LIFE IN AFRICA.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 282, 26 June 1868, Page 2

LIFE IN AFRICA.

At Steinway Hall, New York, M. Du. Chailla related some of his experiences among the cannibals of Africa to a respectable and decidedly appreciative audience. Some years ago, the lecturer said, he found himself upon the coast of Africa, cultivating the friendship of the chiefs and people, and passed a comparatively pleasant time among them. But he longed to visit the cannibal country, and see the inhabitants for himself. This desire he expressed to the people of the coast with whom he was stopping, and they sought to deter him from the undertaking by every|conceivable representation. He promised to be absent but three months ; consent was given, and a number of men furnished to accompany him to the next kingdom. The cannibals occupy a mountainous country called Fan, situate two degrees north of the equator, and 150 miles from the coast. He carried with him a stock of coats and pantalooDS, and starting from Carisco Bay, passed up the Minu river. On reaching Mbondeno country, he found thathis fame had preceded him, aud the people believed his trunks and boxes contained immense wealth, They gathered around him, and he had apprehensions for his safety ; but the distribution of a few presents made them quite peaceably disposed. He did not remain here for any length of time, but pushed on for Fanland,

guarded by a man from Bonai, whc woro the rathor airy costume of f shirt. Ho arrived at the borders oJ the country verv hungry, and, while watching i'or the opportunity to kill a monkey for food, ho saw two Fans—a man and woman —armed with poisoned arrows, standing convenient. Alone, in the presence of cannibals, was not a comfortable situation, and he felt somewhat queer. They did not molest him, but became his conductors to the village, and as ho walked down the streets and looked upon the bones of men and women whoso flesh had furnished a feast, the thoughts that crowded upon him were riot of the most consoling description. The people seemed to dread him, and ran away; a woman entered her house with the leg of a man under her arm. He was regarded as a spirit by the Fans. But he assured them Hie was not an evil spirit ; the King, however, refused to see him. The succeeding day, however, the King, with a large retinue, consented to receive him. The Fans are cannibals of the worst kind, and eat the bodies of their dead. It is not customary for families to eat their own dead; and when a death occurs, an arrangement is made whereby the party obtaining the body will, when death takes place in bis household, reciprocate the favour, and thus the bodies are exchanged. The Fans are the most intelligent and industrious of the ra>.'es in Africa. The houses aro well ordered and made of banboo ; but the beds are hard, auda night upon one makes bones ache in the morning. Polygamy is practised by them, but elaveryisbutlittleknown, as they prefer to their prisoners to selling them into bondage. Some years ago the Fans lived 300 miles from the coast, but now they are found ten and even five miles from the sea. They overcame every other race they engaged in battle, and have either killed, or eaten, or absorbed ihem. There are also blacksmiths among them, and these, on very large anvils, work up iron into splendid knives and w r eapons, but by what means they obtained the anvils he never could learn. A visit was also made to the Osheba country, the inhabitants of which are also cannibals. While in this land food became scarce, and the King organised a hunting party. On reaching the hunting grounds, pits twenty feet deep wrre dug and converted into traps by covering them with the fallen branches, over which was scattered,

some earth, and the vines that tral along the ground were woven into a sort of network which formed an enclosure. The men then scattered, beat their drums, and made a great noise, driving the elephants into the network or into the pits, and the result was that in three days twentyfive elephants were killed. The meat was very tough, and after twenty-four hours' boiling they succeeded in making it fit to be chewed. Having seen the cannibals and participated in an elephant hunt, he returned to the coast, and passed through a country so infested with ants in parts that the elephant, the tiger, the gorilla, and even the rats and mice ran away from them. These ants travel in a continuous line, and upon one occasion he observed them for hours, and yet the army had not passed. The coast was reached at Cape Lopez, and he was regarded as the first man who had come there not interested in the slave trade. He obtained an introduction to the King, who was then in full court costume —a dress coat, a hat, and neck-tie, and a crown like what some actor may have worn. The lecture was closed with an account of a reception and ball given in honour of M. Du Chaillu, by the King and his chief officers, one of whom wore a coat, another a shirt, and a third a hat, a fourth a neck-tie, and one presented himself wearing only a pair of shoes. The inspiration at the ball was whiskey, and a large glass of the ardent was supplied to each woman present, so as to induce her to dance with the utmost abandon.