The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-09-09
LOVERS OF HUMAN FLESH.
PEcuLrARITIEs OF THE MAN-EAT-
ERS OF AFRICA.
CannibaIs Superior in Intelligence
10 Other SavagcS-COnccaltng
Their Horrible Practices.

10 Other Savagcs-COnccaling
Their Horrible Practices.
ANY white man who visits the few tribes
in Africa that cat human flesh is likely
to have a h~ospitablc reception, and is
certain to lind himself among natives
who in their intelligence, arts, and phys.
ical and moral qualities are not eQualcd
bv many of the native tribes. This fact,
indeed. is true of mcn-caters the world
over, Notwithstanding the popular i'm
preston that cannibalism charactcrizcs
only the lowest levels of savage life. 1t
was true in Columbus time, when he
wrote to Queen Isabella that the cannibal
Caribbecs filled the natives of llayti
with abjcct terror. The word cannlbal
SIGNIFIES a brave or valiant man, and is
derived from the nauc by which Carib:
bees called themselves. A few hundred
miles northwest OF Lake Albert Nyanza,
on the banks of the river Welle, lives q
great tribe whose c%annibalism is the
most pronounced of any in Africa: They
are the Monbuttus, q rcd-sklnncd race,
physically fine specimens of manhood,
and far superior to the tribes around
them in arts of war or peace.
They inhabit a beautiful, fertile coun-
try, where forests alternate with rolling
downs. They engage in agriculture, and
human flesh, though q frequent, is not a
regular article of food except among the
Weather families. Schweinfurth, who
lived among them for several months,
SAYS they arc not like very many African
TRIES, childish in speech and in their
processes of thought, but that they I'M
derstard reasonable questions and give
reasonable answers, The specimens OF
their pottery, decorated with ornamental
figures, that are now in the Ethnograph'
ical museum of Berlin, are said to equal
the best examples of Egyptian art. They
are ingenious wood .carvcrs, and the
greatest house-buildcrs in Africa. One
rooted building described by Schwein-
furth, built O timbcrs, was $50 feet long,
GO feet wide and so feet high, and held
an audience of nearly 1 1000 persons.
1t is characteristic of cannibal tribes
to conceal their practices as much as
possible from those not addicted to
them. Neither Schweinfurth, Junker
nor Casati has seen the Monbutus on
many occasions preparing or eating hui
man flesh. During his months of resi-
dencc among them, Schwcinfurth on
Just two occasions saw women OF the
tribe preparing human flesh for con-
sumption. lie came upon them as they
were boiling sundry arms and legs, but
his presence was unexpected and
unwelcomc, and he was invited to
90 elsewhere. In conversation, however,
the Monbuttus made 10 secret Of their
practices, of which, indeed. there were
abundant evidences IN the heaps of care
fully picked human boncsth that were scat
tered about all their settlement. Their
victims are the prisoners they take in the
wars they arc almost necessarily waging
with one or another of the tribes about
them. "Thc cannibalism of the Mon
buttus," says Schweinfurtn, IS unsur-
passed BY any savagcs IN the world.
but, with all that, the Monbuttus are a
noble race of men, who display q certain
national pride, and arc endowed with
intellect and judgment such as few Afri.
cans can boast."
Stanley thought he found evidences
of c~annibalism among some of the Congo
tribes, near Stanley pool, when he first
descended the river, and his suspicion
has since been amply confirmed by his
associates, who have founded white Sta
tons among the Bangala and at the
mouth of the Aruwimi river. The Con,
90 natives, like the Monbuttus, try to
hide from the whites the evidences OF
their practices. .
Next to the Monbuttus. the African
tribe that arc most notorious es men
eaters arc the natives Of Novo Rcdondo,
in Portuguese Angola, whom j. Monteiro
described as the finest race of blacks
in every way hat he had met in Africa.
lie said there was no question of the 81,
pcrior physique and mental qualities OF
this cannibal tribe, and he thought their
superiority might actually be the result
of the horrid custom by which they sup.
piled themselves with a larger amount
of animal food than other tribes used. II
is far more likely, however, that their
superiority instead of being the result OF
canniLalism. made it possible for them to
be cannibals by enabling them to prey
with impunity upon weaker TRIBES. The
greatest excuses of cannibalism have
always been found among the higher
savage tribes or nations like the ancient
Mcxicans and Pcruvians. The most en-
couraging fact with regard to peoples
addicted to this custom is that rs they
rise toward the middle and upper levels
of civilization they voluntarily abandon
the practice. If the missionaries have
accomplished nothing more among the
islands of the Pacific, it would be tc
their lasting credit that they have in
daced many thousands Of the natives tc
give up this practice. -Me~ York Sun.