Dagge, to the king of Dahomés camp, with prefents for his majesty, faw many strange things, especially human flesh fold publickly in the great market-place. The Dahomés eat the bodys of those that are facrifice'd, which they boil, and look upon as holy food. This is confirm'd by a recent authority, in which we find that many African nations are addicted to this unnatural practice, and that, from the concurrent testimony of those who have been at Bonny, it is wel known that a Bonny man kils and eats an Andony man, and an Andony man treats a Bonny man in the fame way, whenever he has an opportunity and this in a familiar repaft, and not merely in favage triumph after a victory, [or as a religious facrifice]. The inhabitants of Cape Palmas on the coast * Snelgraves Account of Guinea, p. 53. See allfo, p. 41, and p. 133, an extraordinary inftance of cruelty practise'd by the Dahomés upon Mr.Testefole the Engleish governour, which concludes by their cuting his body in pieceës, broiling them on the coals, and eating them. Some of those that ate part of his flesh were, afterward, fo audacious as to tel feveral Portuguese gentlemen, who talk'd with them about it, "That ENGLEISH BEEF WAS VERY GOOD!" + Smiths Voyage to Guinea, p. 110. ‡ Norrises Memoirs of Bosfa Abádee king of Dabomy, 1789, P. 10. 1 of Guinea, though posfefs'd of a country which affords them plenty of provifions, and wanting nothing that is necesfary for the fupport of life, delight in human flesh whenever they can come at it. The Hottentots eat any thing: they make no difference whether their meat is kil'd, or dead with any distemper, or whether it be mans flesh.* "after the The Gango negros, in Surinam, according to Stedman, are fuppofe'd to be anthropophagi or cannibals, like the Caribbee Indians, instigateëd by habitual and implacable revenge. "Amongst the rebels of that tribe," he says, takeing of Boucou, fome pots were found on the fire with HUMAN FLESH; which one of the officers had the curiofity to tafte, and declare'd it was not inferior to fome kinds of BEEF or PORK."t *Schewitzers Voyage to the E. Indies, p. 239. † Narrative, II, 267. "I have been fince asfure'd," he ads, "by a mister Vangills, an American, that haveing traveled for a great number of miles inland in Africa, he, at length, came to a place where human legs, arms, and thighs, hung upon wooden fhambles, and were expofe'd to fale, like butchers meat in Leadenhall-market: and captain John Keene, formerly of the Dolphin cutter, pofitively assure'd me, that when he, a few years fince, was on the coaft of Africa, a capt. Dunnigen, with his whole crew, belonging to the Nassau schooner, were cut in pieceës, falted, and eaten, by the negros In fome countrys of Peru, fays the inca Garcilasfo de la Vega, they were fuch great loveërs of mans flesh, that, when they were kiling an Indian, they would fuck his blood at the wound they had giveën him; and when they quarter'd his body, they would lick their fingers, that not one drop of blood fhould be wafteëd: in their shambles they commonly fold mens bodys, makeing faufagees of their guts, ftuffing them with flesh, that nothing might be loft. Peter of Cieça, he ads, in the 26th chapter of his book, declares fo much, and affirms that he faw it with his own eyes; and that fo far their gluttony provoke'd them that they did not spare thofe very children. which they begot upon those women whom they had takeën captives in the war; but breeding them with fuch care and diet as might make them fit, fo foon as they came to be twelve of age, and that they were plump and tender, they drefs'd them for their table, and devour'd them with their mothers. Moreover to thofe men whom they took in the war they gave women, and their breed they nourish'd and faten'd, years of Great Drewin." The compileër of this book was inform'd, by the late Francis Rusfell, efquire, folicitor to The board of trade, that a gentleman, who had been at Sumatra, asfure'd him that he had there feen this fort of flesh-market. with intent to eat them, "AS WE DO LAMBS AND CALVES. in The Pattcurans ufe'd to fhut up their prifoners coops and pens, ordering them to be wel fed, and, when fat, took them out, on festivals, to an open place before their houfees, where, being firft ftun'd by a blow on the neck, they were kil'd and devour'd. Of this Cieza had been an eye-witness. The Chirihuanas, a nation of Peru, long'd fo much for human flefh, "that when they furprife'd Royal commentaries of Peru, p. 8, 9. Ciezas Travels, pp. 30, 33, 41, c. 20, p. 53. And fee P. de "When we dis cover'd thofe countries," fays the latter, "we found fuch numbers of heads of Indians before the doors of the prime men, that they look'd as if shambles of human flesh had been kept before each of them." P. 34. The following anecdote is curious: "About 25 or 30 [Spanish] foldiers, going abroad a marauding, or, to speak plain, to fteal what they could find, lighted on fome people that fled, for fear of being feen and takeën by us. There they found a great pot, full of boil'd meat, and their hunger was fo great, that they thought of nothing but eating; but when they were wel fatisfy'd, one of them pull'd out a hand, with all its fingers and nails; befides which they afterwards discover'd pieces of feet, of two or three quarters of men that were in it. The Spaniards, beholding that fpectacle, were forry they had eaten of the meat, and their ftomachs turn'd at the fight of the hands and fingers; BUT IT PASS'D OVER WITH THEM, AND THEY RETURN'D SATISFY'D, HAVEING GON OUT HUNGERY." (P.43.) at any time fhepherds keeping their flocks of sheep, or herdsmen watching their cattel, they would forfake and neglect the herds and droves, to take and devour the flesh of the fhepherds.* A dispofition, it is possible, they retain to this day, as the Spaniards ineffectually attempted to fubdue them; and fo rooted does it appear to have been that the author exprefsly declares that nothing, lefs than a miracle would reclaim them. † The Guaicureans, a people of Paraguay, before they were civilife'd by the misfionarys, would not allow their women to paint til they had tafteëd human flefh; and, therefor, when they kil'd enemys, would divide them among the young ladys, or give them the corpfe of their own dead.‡ The favage Indians of the Ladrone ilands are fay'd to eat white men, if they can take them, and drink their blood, devouring all they catch raw. [ *De la Vega, Royal commentaries, p. 279. † Idem, ibi. De la Vega is an honest and a fenfible writeër, and of the first authority. Some of the Peruvians, he tels us, ufe'd to eat their parents alive; and his description of the Anthropophaginian feafts of the natives of Antis is too horrible to repeat. That there are ftil cannibals in the inland coun- ] try, see Condamines Voyage, p. 42. Woodes Rogerses Voyage round the world, 1712, p. 99. |