(of ἀνθρώπος, a man, and φάγω, to eat, Men-eaters). That there have been, in almost all ages of the world, nations who have followed this barbarous practice, we have abundance of testimonies.

The Cyclops, the Lestrygons, and Scylla, are all represented in Homer, as Anthropophagi, or man-eaters; and the female phantoms, Circe, and the Sirens, first bewitched with a show of pleasure, and then destroyed. This, like the other parts of Homer's poetry, had a foundation in the manners of the times preceding his own. It was still, in many places, the age spoken of by Orpheus.

When men devour'd each other like the beasts, Gorging on human flesh.

According to Herodotus, among the Essedonian Scythians, when a man's father died, the neighbours brought several beasts, which they killed, mixed up their flesh with that of the deceased, and made a feast. Among the Massagetic when any person grew old, they killed him and ate his flesh; but if he died of sickness, they buried him, esteeming him unhappy. The same author also assures us, that several nations in the Indies killed all their old people and their sick, to feed on their flesh: he adds, that persons in health were sometimes accused of being sick, to afford a pretence for devouring them. According to Sextus Empiricus, the first laws that were made, were for the preventing of this barbarous practice, which the Greek writers represent as universal before the time of Orpheus.

Of the practice of anthropophagy in later times, we have the testimonies of all the Romish missionaries who have visited the internal parts of Africa, and even some parts of Asia. Herrera speaks of great markets in China, furnished wholly with human flesh, for the better sort of people. Marcus Paulus speaks of the like in his time, in the kingdom of Concha towards Quinsay, and the island of Zapengit; others, of the great Java; Barbosa, of the kingdom of Siam and island of Sumatra; others, of the islands in the gulf of Bengal, of the country of the Samogitians, &c.

The philosophers Diogenes, Chrysippus, and Zeno, followed by the whole sect of Stoics, affirmed, that there was nothing unnatural in the eating of human flesh; and that it was very reasonable to use dead bodies for food, rather than to give them a prey to worms and putrefaction. In order to make the trial, however, whether there was any real repugnancy in nature to the feeding of an animal with the flesh of its own species, Leonardus Floroventius fed a hog with hog's flesh, and a dog with dog's flesh; upon which he found the bristles of the hog to fall off, and the dog to become full of ulcers.

When America was discovered, this practice was found to be almost universal, insomuch that several authors have supposed it to be occasioned through a want of other food, or through the indolence of the people to seek for it; though others ascribe its origin to a spirit of revenge.

It appears pretty certain from Dr Hawkesworth's account of the Voyages to the South seas, that the inhabitants of the island of New Zealand, a country unfurnished with the necessaries of life, eat the bodies of their enemies. It appears also to be very probable, that both the wars and anthropophagy of these savages, take their rise and owe their continuance to irresistible necessity, and the dreadful alternative of destroying each other by violence, or of perishing by hunger. See vol. iii. p. 447. et seq. and vol. ii. p. 389, &c.

Mr Marsden also informs us, that this horrible custom is practised by the Battas, a people in the island of Sumatra. "They do not eat human flesh (says he) as a means of satisfying the cravings of nature, owing to a deficiency of other food; nor is it sought after as a gluttonous delicacy, as it would seem among the New Zealanders. The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of showing their detestation of crimes, by an ignominious punishment; and as a horrid indication of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The objects of this barbarous repast are the prisoners taken in war, and offenders convicted and condemned for capital crimes. Persons of the former