THE TOHUNGA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3715, 22 September 1906, Page 2

THE TOHUNGA.

Human nature amongst the Maoris does not differ very much from the ways of the Pakeha, and Dr Pomare’s report on tohungaism contains a very interesting little sidelight on the credulity of mankind (says a contemporary). The old Maori who thought he was bewitched and promptly prepared to quit this vale of tears for the happy hunting grounds was only emulating the example of hundreds of Europeans who after twenty centuries of alleged civilisation imagine themselves ill as readily as primitive man. In this frame of mind they fall a ready prey to the quack, the faith-healer, the exponent of a new religious cult, and the vendor of patent medicines. Dr Mason found that an incantation and a bowl of hot soup were all that were required to effect a speedy cure. As Dr Mason remarks, had he been a European some Christian Scientist would probably have got hold of him, and from henceforth he would have been a convert who never wearied of reciting the story of his miraculous cure!