The record-union., 1891-03-23
AMONG MAN-EATBRS.
How Naval Officer Escaped Furnish
ing New Years Dinner.

How Naval Officer Escaped Furnish
ing New Years Dinner.
'''The approach of the 1st of January
always reminds me how near | once
thought | came to furnishing a New
ears dinner for cannibals,D - said a naval
officer to a writer for the Washington
Star.
My ship had stopped for supplies at
one OF the fiji Islands, and, il being Sun
day, brother officer and myself started
for long walk inland. About noontime
we found ourselves on The bank of a
stream which looked delightfully."- inyit-
ing to us, tired and heated as we were.
Said [:
a. What do you say to bath?'
q My companion assented, and within
i've minutes we had left our clothing on
the nigh bank and We're disporting our
selves in the water. j dare say we had
been swimming about for as much as ten
minutes when i CHANGED to look up and
saw the bank above actually fringed
with cannibals. Now, to properly per
ceive the unpleasantness of this you must
remember that i'll those days, twenty
years ago, the Fiji group had not been as
yet redeemed from anthropophagy. In
fact, several cases of man-eating had ex-
cited attention within a short time. and
we fully realized the imprudence of which
we had been guilty when our eyes lighted
upon the savages. But we perceived at
once that we were in for it, and so made
up our minds promptly to put the best
face possible upon the situation. Per-
haps what struck us as most ominous
was the absolute quiet with which the
cannibals had approached so that we had
heard Eot so much as a football
= However, we waded out of the stream.
and clambering up the bank. smiled as If
we had never been so glad of an unex-
pected meeting i'll our lives, and offered
our hands in a friendly way to him who
appeared to be the cannibal chief To our
great relief he exhibited signs of re-
sponsive anity, said what were doubtless
many complimentary things, though our
ignorance OF tijian prevented us from
understanding his remark, and finally
sent a small boy to climb up "a cocoanut
tree and fetch down a cocoanut which he
formally presented to us. This we knew
was friendly indication, and we had
something of q poW-wow with his dis
tingulshed nibs after we had got dressed
once more. y man, though he be hero,
never feels very brave without his boots
on, and we felt more comfortable llpou
finding ourselves attired. After while.
when we signiiicd wish to depart. q
guide was provided for us, lest we lose
our way, and we started back for the viii
lage st the harbor where the ship lay.
distance, when a solitary cannibal sud
denly popped out of the forest and
Joined US. We We're a little surprised,
but thought nothing of it. Presently.
however, out popped another cannibal
and then, at short intervals, another and
another and another, until there must
have been q score of them forming our
bodyguard. Next they came by fours
and SKIES, until the party had augmented
to nearly 100. By this time our original
alarm had come back to considerable
extent. | said to our guide:
We don't care how many ofthese gen.
tlemen join us, but we must insist that
they all keep ahead. while we bring UP
the rear
This we did, holding our drawn re-
volvers in our hands ready for use. But
the cannibals went on ahead of us most
amiably, and when we got within sight
of the village we said goodby very pleas
antly to a small army of not less than 3OC
of them. | am very sure now that they
meant it all most kindly, and that they
merely desired to exhibit polite interest
in our welfare. But l should not like
again, even in imagination, to come SO
near furnishing the piece de resistance
for New Years dinner as l feared / did
on that OCCASION