News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-06-26
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AIT Low RATES.
THE MAN-EATING TREE.
Graphic Description of a Horrible Wor-
ship of "A Tribe i'm Africa.
AT Low RATES

Graphic Description of Horrible Wor-
shiI, of a Tribe in Africa.
On the island of Madagascar, off the
southeast coast of Africa, there is a
race of people called the Mkodos.
They constitute one of the smallest
races in the world, the men seldom ex-
ceeding 56 inches in height. Their re-
ligion consists solely in the awful wor-
ship of their sacred tree, the o=inoida
dajeeana. This tree is most peculiar
in its appearance and natur& It's
trunk is somewhat like a pineapple in
shape, and when full grown about eight
feet high. From the top, which is at
least two feet in diameter, hang down
eight leaves, II or II feet long, 2 feet
through in their thickest part, and
tapering from a width of 3 feet to a
sharp point. They are very convex on
the under side and concave on the
upper. The concave side is thickly set
with strosag horny hooks. IAe top OF
fhe trIln, &. IN sbara filre sruallar
plate set within larger one, ana cliis
plate is filed with a sweet liquid, wincn
when tasted produces delirium ana
sleep.
From under the rim of the lower
plate a series of great green tendrlls
from seven to eight feet long stretch
out stiffiy toward the horizon, while
above these six long white palpi (thin
as reeds and frail as quills apparently
rear themselves toward the sky, twirl-
! ing and twisting with incessant motion.
The tree and the worship of it were dis
covered by Karl Leche, who wrote to
DIR. Omelius Friedlowslzy this descrip-
ton.
The mode of sacrifice as witnessed on
one occasion was as follows: The ma
tives had been shrieking around the
tree and chanting propitiatory hymns
to the great tree devil. With still
wilder shrieks they now surrounded one
of the women and goaded her on with
the point of their javelins until she
mounted the trunk and drank of the
fluid in the plate, rising instantly again
with wild frenzy in her face.
But she did not jump down, as she
seemed inclined to do. The atrociou'
cannibal tree that had been so inert
and dead came to sudden savage life.
| The slender, delicate palpi quivered Q
: moment over her head, then coileC
round her neck and arms. The greer
, tendrils wrapped themselves about hei
in fold after fold, ever tightening
> Then the great green leaves rose slowly
1 and stiffly; approached one another
t and closed about the dead victim witt
3 the force of a hydraulic press. As the
? bases of the leaves pressed more tightly
together from between them trickled
down the trunk of the tree great
streams of the fluid mingled with the
blood and oozing viscera of the victim.
The savages bounded forward and
with cups, leaves, hands and tongues
got each enough of the liquor to set him
mad and frantic. The tree remained
unchanged in appearance during ten
days and at the end of that time the
leaves, the tendrils and the palpi had
all regained their original condition,
and nothing but the skull of the victim
remained as a proof of the sacrifice
which had taken place there. Another
witness of sacrifice to the Crinoida
Dajeeand says that when the tree had
completely enveloped the woman the
natives set fire to it and it became her
funeral pyre. Brooklyn Eagle.