The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1869-04-02
INTERESTING DESCRIPTION OF THE
CANNIBAL COUNTRY,

On Wednesday evening the 26th O.
February, 1868, at Steinway Hall ID
New York City, NJ. Du Chailu, the
celebrated African Traveller and hunt.
er, gave an account of his adventure;
among the Faus, cannibal tribe of AT
riea, discovered by him during his ex-
plorations OF that continent. The wall
behind the speakers desk was complete
ly covered with pictures on canvas, H.
Illustrative of African scenery, the ami
mails which abound in the forests of that
country, and the native inhabitants. -
There might be seen tie monstrous 90
rilla, the gibbon, the ourang outang,
the chimpanzee, the termite, or white
ant, native villages, black men en- disho-
bile, and skeletons OF the gorilla and his
cousin placed side by side for compari-
son. NJ. Du Chai3lu is a small sized,
dark complexioned, gentlemanly man,
and spoke with French accent and not
very tluently, but in simple direct and
pleasing manner. After Introductory
remarks explaining how he came to Wis
it the country of the Faus, he said:-
"This country lies in the mountains
near the western coast OF Africa, about
two degrees north of the equator, and
| two hundred and fifty miles from the
coast, The village "a Eau village) stood
on the top of hill, and when / appear
! ed in it the people gathered around me
in multitudes. They took me for a
spirit, and called out, "Look at his feet,
they have no toes; his feet are black and
his face another color; what is the spir-
it We see?" | never before saw such
wild men. They were all armed to the
teeth with spears, poisoned arrows aud
knives. Their bodies were tattooed all
over, their teeth were dyed black and
they looked more like ghouls than men.
On the ground were the skulls of dead
mer and bones were scattered all
through the streets. The women were
the uglicst L ever saw and were much
smaller than the men. The King did
not want to see me, being afraid that
he should die if he saw spirit. The
men did not seem afraid, but the wo-
men did. l saw one of the latter run
into one of the huts with the leg of
man just cut off. This made me feel
uncomfortable, and my only consola-
tion was that was very thin and not
worth much for eating.
AT length .he king came to me sur
rounded by his warriors. He was dress
ed with the skins ofwild beasts and held
a spear in his hand; he looked at me
with wonder, and | did the same with
him. He said he was not afraid OF me
when surrounded by Ills warriors; put
a bold face on it, 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 de-
pressed my spirits. The cannibals got |
accustomed to me in time, and to them;
and we became the best friends. Alter |
n faaEy Il ths,
She was a lovely creature-teeth sharp |
ened to point, body tattooed all over.
The cannibalism Of these people is of |
the worst kind. They eat the bodies,
not of their enemies only, but also of |
their own people. A person, however,
does not eat the body of his own fami-
ly, but families exchange their dead
with each other. In one case that |
know OF, corpse five days dead was
sold for food. They all agree that a
woman is tenderer than n man-not the
heart merely, but the whole body
Boys also are tender, but old men very
tough. could see no difference in the
appearance ot-the flesh of men and that
of the gorilla, except that it was little
finer in texture. The 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
a little door in front ard back door,
but no windows. Polygamy is common
among them, and the more wives man
has the happier he seems to be. They
work iron in the most beautiful manner,
make knives, spears and very Sharp
axes. They are exceedingly given to
fighting, hence their fondness for work
ing in iron, and their expertness forlt
Nothing from the coast reaches them,
except f,w beads aud pieces of cop