CANNIBALISM. 



my observations before the eye of the public, in order that man, the 

 noblest animal in the creation, even when he runs wild in the woods, 

 may be put upon an equal footing with his civilised brother, so far 

 as their daily food in flesh meat is concerned ; and thus be cleansed 

 from a stain so foul and black as that of real cannibalism. 



When I travel into countries inhabited by savages, I would thus 

 address the assembled natives : 



" Ladies and Gentlemen, I am come to see you, and to admire 

 your beautiful country, but not to eat you, nor to be eaten by you. 

 I assure you, that it is not my intention to enter into your private 

 quarrels ; nor, so long as I have the pleasure of staying amongst you, 

 shall I feel any longing for a repast on the dead bodies of your sworn 

 enemies, slain in battle. People in the country from which I have 

 come, and in which I was born, cannot bring their minds to feed on 

 human flesh ; neither can I. When we kill our adversaries, which 

 we sometimes do to the tune of ten thousand a day, we are not in 

 the habit of roasting their bodies, and then eating them, or any part 

 -of their remains. But this, ladies and gentlemen, is merely a matter 

 of taste ; or perhaps, in your keen eyes, it may be termed a want of 

 taste. If you will kindly furnish me with a few sweet potatoes, or any 

 other thing in the way of vegetables, I will, by no means, take offence 

 at your making a meal on the slaughtered remains of your foes ; and 

 upon which sort of food, we people from Europe are informed, that 

 you dine occasionally with a considerable degree of relish." 



Negroes from Africa are fond of dog for dinner ; but I question 

 whether or not they ever regale themselves on the flesh of man. 

 At least, I have never as yet been able to discover that negroes are 

 prone to this last kind of nutriment. I was often in Guiana when 

 the slave trade was in full vigour there. Considering that negroes 

 were imported into the colonies of the new world by tens of 

 thousands, brought prisoners from the remotest recesses of Africa, 

 we might suppose that some of these, if not many of them, were now 

 and then in the habit of feeding upon their fellow-creatures. But I 

 could not learn from captains of Guineamen, that they had ever 

 detected a man amongst the slaves, in the passage from Africa to 

 America, feeding on his dead 'comrade. Such a repast, the captains 

 assured me, was utterly unknown. I had proof positive, that negroes 



