The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 44

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44

gave us the task will also give us help to carry it on
if we address ourselves-sincerely and earnestly to its
accomplishment. We pastors are not sufficient of
ourselves to perform the exalted duties incumbent
upon us as the spiritual leaders of our people, no
more than Moses was able to lead Israel out of
Egypt to Canaan; but if we, like Moses, fully
realizing our own incompetency, will cry to the
Lord for His help, Jehovah’s help will be ours as
it was the help of Moses. PJ.

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5; THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

stomachs had watched while the body was. being
prepared for burial, and they followed it to the
grave. Unconscious of evil minds or of offense
against their tribal customs, but fearing only the
censure of the white man, they discussed the plump
tenderness of the boy and jocularly recalled scenes
in former times when such fatty morsels were con-
sumed.

“Some of the Arrarapi tribe, which inhabits the
country betwen Cape Stewart and the Goyder
River, young men, yet old enough to have suffered

Missionary and Group of Baptized Natives of South Australia.

Cannibalism in Northern Australia.

The Australian Lutheran, some time since,
brought an account of several instances of cannibal-
ism that had occurred in the Northern Territory of
Australia among the aboriginals of that region. The
account came from the pen of a certain Captain
Wilkins, the well known explorer and scientist, and
may he relied on as being in strict accordance with
facts.

A still-born infant had received the rites of
Christian burial. Its tender body, swathed in linen
and encased in wood, was buried five feet deep.
With stoical indifference the parents scarcely
mourned their loss; but the infant was not for-
gotten. Greedy eyes of men with fat-hungry

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fat-starvation, declared that this opportunity should
not be missed. A Christianized black boy overheard
their remarks and, braving the spirits and spooks
that he must have learned to fear before accepting
the Christian faith, shouldered a gun and watched
beside the grave that night.

“Tt was not until two nights later that the body
was exhumed. It was hurriedly swilled in sea water
and carried to the bush, the coffin having been care-
fully replaced. In the eery, early hours of the morn-
ing a firestick kindled some fallen timber, and the
gruesome body was cooked and eaten. Six men
shared the meal. The small, supple bones were
scraped clean with ugly yellow teeth and then
wrapped in paper bark in order that they might
be presented to the mother on the morrow.