Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-10
WHITE VICTIMS OF cANNIBALs.
More Europeans Eaten by the Natives
Of the MObanEi River, .
Africa.

From the New York sun -4
The cannibals of the upper Mobangi river
are again making white men the victims OF
their appetite for human flesh. According
to a dispatch from Antwerp, four Belgian
commercial agents, IN the service OF the
Antwerp Trading Company, have recently
been Killed and eaten. The Mobangi river
is the largest tributary OIL the Congo, ana no
rivers OF Europe, except Inc tuiSa ana
Danube, equal II III lengtn or III the volume
OIL water. It's LOU miles OF river banks are
uenseiy peopIeu, most OF The way, ana the
lnnaUllantS are the most lnvetelate cannI-
bans IN the Congo BASIN. In oIner parts of
the Congo region the nrst explorers were
apie TO puy 1000 with BEADS anu brass wire,
put aionS the Mopangi these arucies OIL
trade were not desired. Give us men TO
eat, shouted the natives, and We Will
give you ali the manioc, goats and chickens
you want. We uon want your Iraue
goods, and We Will sell you nothing except
lor men,
GrenIeil. Van Gele and the other pioneers
on the Mobangi used 10 tel or the eNpe.iI-
lions OF large canoes they met. hundreds
OF men were padding up and down Inc
river bound lor destinations sometimes
scores OF miles from their starting point.
They were not on the warpath. but were
simply on their way TO other trlpes 10 buy
SAVES Tor consumption, and coming home
the bottoms OF their canoes would De COW
cred with poor wretches, bound hand and
foot, whom they had purchased.
About Il dozen white men, thus far, lave
been killed and eaten by Congo natives.
and most of the victims nave been French
men at the french stations on the Mo-
banSi. The natives have never made war
on the whites for the purpose of eating
them. Too often the Europeans have been
the aggressors. They have shot natives be-
cause theS have not supplied the quantity
OF rubber demanded of them and for other
insufficient reasons; and at last the blacks
have sought revenge by killing white men.
imperative orders from the governments
controlling the Congo basin have at last
secured better treatment of the native
tribes at the hands of the white agents.
Many of the Batetela tribe fought side by
side with the whites in the recent war with
the Arabs which resulted in the expulsion
OF all the Arab slave dealers from the
Congo state. The Bateteia cannibals are
splendid lighters. but are among the worst
savages VINO have been found in AFRICA.
During excursions in the neighborhood of
their town." wrote DIR. Hinde, Il on more
than one occasion saw a public execution.
When the chief OF a town, who Is of course
an absolute monarch, desires that a man
must die, he hands him over to the people.
The man is Immediately torn TO pieces and
disappears as quickly as a hare is broken
up. by a pack of hounds. Every man lays
hold of him at once with one hand, and
with the other whips off a piece with his
knife; no one stops to kill him first, for he
would, by SO doing. lose his piece. More
than once after q drumhead court-martial,
when "a spy or deserter was shot, the on
him: It's no use; when you are gone w.
shall. of course, dig him up Hanging fet-
iches over the grave with a view to pre-
venting the people from touching it for
fear of magic had no effect. These people
seem to have no form of religion whatever,
and no fear of death or evil spirits.
Through the whole of the Batetela coun-
try, extending from the Lubefu to the
Luiki and from the Lurimbi %northward for
some five days march. one sees neither
gray hairs nor halt nor blind. Even par
ents are eaten by their children on the first
sign of approaching decrepitude. 1t is easy
to understand that, under the circum-
stances. the Batetela have the appearance
of a splendid race. These cannibals do not,
as a rule. file their front teeth, nor do they
tattoo the face"
Between 1000 and o;0OO of these Batetela
cannibals fought in the war against the
Arabs. The fact that so many cannibals
were fighting under Baron Dhanis proved
an important element in his success. .aThe
teaching of the Mohammedan religion
wrote DR.. Hinde, does not concede that a
maj whose body has been mutilated car
enter into the highest heaven, where only
perfect men are admitted. AS a conse.
quence of this belief, the white Arabs and
their faithful followers of Islam would
after a rebuff. instead Of trying to retrieve
the fortunes of the day. flee from the field
with all possible speed-not so much tC
save their lives as through fear that thei,
bodies, in the event of their falling. WoulC
be torn to pieces"