The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-01
THE |. O. O. CANNIBALS.
THEY LIVE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND
AND-BAVE CLOSE CORPORA
TION.

Frightful Rites of n Tribe of Indians
Who Live Near Fort Rupert-NenrIy
White and Quite POeticaI-HOyv
They Initiate New Members Into
the GhOuIish Order of Corpse De-
vOurers.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
DR. Franz Boas has just taken to Wash
ingtOn some wooden masks, carvings and
other things of interest collected from the
so-called Fort Rupert indians, who dwell
at the north end of the island of Van
couver. These are the most primitive
savages on the northwest coast, and they
still practice cannibalisn. Formerly they
kept slaves. whom they would kill and eat
at their ceremonials; but the whites have
put a stop to that. So now they devour
dead bodies instead. The latter are num-
mics, in fact, being inclosed in boxes
after death and placed high up in the
branches Of tall trees. That is the method
of burial customary with the tribe The
corpses thus disposed of do not decay. but
dry up. When one of them is needed for
the purpose here referred to it is taken
from the tree and put in a spot where the
sea water will flow over il. There it re-
mains for some days, after which it is
smoked, so it is said.
DIR. Boas has secured a mask of the Can.
nibal Spirit, such as is worn at the cere-
monies of the Society of Cannibals in the
tribe. 1t looks like a head of a huge alli-
gator cut out of wood, with a sort of wig
of cedar bark to represent hair. A person
who is to be initiated into the society
spends several months in the woods fast
ing, and is much emaciated when he reap
pears. After a mock chase he is captured
by the other Indians and fetched to the
village. He is supposed to be quite wild,
and 1t is his privilege to bite piece out of
the arm or leg of anybody. A festival is
held, the ostensible purpose of which is to
tame him. 1t is a very elaborte affair
lasting six weeks, and the climax is
reached when the novice disappears and
returns with dead body in his arms. This
himself and his fellow cannibals II is an
-solutely necessary that the corpse should
be that of one of his own relatives.
Not so many years ago this point in the
performance would have been marked by
the killing of a slave with a war cIub
the body being Immediately cut up and
eaten me cermony concludes with the
washing of the new cannibal which oper-
alton requires five hours according To the
ritual When II is finished he is supposed
10 pc cured OF his propensity for biting
without provocation. But ait any of the
numerous tribal ceremonials, il anybody
utters wrong word in a song or miss
the rhymth of the music, every member
of the Society of Cannibals present is
privileged TO take bite out of ANYBODY
else. Usually pieces of flesh about as big
as half dollar are bitten out. There IS
also a Society of Female Cannibals com
posed of women but they do not bite
the ceremonial season among the Fort
Rupert Indians occurs in the Writer Then
for time the entire social organization
OF he tribe 'undergoes a metamorphosis.
The ordinary divisions of the people nv
clans are ignored, and they arrange them
selves according to the various societies 10
which they belong. There is the Ghost So
eeiety, the Bear Society, the Society of the
witch Woman. the Society of Fools and
many others. These societies are religious
N character, being associated also with
the tribal myths and traditions. The an
cestors OF the present generation received
IRON mythical beings certain supernatural
secrets, upon which the societies and the
cerenonlals are based One Of the socie-
iles IS me War Society. A person undergo
ING imitation into il is suspended from tho
IaIlerS OF the ceremonial house by a rope
PASSED through strips VI the flesh of his