The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-03-13
WEST AFRICA CANNIBALS
1Erom the

GFrom the st. James Gazette.1
Reuters Liverpool correspondent has
had an interview with Mr. P A Nc
Cam, who has resided for nineteen
years in West Africa He recently re-
turned from a Photographic expedition
in the Gold Coast Hinterland, extending
over an unbroken period of four years
Mr.. McCann's seven years trading and
residence with the cannibal tribes of
the French GabOOn probably form the
most exciting part of his experiences
in western Africa After Sir William
Maxwell returned to CoOmassie from
Bantuku and finished his HinterIand
tour, Mr.. Mccain, with his carriers
penetrated country much of which had
hitherto never been visited by white
men.
In his seven years dealings with the
canniba1 Mpongwes Mr.. Mccain got
friendly with them and thoroughly
studied their habits and customs. They
quite believed that the white men ate
white men, as they themselves ate their
fellow blacks. A big chief offered Mr..
Mccain the smoked thigh of a native
This was considered a gracious act To
refuse it would be unfriendly. Mr. Nc
Cam was in a dilemma. But he feigned
illness, and said he was not eating lust
then The chief eventually put the
matter off good humoredly by saying he
supposed the white man preferred
white man to eat instead of black man.
The MpOngwe cannibalS of the most
pronounced type thickly inhabit the
banks and forest regions of the Gaboon
and Elobey rivers Although they kill
game for food, they much prefer hu-
man meat to any other. When ques-
toned about the practice the speak
freely about it without any embarrass-
ment- Human flesh, they say, has a
rich flavor about it which is entirely
absent from all other kinds Of meat.
They eat all enemies they kill or cap
ture in war; the latter are tortured be-
fore being put to death In fighting
with an enemy who has pressed them
hard and caused them much loss, the
bodies are eaten very soon after the
capture and when the heat of war is
upon them.
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 leisurely about the prep
aration of the meat. The flesh having
been cut up is cooked in plantain
leaves The method of doing this is as
follows: Several leaves of the plantain
tree are cut at the base of their shafts
from the trunk of the tree, and the
midrif of the leaf, which is thick and
fun of sap, and SO prevents the leaf
from bending easily, is dexterously
pared down with a single cut of a knife.
The leaf is then held over a fire and
under the influence of the heat softens
and becomes as flexible as cloth All
the leaves are treated like this, and are
afterward put one on top of another
and then gather up so to form a
basin-Hke receptacle. A quantity of hu-
man meat, cut into small pieces, is then
placed in this, some water and dika fat
made from the fatty kernels of the
seeds of the Mangifera Gabonensis are
added, after which the leaves are gath
cred together at the top and tied round
with fbrOuS strips cut from the midriff
when preparing the leaves. The bun
die is then placed over a slow fire for
seven or eight hours. and the flavor
of the meat thus cooked, according to
MpongWe connoisseurs, surpasses
everything in the worlds bill of fare.