Of Cannibals (Des Cannibales), written circa 1580, is an essay, one of those in the collectionEssays, byMichel de Montaigne, describing the ceremonies of theTupinambá people in Brazil. In particular, he reported about how the group ceremoniously ate the bodies of their dead enemies as a matter of honor. In his work, he usescultural relativism and compares the cannibalism to the "barbarianism" of 16th-century Europe.[1]
An English translation,Of the Caniballes, appeared inJohn Florio's 1603 translation of theEssais. This has often been viewed (first byEdward Capell in 1781) as an influence onShakespeare'sThe Tempest, in particular Act II, Scene 1.[2]