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NINETEEN YEARS
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POLYNESIA:
MISSIONARY LIFE, TEAYELS, AND KESEAKCHES
IN
THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.
BY
THE REV. GEORGE TURNER, LL.D.,
or THE hOXDON SIISSIONAKY SOCIETY.
■^-*^
SECOND THOUSAND.
LONDON:
JOHN SNOW, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCC r.xi.
(.The Rijjlit of Tianslalii.ii i. Krseiwil ]
PREFACE.
Having, in tlie good providence of Grod, returned
on a visit to my native land, after an absence of
twenty years, as an ambassador of the British
Churches to the heathen, it is natural and right to
inquire vfhere I have been, what I have seen and
heard, and what I have done. A reply to such
questions is the simple design of the following
pages.
Missionary life will here be seen in a variety of
aspects, and a number of things brought to light
respecting the manners, customs, and mythology of
the native tribes of Polynesia, which, it is hoped,
will prove interesting to the friends of missions,
and at the same time contribute to the data, after
which many, at the present day, are in search, in
studying the comparative history of the human
race.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Departure from England and Settlement at Tanna . 1
CHAPTER II.
Labours among the People . . . . . .11
CHAPTER III.
Hostilities and Difficulties 17
CHAPTER IV.
Continued Opposition 26
CHAPTER V.
Council to put us to Death 32
CHAPTER VI.
War Declared 39
CHAPTER VII.
Our Flight 48
CHAPTER VIII.
Our Rescue 58
CHAPTER IX.
Tanna and the Tannese 69
\nil CONTENTS.
CHAPTER X.
PAGE
Samoa — Position — Early Visitors — Successful Introduc-
tion OF Christianity 95
CHAPTER XL
Samoa — Early Hindrances to Christianity . . . 101
CHAPTER XII.
Labours at Safata Ill
CHAPTER XIII.
Mission Seminary 124
CHAPTER XIV.
Conversions 142
CHAPTER XV.
Mission Seminary District 155
CHAPTER XVI.
The Press and Translations 167
CHAPTER XVII.
Ethnological Papers— Infancy and Childhood . .173
CHAPTER XVIII.
Adult and Advanced Tears 181
CHAPTER XIX.
Food— Cooking— Liquors 192
CHAPTER XX.
Clothing 202
CHAPTER XXI.
Amusements 210
CONTENTS. IX
CHAPTER XXII.
PAGE
Mortality — Longevitt — Diseases, etc 219
CHAPTER XXIII.
Death and Bueial 227
CHAPTER XXIV.
A Future State — Religion, etc 235
CHAPTER XXV.
Mythological Traditions 244
CHAPTER XXVI.
Houses 256
CHAPTER XXVII.
Canoes 266
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Articles of Manufacture 271
CHAPTER XXIX.
Government and Laws 279
CHAPTER XXX.
Wars 298
CHAPTER XXXI.
Illustrations of Scripture 310
CHAPTER XXXII.
Missionary Voyage in 1845 356
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
ERRATUM.
At page 169, note, for ySaTm'^, read ySaTrrt^w.
PAGE
Missionary Voyage in 1848 431
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Missionary Voyage in 1859 473
CHAPTER XXXV.
Conclusion 533
APPENDIX.
Meteorolgical Register for Seven Tears . . .537
Comparative View of the Polynesian Dialects . . 539
IKDEX 541
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
')
PAGE.
1.
A Samoa:^ Orator ....
Frontisjjiece.
2.
The Missionary Barque " John Williams " . Vignette.
3.
l!^ATIVES of TaNNA ....
76
4.
An Assyrian Head ....
78
5.
A Tannese Girdle ....
80
6.
A Spear Thro^ver
81
7.
Spear and Arrow Heads .
81
8.
A Tanna E^was
81
9.
Fight at Tutuila
98
10.
Class-room at J^Ialua, and Cottages o
F thi
: Students
129
11.
Tutors' Residences at M at.ua .
130
12.
BURYING-GROUND AT ]MaLUA
132
13.
Tatooers' Instruments
182
14.
Leaf Gtirdles ....
202
15.
Combs
206
16.
A Woman's Tortoise-shell Bonnet o
f 18^
58 .
207
17.
Native Pillows
216
18.
A Samoan House
259
19.
Inside of a Samoan House
259
20.
Native Adzes ....
259
21
A Samoan Travelling Canoe
266
22
A Samoan Fishing Canoe .
266
Xll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE,
23. A SA.MOAN Boat 266
24. Netting Needles ....... 272
25. Fishing Nets 272
26. A Peabl-shell Fish-hook 273
27. A Native Drill 274
28. A Samoan Fan 275
29. Samoan Baskets 275
30. A Spear Barb 276
31. Samoan Clubs 276
32. A Samoan Fono, or Parliajient .... 287
33. Samoan Flt-Flappers 288
34. Clubs, Stone Adze, Bow and Arrows . . . 312
35. Pandean Pipe 337
36. Heathen Phylacteries 338
37. Stone Idols 346
38. Map of the New Hebrides 361
39. Mission Cottage, and Grave of Mrs. Paton . . 480
40. Scene of the Massacre of Williams and Harris,
Eroiunga 486
NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER I.
DEPAETUEB FEOIM ENGLAND AND SETTLEMENT AT TANNA.
On Monday, tlie 10th of August, 1840, I received
my commission from the Directors of the London
Missionary Society, and on the following day sailed
from Gravesend. The instructions of the Rev. H.
Nisbet and myself were, to proceed to Sydney,
there to join the missionary brig " Camden," and
to make all practicable haste to commence a mission
on the island of Tanna, in the New Hebrides. The
news had just reached England of the massacre of
the Rev. John WiUiams and his young Mend Mr.
Harris, on Eromanga. It was quite a shock to
the country, nay, to the world, for John WiUiams
was known everywhere. Some were for revenge.
" Blow the island to pieces !" said they. But others, ,
whose zeal was under better guidance, bowed the
knee, and said, " Father, forgive them ;" and, as they
prayed for the savages of that distant land, they felt
persuaded that the blood of our massacred mission-
aries would yet prove the seed of a mission and
2 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
a cliurcli in the New Hebrides, over wliich earth and
heaven would rejoice. Our respected Directors were
foremost amongst tlie zealous to accomplish this glo-
rious object, and my brother Nisbet and myself were
hurried off to take up the work, as near as Ave could
to the spot where John Williams laid it down.
The day before Mr. "VYilliams was killed, he
landed among the savages of Tanna. Tanna is
about twenty miles from Eromanga. Standing on
a hill near the entrance to Port Resolution, on the
north-east side of Tanna, you look over and see
Eromanga on your left; Mua and Futuna right
opposite to you, the one fifteen and the other thirty
miles distant; and away to the right, about forty
miles, is the beautiful pear-shaped island of Aneiteum.
Considering the savage state of the people, Mr. Wil-
liams had, ujDon the whole, a good reception when
he went on shore at Tanna. At one time he was
alarmed when upwards of a himdred men, with
clubs, spears, shngs, bows and arrows, surrounded
the boat, and held fast, as if determined not to let
them away, but, by means of presents, kind forbear-
ance, and God's blessing, all ended well, and three
Samoans were left to prepare the way for Em^opean
missionaries. At the close of the day, Mr. Wilhams
was dehghted with the success he had experienced
in being able to effect a landing at all among such
a people ; but, alas ! the very next day he fell under
the clubs of the natives on the beach at Eromanga.
The Eromangans had been cruelly treated by
some white men in search of sandal- wood not long
DEPAETUEE FROM ENGLA2s"D. 6
before. Mr. Williams did not know this sufficiently,
and ventured on shore, in company with his friend
James Harris. They hoped to have intercourse with
some of the chiefs, and to arrange for the location of
teachers, as had been done the day before at Tanna.
Presently there is a shout, and up start a host of
savages from behind the bushes, and rush towards
the strangers, who were walking unsuspiciously along
at distances fr'om each other. Mr. Harris falls at
once, and is clubbed and speared to death. Mr. Wil-
hams runs, reaches the beach, and rushes into the
sea. His murderers are at his heels, striking out
with their clubs. He tm*ns round and faces them in
the deep water. The first club he turns down, but
others rush on. He is surrounded, struck, and dives
to escape the blows ; but all was in vain. God's
time for his death had come. The waves dashed red
mth blood on the beach, and the missionary career
of John Williams was at an end.
The natives tried to get at the boat also, and
secure some other \dctims for their savage feast, but
the crew pulled off, and escaped beyond the reach of
their arrows and slings.
This was in November, 1839, and, by the follow-
ing August, we were on board ship and off to the
New Hebrides — a proof to these benighted savages
of the forgiving spirit of Christianity, and of the
unflinching determination of the friends of the
Saviour to carry out his dying command, however
much opposed by Satan and his heathen seiwants.
Owing to the great distance, and the difficulty of
4 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
getting vessels to take us from place to place, we did
not reach our destination till June, 1842. "\Ye picked
up, however, a good deal of missionary experience at
Samoa by the way, learned the Samoan dialect, got
the framework of a weather-boarded cottage made,
and secured the services of a missionary brother, who
had been six years in the field, to help us, for a few
months, at the outset of our work.
Some shrewd and experienced missionaries rather
opposed our undertaking, and they were perfectly
right. They thought it was premature ; that we
ought to wait a year or two, and see whether Tanna
was the most favourable spot to commence operations
among such a savage people ; and they thought,
moreover, that tico missionaries were not sufficient
to make a commencement at such a group of islands.
Others, again, cheered us on, and it was our own
wish to carry out our instructions from the Board in
London, to go and see and judge for om\selves. We
thought that if we found our teachers alive, that we
might live there too. This was all we thought we
had a right, as missionaries, to require, viz., a fair
prospect that our lives were safe, and that the people
did not wish us to go on shore for the mere purpose
of getting our bodies for a feast on the following day.
We reached Tanna. Found our Samoan pioneers
all safe. Bad accounts, however, of the place as
unhealthy, the people great thieves, and constantly
at war with neighbouring tribes. We landed freely
among them. We observed that all went about armed
with clubs, bows and arrows, spears, and slings, but
L.\XDIXG AT T-\^*XA. O
tliey seemed all so friendly, tliat -^e felt quite as safe,
and as much at home as we should do in some parts
of the world, where, amid high pretensions to free-
dom, civihzation, and so forth, there is still a great
attachment to the bowie-knife and the revolver.
" AATiy do you carry about yom- club in that way?"
I one day asked a native. "Xothing," said he,
"just to be ready lest anything should spring up."
Then there was something so ludicrous in their
painted faces : one would have the one-half of his
face smeared with red clay, and the other the plain
dark copper skin ; another would have the brow
and cheeks red ; another would have the brow red
and the cheeks black ; another all the face red, and
a round, black, ghttering spot on the forehead ; and
another would have his face black all over. The
black all over, by the way, was the sign of momnaing.
They seemed more Hke a nation of Meny-Andi^ews
than savages, and, as they appeai'ed so friendly, we
could not help feeling at oiu* ease among them, not-
withstanding all their display of clubs, spears, bows
and arrows. As to clothing, of the men I may say
they had none. " ^WTiy do you put that paint on your
fiices ?" we would ask, and presently one would
smartly reply, " ^VTiy do you put these clothes on ?
This is om' wav of clothins; that is vours."
Om' hearts yearned with compassion over the
poor, naked, painted savages ; we thanked God that
the door for our lanchng among them seemed so wide
open, and made all haste, with our dear wives, to take
up oiu' abode on shore. We got six or seven of the
6 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
cliiefs togetlier, and had a formal meeting with them.
They assm-ed iis of their anxiety that we should re-
side among them, and teach them Christianity. They
pledged themselves to protect us, as far as they could,
in the event of war with the neighbouring tribes,
and not to call us to take any part with them in their
fighting. They seemed willing to say Yes or No to
everything, just as they thought it would please us.
And so we landed and commenced our missionary
labours at Tanna.
We had not been twenty-four hours on shore,
until we found that we were among a set of notori-
ous thieves, perfect Spartans in the trade, and, like
the ancient code of Lycurgus, the crime seemed to
be, not the stealing, but the being found out. The
teacher's house, in which we took up oiu" temporary
abode, was but badly shut in, with rough upright
sticks fi^om the bush, having spaces here and there
which easily let in a finger or two. Before we got
all these places filled \ip, a towel was missed here, a
comb there, and a pair of scissors in another place.
Nay, the very bed-quilt was caught one afternoon
moving off towards a hole, by means of a long stick
with a hook at the end of it.
When we spoke to the chiefs about it, begging
them to make laws ; they would talk loudly, and
threaten death to the thief if they could only get hold
of him ; but it was all a joke, the chiefs were as bad
as any of them. I recollect a fellow storming against a
thief, and telhng us to kill him whenever we got hold
of him, and, at the very same moment, he slyly picked
THE PEOPLE GREAT THIEVES. /;
Up a big nail mth liis toes, and slipped it into liis
hand behind liis back. "We tried to keep things out
of the way, overlooked the most of their petty pilfer-
ing, and cheered ourselves with the thought that the
day might not be far distant when the Gospel of
Christ would take root in that truly "virgin soil,"
and in due time bring forth its lovely fi^uits of honesty
and righteousness of every kind.
Mr. Nisbet and I, through the kind help of Mr.
Hardie, in Samoa, took with us the frame and material
for a sixty feet weather-boarded cottage; and for
several weeks om- time was principally occupied in
erecting it. We could get no help from the natives.
Day after day they crowded about us to see what was
sroins" on. All was new and wonderfrd to them, and
every one seemed to be looking out for something to
steal. We could hardly lay a tool out of our hands,
and had to carry our hammer, chisel, gimlet, etc., in
a belt round the waist. But, with all om' care, we
were often outwitted.
Many a strange thing happened, while we were
workinof at that house. One momino- we obseiwed
that the natives who came about were all extra armed,
and, by and by, we foimd that a quarrel was com-
mencing, and that we were apparently in the very
midst of a regular native battle. There was first the
strife of some fifty tongues. Then clubs were up, and
craddno^ ao^ainst each other. Some were tio'litenino-
up their bow-strings, others were fastening on their
spear-thi^owers, and we were all anxiety, of course,
to prevent bloodshed. We ran in among them, sue-
8 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
ceeded in separating some wlio had come to blows ;
but no sooner had we separated one party, than
another were at it. They begged us to go into the
house, and let them have out their fight, but we kept
among them, went from one to another, and, by and
by, got the mob dispersed and bloodshed prevented.
It originated in some strangers from a distance, who
had been stealing from people in the neighbour-
hood. Observe, their stealing was not confined to
us. At first we wondered how it was that the women,
in passing to draw water, or in going to their planta-
tions, had such bm^dens on their backs. But soon
we found out they were obliged to carry about with
them all their household valuables, even to the brood
of chickens, lest they should be stolen.
Another thing happened soon after we landed at
Tanna, which I shall never forget. Two boats one
day made their appearance in the bay. They seemed
shy and suspicious. Presently they spied Mr. Nisbet
and myself working on the roof of our house, and
pulled in towards us. Seeing the beach lined with
armed natives, they were afraid to venture on shore.
We stepped down to the beach and spoke to them.
" Are we safe here ?" they shouted out. We replied :
" Wliy, yes ; you see that we are all safe. If you
behave yourselves, you are safe too. But mind, the
natives are great thieves, and you must keep every-
thing out of their way, and have no quarrelling with
them." They immediately went off and brought in
the vessel to the anchorage. It was the American
whaling ship "M — z — a," Captain B , of Sag
SHAMEFUL CONDUCT OF CAPTAIN B . 9
Harbour. Next morning, wliile we were at break-
fast, two boats pulled in towards our house. The
mate stepped up, and said he wanted to know where
vessels usually got wood and water. I went down
with him to the beach, and pointed to the place about
half a mile along the beach, and again begged him
to be careful, and not to be leaving anything exposed,
as stealing and quarrelling might be the consequence.
About an hour afterwards, we heard a great hooting
and yelling at the head of the bay where the boats
were, and on running down to the beach, saw in the
distance the white men rushing through the surf to
their boats, and the natives at their heels striking
out after them with their clubs. In a few seconds
the boats were clear of the beach, and off to the
ship ; and, as they seemed to be pulling all oars, we
concluded they had all escaped. From natives also,
who came running from the spot, we learned that
none of the white men were killed. We expected
that Captain B — — would have come on shore, and,
with our help as interpreters, endeavoured to ascer-
tain whether his men or the natives were most to
blame. We expected that he had humanity enough
to guard against anything which would endanger the
lives of the small party of defenceless missionaries,
who had braved, and were still braving, all the perils
arising from their position among such a savage
people. But instead of this. Captain B acted
just as one of the worst savages of the New Hebrides
might do. He immediately looses his sails, weighs
anchor, and iires in upon villages, about five himdred
10 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
yards from our house — villages far from tlie place
wliere tlie quarrel originated, and wlio were perfectly-
free from any concern in it. There were first a num-
ber of musket- shots, and then, hugging the land as
closely as he could in sailing out of the harbour, he
fired several times some large guns. This was an
hour of no small alarm, and the more so, as reports
reached us that a chief and some of the people of one
of the settlements were killed. If this had been the
case, what could have been expected but that the
people would arm, imitate Captain B — ■ — 's example,
and seek revenge in the massacre of ourselves ? Our
fears were soon removed, the report was false, the
chief and all the people were safe. No thanks to
Captain B , however. His musket-shots, and
the slug from his guns, in the shape of old bolts and
bars, which split trees, and tore up the earth, showed
what he intended. The people lay down flat on the
ground, hid behind stones, or fled to a distance.
Some of them came running, and crouched beliind
our house for safety. We thanked God for our de-
liverance, and could only think of the conduct of
Captain B and his crew with abhorrence. We
felt ashamed, as we listened to the native accounts
of the immoralities of the party from the boats as
soon as they got into the bush. Viewing the whole
case, that visit of Captain B to Tanna in August,
1842, was a disgrace to his country and colour, and
needs, I am sure, only to be known in the United
States, to meet with the universal condemnation
which it deserves.
LABOURS AMONG THE PEOPLE. 11
CHAPTER II.
LABOURS AMONG THE PEOPLE.
By tlie end of September we were snugly settled in
our new cottage, and able to devote our time more
exclusively to the work upon wbicli our hearts were
bent. We soon picked up the language, so as to
conduct religious services without an interpreter,
arranged the orthography of the dialect, and got
our little printing-press set up. We composed some
hymns, and commenced to sing the praises of God at
our Sabbath services. Schools, too, for the daily
instruction of the people, were set on foot ; few, how-
ever, would attend. We found that we had a difficult
people to deal with. We tried to get some of them
to come and live with us as servants, but could not
succeed. They would crowd about, and be ready to
do any little job, but, in an hour or so, they wished
payment in the shape of fish-hooks, or strips of print,
and then must be off to their home again. We got one
good-natured sort of lad to engage to come regularly
every day, and rigged him out with some passable
clothing. Next morning he makes his appearance,
but in his native costume. We fitted him out again,
and charged him not to give away his clothing,
but the next morning he came grinning and smiling,
just as before, and expecting a fresh set out. But
12 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tlds could not be continued, and so we liad to
manage, as best we could, witli one or two Samoans
we had taken with us.
By giving a prize of some beads to the boy who
said his lesson best, we for some time got a number
of them daily to school. Mrs. Nisbet and Mrs.
Turner found it more difficult to get the girls. The
women are more degraded at Tanna than in some
other parts of Polynesia. A great deal of plantation
work, and other drudgery, devolves upon them,
arising, to a great extent, from the fact that the men
are almost constantly occupied with war. The ladies
succeeded, however, in collecting a number of girls
for instruction ; and here I had better, for a few hues
on that subject, let Mrs. Turner speak for herself:
" Finding that the girls had a dread of entering our
house, Mrs. Nisbet and I thought we should try to
commence school out of doors, hoping that as they
got better acquainted with us, they would lose their
fears. We intimated our intention of beginning a
sewing-school ; so, collecting our materials, took our
seat under the shade of some trees near the house.
The first day, only one scholar summoned courage
to come. We thought that better than none, so,
ha"snug fitted her little finger with a thimble, we
began to initiate her into the mystery of sewing
patchwork. Some women gathered round, curious
to see this new wonder. Little Maui was gravely
trying to do her best, when the spectators suddenly
burst out into a laugh, upon which our little pupil
started up, dashed down her work and thimble, burst
LABOUES AMONG THE PEOPLE. 13
throiigli tlie surrounding circle, and fled with tlie
speed of a friglitened hare, leaving us looking blank
at the issue of our first attempt at school-keeping.
The girls soon, however, collected round us, and got
so fond of needlework, that we were astonished how
quickly they found out the superiority of a fine
needle, and would beg for one, sajdng that the coarse
needle spoiled their work."
After the novelty of the fii'st Sabbath or two,
there was no getting a congregation. The people
there were of the anti-Sabbatarian class, who cashed
all the advantages of being Christians, without the
labour — they could not spare the Sabbath at all.
The festivities and night-dancing connected with the
yam harvest were hardly over ; the planting season
was commencing ; another w^ar was threatened by
some inland tribes, and, somehow or other, Satan
always managed to persuade them that it was too
great a sacrifice to give up a day to God so often.
Besides, they thought that as their own gods (the
deified spirits of their ancestors) only required
special prayers and ofiierings once or twice a-ijear,
they might venture to make less than a whole day
once every seven suffice for this new deity. Like
the ancient Samaritans, they still held on to their old
superstitions and spirit worship. They tried various
schemes to please us, and to satisfy their very slender
conscience of rehgious duty. They thought, like
some more civihzed rehgionists, that a great deal
might be done by proxy. In reply to the question,
"AAliy were you not at the service to-day?" one
14 NIXETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
would say, "Was not my wife there?" or, "AVas
iiot the chief of our village there ?" or a third would
reply, " Was not my little boy there?" It was our
regular custom, after sermon, to go away for hours,
among the highways and hedges, viUages and planta-
tions, searching for those who had not been at the
ser\dce. Some would answer as I have just men-
tioned ; others would say they did not know it was
the Sabbath, and promise to stop working, but often
it was only until our back was turned. I went
round by another road, one day, upon a canoe-
builder, who had just promised faithfully to drop
work for the Sabbath, and found him hard at work
again. He tlu-ew do\NTi his adze, covered his face
with his hands, and then looked up and said, in a
sorrowful whine, that he was very bad, that he
would now give up work for the day, and not go on
breaking the Sabbath. Bad as they were in this
Sabbath-breaking, they were always ready to listen
to what we had to say, and often, in a plantation,
have we had preaching and prayer with a group of
ten or twelve.
We itinerated, also, during the week, but we
were never able to go further than four or five miles
from our house. Soon after we landed, a few came
from some other tribes to see us, and as we formed
their acquaintance, our hearts yearned over them
in their deplorable ignorance. One would say, " I
am a sacred man ; I made that rain to fall a little
ago." Another would ask whether we had lived up
in the skies with God ? who was God's father ? and
LABOUES AMONG THE PEOPLE. 15
how many cliildren lie had ? Or a third, pointing to
the portrait hanging on the wall, would gravely ask,
" Is that Jehovah ? " All were glad when we said
we intended to go and see them, and teach them the
way to heaven. As soon, therefore, as we got our
house in order, we were all anxiety to fulfil our
promises, and visit some of these tribes in midnight
darkness not many miles from our door.
But, to our grief and amazement, we found that
we were hedged in on all sides. After preaching at
one village, and wishing to go on to the next, a mile
or so distant, all would forbid it, and say, " 'No ; you
must not go there, they will kill you." Seeing us
determined to proceed, sometimes a few would lift
their clubs, seize a spear or two, and accompany us,
evidently thinking that they were risking their hves
every step they took. At other places no one would
dare to join in going beyond a certain boundary.
But on we went, as often alone as otherwise, and,
generally, the kindness of the hostile tribes was only
surpassed by their amazement that we had ventured
so far to see them. We became quite familiar with
the stereotyped pln*ase, " Don't go there, they are
bad people, they will kill you," and seldom paid
much attention to it. AYe did not, however, go far ;
for, in addition to our being all but held fast by the
people, and prevented, lest we should be killed, we
found that those tribes, at distances of but four and
five miles from our house, spoke quite a difierent
dialect. In what a melancholy, isolated, hostile
state these people have been living, all over the
16 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
island, from time immemorial. Seeing our way thus
blocked up on all sides, we felt more than ever
that there was an error in commencing such a mis-
sion with only ticu. Had there been six, instead of
two, stationed at distances of ten or twelve miles
from each other, the one might have worked on to
the hostile boundary of the other, and, ere long, we
might have seen the whole island lighted up with
the glorious gospel of salvation, peace, unity, and
love.
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES. ]7
CHAPTER III.
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES.
As we awoke one morning, we heard an unusnal stir
and shouting, and, on looking ont, saw the natives
hiurying past with their clubs and spears, and talk-
ing about war. Presently we found that a chief in
the neighbourhood had been killed by a party from
a tribe a few miles off, who had been lurking about
for a victim as the signal to renew a former war.
We made all haste, and went off too, thinking we
might possibly be able to mediate, and get the affair
settled without further bloodshed. We soon reached
the settlement of the poor man who had just been
killed, and in the centre of the village there was a
most affecting scene. The men were all off to the
battle ; but there were some thirty or forty women,
with their children, rending the air with the most
doleful wailing over the dead body of their chief.
He was laid out on a mat in a reclining posture,
with his face painted red, and supported in the arms
of his wife. We expressed our sympathy, felt the
region of the heart, and fomid the poor man was
quite dead. He had a great spear-hole in his left
cheek, and, as his wife raised a covering which had
been put on his head, we saw that his skull had
been beaten in by a club. The women implored us
18 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
not to go furtlier, lest anything should happen to
us ; but we went on a mile or two, until we were
close up to the yells and hootings of their savage
fight. I climbed a tree, and looked ahead a bit,
but the bush concealed what was going on. Here,
however, a number of the chiefs came running to us.
We found that it was vain that day to attempt any
interview with the enemy, and, at the entreaties of
our people, returned, lest we should get mixed up
in the affray, and wounded unintentionally by some
arrow, or stone from a sling. All that we could do
was to beg our people only to act on the defensive,
and pray that God might avert the threatened
calamity. We knelt down in the bush, and prayed
with them and for them, that further bloodshed
might be prevented, bade them good-bye, and then
returned home to our dear wives, who were waiting
our arrival with no measured anxiety and suspense.
For four months this sad war went on, and the
end of it was, that war was raised against our-
selves. After they had been fighting for months
among themselves, contrary to all our entreaties,
God commenced to punish them with a deadly
epidemic in the form of dysentery. Just about this
time we discovered that there was a number of the
disease-makers, who live near the volcano, delibe-
rating on our destruction, and seriously wishing to
kill us. They found, like Demetrius, that their craft
was in danger ; they were always prowling about on
the look-out for the skin of a banana, or other refuse
of food. Anything of that sort they picked up.
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES. 19
took it home, did it up in a leaf like a cigar, only
twice as long, and then commenced burning it at
the one end. They supposed that whenever the
burning commenced the person to whom it belonged
took ill, and that if the burning went on until all
was consumed, the person died. We saw that this
had a fearful hold on the minds of the people.
"Whenever a person felt ill, a shell was blown, and
they would keep on blowing it for hours. It was
meant as a call, or a prayer, to the disease-makers
to stop burning the rubbish, and a promise that
parties were getting ready to go off with presents to
them. Pigs and fine mats would be sent. Some of
the craft were sure to receive them, and to say,
" Oh, yes, we know all about it, leave it with us ;
we 's\dll stop the burning, and the sick man shall
live." If the person died, they concluded that the
disease-makers were not satisfied with the presents
sent.
This was an immense source of wealth to these
crafty fellows. Any one can easily imagine their
rage, when they found that some of the people about
us when they were ill, instead of blowing the shell
and sending presents, got a dose of medicine and
recovered. "We did not know that the}^ were seri-
ously contemplating to put us out of the way, and
continued going about freely among them.
One day Mr. Nisbet and I, accompanied by a
Samoan, set out intending to penetrate beyond the
Volcano Valley, and visit some of the tribes there.
We could not get a chief, or a native of any kind,
20 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
from our neigiibourliood, to go with us. They, as
usual, entreated us not to go, lest we should be
killed. "We crossed the bay in our canoe, and then
had only a distance of four miles to go over the
mountain to the Volcano Valley. As we ^^assed
through some of the villages on the mountain, the
people urged us not to go farther. We, at the same
time, smiled at their fears, and tried to get them to
join us. We managed to persuade a fi-iendly old
chief, called Teman, to accompany us ; but he was
uneasy about it eveiy step of the way, and was
every now and then bringing up the subject, and
saying, "Now, don't let us go beyond the moun-
tain."
We got down into the valley, and reached a
village called larofi. At the outskirts of the place,
Teman took his stand, and would not move a step
further. Mr. Nisbet and I, accompanied by our
Samoan, went freely forward, and were presently in
the midst of then* forum, or marum, as they call it,
viz., an open circular space in every village, where
the chiefs assemble for business, under the shade of
a great banian-tree. We found a number of people
there, and thought the}^ looked shy. We sat down
beside an old chief, talked with him and the people
who crowded about, gave a few trifling presents,
and then got up, saying that we wished to go on a
village or two further, and that we should call again
on our way back. On this they were all on their
feet, and implored us not to go further. Our old
friend Teman, seeing us sitting quietly in the
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES. 21
marum and giving tliem presents, liad ventured
forward, and lie, too, was now more urgent tlian
ever that we should not go beyond that place.
Ratobus was the next village, not more than a
quarter of a mile distant. " Come, come," we said,
" let us go on to Eatobus. Show us the road ; we
have friends there who have visited us, and we have
promised to go and see them." Not one would join
us ; nay, they all but put out their hands to hold
us back.
We had only advanced a few steps, when we
saw a young man about a stonecast ahead of us,
with a club in the one hand, and waving with the
other for us to go on; and calling out, " Come on,
I will show you the way." We were rather glad to
fall in with this young fellow, although it turned out
that he was an enemy. "VYe walked on, and were
soon in the middle of the marum of Eatobus.
There we recognized some old faces, who appeared
glad to see us, but others were dark and shy. We
sat down on an old canoe which had been turned
bottom upwards for a seat, and begged them to
assemble around us, and have a httle conversation.
Some sat down, others stood, and a number re-
mained in groups in the distance in earnest talk,
and looking unfi'iendly and suspicious. We gave all
of those around us a small present of a pair of
scissors, or a few fish-hooks or beads ; tried to tell
them aboat Christ, and death, and heaven; and
then woimd up all by proposing that we should all
unite in prayer to the true God. A number of them
22 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
bowed the knee, and I knelt down also, closed my
eyes, and 23rayed. While I was addressing them,
the fellow who showed us the road slipped round,
with his club in the one hand and his kawas in the
other, and took up his position close behind me. I
did not observe it, but Mr. Nisbet was on the watch.
It went like an arrow to his heart that the fellow
was bent on mischief, and so he edged round, and
kept his eye upon him. A\'Tien I knelt down to
pray, the fellow threw his kawas on the ground, and
grasped his club with both hands ; but God had
more work for me to do, the blow was not struck.
Humanly speaking, it was Mr. Nisbet that saved me,
and I shall never forget his courageous, God-trusting
conduct at that awful moment. He showed no
alarm, but, instead of kneeling down, stood still,
and stared at the fellow all the time I was praying.
When I rose fi^om my knees, I heard a gruff voice
over my shoulder, saying, " Give me some beads for
showing you the way." " Tliis is an impudent
fellow," I remarked to Mr. Nisbet, " but we had
better not have any words with him ;" and so I put
my hand into my pocket, and gave him a few beads.
We thought there was an unusual shyness among
the most of the people, and decided not to go any
further, for that day at least. We told them to come
and visit us, and hear more about Jesus and the
way to heaven. Tm^ning into the road, we left the
village, followed for a Httle way by a number of the
more friendly of them.
At larofi, our old chief, Teman, was standing
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES. 23
anxiously waiting our return. We shook hands with,
several of the people there again, and passed on.
At the end of the village, whom did I see all on a
sudden, a httle to the left, but the same rough
fellow who asked for the beads, just going to let fly
his kawas at my head ! The kawas is a long piece
of stone, which they throw with deadly precision
when they are within twenty yards of their victim.
An old woman rushed at the fellow, and seized him
by the arm. Grood, kind old body ! I recognized
her as one who seemed unusually friendly with us
an hour before, and to whom we had given a pair of
scissors. The fellow had his club in his other hand,
and was strugghng to get away, when a younger
woman rushed out of a house, and seized his other
arm. This was all the work of an instant. I made
a sort of halt. Old Teman darted in between me
and the fellow, and, in a loud earnest whisper, said,
" Gro on, go on!" Looking over my shoulder, and
seeing Mr. Nisbet all safe, but a few yards behind,
and surrounded by some friendly-looking people, I
thought it best to take old Teman' s advice, and pass
quietly on, as if nothing had happened.
As soon as we were clear of the village, and into
the bush, I said to Mr. Nisbet, " Did you see what
that feUow was after?" "Who?" "The feUow
who showed us the road, and asked so impudently
for the beads. Didn't you see them holding him
there by the side of the road?" A house close by
the road had concealed this fi'om Mr. Nisbet; but
now he proceeded to tell me what consternation he
24 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
liad been in on account of the very same fellow,
wliile I was kneeling in prayer at Ratobus. All tlie
way np and over tlie mountain, Teman kept talking
about it, and told everybody we met that we had
been all but killed. We tried hard to find out why
the young man wished to kill us. We never had
seen him before to our knowledge, and we were all
the more anxious to get at the bottom of it. It
turned out that there were two of them in the plot,
but we could never ascertain anything further than
that they thought the new religion was doing two
things : first, increasing their diseases ; and, secondly,
decreasing the gains of their own disease-making.
It was not until some time after this that we
found out, that the same people had killed and
cooked three of the natives of our very neighbour-
hood not long before we landed, for no other reason
than that they had received a foreign religion, which
they believed would be a fresh source of disease.
Had we known this, we should not have ventm^ed so
soon among them. However, after it was all over,
we did not regret that we had gone freely among
them, and showed them all the kindness we could.
Our peojDle were in a ferment when they heard
that such attempts had been made on our lives,
talked about war, revenge, and so on. Of course
we opposed aU this, and begged them rather to try
and get the guilty parties to come and have a
friendly interview with us, that we might render
good for evil, and remove, if possible, any cause of
anger. Our people again insisted that we keep to
HOSTILITIES AND DIFFICULTIES. 25
our owii district, and never go to tlie distance
again. And so the affair passed off.
Here again we felt our helplessness, and that
the mission ought to have been commenced with
double the number of missionaries, and a good band
of native pioneers as well, to occupy these distant
places, and, under God, nip in the very bud these
heathen prejudices, which were beginning to work
so mightily against us.
26 NINETEEN YEARS IN POL'i'NESIA.
CHAPTEE lY.
CONTINUED OPPOSITION.
In tlie strengtli of God, we buckled afresh and
struggled on, still going as far in the distance as
we could. We generally went together in the week-
days, but on Sabbaths we separated, that we might
go over as much ground as we could. A Sabbath
or two after the occurrence just related, I took the
hill on the one side of the bay, and Mr. ISTisbet the
mountain on the other side. Wliile I was among
the villages about mid-day, a stir got up, and I saw
men setting off in a hurry, with their clubs and
spears, talking about fighting. The war was still
going on, and some were drafted off every day, to
guard the boundary, and fight if attacked. Some
said they were fighting close by our house ; others
said no, that it was further inland ; and that some of
our people were being killed there ; and so I cut
short my work, and hurried down the hill home.
All was quiet. I felt anxious about Mr. Nisbet, but
said nothing to the ladies. I took the glass and
looked across the bay, and felt reheved by seeing
him and the two Samoans, who went with him,
getting into their canoe all ready to return.
As Mr. Nisbet came in, he looked dull and sad.
" What is the matter ?" said I. " We have got into
CONTINUED OPPOSITION. 27
anotlier difficulty. Jamie lias been nearly killed,
and just on the mountain over there, where we
thought all were so friendly." Jamie was our
assistant printer, and had accompanied Mr. Nisbet
that morning. On reaching a village they found
some two or three hundred people assembled. Mr.
Nisbet did not know what they had met for, but as
he walked on to where some of the principal men
were, he congratulated himself on having pounced in
upon so many of them, and was hoping for a good
congregation. All on a sudden, he saw a party of
fifty or sixty of them get up and run ofi*. He looked
round, and there was Jamie struck on the left tem-
ple and bleeding. It turned out that when Mr.
Nisbet made his appearance, one of the priestcraft
party got up with his club, bent on mischief. He
first went behind Mr. Nisbet; but just at that
moment Mr. Nisbet stepped aside to shake hands
and say, " How do you do ?" to a chief whom he
recognized sitting with some others. This scared
the fellow with the club. He then slipped back to
Jamie, who was following, and when he got be-
hind him, wheeled round, struck him on the head,
and ran off". All his party ran off" with him, and
when they were a stonecast in the distance, they
stood still, to see, probably, whether any of the rest
had courage to back them in their purpose, and kill
the whole three of them. All was now in an uproar.
Some scolding the fellows who were standing in the
distance ; others assuring Mr. Nisbet that they had
no hand in it; and others crowding about Jamie,
28 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tyIio was streaming with blood. The women, too,
came running to the spot, and broke out in their
howhng death-wail, thinking that Jamie was mor-
tally wounded. It would have been madness to
have remained a minute longer. Jamie was able to
walk, and, followed by a crowd of friendly natives,
Mr. Nisbet, with Jamie and our other servant,
Taume, made all haste back to the canoe, and came
across. For four days we were anxious about poor
Jamie, but God blessed the means used for his
recovery, and ere long he was well again.
This was another dark chapter to us. It was
evident that the priesthood were still intent on our
destruction. We thought we were safe if we only
kept away from the valley where we were nearly
killed a fortnight before, but now it was plain that
these fellows had the hardihood to strike a blow
anywhere, and were allowed to do what they pleased.
We could get no further light on the cause of their
anger. They said they wished to kill us, because
our presence there was certain to make their
coughs worse. It is worthy of remark, that, apart
from this priestcraft altogether, there was a firm
belief among all, that of late years, since they had
visits from white men, their influenza epidemics
were far more frequent and fatal than they used to
be. This impression is not confined to Tanna ; it is,
if I mistake, not, universal throughout the Pacific.
Although, however, the priesthood gave the fear of
disease as their reason, we felt convinced that a
principal cause of their hatred, was the belief, that if
CONTINUED OPPOSITION. 29
Cliristianity prevailed, tlieir craft was ruined. Our
people were sad about this further attempt on our
lives, were clamorous about seeking revenge, and
were now more urgent than ever that we should
keep at home. " Did not we tell you they would
kill you if you go there ? You must never go
again !"
As the new year set in, our difficulties increased.
Dysentery broke out with great virulence, and cut
off many. It raged fearfully among our enemies,
and, what was further remarkable, the people in
the immediate neighbourhood of our house were
quite free from the disease. The priestcraft party
concluded that we were doing it all, and were now
more savage than ever, and determined to kill us.
We sent them medicine, and did all we could think
of to show them kindness, but in vain.
One afternoon we were sent for to visit a sick
chief, about a mile from our house. We thought all
were our friends there, and Mr. Nisbet and I at once
went. He was ill, and apparently dying. They had
him laid out under the shade of a banian-tree, and
surrounded by his friends. He was weak, and could
not speak above a whisper. I stooped down to talk
with him, and so did Mr. Nisbet. He had often
attended our ser^dces. After trying to lighten up
the dark valley to him, with thoughts of Christ and
heaven, I rose up again. Just as I got to my feet,
something gleamed in my left eye. I turned round,
and shall never forget the fiendish half-smile, half-
grin of that fellow as he eyed me, apparently scared
30 NINETEEN YE^VES IN POLYNESIA.
in Lis horrid intention. "Wliether lie intended to
strike while I was stooping down, or what, I hardly
know; but his tomahawk was %qj, and as my eye
caught his, he raised the other hand as if merely
looking at it, and feeling its edge. I said nothing,
but it struck me there was something wrong. We
had just said to the chief that we should go and
make up some medicine for him, and so Mr. Nisbet
and I bade them good-bye, and walked down the
hill, and along the beach home. We observed
groups here and there, and saw, as we were leaving
the settlement, some hurried message going from
one to another, but neither Mr. Nisbet nor I ex-
pressed to each other any suspicion. Two years
after, when visiting the island, I found out that that
very afternoon a plot was laid to kill us, and the
reason they gave for not having done it was, that
Mr. Nisbet and I ran and escaped. That was false,
for we walked slowly home all the way. I thought
the people looked shy, and I could not get the axe
out of my mind for days, but I said nothing.
That poor chief died. Dysentery continued, but
principally in the distance among our enemies. In
the midst of all the war was going on. Our people
were getting the upper hand, but one day they killed
some who were connected with the mountain people,
opposite our house. Up to this time the mountain
party had been all but neutral, and we went freely
among them, but now the scale was turned. Suffer-
ing from dysenteiy too, and angry at our people,
they joined the enemy. The priestcraft party did
CONTINUED OPPOSITION. 31
the same, and all were now banded together for the
double purpose of killing us, and conquering the
people among whom we lived.
At this time a vessel called and remained for a
few days. The captain kindly offered to take us off
the island, but we had no idea of leaving. We were
determined to hold on, while there was the least
vestige of hope that our lives might be spared. We
thought that the dysentery after a time would abate,
and that, under Grod's blessing, there might be a
reaction in our favour. We knew that no stranore
thing had happened to us. Satan is sure to dispute
every inch of his territory, and missionaries must
expect many a struggle, especially at the outset of a
mission among a race of cannibals.
32 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER V.
COUNCIL TO PUT US TO DEATH.
AVe had now to be exceedingly careful. Our enemies
were to the right and left of us ; also on the moun-
tain across the bay, opposite our house. There were
only a few in the villages, up the hill, behind our
house, upon whom we could look as our friends.
One day a messenger came from the mountain, on
the opposite side of the bay, to say that the people
were assembled on the beach with a lot of yams to
sell; that, owing to the war, they were afraid to
come over, and that they wished us to send across
our large canoe to buy them. The fellow, too,
seemed particularly anxious that Mr. Nisbet and I
should go over at the same time, and pay them a
visit, so much so, that om* suspicions were roused.
Thinking, however, that it might possibly be an
opportunity of showing good feeling, we gave our
servants some calico and fish-hooks, and sent them
across in the canoe. We begged them to show all
the kindness they could, but at the same time to
keep a sharp look-out, and on no, account to land.
I watched them closely with my glass, as they
approached the opposite shore. It is a shelving,
rocky place, with deep water close in to the beach.
I saw a move, a rush, and the canoe pulling back
COUNCIL TO PUT US TO DEATH. SS
into deep water. They held on a little, and then
returned home. They said that when they reached
the other side, they saw but few yams piled on the
rocks, in proportion to the number of people. As
they were deliberating what to do, a rush was made
at the canoe, but they pulled back instantly into
deep water. The plot was now all out. The bush
behind was filled with armed men ; and who was
at the head of them but old Teman! The very man
who risked his life for us when we were nearly killed
at larofi, a few weeks before. But, alas ! he had
become traitor, too ; and, what was more remarkable
still, he was seized with dysentery, and in four
days from the attempt on the canoe, he was in his
grave.
The sudden death of Teman made the priestcraft
party more clamorous than ever, that ire had the
power of life and death, and were killing them
with dysentery. " Look at themselves," said they,
" they are all well, and the people who pray with
them are all well, and we are all dying." It was
certainly a remarkable fact that our immediate
neighbourhood was so free from the epidemic, and
in our own family we had but one case, and that
of a mild form. But Grod's care of us in preserving
us from savage violence was more striking still.
Parties of the priesthood were now lurking in our
neighbourhood, night and day. The wonder is, they
did not burn our house ; but, for one thing, they were
afraid of a couple of dogs which we kept loose at
night, and which gave instant alarm. One night a
34 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
party of four came, and lay down to watcli near the
garden-gate. They knew that we took a walk some-
times in the moonlight, along the beach. The gate
opened, and some one, as they thought, came out.
They were on their feet in an instant. One threw
a spear, another let fly his kawas, and then they
listened, expecting to hear a shriek or a fall. Not
hearing anything, they concluded it was a ghost,
turned, and ran for their lives. That very party
was seized with dysentery, and we were told that
the whole four died.
Our priestcraft enemies, seeing that they could
not succeed by stratagem, took a more desperate
course. They had now mustered a party two thou-
sand strong, and determined to come in a body,
and demand our people to join them in an open
attack upon us, so as to do the horrid work com-
pletely, and at once. That was a memorable morn-
ing. We observed an unusual stir, and saw a
number of strange faces passing the gate, and up
the liill by the road close to our fence; all look-
ing shy, and all extra armed ; but the bulk of the
people poured into the district by a back road,
and were met up the hill behind our house, before
we knew anything about it.
Presently in comes a message from our chief
Viavia, entreating us all to keep in-doors, that a
party had come mshing to kill us, and that they
were all mustering to deliberate about it. What
were we to do ? To go up the hill, and try to rea-
son and remonstrate, or what ? No, that would be
COUXC'IL TO PUT US TO DEATH. 35
wilfully riisMng to our massacre. We felt tliat we
could do nothing but jjr«?/, and that, we soon found,
was everything. We divided ourselves into two
parties. Our Samoan servants retired to their
house, and Mr. and Mrs. Nisbet, Mrs. Turner, and
myself were together in our own house, and there
we wrestled with Him in whose service we were, and
whose voice it is the missionary's privilege ever to
hear say, " Lo ! I am with you."
While we were praying, our enemies were ha-
ranguing our people on the hill behind our house,
urging them to join in the massacre. Presently the
sun was darkened, blackness gathered all around,
and one of those sudden tropical squalls came
tearing along, with its lightning, thunder, wind, and
torrents of rain. This was all in our favour. The
murderous council was being held out of doors. Our
savage enemies could not contend with the storm.
Nor could they retire to a house; no house was
large enough to hold a fiftieth part of them ; and
hence they were forced to hurry their business to a
close. After stating their wishes, only one of our
people had courage to stand up in our defence. It
was oiu' stedfast old friend Kuanuan, a chief of
secondary rank. "What harm," said he, "have
the missionaries done ? They are not disease-
makers. They are true men of the true Grod. They
love the whole of us, and have come here to hve for
our good. Give up yoiu' rage and wicked designs.
Go dovni and get some medicine from the mis-
sionaries for your sick friends, and let us all miite in
36 NINETEEN TE^VES IN POLYNESIA.
tlie worsliip and sendee of Jeliovali, tlie true God.
This will make us all prosperous and llapp3^" The
enemy gnashed their teeth at him, and muttered
revenge for his daring to oppose them.
The final question was now put to Yiavia, the
principal chief of our district, and he was called
upon to say yes or no. All ejes were tiu-ned to him.
They thought that he would quail before the assem-
bled priesthood, and yield ; but he, too, dared to
stand by us. He sat for a while, with his head down,
in silence — a sign of anger — and then spoke out
in a word or two of curt, abrupt displeasure. "If,"
said he, " you have it in your hearts to kill the mis-
sionaries, go and do so yourselves. I will have
no hand in it." On this they all got up in a rage,
and, as the storm of wind and rain was now fairly
on, they hurriedly agreed to break up for the day.
Some came running down the hill, past the house,
and off home ; others prowled about for a while
behind our premises, to see whether any of us were
out, and off our guard ; and the rest hastened away
by the back road.
As Ave prayed together while the meeting was
going on, we felt calm and composed with the
thought that the Lord reigneth, and not our priest-
craft enemies. We felt sure that no hand could be
lifted against us without Sis permission. And we
believed that, if, for reasons unknown to us, but in
accordance with the inscrutable designs of our Lord
and Master, that day was to be our last, his service
was infinitely worthy of the sacrifice. On rising
COUXCIL TO PUT US TO DEATH. 37
from our knees, after our second prayer, tlie dark-
ness surprised us. I looked out to the moutli of
the harbour, and saw that a squall was coming on.
It seemed so emblematical of our circumstances ! It
was on all at once, and, as the thunder roared, we
could not but hear it as the frowning voice of the
Omnipotent against those who were plotting our
destruction. Presently we heard the running tread
of natives coming down the hill, behind the house.
AAHiat is it ? Ai^e they coming to kill us ? Xo.
" They are passing. There they go, helter-skelter,
through the rain, as if on their way home." We
were afraid to venture out to make inquiry. An
armed party, who had been sitting on the beach a
httle to the left of our house, waiting the result of
the deliberations, also got up and made off to the
bush, and this also led us to conclude that the deci-
sion had, for the time at least, been in our favour.
We waited on till four in the afternoon, and then in
came our old friend Kuanuan. He was downcast
and sad, and from his account of the meeting, it
appeared e\ddent that the enemy had gone off in a
rage, only to plot some other scheme.
Mr. Msbet and I set to work at once to overhaul
the boat, and get all ready to lift it into the water.
In the evening we packed up a few tilings, and
now, for the first time, seriously thought of leaving.
What could we do ? Upwards of two thousand
people banded together, and determined to be our
murderers. Everything seemed to combine in say-
ing go. But where were we to go ? This was the
38 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
difficulty. TVe felt that we needed a council of a
hundred to advise us. But again we fell back upon
Grod, and were comforted by the thought that He
would make up for all lack of eartlily help and
counsel.
WAR DECLABED.
39
CHAPTER YI.
WAE DECLAEED.
AYe liad our house watched for the night. In the
morning we made up a number of presents, and sent
them to ten or twelve of the principal men in our
immediate neighbourhood. We gave to each a
regatta shirt, and some other useful things, and said
that it was an expression of our gratitude for their-
kindness to us, in rejecting the wicked proposal of
these cruel men the day before. We knew that
some of them had shown the cloven foot, and were
about as ready to join Kasurumene in killing us, as
to take our side, and stand by us. We took no
notice of that, however. The present, of course, was
acceptable. All renewed their expressions of attach-
ment to us, and their determination to stand by
us to the last. But still some had the honesty to
add — " What are we to do ? The people are all
dying."
The next day was the Sabbath. Crowds came
to the service. It flashed across our minds that
some of the enemy might be hulking about there, as
we had been told that they had the Sabbath in view
as a good opportunity of striking a blow, while we
were off our guard at a religious service. We did
not, however, wish to show anything unusual, and
40 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
SO off we went to our little cliapel, about a gunsliot
from our house. No disturbance took place ; and
we were delighted to have such a good opportunity
of again preaching Christ to so many of them. The
present was one reason why so many came out that
day to the service ; but there was another, which
came out with fearful prominence in the afternoon.
In general, we had but few at the afternoon ser^dce ;
that afternoon, however, we had an unusual turn-
out. They kept coming all the time of the seiwice,
and were all extra armed.
It was not until the service was over, and until we
were outside among them, that we knew that a party
of the enemy had again come. It seemed as if they
had fixed on that very afternoon to make a fresh,
but a more clandestine, attempt on our lives ; and
here we had another remarkable instance of God's
care over us. Om* people had got the hint in some
way of what was in the wind, and hastened to the
spot, so that when the enemy came, they found that
we were surrounded by sixty or seventy armed
men. Whenever we got outside the chapel we
saw that there were among the crowd a number of
these Kasurumene fellows. What were we to do ?
Were we to run, or stay and speak with them, or
pass quietly on without taking any notice of them ?
We thought the last the wisest com-se. I gave
Mrs. Turner my arm. Mr. Nisbet did the same to
Mrs. Nisbet ; and we walked on at our usual pace
towards our house. AYe immediately heard behind
us angry voices, the hubbub of rising strife, and
WAE DECLAEED. 41
that miserable, ever-recurring word in tlieir savage
disputes, " Maruangen, maruangen, maruangen!" —
War, war, war !
Some of our chiefs soon followed us into the
house. They said the party who had come were
threatenino- an immediate war on the whole district.
By way, too, of an excuse for their appearance, they
said they had come to get some medicine. We
took them at their word, and made up some fifty
useful powders. Our chiefs were afraid, and would
not allow us to go out to them. We stood, how-
ever, in the doorway, and said a few words as we
handed out the medicine, and begged them to come
for more.
But, alas ! it was hlood, not medicine, they wanted.
In half an hour they had under their clubs a poor
unoffending boy, belonging to our people, and beat
him to death. This was a declaration of war, and
their usual savage way of doing it. It came out,
also, that one of the two men who killed the boy
was the very Narimeta who was on the eve of letting
fly his kawas at my head, not long before, at larofi.
They said that, as they could not get at ns, they
would begin with the people who protected us,
and fight their way through them until they
reached us.
Next morning, all oiu' people were in arms, and,
by simrise, we heard their heavy tread coming down
the hiU behind our house. There they were in a
string, with laru at their head. laru was an old
hero of a hundi^ed fights, bhnd of an eye, close upon
42 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
eighty years of age, but still erect and energetic ; he
remembered Cook, wlio visited them sixty-nine years
before. They all mustered in front of our house,
and wished Mr. Nisbet and myself to go out and
speak with them. Mr. Msbet and I put on our hats,
and went out. ""We have come," they said, "to
see what is to be done about this war. It is all on
your accoiuit. We Tvdsh you to help us. Are we to
be killed when you can save us ? Are they to be
allowed to come and burn our villages when you can
keep them back ? We wish you to come and help
us with your gun, as it is your war, and, with jou
on our side, we are sure of success."
Viewed from their point, it was perfectly natm^al
they should make this request. A single musket
was at that time an army in itself. We had no
fire-arms of our own. Mr. Heath, our missionary
brother from Samoa, who had been living with us
for a few months, had a fowling-piece, for collecting
specimens of birds. That he had left in our charge,
while he went on a visit to England ; and it was this
the natives had in their eye.
Mr. Nisbet and I replied — " 'No ; we cannot join
you in this war. We are not fighting men, such as
you see in ships of war. We would rather die our-
selves than be the murderers of others. We have
come to teach you about God, and the way to heaven.
We have done no harm to any one. We are the
injured party in this affair, and it is your business to
do all you can to prevent any one from injuring us.
Remember, you all promised, when you asked us to
WAE DECLARED. 43
live here, that you would protect us, and that, on
war breaking out, you would never ask us to join
in it." This last remark touched the right chord.
They hung their heads, and whispered to each other,
" It is quite true. We said that. We promised never
to ask them to fight."
Again, however, they tried to gain their point.
