CANNIBALISM BY ENTOMBED MINERS.
(Boulogne Dispatch to the London Times.)
“Excavations in the Chancelade quarries, where it will be remembered a landslip occurred last October burying a number of workmen, have been carried on ever since for the purpose of unearthing the bodies. For many days after the slip was believed to have been smothered, the workers smoke was seen to issue from the ruins. Soldiers and quarrymen, directed by a party of engineers, worked day and night in hopes of taking the men out alive. Ever since the work has proceeded, but of late the endeavors were not so vigorously plied. The diggers have now reached the actual spot where the men were engaged at the time of the accident, and on penetrating into a gallery cut in the stone the explorers discovered the body of a young man lying on the ground. Photographs taken of the position show that a dreadful state of affairs must have come about when the men uncrushed found themselves entombed. It appears undoubted that some of the men tried to prolong their lives by killing and eating their companions in misfortune. A few solitary arms and limbs have been picked up in their prison, and everything points to the fact that cannibalism was resorted to. The young man whose body was unmutilated seems to have survived the others, and to have died of hunger.”
Schweinfurth, in a work entitled “Heart of Africa,” assures his readers that tribes in Africa even now wage war with neighboring tribes, for the avowed purpose of obtaining human flesh to dry for provisions.
On the authority of Dr. Schweinfurth the Niam-Niams, also of Central Africa, devour the bodies of their dead enemies, and when any one of their people is old, feeble or so near dying, to use the sailor’s simile in Charles Dickens’ famous story, “he needn’t be so very partick’ler about a few minutes,” he is killed and eaten. Runaway slaves when recaptured always meet this fate, though as a rule the slaves in this tribe rarely attempt to escape.
The Wambembe also of Central Africa ate human flesh to such an extent that, when they could not obtain it otherwise, they traded their animals to secure the coveted article.
A Negro race called the Babooke living near the Niam-Niams is even more notoriously cannibalistic than that people; and Baker tells of the Makkarika tribe, dwelling about two hundred miles west of Gondokoro, who consumed the flesh of man with great avidity. When the slave-traders made a “razzia,” these natives accompanied them for the sake of eating the slain. The traders complained that they were bad associates, as they insisted upon killing and eating the children. Their method was to catch a child by its ankles, dash its head against the ground, and thus deprived of life, it was boiled and eaten.
A horrible act of cannibalism at Gondokoro is thus described by N’Yanza: “The traders had arrived with their ivory from the west, together with a large number of slaves; the carriers of the ivory being Makkarikas. One of the slave girls attempted to escape, when a slave dealer fired at her with his musket. The ball struck her in the side, wounded her and she fell to the ground. No sooner had the poor creature fallen than the Makkarikas rushed upon her in a crowd, killed her with their lances and at once divided her by cutting off the head, and separating the body into as many pieces as were required. The slave women and their children who witnessed this scene rushed panic-stricken from the spot and took refuge in trees. The Makkarikas seeing them in flight were excited to give chase, and pulling the children from their refuge among the branches killed several, and a great feast was prepared for the whole party.”
Paul De Chillu, with whom the writer has conversed, says that the natives of the gorilla country in Western Africa manifest no repugnance toward human flesh as food, but take it with a relish. The Fans, one of the West African tribes, are known to have indulged in this depraved taste for human food, and they purchase dead slaves for culinary purposes from other tribes, at the high rate of an elephant’s tooth apiece. In polite Fan society, it is accounted a very courteous act to exchange bodies for table use with the neighboring tribes with whom at the time the Fans happen to be at peace. It is narrated that, on one occasion a war party of this tribe while on the march, finding a newly-buried body in a grave, dug it up, cooked it in the pot buried with it, and ate the flesh for breakfast as an especial dainty.
War reports on record in England show that when Gen. Sir Charles Macarthy was killed in the first Ashantic battle, the Fantis, known as one of the most cruel and vindictive of the negroloid races, ate the heart of this brave officer to give them a share of his courage. With them superstition and all the absurdities and abominations of the fetich still remain in force. Their religion is accompanied with so much noise that white-faced strangers are driven almost mad by their pandemonia. Drums are beaten, horns are blown, and all the population unite in producing the greatest possible din as well as confusion.
