Page:OntheConductofMantoInferiorAnimals.pdf/61

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52
CANNIBALISM.

was lying, wrapped up, half dead, in a mat. By employing proper means she was however restored to life."

We read, in different works, both ancient and modern, that many nations, in various parts of the world, have killed men, not on account of famine, but of the delicious taste of human flesh, which they not only fed on but publicly sold.

That people eat their deceased relations, by way of shewing them honour, seems to be as romantic as it is repugnant to nature; yet there are many au thors, from Herodotus, the father of history, down to modern times, who assert that this practice has prevailed among various nations.

"There is a law in Cochinchina, that all rebels, when convicted, shall be executed, and that their flesh shall be devoured by the king's loyal subjects, and, in particular, by those who are nearest his person. At the time I resided in that country several executions of this kind took place. The men were beheaded, but the women were stabbed. After the execution, the soldiers who guarded the palace, flocked around the bodies, and each cutting off with a pocket knife, a small piece, dipped it in the juice of an unripe lemon, and in that manner swallowed it. But as the size of the morsel is not determined by the law, and as most of the people have an aversion to such food, many suffer the bit of flesh to drop through their fingers and swallow only the lemon.

"At the time when the Cochinese were at war against the Mois, a people who inhabit the mountains to the west, and who often make incursions into their territories, the Cochinese general marched with an army towards the mountains; but as he was not able to get at the enemy, on account of their inacces-