court of the Monbuttu king Munza, and by Miani, who brought two of them to Italy in 1874. The Akkas are taller than the more southern Negritos, averaging about 4 feet 9 or 10 inches in height. They are a quick, nimble people, using both lance and bow and arrow skilfully, and are consequently often employed by the Monbuttus to hunt the elephant, which they face fearlessly. Yet they walk with the toes turned inwards, in this respect differing from all their neighbours. Next to nothing is known of their social condition and domestic habits, as they have never been visited in their homes. But according to their own account, the Akkas, known also as Tikki-tikki, are a hunting people, living exclusively in the forests, and possessing no domestic animals except poultry. Their nearest congeners are the pygmy people discovered in 1888 by Stanley in the dense forests of the Aruwimi valley.