The sun., 1908-07-26
WHEN ANTHROPOPHAGI Dine
TABLE DEPORTMENT OF THE
WILD SAVAGE ISLANDERS.

tFOnOmy OI sum Us Iat Ahes' ASN'o'
:, Men and Make No More Fuss Over such
Food Than Over Any Other Victuais.
The amount Of rank nonsense that has
been written about cannibalism is measur-
able only by the quire the ream, ana the
shelf full Of stately volumes. As an aohor-
rent practice its persistence among savage
races has engaged the attention OF many
students. Dominated by fixed ideas such
authors have failed to make allowance for
the equal fiXity Of a distinctly opposite
group of ideas among peoples on far
different culture plane. One experience at
table with the present day anthropophagi
would serve to overturn every one OF the
conclusions arrived at under academic
conditions by all these closet philosophers.
One hungry cannibal can teach more about
cannibalsm than all the ethnologists IN
every society ever formed.
Provided the investigator Ia sufficiently
interested in the life Of undeveloped man
TO endure the Inconvenience. sometimes
amounting to perils, of travel in savage
lands, 1t is by no means difficult to witness
the habits at table Of those whose principal
Wand is the man who has fallen to their
bow and spear. In the long chain OF islands
of the east coast Of Australia and stretching
from the French colony Of New Caledonia
to and including New Guinea and even
beyond that great island to an indefinite
margin resting upon the higher culture
plane Of the Malayan Dyaks--in this in
sular chain Of thousands OF miles men eat
their brother men day by day. enjoy the
repast and think no harm.
Where the white men have made any last
ing settlement where the missionaries have
established their ameliorating work. where
occupation Of the savage area by the civ
ilized Powers has been manifested by
armed presences, in such rare and widely
separated instances the Pacific Islanders
have had to yield. albeit sullenly through
lack Of comprehension of the alien standard
Of taste, and their inherited repasts tend
to disappear although when opportunity
serves they may yet be practised in secret.
Such a state of affairs came to light in the
colony Of FIJI in 1892, after II had been under
the complete dominance Of civilized folk
for half a century, and for a score Of years
OF that time it had been an ably administered
British possession. Yet in some slight up
rising 80 slight that it was reduced by a
, scanty detail of native police, there was
recrudescence Of the ancestral practice in
which, among others, Fijian Methodist
pastor was dined upon by several OF his
flock
But in the wilder islands-and all Is OF the
utmost wildness just around the corner
from the few points Of white settlement-the
islanders are just as much cannibals as
ever they were. and they pursue the custom
with the unconcern which attaches to any
one Of the habits Of life wherever found.
The only hesitation which they may feel in
the matter arises from the impression which
has been forced upon them that the white
races do net look upon the matter in the
same light that they do and that therefore
white men are to be held tabu for table
use. 1t is often said that this is based upon
me superstition, but 80 long as those
most acquainted with these primitive men
find such insuperable difficulty in SYM
pathetic appreciation Of the working OF
their low intelligences the point may re-
:. main in doubt
- There is great Joy in a village Of man
larder is replenished. whether by open
onfall or by forest strategy, Loud arises
the shout Of victory. the drums beat a
triumphant report Of the kill and thus
glorify the village which has earned the
equally humliate and prompt to sudden
reprisal the village whose burgher has
inhospitabiy become the centre OF alien
hospitality.
But the joy differs not at all from the
gratified pride OF the hunter when he brings
home his kill even in our own societies.
When the hunter upon the sea brings to
beach fine turtle in proof OF his prowees
his associates flock around TO sing his
praises not metaphorically but with real
chants and drumbeat on the village green.
When the hunter in the lesser groves has
brought home a load of pigeons which he
has had the luck to smoke from their
roosts or to capture in a skilful cast OF the
net, again the triumPhing shout OF the kill
echoes over the little neck Of woods that
hardly and with ever present risk he may
call his horae. When the daring ranger
comes down from the traokless forest of
the higher -nountains and brings with him
bay and that he has met upon his spear
point in some ripping rush not without
danger. gain the shout OF the kill:
II then the brave man brings home the
shall find it grcwsone and blood ourdling
that the kill shout is even louder raised?
The rick was greater, the prize was heavier,
1t is reason enough for louder, longer
shout Of triumph. One may not be too
when he finds his own associates prompt to
weigh their biggest trout to the smallest
fraction of an ounce and to do 1t when the
fish is yet wet from the brook. to count the
tines upon the head that is to hang over
some table glittering with glass and silver
and napery Wherever this shout is raised
it is the cry Of good hunting nothing more.
In combination the closet philosopher
and the fixed ideas have drawn for the
common comprehension ghastly picture
Of the feasting Of the canniba1s. AS
matter Of fact any man who travels around
the islands of the western Pacific can see
these meals, indeed no cannot help seeing
them. and he never will see aught but a
meal served with order and decorum.
The cooking is the same all over this
island region, the viands. whether fish or
flesh or vegetables. are wrapped in leaves
and heaped on glowing stones in pit oven,
covered over with a thick layer Of green
leaves. then more hot stones, and a blanket
OF earth over all. 1t is very satisfactory
cookery. After hours OF such baking the
escaping wreaths Of steam signify by their
SAVIOR to the waiting cooks that the meal
is ready and the cover is not swept from the
oven until all the food is well done. IL
matters not what the meat may be that Ia
put into ono Of these ovens. 1t comes not out
until it is done to a turn. So much for the
Idea Of dripping flesh. These islanders
must have all their fish and fesh well done
or they will not touch 1t.
The cannibal Is very clean and neat
about his table manners. it being reoog-