Papuan Sorcery

Sir Hubert Murray at a Demonstration

A demonstration of the alleged sor cery powers of Papuan natives in bringing the dead back to life, was given near the police bar racks at Konedobu, Port Moresby, recently, in the presence of the Lieut.- Governor (Sir Hubert Murray), mem bers of the Executive Council, some senior Government officers and a couple of private citizens.

From the European viewpoint the result of the experiment was disgust ing and quite discredited any sorcery powers the natives concerned could boast about; but so great is the be lief in these so-called sorcerers among their own race, that they convinced natives, who also witnessed the “stunt,” that it had been successful.

The victim of this demonstration was an unfortunate dog. The ani mal’s mouth was first bound with some material —doubtless in order to muffle its howls —and then it was slowly punched to death. This opera tion, so it is said, took about 20 min utes.

The creature remained dead, and that was the end of the experiment so far as the white men were concerned.

The sorcerers’ story, which it is said was accepted by all the natives, was that they quite successfully brought the dead animal back to life, but some person who does not like sorcerers then killed the dog again, and the sorcerers failed to do the deed a sec ond time, as they had run out of the necessary “mura-mura” or medicine.

The sorcerers later left for their villages in the Gaile district of the Territory, saying that they would re turn when the next warship visited Port Moresby in order to give an other demonstration.

The fact that the Lieut.-Governor and some senior officials were present at the demonstration was reported in the local newspaper and adversely commented on. This was copied into one of Australia’s sensation-hunting newspapers, under flaring headlines and, inferentially, became an attack on Sir Hubert Murray.

We know nothing of the reasons which led Sir Hubert Murray to at tend this demonstration. But we do know that he is a wise and experi enced administrator, with a profound knowledge of the native mind, and that he would be about the last man to do anything officially to encourage native sorcery and superstition.