ISLAND CUSTOMS
CANNIBALISM IN THE PACIFIC
WITCH DOCTOR’S FEATS
■SYDNEY, March 16
Strange incidents and customs, which would provide sufficient material for a novel,, have become commonplace to the men on the French steamer Bucephale, which }s now at Sydney for overhaul. The headquarters of the vessel are in the New Hebrides, and the Island, of Toman is the most remote port of call. There the natives are almost entirely uncivilised. It is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth when one of the tribe is murdered, and cannibalism is unofficially practised in the island forests. One or the second engineers related the wonders of the witch doctor on the Island of Ephate. On one occasion, he said, he asked an old native when the liner Laperouse was due. Taking a bamboo ; stick the native, without having apparent connection with it, caused it to jump, and walk. After watching the performance for some time-he gave the date: when, he said, the vessel would reach port. He was correct. Another engineer has won fame by acting as a doctor, and because of several cures lie was re garded in the highest esteem by most natives.
About six members of the native crew of the Bucephale, with safety pins through their arms, or pieces of string around 'their feet, are close descendants of the cannibals, but they are very docile. At first they were very hard to train for ship-board duties, but now they are proving very satisfactory, '
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Hokitika Guardian, 28 March 1933, Page 8
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250ISLAND CUSTOMS Hokitika Guardian, 28 March 1933, Page 8
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