It has been made a question whether the Indians can be justly charged
with cannibalism. It is certain that all the terms by which they
designate their inhuman mode of putting a prisoner to death bear
reference to this horrid practice. The expressions are to throw him
into the caldron, to devour him, to eat soup made of his flesh. It has
hence been plausibly inferred that this enormity really prevailed in
early times, but was changed, we can scarcely say mitigated, into the
present system of torture. Yet, as every action is described by them
in terms highly figurative, those now quoted may have been used as
expressing most fully the complete gratification of their revenge. Of
this charge they cannot now be either condemned or wholly acquitted.
In the excited fury of their passions, portions of the flesh are often
seized, roasted, and eaten, and draughts taken of the blood. To eat
an enemy’s heart is considered a peculiar enjoyment. Long mentions a
gentleman who came upon a party who were busy broiling a human heart,
when he with difficulty prevailed on them to desist. There is little
hesitation among them, in periods of scarcity, to relieve hunger with
the flesh of their captives; and during one war, this fate is said
to have befallen many French soldiers who fell into the hands of the
Five Nations. Colonel Schuyler told Colden, that, having entered the
cabin of a chief who had some rich soup before him, he was invited to
partake. Being hungry and tired, he readily agreed, till the ladle,
being put into the great caldron, brought up a human hand, the sight of
which put an immediate end to his appetite and meal.