1S40.] CANNIBALISM. 343 



are not over chaste, and the men will prostitute their wives 

 and daughters for a compensation, or sometimes from motives 

 of friendship. Their cannibal propensities are unusually strong, 

 and they feed upon the bodies of their victims with a hearty 

 relish. These are obtained in war, or are selected by the 

 chiefs. If a canoe be upset, the occupants are prize to those 

 who rescue them ; and when a chief launches a new vessel, 

 he slaughters a number of his retainers, or the prisoners he 

 may have taken for the purpose, on its deck, after which their 

 corpses are cooked and served up in a horrid repast. Great 

 feasts are often made, for which human victims are provided : 

 wdien the bodies are cooked, they are dissected with as much 

 skill as could be displayed by a surgical operator, and dis- 

 tributed among the guests. Women are frequently captured 

 when they have strayed away from home, and killed and 

 eaten : their flesh is more highly prized than that of the 

 other sex ; and there are choice portions of the body, such as the 

 fleshy part of the arm and the thigh, which are always pre- 

 ferred. Unnatural as it may seem, it cannot be doubted that 

 they are really fond of this sort of food. The earthen pots in 

 which it is cooked are used for no other purpose ; it is 

 esteemed as a luxury ; and women, therefore, are forbidden 

 to eat it, though it is said the wives of the chiefs often par- 

 take of it in private.* 



Wars between the various tribes, or inhabitants occupying 

 different districts, are very frequent, and serve to increase the 

 natural ferocity of their dispositions. These often grow out 

 of difficulties in regard to women, for, though prizing them at 

 such little value, the men are prone to jealousy where their 

 rights are invaded without their consent, and will promptly 

 resent the taking away their wives and daughters by force. 

 Their wars are sometimes protracted for a great length of time, 

 and are commonly fierce and bloody. When one of the rival par- 



* The Feejee chiefs are as proud of the heads of their enemies -whom they 

 have slain an 1 eaten, as the North American savage of the scalps he has taken on 

 the war-path, and it is customary to preserve thorn in earthen jars, as the tropliie? 

 of then ferocious warfare. 



