The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1903-09-23
TIE SOUL CATCH[ERS,
A SINGULAR CUSTOM OF THE souTt
SEA ISLANDERS.

The Way arc .atives In the Days BE-
fore Civilization Had Fully M.s I1ed
f---- ~ ~. own Used to Get Ll.en
VIII, Their Enemies.
A little While ago While turning over
So g=5 ..,fs of many years spent
i'll the Pacific islands L came across a
small eiicie u fine cane about two
inches IN diameter. From the side to-
ward the center Il delicate network of
the fbers OF 49me plant was construct
ed. leaving 4 small hole in the center
large enough for, say, bee to crawl
through. The article weighed less
than quarter OF an ounce; yet, small
and harmless as it appeared, ii Is not
so very many years ago that it and
others like it 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, a destroyer of human life.
! Manahili is one of 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
1 Malayo-Polynesia people. They elect a
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
atol unusually fertile and the people
a fine, stalwart, handsome copper col
ored race. The main industries are the
making of "copra' dried cocoanut and
diving for pearl shell
Soul catching in the heather days,
prior TO 1863, could be and was prac-
tlced 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 ,lodus 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
demands compensation. Tetoro denies
| the theft. The relatives of both men
| take sides, and the quarrel assumes all
| the elements Of a feud with blooGshed
1t may be that Tetoro is a man of
| means or chiefly rank and influence
and treats his accuser with scorn
Very WE'LL the injured Rka cries
"If cannot get justice from you l
shall snare your soul, and you will die
of 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 q pig to end the mat
ter. Rilla's relatives at once camor
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 we'll fire.
quented road or path, she suspends the
snare from the branches of trees or
sticks placed in the ground in such
position that she can closely watch the
orifice 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
Rjka's people watch the snare, but his
own as we'll. 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 eXtol-
tomato demands may be made. Then
at last fly is seen to crawl through,
and shout goes through the village
'Ua hopo te lago! Ia hopo tie lago!''
| GA fly has passed through.'0 Tetoro
hears the cries and Immediately imag-
ines he feels ill., His wife and relatives
crowd about him and try to cheer him
| up, but his face assumes melancholy
look, and as the time passes on he re-
fuses HIS loCu. IefnapS ne may CON
| fess that he did steal Rilla's fish and
| tremblingly offer TO make full restitu-
ton if Rika will catch a fly and make
1t so through the circle from the re-
verse side through which the first one
entered voluntarily Usually this is
done and what might have become n
| lasting family feud had Tetoro died of
funk" through being bewtched. ends
up by the payment of so much property
to Rika, and a feast for which 10th
parties provide the yiands.-Pall Mali