Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-27


round himself with a stick. wait until
his sha dow went inside the ring and
then come to me again. | requested
him to bring his brother with him.
In the mea ntime | began prepare
tions for his next visit. | got out
very powerful emetic. wrapped up
four ordinary doses in bit of paper
put this inside one of the big blue
bells that grow on the isla nd and then
wrapped the whole thing mp in a
sheet of ba ma ma leaf. Then ! put on
q kimono and tucked the powerful
charm | had into one of the sleeves.
4 BOUT midday | saw the two fell
Z lows helping each other up the
hill TO my bungalow. | announced
20 them that the matter was far more
serious than | had thought had
consulted my familiar spirit. and /
had found out that the name of the
witch who had PLACED the charm on
the victim standing before me was
-and-so of the village Of SOFA nd so.
| had. of course. previously ordered
one of my own boys To find out who
the fellow was and what was the
name of the witch woman in his VII
lsge
You probably do not know" !
went on. that she Is in league with
the sun and the moon. She draws
her power from the sun. But the
moon is the wife OF the sun, from
whom he has no secrets.
i went on to explain that the best
time In which to work was after the
sun had gone down and before the
moon had yet risen. At this time.
therefore. the unfortunate man now
suffering from the Vaccinations ~
the witch was to go with his brother
into the bush. on the sunset side of
the village. and when he came 10 the
first ciea ring. he was to ligh- rjre.
At this moment | broke off my in
structions TO take counsel with m
ia miliar spirit and gaZed fxedly into
space repeating in all Solemnity some
verses from The Hunting of the
Shark" | had plan to swing my
kimono sleeve up and suddenly pre-
tend to catch my ba mana leaf parcel
out of space, but an unexpected hitch
occurred in the proceeding when M
sleig ut of hand trick failed to work.
Finally | had to make both boys"
turn around several times. as II they
were taking part in the ceremony, so
that | might fish the package ont
when they could not see me. Ther
were properly astonished at sight of
the mira culous object in my hands.
.'Ha," ! exclaimed, the Charm has
arrived Now take this precious ar
ticle and remember all that | told you
before. When YOU have lighted the
fire, see that your brother sits on one
side and YOU on the other. Then very
carefully unWrap the leaf that you
see here. remembering all the time
that YOU are handling magic. and that
any mistake on your part will destroy
the efficacy of the charm.
Inside you will find crumpled
flower. Drop the leaf into the fire and
wait until the smoke has cleared.
Then open the flower. think you
will find tiny white object inside.
Burn the flower and wait until you
see the swirl of sparks disa ppear and
something like a pit come in, the cen
ter of the fire. Then take your broth
er's hand and swallow the white
charm quickly, and very soon the
devil will rush out of you.
When you feel well enough" l
concluded. get large stick, one
that reaches from the ground to your
armpit. Go back to your village and
beat that witch solidly and scientific
ally. until you are tired. Then inform
her that the big white doctor on the
coast can destroy any charm she ever
puts on anybody again"
~ my directions to the letter. The
devil was driven forth, the witch was
soundly beaten and lost so much
pretige in the village that she event
ually had to leave. When she died of
influenza soon after. this event was
taken as a signal proof that she had
completely lost her power.
One of the most remarkable stories
illustrat ting the subsection of the New
Guinea native to his belief in super
natural forces as exercised through
witchcraft came to my attention
when ! was attached in medical
capa city to military forces stationed
away up the coast in Dutch New
Guinea Somewhere in the locality
there was certain subchief called
Futia.
All OF a sudden he ran amok in his
village and killed four persons, one a
wife of his own and the three other
apparently not connected in any way
either with her or himself Having
finished this piece of work, he took to
the jungle and disappeared. He was
unarmed and was caught quickly
enough and brought back to the head
station, where he was put into little
shack of galvanized iron hardly big
ger than a sentryboX and provided
with a strong. double bolted door,
while he awaited trial.
Futia had the reputation among the
villagers of being a great wizard, and
sentry was placed on guard outside
the shack with instruction to bayonet
him II he attempted to get away.
The following morning, to the
amaZement of the garrison, the SEN
try appeared. without his bayonet and
rifle. and reported that during the
night Futia had escaped. When he
was questioned as to how this posi-
bly, could have occurred. he told a
story Of bolts and bars suddenly
dropping off and Futia, in writhing
flames and various other hobkoblin
embellishments. bursting out stun
ming him, selling his rifle and bayo-
net, and disappearing into the jungle