172 
falt; they then wrap it up in the 
te# bread like a cartridge. 
“In the mean time the man hav- 
ing putap his knife, with each hand 
fefting upon his neighbour’s knee, 
his body {tooping, his head low and 
forward, and mouth.open, very like 
an ideot, turns to the one whofe 
cartridge is firft ready, who ftuffs 
the whole of it into his mouth, 
which is fo full that he is in con- 
Rant danger of being choked. ‘This 
is a mark of grandeur. The greater 
the man would feem to be, the lar- 
ger piece he takes in his mouth; 
and the more noife he makes in 
chewing it the more polite he is 
thought to be. They have indeed 
a proverb that fays, ** Beggars and 
thieves only eat {mall pieces, or 
without making a noile.” Havin 
difpatched this- morfel,. which he 
does very expeditioufly, his next 
female neighbour holds forth ano- 
ther cartridge, which goes the fame 
way, and fo on till he is fatished. 
He never drinks till he has. fnifhed 
eating ; and before he begins, in 
gfatitude to the fair ones that fed 
him, he makes up two finall rolls, 
of the fame kind and form; each of 
his neighbours open their mouths at 
the fame time, while with each hand 
he puts their portion isto. their 
mouths. He them falls to drinking 
out of a large handfome horn; the 
ladies eat till they are fatisfied, and 
then all drink together, « Vive /a 
Foye et la Feuncfel? A great deal 
of mirth and joke goes round, very 
feldom with any mixture of ‘acri- 
mony or ill-humeur. 
« All this time the unfortunate 
victim at the door is bleeding in- 
deed, but bleeding little. As long 
as they can cut off the flefh from 
his bones, they do not meddle with 
the thighs or the parts where the. 
I 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
great arteries are. At lait they 
fall upon the thighs likewife; and 
foon after the animal bleeding to 
death, becomes {fo tough, that the 
canibals who have the reft of it to 
eat, find very hard work to feparate 
the flefh from the bones with their 
teeth like dogs. 
«© Tn the mean time thofe within 
are very much elevated;” Love- 
lights all its fires, and every thing 
is permitted with abfolute freedom. 
There is no coynels, no delays, no 
need of appointments or retirement 
to gratify their wifhes;. there are 
no rooms but one, in which they 
facrifice both to Bacchus and to Ve- 
nus. ‘The two men neareft the va- 
cuum a pair have made, by leaving 
their feats, hold their upper gar- 
ment like a icreen before the two 
that have left the bench; and, if 
we may judge by found, they feem 
to think it as great a fhame to 
make love in filence as to eat. Re- 
placed in their feats again, the 
company drink the happy couple’s 
health; and their example is fol- 
lowed at different ends of the table, 
as each couple is difpofed. All 
this paffes withov« remark or fean- 
dal; not a licentious word is ut- 
tered, nor the. mot diftant joke 
upon the tranfaion.”” . 
The author, aware of the impro- 
bability of this relation, has in ano- 
ther place, after giving an account 
ofthe like procefs ufed by the Abyf- 
finian foldiers in the field, with this 
additional circumftance, that after a 
{mall party had fatisfied their hunger, 
the fkin of the mangled animal was. 
replaced upon the wounded part, 
and the beaft was then driven on 
before them to furnith a future 
meal, has added the following apo- 
logy. 
« When firft I mentioned this in 
England, 
