A PRACTICAL INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
of things that some people say in defending the war system. Says the medicine man:
"A stranger has come among us to teach us a new religion. There are among the doctrines which he preaches a great many things which are indifferent to us, but there are also some very dangerous for the tribe. He declares, for example, that cannibalism ought to disappear from the earth and that it is necessary to renounce our custom of eating human flesh.
There have been in all ages individuals to whose stomach this aliment was repugnant. But this is a rare physiological idiosyncrasy. Even those who suffered from it regarded it as an infirmity. This is the first time that an attempt has been made to make a dogma of this pathological distaste.
The propaganda of this stranger might prove fatal. At the last public feast where ten prisoners were immolated, three of our warriors have refused to touch the flesh. That is why I have resolved to demonstrate to you that this doctrine is absurd and that those who permit themselves to be seduced by it will be traitors to their tribe.
In all ages, as far back as the memory of the oldest men can reach, enemies killed in battle have been eaten and prisoners have been fattened into proper condition for killing. When a custom is so ancient it is not dependent upon the will of men. It is not an accident of their history, but a law of their nature, instituted by the gods themselves. Hearts too tender may deplore it, but against natural fatalities it is vain and puerile to wish to fight. …
Repudiate then, Oyampis, these new ideas. Anti-cannibalism is a doctrine essentially chimerical. Men have always eaten one another; they will continue to do so in the future as they have in the past. And the best way to avoid being eaten ourselves is to enfeeble neighboring tribes as often as possible by liberal bloodletting."
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