I am in the Manyuema Country, about 150
miles west of Ujiji, and at the town of Moenekoos or
Moenekuss, a principal chief among the reputed cannibals. His
name means 'Lord of the light-gray parrot with a red tail,'
which abounds here, and he points away still further west to
the country of the real cannibals. His people laugh, and say,
'Yes, we eat the flesh of men,' and should they see the
inquirer to be credulous, enter into particulars. A black
stuff smeared on the cheeks is the sign of mourning, and they
told one of my people who believes all they say that it is
animal charcoal made of the bones of the relatives they have
eaten. They showed him the skull of one recently devoured,
and he pointed it out to me in triumph. It was the skull of a
gorilla, here called 'soko,' and this they do eat. They put a
bunch of bananas in his way, and hide till he comes to take
them, and spear him. Many of the Arabs believe firmly in the
cannibal propensity of the Manyuema.
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