CANNIBALISM. 



219 



feelings have not been tempered by the soothing 

 influence of civilization, are sometimes the cause 

 of an odious meal, which could never be obtained 

 at the shambles. Indeed, by accounts which I 

 have perused from time to time, T should, unhe- 

 sitatingly believe, that war is the chief, perhaps 

 the only cause amongst savages, of man regaling 

 himself upon the flesh of man :— always excepting, 

 that dreadful moment in human existence, when 

 unendurable pangs of hunger have forced, even 

 civilised man, to preserve his own life, on food 

 from the body of his fellow- creature. 



Before I left the cultivated plantations of Guiana, 

 to wander through its wild interior, I had been 

 forewarned by many respectable planters, that 

 cannibals were known to be in the forests : and 

 that, if I went without sufficient force to protect 

 me, I should be killed and devoured by these 

 monsters. Several Indians also corroborated the 

 absurd notion ; and they were quite sure that I 

 should become a prey to the men -eaters. 



But, I was not to be frightened at shadows ; nor 

 forced to change my own ideas, by old grand- 

 mother's stories. Determining in my own mind, 

 never to give cause of offence to anybody, I jour- 

 neyed amongst the natives without any fear of 

 having my flesh cooked to suit their present 

 appetites, oi of its being salted for future use. 



