The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-23

| ton OF the islands are on the way to
! Australia, experience having taught
the settlers that the only thing 10 do
when trouble hegins among the ma
! tives is TO desert their plantations and
homes and get away.
! Cannibalism is as rampant in the
J Solomon islands today as it was 500
/ years. ago. Association with the civ
7 ilization introduced by the Europeans
has been absolutely barren OF results,
/ and the efforts of hOrdes of mission
aries TO implant the seeds of Christian
ity in the native brain have been
l equally fruitleSS. About every nine
months the islanders take their spears
and war clubs and sweep the country
clean of the invader.
British warships have been powerless
to awe them. as they seek safety
miles away from the coast line. 1t
would require vast army TO success
fully invade the large islands, and
even then it would be difficult matter
to subdue the natives. as they are
wonderful seamen. and in their war
canoes easily travel from island 10
island. Besides they are ferocious
fighters, and when once seized with
the mania for eating human flesh they
willingly run any risk to crafty the
passion.
The native population Of the group
these are reckoned to be cannibalS.
The other per cent represent those
in the immediate employ of Europeans
as house servants, plantation hands
and such, and even some of the per
cent are ranked as doubtful. The
island of chief commercial Importance
is San Christoval. and il has a larger
European population than any of the
others. yet it is considered the most
cannibalistic of ala fact which
shows the insignificant impression
which the influences of civilization
have made.
The Soloman island group is about
500 miles to the north of Australia.
The early navigators christened them
after the Biblical wise man, supposing
that they were the depository of the
vast riches of Soloman, and after 1861,
the year they were first discovered by
Alvardo de Mendana, many expedi-
lions were made TO them by reckless
spirits, who hoped 10 unearth the
mines of gold which some ones imagi-
nation had planted there. All that the
treasure hunters accomplished was to
afford the saVaG;eS their first taste of
white flesh. thereby establishing a
precedent which has been ruinous to
hundreds of Europeans.
The islanders earned the title of
head hunters through peculiar Gus
tom OF decorating the hutS and rude
mauSOleums of great chiefs with the
heads of fallen foes The warrior who
secures the greatest number of heads
is regarded with the same approba-
ton that an Indian buck received when
he had a large number of scalps
dangling from his tepee.
In the SolOmons the possession of
human head is an emblem of physical
greatness. No native is esteemed a
full-fledged warrior until he has at
least one head to his credit, and the
larger the number the lOftier his sta
ton in all tribal affairs.
The outbreak Of trouble in the islands 7
al regular intervals is due to the
youths just budding into manhood, who
are ambitious TO earn the recognition
accorded TO warriors by securing the
coveted trophies. The present trouble,
While purely tribal and is being fought
out by the young men of the various
tribes, is lust as dangerous TO the
safety eff Europeans, as If the1waF were
directed against them.
When the head hunters are out it
means that any one net a member of [
that particular tribe is liable to be
bounced -upon and dispatched. An Of
fetal butcher always accompanies the
head hunters, and he takes charge of ]
the BODY after the head has been re-
moved, the head going TO the warrior
who delivered the death blow.
The butcher quarters the body and
sends It back to the village, and on
the return of the warriors a great