The Kamrasi cement friendship by making an incision in the bodies of their friends, having taken out some of the blood, mixing it with farinaceous food. This act is supposed to perpetuate a friendship coeval with life.
The people of Maneana south of the Gambia and Senegal’ Mollien states are man-eaters; but their preference is for elderly persons; nor are they particular as to whether the vital spark of life has been extinguished.
According to Abdallatiphus, during the famine which desolated Egypt, A. D. 1199, in consequence of the Nile not overflowing its banks, many of the Nubians living on the river were forced by the pangs of hunger to kill and eat their own children.
In the interior of New Guinea (the great link by which the Molucca Islands are connected with New Holland on the one hand and the Polynesian Archipelago on the other) is a race of Haraforas who live in the hollows of trees, which they ascend by means of long notched pieces of timber. The agility of the youth of this race among the branches of trees is wonderful; they will climb and spring from one branch to another almost with the ease of monkeys, and like those animals when attacked all take to the trees as refuges, where they can defend themselves with great chance of success. Their habits are essentially the same as those of other tribes already named. Beccari bears testimony to the fact of having seen some of them wearing bracelets of human jaw-bones, and necklaces made of the spinal vertebræ which had evidently been subjected to the action of heat. Their habitations in the tree-tops were also decked with human skulls, which led to the belief that the taste of human flesh was not unknown to them.
The Papuans were considered great adepts at cooking their fellow-men, and with them man-eating, plain, unmistakable and vile, existed up to a very late period. It is intimated that some of these natives have not yet lost their relish for human food. The Papuans who live inland are described as frightful and hideous in appearance, making themselves more so by the peculiar manner of arranging their hair, which they form into enormous bunches. This startling head gear is about three feet in circumference, and adorned with the feathers of birds. New Guinea contains several varieties of the Papuan race. The black men of the south-east coast, from Cape Valsche to Cape Possession are different from the Arfaks inhabiting the mountainous northwest coast inland.
The inhabitants of the Isle of Pines, on the south of New Caledonia, where the sea abounds with coral reefs, are also known to have been tinctured with a gastronomic liking for their own species. Among the New Caledonians the priests claimed the hands of the slain as their special perquisites; and as those parts of the human body are said by anthropophagous connoisseurs to be the best, war was frequently fermented by the priests, in order that their larders might be the more abundantly supplied. D’Entrecasteaux thus recounts the skill displayed by the women in their methods of serving up the human body for food: “Sometimes it was placed before their lords and masters completely roasted but in a sitting posture, fully equipped in war costume, to represent the pièce de résistance; then again it would be served up as a side dish, skillfully cut in slices to tempt the appetite.” He states also that on their arrival the natives felt the calves and brawny arms of his men, and manifested much pleasure at the prospect of a feast, which might possibly be in store for them. This race did not confine itself to bipedal diet, perhaps for the reason that the supply was not equal to the demand; but like many other of the Oceanic people depended for the main portion of their sustenance on cocoa-nuts, roots, shell-fish, spiders, etc. When all other things failed they have been known to stay the pangs of hunger by filling their insatiable stomachs with clay, which though it affords no nutriment, yet for a time allays the cravings of the appetite.
