SOME TBIBAL CUSTOMS IN THEIR RELATION TO MEDICINE AND MORALS 27/5 



no doubt as to its prevalence and the revolting nature of its details. On enquiry in the 

 Eastern Bahr-El-Ghazal the Nyam-nyani naturally belittle as much as possible their 

 cannibal tendencies, whilst the Gours, who for long enough formed these people's staple 

 human diet, exaggerate them in every way possible. It is hard, therefore, to come at 

 any exact information on the subject. It would appear, however, that the Zandeh The Zandeh 

 were the original cannibals and that they introduced the habit amongst the conquered orie^nal 

 and enslaved negroid Gebelawi races, a peculiar transference from a higher to a lower Cannibals 

 type. 



Those used for food were connnonly the killed, wounded and prisoners taken during 

 raids. Persons about to die amongst their own tribe are declared also to have been 

 violently put to death and eaten by their neighbours. Indeed, one Sultan Bambia, near 

 Tembura, was said to have a contract with an adjacent chief for the mutual exchange 

 of such victims, whilst amongst the Azandeh Monbutto, members of the same family are 

 reported to have helped in devouring one another. Schweinfurth, indeed, mentions this 

 latter tribe as far surpassing the Nyam-nyam in its cannibalism. Judging by Grogan's 

 adventures and from an account given me by Zubeir Pasha of his experiences in this same 

 region, these details seem little exaggerated. Human carcases were apparently treated 

 exactly as are those of animals, the skin being drawn off complete, the body eviscerated, 

 disjointed, cut into sections, and laid on a bed of fresh leaves prior to distribution. Babies 

 were seemingly treated whole. Human meat, termed Kowar {Zandeh), besides being eaten 

 raw, was, true to the old song, either "roast or boiled or dried in the sun," the flayed 

 hide sometimes being converted into a water-skin. 



The eating of the flesh of enemies was considered to make the consumer fierce, 



warlike and wise. This has its parallel among the people of Kordofan, wlio consume 



small quantities of the fiesh of various carnivora for a like purpose. The undoubted 



relation of cannibalism to other "moral perversions" is strongly exemplified among the 



Nyam-nyam. It is a subject which has been dealt with by Eichard Burton in the 



Appendix to his Arabian Nights. 



Birth 



Child-birth with all savages, among whom education has not hypertrophied the 

 infant's head to pathological proportions, is a physiological and simple act. Great 

 cleanliness is preserved, the expectant mother being laid on a bed of freshly-cut leaves. 

 Every woman who has had a child is considered qualified as a midwife, and as this is chiki-binh 

 an event of their teens, the calling must be considerably overstocked. The assistance 

 rendered by small boys in cases of difficult labour has already been referred to, though 

 difficult labour among these people, apparently does not present the insurmountable 

 obstacles met with in civilised life. The newly arrived child is left unclothed, its bed being 

 the mother's arms, or a nest of fresh green leaves. 



Gour mothers often carry their infants slung in a neat basket over their backs, which 

 can be tied to one of the beams in the wattle-hut and so serve as a cradle. 



Death 



Death among the crude and superstitious is always looked upon with great awe. 

 These people, especially the Nyam-nyam, are no exception to the rule. As it is considered 

 a visitation of the evil powers, the dying are often shunned and neglected therefore, and 

 in instances where some great one " shufifles off this mortal coil," or a series of unaccount- 

 able deaths occur (from infectious disease), the entire village may migrate to avoid further 

 iiilliclions of an unseen ventjuance. 



