CHAP. IV.] TO WITCHCRAFT. 59 



a light, when a curse is pronounced over it; or 

 during the night they go to the side of the river, 

 and call on the spirit, which appears on the other 

 bank. There is a district in the northern island, 

 situated between Taupo and Hawke's Bay, called 

 Urewera, consisting of steep and barren hills: the 

 scattered inhabitants of this region have the re- 

 nown of being the greatest witches in the country. 

 They are very much feared, and have little connec- 

 tion with the neighbouring tribes, who avoid them 

 if possible. If they come to the coast, the natives 

 there scarcely venture to refuse them anything, for 

 fear of incurring their displeasure. They are said 

 to use the saliva of the people whom they intend 

 to bewitch; and visitors carefully conceal their 

 spittle, to give them no opportunity of working 

 their evil. Like our witches and sorcerers of old, 

 they appear to be a very harmless people, and but 

 little mixed up with the quarrels of their neigh- 

 bours. It is a curious fact that many of the old 

 settlers in the country have become complete con- 

 verts to the belief in these supernatural powers. 

 Witchcraft has been the cause of many murders ; a 

 few days before I arrived at Aotea, on the western 

 coast, three had been committed in consequence of 

 people declaring on their death-bed that they had 

 been bewitched. The police magistrate, Captain 

 Symonds, remonstrated with them on the absurdity 

 of such proceedings, and obtained the promise of the 