"If," said one, "you do not wish to go with us,
just let us have the gun, and one of yom* Samoan
servants to fire it, and that will do." "No, no, we
cannot do that ; that would be aU the same as going
ourselves. We cannot do it," was our reply. We
then gave them a bit of print, a hatchet, a knife, a
pair of scissors, and some beads, as a present to the
father of the lad who had been killed, and begged
them not to retaliate, but to do all they could think
of to prevent fiu-ther bloodshed. They saw it was
in vain to try any longer to get the gun, promised
merely to act on the defensive, and ofi" they went to
the village where the boy had been killed.
That day there was no fighting ; but next morn-
ing, which was Tuesday, the enemy came, and the
fighting commenced in a place in the bush, about
three miles from our house. But few fall in these
bush fights ; many, however, are wounded, and often
they linger for weeks, and die of their wounds.
Our people kept united, gave spear for spear and
arrow for arrow, and in the afternoon the enemy re-
treated for the day. None of our people were killed ;
but it cut us to the heart to see the wounded, and
to hear them calling it our war. We were especially
44 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
grieyed to see old Wellington laru carried past among
tlieni ; but his arrow wound was slight. Close
behind the wounded came our old friend Kuanuan,
downcast and sad. He told us that the enemy,
recognizing him, had shouted all sorts of abusive
language. They said he was the cause of all the
disease and death, and one with the missionaries ;
and wound up all by making a rush at him. He was
all but taken, and only escaped by throwing bach his
club. This is one of the most humbling things
a chief can do, and the enemy rejoices over the
club as if they had got the life of its owner as well.
They were especially pleased to get Kuanuan' s club,
and went off, at the close of the day's fighting,
shouting out to our people, " We have got the club
of the missionaries to-day ; we shall have themselves
to-morrow."
We got Kuanuan to come in. He seemed now
to be the only friend in whom we felt confidence.
Lahi and others were beginning to look shy, and to
keep away. We arranged with Kuanuan to be off
by dawn to some of his friends, and, through them,
to send a message from us to the Kasurumene
priesthood to reconsider, and give up the fight, pro-
mising them a present, expressive of our friendship,
if they did.
After sundown, we seriously considered whether
we could not be off to sea in our boat and canoe, in
the hope of reaching some other island. But it was
out of the question. The sea was high, and the
wind right for Eromanga. We were completely
WAR DECLARED. 40
hedged in, and saw tliat we could do nothing but
commit ourselves afresh to the Divine care, and
pray for a speedy deliverance from the anxieties of
our distressing position.
Next morning, all our people were off by day-
break to the fight. They met at the same place,
but now the enemy had additional forces. Old
Kuanuan was true to his commission ; but by the
time he reached the place he found that the very
party he had hoped to get to mediate had joined
the enemy.
This was another anxious day. From a window in
our house we could see with our glass the very spot
where they were fighting. A number of the old
men had gathered about the corner of our garden
fence, in earnest conversation, and looking out, like
ourselves, for any signs of advance or retreat on the
part of our people. About two o'clock, up went the
smoke and the flames at the village of Raumia — a
sure sign that the enemy were advancing. Towards
evening, the people returned from the day's fighting,
and brought a dismal tale. They said, that after
some hours' skirmishing, and seeing the enemy was
making advance, one of our own chiefs, named Sai,
turned traitor. He was taking the lead for the day,
in the place of Viavia, who was sick ; and hoping
that all the rest, at the spur of the moment, w^ould
blindly follow him, he shouted to the enemy, " Come
on, I am with you. Let us stop this fighting, all
join together, kill the missionaries, and end the
war."
46 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
" No ! no !" shouted Lalii and Auniuan. '' We
have iwomised to protect the missionaries ; let us
fight for them stiU." And there they quarrelled.
The enemy were on the alert. They saw that
our people were divided, came rushing on, took
Eaumia, and set fire to the houses. This enraged
our people. They rallied, again faced the enemy,
but were still unable to hold their ground. Night,
however, came to our aid. Both parties reti^eated ;
the enemy exulting over their success, and our
people, dispirited, di^dded, and at their wits' end
to know what to do.
The chiefs Lahi and Auniuan came to see what
was to be done. They were fresh from the fight,
and furious as tigers. Auniuan foamed at the mouth,
stormed against the enemy, and against Sai, too,
who wished to lead all down to our massacre ; and
wound up all by saying that they mvi^t now have
our gun. "It is for you," said he, "that we are
fighting ; we are driven ; we are losing our planta-
tions, our houses, and our lives. Only one day more,
and everything will be burned on to this house.
You must let us have that gun." We were quite de-
cided, and immediately replied, " No ; the gun you
shall not have. We have not come here to fight. We
will not, we dare not, let you have it. Do not ask
for it again." " Then you will bo all killed," was
the instant reply. " Let them come," we immedi-
ately added : " let them come and kill us ; we are
ready to die rather than kill them. Our souls, when
we die, will go to heaven, and be happy there for
WAE DECLAEED. 47
ever ; but it will be a sad thing for those who kill
us. Grod sees, and God will punish."
On this they cooled down a little. The one
whispered to the other, " Their hearts are strong ;
they are not afraid to die. If they are killed, by
and by we shall all die." They made another onset
for the gun, but again we firmly refused. They saw
our minds were quite made up, and off they went.
48 NINETEEN YEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER Yll.
OUE FLIGHT.
All looked dark. It was uiglit, and our stauncli old
friend Kuanuan had not made his appearance. AYe
afterwards heard he was busy bundling up his httle
property, and removing his pigs to another village,
as it seemed certain his own settlement would be the
first to go next day. What was now to be done ?
Never did we feel more at a loss to know the Divine
will. The only visible hope of safety on the coming
day seemed to be to fire on the enemy. What were
we to do ? Were we to remain and either be killed
ourselves, or be the means of kilhng others, or should
we commit ourselves to the waves, and try -to make
some other island ?
We retired together to pray and wrestle with
God for guidance, and sent om^ Samoans to their
house to do the same. For a time we felt over-
powered, and could scarcely give utterance to our
desires. But the Lord appeared, and enabled us
freely to pour out our souls before him. Still, how-
ever, our Father's countenance seemed hidden. We
could not see where he pointed, or what he wished
us to do. Our hearts revolted at the thought of
firing on the people. We felt wilHng to meet death
in any form rather than do that. The question was,
OUR FLIGHT. 49
remain or go to sea ? It occurred to lis to cast lots,
but although the difficulties in both cases seemed
equal, we thought we had better calmly consider and
decide. We prayed again, and again deliberated.
As it had been squally the most of the day, there
was much to forbid our going to sea. But the ^dnd
had shifted a few points, and we thought that if we
could only get out of the bay, and round the east
point of land, we might hoist our sail and fetch
Aneiteum, an island about forty miles off. This we
all thought would be the right course, and so we
determined to be off to sea by midnight. This Ave
thought would put an end to the fighting, save us
from all temptation to use violence in our extremity ;
and we felt, too, that even if we did perish at sea, it
would be better thus to enter heaven, than through
the medium of savage hands. We now called our
Samoan servants and teachers. They too, with one
exception, had come to the conclusion that we should
be off at once, and not risk the fighting of the day
close at hand.
It was now eio-ht o'clock, and we made all haste
to gather together some few necessaries we had been
preparing. It was still squally — thundering and
blowing hard occasionally during the evening. Now
and then we trembled as we thought of exposure to
the billows in a small open boat, badly manned, and
scarcely knowing where Ave Avere going. But the case
was desperate. Our minds were made up. We
must go on, and as often as a doubt arose, we
seemed to hear a voice from heaven, saying, " Be
E
50 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
strong and of a good courage, fear not nor be
afraid of tliem ; for the Lord thy God, he it is that
will go with thee, he will not fail thee nor forsake
thee."
By and by we had all ready, and were only wait-
ing the rise of the moon. This was a solemn hour.
Death and eternity seemed near. This, we thought,
might be to some, or to all of us, the last opportu-
nity on earth for deliberate reflection. The parting
message was thought of, and given with the calm
heroism of a female mart}T — " My dear, if I die,
and your life should be saved, tell mamma and uncle
that I never regretted having come in the service of
Christ." Yes ; this thought was uppermost in our
minds amid the greatest trials. The cause of our
Redeemer, we felt, was worthy, not only of one,
but of ten thousand lives if we had had them to
bestow.
But these solemn parting thoughts were soon
interrupted by the stern realities of om^ midnight
flight. About eleven o'clock, our servants came in
to say that they thought the time was favourable.
The moon had just risen ; the wind was moderate.
It rained, but that we thought was an advantage,
as we wished to get quietly off without being seen
by the natives, lest they should raise the hue and
cry, and prevent us : they seldom go about in the
rain.
Before stepping into our boat, we shut the
door, and committed om-selves once more to Grod.
The lines of Newton suggested themselves as
OUR FLIGHT. 51
toucliiugly appropriate to om^ circumstances, and we
sang :
" Thougli troubles assail, and dangers affright, '
Though friends should all fail, and foes all unite ;
Yet one thing secures us, whatever betide,
The Scripture assures us ' the Lord will provide.'
" His call we obey, like Abr'ham of old,
]S^ot knowing our way, but faith makes us bold ;
For, though we are strangers, we have a sure guide,
And trust in all dangers ' the Lord will provide.' "
We read the 46tli Psalm, and bowed the knee in
prayer for the Divine direction and protection, and
preparation of soul for whatever might that night
be before us. We rose fi'om our knees and went
down to the boat. Before leaving, we suspended
a letter by a string from one of the rafters, to inti-
mate to the captain of any vessel which might anchor
at the place, and be in search of us, that we had not
been killed by the natives, but had fled fi^om the
island, intending, if possible, to reach Aneiteum, and
to beg that any one into whose hands the letter
might fall, would follow us there and afibrd the
friendly help we might need. I took a farewell look
round the room, blew out the light, and hurried
after the party to the boat. I turned back from the
garden-gate to pluck two water-melons, which had
just ripened ; and presently we were all seated, and
pushed off from the beach.
There were nineteen of us in all, including four
children. We divided so as to have ten in the boat
and nine in our large canoe, and arranged to do all
52 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
Ave could to keep company : our boat was a strong
thirty feet long whale-boat. Just as we were leaving
the beach, a squall came on with heavy rain, but we
pulled ofif, wishing to get out without being seen by
the natives. Our dear wives wrapped up as well as
they could, but as Mr. Nisbet and I had to pull for
our li.ves like the rest, there was no alternative but
to give ourselves up to a thorough drenching.
"Port Resolution" is in the form of a horse-
shoe ; as Ave approached the opening between the
heads our difficulties commenced : a heavy swell
was setting in, the wind was right ahead and
freshening up into another squall ; down came the
rain ao-ain in torrents. We still headed out, and our
boat went over the billows without shipping much
water. As the squall cleared off, we found from the
look of the land that we had been driven back a
bit. The wind was now light, and we stuck to our
paddles again. AYe saw the cocoa-nut trees passing
behind us, and were cheered as we found that we
were making way notwithstanding the swell. But
it gets black ahead again, the wind freshens, the
rollers incj^ease, and down comes another squall
upon us ; we struggle on amidst wind and rain and
sea, trying at least to hold our ground. Again it is
clear : we see the land. "Where are we ?" Driven
back, but further on than we were at the close of the
last squall. " That's good, let us keep at it." I
had my eye on a cocoa-nut tree on the north-west
side of the entrance ; only abreast of that, I thouoht,
and then we will hoist the sail, and rest.
OUE FLIGHT. 53
We cut into one of the melons, felt refreslied,
and again pulled aliead. But the sea was rough, and
those great rolling waves right against us made it
terrible work. Still we hoped to get out, and kept
at it. Again, however, the wind rose, and another
squall came tearing along right in our teeth ;
torrents of rain, and for a long time we could see
nothing. As it cleared off we missed the canoe ;
we thought she had probably shot ahead, cleared
the point, and was off before us. This made us
more anxious than ever to get out, and again we
drove away at our paddles. Now we found that
there was a current takins; us nearer the lee reef
than we wished to be, but still Ave hoped to clear it.
We pulled and pulled, and thought we were making
head-way, but presently one of our men shouted out
that we were close upon the breakers, and going
smash on to the reef; we instantly headed round,
and stood across the bay a bit.
Here we held on, and consulted as to what we
should do. Our Samoans said they thought it now
seemed impossible to get out ; we thought the same ;
we looked all about but could see nothing of the
canoe; we thought they must have got out, were
anxious not to break faith with them, and encouraged
each other to try once more. Again we struggled to
effect our object, but it was all in vain — we were close
upon the breakers on the lee reef again, the case
was perfectly hopeless ; but dark and dismal as the
prospect seemed to be to go back to the shore, we had
no alternative. God's will was now unmistakable ;
54 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
had he wished us to go to sea, he would not have
thrown such difficulties in our way. We felt con-
cerned about the canoe ; however, we could do no
more, and, heading round, pulled slowly back to our
deserted dwelling.
As we approached the beach we saw something
black. "What is that ahead? the canoe, is it?
Yes; to be sure it is!" and presently we were on
shore, and talking with those who were in it. They
too had struggled hard, bat gave up in despair.
They were afraid also of the heavy sea which seemed
to be on outside ; they thought the boat might stand
it, but that they were likely to be swamped, and so
they returned and were waiting on anxiously to see
whether we had to do the same. It was a great
relief to us to meet again our companions in flight,
and we felt all the more convinced that God was
still leading us, however mysterious the way seemed
to be.
We anchored our boat and canoe, so as to be
ready at a moment's warning; got a light, and were
again in our house ^dthout having been observed
by a single native. It was now about three o'clock
A.M., and we were all faint and sick, and reeling,
after such a struggle against wind and rain and sea ;
we heaped our dripping clothes in a corner, and
threw ourselves on our beds for an hour's rest, to
prepare us for the fearful day just at hand.
After a few snatches of confused sleep, we were
roused at dawn by the shouts of the natives muster-
ing for battle. Presently our inclosure round the
OUE FLIGHT. 55
liouse was filled witli tliem. They were now becom-
ing lawless ; hitherto they respected our fence, but
now they talked about being our " soldiers," and
thought they might do what they pleased. On
going into the sitting-room I found it filled with
some twenty of the leading chiefs of the district. I
felt so faint that I could hardly stand or speak ; Mr.
JSfisbet was not much better, but it was a council of
war, and we must hear what they had to say.
It was the old subject : '' We are few, the enemy
is numerous ; we are unable to keep them back ; with
the gun we think we could drive them off, and there-
fore we wish you to join us." We had but one
reply : " We have not come here to fight, we cannot
join you, we cannot let you have the gun." We told
them to wait a minute, went into the store-room,
brought out a lot of hatchets, and put one into the
hands of the principal men all round the room.
" Xow," we said, " this is our plan : go mth these
to the ground where you expect to meet the enemy,
hold them up, shout out that they are a present from
us to them — a proof that we have no unkind feeling
towards them, and implore them to receive our
expression of regard, and give up the contest."
A number of them smacked their lips, and made
their usual click click with the mouth shut, in
admiration of the fine new hatchets, and seemed
pleased with the proposal; but up got old bhnd-
eyed laru, the orator and warrior of the district,
and harangued them for a few minutes. The sub-
stance of his speech was, that they all lay down the
56 NINETEEN YEAHS IN POLYNESIA.
li at diets, leave tliem under our care, first try again
and fight for it, and, in tlie event of conquering, get
all those fine hatchets for themselves. laru swept
all before him ; every one laid down his hatchet on
the table, and all were immediately on their feet
followinof the old man out at the door and ofi" to the
war. We went with them to the end of the fence,
entreating them to do all they could to try and
settle affairs without farther bloodshed ; they, on the
other hand, kept urging us to let them have the gun,
and went off* grumbling dissatisfaction.
After breakfast we all united in prayer ; Mr.
Nisbet read and prayed, and I did the same. I had
just said Amen, when the back-door burst open, and
in rushed the servants, breathless and excited, call-
ing out, " The war has come ! the war has come !"
I looked out at the ft'ont-door, and saw the natives
coming running along the beach ; their savage yells
and everything else seemed to say that destruction
was near. This was an awful moment ; but God
was at hand too, and nerved us with presence of
mind to act.
As the natives came near, we saw that the most
of them were our friends. Lahi and some others
were foremost — all breathless, and imploring us to be
off* to our boat, or along the beach to the point at
the entrance to the harbour; they -said the enemy
was right down upon them, and that they had no
hope of being able to keep them back. We tum-
bled our boxes again into the boat, and hurried it off*
to the point, telhng the Samoan women and children
OUE FLIGHT. 57
to be off tliere too. A number of tlie Tanna women
and school-girls of Mrs. Xisbet and Mrs. Tm-ner
came rusliing in at tlie heels of Lahi, crying and
seizing the hands of the ladies, to lead them off to
the point where the women and children of the dis-
trict were all running ready to put to sea ; we let
them go, we felt confidence in the native women who
had come for them, and the Samoan women and
children went with them. Mr. iN^isbet and I deter-
mined to wait on a little till the enemy came up, to
see whether anytliing could be done at the last to
conciliate.
58 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER yill.
OUR RESCUE.
The ladies were hardly out of sight before we felt
that we must follow tliem. We felt concerned for
their safety, and, after telhng the Samoans to stand
by the house as long as they could, Mr. Nisbet and I
hurried off to the point. We found our dear mves
all safe in a native hut, but wet to the skin, their
dresses dripping with sea-water, and a bundle of
dried leaves for a seat. The rain was pouring as
they came along, and the beach road was flooded
with the high tide. The natives would have carried
them, but they made common cause of it, and waded
right through. I had rolled up the bed-clothes, with
a blanket or two, in the moment of flight, and had
thrown them to a little boy to take on to the point.
He was honest enough to do so, and with these we
got our dear wives wrapped up.
It was quite a scene. The women and children,
the old people, the sick, the infirm, and the dying,
were all collected together. The canoes were half
in the water, everything bundled up, and all ready to
push off out to sea at a moment's warning.
But we were no sooner here than we had to be
ofi" again. A messenger came running to say that
Mr. Nisbet and I were to go back, that the chiefs
THE RESCUE. 59
were all assembled at our house, and wished to
speak witli us. What can it be ? Do they wish
to separate us and kill us ? Have they massacred
our servants and teachers ? These and other
thoughts flashed across our minds, but, whatever it
was, we all felt that there was no alternative — we
must go. If they had made up their minds to kill
us, disrespect and opposition would only add fuel
to the flames. If they had any new plan for the
promotion of peace, a refusal to consult with them
would be perilous. So ofi" Mr. Nisbet and I went
with the messenger.
As we came in sight of the house, we saw that it
was surrounded by a black savage crowd, and a
forest of spears. AU were looking and waiting our
approach. We halted about ten yards from the
nearest of them ; saw some strange faces, and feared
it was treachery.
" What do you want ?" we shouted to them.
" Sometliing to take to the enemy, as you pro-
posed in the morning. They are all waiting close by.
Have you anything left in the house, or is all ofi" in
the boat?"
" That is good," we replied, " we have plenty;"
and ofiP we went in among them. • Treachery or
good faith, there was no alternative but to dash
through the crowd of armed, excited savages. As
we threaded our way up to the house, we recognized,
through the paint, the faces of several of our friends,
and, having cleared the crowd unscathed, we felt
that they were still sincere in doing their best to
60 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
protect lis. Our servants, too, were all safe, and
everything inside the house untouched. Some of
the principal chiefs were at our heels, and to them
we gave twenty hatchets, three dozen of knives, two
pieces of print, and a piece of white calico, to take
to the enemy. They were pleased Avith this, and off
the whole party went to the place where the enemy
was waiting.
We made all haste back to the point to show our
dear wives that we were still alive, and to tell them
the good news ; but presently our hopes are dashed
to the ground. We see in the distance the flames
rising, the sure signal that another village is being
burned, and that our people are being driven out.
What can it mean ? Has the present been rejected ?
Or is the enemy determined on having our bodies
next ? We waited on for a time for some messenger
from the scene of strife, but no one came. It was
now about two o'clock. Mrs. Nisbet and Mrs.
Turner were still sitting in this miserable hut. It
seemed doubtful whether anything was to be gained
by remaining among the crowd of women, children,
and sick people ; and so we made up our minds to
return to our house, and not to leave it again, but
to die there, if all human protection failed.
As we were walking home along the beach, we saw
the flames still rising and spreading in the direction
of a village called Manuapen. Soon after, a report
reached us that it was the chief Lamias, who was
lately beaten by our people, who was the cause of
this fresh burning and destruction. Seizing his
OUR EESCUE. Gl
opportunity, he came suddenly down upon our
people at an iinprotected part of tlie district, and
was burning and carrying all before him, just at the
very time they were in another direction in council
with the enemy, trying, on the ground of our pre-
sent, to stipulate for peace.
Night again drew on with its friendly aid to our
wearied bodies and excited minds. As the people
returned at dusk, reports were, conflicting. Some
said there was to be peace, others said there was
nothing in prospect but war. By and by we got
hold of our old friend Kuanuan, and from him we
learned that all was still dark and cheerless. The
present, he said, diverted the enemy from further
fighting for the day, but they gave nothing but the
curt reply, " For this we give up the missionaries,
but now we join Lamias in giving you a beating."
The weather was still stormy, a heavy sea out-
side, and a swell setting into the bay which con-
vinced us that any attempt to escape would still be
fruitless. There was nothing to be done but to
commit ourselves afresh to our heavenly Father's
care, and u-ait the issue of his mysterious but
unerring providence.
By daybreak all was war, confusion, and alarm
again. Kuanuan' s prognostications were but too
true. The attack was in tw^o places, and it was
another sad day of excitement and suspense ; but,
before the sun went down, Grod sent us deliverance.
About two o'clock, a confused shouting and yelling
again burst upon us. I ran to the door, and saw
62 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
the natives coming flying along tlie beacli, and
pointing out to sea. I thouglit we were again in
tlie jaws of destruction, and that this was a signal
for us to flee to our boat. As they came nearer, we
heard that they were calling out, " A ship of war !
a ship of war ! a ship of war come to help us !" I
wheeled round, and there, to be sure, was a vessel
just hove in sight round the point. This was like
life to the dead. I seized the glass, and looked out.
"A large brig standing in." Not a moment was to
be lost. We feared lest she might merely be
cruising, and stand ofi' again. While Mr. Nisbet
got the boat ready, I wrote a letter of distress to
the captain ; and in a few minutes all the hands we
could muster were ofi" paddling with the sail up, and
the fowling-piece loaded to fire and attract attention.
Before sunset the vessel was at anchor ofi" our door,
and the captain on shore with us, assuring us of
every assistance in his power.
It was the brig " Highlander," of Hobart ToT\ai,
Captain Lucas, engaged in whaling. They knew of
our having landed at Tanna, felt curious to know
whether we were dead or alive, and, as they were
cruising in the neighbourhood, thought they would
take a run in and see. Captain Lucas said that
there had been a heavy sea outside for several days,
and that if we had got out that night our boat could
not have hved for an hour in it. Our hearts over-
flowed with gratitude, and we were filled with
amazement at our heavenly Father's wonder-working
care. Captain Lucas let us have five men to help
OUR EESCUE. 63
US in watcliing our premises for tlie niglit, and left
us, to consult with his officers on board as to our
wish to be taken to Samoa.
Before the captain left, in came a deputation
from the chiefs, with a request that we get an armed
party from the vessel to join them on the following
morning in an attack upon the enemy. We replied
by again reminding them of the agreement when we
landed, never to be called upon to join in their wars.
" There is the captain," we said, " if you wish him
to help you, you are at liberty to ask him ; but as
for us, we abide by the agreement — we cannot inter-
fere." They then turned to the captain, and we
interpreted for him. " No, no," said Captain Lucas,
"can't have anything to do with your fighting."
They went away vexed, and half-inclined to be
angry ; but we could not help it.
Leaving the principal part of the watcliing for"
the night to Captain Lucas's men, and having lighter
hearts, we all got a refreshing sleep. ISText morning
was Saturday. The natives mustered again, and
made a fresh onset for an armed party from the
vessel. The enemy had not come near, being afraid
of the vessel ; but our people wished to attack them,
and seek revenge for the burning and destruction of
the previous days. Captain Lucas was soon on shore,
but it was to help tis, not the natives. He again
gave them a positive refusal, and begged them not
to ask him any more.
Captain Lucas proposed to take us all to Sydney
or Hobart Town, but as we numbered nineteen in all
64 NINETEEN YE.UiS IN POLYNESIA.
we feared tlie expense of going to eitlier of the colo-
nies. Besides, Mr. Nisbet and I were desirous of
employing ourselves on missionary ground while
waiting the further instructions of the Directors, and
hence we entreated Captain Lucas to take us to
Samoa. He had no chart upon which he could
depend eastward of the Feejees, and feared the delay
of going so far to windward, but seeing us so anxious
about it, he at last consented to try and take us to
the Samoan group. We drew out an agreement to
give him £200, and arranged to be all ready for him
a little after midnight on Sabbath night, so as to get
all on board before sunrise, and before the natives
could muster to hinder us. We offered the Captain
£50 more if he would let us call at the neio-hbourino^
islands of Aneiteum, Futuna, and ISTiua, on which we
had teachers. But with so many on board, in addi-
tion to his large whaling crew, and baffling winds,
he could not risk the delay. We knew that our
teachers had but lately been ordered to leave Niua ;
at Aneiteum they were also hindered, and in jeopardy
from the disease-makers. At Futuna there was also
opposition ; nay, at that very time, as we afterwards
learned, the whole mission family was massacred by
the Futuna people for the very same reason which
led us to flee from Tanna. We had little hope of
being able to settle anywhere short of Samoa, still
we felt anxious to see for ourselves before leaving
the group. AVe could not, however, urge Captain
Lucas to do more. We felt that it was a great
stretch for liim to undertake what he did.
OUR EESCUE. 65
All day we were liard at work packing up as
quietly as we could. "We left oiu* sitting-room intact
to the last. The natives whispered that we might
perhaps go. Some said No, and thought that we
must wait for our own vessel. Others thought
Captain Lucas would remain with his men to protect
us, but all day no one ventured to ask. They came
and peeped in now and then, and seeing the sitting-
room, mats, tables, books, clock, etc., all as usual,
walked away. By midnight we had all nearly ready,
and rested for the Sabbath-day.
On Sabbath the enemy were still afraid of the
vessel, and did not come near. They kept in the
distance, plundering plantations passed over on the
preceding days, and our people did not do more than
guard the boundary. We had public worship as
usual. At the close of the morning service, I over-
heard the chiefs whispering to each other about
getting help to fight. One said, " Come now, let us
speak about it."
" No," said another, " it will be of no use to
speak to-day ; they won't speak about that on the
Sabbath. Let us pray well to-day, and to-morrow
morning all come again and ask them to help us."
I took no notice of it, but I saw that all fell in
with the wiser proposal to say nothing on the Sab-
bath-day.
At midnight we were all at work again. We had
little to do, but to bundle up what was left to the
last in the sitting-room. By three o'clock we were
all ready. Our chapel, boat-shed, and other out-
66 NINETEEN YEKRS IN POLYNESIA.
houses were crowded with people from the adjacent
villages, who had been burned out, but all were
fast asleep. ^Ye first got the ladies, with the
Satnoan women and children, into our boat and
canoe, and Mr. Nisbet went off with them to the
vessel. This was the signal for Captain Lucas, with
his three boats and twenty men, to start for the
shore. Tbey brought fire-arms with them, but we
imjDlored them not to fire a shot if they could help
it, and, in the event of an attack, rather to rush
to the boats and leave everything of ours behind.
Four or five men walked about with their muskets
shouldered, and the rest carried down the things to
the boats. The natives sleeping in our outhouses
woke up, messengers flew through the district, and,
by daylight, when I left the shore, the natives were
hurrying towards the house from all the settlements.
But before there was time for the chiefs to muster
and deliberate about anything, we were all on board
with everything that we cared about taking with us.
We felt thankful to Captain Lucas and his men for
having managed the affair so well. No resistance
was offered. Every one stared in amazement, and
everything was on board without a gun having been
fired even to intimidate.
Before leaving the beach, I got hold of Kuanuan.
I told him we were going. He was gi^eatly distressed.
Poor old man ! He leaned on my arm and shoulder
and cried like a child. I begged him to assemble
the chiefs, tell them all about it, and then all go on
board the vessel and see us before we sailed. Eleven of
OUR EESCUE. &7
the chiefs soon came off to tlie vessel. They brought a
pig as a peace-offering, and told us how grieved they
were at what had happened. We told them that it
was very grievous to us too — that it was our wish to
live among them till our hairs were gray, to tell
them about Jesus, and to lead them and their chil-
dren in the way to heaven, but that now we were
driven from their shores. Not one said, stay. In-
deed they could not. They said that they expected
to be driven out to sea as soon as the vessel left.
Fangota said he thought of fleeing to Niua, and
begged us to go there. We reminded him that our
teachers there too were opposed by the disease-
makers, and that we had little hope of being able to
settle anywhere, for the present, nearer than Samoa.
AYe promised, however, that they might expect our
vessel to come again, that we would love them still,
and pray for them, and do everything we could to
resume the mission at some future time, if they had
done with their wars and wished to learn the way to
heaven. Kuanuan promised to count tlie days, and
keep up religious services, as well as he could, every
Sabbath, and also on the Wednesday afternoons. We
gave them a letter to hand to the captain of any
vessel which might call, lest it should be thought, from
the deserted house and premises, that we had all been
killed. All was confusion getting the ship ready for
sea, and with feelings which may be more easily
imagined than described, we shook hands and parted.
In the afternoon we weighed anchor, and with
heavy hearts, yet gratefid to God for our miraculous
68 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
preservation and deliverance, we took a farewell look
of our lovely little cottage on that savage shore ;
and thus ended our seven months of missionary life
at Tanna.
The wind was fair for standing eastward, and by
the following morning we were out of sight of the
New Hebrides, and far on our way to Samoa. We
were all worn out with anxiety and fatigue, but had
now time to rest. Our course was through the
Feejee group, and while there we on one occasion
felt in jeopardy. Captain Lucas gave orders to load
all the fire-arms, and prepare for an attack from the
natives. We were all but becalmed, and the Fee-
jeans were coming off in large canoes containing
fifty and a hundred men, armed with clubs, spears,
and muskets. But God sent us a favourable breeze,
which filled our sails and carried us beyond the reach
of the formidable savages. After clearing Feejee we
had a gale which blew our sails to rags, but it soon
passed off, and at the end of four weeks we anchored
in safety at Apia in the Samoan group.
We shall never forget the humane and respectful
bearing of Captain Lucas and all on board. Nor
can we cease to remember the kind reception we met
with at Samoa. We were welcomed with open arms
by Mr. and Mrs. Mills, at Apia, and by all the mis-
sionaries ; and the people of some of the districts vied
with each other in inviting us to be their mission-
aries. We thanked God that he had still some work
for us to do, and, encouraged by his past goodness, we
set out afi^esh on our second stage of missionary life.
COTTAGE Of MESSKS. NISBET AND TUB.NEK AT TANNA, IN 1S42. Page 6S
INTEKIOK Uf A SAMOAN llOUSK.
TAMfA AND THE TANNESE. 69
CHAPTER IX.
TANXA AND THE TANNESE.
Soon after we were driven from Tanna, I drew up a
paper, and forwarded it to the Directors of the
London Missionary Society, giving an account of the
island, as far as our Hmited stay, and equally Hmited
opportunities of observation, extended. The follow-
ing notices embody the principal things stated in
the paper referred to : —
Tanna is a large island, compared with some
others in its neighbourhood, and hence its name
" Tanna sore," or The Great Land. Tanna means
land, and sore, great. Tanna, by the way, is the
Java and the Malay word for land ; and, at the
very outset of inquiry, indicates the origin of the
people. The island of Tanna is situated in 19° 30'
south latitude, and 169" 20' east longitude ; that is
to say, about eight days' sail from Sydney. It is
nearly circular. It stretches from east to west
about forty miles, and from north to south about
thirty-five. There is a high mountain in the centre,
covered with vegetation to the top, and all over the
island there is a considerable variety of hill and dale,
all equally fertile. In one part there is a beautiful
lake, and in another an active volcano.
The island was discovered by Captain Cook in
70 NLNETEEN YE.IES IN POLYNESIA.
1774. He discovered tlie harbour also, the native
name of which is Ilea, and called it, after his ship,
"Port Resolution." It was at one time said that
our missionary brig " Camden" was the fourth
vessel which had anchored at that place, fi^om the
days of Cook ; but it turned out that the said fourth
vessel, from the date of the " Camden " backwards,
was one on board of which the natives learned, for
the first time, that a certain useful functionary was
called the cooh. 'No doubt they concluded that the
said official was in some way related to our great
navigator, and so they called that ship the vessel of
Cook. But they start afresh from tlje cook of the
gaUeij, and count backwards over many a vessel,
until they come to the real Cook, or Kuke
(Cookey), as they call him, of 1774, and there they
stop. That, they say, was the first ship that ever had
intercourse with them. When Captain Cook fired
upon them, they were all sadly afraid, and concluded
that he must be a god. Two died, and five re-
covered from their wounds. We met with one old
man, in particular, who said he well remembered the
time. He was then a boy of ten years of age.
Judging from the appearance of this man, we could
at once infer that old age at Tanna extends to the
" threescore years and ten, and .... fourscore
years."
"Port Resolution" opens to the north, and is
formed by a neck of low land on the east side,
aboundiug in pumice-stone and other volcanic mat-
ter, and on the west by a mountain five hundred
TAJS^NA AiSfD THE TAI«INESE. 71
feet above the level of the sea. The interior of this
mountain is a vast furnace, and in some places the
crust is so thin, that in passing over it, it is like
walking on a hot iron plate. I was travelHng over
it one day, with two of our Samoan natives, who
were unaccustomed to the place. They were before
me. Presently they commenced shouting, and leap-
ing, and skipping on ahead, as if suddenly de-
mented. " Wliatever is the matter?" I said. They
looked round from the cooler spot they had reached,
and said, " Don't you feel it hot ? Ah, you have
sJioes on !" Near the top of this mountain there
is a barren spot, with fissures here and there, from
which volumes of steam burst up now and then,
and also sulphurous vapours. The greater part of
the mountain, however, is covered with vegetation,
and is inhabited by a population of some five hun-
dred people, scattered about in several villages.
They have not the slightest apprehension of danger,
and have their settlements so arranged as to throw
some of the hot places into their marum, or forum,
for public meetings, in the very centre of the village.
There they lounge and enjoy themselves, on a cold
day, froiii the underground heat, and there, too,
they have their night-dances. Around the base of
this mountain, and among the rocks on the west side
of the harbom^, there are several hot springs, which
are of great service to the natives. Their degrees
of heat vary. Some form a pleasant tepid-bath,
and to these the sick resort, especially those suffer-
ing from ulcerous sores. Some rise to 190°, and
72 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
others bubble up about the boiling point. Every
day you may see the women there cooking their
yams, and other vegetables, in hollow places dug
out, and which form a series of never-failing boiling
pots. The men and boys have only to stand on the
rocks, spear their fish, and pitch them behind into
the hot spring.
Beyond this mountain, and about five miles from
the anchorao;e, stands the cone of the volcano. The
black sandy dust and cinders from the crater, form a
barren valley about a mile wide all round the base of
the mountain which forms the crater. In crossing
the valley one day we felt our walking-sticks going
down among something soft, and, on turning round,
found it to be a beautiful bed of sulphur, yellow as
gold. Not far from the same place the fumes of
sulphur were so strong from some fissures, that we
could not go near them. Near the base of the
mountain we found some masses of a clayey sub-
stance, hard, and in some places burning hot. From
cracks here and there, the steam and boiling water
came up as from an immense boiler. But what
most astonished us at this place was a steady drop,
drop, dropping of water, quite cold and clear as
crystal, from a fissure, within a few feet of another
crack, which was sending forth a blast of air so hot
that we could not bear the hand near it for two
seconds. It is the same at the hot springs already
referred to. You can boil yams at one place, and
within five yards of it get a glass of cool fresh
water.
TANNA AND THE TANNESE. 73
The ascent up the mountain to the edge of the
cup is a gradual slope, but the walking is laborious,
as you sink to the ankles at every step in the fine
dark gray dust or sand which has accumulated from
the eruptions of the volcano. The perpendicular
height of the crater from the valley at its base is
almost three hundred feet. When you reach the
edge of the cup, you see that it is oblong, and curved
rather than circular, and about a mile and a-half in
circumference. On reaching the top and looking
over the edge, you expect to see the boiling lava ; but
instead of that, the great cup contains five other
smaller cups, or outlets, separated from each other
by ridges of dark sand. To see the boiling lava,
you would require to go down inside the outer cup,
and then up one of these interior ridges. Were it
solid rock, the attempt might be made, but from the
fragile sandy appearance of these smaller ridges, it
seems as if it would be sure to slip, and down you
go. Then again, you never know the moment there
is to be an eruption, nor do you know fi^om which of
the five outlets it is to come. I felt no inclination
to risk the experiment, which would be something
hke examining the interior of the mouth of a cannon,
not knowing the instant it might go off". You feel
that you are far enough when you stand on the edge
of the outer cup. The hissing, panting, blowing,
and strange unearthly sounds from these great
gulfs, as you look down and along, are fearful,
and presently you are awe- struck with the thunder-
ing, deafening roar of an eruption, which baffles
74 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
description. The simultaneous bm^sting of a number
of steam-engine boilers, or the explosion of a ton of
gunpowder, or the united volley from a regiment or
two of infantry and artillery, might be something
like it. Then up fly the great crimson flakes of
Hquid lava, which gradually blacken, and consolidate,
and descend. More sohd blocks of stone fly up
with these softer masses, and rise far above them, to
a heio'ht of two and three hundred feet from the edo'e
of the cup. The most of this matter falls right down
again into the crater. It sometimes takes a slant,
however, as you see from the masses of obsidian or
volcanic glass and scoria3 all about, so that you re-
quire to have your wits about you, keep a look-out
overhead, and be ready to " stand from under."
Clouds of steam and thick black smoke also rise
with every eruption. This smoke goes, of course,
with the prevailing wind, and the atmosphere for
miles in that direction is charged with the dark
volcanic dust. The volcano was to the west of
where we hved. The first day we had a westerly wind
Mr. Nisbet and I were busy out of doors, putting
up the roof of our house. We felt a strange sensation
about the eyes and nostrils, and could not imagine
what it was which was gathering on our hands and
arms. Presently we discovered that the clouds of
black dust from the volcano were comins: in our
direction, and that the atmosphere was loaded with
the finest dark gray particles. Next morning every
leaf and blade of grass was covered with a thin
coating of something Hke the finest steel fihngs.
TANNA AND THE TAXXESE. /O
Our people were in tlie liabit of praying to tlieir
gods for a change of wind on sucli occasions, and
that, we were told, was pretty much the case all
over the island. Every one, when annoyed with
the smoke and dust, prays that they may be sent
elsewhere. At Port Resolution, we seldom had a
westerly wind, and, as it did not last above a day
or two, we did not suffer much inconvenience from
the volcano ; but that dust must be very troublesome
to settlements in a westerly direction. Captain Cook
speaks of having been annoyed by this volcanic dust.
He did not venture so far inland as to visit the
volcano. The account, however, which he recorded
of the frequency of the eruptions, and their appear-
ance from the harbour, is interesting and useful, as
it is an exact description of the working of the
volcano at the present day. Speaking of the mountain
on the west side of the bay, to which we have referred,
he thus wrote : — " Some of our gentlemen attempted
to ascend a hill at some distance, with an intent of
observing the volcano more distinctly, but they were
obliged to retreat precipitately, the ground under
them being so hot that they might as well have
walked over an oven ; the smell, too, of the air was
intolerably sulphurous, which was occasioned by a
smoke that issued from the fissures of the earth." In
another place he remarks : " On Thursday, the 11th,
during the night, the volcano was very troublesome,
and threw out great quantities of fii^e and smoke,
with a most tremendous noise ; and sometimes we
saw great stones thrown into the air. * « * *
76 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
On the 12tli, the volcano was more furious than
ever, and we were much molested with the ashes.
* * * * rpj^g pain that fell this day was a
mixture of water, sand, and earth ; so that we had,
properly speaking, showers of mire." — (" Cook's
Yoyages," folio edition, p. 168.)
Had we been longer on the island we might
probably have paid a night visit to the volcano ; but
it was a fine sight to look over from our door, on a
calm clear evening, to the brilliant display of fire-
works, which went blazing up every eight or ten
minutes. So far as we observed, that is the usual
interval between the eruptions, night and day. The
native name of the volcano is Asur (Asoor) . They
have a tradition that it came from the neighbouring
island of Aneiteum; and, probably, this may be
founded on some such fact as the extinction of a
volcano on Aneiteum being followed by the outbreak
of this one on Tanna.
But I hasten to the j^eople. Tanna is a field of
no ordinary interest for scientific observation ; but
the business of the missionary is onan. The popu-
lation of the island cannot, I tliink, be less than ten
or twelve thousand. They are under the middle
stature. There are some fine exceptions, but that
is the rule. Their colour is exactly that of an old
copper coin. You see some of them as black as the
New Hollanders, but it is occasioned by dyeing their
bodies a few shades darker than the natm-al colom\
They have less of the negro cast of countenance than
some of the other Papuan tribes we have met with,
TANNA AND THE TANNESE. 77
and if they would only wasli tlie paint off their faces,
and look like men, you might pick out ft'om among
them a company of good-looking fellows. We often
said to each other there is so-and-so, the veiy image
of some old friend or fellow- student.
Red is the favourite colour of paint for the face.
It is a red earth, which they get principally from
Aneiteum. They first oil the face, and then daub
on the dry powder with the thumb. Some of the
chiefs show their rank by an extra coat of the pig-
ment, and have it plastered on as thick as clay.
Black is the sign of m6urning. This they manage
with oil and pounded charcoal. Some make their
faces glisten like the work of a shoe-black. Others
seem as if they had first oiled their faces, and then
dipped them into a bag of soot.
Their hair is frizzled, and often of a light brown
colour, rather than black. The women wear it short,
but have it all laid out in a forest of little erect curls,
about an inch and a-half long. There is something
quite unusual in the way in which the men do up
their hair. They wear it twelve and eighteen inches
long, and have it divided into some six or seven
hundred little locks or tresses. Beginning at the
roots, every one of these is carefully wound round
by the thin rind of a creeping plant, giving it the
appearance of a piece of twine. The ends are left
exposed for about two inches, and oiled and curled.
This curious collection of six hundred locks of hair
is thrown back off the forehead, and hangs down
behind. The httle curled ends are all of equal
NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
lens-tli, and form a semicircle of curls from ear to
ear, or from shoulder to shoulder. Viewed at a
distance, you imagine that the man has got some
strange wig on, made of whip-cords, in some in-
stances coloured black, and in others red ; but, on
closer inspection, you find that it is his natural hair
done up as I have just described. I had the curiosity,
one day, to count the exact number of these little
locks of hair on a young man's head, and found that
they were close upon seven Imndred. The labour in
keeping all these in order is immense, and the only
utility of the thing seems to*be, that it forms a good
thick pad of cords for protecting the head from the
rays of the sun. With the exception of the adjacent
islands of Aneiteum, Niua, and Futuna, I have not
seen or heard of anything like this in any other part
of the Pacific. It reminds one of the Egyptian
Gallery in the British Mu-
seum, and strikingly com-
pares with the illustrations
in recent works on Nine-
veh. Those twisted beards,
also, hanging down in lots
of little curls, two or three
inches below the chin,
which are to be seen in
engravings from the Assy-
rian sculptures, are precisely what is to be seen at
the present day at Tanna, and especially among the
priesthood at Kasurumene, near the Volcano Valley.
I have now open before me p. 403 of the sixth volume
TANNA AND THE TANNESE. 79
of Kitto's "Bible Illustrations." If you imagine
tlie priest there, minus liis fine garments, and with
nothing in his hands but a long wooden spear and
a club, and the addition of a little red paint to his
cheeks and forehead, you have a good idea of some
of the Tanna chiefs at the present day. This sin-
gular custom is worthy of being noticed and noted
by ethnologists. Dr. Livingstone has found some-
thing like it in the interior of Africa. Speaking
of the Banyai, he says : "As they draw out their
hair into small cords, a foot in length, and entwine
the inner bark of a certain tree roimd each separate
cord, and dye the substance of a reddish colour,
many of them put me in mind of the ancient
Egyi^tians."— ("Travels in South Africa," p. 624.)
The Tannese pierce the septum of the nose, and
insert a small piece of wood or reed horizontally,
but not so as to project beyond either nostril.
They are fond of ear-rings also, but not of the
usual tiny trinket description. They must have a
great tortoise-shell article, half an inch wide, and
two, three, or four inches in diameter. Nor are they
content with one of these danghng on each side;
they have half-a-dozen of them sometimes, of various
sizes, in one ear. The weight of such things enlarges
the apertures fearfully : a child's hand might pass
through some of them.
They do not tatoo ; cutting or burning some
rude device of a leaf or a fish on the breast, or upper
part of the arm, are other modes of ornament.
The women are pretty well covered with their
80
NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
are
long girdles, hanging down below the knee. Tliey
wear them occasionally also over the shoulders. They
made from the rolled and dried fibre of the
banana stalk, are very
soft, and at first sight
look like hemp.
But, alas for the
poor so?? .9 of Adam,
their clothing is very
scant ! They wear a
belt round the waist
an inch deep. Instead
of "an apron" of "fig-
leaves," they make a
little bit of matting, or
rag of any kind, suffice. With this they form an ugly-
looking bundle, the receptacle as well of anything
small which happens to come in the way — such as
beads, fish-hooks, or tobacco. The whole is tied
tightly together, by several turns of hair-cord, and
one end pulled up through the belt in front. They
strut about in this disgusting costume, and criticize
the Eromangans and others, as if they thought their
own aesthetics of dress were of the highest order.
All wear some ornament round the neck. Beads
are in repute, and the larger the better. But there
is nothing of which a chief is fonder for a necklace
than three large whale's teeth, on three separate
strings, and dangling horizontally on his breast.
They often tack on to the necklace a few locks of
the hair of a deceased relative.
TANNA A^^D THE TANNESE.
81
Armlets are also common. Tliej are made of tlie
cocoa-nut sliell, in sections of lialf an incli wide, and
rudely cai'^^ed. They wear one, two, three, and
sometimes half a dozen of these on either arm, close
above the elbow, and
from them they sus-
pend their spear-
thrower and sling.
Their weapons are
clubs, bows and ar-
rows, and spears.
They sling a stone,
throw a spear, and
shoot an arrow with
great precision. They
are also expert at
throwing a stone
called a kawas, which
you often see in their
hands. It is about
the length of an
ordinary counting-
house ruler, only twice as thick, and that they throw
with deadly precision when their victim is mthin
twenty yards of them. All the men go about armed.
.When at work in their plantations their arms are
G
82 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
never out of siglit, and at niglit tliey sleep within
reach of their club. Even the httle boys must have
their tiny clubs, and spears, and bows and arrows,
and always go about ready for a quarrel.
At the first glance, one concludes that the Tan-
nese must hve in a state of perpetual war. This is
actually the case. War is the rule, peace the excep-
tion. They were fighting during five out of the
seven months we lived among them, and I should
think that is a fair average of the way in which they
have lived from time immemorial. There is ample
proof there that war is the enemy of civilization and
the element of savao-e life. We were never able to
extend our journeys above four miles from our dwell-
ing. At such distances you come to boundaries
which are never passed, and beyond which the people
speak a difierent dialect. At one of these boundaries
actual war "will be going on ; at another, kidnapping
and cooking each other ; and at another, all may be
peace ; but, by mutual consent, they have no deal-
ings with each other. Their fighting is principally
bush skirmishing ; they rarely come to close hand-
to-hand club fighting. When visiting the volcano
one day, the natives told us about a battle in which
one party which was pursued ran right into the crater,
and there fought for a while on the downward slope
inside the cup ! But few fall in their daily skirmishes.
Many, however, are cut ofi" after lingering for weeks
under fatal wounds.
Wlien the body of an enemy is taken, it is dressed
for the oven, and served up with yams at the next meal.
TAJSTNA AND THE TANNESE. 83
Captain Cook only suspected tliey were cannibals.
There is no doubt about the thing now. They delight
in human flesh, and distribute it in little bits far and
near among their friends, as a delicious morsel. I
recollect talking to a native one day about it, and
trying to fill him with disgust at the custom, but the
attempt was vain. He wound up all with a hearty
laugh at what he no doubt considered my weakness,
and added : " Pig's flesh is very good for you, but
this is the thing for us;" and suiting the action to
the word, he seized his arm with his teeth, and shook
it, as if he were going to take the bit out ! It is
different on some other islands, but at Tanna can-
nibal connoisseurs prefer a black man to a white one.
The latter they say tastes salt! They regard, how-
ever, as "fish" all who come in their way, as the
sequel to massacres of white men there has amply
proved.
In Eastern Polynesia, the rule has been that in a
group of four, seven, or ten islands within sight of
each other, we have found but one dialect, and the
people having a good deal of intercourse, not only
with each other on the same island, but also with the
various islands of the group. They had their quarrels
and their wars, at times, bnt they made up matters
after a while, and went on again in harmony. In
going westward, however, among the Papuan tribes
of the New Hebrides, we found ourselves in a totaUy
different region, all split up into the most hostile
isolation. Take, for example, four of the southerly
islands of the group, \^z., Tanna, Eromanga, Futuna,
84
NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNTESIA.
and Aneiteum, all witliin sight of each other ; we find
a totally different dialect on each, and books which
may be printed for the one will be quite useless to
the other. Even on the same island we find two
and three different dialects. Take, for example, the
numerals of the three dialects which we found on
Tanna alone, as a specimen of the isolation and
differences which prevail : —
1.
Riti . .
. Kaiti . .
Kaliki.
2.
Karu .
. Kaiu . .
Kalalu.
3.
Kahar .
. Kesel. .
Kisisel.
4.
Kefa .
. Kuet . .
Kuas.
5.
Grirum
. Katilum .
. Kiilkiilup
Mr. Nisbet and I hoped that we might eventually
be able to fix upon some one of the dialects of the
island, and make it the basis of our translations and
oral instructions. It was, however, a grievous affair
to find that, on going to a place four miles from our
door, we needed an interpreter to communicate- with
the people. It is worthy of remark, that these dialects
are copious, euphonic, and have some of the niceties
of language ; a triphal as well as a dual in the pro-
nouns, for instance.
We found no such thing as a king or great
chief at Tanna. No Thakombau, Pomare, or Kame-
hameha there. The authority of a Tanna chief does
not seem to extend a gunshot from his own dwelling.
In a settlement, or village, you find eight or ten
famihcs. Their huts are put up, without any rule
TAJ\"NA AND THE TANNESE. 85
or arrangement, among tlie trees ; and in this place,
which has its village name, you may number a popu-
lation of eighty or a hundred. There will be at least
one or two principal men among them, who are called
chiefs. The affairs of this little community are regu-
lated by the chiefs and the heads of families. Six, or
eight, or more, of these villages unite and form what
may be called a district, or county, and all league
together for mutual protection. If a person belong-
ing to one of these villages is injured or killed by the
people of another district, all the villages of his dis-
trict unite in seeking redress, either by a fine or by
war and spoliation.
Every village has a clear circular space under the
shade of a large banian-tree for their marum, or place
of public meeting. Here all the men of the settle-
ment assemble about sundown for a cup of kava and
their evening meal. The kava {Piper methysticum)
is prepared in the usual Polynesian way, by chewing
the root, and ejecting the contents of the mouth into
the " punch-bowl," which, when filled up with water,
mixed, and strained, forms the draught. The women
and girls are " total abstainers" from the nasty cup,
and have their meals apart from the men. At the
evening meal the chief of the village is the high-priest,
and repeats a short prayer to the gods before they
drink, asking health, long life, good crops, and suc-
cess in battle. In the marum they have also their
marriage-feasts. Raw yams and live pigs are served
up on these occasions, as well as cooked food,
and heaps are carried away by the guests. Feasts
86 NINETEEN YEAES IN rOLTNTlSIA.
at the birtli of cliildren, niglit-dances, and meet-
ings to discuss political affairs are all lield in the
marum.
Every village has its orators. In pubhc harangues
these men chant their speeches, and walk about in
peripatetic fashion, from the circumference into the
centre of the marum, laying off their sentences at the
same time with the flourish of a club. By common
consent, from time immemorial, some one of these
seven, ten, or twelve "\dllages which form a district,
takes the lead, and is considered the capital of the
district, and there the different villages all meet and
deliberate on war, or other important matters. In
war two or more of these districts unite. But they
are fickle and faithless in their unions. A district
will be fighting on one side to-day, and off to another
to-morrow.
Polygamy prevails, but not to any great extent,
A chief has seldom more than three wives, and often
only one or two. Women are not allowed to sit with
the men in the marum, except on marriage -feasts or
other pubhc festivals. Owing to the constant demand
on the services of the men for war, a great deal of
the plantation work, cooking, etc., devolves on the
women ; but, upon the whole, we thought the women
better treated at Tanna than they often are among
heathen tribes. Adultery and some other crimes are
kept in check by the fear of club law. The culprit is
never safe, and does not know the moment he may
be pounced upon by the offended party. Revenge,
too, is often sought in the death of the brother, or
TANNA A^^D THE TANNESE. 87
some otlier near relative of tlie culprit. The Tan-
nese are fond of tlieir cliilclren. No infanticide tliere.
They allow them every indulgence, girls as well as
boys. Circumcision is regularly practised about the
seventh year.
Yams, taro, bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane,
and bananas grow in abundance, and form the prin-
cipal food of the people. We found also some other
fruit-trees which are not common to Eastern Poly-
nesia. The most useful of these is the fig-tree. The
fruit is rather insipid, and in colour and form resem-
bles a large plum. The yam is principally cultivated,
and the size of some of them astonished us. We
have seen them four feet in length, and weighing
forty or fifty pounds each. They bestow a great
deal of labour on their yam plantations, and keep
them in fine order. You look over a reed fence, and
there you see ten or twenty mounds of earth, some
of them seven feet high and sixty in circumference.
These are heaps of loose earth without a single stone,
all thrown up by the hand. In the centre they plant
one of the largest yams whole, and round the sides
some smaller ones. The produce, in such yams as I
have described, amply repays them for their labour.
Pigs and fowls, they say, have always been
there ; dogs and cats were but recently introduced.
