De acordo com a Enciclopédia de Dunas , referência em ' deathstills ', a prática comum era torne o corpo para a água e, então, elimine cuidadosamente a pequena quantidade de restos secos no deserto em sepulturas não marcadas.
The deathstill's major components were two plasteel vats, one within the other, plus a heating device and condensing system. Its use was very simple. The body was placed in the inside vat and the space between the walls of the two vats was filled with maker oil. The lid, containing a pressure valve and vapor tube, was clamped on. Heat from an external source was transferred by the oil from the outer to the inner vat. Inner-vat temperatures reached over 200° C in prolonged use. The liquid in the body began to boil. The pressure buildup accelerated the process. Vapor escaped through the valve and was channeled through a coiled condenser tube. Condensate was collected and measured.
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The Kitab al-Ibar says that 'a man's flesh is his own, but his water belongs to the tribe." After the distilling process, water measurement; and mingling with the tribe's waterhoard, what little residue remained was treated with utmost care and "buried in the earth to share with Shai-Hulud."
Os restos de seus próprios homens receberam um curto serviço religioso. Os restos de seus inimigos foram descartados ('descartados') sem cerimônia. Em nenhum dos casos os restos foram comidos, na verdade, o processo de renderização (descrito em detalhes vívidos e envolvendo "produtor de petróleo") os tornaria intragáveis, se não totalmente venenosos, para todos, menos para uma Reverenda Madre.
No memorials were held for out-freyn killed by the Fremen; their water was simply reclaimed and the dry remains discarded.
For their own, however, the Fremen believed it necessary to conduct a formal memorial service in order that the shade of the departed one would leave in peace and visit no harm on the tribe. The ceremony always took place at the rising of the sunset on the evening of the death, after the body had been run through the deathstill under the supervision of a Sayyadina.
Então, em resumo, não. Os Fremen não eram canibais per se embora eles bebessem a água que está contida nos corpos de seus amigos e inimigos. Em Duna vemos o banqueiro no banquete com Paul e sua família cometem o mesmo erro, o que Kynes corrige alegremente.
The banker put down his fork, spoke in an angry voice: “It’s said that the Fremen scum drink the blood of their dead.”
Kynes shook his head, spoke in a lecturing tone: “Not the blood, sir. But all of a man’s water, ultimately, belongs to his people–to his tribe. It’s a necessity when you live near the Great Flat. All water’s precious there, and the human body is composed of some seventy per cent water by weight. A dead man, surely, no longer requires that water.”