The San Francisco call., 1904-02-14
INSTRUCTIVE CTUDHng
By hNOIEnAlTN AND
,IAC)NfEN
H.


King has confidence presides over the
meeting.
At a royal palaver the freemen. pre-
ceded by the chiefs, assemble in COM
pany Sometimes the King opens the
debate in person: sometimes a friend
of the King announces the object of the
meeting. None dares to interrupt his
speech. They then separate and talk
over the matter in hand. Then the op-
posing chiefs take the rostrum. The de-
bate often runs high, but as in higher
civilized assemblies, the best reascner
takes the victory.
When the discussion is finished the
assembly is treated to palm wine by
the King, for which he taxes all his
tribe. The native orator comes to these
palavers without arms. An African
proverb says, Let. the man say his
mouth out, one does not kill with the
tongue" Never get mad at words" is
another proverb, and an African sell
dom does. They know, however, that
palm wine deadens the senses, so they
wisely hold their court before drinking.
At the conclusion of the meeting they
never permit any disputant to have the
last word. but the whole assembly rises
and pronounces it, and any one who
does not respect this rule Or forgets it
is chased out Of the assembly and aft
erward has no right to occupy himself
with its affairs.
Cannibalism has been a universal
practice among the tribes of Africa.
1t is the outgrowth of the ancient OBJ
servance of eating witches, or people
supposed to possess magic power, as
a means of distributing the magic pow
er equally and in homeopathic doses
among the living This view is con-
firmed by the interesting fact that
when a leopard is killed not only is its
blood used in making a sign upon the
foreheads of the children, but every
part of it is eaten, because they think
that its flesh will impart strength and
cunning. There are many instances
where the natives eat the flesh Of an
animal because of some quality peeu-
liar to it, that in this way they may
partake Of its desirable traits. Thus
the flesh of the panther is supposed
to confer cunning, that of the monkey
agility Human flesh is supposed to
impart still higher qualities. The blood
is used for fetishes, even to the last
drop.
The more conservative tribes In Af-
rica at present eat only witches, and
from their mountain top of virtuosity
regard the people who make COM
mon practice of man eating as Boobos.
Many are the tribes who have learned
to eat human flesh with the relish of
man-eating tigers. They may have
been driven to this extremity by wars
that have destroyed their plantations,
and afterward kept it UP from choice.
However that may be, when once the
habit has been acquired they are like
a chicken-eating dog, even carrying the
practice so far as to eat their own
tribe men. The Gombo, Bangalas and
Baundjeau of the lower Mobangi, and
the tract between the Mobangi and the
Mongolia are the most pronounced can
nibals The Bangalas do not eat wom-
en-, as they have too high a CONNER
cial value These people are among
the most cruel of African tribes, and
the most horrible things take place
among them. They traffic in human
slaves. really to furnish flesh, and in
the interior they hunt their fellow men
as the animals most highly priced for
food. One reason for the preference
for human flesh is said to be its slight
salty taste. The elephants foot is so
salty that there is no need to add any
salt for eating, and human flesh is said
to be the same.