4 5 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
Wilson, that the natives of this island were cannibals: but, on the 
strictest inquiry, I could not learn that either of them had seen 
them in the act of eating human flesh. I was desirous of having 
this point put beyond a doubt, though the assurances they had giv¬ 
en me that they really were cannibals, had strongly inclined me to 
believe that it was the case. Indeed, in conversing with Gattane- 
wa on the subject, he did not hesitate to acknowledge that it was 
sometimes practised by certain characters; but with much pride 
and exultation he added, that none of his family, to the earliest 
period of their existence, were known to have eaten human flesh, 
or to have tasted a hog, which had died or been stolen. He said 
they sometimes eat their enemies. Yet in all their wars, which 
had been carried on since Wilson and the others had been among 
them, it does not appear that any had been eaten, according to our 
acceptation of the word. Several of the dead bodies of their ene¬ 
mies had fallen into their hands, and had been seen by the whites 
in an unmutilated state for several days after their death, until in¬ 
deed they had become too offensive for the natives to bear; and 
certainly it cannot be supposed that they would prefer eating them 
in that putrid state, although Wilson declared that that was the 
time they feasted on them. Desirous of clearing up in my own 
mind a fact which so nearly concerned the character of a whole 
people, who otherwise deserved to rank above the mere savage, I 
proceeded, the day after the battle, with Wilson, and accompani¬ 
ed by a marine (my usual practice when I went among them) to 
the house of Gattanewa, with a view of claiming the dead bodies, 
in order that they might be buried; and, at the same time, to en¬ 
deavour to find out whether they were really addicted to a prac¬ 
tise so unnatural. The acknowledgments of Gattanewa left but 
little doubt on my mind, and yet I found it difficult to reconcile 
this practice with the generosity and benevolence which were 
leading traits in their character. They are cleanly in their per¬ 
sons, washing three or four times a day. They are cleanly in their 
mode of cooking and manner of eating; and it was remarked, that 
ho islander was known to taste of any thing whatever, until he had 
first applied it to his nose, and if it was in the slightest degree 
tainted or offensive to the smell, it was always rejected. How then 
ean it be possible that a people so delicate, living in a country 
