THE TRAVELLER.

Waipawa Mail, Volume I, Issue 11, 19 October 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE TRAVELLER.

SCENES IN AFRICA. AMONG THE CANNIBALS. (From “ Through the Dark Land,” by H. M. Stanley.) “We encountered the first traces of cannibalism at Kampanza, a village of the Wallega, where we noticed two rows of skulls, hanging about ten feet apart, running along the entire length of the village. These skulls appeared to be human ; but the chief stated that the “nyama” had been procured from the forest, and was that of the “ soko” or chimpanzee. But when Mr. Huxley examined two of these skulls they turned out to be human, ‘ exhibiting all the characteristic peculiarities of the negro tribes.’ Lower down the river, indubitable evidence of the cannibal practices of the natives was collected.” “meat to-day.” “ The villages on the right bank maintained a tremendous drumming and blowing of war-liorns, and their wild men hurried up with menace towards us, urging their sharp-prowed canoes so swiftly that they seemed to skim over the water like flying fish. Unlike the Lauavala villagers, they did not wait to be addyessed, but as soon as they came within fifty or sixty yards they shot out their spears, crying out, ‘ Meat! meat !Ah ! ah ! We shall have plenty of meat ! 80-bo-bo-bo-o, 80-bo-bo-o-oo ! Anger we had none for them. It seemed to me so absurd to be angry with people who looked upon one only as an epicure would regard a fat capon. Sometimes also a faint suspicion came to my mind that this was all but a part of a hideous dream. Why was it that I should be haunted with the idea that there were human beings who regarded me and my friends only in the light of meat I Meat! We 2 Heavens ! what an atrocious idea ! ‘ Meat ! Ah ! We shall have meat to-day.’ There was a fat-bodied wretch in a canoe, whom I allowed to crawl within spear-throw of me; who, while he swayed the spear with a vigour far from assuring to one who stood within reach of it, leered with such a clever hideousness of feature that 1 felt, if only witliin arm’s length of him, I could have given him a hearty thump on the back, and cried out applaudingly, ‘ Bravo, old boy, you do it capitally! ’ Yet not being able to reach him, I was rapidly being fascinated by him. The rapid movements of the swaying spear, the steady widemouthed grin, the big square teeth, the head poised on one side with the confident pose of a practised spear thrower, the short brow and square face, hair short and thick. Shall I ever forget him ? It appeared to me as if the spear partook of the same cruel inexorable look as the grinning savage. Finally, I saw him draw his right arm back, and incline his body backwards, with still that same grin on his face, and I felt myself begin to count, one, two, three, four—and

whizz! The spear flew over my back, and hissed as it pierced the water. The spell was broken.” This propensity of the natives to regard the expedition in the light of ‘ 1 meat” was again and again manifested despite their attempts at conciliation. A TERRIBLE ANIMAL. An old Indian officer relates a most thrilling account of the depredations of a tiger, in a small village in Rengrapeer, India, as told him by the villagers : “ Some dozen or more of the village girls went, as was their daily wont, to a brook close by, to bathe and fetch water for the next day’s use, among the number being the daughter of the Moonda, or chief man of the village. They had been absent but a quarter of an hour, when the startling voice of a tiger, and the piercing shrieks of the women, suddenly broke the silence of the hour, and before the roused villagers could snatch their arms, the girls came flying back with horror in their faces, and in a few words announced the dreadful fact that a tiger had carried off one of their party. It was the Moonda’3 daughter. Her stout-hearted kinsmen rushed, but with hopeless hearts, to the rescue, among them her intended husband and his ‘ sworn brother. * While the rest were following with skill and caution the bloody traces of the monster and his prey, these two, dashing on through the dense jungle, soon came upon the object of their search. In a small open space the tiger was crouched over the dead body of the girl, which it had already begun to devour. The approach of the hunters roused him, and he stood over the dead girl, growling defiance at the two men. In a moment an arrow from the bereaved lover’s bow pierced the tiger’s chest. It struck deep and true, but not so as (in sporting phrase) to stop the beast, who, from a distance of some thirty paces, came down, with his peculiar whirlwind rush, on his assailant. The young man had just time to draw his * kappee,’ or battle-axe from his girdle, when the tiger seized him by the left wrist. The man, leaning well back to gain room for the swing of the axe, drove it with all the collected strength of rage and despair into the tiger’s forearm, severing the massive bone, and leaving the blade buried in the muscles. Next moment his head was buried within the monster’s jaws, and he fell dead upon the ground, while the tiger, tamed by the loss of blood, turned round and began to limp away. All occurred so rapidly, that the surviving comrade had not shot a shaft, but now, maddened, he ran to the retreating brute and sent arrow after arrow up to the feather into its side and neck until it rolled over, dying, within a few yards of the ill-fated couple.