ISLAND WITCHCRAFT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 993, 7 December 1910, Page 6

ISLAND WITCHCRAFT.

SOME EXTRAORDINARY STATE- „ MENTS. (By Telegraph-Press Association.) Christchurch, December 6. f, he T ,?» t > , ' e s° f the Mclanesian Group, said Bishop Wilson.at the Melahesian garden party to-day, are firm believers in witchcraft, and of many mysterious happenings of which one could givono explanation. Ho. was fully convinced that the devil himself was,.ut the bottom ot them.

For instance, an Islander would become possessed, which possession, after causin" him pains in various parts of his-nody, wou d end..in. a heavy weight, pressing on his head, and ho would lay .himself down and die. "I asked ono of ray boys who had been thus possessed," added the Bishop, why ho did not summon his faith, inGod to his aid, and ho replied that he had, and, but for this, he would have died. Anothcr_ mysterious business, mentioned by tho Bishop as occurring in tho Islands, .was. tho making of money by women in a most extraordinary way. Ono old woman he had seen sang a song, and, immediately, native monev , dropped from nowhere on to tho ground I all round her. She then scratched her head, and inopey camo from her hair. Ihen sho drank milk from a coconut, and money was found in the husk. Sho then danced, and monev rolled on tho ground. He had thought it 'clever conjuring, but, tho other day, tho old woman s husband had come up for confirmation, and, on being told prior to the ceremony by his Lordship,' had confessed that, for three years, he and his wife had had nothing whatever to do with tho making of .tho money, and then,/ at last, threo or four little spirits in the woman had said to him: "Wo' want food." Ho had refused,: arid' they had asked why, adding, "We give you money." Uo had thon fed his wife with tho particular food which tho spirits wanted and, next morning, sho had produced great masses of money. „" I J^ elioTC tho devil ■has to ,do, with all this, and with tho witchcraft and magic, concluded his Lordship. "You may not think so" (as a. dubious smile appeared on tho face of some of his listeners), "but I do, and in Melanesia we have to fight against him."