The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-21
FACTS ABOUT cANNIBALS.
CHASTITY PRACTICES FOUNDED on
VERY ANCIENT THEORY.

Qualities of n Dead Friend or Foe
Can he Easily and Quickly Ac-
quired.
From the Saturday Review.
The story about cannibals in Africa, told
by capt. Hinde AT the meeting Of the
British Association, aroused sufficient in
terest 70 make the subject worth pursu-
ing. He noticed that his followers were
IN the habit Of breaking the legs Of their
game several days before they killed them
IN order TO make the meat more tender.
I lnquiring as TO their reasons, he was told
that this was the result of experience with
the human flesh; that they always broke
ne legs ana arms or the captiVes and
then tied them UP 10 their necks in flow
ing stream, in such a way that they could
neither fan asleep and drown nor commit
suicide; and that at the end of three days
they could be killed with the assurance
that they would be very tender eating.
section remarked al the time, IL is neces-
sary TO diVest ourselves Of all inSular pre-
JUDGES in treating of cannibalism- The
idea OF eating part OF deceased human
being with the object Of acquiring some of
MS qualities and virtues is widespread
and has been so from time immemOrial.
such sacr1hcial or sacramental eating is
common to most religions.
In Peru a figure made of dough is baked
/ eating the god" In certain parts of
France a figure is made with the last of
the harvest corn and eaten under the i'm
preston that IL contains the spirit of fer
/ ttlity. This was the earliest form of can
nlbaliSm, and the very name of cannibal
is derived from the Caribs who used to
deYour their enemies with the idea of ac-
curing their courage. They were the
brayest of the aborigines Of South Ameri-
ca, and did not pursue the practice to
supply themselves with food. They pre-
tended they uldrdistinguish the flavor
OF a Spaniard, an Englishman, and
| Frenchman. A French traveller who has
written about them INDUCES the tradi-
/ tional vanity of his nation by declaring
that the French flesh had far and away
In some parts Of England it is the Gus
| tom, when man is laid out, to bake what
| is called a corpse cake. This is put to rise
near the fre on the dead body, and is sup
| posed to absorb the virtues of the deceas-
| Ell. In the Balkan states little baked
image accompanies every funeral process
sion and the mourners eat it afterward
| exclaiming. God rest him. In Wales
/ and Herefordshire there exists a regular
/ paid functiOnary known as the sin
/ eater" He is described as q "long, lean,
/ lamentable rascal On the breast of a
| corpse the relatives. place bread and
| cheese and beer, which the "sin eater"
/ consumes in order to appropriate the sins
/ Of the deceased. Formerly he received
| sixpence for his trouble, and took care to
/ make himself scarce as soon as possible
after his duties were performed, but of
| late years his price has risen to half a
| crown.
Cannibalsm has been surprisingly little
| discussed in books of travel We are told
1 that in such-and-such a district cannibals
/ are to be found, but we hear no details,
/ neither how the flesh is prepared, what
! joints are preferred nor to what extent
/ the practice IS prevalent. Capt Hinde as
| serts that nearly all the tribes in the
| Congo basin are or have been cannibals,
/ and that the practice is on the increase,
| not merely for superstitiOus reasons, but
| also for the provision of food
| There Is a certain sturdy, fat race in
| Africa which has never been famous for
| its prowess, but which is made a regular
/ staple article of diet Whole cargoes are
| constantly carried up the river and sold to
/ the natives for food. Inquiries for a fresh
| supply of slaves Will often be accompanied
now" o''' 'e 'Ns'
The Batetella are described as a fine
| race, with no old or infirm persons among
| them. The reason for this is not far to
| seek, for at the first sign of decrepitude
| the sufferer is killed and eaten, parents
| even being devoured by their own chill
| dren. The members of this tribe consider
| human flesh the greatest of delicacies, and
| are ever on the watch for any excuse to
kill and eat their comrades. The fate Of
| the individuals is decided by their king
| So soon as a victim is appointed to die
| mObS collect outside the kings house and
the victim is given over to them alive but
| does not long remain alive, for the people
| tear him to pieces as quickly as a pack
| of hounds will make an end of a hare
Each sets himself to cut off his fayorite
| tit-bit, and no one makes it his business
10 XIII the victim first, lest coveted piece
should thereby be lost.
In some districts men will not eat their
own parents, but they will allow them to
be eaten by others. This may be due in
large measure to the extreme difficulty Of
protecting a corpse from these human
wolves, however determined the Intention
of protecting 1t may be. The people there
seem to have no religion, and are not to
any kind of fetish.
The practice has at least this advantage,
mat after battle, there is no risk of
an epidemic from the putrefaction of the
corpses, for, like the Walrus and the car
penter, the VictOrs 'eat up every one" At
ter a big battle in which many prisoners
nave been taken human beings have been
sold for as little as five or six shillings a
brace for eating purposes
Many anecdotes might be told Of the
naive way in which the inhabitants of the
Congo region speak of this little weak
| ness OF theirs. A man will come to your
mouse and ask you to trust him with food,
| people dies, We will make a return" or
| the members Of a caravan will say: 1--WE
know your supplies are rather short just
! now, and you can't spare any of your
sheep or goats, but you might give us such
ana such man; he is lazy, and not worth
his keep" You make peace, and apply for
the return of prisoners, but you are told:
| very sorry, they are all eaten, save one.
II you would like thirty-seven fine cook
ing oI slaves az IN their place, they are very
In nearly every case human flesh is
| either bolIed, roasted or smoked. Any
cannibal so far forgetting himself as to
eat 1t raw would be looked down upon
sadly. When there is a superabundance
OF human meat, as, for instance after a
/ heltNACf Ni6 GREATER part or IL
is skillfully cured by smoking Indeed
t those who have repugnance to eating
human flesh scarcely dare to buy cooked
meat of any kind in a cannibal district,
so difficult is human flesh to DISTINGUISH
from ordinary meats.
Various cannibals have various pref
erence for various joints, and ct is said
that, If you follow in the wake of can.
nibal caravans, you may discover the
precise district of their origin by sim
ply noting what portions of the human
body they have left uneaten. The MAORI
ty do not eat the head at all, but SONS
look upon it as the greatest delicacv-
and devote their special attention to the
: brain. Most cannibals eat some or other
of the intestines. Perhaps the most
generally favorite joint is a steak from
the upper part of the leg The more
: sinewy parts are usually stewed. and
/ broth made from human shins is nor
. utterly unknown.
As to the flavor of human flesh. # f.
. difficult to speak positively; 1t has been
compared, by people in a position TO
know, to sucking-pig. All seem agreed
; that the human is more delicate and 1e-
quires more seasoning than ordinary
meat. The flesh of the white man is