Traveller.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 365, 7 May 1903, Page 7

Traveller.

MAN-EATERS. : ®^,]|ig:hideous custom of cannibalism yj|-X§ prevails to this day over wide£Slks spread districts in the centre of Africa, and the population of parts of the interior of Malacca and New Caledonia are still addicted to it. Tie islanders of the Solomon group are another pi.-ople who hay a not wholly abandoned a habit that was at one time univessal among tbem, and the Battas of were man-eaters until quite gently. :.■.'-'' ■' A GRUESOME MORSEL. Not many years ago a writer cited the personal experience of a friend of his as showing tke -recent prevalence of cannibalism in Sumatra. He was engaged in Scientific researches in the interior of the island, and was most hospitably entertained by one of the native princes. The chief tain made a great feast in his honour, to which, he went, 'accompanied by. his native seivant. 'The banquet lasted for some considerable time, .and finally a most inviting, brown roaat was served, which was evidently thought very highly of by the other guests. It was cut up, and a portion was given to the European in question, who was on the point of eating some 61 it when his servant stopped him with a cry of 'Mtster master, don't eat that; it's a boy!' Tho horrified European, of course, puS down the dainty morsel untastea, and on questioning the chief elicited, without any trouble, the fact that in order to ehow his appreciation of his guest's high qualities, he had oaused a boy to be killed and cooked, j idging tbis to be greatest compliment he could pay to the visitor. 'LongTig' and 'Tbub Pre.' The Fiji islanders, who have now abandoned this abominable practice, had a Very evil reputation in this respect. 'Why do you eat your enemies P' a French engineer once asked a Fijian. ' Because,' was the reply, ' they are excellent enting —as kood as ;pork or voal.' Dr. Harvey was told by a atrip-captain that he had seen a hundred human bodies laid out for one of the great feasts of this people. Sometimes the victims were cooked whole, placed in a sitting poßture, with fans in ' their bands, and ornamented as if alive, and carried in state as a head-dish. •Paka balaW or ' lone pig,' wsb the ' name given by these savages to oooked

human flash, in distinction to ' dinft balava,' or 'hue pig.' Captain Cook, who was especially instructed to inquire into the allegfd cannibalism of the natives of the Pacific islands, reported that it did not, as bad been imagined, take tl»e form of rb occasional excess, induced by a feeling of revenge against enemies, but that human flesh was their habitual and almost daily food. Cannibalism at the Cape. Sixty years ago man-eating was rampant close to th« borders of Cape Colony. The cannibals dwelt in caves in the country of the Basutos, and though their district was literally alive with game of all sorts, and was a fine agricultural country into the bargain, they were not contented with merely hunting down and devouring their enemies, but preyed upon one another, their wives and children falling victims in time of scarcity. The African explorer Du Chaillu speaks in the strongest terms of the prevalence of cannibalism' among the Fans. It appears that they carried on a large trade in dead bodies with the Oehebas and other Iribea. The standard-price seems to have been a small tusk of ivory for one body, or a large tußk for two. In his account of the aborigines of Australia Dr. Lang mentions the curious fact that the dead body of a man slain in battle was never eaten by his enemies, but by his own friends and relatives. The Fruits of Culture. The captain of <k whaler during a stay at Easter Island contracted such a liking for one of the young natives that he took him away home and pave him a good education and opportunities of acquiring the habits of civilised life. After a time he carried him back to the island, with the idea that his culture would be tbe means of inducing the rest of the natives to desert their pavage customs. His affectionate friends, however, frustrated the good intentions of tbeir would-be benefactor, for, finding the young man fat und in good condition, they took him with as much rapidity as poss ble tc a quiet spot, killed and ate nim. Cannibals do not like the flesh of whites, finding it bitter and salt. Negroes are considered by them to be the best eating, and the favourite portions are the palms ef the hands.