Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1896-04-09

DESCRIBED BY A MISSIONARY WHO
KNOWS THEM WELL.

KNOWS THEM WELL
Their Appetite For Human Flesh Illus
trated ~ Scenes That Father AIIaire
Has Witnessed - Life That Il Con-
stantly Beset with Dangers.
Father Allaire, missionary apostolic
to the French Kongo, was recently in
France to order a small iron steamboat
to be used in visiting the mission sta
tions, and was persuaded while there
to contribute To L. Correspondent an
account Of bis work and it, field. The
courageous fathers Of the French CathO-
lie missions in Africa visit regions hith-
erto scarcely known to white men, and,
living habitually far beyond the bounds
Of the new African civilization, have
peculiar opportunities Of studying un-
modified savage life. Father Allaire has
been for ten years ia the French Kongo,
and for the Last six years at Liranga.
His home station of Liranga is sur
rounded by cannibal tribes, aud not on
ly has be time and again declined hos
pitable invitations to take part in can
nIbal feast, but more than once be has
discerned among biz neighbors a han
kering after biz own flesh.
lyon are wrong said cannibal
when the father turned in disgust from
an offer of human flesh. ~You should
taste it, and after that you'd never turn
away; it is 50 good.
A cannibal bearing aloft a bloody
human head, said to the father:
THAT il the head Of one you knew
we'll We ate him three days ago He
was delicious. You should have come
earlier so as to have a taste -
Cannibalism is a veritable passion
with some of the fathers black neigh
bors. Rescued slaves tell him, and lie
believes it, that there are id the interior
chiefs who eatno flesh save that Of girls
and boys from 10 to is years Of age
He made journey up the Kongo to the
land Of the fierce Bondjos, strangers to
him, with the hope Of buying children
out of slavery and taking them back to
the mission station. When he reached
NgombOc, an agglomeration Of six or
seven large cannibal villages, he was
constantly saluted with the words:
Sell Us children. We viii buy, but
not sell them -
The canDibals had EVIDENTLY heard
of his mission, and the journey was in
vain. When be was about to return, a
chief invited him to anchor opposite a
village, saying:
Show your goods there, and my peo-
pie will fetch down the slave children
TO sell "
The father accepted the invitation,
climbed with difficulty the steep en-
bankment, more than 80 feet high, up
on which stood the fortified village, and
entered the place with an interpreter
and few followers. Sixty savages sur
rounded the priest, and he and the chief
went through the famous form of blood
brotherhood, each making a slight
wound in his arm and permitting the
outfowing streams Of blood to mingle.
The father then discovered that there
were no women or children in sight,
and that the points of spears were trem-
bling behind the houses. The chief sud
denly demanded gifts for himself and
all his men.
There was silence in the village,
while the blacks babbled ceaselessIy in
the sun, and the lances peeped out here
and there from behind the huts The
father answered that he would Be glad
to pay handsomely for any slaves that
should be brought to the boat. At this
the chief seized his left hand and bade
him begone. When the father was ready
to make the steep descent Of the bank.
he saw a stealthy giant just ready to
lance one Of the men from the steam
boat His left hand still grasped by the
chief, the father aimed his unchanged
rifle at the negro below. and the latter,
dropping his weapon, drew back.
The next instant the chief had pushed
the father over the bank. He lay stun
ned for a second, but rose unhurt to find
the savage lancers attacking his own
men, and the latter casting themselves
into the river for safety. Quickly load
ing his rife, he turned upon the attack
ing party, but at sight of the loaded
weapon the negroes fled. Once on the
boat the father found that none of his
men was wounded. One, the black in
terpreter, was missing. and be was soon
discovered making ready to storm the
village. He declared that with TWO Iii
fies the missionary party could sack the
place, and was disgusted when the IA
ther refused to undertake the task
5s, ..,,rf.,,,s -,5I he
"that when these people were making
ready 70 eat you you are unwilling to
be revenged Cd them.
He then explained that as the mis-
sionary party clambered up to the town
the negroes were vOwing to have the
goods as presents or by force, and that
when the caDnibal chief took the priest
hand the savage said Significantly to his
men:
tit j. well; he has 10 skin and bis
hand is fat Y
Father Allaire says that slavery in
his part Of Africa is not thing Of con-
stant blows. Its worst feature is the
possibility of human sacrifice at the
death Of a slave owner. The slave at or
dinary times may 20 and come as he
Will, subject only to the possibility Of
being resold cr of being called to be sac
rificed in order that a dead master may
have slave company in another world.
Slavery is worse for children than for
adults, and in parts of the French Kon-
60 children are used as money "A pi-
rogue j. spoken Of a. worth % many
slaves. Slave children pass through the
hands Of as many as 20 chiefs. A ma
tive law makes a thief caught in the
act the slave of his captor, and it is not
unusual for men to expose valuable
things. and then lie in ambush to cap
ture and titus enslave any one that
yields to the temptation to steal the ar
ticle exposed. Young children are seized
and ensIaved when found alone. and
African mothers, who are most tender
Of their little ones. guard them with
great care.