"Kanak Magic Bag, New Caledonia "
This very rare tiny magic bag is made from woven plant fibres. It consists of two small bags sewn together. A seed swaddled in red cloth (Toki) hangs from the handles. The bag contains ancient seeds (Hanrou) and a human tooth. Ethnologist Éliane Métais explains their use: ‘Among the poisons used by the indigenous people, the most terrible are known as Toki and Hanrou (in the indigenous language of La Foa). The Hanrou is a stone to which the owner brings (...) the remains of something that belonged to the person he wants to kill. The person immediately falls ill and generally becomes asthmatic; sometimes they become generally weak; their ribs and chest hurt; they spit blood and become, so to speak, tubercular. After a while, she dies in the most terrible pain."
"The Toki is also a so-called mother stone (...) with a piece of red cloth."
Éliane Métais, La Sorcellerie Canaque actuelle. Les tueurs d'âmes dans une tribu de la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Étude de l'angoisse de mort et du mal-ajustement social dans une tribu, Publication de la Société des Océanistes n° 20 de 1967, p.19.
New Caledonia, late 19th century. good condition.
A comparable example is recorded in the collections of the Musée de la Nouvelle-Calédonie under inventory number MNC 86.5.170.
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