The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-05-12
EATING HUMAN FOOD.
HOW AFRICAN CANNIBALS DEVOUR
THEIR FELLOW MEN.

Different Methods of Preparing and
Cooking Those Enemies Whom
They Kill In War and Those Whom
They Massacre by Stealth.
Mr.. P. A. Mccain, who spent seven
years among the cannibal Mpongwes of
Africa, tells some grewsome stories of
| their man eating methods.
He gives also description of q most re-
| markable lake, which, although only about
80 miles from Kumassi, has only been Wis
| tied by one or two white men. 1t is called
Bosomshwi meaning "god water" and is
| held sacred by the Ashantees. "When my
| guide told me of the wonders of this lake,
| said Mr. McCann, 81 resolved to visit it
and get some pictures. In this I was very
| successful. 1t is 12 miles in diameter, but
| it's depth no one knows. The Ashanti
king every year drowned 100 Of his slaves
! in the lake as q sacrifice to the water god
The bodies were never cast up again, and
| 1 think they must have been eaten by the
fish.
"1n the breeding season shoals of dead
fish are thrown up and collected by the
natives. There are 30 villages and towns
on the shores of the lake No canoe is al
lowed on it, and the Ashantees keep it sa-
cred from any kind of pollution. There
are logs or poles on 1t, and the natives sit
astride of these and paddle with their
hands. / believe l am the only white man
who ever went on the lake, but 1t nearly
cost me my life. No one would take me
in fact, every attempt was made to pre-
vent me, but arose ut dawn one morn
ing, and, with a few logs constructed us
raft, was out on the water before any
one knew. When l came in again, how
ever, there was great excitement.
1.-The chiefs had collected, and was
threatened with all manner of pains and
penalties. knew that my only chance
was bluff, so in indignant tones l told
my interpreter that the slightest interior
ence with nc would bring down the SOL
diers nd destroy the whole of the place.
This had wonderful effect. They begged
me not to say word to the soldiers, and
the leading chief brought me as a present
n fine sheep. My inquiries about the lake
led me to conclude that it is really q vol
canic crater, and Us such would be the lar
gest known. Rumblings of earthquakes
We're still often heard, and this the natives
believed was the god of the water giving
expression TO his anger.
1.-The crater must have been thousands
of feet deep, and the tropical rains of years
have filled 1t. The natives use the water
for drinking and all purposes, but no
washing or any kind OF pollution Is per-
mitted In the lake itself. In the midday
the sun is 80 hot that great evaporation
| takes place-in fact, there Is thick mist
on the lake all day, so that you can see but
short distance over the water.
1.-The Mpongwes, cannibals of the most
fx-,Na l,, til %1,n
banks and forest regions of tho Gaboon
game for food, they much prefer human
about the practice, they speak freely about
it without any embarrassment. Human
flesh, they say, has a rich flavor about it
which is entirely absent in any other kind
of meat They eat all enemies they kill
or capture in war. The latter are tortured
before being put to death.
I'm fighting with an enemy who has
pressed them hFard and caused them much
loss the bodies are eaten very soon after
capture and when the heat of war is upon
them. In this case the bodies are strung
up to horizontal bars supported by two
uprights seven feet high, and, after dis
embowcling, the muscles of the upper
arms and those at the calves of the legs
are cut away in slices and generally grilled
and eaten by the warriors. Sundry con-
tortions and gcsticulations are then per-
formed by the fetichnen around the bod
les, and after this ceremony the remainder
of the corpses are cut to pieces, boiled in
pots and then eaten along with boiled
green plantains.
1.-The bodies Of enemies killed by stealth
they generally treat differently, for, not
being excited by hard fighting or losses,
they deliberate more over the pleasure the
eating will afford them and go more lei
surely about the preparation Of the meat.
First Of all they place the bodies to soak
in shallow brook of running water and
leave them in this for about ten days, at
the end of which period the bodies become
so dccomposed that tho outer skin peels
off on the least pull. They are now taken
out Of the water and prepared for cooking.
For skinning the face and head pecul
lar two pronged forks are used. These
are inserted into the nostrils, and steady
and prolonged pull brings away the skin
of the face and scalp. The rest of the
body being skinned, the flesh is then cut
up and cooked in plnintain leaves. The
method of doing this is as follows: Several
leaves of the plaintain tree are cut at the
base of their shafts from the trunk Of the
tree and the midriff of the leaf, which is
thick and full of sap and so prevents the
leaf from bending easily, is dextrously
pared down with a single cut of a knife.
1.-THE leaf is then held over fire and
| under the influence of the heat softens and
| becomes as flexible rs cloth. All the leaves
are treated like this and are afterward put
one on top of the other and then gathered
| up SO as to form a basinlike receptacle. A
quantity Of human meat, cut into small
pieces, is then placed in this, some dika
fat made from the fatty kernels of the
seeds of the Mangifera gabonensis is add
ed after which the leaves are gathered to-
gether at the top and tied round with the
| fibrous strips cut from the midriff when
preparing the leaves. The bundle is then
placed over u slow fire for seven or eight
| hours, and the flavor of the meat thus
cooked, according to Mpongwe connois-
seurs, surpasses everything in the worlds
| bill of fare London News
| THIEF TAKING IN ZANZIBAR.