——————» _ ; ( •AMONG THE CANNIBALS. il

Manawatu Herald, 19 February 1889, Page 2

— — — — — — » _ ; ( •AMONG THE CANNIBALS. il

Mr Romilly's book •• The Western '

, IMI , m Pacific and New Guinea," is full of Interest, apart from the politics of the Pacific. He is one of. the few men who have witnessed a cannibal orgie from first to lastrrrfirbm jk* slaughter df a hostile qhieftairfjpn battle to the roasting, ganushiog, " : and carving of him for supper.; In '; ': most of the islands the tribes 4§P7 ~ that they are cannibals. "We rieter do such a thing, but such and suck a tribe- does;" but in New IreWofl, where this orgie took place, human flesh is eaten in the most matter <Jfcourse way, ana. spoken of by tfce women as " delicious food, far superior to pork." Ho**, it naturally ..- occurs to one to ask, did N* Bomilty get along unhurt among sui>.h rough customers? He gives two prescriptions. One is to make friends of tlje old women ; they will invariebly *P. .. cept presents, and will always «P. .. you a good turn. The second. |8 some knowledge of conjuring. Romilly's skill only extended to : patm> ing half-crowns ; but, even BO.it ofte^ saved his life., If he had learned to produce a rabbit, a cannon-ball, - anft about a thousand yards of paper ir,o# his mouth, hV would, he feels stt.r6, . have been made Kjngof. the CanxribV^ Islands. Failing sleight of >han& there is great yirture in false teeth of,, a cork leg— quite as much so as ny the glass eye which, according ".&.. t Lord WolseleyV 3tory, had gooh V. good effect on the Mahdi's meni* ... Such a yell of astonishment as; greeted the disappearance- of ai row* of teeth Mr Romilly never *Hiaa*d^A Old Takfei the chief, was calmer than most of his tribesmen, but exclaimed, " lam an old man ; but I thank GocT . that I have lived to see this day ! " ' Another of MrEomilly's good stories is of a ball at which he assisted at a Chinaman's houpe in Samoa- HeY spent most <jf the evening with at beautiful half-caste lady, who was most " elegantly arrayed in a longs . silk nightgown, anil a straw hat ;■ which she Dever took tffiV' " I beg-Jh of you your studs,'' she said : v very I bad manners gentleman Refuse lady.'Vi Mr Romilly's brass buttons went then same way, and he and a. friend (who v had been similarly despoiled -con-.v-., gratulated each other on the* way;;; home that the fair Martha bad no ' brother at home of about their size . or ste would certainly have befc!- ' ged of them their jackets and shirt* . The whole account of this Sampan I entertainment is very funny, but in>deed the book is full of good thioga. t and there is a dry humour in Mr • Bomilly, together inth a modest, uni- ;ii affected way with him, that makes his book a very pleasant one to rea4« " l Some readers wil be tantalissed, others will be relieved, by his Herodotean way of constantly saying that such and such islanders have soma very. singular customs which are* met; with nowhere else, but which "it- . would not be lawful to mention iaafy'* .