WITCHCRAFT.
We have received a communication from a Native residing at Raglan, signing himself Hakaraia Te Huaki, in which he bitterly complains of the Ngatikotare tribe, of the Ngatilamainu and the Ngatipare, they having threatened to kill him for supposed witch- j rraft. 11 would appear from Hakaraia's statement thai several deaths occurred recently at: Raglan, which the tribes in question accused \ him of causing by witchcraft. He slate* thati in February 1862, Ramari and her brother; Hapi died; two others died in March; and i subsequently two more named Pen and Te j Tahana at Waipa. On the occasion of Tahana's death, one belonging to the Ngati j mahuta tribe said: «• If we find this man, | who is destroying others (by witchcraft) all his lands will be taken as payment."! Another Native named Anaru said: " Land is not a sufficient compensation for my dead, I must have the life of a man, then my heart will be at ease." We had hoped that the sunlight of the Gospel had altogether dispersed the super-! slitions of olden times which kept the Maori \ people in continued dread of the gods and . of one another; but we are grieved to find ! thai this is not the case. What, may it be asked, has the Gospel done for the Maori if i they believe that one man has power to killj another by witchcraft? If Hakaraia's stale- j menl be true, our friends at Raglan and Waipa are far darker and more wicked than they were supposed to be. Can it be possible that the instructions of Missionaries; arid the humanizing intercourseof European ■ settlers during a long series of years should j have so little effect upon the minds of these j tribes ?
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MMTKM18620701.2.4
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume II, Issue 11, 1 July 1862, Page 3
Word count
Tapeke kupu
290WITCHCRAFT. Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume II, Issue 11, 1 July 1862, Page 3
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