St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-25
BRITISH CoLUMIA CANNIBALs
Horrible Practices of Degraded
Indians in the Interior.
Victoria Letter.

Victoria Letter.
The British Columbia Indians have
been suspected of eating human flesh,
+ but they have hitherto concealed their
practices so carefully that no reliable
white man is able to give personal testi-
mony of the fact. II. II. A. Pocock has
been spending great deal of time
among them, and, although he is not
able to give personal testimony of their
cannibalistic rites, yet he has collected
a great deal of evidence from natives of
the prevalence of the practice.
The Kwagutls, tribe dwelling in the
central part of the province, have be-
lief that if man meets certain spirit
on the mountains he has a right there
after during the winter dances, lasting
two months of the year, to bite whoever
displeases him. The spirit is called
Ha-mad- Isl. and the cannibals who earn
their horrible distinction by seeing him
are known as Ha-mad-tsis. They be-
long to what may be called an exclusive
and aristocratic caste. Only members
of certain families may become Ha-mad-
isis. and these when they come to the
years of discretion 90 up into the noun
tains. where they may meet the spirit.
Having encountered this unlOvely
sprite they come back to the vii
lagos swapping and biting at everybody,
and making themselves generally unde-
Sirable neighborS. Their sole purpose
is to show the tribe that they are differ
ent from ordinary men, and do not care
what they eat or what they suffer. In
old times captive or a slave was killed
and presented to the initiated, who ate
the corpse in the presence of general
assemblage of the people. More re-
Gently, although slavery is not wholly
extinct, the Indians have become afraid
TO kill, so they are reduced to the steal
ing of corpSeS. Usually these have
been drying for long time. being
"buried" among the branches of tree,
and are quite fiavOrless, the brains alone
being considered luxury.
Up TO the time of eating corpse in
public the acolyte, whenever ne appears
from the woods, bites Unfortunately,
women being, however. generally eX-
empt, whether from native gallantry or
not does not appear. Formerly the faces
were bitten. noses and ears especially,
but the canniDal now merely lifts
the flesh of a mans arm with his teeth,
which is sliced off with knife by by
stander, while the half insane savage
retains his grip of it and finally swal-
lows it. The father of the bitter pays
everybody who has suffered from
his prOgeny'S enthusiasm from
two to ten blankets. There are few men
in the Kwaguti tribes who do not bear
the scars of this extraordinary mania.
The He-mad-tSi, during the progress of
the winter dances, is stark naked, a
heavy plated rope of cedar bark adorned
with taSsels being carried, however, on
the shoulders. There are from three to
twenty Ha-mad-tSiS, and each of them
will perhaps eat of four or five cOrpSeS
in a lifetime. Mr.. Pocock, however,
had one cid gentleman pointed out to him
who had partaken of twenty. Atthe same
time the corpse is frequently sham
one made up for the purpose. Deer or
goat flesh is often tied to the human
bones and devoured in the dusk, so that
the onlOOkers are all deceived. Still
there are no doubt well authenticated
cases of this species of emotional. cere-
monial cannibalism constantly taking
place among these degraded savageS in
the interior. Mr.. Pocock has not
actually witnessed the ceremony. but
he collected a considerable amount of
testimony from what he considers re-
liable native witnesses. He says:
My interpreter said that when he
was lad he remembers his mother say
ing two slaves from being killed and
eaten. The winter or Ha-mad-tsi dance
was performed at Alert bay eighteen
months ago, goats flesh being eaten
from human bones at midnight and the
tribe deceived. Apparently two bodies
were devoured at Kiawatis that same
season. Three and a half years ago a
white man was taken by his In
dian woman to the winter dance
and turned ont of doors be
cause, as the woman told him, corpse
was to be eaten. He saw woman's body
taken into the house by three naked
men, and went round the back. where,
through hole, he saw the Ha-mad-tsis
holding the body in their arms and bit
ing pieces out. From the long black
hair hanging from what seemed 70 be
the head he supposed this was the body
flesh both he and the whole audieuce
were deceived.
"A Fort Rupert halfbreed woman of
excellent character told me she was
fully convinced that in many cases no
deception was practiced. No halfbreedS
Or Indians except my interpreter eX-
pressed any doubt. A Kanaka, man
of good report indeed, told ME that at
the head of the Knight inlet he was ad-
mitted to a winter dance and saw three
Ha-mad-tsiS eat corpse in presence of
the tribe. The evidence appears to me
to be conclusive on account of the wit
ness character and the clearneSS and
reasonable manner of his statements.
He told me his story briefly, and as one
surprised at the existence of doubt, but
tired of the subject. His wife. a men,
Der of the Ha-mad-tsi family, furnished
the evidence that convinced my inter-
prefer that the Ha-mad-tsi is not a sham.
After describing the origin of the
rite in her family she said that some
years ago, on Knight inlet at the win
ter feasts. she was invited to feast of
berries for women. They were inter-
rupted by the Ha-mad-tsis bringing
human corpse into the house. They
were six in number, and all naked.
and her brother was one of
them. Attendants cut off strips of
flesh from the corpse. which were.
devoured by the Ha-mad-tsis. This
witness, although given to potlaching,
another heather. and forbidden semi
religious. orgy, bore otherwise. a good
character. | was told number ofln0St
horrible stories of Self-torture practiced
out of bravado during these cere-
monies."
Mr.. .PocOck'S revelations have pro-
duced powerful feeling among Christ
ian people throughout Canada, and the
government is being called upon to take
efficient means of SupDressfng these UNI