Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-09-25
Gales aud Sketfhes.
The Cannibals OF Africa.

O8nOlOatfsm Is now IcSdrucu uy mouy
as practically extinct. but the following
from the New York Sun will be Of inter-
est: ANY white man who visits the few
tribes in Africa that eat human flesh is
likely to have q hospitable reception. and
is certain to find himself among natives
who in their intelligence. arts. and physi-
cal and moral qualities are not equaled
by many OF the native tribes. This fact.
indeed, is true OF men eaters the world
over, Notwithstanding the popular impress
sion that canibalism charactrrizes only
the lowest levels o. savage life. 1t WAS
true in Columbus time. when he wra,e to
Queen Isabella that the cannibal Carrib-
bees filled the natives Of Havti with alb
ject terr,r. The word cannibsl signifies
a brave or valiant man, and is d.rived
from the name by which the Carribees
called themselves.
A few hundred miles northwest of Lake
Albert Nvanza. on the banks OF the river
Welle. lives great tribe whose cannibal-
ism is the most pronounced of any OF the
natives of Africa. They are the Monbut-
tus, 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,
fertile country. where forests alternate
with rolling downs. They engage in ag-
riculture. and human flesh. though ire.
quent, is not regular article of food ex-
cept among The weather. fami.
lies. Schweinfurth, who lived among
them for several months. says they
are not. like very many African
tribes. childish in speech and in their
processas Of thought, but that they un-
derstand reasonable questions and give
reasonable answers. The specimens of
their pottery. decorated with ornamental
figures, that are now in the E'hnographi-
cal Museum of Berlin are said to equal
the best examples of Egyptian art. They
are ingenious woOd-carvers, and the great
est house builders in Africa. One rooted
building described nv Schweinturh. built
Of tmbers. was $50 feet long. 60 feet
wide and 80 feet high and neld an audience
of nearly 1000 persons.
1t is characters ic of canni5al tribes to
conceal their practices rs much as posi-
BILE from those not addicted to them.
Neither Schweinfurth, Junker, nor Cas-
att has seen the Monbuttus on MANY oc-
casions preparing or eating human flesh.
During his months of residence among
hem. Schweiniurlh on just two occasions
saw women of the Tube preparing human
flesh tor consumption. He came upon
them as they were boiling sundry arms
and legs. but his presence was unexpected
and unwelcome. and he was invited to 90
elsewhere. In conversation. however, the
Monbuttus made no secret of their prac-
tees. of which. indeed. there were abun-
dant evidences in the heaps of carefully
picked human bones that were scattered
about all their settlements. Their victims
are the prisoners they take in the wars
they are almost necessarily waging with
one or another of the tribes about them.
the cannibalism of the Monbuttus,"
SAYS Schweinfurth, sis unsurpassed by any
savages in the world. But, with all that,
the Monbuttus are noble race of men.
who display a certain national pride. and
are endowed with intellect and judgment
such az few Africans can boast Of
STANLEY thought he found evidences of
cannibalism 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 aSsoci-
ates, who have founded white stations
among the Blngaa and at the mouth of
the Aruwimi river. The Congo natives
like the Monbuttus, try to hide from the
white, the evidences of their practices
Next to the Monbuttus. the African tribe
that are most notorious as man eaters. are
the natives of Nnvo Redono, Portuguese
Angola, whom j. Monterio described us
the finest race OF blacks in every way that
he hal met in Africa. He said there was
no question of the superior physique and
mental qualities If this cannibal tribe. and
he thought their superiority might actual
" be the result of the horrid custom by
which they supplied themselves with a
larger amount of animal food than other
tribes used. 1t is far more likely, howev-
er. that their superiority, instead of being
the result of cannibalism. made 1t possible
for them to be cannbals bv enabling them
to prey with impunily upon the weaker
tribes. The greatest excess of ccnnibal-
ism have always been found among the
higher savage tribes or nations like the
ancient Mexicans and Peruvians The
most encouraging fact with regaad 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 accomplished nothing more among
the islands of the Pacific, it would be to
their lasting credit that they have induced
many thousands of the natives to give up
this practice.