Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1890 — A NIGHT WITH CANNIBALS [ARTICLE]

A NIGHT WITH CANNIBALS

The Feasts of British Columbia Man-Eaters Described. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. G.en. Lyman Banks and John Hutcheson. two citizens of Seattle, have just returned from a two months’ cruise of the northern coast ol British .Columbia, and it hey tell some thrilling stories of sights they have seen and dangerous adventures they experienced during their cruise. The old Hudson Bay Company's trappers all unite in calling the past winter the worst that has been known in that part of the country in the last forty years, and a leaf or two from their log-books show that the cruiserfound that fact to be only too true. A Seattle Post-IntelLigencer reporter happened to meet Gen. Banks on the street, and at his request the General recited the story of his most exciting and interesting cruise. . The story is. interesting, and it is given below in the language of Gen. Banks himself. He began his narration' as follows: “We started out full of great expectations and pleasant anticipations, and we did not realize for a moment what trials we would have to go through, and I tell you at times it required a great deal of Western grit and push to get ahead Those who are acquainted with tbe difficulties of traversing in summer a coast forest, with its thousands of uprooted trees and still worse upheaved foundations, can perhaps readily imagine how much greater a hardship it was for us to travel over three feet of snow on a level and occasionally strike drifts ranch deeper aud a great deal too much tangle of sal-lal bush for snow-shoes. But, to add to all our difficulties, our half-breed guide and the Indian packers refused to go with us as soon as we had penetrated a short distance inland. We had just sighted some hills which they said we could never pass over, and they alleged that no human being ‘had ever succeeded in the attempt. •“They strongly urged and prayed us not to proceed any further, but we had started out with a determination to accomplish a work and we were not to be baffled so easily in the beginning of our journey. So we packed up a couple of weeks’ rations and an axe in our blankets and. shouldering our Winchesters, we pushed on alone. Oh. what a journey that was! I shall never forget it as long as I live.

“Where the snow was too soft and deep we managed to make progress by crawling on our hands and knees, and at times we were obliged to lay down and roll to get out of, the snow. It was hard struggling by day, but the snow made a soft bed at night. We canoed over three hundred miles of our journey, and some of it was in very rough waters. But the most startling experience we had. and the one thing that would interest you most, happened one day just as we were running into a cave to avoid a storm. We got into the cave all right enough, but imagine du!' horror and disgust when we found ourselves in the midst of the Nahvvitti Indian tribe at their cannibal orgies. Cannibalism is prohibited by the Dominion Government, but only a monthly visit from vessels, and the nearest post being miles away, they carry on the horrible practices with immunity. “We watched the heathens during the day at long range, but under assurance of safety we ventured after awhile into their circle at night, and watched them. I can only describe the sight this way : There was a high I fire of logs in the center of the circle, | which was constantly attended by two j men, and occasionally there was an extra hiss and Hash as some uneaten fat was thrown on. The entire tribe encircled the fire, dressed in blankets of many brilliant hues. There were naked dancers, and a dozen or more lusty savages with clubs in their hands beating an accompaniment to their wild songs and dances, and the whole j sight made a weird scene that is not soon forgotten. The feast consisted of the bodies of their dead. They seldom ■ kill strangers to furnish food for these horrible orgies, as they were all the time quarreling between themselves and generally had enough dead bodies of braves to satisfy their appetites. “I had been told in Victoria of the possibility of this, and warned that when wild with the dance the braves rush out and bite a piece out of the first person they come to. Now I have no objection to being eaten after I am j dead, but to be bitten by one of those wild fellows would be as undesirable, as the bite of a mad dog. and lest in their excitement they might forget their promise of immunity, I held my hand .under ray overcoat and grasped a 44-calibre revolver that would liq,ve furnished rations fitting the occasihu. ■ Our sense of security was not increased by one of them making a speech, noticing our presence and berating the white man’s government for trying to deprive the poor Indian of the pleasure of being a cannibal occasionally, especially if he only fed upon his own dead. ••The hoys crawled behind the older people and hid, men were bitten, or simulated it, and I was afterwards shown scars where they claimed to have been bitten. But’ we were not molested. One brave, however, probably to test utf. made a dash in our direction, but others caught him and turned nun another way. It was an ‘all night session.’ and no one was allowed to leave till through, which was at 5 o'clock “tho next morning. We had seen enough, though, and were glad tq leave. We proceeded on our journey and came back again without ony more exciting adventures, arriving in Seattle only a short time ago. But I never in my life put in such a night as I did the time of thosp frightful orgies, and I candidly confess I don’t want to soon again.”