She Was the Village Witch

By Wm. A. Gamble

IN a curious way, in the war years, I found evidence of a witch craft incident in the Solomons over 40 years ago.

On the morning of December 20, 1943, an officer and 21 men from the 30th (NZ) Battalion landed on Gizo, a small island 16 miles from Vella Lavella. I was with that out fit. Gizo was under Japanese occu pation when we reached that part of the Pacific and our reconnais sance group was detailed to verify a report of the enemy’s evacuation.

Everywhere was evidence of enemy activity. Foxholes and slit trenches, partly overgrown, pitted the beach, and the results of merci less strafing from Allied aircraft were obvious. Buildings, in which concrete air-raid shelters had been constructed, were riddled ruins.

Soldiers on active service in variably collect souvenirs, and we were no exception. Some of us entered an old hut, possibly at one time owned by a chief. The inter ior was a scene of chaos and dis order. Bits of furniture and old papers littered the floor.

One Kiwi, feeling curious, reached for one of the documents. It was a 12-page copy of a report written to the Resident Commissioner by his assistant, Hazelton. Dated Oc tober 17, 1903, it told an unusual story concerning the behaviour of the natives in that locality. The date was October 17, 1903, but the typescript was still clear and legible.

“I have received unfavourable reports concerning the brutal treat ment of a woman at Ingavas Vil lage, Rubiana Lagoon,” wrote Hazelton. “It was asserted she was a witch and causing illness. Al though I believed the statement to be merely founded on rumour, I decided to investigate.”

Hazelton describes how he inter rogated several suspects. This re sulted in a woman named Myago being called for examination on board the schooner Simbo, in Gizo Harbour, and led Hazelton to Tata- Puraka, Rubiana Lagoon, where he arrested four natives, Wongi, Pin drew, Ingava and Hinducka, who had exercised considerable power over the village.

It was certain, he said, that they were directly responsible for the cruelty. Myago declared that these men had authorised her punish ment but did not personally carry it out.

“Following further investiga tions,” says Hazelton, “I regard a second group—Nally, Savekero, Ear and Meanbully—guilty to the extent that they should have been aware that, had they refused to carry out the instructions of Wongi, Pindrew

and company, their refusal would have been upheld by the Resident Commissioner.”

Myago described how she had been hung from sunrise to 4 p.m. by one arm and one leg. She showed Hazelton the scars made by the rope cutting into her flesh, and the bruises from the undue strain on her muscles. Her death had been decided on she said, and had it not been for the intervention of a man named Wheatley she would have been left to die. Her wounds were healing, thanks to medicine given her by the white men.

As the second group of natives still insisted they had been acting under instructions from the ring leaders, the blame was placed on the men first interviewed. They claimed to have been made to be lieve that Myago was “barr” (Rubiana for witch). Unless she was killed, everybody in the lagoon would become ill; in fact, they de clared, some were already ill as the result of her presence.

An option of a £6 fine, or 12 months’ imprisonment, was given.

Some of the money was promptly paid and the balance given to Hazelton within three months. The whole village was fined £lOO, to impress upon the natives that a similar offence would receive no

leniency.

The villagers were not in the position to provide the fine in currency so native trade was accepted. The unique inventory of that era shows that payments were made in porpoise teeth, turtle shell, whalebone, walrus tusks and canoe paddles. A whaleboat and sails completed the payment, and were held for a period of three months during which they could be redeemed on payment of £35 in English currency.

Barbarous native customs no longer exist in the Solomons. Credit for the eradication of superstitious beliefs and inhuman ways of living must go to the missionaries of all denominations. Their lot is not an enviable one. They have ventured to lonely outposts where tropical diseases, unhealthy climates and arduous conditions are everyday routine. These men and women ask no reward except the satisfaction of seeing improvement in the character of the natives whom they assist and educate.

During World War 11. the Pacific natives were invaluable as guides and scouts and the “fuzzy-wuzzy angels” became famous. New Zea landers who fought in the Islands gathered a first-hand knowledge of the splendid work of the mission aries.