Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1896-04-24
KONGO CANNIBALS.
DESCRIBED BY A MISSIONARY WHO
KNOWS THEM WELL.

lie missions in Africa visit regions hlth-
erto scarcely known to white men, and,
living habitually far beyond the bounds
of the new African civilization, have
peculiar opportunities of studying I'M
modified savage life. Father Allalre has
been for ten years in the French Kongo,
and for the last six years at Liranga.
His home station Of Liranga is sur
rounded by cannibal tribes, and not on
" has he time and again declined hos
pitable invitations to take part in can
nibal feast, but more than once he has
discerned among his neighbors a ham
kering after his own flesh.
"You 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 SO good. "
A cannibal, bearing aloft bloody
human head, said to the father:
"That is 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 taste. -
Cannibalism is a veritable passion
with some of the fathers black neigh
bors Rescued slaves tell him, and he
believes it, that there are in the interior
chiefs who eat no flesh save that of girls
and boys from 10 to 16 years Of age.
He made a 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 will buy, but
not sell them. y
The cannibals had EVIDENTLY heard
of his mission, and the journey was in
vain. When he 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
Oh 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 slight
wound in his arm and permitting the
outhowing 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 ceaselessly 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 babe
him BECOME. When the father was ready
to make the steep descent of the bank,
he saw stealthy giant just ready tc
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 second, but rose unhurt to find
the savage lancers attacking his OWL
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 i'll
terpreter, was missing, and he was soon
discovered making ready to storm the
village He declared that with two ri
f1es the missionary party could sack the
place, and was disguised when the ia
ther refused to undertake the task.
SIT is curious said the interpreter,
"that when these people were making
ready to eat you you are unwilling to
be reyenged on them. "
He then explained that as the mis-
sionary party clambered up to the town
the negroes were yowing to have the
goods as presents Or by force, and that
when the cannibal chief took the priests
hand the savage said significantly to his
men:
sit is we'll; he has no skin and his
hand is fat.
Father Ailaire says that slavery in
his part of Africa is not a thing Of con-
slant blows. Its worst feature is the
possibility of human sacrifice at tbs
death of a slave owner. The slave at Or
binary times may go and come as he
will, subject only to the possibility of
being resold Or of being called to be sac
rlficed IN order that dead master may
have slave company in another world.
Slavery is worse for children than for
adults, and in parts Of the French Ko-s
go children are used as money A.
rogue is spoken Of as worth so many
slaves. Slave children pass through the
hands of as many as 90 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 thus enslave any one that
yields to the temptation to steal the ar
ticle exposed. Young children are seized
and ensIayed when found alone, and
African mothers, who are most tender
Of their little ones, guard them with
great care.
Mattresses.
The dizziness of the woman waiter is
rapidly being recognized. Caterers are
announcing that they can supply neat,
capable mattresses for all manner OF So
eial functions, and society women ac-
cept the news as gratifying guarantee
that their new gowns will survive tbs
most elaborate dinner in an unspotted
condition. The expert maidens are clad
in black alpaca, with dainty white caps
and aprons, and SO far they are guiltless
of gloves. Philadelphia Ledger.
A Perfect Right To.
f Il -