Captain Cook left them two animals which they
called tangarooah. On showing them the picture of
a kangaroo, they said they believed that was the
very animal. The one died, and the other howled
so pitifully after its mate that they killed it.
88 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
Tlie Tannese have no idols. The banian-tree
forms their sacred grove, or temple, for religious
worship. Here and there in the bush there are par-
ticular stones which are venerated, and have a history
which our limited stay on the island did not enable
us to ascertain. Many points connected with their
cosmogany, and other traditions, we reserved for
further acquaintance with the language, little thinking
that our residence on the island was to be so abruptly
cut short.
Their general name for gods seems to be aremha ;
that means a dead man, and hints ahke at the origin
and nature of their religious worship. The spirits
of their departed ancestors are their gods. Chiefs
who reach an advanced age are after death deified,
addressed by name, and prayed to on various
occasions. They are supposed especially to preside
over the growth of the yams and the different fruit-
trees. The first-fruits are presented to them, and
in doing this they lay a little of the fruit on some
stone, or shelving branch of the tree,' or some more
temporary altar of a few rough sticks from the bush,
lashed together with strips of bark, in the form of a
table with its foiu" feet stuck in the ground. All
being quiet, the chief acts as high-priest, and prays
aloud thus : " Compassionate father ! here is some
food for you ; eat it ; be kind to us on account of
it." And, instead of an amen, all unite in a shout.
This takes place about mid-day, and afterwards
those who are assembled continue together feasting
and dancing till midnight or three in the morning.
TANlSiA AXD THE TAXNESE. 89
A day or two before we left, we found out that
they have the heavens portioned out into constel-
lations. They have the canoe with its outrigger;
the duck, and a man near it with his bow drawn,
and taking his aim ; the cooking-house tongs ; the
company of little children all sitting eating, and
many other objects. These constellations form their
astronomical clock, and by looking up they can tell
you whether it is near morning or midnight. Then
they have their traditions as to how these canoes,
and ducks, and children got up to the heavens ; but
the minutiae as to their sidereal notions and nomen-
clature can only be ascertained by a lengthened
residence on the island.
The real gods at Tanna may be said to be the
disease-makers. It is surprising how these men are
dreaded, and how firm the belief is that they have in
their hands the power of hfe and death. There are
rain-makers and thunder-makers, and fly and mus-
quito-makers, and a host of other " sacred men,"
but the disease-makers are the most dreaded. It is
believed that these men can create disease and death
by burning what is called nahaJc. ISTahak means
rubbish, but principally refuse of food. Everything
of the kind they bury or throw into the sea, lest the
disease-makers should get hold of it. These fellows
are always about, and consider it their special busi-
ness to pick up and bm^n, with certain formalities,
anything in the nahak line which comes in their
way. If a disease-maker sees the skin of a banana,
for instance, he picks it up, wraps it in a leaf, and
90 NINETEEN TEAES IN TOLYNESIA. .
wears it all day hanging round his neck. The people
stare as they see him go along, and say to each
other, " He has got something ; he will do for some-
body by and by at night." In the evening he
scrapes some bark off a tree, mixes it up with the
banana skin, rolls all up tightly in a leaf in the form
of a cigar, and then puts the one end close enough
to the fire to cause it to singe, and smoulder, and
burn away very gradually. Presently he hears a
shell blowing. " There, '^ he says to his friends,
" there it is ; that is the man whose rubbish I am
now burning, he is ill ; let us stop burning, and see
what they bring in the morning."
AYhen a person is taken ill, he believes that it is
occasioned by some one burning his rubbish. In-
stead of thinking about medicine, he calls some one
to blow a shell, a large conch or other shell, which,
when perforated and blown, can be heard two or
three miles off. The meaning of it is to implore the
person who is supposed to be burning the sick man's
rul)bish and causing all the pain, to stop burning ;
and it is a promise as well that a present will be
taken in the morning. The greater the pain the
more they blow the shell, and when the pain abates
they cease, supposing that the disease-maker has
been kind enough to stop b mining. Then the finends
of the sick man arrange about a present to take in
the morning. Pigs, mats, knives, hatchets, beads,
whales' teeth, etc., are the sort of things taken.
Some of the disease-making craft are always ready
to receive the presents, and to assure the party that
TANNA AND THE T.\XXESE. 91
they will do their best to prevent the rubbish being
again burned. If the poor man has another attack
at night, he thinks the nahak is again burning ; the
shell is again blown, other presents taken, and so
they go on. " All that a man hath will he give for
his life," and if he dies, his friends lay it all down to
the disease-makers, as not being pleased with the
presents taken, and as having burned the rubbish to
the end. The idea is, that whenever it is all burned
the person dies. Night after night might be heard
the dismal too-too-tooing of these shells. We ob-
served, also, that the belief in the system of nahak
burning was as firm in the craft as out of it. If
a disease-maker was ill himself, he felt sm'e that
some one must be burning his nahak. He, too,
must have a shell blown, and presents sent to the
party supposed to be causing the mischief.
Some of our kind neighbours were surprised at
oiQ' indifference on the matter, and felt so concerned
for our safety that whenever they saw a banana skin
lying at oiu" back-door, or about the servants' houses,
they would pick it up, take it away, and tlu'ow it
into the sea, lest the disease-makers should get hold
of it. We were told that the craft repeatedly picked
up things about our house, and tried their hand at
the burning of them, but never could succeed. They
declare, however, to this day, that they killed one of
our Samoan teachers by burning his nahak.
Coughs, influenza, dysentery, and some skin dis-
eases, the Tannese attribute to their intercourse with
white men, and call them foveujn things. Wlien a
§2 NINETEEN YEXRS IN POLYNESIA.
person is said to be ill, the next question is, " WTiat
is the matter? Is it nahak or a foreign thing?"
The opinion there is universal, that they have had
tenfold more of disease and death since they had
intercourse with sliips than they had before. We
thouo-ht at first it was prejudice and fault-finding,
but the reply of the more honest and thoughtful of
the natives invariably \vas : "It is quite true.
Formerly people here never died till they were old,
but now-a-days there is no end to this influenza, and
coughing, and death."
The sick are kindly attended to to the last.
Local bleeding is a common remedy for almost eveiy
complaint; they do not open a vein, but merely
make a few incisions with a bamboo-knife. When
the case is considered dangerous, their last resort is
to bimi the foot. I have seen, for instance, a poor
fellow dying from an arrow- wound in the neck, and
the sole of his foot just burned to a mass of raw
flesh. Unconsciousness, or any other symptom of
approaching death, is the signal to commence
wailing. When the patient lingers for days, the
wailing becomes a tearless, formal affair. You may
tell them that to the sufferer it is the very reverse of
the kindness which they mean to express, and out
of deference to you they may stop their dismal,
deafening wail ; but, as soon as your back is turned,
they are at it again. At death it is increased by
other friends who gather round. The body is then
laid out, wrapped in a piece of thick native cloth,
something hke tanned leather, made from the bark
TANNA A^^D THE TAXNESE. 93
of the banian-tree. The face is kept exposed and
painted red, and on the following day the grave is
dug, and the body bui'ied amid the weeping and
waihng of the surrounding friends. The grave is
dug four or five feet deep ; then they hollow out
a recess on the one side sufficient to admit the
body, and there they lay it in the side of ihe pit.
There is something peculiar in this, and strikingly
illustrative of that obscure reference, in the book of
Ezekiel, to "the sides of the pit." (Ezek. xxxii. 23.)
It is in general difficult to trace the origin of the
customs practised by a heathen people. To this,
however, we have a melancholy exception in the
recent introduction to Tanna of a species of
sutteeism. On the neighbouring island of Aneiteum,
it was common, on the death of a chief, to stransrle
his wives, that they might accompany him to the
regions of the departed. The custom has been
found in various parts of the Pacific. The poor
deluded woman rejoices in it, if she has any affection
for her husband, and not only shows us the strength
of her attachment, but also her firm belief in the
reahty of a future state. An old chief will say as he
is dying, "Now, who will go with me r" and imme-
diately one and another will reply, " I will." On
the island of Aneiteum this revolting custom has
entirely fled before the light of Christianity. By
the common consent of the chiefs and people all
over the island it is strictly forbidden, but, strange
to say, it has found a refuge and a resting-place still
in the group on poor heathen Tanna. A few years
94 NINETEEN YEAIiS IM TOLYNESIA.
ago tliey commenced there to strangle the wives of
a departed chief, and the custom is said to be
spreading over the island; another proof of the
the tendency of heathenism. Its tendency is down-
wards, never upwards; its development is the in-
crease of human wi^etchedness. The dark places of
the earth are now, as they have ever been, full of
the habitations of cruelty ; the light of the gospel is
the remedy. Thanks be to the God of missions,
his servants are again on Tanna ; the light of
Divine truth again shines in that dark land, and is
destined to wax brighter and brighter to the perfect
day of Christianity, when war and bloodshed, can-
nibalism and sutteeism, and every form of Satanic
influence shall hide their heads as ashamed. We
speak because we believe ; we believe because we
have seen how gloriously the gospel of Jesus
triumphs when fully and prayerfully brought to bear
upon heathenism of whatever name or form.
SAMOA. 95
CHAPTER X.
SAMOA — POSITION EARLY VISITORS^SUCCESSFUL
INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY.
Samoa is the native name of the group of volcanic
islands in Central Polynesia, commonly known as tlie
"Navigators." They are situated about 3000 miles
from Sydney, and may be seen on the chart between
the parallels of IS'' and 15° south latitude, and 168°
and 173° west longitude. The mountains of Savaii,
one of which is 4000 feet high, may be seen 50
miles off, and, on coming near, the stranger finds
a lovely island, 150 miles in circumference, and
covered with vegetation as far as the eye can reach.
The mountains of Upolu and Tutuila rise 2000 and
3000 feet above the level of the sea, and present
the same aspect of richness and fertility. These are
the principal islands in the group. They run east
and west. UjdoIu, 130 miles in circumference, is in
the middle, having Savaii 10 miles to the west, and
Tutuila, an island 80 miles in circumference, about
40 miles to the east. There are several smaller
islands, which are inhabited, and several other
isolated romantic spots here and there, which are
not inhabited.
Upolu is almost entirely surrounded by barrier
reefs ; those wonderful submarine walls, or break-
96 NINETEEN TEAES IN TOLTNESIA.
waters, built up to the level of the sea, and forming
a lovely smooth lagoon, invaluable for fishing and
facilitating all kinds of intercommunication between
the settlements.* The distance between the shore
and the reef varies from thirty feet to three or four
miles. In some places the lagoons are shallow, and
* There is a popular error abroad about coral reefs, whicb. we
have repeatedly seen, and of which the following is a specimen
from a London periodical of last year : — " Imagine that you and I
are saiKng in a vessel upon the South Seas. How beautifully
we glide along ! The vessel skims the ocean like a swan. But
what is that yonder, rising above the billows like a painted
highland ? Now it sparkles in the rays of the sun like a rock
of silver, and now it assumes different colours, variegated in the
most charming manner. Red, golden, silvery hues, all blend
together in delightful richness. Nearer and nearer we come to
the attractive object, all the while appearing more beautiful and
brilliant than the Crystal Palace, when, lo ! we discover it is the
splendid work of insects so small that we cannot see them with
the naked eye. Yes, the little coral insect threw up those
many-coloui"ed reefs, a little at a time, until we have this magni-
ficent sight. And just over there, beyond that line of reefs, you
see that little island covered with tall palm-trees, so green and
slender."
This is all imaginary. There is no such thing to be seen
rising up out of the sea, for the simple reason, that the lirae-
secreting coral insect cannot work out of the water. When it
comes to the surface of the ocean it stops building ; hence the
reefs are all covered by the sea, and the surf breaking over them.
When a little bit happens to be exposed, on a calm day, at low
water, it presents none of that Crystal Palace grandeur, but
a dirty, muddy appearance rather, from the fragments of sea-
weed, drift-wood, and all sorts of rubbish which collect upon
it. But ill sailing along in a boat in the lagoon, between the
reef and the shore, some lovely beds of living coral may be
seen ten and twenty feet clovm heloiv the surface of the water,
and there the said " red, golden, and silvery hues all blend
together in delightful richness."
SAMOA. 97
require tlie rise of tlie tide to allow a canoe to pass
along ; in other places, and particularly where there
are openings in the reef, they are ten and twenty
fathoms deep, and afford good anchorage to ships.
The rivers are neither numerous nor large, but there
is no lack of fresh water. It springs up in abundance
in many parts of the interior, and along the coast.
The natives, who number 35,000, are of pure
Malayan origin. Hardly a vestige is to be seen
among them of the crisped and woolly-haired dark
brown Papuans, or Western Polynesian negroes. But
as the physical characteristics and language* of
Central and Eastern Polynesia are well known, I
pass on to other matters.
The Dutch " three-ship expedition," under Rog-
gewein, in 1772, seems to have been the first to
notice these islands. Then followed the French
navigators, Bougainville and La Perouse, the former
in 1768 and the latter in 1787. Bougainville, see-
ing the natives move about so much in canoes, gave
the group the name of the " Isles of the Navi-
gators." Captain Cook heard of them, in 1773,
from the Tongans, noted some of their names,
and, in 1791, they were visited by H. B. M. ship
" Pandora."
The massacre, at Tutuila, of M. de Langle and
* My brother missionary, Mr. Pratt, has a grammar and
vocabulary of the Samoan dialect in progress, which I hope will
be carried through the press in the islands in the course of the
year. The different kinds of native poetry will also be noticed.
As soon as printed, copies will be forwarded to the Mission House,
in Bloomfield Street, where it may be had.
H
98 NINETEEN YEATvS IN POLYNESIA.
others, belonging to tlie expedition under the unfor-
tunate La Perouse, branded the whole group for
fifty years as a race of treacherous savages, whose
shores ought not to be approached. Had the native
version of the tale been known, it would have consi-
derably modified the accounts which were published
in the Voyages of La Perouse. The origin of the
quarrel was not with the party who went on shore
in the boats. A native, who was out at the ship,
was roughly dealt with, for some real or supposed
case of pilfering. The poor fellow was shot at, and
mortally wounded, and, when taken on shore bleed-
ing and dying, his enraged companions roused all
who were on the spot to seek instant revenge. Hence
the deadly attack on the party in the boats at the
beach, in which the stones flew like bullets from a
steam-gun, and which ended in the death of M.
de Langle, his brother oflicer, and ten of the crew.
The natives wound up the bodies of the French-
men in native cloth, and decently buried them, as
they do their own people. The only inference, pro-
bably, which ought to have been drawn from this
tragic occurrence was, that heathen natives have a
keen sense of justice, and that if men will go upon
the disproportionate principle of a life for a tooth,
and shoot a man for a perfect trifle, they must abide
by the consequences. It is certain to be avenged,
and, alas ! it is often the case that vengeance falls
not on the guilty, but on some unsuspecting visitor
who may subsequently foUow.
For the next half century the group was dreaded ;
f'lw^l^l'ifl*^^
■^^\5ir-^ 'T (i
SAMOA. 99
but when our missionaries, Williams and Barff,
arrived witli Taliitian teachers, in 1830, they were
delighted to find the people quite friendly. There
was something remarkably providential in the time
when these good men first visited the people, and
in several other circumstances connected with the
commencement of the mission. It was a crisis in
Samoan history, Tamafainga, who was supposed
to have within him the spirit of one of the principal
war gods, had just been killed. He had not de-
scended from any of the roi/al families of Samoa,
but the supposition that he could rule the destinies
of war raised him high in the scale of political
influence. The principal titles of the two large
islands had been given to him, and in pride and
profligacy he had become a pest and a proverb. A
plot was laid for him one night, when he was far
from home. Some village coquettes threw him ofi*
his guard by their flatteries. Presently he found that
the house was surrounded by a band of desperadoes.
He rushed through them into the sea, and escaped
the first onset ; but he was pursued, caught, over-
powered, and clubbed to death. All are of opinion,
that if this fellow had been alive, he would have been
a perfect Nero in opposing the new religion. Before
any other daring upstart had time to concoct a
scheme for political influence, by declaring that he
had the spirit of the god which dwelt in Tamafainga,
the missionaries arrived. They had picked up an
influential Samoan at Tonga, who not only piloted
them to the very spot best suited to begin the work,
100 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
but wliose glowing description of tlie value of Cliris-
tianity, from what he had seen of it at Tonga, com-
bined with the bland and kind bearing of Messrs.
"Williams and Barff, won the entire confidence of the
people. War was raging to avenge the death of
Tamafainga ; but the wish of the chiefs and people
seemed so cordial to receive their new instructors,
that the missionaries had no hesitation in locating at
once in the settlement of the chief Malietoa, on
Savaii, eight teachers from the Tahitian Islands.
Malietoa was now the principal leader of the tribes
who had acknowledged Tamafainga as their head.
Subsequently he inherited all his political titles, and
to the close of his life, in 1840, was faithful to his
original pledge to Messrs. Williams and Barff, to be
the friend of Christian missionaries and teachers.
SAMOA EARLY HINDEANCES TO CHEISTIANITY. 101
CHAPTER XI.
SAMOA EAELY HINDEANCES TO CHEISTIANITY.
It must not be supposed tliat Satan gave np his
dominion in Samoa without a struggle. In Front's
Life of Wilhams (page 372), the following is the
description of a scene in which the Christian party
felt obliged to arm and prepare to resist the heathen
party in an avowed attempt to drive Christianity
from the land : " The people expected every moment
the furious onset of the enemy. All the warriors
of the district were clad in the wild military costume
of the country, and were armed, some with clubs,
others with bows, and others with slings and spears,
and, while thus presenting to the eye a spectacle the
most alien from the design of Christianity, and not
unfrequently expressing, in their tone and gesture,
the untamed ferocity of their natures, they shouted,
or knelt before the Lord in the attitude of devo-
tion. But, most unexpectedly, their foes did not
appear; and, on the following morning, it was
announced that the heathen forces had suddenly
dispersed."
This occurred within a few miles of the place
where the teachers were first located by Messrs.
Williams and Barff, and reminds me of a similar
instance of heathen opposition in another part of the
102 NINETEEN YEAES IX POLYNESIA.
group. The heathen party forbad the beating of the
native wooden drum, the common substitute for a
church belL They said it made the gods angry.
The Christian party refused; they knew what the
issue would be if they yielded. They still beat the
drum, as usual, to call the people to worship. One
night the heathen party came, stole the drum from
the side of the teachers' house, and threw it away
in the bush. The Christian party quietly sought for
it, and In'ought it back. This was repeated. Then
the heathen party declared war. The day came ; the
Christian party armed too, and were all engaged in
united prayer, when the shout for battle burst upon
them. They started to their feet, and were presently
face to face with their painted savage enemies. Guns
were presented, triggers drawn — the powder flashed
in the pan, but not a gun would go off. They raised
their clubs, but not a man had courage to rush and
strike his blow. Spears were poised, but not one
thrown. It was the same with the guns of the
Christian party ; they would not go off, and not a
man struck a blow or threw a spear. The people
felt confounded, wished to fight, and could not.
The teachers were at hand ; rushed in between the
parties ; all Hstened, sat down, were astonished at
" the power of God in shutting the mouths of their
guns, and in making their clubs and spears useless,"
had a friendly conference, agreed to live at peace
with each other, and dispersed. It was a complete
victory on the side of Christianity. Day after day
the teachers had fresh converts from heathenism,
SAMOA EAELY HIXDE.\XCES TO CHRISTL\XITY. 103
and soon there were none left in tliat district, but a
few harmless, uninfluential obstinates.
These instances of violent hindrance from liea-
thenism died away. The God of the " men who had
burst through the heavens" began to be feared. Of
old the Samoans thought the heavens ended at the
horizon, and hence the name which they give, to this
day, to the white men, viz., impdlangi, or heaven-
bursters. The ships, the masts, tlie sails, the boats,
the calico, the hatchets, the trinkets, and a host of
other things, gave the natives high ideas of the white
man's God. Opposition, however, was not at an
end. Satan tried another scheme. The news soon
spread, among the whaling and other vessels in the
Pacific, that there were Christian teachers on Samoa,
and that the natives were friendly. On the faith of
this, white men soon ventured on shore in various
places, and took up their abode among the people.
A chief thought it added vastly to his importance to
have a white man in his train, and thinking that the
reli2:ion of white men must be all the same, and that
any one could set it up, he would urge his adopted
white son to be the high-priest of his family and
district. The white men made the attempt, and
seeing that the thing was popular, carried it on. In
some rare case there might be a man like " John
Adams" among the Pitcairn Islanders, who had a
Bible, and tried to tell them some of its great truths ;
but, in most instances, it was hardly a step in
advance of heathenism. The privilege of eating
several kinds of fish and fowl which had been
104 NINETEEN YE.IES IN POLYNESIA.
regarded as tlie incarnations of miscliievous spirits,
and tlie thought of haA-ing a more powerful Grod
who could give longer life, were grand ideas to a
Samoan, and made many, day after day, join the
white man's religion. He told them, too, that the
Tahitian missionary teachers were too strict, and
that polygamy, night-dances, and other inseparables
of heathenism, were quite harmless ; and this, of
course, made his system for a time all the more
popular. A native, w^ho was a follower of one of
them, and w^ho distinctly remembers the doings of
runaway sailors in these days, thus wrote, in giving
me an account of his early history : —
" The new religion was spreading in our village.
One and another joined, eat the incarnations of the
spirits, no harm followed, and so I determined to
join. The sea-eel and the sea-spider (common
Octopus) were the incarnations of the gods to whom
our family prayed. I procured one of each. I then
sent to inquire whether I was to join first, or eat the
fish first. The reply was, that I was to join first.
I went immediately to the white man's house — he
was said to be a Portuguese. I told him I had come
to say that I was now of his religion, and would
henceforth worship his Grod. After this, I cooked
and eat a piece of the eel and the sea- spider. Night
came on, and there I lay, feeling whether any disease
was commencing. The night passed, and the follow-
ing day, and other days ; I felt quite well, and so
concluded that the white man's God was more
powerful than the gods of Samoa. Our great time
SAMOA EAELY HINDEA^^CES TO CHEISTIAXITY. 105
for worship was once a year. It was about tlie
montli of May. Every day, during a whole month,
we met with the white man. He sang, and we tried
to catch his words and follow him ; but it was in a
foreign language. He read from a foreign book ; we
did not know a word of it. AYe all bowed doT^Ti on
our knees, and he did the same, and prayed for a
few seconds, all still in an unknown tongue. That
was all we did. The whole month was a time of
feasting and night-dancing, '\AQien the month was
over, we separated, and went to our respective
villages. There was nothing forbidden ; plurality of
wives, and other heathen customs, remained as they
were. JSTothing was required but to meet together,
for a month in the year, for worship, feasting, and
fun. I never prayed at home, merely when we met
once a year. I contented myself with the thought
that I was of the white man's religion, and under
the protection of the white man's God. T^Tien any
of us were sick, he came and prayed for recovery."
An Enghshman, in another district, carried on in
a similar way. He had a weekly Sabbath, got a
chapel built for worship, read from a foreign book,
sang, prayed, and made an attempt at telling the
natives, in their own tongue, what they now recog-
nize as Bible stories. Once a year he summoned all
his adherents, who were numerous and widely scat-
tered. Some of them came distances of forty miles.
They took quantities of food with them ; all met,
had a great feast, and, on this occasion, there was a
special religious service, which was no doubt meant
106 NINETEEN YEAES IN TOLTNESIA.
to be tlie observance of the Lord's Supper. Only
the chiefs and heads of famihes and their wives
were admitted to this. They knew not what it
meant, but, from their description of httle bits of
taro, and a sip of cocoa-nut water, it is evident that
it was an attempt at the holy communion. Then
they separated, and the more distant never thought
more of the religion until the next annual gather-
ing and feast. There was nothing forbidden. They
might have night-dances, and live as they pleased, as
their leader himself countenanced balls and all sorts
of revelry.
The spirit-worship of heathenism, as we have
already remarked, had become unpopular — it was all
the fashion to have a foreign religion, and any
worthless upstart, whether white, brown, or black,
was sure to get a number of followers. I might add
several other illustrations, but will only give one more.
A Samoan, who had been away for a year or two on
board a whale-ship, and visited some foreign ports,
at length returned, and he, too, must set up his
foreign religion. Although further from the truth
than ever, this fellow got a surprising number of
adherents. He would stand up with an English
book before his face, pretend to be reading, mutter
off some unintelhgible jargon, talk a little on any
subject, and pray, naming the " God of heaven."
By and by, he and his party made out that they had
the Son of God among them, dweUing in the body of
an old woman, and that, whenever she pleased, she
could tell them the true mind and sayings of Jesus
SAMOA EARLY HINDEANCES TO CHEISTLYXITY. 107
Christ, or " Seesoo Alaisali," as she called him. She
gave out that Christ came in person to her house
from the bush after dark, and that all the sick were
to come and be touched bv him, and made whole.
This wonderful touching Avas done at night, and in
the darh I A curtain of native cloth was strung up,
partitioning off a corner of the house. The patient
came, sat down on the one side of the curtain, and
presently a cold hand came over the top of it, and
touched his head, or breast, or limb, as the disease
might be. The hoax was carried on by the old
lady's sister, as it afterwards came out. There
were, of course, many wonderful cures, and then
there was such a rush from all parts of the group to
be touched !
After a time the said old lady declared that the
" last day" was at hand, and ordered all to prepare
for the coming of Christ. All were to go and weed
about the graves, as the dead were to be raised, and
would like to see all tidy. The taro plants were to
be plucked up and thrown away, bananas were to be
destroyed, and the pigs to be killed and cooked.
Food, she said, would be no longer needed. Jesus
Christ, when he came, would go about and burn up
everything, and then abundance of food would be
sent down from heaven for them. The poor, cre-
dulous dupes believed it all. The women and
children went to weed about the graves, the men to
root up the taro plants and kill and cook the pigs.
There were heaps upon heaps of food prepared. The
feast was over, and then came the day for the appear-
108 NINETEEN YE.iES IN POLYNESIA.
ance of tlie Son of Grocl. He was to come walking
in from tlie sea on the top of the waves. By early
dawn the excited gathering, from all parts, were out
of doors, and every eye on the stretch. Some were
fear-stricken, others were apprehensive, others more
inclined to fun and frolic, and there they sat the
livelong day gazing out to sea, but nothing was to
be seen beyond the ordinary spray on the reef, and
the occasional leap of a fish. Towards evening a
report was passed fi'om group to group that it was
to be " to-moiT02i\" " To-morrow," said the old
lady, gravely, " Seesoo Alaisah will come." To-
morrow came, but the gulled expectants found all at
sundown just as the day before. The old lady still
kept her dignity. " Christ wished them to w^ait
iJiree days," was the next response. The third day
came, and the fourth, all the same, of course ; and
now said her ladyship, " I'll tell you how it is :
Jesus Christ is offended with this rabble who have
come to look, and laugh, and joke. He is angry.
He will not come oimv, but he says he will come some
other day, just when it pleases him." Chagrined,
but still believing, the deluded people set to work
afresh to replant their taro joatches, thinking that
food, after all, miglit be of use for some years to
come. By and by death stepped in — the great en-
hghtener of this, and all kindred fraternities based
on deceit or delusion — our Samoan Joanna Southcott
died. The bubble burst. The persistency of a few,
however, led them to catch at the evaporating frag-
ments, and, to this day, there are some who still
SAMOA EARLY HINDEANCES TO CHRISTIANITY. 109
maintain tliat tlieir semi-lieathenism is the true
religion.
As these systems allowed free indulgence to all
heathen immoralities, they were more popular with
many than the religion of the Bible, which the
Tahitian teachers, left by the missionaries, attempted
to teach. Many were contented with anything that
allowed sin, and did not require a change of heart
and life. They did not like to be called lieatlien,
and wished to be able to say to a Christian teacher,
or a friend who niio-ht warn them of their danger,
" Don't speak to me. I have got Ou foreign religion
as well as you. Mine is as good as yours. Attend
to your own soul, I am attending to mine."
When the six missionaries, sent out by the
London Missionary Society to take up the work so
happily commenced by Messrs Williams and Barif,
arrived in 1836, the white men, to whom we have
referred, gave place to the accredited teachers of the
group. To this day, however, some of the people
are still led on, by native religious pretenders, into
all sorts of extravagances and absurdities, the blind
literally leading the blind, and both, when they die,
falling into the ditch — a feature of poor, corrupt,
sin-loving humanity which, alas, is not peculiar
to Samoa. Still, notwithstanding all hindrances,
glorious changes have been effected, and the good
work goes on. Samoa, too, instead of being shut
out from civilized man, now contributes her quota to
the commercial world in the annual export of cocoa-
nut oil, amounting to about £20,000, and imports
10
NINKTI'IKN VI';AI(.S IN I'OLVN I'lSI A,
aiiiiii.'illy, IVoiii tJio miuiiilUcl-iii'oH of .l<]i)^liui(l iiiid
Aiti('i-ic;i, lo Uh! jiirioimt of ii|)W!ir(lH or.£))0,()()0.
Tli(i sliiir of iiiissi()ii;ii'i('S vvliicli our S()(;i(5l.y (>,ii-
(IcTVonrs lo keep up :iJ, pi'(^seiit, in IJk; ^j^'roiip is l,(!n.
'IMie iiiiiiiliei- of ii;iJiv(! 1,eii,eli(U'H is LII2, vvlio ocA'Aipy
Mild l-;ike IIk^ (,ivei'si;^lii> <>l' iis ttiiiiiy villii.;^(!M. The
;i;^'';^i'e^jiie ol' our cliiirc^li iii(5inl)(!i'H iH 27*JH, and of
(•;i,ii(li(l;i,tes lor (;liiir(;li (ell()wslii[), 28^)2. For tlio
siijtpoii of IIk^ vill;i|^(! piislors ;ui(l i(!aoli(;rs, ilio
preweiil, :iiiiiii:iJ cojil-rihiil-ioii ol" I, lie people is C^GO,
iiiid ((» Mie riiiids of iJie lioii(loi) Mission;i,ry S()(;iofcy,
C(»-"»0; ill ;iJl (j I 2 I 0, vvlii(^li our S:i.iiio:i,iis voluntarily
(;oiil-ril)iil.e p(^i' luiiiiiiii for llu! siipporl- ol" tlio cause
or(^)(i.
LABOUUS A'L' SAF.Vl'A. Ill
CTTAPTER XTT.
LABOUIJS AT SAKA'I'A.
On reachiii^L;' Samoa, after escaping* from 'raima, 1
felt the advaiitap^es of having ])reviously spent nine
months in the group. I had visited most o\' (he
stations, acqmred the language, become t'amihai'
Avitli the phins of (he missiouaries, and was some-
Avhat prepared to enter at. once upon all i\\v duties
of missionary life.
Tlie news of our arrival soon spread, and among
the lirst. indications of it was (he appearance one
morning of a |);»rty of chiefs and peopU' from one of
the districts with a present, and *•' a call " i\)\- me to
go and be their missionary. 1 (hanked them, l-ut
could oidy assm'c them that their Avisli wonhl bo
duly considered at a meeting of the missionaries
Avhich Avas abont to be held. 'V\\c meeting was
held. Mr. Nisbet and I were I'cceived with an over-
flow of brotherly kindness by ;ill (he missionaries,
and had districts assigned us in which U) commence
missionary labour in connection \vi(li (lie Sanioan
mission.
Subsequently ^ve had a kind letter from the
Directors in London, iidbrming us (hat, on (ho
receipt of our letters giving an account of our
escape from Tanna, they recoi'ded the foll(»wing reso-
112 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
liition : " That tlie Directors receive, witli feelings of
affectionate sympathy, the intelHgence of the suffer-
ingfs and dano-ers of their devoted missionaries, Messrs.
Msbet and Tm-ner, on the iskind of Tanna, from the
determined hostihty of the barbarous people ; and
they devoutly record tlieir gratitude to God, whose
gracious providence was so signally displayed in
their rescue from impending death, by the arrival
of a vessel in which they were conveyed, together
with the native teachers, to the Navigators."
Dr. Tidman further added : " We feel sincere
pleasure in expressing our entire approbation of
your conduct, not only in reference to the measures
pursued from the time of your arrival at Tanna,
with a view to carrying out your important mission,
but also throughout that long season of fearful
suspense, and alarm, and peril which preceded your
j)ro^4dential deHverance As there is no early
prospect of renewing operations at the JN^ew Hebrides,
at least by European agency, we shall now regard
you as identified with the Samoan mission."
It was with much reluctance that we gave up the
ISTew Hebrides, but the path of duty seemed plain ;
and as there was plenty to do, we settled down in
earnest to our work as Samoan missionaries.
I was appointed to a district on the south side
of Upolu, containing sixteen villages, scattered along
the coast about twenty miles, and embracing a popu-
lation of three thousand. All the ordinary organiza-
tions of missionary labour had been commenced,
such as week-day and Sunday schools, Sabbath
LABOURS AT SAFATA^ 113
services, weekly meetings for prayer and exhortation ;
a cliurch too had been formed, and every village was
under the care of a teacher, who was authorized to
preach. I took up my abode in the centre of the
district. Daily attendance at the children's school,
a class in the afternoon for the young men, who were
ashamed to rank among the children ; a weekly
lectm^e in some part of the district; a day spent
entirely with my teachers and preachers ; a prayer-
meeting on Saturday afternoon ; preaching three
times, visiting the Sabbath-school, and riding, on an
average, eight miles every Sabbath ; a meeting of the
church members for prayer and exhortation once a
month ; the administration of the Lord's Supper on
the first Sabbath of the month ; and a monthly mis-
sionary prayer-meeting ; — these were among my prin-
cipal duties during my first year of missionary life in
Samoa. Mrs. Turner had a meeting once a week
with the women of the district, took a class at the
Sunday-school, and had also a daily class of girls.
Whether I would or not, I was obliged to turn
out " Graham's Domestic Medicine," and become
head doctor of the district. Day after day I had
twenty, thirty, or fifty calls for advice and medicine.
I appointed an hour, morning and afternoon, for the
purpose, and, by making a small charge of something
useful to the servants, such as a hank of cinet, or a
few taro roots, for a dose of medicine, I was able to
keep the rush and inconvenience within bounds. A
little surgical knowledge which I had picked up fi:'om
a session at the anatomy class in the Andersonian
I
114 NINETJiEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
University of Glasgow, was all of service ; I only
wished that it had been more. One gets cut and
mangled in a quarrel, another falls from a tree, a
third has his leg nearly bitten off by a shark, and
when such poor sufferers are carried and laid at your
door by their distressed friends you 7nust do some-
thing. I often wished, also, that I had attended to
obstetric practice before leaving home, and would
strongly advise all young men preparing for mission-
ary work among a heathen people, to devote a year
or two at least almost exclusively to such matters.
On one occasion I got some vaccine lymph, and by
attending to it for two or three months, succeeded
in getting every man, woman, and child in the district
vaccinated. My brother missionaries did the same.
"We haA^e kept on vaccinating as often as we could in
subsequent years, and to that as a means it is pro-
bably to be traced that we have never had small
pox* in the group. Vessels have called having the
disease on board, but we have never had a case
among the natives.
About the time to which I refer, the novelty of
the new religion had passed away. Many began to
prefer a sleep to a second religious service on the
Sabbath, a gossip instead of the school for reading ;
and it was common to stay away from a week-day
service if it happened to come in the way of a fish-
* This has been a fearful scourge in some parts of the Pacific,
where the natives have not been vaccinated. I know an instance
where it laid a thii-d of the entii-e population of an island in the
grave.
LABOURS AT SAFATA. 115
ing excursion. I made a number of tlie people of
our village stare one afternoon by refusing a present
of fisL. because tliey had been taken when all ouglit
to have been with me at a religious service. " No,
I cannot receive them ; you did wrong in neglecting
the service, and were I to receive the fish, it would
be like sharing with you in the ft"uits of sin."
Speaking of presents, I may remark, that upon
the whole the people were kind to us, and often
brought presents of fish and taro, which, in their
politeness, they called food for our servants. They
wished us to send and let them know when we were
short, but that was contrary to the grain. I said,
" JSTo, you know that we are here, and here for your
benefit ; if you choose to bring us anything of the
kind as a fi^ee-will offering, we receive it ; if not we
can do without it ; we never beg." Hardly a day
passed without some one or another coming with a
basket of fish or taro, as a proof that we were not
forgotten, and that our labours were valued. An
EDglish family could not have made use of a twen-
tieth part of what we had as payment for medicine
and presents from the people ; but, as we had to
keep an almost fabulous number of servants, nothing
was lost.
People in England can hardly understand it, but
it is a fact, that we were obhged, almost all the years
we were in Samoa, to have regularly si,.e male and
six female servants. They considered it an honour
and a privilege to come and live with us, and, as
they did not expect any heavy remuneration, we let
116 NINTEEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
them come to tlie extent of a dozen. We gave them,
on an average, thirty shiUings each per annum,
Samoan vahie, in cahco or clothing. They had also
some little perquisites, such as a copy gratis of every
new book issued from the press, etc. But I imagine
some 23eo]3le saying, " Whatever did you do with a
dozen of servants ?" With English conveniences
and a cool chmate, hco good servants could do all
that the dozen did ; one, for instance, draws water,
and he thinks that is quite enough for his business ;
another milks and takes care of the cow ; another
attends to the horse ; another seeks fire-wood and
heats the oven, and so on ; the in and out-door work
has to be portioned out a little to each, so that all
have plenty of time and hberty to attend to instruc-
tion, call upon their friends, help them with any
work in hand, or fish for an hour or two. A Samoan
is very independent : he prefers liberty to money ; any
attempt to force him to do more than he feels in-
clined, would only cause him to turn on his heel
and say, " Good-bye, I'm going." It would have
been pleasanter to have had fewer servants, but as
they wer-e easily kept, seemed happy, and were evi-
dently benefitted by their residence with us, we got
reconciled to it. Mutual attachments were formed,
and parties were raised up now and then among
our domestics, who have proved useful members of
society, and, in some instances, valuable Christian
teachers.
The undue interference of native chiefs with
religious affairs has to be guarded against, particu-
L.\EOrES AT SAFATA. 117
larly in the early stages of missionary work. Having
been accnstomed to take everything of importance into
their own hand, and legislate accordingly, it comes
quite natural to them to wish to have iJielr say in the
arrangements made by the missionary for schools and
other services. Thinking, no doubt, that it would
please me, the chiefs in one part of my district made
a law that every man who did not appear at the six
o'clock morning- school for reading and prayer should
be fined in a quantity of cooked taro, fish, and other
eatables. The chiefs like anything of that sort that
brings in a fine ; some are sure to transgress, and
then the old senators are quite in their element feast-
ing over the fines. Whenever I heard what had been
done, I sent a message to the chiefs, begging them
to confine their legislation to other matters, and
leave all at liberty to search the Scriptures and
worship God, or the contrary, just as they pleased,
as it was to God and not to man all were at length
to be called to give an account of their reception or
rejection of the gospel.
It was the same in building a chapel, a^z., a dis-
position to impose fines and penalties on all who did
not assist. We begged, however, in this case also,
to claim an exception ; adding, that we \\dshed it to
be said in the erection of our churches, as was said of
old in the days of David, that the chiefs and people
" offered willingly."
These occasional interferences with established
usages were taken in good part, and were useful
opportunities of imparting instruction, and teaching
118 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
riglit principles, as tlie following incident fm*tlier
illustrates. On looking out one afternoon, I saw all
tlie grown-up people of tlie village coming and sit-
ting down before tlie door. They all looked very
demure, and I wondered wliat was up. Presently
one of tlie old men commenced speechifying. " We
have been talking about your horse which has got a
lame foot, and which is supposed to have been stoned
by some one. We wish to know who has done it,
but all deny, and we cannot find out. It is our
custom when anything is concealed, for all to
assemble and take an oath. That is our plan. Will
you please to hand out a Bible, and let us all swear
here, that we may know who is the guilty party ?"
It was their custom thus to assemble, and each lay-
ing his hand on the sacred stone, or shell, or cup,
which might be considered the representative of the
god, to implore vengeance and speedy death, if he
touched the stone and told a lie. Of course I
thanked them for their respect for my nag Tom, but
told them that such imprecations were wrong, and
that the simple yea or nay in such a case was quite
sufficient. They were satisfied, and by and by it
appeared that the horse was lame not from a stone,
but from rheumatism.
Before setting my foot on missionary ground, I
had some serious apprehensions as to how a Pres-
byterian might be able to co-operate in the same
mission with Congregationahsts ; but soon my fears
were driven to the winds. A few days after my
arrival in Samoa, I was present at a half-yearly
LABOURS AT SAP ATA. 119
general meeting of the mission, and found that it
was perhaps as Presbyterian and Synodical as the
case requires. The assembled missionaries all
unitedly deliberate, vote and settle by a majority
everything of importance. Following the order of
seniority, one acts as secretary for twelve months,
recording all that is done, answering correspondence,
and transmitting a copy of the minutes to the Direc-
tors of the Missionary Society in London. The
rethnng secretary acts as chairman, or moderator,
for the next twelve months. All this goes on har-
moniously, and, -ttdthout interfering with the order
and government of individual churches, this united
and frequent conference of brethren on their com-
mon work, secures, not only unity of plan in the
mission generally, but a great deal of uniformity in
the more minute affairs of individual churches and
congregations. For obvious reasons, the natives,
for the present at least, take no part in these
general meetings. They are not yet prepared to
deliberate or vote on many points of importance
affecting translations, location of missionaries, and
other matters which are entrusted by the Directors
to the exclusive control of their agents.
In the management of individual churches, cases
of discipline, for instance, admissions, exclusions,
etc., the missionary is left to the exercise of his own
judgment, whether to settle them by a court con-
sisting of all the church members, or whether to
arrange matters in a more private assembly of
the preaching teachers of the district. I adopted
120 NINETEEN YEAT?S IN POLYNESIA.
the latter plan, consulted first with my fifteen
teachers, stated at the next monthly prayer-meeting
of the church members what we thought to be right,
and asked them to signify by a show of hands their
approval, or the contrary. The church members
had entire confidence in these prior decisions, and
never opposed them.
On looking further at my position ecclesiastically,
I found that I had actually become a sort of hiaUop.
There was no avoiding it ; my fifteen teaching and
preaching curates were, as all native teachers neces-
sarily are in an infant mission, perfect babes in
religious knowledge and experience, and looked up
to me to decide in everything affecting doctrine or
discipline, or the selection of new teachers, and many
other matters. While presiding at our meetings, I
endeavoured to make them all think, give their
opinion, and lift their hands in a vote; l)ut I could
easily see that they looked on me as their superior,
and that their main anxiety was to know what I
thought, and vote accordingly.
A missionary bishop is thus not only called to
rule well, but ho must labour hard " in word and
doctrine." I felt my position to be one of great
responsibility. Here I was the mainspring of influ-
ence to the entire district, and so destined to be a
blessing or the reverse, as my instructions and
advices might be in accordance with the divine will,
or the contrary. As I have already remarked, in
enumerating other duties, I met with my staff of
teachers and preachers once a week, gave them a
T-Alioniv'S y\T SAFATA. 121
skeleton of a sonnoii lor llu> loUowiiifi^ Sabbath,
wliicli each copied ; c\\poimili>(l :i ])assago of Scrip-
ture as a further help for the Siibbath ; received
re])orts of anything^ of importance transpiring in tlie
villages, and advised accordingly; and, in adtUtioii,
spent an liotir in the common (Uiy-school work of
teaching these big men correct reading, writing,
arithmetic, and some of tlie sim])le outlines of geo-
graphy and astronomy. People in England hearing
of a nat'n'6 teacher a ml prcdrlic}', are apt to think of
an educated man, fully qnalilied for the work whicli
his nauie indicates; but such is by no means always
the case. If it is an infant mission, where no insti-
tution for training native teachers has been in o|)e-
ration, they are likely to be at the very bottom of the
scale of literary ac(|uirements. Take, for example,
the teachers in the district whei'c 1 eonnuonced my
labours in Samoa : if 1 asked them to writ(^ down on
a slate fj'teev, three-fourths of them Avould wi'ito
X5, or perhaps 105. That, too, is a fair speciuieii of
what they were in IJiblo knowledge. At that- eai'ly
stage, also, it is common to find out that the
strangest errors have been made, and propagated as
Scripture truth. I discovered ouc day that souk^ of
the teachers had been ])reaching up and down \ho
district, giving poor Nebuchadnezzar a tail, snout,
and hoof, and declai'ing that he had l)een actually
changed into a real four-footed beast !
Nor arc such misunderstandings and si)eoimens
of imperfect knowledge to be wondered at. Where
could the instruction come fi-om ? '^I'h(>s(; m(>n have
122 NINETEEN TEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
growii up in heatlienism. They have but just been
converted. They have the gift of utterance, seem
anxious to tell their fellow-creatures that Christ
died to save them, and are selected by the missionary
as tlie best he can get to take the oversight of a
village, conduct religious services, and do what he
can in teaching the j^eople to read. My teachers
being so much scattered, I could only assemble them
once a week for instruction. This I found very
inadequate to meet the case. To take in the sermon
and lecture, was about as much as they could attend
to properly in the one day. Their advanced age
was also against them, so that much of what I gave
them in the more secular class was forgotten before
another week. I kept it up regularly, however, and
some made encouraging progress.
Finding that a number of my teachers were in
the habit of smoking tobacco, and tasting the native
intoxicating beverage called ava, when they were
offered it, as a matter of courtesy, on a Sabbath-day
on going out to preach, I begged them to take my
advice, and give up both of them. They all agreed
to drink no more ava, but three or four seemed
determined to hold to the tobacco. I asked their
reasons. One said he smoked just because he liked
it. Another said that when they eat a hearty meal,
a smoke kept all right. And another said it made
them warm and comfortable about the face when
they went out in the early morning to fish. It is
astonishing to what an extent the love of tobacco
spreads among these native races. Almost the
LABOUES AT SAFATA. 123
entire comniuiiity seemed mad after it, down even to
little boys and girls. You would see tlie little urchin
walkino; alono- to the school with his miniature cis-ar
lighted, and puffing it out with acquired dexterity
from mouth and nostrils. At the chapel door he
would have three or four extra draws, throw away
the last of the leaf, and then dart into his class,
thinking it manly to perfume the place, and show
that he could smoke tobacco. Nursing women, too,
were, I believe, killing their children by it. As the
habit was thus going beyond all bounds, it seemed
necessary that a check should be put upon it, and
that it should not be sanctioned and encouraged by
the example of the teacher. It was the opinion of
the majority of the teachers that they, as a body,
should give up smoking as well as ava drinking. I
thought so too, wrote out on a sheet of paper a
pledge to give up both, and all at once signed, with
the exception of three inveterates. I gave them
another week to consider it, and at last they signed.
I heard afterwards that they met the night before to
talk over it ; at length they determined to sign, but
first of all to have a fareu'ell smoke, and they had
a smoke. I marked these three men in my o^vn
mind at the time, and subsequently my suspicions
were more than confirmed. They proved themselves
to be utterly unworthy of the confidence which had
been placed in them, and had to be dismissed from
the church and the teachership.
124 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XIII.
MISSION SEMINARY.
The inefficiency of our native teachers was felt by all.
Each missionary did what he could to improve those
under his jurisdiction, and to raise up a few others ;
but as each had his share in Scripture translations,
and a scattered district of three, four, or five thou-
sand people to attend to, it was found impracticable
in that way to meet the necessities of the case. In
Samoa alone, apart from our outposts in other
islands, we require a native agency of about two
hundred. It was therefore decided, at a general
meeting of the members of the mission, held in
March, 1844, that Mr. Hardie and myself should be
appointed to commence an educational institution,
embracing a more extensive plan than had previ-
ously been attempted for raising up a better native
agency.
We at once took up the work, removed from our
stations, fixed upon a central situation, bought from
the natives about twenty-five acres of land, and by
the 24th of September opened our first class, and
dedicated to God, by prayer, the interests of the
institution, which has since been called by the name
of the Samoan Mission Seminary.
MISSION SEMINAKY. 125
We commenced with a mixed class of 25, vary-
ing in ages from ten to twenty. In the following
year, a more select class of 21 was formed, consist-
ing of young men from various parts of the group.
In most instances they had been teachers, and were
chosen by the missionaries as parties most likely to
improve and be useful. As our students began to
go out at the end of a four years' course of instruc-
tion, the demand became universal for young men
from the institution ; and, as we had always plenty
of candidates for admission, we had no difficulty in
filling up vacancies. From year to year we made
steady progress, and at the end of our fifteenth year,
just before I left, our statistics stood as follows : —
Sent by the missionaries from various parts of the
group, young men to the number of 263 ; of these,
25 are dead, and, with three doubtful exceptions,
finished their course with joy ; 18 were dismissed,
but are giving evidence of reformation; 14 have
been laid aside as failing in health or qualifications ;
5 are among a class which we are sorry to designate
fallen and bad ; 70 are now under instruction in the
institution, preparing for the work of the ministry ;
and 131 are now labouring either in Samoa or
in some of the rising^ missions to the westward.
Those who are familiar "vvith the statistics of such
institutions, in any joart of the world, will, I am
sure, conclude from this statement that my brother
missionaries have been remarkably careful in the
selection of the young men they have sent to the
seminary.
126 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
It is more difficult to trace tlie members of tlie
youths' class, wliicli we liave endeavoured to carry on
in connection with the instruction of the teachers ;
but of the 154 who have been received since the
commencement, I may say, in a general way, that
some are dead, some have become teachers, eighteen
of them are now in the teachers' class in the insti-
tution, others are steady and longing to return to
the institution for further instruction, and others,
though careless, are still nominally the friends of the
cause of God, and may yet, like Saul of Tarsus, turn
their early education to good account. I heard one
day of a youth of this last class, who, in a discussion
with a Roman Catholic priest, was considered by the
natives present to have the better side of the contro-
versy. He simply took his stand on the New Testa-
ment, and defied his opponent to prove from that
volume that there is any authority for praying to the
Virgin Mary.
Marriage prevents admission to many of our home
colleges ; it is not so at our Samoan Mission Seminary.
If we have the choice of two we reject the single man,
and admit the married couple, for the simple reason
that the wife needs education as well as her husband,
and, when instructed, is a great blessing to her sex
in the village where he may be called to labour.
"We want a young man who has a wife that can
teach our wives and daughters something," is some-
times the adjunct to an application for a callage
pastor. As many as 200 names of young women,
the wives of teachers, are on the list since the
MISSION SEMINARY. 127
commencement, and of these 50 are now in the
institution.
The children also come with the parents, and
of these we have had in all 402. We have a school
for them daily, conducted by two of the teachers a
month at a time, and many of these dear children
will look back, in after years, with sunny recollec-
tions of the days spent at Malua.
Then there have been always with us a few
natives of other groups in the Pacific. Some have
wandered to our islands in whaling and other ships,
but the most of them were brought by our missionary
vessel, and taken home again after a time. Of this
class we have had natives of New Caledonia, Mare,
Lifu, Tanna, Vate, Eromanga, Tokelau, Manahiki,
and Savage Island, u]3 to the number of 52. And
this gives us an aggregate of upwards of a thousand
individuals, who either are now or have been con-
nected with the Samoan Mission Seminary. The
number in the institution, just before I left, was
70 teachers, 50 women, the wives of teachers, 36
Samoan youths and strangers from other groups,
who, with 98 children, make up an aggregate
of 254.
For the mission to have been at the sole expense
of boarding and lodging all these j)arties would have
required an immense outlay. But even if the means
had been at our disposal, we saw no reason why the
missionary funds of the British churches should be
spent in doing that which, by a little management,
the natives themselves could do. We therefore
128 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
determined to keep up the agricultural habits of the
3^oung men, and throw the care of providing for the
wants of their table entirely on themselves. The
plan has worked admirably. With the exception of
the first year, when the land was being laid under
cultivation, the students have been amply provided
for from their own resom^ces, and that without inter-
ferine: much more with their studies than is essential
for the o;ood of their health.
When we were in search for a site on which to
erect our own institution premises, the chiefs and
people in various places were so anxious to have us
in their neighbourhood, that they offered us, free of
any charge, as much land as we pleased. " Here is
our village," said a chief, "just say the word, and we
shall all clear off to another place, and let you have
the entire settlement." We did not, however, wish
to disturb j^eople in that way, or to take a grant of
land open to subsequent disputes, and so we fixed
on a spot on the coast — quite a bush, and away
from any settlement, which we could easily purchase
and secure as mission property. We called together
the owners of the land, marked off about twenty-
five acres, and paid for it in calico and hardware.
Subsequently, as our numbers increased, we added
twenty-five acres more. The entire cost of the
land was £28 36-. lid ; that is to say, about lis.
per acre Enghsh value, or £1 bs. per acre Samoan
value.
We commenced operations with but two small
native cottages, and have gone on gradually adding
MISSION SEMINARY. 129
house to house, principally by the industry of the
students themselves, until now, when we can show
nineteen cottages, 16 by 32 feet, arranged something
like a barrack square, as a naval officer called it one
day, with a substantial stone-walled class-room in
the centre of one of the sides, 60 feet by 30, and
fitted up with desks, black boards, and other con-
veniences. My fellow-tutor and I reside in stone
cottages, which were erected by the paid labour of
the natives from the adjacent villages. Including
the original cost of the land, a suit of clothes annu-
ally to all, tools, stationery, etc., the entire expendi-
ture for fifteen years has been £570, or an annual
average of £38 ; and for this we can show, not only
the statistics of the instructed to which I have re-
ferred, but also the twenty houses, together with
fifty acres of land, stocked, as the result of the stu-
dents' industry, with 1021 bread-fi^uit trees, and
678 cocoa-nut trees, all bearing, and a thuTl more
coming on.
Every student has a plot of ground which he
-cultivates as his own, and each has his share of
bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees. He works regularly
at his plantation, raising yams, taro, and bananas till
the day he leaves, and the student who succeeds him
becomes heir to all he has left.*
* To a limited extent they are allowed to sell, for their ovm
benefit, theii" sm-plus produce, and this, with the clothing which
we give them, supplies them from year to year with all they want,
without being dependent on their friends for anything, whUe they
are going on with their education.
K
130 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
Our principal current expenses are for tools,
stationery, and a suit of cotton garments annually.
The whole amounts to about £50, and that entire
sum has been recently met by the combined efforts
of the children of the Sunday-schools in connection
with Mr. Miller's church in Hobart Town. So that
now, with the occasional gifts of kind friends who
are interested in our work, and this noble effort of
the children in Hobart Town, I expect that our
institution will go on, under God's blessing, from
year to year, without our having to draw a penny
more for its support from the general funds of the
London Missionary Society.