In Australia where large animals are scarce, certain tribes of an extremely degraded type have been known to feed on flesh. There is a story of an Englishman who several years ago went to New Caledonia to raise cattle for the market of Noumea. While journeying from one ranch to another, by reason of the bushes and low shrubbery he lost his way, and after wandering about till near nightfall, finally came upon a large village of natives. He was hospitably entertained, well fed and by the great chief Atai was treated with much attention. Atai was very courteous to his white guest, and when night had fully come conducted him in state to the hut set apart for his repose. Fortunately the visitor was acquainted with the customs of the country, and knew the common method for putting an end to travelers preparatory to feasting upon them. It is as follows: The guest is kindly received and allotted a cabin by himself for rest and sleep. The native huts have visually but one opening, which serves as a door and window. When the guest is supposed to be well settled in his cabin, this single entrance is fired; and as it is constructed of light twigs it not only burns very rapidly but the occupant within is killed and roasted; now the feast begins. As the Englishman was familiar with this custom of New Caledonian life, and feeling that the cabin which the venerable Atai had so courteously provided might become for him perhaps a tomb as well as a cooking stove, unless he were very watchful, manifested however no distrust. Accordingly he entered the cabin of the chief, meeting courtesy with courtesy, until both were fairly housed. As he was in the prime of life and quite an athlete, he regarded himself more than a match for the aged cannibal, should he now be disposed to exhibit violence. Closing, therefore, the door and planting his back firmly against it, laying his hand on his revolver and displaying at the same time other weapons, he determined to remain in his chosen position the entire night. It was a terrible night for the traveler; but none the less for the cunning chief who again and again from his detainer requested permission to withdraw. He was made to understand, however, that his company could not be dispensed with, and that they must not think of parting until morning. When daylight was fully come, the Englishman now felt assured that Atai would not venture to allow his people openly to attack him, as he was well known in the settlement, and both issuing forth together from the hut, he gladly accepted the escort of a native guide, and was safely conducted to the borders of the same.
Among the Maoris or aborigines of New Zealand cannibalism prevailed to an alarming extent, also among the natives of the Sandwich Islands, Tahiti, and neighboring groups. Ellis in his “Polynesian Researches” shows that the Polynesians evinced a strong disposition to devour the flesh and drink the blood of their slain enemies; and the motive which governed them seemed to be the arousing of terror and obtaining a satisfactory revenge. A New Zealand warrior having killed his foe, would sever the head from the body, scoop up the warm life-blood flowing from the mutilated trunk, and facing his enemies with fiendish triumph would drink it in presence of other captors. Perhaps if there is one feature in the history of these islanders better known than another, it is the reputation they had of preferring the human subject as an article of diet to any inferior mammalia. In song and story this omnivorous weakness of the “King of the Cannibal Islands” and his dusky subjects has been celebrated.
Dr. Brown of Edinburgh in writing concerning the habits and customs of this people observes with a certain degree of grim humor, “If the Polynesian did eat his brother instead of loving him, he loved him (gastronomically) not only wisely but well; for the custom was conducive of great good, kept down the price of pork, yams and fowls, saved funeral expenses, thinned the population of an insular country, etc.; moreover, was it not in part a religious observance only allowed to certain individuals of high piety and stout digestion, and therefore to be encouraged and praised instead of being condemned in a chorus of seamen’s oaths and missionary hymns?” And yet in face of this and numerous other facts, some positively assert that cannibalism never existed among the islands in the South Pacific. Time has wrought however among these peoples great changes, and when as now some of these pristine savages are seen clothed in the usual attire prevalent in the western world, it is very humiliating to be asked whether their respected fathers perhaps ever partook of “cold missionary.” It is but just to these distant people, however, to say that never was cannibalism rampant among them, as was true of the occupants of the neighboring isles; and it is equally pleasant to know that, ornaments of the human person, either as charms or necklaces, made of human teeth, have lost their former popularity.
The experience of Captain Marion, a French officer who visited New Zealand June, 1772, with a party of sixteen men and four lieutenants, confirms beyond all question the truthfulness of the statement, that the natives in former times were strongly addicted to this repugnant habit; for no sooner had the Frenchmen landed than they were attacked, murdered and soon after eaten. Next morning when another boat’s crew went ashore, a great swarm of these savages immediately surrounded them, captured and put to death no less than eleven of the twelve constituting the party. The survivor witnessed the dead bodies of his companions cut up and divided among the actors in the scene, each of whom having eaten what he needed, carried away such portions as were left, to be consumed by his absent friends. A similar misfortune overtook Captain Furneaux of the ship Adventure in the year 1773, on Cook’s second voyage. The record is that a boat was sent to the land under the care of a midshipman and a crew consisting of ten men, all of whom were killed and eaten.
Hawkesworth verifies the accounts made by other writers, and declares unequivocally that the New Zealanders ate the bodies of their enemies; but he remarks apologetically that their cannibalism originated from an irresistible necessity, occasioned by the pangs of hunger rather than from any natural desire for this form of food.
