Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-16
AFRICAN cANNiBALS.
h Story of White Man Who Lived
Fifteen Months Among Them.

Fifteen Months Among Them.
About a year ago a report was tele-
graphed over the world that the whites
in some of the Upper Congo stations
had been killed and eaten by cannibals.
The report was not believed. because a
few white men had Travelled up and
down the river for a year or two with
out discovering evidences of cannibal-
ism except in one tribe. SANKEY'S re-
Gently published book threw no light on
the subject of Congo cannibals, though
it did record the appalling rnmor atioat
among some of the tribes that the
whites were very fond of eating black
people. The report that the whites on
the Upper river had become food for
the natives proved false, as was ex-
pected, and recently a good deal OF in
formation has been brought back about
the cannibal tribe whose numerous viii
liages line the river for a distance of
about eight hundred miles from its
mouth.
The Congo State is on good terms
with this tribe, the Bangallas, and has
a station in the midst OF them. 1t was
the Bangallas who sailed out in their
big war canoe and gave Stanley the
fiercest reception he encountered when
he first forced his way down the river.
AS is usual with cannibal tribes, they
are superior in courage, physique, and
mental ability to the surrounding peo-
Piles, and they lord it over a considera-
BILE area. Mr.. Wcstmark, who has
lived among them for fifteen months,
has Just lectured in France on their
peculiarities, and chiefly on the prac-
tice of anthropophagy as it exists
among them.
According to him they engage in the
practice only upon the death of we'll
TODD or influential men, whose slaves
are killed at the graves of the deceased
persons, so that they may accompany
their masters and minister to their
wants in the other world. 1t has been
the custom to sacrifice at least twenty
victims at the death of every important
person. Bound hand and foot the poor
wretches are bcheaded, and half of
them are buried in the grave of their
master. The bodies Of the other ten
are reserved for the big fetc that con-
cludes the funeral ceremonies. Native
beer in great quantities is prepared
days in advance of the feast. The
flesh of their murdered slaves is placed
in great earthen pots full of water and
boiled until half the water is evapor-
ated, and then the banquet is ready to
begin.
The orgie continues for a day or two
until all the refreshments are exhausted
and q large part of the male popula-
ton is dead drunk. The Congo mis-
sionaries appear to think that the BAN
gallas are sadly in need of reformatory
influences, and they intend to establish
a station among them. Mr.. Westmark
makes the interesting statement that
although cannibalism has been prac-
ticed to a large extent among the Ban
gallas, it has now considerably dimin-
ished on account of the influence of
the whites, and he believes that after
Europeans have lived in the country a
little longer it will disappear.
Among the many millions of vag
in Africa there are very few cannibals.
Schweinfurth found that the large
Moubutu tribe on the Welle Makua
were addicted to the practice. 1t also
exists among the Mucelis of Angola,
among the Bangallas of the hyperion
go, among some of the natives on the
Aruwimi tributary of the Congo, and
was formerly practiccd to a small cx-
tent in some parts of South Africa.
AS a rule, the natives who indulge in
the horrid custom try to conceal it
from the whites who visit them, and
nowhere does it long survive the growth
of white influences in districts where it
has flourished.-Chicago Tribune.