The institution bell rings at dawn. After their
devotions, the students all go out to fish, or do plan-
tation work, whichever they please. At eight the bell
rings again to call them all in to bathe, have break-
fast, and be ready for the first class at nine. "With
short intervals they are entirely occupied with classes,
copying lectures, etc., until four in the afternoon,
when they again disperse, to the lagoon, or the plan-
tations, or the carpenter's workshop, as their tastes
or necessities incline them. After family prayer they
generally spend their evenings in reading, writing,
or conversation on the day's classes. At half-past
nine p.m. the bell rings the curfew, and all retire
for the night.
Wednesday is what we call our industrial day,
and, until two o'clock, is specially devoted to im-
provements about the premises. House-building,
sawing, weather-boarding, fencing, burning lime,
MISSION SEMINAEY. 131
stone and mortar work, and other sucli employments,
are all reserved for that day. In the afternoon of
this industrial day all meet for a Scripture exposition,
and, while the young men are at work in the early
part of the day, I have embraced the opportunity
of having a class with their wives. The main
instruction of them, of course, devolves on the
ladies.*
A Saturday evening prayer-meeting in the insti-
tution chapel closes the week, and on this occasion
the students in tm^n dehver an address in the hear-
ing of their tutors. The Sabbath is ushered in
by a prayer-meeting at six o'clock. At half-past
eight there is the morning service, which is at-
tended by church members and others from neigh-
bouring villages, forming a congregation of about
400. At ten all the members of the institution
meet in family groups, for prayer and conversation
about the sermon. At eleven the children are
assembled for a Sunday-school. At two there
is an adult Bible-class. At half-past three an after-
noon service, after which all again meet in family
groups for family prayer and conversation about
the sermon.
* Our institution rules forbid quarrelling, tlie use of tobacco,
going anywbere without permission, lights after a certain hour,
night-fishing, and a few other things adapted to the circum-
stances of the place and people. The fines are one shilling each,
and most rigidly kept up, as the students themselves get the
benefit of them. With the fines they buy oil, and that, with
what they make themselves, keeps each suppHed with a light for
his room all the year over.
132 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
The evening is also spent in religions con-
versation, Scripture reading, and prayer. On Sab-
bath evenings, I allowed any of the students to
attend a service which I had with our servants,
and every evening the room was crowded. I
foimd this a useful service, not only as a duty
to our domestics, but as a pattern to the teachers
how to improve their Sabbath evenings. A ques-
tion of the catechism, with Scripture proofs, or
a section of Bunyan, and a chapter of the Bible,
read verse about, and simply explained and ap-
plied, together with singing and prayer, well and
happily occupied our Sabbath evening hour. On
the first Sabbath of the month we have the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper, and on the
first Monday of the month a missionary prayer-
meeting.
In dividing our labours and arranging our de-
partments of instruction in 1844, it was agreed that
my fellow- tutor, Mr. Hardie,* attend to systematic
theology, church history, arithmetic, and geography ;
and that I take up Scripture exposition, practical
theology, or the work of the Christian ministry,
Scripture history, writing and composition, and na-
tural philosophy. We both arranged also to de-
* Mr. Hardie retired from tlie Samoan Mission a few years
ago. His place in tlie Mission Seminary was for a time filled
by the late lamented Rev. George Stallworthy. On the death
of Mr. Stallworthy, last year, the Rev. H. Nisbet, my fellow-
labourer in former years at Tanna, received the appointment, and
was removed from his station on Savaii to the institution.
L^J^:^.
<^-^.
MISSION COTTAdK AI FOKT lii;--()I.l TIOX.
1. fir.ive ,il >ri». PaliiM anil he. ii.l.uJt S„ii.
BURYING-GROUND AT MAI.UA. Page 132.
Crave of the Rev. George Sullworthy. 2. Gr.ive of Mra. Uiummon.l, of 01a>,»o«-. 3. Graves of Fanny Hardie, Had
of llie infanl Childrea of lUe Rev. Messrs. Nijbet anil Ella. 4. Graves of Natiic l.hililicu ami others connected with
the lostitulion
MISSION SEMINAEr. 133
vote a little time to the elements of the English
language.
In conducting my classes, I endeavoured to
attend to two things — first, to see that the young
men understood what was explained in class ; and,
secondly, to secure its being remembered. The
former, I think, was effected by questioning the
young men well on the previous lecture, and by
allowing them to ask any further explanation of
what they did not understand. This they did freely,
and hardly let anything pass ; but it was more diffi-
cult to secure the latter. Students in England not
only find it easy to take copious notes, but they
have in their possession printed text-books, com-
mentaries, and many other works of reference, with
fixed names and phrases for every department of
science. It was not so in Samoa when I commenced
my tutorial labours. The entire literature of my
first class of students was three Gospels and an
Epistle, the History of Joseph, some Scrij^tm^e
Lessons, and a few miscellaneous pieces in a small
native magazine, which we had commenced. I
found it necessary, therefore, to put all my instruc-
tions carefully in a compact written form, and to
let the young men have a separate copy, from which
to write out as much as they could, to take with
them when they left the institution, as a help to the
memory and for future reference.
For fifteen years I have continued to give out
to the students copies of my notes and lectures, at
an average, during the most of that time, of twelve
134 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
pages per week, and the result of my labours I may
state as follows : —
1. A consecutive Scripture narrative from tlie crea-
tion to tlie times of the Apostles, including a
history of Jewish affairs in the interval be-
tween the latest Old Testament times and the
days of our Saviour.
2. Comments, expository and practical, on the
Gospel of Matthew.
3. Ditto, ditto, on the Gospel of Mark,
on the Gospel of Luke,
on the Acts of the Apostles,
on the Epistle to the Romans,
on the Epistle to the Galatians.
on the Epistle to the Hebrews,
on the entire Book of Psalms.
10. Lectures on the Work of the Ministry after the
model of Bridges.
11. Notes on Bunyan's Pilgrim.
12. Translation of " Scripture Facts in Simple Lan-
guage," by the author of the " Peep of Day ;"
fifty-two in all. These Scripture Facts, notes
on Bunyan, and also a series of 112 maxims on
parental duty, were subjects taken up in a
class which I had with the wives of the
teachers, on the Wednesday, while their hus-
bands were engaged in industrial affairs.
These women were also furnished with paper,
and copied everything carefully which was
given to them.
4.
Ditto,
ditto.
5.
Ditto,
ditto.
6.
Ditto,
ditto.
7.
Ditto,
ditto,
8.
Ditto,
ditto,
9.
Ditto,
ditto,
MISSION SEMINAEY. 135
13. Elements of natural pMlosopliy.
14. Sketches of sermons, to tlie extent of 2640
pages.
15. Commenced and progressing witli a Biblical
Dictionary.
These things which I have just enumerated re-
quired me to vrrite in all 11,520 pages, of which
I gave out to the students to copy 6955. At the
end of his four years' course, a student took with
him about 2000 pages of lectures and notes.
But why not print these things, and save all that
laborious copying ? That is now being done. From
the first I have endeavoured to make all my class
preparations the groundwork of futm^e publications ;
and of the manuscripts which I have just enumerated,
there are already in print : — " The Elements of
Astronomy," " The Scriptm^e History," the Com-
mentaries on Matthew, the Acts, and the Epistle to
the Hebrews, and also the Lectures on the Work of
the Ministry, amounting in all to 950 pages of 12mo
letterpress.
Few can understand but those who have it to
do, the amount of labour in getting up such works
as these. I spent five hours a -day, on an average,
in my study aU the years I was in the islands.
Before obtaining these 950 pages of letterpress,
for example, I have had the prior labour of ^Titing
5300 pages of manuscript. After being prepared
for the press, all such works, according to a rule
in our mission, are first submitted to the inspec-
136 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tion of a committee of at least two of the mis-
sionaries, and then they are printed. We give
a copy of each gratis to the students of the
institution and native agents throughout the
group, and sell the rest to pay expenses, at the
rate of Is., Is. 6d., or 2s., according to the size of
the book.*
A connected commentary on a gospel or an
epistle is, at this infant stage of their literature, of
great value to our native agents. Before they had
such helps, they could hardly venture to expound
more than the single verse of the text, of which they
might have a skeleton from the missionary. With"
the aid of their printed commentaries, or written
notes, they can now with confidence write out a
skeleton of their own, or expound a gospel, or an
epistle, from beginning to end. Intelligent church
members, too, value these Scripture comments.
They buy them up as soon as they are printed, and
take a pleasure in being able to form an opinion on
the correctness, or otherwise, of the expositions of
* Some of these works are out of print, but I am. commis-
sioned by my brethren to carry tlirougli the press, while I am
in this country, new editions, of 3000 each, of the Commentaries
on Matthew, Acts, and Hebrews, and also an edition of the
Scripture History. AJl are to be illustrated, if possible, with
such useful maps and woodcuts, as the ample resources of the
London Religious Tract Society and Sunday-school Union can
afford. In the first editions, printed on the islands, we were
aided by liberal grants of paper from these noble institutions ;
and now that second editions are wanted, I have no doubt they
will do all in their power to further our wishes.
MISSION SEMINAEY. 137
Scripture given by their village pastors. These
facilities for the spread of intelligence among the
hearers has a good effect also on the pulpit. The
preachers find that if they do not rise and keep up
to the mark of correct instruction, that they will
soon hear of it in the whispers, or louder talk, of
daily gossip.
It must not, however, be supposed that the
young men sent out from the institution, after a
four years' course of instruction, are all that is
necessary for their work. It is but a distant ap-
proximation. They are still far from the mark of
Christian experience and intelligence which it is
desirable to reach, but which cannot be reasonably
expected either in this or in the next generation.
I may, perhaps, best illustrate this by a fact or
two : I devote an hour every day to the profit-
able exercise of hearing and answering questions
out of class. At two p.m. any one who wishes
information on any subject is at liberty to come
to my study privately for a few minutes ; and at
that hour there may be seen waiting their turn
at my study-door, ten, fifteen, or twenty of the
young men. The following are some of their
questions, given almost as I noted them one day
out of curiosity : —
1. What is the meaning of the bottomless pit ?
2. What is meant by tears put in God's bottle ?
3. Wliy did Christ ask the lame man whether he
behoved ; did he not know ?
138 NINETEEN YE.VES IN POLYNESIA.
4. What is meant by the body going whole to
hell?
5. If a person calls me while I am at prayer, should
I answer him ?
6. What does plucking out a right eye mean ?
7. Why does Paul say to the Corinthians that
thino-s offered to idols are not to be eaten ; and
to Timothy he says, every creatm^e of God is
good ?
8. If we feel sleepy at prayer, should we open our
eyes ?
9. What is meant by the two daughters of the
horse-leech ?
10. Why is Athahah called the daughter of Omri, as
well as the daughter of Ahab ?
11. How tall was Zaccheus ; how many feet do you
suppose ?
12. Why could not the wise men of Babylon read the
writing on the wall ?
13. If people go out to fish at night, should they
have prayer in the canoe at daylight ?
14. What is meant by Idlling the passover ?
15. What is meant by the evening and morning in
Genesis being called a day ?
16. If Christ knew that Judas was bad at heart, why
did he not put him down ?
17. Wliat is the meaning of cymhal? Is it an
animal, or what ?
18. Should people shave their beards on the Sabbath-
day ?
19. Is it right to beat a child on the Sabbath-day ?
MISSION SEMINAEY. 139
20. If we are repairing a chapel, is it right to take
our dinner inside ?
21. What is the meaning of people being measured
with lines, in 2 Samuel viii. 2 ?
22. What is meant by Satan falling from heaven ?
23. What is meant by saluting no man by the
way ?
24. Did Isaiah live before Christ, or after him ?
25. Is Joseph of Arimathea the same as the Joseph
who was sold by his brethren ?
We find it difficult to hammer clironology into
the minds of the natives, as the last two questions
indicate ; and it lately occurred to me, that perhaps
we ourselves have increased the difficulty, by print-
ing the Neiv Testament before the Old. Time, how-
ever, will remove this.
I need hardly add, that sometimes I was amused
with their questions ; at other times I was pleased
to see indications of close reading and careful think-
ing; and now and then I was startled with their
ignorance, and felt that it was one of my most
difficult tasks, with some of them, to dive down to
the depths of it.
When the young men leave the institution they
return to the missionary who sent them, and are
located each in some particular village. There they
conduct schools, preach, and in some cases are ap-
pointed to baptize the children of church members,
and administer the ordinance of the Lord's Supper.
For the present, the admission or exclusion of
140 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
churcli members is left to a meeting of the cliiirch
members and teachers, at which a missionary can
preside. To a great extent, however, the mis-
sionary, in voting for the admission of new members,
acts upon the united report of the teacher and
church members of the village to which the party
belongs.
Our native agents will, we trust, eventually
be fit to take the care of the churches entirely
on themselves. It will be many years yet, however,
before they can be safely intrusted with such weighty
responsibilities. But the work is going on. The
Scriptures have been completed ; every year is
adding to the religious and other literature of the
people ; and we trust also that, from year to year,
the systematic education of the native teachers will
be carried on with all the earnestness which, under
Divine blessing, is essential to reach that standard
of intelligence and usefulness in our native agents
at which we aim.
Considering the number gathered together in
our institution, from all parts of the group," I
often wondered that they lived together so har-
moniously. Next to the Divine blessing, and
strict rules, our main dependence, in seciu'ing
peace and friendship, was to keep all so fully em-
ployed as to prevent their having time for trifling
and strife.
It is but right also to add, that the marked
respect which the students uniformly showed to
ourselves, tended much to lighten our burden, and
MISSION SEMINAET. 141
clieer us in our work. We liacl often letters, too,
from those who had been with us in past years,
frill of affectionate remembrance and expressions of
gratitude, which we felt to be ample returns for all
the pains we took in instructing them.
142 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XIY.
CONVEESIONS.
Among my institution duties I embodied private
conversation witli the students. He wliose turn it
was to deliver tlie addi^ess at the prayer-meeting on
the Saturday evening, came to my study on the fol-
lowing Monday, and I had then an opportunity of
dropping a few encouraging words, or admonitory
hints, as the case might require. On these occa-
sions I often felt much interested in accounts given
me by the young men of their early history, and, in
several instances, got them to commit to writing
some of the facts elicited in the course of conver-
sation.
It will be interesting, I am sure, to many to
observe the similarity of corrupt human nature in all
parts of the earth, and to mark the proofs which
the few instances which I shall now give afford,
that there is one and the same Divine Spirit at
work in the human mind, in conversion, aU the
world over. It will be manifest also that Grod, in
Samoa, as well as elsewhere, calls forth his servants
from every variety of character and circumstance.
I might fill a volume with the autobiographical
notices to which I refer, but I must be contented
mth a few condensed extracts. I shall give them, as
CONVEESIONS. 143
near as I can, in the translated words of the j^oung
men themselves, omitting here and there things of
minor importance.
1. "I was once," says one, " dark and ignorant.
I cared for nothing but the body. When Sabbath
came round I dehghted in it, because there was no
particular work to do, and I could sleep all day if I
pleased. I hardly ever went to the chapel or to a
school. I lived like a beast of the field, without any
thought of futurity. By and by I was taken ill. I
could not walk, and my arms were crooked, I could
not stretch them out. I felt alarmed, and thoug-ht it
must be a judgment from God, as I had been away
in the bush the Sabbath before, with other lads,
stoning birds. I recovered, and away went my fears.
I hved just as before. Then my brother came and
talked to me about my wickedness, and entreated me
to turn to God. I told him to leave it with me. Two
months after he came again, reasoned with me, and
begged me to tell him why I would not turn from
sin. I said I did not wish to lose my companions.
He then asked what my companions could do for me
in sickness and death. I thought that was true, for
I had often been ill, and lay alone, as they seldom
looked near me. I thought my brother was right
after all, and began to think in earnest about life in
heaven. I had learned to read when I was a Httle
boy, and now felt the advantage of it. I commenced
reading the Bible, and felt interested. When Sab-
bath came, I felt less inclination to sleep, and a real
desire to read and go to chapel. About this time I
144 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
was roused more tliau ever, and alarmed bj a sermon
from a teaclier on the text, ' Woe unto liim tliat
strivetli with his Maker.' I knew that I had been
striving against God, and that I had done, over and
over again, what he forbad. I was dreadfully afraid,
but found Christ who died for sinners, and was, in
course of time, received into the Church."
2. Another wi'ote as follows : — " When the Word
of God was first brought to Samoa, I attended the
schools, learned to read and write, and for a long
time was steady and a servant with the missionary,
Mr. Slatyer. When he left I fell back into sin.
War broke out, and I was drawn into it. I was at
the battle of Safata, and three other fights. One
day Mr. Murray visited our war-camp. He knew
me well when I was steady. He asked what I was
doing there. I said that I was just fighting with
the rest of them, but that I hated it, and also that I
did not forget God, and thanked him daily for sparing
my life. Mr. Murray reminded me of what I had
been taught in former happy days, and I made up
my mind to break ofi" from the war party, but I
determined first of all to go with a number of others
on a visit to the island of Tutuila. We went, and
were caught in a gale. Ropes, mast, and sail were
all blown useless, and we were drifted off to sea, we
knew not where. The storm continued. Two nights
and two days we were in the midst of it, our food
gone, no appearance of land, and there we wept and
wailed, and gave ourselves up as lost. I prayed
earnestly to God to save us, and determined, that if
CONVEE SIGNS. 145
my life was saved, ever after to devote it to God.
The storm cleared off, we sighted land, piilled for
the shore and were all saved. I thanked God, begged
forgiveness of my sins through the blood of Christ,
went to the teacher, conversed with him and gave in
my name as a follower of the Lord."
3. Another thus writes : " At the commencement
of the mission, I was appointed a teacher, and
laboured in four different villages. Afterwards I
fell, and lived for years careless and worldly. After
a time one of my children died, then another, and a
third, and a fourth. My wife and I began to think
that God was in this way punishing us for the neglect
of his Word. I was struck, too, at this time with
what the teacher said to me. He said that my chil-
dren were safe in heaven, and that I might go to
them, but they could never come to me. I deter-
mined to go to them, and began afresh to seek sal-
vation. I felt also a strong desire to devote the
remainder of my days to the service of Christ. I am
afraid lest I should again be drawn away into sin,
but I try to keep close to my Saviom\"
4. Another related respecting himself as fol-
io avs : — " The first thing which roused me to think
of my sins was a severe illness, but as I recovered I
became careless again. After that my wife died. I
was in great grief, and, as I looked down into her
grave, I thought that that would soon be my road
too, and felt alarmed to think that I was quite
unprepared to die. I commenced to attend the
chapel regularly, and from that time my desire
L
146 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
to leave sin and serve the Lord continued to
grow."
0. Another, a young man, the son of a teacher,
who first came to the institution with his father, and
who is now preparing for the work of the ministry
himself, thus said respecting his conversion : "It
was not any sickness that first led me to think of my
sins and my Saviour, but the reading and exposition
of God's Word, together with the teaching of his
Holy Spirit. It was some time in 1853, when listen-
ing in the class to the exposition of the Gospel of
Mark, that I first felt love to Christ growing up in
my heart. I prayed for the help of the Holy Spirit
that my love to Christ might grow stronger and
stronger, and that I might be kept from all sin. I
felt that I was weak, and, like a young lamb, an easy
prey to wild beasts if far away from the shepherd.
The more I think of the vanity of vanities of which
Solomon speaks, the more do I feel inclined to devote
soul and body to the service of God."
6. Another, who traces his conversion principally
to the reading of God's "Word, says : "I was long-
hardened and obstinate. I was with the troops
during the most of the last war. I felt sick of the
camp life, and after escaping in safety through five of
the battles, I thought there was sometliing peculiar in
God's goodness to me in preserving my hfe. I then
determined to break off from the war party, and set
myself to the reading of God's Word to see what was
in it. I caught a pig, sold it for money, and bought
a New Testament. I then read about Christ — his
CONVEESIONS. 147
coming into the world, liis life, Lis miracles, and liis
death. Light broke in ; I wondered at such amazing
love. I still feel dark and ignorant, but I am per-
severing, and that good Spirit who led me to Christ
will, I trust, continue to enlighten my dark mind."
7. Another thus ^vrites : " For years I was un-
decided for God, but my wife gave me no rest. Ever
since she became a church member (fifteen years ago)
she has kept stedfast, and in my days of foUy she
never ceased to exhort me to repent and turn to the
Lord. What Paul says about the unbelieving hus-
band being sanctified by the wife, is fulfilled in my
case. The hand of God also was laid on me. I was
laid down and very ill, and then formed resolutions,
that, if ever raised up again, I would live a new hfe.
I recovered, and, ever since, I have tried to serve
the Lord, and pray that I may be faithful unto
death."
8. Another, who became connected -with the
institution when he was a boy, related as follows :
" But for my parents, I might have been bad enough.
They watched me with great care. I was never
allowed to go near a night- dance. If I happened to
get ofi" to the bush at any time with other boys, it
was not long before there was a message from my
father for me to go back, and play in front of the
house. It was the same in the moonlight nights, I
had to keep near the house. I learned to smoke,
but my father did not know. He would have been
angry had he known that. When my parents were
appointed to go to the institution, I did not wish to
148 NINETEEN YEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
go witli tliem, and it was arranged that I was to
remain behind, under the care of my uncle. But up
comes a message to say that I must go, as the laws
of the institution require that teachers who have
children must assemble them also in the institution,
to be taken care of and instructed. I had not been
long on the premises until I felt a great desire to
join the youths' class, and be allowed to attend the
lectures. I made every effort, and prayed to God to
help me, that I might be able to read any part of the
Bible, and not be rejected when I applied. Great
was my joy when I was received, and took my place
in the class."
This young man is still under instruction, and
will, I trust, yet rank among our most usefid
teachers.
9. Another case occurs to me, the very reverse of
this in parental influence. "My father," says the
narrator, "was a wicked old man. The Christian
religion was set up in our village, but he was an
enemy to it, and we, the children, had to comply
with his wishes. As I grew up, it seemed to be my
very trade to He and steal; and the Sabbath I
generally spent in hunting wild pigs. Then it hap-
pened that I was taken very ill. My father and all
the family were crying, and concluded I was dying.
In my distress it occurred to me, as a last resort, to
call upon God, and for the first time I prayed to the
true God. Next morning I felt better, and con-
tinued to recover. I now determined to give up
heathenism, and serve the Lord. About that time
CONVERSIONS. 149
I heard Mr. Hardie preach, and well remember his
saying, ' Make haste and repent ; for if you do not,
death will come, and then you can never obtain
eternal life.' This made me all the more anxious to
follow Christ. After a time war broke out. My
father did all he could to get me off to the war. He
first tried to coax and flatter me, praising my bright
sharp eyes, which would make me the beauty of the
corps, but this did not do. He then tried anger,
and at last went oft' in a rage. My mind was made
up. I was determined to hold on to Christ. In-
stead of going to the war, I got up, put on a decent
cloth, and joined a party of Church members and
steady people who were going off to remonstrate and
try to prevent fighting. For a long time I did not
make it known formally to the teacher what a change
had come over my mind. I thought it was enough,
for the time, that God knew. People wondered and
talked about it. They saw that I had begun to
pray, attend schools on the week-days, and on the
Sabbath just like a church member, and yet I was
not one. By and by I opened my mind to the
teacher, and, after a year or two, was received into
the church. I am greatly delighted to add, that my
old erring father seems now to be turning to the
Saviour, too. I heard lately that he has become a
candidate for admission to the church."
10. Another gave the following account of him-
self : "I was formerly an ignorant, wicked lad.
My father became steady and a member of the
church, and begged me, for his sake, to behave
150 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
better, and not to bring liim and the family into
disgrace. I tried, but I was still lawless and im-
moral ; so much so, that a heavy fine was imposed
on our family for one thing I did. This was the last
of my gross sins ; and when in the midst of it a
strange fear of Grod came over me; so much so, that I
at once prayed for forgiveness. I then began to pray
regularly morning and evening. Although I was
quite ignorant, and could not read a word, I felt
a pleasure in prayer. It seemed as if God came and
cheered and instructed me when I prayed. I then
gave up going to night-dances : felt that I did not
care for them. It was about this time that I one
day overheard two women talking together. The
one was telling the other of a conversation she
had with one of the deacons of the church, when she
went to talk about becoming a member ; she said it
made her feel as if she were actually in heaven. I
wondered whatever the man could say to her to
make her feel so, and thought I would try and have
a talk some day with the deacon, too. A few days
after that I saw him coming^ alono- the road, and aU
at once made up my mind to speak. ' Will it be
agreeable to you to have a httle conversation with
me about the Word of God ? ' ' Quite agreeable,'
said the good man. 'I am going somewhere, just
now, but you come to my house by and by, in the
evening.' I was delighted that he was willing to
talk with me. Evening came. I went to his house.
He took me into a back-room, and there we sat
down. I said I had a great desire to know about
COJsVEESIOXS. 161
the Word of God. He said it was very good, and
then commenced questioning me. He first asked if
I knew what sin was. I did not know what to say,
and so he explained to me that it meant treading
mider foot Grod's law. He then asked whether I
thought that / had been trampling on God's laws.
He talked about that, too. Many a thing the good
man told me that night. He seemed to go over all
the great doctrines of the Word of God. I continued
inquiring after the truth, and was at length admitted
into the church. None but God knows how sinful
I was. I feel that I have a sinful heart still, but I
trust in the redemption-price paid by Jesus for the
forgiveness of all my transgressions."
11. Another young man thus writes : " Several
years ago I had a sister that I loved dearly. She
took ill, lay for seven months, and then died. I was
at that time a servant of the devil. Sin was sweet
to me. My sister had great compassion for me,
mourned over my wickedness, and implored me to
abandon my sins. I was constantly beside her, and
especially at the last. To my astonishment, she had
no fear of death. She was quite happy at the
thought of it, and talked about going to be with
Jesus in heaven. She did not seem like one dvins:
at all, but rather like a person going a journey to
another part of the country, and glad at the thought
of 2:oinQ;. This to me was most amazino*. I could
not understand it ; for when I happened to be ill at
any time, I was dreadfully afraid of dying. It was
not so v4th my sister ; death was all joy to her ; she
162 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
did not know what fear was. Her last entreaties
were, that I should give up sin, and seek forgiveness
and eternal life through Christ. I promised to do so,
and I now say that her happy death and her dying
agreement with me, were the means of my casting off
the service of sin, and of my turning to Jesus, whose
service I have found to be far sweeter than ever I
found the service of the devil. Some time ago I
was thought by the missionary to be fit to act as
teacher, and as there was a scarcity of teachers, I
consented. I commenced my labours, but it was
hke a man attempting to cut down a forest mth a
blunt axe, or like a foolish man hammering away,
but never striking the head of the nail. I mean to
say, that I did not know sufficiently God's AYord
myself to be a teacher of others, and that, although
I could talk, yet it was of little use. I therefore
implored the missionary to let me have the first
ojDening he had at the institution, that I might get
further instruction, as I wished, when I talked, to
say something to the point, and explain clearly the
Word of God."
12. Let me add but another illustration of the
power of God in the conversion of the Samoans. It
is from a young man now in the institution : "I
was once," he says, " a great thief. I remember
stealing two fowls from one family, a hatchet from
another, and often I stole taro from the plantations.
One day I went into a house where there was a blind
man. I said I wanted a light, and stole three pad-
dles. Many cases of stealing were searched into by
CONVERSIONS. 153
the chiefs, but no one could find out tlie thief. I
knew all the time who it was. I thought stealing a
famous sport, and got it into my head that Grod did
not cause anybody to die merely for stealing. I did
not like to hear sermons, and seldom went to chapel.
My favourite Sabbath employment was to be off in
the bush with some other young fellows, chasing
fowls, stealing bananas, and quarrelling. I went to
the week-day school sometimes, but it was merely for
the fun and mischief I could raise among the other
boys. The teacher was obliged to diive me away.
I only knew three letters then, but I did not care.
I said to myself, ' What is the use of these difficult
things ? who can remember them ?' and so I kept to
m}^ thieving and wickedness. I once even went the
length of giving my mother a beating. About five
years ago I felt a change come over me, and a wish
to go to school. I did so, and night after night I
dreamed about reading, and thought that I could
read well. This made me all the more anxious to
persevere. I never missed a school now, and soon
I could read the Bible. I attended the services also,
and as I began to see how wicked I had been, my
greatest wonder was, how ever God had borne v^th
me so long. I delighted to think of his love, and
that I had been spared to understand that Christ
died to save sinners like myself. Even now that I
have received Chi'ist, and have for some time devoted
my life to his service, I have frequent sorrow of heart
as I think of the great wickedness of my early days.
It seems as if I had been at the very extreme of
154 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
wickedness, but thanks, thanks, thanks be to God
for his great forbearance in not quickly punishing me
on account of my sins ! I am amazed as I think of
it. My love to Christ increases, and I hope after
death to be mth him where he is in imchanging
life."
But I must stop. May God bless those yoimg
men to whom these notices refer ! They can speak
to their fellow-men from experience. I have given
but the meao-re abrids^ments of more leno-thened
narratives, and I must leave the reader to make his
own comments. As I have been wi^iting, I have been
thinking that many of the Samoans will rise up in
judgment for the condemnation of multitudes who
live in far more favoured parts c^f Christendom. God
forbid that any of my readers should shght their pri-
vileges, and famish amid the rich profusion of the
bread of life by which they are surrounded !
MISSION SEMIXAEY DISTEICT. 155
CHAPTER XV.
MISSION SEMIN.iEY DISTEICT.
At sliort distances along the coast, for about four
miles east and west of the institution, there are eigiit
villages, containing an aggregate population of 2152
individuals. These viUao-es have each a resident
teacher, who preaches, and to whom is entrusted
other branches of ministerial duty. My fellow-tutor
and I take a pastoral oversight in the admission or
exclusion of church members, and also in adminis-
tering the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's
Supper. These villages also furnish a sphere for the
occasional exercise of the ji^eaching talents of the
students, preparatory to their being sent out and
appointed to the care of villages themselves.*
Of the population in the eight villages just
referred to, 23-4 are members of the church, 387
* The kind of preaching which takes in Samoa is the illus-
trative. A plain statement of abstract truth to a people who
hardly ever open then" mouth hut in a fignii-e, is diy and unin-
teresting. The successful preacher in Samoa, whether native or
European, must search heaven, and earth, and sea, and bring
forth also from every age of the history of his fellow-men with
which he is acquainted, facts illustrative of the great truths which
he preaches. The man who thinks that " anything" will do for
such a people, will find that his preaching is vain and valueless.
He will neither gain the respect of the people, nor save souls.
15G NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
are candidates for churcli fellowsliip, and the rest
are professedly Christians. In every family in the
district God is worshipped, and family prayer con-
ducted night and morning. In the day-schools for
children there are in all 551, and in the day-schools
for adults there are in attendance 902. In addition
to the regular morning and afternoon services on the
Sabbath-day, there is a Sunday-school at noon for
the children, and after that a Bible-class for the
adults. At the former, there is an aggregate attend-
ance of 504, and at the latter, 900.
The chm^ch members at five of these villages,
unite once a month in communion with the students
in the institution. The other three villages, which
are more isolated, form a separate church, and have
a united communion once a month. It seldom haj)-
pens, — but it is an understood thing, — that if the mis-
sionary is prevented from attending on the ordinance
day at this outpost, that the teachers of the three
villages conduct the service themselves. At out-
stations, in various parts of the group, the Lord's
Supper is duly administered once a month by the
native pastors.
In admitting members to the church, the course
we have pursued is something like the following :
When an individual feels a desire to leave off the
service of Satan, and become a follower of Christ, he
makes known his wish to the teacher of the villao-e.
o
If the teacher thinks him sincere he notes his name,
and mentions the case to us, that we too may take
it down. In our arrangements, we have an hour
MISSION SEMINAEY DISTEICT. 157
now and then for the purpose of conversing indi-
vidually with these candidates for church fellowship,
and note in our memorandum, book, opposite to the
name of the party, the opinion formed. At some of
these names I have such words as " hopeful — reads —
seems in earnest ;" or, it may be, that I have to record
such words as, " doubtful — can't read — answers by
rote — Pharisaical — dark as to Christ." The teacher
forms these candidates into a class for special in-
struction, and keeps his eye particularly upon them.
Once or twice in the course of the year he, together
with the aid of the church members, makes a selec-
tion, it may be of two, four, or six, whom they think
fit to be admitted to the church. If we find, on
comparing the list with our notes, that our opinion
is the same as that of the church members and
teachers, we then give notice at the next prayer-
meeting of the church members, that certain parties
are proposed for admission, and if, after another
month, there are no objections, and all lift up the
hand in a vote in favour of the parties, they are ad-
mitted, and join in the next communion. If, however,
there are any doubts, we delay. It is rare that any are
admitted before having been candidates for two or
three years. I have some who have been candidates
for five, and even ten years, and yet we have not con-
fidence in admitting them. One, for instance, is a
middle-aged, steady sort of man, but he cannot read.
Another can read, but he has not been at the trouble
to procure the books of Scripture. Another reads
and has the entire Bible, but there are suspicions ;
158 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
he seems to equivocate at times, and now and then
slips away to fisli, or work in his plantation, instead
of attending the prayer-meeting. For these, and
similar things, which indicate a want of Christian
princi^Dle, we keep back many, year after year, afraid
lest we should be the means of misleading any, or
of causino- them to settle down contented with a
mere name to live. By being careful to admit only
such as give protracted evidence that they have been
received by God, we have all the less occasion for
subsequent discipline. We do not hesitate, how-
ever, to dismiss at once from church fellowship any
against whom there is a clearly made out case of
such things as lying, stealing, adultery, lifting the
hand in a quarrel, or Sabbath-breaking. When
church members prove unfaithful, it can hardly be
concealed. Their conduct is pretty open to the
world, and not only is the eye of the ungodly open
and vigilant, his tongue also is ever ready to trumpet
abroad any inconsistencies which he may discover
in the professors of Christianity.
The eight village teachers or pastors, to whom I
have referred, are supported by the voluntary con-
tributions of the people in the villages where they
labour. For several years we gave our teachers,
throughout the group, an allowance of clothing from
the funds of the Missionary Society. This required
the Directors to send out now and then a £200
parcel of Manchester goods — a serious item of ex-
penditure, and yet, when it was divided into 200
shares, and each share considered a man's allowance
MISSION SEMINARY DISTRICT. 159
for himself, his wife, and family, for eighteen months
or two years, it seemed so little that one felt ashamed
to offer it. In 1852, we thought the time had fully
come to throw the entire support of the teachers
upon the people themselves. We have no seat-rents,
or other stated source of ecclesiastical income, from
which to pay these village pastors. The chapels are
built freely by the united labour of the people them-
selves, and that entitles them to free attendance.
Annually, in May, we have missionary meetings, and
a voluntary collection, but that is sacred to the Mis-
sionary Society. We, therefore, decided that we
should call upon the people simultaneously all over
the group, to fix upon the first month of every year
for making a voluntary contribution for the support
of their village teacher. The people had all along
been in the habit of building him a house, and of
supplying him with the most of the food which he
required, but they left him to his own resources, or
the allowances from the Missionary Society, for
everything else.
The extra effort was something novel to the
people, but as they had by this time the New Testa-
ment in their hands, and the greater part of the Old,
it was easy to explain to them the Scripture prin-
ciple, and even to appeal to their o^ti common-sense,
that the man who does tJieir work should be paid
by tJieiu. Still, however, some grumbled. " Why
not pay the teachers out of the May collection ?"
" If we subscribe for the teachers in January, there
will be nothing for the Missionary Society in May."
160 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYISTESIA.
" If we yield to this, and pay the teachers, we shall
be called upon to pay the missionaries next." These
were the sayings of a few of the croaking, close-fisted,
and unprincipled. It was easy to meet every ob-
jection, and so we commenced the new scheme in
January, 1853. In the eight villages adjacent to
our Mission Seminary the aggregate, in cash value,
of articles given by the people to their teachers
amomited to £14, or about 356?. to each teacher. It
was not much, but it was a commencement, and far
more than we had been able to afford from the funds
at om" disposal fi'om the Missionary Society. Next
year it amounted to £22. Every year it went on
steadily increasing, and the year before I left, the
united collections of these eight villages, for their
teachers, amounted to £84 ; that is to say, on an
average, upwards of £10 to each. This, with the
addition to which we have already referred, of a free
house, and a pretty good supply of food, is, we
consider, ample provision for a native teacher in
Samoa at the present day.
Not only has the scheme worked well for the
support of the village pastors, but it has not detracted
in the least from the annual collection in May for the
Missionary Society. For the last seven years we
have averaged upwards of £00, as the annual col-
lection from the district and the institution — a larger
sum by far than we ever averaged in preceding
years. It holds good in Samoa as in England, that
the people who do most for the cause of God among
themselves are the very parties who are foremost in
MISSION SEMINARY DISTRICT. 161
their efforts for the cause of Christ among the
heathen.
The chiefs were on the alert again, according to
their custom, at which I have ah^eady hinted, and
wished to legislate on the question of the support of
teachers. One proposal was, that they should pass
a law, and have a uniform poll-tax, that all might
give alike. Another, and rather an amusing scheme
of the cheap religionist order, was, that the 'Women
pay the teacher one year, and the men the next, and
so on alternating. Of course, we had again to inter-
fere, and beg the chiefs to confine their legislation
to other things, and let religion alone. On the part
of some of them, it was kindness to the teacher,
and a wish to see that all contribute ; but we
begged them to leave his support, just as they do
the annual missionary collection, viz., to the free-
will offerings of the people, to whose instruction
the teacher, from day to day, devotes himself. Tliis
is done. The month is fixed, one gives one thing,
another something else, and the result is as I have
mentioned.
For the gratification of the curious, I may give
an illustration or two of what a 8amoan minister gets
fi'om his people as his stipend. Last year one in
a neighbouring village had handed in to him by
various parties —
10 Fine mats, worth 4,5. each.
47 Pieces of native cloth, worth 1.?. each.
4 Bed-curtains, worth 8s. each.
M
162 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNTISIA.
33 Two-yard lengths of calico.
1 Woman's gown.
3 Pigs.
34 Silver coins, of various kinds, from a dollar
to a dime, worth in all, 45^'.
Another teacher had given him : —
23 Four-yard lengths of calico.
17 Two-yard lengths of calico.
10 Pieces of native cloth.
6 Pigs.
3 Native tiputas, something like the Spanish
ponchos.
1 Coat.
1 Shirt.
1 Fowl.
1 Child's garment.
Silver coins of various kinds to the value of
£4 15s.
Another received : —
97 Pieces of native cloth.
14 Two-yard lengths of calico.
5 Four-yard ditto ditto.
1 Shirt.
3 Fowls.
1 Duck.
1 Smoothing iron.
Coins to the value of 7s.
Let these suffice as a specimen of what the Sa-
moans give to their teachers in the shape of salary.
MISSION SEMINARY DISTRICT. 163
They also illustrate the mixed currency which pre-
vails in their dealings with each other in their pre-
sent stage of civilization.
The beneficial effects of throwing the support of
the teachers on the people themselves are obvious.
On the one hand, the people like the independent
feehng, that they are paying for the pains which the
teacher takes to instruct them and their children; and,
on the other, the teacher is stirred up to his duty ;
and, even if he has the inclination, feels ashamed to
waste his time in trading pursuits, or in any other
secularities, hostile to the discharge of the duties of
liis teachership and pastorate. We charge it solemnly
on our native agents not to entangle themselves
"with the affairs of this life," but to be faithful to
the special duties of their sacred calhng. To each
we say, with reference to these duties, "Grive thyself
wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear unto
all," and with the precept, we give the example of
our own missionary hfe and conduct. Ever since I
have known the Samoan Mission, its agents have
stood aloof from all secular pursuits in quest of gain ;
and God forbid that any one should ever there, by
land-jobbing, cattle-dealing, or trading of any de-
scription, pollute the sacred office, and bring his
brethren into disrepute !
The general routine of the duties of a teacher in
the district of which I am now speaking, is to devote
the morning to the children, noon to a more select
class of boys or girls, and sometimes both, who
have been collected into a boarding-school, sup-
164 KIXETEEN YE.\ES IN POLYNESIA.
plied witli food and clothing by tlieir parents, and
conducted by the teacher and his^ wife ;* and the
afternoon is spent in attending to classes of adults
for general instruction. One afternoon they have
the men, another the women, and once a "week have
a united meeting of all for a religious service in the
interval of the Sabbaths. On Saturday evening they
have a prayer-meeting with the church members
and more steady part of the community, and on the
Sabbath they are employed as follows : — There is
first the early morning prayer-meeting, then the
morning service ; mid-day, the Sunday school ; at
two P.M., an adult Bible-class ; and at fom' p,3i., the
afternoon service.
These are the leading duties of a teacher. In
addition, however, there are many other things
which draw upon his time, such as visiting the
sick, conducting a religious service at funerals,
and attending classes for further instruction himself
at the residence of the missionary.
Once a year we examine the schools which these
good men conduct, and endeavour frequently to visit
their callages, preach to the people, and converse
with those who are candidates for church fellowship.
* Any time whicli Mrs. Turner lias been able to give to the
instruction of the natives, has for a number of years been prin-
cipally devoted to the wives and daughters of the teachers in the
institution. She has endeavoured, however, to keep her eye
upon these girls' boarding-schools, by getting them to visit her
occasionally. By advices also to the women who conduct them,
and by supplying tliem with sewing and other materials, she has
been able to give them some little superintendence.
MISSION SBMINAEY DISTEICT. 165
We have also annually a united missionary meeting
of the whole district in our mas^nificent " Exeter
Hall," which is simply the institution square under
the shade of the bread-fruit trees, and there we have
three hours' interesting speaking; first with the
adults in the morning, and then in the afternoon
with the children. Missionaries, native teachers, and
leading church members are the speakers. On these
occasions, also, we send round half a dozen plates, to
receive whatever the people please to give for the
Missionary Society. They contribute in silver coins,
and for the last seven years this annual collection has
averaged upwards of sixty pounds.
But the greatest encouragement amid all our
labours, and the rich reward of all our toils, is the
fact that hardly a month passes without some in-
stance of a happy death, as the close of a changed
and penitent Ufe. I know something of the later
years and last days on earth of more than half a
generation of the people in the district about whom
I am now writing ; and of many of them I can en-
tertain the cheering conviction that they are safe in
heaven, I have frequently retired from their jDeaceful
death-beds, involuntarily whispering such words as
the following : — " God, grant that when my
change comes, I may be enabled to look death in the
face with all the composure and holy triumph which
that good man now feels." Even from the closing
scenes of some who have hved a most ungodly life,
we have now and then an affecting and telling
testimony in favour of Christianity. In agony
166 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
themselves at tlie tlioiiglit of what is before them,
they urge their Aveepiiig relatives and ungodly
comjDanions to betake themselves, with all haste,
to Jesus, lest they, too, should go to that "place
of torment."
THE PRESS AND TRANSLATIONS. 167
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PRESS AND TRANSLATIONS.
Soon after the commencement of tlie institution, it
was arranged that the tutors there act conjointly as
revisers of the press. The printing-office is situated
about five miles from the institution. In addition to
carrying through the press my own works, to which
I have referred, the proof-revising of aU the books
of the Old Testament, and the greater part of those
of the New, together with various other minor pro-
ductions, occupied many an hour of my time. Mrs.
Turner was my faithful proof-reader all these years,
and, although unknown at Earl Street, has never-
theless rendered no small service to the foreisrn
version department.
Having been thus connected with the Samoan
press, it is but right perhaps that I should add some-
thing on the subject of the Scripture translations.
When I joined the mission, all the books of Scrip-
ture had been portioned out for translation. Sub-
sequently I got four of the pro]3hetical books as my
share of the work, viz., Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and
Amos. The laborious work, however, of carrying
all through committee was but commencing, and
marked out for us years of toil before accomplishing
the great work on which our hearts was set.
168 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
In all our Scripture translations, we acted upon
the principle that no one man, however well qualified
for the task, is fit to be intrusted with the entire
responsibilities of translating the Word of God into
a foreign language. It was, therefore, a standing
rule with us, that after the translator had done his
best, he submit his manuscript to a committee of not
less than three of his brother missionaries, appointed
for the pm-pose at a general meeting. The translator,
if possible, formed one of the nmnber, and as that
committee, rather than the translator, was held
responsible, every word was compared with the
original, and the renderings altered or confirmed,
as the united voice of the committee might
decide.
When we met on these committees, we sat ten
hours a day, with om^ native pundits, for two, three,
four, or six weeks, according to the length or diffi-
culty of the book. The first thing, of course, was to
settle the rendering ; the second, to find the right
word ; and the third, to put that word in the right
place. For the rendering we had some of the leading
critical helps, and were guided also by the translating
rules of the Committee of the British and Foreign
Bible Society,* and for the right word and the right
* The following are three of the principal rales to which I
refer : —
"1. For the Hebrew Bible, the edition of Van der Hooght is
considered the standard ; and, in the use of this, the translator is
at liberty to follow either the Ketih or the Keri ; but not to adopt
any rendering which is not sanctioned by the Masoretic vowel
THE PRESS AND TEANSLATIOXS. 169
place, we liad to be guided by our united knowledge
of the language, aided by four or five intelligent
natives who sat witb us, ready to answer oiu' ques-
tions and to bear verse after verse read connectedly
as we finished it.
At the commencement of a book, we had a num-
ber of preparatory things to settle, affecting the style
of the author, and certain phrases which he uses ;
so that our progress for a few days would be slow,
not more, sometimes, than five verses. As we
advanced, however, we got through from twenty to
forty verses a day. "We endeavoured to make the
translation of every verse the united voice of the
entire committee. When there was a difference of
opinion, the disputed point was settled by the majo-
rity of votes ; and in an}^ case of unusual difi&culty,
the question was reserved for the united dehberation
of the entire mission at a general meeting.
On referring to my notes, I find that I sat in
committee on twenty-nine out of the sixty-six books
points, or the Keri, or the Englisli authorized version, or the mar-
ginal reading of this last.
" 2. For the Greek Testament, the Elzevir edition of the Textus
Beceptus, a.d. 1643, and reprinted by the Bible Society, is con-
sidered the standard ; but in cases where the English authorized
version diffefs from this, either in the text, or in the marginal
reading, the translator is at liberty to adopt the rendering which
may agree with any one of these three.
" 3. The verb, (Sa-n-TL^, and its cognates, in the New Testament,
are either to be represented by the Greek word being transferred
into the form of the language of the version, or else to be trans-
lated by terms not definitely Kniited to the sense of either sprinkling
or immersion.''^
]70 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
of the Scripture, and as I know sometliing of tlie
liistory of tlie manuscripts of all tlie otlier books, I
can bear testimony tliat every book of our Samoan
version of the Scriptures was got up with all the
care and sacred regard for accuracy which I have
just described.
After completing the New Testament, and print-
ing it in separate books on the islands, we divided
ourselves into four committees for the further revi-
sion of the whole. This being done, we rewrote the
entire version and sent the manuscript to London
for an edition of 15,000 copies from the British and
Foreign Bible Society. The Directors of that noble
institution had repeatedly aided us by grants of
printing-paper, as the first edition was passing
through the press, and now that the New Testament
was completed, and a second edition wanted, they at
once rendered us the help we solicited. In 1850,
the new edition, which was carried through the
press in London by our missionary, the Rev. J. B.
Stair, was sent out to us at a cost for the whole of
£1388 13,9. 6d. Believing that the natives could
perfectly well afford to pay for them, and would
value them all the more after makino- a little effort
to procure them, we arranged our sales accordingly,
and, in seven years, paid off the £1388 13^\ 6d.,
much to the satisfaction of ourselves, and especially
to the delight of our good friends the Committee of
the British and Foreign Bible Society. While issu-
ing the Scriptures in single books from our mission
press, we uniformly made a small charge to meet
THE PRESS AND TRANSLATIONS. 171
expenses, and, as a general rule, only gave copies
gratis to our native agents.*
By tlie close of 1855, we had completed the revi-
sion and printing in the islands of the Old Testa-
ment, and, as a worthy commemoration of the event,
we had a general thanksgiving all over the group.
Our Scripture translation work, however, was not
yet done. We divided the whole afresh into eight
portions for further correction by individual brethren,
preparatory to a final revision, and a new edition of
the entire Scriptures, in one volume, to be printed in
London. The final revision, to secure uniformity
and give to the whole the matured benefit of nearly
twenty years' experience, we committed to our
brethren Pratt and Nisbet. For three hundred and
thirty-one days they plodded afresh, through every
book from Grenesis to the Revelation, referring diffi-
culties to Mr. Murray and myself, and, in particular
cases, to the entire mission. In addition to this Mr.
Murray sat with them on two different occasions
for four weeks at a time, and I also spent a month
with them. Now that this revision work is done, the
whole has been committed to my care, to carry
through the press an edition of 10,000, with mar-
ginal references, under the auspices of the British
and Foreign Bible Society. As the version is in
accordance with our knowledge of the Samoan
dialect in 1860, it is, of com^se, free from all obso-
* I give, I believe, an under estimate when I say that, dm-ing
the last twenty years, the Samoans have bought and paid for
copies of the Scriptui'es to the extent of three thousand jjoimds.
172 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
lete words and plirases, and will, I liave no doubt,
be far plainer in this respect to a Samoan, than our
English version is at the present day to many of our
countrymen.
The printing of the work has been commenced,
and, with God's help and blessing, I hope in due
time to return to the sphere of my much-loved work,
and to take with me the new edition of this precious
volume, for which the people there are waiting with
no measured interest.
ETHNOLOGICAL PAPERS. 173
CHAPTEH XYII.
ETHNOLOGICAL PAPEES.
While in Samoa, I wrote a number of papers, em-
bodying some of tlie leading facts connected with
the history of the people, which are not only interest-
ing in themselves, but likely to be of use as a contri-
bution to ethnological science. The most of these
papers have already appeared in a journal called the
" Samoan Reporter," which we issued occasionally
for private circulation among our friends. I have
collected and revised the whole, and now give them
in a more connected form.
I have, to some extent, followed the order of a
list of queries respecting the human race, drawn up
a number of years ago, by a committee of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science. This
arrangement will amply suflBce to classify the infor-
mation communicated, and to those who have these
queries, and who take an interest in ethnological
studies, it will facihtate reference.
Samoa as it was is the leading subject of some
of the following chapters ; at the same time promi-
nence is given to the changes effected under the
benign and ameliorating influences of Christianity.
We begin with a number of topics which may be
headed Individual and Family Life.
174 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD.
At tlie birtli of her cliild, tlie motlier, as in more
fayoured parts of tlie eartli, lias a liberal share in the
kind attention of her friends. Her own mother was
almost invariably la sage-femme ; but failing her,
some other female friend. Her father was generally
present on the occasion, and either he or her husband
prayed to the household god, and promised to give
any offering he might require, if he would only pre-
serve mother and child in safety. A prayer was thus
expressed : "0 Moso, be propitious ; let this my
daughter be preserved alive ! Be compassionate to
us ; save my daughter, and we will do anything you
wish as our redemption price." Offerings to the
god were regulated by the caprice and covetousness
of the cunning priest. Sometimes a canoe was
demanded ; at other times, a house was to be built ;
and often fine mats or other valuable property was
required. But more as to these offerings in a sub-
sequent chapter. The household god of the family
of the father was generally prayed to first ; but, if
the case was tedious or difficult, the god of the family
of the mother was then invoked ; and when the child
was born, the god prayed to just before was carefully
remembered and duly acknowledged throughout the
future life of the child. By way of respect to him, the
child was called his inertia ; and was actually named
during infancy and childhood, " merda of Tongo,"
or " Satia," or whatever other deity it might be.
INFAIs^CY AND CHILDHOOD. 175
If the little stranger was a boy, the umhiUcus was
cut on a club, that he might grow up to be brave in
war. If of the other sex, it was done on the board
on which they beat out the bark of which they make
their native cloth. Cloth-making is the work of
women; and their wish was, that the httle girl should
grow up and prove useful to the family in her proper
occupation.
Infanticide, as it prevailed in Eastern Polynesia,
and as it is still practised in the New Hebrides,
was unknown in Samoa. Nor were children ever
ex^Dosed. After they were born they were affection-
ately cared for. But the custom of destroying them
before that, has prevailed to a melancholy extent.
Shame, fear of punishment, lazy unwillingness to
nurse, and a di^ad of soon being old-looking, were
the prevailing causes. Pressm^e was the means em-
ployed ; and, in some cases, proved the death of the
unnatural parent. Since the introduction of Chris-
tianity, this custom has been greatly checked, if not
almost entirely abandoned.
As to nursing, during the first two or three days,
the nurse bestowed great attention to the head of
the child, that it might be modified and shaped after
notions of propriety and beauty. The child was laid
on its back, and the head surrounded with three flat
stones. One was placed close to the crown of the
head, and one on either side. The forehead was
then pressed with the hand, that it might be flat-
tened. The nose, too, was carefully flattened. Our
" canoe noses," as they call them, are blemishes in
176 NINETEEN TEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
their estimation. For the first three days the infant
was fed with the juice of the chewed kernel of the
cocoa-nut, expressed through a piece of native cloth,
and dropped into the mouth. On the third day a
woman of the sacred craft was sent for to examine
the milk. A little was put into a cup, with water
and two heated stones, and then examined. If it
had the slightest curdled appearance, she pronounced
it bitter and poisonous. This process she repeated
two or three times a day for several days, until it was
drawn off free from coagulation, and then she pro-
nounced it sweet and wholesome, and the child was
forthwith permitted to partake of its proper nourish-
ment. Of course, she was well paid for her services,
and had every inducement to prolong them for
several days. During this time the infant was fed
mth the juice of the cocoa-nut or the sugar-cane.
Many fell victims to this improper treatment. At a
very early period the child is fed ; and sometimes
weaned altogether at four months. This has been
another fruitful source of mortality among children.
Occasionally the father or some member of the
family, through whom it was supposed the god of
the family spoke, expressly ordered that the child
have nothing but the breast for an indefinite time.