Kotzebue, in 1824, directed his course for the Navigators’ Islands, and on the second day of April observed the most easterly of the number rising like a high mountain from the ocean. His testimony concerning these people is, that “the inhabitants are the most ferocious people to be met with in the South Sea.” He visited also the scene where De Langle and his comrades fell, now known as Massacre Bay. On the arrival of his ship “La Perouse” it was surrounded by several hundred canoes filled with furious savages, who evidently were disposed to take the vessel by violence. To prevent any assault, however, the sailors were placed at proper stations, fully armed, and with orders to check any attempt at advance. Even with this precaution and in defiance of repeated blows, some of the more resolute succeeded in clambering aboard. Impelled by that covetous emotion which no savage has ever been able to repress, every object within their reach was grasped with both hands, and they held to it so pertinaciously as to require the united efforts of the strongest seamen to remove their grip and throw them overboard. A few who were permitted to remain on deck behaved like wild beasts of the desert, and showed in their movements the most disgusting propensities. Indeed one of them was so much tempted by the accidental display of a young sailor’s bare arm, that unable to control his horrible appetite, he snapped at the same with his teeth, indicating by the most unequivocal signs, that such food was to him both acceptable and palatable. Kotzebue, after other references to the existence of cannibalism in the islands of the South Sea, warns all voyagers not to venture among the tribes who have this taste for human food, without the utmost precaution, as they are more artful and treacherous than any of the other Polynesians.
Walon, a shipwrecked mariner, narrates his experience in connection with that of several shipmates, in the following almost ghastly words:
“We had scarcely reached dry land before a swarm of natives surrounded and made prisoners our little band, now numbering but four men. Too weak to make any resistance the capture was very easy. Noticing our condition, fruits were given us to eat and a chance to rest, before we were marched off to their village. After a while we were tied with thongs of a wiry grass, and the clothing stripped from our backs. As the march to the village began, the savages would approach us, feel of our flesh, pinch our arms and with approving nods and grunts smack their lips and jabber away in their gibberish. Then the mate says to me: ‘Sam, these savages are cannibals, I believe;’ his sentiments echoed our minds. Well we tramped along for an hour or so until we reached the native village. We were at once taken before the head chiefs of the tribe. Each of us was again pinched, sounded and inspected as carefully as a butcher would inspect a calf before buying. The prospects of a feast on four baked white men caused great rejoicing in the town and as we were led away to our prison the hungry eyes of the savages looked longingly upon us. We were provided with a superabundance of food—bread, fruit, plantains, guavas, and many vegetables that we had never before seen. Fish and game of all sorts were placed before us, and we were compelled to eat almost to suffocation. I was grieving myself slowly to death. My three companions had grown fat and healthy looking as a man could wish to be. One day a guard appeared and conducted us before the chief. While on our way, we passed what seemed to be a shallow grave, scooped out of the sand, which natives were lining with flat stones. After reaching the chief’s hut we were placed in line, and again pinched and sounded. Finally, the mate was selected and seized by two savages, who placed a green bamboo pole behind his back, to which he was bound securely, cords of grass being tied around his ankles, thighs and shoulders. He was then laid at full length on the ground and a layer of green leaves placed on his body, when he was soon completely enveloped in the leaves. With great ceremony he was now lifted to the shoulders of four men, and amid a din of native drums was borne to the shallow grave. An immense fire had been built on the stones during the time in which we had been before the chief. A ceremony and incantation, followed by sprinkling the mate from head to foot with a fine powder of some sort, then took place. The executioner at once stepped forward, and with a sharp-pointed stone smashed the skull of the mate, whereupon the bearers immediately placed the body on the heated stones and covered it to a depth of several feet with green leaves and grasses. We were then led back to our prison. The fate of the mate completely unnerved us, and all the afternoon and evening yells and confusion without told us that the wild orgies of cannibalism were being enacted. Escape from a similar fate seemed impossible; but we determined to make the attempt on the occasion of our next daily walk. But before an opportunity presented itself, my two companions had been sacrificed and had followed the mate. In many ways I had contrived to keep myself lean, and, in fact, seemed almost a living skeleton, and the natives had relaxed their watchfulness to a great extent. Liberty to go about the island at will was accorded to me, and I soon began preparations for escape.”
