The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-26 00:00:00

New Zealand Superstition.

Reference has been made to the singular fanati-
cism of certain of the Wanganui tribes, who have
embraced a most absurd superstitious belief. It was
these fanatics who so rashly resolved to attack the
Wanganui settlement, and who were so severely
beaten by the natives under Pehi. The following is
an account of this absurd superstition—On the occa-
sion of the fight at Bauahu, Capt. Lloyd's blood
was drunk by the natives who killed him, and after
having finished their orgies they cut off his head
and buried it. Next night the archangel Gabriel is
said to have appeared to those who had partaken of
the blood and desired them to disinter the head and
dry it in the old Maori fashion, in order that the
I captain's spirit, speaking through the head, might
become the medium of communication between the
Almighty and mankind, and be carried through the
island as a banner under which a crusade agaiast
the pakehas was to he preached. This was accord-
ingly done, and the head is asserted to have spoken
and propounded the new creed, as well as appointed
'fa Uu, of Nyatiraanui, Hepanaia, of Taranaki, and
Matene Rangitauira, of Wanganui, as its chief
priests. The following are the principal articles of
the new faith—lts proletsors were to be called
" Pai maire" (good and peaceable), and the word
" hou," pronounced short like barking of a dog, was
to be their sacred watchword, the rapid utterance
of which would ward off all danger, even to the
extent of causing edged weapons to glance from
their bodies in battle, and bullets aimed at them to
change their course and rise in the air. The prose-
lytes were to be initiated by drinking water in
which the head had been dipped, or which had
been poured over the head, and took an oath to
destroy every white person, without any
distinction of age or sex, till all are killed
or driven from the land. The professors of the new
faith were to be under the special protection of
the Virgin Mary, who would be personally present
among them; and they were to be assisted in their
task of driving out the pakeha by the Archangel
Gabriel and hosts of angels, anil as soon as the task
was completed these heavenly messengers were to
teach them all arts and sciences known to theEuro-
peens. The professors would be enabled to learn
English or any other foreign language perfectly in
one lesson by observing certain forms—namely,
standing for a given time in a certain position under
a flag of a peculiar colour and pattern, hoisted on
a flagstaff of certain dimensions. The priests
claimed to have acquired this power, and Matene
lately, when at Waitotara, got possession of apiece
of newspaper in which some article purchased in
town was wrapped, and pretended to read it aloud
in English and afterwards to translate it, and. per-
formed the cheat so adroitly that one of the Waitoa
tara assessors present, a very intelligent native, who
from his boyhood has had intercourse with Euro-
peans, was deceived into becoming a convert, and
has since been deprived of his office in consequence.
All the European creeds were to be regarded as
false and done away with. All Bibles and other
books relating to them were destroyed ; the obser-
vance of the Sabbath was to cease, all days being
regarded as holy, and marriage and its obligations
were to be dispensed with, in order that the race of
believers might increase the faster, and become as
the sand of the sea in multitude. The fact that the
extraordinary powers promised have not been con-
ferred was accounted for by its being necessary that
the head should first visit the whole island. How
far the professors of the new creed and its priests
have been self deluded it is hard to say; but the
death of two out of the three leaders (Hepanaia, at
Sentry Hill, and Mateue, at Moutoa; may cause
the delusion to die out. Nevertheless the import-
ance of seizing Captain Lloyd's head is obvious
as Use may still be made of it for mischievous pur- ,
poses by any native possessing ventriloquial powers.
Nero Zealand paper.