A Good Law

Met an American woman on the island of Lembongan who was there for a few days with her family. She and her husband are missionaries in Papua. Papua is an Indonesian province on the western part of New Guinea, the largest island after Greenland. Papua New Guinea on the east side is an independent nation. This couple has been dealing with a primitive tribe for fifteen years. She said that they were much happier and healthier now and women are no longer property. She said that when her husband first came he met a man who used to practice cannibalism. The man was friendly and kind, gave him a pineapple, and told him that human meat was even better than pig. He told how he'd butcher him if he were going to eat him, where he'd cut and so forth. But that, the man said, was long ago. Now days cannibalism is illegal - but the law and outsiders haven't reached everywhere.