The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-28
EATERS OF HUMAN FLESH.
The Cannibals of the South Sea Islands
and Their Peculiar Ways.

| The Cannibals of the South Sea Islands
and Their Peculiar Ways
During the period throughout which Euro
peans have been in contact with the Solo
mon islanders no characteristic of them has
been, perhaps, more common than that OF
cannibalism says the Westminster Review.
When the Spaniards first discovered these
islands the man-eating habits Of the natives
became strikiDgly apparent. On the occa-
sion of the arrival of the ships at
the island, which its discoveries named st.
Isabel, the chief of the natives that
| they came in cantact with sent the general
| (Mendana) a present of a quarter of boy,
including the arm and hand, together with
some roots, which he had requested him to
accept
This custom of sending supply of veg
| etables along with the human flesh as pres
| emit was practiced among the islands of the
| Fiji group. Mariner, in his interesting
work on the Tonga islands, published in
| 1879, describes how when he arrived i'll his
canoe at an outlying island of that group.
| he found on the shore a large crate of veg
| etables with a girl sitting upon it, and as
| certained that the two were about to be
| presented as the material of n feast to the
king of the FIJI islands. Happily, he res
cued the girl from her impending fate.
Referring to the natives of the island,
which Gallego named La Florida, he says:
''They eat human flesh" and elsewhere he
relates that ''the steward, with four soldiers
| and five negroes, was sent ashore for water"
| that their boats having got aground, they
were Immediately attacked by the natives,
who, lying in ambush, rushed upon them
and Ibid not leave single soul except
negro"-belonging TO Gallego; that all the
rest they hewed to pieces, cutting out their
tongues and supping up their brains with
great ferocity."
DIR. Guppy mentions, on the authority of
H. ii. Romily, that ''the New Ireland can
nibals of the present day are fond of com
position of sage, cocoanut and human
| brains" In 1865 when the ships of Bougaln-
| ville's expedition where at Cholseul bay,
they were attacked by $50 natives in ten
| canoes; two canoes were captured and In
one of them twas found the jaw of man
half -broiled.n Capt. Redlich, master of the
schooner Franz, who visited Makira, on the
south side of st. Christoval, in 1872, states
that he found dead body in war canoe,
dressed and cooked whole. be waslntormed
by Perry a resident, that he had seen as
many as twenty bodies lying on the beach,
dressed and cooked. In 1865 Mr.. Brechley
noticed at Wano, on the north coast of this
island, the skulls OF twenty-five bushmen
hanging up under the roof of the Tambu
house, all of which show the effects of a
tomahawk, and all had been eaten"
The natives of the island of Santa Anna,
at the time DIR. Guppy visited it, abstained
from eating human flesh several years ago,
on account of a severe epidemic of sickness
having followed cannibal feast. Never
| theless, Mai, the war chief Of this island,
| has acquired considerable fortune, in ma
tive point of view, by following the protita-
BILE calling of a purveyor Ct human flesh to
the mau-eaters Of the adjacent coasts of
| ST. Christoval-a trade in which he is ably
assisted by those who accompany him on his
| foraging expeditions"
The chief was in the habit of keeping hui
man beings whom he had captured, and fat
| tening them for the market. Dr. Guppy
mentioned two prisoners whom he succeeded
| in rescuing from the hands of this monster.
When DR. Guppy visited village on the
north coast of st. Christoval. and saw the
| chief. named Toro, who received him civ
| illy and shock hands with him, he noticed
that outside the front of the chiefs house
five skulls were hanging, which belongd to
| some unfortunate bushmen who had fallen
| at his hands. "On inquiry of a native who
spoke little English" said DIR. Guppy, 81
ascertained that their bodies had been 'kaied
daied'-that is, eaten-although it was with
| n little hesitation that he admitted the
| fact.
1.-THE Shorthand natives accredit the
| Bougainville people, who live around the
| active volcano at Bagana, with the regular
practice of canuibalism, and there can be
| little doubt that this custom is extern ,ively
| practiced among the scarcely known bush
| tribes in the interior Of this large island
| OF the natives of New Georgia or Rubiana
| Capt Cheyenne AYERS that human flesh
| forms their chief article of Diet Tho doc
| tor observes: 1T is difficult To speculate on
| the reflections of the victim as he lives from
day to day in constant expectation Of his
fate"
There is reason to believe that this expec-
| tation does not produce the agonizing ter
ror which most Europeans under like cir
cumstances would experience.
sin the time not far distant when canni-
balism prevailed in New Zealand, it was oc-
casionally, at all events, the custom of a
cheef when starting on a war expedition, to
| take with him fastened together a number
of men whom he already held as captives I;
these men served as a living larder. Each
of them knew that his turn to be killed and
eaten would come; neverth eless, with the
certainty of his doom before him. he par-
took of each of his fellows whose death pre-
coded his own; and Capt Wilkes, in his ac-
count OF his exploring expedition, stated
that King Thankambau appropriated one
| Of the small islands of the Fiji group as a
human preserve. Every man imprisoned
there knew that he would ultimately serve
as food for MS ma jesty, aud such alike were
the loyalty and indifference to death of
| these victims that, when questioned by
| Can't Wilkes as TO their feelings on the mat
ter. they expressed kind OF acquiescence
in their fate, and used words to the effect