CO129-317 - Governor Sir Blake - 1903 [4-6] — Page 318

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ONFIDENTIAL

भ

26

Government House.

Th

May 1903.

313

Sir,

24562

With reference to my despatch No 264 of this date, the state

of utter brutality to which some of the people of Kweng Si have

been degraded may be imagined from the following story told to

Mr Clementi by one of his guards during his journey through the

province. Information having been received of the whereabouts

of a robber family a party of 'braves' among whom was the

narrator, was sent out to destroy them. The house was surrounded

and the family caught. A man, his wife, and some children, the

number of whom was not stated. The man's abdomen was cut open

his entrails taken out, cooked, and eaten before his face while

he was still alive. The breasts of the woman were likewise cut

off, cooked, and eaten. The woman was described as 'sebbing'

during the operation. Both were then killed. The 'seldiers' er

'braves' did not care to kill the children themselves, so they

armed with knives some other children of the village who hacked E RIGHT HONOURABLE

JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN M.P.

the

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