Admiral Krusenstern of the Russian Navy, who visited the Marquesas, gives substantial reasons pointing to the belief that cannibalism prevailed here before the arrival of any missionaries. It is related that a captive child almost famished with hunger, on begging some food of the savages received a piece of her own father’s flesh.
Another visitor, whose name does not appear in his book, mentions that he saw a human head with the eyes scooped out, presented on a bread fruit leaf to the king, who held his mouth open the moment this factitious dish was offered.
As the inhabitants of the lone waters of the Pacific have lately discovered the error of their ways, and ascertained that a coat of tattoo and a cotton umbrella are scarcely wardrobe sufficient to satisfy the wants of trans-pacific civilization, there should be no desire to rake up their old failings. Still there is no escaping the fact repeatedly vouched for by natives of other islands, and voyagers who have visited them, that in times of famine the men butchered their wives, children and aged parents, stewed their flesh and devoured it seemingly with no little satisfaction.
The religious belief of the Fijii apportioned merely the souls of their human victims to the gods, who were thought to be enormous eaters; while the fleshy parts were consumed by the worshipers. In verity cannibalism was a part of the Fijiian religion, and although their gods were supposed to delight in human flesh, still the horrors of Fijiian anthropophagy were attributable more to sensual gratification than to any devout motive. The Fijiians were of the opinion that many of the gods resided in or are personified by particular animals, such as rats, sharks, dogs, and even the human person. Accordingly, he whose particular guardian-god dwelt in any one of these animals, refrained from eating the flesh of the same, lest he might offend his divinity. Again, from some motive—selfish or superstitious—no female children were allowed to eat human flesh. Every significant event among them was celebrated by a feast of human flesh, and this diet was considered so important that a wooden fork was used to convey it to the mouth, instead of the fingers, as in partaking of other kinds of food.
Williams, who visited these islands and wrote a volume referring to the habits and practices of these natives, observes that these savages gratified their cannibalistic appetites to an enormous extent, and they were particularly careful that no sailor lucklessly cast upon their shores should escape their attention and final disposition.
Human bones constituted part of the furniture of their houses, and human hair was used as an ornament in most of their implements of war. The European missionaries who have lived on the islands declare that these people devoured most of the bodies of the slain; and though implicit dependence cannot always be placed on the tales of seamen, it is well to remember that Longsdorf was told by a Frenchman who had resided on one of the islands, that the priests often regaled themselves on human flesh simply from the pleasure derived from its use. At this hour they act as if under the influence of inspiration, and after various contortions of the body, appear to fall asleep. On awakening they relate what the spirit has declared to them in their dreams. The communication made known sometimes is that a woman or a man, a tattooed or an untattooed man, a fat or lean man, an old man or a young man from the next valley or border of the next stream, must be seized and brought to them. Those to whom this revelation comes immediately conceal themselves near a footpath or river, and the first passer-by bearing any resemblance to the description given, is taken and eaten by the priests.
An account of the principal islands of the South Sea left by a missionary named Russell, relates that the charge of cannibalism brought against these remote islanders is not without foundation. A war broke out between two of the islands of the group; the Chichias, who were the victors, resolved to signalize their triumph by a great feast. After the usual dancing, the chief gave orders to bring forward the supplies. Immediately the natives advanced two and two, each couple bearing on their shoulders a man barbecued like a pig. As the chief sat on the ground, surrounded by his warriors, the bodies in regular order were deposited before him. They numbered more than two hundred; and when the actual count was publicly announced the assembly gave expression to the greatest satisfaction. Skillful carvers at once cut up the parts dedicated to a particular god, which were reserved for the sacred ceremonies; the remainder was duly apportioned to the anxious and hungry attendants. Although these many captives were offered as sacrifices, in conformity with the ancient religious customs of the tribe; still it is to be remembered that chiefs, warriors, and even the less ferocious members of the company, regaled themselves in royal style on this unnatural food.
