The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-09
away until he finally died from loss of

away until he finally died from loss OF
blood.
Generally. cannibalism is an act OF
vengeance upon captured enemies, but
| among the Popaks the taste for human
| flesh has become SO much DEVELOPED
that they often eat harmless slaves and
| old women. a PoDak prince in Pen
Eanibatan told me that he had just
given 2 feast at which IL Chinese had
been eaten. and he added that they
were very good. This prince, by name
ST Gollak, was very rich, having his
teeth gilded and wearing a handsome
jeweled collar in the center of which
q tooth was set, the tooth of an enemy
whom he had slain and eaten. But he
himself soon fell victim to his foes,
as evidenced by the skull and half
burned hand which l found some weeks
later in possession of Batak chief.
Then conversation took place some
what after this fashion:
INTERVIEWING A CANNIBAL.
Where did you get that skull and
hand that you carry?'
They belonged to an enemy who
Cell into our hands,
:" Did you eat him?'
"'YeS. Ny brother-in-law and his
people ate him. His name was ST ke-
mat ST Gallak. He had fled from his
country, in which he was rajah, with
his brother, his wife and his mother.
He called himself a wizard, and sought
to become ruler of Pantjo, where my
brother-in-law was chief. My brother
in-law declared war against him and
CAPTURED him.
-" Was there a battle?'
" No. We took him prisoner. We lay
in ambush in the rice fields, and when
We saw him pass through alone We
leaped upon him and brought him to
the CHEZ
And his brother?'
g His brother fell in war
." In a battle?'
" No. We shot him at night while he
was asleep. The ball hit him in the
right arm, and he stood up holding
knife in his left hand; but we were vic
tOrious, for we were many; we knocked
him down and sent his head to the
chief. Don't you call that WARP"
What happened to his body?'
"'Tnat-we ate it. The head? Our
chief put that in front of ST Kemat that
he might know what to expect
Couldn't he ransom himself2'
Ransom? Impossible; he had to
die
Didn't he cry?'
80, yes, but that did no good; he
was bound fast
And then?'
"'We ate him up, of course. The
next day, when the sun ceased to rise
and had not begun to set (noon) we
brought ST kemat out, threw him on
the ground with his face down, and my
brotherin-law cut his head off. He re-
ceived the heart and as much of the
flesh as he wanted, and whoever else
wanted any took it and roasted it over
the fire. What was left we cooked with
pepper and salt and ate it at home. The
large bones were tied together, and on
the following day we buried his head in
the path, so that even his friends
should tread ON it and make him their
enemy
What happened to his wife,?
1 sold her at market for my broth
er-in-law. His mother, the guru (wiz-
ard said, was as bad as her SON, so We
cut her throat a month later
Did you eat her?'
Yes. of course.
Why are there SO few teeth in the
skull?
The people broke them out to dec
crate their collars, SO that when they
strike these teeth it is the same as if
they hit ST Kemat on the mouth
But why DO you eat men instead of
birds or fowl?'
why should we not? What else
could we do with those enemies whom
we slay?'
You might bury them
But that would not be proper. To
Stay an enemy is not everything.
When he is eaten the victory is COM
plete.'"
From other conversations which he
had with other natives on this same
subject, Explorer Won Bremen came to
the conclusion that except among the
very lowest and most degraded of the
savages with whom he came in contact,
cannibaliSm was caused not so much by
the liking for human flesh as by the
desire to complete the humiliation and
destruction of enemies. Many other Gu
rious customs and strange legends are
reported by Won Bremen as the result
of his Journeys through a country in
habited by more than 100000 primitive
savages, but there is nothing in all his
notes quite so extraordinary as his in
tervieW with a caninbal on cannibal
ism-d6ubtless the first ever published.