Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-10
TRIBES OF CANNIBALS.
characteristics of Some African Peoples
that Eat Human Flesh.
From the New York sun.

From the New York sun.
ANY white man who visits the few tribes in
Africa that eat human flesh is likely to have a
hospitab1e reception, and is certain to find him.
self among natives who in their intelligence,
arts and physical and moral qualities are not
euualled by many of the native tribes. This
fact, indeed. is true of men eaters the world
over, Notwithstanding the popular impression
that cannibalism characterzes only the lowest
levels of savage life. 1t was true in Columbus
time when he wrote to Queen Isabella that the
cannibal Caribbees filed the natives of Hayti
with abject terror. The word cannibaI signifies
a brave or valiant man. and is derived from
selves.
y few hundred miles northwest of Lake AL
pert Nyanza ON the banks of the river Welle.
ilNeS great tribe whose cannibaliSm is the
most Pronounced of any of the natives of Africa.
They are the Monbuttus, a red-skinned race,
physically fine specimens of manhood and far
superior to the black tribes around them in arts
OF war or peace. They inhabit beautiful, fer
tile country. where forests alternate with roll
Ing DOWNS They engage in agriculture, and
human flesh, though "a frequent. is not regu-
lar article of food except among the weather.
them for several months says they are not.
IKE very many African tribes, childish
In speech and in their processes of thought,
out That they understand reasonable Questsons
and give reasonable answers. The specimens
of their pottery, decorated with ornamental
figures, that now in the EthnOgraphical
museum of Berlin, are said to equal the best
examples OF Egyptian art. They are ingenious
wood carvers, and the greatest house builders
In Africa. One rooted building described by
Schweinfurth, built OF timbers, was $50 feet
long, so feet wide and so feet high, and held an
audience of nearly one thousand persons.
1t is characteristic of cannibal tribes to con-
ceal their practices much as possible from
those not addicted to them. Neither Schwein-
furth Junker, nor Casti has seen the MOnbut-
tus on many occasions preparing or eating
human flesh. During his months OF residence
among them, Schweinfurth on just two Occa-
sons saw women of the tribe preparing human
flesh for consumption. He came upon them as
they were boiling sundry arms and legs, but
his presence unexpected and
welcome, and he was invited to go elsewhere.
In conversation, however, the Monbut-
which, indeed, there were abundant evil
dences in the heaps of carefully-picked human
bones that were scattered about all their settle
ments. Their victims are the prisoners they
take in the wars they are almost necessarily
waging with one or another of the tribes about
them. 1.-The cannbalism of the Monbuttus,''
says Schweinfurth, lis unsurpassed by any
sayages in the world. But, with all that, the
Monbuttus are a noble race of men, who dis.
play certain national pride and are endowed
with intellect and Judgment such as few
Africans can boast"
Stanley thought he found evidences of canni-
ballsm among some of the Congo tribes, near
Stanley Pool. when he first descended the river,
and his suspicious have since been amply con-
hrmed by his associates, who have founded
white stations among the Bangala and at the
mouth of the Aruwimi river. The Congo ma
tives, like the Monbuttus, try to hide from the
whites the evidences of their practices.
Next to the Monbuttus. the African tribe that
are most notorious as men eaters are the ma
t1yes of Novo RedOndo, in Portuguese Angola,
whom j. MonteirO described the finest race
OF blacks In every way that he had met in At
rica- he SAID there was no question of the supe-
rior physique and mental qualities of this can
nibal tribe, and he thought their superiority
might actually be the result of the horrid custom
by which they supplied themselves with a larger
amount ofanimai food than other tribes used. 1t
Is far more likely, however, that their superior
lty, instead OF being the result of cannibalism,
for hpr tn he ita1S hive,
aiding them to prey with impunity upon weaker
tribes. The greatest excuses OF cannibalism
have always been found among the higher saw
age tribes or nations like the ancient Mexicans
and Peruvians. The most encouraging fact
with regard to peoples addicted to this custom
Is that as they rise toward the middle and upper
levels of civilization they voluntarily abandon
the practice. If the missionaries had accom-
Ih an n4thng more among the islanders Of
ing credit that they have induced many thou
sands of the natives to give up this practice.
is now only tradition. The one signal result
dhqf far of labor the Terra
the natives to give up the practice OF eating
human flesh.
The march of civilization is rapidly reducing
the number OF cannibaI people. They are still
numbered, however, by many thousands, and
are probably far more numerous in our own
hemisphere than In the eastern half of the
world. In the Matte Crosse province of Brazil
recently visited by the German explorers, DR..
CltusS anu derr Won Qen Ste1nen, live ten cam
nibal tribes, numbering some 1000 or $4,000
souls. Not many hundred miles from the dis
trict occupied by these modern cannibals were
found, about twenty-five years ago, the first
conclusive evidences that man before the age
OF history ate the flesh of his fellows. In a
heap OF refuse on the Suquassu river, such as
accumulated everywhere around the dwellings
OF prehistoric man, were found, mingled with
shells and the bones of animals, numerous hui
man relics, the bones showing clearly that they
had been broken to get at the marrow. This
was the beginning of a series of discoveries re-
healing human bones, broken into pieces a few
inches long, in exactly the same way as the
bones of the deer, moose, beaver, and other ami
mails with which they have been found min
gled in hundreds OF heaps of prehistoric
kitchen refuse from Maine to the La Plata
river. Cannibalism has, therefore, the distinc-
man customs,