In the southern extremity of South America on the shores of the island which form Cape Horn are the Terra del Fuegians, and although they occupy this remote extremity of the American continent, in some respects, particularly in stature, they are like the hyperboreans of the distant north. In form the Fuegians are dwarfish or stunted. Their lower jaws project, the long, straight, black hair hangs down their backs, and in general appearance are repulsive and brutish. Experience has shown them to be savage and deceitful in the extreme. They have been known to have killed the crews of several vessels wrecked on their coasts. Cannibalism prevails also among them, and in times of great scarcity they will feed upon their aged relations, rather than sacrifice and consume their fish-hunting dogs. Though their method of reasoning may be logical, still it is extremely coldblooded, as they say that while the one is merely an incumbrance the other can at worst provide for his own maintenance. As a rule these people eat only the extremity of their friends or foes, and unless pressed for food, owing to certain superstitions among them, will throw the trunk into the sea.
Fitzroy remarks concerning the natives in Terra del Fuego that when they are threatened with starvation, as they sometimes are in the winter season, they will throttle and devour the oldest woman into whose body they can get their teeth. When asked why, when want visited them, they did not kill their dogs, they replied, “Dog catch otter.”
Hakluyt gives Verazzanos’ own account of an expedition made by him to America in 1524. He sailed in a vessel called the Dauphin to the new world, and discovered upwards of 700 leagues of the North American coast. The next year, Hinton says, he made a second voyage, the records of which are equally brief and fatal. Landing on an unfriendly shore with some of the crew, he was seized by the savages, killed and devoured in the presence of their companions on board, who sought in vain to render assistance.
Maffacius and Molina bear testimony to the fact that the Brazilian Indians were cannibals, and they often declared that the flesh of the higher caste had a better flavor than had the flesh of plebeians. The races on the Amazon known under the name of Tapuyos have been represented as devouring every prisoner they could capture, as a sacred duty, and a sacrifice acceptable to the manes of their fallen brethren. Indeed, they practiced a refined cruelty in cherishing and fattening their victims until an appointed day, when they were put to death by a single blow inflicted by a club viewed as sacred. The remote tribes, though leading a more independent life, still retain however much of their former ferocity; they defend their territories, and allow no strangers to enter them under pain of being made a meal of; cannibalism existing among them in all its pristine rigor.
In Mexico, a country as old in its geologic formation as any known to science, with mountains higher than any peaks of the Alps, with a climate always equable, and a sky in which the southern cross shines resplendently; even in this land the man-eater has been found. According to Prescott, the Mexicans were not cannibals in a certain acceptation of the term, as they did not feed on human flesh to gratify the appetite. Cannibalism with them in its origin and professed purpose was distinctly religious. That the primary meaning of human sacrifice among them was to present victims to their deities is shown, by the manner in which the sacrificing priest, having torn out the heart, offered it to the sun, and afterwards went through the ceremonies of feeding the idol with the heart and blood. According to the Aztec worship one of their war gods demanded the sacrifice of such prisoners as came into the hands of their captors. In order therefore to meet the needed supplies for the required service, war was frequently engaged in.
Thwing states that within a comparatively recent period, a tribe of Indians inhabiting Texas has indulged in man-eating.
The Carronkowas on Mattagorda Bay greatly harrassed early American settlers by their keen relish for human flesh. There was also a cognate tribe, a remnant of which still exists under the name of Tonkowas, which practiced cannibalism as late as 1854. It is affirmed also by a competent authority, Mr. Walker, a resident of this State and formerly an officer in the United States Army, that he had recently seen a returning party of the tribe bring in the remains of a Comanche whom they had slain, and the night was made hideous by the orgies that followed. Ere they separated, the entire remains of the Comanche were eaten.
Knight is said to have found “man-eaters” on the coast of Labrador, where the natives are reported to be mild and inoffensive; they offered to the crews of vessels stopping there human skulls, hands and feet with the flesh hanging upon them, by way of barter, with the same indifference that they would have proffered the flesh of birds or beasts.
