Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-05-04
CONTINUED from Page 49,

not understand a word or a sign,
merely answering with a shrug.
Ali night they padded and with
hrkness came a new develop
ment. From the dark banks came
talk on the drums, which the
paddlers answered by beating on
the side of the canoe, until l was
almost crazy.
It seemed clear that our boat
men were all set to murder, rob
and possibly eat US but killing
white man is a public event and
1t was necessary to get the APP
proval and cooperation of some
one on shore. So they talked
back and forth by drum and
canoe beats. Finally some au-
thority off in the darkness
vetoed the idea l have always
thought 1t was our friends the
women. Anyhow, the paddlers
eventually did land us safely at
Inanwaten. where the doctor
pronounced my ailment a mild
case Of tropical dengue, an cpl
demic fever from which re-
covered in a few days.
Our crew proved their guilty
consciences by padding away
furiously the moment they had
landed us and our supplies, with
out waiting for their pay. / shall
always believe that really did
have appendicitis but got it
scared out of me, which my hus-
band considers an entirely UNI
scientific opinion But then he
has unscientific notions, too. For
instance | know he secretly be-
heves that just because the cas-
sowaries never chased him.
must have done something to in
vite it. Isn't that typical hus-
bands point of view?
N/HILE lying in the canoe and
w trying TO look unworried as
/ speculated as TO whether !
would die from appendicitis be.
fore they got around to killing
me and whether they would eat
me, l knew just how the cere-
mony would be performed.
One night, after we had stayed
in one place long enough TO be-
come quite chummy with our
headhunting neighbors, we were
kept awake by an unusually
hectic throbbing OF the native
drums indicating some sort of
big business going on. The next
day we learned from a talkative
young boy that two Chinese mer-
chants who had incurred the
native admiration and enmity by
their shrewd bargaining, had
been killed. cooked and eaten
that night. hardly more than a
mile from the camp.
Robert managed to get a few
Of the details Of these long pig
feasts. They are nothing like the
pictures / gazed at with awe as a
child in which the victims were
cooked alive in huge pot Can
nibals don't have a pot that
large, any more than you have one
in your kitchen, nor is the VIC
tim roasted alive at the stake, at
least in Papua. Often he is
first pounded to death with
rocks. 10 soften him up for the
roasting which is done in small
chunks
They do not broil the human
meat over a fire usually. but lay
= on stones that have been
lated in the fire and it is de-
voured without any seasoning
whatever. Occasionally. a dread
ful detail is to cut a sample from
the victim before he has been
pounded. and roast it before his
eyes
Papuans often eat enemies they
have captured from neighborng
tribes, but they much prefer the
flesh Of outlanders, Chinese and
white. the white being con-
sidered a special delicacy and
there is no telling how many
traders who disappear in the
jungle become the long pig" of a
cannibal feast. The Papuans are
secretive about their cannibal-
ism because they know that the
white men have forbidden IL and
sometimes send punitive expedi-
tions, though without hope of
catching the instigators
Sometimes the thrills are not
so alarming. Once Robert
sauntered over to witness a
tribal ceremony by a poor and
wretched tribe near the coast and
which seemed on its way 10 ex.
tinction. The ceremony was dull
and unimportant except for one
thing. In the course of the pro-
ceedings they produced about a
dozen priceless Ming vases, which
II sold in the United States