before Livingstone himself accepted the fact, and it was with great reluctance that he became convinced that their cannibalism was the outcome of gourmandise, and, from whatever cause it might originally have resulted, had then little to do either with religious ceremony or with superstition.

The Manyema freely admitted their practice of eating human flesh, which they described as “saltish in flavour, and requiring little condiment,” though certain parts, such as the heart, were sometimes mixed up in a mess of goat's flesh; and on one occasion, after a fight, Livingstone saw the bodies “ cut up and cooked with bananas.” In summing up the question of cannibalism, Livingstone finally came to the conclusion that, amongst the Manyema at any rate, a depraved appetite could alone account for the custom,