Dedication
TO
DEAR LITTLE NEVIL
AND
GEORGE HAMILTON GORDON
THESE NOTES OF ONE OF THE MANY SUNNY HOMES
OF THEIR HAPPY CHILDHOOD
ARE LOVINGLY DEDICATED
Note — Cannibal Fork
The Cannibal Fork represented on the binding of this book is a facsimile of a fair average specimen. Some of the chiefs had forks eighteen inches long, of dark polished wood, with handles richly carved.
With reference to the vegetables specially reserved for cannibal feasts, Dr Seemann describes the Boro dina (Solanum anthropophagorum) as a bushy shrub, seldom higher than six feet, with a dark glossy foliage, and berries of the shape and colour of tomatoes. This fruit has a faint aromatic smell, and is occasionally prepared like tomato-sauce. The leaves of this plant, and also of two middle-sized trees (the Mala wathi, Trophis anthropophagorum, and the Tudano, Omalanthus pedicellatus), were wrapped round the bokola and baked with it on heated stones.