James Sligo Jameson and the "Wacusu Cannibals"

H M Stanley's deputy James Sligo Jameson, by his own account, deliberately paid to see proof that the Bakusu (Wacusu) were cannibals, and watched as a little girl was stabbed to death, following which Bakusu tribesmen dismembered her. Jameson even made sketches of the incident. However, the incident proved only that slaves can be made to kill and dismember people, and probably eat them. It did not prove that cannibalism was part of Bakusu culture. Jameson was vilified but he claimed that he thought it a joke until it was too late. He may have had the excuse of being a fool but Dr David Livingstone tried to do what Jameson did, with no excuse and with cold, scientific deliberation. If Jameson was a fool, Livingstone was a ghoul.

Bakusu slaves undoubtably killed and dismembered a child to "prove" that they were cannibals. Assad Farran accused James Sligo Jameson of deliberately buying the child in order to witness her being eaten. Tippu Tip, allegedly at least as guilty as Jameson, denied any knowledge of the incident.

Jameson called Farran's accusation a "tissue of falsehoods" but was his version of events significantly different? Does Tippu Tip's denial hold water? Jameson was demonised in the English press, yet David Livingstone tried to do the same as he did. Should Livingstone not also have been vilified?

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