"THE WITCH FROM NOWHERE."

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 16 October 1914, Page 2

"THE WITCH FROM NOWHERE."

"Bass, Basa, Buesa Ispaam ; Nanku Mtagati" (Bring your gun ; here is a Witch). I grasped my shot gun which 1 usually keep loaded and rushing out of the house I saw an enormous bird flying away with something in its talons. "What has he taken ?"- I asked the piccaninny. "Oh, Bass," he said, "he has taken your pointer pup"."I was mad with rage and demanded to know what he was doing- to allow the bird to come right to the kitchen door and take away my dog. Then I asked from which side the eagle came. He said, "Bass, she Came from nowhere. I just heard a mighty rush of *vings and she was gone." Just then an old native whom I knew, came along and I told him what had happened and how my gun which I usually left loaded chanced to be empty. He said, "Even if it had been loaded you would not have shot her, as she is Mtagati," and then he told me the following story. "Years ago, before the Boer ( War, this bird came here, and as j'ou know, before the war, we natives had guns. I also had a gun and was considered a good shot but I could never bring down that bird as it is ' Mtagati' (a witch). It used to come every day into this valley and take a young goat or fowl. Other natives have tried to shoot it, but none could hit it, and now even if I had a gun I would not try, as she is bewitched, and no ballet will touch her, as she has a charmed life. "One night I set a trap to catch a hare, and going early the next morning to look at the trap, I could see, while yet a long way off, that something was struggling in the trap. Hurrying forward, I saw that it was a wild cat. I was pleased at this, as you know how we love the skins of the wild cat ; even if one does not wear them one can always sell them. The cat, seeing me approach, got very excited and started biting the trap, and trying to get free. But the trap j was a new one, and I knew it I would hold. It was a.bright, clear morning, and a second before I could swear there was nothing showing against the bright blue sky. Then she came from nowhere. I just heard a mighty rush of wings and she was gone, cat and trap as well. I never saw her come, Bass, I only saw her going. The trap was pegged to the ground with a piece of wood and I could see that dangling below the bird as she flew. I had bartered three fowls to bay that trap and my heart was sore. "Our women said we were poor men to have guns and not be able to shoot the pest, and would run screaming for their piccaninnies, when they saw the;bird sail past, high up in the air. They were afraid their young children would be taken away. Then for several years she left us and we thought she was dead, and we were glad the 'Mlungu's' (white men's) guns had prevailed against her. But now she had returned and she brought a mate. As you know, Bass, it is the female bird we fear ; the male bird never troubles us. Now she is back to harry us, what will become of our goats and fowls, as she fears nothing ? Only three days ago I heard that she had taken one of my son's goats and ,ho is a poor man, having just bought a wife and has only a few goats. But, what can one do against the ' evil one ?' An ordinary bird one could either shoot or trap, but you cannot shoot a witch. Perhaps the day after to-morrow, about the same time, she will come again and the Bass will lose a fowl or something else." Helping himself to a pinch of snuff and begging some tobacco from me, with a pleasant "Hlala Gashle, Nkose" (good bye, sir) he continued his journey. ' ■ Next day I tied up a white fowl in the open, and lay down to watch, t but nothing happened. Then I ; thought, "Oh, she might not come for another month," and worried no more about it. But next day she came from "nowhere"—she just arrived. A-dead rooster and a trail of feathers marked where she had struck, but had failed to carry it. She rose in the air with a harsh scream, and I ran for my shot gun. The dogs had cleared under the verandah, showing every svtnp- . torn of terror. The other fowls were flying everywhere for shelLer, even into the house and kitchen. But I was too late, for before I could get back, she had swooped clown again and carried off the fowl. However, she must have been hungry as she only carried the rooster across the valley, which is about four hundred yards wide, and settling on a big rock, she started to devour her prey. Leaving my shotgun I got my rifle and stalked up as quickly as I could to within about 80 yards. 1 took careful aim and put a bullet through her chest. Whether she was "Mtagati" or not that was her last meal. Quite a lot of natives came to see her. Her mate has not been seen since. She measured 7 feet 2 inches from tip to tip of her wings, her feet as large as a man's hand, the back claw measuring two and five-eighths of an inch. Tier heart. and liver I sold for half a crown to a native doctor, who said it was "Muti Mkulu" (big medicine), and after all, if she did eat my dog-, well, my cook ate her, and that averaged things up a bit.