216 A Specimen Day 
“ Horrible as all this may appear, there might 
be some excuse made for savages, driven by famine 
to extreme hunger, for capturing and devouring 
their enemies. But with these people it was totally 
different, for they were inhabiting a fine agricul¬ 
tural tract of country, which also abounded in 
game. Notwithstanding this, they were not 
contented with hunting and feeding upon their 
enemies, but preyed much upon each other also, 
for many of their captures were made from amongst 
the people of their own tribe, and, even worse than 
this, in times of scarcity, many of their own wives 
and children became -the victims of this horrible 
practice.” 
Anthropophagy, either as a necessity, a senti¬ 
ment, or a superstition, is known to sundry, though 
by no means to all, the tribes dwelling between the 
Nun (Niger) and the Congo rivers-; how much 
farther south it extends I cannot at present say. 
On the Lower Niger, and its branch the Brass 
River, the people hardly take the trouble to 
conceal it. On the Bonny and New Calabar, 
perhaps the most advanced of the so-called Oil 
Rivers, cannibalism, based upon a desire of re¬ 
venge, and perhaps, its sentimental side, the object 
of imbibing the valour of an enemy slain in battle, 
has caused many scandals of late years. The 
practice, on the other hand, is execrated by the 
Ehks of Old Calabar, who punish any attempts of 
