CANNIBALISM. 417 



which amused him wonderfully. Dolland had 

 furnished me with some that were movable, and 

 one of a man lying on a bed who appeared to roll 

 his eyes and swallow rats, made a most intense im- 

 pression ; and the people having got over their 

 fright, I ventured again to re-produce the gorilla, 

 which was followed by elephants, alligators, and 

 other animals expressly painted for such occasions. 

 The excitement occasioned by this exhibition was 

 something extraordinary, and the people seemed 

 thoroughly to enjoy it, giving vent to their as- 

 tonishment by the most exuberant bursts of 

 laughter. 



They seemed a merry people, and if it were not 

 for their horrid propensity of eating human flesh, 

 which custom they practise openly, I should prefer 

 them to any of the Coast tribes. Outside the 

 village I saw heaps of human bones, and on two 

 or three occasions I have seen women carrying 

 parts of a man, just as they would a leg of mutton. 

 I asked a good many questions on this point, and 

 learnt that they do not eat the dead of their own 

 people, but sell their corpses to the villagers of the 

 2e 



