The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12) - Mirrors

28 The Golden Bough (Third Edition, Vol. 7 of 12)[019]After mentioning that an old chief had ordered a female slave tobe dragged to the beach, murdered, and thrown into the water, heproceeds as follows: “I did not see the murder, but, immediatelyafter, I saw crowds of people running out of those houses nearto where the corpse was thrown, and forming themselves intogroups at a good distance away. This I learnt was from fear ofwhat was to follow. Presently two bands of furious wretchesappeared, each headed by a man in a state of nudity. Theygave vent to the most unearthly sounds, and the two naked menmade themselves look as unearthly as possible, proceeding ina creeping kind of stoop, and stepping like two proud horses,at the same time shooting forward each arm alternately, whichthey held out at full length for a little time in the most defiantmanner. Besides this, the continual jerking their heads back,causing their long black hair to twist about, added much to theirsavage appearance. For some time they pretended to be seekingthe body, and the instant they came where it lay they commencedscreaming and rushing round it like so many angry wolves.Finally they seized it, dragged it out of the water, and laid it onthe beach, where I was told the naked men would commencetearing it to pieces with their teeth. The two bands of menimmediately surrounded them, and so hid their horrid work. In afew minutes the crowd broke into two, when each of the nakedcannibals appeared with half of the body in his hands. Separatinga few yards, they commenced, amid horrid yells, their still morehorrid feast. The sight was too terrible to behold. I left the gallerywith a depressed heart. I may mention that the two bands ofsavages just alluded to belong to that class which the whites term‘medicine-men.’ ” The same writer informs us that at the winterceremonials of these Indians “the cannibal, on such occasions, isgenerally supplied with two, three, or four human bodies, whichhe tears to pieces before his audience. Several persons, eitherfrom bravado or as a charm, present their arms for him to bite.I have seen several whom he has bitten, and I hear two have