Mr. Duncan (who has spent much time on the northern coast of British Columbia) thus describes a scene witnessed by him among a tribe of Indians bearing the name of Tsimpsheans: “An old chief had killed a female, and the body was thrown into the sea. Crowds of people were seen to run where the corpse was thrown, when presently two bands of furious wretches appeared and gave vent to the most unearthly sounds. When they came where the body lay, they rushed at it like so many angry wolves. Finally they seized it, dragged it out of the water, laid it on the beach and a couple of the fiends commenced to tear it in pieces with their teeth. The two bands of men surrounded them and hid their frightful work. In a few minutes the crowd dispersed, when each of the naked cannibals appeared with half of the body in his hands. Separating a few steps from each other, the two men finished amid horrid yells their still more horrid feast.”
It is common history that the North American Indians frequently banqueted on the hapless human being who came within the reach of their scalping knives; yet it is well understood that they did not rely wholly upon this kind of food.
Hon. G. W. Schuyler, in his “Colonial New York, (Philip Schuyler and His Family)” makes mention of the following incident related by Colden: “Major (Peter) Schuyler going among the Indians was invited to eat broth with them, which he did with much enjoyment, until he saw one of them draw out from the kettle with a ladle the hand of a dead Frenchman.”
Parkman, in his admirable narratives of the Indians, describes an island on the St. Lawrence which, when visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1610, was swarming with clamorous savages. On the main land the Algonquins of the north and Iroquois of the region now called New York State were engaged in a fierce and deadly conflict, and their yells could plainly be heard in the distance. Heading a band of friendly redskins, composed of the Hurons and a neighboring tribe, Champlain with his brave followers crossed the river to the rescue. The mysterious and terrible assailants, clad in steel and armed with portable thunderbolts, dealt death and destruction around them. The firearms of the whites gave them great advantage, and the defeat of the Iroquois was soon accomplished. As they fled they were shot down by French riflemen; and the only survivors, fifteen in number, were made prisoners. That night scalp-locks were abundant, and torture fires blazed along the shore. The same night the Algonquins had a feast, and the bodies of their defunct enemies furnished food for the banquet. A belief existed among these savages that by devouring the flesh and blood of fallen foes, the eaters became possessed of their bravery. Sometimes the practice was indulged in by reason of religious superstition, but in the opinion of Bancroft it is difficult to determine what religious ideas were connected with this almost universal custom among the Indians of North America.
The Iroquois, as all testimony seems to prove, were also cannibals, but they were quite discriminating, and only gratified their appetites with certain qualities of the “genus homo.” Young and tender children, whom they used to geld and fatten, were chosen in preference to tough old pioneers; the most delicate portions were considered to be the hands, feet, arms, neck, and head.
Rev. W. M. Beauchamp in a paper recently read before The Oneida Historical Society, on “The Central New York Indians,” remarked that the Mohawks were hardly habitual cannibals, and yet they came very near it. They feasted on the bodies of braves, hoping to acquire their bravery.
Horatio Hale, in his “Book of Rites,” also confirms the statement that the Mohawks, though not regular cannibals, sometimes regaled themselves on human flesh. Mr. Hale adds that as these Indians became more and more a terror to the surrounding nations, the feelings of aversion and dread awakened by their habits found vent in an opprobrious epithet which the Algonquins applied. They were styled “Mowak,” a word which has been corrupted to Mohawk. It is an Algonquin word, meaning to eat, and applied to food that has had life. Literally it means those who eat men, or in other words, “the cannibals.”
Denonville in his journal makes mention of the cannibalistic propensities of the Mohawks in no very flattering terms. He describes them as opening dead bodies while still warm, and having cut them into quarters like butchers’ meat, placed the pieces in their kettles to boil.
Frontenac, in one of his characteristic documents to his rebellious children of Mi-chillimack-mac, asks, “Will you let the English brandy that has killed you in your wigwams lure you into the kettles of the Iroquois?”
This same renowned representative of Louis XIV., on one occasion even invoked a band of Ottawas to roast an Iroquois newly caught by his soldiers; but as they had hamstrung him to prevent his escape, he bled to death before he could be served up. The Ottawas had a strong craving for human food, and sometimes a tender-hearted Jesuit priest would be missing from his field of labor.
Lonvigny reverts to a spectacle which he witnessed where a number of this tribe fastened a prisoner to a stake and began to torture him; but as the poor wretch did not show sufficient courage, they refused to boil him.
