THE COLONIST. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1920. DEMON-POSSESSION AND MAORIS OF THE FAR NORTH.

Colonist, Volume LXII, Issue 15347, 10 April 1920, Page 4

THE COLONIST. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1920. DEMON-POSSESSION AND MAORIS OF THE FAR NORTH.

Not many years ago a Nelson resident who . was staying for some weeks near Hokianga -Harbour, found (that tohungaism retained a hold on the Maori people. Cavalcades of Natives passed-.along-the coast, and more than once, it was ascertained on inquiry that they -wove taking some sick person to consult a tolvungaj whose practices, by the way, were described by Europeans as being rankly deceptive. This state of 'affairs still prevails among the Maoris of the Far North, according to a-.report made to the Anglican Bishop of Auckland by Canon Arthur "Williams. and the Rev. H. I>. Munro. They say that during a mission which they undertook at the end of last year they found that ."the tohunga and the magician flourish, and crudest superstition is rampant." It is stated that "outwardly the Native Christians of the whole district are the most religious iv the misslotiers' experience, and no one paying a flying Sunday visit would ever suspect that there was anything wrong under this fair exterior. How comes it then that they have succumbed to the influence and power of Maori tohungas? Doubtless there are other reasons, but the Maoris themselves invariably give the following:—(1) There is much sickness and disease —especially among the children, even where the parents themselves seem strong and healthy—and they are dying off in great numbers every year. We have never in all our experience seen so much sickness and disease as came under our notice in the four weeks we were among them. In case after ease families are iv danger of becoming extinct. Out of nine and ten children several families have only three or four left alive, and of those generally two are diseased or ill. Out of 7 and 15 children in some families only one is still living: while in yet another twenty have died out of a family of twenty-two. And the parent's say they cannot get medical attention. The Government does supply the .services of a district nurse, who does splendid work, but there seems to be no doctor available for the Maoris. (2) The tohungas teach the people that God has in His mercy, under these very* trying circumstances, permitted the spirits of their ancestors to return to teach them what to do for the sick, and that the tohungas are in direct communication with these spirits, and can therefore cure all ills. Further, they say (and sometimes we believe truly) that the cause- of the illness is an evil spirit, and that this is the reason why European doctors .cannot cure the patient, and cannot even diagnose the casein many instances." Regarding the cases of apparent demon-possession, even. among quite young children, the missioners are both convinced that they are speaking of facts and not of fiction. Some cases were brought to both in the hope that something could be done to set them free from control. In the ease of one little child i^ie parents y\ere so thoroughly convinced, by what they saw and heard,, that the child was then and there freed from an evil spirit's control, and completely cured within a few minutes by prayer and exorcism, that they begged the whole family might be forthwith cut off from tohungaism and its baneful power, and reinstated at the special service to be held that evening. On a subsequent visit to this village, a few ■days later, this child was reported quite well arid playing about with the other children. And this was found to be quite true. The missioners found a good many who had already become convinced that the spirits were not good spirits, because the results were always ultimately evil, and, generally ended in death and often in lunacy. •Some had already returned to the tohtinga charm; or embodiment of the spirit power, which he had left in ttieir home; others >had thrown charms away into the scrub; while others still had them in their homes and did not know what to do with them, and handed them over. They said they felt they had opened a door for the approach of .spirits, which they had found to be evil spirits, and could not shtit it again. No matter what they did they could not get free again from ivhat they firmly believed to bo evil spirits, or demons, who seemed to be bent on destroying them and their children. In the ease of one boy the principal tohunga concerned has since died, apparently raving mad, and the missioners were told that every one of her children had died in the same way —two of them within a week of each other. Nothing will convince these people, and those connected with them, that these were not cases of demonpossession, or the work of evil spirits in some form. The missioners Avere solemnly told by one who has suffered that some of the possessed behaved like pigs, others like dogs, cats, rats, etc.; and they met with two young children who did behave in every way like little pigs, and who became quite normal immediately when tlie evil spirits were exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ. As soon as the Maoris realised that- the missioners were there to help "them,-the. days were not long enough to see all who came.to them, or wished them to go to their homes. Naturally, those who were practicing as toliungas.' or acting as agents for tohungas living elsewehere, and were thereby making money out of it, also some who were afraid of the magic of tne toliungas, or of the wrath of the spirits,. kept aloof. It- has been roughIV computed that in the three centres

visited perhaps 350 to 450 people, including, the children, attended the services. Of these at least 120 renounced their adherence to tolmngaism and all it means, and were formally " reinstated in a. most solemn and impressive service. Such is the essence of Messrs. "Williams and Munro's narrative, not of conditions in a territory in Darkest Africa, but of a part of New Zealand. True, it is a remote and isolated part, only partially settled, with few and bad roads, and its Native inhabitants living in semi-idleness. These tolfungas, however, we believe, attract Maoris from a distance. There arc enactments directed against tohungism, but we think one of the effective ways of breaking it down is to make use of schoolmasters and clergymen living among the people who a.re apparently so susceptible, in their peculiar and sometimes very sad circumstances, to its evil influences.