The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-03-12
THE TRIBUNE,
'NHE CANNIBALS.
ANenderfal Narrative b, N.DuChat,l.


- last evening at Steinwav Hall NJ n
Cnalliu' the celebrated African travelle
anu hunter, gave an account of his ad
.eR'ncs among. the Faus, Gambia
trloe OF Africa, discovered by him durin,
Explorations OF that continent
nteie after eight NJ. Du Chaillu entered
ana made his bow. He is small sized
oafx complexloned, gentlemanly man, anc
spoke with French accent, and not yer,
nnently, but in simple, direct and pleas
hgsmanner. After Introductory remark.
explaining how he came to visit the
count Of, the Faus, he said Il never
.DefDre. saw such wild men. They were
all armed to the teeth with spears, pois-
oned arrows and knives. Their bodies
we're tattered all over their teeth were
dyed black and they looked more like
ghous than like men. On the ground
were the skulls of dead men, and bones
were scattered all through the streets.
The women were the ugliest [ ever saw,
and were much smaller than the men.
The King did not want to see me, being
afraid that he should die he saw spirit
The men did not seem afraid, but the
women did. | saw one of the latter run
into one of the huts with the leg of a man
just cut Off This made me feel uncom-
Portable, and my only consolation was
that L was very thin and not worth much
tor eating, At length the King came to
me, surrounded by his warriors He
was dressed with the skins of wild beasts,
and held a spear in his hands. He look
ed at me with wonder, and | did the
same with him. He said he was not
afraid of me when surrounded by his
warriors. | put a bold face on it, and
SAID that spirits were never afraid, also
They gave me a 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 grand recep-
ton. Cannibals from every part Of the
country had come to see me. They got
accustomed to me In time, and to them,
and we became the best friends. After
few days the Queen came to see me.
She was a lovely creature-teeth sharp
ened to point, body tattooed all over.
Cooked plantains were brought to me to
eat. l told them that never ate cooked
food; for was aftaid that mems flesh
had been cooked in the same pot before.
The cannibalism of the people is of the
worst kind. They eat the bodies, not of
their enemies only, 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 that [ knew of,
corpse five days dead, was sold for food.
I They like their game high. They all
agree that woman is tenderer than a
man-not the meat merely, but the
whole body. Boys also are tender, but
old men very tough. myself could see
no difference in the appearance Of the
ihesh of the men and that of the gorilla,
except that it 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 tornados The walls are
made OF the bark of trees; they have a
little door in front and back door, but
no windows Polygamy is common
among them, and the more wives man
has the happier he seems to be. Slavery
is known, but is not much practiced, be-
cause men are scarce; and they prefer to
eat them rather than make slaves of
them. They work iron in the most beau
tlful manner, make knives, spears, and
very sharp axes. They are exceedingly
given to Eighth g, hence their fondness
for working in iron, and their expertness
at it Nothing from the coast reaches
them except few beads and pieces of
copper. They cover the handles of their
knives with skin taken from the bodies
of men. On parting, the King made me
present of one of these; it had belong
ed to his father, and was covered with
human skin.
One day as [ was laying in forest, /
got woked up by an army of bashiquas-
a strange kind of ant. [ was so much
a bitten by them that | was half dead An
antelope had been killed the day before
by King Bongo, which | had intended
to eat. But it was now covered with oh
millions of antsl They are the most won
derfni insects in the forest. They are
the plague and dread of every living
thing. When they attack village, the
people have to light fires, pour hot water
around, and strew burning ashes around,
to get rid of these little pests. They are
really wonderful always in single line,
and some times the line is miles upon
niiles in length. The line is generally two
inches in breadth, and there are officers
throughout the entire length keeping
watch, SO that none OF these ants get out
of line. | watched line passing one
! particular spot. and it was twelve hours
before the last OF those ants had passed.
1 And as they 90 through the forest, at a
certain signal they spread themselves out
and attack everything that comes in their
way They will even go to the tops of
trees; and the insects and everything else
flies away before them. Elephants, ante
lopes, gazelles. snakes, scorpions, all run
away as fast as they can In fact, many
2 time, have been warned of the COM
ing of these bashiquas by the insects and
other creatures flying away IL opposite
direction. | got ready for them by hav-
ing the frss lighted. They are the most
voracious little creatures you can imagine.
If they found a dead elephant on their
line of march they would attack it. and
in very short time nothing would be
left. but. the bones Sometimes the
chiefs will have man tied up TO a tree.
and within an hour or two nothing would
be left Of him but the skeleton They
! certainly are the most voracious creatures
] ever saw. One singular circumstance
connected with them is that they are
afraid of the sun. IF they come to a
part of the forest where the sun is shin
ing they dig a tunnel under the spot, and
pass 1t by that means, and so continue
their march through the forest, in single
, file as before -
= STHK DANGERS OF BENzGNE-Ou lady
readers should be informed that the liquid
called benzine, which they use so freely
for removing grease and stains from
clothing, is very dangerous article. 1t