The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-09-06
A Gentle Savage.

Having interviewed this priestess, I had
the honor of an introduction to the famous,
or infamous, chief of the cannibal Dyaks,
Sibau Mobang. He came into my house
one day accompanied by his suite of two
women and three men, and hardly know
whether host or visitor felt the moro un-
comfortable. His personal appearance bore
out the idea that had formed Of him by
the reports had heard of his ferocity and
the depravity of his nature; but I was hard
ly prepared to SEQ such an utter incarnation
of all thatis most repulsive and horrible in
the human form. As he entered my float
ing habitation he assumed sort of air of
hesitation, almost amounting to trembling
fear, which added to rather than detracted
from the feelings of repulsion with which I
viewed him. He stood for moment or
two, neither moving nor speaking, watch
ing me narrowly when f pretended not to
be looking at him, and then sat down
quietly couple of yards from my feet.
He is man apparently about fifty years
of age, of yellowish. brown color, and
rather sickly complexion. His eyes have a
are dark lines. like shadows of crime. He
is continually blinking his eyes, never let
ting them meet those of his interlooutor, as
if his conscience did not allow him to look
any one straight in the face. His face is
perfectly emaciated, every feature shrunken
and distorted. The absence of teeth in the
gums gives the bones an extra prominence.
A few stiff black hairs for mustache and a
few struggling ones on his chin, add to tie
weird lock; his ears hang down low, pierced
with large holes two inches in length. His
right arm, on which he wears tin bracelet,
is paraly2ed, and he is unable to open his
right hand without the assistance Of his left,
lifting each finger separately. and closing
them again with little less dif6culty.s For
this reason he wears his mandeau on his
right side, and the many r. VIC
Tins that have fallen to
this blood-thirsty wretch he has
decapitated left-handed. At that very time,
as, she sat conversing with me through my
interpreter, and sketched his portrait, he
had fresh upon his head the blood of no
less than seventy victims. men, women and
children, whom he and his followers had
just slaughtered, and whose hands and
brains he had eaten.
He told me his people did not eat human
meat every day-,that was q feast reserved.
for head hunting, expeditions; at other
times their food consisted of the flesh of
various animals and birds, rice and wild
fruits. For whole year, however, they
had had no rice owing to the failure Of the
crops. When heard this told Kichil to
bring forward q large kettle of rice which:
was boiling, and to place it before my
guests, together with some salt The
eagerness with which they ate the rice
rolling it first between their hands 90 as to-
form solid rolls. bore out the statement
that they had lately been kept on very short
commons" indeed. The whole time he
sat in my room Sibau Mobang seemed very
grave, and kept necessarily turning his
head away from. me, SO that it was not diff
cultto get q portrait Of him in profile. Hi4
visage, his still more grim manner. made me
wonder whether he could ever laugh. The
idea. seemed horribly ludicrous; tried,
however, to get q smile on his oountenance,
but without success. until, when I had fin.
ished my sketch, ! handed II to him to ex-
anime. He scrutinized it closely, then
looked ct me For the first time full in the
face and actually smiled 3 ghastly smile,
horribly suggestive Of nightmare. He
made signs that he wished TO keep il but +
made him understand that I could ots<lat
him have il go. sss