e of Java were cannibals previously to their traffic with the
Chinese.)

They do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of
nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such
a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it
sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.

MOTIVES FOR THIS CUSTOM.

The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of showing their
detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment; and as a
savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The
objects of this barbarous repast are prisoners taken in war, especially
if badly wounded, the bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for
certain capital crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but
they are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as
slaves where the quarrel is not too inveterate; and the convicts, there
is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are in
circumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of twenty
binchangs or eighty dollars. These are tried by the people of the tribe
where the offence was committed, but cannot be executed until their own
particular raja has been made acquainted with the sentence, who, when he
acknowledges the justice of the intended punishment, sends a cloth to
cover the head of the delinquent, together with a large dish of salt and
lemons. The unhappy victim is then delivered into the hands of the
injured party (if it be a private wrong, or in the case of a prisoner to
the warriors) by whom he is tied to a stake; lances are thrown at him
from a certain distance by this person, his relations, and friends; and
when mortally wounded they run up to him, as if in a transport of
passion, cut pieces from the body with their knives, dip them in the dish
of salt, lemon-juice, and red pepper, slightly broil them over a fire
prepared for the purpose, and swallow the morsels with a degree of savage
enthusiasm. Sometimes (I presume, according to the degree of their
animosity and resentment) the whole is devoured by the bystanders; and
instances have been known where, with barbarity still aggravated, they
tear the flesh from the carcase with their teeth. To such a depth of
depravity may man be plunged when neither religion nor philosophy
enlighten his steps! All that can be said in extenuation of the horror of
this diabolical ceremony is that no view appears to be entert