viii THE HUMAN EACES 357 



South America the Arovachis, certain Columbian Indians, the 

 Botocudis, and some other Brazilian tribes are undoubtedly 

 addicted to cannibalism, but it is most prevalent in central 

 Africa. It appears to be unknown to races living either above 

 or below the twelfth degree of latitude. Deniker and other 

 ethnologists tell us that cannibalism is practised for three 

 reasons : necessity, gluttony, and superstition. 



Cannibalism in the first of these cases is caused by a lack of 

 animal food (Australia), or by special circumstances, such as 

 shipwreck or famine, when it has been known to occur even 

 amongst half-civilised races. This kind of cannibalism is, however, 

 very rare, as is also that induced by gluttony. It is, however, 

 related that the Melanesians of the Solomon Islands and the 

 New Hebrides hunt man solely for the sake of the pleasure of 

 eating human flesh. The Niam-Niams (Africa) hunt man not 

 only for the sake of his flesh, but for the human fat which they 

 use in various ways. 



Certain Ubangi tribes and the Mangema (Africa) buy slaves 

 or capture men on purpose to fatten and then eat them ; some- 

 times they steep the bodies in water so as to improve the 

 flavour. 



With these two kinds of cannibalism must be classed the 

 custom of eating old people and children, killed in order to 

 diminish the number in the family (Australians). 



Eitual anthropophagy, based on superstitious beliefs, such as 

 that superior physical or intellectual qualities could be obtained 

 by consuming part or the whole of a person possessing such 

 gifts, seems to be the commonest of all. It is related to the 

 custom of offering human sacrifices, which occurs even amongst 

 relatively civilised races. Poch says that the natives of British 

 New Guinea and of the adjacent islands seldom devour the whole 

 body of their enemy, but usually confine themselves to eating the 

 brain and tongue with a view to inheriting his psychic qualities. 

 The Kaja-Kajas of Dutch New Guinea hunt their foes for the 

 sake of the head only. In some islands, however, cannibalism is 

 at all events partly caused by want of food. 



VI. Having now dwelt upon the structural and functional 

 characteristics distinguishing the existing human races, we will 

 turn our attention to those of the races which preceded them. This 

 is one of the most difficult and the most attractive of problems, 

 since it is intimately bound up with that of the origin and 

 evolution of civilised nations. The biologist considers it to be 

 an incontrovertible fact that we have reached our present state 

 of civilisation by slow degrees by passing through a number 

 of stages and that our remote forefathers had a culture very 

 inferior to our own. The historic documents which have come 

 down to us from the earliest civilised peoples (Babylonians, 



