Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-01-16
CANNIBALS IN SAN FRANCISCO.
Three Strange Visitors from the Mar
auesas Is. ands...A Horrible Banquet.
Ian Frnncisco Call.

The French punboat Lamothe Piquet
was towed alongside the Spear street
wha RI, yesterday afternoon, and VIII go
into Cozzens' dry-dock for repairs To-
NOR row. Among the crew OF the La
mot he .Piquet are three men who, from
their peculiar facial appearance, attract
tn attention OF all observers. They
NJ, finely formed, Of large stature, with
reyu lar features, and full, soft, express
i've eyes, but their faces are, according
to civilized taste, dishgured by tattoo
in. They are natives OF the f, Marque-
"a, islands, and, learning that their his
tory might prove OF interest to the pub.
lie, q Gail reporter went on board OF the
Lamothe Piquet yesterday, and,
through the courtesy of the command
or, Capt. Beanamie, gathered some par
ticulars of their antecedents. These
men, who are 80 tractable and obedient
in their duties on s1ipboard, are verita-
BILE can nibals, and, only 2 few months
ago, were in tie habit Of dining upon
the flesh OF their own species. In pur-
suance OF an order from the command
or, the three man-eaters were summon
ed upon the quarter .deck, for the pur'
pose of being inspected by the reporter.
The eldest il called Manowa, the next
in age Hoa, and the younger Puato,
which signifies in the Marquesan tongue
son of q man who WAS killed by three
shots. Piato appeared TO be the most
yolubly inclined, and to him were the
repor torial inquiries mostly directed.
They have acquired quite smattering
Of the French language, 80 that they
Gun reply to most simple questions pro-
pound ed in that tongue. Are you not
cold, Puato2" was the first inquiry, AZ,
in ODE dience to the captain, he opened
his sh irt and displayed II hyeroglyphi-
cal m ass Of tattooing on his muscular
chest. "Ugh, yes, me very cold" chat
tered the poor fellow. "Pnato, 90 you
like to eat men?" Tho large eyes drop
ped TO the deck, almost blush started
to the surface Of the swarthy cheek not
covered by tattoo, M ne rejoined, "Cap-
tain say bad eat man." Anyone but II
newspaper reporter would have hest
tated to pursue n subject further which
evidently was distasteful TO the savage
in his present position, but the de-
sire to learn more was too strong
to be resisted. "Puato, did you ever eat u
baby 2" Tho great eyes dropped again,
and then, looking up into the reporters
face with halfscared, halEquizzical
expression, he replied: me no eat ba-
by. Manowa no like baby" Manowa
only replied to the assertion by gen
uine savage glance Il, Puato, and the
sente ntious answer in tolerably good
Fren CHI, "Sacre enfant." This untimely
attack upon tho humanitarian instincts
of Manowa had the effect of making
that individual decidedly shy Of report
orial advances, and the interview was
soon afterwa,d brought ton close.
While seated in the cabin of the In.
mothe Piquet, some interesting partic'
ulars were obtained in the course Of II
eonv ersaticn with Capt. Bienaime, Of
the natives Of tho Marquesas, and the
causes which lod to the presence on
board of the natives just referred to. In
July last, intelligence was received at
Tahiti, where the Lamothe Piquet was
then, Tint Swede had been killed on
tho island Of LII Dominion, one Of the
Marquesns group, by the natives. The
vessel Immediately got under way, aud
ON the 10th of August came in sight of
the island. On the morning of the llth
landing WINS effected, and the French
force took up u position in the valley
of Hanalapa, where thoy were soon at-
tackled by large body Of natives. The
natives were armed with muskets and
fought desperately but after while
retreated, leaving several of their NUM-,
Der dead upon the field. They wer,J
pursued, and among those captured
were the three men now on board the
Lamothe Piquet,
"Do these people, then. really prao-
lice cannibalism ut the present day p
asked the reporter.
ooh, yes, was the reply, at is still
very common among them. We even
saw remains Of one Of their horrible
banqaets in the valley Of Hanalapa. !
think the custom was falling into disuse
= hall a century ago, but during the
past twenty-five or thirty years, fire.
-lueni visits Of whalers and traders upon
she islands have had demorallzing Of.
Acct upon the natives. The women
have been debauched and the men let
into the secret OF distlling kind OF
rum from tne Cocoon lTtp. w men lnlON-
icated they commit the most revolving
barbarites, and become emhroied in
conflicts among themselves. While in
this condition they become worse than
beasts the hereditary man.eating in
stinct appears to be revived and breaks
out stronger than ever. Any of their
number who are killed in these drunk
en- broils are sure To be eaten. They
also cat the bodies of their en-.
emiss killed in battle, and II n
man has deadly spite against an.
other no does not feel that his revenge
has been satisfied until he has eaten N
piece Of his heart stewed in its own
blood. lnfractions of any of the social
laws are punishable with death, and
the body of the oulprit, after having
been cut in sections, is distributed in
the market place. that nil may eat and
be warned OF the terrible punishment
that awaits the law-breaker. In faot,"
continued Capt. Benarme, "tho worst
punishment that can befall man in
the Marquesaa is to be killed and eaten