The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-10
KAHUNA IN HAWAII
Witchcraft Still Finds Employment
Among superstitious Natives
Of the Islands.
The Modern Kahuna Has Degen.
Grated Into a Good Deal Of a
Blackmailing Scheme.
New York Sun.

"
kahunaiSm in Hawaii with the result
that one of the sorcerers, or kahunas, is
in prison at Puma, Hawaii, awaiting trial
on a charge Of manslaughter. lie is
charged with having caused the death OF
an old native by beating him over the
head with a Bible in order to drive the
devils from his body.
This case is one of the most unique In
the annals of kuhanaism In the Islands.
It appears from the story told at the trial
in the district court that native in the
Puma district became i'll, and the govern
| ment physician, DR.. Holland, was called
in. He was treating the man. with some
| hope Of curing him, when the native
called in a kahuna, believing that the ply
| sician was not curing him rapidly enough.
The kahuna Immediately threw away the
| remedies prescribed by the physician. and
| diagnosed the case for himself. He found
| that the man was possessed of red devils,
and after several lamentations, in which
| the aid Of spirits was invoked, decided
| that the only way to drive out the devils
was by liberal application Of the Bible to
the head Of the patient. The sick man
| was compelled to sit upright in his bed,
| and was then beaten vigorously by the
| kahuna with heavy volume of the scrip
| lures. When the kahuna's arm tired the
| mans wife was forced to continue the
| treatment until the man sank unconscious
in bed. A few hours afterward the man
was beaten even more vigorously with the
| Bible, and he died.
The kahuna was arrested, first on the
charge of practising witchcraft but after
ward the charge was changed to man
| slaughter. The man made no defense.
| He said that he had done his best for
his patient, but the devils had conquered.
He testified that the mans eyes were
red, that he was restless, and that his
hair stood on end, and that these were
signs that he had red devils. The only
cure was by the application of the Bible
to the head, as the Bible told.
The kahuna was asked to point to the
chapter In the scriptures which provided
for this method of getting rid Of the devil,
but he became confused, and refused to
do so. Judge Kamau then held the
kahuna to the grand jury on the charge
of manslaughter. The wife of the man
admitted that she had beaten her hus-
band over the head with the Bible, but
that she could not disobey the instruc-
lions of the kahuna in whom she trusted
implicitly.
This case has caused an investigation
to be made of the practice of kahunaism
in the islands. Kahunaism is prohibited
by law. 1t is relic of ancient Hawaii,
, and all the efforts of the missionaries,
from the day of their arrival, have been
insufficient to stamp it out. It is witch
craft, pure and simple, but even some of
the educated people among the Hawaiians
believe in it, There Is something in it
akin to the faith cure.
The younger element Is growing up
2 without fear of it, but among the older
| natives it is estimated that there is one
= kahuna to every fifty people. For kahu-
na1sm is lucrative business. An at
tempt was made at the last session of the
! legislature to secure the repeal Of the law
l prohibiting the practice of witchcraft, but
it failed to get thru the senate, tho al
the natives voted for 1t. At the session
just closed another effort to legalize the
practice Of the black art, tho in a round
about way, was made A bill was intro
duced to permit the practice of medicine
b without a license, which was meant fo
s the kahuna and no one else. ....-
. A few months ago a woman witch doc
: tor in Lahaina on Maui was sent to prison
Il for causing the death of father and twt
n sons who, she said, had killed the pet ca
of her favorite niece. All three of tn,
< men became i'll and the kahuna was callet
d IN to cure them. They died as a result O
her treatment. She admitted that sh
practised kahunaism. She said that sh
e did her best to save the lives of her pa
X tients, but their great sin in killing the ca
J. had made cure impossible
n The kahuna has Of late become some
ID what modern1zed, or perhaps it is onl,
II that fak1rs have replaced the real thing
4: Many of them are blackmailers pure an,
- oiillpio. luey claim power to summon
spirits at will, and unless they receiv
- everything they want in the form O
.e money or food, the credulous native /
c. likely to suffer from their wiles TIL
"a kahunas claim descent from the devil. an
Is the principal theory Of their practice
ID that all men are possessed of spirits whic
leave their bodies at night and peste
other people. also that spirits of decea se
s. relatives always return to earth to in
o. fllct their presence upon people they hav
r, known In life The kahuna for sma
s. consideration kills these wanderin
spirits and permits the native to 20 /
81 peace. Pigs and white chickens must
q. sacrificed to obtain this. The man who
ps a1f1cted with the spirits must provide tn
MS chickens and pigs-and the kahuna eat
them. ...-..-...-
or The kahuna also claims the power {
in praying person to death, and it
ng not 1nfrequent that cases are reportef
TOO, where the kahuna has been success
iui Tor the prayers so work upon tn
VI, Tears or the superstitious native that 1t
st no wonder he dies. In the stirring time
or the revolution kuhunas were employe
- to pray President Dole to DEATH. and pie
were sacrificed to bring this about. BIZ
the head of the new republic was to
practical man, and ate pigs hin,seI
The game was found to get rather ex
pens1ve, and other means were tried
encompass the death of Dole
The present law seems sufficient To chr
the kahuna, but it is doubtful whether
can ever be strengthened until the whit
man outnumbers the native in the terri
tOrv and