40 ANIMAL FOOD EESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



CHAPTER II. 



A Few Words on Cannibalism* 



Flesh of Whites not esteemed — Statements of Old Chroniclers ou 

 the Practice of Cannibalism in Europe, Asia, and America — 

 Assertions of Modern Travellers — Evidences of Shipwrecked 

 Sailors and Others — Cannibalism Common in the Pacific 

 Islands and Australia, especially in the Fiji Islands — Evi- 

 dence of many Writers — Practised also in Islands of the 

 Eastern Archipelago, Celebes, Sumatra, Malacca — Many 

 African Tribes Anthropophagi — Statements of Sir 8. Baker, 

 Bruce, Capt. Cameron, P. Du Chaillu, Thomson, and Lay- 

 land. 



It is sad for the honour of mankind that we must still 

 include man himself in the list of Animal food, but there 

 is comfort in the sure hope that the rapidly fading horroi* 

 will soon vanish entirely as civilisation and Christianity 

 extend unto the dark pagan districts of the globe. 



In the anthropological section of a literary congress 

 held at Lille, one of the subjects discussed at some length 

 was the practice of anthropophagy. M. Broea thereat 

 made some remarks on the different nature of the flesh 

 of various nations. He said that the cannibals, perhaps 

 fortunately for us, do not like the flesh of whites ; they 

 find it bitter and salt, whilst, notwithstanding the latter 

 quality, it does not keep well. Their special dainty is 

 the flesh of the negro, of which they like the flavour, 



* In my former work on " Curiosities of Food," I was taken to 

 task by some critics for having overlooked or not alluded to the 

 practice of Cannibalism. The subject is a revolting one to deal 

 with, and I should have preferred to pass it over without notice, 

 but that it has been brought prominently before the public this 

 year by one or two uncontrovertible instances where necessity 

 has compelled persons to feed on the bodies of their fellow men. 