This was a mark of respect to the god, and called
his " banana." In these cases the child grew
amazingly, and was soon, literally, as plump as a
banana. These and other evils are being remedied ;
and the better treatment of children is, in some
places, apparent in the increased population. With
INFAATY AND CHILDHOOD. 177
ordinary proper treatment, tliey are, upon the wliole,
easily reared. What Marsden says of the children
of Sumatra will apply to Samoa: — "Mothers carry
the children, not on the arm, as our nurses do, but
straddling on the hip This practice, I have
been told, is common in some parts of Wales. It is
much safer than the other method, less tiresome to
the nurse, and the child has the advantage of sitting
in a less constrained posture. But the defensive
armour of stays, and offensive weapons called pins,
might be some objection to the general introduc-
tion of the fashion in England. The children are
nursed but little ; not confined by any swathing or
bandages ; and being suffered to roll about the floor,
soon learn to Avalk and shift for themselves." —
("History of Sumatra," 3rd edit. p. 285.)
Education. — Girls always, and boys for four
or five years, are under the special charge of the
mother, and follow her in her domestic avocations.
The girl is taught to di^aw water, gather shell-fish,
make mats and native cloth. The boy, after a time,
follows his father, and soon is usefiil in planting,
fishing, house-building, and all kinds of manual
labour.
A modified form o? circumcision prevailed. About
the eighth or tenth year, two or three boys would
unite and go, of their own accord, to some one in
the village, who would make the customary incision,
and give him some trifling reward for his trouble.
There was no further ceremony on the occasion, as
at other periods of life.
N
178 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
Names. — Out of respect to the houseliold god, as
we have already remarked, the child was named after
him, during the time of infancy and childhood ; after
that, a name was given. The animal and vegetable
kingdoms, places, occupations, actions, and events
furnished them with the principal names. The
primitive rule, " one man, one word," invariably
prevailed.
Bejoicing. — About the third day the woman was
up, and at her usual occupation, and ready to take
part in the rejoicings connected with the occasion.
By this time the principal friends were assembled.
They all brought presents, and observed an unvary-
ing rule in the hind of presents each was expected to
bring. The relations of the husband brought " oloa,"
which includes pigs, canoes, and all kinds of foreign
property, such as cloth, hatchets, etc. The relations
of the wife brought " tonga," which includes the
leading articles manufactured by the females, viz.,
fine mats and native cloth. The " oloa" brought by
the fi^iends of the husband was all distributed among
those of the wife, and the " tonga" brought by the
fiiends of the wife was divided among those of the
husband ; and thus the whole affair was so managed,
that the friends were the benefited parties chiefly,
and the husband and wife left no richer than they
were. Still, they had the satisfaction of having seen
what they considered a great honour, viz., heaps of
property collected on occasion of the birth of their
child. Feasting, sham-fighting, night- dancing, and
many other heathen customs, formed one continued
INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD. 179
scene of revelry for two or three days, when the
party broke up.
Twins are rare. Triplets still more so ; indeed,
there is only a vague tradition of such a thing.
Twins are supposed to be of one mind, and to think,
feel, and act alike ; during the time of infancy and
childhood, at least. There are a few instances of
large families, but four or five will be the average.
Adopted Children. — The number of children seen
in a family is small, occasioned, to a great extent,
by the bad management and consequent mortality of
children, and also a custom which prevails of parting
with their children to friends who wish to adopt
them. The general rule is, for the husband to give
away his child to his sister. She and her husband
give, in retm*n for the child, some foreign property,
just as if they had received so many fine mats or na-
tive cloth. The adopted child is viewed as " tonga,'^
and is, to the family who adopts it, a channel
through which native property (or '^ tonga^^) con-
tinues to flow to that family from the parents of the
child. On the other hand, the child is to its parents
a source of obtaining foreign property (or '' oJoa^')
from the parties who adopt it, nut only at the time of
its adoption, but as long as the child lives. Hence
the custom of adoption is not so much the want of
natural affection, as the sacrifice of it to this sys-
tematic facility of traffic in native and foreign pro-
perty. Hence, also, parents may have in their
family adopted children, and their own real children
elsewhere. The existence of this custom has been
180 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
a source of gTeat practical difficulty to those who
become converts from heathenism. 'No sooner are
their eyes opened to see their parental responsibility,
and that they must give account at the judgment-
seat for the manner in which they have trained up
their children, than they wish to collect their off-
spring from the families into whicli they have been
adopted. But then the parties who have adopted
them will not give them up ; and often, too, the
children are unwilling to leave their adopted parents,
and go among strangers — for, alas ! such to them
are their real parents. Christian parents, however,
are to some extent succeeding in their efforts to
recall their children to their proper home ; and the
consequences are delightful. A sense of parental
responsibility is making way among the whole popu-
lation, and a conviction that they must give an
account unto Grod for the manner in which they
train up their children is, to many parents now,
paramount to the inferior concerns of secular traffic
in fine mats and foreign property.
ADULT AND ADVANCED YEAES. 181
CHAPTER XYIII.
ADULT AND ADVANCED TEARS.
Passing from infancy and cliildhood, we proceed to
the ceremonies, superstitions, and customs con-
nected with more advanced years.
Tatooing. — " Herodotus found among the Thi^a-
cians, that the barbarians could be exceedingly
foppish after their fashion. The man who was not
tatooed among them was not respected." It was the
same in Samoa. Until a young man was tatooed,
he was considered in his minority. He could not
think of marriage, and he was constantly exposed to
taunts and ridicule, as being poor and of low birth,
and as having no right to speak in the society of
men. But as soon as he was tatooed, he passed into
his majority, and considered himself entitled to the
respect and privileges of mature years. When a
youth, therefore, reached the age of sixteen, he and
his friends were all anxiety that he should be
tatooed. He was then on the outlook for the tatoo-
ing of some neighbouring chief with whom he might
unite. On these occasions, six or a dozen young
men would be tatooed at one time ; and for these
there might be four or five tatooers employed.
Tatooing is still kept up to some extent, and is
a regular profession, just as house-building, and
182
NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
well paid. There is a tradition on tlie origin of the
custom, which traces it to Feejee. Two goddesses,
the one named Taema and the other Tilafainga, are
said to have swam to Samoa from Feejee, and, on
their reaching these islands, commenced singing —
" Tatoo the men, but not tlie women ;
Tatoo the men, but not the women."
The custom is thus traced to Taema and Tilafainga ;
and they were worshipped by the tatooers as the
presiding deities of their craft.
The instrument used in the operation is an ob-
long piece of human bone
(os ilmm), about an inch
and a half broad and two
inches long. A time of
war and slaughter was a
harvest for the tatooers to
get a supply of instru-
ments. The one end is
cut like a very small-
toothed comb, and the
other is fastened to a piece
of cane, and looks like a Httle serrated adze. They
dip it into a mixtm^e of candle-nut ashes and water,
and, tapping it with a little mallet, it sinks into the
skin; and in this way they puncture the whole
surface over which the tatooing extends. The
greater part of the body, from the waist down to the
knee, is covered with it, variegated here and there
with neat regular stripes of the untatooed skin.
ADULT AND ADVANCED YEARS. 183
which, when they are well oiled, make tliem appear
in the distance as if they had on black silk knee-
breeches. Behreus, in describing these natives in
his narrative of Roggewein's voyage of 1772, says:
"They were clothed from the waist downwards
with fringes and a kind of silken stuff artificially
wrought." A nearer inspection would have shown
that the "fi'inges" were a bunch of red ti leaves
{Dracrena ferminalis) glistening with cocoa-nut oil ;
and the "kind of silken stuff," the tatooing just
described. As it extends over such a large surface,
the operation is a tedious and painful affair. After
smartino; and bleeding for a while under the hands
of the tatooers, the patience of the youth is ex-
hausted. They then let him rest and heal for a
time, and, before returning to him again, do a httle
piece on each of the party. In two or three months
the whole is completed. The friends of the young
men are all the while in attendance with food. They
also bring quantities of fine mats and native cloth,
as the hire of the tatooers ; connected with them,
too, are many waiting on for a share in the food and
property.
The waste of tim.e, revelling, and immorality
connected with the custom have led us to discoun-
tenance it ; and it is, to a considerable extent, given
up. But the gay youth still thinks it manly and
respectable to be tatooed; parental pride says the
same thing ; and so the custom still obtains. It is
not likely, however, to stand long before advancing
civilization. European clothing, and a sense of
184 NINETEEX YE.y:?S IN POLYNESIA.
propriety tliey are daily acquiring, lead tliem to
cover tlie tatooed part of the body entirely ; and,
when its display is considered a shame rather than
a boast, it will ^^I'obably be given up, as painful,
expensive, and useless ; and then, too, instead of
the tatooing, age, experience, common-sense, and
education will determine whether or not the young
man is entitled to the respect and privileges of
mature years.
There is a custom observed by the other sex
worth noticing, for the sake of comparison with
other parts of the world. About the time of enter-
ing into womanhood, their parents and other rela-
tives collect a quantity of fine mats and cloth,
prepare a feast, and invite all the unmarried women
of the settlement. After the feast the property is
distributed among them, and they disperse. None
but females are present. It is considered mean and
a mark of poverty, if a family does not thus observe
the occasion.
Cliastiiy is ostensibly cultivated by both sexes ;
but it is more a name than a reality. From their
childhood their ears are familiar with the most
obscene conversation ; and as a whole family, to
some extent, herd together, immorality is the na-
tural and prevalent consequence. There are excep-
tions, especially among the daughters of persons of
rank ; but they are the exceptions, not the rule.
Many native teachers and other consistent charac-
ters, seeing the evil, have now separate sleeping
apartments in their dwellings ; and their better
ADULT AND ADVANCED YEARS. 185
regulated families are becoming models to their
comitrymen of an improved and improving com-
munity.
Adulter }j, too, is sadly prevalent, although often
severely punished by private revenge. If the injured
husband seeks revenge in the blood of the seducer,
no one thinks he has done wrong. But the worst
feature of the law of private revenge is, that the
brother, or any near relation of the culprit, is as
liable to be killed as he himself is. Fines are now
being substituted ; but, occasionally, revolting mur-
ders are still committed on account of the crime.
Marriage contracts are never entered into before
the parties reach the years of maturity just de-
scribed. Considerable care is taken to prevent any
union between near relatives ; so much so, that a
list of what they deem improper marriages would
almost compare with the " Table of kindred and
affinity." They say that, of old, custom and the
gods frowned upon the union of those in whom con-
sanguinity could be closely traced. Few had the
hardihood to run in the face of superstition ; but if
they did, and their children died at a premature age,
it was sure to be traced to the anger of the house-
hold god on account of the forbidden marriage.
A young man rarely, in the first instance, pays
his addresses in person to the object of his choice.
A present of food is taken to her and her relatives
by a friend of his, who is, at the same time, com-
missioned to convey the proposal to her father ; or,
faihng him, to the elder brother of the young
186 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
woman. Her consent is, of course, asked too ; but
that is a secondary consideration. She must agree,
if her parents are in favour of the match. If the
present of food is received, and the reply favourable,
the matter is considered settled. This, together
with a somewhat formal meal directly after the
marriage ceremony, reminds us of the Roman
confarreatio.
All parties consenting, preparations commence,
and one, two, or three months are spent collecting
various kinds of property. All the family and
relatives of the bride are called upon to assist, and
thus they raise a great quantity of tonga, which
includes all kinds of fine mats and native cloth,
manufactured by the women. This is invariably the
dowery, which is presented to the bridegroom and
his friends on the celebration of the nuptials. He
and his friends, on the other hand, collect in a
similar manner for the family of the bride oloo,,
which includes canoes, pigs, and foreign property of
all kinds, such as cloth, garments, etc.
A time is fixed when the parties assemble. The
bride and her friends, taking with them her dowery,
proceed to the home of the bridegroom, which may
be in another settlement, or on an adjacent island. If
they were people of rank, it was the custom of old
that the ceremonies of the occasion pass ofi" in the
marae. The marae is the forum or place of public
assembly — an open circular space, surrounded by
bread-fruit trees, under the shade of which the people
sit. Here the bridegroom and his friends, and the
ADULT AND ADVANCED YE.YES. 187
whole \dllage assembled, together with the friends of
the bride. All were seated cross-legged around the
marae, ghstening from head to foot with scented oil,
and decked ofiT with beads, garlands of sweet- smelling
flowers, and whatever else their varying fancy might
suggest for the joyous occasion. In a house close
by, the bride was seated. A pathway from this house
to the marae, in front of where the bridegroom sits,
was carpetted with fancy native cloth ; and, all being-
ready, the bride decked off too with beads, a garland
of flowers or fancy shells, and girt round the waist
with fine mats, flowing in a train five or six feet
behind her, moved slowly along towards the marae.
She was followed along the carpetted pathway by a
train of young women, dressed hke herself, each bear-
ing a valuable mat, half spread out, holding it to the
gaze of the assembly ; and, when they reached the
bridegroom, the mats were laid down before him.
They then returned to the house for more, and went
on renewing the procession and display until some
fifty or a hundred fine mats and two or three hundred
pieces of native cloth were heaped before the bride-
groom. This was the dowery. The bride then
advanced to the bridegroom, and sat down. By and
by she rose up before the assembly, and was received
with shouts of applause, and, as a further expression
of respect, her immediate friends, young and old,
took up stones and beat themselves until their heads
were bruised and bleeding. The obscenity which
preceded this burst of feeling will not bear the fight
of description. Then followed a display of the oloa
188 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
(or property) wliicli the bridegroom presented to the
friends of the bride. Then they had dinner, and
after that, the distribution of the property. The
father, or, faihng him, the brother or sister of the
father of the bridegroom, had the disposal of the
tonga which formed the dowery ; and, on the other
hand, the father or brother of the bride had the dis-
posal of the proj)erty which was given by the bride-
groom, Night-dances and their attendant immo-
rahties, womid up the ceremonies.
The marriage ceremonies of common people
passed off in a house, and with less display ; but the
same obscene form was gone through to which we
have referred — a custom which, doubtless, had some
influence in cultivating chastity, especially among
young women of rank. There was a fear of dis-
gracing themselves and their friends, and a dread of
a severe beating from the latter after the ceremony,
to which the faithless bride was sometimes subjected,
almost as if the letter of the Mosaic law had been
carried out upon her.
But there were many marriages without any such
ceremonies at all. If there was a probability that
the parents would not consent, from dispa;rity of rank
or other causes, an elopement took place ; and, if the
young man was a chief of any importance, a number
of his associates mustered in the evening, and Avalked
through the settlement, singing his praises and shout-
ing out the name of the person mth whom he had
eloped. This was sometimes the first intimation the
parents had of it, and, however mortified they might
ADULT AND ADY^\JST'ED YEAES. 189
be, it was too late. After a time, if the couple con-
tinued to live together, their friends acknowledged
the union by festivities and an exchange of property.
Concubinage. — ^When the newly-married woman
took up her abode in the family of her husband, she
was attended by a daughter of her brother, who was,
in fact, a concubine. Her brother considered that,
if he did not give up his daughter for this purpose,
he should fail in duty and respect towards his sister,
and incur the displeasure of their household god.
Failing her brother, her mother's relatives supplied
her with this maid of honour. Hence, with his wife,
a chief had one, two, or three concubines. Each of
these took with her tonga as a dowery, which, per-
haps, was the most important part of the business ;
for, after presenting her dowery, she might live "s^dth
him or not, as she pleased. Often the addition of
these concubines to the family was attended with all
the display and ceremonies of a regular marriage.
Polygamy. — The marriage ceremony being such
a prolific source of festivities and profit to the chief
and his friends, the latter, whether he was disposed
to do it or not, often luged on another and another
repetition of what we have described. They took the
thing almost entirely into their own hands, looked
out for a match in a rich family, and, if that family
was agreeable to it, the aff'air was pushed on, whether
or not the daughter was disposed to it. She, too, as
a matter of etiquette, must be attended by her com-
plement of one or more young women. According
to this system, a chief might have some ten or a
190 NINETEEN TEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
dozen wives and concubines in a sliort time. Owing,
however, to quarrelling, and jealousies, many of them
soon returned to their parental home ; and it was
rare to find a chief with more than two wives living
with him at the same time.
Divorce. — If the marriasfe had been contracted
merely for the sake of the property and festivities of
the occasion, the wife was not likely to be more than
a few days or weeks with her husband. With or
without leave, she soon found her way home to her
parents. If, however, a couple had lived together
for years, and wished to separate, if they were mutu-
ally agreed, they did it in a more formal way. They
talked over the matter coolly, made a fair division
of their property, and then the wife was conveyed
back to her friends, taking with her any young chil-
dren, and leaving those more advanced with their
father. A woman might thus go home and separate
entirely from her husband ; but, while that husband
lived, she dared not marry another. Nor could she
marry even after his death, if he was a chief of high
rank, without the special permission of the family
with which she had connected herself by marriage.
Any one who broke through the custom, and married
her without this, was liable to have his life taken
from him by that family ; or, at least, he had to pay
them a heavy fine.
Widows. — The brother of a deceased husband
considered himself entitled to have his brother's
wife, and to be regarded by the orphan children as
their father. If he was already married, she would,
ADULT ANP ADYANOED YEARS. 191
nevertlielesSj live witli him as a second wife. In the
event of there being several brothers, they met and
arranged which of them was thus to act the part of
the deceased brother. The principal reason they
alleged for the custom was, a desire to prevent the
woman and her children returning to her friends,
and thereby diminishing the number and influence
of their own family. And hence, failing a l^rother,
some other relative would offer himself, and be re-
ceived by the widow. Should none of them, how-
ever, wish to Hve with her, or should there be any
unwillingness on her part, she was, in either case, at
liberty to return to her own friends.
Viewing these customs in the light of Old Testa-
ment Scriptures, the most cursory observer will per-
ceive striking coincidences. The punishment with a
view to cultivate chastity, the punishment of adultery
with death, the parties whose consent is essential to
the marriage ceremony, the particular relatives whose
prerogative it was to distribute the dowery, together
with the disposal of the wife of a deceased brother,
all show that Samoa, like heathen lands of every age
and clime, possesses the wreck of a long lost, but
Divine system of truth and duty.
192 XINETEEX YExVKS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XIX.
FOOD — COOKING LIQUOES.
FoLLO"\\T:Na the order of tlie queries to wliicli we have
ah'eady referred, our attention is next called to the
prevailing food of the Samoans, their mode of cook-
ing, the liquors which they use, together with the
time and number of their meals.
Animal and Vegetahle Food. — Bread-fruit, taro,
bananas, and cocoa-nuts form the staff of life in
Samoa. Yams are cultivated, but chiefly as an
article of barter. Sweet-potatoes, Indian corn,
melons, and pmnpkins have been introduced, but are
not much cared for amid the profusion of better food
which generally obtains. Pine-apples, custard-apples,
oranges, limes, citrons, figs, ^dnes, yellow and purple
guavas, pomegranates, and mulberries have also
been introduced. Some date, cinnamon, and man-
gostin plants have recently been added, and thrive.
The lagoons and reefs furnish a large supply of fish
and shell-fish, of which the natives are very fond ;
and occasionally all, but especially persons of rank,
regale themselves on pigs, fowls, and turtle. Oxen
have been introduced, and are being prized by the
natives. Those who msh an extended and minute
account of the varieties of the animal and vegetable
kingdoms, in this and other groups in Central and
FOOD COOKING LIQUORS. 193
Eastern Polynesia, ^Yl[l find ample information in the
publislied volumes of tlie United States Exploring
Squadron of 1842.
For about half the year, the Samoans have an
abundant supply of food from the bread-fruit trees.
During the other half they depend principally on
their taro plantations. Bananas and cocoa-nuts are
plentiful thi'oughout the year. While the bread-fruit
is in season, every family lays up a quantity in a pit
lined with banana and cocoa-nut leaves, and covered
in -vritli stones. It soon ferments ; but they keep it
in that state for years, and the older it is they relish
it all the more. They bake this in the form of little
cakes, when the bread-fruit is out of season, and
especially when there is a scarcity of taro. The
odour of these cakes is offensive in the extreme to a
European ; but a Samoan turns from a bit of English
cheese with far more disgust than we do from his
fermented bread-fruit.
A crop of bread-fruit is sometimes shaken off the
trees by a gale before it is ripe, and occasionally taro
plantations are destroyed by drought and caterpillars ;
but the people have wild yams in the bush, preserved
bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and fish to fall back upon ;
so that there is rarely, if ever, anything like a serious
famine. A scarcity of food, occasioned by any of the
causes just named, they were in the habit of tracing
to the wrath of one of their gods, called le Sa (or
the Sacred One). The sun, storms, caterpillars, and
all destructive insects were said to be his an ao, or
"ministers of his, that do his pleasure," who were
194 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
commissioned to go forth and eat up the plantations
of those with whom he was disjDleased. A Samoan,
in describing the ravages of caterpillars, would have
said of Le Sa : *' He spake, and caterpillars came,
and that without number, and did eat up all the
herbs in our land and devoured the fruit of our
ground." In times of plenty as well as of scarcity,
they were in the habit of assembling with offerings
of food, and poured out drink-offerings of ava to Le
Sa, to propitiate his favour.
Cannibalism. — It has been questioned whether
this savage custom ever prevailed in Samoa. During
some of their wars, a body was occasionally cooked ;
but they affirm, that, in such a case, it was always
some one of the enemy who had been notorious for
provocation or cruelty, and that eating a part of his
body was considered the climax of hatred and revenge,
and was not occasioned by the mere relish for human
flesh, such as obtains throughout the Feejee, New
Hebrides, and New Caledonian groups. In more
remote heathen times, however, they may have in-
dulged this savage appetite. To speak of roasting
him, is the very worst language that can be addressed
to a Samoan. If applied to a chief of importance, he
may raise war to avenge the insult. Sometimes a
proud chief will get up and go out of the chapel
in a rage, should a native teacher in his sermon speak
of "hell /7 /•('." It is the custom, on the submission
of one party to another, to bow down before their
conquerors each with a piece of firewood and a
bundle of leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig
FOOD COOKING LIQUORS. 195
for tlie oven ; as mucli as to say, " Kill us and cook
us, if you please." Criminals, too, are sometimes
bound hand to hand and foot to foot, slung on a pole
put through between the hands and feet, carried and
laid down before the parties they have injm^ed, like a
pig about to be killed and cooked. So deeply humi-
liating is this act considered, that the culprit who
consents to deo-rade himself so far is almost sure to
be forgiven. It is not improbable, therefore, that in
some remote period of their history, the Samoans
were more familiar with the savage custom to which
we refer than in more recent times.
CooJdng. — The Samoans have the mode of cook-
ing mth hot stones, which has been often described
as*prevailing in the South Sea Islands. Fifty -'or
sixty stones about the size of an orange, heated by
kindling a fire under them, form, with the hot ashes,
an ordinary oven. The taro, bread-fruit, or yams,
are laid among the stones, a thick covering of bread-
fruit and banana leaves is laid over all, and, in about
an hour, all is well cooked. In the same oven, they
bake other things ; such as fish, done up in leaves
and laid side by side with the taro or other vege-
tables. Little bundles of taro-leaves, too, mixed
with the expressed juice of the cocoa-nut kernel, and
some other dishes, of which cocoa-nut is generally
the chief ingredient, are baked at the same time,
and used as a relish in the absence of animal food.
Salt-water is frequently mixed up with these dishes,
which is the only form in which they use salt. They
have no salt, and are not in the habit of preserving
196 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
fisli or pork otherwise than by repeated cooking. In
this way, they keep pork for a week, and fish for
three weeks or a month. However large, they cook
the entire pig at once ; then, nsing a piece of split
bamboo as a carving-knife, cut it np and divide it
among the different branches of the family. The
duties of cooking devolve on the men ; and all, even
chiefs of the highest rank, consider it no disgrace to
assist in the cooking-house occasionally.
Forbidden Food. — Some birds and fishes were
sacred to particular deities, and certain parties
abstained from eating them. A man, for example,
would not eat a fish which was supposed to be under
the protection and care of his household god ; but he
would eat, without scruple, fish sacred to the gods of
other families. The dog, and some kinds of fish and
birds, were sacred to the greater deities — the dii
majontm gentium of the Samoans ; and, of course, all
the people rigidly abstained from these things. For
a man to kill and eat anything he considered to be
under the special protection of his god, was supposed
to be followed by his disj)leasure in the sickness or
death of himself, or some member of the family. The
same idea seems to have been a check on cannibalism,
as there was a fear lest the god of the deceased would
be avenged on those who might cook and eat the
body.
Liqtiors. — The young cocoa-nut contains about
a tumblerful of a hquid something resembling water
sweetened with lump-sugar, and very slightly acid.
This is the ordinary beverage of the Samoans. A
FOOD — COOKING — LIQUORS. 197
joiing cocoa-nut baked in tlie oven yields a hot
draught, which is very pleasant to an invalid.
They have no fermented liquors ; but they make an
intoxicatins^ drauo-ht from an infusion of the chewn
root of the ava plant (Piper methysticiim). A bowl
of this disgustingly-prepared stuff is made and served
out when a party of chiefs sit do^Ti to a meal. At
their ordinary meals few partake of it but the father,
or other senior members of the family. It is always
taken before, and not after the meal. Among a formal
party of chiefs, it is handed round in a cocoa-nut
shell cup, with a good deal of ceremony. When the
cup is filled, the name, or title rather, of the person
for whom it is intended is called out ; the cup-bearer
takes it to him, he receives it, drinks it off, and
retmnis the cup to be filled again, as the "portion"
of another chief.* The most important chiefs have
the first cups, and, following the order of rank, all
have a draught. The liquor is much diluted ; few
drink to excess ; and, upon the whole, the Samoans
are, perhaps, among the most temperate ava drinkers
in the South Seas. The old men consider that a
little of it strengthens them and prolongs life ; and
often they have a cup the first thing in the morning.
Foreign liquors have been introduced, but there is
hardly any demand for them yet among the natives ;
and long may they be preserved from the curse of
drunkenness !
* Any one seeing tliis custom can easily imagine how, with
a limping Vulcan as cup-bearer, it might naturally follow that
" Heaven rimg with laughter not to be suppressed."
198 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
HospUalitij. — The Samoans, even in their most
heathen state, Avere remarkable for hospitaht}^. Tra-
velhng j)arties never needed to take food for any
place beyond the first stage of their journey. Every
village had its " large house," kept in good order,
and well spread with mats for the reception of
strangers. On the arrival of a party, some of the
members of every family in the village assembled
and prepared food for them. It was the province of
the head of one particular family to decide, and send
word to the rest, how much it would be necessary
for each to provide. After all was cooked, it was
taken and laid down in front of the house, and, on
presenting it, one of them would make a speech,
welcoming them to their village ; and, although a
sumptuous repast had been provided, an apology
would be made that there was nothing better. The
strangers replied, returned thanks, and exchanged
kind words. In the event of there being a chief of
high rank among the party, it would probably be
decided that every man, woman, and child of the
place turn out, dress themselves in their best, walk
in single file, each carrying a fish, a fowl, a lobster,
a yam, or something else in the hand, and, singing-
some merry chant as they went along, proceed to the
place, and there lay down in a heap what they had
provided for their guests. An evening ball or night-
dance was also considered an indispensable accom-
paniment to the entertainment. A travelling party
rarely spent more than one night at a place. On
the introduction of Christianity, the kind enter-
FOOD COOKING LI^UOKS. 199
tainment of strangers was encouraged, with the
exception, of course, of the night-dance part of it.
Hearing of late years vague accomits of inns, and
the custom of making strangers pay for food in other
parts of the world, some of the Samoa,ns have been
led to think that Europeans and others from ships
should pay for everything, almost to a cup of water ;
and hence strangers, from a mere stroll along the
beach at some of the ports, may conclude that the
people are the most inhospitable in the world. Such
is far from being the case. Among themselves, as I
have just remarked, the rights of hospitality are
numerous, and well observed, and to missionaries
and other well-known foreign residents, with whom
they live on friendly terms, they are always hos-
pitable and polite.
Meals. — Like the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and
Komans, the Samoans have a meal about eleven a.m.,
and their principal meal in the evening. At the
evening meal, every family is assembled ; and men,
women, and children all eat together. They have
no tables, but seat themselves cross-legged round
the circular house, on mats. Each has his portion
laid down before him on a bread-fruit leaf ; and thus
they partake, in primitive style, without knife, fork,
or spoon. Should any strangers be present, due
respect is shown to them, as of old, by laying before
them " a worthy portion." After the meal, water
to wash is handed round.
Formerly, the head of the family, in taking his
cup of ava at the commencement of the evening
200 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
meal, would pour out a little of it on the ground, as
a drink-offering to the gods, and, all being silent, he
would utter aloud the following prayer : —
" Here is ava for you, gods ! Look kindly
towards this family : let it prosper and increase ;
and let us all be kept in health. Let our plan-
tations be productive : let fruit grow ; and may
there be abundance of food for us, your creatures.
" Here is ava for you, our war gods ! Let there
be a strong and numerous people for you in this
land.
" Here is ava for you, sailing gods ! * Do
not come on shore at this ]3lace ; but be pleased to
depart along the ocean to some other land."
It was also very common to pray with an offering
of " flaming fire," just before the evening meal,
Calling upon some one to blow up the fire and
make it blaze, and begging all to be silent, a
senior member of the family would pray aloud as
follows : —
" This light is for you, king f and gods su-
perior and inferior ! this light is for you all. Be
propitious to this family : give life to all ; and may
your presence be prosperity. Let our children be
blessed and multiplied. Remove far from us fines
and sicknesses. Regard om^ poverty ; and send us
* Gods supposed to come in Tongan canoes and foreign
vessels.
t The principal god of the family.
FOOD COOKING LIQUORS. 201
food to eat, andclotli to keep us warm. Keep away
from us sailing gods ; lest tliey come and cause
disease and death. Protect this family by your
presence ; and may health and long life be given to
us aU."
Among the vagaries of Samoan superstition,
there was much to prepare the heathen mind for the
pure and holy doctrines which the Christian mis-
sionary came to make known — much calculated to
facilitate his labours. To give thanks before meals,
to unite in prayer, and to be quiet and orderly during
reli^'ious services did not seem at aU stranQ-e or un-
natm^al. Xow, the evening meal is commenced by
thanking the one living and true God for his good-
ness, and is generally followed by family worship,
in conducting which they praise God, read the
Scriptures, and unite in prayer.
202
NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XX.
CLOTHING.
In our last chapter we alluded to the food of the
Samoans, and now proceed to a description of their
clothing, the materials of which it is made, their
modes of ornament, etc.
Previous to the introduction of Christianity, their
wants for clothing were few, and amply supplied by
the produce of their own islands and labour. During
the day, a covering of H leaves (Draccmia terminalis)
was all that either sex thought necessary. " They
sewed" ti '' leaves together, and made themselves
aprons." The men had a small one about a foot
CLOTHING. 203
square, the women had theirs made of longer tl leaves,
reaching from the waist down below the knee, and
made wide, so as to form a girdle covering all round.
They had no regular covering for any other part of
the body. Occasionally, during rain, they would tie
a banana-leaf round the head for a cap, or hold
one over them as an umbrella. They made shades
for the eyes, of a little piece of plaited cocoa-nut
leaflet ; and sometimes they made sandals of the
plaited bark of the Hibiscus tiliaceus, to protect the
feet while fishing among the prickly coral about the
reef.
Native Cloth. — At night they slept on a mat, using
as a covering a sheet of native cloth, and inclosed all
round by a curtain of the same material to keep out
musquitoes. In sickness, also, they wrap themselves
up in native cloth. Their native cloth is made of
the inner bark of the paper mulberry {Morus jpapijri-
fera) beaten out on a board, and joined together with
arrow-root, so as to form any width or length of cloth
required.
The juice of the raspings of the bark of trees,
together with red clay, turmeric, and the soot of
burnt candle-nut, furnish them with colouring matter
and varnish, with which they daub their native
cloth in the form of squares, stripes, triangles, etc.,
but, with a few exceptions, perhaps, devoid of taste
or regularity.
Fine Mats. — Their fine mats were, and are still,
considered their most valuable clothing. These mats
are made of the leaves of a species of pandanus
204 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
scraped clean and thin as writing-paper, and slit into
strips about tlie sixteenth part of an inch wide.
They are made by the women ; and, when completed,
are from two to three yards square. They are of a
straw and cream colour, are fringed, and, in some
instances, ornamented with small scarlet feathers
inserted here and there. These mats are thin, and
almost as flexible as a piece of cahco. Few of the
women can make them, and many months — yea,
years, are sometimes sjDcnt over the making of a
single mat. These fine mats are considered their
most valuable property, and form a sort of currency
which they give and receive in exchange. They
value them at from two to forty shillings each. They
are preserved with great care ; some of them pass
through several generations, and as their age and
historic interest increase, they are all the more
valued.
Another kind of fine mats for clothing they
weave out of the bark of a beautiful dwarf hibis-
cus, which is extensively spread over these islands
without any cultivation. They are shaggy on the
one side, and, when bleached white, resemble a pre-
pared fleecy sheep-skin. These they sometimes dye
with red clay found in the mountains. It is doubt-
ful whether the hibiscus, to which we have just
referred, has yet found a place in any botanical
nomenclature. From the strength and whiteness of
the flax manufactured from its bark, it is capable of
being turned to great use.
Cleanliness. — As the native cloth cannot be
CLOTHING}. 205
washed without destroying it, it is generally filthy
in the extreme before it is laid aside. This has
induced a habit of carelessness in washing cotton and
other garments, which is very offensive and difficult
to eradicate. They are cleanly, however, in other
habits beyond most of the natives of Polynesia.
Their floor and sleeping mats are kept clean and tidy.
They generally use the juice of the wild orange in
cleansing, and bathe regularly every day. It is
worth remarking, too, that, while bathing, they have
a girdle of leaves or some other covering round the
waist. In this delicate sense of propriety, it would
be well for some more civilized parts of the world to
learn a lesson from the Samoans.
Special Occasions. — At marriages and on other
gala days, the women, and many of the men, laid
aside the leaves and girded themselves with fine mats.
Gay young men and women decorated themselves
with garlands of flowers or shells. The nautilus shell,
broken into small pieces, and strung together, was
a favoiu-ite head-dress. They oiled themselves from
head to foot with scented oil, and sometimes mixed
turmeric with the oil to give their skin a tinge of
yellow.
Both sexes kept uncovered the upper part of
the body, and wore beads or other trinkets round
the neck. They prided themselves, also, in dressing
their children in a similar style. The women wore
the hair short, and, on occasions, sometimes had it
raised and stifiened with a mixture of scented oil and
the gum of the bread-fi^uit tree. It was fashionable,
206
NINETEEN YEAT^S IN POLYNESIA.
also, for young- women to have a small twisted lock
of hair, with a curl at the end of it, hanging from the
left temple. The men wore their hair long and
gathered up in a knot on the crown of the head, a
little to the right side. In company, however, and
when attending religious services, they were careful
to untie the string, and let their hair flow behind, as
a mark of respect. Gay young men occasionally cut
their hair short, leaving a small twisted lock hanging
down towards the breast from either temple. Their
hair is naturally black ; but they were fond of dyeing
it a light brown colour, by the application of lime,
which they made by burning the coral. To dye hair,
and also to rub and blind the eyes of pigs Avhich
trespassed into neighbouring plantations, were the
only uses to which they applied lime in the time of
heathenism.
The beard they shaved with the teeth of the
shark. Armlets of small white shells were worn by
CLOTHING. 207
the men above the elbow-joint. Some pierced their
ears mth a thorn, and wore a small flower for an
earring ; bnt this was not very common. A long
comb, made from the stem of the cocoa-nut leaflet,
was a common ornament of the women, and worn in
the hair behind the ear. For a looking-glass, they
sometimes used a tub of water ; but in arranging the
head-dress, they were more frequently guided by the
eyes and taste of others. The tatooing, which we
described in a previous chapter, was also considered
one of their principal ornaments.
Changes of Modern Times. — Soon after the arrival
of the missionaries, a marked change took place.
With few exceptions, the men cut their hair short,
abandoned the short and narrow leaf-apron, wore,
while at work, the deep leaf-girdle of the women.
and, when they appeared at public worship, dressed,
if possible, in a regatta or white shirt, and a piece of
208 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
calico round the loins. Coats, waistcoats, trousers,
neckercliiefs, and straw hats came into use. The
women, too, commenced wearing loose calico dresses,
and were rarely seen without a tiputa or upper gar-
ment of some kind. The tiputa was introduced from
Tahiti. It is simply a couple of yards of cloth with
a hole in the middle, through which they put the
head, letting the ends hang down before and behind
like a Spanish poncho. Straw bonnets and shawls
were also soon in demand. In the lack of the former,
some of the women showed great ingenuity in
manufacturing a novel and very durable article
from tortoise-shell. Every missionary had a supply
of calico,' prints, etc. ; not that he might set up
as a missionary trader — a system which in our
mission we have ever strongly deprecated — but
simply because clothing and such things were the
currency of the islands, and the payment sought for
work done, or in exchange for vegetables and other
articles of domestic consumption. Much, however,
was thus done to further the commercial interests of
civilized countries. At the present time the Samoans
do not clothe so well as they might do. Clothing in
such a climate is a burden. Still the demand for
cotton goods alone, apart from other articles of
foreign manufacture, amounts to about £15,000 per
annum, and is every year increasing.
The war which broke out in 1848 sadly altered
the aspect of the people. Hundreds of young men
who had been clothed and sober-looking for years,
were soon seen with the long hair and dissipated
CLOTHING. 209
look of lieatlien times, and in their war costnme, too,
which, with the exception of a few ti leaves, is nudity
itself. We trust, however, that the reaction in favour
of peace, happiness, and everything that is good,
which has again set in, may be long continued.
210 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXL
AMUSEMENTS.
Undee the liead of amusements, dancing, wrestKng',
boxing, fencing, and a variety of games and sports
call for description, and to these we shall briefly
advert.
Dancing was a common entertainment on festive
occasions, such as a marriage ; it is practised still,
but only among people who make no serious profes-
sion of Christianity. Some of their dances are in the
daytime, and, like dress-balls of other countries, are
accompanied with a display of fancy mats and other
Samoan finery. At the night assemblies, the men
dress in their short leaf-aprons. Sometimes only
the men dance, at other times women, and occa-
sionally the parties are mixed. They dance in
parties of two, three, and upwards, on either side.
If the one party moves in one direction, the other
party takes the opposite. They have also various
gesticulations, which they practise with some regu-
larity. If, for example, the one party moves along
with the right arm raised, the other does precisely
the same.
Singing, clapping the hands, beating time on
the floor-mats, and drumming are the usual musical
accompaniments. Their music, on these occa-
AMUSEMENTS. 211
sions, is a monotonous chant of a line or two, re-
peated over and over again, witli no variety beyond
two or three notes. They seek variety rather in
time. They begin slow, and gradually increase,
until, at the end of ten or twenty minutes, they are
full of excitement, the perspiration streaming down,
iand their tongues galloping over the rhyme at
breathless speed. Fx)r a drum, they have two or
three contrivances. One is a log of wood six or
eight feet long, hollowed out from a narrow elon-
gated opening on the upper surface ; and this they
beat with a short stick or mallet. Another is a set
of bamboos, four feet long and downwards, arranged
like a Pan's pipe, having the open ends inclosed
in a mat bag, and this bag they beat with a stick.
A third kind of drumming is effected by four or
five men, each with a bamboo open at the toj^ and
closed at the bottom, with which, holding vertically,
they beat the ground, or a stone, or any hard
substance, and as the bamboos are of various
lengths, they emit a variety of sounds. At these
night-dances, all kinds of obscenity in looks,
language, and gesture prevail ; and often they dance
and revel till daylight.
Court buffoons furnish some amusement at
dancing and other festivals, and also at pubhc
meetings. If a chief of importance goes to any of
these assemblies, he has in his train one or two
Merry- Andrews, who, by oddity in dress, gait, or
gesture, or by lascivious jokes, try to excite
laughter.
212 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA,
Boxing and feuchig were common formerly on
festive days, and often led to serious quarrels. In
fencing, tliey used tlie stalk of the cocoa-nut leaf as
a substitute for a club. Women as well as men
entered tlie ring, and strove for the fame of a
pugihst.
Wrestling is another amusement. Sometimes
they choose sides, say four against four ; and the
party who have the most thrown have to furnish
their opponents with a cooked pig, served up with
taro, or supply any other kind of food that may be
staked at the outset of the game. A supply of
some kind of food is the usual forfeit in all their
games.
Clasp and undo is another kind of wrestling.
One man clasps a second tightly round the waist,
and this second does the same to a third. The
three thus fastened together lie down and challenge
any single man to separate them. If he succeeds,
they pay the forfeit ; if not, he does.
Throiving the spear is also common. The young
men of one street or village will match against those
of another ; and, after fixing a mark in the distance,
throw a small wooden javelin so that it may first
strike the ground, and then spring upwards and
onwards in the direction of the mark. They who
throw farthest win the game, and have a repast of
food at the expense of those who lose it. In more
direct spear-throwing, they set up the stem of a
young cocoa-nut tree, with the base upwards, which
is soft and spongy. One party throws at it, and
AMUSEMENTS. 213
fills it with spears. The other party throws, and tries
to knock them down. If any remain after all have
thrown, they are counted until they reach the num-
ber fixed for the game. In another of these amuse-
ments, at which they may be said to "learn war," a
man stands in the distance and allows another to
throw spears at him. He has no shield, but merely
a club ; and with this he shows surprising dexterity,
in hitting off spear after spear as it approaches
him.
Fishing matches are in vogue at particular sea-
sons. The party who take the most fish win, and
are treated with cooked pigs and other viands by
those who lose.
Pigeon-catching is another amusement, and one,
hke our English falconry of other days, in which the
chiefs especially delight. The principal season sets
in about June. Great preparations are made for it ;
all the pigs of a settlement wiU be slaughtered and
baked for the occasion ; and, laden with all kinds of
food, the whole population of the place go off to
certain pigeon-grounds in the bush. There they put
up huts, and remain sometimes for months at the
sport.
The ground being cleared, the chiefs station
themselves at distances all round a large circular
space, each concealed under a low shed or covering
of brushwood, having by his side a net attached to a
long bamboo, and in his hand a stick with a tame
pigeon on a crook at the end of it. This pigeon is
trained to fly round and roimd, as directed by its
214 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
owner, with a string at its foot thirty feet long,
attached to the end of the stick. Every man flies
his pigeon, and then the whole circle looks like a
place where pigeons are flocking round food or
water. The scene soon attracts some wild pigeon ;
and, as it approaches the spot, whoever is next to it
raises his net, and tries to entangle it. He who
gets the greatest number of j^igeons is the hero of
the day, and honoured by his friends with various
kinds of food, with which he treats his less success-
ful competitors. Some of the pigeons are baked,
others are distributed about and tamed for farther
use. Taming and exercising them for the sporting
season is a common pastime. Of all the Samoan
sports, none, perhaps, is a greater hindrance to
missionary work than pigeon-catching. Schools are
deserted, and whole villages scattered by it on a
career of dissipation for many weeks at a time. But,
happily, it is fast becoming unpopular. The fowling-
piece is taking the place of the pigeon-net. Few,
comparatively, now go to the grounds ; and, ere
long, fewer still, perhaps, will follow in the train of
those who go.
Spinning the cocoa-nut is another amusement. A
party sit down in a circle, and one in the centre
spins a cocoa-nut. When it rests, they see to whom
the three black marks or eyes on the end of the shell
point, and impose upon him some little service to
the whole, such as unhusking chesnuts, or going for
a load of cocoa-nuts for them. This is especially
worthy of remark, as it is the Samoan method of
AMUSEMENTS. 215
casting lots. If a number of people are unwilling to
go a message, or do a piece of work, they will decide
tlie matter by wheeling round the cocoa-nut to see
to whom it tm^us its face, as they call it, when it
rests. Formerly, they would sometimes appeal to
this lot, and fix the charge of stealing on a
person towards whom the face of the cocoa-nut
pointed.
They have also a game of hide- and- seek, with
the addition that those who hide try to escape those
who seek, and run to a given post or mark. All who
reach the post are counted towards making up the
game.
Pitching small cocoa-nut shells to the end of a
mat is a favourite amusement of the chiefs. They
try to knock each other's shells off the given spot.
They play in parties of two and two, with five shells
each. They who have most shells left on the place,
after all have thrown, win.
They have also guessing sports. One party hide,
the other bundle up one of their number in a large
basket covered over with a cloth. Then they, too,
hide, all but three, who carry the basket to the other
party, for them to guess who is in it. If they guess
correctly, then they in turn get the basket to do the
same. The successful guesses are counted for the
game.
Like Samson and his companions, they were in
the habit of amusing themselves with riddles. Let
the following suffice as a specimen. I quote them
216 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
from a paper by Mr. Nisbet, which appeared in oiir
"Reporter:"—
"1. A man who continues standing out of doors
with a burden on his back. — Explanation. A banana-
tree, with a bunch of bananas.
*' 2. There are twenty brothers, each with a hat
on his head. — Exjjlan. A man's fingers and toes ;
the nails of which are represented as hats.
" 3. A man who stands between two ravenous
fish. — ExjploM. The tongue, as being placed between
the teeth of the upper and lower jaws.
" 4. There are four brothers, who are always
bearing about their father. — Exjjlan. The Samoan
pillow, formed by four legs and a bamboo; the
legs being the four brothers, the bamboo the
father.
"5. There is a man who calls out continually day
and night. — Exilian. The surf on the reef, which
never rests.
"6. There is a man who, when he leaves the
bush, is very little ; but when he has reached the
sea- shore, becomes very great. — Explan. The bark
of the paper-mulberry, which, when first taken
off the wood, is very narrow ; but, when beaten
AMUSEMENTS. 217
out to make the native cloth, becomes very
broad.
" 7. A man who has a white head, stands above
the fence, and reaches to the heavens. — Exj^lan.
The smoke rising from the oven."
They have sundry other amusements. Swim-
ming in the surf on a board, and steering httle
canoes while borne along on the crest of a wave
towards the shore, are favourite juvenile sports.
Canoe-racing, races with one party in a canoe and
another along the beach, races with both parties on
land, climbing cocoa-nut trees to see who can go up
quickest, re^dews and sham-fighting, cock-fighting,
tossing up oranges and keeping three, four, or more
of them on the move : these and many other things
were of old, and are still, numbered among Samoan
sports. The teeth and jaws, too, are called into
exercise. One man will engage to unhusk with his
teeth, and eat five large native chesnuts [Tuscajovs
edulis) before another can run a certain distance and
return. If he fails, he pays his basket of cocoa-nuts,
or whatever may be previously agreed upon.
Our juvenile friends will be sure to recognize
some of their favourite amusements in this descrip-
tion, and will, perhaps, feel inclined to try the
novelty of some of these Samoan variations. What
a surprising unity of thought and feeling is disco-
verable among the various races of mankind, from a
comparison of such customs as these ! These illus-
trations also suffice to show that, while in their
218 NINETEEN YEAliS IN POLYNESIA.
heathen state, the Samoans found plenty to occupy
their leisure hours, day and night, all through the
year. I^ow, however, many of them find in Chris-
tianity other and better occupations, and have
neither time nor inclination to follow after the
" childish things " in which they were wout to revel
in by-gone days.
MORTALITY, LONGEVITY, DISEASES, ETC. 219
CHAPTER XXII.
MORTALITY, LONGEVITY, DISEASES, ETC.
Mortality, longevity, diseases, and tlie treatment of
the sick will now form tlie subject of a few observa-
tions ; and liere we begin witli —
Infants. — Before the introduction of Christianity,
probably not less than two-thirds of the Samoan
race died in infancy and childhood. This mortality
arose principally from carelessness and mismanage-
ment in nursing ; evils which still prevail to a great
extent. Even now, perhaj3s, one-half of them die
before they reach their second year. The poor little
things are often carried about with their bare heads
exposed to the scorching rays of a vertical sun. Ex-
posure to the night-damps also, and above all stuffing
them with improper food, are evils which often make
us wonder that the mortality among them is not
greater than it is. The Samoans were always fond
of their children, and would have done anything for
them when ill ; but, with the exception of external
applications for skin diseases, they had no remedies
for the numerous disorders of children. Now, they
are highly favoured with usefid medicines at every
mission-station, and have generally one or two
medical practitioners among the European and other
residents at the harbour at Apia. Were their care
220 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
in preventing disease equal to their anxiety to ob-
tain a cure when the child is really ill, there would
probably be less sickness among them, and fewer
deaths.
Adults. — The universal opinion of the natives is,
that the mortality is now greater among young and
middle-aged people than it was formerly. " It was
common," they say, "to see three or fom* old men
in a house, whereas you rarely see more than one
now." Among a people destitute of statistics or
records of any kind, it is difficult to speak correctly
of an earlier date than some twenty-five years ago.
Since that time, however, the population has been
on the decrease. We have not observed any marked
disproportion in the deaths of adults of any particular
age, compared with other parts of the world. A
person died in 1847, who was present at the massacre
of M. de Langle and others connected with the ex-
ploring expedition of La Perouse, in 1787, and who
was then a youth of about fourteen years of age.
Judging from his appearance, we may suppose that
there are some in every \dllage who must be sixty,
seventy, and even eighty years of age.
Diseases. — Pulmonary affections, paralysis, dis-
eases of the spine producing humpback, ophthalmia,
skin diseases, scrofulous and other ulcers, elephan-
tiasis, and a species of leprosy, are among the prin-
cipal diseases with which they are afiiicted. Oph-
thalmia and various diseases of the eye are very
prevalent. There are few cases of total blindness ;
but many have one of the organs of vision destroyed.
MORTALITY, LOXGEVITY, DISEASES, ETC. 221
Connected with diseases of the eje, pteiygium is
common ; not only single, but double, triple, and
even quadiTiple are occasionally met with. The
leprosy of which we speak has greatly abated. The
natives say that formerly many had it, and suffered
from its ulcerous sores until all the fingers of a hand
or the toes of a foot had fallen off. Elephan-
tiasis, producing great enlargement of the legs and
arms, has, they think, somewhat abated too ; only,
they say, it prevails among the young men more now
than it did formerly. Insanity is occasionally met
with. It was invariably traced in former times to
the immediate presence of an e^^l spirit. If furious,
the party was tied hand to hand, and foot to foot,
until a change for the better appeared. Idiots are
not common. Consumption they called " Moomoo;"
and there were certain native doctors who were sup-
posed to be successful in spearing the disease, or,
rather, the spirit causing it. The doctor, when sent
for, would come in, sit down before the patient, and
chant as follows : —
" Moomoo e ! Moomoo e !
O le a ou velosia atu oe ;"
which in English is : —
" Moomoo ! Moomoo !
I'mi on the eve of spearing jou."
Then he would rise up, flourish about with his spear
over the head of the patient, and leave the house. No
one dared speak or smile during the ceremony. In-
222 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
fluenza is a new disease to the natives. They say
that the first attack of it ever known in Samoa was
during the Aana war, in 1830, just as the mission-
aries WiUiams and Barff, with Tahitian teachers,
first reached their shores. The natives at once traced
the disease to the foreigners and the new rehgion ;
the same opinion, spread through these seas, and,
especially among the islands of the New Hebrides,
has proved a serious hindrance to the labours of
missionaries and native teachers. Ever since, there
have been returns of the disease almost annually.
It is generally preceded by unsettled weather, and
westerly or southerly winds. Its course is from
east to west. It lasts for about a month, and passes
off as fine weather and steady trade-winds set in.
In many cases, it is fatal to old j3eople and those
who have been previously weakened by pulmonary
diseases. There was an attack in May, 1837, and
another in JSTovember, 1846, both of which were un-
usually severe and fatal. They have a tradition of
an epidemic answering the description of cholera,
which raged with fearful violence many years ago.
In 1849, hooping-cough made its appearance, and
prevailed for several months, among adults as well as
children. A good many of the children died ; but it
has long since quite disappeared. In 1851, another
new disease surprised the natives, viz., the mumps.
It was traced to a vessel from California, and soon
spread all over the group. Scarcely a native escaped.
It answered the usual description of the attack given
in medical works, and passed off in ten days or a
MORTALITY, LONGEVITY, DISEASES, ETO. 223
fortnight. Hitherto, they have been exempt from
small-pox. Some years ago we vaccinated all the
natives, and continue to do so, as often as we get a
supply of vaccine lymph.
Medicine. — The Samoans, in their heathenism,
never had recourse to any internal remedy, except
an emetic, which they sometimes tried after having
eaten a poisonous fish. Sometimes, juices from the
bush were tried ; at other times, the patient drank
on at water until it was rejected ; and, on some
occasions, mud, and even the most unmentionable
filth was mixed up and taken as an emetic draught.
Latterly, as their intercourse with Tongans, Fee-
jeeans, Tahitians, and Sandwich Islanders increased,
they made additions to their ijliar'macojpoeia of juices
from the bush. As in Egypt, each disease had its
particular physician. Shampooing and anointing
the affected part of the body with scented oil, by
the native doctors, was common ; and to this, charms
were frequently added, consisting of some flowers
from the bush, done up in a piece of native cloth,
and put in a conspicuous place in the thatch over
the patient.
The advocates of ldn7iesi])athiu or the " Swedish
Medical Gymnastics," would be interested in finding,
were they to visit the South Seas, that most of their
friction, percussion, and other manipulations, were in
vogue there ages ago, and are still practised. Now,
however, European medicines are eagerly sought
after ; so much so, that every missionary is obliged
to have a dispensary, and to set apart a certain
224 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
hour every day to give advice and medicine to the
sick.
As tlie Samoans supposed disease to be occa-
sioned by the wrath of some particular deity, their
principal desire, in any difficult case, was not for
medicine, but to ascertain the cause of the calamity.
The friends of the sick went to the high-priest of
the village. He was sure to assign some cause ;
and, whatever that was, they were all anxiety
to have it removed, as the means of restoration.
If he said they were to give up a canoe to the god,
it was given up. If a piece of land was asked, it was
passed over at once. Or, if he did not wish any-
thing particular from the party, he would probably
tell them to assemble the family, " confess, and throw
out." In this ceremony, each member of the family
confessed his crimes, and any judgments which, in
anger, he had invoked on the family, or npon the
particular member of it then ill ; and, as a proof
that he revoked all such imprecations, he took a little
water in his mouth, and spurted it out towards the
person who was sick. The custom is still kejDt up
by many, and the sick-bed of a dear friend often
forms a confessional, before which long-concealed
and most revolting crimes are disclosed.
In surgery, they lanced ulcers with a shell or a
shark's tooth, and, in a similar way, bled from the
arm. For inflammatory swellings, they sometimes
tried local bleeding ; but shampooing and rubbing
with oil were, and are still, the more common reme-
dies in such cases. Cuts they washed in the sea and
MOETALITY, LONGEVITTj DISEASES, ETC. 225
bound up with a leaf. Into wounds in the scalp
they blew the smoke of burnt chesnut wood.
