In the Cannibal Country
“The boundary after crossing the Gazuba River, a tributary of the Teraba, again ascends into an unexplored continuation of the Banjo highlands, and drops into the plain of the Donga Valley. The inhabitants here are a mixture of Jukums and Zumperis, but there are numerous settlements of Hausas, whose trade consists of smuggling rubber and kola nuts into Nigeria without paying the German tax. The pagans, who live in ’swallow-nest’ villages on the heights, cultivate guinea-corn and root crops, while yams, cassava and sweet potatoes grow in abundance in the interstices between the huts. The boundary reaches the Donga, and after following the river for fifteen miles and crossing the plateau of the Wanya Mountains, reaches the plain of the Bamana Valley, in which oil palms are first encountered.
“The country between the Gamana and Katsena Rivers is inhabited by Zumperi pagans, who are cannibals and live on hill-tops. They are of small stature and of remarkably repulsive appearance. Every other man appeared to be suffering from goitre or elephantiasis—whether the legacy of cannibalism, or the effect of drinking infected water, it is difficult to say. The people are industrious, and besides corn, grow large quantities of cotton and tobacco on the hillsides. They breed dogs for eating purposes, and all the villages are full of yelping curs, covered with sores like their owners. In one village a large deposit of human skulls was seen. The villages are well built and surrounded by mud walls and ditches. Among the numerous ‘ju-jus’ found in the deserted huts was a grotesque mask, which was apparently kept to frighten the women. Any woman seeing it must die at once. When the community is short of meat, the local witch doctor puts on the mask and runs about the hills until he meets a likely looking victim, who is then killed and eaten. The Zumperis are great hunters, and have killed off nearly all the game in their country except leopards.”