Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1891 — SAVAGE SOLOMON ISLANDERS. [ARTICLE]

SAVAGE SOLOMON ISLANDERS.

They Are the Moat Degraded Race on Earth. The better part of the Solomon Islands belong to the German Government, but that does not prevent the English from inflicting summary punishment on the natives whenever guilty of outrages on anyone claiming to be a British subject, says a writer. On such occasions they are handled with as much freedom and severity as if the Germans had never been heard of in the vicinity. At the present time the English war ship Royalist is visiting the different islands from which crimes have been reported and chastising the guilty ones whosoever or wherever they may be, even to the extent of destroying their villages whenever they have had any difficulty in locating the right parties. I suppose the Germans do not care much whether these subjects of theirs are exterminated or not, as they are not likely to bring credit to either their masters or themselves. Missionary work has been a total failure in the Solomon Islands, although persisted in for many years and by different religious bodies. In most cases the only result arrived at by the missionary is to supply a banquet for his congregation, forming himself the principal dish of the occasion. As a people the Solomon Islanders are perhaps the most savage, the most brutal and the most degraded race on this earth to-day. They practice nothing but the most barbarous of customs, and are of so fierce and rapacious disposition that it is not safe to approach within 100 miles of any of the islands inhabited by them. They are cannibals of the worst kind; visitors to tbe islands In quest of sandalwood and tortoise shells, the chief products, have seen in different houses various parts of the human body in process of preservation for future consumption, just as civilized nations would cure animal meats, and the owners of vessels have frequently human flesh offered them in exchange for something desired by the natives. Head-hunting is another' of their accomplishments. It is practiced under all sorts of pretexts, in some cases the chiefs offering rewards for the best results of an expedition. Professional head-hunters are not uncommon, and they usually take the honors.