Smyrna times., 1903-09-23
THE SOUL CATCHERS.
A SINGULAR CUSTOM OF THE SOUTH
SEA ISLANDERS.

SEA ISLANDEhSs
The Way the Natives In the Days NE
fore Civilization Had Fully Marked
Them For Its own Used to Get Even
With Their Enemies.
A little while ago while turning over
some mementos of many years spent
in the Pacific islands 1 came across a
small circle of fine cane about two
inches in diameter. From the side to-
ward the center a delicate network of
the fibers Of some plant was construct
ed, leaving a small hole in the center
large enough for, say, a bee to crawl
through. The article weighed less
than a quarter Of an ounce; yet, small
and harmless as it appeared, it is not
so very many years ago that it and
others like 1t were objects of deadly
terror to- the natives of many of the
Pacific islands, particularly those of
Manahiki Humphrey island), for the
simple looking thing was soul catch
er"-that is, destroyer of human life.
Manahiki is one of a group of low
lying atoll islands to the nOrth-north-
west of Samoa, and its people today
are about the best educated of all the
MalayO-POlynesian people. They elect
king and parliament, have one Of the
most beautifully adorned churches in
the Pacific islands, and nearly all the
younger members of the community
can now not only speak but read and
write English. The island is-fOr an
atOll-unusually fertile and the people
a fine, stalwart, handsome copper col
Ored race. The main industries are the
making of "copra" dried cOcOanu0 and
diving for pearl shell.
Soul catching in the heather days,
prior to 1868, could be and was prac-
ticed by any one who desired revenge
or the life of an enemy. Indeed, al
though the people were nominally
Christians in 1873, it was still in
vogue. The mOdus operandi is very
simple. Say that two men, Rika and
Tetoro, quarrel. Rika accuses TetOrO
of going out into the lagoon at night
time, lifting his Rika's) fish traps and
abstracting the contents. He therefore
OClEdllNlo compensation. 4NlOiO tCLAGo
the theft. The relatives of both men
stake sides, and the quarrel assumes all
the elements of a feud with 6IOOdshed.
| 1t may be that TetOrO is a man Of
means or chiefly rank and influence
! and treats his accuser with scOrn.
Very WELL" the injured Rika cries.
IF l cannot get justice from you l
shall snare your soul, and you will die
of a wasting sickness"
TetorO even if he is innocent, begins
to feel uneasy at this threat and, while
vigorously denying the theft, offers
Rika a present of pig to end the mat
ter. Rika's relatives at once clamor
not only for their original demands,
but for the pig as well. Possibly free
fight ensues, and Rika's people get
badly used, and threats of "soul snar-
ing" are heard on all sides.
Then Rika's wife makes the snare for
TetorO's soul. Taking her mat out into
the village square or upon a well fire.
quented road or path, she suspends the
snare from the branches of trees or
sticks placed in the ground in such a
position that she can closely watch the
Orifce in the center of the square.
Rika's friends, male and female, come
with her. They bring food and eat it
and throw fragments under the snare
to attract the flies, with which the is
land is infested. If but one fly crawls
through the hole TetorO is dead man,
unless he suddenly gives in and allows
himself to be bled, for not only do
Rika's people watch the snare, but his
own as well. No one of them would
dare to attempt to destroy the snare.
The death of the interferer by occult
power would certainly follow.
And so for hours and hours-some-
times for days-many pairs of eyes
watch the little circle of cane, and Te-
tOrO and his friends are now ready to
yield, but feel that still more extOr-
tionate demands may be made. Then
at last a fly is seen to crawl through
and a shout goes through the village.
"Ua hopO te lagO! Ia hOpO te lagop'
CA fly has passed through.'D TetorC
hears the cries and Immediately imag.
. ines he feels i'll. His wife and relatives
crowd about him and try to cheer him
up, but his face assumes a melancholy
look, and as the time passes on he re
fuses his food. Perhaps he may con
fess that he did steal Rika's fish anC
tremblingly offer to make full restitu
tiOn if Rika will catch a fly and make
it go through the circle from the re
verse side through which the first one
entered voluntarily. Usually this IL
done, and what might have become g
lasting family feud had TetOro died OF
funk" through being bewitched, ends
up by the payment of so much property
to Rika, and a feast for which botl
parties provide the viands.-Pall Nal
Gazette.