246 
APPENDIX. 
destroying the lives of others by their incantations and prayers. There 
is not a doubt that many yearly become victims to their credence in 
this device of darkness, which holds thousands in the bondage of cruel 
fears. A person gains the displeasure of one of these praying men— 
he is told that the kanaka an^na is exercising his power over him, and 
that he will die. He cannot shake off the dread of that which he be¬ 
lieves to be possible; his imagination becomes filled with pictures of 
death—his spirits become affected—his appetite fails—these, the na¬ 
tural consequences of his fears, are believed to be the effect of the 
sorcery of his enemy. Under this conviction, he takes no nourish¬ 
ment, pines, languishes, and dies; the victim of his own ignorance 
and superstition. This is no fiction, but a reality that is constantly 
occurring. 
The less enlightened of the people think no one dies a natural 
death ; every instance of mortality is assigned to the effect of poison 
administered by some foe, or to the more insidious, but, in their 
opinion, equally fatal influence of the pule anana. 
Before a sorcerer can gain power over the life of a chief, he must 
possess himself of something that has belonged to the person of the 
chief, as spittle, or any excrement , an article of clothing, &c. &c. 
In this superstition we find the origin of the care taken of the spittle, 
&c. of a chief, which is always in charge of a confidential attendant. 
When a chief became unwell, or had any fear that one of the praying- 
men had obtained an article which had been worn by him, or had 
touched his person, he had immediate recourse to sacrifices to coun¬ 
teract the prayer against his life. The last instance of the kind 
occurred in October, 1824. According to the custom of disposing 
of the old clothes of the chiefs, the princess had several boxes of 
garments she had thrown by carried out from Lahaina and secretly 
buried in the sea. It was reported that one dress had been stolen 
with a design of praying her to death, from the power it would give 
the sorcerer over her life. The consequence was, that her ignorant 
