10 AN ACCOUNT OF THE WILD TRIBES 



will! ii'ii)es who arc now the siiljjctl of our 

 considmitioii. He says Itiat amongst l\w,m 

 some aro called Paddn^ a hmn vvlticli can 

 be easily converled into Batln; and he men- 

 tions Lheir practice of killing and eating their 

 old relatives, which ajjrees perfectly with 

 the account given by Sir S. Jla files of the 

 Battas : (tl was informed^ says he in Ins 

 memoirs, tliat formerly it was usual for the 

 people to eat their parents who were too 

 old for work. Tlie old people selected tlie 

 horizontal branch of a tree, and quietly 

 suspended themselves by tlieir hands, while 

 their children and neiglibours forming a 

 circle danced round them, crying oyiVwhen 

 the fmk in ripe, then it wiU falL This practice 

 took place during the season of limes, when 

 salt and pepper were plenty, and as soon 

 as the victims became fatigued, and could 

 hold on no longer, tliey fell down, when 

 alljiands cut them up and made a hearty 

 meal of them. T? {Mfimoirs, p. 627/) 



