Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-09-15
SIGHTS ON A SOUTH SEA ISLAND.
A Native Describes the Delicate Details
of Cannibalism.


Teetee Houhon, from the South Sea
Island, says: Il myself, before was con-
verted TO Christianity and had mingled
with Europeans, had eaten human flesh,
and relished it, too. Why, even now it re-
quires all my resolution when the craving
comes upon me to resist knocking down
every plump maiden / see and proceeding
to bake or boil her. When Fiiians want
to build temple or boat, or at the launch
ing of canoe, chiefs have been known to
kill several men for rollers, so that the
canoe could be more readily launched,
and the rollers were atterward cooked and
eaten. There was one chief who killed a
man for the keel and one for every plank
that was put in, and they were eaten as
food for the carpenters. They used to have
another custOm-that of numbering men
to wash the deck of the canoe with fresh
blood, but the missionaries have induced
the natives to cease the practice. At
battle once at MOOurna the supply of
prisoners was greater than the warriors
could consume, so they were piled up be-
tween two cOcOanut trees, and it took two
days TO cook them. The rdlekdTUSd. or
trunk, was thrown away, as it would not
keep. In 1851 80 bodies were cooked at one
time at Mamena. The heads, hands and
intestines were thrown away on that &C.
casion, but in times Of great scarcity there
is no waste.
"When the bodies are being arranged
for the oven they have peculiar beating
of the drum. One of the natives strikes
the water with pole in a manner that is
understood to mean that they have a
bGkOLO, or corpse, to eat. When they get
near to shore they begin their war dance,
and the women on shore respond. When
the boat lands the body is dragged ashore
by vine attached to the left hand. Then
it is dragged by two men, face downward,
to the town, while the rest go in front
brandishing their weapons, throwing their
clubs aloft and singing their weird and
shrill songs. The body is dragged to the
chief, who directs the chief priest to offer
it to the war god. Then the body is taken
to the oven and carved. The carving in
strument is a slit bamboo, and the several
members are cut off joint by joint. A long,
deep cash is made down the abdomen and
all around the neck to the bone, and the
head is quickly twisted OFT. 1t is not often
that bodies are baked whole, but when it is
tits covered with black powder, the body
having been placed in a sitting posture.
When it is boiled the flesh is taken from
the bones.
"When was a boy Lott, chief, killed
his wife and ate her. She went with him
to plant tdrO, and when the work was
done he sent her to gather wood to make
fire and collect leaves to line the oven
with, and to procure bamboo to cut up
what was to be eaten. The good wife
willingly obeYed, and when everything
was ready he seized, disembowelled her,
cooked and ate her, calling in friends to
assist. The woman was his equal, and
he had no complaint to make against her.
"The heart, the thigh and the arm above
the elbow are considered the greatest deli
cacies. The head is least thought of. The
shin-bones make excellent sail-needles,
and if the body is that of an enemy the
chief says: Don't hit him in the head, for
/ want the skull for drinking-cup.'
"Human flesh is extremely difficult to
digest, so that even the healthiest men sui
fer from confined bowels for several days
after the feast. Generally vegetables are
eaten with the bokola, or dead man, as
they aid digestion. They use the leaves of
the malawacT and the tudavo, with which
they wrap up the flesh. Sometimes they
eat the gum which has been hung up and
preserved in turmeric. Then they have
fruit that resembles the tomatoes that l
see in this country, called the borodina."