CANNIBALISM IN AMERICA. 411 
the mounds the spongy ends show no marks of teeth and are well 
preserved though detached from the shaft. 
e conclusion we have given is strengthened by the fact that 
cannibalism prevailed largely in both North and South America, 
and that the natives of America were led to it by the same mo- 
tives as were those of other parts of the world. In general this 
practice may be said to commend itself to the savage mind from 
the following considerations :— 
With some it was a matter of choice, depending upon a liking 
for human flesh as an article of food, as with the Fijians, who had 
not even the excuse growing out of a scarcity, for food of all 
kinds existed with them in greatest abundance. With others, and 
these are by far the most numerous, it was practised as an act of 
vengeance or triumph over a fallen foe, and with still others it 
may be said to have been of the nature of a superstitious rite or 
ceremony, as with the ancient Mexicans, the Miamis, and others. 
To the above should be added the pressure of extreme hunger, 
Which drives both savage and civilized man to this terrible al- 
ternative. 
Of starvation nothing need be said, except that it is not im- 
probable that the idea of eating human flesh as ordinary food, may, 
perhaps, have had its origin in eating it as a necessity. Once 
_ tasted and found to be good, as all cannibals aver that it is, under 
the influence of savage instincts and passions, the conversion of 
an enemy’s flesh into meat to eat would be very natural. 
Of course the above motives, excluding the last, may be more 
or less combined, and a savage by eating his enemy may get his 
Tevenge and satisfy his appetite at the same time. Or, as with 
the New Zealander, who loves human flesh as a choice food, and 
Who also eats it under the superstitious belief that he thus not 
only incorporates the body of his enemy with his own, but absorbs 
also his enemy’s soul, so that ever after the two are one. To the 
victors this had an especial significance, for believing in a future. 
State and the presence of his enemy there, if he eats him in this 
life he makes sure of it that there will be no trouble with him 
hereafter, for he possesses him body and soul already. 
th the cannibalism as practised in the two Americas, one recog- 
mizes the same motives and tendencies and often combined with 
them, in addition, a degree of cruelty to their victims unsurpassed 
in other parts of the world. 
