The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-11
CANNIBALIsM OF TO-DAY.
Human Flesh Still Eaten in Some o
the South Pacific Islands.

INC SOuLn racine I5l6nQS.
From the Neto York Herald
II Fiji, long viewed as the home of can
nibalism, has reformed no such story can be
told of the long chain of islands which
stretch 900 miles off the Australian coast
all the way between New Caledonia and
New Guinea. In the Western Pacific
cannibalism Is the accepted rule of life to
which all gladly conform, and the trader
and the explorer, whose business ami pleas
ure call them to these shores, soon become
hardened, aud learn to view these wild re-
pasts with unconcern and Indifference. 1t
Is no exaggeratlol to say that in all the
banks, the New Hebrides, the Santa Cruz
and the Salon Ons groups of islands there is
not single village which does not have
its town ovens for the cooking of the dead.
The settlements Of the savages are uni
formly in the blight of little bays which
cut up the coast line of these jagged peaks
of volcanic rock ADD rise sheer from a ring
of cleaning coral. Here he finds fresh
water and a space on which to grow his
cocoanuts, and the bay supplies him with
fish. Within the bay he is safe. Fighting
is his rule of life, his delight if he only can
get sufficiently long odds in his favor. The
villagers in the bays next him are his sworn
foes-lterally Ibis meat, as he is theirs,
according to the varying chances Of cease
less warfare.
OFF ON A HUNT FOR HUMAN GAME.
By daybreak the village feet of war
canoes puts out to sea. With all the secrecy
that savage craft can compass, the feet
steers into the bay where lies the village to
be attacked. Steadily they march upon the
village, in the hope of catching sleepers I'M
awares. The attack is made if the chance
proves favorable. Deadly work is done; the
club spares none within its reach. and
nd oh md ba l~l,o
death of the warriors. The brush is thor
oughly beaten for fugitives, and the village
green is heaped with the bodies of its
former villagers, stacked as wood is corded.
The daybreak marauders have won their
victory; they have exterminated their
enemy, and the cords of bodies must be
moved. The fleets OF canoes are brought to
the beach; to the stern of each is made fast
a tow of corpses fastened by ropes about
their necks. No longer by stealth, but by
victorious shouts and gleeful songs the
homeward voyage is made. The sonorous
ringing OF monster conchs gives warming of
their appro CHI, and as they open up Co view
the matched houses of their village the
chorus Of manly voices carries the news,
1--WE have killed, we have killed"
How many?" is the questioning shout
that echoes from the shore
Then over the water rings out the number
OF the slain. and in proportion as 1t is large
SO is the JOY of those within the village.
With eager haste the bodies are hauled
ashore out of the reach of sharks. The
women. both old and young, tail on to the
ropes about the neck of each dead enemy
and prospective meat. Some old crone sets
the time, and with a wild chorus these
women drag body after body to the village
green over the land and the rough paths
And this is the bokold song, the chorus of
dead bodies on their way to be cooked:
ABA -babale,
A-ba-bale,
Bababe, bababe,
a, a, a, "a!
It's a chorus that can be heard for miles
miles when shriled by scores of high
pitched voices of lusty women. Ask them
what it means aud they can give no expla-
nation. 1t is tradition, it has been handed
down from the fathers, it has been in use al
ways.
THE VILLAGE BARBECUE.
The head tabu man now comes upon the
scene in all his glory, usually with a light.
conical mask upon his head and a dress of
colored leaves of the fragrant pandanus
He axamlnes the bodies lai1 out before HIM
and when he recognizes the form of soma
noted foe his jubllations ring from tne
shore to the orange-clad hills above. His
inspection concluded and his pick made of
the body which shall fall to the lot of his
palate, already tickled in anticipation of
the feast, the butchers come on and make
short work Of the meat before them. Diff
ferent islands have their several customs of
butchery. Some carve the meat into Joints
before cooking it, but Malayta nas the full
est ceremony in this matter and may be
taken as fairly descriptive of the rest.
While the butchers are at their task of
this evisceration and the hogs ashore and
the shark in the shadows are snarling and
4 Errk.N rv..~ 49,. r. L
pairing the ovens for this feast, where tn Q
fune al bak d meats are at the same time as
the funert Is themselves.
| Great pit skirt the end of the vii age
green, shallow excavations lined with cob
bles, not the work of to-day hastily dug for