CANNIBALISM. 483 



When St Francis Xavier, the glorious apostle of the East Indies, 

 had set his heart upon christianising the barbarians who inhabited 

 the Island of Moro, and its dependencies, he was entreated by the 

 Portuguese people not to think of such a perilous enterprise. In 

 order that they might possibly deter him from undertaking the expe- 

 dition, they assured him, that the inhabitants were cannibals ; that 

 they poisoned each other ; that their nourishment consisted of human 

 flesh ; that, when one of the family died, they cut off the hands and 

 feet, out of which they made a savoury dish ; nay, their depravity 

 went so far, that, when they intended to give a grand dinner to their 

 neighbours, they requested one of their friends to give them up an 

 aged father to be made into a dainty stew, for the invited guests ; and 

 that they would do their friend a similar good turn, whenever he 

 should determine to have a party for dinner. If this alarming piece 

 of information had been founded in truth, then would the existence 

 of genuine cannibalism have been established beyond all manner ot 

 doubt, for here we have a statement that the savages butchered 

 their aged parents in cold blood, and then cooked them, so that 

 their friends might partake of the savoury cheer no mention being 

 made of a battle. In fact, St Francis was put upon his guard, that 

 the Island of Moro was peopled by human beings with appetites so 

 depraved, so keen, and so gluttonous, that the master of the house 

 considered he could not consult the refined taste of his company 

 better, than by preparing human soup, human fry, and human steaks 

 for them at his own dining-table. 



Whilst I am on gastronomy, if the indulgent reader will pardon 

 a short digression, I will show him what we civilised people can do 

 in the way of ultra-gormandising. It is concerning a dinner, which 

 brings to one's mind those days of ancient epicurism, when Caligula 

 raised the Roman kitchen to a pitch of most lamentable notoriety. 

 Here are the component parts of one single dish, costing one hundred 

 guineas to the consumers of it. The reader may well suppose that 

 the whole affair was merely a hoax. But I can assure him that it 

 was no hoax at all. It was truly and really a thing of flesh, spice, 

 and paste, manufactured expressly for the palates of those alone who 

 could duly appreciate its transcendent merits. 



