The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-04-29
WEST AFRICAN CANNIBALS.
How the Mpongwes Prepare and Eat
Human Flesh.

From the st. James Gazette,
Reuters Liverpool correspondent has
had an interview with Mr.. p. A. Me-
Cam, who has resided for nineteen
years in west Africa. He recently re-
turned from n Photographic expedition
in the Gold Coast IIinterland, extend
ing over an unbroken period of four
years. Mr.. McCann's seven years
trading and residence With the canni-
bal tribes of the French Gaboon prob
ably form the most exciting part Of
his experiences in Western Africa.
After Sir William Maxwell returned to
Coomassie from Bantuku and finished
his Hinterland tour. Mr.. Mccain, with
his carriers, penetrated country much
of which had hitherto never been visit
ed by white men.
In his seven years dealing with the
cannibal Mpongwes Mr.. McCann got
friendly with them and thoroughly
studied their habits and customs. They
quite believed that the white men ate
white men, as they themselves eat their
fellow blacks. a big chief offered Mr.
McCann the smoked thigh of a native.
This was considered a gracious act. To
refuse it would be unfrendly. Mr..
McCann was in q dilemma. But he
feigned illness, and said he was not
eating just then. The chief eventually
put the matter off good humoredly by
saying he supposed the white man pre-
ferred white man to eat instead of
black man.
The Mpongwe carnibals of the most
pronounced type thickly inhablt the
banks and forest regions of the Ga
boon and Elobey. rivers. Although
they kill game for food they much pre-
fer human meat to any other. When
questioned about the practice they
speak freely about 1t without any EN-
barrassment Human flesh, they say,
! has a rich flavor about it which is en-
| tirely absent from any other kind of
| meat They eat all enemies they kill
or capture in war; the latter are tor
| tured before being put to death. In
| fighting with an enemy who has press
ed 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 plan
tain 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 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 gathered up SO as
to form basln-like receptacle. A
quantity of human meat, cut into small
pieces, is then placed i'm this, some
water and dika fat made from the fat
ty kernels of the seeds Of the Mangif-
era Gabonensis are added. after which
the leaves are gathered together at the
top and tied round WITH the fibrous