Mafulu women do, in fact, suckle pigs.

Abortion is induced by taking the heavy stone mallet used for bark
cloth beating, and striking the woman on the front of the body over
the womb. It is also assisted by the wearing of the tight cane belt
already mentioned. I could not hear of any system of using drugs
or herbs to procure abortion; but herbs are used to produce general
sterility, which they are believed to be effective in doing.

Married women also often kill their children as the result of a
sort of superstitious ceremony. The child being born, the mother,
in accordance with the custom of the country, goes down to the
river, and throws the placenta into it. She then, however, often
takes a little water from the river, and gives it to the babe. If
the latter seems by the movements of its lips and tongue to accept
and take the water into its mouth, it is a sign that it is to live,
and it is allowed to do so. If not, it is a sign that it is to
die, and she throws it into the river. This custom, which is quite
common, has presumably had a superstitious origin, and it seems to
be practised with superstitious intent now. There appears, however,
to be no doubt that it is also followed for the purpose of keeping
or killing the child, according to the wish of the mother. There is
further, confirming the last statement, a well-known practice, when
the mother goes down to the river with her baby, for some other woman,
who is childless and desires a child, to accompany the mother, and
take from her and adopt the baby; and as to this, there is no doubt
that, before doing so, the woman ascertains from the mother whether
or not she intends to keep her child, and only goes with her to the
river if she does not intend to keep it. This is done quite openly,
with the full knowledge of the second woman's husband and friends;
and everyone knows that the child is not really hers, and how she
acquired it. [81]

Cannibalism.

There is no doubt that the Mafulu people have always been cannibals,
and are so still, subject now to the fear in which they hold the
controlling authority of the white man, and which impels such of them
as are in close touch with the latter to indulge in their practice
only in secrecy. Their cannibalism has been, and is, however, of a
restricted character. They do not kill for the purpose of eating;
and they only eat bodies of people who have been intentionally
killed, not the bodies of those who hav