New Britain Herald Newspaper, October 26, 1926, Page 19

Captain Georges Ros- taing, French explorer who will lead expedition into African jungle in attempt to stamp out cannibalism and slav- ery practiced in certain areas By C. DE VIDAL HUNT PARIS. ( :;\I’T AIN GEORGES ROSTAING, French explorer and a member of the Geographical Society, has just returned from Central Africa with stories of cannibalism and the forcing of slave girls to be the mistresses of sav- ages that have created a tremendous sensation among European nations gen- erally and France in particular. From the facts collected by Captain Rostaing it appears that there are stretches of jungle in Africa, some of them over 600 miles long, where canni- bal tribes hunt and devour one another. The deadly tsetse fly which finds its d victims among animals compels these tribes to make war upon one another for the sole purpose of making prisoners and eating them. Grasshoppers as a steady diet do not d a2ppeal to these savages, and a handful of manioc, a woody plant, is hard to get. This accounts for the strange sights in the market places of Dongo, in the Oubanghi and in the Ouadai, on the edge of the Libyan Desert, where it is not unusual to find among the fruits on sale a black human thigh or & chunk of shoulder. Picces of young slave girls are considered choice delicacies. These and other startling revelations made by Captain Rostaing have stirred French scientific societies into action, and it is quite possible that the govern- ment will equip an expedition into dark- est Africa before very long. But the energetic Captain Rostaing does not propose to wait for govern- mental or parliamentary decisions. He will start back for the land of eternal gloom about the middle of October and will take with him a camera man and an expert hunter. Each will pay his own expenses. He has interested distinguished per- sonages in his plan and formed a com- mittee of which the following are promi- nent members: The Dowager Duchess d’Uzes, Mme, F. de Joannis, Professor A. Calmette, the former Ambassador, Jules Cambon, the Duke de Doudeau- ville, Admiral Guepratte, M. Raymond Poincare, M. M. Plaisant, the author, Maurice Prevost, Professor Verneau and General Weygand. Captain Rostaing is thirty-six years old. His hair is iron gray and his face is almost colorless. In his eyes there is a dull flame that flares up when he talks of his terrible experiences in the sunless jungles of Africa. His firm lips spell determination. “What I desire to accomplish may take years,” he said. “It is an enormous task which must be undertaken without delay and with the moral support of all nations. “How will it be done? How will I be able to attract world attention to the terrible conditions in the interior of Africa? “Why, by the printed word, of course, and by the film. I am going to bring back proofs of what I have seen and heard. I will show to the world that cannibalism exists and that traffic in human beings is a part of it. “In upper Ooubanghi I met a chief named Nombu whose domains were scat- tered along the river M'Bomou. He was a debonair, paternal sort of fellow af- cted with some 500 wives, most of whom were distributed among the sub- hiefs to save expenses. “If one of these sub-chiefs showed lisrespect to the big chief’s wives, off came a part of his ear. If he tried to acquire one of the chief’s wives for him- self, off came his head. - An American g, ™ . Will Be Invited to Be- & - come Member of Crusade ~ Led by French Explorer ~and Backed by the Duchess d’Uzes to Stop Savages’ Cruel Customs photograph of an African slave girl being forcibly fed so that she will grow fat and make a juicy meal for the mouths of uncivil- ized tribesmen “In this regard I heard from the chief of one of the N’Sakkaras tribes that his people, though habitual cannibals, bury their own dead and eat only their enemies. This same canni- bal, after drinking some of my tea, informed me with a smacking of the tongue that the flesh of a white man tastes much better than that of the black. It is salty, whereas that of the black is sweet. “I thanked him profusely for the compliment he was paying to my race and pro- ceeded to make my prepa- rations for a hurried exit. But the chief assured me I was in no danger since I was to be the means of bringing cattle and sheep to his village. “Whether these lands are French or British, the tribes of the interior fastnesses take advantage of every chance to make war upon one another. But their common prey is the Bou- bou. The killed are al- ways eaten on the spot, while the prisoners are dis- tributed among the various chiefs, “At rare intervals the Arabs come jown the Dar Rounga to trade a horse or cow for a number of slaves whom they take back to their country to do hard labor. The horse and cow are for exclusive consumption of the big chief and are slaughtered at once. “While I visited the Chief Nombu, a great funeral was taking place. One of his favorite sons had died and twenty women had to be killed to satisfy the evil spirit, N'Goumban. Thjs favorite son, M'Gari by name, was given a royal funeral indeed. “His body was placed in a hole six or seven feet deep and