To take a barbed spear from the arm or leg.
they cut into the limb from the opposite side, and
pushed it right through. Amputation they never
attempted.
The treatment of the sick was, as it is now,
invariably humane, and all that could be expected.
They wanted for no kind of food which they might
desire, night or day, if it was at all in the power
of their friends to procure it. In the event of the
disease assuming a dangerous form, messengers
were despatched to friends at a distance, that they
might have an opportunity of being in time to see,
and say farewell to, a departing relative. This is
still the custom. The greater the rank, the greater
the stir and muster about the sick, of friends from
the neighbourhood, and from a distance. Every
one who goes to visit a sick friend, supposed to be
near death, takes with him a jDresent of a fine mat,
or some other kind of valuable property, as a fare-
well expression of regard. Among the worldly-
minded, whose interests centre in this life, this
heaping together of property by the bedside of a
dying relative, is still in high repute. But the
custom is being opposed. Many, in the Hght of
Christianity, now shun it as cruelty to the dying,
and an injury to the living. They wish to direct
the thoughts of their departing relatives to heaven
rather than earth, and are desirous that the house
should be, for a time, a "house of mourning," and
Q
226 NINETEEN YEAHS IN POLYNESIA.
free from tlie distracting formalities, jealousies, and
strifes, wliicli are. inyariably associated with such
a collection of property, and its subsequent distri-
bution among the members of the family, just before
or immediately after death.
DEATH AND BUPJAL. 227
CHAPTER XXIII.
DEATH AXD BUETAL.
AVhene^t:r the eye is fixed in death, the house be-
comes a scene of indescribable lamentation and
wailing. " Oh, my father, why did you not let me
die, and you hve here still!" "Oh, my brother,
why have you run away, and left your only brother
to be trampled upon!" "Oh, my cliild, had I
known you were going to die ! Of what use is it
for me to survive you; would that I had died for
you!" These and other doleful cries may be heard
two hundred yards fi:*om the house ; and, as you go
near, you find that they are accompanied by the
most frantic expressions of grief, such as rending
garments, tearing the hair, thumping the face and
eyes, burning the body with small piercing fire-
brands, beating the head with stones till the blood
runs, and this they called an " offering of blood "
for the dead. Every one acquainted with the his-
torical parts of the Bible \nl\ here observe remark-
able coincidences.
After an hom* or so, the more boisterous wailing
subsides, and, as in that climate the corpse must be
buried in a few hours, preparations are made with-
out delay. The body is laid out on a mat, oiled
with scented oil, and, to modify the cadaverous look.
228 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tliey tinge tlie oil for the face with a little turmeric.
The body is then wound up with several folds of
native cloth, the chin propped up with a little bundle
of the same material, and the face and head lefb
uncovered, while, for some hours longer, the body is
surrounded by weeping relatives. If the person has
died of a complaint which has carried off some other
members of the family, they mil probably open the
body to "search for the disease." Any inflamed
substance they happen to find they take away and
burn, thinking that this will prevent any other
members of the family being affected with the same
disease. This is done when the body is laid in the
grave.
Wliile a dead body is in the house, no food is
eaten under the same roof; the family have their
meals outside, or in another house. Those who
attended the deceased were formerly most careful
not to handle food, and for days were fed by others
as if they were helpless infants. Baldness and the
loss of teeth were supposed to be the punishment
inflicted by the household god if they violated the
rule. Fasting was common at such times, and they
who did so ate nothing during the day, but had a
meal at night; reminding us of what David said,
when mourning the death of Abner : "So do God to
me, and more also, if I taste bread or ought else till
the sun be down!" The fifth day was a day of
"purification." They bathed the face and hands
with hot water, and then they were " clean," and
resumed the usual time and mode of eating.
DEATH AND BURIAL. 229
The death of a chief of high rank was attended
with great excitement and display; all work was
suspended in the settlement ; no stranger dared to
pass through the place. For days they kept the
body unburied, until all the different parties con-
nected with that particular clan assembled from
various parts of the islands, and until each party
had, in turn, paraded the body, shoulder high,
through the village, singing at the same time some
mournful dirge. The body, too, was wrapped up
in "the best robe," viz., the most valuable fine mat
clothing which the deceased possessed. Great re-
spect is still shown to chiefs on these occasions, and
there was a recent instance of something like a
"thirty days' mourning;" but the body is seldom
paraded about the settlements now-a-days.
The burial generally takes place the day after
death. As many of the friends as can be present in
time attend. Every one brings a present, and, the
day after the funeral, these presents are all so dis-
tributed again as that every one goes away with
something in return for what he brought. Formerly,
the body was buried without a coffin, except in the
case of chiefs ; but now it is quite common to cut
off the ends of some canoe belonging to the family,
and make a coffin of it. The body being put into
this rude encasement, all is done up again in some
other folds of native cloth, and carried on the
shoulders of four or five men to the grave. The
friends follow, but in no particular order; and at
the grave again there was often further wailing and
230 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
exclamations, such as, " Alas ! I looked to you for
protection, but you have gone away ; why did you
die ! would that I had died for you !" Since the
introduction of Christianity, all is generally quiet
and orderly at the grave. The missionary, or some
native teacher appointed by him, attends, reads a
portion of Scripture, delivers an address, and en-
gages in prayer, that the living may consider and
prejDare for the " time to die."
The grave is called " the fast resting-place," and,
in the case of chiefs, " the house thatched with the
leaves of the sandal- wood," alluding to the custom
of planting some tree with pretty foliage near the
grave. Attempts have been made to get a place set
apart as the village burying-ground, but it is difficult
to carry it out. All prefer laying their dead among
the ashes of their ancestors on their own particular
ground. As the bones of Joseph were carried from
Egypt to Canaan, so did the Samoans carry the
skulls of their dead from a land where they had been
residing during war, back to the graves of their
fathers, as soon as possible after peace was pro-
claimed. The grave is often dug close by the house.
They make it about four feet deep, and after
spreading it with mats, like a comfortable bed, there
they place the body with the head " to the rising of
the sun," and the feet to the west. With the body
they deposit several things which may have been
used during the person's illness, such as his clothing,
his drinking cup, and his bamboo pillow. The sticks
used to answer the purpose of a pickaxe in digging
DEATH AND BURIAL. 231
the grave are also carefully buried with the body.
Not that they think these things of use to the dead ;
but it is supposed that, if they are left and handled
by others, further disease and death will be the con-
sequence. Other mats are spread over the body, on
these a layer of white sand from the beach, and then
they fill up the grave. The spot is marked by a
little heap of stones, a foot or two high. The grave
of a chief is neatly built up in an oblong slanting
form, about three feet high at the foot and four at
the head. White stones or shells are intermixed
with the top layer, and, if it has been a noted
warrior, his grave may be surrounded with spears,
or his gun laid loosely on the top.
Embalming is known and practised with sur-
prising skill in one particular family of chiefs. Un-
like the Egyptian method, as described by Herodotus,
it is performed in Samoa exclusively by women.
The viscera being removed and buried, they, day
after day, anoint the body with a mixture of oil and
aromatic juices. To let the fluids escape, they con-
tinue to puncture the body all over with fine needles.
In about two months, the process of desiccation is
completed. The hair, which had been cut and laid
aside at the commencement of the operation, is now
glued carefully on to the scalp by a resin fi^om the
bush. The abdomen is filled up vnth folds of native
cloth ; the body is wrapped up with the same ma-
terial, and laid out on a mat, leaving the hands,
face, and head exposed. A house is built for the
purpose, and there the body is placed with a sheet
232 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
of native clotli loosely thrown over it. Now and
then the face is oiled with a mixture of scented oil
and turmeric, and passing strangers are freely ad-
mitted to see the remains of the departed. At
present there are four bodies laid out in this way in
a house belonging to the family to which we refer,
viz., a chief, his wife, and two sons. They are laid
on a platform, raised on a double canoe. It must
be upwards of thirty years since some of them were
embalmed, and, although thus exposed, they are in
a remarkable state of preservation. They assign no
particular reason for this embalming, further than
that it is the expression of their affection, to keep
the bodies of the departed still with them as if they
were alive.*
Burnings for the dead. — On the evening after the
burial of any important chief, his friends kindled a
number of fires at distances of some twenty feet
from each other, near the grave ; and there they sat
and kept them burning till morning light. This
was continued sometimes for ten days after the
funeral; it was also done before burial. In the
house where the body lay, or out in front of it, fires
were kept burning all night by the immediate rela-
tives of the departed. The common people had a
similar custom. After burial, they kept a fire blazing
* Since -writing tlie above these bodies bave been buried.
None were allowed to dress tbem but a particular family of
old ladies, who have all died off; and, as there was a super-
stitious fear on the part of some, and an unwillingness on the
part of others, to handle them, it was resolved at last to lay
them underground.
DEATH AND BURIAL. 233
in the house all night, and had the space between
the house and the grave so cleared as that a stream
of lio-ht went forth all nio-ht from the fire to the
grave. Wliether this had its origin in any custom
of burning the dead body, like the ancient Greeks,
it is impossible now to ascertain. The probability,
however, is that it had not. The account the
Samoans give of it is, that it was merely a light
burning in honour of the departed, and a mark of
tender regard. Just as, we may suppose, the Jews
did after the death of Asa, when, it is said, " they
made a very great burning for him." (2 Chron. xvi.
14.) Those commentators who hold that this and
one or two other passages refer to a Jewish mark
of respect, and not to the actual burning of the
body, have, in the Samoan custom which we have
just named, a remarkable coincidence in their
favour.
Tlie unburied occasioned great concern. JSTo Ro-
man was ever more grieved at the thought of his
unburied friend wandering a hundred years along
the banks of the Styx than were the Samoans, while
they thought of the spirit of one who had been
drowned, or of another who had fallen in war,
wandering about neglected and comfortless. They
supposed the spirit haunted them everywhere, night
and day, and imagined they heard it calling upon
them in a most pitiful tone, and saying, " Oh, how
cold! oh, how cold!" Nor were the Samoans, like
the ancient Romans, satisfied with a mere " tumulus
inanis^* (or, empty grave), at which to observe the
234 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
usual solemnities ; tliey thought it was possible to
obtain the soul of the departed, in some tangible
transmigrated form. On the beach, near where a
person had been drowned, or on the battle-field,
where another fell, might be seen, sitting in silence,
a group of five or six, and one a few yards be-
fore them with a sheet of native cloth spread out
on the ground before him. Addressing some god
of the family, he said, " Oh, be kind to us ; let us
obtain without difficulty the spirit of the young
man !" The first thing that happened to light upon
the sheet was supposed to be the spirit. If nothing
came, it was supposed that the spirit had some ill-
will to the person praying. That person after a
time retired, and another stepped forward, addressed
some other god, and waited the result. By and by
something came; grasshopper, butterfly, ant, or
whatever else it might be, it was carefully wrapped
up, taken to the family, the friends assembled, and
the bundle buried with all due ceremony, as if it
contained the real spirit of the departed. The
grave, however, was not the hades of the Samoans.
A FUTURE STATE RELIGION, ETC. 235
CHAPTER XXIV.
A FUTURE STATE RELIGION, ETC.
The entrance to the hades of the Samoans was sup-
posed to be a circular basin among the rocks, at the
west end of Savaii. Savaii is the most westerly
island of the group. When a person was near
death, it was thought that the house was surrounded
hy a host of spirits, all waiting to take the soul away
to their subterranean home at the place referred to.
If at night, the people of the family were afraid to go
out of doors, lest they should be snatched away by
some one of these invisible powers. As soon as the
spirit left the body, it was supposed to go, in com-
pany with this band of sjoirits, direct to the west
end of Savaii. If it was a person residing on one of
the more easterly islands of the group — on Upolu,
for example — they travelled on, by land, to the west
end of the island, not to a Charon, but to a great
stone, called "the stone to leap from." It was
thought that the spirits here leaped into the sea,
swam to the island of Manono, crossed the land to
the west point of that island, again leaped from
another stone there, swam to Savaii, crossed fifty
miles of country there again, and at length reached
the Fafd, or entrance to their imaginary world of
spirits. There was a cocoa-nut tree near this spot,
236 . NINETEEN YEARS IN POLl-NESIA.
and it was supposed that, if tlie spirit happened to
come in contact with the tree, it returned, and the
person who seemed to be dead, revived and reco-
vered. If, however, the spirit did not strike against
the tree, it went down the Fafa at once.
At this place, on Savaii, there are two circular
basins, not many feet deep, still pointed out as the
place where the spirits went down. One, which is
the larger of the two, was supposed to be for chiefs ;
the other for common people. These lower regions
were reported to have a heaven, an earth, and a sea,
and people with real bodies, planting, fishing, cook-
ing, and otherwise employed, just as in the present
life. At night their bodies were supposed to change
their form, and become like a confused collection of
sparks of fire. In this state, and during the hours
of darkness, they were said to ascend and revisit
their former places of abode, retiring at early dawn,
either to the bush or back to the lower regions. It
was supposed that these spirits had power to return,
and cause disease and death in other members of the
family. Hence, all were anxious, as a person drew
near the close of life, to part in good terms with
him, feeling assured that, if he died with angry feel-
ings towards any one, he would certainly return,
and bring some calamity upon that very person, or
some one closely allied to him. This was considered
a frequent source of disease and death, viz., the
spirit of a departed member of the family returning
and taking up his abode in the head, or chest, or
stomach of the party, and so causing sickness and
A FUTURE STATE EELIGION, ETC. 237
death. The spirits of the departed were also sup-
posed to come and talk, through a certain member
of the family, prophesying various events, or giving
directions as to certain family affairs. If a man died
suddenly, it was thought that he was eaten by the
spirit that took him. His soul was said to go to
the common residence of the departed ; only it was
thought that such persons had not the power of
speech, and could only, in reply to a question, " beat
their breasts."
The chiefs were supposed to have a separate place
allotted them, called Pulotu (or, according to Eng-
lish orthography, Poolotoo*), and to have plenty of
the best of food, and other indulgences. Saveasiuleo
was the great king, or Pluto, of these subterranean
regions, and to him all yielded the profoundest
homage. He was supposed to have the head of a
man, and the upper part of his body reclining in a
great house in company with the spirits of departed
chiefs. The extremity of his body was said to
stretch away into the sea, in the shape of an eel or
serpent. He ruled the destinies of war and other
affairs. His great house or temple Avas supported,
not by pillars of wood or stone, but by columns of
living men — men who on earth had been chiefs of
the highest rank. Chiefs, in anticipation of death,
were often pleased with the thought of the high
honour which awaited them, of being at once the
* Those familiar with the islands of the Indian Archipelago
will remember that one of the most easterly is called Booro.
238 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
ornament and support of the mansion of the great
chief of their Pulotn Paradise. Here, again, we
have another striking coincidence with the language
of Scripture, and one which throws an additional
interest around our instructions, as we read and
expound the words of Him who exhorted his people
to perseverance by the cheering declaration, appli-
cable to all, high and low, rich and poor, " Him that
overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my
God."
Thirty years ago the Samoans were living under
the influence of a host of imaginary deities, and
steeped in superstition. At his birth, as we have
already remarked, every Samoan was supposed to be
taken under the care of some tutelary or protecting
god, or aitu, as it was called. The help of perhaps
half a dozen different gods was invoked in succession
on the occasion, but the one who happened to be
addressed just as the child was born, was marked
and declared to be that child's god for life.
These gods were supposed to appear in some
visible incarnation, and the particular thing in which
his god was in the habit of appearing, was, to the
Samoan, an object of veneration. It was, in fact,
his idol, and he was careful never to injure it or
treat it with contempt. One, for instance, saw his
god in the eel, another in the shark, another in the
turtle, another in the dog, another in the owl,
another in the lizard ; and so on throughout all the
fish of the sea, and birds, and four-footed beasts,
and creeping things. In some of the shell-fish, even,
A FUTUEE STATE RELIGION, ETC. 239
gods were supposed to be .]3resent. A man would
eat freely of what was regarded as tlie incarnation of
the god of another man, but the incarnation of his
own particular god he would consider it death to
injure or to eat. The god was supposed to avenge
the insult by taking up his abode in that person's
body, and causing to generate there the very thing
which he had eaten, until it produced death. This
class of genii, or tutelary deities, they called aiti(,
fale, or gods of the house.
The father of the family was the high-jMest, and
usually offered a short prayer at the evening meal,
that they might all be kept from fines, sickness, war,
and death. Occasionally, too, he would direct that
they have a family feast in honom' of their house-
hold gods ; and on these occasions a cup of their
intoxicating ava draught was poured out as a drink-
ofiering. They did this in their family house, where
they were all assembled, supposing that their gods
had a spiritual presence there, as well as in the ma-
terial objects to which we have referred. Often it
was supposed that the god came among them, and
spoke through the father or some other member of
the family, telling them what to do in order to
remove a present evil, or avert a threatened one.
Sometimes it would be, that the family should get a
canoe built, and keep it sacred to the god. They
might travel in it and use it themselves, but it was
death to sell or part with a canoe which had been
built specially for the god.
Another class of Samoaii deities may be called
240 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
gods of the town or village ; " according to the
number of thy cities were thy gods," would be
applicable to a Samoan in reminding him of former
times. Every village had its god, and every one
born in that \allage was regarded as the property of
that god. I have got a child for so-and-so, a woman
would say on the birth of her child, and name the
village god. There was a small house or temple
also consecrated to the deity of the place. Where
there was no formal temple, the great house of
the village, where the chiefs were in the habit of
assembling, was the temple for the time being, as
occasion required. Some settlements had a sacred
grove as well as a temple, where prayers and offer-
ings were presented. The Swift One, the Sacred
One, Destruction, the God of Heaven, the Great
Seer, the King of Pulotu were the names of some of
their village gods.
In their temjyies, they had generally something
for the eye to rest upon with superstitious venera-
tion. In one might be seen a conch shell, sus-
pended from the roof in a basket made of cinnet
network ; and this the god was supposed to blow
when he wished the people to rise to war. In an-
other, two stones were kept. In another, something
resembling the head of a man, with white streamers
flying, was raised on a pole at the door of the
temple, on the usual day of worship. In another, a
cocoa-nut shell drinking-cup was suspended from the
roof, and before it prayers were addressed and offer-
ings presented. This cup was also used in oaths.
A FUTUEE STATE EELIGIOX, ETC. 241
If they wished to find out a thief, the suspected
parties were assembled before the chiefs, the cup
sent for, and each would approach, lay his hand on
it, and say : " With my hand on this cup, may the
god look upon me, and send swift destruction, if I
took the thing which has been stolen." The stones
and the shells were used in a similar way, but the
cup is especially interesting. (See Kitto's " Bible
Illustrations," vol. i. p. 426, on " Divining Cups.")
Before this ordeal, the truth was rarely concealed.
They firmly believed that it would be death to touch
the cup and tell a lie.
The jyriests, in some cases, were the chiefs of the
place ; but, in general, some one in a particular
family claimed the privilege, and professed to declare
the will of the god. His office was hereditary. He
fixed the days for the annual feasts in honour of the
deity, received the offerings, and thanked the j^eople
for them. He decided also whether or not the
people might go to war.
The offerings were principally cooked food. As
in ancient Grreece, so in Samoa, the first cup was in
honom' of the god. It was either poured out on the
ground, or waved towards the heavens, reminding
us again of the Mosaic ceremonies. The chiefs all
drank a portion out of the same cup, according to
rank ; and, after that, the food brought as an offer-
ing was divided and eaten, ^^ there before the Lord."
This feast was annual, and frequently about the
month of May. In some places, it passed ofi" quietly ;
in others, it was associated with games, sham-fights,
E
242 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
niglit-dances, etc., and lasted for days. In time of
war, special feasts were ordered by the priests. Of
the offerings on war occasions, women and children
were forbidden to partake, as it was not their pro-
vince to go to battle. They supposed it would
bring sickness and death on the party eating who
did not go to the war, and hence were careful to
bury or throw into the sea whatever food was over
after the festival. In some cases, the feasts in
honour of the god were regulated by the appear-
ance in the settlement of the bird which was thought
to be the incarnation of the god. Whenever the
bird was seen, the priest would say that the god
had come, and fix upon a day for his entertainment.
The village gods, like those of the household,
had all some particular incarnation : one was sup-
posed to appear as a bat, another as a heron, ano-
ther as an owl. If a man found a dead owl by the
roadside, and if that happened to be the incarnation
of his village god, he would sit down and weep over
it, and beat his forehead with stones till the blood
flowed. This was thought pleasing to the deity.
Then the bird would be wrapped up, and buried
with care and ceremony, as if it were a human body.
This, however, was not the death of the god. He
was supposed to be yet alive, and incarnate in all
the owls in existence. The flight of these birds was
observed in time of war. If the bird flew before
them, it was a signal to go on; but if it crossed
the path, it was a bad omen, and a sign to retreat.
Others saw their village god in the rainbow, others
A FUTURE STATE EELTGIDN, ETC. 243
saw liim in the shooting star ; and, in time of war,
the position of a rainbow and the direction of a
shooting star were always ominous.
The constant dread of the gods, and the nume-
rous and extravagant demands of a cunning and
avaricious priesthood, made the heathenism of Samoa
a hard service. On the reception of Christianity,
temples were destroyed, the sacred groves left to be
overrun by the bush, the shells and stones and
divining cups were thrown away, and the fish and
fowls which they had previously regarded as incar-
nations of their gods were eaten without suspicion
or alarm. In a remarkably short time, under Grod's
blessing, hardly a vestige of the entire system was to
be seen.
244 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXy.
MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS .
The mythology of Samoa, like that of all heathen
nations, whether savage or ci^dlizecl, abomids in
obscenities and absurdities. An hom% however, is
not altogether lost in turning over the heap of
rubbish. At one time, we fall in with something
which throws light on the origin of the people ; at
another we have some curious coincidences with
the tales of modern as well as ancient civilized
nations ; and often we pause in deep interest, as we
recognize some fragment, or corroboration, of Scrip-
ture history.
The tales to which we refer would fill volumes.
The few which we have selected will probably suffice
as a specimen of the rest.
COSMOGONY, AND ORIGIN OF MAN.
The earliest traditions of the Samoans describe a
time when the heavens alone were inhabited, and the
earth covered over with water. Tangaloa, the great
Polynesian Jupiter, then sent down his daughter in
the form of a bird called the turi (a snipe), to search
for a resting-place. After flying about for a long
MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS . 245
time, she found a rock partially above the surface of
the water.* This looks like the Mosaic account of
the deluge ; but the story goes on to the origin of
the human race. Turi went up and told her father
that she had found but one spot on which she could
rest. Tangaloa sent lier down again to visit the place.
She went to and fro repeatedly, and, every time she
went up, reported that the dry sm'face was extend-
ing on all sides. He then sent her down with some
earth, and a creeping plant, as all was barren rock.
She continued to visit the earth, and return to the
skies. Next visit, the plant was spreading. Next
time, it was withered and decomposing. Next visit,
it swarmed with worms. And the next time, the
worms had become men and women ! A strange
account of man's origin ! But how affectingly it
reminds one of his end ! '' They shall lie down ahke
in the dust, and the icorms shall cover them."
THE EAISING OF THE HEAVEXS.
The Samoans have no consecutive tales of these
early times ; but we give the disjointed fragments as
we find them. They say, that of old the heavens fell
down, and that people had to crawl about hke the
lower animals. After a time, the arrow-root and
another similar plant pushed up the heavens. The
* Anotlier account represents Tangaloa as rolling down from,
the heavens two great stones, one of which became the island of
Savaii, the other, Upolu. Both accounts compare with the
mythology of the Battas. (See Marsden's Sumatra, p. 385.)
246 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
place where tliese plants grew is still pointed out, and
called tlie Te'enga-langi, or heaven-pushing place.
But tlie heads of the people continued to knock on
the skies. One day, a woman was passing along
who had been drawing water. A man came up to
her, and said, that he would push up the heavens, if
she would give him some water to drink. " Push
them up first," she replied. He pushed them up.
" Will that do ?" said he. "No; a little further."
He sent them up higher still, and then she handed
him her cocoa-nut shell water-bottle. Another ac-
count says, that a person named Tiitii pushed up
the heavens ; and the hollow places in a rock, nearly
six feet long, are pointed out as his footprints.
INTEEOOURSE WITH THE SKIES.
They tell about a man called Losi, who went up
on a visit to the heavens. He found land and sea
there, people, houses, and plantations. The people
were kind to him, and supplied him with plenty of
food. This was the first time he had seen or tasted
taro. He sought for some in the plantations, and
brought it down to the earth, and hence, they say,
the origin of taro. They do not say how he got up
and down, but another similar tale speaks of a tree
whose top reached to tlie heavens, and by which
parties went up and down. AVhen that tree fell,
they say, its trunk and branches extended a distance
of nearly sixty miles. In this and the following tale
we are reminded of Jacob's ladder.
MYTHOLOGICAL TKADITIOXS. 247
VISIT TO THE MOON.
Two young men, named Punifanga and Tafaliu,
determined one afternoon to pay a visit to tlie moon.
Punifanga said lie knew a tree by wliicli tliey could
go up. Tafaliu was afi'aid it might not reach high
enough, and said he would try another plan. Puni-
fanga went to his tree, but Tafaliu kindled a fire,
and heaped on cocoa-nut shells and other fuel, so as
to raise a great smoke. The smoke rose in a dense,
straight column like a cocoa-nut tree, towering away
into the heavens. Tafaliu then jumped on to the
column of smoke, and went up and reached the
moon long before Punifanga. One wishes to know
what they did next, but here the tale abruptly ends,
with the chagrin of Punifanga, when he got up and
saw Tafaliu there before him, sitting laughing at him
for having been so long on the way.
THE WOMAN IX THE MOON.
In another story, we are told that the moon came
down one evening, and picked up a woman, called
Sina, and her child. It was during a time of famine.
She was working in the evening twilight, beating
out some bark with which to make native cloth.
The moon was just rising, and it reminded her of a
great bread-fruit. Looking up to it, she said, " Why
cannot you come down, and let my child have a bit
of you?" The moon was indignant at the idea of
248 NINETEEN YEAHS IN POLYNESIA.
being eaten, came down forthwith, and took her
up, child, board, mallet, and all. The popular super-
stition of " the man in the moon, who gathered sticks
on the Sabbath-day," is not yet forgotten in England ;
and so, in Samoa, of the icoman in the moon. " Yon-
der is Sina," they say, " and her child, and her
mallet and board."
THE SUN ST.iNDING STILL.
We have a fragment or two, also, about the sun.
A woman, called Mangamangai, became pregnant by
looking at the rising sun. Her son grew, and was
named " Child of the Sun." At his marriage, he
asked his mother for a dowery. She sent him to his
father, the sun, to beg from him, and told him how
to go. Following her directions, he went one morn-
ing with a long vine from the bush, which is the
convenient substitute for a rope, climbed a tree, threw
his rope with a noose at the end of it, and caught
the sun. He made known his message, and (Pan-
dora like) got a present for his bride. The sun first
asked him what was his choice — blessings or calami-
ties. He chose, of course, the former, and came
down with his store of blessings done up in a basket.
There is another tale about this Samoan Phaethon,
similar to what is related of the Hawaiian Mani.
They say, that he and his mother were annoyed at
the rapidity of the sun's course in those days — that
it rose, reached the meridian, and set, " before they
could get their mats dried." He determined to
MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS. 249
make it go slower. He climbed a tree one morning'
earl}^, and, witli a rope and noose all ready, watched
for the appearance of the snn. Just as it emerged
from the horizon, he threw, and caught it. The sun
struggled to get clear, but in vain. Then, fearing
lest he should be strangled, he called out in distress,
" Oh, have mercy on me, and spare my life ! What
do you want ?" "We wish you to go slower; we
can get no work done." " Very well," replied the
sun ; "let me go, and, for the future, I will walk
slowly, and never go quick again." He let go the
rope, and, ever since, the sun has gone slowly, and
given us longer days. Ludicrous and puerile as all
this is, one cannot help seeing in it the wreck of that
sublime description in the book of Joshua, of the day
when that man of God stood in the sight of Israel
and said : " Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and
thou moon in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun
stood stiU, and the moon stayed until the people had
avenged themselves upon their enemies."
THE DELUGE.
There are but few tales in Samoa in which we can
trace the deluge ; nor are these so circumstantial as
those which obtain in some other parts of the Pacific.
(See Ellis's " Polynesian Eesearches," vol. i. pp. 386,
etc.) It is the universal belief, however, that " of
old, the fish swam where the land now is ;" and
tradition now adds, that, when the waters abated,
many of the fish of the sea were left on the land.
250 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
and afterwards were cliauged into stones. Hence,
tliey say, there are stones in abundance in the bush,
and among the mountains, which were once sharks,
and other inhabitants of the deep.
FABULOUS WAES, ETC.
According to Samoan tradition, many things of
old had their battles ; and one account gives a num-
ber of them in the following order : " The god Fe'e,
of the lower regions, fought with the deep under-
ground rocks ; the god was beaten, and the rocks
conquered. The low rocks fought with the high
rocks ; the low were beaten, and the high rocks con-
quered. The high rocks fought with the hollow
(volcanic, cavernous) rocks ; the high rocks were
beaten, and the hollow rocks conquered. The hollow
rocks fought with the rocks level with the ground ;
the hollow rocks were beaten, and the low, ground
rocks conquered. The ground rocks fought with the
earth ; the ground rocks were beaten, and the earth
conquered. The earth fought with the small stones ;
the earth was beaten, and the small stones conquered.
The small stones fought with the small grass ; the
stones were beaten, and the grass conquered. The
small grass fought with the strong weedy grass ; the
small grass was beaten, and the strong grass con-
quered. The strong grass fought with the long grass
of the bush ; the strong grass was beaten, and the
bush grass conquered. The bush grass fought with
the trees ; the grass was beaten, and the trees con-
MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS. 251
quered. The trees fought with the creepers; the
trees were beaten, and the creepers conquered. A^id
then began the ivars of men." "Would that the wars
of men had been as bloodless as those which pre-
ceded them !
The principle seems to be, that wherever one
thing prevails to excess above another thing, be it
rock, stone, earth, grass, or tree, we are sure to find
some tradition about its having had its battle and
its victory. The old poetic Samoan forefathers, who
framed these fabulous fights, added a great deal of
circumstance and minuteness to their tales, and all
is seriously believed by some of their more prosaic
posterity.
We have also accounts of battles fought by the
birds, on the one side, and the fish of the sea on the
other. The fish, they say, were beaten, and the birds
conquered ; and, ever since, the birds have the right
of going to the sea to pick up as many fish as come
within their reach.
The appearance or form of a thing has also sug-
gested many a tale, of which the following are ex-
amples. They say that the rat had wings formerly,
and that the bat {Pterojjus javanicus) at that time
had no wings. One day the bat said to the rat :
*' Just let me try on your wings for a little, that I
may see how I like flying." The rat lent the bat his
wings. Off" flew the bat with the wings, and never
came back with them again. This fable is quite a
proverb, and often applied to a person who borrows
a thinn^ and does not return it. Take another ilhis-
252 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tration. With tlie exception of the mountain plan-
tain, all the bananas have their bunches of fruit hang-
ing down towards the earth, like a bunch of grapes.
The plantain shoots up its bunch of fruit erect
towards the heavens. As the reason of this, we are
told that, of old, all the bananas held their heads
erect, but that they quarrelled with the plantain,
fought, and were beaten, and, ever since, have hung
their heads in token of their defeat. I recollect hear-
ing an old speaker referring to this in an address at
a missionary meeting, and applying it to the cause
of Christ. " The cause of Jesus," said he, " will at
length appear victorious over every opposition. It
stands with its head erect to the heavens. All its
enemies will eventuaUy be driven, and hang their
heads in shame and disgrace for ever."
THE ORIGIN OF EIRE.
The late Dr. Kitto, in one of the sections of his
"Daily Bible Illustrations," remarks, that fire was
probably as unknown to Adam as it was unneeded
by him, before the fall, and then alludes to some
curious traditions respecting its discovery. It is
beyond dispute, that islands and tribes have been
found, in various parts of the world, where the use
of fire was quite unknown ; and hence, we may sup-
pose that the traditions in Samoa on this subject
were, at some remote period, founded on fact. The
Samoans say, that there was a time when their fore-
fathers ate everything raw ; and that they owe the
MYTHOLOGICAL TRADITIONS. 253
luxury of cooked food to one Ti'iti'i, the son of a
person called Talanga. This Talanga was high in
favour with the earthquake god Mafuie, who, like
the Vulcan of the Greeks, lived in a subterranean
region, where there was fire continually burning. On
going to a certain perpendicular rock, and saying,
" Rock, divide ! I am Talanga ; I have come to
work;" the rock opened, and let Talanga in; and
he went below to his plantation in the land of this
god Mafuie. One day, Ti'iti'i, the son of Talanga,
followed his father, and watched where he entered.
The youth, after a time, went up to the rock, and,
feigning his father's voice, said, " Rock, divide ! I
am Talanga; I have come to work;" and was ad-
mitted too. His father was at work in his planta-
tion, was surprised to see his son there, and begged
him not to talk loud, lest the god Mafuie should hear
him, and be angry. Seeing smoke rising, he inquired
of his father, what it was. His father said it was
the fire of Mafuie. " I must go and get some," said
the son. "No," said the father; "he will be angry.
Don't you know he eats people ?" " AYliat do I care
for him !" said the daring youth; and off" he went,
humming a song, towards the smoking furnace.
" Who are you ?" said Mafuie.
" I am Ti'iti'i, the son of Talanga. I am come
for some fire."
" Take it," said Mafuie.
He went back to his father with some cinders, and
the two set to work to bake some taro. They kin-
dled a fire, and were preparing the taro to put on the
254 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
hot stones, when suddenly the god Mafuie blew up
the oven, scattered the stones all about, and put out
the fire. " Xow," said Talanga, " did not I tell you
Mafuie would be angry ?" Ti'iti'i went off in a rage
to Mafuie, and, without any ceremony, commenced
with, " ^Tiy have you broken up our oven, and put
out our fire ?" Mafuie was indignant at such atone
and language, rushed at him, and there they ^Testled
with each other. Ti'iti'i got hold of the right arm
of Mafuie, grasped it with both hands, and gave it
such a wrench that it broke off. He then seized the
other arm, and was going to twist it off next, when
Mafuie declared himself beaten, and implored Ti'iti'i
to have mercy, and spare his left arm.
" Do let me have this arm," said he ; "I need it
to hold Samoa straight and level. Give it to me,
and I win let you have my hundred wives."
"No, not for that," said Ti'iti'i.
" Well, then, -will you take Jive ? If you let me
have my left arm, you shall have fire, and you may
ever after this eat cooked food."
"Agreed," said Ti'iti'i; " 3^ou keep your arm,
and I have /zre."
"Go," said Mafuie; "you will find the fire in
every u-ood you cut."
And hence, the story adds, Samoa, ever since the
days of Ti'iti'i, has eaten cooked food from the fire
which is got from the friction of rubbing one piece of
dry wood against another.
The superstitious still have half an idea that
Mafuie is down below Samoa somewhere ; and that
MYTHOLOGICAL TI?ADITTOXS. 255
tlie earth has a lono; handle there, Hke a walkinor-
stick, which Mafiiie gives a shake now and then. It
was common for them to say, when they felt the
shock of an earthquake, " Thanks to Ti'iti'i, that
Mafuie has only one arm : if he had two, what a
shake he would give ! "
The natives of Savas^e Island have a somewhat
similar tale about the origin of fire. Instead of
Talanga and Ti'iti'i, they give the names of Maui,
the father, and Maui the son. Instead of going
through a rock, their entrance was down through a
reed bush. And, instead of a stipulation for the fire,
they say that the youth Maui, like another Prome-
theus, stole it, ran up the passage, and before his
father could catch him, he had set the bush in flames
in all directions. The father tried to put it out, but
in vain ; and they further add, that ever since the
exploit of young Maui, they have had fire and cooked
food in Savage Island.
It is true what Dr. Kitto says, in the article to
which we have already referred : "A volume — and
one of no common interest — might be written on the
origin, the history, the traditions, the powers, and
the uses of fire, which was of old worshipped in many
nations as a god." — (" Daily Bible Illustrations,"
vol. i. p. 104.)
256 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYI^ESIA.
CHAPTER XXYI.
HOUSES.
The Samoans have a tradition, that of old their
forefathers had no houses. They say that in those
days the people were " housed by the heavens,"
and describe the ingenuity of a chief who first con-
trived to build houses. He had two sons, and, out
of love to them, built for each of them a house.
The places where the houses stood are also pointed
out, and form the names of two divisions of a dis-
trict at the east end of Upolu. The one is called
the " upper house," and the other the " lower
house."
But, leaving tradition, imagine a gigantic bee-
hive, thirty feet in diameter, a hundred in circum-
ference, and raised from the ground about four feet
by a number of short posts, at intervals of four feet
from each other all round, and you have a good idea
of the appearance of a Samoan house. The spaces
between these posts, which may be called open
doors or windows, all round the house, are shut in
at night by roughly-plaited cocoa-nut leaf blinds.
During the day the blinds are pulled up, and all the
interior exposed to a free current of air. The floor
is raised six or eight inches with rough stones ; then
an upper layer of smooth pebbles ; then some cocoa-
HOUSES. Z0(
nut-leaf mats, and then a layer of finer matting.
Houses of important chiefs are erected on a
raised platform of stones three feet high. In the
centre of the house there are two, and sometimes
three, posts or pillars, twenty feet long, sunk three
feet into the ground, and extending to and sup-
porting the ridge pole. These are the main props
of the building. Any Smnfion pulling them away
would bring down the whole house. The space
between the rafters is filled up with what they call
rihs, viz., the wood of the bread-fruit tree, split up
into small pieces, and joined together so as to form
a long rod the thickness of the finger, running from
the ridge pole down to the eaves. All are kept in
their places, an inch and a half apart, by cross
pieces, made fast with cinnet. The whole of this
upper cagelike work looks compact and tidy, and,
at the first glance, is admired by strangers as being
alike novel, ingenious, and neat. The wood of the
bread-fruit tree, of which the greater part of the best
houses are built, is durable, and, if preserved from
wet, will last fifty years.
The thatch, also, is laid on with great care and
taste ; the long dry leaves of the sugar-cane are
strung on to pieces of reed five feet long ; they are
made fast to the reed by overlapping the one end of
the leaf, and pinning it with the rib of the cocoa-nut
leaflet, run through from leaf to leaf horizontally.
These reeds, thus fringed with the sugar-cane leaves
hanging down three or four feet, are laid on, begin-
ning at the eaves and ruuDing up to the ridge pole,
s
258 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
each one overlapping its fellow an inch or so, and
made fast one by one with cinnet to the inside rods
or rafters. Upwards of a hundred of these reeds of
thatch will be required for a single row running
from the eaves to the ridge pole; then they do
another row, and so on all round the house. Two,
three, or four thousand of these fringed reeds may
be required for a good-sized house. This thatching,
if well done, will last for seven years. To collect
the sugar-cane leaves, and " sew," as it is called,
the ends on to the reeds, is the work of the women.
An active woman will sew fifty reeds in a day, and
three men will put up and fasten on to the roof of
the house some five hundred in a day. Zinc, felt,
and other contrivances are being tried by European
residents ; but, for coolness and ventilation, nothing
beats the thatch. The great drawback is, that in
gales it stands up like a field of corn, and then the
rain pours into the house. That, however, may be
remedied by a network of cinnet, to keep down the
thatch, or by the native plan of covering all in with
a layer of heavy cocoa-nut leaves on the apj^roach of
a gale.
These great circular roofs are so constructed
that they can be lifted bodily ofl* the posts, and
removed anywhere, either by land, or by a raft of
canoes. But in remo^mig a house, they generally
divide the roof into four parts, viz., the two sides,
and the two ends, where there are particular joints
left by the carpenters, which can easily be untied,
and again fastened. There is not a single nail in
HOUSES. 259
the whole building ; all is made fast with cinnet. As
Samoan houses often form presents, fines, doweries,
as well as articles of barter, they are frequently
removed from place to place. The arrangement of
the houses in a village has no regard whatever to
order. You rarely see three houses in a line.
Every one puts his house on his little plot of
ground, just as the shade of the trees, the direction
of the wind, the height of the ground, etc., may suit
his fancy.
A house, after the usual Samoan fashion, has but
one apartment. It is the common parlour, dining-
room, etc., by day, and the bed-room of the whole
family by night. They do not, however, altogether
herd indiscriminately. If you peep into a Samoan
house at midnight, you will see five or six low oblong
tents pitched (or rather strung up) here and there
throughout the house. They are made of native
cloth, five feet high, and close all round down to the
mat. They shut out the musquitoes, and inclose a
place some eight feet by five ; and these said tent-
looking places may be called the heel-rooms of the
family. Four or five mats laid loosely, the one on
the top of the other, form the bed. The j^illoiv is a
piece of thick bamboo, three inches in diameter,
three to five feet long, and raised three inches from
the mat by short wooden feet. The sick are in-
dulged with something softer, but the hard bamboo
is the invariable pillow of health. The bedding is
complete with a single sheet of calico or native
cloth.
260 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
After private prayer in tlie morning, tlie tent
is unstrung, mats, pillow, and sheet rolled to-
gether, and laid up overhead on a shelf between
the posts in the middle of the house. Hence, to
"make the bed" in Samoa, is, no doubt, much the
same thing which Peter meant when he said to
^neas (Acts ix. 34), " Arise, and make thy bed."
These rolls of mats and bedding, a bundle or two
done up in native cloth, on the same shelf in the
centre of the house, a basket, a fan or two, and a
butcher's knife stuck into the thatch within reach, a
fishing-net, a gun strung up along the rafters, a few
paddles, a wooden chest in one corner, and a few
cocoa-nut shell water-bottles in another, are about
all the things in the shape of furniture or property
you can see in looking into a Samoan house. The
fire-place is about the middle of the house. It is
merely a circular hollow, two or three feet in diame-
ter, a few inches deep, and lined with hardened clay.
It is not used for cooking, but for the purpose of
lighting up the house at night. A flaming fire, as
we have already remarked (p. 200), was the regular
evening offering to the gods, as the family bowed
the head, and the fathers prayed for prosperity from
the " gods great and small." The women collect,
during the day, a supply of dried cocoa-nut leaves,
etc., which, with a little management, keep up a
continued blaze in the evening, while the assembled
family group have their supper and prayer, and sit
together chatting for an hour or two afterwards.
Many now-a-days burn an oil-lamp instead ; and you
HOUSES. 261
see in tlieir houses a table, it may be, a sofa, a form,
a chair or two, a few earthenware dishes, and some
other conveniences of civiHzed life.
Oblong houses, divided into two or three apart-
ments, more suited to the devotional and other
wants of a well-regulated Christian family, are now
seen here and there ; and a bedstead, instead of the
mats laid on the floor.
But about Jiouse-huilding : it is a distinct trade
in Samoa ; and perhaps, on an average, you may
find one among every three hundred men who is a
master carpenter. AYhenever this person goes to
work, he has in his train some ten or twelve, who
follow him, some as journeymen, who expect pay-
ment from him, and others as apprentices, who are
principally anxious to learn the trade. AVhen a
young man takes a fancy to the trade, he has only
to go and attach himself to the stafi" of some master
carpenter, follow him from place to place for a few
years, until he thinks he can take the lead in build-
ing a house himself; and whenever he can point to
a house which he has built, that sets liim up as a
professed carpenter, and he will fi'om that time be
employed by others.
If a person wishes a house built, he goes with a
fine mat, worth in cash value 20s. or 30s. He tells
the carpenter what he wants, and presents him with
the mat as a pledge that he shall be weU paid for his
work. If he accept the mat, that also is a pledge
that he will undertake the job. Nothing is stipu-
lated as to the cost ; that is left entirely to the
262
NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
honour of the employing party. At an appointed
time the carpenter comes with his staff of helpers
and learners. Their only tools are a felHng-axe,
a hatchet, and a small adze ; and there they
sit, chop, chop, chopping, for three, six, or
nine months, it may be, until the house is finished.
Their adze reminds one
of ancient Egypt. It is
formed by the head of a
small hatchet, or any
other flat piece of iron,
lashed on, at an angle of
forty-five, to the end of
a small piece of wood,
eighteen inches long, as
its handle. Of old they
used stone and shell adzes.
The man whose house is being built provides the
carpenters with board and lodging, and is also at
hand with his neighbours to help in bringing wood
from the bush, scaffolding, and other heavy work.
As we have just remarked, a Samoan house-builder
makes no definite charge, but leaves the ^Drice of his
work to the judgment, generosity, and means of
the person who employs him. It is a lasting dis-
grace to any one to have it said that he paid his
carpenter shabbily. It brands him as a person of
no rank or respectability, and is disreputable, not
merely to himself, but to the whole family or clan
with which he is connected. The entire tribe or
clan is his hanh. Being connected with that par-
HOUSES. 263
ticular tribe, either by birth or marriage, gives him
a latent interest in all their property, and entitles
him to go freely to any of his friends to ask for help
in paying his house-builder. He will get a mat
from one, worth twenty shillings ; from another he
may get one more valuable still ; from another, some
native cloth, worth five shillings ; from another, four
or six yards of calico ; and thus he may collect,
with but little trouble, two or three hundred useful
articles, worth, perhaps, forty or fifty pounds ; and
in this way the carpenter is generally well paid.
Now and then there will be a stingy exception ; but
the carpenter, from certain indications, generally sees
ahead, and decamps, with all his party, leaving the
house unfinished. It is a standing custom, that
after the sides and one end of the house are finished,
the principal part of the payment be made ; and it
is at this time that a carpenter, if he is dissatisfied,
■\W11 get up and walk ofi*. A house with two sides
and but one end, and the carpenters away, is indica-
tive. Nor can the chief to whom the house belongs
employ another party to finish it. It is a fixed rule
of the trade, and rigidly adhered to, that no one will
take up the work which another party has thrown
down. The chief, therefore, has no alternative but
to go and make up matters with the original car-
penter, in order to have his house decently com-
pleted. "\¥hen a house is finished, and all ready for
occupation, they have their " house-warming," or,
as they call it, its oven consecration ; and formerly it
was the custom to add on to that a heathenish
264 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
dance, for the purpose, tliey said, of " treading
down the beetles."
The system of a common interest in each other's
property, to which we have referred, is clung to by
the Samoans mth great tenacity. They feel its
advantages when they wish to raise a little. Not
only a house, but also a canoe, a boat, a fine, a
dowery, and everything else requiring an extra efibrt,
is got up in the same way. They consider them-
selves at liberty to go and take up their abode any-
where among their friends, and remain without
charge, as long as they please. And the same
custom entitles them to beg and borrow from each
other to any extent. Boats, tools, garments, money,
etc., are all freely lent to each other, if connected
with the same tribe or clan. A man cannot bear to
be called stingy or disobliging. If he has what is
asked," he will either give it, oi* adopt the worse
course of telling a lie about it, by saying that he
has it not, or that it is promised to some one else.
This common property system is a sad hindi^ance to
the industrious, and eats like a canker-worm at the
roots of individual or national progress. No matter
how hard a young man may be disposed to work, he
cannot keep his earnings : all soon passes out of
his hands into the common circulating currency.
The only thing which reconciles one to bear with it
until it gives place to the individual independence of
more advanced civilization, is the fact that, with such
a state of things, we have no " poor laws." The
sick, the aged, the blind, the lame, and even the
HOUSES. 265
vagrant, has always a house and home, and food and
raiment, as far as he considers he needs it. A
stranger may, at first sight, think a Samoan one of
the poorest of the poor, and yet he may hve ten
years with that Samoan and not be able to make
him understand what poi-erty really is, in the Eu-
ropean sense of the word. " How is it ? " he
will always say. " No food ! Has he no friends ?
No house to live in ! Where did he grow ? Are
there no houses belonging to his friends ? Have the
people there no love for each other?"
266 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXYII.
CANOES.
Next to a well-built liouse, Samoan ingenuity is
seen in their canoes. Any one almost can fell a
tree, cut off the branches, and hollow out the log,
some fifteen feet long, for a common fishing-canoe,
in which one or two men can sit. But the more
carefully-built canoe, with a number of separate
planks raised from a keel, is the work of a distinct
and not very numerous class of professed carpenters.
The keel is laid in one piece, twenty-five to fifty
feet long, as the size of the canoe may be, and to
that they add board after board, not by overlapping
and nailing, but by sewing each close to its fellow,
until they have raised some two, or, it may be, three
feet from the ground. These boards are not sawn,
squared, and uniform, but are a number of pieces, or
patches, as they are called, varying in size from
eighteen inches to five feet long, as the wood split
up from the log with felling axes happens to suit ;
all, however, are well fastened together, and, with
the help of a little gum of the bread-fruit tree for
pitch, the whole is perfectly water-tight. In dress-
ing each board, they leave a ledge, or rim, all round
the edge, which is to be inside, making it double the
thickness at the edge to what it is in the middle of
A SAMOAN CANOK.
'v?N,
A SAMOAN FISKING-CAXOE.
A SAMOAX BOAT.
GANGES. 267
the board. It is througli this ledge or rim they bore
the holes, and with a few turns of cinnet, sew tight
one board to the other. The sewing only ajDpears
on the inside. Outside all is smooth and neat ; and
it is only on close inspection you can see that there
is a join at all. They have timbers, thwarts, and
gunwale, to keep all tight ; and over a few feet at
the bow and the stern they have a deck, under which
they can stow away anything. The decked part at
the bow is the seat of honour, and there you gene-
rally see the chief of the travelling party sitting
cross-legged, at his ease, while the others are
paddling.
The width of a canoe varies from eighteen to
thirty inches ; the length, from fifteen to fifty feet.
But for an outrigger, it would be impossible to keep
such a long, narrow thing steady in the water. The
outrigger may be described, in any boat, by laying
oars across at equal distances, say one right above
a thwart. Make fast the handle of each oar to the
gunwale on the starboard side of the boat, and let
the oars project on the larboard side. To the end
of each projecting oar make fast four small sticks
running do^Ti towards the water, and let their ends
also be fastened to a long thick piece of wood, sharp
at the one end to cut through the water, and floating
on the sm'face parallel to the boat. This being done
will give any one an exact idea of a Polynesian out-
rigger, b}' means of which long narrow canoes are
kept steady in the water.
Some people who sketch and engrave from ima-
268
NINETEEN YEAJiS IN POLYNESIA.
gination, err in representing tlie natives of Samoa as
pulling their short paddles, as the European boat-
man pulls his long oars. The paddle is about four
feet long, something like a sharp-pointed shovel ;
and when the natives paddle, they sit with their
faces in the direction in which the
canoe is going, " dig " in their pad-
dles, send the water flying behind
them, and forward the canoe shoots
at the rate of seven miles an hour.
They have always a sail for their
canoe, as well as paddles, to take
advantage of a fair wind. The sail
is triangular, and made of matting.
When set, the base is up, and the
apex down, quite the reverse of
what we see in some other islands.
The mat sails, however, are giving
place to cloth ones, made in the
form of European boat-sails.
Some two or three generations
back the Samoans built large double
canoes like the Feejeeans. Latterly
they seldom built anything larger
than a single canoe, with an outrigger, which might
carry from fifteen to twenty people. Within the last
few years the native carpenters have been trying
their hand at boat-building, and it is astonishing to
see how well they are succeeding in copying the
model of an English or American whaleboat, sharp
at both ends, or having "two bows," as they call it.
/
CANOES. 269
Some of tliem are fifty feet long, and carry well on
to one liunclred people. From stem to stern there
is not a nail ; everything is fastened in their ancient
style, Tvith cinnet plaited from the fibre of the cocoa-
nut husk. Cinnet -is likely long to prevail in native
canoe and boat-building. Although it looks clumsy,
it has the advantage of not rotting the vsrood like an
iron nail. It is durable also. With care, and the
sewing once or twice renewed, a Samoan canoe will
last twenty years.
They do not paint their canoes, but decorate
them with rows of white shells {Cyprcea ovula)
running along the middle of the deck at the bow and
stern, and also along the upper part of the out-
rigger. Now and then you see a figure-head with
some rude device of a human figure, a dog, a bird,
or something else, which has ft*om time immemorial
been the " coat-of-arms " of the particular village or
district to which the canoe belongs. A chief ot
importance must also have one, or perhaps two,
large shells in his canoe, to answer the purpose of
trumpets, to blow now and then as the canoe passes
along. It attracts the attention of the villagers,
and calls them out to look and inquire, "Who is
that?" The ambition to see and to be seen is as
common in Polynesia as anywhere else. As the
canoe approaches any principal settlement, or
when it reaches its destination, there is a special
too-too-too, or flourish of their shell trumpets, to
herald its approach. The paddlers at the same time
strike up some lively chant, and, as the canoe
270 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
touches tlie beach, all is wound up with a united
shout, having more of the yell in it, but the same in
meaning as a " hip, hip, hurrah !"
The French navigator Bougainville, seeing the
Samoans so often moving about in their canoes,
named the group " The Navigators." A stranger
in the distance, judging from the name, may suppose
that the Samoans are noted among the Polynesians
as enterprising navigators. This is not the case.
They are quite a domestic people, and rarely venture
out of sight of land. The group, however, is exten-
sive, and gives them some scope for travel. It
numbers ten inhabited islands, and stretches east
and west about 200 miles. Within these bounds
they have kept up an intercourse from the earliest
times in their history, which is fully proved, not
only by tradition, but by the uniformity of customs
and language which prevails from the one end of
the group to the other.
AETICLES OF MANUFACTUEE. 271
CHAPTER XXYIII.
AETICLES OP MANUFACTUEB.
Fishing-nets of various kinds are in use, and are all
manufactured on the islands. Several of the Poly-
nesian tribes excel in this branch of industry. A
captain of a ship of war, who was buying curiosities
lately at Savage Island, actually refused their fine
small fishing-nets, thinking that they must be articles
oi European manufacture. In Samoa, net-making is
the work of the women, and confined principally to
the inland villages. One would have thought that
it would be the reverse, and that the coast districts
would have made it their principal business. The
trade being confined to the interior, is probably
occasioned by its proximity to the raw material
which abounds in the bush, viz., the bark of the
hibiscus, already referred to in describing " fine
mats."
