The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-05-04

Each house was protected and hidden by
one OF these rocks, so that Bubu has no re-
seInoIance to village. Some OF these rocks,
more or less followed out in the form of
cave, themselves serve as habitatioas. Il is
truly the most savage sight that I have
seen. This was tee most feared country in
the time Of caunabalism.
THE EATERS OF HUMAN FLESH
used to hide themselves behind these enor-
nous stones and seize as many victims as
there were imprudent travellers to venture
in those parts. Now there is q mission
house there and many converts.
st he village of Bubu was situated on one
OF these three peaks, the other two being
occupied by other villages. Two of the
peaks on the other side of the Rewa river
were also occupied as villages, there thus
being five of these fortresSes, which inspired
terror TO a great distance. Their inhabiu-
ants, like birds OF prey, used to spy out
from on high the victims who had the i'm
prudence to enter this valley aud swoop
down on them to kill and devour them. So
the country was no longer frequented; this
cursed land was avoided. Thereupon tee
hye villages, wanting for prey, commenced
10 attack one another. Bubu conquered its
two neighbors. One of the forts on the
other side, named Vaatis, also conquered
its rival. After the defeat all the prisoners
were eaten. There remained only Bubu
and Naatia; so Bubu declared war against
the only other fort remaining, and, by a.
sault, captured it and devoured the con.
quered. The king Of the vultures remained
alone, lowering over the ruins. 1t would
be impossible to say how many human
victims his eyrie
SWALLOWED UP.
Almost all OF the old men of this village
have taken part in these feasts. An English
colonist told me recently that upon his ar
rival in Fiji in 1869 he was inclined to doubt
the stories Of cannibalism. Soon, however,
he had occasion to be undeceived. Having
visited the village of Baou he was witness of
horrible repast on human flesh. He was
even offered some to eat. He lacked little
OF having his own throat cut and being
roasted. He owed his safety only to the
protection of an influential chief, who said
he was his friend and who expected to get
wealth from him.
more than anywhere else at Bubu it is
easy to convince oneself, even after ten
years of suspension of these feasts, that
cannibalism has been largely prevalent at
Fiji. In proof are these four deserted
villages, whose inhabitants were the prey
Of these abOminable savages.
we were taken by chief and a guide
to the sacrifice affairs of old.
There. said the guide. pointing out an
enormous shrine, resembling an altar, there
those aoominable sacrifices were offered
There the throats of the human victims
were cut and in this deep hollow flowed
human blood
Showing us cleft in the rock yard
wide and from twenty to thirty feet deep,
he said: There are the human bones re-
naming from the sacrifices and feasts of
Bubu.' gave frightened look, and it
seemed to me that even after ten years a
strong smell of human flesh arose. The pile
OF bones indicated in what frightful num-
bers had been the victims Of the cannibals
of Bubu.
Formerly, if Fijian were not satisfied
with his wife he killed her and ate her-if
she were not too old and tough. A war was
always followed by feast in which all the
prisoners we're eaten. IL
A VESSEL WERE WRECKED
on the coast the natives fastened to massa-
ere the crew, and ate them after roasting
them. 1t was in this way that the sailors Of
the Josephine persisted The victims were
tightly bound, with their feet drawn under
their thighs and their arms placed close
beside them. They were then placed in the
ovens upon hot stones and roasted alive.
When the body was taken out the face was
painted black. Then it was offered to the
gods, afterward being cut aud distributed
among the people.
Their desire to eat human flesh vyas so
great as to lead them to exhume the dead
after two or three days of burial. 1t was a
great glory for a chief to have eaten a
greater number of human bodies than the
chiefs of the neighboring villages, and they
carried on their necks strings having on
them as many knots as they had eaten hui
man bodies. / have been told of a chief
who had twenty knots to his neck
lace and of another who had aiphtv-four
The latter was the famous Cocobau Thako-
bau, who was King of Fiji when it became
an English colony. The human flesh was
eaten with great OGDEN two-pronged forks
about two feet long, and was cut with bam-
boo knives. These forks and knives were
used only on human flesh, which the canni-
balls would not touch with their fingers"