[FN#21]
He remarks with some surprise, "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 agricultural 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 sentiment, 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 revenge, and perhaps, its
sentimental side, the object of imbibing the valour of an enemy
slain in battle, has caused many scandals of late years.
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