hey, [the heads of the victims] were then disposed of in
various ways, and when I asked what would be done with them,
I was told, "They will go to improve the sak-sak." The
natives on the East coast of New Ireland prepare a very
excellent composition of sago and cocoa-nut, called sak-sak.
I used to buy a supply of this every morning, as it would
not keep, for my men. Now it appeared that for the next week
or so, a third ingredient would be added to the sak-sak,
namely, brains. I need hardly say that for the next two days
of my stay I did not taste sak-sak, though my men made no
secret of doing so. The flesh in the ovens had to be cooked
for three days, or until the tough leaves in which it was
wrapped were nearly consumed. When taken out of the ovens
the method of eating it is as follows. The head of the eater
is thrown back, somewhat after the fashion of an Italian
eating macaroni. The leaf is opened at one end, and the
contents are pressed into the mouth until they are finished.
As Bill, my interpreter put it, "they cookum that fellow
three day; by-and-by cookum finish, that fellow all same
grease." For days afterwards, when everything is finished,
they abstain from washing, lest the memory of the feast
should be too fleeting.'

Mr. Romilly was informed by the natives that human flesh tastes even
better than pork. One is satisfied to take their word for it. In the New
Hebrides it appears that the people prefer to eat it dried, or 'jerked.'
At present, we are told,

'the cannibals in the world may be numbered by millions.
Probably a third of the natives of the country where I am
now writing (New Guinea) are cannibals; so are about
two-thirds of the occupants of the New Hebrides, and the
same proportion of the Solomon Islanders. All the natives of
the Santa Cruz group, Admiralties, Hermits, Louisiade,
Engineer, D'Entrecasteaux groups are cannibals, and even
some well-authenticated cases have occurred among the "black
fellows" of Northern Australia. I do not know that the fact
of a native being a cannibal makes him a greater savage.
Some of the most treacherous savages on this coast are
undoubtedly not cannibals, while most of the Louisiade
cannibals are a mild-tempered, pleasant set of men.'

This testimony can do no harm in England, but it is to b