FROM Negros in Negroland, a compilation by Hinton Rowan Helper (1868, 278 pages)
“It is plain, from all history, that two abominable practices, – the one the eating of men, the other of sacrificing them to the devil, -prevailed all over Africa. The India trade, as we have seen in very early ages, first established the buying and selling of slaves; since that time, the eating of men, or sacrificing them, has so greatly decreased on the eastern side of the peninsula, that now we scarcely hear of an instance of either of these that can be properly vouched.
On the western part, towards the Atlantic Ocean, where the sale of slaves began a considerable time later, after the discovery of America and the West Indies, both of these horrid practices are general.” — Bruce’s Africa, Vol. I., page 393
“The common food of the natives of Ansiko is men’s flesh, insomuch that their markets are provided with that, as ours in Europe with beef or mutton: all prisoners of war, unless they can sell them alive with greater advantage, otherwise, as we said, they fatten them for slaughter, and at last sell them to the butchers. To this savage barbarity they are so naturalized, that some slaves, whether as weary of their lives, or to show their love to their masters, will proffer themselves freely to be killed and eaten.
But that which is most inhuman, and beyond the feroeity of beasts, is, that the father scruples not to eat his son, nor the son his father, nor one brother the other, but take them by force, devouring their flesh, the blood yet reeking hot between their teeth.” — Ogilby’s Africa, page 518.
“Whosoever dies, be the disease never so contagious, yet they eat the flesh immediately, as a festival dish.” – Ogilby’s Africa, page 518
“Bello, the Governor of Sackatoo, said that whenever a person complained of sickness amongst the Yamyams, even though only a slight headache, they are killed instantly, for fear they should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that the hearts were claimed by the head men; and that, on asking them why they eat human flesh, they said it was better than any other, and that the heart and breasts of a woman were the best part of the body.” — Denham and Clapperton’s Africa, Vol. IV., page 262
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“Many of Ibrahim’s party had been frequent witnesses to acts of cannibalism, during their residence among the Makkarikas. They described these cannibals as remarkably good people, but possessing a peculiar taste for dogs and human flesh. They accompanied the trading party in their razzins, and invariably ate the bodies of the slain.
The traders complained that they were bad associates, as they insisted upon killing and eating the children which the party wished to secure as slaves; their custom was to catch a child by its ankles, and to dash its head against the ground; thus killed, they opened the abdomen, extracted the stomach and intestines; and tying the two ankles to the neck, they carried the body by slinging over the shoulder, and thus returned to camp, where they divided it by quartering, and boiling it in a large pot.
One of the slave girls attempted to escape, and her proprietor immediately fired at her with his musket, and she fell wounded; the ball had struck her in the side. The girl was remarkably fat, and from the wound a large lump of yellow fat exuded. No sooner had she fallen than the Makkarikas rushed upon her in a crowd, and, seizing the fat, they tore it from the wound in handfuls, the girl being still alive, while the crowd were quarrelling for the disgusting prize.
Others killed her with a lance, and at once divided her by cutting off the head, and splitting the body with their lances, used as knives, cutting longitudinally from between the legs along the spine to the neck.” -Baker’s Great Basin of the Nile, page 201
“The butchers’ shops of the Anziques are filled with human flesh, instead of that of oxen or of sheep. For they eat the enemies whom they take in battle. They fatten, slay, and devour their slaves also, unless they think they shall get a good but none such as these, since the others only eat their enemies; but these eat their own blood relations.” – African Explorations by Eduardo Lopez, quoted by Huxley, in Man’s Place in Nature, page 55
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“On the occasion of the appointment of a chief to the supreme command, a bullock is sacrificed by the Samba Golambole, as also a white sheep, and a white or fawn-colored pigeon, together with various other victims. But the principal sacrifice is that of one slave from each of the nations under the dominion of the paramount chief, the heads of whom are carried in triumph and exhibited to the populace, accompanied by drums and other instruments. The bodies are added to those of the other animals, and all cooked together, and distributed as a savory dish to the chief and the other nobles.” — Valdez’s Africa, Vol. II., page 331
“The next morning we moved off for the Fan village, and now I had the opportunity to satisfy myself as to a matter I had cherished some doubt on before, namely, the cannibal practices of these people. I was satisfied but too soon. As we entered the town I perceived some bloody remains which looked to me to be human; but I passed on, still incredulous. Presently we passed a woman who solved all doubt. She bore with her a piece of the thigh of a human body, just as we should go to market and carry thence a roast or a steak.” – Du Chailh’s Equatorial Africa, page 103.
“Until today I never could believe two stories, both well authenticated, but seeming quite impossible to any one unacquainted with this people, which are told of them on the Gaboon. A party of Fans, who came down to the sea-shore once to see the sea, actually stole a freshly-buried body from the cemetery, and cooked it and ate it among them; and another party took another body, conveyed it into the woods, cut it up, and smoked the flesh, which they carried away with them.
The circumstances made a great fuss among the Mpongwe, and even the missionaries heard of it, but I never credited the stories till now, though the facts were well authenticated by witnesses. In fact, the Fans seem regular ghouls, only they practise their horrid custom unblushingly and in open day, and have no shame about it.
These stories seem so incredible, and even the fact that these people actually buy and eat the corpses of their neighbors — resting as it does upon my statement alone —has excited so much evident disbelief among friends in the country, to whom I have mentioned this custom, that I am very glad to be able to avail myself of the concurrent testimony of a friend, the Bev. Mr. Walker, of the Gaboon mission, who authorizes me to say that he vouches for the entire truth of the two stories above related.” – Du Chaillu’s Equatorial Africa, page 120
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“While I was talking to the king today, some Fans brought in a dead body, which they had bought in a neighboring town, and which was now to be divided. I could see that the man had died of some disease. I confess I could not bear to stay for the cutting up of the body, but retreated when all was ready. It made me sick all over. I remained till the infernal scene was about to begin, and then retreated. Afterward I could hear them from my house growing noisy over the division.
This is a form of cannibalism-eating those who have died of sickness— of which I had never heard in any people; so that I determined to inquire if it were indeed a general custom, or merely an exceptional freak. They spoke without embarrassment about the whole matter, and I was informed that they constantly buy the dead of the Osheba tribe, who, in return, buy theirs.” — Du Chaillu’s Equatorial 4f-rica, page 120.
“After visiting the house assigned me, I was taken through the town, where I saw more dreadful signs of cannibalism in piles of human bones, mixed up with offal, thrown at the sides of several houses.” — Du Chaillu’s Equatorial 4frica, page 105
“On going out next morning I saw a pile of ribs, leg and arm bones, and skulls piled up at the back of my house, which looked horrid enough to me. In fact, symptoms of cannibalism stare me in the face wherever I go.” — Du Chaillu’s Equatorial Africa, page 106
