Superstitions of New Britain.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4982, 15 April 1889, Page 3

Superstitions of New Britain.

Daniel, the native of New Britain who accompanies the Rev. Mr Rooney, the Wesleyan missionary to the New Guinea, Britain and Ireland, on his tour through New Zealand, has given an interesting account on the superstitions of the Kew Britain natives. The greatest enemies of these people in their savage state are their own fears ; fears of their kind, and fears of imagined dangers. Their weapons were never out of their hands by day, and at night they kept them near them so that they could lay hands on them the moment an alarm was given. They were cannibals, but Daniel had no explanation to offer for this. The missionaries would not (if even they thought of it) suggest to the “ niggers ” that they ate one another for lack of other animal food. The craving for flesh becomes strong in people who are precluded from obtaining it, unless their religion comes to the aid of their circumstances. The Israelites in the desert murmured for the fleshpots of Egypt. Stanley, in his journey down the Congo, when he first ventured “ across the dark continent,” was frequently compelled to fight for his life with people who looked upon his party ias, and encouraged themselves with cries of, “ Meat! Meat! Meat! ” They used, says Daniel, to kill and eat one another as though they were pigs. Captain Cook no doubt did much to check cannibalism in New Zealand by introducing pork. The New Britons Jhad many gods, of stone, and they also worshipped the spirits of their ancestors. Some of their gods were believed to be both very powerful and very particular. Some if merely looked at would kill people. Others were gods of certain sects or societies, members of which could handle them safely, but if an outsider did so his head would swell up and burst. Natural sickness and death were unknown. They were always attributed to witchcraft. They believed that the spirits of those that died lived again in another world, fought their battles over again and were again slain They were afraid of death, at least of going to the spirit land alone, for there was a terrible woman, a spirit of evil, always reaching after them, to tear them to pieces—for meat—therefore when a man was dying he would get two of his relatives or frienes to go to sleep by him, so that their spirits might accompany hia, as it was believed they could do during sleep. Concerning creation, they believed that the world was made by two men ; that one did his share well—he made the good and fertile land—while the other made the rough and barren land. In the same way one of these men made a model canoe and a model house, while the other made a canoe that sank and a house that let the rain in until it washed the builder away. Their idea of the origin of the ocean was that a woman with two sons who required (punishing for running away threw a stone into a narrow channel, which, overflowing, formed the ocean. Earthquakes are somewhat common in that region, and the New Britons referred them to a volcano on one of the islands. A powerful god lived under this volcano, sleeping for the most part, and when he turned over in his sleep he shook the whole neighbourhood—an explanation which has served most ignorant people all the world over.