Sketches from Formosa.

XV
CANNIBALS AT CHIU-SIA-HUN
WHEN passing through the remote village of Chiu-sia-hun
one afternoon, I saw a company of children in great glee,
laughing, and shouting, and sky-larking about. The
curious thing was that they were all furnished with hand-
fuls of beef and meat-bones, which they were chewing with
great apparent relish. After making a few enquiries, I
went into a long rambling hut close by, where a woman
was busity engaged in extensive cooking operations.
There was a big round pan filled up with soup and large
joints, and two tables were covered with junkets of flesh
and bones. Imagine my horror on finding that these
were the remains of two human bodies which were rapidly
being eaten up by the villagers. On expressing my
abhorrence to the woman, she only smiled, but I insisted
on showing my deep feeling of disgust
; whereupon she
lost her temper and angrily replied by saying, "
Why
should we not eat them ? They beheaded my husband,
they beheaded my nephew, and it serves them very well
to be treated in this way."
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