CANNIBALISM. 



95 



wars is said to have led to the eating of 

 human flesh. A very concise account of the 

 cannibalism of the Bassoutos is found in the 

 Anthropological Review (No. 25, April, 1869), 

 where James Henry Bowker, Dr. Bleek, and 

 Dr. John Beddoe, have given their observa- 

 tions on the " Cave Cannibals of South Africa." . 

 Interesting data are also found in "Relation 

 d'un Voyage d'Exploration au Nord-est de la 

 Colonie du Cap de Bonne Esp6rance, par Ar- 

 bousset et Daumas," Paris, 1842, pages 105- 

 123. The voyage was made in the year 1836. 

 In his "Two Lectures on the Native Tribes of 

 the Interior," Capetown, 1855, pages 62-64, 

 Edward Salomons spoke of cannibalism as ex- 

 isting among four tribes. Two of these, the 

 Bakufeng and the Makatla, are Bechuanas; 

 while the other two, the Bamakakana and the 

 Bamatlapatla, are Kaffres. It is suggested 

 that they became cannibals in consequence of 

 the war which devastated that region some 

 fifty years ago, and have remained so ever 

 since. 



Some doubt has arisen in regard to the 

 tribe of the Niamaniam, of the district of the 

 White Nile, who have been spoken of as ad- 

 dicted to cannibalism.- Heuglin says ("Eeise 

 in das G-ebiet des Weissen Nil und seiner west- 

 lichen Zuflusse," Leipsic and Heidelberg, 1869) 

 the large tribe of the Niamaniam is bounded on 

 the north by the Fertit, on the east by the tribes 

 of Dor, and perhaps some of the Diur tribes, 

 while its extension to the west and south is 

 not yet completely known; single tribes, 

 however, reach beyond the equator and west- 

 ward of 18 east longitude from Greenwich. 

 Niamiam or Namiam in the plural Niama- 

 niam means originally with the Djelabes 

 eaters, in this case man-eaters. According to 

 Marchese Horatio Antinori, they eat ants, 

 grasshoppers, bugs, bats, and hunt monkeys 

 and apes. "I myself," says Antinori, "have 

 had opportunity to examine some of this tribe, 

 whom I have met with the ivory-dealers. I 

 have seen them eat bats and apes which I had 

 shot. They roasted them and devoured the 

 meat with the burnt skin, and then not only 

 the entrails, but even the excrements. But 

 still I cannot say that they are cannibals." 

 Undoubted proof of this is furnished by Carlo 

 Piaggia, who wandered about in the country 

 with the ivory-dealers for several years, and 

 lived with the chief Tombo for nearly a year, 

 up to February, 1865. In their wars with 

 neighboring tribes they ate the bodies of those 

 killed in battle. Of this fact Piaggia was an 

 eye-witness. His statement (see " Year-Book " 

 of the Geographical Society of Florence, 1868) 

 is confirmed by Schweinfurth, who also ob- 

 served some of their sanguinary feasts during 

 his tour through the country of the Niamaniam 

 in 1870. 



In America anthropophagy has very largely 

 diminished in historic times. The Caribs, 

 whom Columbus met, were cannibals in the 

 fullest sense of the word. The human sacri- 



fices of the Aztecs and of the Peruvians have 

 been described minutely by historians. The 

 Iroqnois and the Algonquins of North America 

 are described as having been in the practice 

 of cannibalism at the time of the arrival of the 

 Europeans. At present cannibalism has en- 

 tirely disappeared from North America, ex- 

 cept in a small tribe on the coast of Lake 

 Superior, the Kabbit Indians, a tribe of the 

 Odjibways, who, according to the testimony 

 of Prof. Credner, of Leipsic, are charged by 

 the neighboring tribes with occasion-ally in- 

 dulging in this practice. Besides them, the 

 only cannibals living on the continent are the 

 Miranhas and Mesayas, who are found on the 

 Japure, at its entrance into the Amazon, and 

 the Kasibos on the Pachitua. The description 

 of the feasts of the Mesayas, given by Marcoy, 

 shows plainly that only a very strong desire for 

 revenge actuated them to eat human flesh ; for 

 all of them were at great pains after the banquet 

 to cast the human meat forth again. (Marcoy, 

 "Voyage & Traverse l'Am6rique du Sud, de 

 1'Ocean Pacific a 1'Ocean Atlantique," Paris, 

 1869, 2 vols.) As to the Miranhas, Marcoy 

 reported that a famine was raging in their dis- 

 trict, and that they ate their aged and sick, 

 but do not leave their country, for fear of 

 death at the hands of their neighbors. 



The motives which actuate the sparse native 

 populations of Australia and Oceanica to can- 

 nibalism are not clear, but seem chiefly to be 

 revenge, hunger, and superstition. Australia 

 has still a native population of 50,000, who 

 practise cannibalism when not restrained by 

 English influence. The German missionaries 

 settled at Cooper Creek, in South Australia, 

 have recently brought to light some revolting 

 facts regarding this subject. One of the mis- 

 sionaries wrote in 1868 : " Cannibalism is here 

 a fact ; a mother will smilingly eat her child. 

 The blacks eat part of every corpse, when there 

 is any thing to eat. A short time ago, the 

 oldest man of the tribe died. Being asked 

 whether they would eat him, one of the blacks 

 answered: 'No, he is too bony, he has no 

 fat.'" (Extract from the Deutsche Zeitung, 

 published in Tanunda.) 



In New Guinea the natives are supposed to 

 be cannibals, although we have no direct proofs 

 of the supposition. Every thing known on the 

 subject has been compiled with great careful- 

 ness by O. Finsch ("New Guinea und seine 

 Bewohner," Bremen, 1865), who defends the 

 natives against the accusation. Definite in- 

 formation respecting cannibalism in the Lou- 

 isiade Archipelago, which lies in the elonga- 

 tion of the eastern peninsula of New Guinea, 

 is furnished in the narrative of a shipwreck 

 by the French surgeon V. de Eochas, well 

 known as a writer on travels (" Naufrage et 

 Scenes d'Anthropophagie d 1'tle de Rossel dans 

 1'Archipel de la Louisiade. In "Le Tour du 

 Monde," t. iv., Paris, 1861) : In the summer of 

 1858, the ship St. Paul was wrecked on the 

 island Kossel. It had on board 317 Chinese, 



