NEW GUINEA SUPERSTITIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7087, 1 May 1901, Page 2

NEW GUINEA SUPERSTITIONS.

A CURIOUS CATEGORY.

Close to the village Church of Wedau, the headquarters of the Anglican Mission in New Guinea, is a stone still held in great veneration, though not put to the same use as in years gone by. In the old fighting days recourse was had to it, and pieces chipped off and boiled in water. The water when drunk by the fighting men inspired them with courage for the conflict. There is a curious tradition connected with death on the north-east coast of New Guinea, where the Anglican Mission is working. If any one 'has died during the day, the natives prefes to go to bed thirsty rather than replenish their water-bottles at the spring, where, they say, the evil spirits resort! at evening to wash [their hands after their dark' deed is done. For every death is attributed to. the influence of an evil Bpirit. The New Guinea natives, at any rate on the nor.th-eaet coast where the Anglican Mission has its sphere of operations, are no exceptions to the almost universal rule among barbarous peoples, which makes provision for the physical needs of the departed. When the corpse, doubled up in a mat, is laid in the shallow grave, some toro, a cooking-pot, and a few ornaments are placed on top of the body, being the dead man's provision for a journey. After a time, however, they are thought able to provide for themselves, for when the volcano, Mount Victory, puffs up its smoke, the natives say, " There are the dead cooking <3ieir food r . '