http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/t...es-of-cannibalism-from-the-South-Pacific.html
Tales of cannibalism from the South Pacific
Reports that a German tourist may have been eaten by cannibals in French Polynesia are part of a widely held belief that cannibalism is still practised in the South Pacific.
Stefan Ramin and Helke Dorsch in Dominica - Tales of cannibalism from the South Pacific
Stefan Ramin and Helke Dorsch in Dominica
By Iain Hollingshead
7:30AM BST 18 Oct 2011
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Stefan Ramin, a German on holiday with his girlfriend in French Polynesia, goes missing while hunting goats with a guide in the forest. A week later, charred human remains are found. A brutal murder? Or cannibalism?
According to sensationalist reports yesterday, prosecutors believe it was the latter. “The probability is that he was murdered by a cannibal and parts of him were eaten,” says one. The local guide is being hunted by police and soldiers. The remains are being flown to Paris for DNA analysis.
It seems an unlikely theory. “It’s true that French Polynesia once had something of a reputation for cannibalism, but that was a long time ago,” says John Gimlette, the travel writer. “In 1910, the American anthropologist, A P Rice, described how the people of the Marquesas Islands ritualistically killed their captives.
"First, they broke their legs, to stop them running away, then they broke their arms, to stop them resisting. This was an unhurried killing, because the Marquesans enjoyed observing their victim contemplating his fate. Eventually, the man would be skewered and roasted.”
Such rituals have passed into Pacific mythology. But, in South America, the practice appears to have endured into at least the second half of the 20th century.
Tales of cannibalism from the South Pacific
Reports that a German tourist may have been eaten by cannibals in French Polynesia are part of a widely held belief that cannibalism is still practised in the South Pacific.
Stefan Ramin and Helke Dorsch in Dominica - Tales of cannibalism from the South Pacific
Stefan Ramin and Helke Dorsch in Dominica
By Iain Hollingshead
7:30AM BST 18 Oct 2011
CommentsComments
Stefan Ramin, a German on holiday with his girlfriend in French Polynesia, goes missing while hunting goats with a guide in the forest. A week later, charred human remains are found. A brutal murder? Or cannibalism?
According to sensationalist reports yesterday, prosecutors believe it was the latter. “The probability is that he was murdered by a cannibal and parts of him were eaten,” says one. The local guide is being hunted by police and soldiers. The remains are being flown to Paris for DNA analysis.
It seems an unlikely theory. “It’s true that French Polynesia once had something of a reputation for cannibalism, but that was a long time ago,” says John Gimlette, the travel writer. “In 1910, the American anthropologist, A P Rice, described how the people of the Marquesas Islands ritualistically killed their captives.
"First, they broke their legs, to stop them running away, then they broke their arms, to stop them resisting. This was an unhurried killing, because the Marquesans enjoyed observing their victim contemplating his fate. Eventually, the man would be skewered and roasted.”
Such rituals have passed into Pacific mythology. But, in South America, the practice appears to have endured into at least the second half of the 20th century.