After the rough outer surface of the bark has
been scraped off with a shell on a board, the remain-
ing fibres are twisted with the mere palm of the
hand across the bare thigh into a strong whip-cord,
or finer twine, according to the size of the meshes
of the net. As the good lady's cord lengthens, she
fills her netting-needle, and when that is full, works
272
NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
it into her net. Their wooden netting-needles are
exactly the same in form as those in common use in
Europe. One evening, in taking a walk, Mrs. Tur-
ner and I stood for a few minutes and looked at a
woman working a net. Mrs. Tm'ner begged to be
allowed to do a bit, took the needle, and did a few
loops, to the no small amazement of the woman,
who wondered how a European lady could know
how to handle a Samoan netting-needle, and do
Samoau work.
They make nets of all sizes, fi^om the small one
of eighteen inches square to the seine of a hundred
feet long. A net forty feet long and twelve feet deep
can be had for native mats, or white calico, to the
ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE. 273
value of twenty sliillings. A liundrecl men may be
able to master some twenty nets. These tliey unite
together, and, in the lagoon off their settlement, take
large quantities of mullet and other fish.
The ])earl-sliell jisli-hooh is another article, in the
manufacture of which the Samoans show some inge-
nuity. They cut a strip off the shell,
from two to three inches long, and rul)
it smooth on a stone, so as to resemble
a small fish. On the under side, or what
may be called the belly, of this little
mock fish, they fasten a hook made of
tortoise-shell, or, it may be, an EngHsli
steel one. Alongside of the hook, con-
cealing its point, and in imitation of the
fins of a little fish, they fasten two small
white feathers. Without any bait, this
pearl-shell contrivance is cast adrift at
the stern of a canoe, with a line of
twenty feet, and from its striking re-
semblance to a little fish it is soon
caught at, and in this way the Samoans secure a
large quantity of their favom^ite food. No European
fish-hook has yet superseded this purely native in-
vention. They bait and use the steel fish-hook, how-
ever, and in some cases use it on their pearl-shells,
as we have just remarked, instead of the tortoise-
shell fish-hook.
A curious native drill is seen in connection with
the manufacture of these little shell fish-hooks. Fine
holes are drilled through the shell for the purpose of
274
NINETEEN YEAES IN TOLYNESIA.
making fast the liook as well as the line, and the
instrument to which we refer answers the purpose
admirably. For the sake of comparison with other
parts of the world, this simple con-
trivance is worth a few lines of de-
scription. Take a piece of wood,
eighteen inches long, twice the thick-
ness of a cedar pencil. Fasten with
a strong thread a fine-pointed nail, or
a sail-needle, to the end of this sort of
spindle. Get a thick piece of wood,
about the size of what is called in
England a "hot cross bun," and in
Scotland a "cookie," bore a hole in
the centre of it, run the spindle through
it, and wedge it fast about the middle
of the spindle. At the top of the spindle
fasten two strings, each nine inches
long, to the ends of these strings attach the ends
of a common cedar pencil, forming a triangle with a
wooden base and string sides. Stand up the machine
with your left hand, place the iron point where you
wish to bore a hole, and steady the spindle with
yom^ left hand. Take hold of the pencil handle of
the upper triangle, twirl round the spindle with your
left hand, which will coil on the strings at the top to
the spindle, pull down the pencil handle quickly, and
then the machine will spin round. Work the handle
in this way up and down, like a pump, the cord will
alternately run off and on to the spindle, and the
machine will continue to whirl round, first one way
ARTICLES OP MANUFACTUEE.
275
//
(
and then tliG otlier, until tlie pearl-sliellj or wliat^
ever it may be, is perforated.
There is hardly anything else in the department
of manufacture requiring par-
ticular notice. "Wlien speak- J^.
ing of garments, we refer- /^
red to native doth and mats. /
Large quantities of cinnet is
plaited by the old men prin-
cipally. They sit at their
ease in their houses, and
twist away very rapidly.
At political meetings also,
where there are hours of
formal palaver and speechi-
fying, the old men take their
work with them, and im-
prove the time at the cleanly,
useful occupation of tvfist-
ing cinnet. It is a substitute for twine, and
useful for many a purpose, and is sold at about a
shilling per pound. Baslcets and/rt7?s are made of the
cocoa-nut leaflet, floor mats and a finer kind of
baskets from the pandanus leaf. Tvfenty or thirty
pieces of the rib of the cocoa-nut leaflet, fastened
276
NINETEEN YEAES IN TOLTNESIA.
close together witli a tliread of cinnet, form a comh.
Oval tjihs are made by liollowing out a block of
wood. Gliihs, three feet long, from the iron-wood,
or something else that is heavy. Sjoears,
eight feet long, are made from the cocoa-
nut tree, and barbed with the sting of
the ray-fish ; a wicked contrivance, for
it is meant to break off from the spear
in the body of the unhappy victim. In
nine cases out of ten, there is no way of
cutting it out, and the poor creature dies
in agony.
The Samoans are an agricultural
rather than a manufacturing people. In
addition to their own individual wants, their hos-
pitable custom in supplying, without money and
mthout stint, the wants of visitors from aU parts
ARTICLES OF M.^XUFACTUEE. 277
of tlie group, is a gTeat drain on their plantations.
The fact that a party of natives can travel from one
end of the group to the other vrithout a penny of
expense for food and lodging, is an encouragement
to pleasure excursions, friendly visits, and all sorts
of travelling. Hardly a day passes without there
being some strangers in the "guest house" of the
village, to be provided for by a contribution from
every family in the place. After meeting fully, how-
ever, all home wants, large quantities of yams, taro,
and bananas, with pigs and poultry, are still to spare,
and arc sold to the ships wliich call for water and
supphes.
Arrow-root might be made to any extent for
exportation, but the demand for it is small and
uncertain. The Samoans, however, are favoured
above many of the Polynesian groups in having, all
ready to their hand, a valuable ex]Jort in cocoa-nut oil.
The manufactm^e of this is now common in every
settlement, and there are trading agents located all
over the group to buy it up. The mode of preparing
it is simple. They split the nuts in two by a rap on
a stone, grate out the kernel by rubbing it on the
teeth of a bit of an old sau , or a piece of serrated
hoop-iron. This scraped or grated kernel is then
heaped into an old canoe, exposed to the sun, and, in
a day or two, becomes a liquid oily mass. Separating
it from the refuse, they fill in the pure oil to bam-
boos, and take it to the merchant who pays them for
it in cash, or calico, at the rate of a shilling per
gallon. There is at present upwards of 500 tons of
278 NINETEEN YEAES IN TOLYNESIA.
cocoa-nut oil made annually by tlie Samoans, and
taken by tlie traders to tlie Sydney and Valparaiso
markets. This will probably continue to be tlie
principal Samoan export, as long as Samoa is under
native rule. Should these islands, however, in course
of time, become the "West Indies" of Australia, or
be colonized by any enterprising foreign power,
sugar, cotton, spices, and other intertropical pro-
ductions will no doubt be extensively raised. In
1858, the imports amounted to upwards of £34,000 ;
that is to say, about a pound (20s.) to each of the
population. The exports, for the same year, prin-
cipally in cocoa-nut oil, were upwards of £20,000.
Last year the imports were £30,105, and the ex-
ports £25,441.
GOVERNMENT A2^D LAWS. 279
CHAPTER XXIX.
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS.
A HURRIED glance, from a European stand-point,
causes many passing visitors to conclude tliat the
Samoans have nothing whatever in the shape of
government or laws. In sailing along the coast of
any island of the group, you can hardly discern
anything but one uninterrupted mass of bush and
vegetation, from the beach to the top of the moun-
tains ; but, on landing, and minutely inspecting
place after place, you find \illage3, plantations,
roads, and boundary walls, in aU directions along
the coast. It is the same w^ith their political aspect.
It is not until you have landed, lived among the
people, and for years closely inspected their move-
ments, that you can form a correct opinion of the
exact state of affairs. To any one acquainted with
the aborigines of various parts of the world, and
especially those of the Papuan groups in Western
Polynesia, the simple fact that the Samoans have
but one dialect, and free intercourse with each other
all over the group, is proof positive that there must
have existed there, even in heathenism, some system
of government.
In the days of heathenism, a good deal of order
280 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
was maintained by the union of two tilings, viz., cicil
2'OR'cr, and superstitioiis fear.
I. As to tlie first of tliese, tlieir government liad,
and still lias, more of tlie patriarclial and democratic
in it, tlian of the monarcliical. Take a village, con-
taining a population, say, of three to five hundred,
and there Vvdll probably be found there, from ten to
twenty titled heads of families, and one of the
higher rank, called chiefs. The titles of the heads
of famihes are not hereditary. The son may suc-
ceed to the title which his father had, but it may
be given to an uncle, or a cousin, and sometimes
the son is passed over, and the title given, by com-
mon consent, to a perfect stranger, merely for the
sake of di'awing him in, to increase the numerical
strength of the family. What I now call a family
is a combined group of sons, daughters, uncles,
cousins, nephews, nieces, etc., and may number
■fifty individuals. They have one large house, as a
common rendezvous, and for the reception of visitors,
and four or five other houses, all near each other.
The chiefs, on the other hand, are a more select
class, whose pedigree is traced most carefully to the
ancient head of some particular clan. One is chosen
to bear the title, but there may be twenty other in-
dividuals, who trace their origin to the same stock,
call themselves chiefs too, and any of whom may
succeed to the title on the death of the one who
bears it. A chief, before he dies, may name some
one to succeed him, but the final decision rests with
the heads of families, as to which of the members of
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 281
tlie cliief family sliall liave tlie title, and be regarded
as tlie village cliief. In some cases, tlie greater part
of a village is composed of parties who rank as cliiefs,
but, as a general rule, it consists of certain families
of the more common order, which we have just
mentioned, and some titled chief, to whom the
village looks up as their political head and pro-
tector. It is usual, in the courtesies of common
conversation, for all to call each other chiefs. If
you listen to the talk of little boys even, you will
hear them addressing each other as cMef this, that,
and the other thing. Hence, I have heard a stranger
remark, that the difficulty in Samoa is, not to find
who is a chief, but to find out wdio is a common
man.
As the chief can call to his aid, in any emergency,
other chiefs connected with the same ancient stock
from which he has sprung, and as he looks upon the
entire village as his children, and feels bound to
avenge their wi^ongs, it is thought essential to have
some such character in every settlement. If any-
thing in the clubbing way is to be done, no one but
the chief, or his brother, or his son, dare do it.
With few exceptions, he moves about, and shares in
every-day employments, just like a common man.
He goes out with the fishing I3arty, works in his
plantation, heljDS at house-building, and lends a hand
at the native oven. There are still, however,
although not at first sight to a European eye, well-
defined marks of his chieftainship. If you listen to
the conversation of the people, or attend a meeting
282 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
of the heads of famiHes for any village business, you
hear that he is addressed with such formahties as
might be translated into our English Earl, Duke,
Prince, or King So-and-so; and, instead of the
plebeian yon, it is, your Highness, your Grace, your
Lordship, or your Majesty. Wlien the ava-bowl is
filled, and the cup of friendship sent round, the first
cup is handed to him. The turtle, too, the best
joint, and anything choice, is sure to be laid before
the chief. Then, again, if he wishes to marry, the
heads of families vie with each other in supplying
him with all that is necessary to provide for the
feasting, and other things connected with the cere-
monies. He, on the other hand, has to give them
ample compensation for all this, by distributing
among them the fine mats which he gets as the
dowery by his bride. A chief is careful to marry
only in the family of a chief, and hence he has, by
his wife, a portion worthy of the rank of a cliiefs
daughter. To some extent, these heads of families
are the hanJcers of the chief. His fine mats, almost
all go to them, and other property, too. They,
again, are ready with a supply whenever he wishes
to draw upon them, whether for fine mats, food, or
other property.
No lover of money was ever fonder of gold than
a Samoan is of his fine mats. Hence, in the days of
heathenism, the more wives the chief wished to
have, the better the heads of famihes hked it, as
every marriage was a fresh source of fine mat gain.
To such an extent was this carried on, that one
GOVEENMENT AND LAWS. 283
matcli was hardly over before anotlier was in con-
templation. If it did not originate witli tlie cliief,
the heads of famihes would be concocting something,
and marking out the daughter of some one as the
object of the next fine mat speculation. The chief
would yield to them, have the usual round of cere-
monies, but without the remotest idea of living with
that person as his wife. In this way a chief, in the
course of his Hfetime, might be married weU on to
fifty times ; he would not, however, probably have
more than two living vvdth him at the same time.
As the heads of families were on the look-out to
have the sons and daughters of the chief married as
often as they could also, it can be imagined that the
main connecting links between the heads of famihes
and their chief, and that which marked him out
most prominently as a superior, was this marriage,
or rather polygamy business.
At the very outset of missionary work, this was
one of the things which occasioned great practical
difficulty. If a chief became a true follower of
Christ, he had constant annoyance from the dis-
satisfied heads of families, who could not, as
formerly, make a tool of him to get propert}'. Or,
if the head of a family wished to act consistently
with the Word of God, and oppose the adulterous
schemes of an ungodly chief, he, too, was subjected
to all sorts of ridicule and petty annoyance. It
served, however, as a test of character; and we
have had many noble instances in which a person
has thrown up his title, from a desire to be eminent
28-i NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
in conformity to the law of God, ratlier than in tlic
recldess violation of God's will.
The land in Samoa is owned alike by the chiefs
and these heads of families. The land belonging to
each family is well known, and the person who, for
the time being, holds the title of the family head, has
the right to dispose of it. It is the same with the
chiefs. There are certain tracts of land which
belong to them. The uncultivated bush is claimed
by those who own the land on its borders. The
lagoon also, as far as the reef, is considered the
property of those off whose village it is situated.
Although the power of selling land, and doing other
things of importance affecting all the members of
the family, is vested in the titled head of the family,
yet the said responsible party dare not do anything
without formally consulting all concerned. Were
he to persist in attempting to do otherwise, they
would take his title from him, and give it to an-
other. The members of a family can thus take the
title from their head, and heads of families can
unite and take the title from their chief, and give
it to his brother, or uncle, or some other member
of the chief family, who, they think, will act more
in accordance with their wishes.
The chief of the ^dUa^e and the heads of families
formed, and still form, the legislative body of the
place, and the common coiu^t of appeal in all cases
of difficulty. One of these heads of families is the
sort of Prime Minister of the chief. It is his special
business to call a meeting, and it is also his pro-
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 285
vince to send notice to the other heads of famihes,
on the arrival of a party of strangers, and to say
what each is to provide towards entertaining hos-
pitably the village guests. Having no written
•language, of course they had no written laws ; still,
as far back as we can trace, they had well under-
stood laws for the prevention of theft, adultery,
assault, and murder, together with many other
minor things, such as disrespectful language to a
chief; calhng him a pig, for instance, rude beha-
viom' to strangers, pulling do^Ti a fence, or mah-
ciously cutting a fruit-tree. ISTor had they only the
mere laws ; the further back we go in their his-
tory, we find that their penalties were all the more
severe. Death was the usual punishment for mur-
der and adultery ; and, as the injured party was at
liberty to seek revenge on the brother, son, or any
member of the family to which the guilty party
belonged, these crimes were all the more dreaded
and rare. In a case of murder, the culprit, and all
belonging to him, fled to some other village of the
district, or perhaps to another district; in either
case, it was a city of refuge. "While they remained
away, it was seldom any one dared to pursue them,
and risk hostilities with the village which protected
them. They might hear, however, that their houses
had been burned, their plantations and land taken
from them, and they themselves prohibited, by the
united voice of the chief and heads of families, from
ever again retm-ning to the place. Fines of large
quantities of food, which provided a feast for the
286 NINETEEN YEA"RS IN POLYNESIA.
entire yillage, were common ; but there were fre-
quently cases in wliicli it was considered right to
make the punishment fall exclusively on the culprit
himself. For adultery, the eyes were sometimes
taken out, or the nose and ears bitten off. For other
crimes they had some such punishments as tying the
hands of the culprit behind his back, and marching
Mm along naked, something like the ancient French
law of " amende honorable ;" or, tying him hand to
hand and foot to foot, and then carrying him sus-
pended from a prickly pole, run through between
the tied hands and feet, and laying him down before
the family or village against whom he had trans-
gressed, as if he were a jng to be killed and cooked ;
compelling the culprit to sit naked for hours in the
broiling sun ; to be hung up by the heels ; or to beat
the head with stones till the face was covered with
blood ; or to play at hand-ball with the prickly sea-
urchin ; or to take five bites of a pungent root, which
was like filling the mouth five times with cayenne
pe^^per. It was considered cowardly to shrink from
the punishment on which the village court might
decide, and so the young man would go boldly for-
ward, sit down before the chiefs, bite the root five
times, get up and walk away with his mouth on
fire. But these barbarous penalties are done away
with, and fines now are generally levied in food
and property. In cases of murder and adultery,
however, the old law of indiscriminate revenge is
still at times carried out.
Should two families in a village quarrel, and wish
GOYEKNMEXT AND LAWS. 287
to figlifc, the other heads of families and the chief
step in and forbid ; and it is at the peril of either
party to carry on the strife, contrary to the decided
voice of public opinion.
These village communities, of from two to five
hmidred people, consider themselves perfectly dis-
tinct from each other, quite independent, and at
liberty to act as they please on their own gTound,
and in their own afiairs.
Then, again, these villages, in numbers of eight
or ten, unite by common consent, and form a dis-
trict, or state, for mutual protection. Some parti-
cular village is known as the capital of the district ;
and it was common of old to have a higher chief
than any of the rest, as the head of that village, and
who bore the title of King. Just as in the individual
villages, the cliief and heads of famihes unite in
suppressing strife when two parties quarrel ; so it
is in the event of a disturbance between any two
villages of the district, the combined chiefs and
heads of families of all the other villages unite in
forbidding strife. When war is threatened by an-
other district, no single village can act alone ; the
whole district, or state, assemble at their capital,
and have a special parliament to deliberate as to
what should be done.
These meetings are held out of doors. The
heads of families are the orators and members of
parliament. The kings and chiefs rarely speak.
The representatives of each village have their known
places, wdicre they sit, under the shade of l^rcad-
288
NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
fruit trees, and form groups all round the margin of
an open space, called the malee (or forum), a thou-
sand feet in circumference. Strangers from all
parts may attend ; and on some occasions there
may be two thousand people and upwards at these
parliamentary gatherings. The speaker stands up
when he addresses the assembly, lays over his
shoulder his fly-flapper, or badge of office similar
to what is seen on some ancient Egyptian standards.
He holds before him a stafi" six feet long, and leans
forward on it as he goes on with his speech.* It is
the province of the head village to have the opening
* A Samoau orator does not let liis Toice fall, but rather
gradually raises it, so that the last word iu a sentence is the
loudest.
GOVEENMENT AND LAWS. 289
or king's speech, and to keep order in the meeting;
and it is the particular province of another to reply
to it, and so they go on. To a stranger the eti-
quette and delay connected with such meetings is
tiresome in the extreme. When the first speaker
rises, other heads of families belonging to his
village, to the number of ten or twenty, rise up,
too, as if they all wished to speak. This is to show
to the assembly that the heads of families are all at
their post, and who they are. They talk among
themselves for awhile, and it ends in one after an-
other sitting down, after having passed on his right
to speak to another. It is quite well known, in
most cases, who is to speak, but they must have
this preliminary formality about it. At last, after
an hour, or more, all have sat down but the one
who is to speak; and, laden by them with the
responsibiUty of speaking, he commences. He is
not contented with a mere tcord of salutation, such
as, " Gentlemen," but he must, with great minute-
ness, go over the names and titles, and a host of
ancestral references, of which they are proud. An-
other half hour is spent with this. Up to this time
conversation goes on fi'eety all round the meeting ;
but whenever he comes to the point of his address,
viz., the object of the meeting and an opinion on it,
all is attention. After the first speech, it is probably
mid-day, and then food is brought in. The young
men and women of the family, decked off* in their
best, come in a string of ten or twenty to their
chief, each carrying something, and, naming him,
u
290 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
say it is food for him. He tells tliem to take it to
so-and-so, and then they march off to that chief,
and say that it is food from such a one. This
person will retm^n the compliment by and by, and
in this way there is, for hours, a delightful flow of
friendship all over the place. On such occasions,
parties who have been living at variance, have a fine
opportunity of showing kindness to each other.
Amid all this feasting, the speechifying goes on. As
the debate advances, the interest increases. They
generally break up at sundown ; but if it is some-
thing of unusual interest and urgency, they go on
speechifying in the dark, or in the moonlight, and
may not adjourn till long after midnight. Unless all
are pretty much agreed, nothing is done. They are
afraid to thwart even a small minority.
Throughout the Samoan group, there are, in all,
ten of these separate districts such as I have de-
scribed. In war some of the districts remain neutral,
and of those engaged in the strife there may be two
against one, or three against five, or, as in the late
prolonged war, five against two. Of old, the district
which was conquered, was exposed to the taunts
and overbearing of their conquerors. But a sub-
dued district seldom remained many years with the
brand of "conquered." They were up and at it, as
soon as they had a favourable opportunity, and were
probably themselves in turn the conquerors. That
memorable 1848 was the very year when a district
on Upolu, long called conqnered, rose and leagued
with another district to regain independence. This
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 291
led to a general war wliicli lasted nine years, and
tlie issue was tlie present state of affairs, viz., inde-
pendence and equality among tlie states all over the
group. Some of these districts or states have their
king ; others cannot agree on the choice of one ;
and such is the isolated, independent state of these
districts, that there is no such thing as a king, or
even a district, whose power extends all over the
group. The flag of any foreign power hoisted in
any one district would no more be the taking pos-
session of the islands, according to the Samoan view
of the rights of the case, than would the hoisting of
a flag on the coast of Spain be considered the right
to rule over all the states of Europe.
Consuls, captains of ships of war, merchants, and
missionaries have done all they could to get these
separate states of Samoa induced to form a union,
with a house of representatives, having the higher
chiefs in turn as president, or something of that kind,
but, hitherto, all efforts have been in vain. Many
wish a change, many more prefer remaining as they
are, and it is impossible to say how long the Samoans
will remain in their present political position, viz.,
each little community, of two to five hundred, having
its own laws and form of government — uniting in
districts of eight or ten villages for mutual protection
— and these districts, again, combining in twos or
threes, as occasion may require, in the event of insult,
aggression, or other causes of war.
But cannot the missionary, whose labours em-
brace ten or fifteen of these separate villages, get all
292 NINETEEN YEAliS IN POLYNESIA.
united within that given sphere to adopt certain laws
in which all will agree, and carry these all over the
group ? No, he cannot, for the simple reason, that
in no given missionary district are all the chiefs and
heads of families converted, and willing to abide by
the laws of God. If in a village the majority of the
heads of families, and the chief as well, are steady
and good men, there will be a great deal of order
and correct legislation there ; but in the very next
village it may be quite the reverse. The missionary
plods on, however, in the work of Christian instruc-
tion, in the hope that, if not in this, in some other
generation, the Samoans may see the propriety of
adopting some more united form of government,
better suited to their social prosperity and their
intercourse with civilized nations ; if, indeed, they
are not ere long compelled to give themselves up to
be governed by some of the foreign powers, who, of
late years, seem anxious to have possessions in the
Pacific.
II, But I hasten to notice the second thing which
I have already remarked was of old an auxiliary
towards the maintenance of peace and order in
Samoa, viz., superstitious fear. If the chief and
heads of families, in their court of inquiry into any
case of stealing, or other concealed matter, had a
difficulty in finding out the culprit, they would make
all involved swear that they were innocent. In
swearing before the chiefs, the suspected parties laid
a handful of grass on the stone, or whatever it was,
which was supposed to be the representative of the
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 293
village god, and, laying tlieir hand on it, would say,
" In the presence of our chiefs now assembled, I lay
my hand on the stone. If I stole the thing may I
speedily die." This was a common mode of swear-
ing. The meaning of the grass was a silent additional
imprecation, that his family might all die, and that
grass might grow over their habitation. If all swore,
and the culprit was still undiscovered, the chiefs then
wound up the affair by committing the case to the
viUage god, and solemnly invoking him to mark out
for speedy destruction the guilty mischief-maker.
But, instead of appealing to the chiefs, and call-
ing for an oath, many were contented with their own
individual schemes and imprecations, to frighten
thieves and prevent stealing. When a man went to
his plantation and saw that some cocoa-nuts, or a
bunch of bananas, had been stolen, he would stand
and shout at the top of his voice two or three times,
" May fire blast the eyes of the person who has
stolen my bananas ! May fire burn down his eyes
and the eyes of his god too ! " This rang throughout
the adjacent plantations, and made the thief tremble.
They dreaded such uttered imprecations. Others
cursed more privately when a thing was stolen, as we
may suppose the mother of Micah did (Judges xvii. 2).
In common disputes also, affecting the veracity of
each other, it was customary for the one to say to
the other, " Touch your eyes, if what you say is
true." If he touched his eyes, the dispute was
settled. It was as if he had said, "May I be cursed
with bhndness if it is not true what I say." Or the
294 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
doubter would say to his opponent, " Who will eat
you ? Say the name of your god." He whose word
was doubted would then name the household god of
his family, as much as to say, " May god so-and-so
destroy me, if what I have said is not true." Or,
the person whose word was doubted might adopt the
more expressive course still, of taking a stick and
digging a hole in the ground, which was as if he
said, " May I be buried immediately if what I say is
not true." But there was another, and more extensive
class of curses, which were also feared, and formed
a powerful check on stealing, especially from plan-
tations and fruit-trees, viz., the silent hieroglyphic
taboo, or tapui (tapooe), as they called it. Of this
there was a great variety, and the following are a
specimen : —
1. Tlie sea-pike taboo. — If a man wished that a
sea-pike might run into the body of the person who
attempted to steal, say, his bread-fruits, he would
plait some cocoa-nut leaflets in the form of a sea-
pike, and suspend it from one or more of the trees
which he wished to protect. Any ordinary thief
would be terrified to touch a tree from which this
was suspended. He would expect that the next time
he went to the sea, a fish, of the said description,
would dart up, and raortally wound him.
2. Tlie ivhite sliavh taboo was another object of
terror to a thief This was done by plaiting a cocoa-
nut leaf in the form of a shark, adding fins, etc., and
this they suspended from the tree. It was tanta-
mount to an expressed imprecation, that the thief
CK)VEENMENT AND LAWS. 295
might be devoured by the white shark the next time
he went to fish.
3. The cross-stick taboo. — This was a piece of any
sort of stick suspended horizontally from the tree.
It expressed the wish of the owner of the tree, that
any thief touching it might have a disease running
right across his body, and remaining fixed there till
he died.
4. The ulcer taboo. — This was made by burying
in the ground some pieces of clam-shell, and erecting
at the spot three or four reeds, tied together at the
top in a bunch like the head of a man. This was to
express the wish and prayer of the owner, that any
thief might be laid down, like another Job, with
ulcerous sores all over his body. If a thief trans-
gressed, and had any subsequent swellings or sores,
he confessed, sent a present to the owner of the land,
and he, in return, sent back some native herb, as a
medicine, and a pledge of forgiveness.
5. The tic-doloureux taboo. — This was done by
fixing a spear in the ground close by the trees which
the owner wished to guard. It was expressive of a
wish that the thief might sufier from the face and
head agonies of the disease iust named.
6. The death taboo. — This was made by pouring
some oil into a small calabash, and burying it near
the tree. The spot was marked by a little hillock of
white sand. The sight of one of these places was
also effectual in scaring away a thief.
7. The rat taboo. — This was a small cocoa-nut
leaf basket, filled with ashes from the cooking-house.
296 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
and two or tliree small stones, and suspended from
the tree. It signified a wish that rats might eat
holes in the fine mats of the thief, and destroy any
cloth, or other property which he might value.
8. The tlivnder taboo. — If a man wished that
lightning might strike any who should steal from his
land, he would plait some cocoa-nut leaflets in the
form of a small square mat, and suspend it from a
tree, with the addition of some white streamers of
native cloth flying. A thief believed that if he tres-
passed, he, or some of his children, might be struck
with lightning, or, perhaps his own trees struck and
blasted from the same cause. They were not, how-
ever, in the habit of talking about the effects of
lightning. It was the thunder they thought did the
mischief; hence they called that to which I have just
referred, the thunder taboo.
From these few illustrations, it will be observed,
that Samoa formed no exception to the remark-
ably wide-spread system of superstitious taboo ; and
the extent to which it preserved honesty and order
among a heathen people will be readily imagined.
At the present day, the belief in the power of these
rude hieroglyphics is not yet eradicated. In passing
along, you still see something with streamers flpng,
dangling from a tree in one place; a basket sus-
pended in another, and some reeds erect in a third.
The sickness, too, and dying hours of some hardened
thief still bring out confessions of his guilt. Facts
such as these which have just been enumerated still
further show the cruelties of the reign of super-
GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. 297
stition, and exhibit, in striking contrast, the better
spirit and the purer precepts taught by that blessed
volume which is now received, read, and practised by-
many in Samoa. In days of heathenism, there was
no good rendered for evil there, and the only
prayers for injurers and enemies were curses for
their hurt and destruction.
298 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXX.
WAES.
The murder of a cliief, a disputed title, or a desire,
on the part of one, two, or more of tlie districts, to
be considered stronger and of more importance than
the rest, were, of old, frequent causes of war in
Samoa. Hostihties were often prevented by such
acts as giving up the culprit, paying a heavy fine,
or by bowing down in abject submission, not with
ropes round their necks, but carrying firewood and
small stones used in baking a pig, or, perhaps, a
few bamboos. The firewood, stones, and leaves,
were equivalent to their saying, " Here we are, your
pigs, to be cooked if you please ; and here are the
materials with which to do it." Taking bamboos
in the hand was as if they said, " We have come, and
here are the knives to cut us up." A piece of split
bamboo was, of old, the usual knife in Samoa.
If, however, the chiefs of the district were deter-
mined to resist, they prepared accordingly. The
boundary which separated one district from another
was the usual battle-field ; hence the villages next to
that spot, on either side, were occupied at once by
the troops. The women and children, the sick and
the aged, were cleared off" to some fortified place in
the bush, or removed to some other district which
WAKS. 299
^Yas either neutral, or could be depended upon as an
ally. Moveable property was eitlier buried, or taken
off -with tlie women and children. The wives of the
chiefs and principal men generally followed their
husbands wherever they might be encamped, to be
ready to nurse them if sick or wounded. A heroine
would even follow close upon the heels of her hus-
band in actual conflict, carrying his club or some
other part of his armour.
It was common for chiefs to take ^vith them a
present of fine mats, when they went to another dis-
trict to solicit help in war, but there was no standing
army or regularly paid soldiers anywhere. All was
primitive. When the chiefs decided on war, every
man and boy under their jurisdiction, old enough to
handle a club, had to take his place as a soldier, or
risk the loss of his lands and property, and banish-
ment from the place.
In each district there was a certain \dllage, or
cluster of villages, known as "the advance troops."
It was their province to take the lead, and in battle
their loss was double the number of that of any other
village. Still they boasted of their right to lead,
would on no account give it up to others, and talked
in the current strain of other parts of the world about
the " glory" of dying in battle. In a time of peace,
the people of these villages had special marks of
respect shown to them, such as the largest share of
food at public feasts, flattery, etc.
AA^iile war was going on, the chiefs and heads of
families united in some central spot, and whatever
300 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
they decided on, either for attack or defence, the
young men endeavoured imphcitly to carry out.
Their weapons were, of old, clubs, spears, and slings.
Subsequently, as iron was introduced, they got
hatchets, and with these they made their most
deadly weapon, viz., a sharp tomahawk, with a
handle the length of a walking-stick. After that
again they had the civilized additions of swords,
pistols, guns, and bayonets. Around the village
where the war party assembled, they threw a rough
stockade, formed by any kind of sticks or trees cut
into eight feet lengths, and put close to each other,
upright, with their ends buried two feet in the ground.
The hostile parties might be each fortified in this
way not more than a mile from each other, and, now
and then, venture out to fight in the intervening
space, or to take each other by surprise at weak or
unguarded points. In their war canoes, they had
some distinguisliing badge of their district hoisted
on a pole, a bird it might be, or a dog, or a bunch of
leaves. And, for the bush-ranging land forces, they
had certain marks on the body by which they knew
their own party, and which served as a temporary
watchword. One day the distinguishing mark might
be blackened cheeks ; the next, two strokes on the
breast; the next, a white shell suspended from a
strip of white cloth round the neck, and so on.
Before any formal fight, they had a day of feasting,
reviewing, and merriment. In action they never
stood up in orderly ranks to shoot at each other.
According to their notions that would be the height
WARS. 301
of folly. Their favourite tactics were rather of the
surprise and bush-skirmishing order. In their fights,
during the late war, I have known of from two to
fifty killed on each side in a battle, never more.
Prisoners, if men, were generally killed ; if women,
distributed among the conquerors. In the battle
which was fought in 1830, to avenge the death of
Tamafainga (see p. 99), a fire was kindled and
prisoners, to the extent of four hundred some say,
were burned, but probably it did not reach the half
of that number.
Their heroes were the swift of foot, like Achilles
or Asahel ; men who could dash forward towards a
crowd, hurl a spear with deadly precision, and stand
for awhile, tilting off with his club other spears
as they approached him within an inch of running
him tlu^ough. They were ambitious also to sig-
nalize themselves by the number of heads they could
lay before the chiefs. No hero at the Grecian games
rejoiced more over his chaplet, than did the Samoan
glory in the distinction of having cut off a man's
head. As he went along with it, through the vil-
lages, on the way to the place where the chiefs were
assembled, waiting the hourly news of the battle, he
danced, and capered, and shouted, calling out every
now and then the name of the village, and adding,
" I am so-and-so, I have got the head of such a
one." When he reached the spot where the chiefs
were met, he went through a few more evolutions,
and then laid down the head before them. This,
together with the formal thanks of the chiefs before
302 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
the multitude for his bravery and successful fighting,
was the very height of a young man's ambition. He
made some giddy, frohcsome turns on his heel, and
was off" again to try and get another victim. These
heads were piled up in a heap in the malae or pubhc
assembly, just as of old "at the entering in of the gate"
of Jezreel (2 Kings x. 7, 8). The head of the most
important chief was put on the top, and, as the tale
of the battle was told, they would say, " There were
so many heads, sm'mounted by the head of so-and-so,"
giving the number and the name. After remaining
for some hours piled up, they were either claimed by
their relatives, or buried on the spot. A rare illustra-
tion of this ambition to get heads occurred about ten
years ago. In an unexpected attack upon a village
one morning, a young man fell stunned by a blow.
Presently he recovered consciousness, felt the weight
of some one sitting on his shoulders and covering his
neck, and the first sounds he heard was a dispute going
on between two as to which of them had the right to
cut ofi'his head ! He made a desperate efibrt, jostled
the fellow ofi'his back, sprang to his feet, and, with his
head all safe in his own possession, soon settled the
matter by leaving them both far behind him.
The headless bodies of the slain, scattered about
in the bush after a battle, if known, were buried, if
unknown, left to the dogs. In some cases the whole
body was pulled along in savage triumph and laid
before the chiefs. One day, when some of us were in
a war-fort endeavouring to mediate for peace, a dead
body of one of the enemy was dragged in, preceded
WARS. 303
by a fellow making all sorts of fiendish gestures, with
one of tlie legs in his teeth cut ofi" by the knee.
Connected with Samoan warfare several Scrip-
ture coincidences may be noted, such as consulting the
gods, taking a priest to battle to pray for his people
and curse the enemy, filling up wells, destroying
fruit-trees, going to battle decked off" in their most
valuable clothing and trinkets, haranguing each
other previous to a fight, the very counterpart of
Abijah the king of Judah, and even word for word,
with the filthy-tongued Rabshakeh.
If the war became general, and involving several
districts, they formed themselves into a threefold
division of highway, bush, and sea-fighters. The
fleet might consist of three hundred men, in thirty
or forty canoes. The bush-rangers and the fleet
were principally dreaded, as there was no calculating
where they were, or when they might pounce un-
awares upon some unguarded settlement. The fleet
met apart from the land forces, and concocted their
own schemes. They would have it all arranged, for
instance, and a dead secret, to be off after dark to
attack a particular village belonging to the enemy.
At midnight they land at an uninhabited place some
miles fi^om the settlement they intend to attack. They
take a circuitous course in the bush, surround the
village from behind, having previously arranged to
let the canoes slip on quietly, and take up their posi-
tion in the water in front of the village. By break
of day, they rush into the houses of the unsuspecting
people before they have well waked up, chop ofi" as
304 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLTNESIA.
many heads as tliey can, rush with them to their
canoes, and decamp before the young men of the
place have had time to muster or arm. Often they
are scared by the people, who, during war, keep a
watch, night and day, at all the principal openings
in the reef; but, now and then, the plot succeeds,
and there is fearful slaughter. It was in one of these
early morning attacks from the fleet, that the young
man to whom I have referred had such a narrow
escape. That morning many were wounded, and
the heads of thirteen carried off. One of them was
that of a poor old man, who was on his knees at his
morning devotions, when off went his head at a
blow. In another house that same morning there
was a noble instance of maternal heroism, in a
woman who allowed herself to be hacked from head
to foot, bending over her son to save his life. It is
considered cowardly to kill a woman, or they would
have despatched her at once. It was the head of her
little boy they wanted, but they did not get it. The
poor woman was in a dreadful state, but, to the sur-
prise of all, recovered.
The late prolonged war, to which I have re-
peatedly referred, originated in a quarrel between
two of the districts or provinces. Slumbering
enmity on both sides was roused, and a general
war was the consequence, in which there were five
districts, or states, leagued against two. The five
wished supremacy, and the two held for equal
rights. After a good deal of bloodshed, and a nine
years' struggle, the five states gave up the contest,
WAES. 305
and agreed that there should be liberty and equality
all over the group.
Throughout the struggle we observed as much
neutrality as we conscientiously could. We did not
disguise from the five that they were wrong in wish-
ing to have a despotic government. This, however,
did not make us their enemies. They always ap-
peared friendly. They would say to each other,
" These missionaries are from a foreign country ;
they do not understand our Samoan politics. They
are good men, nevertheless, and are not living here
for their own personal gain. They wish to teach us
the Word of God ; let us be respectful to them, and
hear all they have to say." The two states who
were standing out against the five, knowing that we
were for the hberty and balance of power which they
sought, were all the better pleased with us ; and
thus we were regarded as the friends of both parties,
and had fi:"ee access to them all from first to last.
We often went among them endeavouring to me-
diate, but they would take their own way. We gave
medicine to their sick, dressed their wounds, and
were admitted to any part of their forts every Sab-
bath-day to conduct religious services. Throughout
all the nine years, they never fought on a Sabbath,
and that is more than can be said of some other
countries, who make higher pretensions to Chris-
tianity and civilization. Even when the war was
at its height, and one of the principal forts closely
hemmed in, I have passed with perfect freedom on
the Sabbath, from the trenches of the besiegers to
306 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
the fort of the besieged, and was received and
listened to at both places with the greatest respect.
When the war broke out in 1848 we were not
^vithout oiu" fears for the safety of our Institution
for Native Teachers. We feared lest some lawless
chief, thirsting for blood, on account of a parent, or
son, or friend, lost in battle, should, in accordance
with the ancient rule of indiscriminate revenge,
either openly or stealthily, enter our premises, and
take the Hves of some of the students related to the
enemy. Such an attack would not have surprised
us, although it might have led us to the painful
conclusion that it would be our duty to break up
the seminary until hostilities were ended. Nothing,
however, occurred to stop our labours. Predictions
were rife, that every young man on the premises
would be off to the war ; but only two men and a
boy proved faithless, and at the close of the war
our number, instead of being diminished, was more
than doubled. We allowed no one on the premises
to have fire-arms, or to be seen with any other war
weapon. The young men bore the appearance of
the strictest neutrahty ; and their being entirely
occupied with other duties, together with a kind
demeanour to any of the war parties who appeared
in our neighbourhood, were, under God, the means
of gaining much respect and freedom from annoy-
ance.
The day after one of the battles a rude rush was
made upon our premises, and some of the houses
unceremoniously searched by a party, from a fleet
WARS. 307
of fifteen canoes, in pursuit of tlieir enemies. It was
supposed that a number of the wounded had taken
refuge in the institution, and that half a dozen or
more of their heads might be easily obtained. They
had, it is true, been with us, but as soon as we
dressed their wounds and gave them some medicine,
they were off across the channel to another island.
As soon as the pursuing party landed, I ran down
to the place where they were, shook hands with a
number of them I knew, and implored them to be
quiet, and keep up the muzzles of their guns, as one
might go off, and accidentally shoot a person. I
assured them that not one of the enemy was on the
premises, to my knowledge. They begged pardon
for their rudeness, and, at the order of their leader,
were all in then' canoes again in a few minutes.
They pushed off a yard or two from the beach, held
on for a little, and then one of them stood up in the
bow of a canoe, and addi^essed us as follows : — " Just
one word to you, the missionary, and to you, the
teachers, assembled in that sacred seminary. Bear
with us in this rude conduct. Before we leave,
tell us if you have missed anything. Teachers ! be
stedfast. Yours is the right comse. Our hearts
are not in this wicked work. Keep close to the
cause of God. That is where om" hearts are, and we
hope ere long to be there ourselves. Health and
prosperity to you all ! " It affected some of us to
tears to hear such a speech from such a quarter.
We replied that we did not know of anything
having been stolen, and hoped they would do all
308 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tliey could to bring their unhappy strife to a speedy
end, and soon return to the better employments of
the service of God.
Hungiy hordes of foraging parties were frequently
in our neighbourhood, scouring the bush in search
for bread-fruits, or anything edible, and, no doubt,
were often tempted to put forth their hand on the
unguarded plantations of the institution. Samoan
troops have no commissariat department to depend
upon. Every one must forage for himself, either
on his own grounds, or on the lands of other tribes.
All is common property while the war lasts. It was
seldom, however, that either of the war parties
touched an article belonging to us. All the nine
years there was only one foraging party which
deliberately, and to any extent, stole from our
grounds. It was on a Saturday, and so great was
their subsequent alarm about it, that on the very
next day, although it was Sabbath, and even
although they and all in the fort were in a state
bordering on starvation, they returned and brought
back the stolen bread-fruits.
Seeing a fleet of canoes returning one day, after
having chased some canoes of the enemy, and hear-
ing that they had caught a woman and a girl, I went
out as they passed, and spoke to them. They gave
up the girl. I begged them to give up the woman,
too, but they would not, assuring me, at the same
time, that her hfe was quite safe. The poor girl
seemed demented with fear; and it was not until
she had sat for some time on our verandah, that we
WARS. 309
could get a coherent sentence from her. As I had
occasion to travel in that direction, I took her home
in my boat to her parents, on an adjacent island, a
few days afterwards.
Unlike the wars of old heathen times, hardly
a single village in this late struggle was united.
There was an anti-war party of church members and
other steady people, belonging to almost every set-
tlement, who, for various reasons, stood aloof from
the contention, and took up their abode in the
neighbourhood of their nearest missionary. As the
war continued, one and another broke off and joined
the peace party. In some cases they were pursued,
and punished by the chiefs as deserters. They
quietly bore the plundering and house-burning. It
neither changed their minds, nor deterred others.
Every week the peace party was steadily on the
increase ; and the fact that the chiefs were losing
all their soldiers was a principal reason in urging
them to wind up the fruitless strife, and proclaim
peace. The forts were immediately broken up, the
deserted villages were soon cleared and reoccupied ;
and long may Samoa be presei'ved from the scourge
of civil war !
310 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXXI.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.
In the course of inquiry into Polynesian manners,
customs, and modes of thouglit, I have often been
struck with the illustrations which they furnish of
Bible narratives. As everything is valuable which
throws a ray of light on the sacred records, I have
-noted some of the more prominent of these Scrip-
ture coincidences, and, for the convenience of refer-
ence, will now give them in alphabetical order. The
•subject is worthy of study, as it is pregnant with
facts, alike interesting to the Scripture student and
the ethnologist.
Unless otherwise named, the following notes are
gathered from Samoa. That, however, may be
taken as the centre of a wide circle, throughout
which many of the very same, or kindred, illustra-
tions may be found.
1. "Adulterer . . . shall surely be put to death,"
Lev. XX. 10. This was also Samoan law (see p. 86).
2. All— "AW the cattle of Egypt died," Exod.
ix. 6. Hyperbolical probably for many, as is indi-
cated by ver. 20. This is a very common form of
speech in Samoa. If two or three houses fall in a
gale, the tale goes that " all are down, not one
standing." Or, if a number of the people are suffer-
ILLUSTEATIONS OP SCEIPTUEE. 311
ing from an epidemic, tlie report spreads tliat " tlie
whole land is covered with beds."
3. Ambush. — As described in Joshua, chap. viii.
This is a well-known branch of Samoan war tactics.
4. Anointing. — " Thou anointest my head with
oil," Ps. xxiii. 5. Scented oil for the profuse anoint-
ing of the head and shoulders is a common mark
of kind hospitality in Samoa. In travelling it pro-
tects from the burning rays of the sun, and prevents
excessive and weakening perspiration. In going to
battle, also, they are dripping with oil.
5. Anointing. — " Anointing him with oil," James
V. 14. This is a common remedy in the Pacific,
also, in cases of sickness or bruises. It is applied
with and without a superstitious, or supposed,
virtue in the hand, or in the prayers of the anointer.
Men and women are alike employed as anointing
doctors.
6. Armour. — " Take thee his armour," 2 Sam. ii.
21. It is common in many parts of Polynesia, as in
ancient Scripture and Homeric times, for the hero to
gloiy over the armour of the enemy (see p. 44). A
Samoan, however, was more anxious to obtain the
head of his enemy than his club.
7. '^Arrows . . . the poison whereof," etc.. Job
vi. 4. Arrows, so often referred to in Scripture, are
still in use in the South Seas, principally where]_fire-
arms have not been introduced. They are made of
a piece of reed, three or four feet long, pointed or
barbed, with a bit of hard wood. In the New
Hebrides we find them pointed with a piece of
312
NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
human bone, and sometimes dipped in poisonous
mixtures from tlie busli.
8. Ashed. — " Solomon gave unto tlie Queen of
Sheba . . . whatsoever she asked," 1 Kings x. 13.
Samoan chiefs did not consider it mean or de-
grading to ask freely from one and another whatever
they fancied. They keep up the custom to some
extent stiU, and hence the annoyance which a
stranger feels from their begging habits. Their
ideas of poverty and begging are utterly different
from ours (see p. 264).
9. Avenged. — " I pray . . . that I may be at once
avenged of the Phihstines," Judges xvi. 28. If a
man dies a violent death, his last words will pro-
bably be, " Avenge my death, avenge my death !"
10. Baldness. — " Go up, thou bald-head," 2
Kings ii. 23. Baldness is a reproach in Samoa,
ILLUSTEATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 313
and is frequently named in epithets of abuse and
ridicule. In some cases it was supposed to be a
mark of displeasure from tbe gods (see p. 228).
11. Bearers. — Of tlie cluster of the grapes of
Eshcol it is said, " They bare it between two on a
staff." This is a common way of carrying a box or
other package on a journey. It is slung on to the
middle of a long pole, or bamboo, and the two walk
along with it, the one following the other, and each
with an end of the pole resting on his shoulder.
12. Bed. — That referred to in Acts ix. 34, was,
probably, as in Samoa, a mat of some description,
which could be easily spread down on the floor,
rolled up again, and carried anywhere.
13. Beds. — " They shall rest in their beds,"
alluding to the grave. Isa. Ivii. 2 ; Ezek. xsxii.
25; 2 Chron. xvi. 14. In Samoa the bottom of
the grave is spread with mats hke a comfortable
bed.
14. Belly. — " The Lord make thee a curse . . .
when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy
belly to swell," Num. v. 21. Ulcerous sores, dropsy,
' and inflammation of the abdomen were considered
special judgments of the gods on concealed thieving,
adultery, and other crimes ; and the efiect of the
curses invoked by the aggrieved parties.
15. Bones. — " They shall bring out the bones
. . . out of their graves," Jer. viii. 1. This was
also done in Samoa, when an enraged army got a
footing in the settlements of their enemy.
16. ^^ Bowels of compassion,'' Gen. xhii. 30;
314 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
1 John iii. 17. The Samoans speak of the belly as
the seat of fear and alarm. "My belly is startled,"
is a common expression.
17. Bracelets, 2 Sam. i. 10. Bracelets and arm-
lets are common throughout the Pacific, and are
worn by men and women. Shells strimg on to a
piece of cord, sections of cocoa-nut shell, and strips
of tortoise-shell bent round, are the principal things
used. Sometimes they are content with a single
one, and sometimes you see half a dozen on an
arm (see p. 81).
18. Branches. — " Took branches of palm-trees,
and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna,"
John xii. 13. The attendants of a great chief, in
passing along the road, carry one or two of the ti
leaves (Draccena terminaUs) raised in the right hand,
and a herald runs a few paces before, calling out, as
he meets any one, the name of the chief who is
coming.*
19. Brothers. — Nephews, nieces, and cousins are
* I have been reminded in the South Seas of the olive
hrancJies, also, which ever since the days of I^oah have been
emblematical o^ peace. One day in 1848, when Captain Morgan,
Mr. Nisbet, and I were backing out into deep water, to get
clear of some shallow coral patches, and to look for a better
passage for our boat, the natives on the shore, thinking we
were afraid of them, ran and broke off hrancJies from the trees,
and waved or held them erect in their raised hands. I after-
wards learned that our conjectui^e at the time was right : it
was a sign of peace and friendship. A party, for instance, who
had been fighting, and wished to sue for peace, would approach
the enemy with green boughs as the signal of their pacific and
friendly intentions.
i
I
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE. 315
all called brothers and sisters in Samoa, as in primi-
tive times, Gen. xii. 5 ; xiv. 16 ; xxix. 15.
20. Brought thee forth. — "Under tlie apple-tree,"
etc., Song of Sol. viii. 5. It may tlirow some light
on this obscure passage, to notice the fact that, in
some of the islands of the Pacific, the mother is
taken to the bush, " there " to pass the hour of
maternal sohcitude.
21. Buried. — " Buried in the garden of his own
house," 2 Kings xxi. 18. A Samoan is anxious at
death to be buried in his own particular land, and
among the sepulchres of his own immediate rela-
tives. Numerous efforts have been made to get
the people to fix on a place in every viUage as a
public burying-ground, but in most cases they have
failed. The people prefer the old custom, that
each should be "buried in the garden of his own
house."
22. Burn. — " We will bum thine house," Judsfes
xii. 1. This is a punishment in Samoa for rebels,
deserters in war, and other acts of provocation.
23. Burning. — " They made a very great burn-
ing for him," 2 Chron. xvi. 14. After the burial of
a chief, there were fires kindled at sundown, near his
grave, and kept burning all night (see p. 232). At
Aneiteum, of the New Hebrides, they also kindled
fires, saying that it was that the spirit of the departed
might come and warm itself.
24. ^' Bvttoc'ks uncovered," Isa. xx. 4. This
was no disgrace in Samoa. It was the regular dandy
costume of the young men, so as to show off" the
316 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
tatooing from the "waist down to the knee, and to
free them from incumbrance in battle.
25. Cast an-ay. — " Cast not away therefore your
confidence," etc., Heb. x. 35. Thought by some to
refer to the act of thromng away the spear or the
shield when pursued; of old, a disgrace, and, in
some comitries, punished with death. At Tanna, in
the New Hebrides, it is considered a great disgrace
to throw back the club to a pursuer (see p. 44) .
26. Circumcision. — Common throughout the Pa-
cific (see pp. 87, 177, etc.).
27. Clothing. — " Thou hast clothing, be thou our
ruler," Isa. iii. 6. Riches in Samoa consisted
principally in the possession of, or the ability to
collect among friends, a large quantity of the fine
mats, which were used as clothing on festive occa-
sions (see p. 203).
28. Coch-CTOwing. — John xiii. 38. The cock-
crowing also regulates the time of night in Samoa.
They speak of the ^^ first cock-crowing," meaning by
that a little after midnight. And then, again, they
have ^' the cock-crowing," meaning by that the ap-
proach of day. A cock which crows about eight or
ten o'clock at night they call a foolish crower, and
use the expression, in comparison, for a man who
talks at random.
29. Cover. — " Covered it with a cloth," 1 Sam.
XIX. 13. It is common in Samoa to cover the face
when they lie down to sleep. I have often wondered
how they can bear it, but they are accustomed to it
from their infancy. The mothers cover their babies
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 317
all over with a cloth when they put them to sleep.
They do it to keep off flies and other insects.
30. Crotvn. — "I took the crown that was upon
his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm,"
2 Sam. i. 10. A fillet, decorated with neatly-cut oval
pieces of the nautilus- shell, and armlets of the same
material are among the insignia of royalty in Samoa,
and the usual decorations of chiefs when they go to
battle.
31. Croum. — " Surely I would take it upon my
shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me," Job xxxi.
36 ; Ps. ciii. 4. When a Samoan receives a present
he puts it up on the crown of his head, which is the
strongest expression of his gratitude. He generally
adds to the act a word or two of thanks. An orator
also, in a public assembly, in returning thanks for a
favour, puts his hand up over his head, and says,
" There is your kind decree — there, there ! "
32. Cry. — The death of the first-born caused " a
great cry in Egypt," Exod. xii. 30. If one may
judge of it from the death- wail in a single family in
Samoa (see p. 227), it would indeed be ''a great
cry," for there was not a house in wliich there was
not one dead.
33. Cry. — " She went forth to cry unto the
king," etc., 2 Kings viii. 3. In appeals for redress,
or help in war, they use the same expression in
Samoa, viz., tangi, a word equivalent to cry or weep.
34. Cry. — " The Chaldeans, whose cry is in the
ships," Isa. xliii. 14. A Samoan can hardly put his
paddle in the water without striking up some chant
318 NINETEEN YEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
in whicli all in the canoe, or boat, may unite, and
tlius they paddle along, singing as tliey go (see p.
269).
35. *' Curse ye Meroz, . . . because they came
not to the help of the Lord," Judges v. 23. A party
of Samoan chiefs would of old sit in solemn con-
clave, and pray for curses to descend upon those who
would not help in war.
36. Curse. — " The eleven hundred shekels of
silver that were taken from thee, about whicli thou
cursedst," Judges xvii. 2. It was the same in
Samoa. The party from whom anything had been
stolen, if he knew not the thief, would seek satisfac-
tion in sitting down and deliberately cursing him.
