Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1885-07-02
TRIBEs OF cANNrnAIa


. s.a0es - Attica Inak eat human flesh Is
likely to have . liosl,itable reception. and
= certain 70 find himself Among natives
VINO, ~ their intelligence. arts and phra.
lca1 and moral qualities are not eaualed
Dy many Of the native tribes. This fact.
indeed, Is true Of men eaters the world
over, notwithstanding the popular i'm
preston that cannibaIisrn charncterizes
only the lowest levels Of savage life. It
was true IN Columbus time. when he
wrote 90 Queen isabella that the cannibaI
CfTlbbees filled the natives Of Hayfi with
AFFECT terror. The word cannibaI signi-
iles = brave OF valiant man, and Is de-
Ilved from the name by which tho
Cafrlbccs called themselves.
4 few hundred miles northwest OF
Lake Albert Nyanza on the banks Of
the rlver Wciie, lives a great tribe whose
canniDalism Is tho most pronounced OF
any Of the natives of Africa. They are
the Monbnttus, o rcd-skinned race,
physically fine specimens Of manhood,
aud FAR superior TO the black tribes
around them in arts OF war or peace.
Ihey InhaDit beautiful. fertile
country, where forests alternate with
rolling downs. They engage III agri-
culture, and human fle-h. though fire.
quent, Is not regular article OF food ex-
cept among the wealtlller families.
Schwcinfurth, who lived among them
Tor several months. says they are not,
like very many African tribes, childish
IN speech and in their processes Of
thought, but that they understand rea-
sonable questions and gifc reasonable
answers. The specimens OF their pot
terry, decorated with ornamental figures,
that arc now in the Eihnographical mu-
scum Of Berlin are said to equal the best
examples of Egyptian art They arc I'M
genious wood carvers, and the greatest
house builders in Africa One rooted
building described by Schwcinfurth,
built Of timbcrs, was 100 feet long, sixty
feet wide aud fifty feet high, and held
an audience OF nearly 1 900 persons.
It Is characteristic OF cannibal tribes to
conceal their practices rs much as posi-
bic from those not addicted to them.
Neither Schwcinfurth, Junker nor Ga
satl has seen the Monbuttus ON many oc
casions preparing or eating human flesh.
During his months of residence among
them, Schweinfurth on just two occasions
saw women Of the tribe preparing human
flesh for consumption lie came upon
them as they were boiling sundry arms
and legs, but his presence was unex-
pccted and unwelcome, and he was in
yited TO 90 elsewhere. In conversation,
however, the Monbuttus made no secret
Of their practices, Of which,, in
decd, there were abundant evi.
dcnces in the heaps Of carefully picked
human bones that were scattered about
eAtnfn HhAs es1Ns.
tho prisoners they take in the wars they
arc almost incessantly wagiug with one
or another Of the tribes about them
"The cannibalism OF the Monbuttus,
says Schweinfurth, lis unsurpassed by
any savages III the world. But, with all
that, the Monbuttus are noble race of
men, who display certain national pride,
and arc endowed with intellect and iudg-
ment such as few Africans can boast 4"
Stanley thought he found evidences Of
cannibalism among some 80 tho Congo
tribes, near Stanley pool, Mnen he first
descended the river. aud his suspicious
have since been amply confirmed by his
associates who have founded white sta
tions among tho Bangala and at the
mouth Of the Aruwimi river. The Congo
natives, like the Monbuttis. 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 natives of N3vo Rcdondo. IN
Portuguese Angola, whom j. Montciro
described as the finest race Of blacks in
every way hc had met in Africa. He
said there was no question Of the su-
perior physique aud mental qualities of
this cannibal tribe, and be thought their
superiority might actually be the result Of
the horrid custom by which they sup
piled themselves with larger
amount of animal food than
other tribes used. It is FAR
moro likely. however, that their superb
GRITTY, instead Of being the result Of can
nibalism, made il possible for them 60
be cannibals by enabling them to prey
with impunity upon weaker tribes. The
greatest excuses Of canniballsm have
always been found among the higher
savage tribes Of nations like the ancient
Mcxicans and pcrusians. The most en-
couraging 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 IL the missionaries had
accomplished nothing more among tho
islanders OF the Pacific, it would be to
their lasting credit that they have induced
many thousands of the natives to give
np this practice. There are many tribes
il the p0pnlous island groups Of ocean,
ca among whom cannibalism is now 0nly
4 tradition. The one signal result thus
far of missionary labors among the Terra
del Fnegans is the fact that they have
induced che natives to give up the prac-
tice Of eating human flesh.
The march Of civilization Is rapidly
reducing tho number Of cannibal peo-
pies. They are still numbered, however,
by many thousands, and are probably far
more numerous il our own hemisphere
than in tho eastern half OF the world. I'm
the Matte Crosse province Of Brazil,
recently visited By the German explor-