Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-04-17
A Wonderful Narrative by NJ. Du
Chaillu.
From the New York World,

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Last evening, at Steinway Hall, NJ.
Du Chaillu, the celebrated African
traveller and hunter, gave an account
of his adventures among the Faus, a
cannibal tribe of Africa, discovered
by him during his explorations OF
that continent. A little after eight,
Nj. Du Chaillu entered and made his
bow. He is a small-sized, dark com
pleXioned, gentlemanly man, and
spoke with a French accent, and not
very fiuently, but in a simple, direct,
and pleasing manner. After intro
ductory remarks, explaining how he
came to visit the country of the Faus,
he said
never before saw such wild men.
They were all armed to the teeth
with spears, poisoned arrows, and
knives. Their bodies were tattoOed
all over; their teeth were dyed black,
and they looked more like ghosts than
men. On the ground were the skulls
OF dead men, and bones were scat
tered all through the streets. The wo-
men were The ugliest 1 ever saw, and
were much smaller than the men,
The king did not want to see me, be-
ing afraid that he should die if he
saw spirit. The men did not seem
afraid, but the women did. 1 saw
one of the latter run into one of the
huts with the leg of a man Just cut
Off This made me feel uncOmforta-
bic, and my only consolation was,
that / was very thin, and not worth
much for eating. AT length the king
came to me, surrounded by his war
riors. He was dressed with the skins
of wild beasts, and held spear in his
hand. He looked at me with wonder,
and l did the same with him. He
said he was not afraid of me when
surrounded by his warriors. 1 put a
bold face on 1t, and said that spirits
were never afraid, also. They gave
me hut to sleep in, but / did not
sleep that night-the woman with the
leg depressed my spirits. In the
morning, when / arose and went out
at the back door, met with a grand
reception. Cannibals from all parts
of the country had come to see me-
They got accustomed to me I'm time.
And to them, and we became the
best friends.
After few days the queen came to
see me. She was lovely creature
teeth sharpened to point-body tat
toOed all over. Cooked plantains were
brought me to eat. / told them i
never ate cooked food, for 1 was afraid
that mems flesh had been cooked I'm
the same pot before. The cannibal-
ism of these people is of the worst
kind. They eat the bodies, not only
of their enemies, but also of their
own people. A man, however, does
not eat the body of one of his own
family, but families exchange their
dead with each other. In one case
was sold for food. They like their
game high. They all agree that n
woman Is tenderer than man-not
the heart merely, but the whole body.
Boys, too, are tender, but old men
very tough. l myself could see no
difference in the appearance of the
flesh of the men and that of the GO
rilla, except that 1t was little finer
in texture.
But In spite of their cannibalism,
they are, In many respects, the finest
tribe In that country. Their houses
are built low, not more than five feet
in height, on account of the tOrnadOeS.
The walls are made of the bark OF
trees; they have little door i'm front
and back door, but no windows
Polygamy Is common among them,
and the more wives u man has the
happier he seems to be. Slavery is
known, but is not much practised, be-
cause men are scarce, and they prefer
to eat them rather than make slaves
of them. They work iron In the most
beautiful manner; make knives,
spears, and very sharp axes. They
are exceedingly given to fighting,
hence their fondness of working in
iron, and their aptness ut 1t, Noth-
ing from the coast reaches them, eX-
cept few beads and pieces of copper.
They cover the handles of their
knives with skin taken from the bod
les of men. On par,ing, the king
made me II present of one Of these
it had belonged to his father, and was
covered with human skin.