The Eastern Congo 



the Wambuba natives who inhabit the one strip of the Belgian 

 Congo not yet completely under administration, we were in 

 a district where cannibal practices are as much rampant as 

 anywhere in Africa to-day. We were, moreover, about to 

 penetrate the unknown region lying north-west of the aban- 

 doned post of Lesi where " long pig " was still on the weekly 

 menu of these degraded savages. I will therefore at the 

 suggestion of many friends write down such observations 

 on the custom and its history as I think may interest them, 

 leaving, however, my account of the Leopard sect of the 

 Anyioto for the next chapter, and until my description of 

 our route leads us through the country in which they operated. 



Cannibalism* no doubt entered into human nature through 

 the pangs of hunger at the earliest dawn of history for amongst 

 the remains of the early cave-dwellers, human bones, especi- 

 ally those of children, bearing cut marks, have been found 

 in different parts of the world. Great Britain included. After- 

 wards, doubtless, the pangs of hunger being satisfied a liking 

 for human flesh persisted. 



After the lapse of many thousands of years we next find 

 that religion has entered into it as a deity demanding human 

 sacrifices, the worshippers eating (and possibly liking) as a 

 sacrament the flesh of the sacrificed. Added to this we find 

 amongst certain of the Congo negroes the barbarous idea of 

 eating the flesh of the Great Departed with the hope of retain- 

 ing in their systems something of their greatness and virtue. 

 This custom has no doubt come down in prehistoric times 

 from ancient Egj^pt, where the practice had its birth. 



Then again comes a belief in a life after death and the 



* The word " cannibal " is derived from a corruption of the Spanish name 

 "Caribales " or West Indian islanders and invaders, called in English the Caribs. 



170 



