第31章

It must have been within a month of my landing on Yamba's country, in Cambridge Gulf, that I witnessed my first cannibal feast.One of the fighting-men had died in our camp, and after the usual observations had been taken, it was decided that he had been pointed at, and his death brought about, by a member of another tribe living some distance away.An expedition of some hundreds of warriors was at once fitted out.The enemy was apparently only too ready for the fray, because the armies promptly met in an open plain, and I had an opportunity of witnessing the extraordinary method by which the Australian blacks wage war.One of the most redoubtable of our chiefs stepped forward, and explained the reason of his people's visit in comparatively calm tones.An opposing chief replied to him, and gradually a heated altercation arose, the abuse rising on a crescendo scale for ten or fifteen minutes.

These two then retired, and another couple of champion abusers stepped forward to "discuss" the matter.This kind of thing went on for a considerable time, the abuse being of the most appalling description, and directed mainly against the organs of the enemy's body (heart, liver, &c.), his ancestors, "his ox, his ass, and everything that was his." At length, when every conceivable thing had been said that it was possible to say, the warriors drew near, and at last some one threw a spear.This, of course, was the signal for real action, and in a few minutes the engagement became general.There was no strategy or tactics of any kind, every man fighting single-handed.

But to return to the battle I was describing.After a very few minutes' fighting the enemy were utterly routed, and promptly turned tail and fled from the scene of the encounter, leaving behind them--after all the uproar and the flood of vilification--only three of their warriors, and these not dead, but only more or less badly wounded.Quarter being neither given nor expected in these battles, the three prostrate blacks were promptly despatched by the leader of my tribe, the coup de grace being given with a waddy, or knobbed stick.The three bodies were then placed on litters made out of spears and grass, and in due time carried into our own camp.

There were so many unmistakable signs to presage what was coming that I KNEW a cannibal feast was about to take place.But for obvious reasons I did not protest against it, nor did I take any notice whatever.The women (who do all the real work) fell on their knees, and with their fingers scraped three long trenches in the sand, each about seven feet long and three deep.Into each of these ovens was placed one of the bodies of the fallen warriors, and then the trench was filled up--firstly with stones, and then with sand.On top of all a huge fire was built, and maintained with great fierceness for about two hours.There was great rejoicing during this period of cooking, and apparently much pleasurable anticipation among the triumphant blacks.In due time the signal was given, and the ovens laid open once more.I looked in and saw that the bodies were very much burnt.The skin was cracked in places and liquid fat was issuing forth....But, perhaps, the less said about this horrible spectacle the better.

With a yell, several warriors leaped into each trench and stuck spears through the big "joints." And the moment the roasted carcasses were taken out of the trenches the whole tribe literally fell upon them and tore them limb from limb.I saw mothers with a leg or an arm surrounded by plaintive children, who were crying for their portion of the fearsome dainty.

Others, who were considered to have taken more than their share, were likewise fallen upon and their "joint" subdivided and hacked to pieces with knives made from shells.The bodies were not cooked all through, so that the condition of some of the revellers, both during and after the orgy, may best be left to the imagination.Amore appalling, more ghastly, or more truly sickening spectacle it is impossible for the mind of man to conceive.A great corroboree was held after the feast, but, with my gorge rising and my brain reeling, I crept to my own humpy and tried to shut out from my mind the shocking inferno I had just been compelled to witness.

But let us leave so fearful a subject and consider something more interesting and amusing.