The Washington herald., 1921-10-09
CANNIBALS ROAST,
NOT BOIL, VICTIMS,
SAYS JOURNALIST
South Sea Islanders
Preparation for Feast
Described.

How would you like to take
lonely trip through the most saw
age part of this earth known to
white men, where, IL the fierce
native cannibals aren't feeling In
particularly good humor. they may
throw a spear through you. skin
you and make you the subject OF
a big feast, Just to cheer them
selves up a bit. Through q land
where very, very few white men
have ever ,ventured.
Merlin N. Taylor. American jour-
nalist, recently returned to the
United States from such place,
Papua or the British New Guinea.
which Is q part OF the cannibalistic
South Sea Isles. located some zoo
miles north of the northernmost
point of Australia
II was the long ebony spears. the
heavy, six-foot. ebony native DOW
and other war implements rbougnt
bach from the savage villages,
placed here land there about MI.
Taylor's cozy den, that prompted
me to ask him to tell about nov
oannibals prepare a deceased mans
body for eating.
10 start with" said Mr.. Taylor.
'ft is Ihe popular conception that
the victims body Is first placed In
a huge boiling pot and cooked
That is not the way they do It.
They roast him.
''F'irst. of course, II is necessary
to get a vicim- This Is done in
various ways. Perhaps an enemy
will be ambushed, or, maybe, they
will drag in a body of an enemy
slain in battle. At any rate, IL
the victim has a spark OF nfe
when he falls into the cooks
hands, 1t is soon snuffed out with
a war club or an arrow from an
ebony bow.
once the body is brought into
the village, a number OF large
stones are heated red-hot. While
this is. being done the body is be-
ing skinned. When ii Is placed
among the hot stones.
During the time that the body
is being procured and roasted,
huslSy-lunged villagers set up cry
to tell the inhabitants of neigh
boring villages that long pig will
soon be ready for eating. The viii
lages of wild Papua are located
very close together, so IL is quite
possible for a man yelling loudly
in one TO be heard in the next.
Each of the nearby villages gets
a portion of the roast The people
of a village number from about
twenty to thirty. When two oi
three villages get together there
isn't So very much for each per
son. One village gets an arm. An
other a leg.l And SO the victims
body is divided until there is mont
left. But under no consideration
does a common villager get a hant
or foot to MUNICH on These go tt
the big chiefs to provide, then
with greater strength"
Doesn't it make any difference
who has been killed." 1 asked. I'll
a'cannibal's friend has been killed
will that cannibal eat him any
how?"
Makes no difference" replied Mr.
Taylor. Friend or no friend, the
cannibals want roast. and when
there is any to be had friendship
cuts no ice.
ITO illustrate in regard to civil
lied dress, I'll tell you Of an in
cident that occurred about six
n
named Macintosh, working in the
wild sections of the British New
Guinea, somehow aroused the an
ger Of the cannibals and soon was
ambushed and killed.
The natives dragged him to
their villages, stripped him Of all
his clothes except his shoes, and
then SKINNED him. In the course
Of time Macintosh was soon on the
roasting stones, his boots still on
Imagine what the poor cannibal
chiefs were up against when they
tried to shew Mackintosh's boots,
which / suppose they thought had
grown on his feet and were a part
Of them. don't know for sure,
but I guess Macintosh is the only
man who was ever skinned and
roasted with his boots on"