"STAR RUN ABOUT" 177 



men who have studied the customs of the blacks that 

 they — and to their honour be it said — were never among 

 themselves premeditated, gluttonous cannibals. Human 

 flesh was eaten, if not with solemnity, at least with 

 ceremony, for the belief exists to this day that the 

 moral and physical excellencies of the victim are assimi- 

 lated by those who partake of his flesh. 



Reincarnation is prompt and practical, and unaccom- 

 panied by wasteful and delusive hope. Herein lies 

 the explanation of many a deliberate and confessed 

 killing, while to the meteor have the perpetrators 

 looked for absolution and remission of their sin. That 

 which in the eyes of the white man is regarded as an 

 atrocious murder has not been, in their semi-religious 

 code, in any sense criminal, but a rite from which many 

 if not all the camp must inevitably benefit. 



In one respect the killing of a boy is the highest 

 compliment which may be paid him, for it is proof that 

 he has personal qualities which are the envy and admira- 

 tion of others, and for general welfare should be shared 

 by all. The boy who so dies is an unconscious patriot. 

 This is proved sufficiently by the fact that only what 

 are considered to be the more vitalising portions of 

 the boy's body are eaten, whereas if gluttony were the 

 impulse of the deed the whole of the body would be 

 consumed. 



An illustrative incident has been told me by one 

 who has gained the confidence of the blacks, and to 

 whom other facts connected with it were personally 

 known. Not many years ago a boy from a distant 

 locality visited a certain district in company with his 

 master. He was tall, well favoured, a good rider, 

 quite an athlete, an accomplished performer with the 

 mouth-organ and concertina; ready and persuasive of 

 tongue. These qualities provoked unaffected admira- 



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