There is a horrible institution among some of the Indian tribes, which
furnishes a powerful illustration of their never-tiring love of
vengeance. It is called the Man-Eating Society, and it is the duty of
its associates to devour such prisoners as are preserved and delivered
to them for that purpose. The members of this society belong to a
particular family, and the dreadful inheritance descends to all the
children, male and female. Its duties cannot be dispensed with, and the
sanctions of religion are added to the obligations of immemorial usage.
The feast is considered a solemn ceremony, at which the whole tribe is
collected as actors or spectators. The miserable victim is fastened to a
stake, and burned at a slow fire, with all the refinements of cruelty
which savage ingenuity can invent. There is a traditionary ritual, which
regulates, with revolting precision, the whole course of procedure at
these ceremonies. The institution has latterly declined, but we know
those who have seen and related to us the incidents which occurred on
these occasions, when white men were sacrificed and consumed. The chief
of the family and principal members of the society among the Miames,
whose name was White Skin, we have seen, and with feelings of loathing,
excited by a narrative of his atrocities, amid the scenes when they
occurred..--_North American Review._
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