The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-11-28
HAVE NO RELISH
FOR WHITE men
New Guinea CanMbaIS Assert
They Taste Bad.
IMMERSE THEIR VICTIMS.

Cause of Natives Dislike For White
Diet Is That They Are Fed on Too
Many Condiments, Says DR.. Holman,
Well Known Authority on Habits of
Man Eating SaVases.
Cannibals seldom eat white captives
md then without zest. says scientific
report on the subject to the German
government by DR.. Holman, formerly
consul in Africa and an authority
on the subject of tribal customs.
Writing of the recent murder of the
German-American mineralogist, John
Henry Warner, by natives of New
Guinea, DR.. Hoffman asserts that the
abstention of cannibals in Africa and
Guinea from the flesh of white men
Is not because they fear the spirit of
the white victim or his powers of mag
tc, as has been assumed, but because
they consider that it has an unpleas-
ant taste due to use of sharp spices
and condiments and of salted dishes in
the diet OF the European.
DR.. Hoffman cites an article printed
several years ago in a journal of Lii
beria in which it was said that the
cannibals in the Liberian territory eat
q white man only when he falls into
their hands alive. Then the victim is
immersed to the neck in running
brook and held there by bonds for two
or three days, on much the same prin-
ciple that an oyster is "floated' i'll
fresh water after being taken from
the beds. Dr. Hoffman has confirma-
ton of this from a former cannibal.
Cannibalism Still FIourishing.
The reported killing and eating of
Mr.. Warner in Papua by the natives
has called attention to the fact that
cannibaliSm is by no means stamped
out in New Guinea. Warner believed
that raduim could be found in Papua
and fell victim to his own zeal. 1t
is reported that his two native COM
| panions escaped his horrible fate
news of which they brought to the
coast.
At one time official circles believed
that cannlbalism was a thing of the
past in British New Guinea, but clear
evidence that it has persisted into the
present decade has been provided by
unimpeachable witnesses. In a book
published last year J. H. p. Murray,
lieutenant governor and chief judicial
officer of Papua, has much to say
about the practice of cannibalism
among the natives in the island. He
writes about boiling springs which not
many years ago were used for cooking
any prisoners captured in the village
warfare.
Describing the northeastern division
of the island, Murray quotes native
witness, who, telling of the eating Of
human bodies, said "We boil them;
we cut them up and boil them in a
pot. We boil babies, too; we cut them
up like pigs. We eat them cold or
hot; we eat the legs first. We eat them
because they are like fish. We have
fish in the creeks and kangaroos In
the grass, but men are our real food"
Proves Man of His Word.
Murray tells of remark of Fergu
son islander to stranger who wished
to buy betel nuts from him: "Why
should 1 sell you betel nuts. I am go
ing to eat you" Which he promptly
did. He also writes of a crew Of
shipwrecked Chinese, who were eaten
one by one, until the captors, surfeited
with the diet, peddled those who were
left around the coast, selling them to
the highest bidders. Wives who ven
tured to look around during the fu-
nerals of their husbands We're killed
and eaten.
One native who was concerned in the
killing of a neighboring chief and his
two wives told of the subsequent eat
ing of the victims with the utmost
unconcern. He told of eating the hand
of one wife, but refused to touch the
other, as he had killed her, and it was
not the custom of his tribe to eat ones
own victim. The two women were
singed first, then cut up into small
pieces, mixed with sago, cooked, wrap
ped up in leaves and distributed among
the victors, including their women and
childran