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THE NEGRO

been seen, of a more horrible kind. The Sherbro case seems to be connected with fetichism, the worst developments of which are peculiar to that country; but there is a hideously genuine appetite for fresh human flesh still existing among the negroes of West Africa. The cannibalism manifests itself in a refine- ment of gluttony which has its mild analogy in the tastes of Europeans. Young boys are bought from the dark interior, kept in pens, fattened upon bananas and finally killed and baked. To these Thyestean feasts come not only the savage chiefs of the interior, but also, it is whispered, black merchants from the coast. Men who appear at their places of business in Eng- lish territory in broadcloth and tall hats, who ape the manners of their white masters, are said to disappear annually into the interior, where, we are told, they might be seen, in naked savagery, taking part in the banquets on plump boys, in which they delight. Be this as it may, somehow the native of the west coast and its Hinterland is unlike the East or South African native in the deep-lying savagery and the extraor- dinary facility for returning to it, which are his leading and very unpleasant characteristics. The subject claims the attention of the anthropologist, and cer- tainly suggests a curious reason for questioning the relationship of the black man and the ape or gorilla, seeing that the race of monkeys seems to be singularly free from anything like cannibalism. Also another one from an earlier issue of the same paper (November 8, 1893, p. 5), which throws con- siderable light on this subject. It reads thus : — AMONG AFRICAN CANNIBALS Thrilling Experiences of Mr. Dorsey Mohun on a Recent Expedition. Mr. Dorsey Mohun, United States commercial agent at Boma, Congo Free State, has made a thrill- ing report to the State Department on the subject of