Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-03-20
AIN INTERESTING LECTURE.

N. Du Chaillu, the celebrated French
traveller, on Wednesday evening, the
2sth of February, delivered a very in
teresting Lecture in the city of New
York on the subject of his travels in
Africa, among the Gorillas and Canni-
balls, and from which we make the fol-
lowing very interesting abstract, the
Lecture occupying several columns of u
New York paper:
NJ. Du Chaillu said that some years ago he
found himself upon the coast Of Africa, cul-
tivated the friendship Of tho chiefs and PEG.
pie, and passed = comparatively pleasant time
among them. But he longed to visit the can
nibal country and see the inhabitants for
himself. This desire he expressed to the
people Of the coast with whom he was stop
ping, and they sought to deter him from the
undertaking by every conceivable represen-
tation. He promised to be absent but three
months; consent was given, and a number
Of men furnished to accompany him to the
next kingdom. Tho cunnibals occupy a
mountainous country called Fan, situate
two degrees north Of the equator, and about
$50 miles from the coast. He carried with
him a stock Of clothing, and on his way
passed through the Mbondeno country, where
he found that his fame had preceded him,
and the people believed his trunks and boxes
carried immense wealth. They gathered
around him, and he had apprehensions for
his safety, but the distribution Of presents
made them quite peaceably disposed. He
did not remain hers for any length Of. time
L.. -..knl M - E,1l.nd Hn ory;vad NJ
the borders Of the country very hungry, and
while Watching for an opportunity to kill a
monkey for food, he saw two Fans-a man
and woman-armcd with poisoned arrows.
Alone in the presence Of cannibals was not
4 comfortable situation, and he felt some
what strange. They did not modest him, but
became his conductors to the village, and as
he walked down the streets and looked upon
the bones Of men and women whose flesh
had furnished a feast, the thoughts that
crowded upon him were not Of the most con-
selling description. The people seemed to
dread him, and ran away, one woman enter
ing her house with the leg Of q man under
arm. He was regarded as q spirit by the
Fans. But he assured the people he was not
an evil spirit; the King, however, refused to
see him on the day Of his arrival, as he
feared some evil II tho spirit looked upon
him. The succeeding day, however, the
King, with q large ~retinue, consented to re-
ceive him. The Fans, NJ. Du Chaillu says,
are cannibals Of tho worst kind, and cat the
bodies of'their dead. 1t Is not customary
for families to cat their own dead; and when
a death occurs, IN arrangement is made
whereby the party obtaining the body will
when a death takes place in his household,
reciprocate the favor, and thus the bodies
are exchanged. The Fans, he thinksrare
among the most intelligent and industrious
ordered and made Of bamboo I; but the beds
are hard, and a night upon one made his
bones ache in the morning. Polygamy Is
practised by them, but slavery is little known,
as they prefer to eat their prisoners to selling
| Fans lived 800 miles from the coast, but now
the sea. They orercame every other race
| they engaged in battle, and have either killed,
| or eaten, or absorbed them. There are black,
smiths among them, and these, upon very
large anvils, work up iron into knives and
| other weapons; but by what means they OBJ
tanned the anvils ho never could learn. A
visit was also made to the 0sheba country,
| the inhabitants Of which are also cannibals
| While in this land food became scarce, and
the King organized a hunting party. On
reaching the hunting grounds, pits twenty
feet deep were dug and converted into traps
by covering them with fallen branches, over
| which was scattered some earth, and the
| vines that trail along the ground were woven
into a sort Of network which formed an en-
closure. The men then scattered, beat Their
drums and made a great noise, driving ele,
plants into the network or into the pits, and
the result was that in three days twenty-five
elephants were killed. The meat was very
tough, but after twcnty.four hours boiling
they succeeded in making it fit to be eaten
| Having seen the cannibals and participated
in an elephant hunt, NJ. Du Caaillu returned
to the coast, and passed through a country
so infested with ants that the elephant, the
| tiger, the gorilla, and even the rats and mice,
ran away from them. These ants travel in Q
| continuous line, and upon one occasion he
observed q column Of them for twelve hours
and still the army had not passed.