The French missionary Brebeuf gives an account of the fate of certain prisoners captured by the Hurons. He states that when the victims showed courage, their hearts were taken out, cut into small pieces, roasted and given to the braves to increase their courage.
The Jesuit fathers, who labored in Canada in the early part of the seventeenth century, give the most explicit testimony to the existence of cannibal tribes in that dominion, and they admit in many cases they were eye-witnesses of their orgies.
Lagard, in his “Voyage des Hurons,” shows that among the Miamis there existed a religious tribe of man-eaters who devoured the hearts of their brave enemies, not from revenge or ferocity, but with the old idea that it inspired the eater with fortitude.
La Potherie observes that in one instance the Ottawas drank broth concocted from the remains of an Iroquois chief who fell into the hands of his enemies. The victim was made fast to a stake, and a Frenchman who was with the Indians gave him a sort of preliminary preparation for the pot by burning him with a red-hot gun barrel.
According to Nadenltoc, Sitting Bull’s band of Sioux Indians opened the breasts and devoured the hearts of the soldiers slain by them. The Creek and Blackfeet tribes are also said by Farrand, a missionary for fifteen years among them, to have eaten their prisoners on the field of battle.
The charge of cannibalism against the members of the Greeley expedition, and the horrors of Cape Sabine are yet fresh in our memory, and the sufferings of the men during that long, bitter winter of 1884 have not half been told. A leading journal in its graphic description of their privations, makes use of this language: “After the game gave out early in February, we have good reason to believe the men were kept alive on human flesh. When the rescuing party discovered the half-starved survivors, their first duty was to look to the two men who were insensible from cold and privation even to the point of death. One of them, a German, was wild in his delirium. ‘Oh!’ he shrieked, as the sailors took hold of him to lift him tenderly, ‘don’t let them shoot me as they did poor Henry! Must I be killed and eaten as poor Henry was? Don’t let them do it! Don’t! Don’t!’ The sailors were horrified, but at once reported the man’s words to Commander Schley. After a brief investigation he felt satisfied that the poor fellow was speaking the truth, and that some of the men who perished had been stripped of their flesh to keep their starving companions alive. When the horrible reality was brought out before an investigating committee, it was not allowed to rest solely on this poor sufferer’s oral testimony. A critical investigation was made by Dr. Ames, the surgeon of the Bear, and others, who made reports in writing, which are now in the Navy Department at Washington. Lieut. Greeley was adverse to having the bodies of the buried dead disturbed, but Commander Schley had a different opinion. The bodies were dug from their graves in the little hill just back of the permanent camp, established in 1883. Most of the blankets contained nothing but heaps of white bones, many of them picked clean. The remains could be identified only by the marks on the blankets.
From inquiries it is said that Commander Schley discovered that many of the seventeen men who perished from starvation had been eaten by their famishing comrades. It is reported that the only men who escaped the knife were those who died of scurvy. The amputated limbs of men who afterwards perished were eagerly devoured as food. The death of Charles B. Henry was particularly tragic. As he was a young German without any relatives in this country, he joined Company E, Fifth Cavalry, at Cincinnati. His friends, however, tried to dissuade him from enlisting in this expedition, but as his spirit of adventure was aroused by tales of arctic exploits, he determined to go. Driven to despair by his frightful hunger, Henry saw an opportunity to steal a little more than his share of rations, and he succeeded; but he was found out and shot for his guilt. When the body was discovered, his hands and face though shrunken were intact and recognizable; but nearly everywhere else the skin had been removed and the flesh picked from his bones. Even his heart and lungs were eaten by his comrades. One rib was found shattered by a bullet, and to another small fragments of lead were attached. A bullet hole was also found in the skin.”
We have now come to the end of the story which we have been endeavoring to trace. It is very ghastly, containing nothing specially inviting, with little or no credit to our common nature. Tradition and history, ancient and modern, record in substance the same truth, and show what man early engaged in has been practiced up indeed to the present period. In fact, there are indications whose trend is to make it apparent that the same unholy and unnatural food was indulged in by prehistoric man.
It is not the purpose of the writer, however, here to enter into any discussion concerning the age or origin of the human race. This question will form a subject for a separate paper now being prepared, the title of which will be