CHAPTER V 
JANUARY TO JUNE, I914 
Lambarene, End of June, 1914. 
At the end of January and the beginning of February 
my wife and I were in Talagouga busy looking after Mr. 
Hermann, a missionary, who was suffering from a bad 
attack of boils with high fever, and at the same time 
I treated the sick of the neighbourhood. Among the 
latter was a small boy who, with every sign of extreme 
terror, refused to enter the room, and had to be carried 
in by force. It transpired later that he quite thought 
the doctor meant to kill and eat him ! The poor little 
fellow had got his knowledge of cannibalism, not from 
nursery tales, but from the terrible reality, for even 
to-day it has not been quite extirpated among the 
Pahouins. About the area over which it still prevails 
it is hard to say anything definite, as fear of the heavy 
penalties attached to it make the natives keep every 
case as secret as possible. A short time ago, however, 
a man went from the neighbourhood of Lambarene into 
some outlying villages to collect arrears of debt, and 
did not come back. A labourer disappeared in the 
same way from near Samkita. People who know the 
country say that ‘‘ missing ” is often to be interpreted 
as " eaten.” 
Even the keeping of slaves by natives, though it is 
no longer acknowledged as such, is not yet a thing of the 
