Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1884-10-01
CANNIBALS FROM CHOICE.
sights and Habits on a South
Sea Island.
A Native Describes the Revolving Details
of Savage 0annibalism.

Ieelee llOUHOn, from tn6 S0utn Set
Island, says: 81 myself, before | was
converted to Christianity and had min
gled with Europeans, had eaten human
flesh, and relished it, too Why, even
now it requires all my resolution when
the craving comes upon mo to resist
knocking down every plump maiden
see and proceeding to bake or boil her.
When Fijians want to build a temple
Dr. boat, or at the launching of canoe,
chiefs have been known to kill several
men for rollers, so that the canoe can
be more readily launched, and theroll-
ers We're afterward cooked and eaten.
There was one chief who killed man
for the keel and one for every plank
that was put in, and they We're eaten
as food for the carpenters. They used
to have another custom that of muir
llering men to wash the deck Of the
canoe with fresh blood, but the mis-
sionaries have induced the natives to
cease this practice. At battle once
at Moourna the supply of prisoners was
greater than the warriors could con-
sumo, so they were piled up between
TWO oocoanut trees, and it took two
days to cook them. The UalekaruS0,
Or trunk, was thrown away, as it
would not keep. In 1851 fifty bodies
were cooked at one time at Mamena.
The head, hands and intestnes were
thrown away on that occasion, but in
lines Of great scarcity there's no waste.
"When the bodies are being arranged
for the oven they have peculiar beat
ing of the drum. One of the natives
Strikes the water with pole in a man
ner that is understood to mean that
They have a bakolo, or corpse, to eat
When they get near to shore they be-
gin their war dance, and the women
On shore respond. When the boat
lands the body Is dragged ashore by a
vine attached to the left hand. Then
it is dragged by two men, face down
ward, to the town, while the rest 90 in
front brandishing Their weapons,
throwing their clubs aloft and singing
,heir weird and shrill songs The
body is dragged to the chief, who di-
reefs the chief priest to offer it to the
war god Then the body is taken to
the oven and carved The carving in
5trument is slit bamboo, and the sew
eral 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 off. 1t is not often that bodies
are baked whole, but when it is it is
covered with a black powder, the
body being placed in 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 taro, and when the
work was done he sent her to gath er
wood to make fire and collect leaves
to line tne oven with, ana to procureTI-
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 deicacies. The head is least
thought of. The shin-bones make ex-
cellent sall-needles, and if the BODY is
that of an enemy the chief says: Don't
hit him in the heal, for 1 want the
skull for a drinking-cup.'
"Human flesh is extremely difficult
to digest, so that even the healthiest
men suffer for several days after the
feast Generally vegetables are eaten
with the bokola, or dell man, as they
aid digestion. They use the leaves Of
the malawaci and the tudavo, with
which they wrap up the flesh. Some
times they eat the gum which has been
hung up and preserved in tumeric'
Then they have fruit that resembles
the tomatoes that | see in this country,
called the borodina." -Cincinnati Ga
2ette.
II