298 
MAKKARIKA CANNIBALS. 
[chap. VIII, 
quartering, and boiled it in a large pot. Another man 
in my own service had been a witness to a horrible act 
of cannibalism at Gondokoro. 
The traders had arrived with their ivory from the 
West, together with a great number of slaves; the 
porters who carried the ivory being Makkarikas. One 
of the slave girls attempted to escape, and her 
proprietor immediately fired at her with his musket, 
and she fell wounded; the ball had struck her in the 
side. The girl was remarkably fat, and from the 
wound, a large lump of yellow fat exuded. No sooner 
had she fallen, than the Makkarikas rushed upon her 
in a crowd, and seizing the fat, they tore it from the 
wound in handfuls, the girl being still alive, while the 
crowd were quarrelling for the disgusting prize. Others 
killed her with a lance, and at once divided her by 
cutting off the head, and splitting the body with their 
lances, used as knives, cutting longitudinally from 
between the legs along the spine to the neck. 
Many slave women and their children who witnessed 
this scene, rushed panic-stricken from the spot and 
took refuge in the trees. The Makkarikas seeing them 
in flight, were excited to give chase, and pulling the 
children from their refuge among the branches, they 
killed several, and in a short time a great feast was 
prepared for the whole party. My man, Mahommed, 
