having vainly interceded for mercy, receiving no reply, but threats of a like fate if he continued to interfere, encouraged the victim to suffer with the sentiments of Christianity, which he did with the most surprising firmness, without dropping the least reproachable word. He even talked of the affairs of his nation with as much indifference as if he had been at home with his family. Eleven fires had been kindled to torment him; and the elders said it was of consequence that he should be alive at sun rising, for which reason his tortures were prolonged to that time, when the barbarians, fearing that he would expire without iron (another of their barbarous superstitions), carried him out of the village, and cut off one of his feet, a hand, and his head, which were disposed of as proposed, while his body was thrown into a cauldron."

It would be easy to multiply anecdotes of the execrable tortures inflicted by the Indians on their prisoners, but there is a horrid sameness in all the narratives, which renders the task repulsive and disgusting. There is, however, a still more revolting practice connected with the subject, on which a few words must be said,—cannibalism, the feeding on human flesh, is found in most barbarous tribes; a practice so revolting to our nature, that its existence anywhere was denied, until it was established by irrefragable evidence.

We find in every part of the New World, on the continent and in the islands, entire communities, tribes, and nations, remarkable for this practice. It prevailed in both the Americas, in the Oceanic Archipelago, and in many of the clusters of Polynesia. Even where circumstances had abolished the practice, traces of its

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former existence were preserved in the language. "Let us go and eat that nation," was the phrase by which the Iroquois announced their purpose of making war, though they had ceased to be cannibals before they became known to Europeans. It subsisted in the comparatively civilized empire of Mexico, and relics of it were discovered among the mild inhabitants of Peru. In New Zealand, the eating of human flesh is not merely an excess of occasional revenge, but is actually a luxurious gratification of appetite. Sir Stamford Raffles has given a more complete account of the cannibalism practised by the Battas, an extensive and populous nation of Sumatra, than we possess of the practice among any other people, and we shall therefore extract a portion of the account from his letter to Mr. Marsden.

"I have found all you say on the subject of cannibalism more than confirmed. I do not think you have even gone far enough. You might have broadly stated that it is not only the custom to eat the victim, but to eat him alive. I shall pass over the particulars of all previous information which I have received, and endeavour to give you, in a few words, the result of a deliberate inquiry from the Batta chiefs of Tappanooly. I caused the most intelligent to be assembled, and in the presence of Mr. Prince and Dr. Jack, obtained the following information, of the truth of which none of us have the least doubt.

"It is the universal and standing law of the Battas that death by eating shall be inflicted in the following cases:-1st, for adultery; 2nd, for midnight robbery; 3rd, in wars of importance, that is to say, one district

against another, the prisoners are sacrificed; 4th, for intermarrying in the same tribe, which is forbidden, from the circumstance of their having ancestors in common; and, 5th, for treacherous attacks on a house, village, or person.

"In all the above cases it is lawful for the victims to be eaten; and they are eaten alive, that is to say, they are not previously put to death. The victim is tied to a stake, with his arms extended, the party collect in a circle around him, and the chief gives the order to commence eating. The chief enemy, when he is a prisoner, or the chief party injured in other cases, has the first selection; and after he has cut off his slice, others cut off pieces, according to their taste and fancy, until all the flesh is devoured.

"It is either eaten raw or grilled, and generally dipped in sambul (a preparation of Chili pepper and salt), which is always in readiness. Rajah Bandaharra, a Batta, and one of the chiefs of Tappanooly, asserted that he was present at a festival of this kind, about eight years ago, at the village of Subluan, on the other side of the bay, not nine miles distant, where the head may still be seen.

"When the party is a prisoner taken in war, he i eaten immediately, and upon the spot. Whether dead or alive he is equally eaten, and it is usual even to drag the bodies from their graves, and after disinterring them, to eat the flesh. This only in cases of war.

"From the clear and concurring testimony of all parties, it is certain that it is the practice not to kill the victim till the whole of the flesh cut off by the party is eaten, should he live so long; the chief or

party injured then comes forward, and carries home the head, which he preserves as a trophy. Within the last three years there have been two instances of this kind of punishment within ten miles of Tappanooly, and the heads are still preserved.

"In cases of adultery, the injured party usually takes the ear or ears; but the ceremony is not allowed to take place, except the wife's relations are present and partake of it.

"In these and other cases, where the criminal is directed to be eaten, he is secured and kept for two or three days, till every person (that is to say, males) is assembled. He is then eaten quietly and in cold blood, with as much ceremony, and perhaps more than attends the execution of a capital sentence in Europe.

"The bones are scattered abroad after the flesh has been eaten, and the head alone preserved. The brains belong to the chief or injured party, who usually preserves them in a bottle for the purposes of charms, witchcraft, etc. They do not eat the bowels, but like the heart; and many drink the blood from bamboos. The palms of the hands, and the soles of the feet, are the delicacies of epicures.

"Horrid and diabolical as these practices may appear, it is no less true, that they are the results of much deliberation among the parties; and seldom, except in the case of prisoners of war, the effect of immediate and private revenge. In all cases of crimes, the party has a regular trial, and no punishment can be inflicted until sentence is regularly and formally passed in the public fair. Here the chiefs of the neighbouring kampong assemble, hear the evidence, and deliberate upon the

crime and probable guilt of the party; when condemned, the sentence is ratified by the chiefs drinking the tuah or toddy, which is final, and may be considered equivalent to signing and sealing with us.

"I was very particular in my inquiries whether the assembly were intoxicated on occasion of these punishments. I was assured it was never the case. The people take rice with them and eat it with the meat, but no tuah is allowed. The punishment is always inflicted in public.

“The men alone are allowed to partake, as the flesh of man is prohibited to women (probably from an apprehension that they might become too fond of it). The flesh is not allowed to be carried away from the spot, but must be consumed at the time.

"I am assured that the Battas are more attached to these laws than the Mohammedans are to the Koran, and that the number of the punishments is very considerable. My informants considered that there could not be less than fifty or sixty men eaten in a year, and this in times of peace; but they were unable to estimate the true extent, considering the great population of the country; they were confident, however, that these laws were strictly enforced, wherever the name of Batta was known; and that it was only in the immediate vicinity of our settlements that they were modified and neglected. For proof, they referred me to every Batta in the vicinity, and to the number of skulls to be seen in every village, each of which was from a victim of the kind.

"With regard to the relish with which the parties devour the flesh; it appeared, that independent of the desire of revenge, which may be supposed to exist