Tabled?

The ferocity of French politics is well known, but in the case of Senator Victor Biaka-Boda, of French West Africa, it seemed to have reached new heights. Deputies of France's new Assembly, meeting for the first time last week, stood around on the floor of the Chamber uneasily discussing the Senator's fate. Rumor had it that the Senator had been eaten by his constituents.

Biaka-Boda used to be a witch doctor on Africa's Ivory Coast. As long as he stuck to spells, charms and incantations, he was all right. His troubles started when he began to occupy himself with such potent magic as ballot boxes and election campaigns. He took the Christian name Victor, joined the fellow-traveling Rassemblement Democratique Africain, was elected to the French Senate. A small, thin, worried-looking man, the ex-witch doctor did not take to lighthearted Paris, made only a few appearances there, always seemed to his colleagues in the Senate to be thinking of home. Home he went. On some political business on the Ivory Coast, Senator Biaka-Boda was driving through darkest Africa in January 1950 when, at Bouafle (pop. 1,000), the car broke down. Instructing his chauffeur to repair it, Senator Biaka-Boda strolled off into the jungle to stretch his legs. That was the last of the Senator until, in November, some charred bones were found in the jungle. They were shipped to Paris for examination, and last week it was announced that the bones were Biaka-Boda's.

Cannibalism used to flourish on the Ivory Coast. Paris heard that the Senator was either: 1) devoured by cannibals who, for reasons of their own, were mad at him; or 2 ) murdered in conventional fashion by political enemies. By & large, Paris preferred to believe theory No. 1.

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