fifteen feet square. The head of the dead warrior rested upon the body of a twelve-year- old girl and all around him were the bodies of the twenty sacrificed women. “Only in that manner could the Genius of Evil be satisfied. Only thus could M'Gari find comfort an:' have all his An unusual pho- tograph of an African cannibal dressed for the war path ped to human prey 1 the French plorer may some day save § from slavery and death @ ~tasent svoros e Native warriors of British East Africa, a section of the continent in which the cannibalism Captain Rostaing will attempt to stop has but recently been curbed wishes fulfilled in the next world. For the N’Sakkaras believe in another life. “Dongo, I found, is one of the im portant markets of the region. There wasn’t a scrap of meat anywhere, the sheep and kids being retained as barter for slaves whose flesh is much more relished than that of goats or sheep. These latter only serve to fatten the slaves. “The Bondjos are especially resource- ful in fattening their prospective vie- tims. They stuff them as the producers of ‘pate de foie gras’ stuff their geese. “Girl slaves are forced to be mis- tresses of the young men of the tribe and are not consumed until they have had three children who are fattened in turn for the same purpose. ‘To abolish these terrible conditions is a gigantic task. It cannot be done in a day or a year. The high patronage of M. Poincare undoubtedly will be of Copyright, 1926, oy my leges and outposts of ing for ssistance in the French influence. “The world will wonder that such a state of af- fairs has been permitted probably to ex- £ Please do not accus is a case of barbarism a tion. *Our colonial administrators g ing their best, but y the face of famine . usages. No mattc ow great their forts, they can only reach a very number of individuals. What we E lish is the liberation of al aves in the African “The blacks of Cent fed. For this purpose we must to the conscience of the world.” The Duchess d’'Uzes, one of the pa- tronesses of the Rostaing expedition, in re po and cent dohnson Features, Ine. The Countess D’uzes who is back- ing Captain Rostain_ in his cru- sade to stop the horrible prac- tices of certain African tribesmen an address delivered in Paris on August 12, s v Europeans know that there are still slaves in exist- ence and that canni~ balism is still prae. ticed on a large scale in Africa. With the moral aid of a few French men and women we have or- organized the ‘Com- mittee of Aid to the Last Slaves’ with a view of making this enterprise interna- tional in scope. The chief of this first expedition, M. Georges Rostaing, ex- plorer and mariner, will return to the high reaches of the Congo and penetrate the wilds of the Oubanghi Ouadai where the tribes make war and eat one another. “It is hunger that drives these wretches to cannibalism. We want to find a way to change all this, he Rostaing ex- pedition will leave about the middle of October and hopes to return with documentary proofs, pho- t hs and films that will reveal the terrible conditions in lands where white men have never been. “Perhaps some fine American man would like to join and share the dangers and glory that will come to these brave pionee: They will be gone six months. Professor Verneau, of the Academy of Colonial Sciences, is with us, and so are some of the finest men and women of France.” Captain Rostaing is now completing his arrangements for the daring exploit. He expressed to me his desire of having an American join him so that America will know the whole truth about slavery and cannibalism in Africa. He will write the story of his experiences for this newspaper. There are in America intrepid men who have gone into the jungles of dark- est Africa in search of big game either for sheer adventure or for scientific pur- poses, and it is believed that Captain Rostaing will have little difficulty in finding an American to join him in his expedition to bring back pictorial evi- dence that slavery and cannibalism in their most horrible forms exist in this civilized age. The prominent citizens of France who are behind the project that will, as Cap- tain Rostaing says, take years to accom- plish, assure the expedition that will leave for the jungle fastnesses in October. This dangerous journey into the heart of a savage country where the flesh of white men is a greatly desired article of diet is only the first stage of the care- fully planned campaign to rid the world of one of the last vestiges of slavery in its most revolting form. If the party to be led by the French captain is successful in gathering and returning with evidence that all the world may see, it is likely that wide- spread moral and financial backing will be forthcoming and that an organized effort will be made to clean up this jungle area now a hotbed of inhumanity and horrible practices. The problem is one of danger and of fearful proportions. Jt will not be easy to change the age old customs of a numerous tribe of savages whose primi- tive code of morals and of living does not bar the violation of the bodies of innocent girls and the fattening of their youthful forms to make food for savage mouths. and