37. Curse. — " The Philistine cursed David by his
gods," 1 Sam. xvii. 43. The Samoans, both before
and during the battle, implored the gods to curse
the enemy. In one of their late wars, one party
carried their old priest with them, shoulder high,
over the mountains to the seat of hostilities, hke
another Balaam, to curse the enemy. This reminds
us, also, of the way in which the Israelites of old
carried the ark with them when they went to fight
with the Philistines. It is painfully common also
for parents to curse their children with imprecations
such as, " Death to you ! May the gods eat you !
May your abdomen swell ! May you go to the hades
of the common people ! May you sink into the sea,
and the sun crush you down ! " They thought the sun
sank in the sea when it went down. " May you have
my bad eyes when I die ! May my putrefaction run
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 319
down upon jou !" the meaning of wliicli is, may the
child die first, and afterwards the parent, and be laid
on the top of it. These and a host of other revolting-
imprecations were, and, alas ! still are, too common.
38. Gut. — " Their clothes rent, and having cut
themselves," Jer. xli. 5. Cuttings in the flesh,
especially on the face and scalp, were common in
Samoa, on occasions of waiKng over the dead (see p.
227). Among some curiosities from Manahiki, I
have seen things which they call "beaters," resem-
bhng a small di^um- stick, and having a shark's tooth
inserted, and projecting, for the very purpose of beat-
ing the forehead, and causing the blood to flow, on
occasions of grief.
39. Gut. — " Cut off" their garments in the middle,"
2 Sam. X. 4. To cut anything belonging to a Samoan
is one of the greatest insults that can be offered to
him. If he sees the marks of a knife or a hatchet on
his canoe, or bread-fruit tree, or even on a few taro
plants, he considers that it is like cutting himself,
and rages like a bear to find out who has done it.
A whole settlement will rise and carry war into
another place, to avenge the insult occasioned by
malicious cuttings. If it is a blunt injury, from a
stick, or stone, they do not mind it so much, but,
to them, there is a terrible meaning in the marks of
any sharp instrument.
40. " Gut off thine hair, . . . and take up a
lamentation," Jer. vii. 29. Cutting off* the hair
is a sign of mourning at Tanna and other parts of
the Pacific.
320 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
41. Damsel. — " To every man a damsel or two,"
Judges V. 30. So in Samoa, in dividing tlie spoil of
a conquered people, tlie women were not killed, but
taken as wives.
42. Dancing. — David leaped and danced before
the ark, when it was being conveyed from the house
of Obededom to the city of David, 2 Sam. vi. 16.
So does a Samoan chief sometimes head a joyous
procession, and express his delight by leaping,
dancing, joking, and all sorts of antics. In going
to the first station where I laboiu-ed in Samoa, I was
accompanied by a party of the people. All on a
sudden, soon after we started, the chief of the party
came flying in before me, gave two turns on his
heel, darted forward two or three hundred yards,
and there he leaped, and danced, and capered about,
like one demented, until I came up, and off he went
a-head again, to go through the same ceremony.
He got tired of it, however, and all the sooner as
he saw that I did not much enjoy his pranks. On
another occasion, I saw a party of natives removing
a great house, which they carried bodily on their
shoulders. They went singing along, with their
chief leaping and dancing a little a-head of them.
He had two or three black streaks on his face, his
body oiled, and decked off with a garland and neck-
lace of sweet-smelling flowers. In things such as
these I have often been reminded of David dancinof
before the ark.
43. Dancing. — " He saw the calf, and the dan-
cing," Exod. xxxii. 19. In Samoa the annual assem-
TLLUSTEATIONS OF SCRIPTmiE. 321
blies for the Trorsliip of the gods were generally
accompanied by dancing and other festivities.
44. Daughter. — Griven in marriage at the will of
the father, Josh. xv. 16. It was common also in
Samoa for the daughter to l^e at the absolute dis-
posal of her father, or elder brother. She dreaded
the curses of her father, if she refused to consent to
his wishes.
45. Dead. — " ISTor o-iven ouo-ht thereof for the
dead," Deut. xxvi. 14. Referring, probably, to ido-
latrous offerings of meat and drink to the dead.
Such passages are easily understood by our Poly-
nesian converts, as they were themselves in the
habit of presenting meat and drink offerings to the
deified spirits of their ancestors.
46. Dead dog. — The language, in some cases, of
humility ; in others, of abuse and scorn, 2 Sam. ix.
8 ; xvi. 9. The Samoans speak precisely in the
same way ; only they mention the 2^^9 oftener than
the dog, in the humbling or abusive comparison,
and instead of dead, prefer the more coarse and un-
sightly adjective of stinJdng.
47. Deluge.— {^ee p. 249).
48. Depart. — " Depart from me ; for I am a
sinful man, Lord," Luke v. 8. I recollect a
sick man I went to visit using these words to
me, as the language of humility. I thought it
strange at first, until it was explained what he
meant.
49. Departure. — " The time of my departure is
at hand," 2 Tim. iv. 6. The Samoans use a word
T
322 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
similar to departure, to express deatli. They also
take up the figure of the ship, and say of a chief who
has died, "He has sailed."
60. "Disfigure their faces," Matt. vi. 16; 1
Kings XX. 38. In mourning for the dead at Tanna,
they blacken the face with oil and charcoal. In
Samoa they disfigure themselves with cuttings and
blood.
51. Divers colours. — " She had a garment of
divers colours," 2 Sam. xiii. 18. The native cloth
in Samoa, particularly that which is worn by young
women of rank, is coloured after a fashion in spots,
stripes, circles, triangles, and other figures, laid on
with the thumh or some other rude substitute for a
brush. Red, black, brown, white, and yellow are
the prevailing colours.
52. Dowery. — David objected to the proposal of
being Saul's son-in-law, on the ground of poverty,
1 Sam. x^dii. 23. A Samoan would raise the same
objection in the case of inequality in rank, owing to
the difficulty he might have in getting up a dowery
equal to that of the woman. The husband has to
provide a dowery, as well as the wife, and the dowery
of each must be pretty nearly of equal value (see
p. 186).
53. Doivn to the sea, Ps. cvii. 23. In speaking
of the sea, the Samoans use the same strictly correct
expression of going down to it.
54. Dragons, Ps. Lxxiv. 13. Referring, probably,
to the Egyptian troops. Particular lands in Samoa,
and especially their troops in war, are designated by
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SORIPTUEE. 323
names of animals. One is called the dog, another
the Tongan hog, and so on.
55. Dunghill. — " Let his house be made a dung-
hill," Ezra vi. 11. The Samoan word expressive of
the laying waste, and desolation, occasioned by war,
is faafafuna, which means also a dunghill.
56. Dust. — " Threw dust into the air," Acts xxii.
23. I once saw a woman in a terrible rage, sitting
cross-legged in front of a house, yelling at the top of
her voice, clawing the ground on either side, and
sending the small stones and dust flying into the air
behind her.
57. Dud. — " The Lord Grod formed man of the
dust of the ground," Gren. ii. 7. The people at
Fakaafo, of the Tokelau group, say that the first
rvoman Avas made of the loose earth or dust of the
ground. The story runs thus : The first man, who
had previously been a stone, thought one day he
would make a woman. He collected the light earth
on the surface of the ground, in the form of a human
body, with head, arms, and legs. He then plucked
out one of his left ribs, and thrust it into the breast
of his earth model. Instantly the earth became
alive, and up starts a woman. He called her Ivi
(according to English orthography it would be
Eevee), which is their word for rib. How like to
our Eve !
58. Dwell. — " I dwell among mine own people,"
said the Shunamite, expressive of the comfortable
independence of her circumstances. As long as a
Samoan is with his own people, by the father or the
324 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
mother's side, lie lias no feeling of poverty, or
dependence ; but, if living away in another district,
or among another people, he feels poor and a
stranger.
59. J^ars. — " They shall take away thy nose and
thine ears," Ezek. xxiii. 25 (see pp. 286, 336). It is
common in marking the p^V/s, so as to distinguish
those of one family from another, to cut off a bit of
the ear. If the life of a captive taken in war was
spared, some such mark of indignity would probably
be put upon him, as cutting off a piece of his ear,
which would brand him for life, not as a man,
but as a j^^'O) belonging to the chief who saved him.
60. Earth. — In the mythological cosmogony of
various parts of the Pacific there are accounts of
parties who put in order the rough mass of mate-
rials, separating the land from the water, giving the
former variety in hill and dale, causing the trees to
grow, etc., which compare with the first chapter of
Genesis. At Savage Island, for example, tradition
says their island was raised from the surface of the
deep, and put in order by two men, who swam from
Tonga. The sandy beach and more inviting part of
one side of the island is traced to the greater in-
dustry and superior skill of the man who undertook
to put that side in order ; whereas the rugged,
iron-bound coast on the other side is all laid down
to the sluggish carelessness of the other man, to
whom, in the division of labour, that side was
committed.
61. " Eat in the morning," Eccl. x. 16. It is
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 325
considered unmanly in Samoa to eat early in the
morning. It is even the language of abuse to hint
that a person does so. It is like comparing him to
a pig, which is fed the first thing in the morning.
62. Eat bread . — " Constrained him to eat bread,"
2 Kings iv. 8. In passing through a village, if
recognized, a person may be called at fom* or five
difierent houses to step in and have some food ; or,
with the passing salutation, an apology may be made
that they have not a morsel of good food ready.
63. Eateth bread. — " He that eateth bread with
me hath lifted up his heel against me," John xiii. 18.
It is easy to show to a Samoan how this made the
crime of Judas all the more aggravated. To eat
bread with one, in Samoa, is the usual sign and
mutual pledge of peace and friendship, 1 Kings
xiii. 8. In illustration also of the offerings referred
to in Deut. xiv. 26, and of eating " before the Lord,"
see Chap. XXIY. p. 241.
64. Embalming. — " The physicians embalmed
Israel," Gen. 1. 2. Embalming has been practised
in one family of chiefs in Samoa (see p. 231).
65. '* Every man a beam," 2 Kings vi. 1, 2.
This is exactly as house-building is done in Samoa;
all the members of the family help ; every man,
according to previous arrangement, goes after his
stick or beam, for posts or rafters.
66. Eyes. — " Thrust out all your right eyes, and
lay it for a reproach upon all Israel," 1 Sam. xi. 2 ;
Judges xvi. 21. This was of old a punishment for
adultery and other crimes in Samoa. It was also
326 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
done as a mark of indignity after killing a person.
To be called tlie son, or remote descendant even, of
one " wliose eyes were scooped out," is one of tlie
severest terms of reproach.
67. Fasting. — "So do God tome ... if I taste
bread ... till the sun be down," 2 Sam. iii. 35.
In Samoan fastings, on occasion of mourning, the
parties did not eat anything until after sundown
(see p. 228).
68. Feast. — " Samson made there a feast ; for so
used the young men to do," Judges xiv. 10. Mar-
riage feasts in Samoa are provided by the bride-
groom and his friends. It is the province of the
bride and her friends to provide a dowery of fine
mats and native cloth.
69. '■^ Fell every good tree, and stop all wells of
water," 2 Kings iii. 19. These are just the works
of destruction common in Samoan warfare.
70. Fire. — " The fire shall ever be burning upon
the altar; it shall never go out," Lev. vi. 13. It was
one of the distinguishing marks of the chieftainship
of one of the Samoan nobility, that his fire never
went out. His attendants had a particular name
from their special business of keeping his fire blazing
all night long, while he was asleep.
71. Fire-sign. — " Set up a sign of fire in Beth-
haccerem," Jer. vi. 1. Fire-signs are used as a
telegrapli in some parts of the South Seas. A native
at Tanna, in giving me the news one morning, said,
" There will be a party over from the island of
Aneiteum to day or to-morrow." "How do you
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCEIFTUEE. ^ 327
know ?" " Because we saw a great bonfire rising
there last night."
The natives of heathen islands are also in the
habit of kindling fires, as a sinohe signal, to attract
the notice of a vessel which may be ofi" their shore.
Sometimes, when we are wondering whether there
are any natives among the dense bush which we see
ffom the ship, up goes a column of smoke, and
removes all doubt.
72. First-fruits.—" The first of the first-fruits of
thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord
thy Grod," Exod. xxiii. 19. The first-fruits are pre-
sented to the gods at Tanna (see p. 88), and also in
other parts of the Pacific. It was more common
in Samoa to honour the village chief with them.
Curses and calamities of various kinds were sup-
posed to be the consequence to the family of any one
who failed in observing the custom.
73. Fish spears, Job xli. 7. Quite common in
the Pacific ; two, three, and many-pronged, barbed
and unbarbed, and chiefly made of wood.
74. Flame. — " The angel of the Lord ascended
in the flame of the altar," Judges xiii. 20. This re-
minds us of the story of Tafahu, to which we have
already referred, as having gone up to the moon in a
column of smoke from a great fire which he kindled
(see p. 247).
75. Flesh.—'' Flesh with the hfe thereof . . .
shall ye not eat," Gen. ix. 4. The Samoans like
their meat underdone, and often eat their fish raw
and quivering with life. I was once roused at mid-
328 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
night by a poor fellow with a fish in his throat, which
he could neither get down nor up. He had been out
fishing, and was quietly jDutting a little one into his
mouth, as if it had been a bit of bread. It leaped
beyond the reach of his teeth, and stuck fast. I
tried the bougie, but without effect. I then sent him
outside to take ten grains of "blue-stone." He had
the fish before him in a minute or two, and was all
right again.
76. Foot. — " Keep thy foot when thou goest to
the house of God," Eccl. v. 1. It is considered rude
and disrespectful in Samoa to stretch out the foot in
any formal assembly. All sit cross-legged.
77. Friends. — Job's friends visited him in his
affliction " to mourn with him, and to comfort him,"
Job ii. 11. Visits on such occasions are very com-
mon in Samoa, and the visiting party seem as if they
could not go to the sick without taking a present.
78. Gate. — " This gate shall be shut, it shall not
be opened, and no man shall enter in by it ; because
the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it,"
Ezek. xliii. 4 ; xliv. 2. So of old, in some parts of
the Pacific, the door through which the king or queen
passed in opening a temple was shut up, and ever
after made sacred.
79. Genealogies. — " Endless genealogies," 1 Tim.
i. 4. The Jemsh anxiety to preserve their genealo-
gies could hardly have been greater than that of the
Samoans. Calling in question a young man's pedi-
gree, or speaking ill of his progenitors, is a fi^uitful
source of quarrels. He wiU send far and near, and
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 329
collect old people to prove the rank of his origin, and
scold his calumniators.
80. Gift. — " A man's gift maketh room for him,"
Prov. xviii. 16. An inferior never approaches a
superior, particularly to ask a favour, without a gift.
Friends, also, rarelj pay a visit without taking a
present. The favoured party generally makes some
retm^n compensation.
81. Grave. — Articles placed in the grave with the
dead. (See p. 230, and compare it with Ezek.xxxii.27.)
82. Green ivitlis that were never dried," Judges
xvi. 7. Tough tendrils from the bush, and long
strips of bark without any twisting, are used in
Samoa for scaffolding and other temporary fasten-
ings, and occasionally for tying up a culprit. While
they are green, and for a week or two afterwards,
they are strong for any purpose, but they soon be-
come dry and useless.
83. Groves. — " Break their images, and cut down
their groves," Exod. xxxiv. 13. As of old in Ca-
naan, sacred groves for heathen worship, with and
without temples, were quite common in the islands
of the Pacific.
84. Hair. — Absalom's long hair, as referred to in
2 Sam. xiv. 26, was probably the same as may be
seen among some gay young men of Samoa (see
p. 205). A tuft of human hair dyed light brown is
added to the top of their fancy head-dresses, or hel-
mets, on gala days, and when reviewing the troops
the day before battle. At Savage Island the young
men let their hair grow long for utiHty more than
330 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
ornament. They let it grow until it was twelve or
eighteen inches long, and then cut it to make hair
cord for fancy belts, and also for decorating their
clubs and spears.
85. Tlie ltd ads and feet of a culprit are bound,
and in that state he is carried to parties seeking
revenge on account of a crime which he has com-
mitted, that they may kill him, or do what they
please with him. This is done in Samoa. Com-
pare it with David's lament over the death of
Abner, 2 Sam. iii. 34.
86. Handmaid, Gen. xxix. 24, 29. The wife of
a chief was attended by a younger sister or other
female relative, who occupied the place of a secondary
wife or concubine.
87. " Hanged himself.'^- — So did the mortified
Ahithoi^hel, 2 Sam. xvii. 23 ; and so did Judas.
The same custom is practised in the New Caledonia
group. At Savage Island the suicide jumps over the
rocks into the sea, and at Samoa he climbs a sixty-
feet cocoa-nut tree, and throws himself down.
88. Heads. — " Lay ye them in two heaps at the
entering in of the gate," 2 Kings x. 8. The heads
of the enemy slain in battle in Samoa were taken
and laid in heaps before the chiefs, in the place of
public assembly of the settlement or fort, wherever
they might be collected (see p. 302).
89. Heads. — " Reconcile himself unto his master
. . . with the heads of these men," 1 Sam. xxix. 4.
While at Tanna, it was reported to us by our people,
after one of their battles, that an old ally, who had
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUKE. 331
been fighting against tliem, had that day turned upon
the enemy on whose side he was fighting, killed one
of them, and then rushed to the side of our people.
While war was going on in Samoa, also, I recollect
hearing a young man, in a fit of passion, saying to
one of his ovm party, that he was just watching his
chance to take his head to the camp of the enemy.
90. Hev. — •" Hew ye down trees, and cast a
mount against Jerusalem," Jer. vi. 6. So do the
besieged and besiegers in Samoa. Contrary to
Deut. XX. 19, they make sad havoc among the fruit-
trees in a time of war. When they are tired cutting-
down the bread-fruit trees in a settlement which has
fallen into their hands, they go about and notch the
rest, destroying the bark in a circle all round the
tree, which of course kills it.
91. Hosanna. — " The multitudes that went be-
fore, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna," etc..
Matt. xxi. 9. This is exactly as a party of Samoans
on a journey, accompanying an important chief,
would strike up some chant as they approached a
settlement, and proceed singing over and over again
the same words, as they went along.
92. ifo67j/^a7%.—" Given to hospitality," 1 Tim.
iii. 2 ; Glen, xviii. 1 — 8, and several other places,
are all illustrated in the usual Samoan rites of
hospitality (see p. 198). Animal food is seldom
used by the people, except in entertainments for
strangers.
93. Kings and principal chiefs in Samoa, as of
old (Gen. xiv.), had the sole control in war. They
332 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
raised them, carried tliem on, aud stopped them at
tlieir pleasure.
94. " The hhufs wrath is as the roaring of a
Hon," Prov. xix. 12. So it is in Samoa. It was,
and still is, to some extent, above all law, and the
common people are afraid to whisper a word in
opposition.
95. Kneeled. — " There came one running, and
kneeled to him," Mark x. 17. It is rude to stand
before a chief in Samoa. In delivering a message,
or in receiving orders, the party either sits or bends
the body, leaning the palm of the hand on the knee.
In passing through a room where a chief is sitting,
it is disrespectful to walk erect ; the person must
pass along with his body bent downwards.
96. Lamp. — Spoken of David's son and succes-
sor, 1 Kings XV. 4. In Samoa the son and successor
of a chief is called his torch.
97. Lapped. — " Lapped, putting their hand to
their mouth," Judges vii. 6. A thirsty Samoan, in
coming to a stream of water, stoops down, rests the
palm of his left hand on his knee, and, with the right
hand, throws the water up so quickly as to form a
continued jet from the stream to his mouth, and there
he Japs until he is satisfied.
98. ^' Lay aside every weighty^^ etc., Heb. xii. 1.
So did a Samoan combatant in public games lay aside
every clothing or other incumbrance.
99. Legs. — " Ornaments of the legs," Isa. iii. 20.
It is very common throughout the Pacific for gay
young men to wear a string of fancy shells, or other
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 333
ornaments, nnder the knee, wliicli, if they wore
stockings, might be called fancy garters.
100. Linen. — "A linen cloth cast abont his naked
body," Mark xiv. 51, 52. This is all natural to a
Samoan. He sleeps at night covered over with a
sino'le sheet of calico or native cloth, and were he to
get up and go out to see what any strange noise
he heard might mean, he would appear outside with
the sheet gathered up, and " cast about his naked
body."
101. Liver. — "My liver is poured out,"Lam.ii. 11.
A Samoan, in speaking of one who is weak-hearted
or cowardly, says, "He has no hver," which is just
our colloquial lAiicl- ; and compares also with the
Scripture reference to the liver.
102. Mal^e hioicn. — " If ye will not make known
unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof,
ye shall be cut in pieces," etc., Dan. ii. 5. There is
a story told in Samoa of a tyrannical chief of old,
who tied up the village priests, and condemned them
to sit day after day in the sun tiU they died, because
they could not tell him who stole his bread-fi^uits and
bananas. They were saved, as the story goes, by a
clever Daniel from the sacred craft of another dis-
trict, who satisfied the chief that his bread-fruits had
been stolen by the hats.
103. "Mammon^" Luke xvi. 13. Supposed by
some to have been the name of a heathen god, wor-
shipped at the outset of any trading expedition, that
it might prove successful. Among some of the
heathen tribes in the South Sea Islands at the pre-
334 NINETEEN YEAT?S IN POLYNESIA.
sent day, we find that they have their Mammon, or
god of riches. AYhen they see a vessel, for instance,
off their shore, before lannching their canoes to go
out on a trading expedition, they consult the high-
priest of the god, and implore that the proposed pro-
ject may be prosperous, that they may be preserved
from treachery and cruelty, and that they may return
laden with cloth, knives, fish-hooks, and hatchets.
104. Manslayer, cities of refuge for, see Num.
XXXV. 6 ; p. 285. In Samoa the manslayer, or the
deliberate murderer, flees to the house of the chief of
the village, or to the house of the chief of another
village to which he is related by the father or the
mother's side. In nine cases out of ten he is per-
fectly safe if he only remain there. In such instances
the chief delights in the opportunity of showing his
importance (see p. 281). In Samoa a chief's house
is literally his fortification, except in times of open
rebellion and actual war.
105. Messages. — " A wench went and told them,"
2 Sam. xvii. 17. During war in Samoa, reported
movements and messages of all kinds are conveyed
from place to place by vomen. They are allowed to
go freely from camp to camp, on real or pretended
errands to their friends.
106. Messes. — " He took and sent messes unto
them from before him : but Benjamin's mess was five
times so much as any of theirs," Gen. xliii. 34. In
serving up a meal in Samoa it is all laid out on sepa-
rate trays or messes, and taken by the male or female
attendants and laid down, a tray to every two or
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 335
three. It is a mark of respect for one who lias
sometliing good on liis tray to send it to another.
At pubhc meetings, also, chiefs send to their friends
and favourites portions of choice food, which have
been first set before themselves (see p. 289).
107. " Mice that mar the land," 1 Sam. vi. 5.
The Philistines supposed them to have been a judg-
ment from the Grod of Israel for having taken away
the ark. This was one of the judgments for which
a Samoan prayed as the punishment of thieving, viz.,
mice, or small rats, to overrun the house of the thief,
and eat his cinnet, fine mats, and cloth (seep. 295).
108. Mourning. — "They mourned for Aaron
thirty days," Num. xx. 29. On the death of persons
of rank, there were weeks of mourning in Samoa (see
p. 229). All public business was suspended, the
highway through the village was made sacred, nor
were any persons on business allowed to pass in
their canoes in the lagoon off the settlement. After
the ceremonies connected with receiving condoling
visits from friends, near and remote, were over, then
the roads were open again and " the days of mourn-
ing were ended."
109. " NaJied . . . and were not ashamed," Gen.
ii. 25. This is just as we have found the natives in
some parts of Polynesia. Nay, covering the body
was a reproach, as it was supposed to indicate some
defect or ailment, which the party wished to
conceal.
110. Names are all single in Samoa, such as
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on. Scripture names
336 NTXETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
are extensively adopted. One is Adam, another
Abel, Noali, etc. They often change their names,
too, from fancy or convenience. A man hears a
sermon, about Barzillai, for instance, and determines
to be called henceforth Barzillai. Another goes to
Hve in a family where there is a person of his own
name, Peter, it may be ; to save confusion, he drops
the Peter and takes the name of Paul.
111. Necks. — "Put your feet upon the necks of
these kings," Josh. x. 24. There is a chief of high
rank mentioned in Samoan tradition, as having
ordered all his people, after a victory, to put their
feet on the nechs of the conquered.
112. Necromancer, Deut. xviii. 11. Certain par-
ties professed to have intercourse with the spirits of
the departed ; and the diseased and the dying some-
times prayed at the grave of a departed father, that
he might send life and health.
113. Night. — " He divided himself against them
. . . by night, and smote them," Gen. xiv. 15. Night
attacks, and other modes of surprise, were common
in Samoan warfare (see p. 303). Their wars were
more affrays among an unorganized rabble than a
regular fight.
114. Nose. — " They shall take away thy nose and
thine ears," Ezek. xxiii. 25. These would of old have
been the very words of the threat for the punishment
of adultery. They hit, or cut off", the nose, and lobe
of the ear sometimes, in such cases. At the present
day, the jealous, or the injured, occasionally keep up
the remembrance of the old custom. I was called
ILLUSTEATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE.
337
into a house one day to doctor the nose of a young
dame who had just suffered from the incisors of
another woman. I recollect also a case related by a
neighbouring missionary, which occurred in his dis-
trict. The husband and wife made up their minds
to end their jealousies by a separation. When all
was ready, the woman said to the man, " Well, now,
let us just salute noses and part in peace." The
simpleton yielded, but instead of the friendly toucli
and smell, the vixen fastened on to the poor fellow's
gnomon, and disfigured him for life.
115. Nose jewels, Isa. iii. 21. In some parts of
the New Hebrides, the natives pierce the septum,
and insert a small piece of reed horizontally, but not
so as to project much, if at all, beyond the flattened
nostril.
116. Offerings, Num. vii. In Samoa, offerings
of food on any public occasion are carefully counted
by the receivers, and then proclaimed to the assem-
bled multitude by a crier, who
names the number of articles, and
the party who has brought them,
and then proceeds to divide them in
portions that all may have a share.
117. ''Organ,'' Gen. iv. 21.
Supposed to have been a mouth-
organ, or what is commonly known
as the Pandean pipe. This ancient
instrument with seven or eig-ht reed
pipes, varying in length, is used at
Tanna, and other parts of the New Hebrides.
338
NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNTISIA.
118. Phylacteries. — Some of the heathen priests
in the New Caledonia group, when they pray to the
gods, tie on to their foreheads, or to the arm, above
the elbow, a small bag, containing hair and finger-
nail relics of their forefathers, reminding ns of the
Jewish phylacteries. Such things are also worn by
the people as a charm in going to battle. One of
these little bags, No. 2, contains two finger-nails
an inch long, some smaller pieces, a leaf, a feather,
a bit of colom^ed cotton rag, and a tuft of hair.
119. Pillar. — " Him that overcometh will I make
a pillar in the temple of my God," Rev. iii. 12. The
temple of the great god of the Samoan hades was
supposed to be supported by pillars of living men —
men who on earth had been chiefs of the highest
rank.
120. PiUoivs.—" He took of the stones of that
place, and put them for his pillows," Gen. xxviii. 11.
This is just as a travelling party would do in the
bush in Samoa. A piece of thick bamboo, or a piece
ILLUSTEATIONS OE SCPJPTURE. 339
of hard polished wood, is tlie usual pillow of the
healthy in the South Seas (see p. 259).
121. Plagued. — "The Lord plagued Pharaoh . . .
because of Sarai, Abram's wife," Gen. xii. 17. In
Samoa the diseases, of great men particularly, were
supposed to be occasioned by some special cause ;
hence the anxiety and running about among the
priests to find out what it was.
122. PIucl-. — " The standing corn of thy neigh-
boiu" . . . thou mayest pluck," Deut. xxiii. 25.
Travelling parties are allowed to pluck cocoa-nuts
anywhere as they go along the inland roads, or other
uninhabited places. Parties also who are felling a
tree, or doing any other work, are at liberty to help
themselves to a fresh cocoa-nut from any tree in
the neighbourhood.
123. Portions. — " Days of feasting and joy, and
of sending portions one to another," Esth. ix. 22.
On festive occasions, it is very common in Samoa to
send portions of food from one to another (see p. 289).
124. "Pour out di'ink-offerings," Jer. vii. 18.
So did the Samoans to the gods (see p. 239).
125. Presents. — "Bread and summer-fruit for
the young men to eat," 2 Sam. xvi. 2. The
Samoans, in bringing even a large present of food,
will not only make an apology that they have so
little to ofi'er, but politely add, that it is merely
something /or our servants.
126. Raiment. — Presents of, 2 Chron. ix. 24.
Garments and cloth of all kinds are common as pre-
sents in Samoa.
340 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
127. Rent. — "Jacob rent his clotlies," Gen.
xxxvii. 34. Rending tlie clotlies is a common ex-
pression of aiujer in Samoa. A man, or a woman,
in a passion will not only pull off the npper
garment and tear it in shreds, but go up and do"\vn
the house like a demon, smashing the water-bottles,
tearing the native cloth, cutting up the canoe, and
then perhaps end the scene by sitting down and
having a fit of crying over the folly, wreck, and ruin
of the whole affair.
128. Ees2)ect. — The use of the plural in the
Hebrew Scriptures in the names of the Deity, has
something analogous in Samoa in the use of the dual
in addressing chiefs. In respectfully saluting one
who has arrived from a distance, for example, they
say, " Have you tivo come ? " or if going, they will
say, "Are you two going?" The first time I had
this applied to me I was riding, and thought it
must mean me and my liorse^ and did not feel at all
complimented by the classification. I soon found
out, hovv'ever, that it was the regular dual of respect,
and may be compared with the "plural of excel-
lence," of the Hebrews, to which I have referred.
129. Itib. — "And he took one of his ribs," etc..
Gen. ii. 21. (See note on Dust.)
130. Biddies. — "I will now put forth a riddle
imto you," Judges xiv. 12. This is a common
amusement in Samoa (see p. 215), and their non-
solution is followed by a forfeit.
131. Riseth. — "She riseth also while it is yet
night," Prov. xxxi. 15. Early rising is the rule in
ILLrSTEATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 341
Samoa. By the first streak of liglit, the people are
up and about, improving the cool of the morning.
132. Boasted. — "Whom the king of Babylon
roasted in the fire," Jer. xxix. 22. To speak of
roasting a Samoan is the worst language that can
be spoken to him. Many of the^Anna captives in
the war of 1830 were thrown into a great fire kin-
dled for the purpose (see p. 301).
133. Bod.—'' One rod shall be for the head of
the house of their fathers," Num. xvii. 3. A rod or
staff" six feet long, such as is seen on the Egyptian
monumente, is one of the common badges of office
for the heads of families in Samoa, who are entitled
to speak in a public parliament. Every one who
stands up to speak, leans forward on his staff (see
p. 288). Frequently, in referring to his speech, he
calls it "this staff," and when about to end his
address, -mil say, " I am now about to lay down this
staff"
134. Bods. — " Strong rods for the sceptres of
them that bare rule," Ezek. xix. 11. This also
answers the description of the rods noted above. A
strong, straight staff, without any ornament. In
time of war a spear may be used instead, or the
usual staff, with an old bayonet fastened to the end
of it.
135. Salute. — " Salute no man by the way,"
Luke X. 4. The usual salutation in Samoa is to say,
" My love to you," which is responded to, and then to
pass on by saying, " Sleep and life to you." That
also is responded to with a similar compliment.
342 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
and the addition of " Pass along." But in some
cases, salutations are more tedious. If the parties
are known to each other, food has to be offered,
and the party passing along has to say where he is
going, and perhaps to answer two or three questions
more. If a piece ^of work is going on, the stranger
cannot pass without staying awhile to lend a hand,
especially if he sees a chief jDresent. I was giving
directions one morning to some of our young men,
who were clearing a piece of bush near the public
road, when up came a man, a perfect stranger.
After saluting us, he was down immediattly tearing
away at the weeds with both hands. The young
men thanked him for his offer of help, said he might
pass on, and so, with a " good-bye " salutation, he
went on his journey.
136. Sat. — Keferring to David's prayer, it is
said that he went in and " sat before the Lord,"
2 Sam. vii. 18. Sitting, with the head bent forward
and downwards, is the position of reverence and
devotion in Samoa. Standing in the presence of a
superior is rudeness and disrespect. We have not
disturbed the custom, and in public devotions, in
the house of God, all sit with the head bent down-
wards.
137. See God, — " "We shall surely die, because we
have seen God," Judges xiii. 22 ; Exod. xxxiii. 20.
Those who had the title of kings in Samoa were of
old considered peculiarly sacred. They hved in a
house isolated away from the rest, and kept up
great dignity. To approach them was considered
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 343
perilous, if unattended by certain purifications, the
most common of wliicli was, to sprinkle tlie person
witli clean water. The evils dreaded were, swelling
of the body, death, etc. It was the opinion that
some deadly influence radiated from the person of
the king, and that this mysterious current was
broken by sprinlcUng. In approaching "his ma-
jesty," on any political or other errand, the party,
after sitting down, would call a servant to bring
some water ; dipping his hand into the dish, he
would then " sjiriuHe ivith clean water" his own
person, and also the mat in the space between him
and the king. This being done he Avould deliver his
message.
138. ShadoiD. — " Their defence " (or shadow)
" is departed from them," Num. xiv. 9. A chief is
called the shade or defence of his people, comparing
him to the grateful shade of an umbrageous tree,
under a vertical sun. (See also Ps. xci. 1.)
139. Shame. — " Despising the shame," Heb.
xii. 2. If any one had an ignominious end, it was
brought up, to the shame of the members of his
family, for generations afterwards. " You are the
son of the man whose eyes were put out," this and
similar reproachful expressions were sure to be
brought up, whether true or false, in quarrels, when
words run high, and are but a step from blows.
140. Sheets. — " Thirty sheets and thirty change
of garments," Judges xiv. 13. Sheets of native
cloth or calico, and garments, are common articles
of exchange and currency in Samoa.
344 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
141. Shoulder. — "The cook tookuptlie shoulder
. . . and set it before Saul," 1 Sam. ix. 24; Lev.
vii. 32, 33. Eank is indicated in Samoa by the par-
ticular fish, or joint, to which a chief is considered
to be entitled. There are fi-equent quarrels over a
disputed right to the choice joints of meat.
142. Shoutings. — ^All kinds of work in Samoa,
in which a number are united, are carried on with
chantings and shoutings, especially if there is any
rivahy as to which party will have their portion
done first. (Zech. iv. 7.)
143. Side. — The fi-iends of the sick in Samoa
took presents, and consulted the heathen priests as
to the cause, and probable issue of the sickness, just
as of old parties went to Baal-zebub, the god of
Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2.
144. Side. — " Nursed at thy side," Isa. Ix. 4.
This is illustrated in Samoa and other parts of the
Pacific at the present day, by the custom of carrying
children on the side, with the arm of the parent
round the back (see p. 177).
145. Sides of the jyit. — " Whose graves are set
in the sides of the pit," Ezek. xxxii. 23. In burial
at Tanna the grave is dug and the body laid in a
shelf hollowed out in the side of the pit (see p. 93).
146. Signs. — " Be not dismayed at the signs of
heaven ; for the heathen are dismayed at them,"
Jer. X. 2. Alluding, probably, to comets and
eclipses. In Samoa these events were had omens,
and supposed to prognosticate the death of chiefs,
war, famine, and pestilence.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE. 345
147. Sin. — "Who did sin, this man, or his
parents, that he was born bhnd?" John ix. 2. So
in Samoa, calamities are traced to sins of the
individual or his parents, or some other near
relative.
148. Singing. — " The women answered one ano-
ther as they played, and said,
" Saul hath slain his thousands,
And David his tens of thousands."
This is remarkably like Samoan songs. One divi-
sion of the party will sing the first line, and the
other replies in the second ; and thus they go on
singing as they walk along the road, or paddle the
canoe, or do the piece of work in which they are
engaged (see pp. 269, 331). They often also make
these songs the vehicle of sarcastic taimts, and in
passing the house or village of parties with whom
they are displeased, strike up a chant composed
for the occasion by some rhymer among them,
and embodying something offensive and vexatious.
Their bitter, venomous songs lead even to war.
149. Sister. — The sons of Jacob avenged the
injury done to their sister, Gen. xxxiv. In Samoa
brothers consider themselves specially bound to pro-
tect their sisters and avenge their wrongs.
150. Stay. — " We will eat nothing until we have
slain Paul," Acts xxiii. 14. In this and other Scrip-
ture references to clandestine murder, we are re-
minded of what we have heard of certain parties in
Samoa, whose known business it was to act as hired
assassins.
346 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
151. Sleep. — " She made him sleep upon her
knees," Judges xvi. 19. In Samoa it is common for
the father or mother, or brother, sitting cross-
legged, to receive and pillow the head of the sick, or
the dying, on the calf of the leg between the knees.
152. Slingers, 2 Kings iii. 25. Slings were
very common in Polynesian warfare before the intro-
duction of fire-arms, and are still seen in the New
Hebrides, where there are many who can "sling
stones at an hair-breadth, and not miss," Judges
XX. 16.
153. Smell. — " Kissed him, and he smelled the
smell of his raiment," Gen. xxvii. 27. Near rela-
tives and warmly-attached friends, when they part,
or on meeting after a long separation, salute each
other by the juxtaposition of noses, accompanied,
not by a ruh but a hearty smell. They shake and smell
the hands also, especially of a superior. A warm-
hearted old man one day was not satisfied with a
shake and a smell of my hand, but as soon as I sat
down on the mat beside him, he got hold of my foot,
and there he held on for awhile snuffing and smell-
ing at my shoe, notwithstanding all my entreaties
to the contrary !
154. Smooth stones. — "Among the smooth stones
of the stream is thy portion," Isa. Ivii. 6. It is
thought by some that the reference here is to com-
mon un chiseled stones used as idols. I have several
" smooth stones of the stream " from the New
Hebrides, which were used as idols, and have heard
of precisely similar stones being used in other parts
ILLUSTEATIONS OP SCRIPTURE. 347
of the Pacific. But wliat do tliey do with the
stones ? Very much hke what the Earl of Eoden
says the people of Inniskea, off the coast of Mayo,
do, or did, with their sacred sto7ie. "A stone care-
fully wi'apped up in flannel is brought out at certain
periods to be adored ; and when a storm arises, this
god is supplicated to send a wreck on their coast."
(See Kitto on the Prophets, p. 221.) Some of the
Polynesian stone gods were supposed to cause pigs
to multiply ; others were prayed to for the removal
of storms ; and others were supposed to act as rain
makers and rain stoppers. There was one of these
rain-controlling stones in a district in Samoa.
When there was too much rain, those who kept the
stone put it to the fire to dry, and cause the rain to
stop. If there was great drought, they took the
stone to the water and dipped it, thinking that by
wetting the stone, rain would be the consequence.
155. Sneezing. — For the sake of those who are
348 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
interested in the " antiquities of sneezing," I may
here notice that it was common in Samoa to say
to a person after he had sneezed, " Life to you !"
156. Son. — " Give, I pray thee . . . unto thy
servants, and to thy son David," 1 Sam. xxv. 8. In
asking a favour, a Samoan cannot use more per-
suasive language than to call himself the S07i of the
person addressed. " If you have any comjoassion,"
he will say imploringly, "look on the eyes of your
own son.''
157. Spealcer. — " They called Barnabas, Jupiter ;
and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief
speaker," Acts xiv. 12. The peoj^le of Lystra con-
cluded that in Barnabas they had Jupiter, the great
god of their city, and that Paul was Mercurius, his
orator accompanying him. In Samoa, a chief in
travelling is attended by his principal orator ; and
if formal speeches are being made anywhere, the
chief never speaks first, that is done by his " first
cock-crower," viz., the chief orator.
158. Spear. — Saul " having his spear in his
hand," and encamped under a tree, 1 Sam. xxii. 6.
An exact picture of a Samoan chief and his party
in war. A spear rather than a staff* is then the
sceptre.
159. Spirit. — A Samoan felt terrified, and
thought that speedy death would be the conse-
quence, if he saw anything which he supposed to
be a spirit, reminding us of Gideon's fear, which
caused the Lord to say to him, " Fear not : thou
shalt not die," Judges vi. 22, 23.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 349
160. Sjnrit. — " A man with an unclean spirit,"
Mark v. 2. Insanity in Samoa was supposed to be
caused by an evil spirit.
161. S2)irit. — " Tlie Spirit of the Lord spake by
me," 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. The way in which the Samoan
priests declared that the gods spoke by them,
strikingly reminds us of the mode by which Grod
of old made known his vnll to man by the Hebrew
prophets.
162. Spirits walking through desert places,
Matt. xii. 43. In Samoa, spirits were supposed to
roam the bush, and people in going far inland to
work, would scatter food here and there as a peace-
offering to them, and utter a word or two of prayer
for protection.
163. Spot or Marie, Dent, xxxii. 5 ; Eev. xx. 4.
The Samoan men were all marked with the tatooing,
which we have already described (see p. 181). Some
had, in addition, the mark, or coat-of-arms, of the
particular district to which they belonged, a dog it
might be ; and, in the event of his being killed in
battle, his body was the more easily identified.
164. Spread. — " Spread their garments in the
way," Matt. xxi. 8. In honour of the bride at
Samoan marriages, they sometimes spread the way
with fancy native cloth (see p. 187).
165. Staff. — That obscure reference to the stafi'
of Ehsha, in 2 Kings iv. 29, has perhaps a ray or
two of light from the fact, that in Samoa the son, or
representatives of a political head, when sent on any
important message to another district, takes with
350 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
liim his father's staff and fly-flapper, to show that
his message is with the sanction and authority of
the person to whom these belong. But a more
marked illustration still, I fell in with lately in a
visit to the 'New Hebrides. Among some stone
idols, and other relics of heathenism, which I had
handed to me, was an old smooth stcff, made of
iron-wood, a little longer and thicker than an ordi-
nary walking-stick. It had been kept for ages in
the family of one of the disease-making craft, was
considered as the representative of the god, and was
taken regularly by the priest when he was sent for
to visit a case of sickness. The eyes of the poor
patient brightened up at the sight of the stick. All
that the priest did was merely to sit before the sick
man, and leaning on this sacred staff, to speechify a
little, and tell him there was no further fear, and
that he might expect soon to recover.
166. Stone. — " Slew . . . threescore and ten
persons, upon one stone," Judges ix. 5. This re-
minds us of what we have heard of the Feejeeans
dashing out the brains of their victims 07i a ])aTticii-
lar stone.
167. " Stooped with his face to the earth,"
1 Sam. xxiv. 8. (See note on Imeeled, p. 332.)
168. Stripped. — " Jonathan stripped himself of
the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David,"
1 Sam. xviii. 4. I have seen the men of a village,
after laying down food to a party of visitors, as a
further expression of friendship, strip themselves of
their newly-made leaf girdles, and hand them to the
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCEIPTUEE. 351
strangers, who in return -would pass tliem their okl
worn-out ones. A woman too, in parting with
another, will strip off her upper garment or poncho
(tiputa), and hand it to her friend, who mil probably
give her in return an older one.
169. " Succour us out of the city," 2 Sam.
xviii. 3. Commentators are not agreed as to what
it means. A Samoan in like circumstances would
persuade an aged chief, or a chief of high rank, not
to go with them to the war, but to remain in the
village and help them by Ids lyraycrs.
170. " Sun, stand thou stiU," Josh.x. 12. (See
p. 248.)
171. Sun. — "The sun shall not smite thee by
day, nor the moon by night," Ps. cxxi. 6. The
Sa moans do not like travelling in the sun. Many,
I beheve, die of "a sun-stroke;" but the principal
thing which they trace to a sunning, is an attack of
elephantiasis. Europeans, who are subject to the
complaint, say that an attack is equally brought
on by exposure to the sun and the night-air. The
Samoans have no idea of any evil effects from moon-
light, but they are careful to cover their faces when
they sleep out of doors.
172. Touched. — " Jesus put forth his hand, and
touched him," Matt. viii. 3. It was thought of old,
m Samoa, that there was great virtue in the touch,
or even in a few passes of the hand, of a native
doctor or heathen priest (see p. 107).
173. Trumfets. — The trumpeters stood by the
king, 2 Kings xi. 14. Shell trumpets are among
352 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
the insignia of royalty in Samoa also. The canoe
or boat of an important chief has one or two which
are blown every now and then as it passes the
villages ; so that the chief goes along from place to
place with " the sound of a trumpet" (see p. 269).
174. TJncircumcised. — "Who is this uncircum-
cised Phihstine ?" etc., 1 Sam. xvii. 26. This is the
very language of reproach and scorn common to a
Samoan at the present day, when he quarrels with
a European ; only, instead of Philistine, he says
wliite felloiD.
175. Visited. — " Samson visited his wife with a
kid," Judges xv. 1. A young man after a quarrel
with, and separation from, his wife, cannot go back
to make up matters with her and her friends, with-
out a present of a pig, or some foreign property, or
probably both. If the present is received, it is a
token for good ; if not, he is rejected.
176. " Voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars,"
Ps. xxix. 5. Referring, no doubt, to a thunder storm.
When trees are split in Samoa by the electric fluid,
it is the popular belief that it is done by the thnnder,
and they speak of the thunder as doing so-and-so
(see p. 296).
177. Voics. "Jacob vowed avow," Gen. xxviii.
20 ; Lev. xxvii. 2 ; Judges xi. 30. Vows are very
common in Samoa. Horses, canoes, land, etc., were
promised to the gods or their high-priests, on con-
dition of recovery from sickness, etc. The same
sort of thing is carried on still to a great extent.
If a child is sick, his ungodly father may vow
TLLITSTRATIONS OF SCEIPTURE. 353
amendment and attention to the Word of God on
condition that the son recovers. In some cases the
conditional amendment ends in real conversion, but
in most instances, perhaps, the party soon returns
like " the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in
the mire."
178. Walh iiali-ed, Rev. xvi. 15. It was of old
a punishment in Samoa to tie the hands of the
culprit behind his back, and march him to his
shame through the settlement in a state of nudity.
170. War, 2 Chron. xiii. 4, etc. War parties
sometimes harangued each other before battle (see
p. 303).
180. Water.—" Living waters," Jer. ii. 13. The
Samoans speak of a brook being dead when it ceases
to flow.
181. Water. — " Poured water on the hands of
Elijah," 2 Kings iii. 11. A bowl of water is gene-
rally brought in to wash the hands after a meal, but
often the attendant pours water on the hands from
the cocoa-nut shell water-bottles.
182. " Water of life;' Rev. xxii. 17. Some of
the South Sea Islanders have a tradition of a river
in their imaginary world of spirits, called the
" water of hfe." It was supposed that if the aged,
when they died, went and bathed there, they becrane
young, and returned to earth to Hve another life
over again.
183. Wife. — It is a great insult to the friends
of a deceased chief for a person to take to wife one
who has lived with that chief as a wife or concubine.
354 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
He runs the risk of being killed for it. This com-
pares with 2 Sam. iii. 7, and other passages.
184. Wife.— "The wife of the dead shall not
marry without imto a stranger," Deut. xxv. 5.
This was also ancient Samoan law, she was taken
to wife by the brother of her deceased husband.
185. " Wool and flax." — " She seeketh wool and
flax, and worketh wilhngly with her hands," Prov.
xxxi. 13. It is the business of the Samoan woman
to raise and prepare the raw material, and work it
into native cloth (see p. 203). She has also to plait
the mats, to keep the house tidy, and to see that the
lawn in front and by the sides of the house is clean
and free from weeds. The Samoan women are
industrious, and the higher the rank, the more
skilled they are in the manufacture of the finer and
fancy kind of native cloth and mats. Even the aged
and blind are active. If they are not busy with
something in-doors, they are out by the sides of the
house feeling about for the weeds.
186. Worm. — " Man, that is a worm ; and the
son of man, which is a worm," Job xxv. 6. The
Samoans trace the origin of man to icorms (see p.
245). Unlike our origin, but how like our earthly
end !
187. " Woiiyid him up, and carried him out, and
buried him," Acts v. 6. Dead bodies in Samoa are
usually prepared for the grave by winding them up
in some folds of native cloth without any coffin. At
Eromanga the natives make a few plaited cocoa-nut
leaves suffice.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTUEE. 355
188. " Young maidens going out to draw water,"
1 Sam. ix. 11. This may be seen every day in
Samoa, especially towards evening. It is the pro-
vince of the women to see that the water-bottles
are kept clean and filled.
189. Young men. — " Let the young men now
arise and play before us," 2 Sam. ii. 14. Let the
young men meet at the boundary, and have a
wrestling match, is a polite way of Samoan chiefs
speaking to each other when threatening war or
giving a challenge.
I find among my notes a number of other refer-
ences, but they require farther investigation before
giving them with confidence. The subject is far
from being exhausted. A missionary is always
making some new discovery in the language and
customs of the people among whom he labours, and
hardly a week passed, before I left the islands, with-
out finding something worthy of notice, illustrative
of sacred history, and tracing the origin of the
people to the ancient lands of the Bible. If spared
to return to the South Seas, I hope to add still
further to this contribution of Polynesian illustra-
tions, which I have no doubt wiU be valued by aU
who are interested in Biblical and ethnological
studies.
356 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
CHAPTER XXXII.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845.
When the gospel has been received by a heathen
people, the missionary finds that he has two things
to do, viz., consolidation and extension. These two
things have been kept steadily in view by the mis-
sion with which I have been connected, and it has
been my happiness to share with my esteemed bre-
thren in the plodding labours of the one, and in the
perils of the other. Some of the preceding chapters
have shown what part I have taken in the consoli-
dation of the cause of God in Samoa, and now I
proceed to give some account of my missionary
voyages for the introduction of the gospel into the
regions beyond.
After the brig " Camden," by which much good
service was done in visiting old stations, and in ex-
ploring new ground, we were favoured with that
princely offering of the children of England to the
cause of missions, the barque " John Williams."
She reached Samoa early in 1845, and on the 2nd of
April Mr. Murray and I went on board, and pro-
ceeded in her on her first voyage to the heathen
islands of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia
groups. On our retiu-n I wrote an account of the
voyage, which appeared in our " Samoan Reporter,"
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 857
of wliich tlie following is the substance, and given as
I noted the various incidents m my journal at the
time : —
At Sea, 071 Board the ''John Williams,'' bthAjyril,
1845. — After a valedictory service, at which we were
addi'essed by our brethren Heath and Mills, we left
Apia on the second, having on board fifteen Samoan
and Rarotongan teachers, ten of whom are accom-
panied by their wives. Mrs. Murray and Mrs.
Turner have also come with us for the benefit of their
health. Called at Mr. Pratt's station in Savaii, on
the 3rd. All well, and the people so kind as to
supply us with three boat-loads of pigs, yams, and
cocoa-nuts, and also a large quantity of native cloth,
to help in supplies for teachers, and presents to
native chiefs among the heathen islands.
Off Eotumah, Monday Evening, 7th Ajri-ll. — Have
had a fine run. AU well. On Saturday evening
had a prayer meeting, and yesterday had our religious
services, morning, afternoon, and night. It is de-
lightful to be in such a vessel. Captain, mate, car-
penter, and two seamen pious, and all the rest in
regular attendance at family worship morning and
evening. It is a heaven upon the sea compared
with many a ship. We are near Eotumah, and have
"laid- to" for the night.
ROTUMAH.
At Sea, Wednesday, 9t]i. — Anchored yesterday
morning at Rotumah, on the north-east side of the
358 KIKETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
island, at the same place where we were last voyage
in the " Camden," in June, 1842. Found our three
teachers well, and kindly treated, but not making
much progress. Have been of late hindered by war.
In January last the rival chiefs Marof and Kimkau
fought. Marof and twenty- seven of his men fell ;
Eimkau lost two of his sons and thirty men. At
the close of the fight some New Zealanders who hve
on the island proposed to cook a few of the bodies
of the slain, but the Rotumans stoutly opposed the
disgusting project, and said to the New Zealand
cannibals, "You may do that at New Zealand —
never at Rotumah." Poor Marof! I remember him
well. A fine-looking man, in the prime of life, and
a warm friend of the teachers. His younger brother
Fakrongfon takes his place. He is preparing for
another fight. We talked in favour of peace, but he
thinks war inevitable. Found it hard to reply to his
question, in broken English, " Somebody come to hill
me, ivliat me do ? "
According to arrangements made by our Directors
and the Directors of the Wesleyan Missionary So-
ciety, to prevent unnecessary collision and waste of
missionary strength, we have withdrawn our teachers,
and passed over all interest and influence at this
island to our Wesleyan friends. We first conversed
on the subject with the Wesleyan teachers here from
Tonga and our own teachers, and then went in a body
to a house where we met Fakrongfon and other
chiefs and people, and told them what we were about
to do. We told them the Tongans would instruct
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1846. 359
them in the way of salvation as our teachers had
done, begged all to join them, listen to them, and
obey the Word of God which they preached. We
said also that we were going to the Tonga group,
and that we should entreat our brethren there to
send a white missionary to Rotumah as soon as pos-
sible. We concluded our arrangements with prayer,
and all passed off well.
This island is partly prepared for European mis-
sionaries. At least half of the people unite in entreat-
ing us to send them one or two. The natives have
long had intercourse with whaling vessels, have at
times had as many' as forty or fifty runaway sailors
Hving among them, and know the English language
surprisingly well. Hence they are proud, and think
themselves above being taught by Tongans or Sa-
moans. Nothing will satisfy them but a white mis-
sionary, and a fine field of labour this would be for
two devoted men.
Saw a party of some twenty people, men, women,
and children, who were picked up lately at sea, all
but dead, by a whaling vessel. They had been fishing
off their own island, and blown away in a sudden
gale. They clung to us, and looked up most im-
ploringly, anxious that we should take them home to
their own land. Cannot tell exactly, but suppose,
from their physical aspect and dialect, that they
belong to some island of the King's Mill group ;
another illustration of the way in which these islands
have been populated : — Had this party reached an
uninhabited island, they would probably have settled
360 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
down, claimed it as their own, and have given it the
name of the island or district they left. Here they
will probably amalgamate with the already mixed
Rotumans, and hence, too, we see how the dialects
get mixed up.
Rotumah is a lovely island, about the size of
Rarotonga, and has probably a population of five
thousand people. The formation is volcanic, and the
productions such as are common to Central Poly-
nesia. Their traditions trace their origin to Samoa.
They say that on a fine day the god Raho and his
wife Iva came here walking on the sea from Samoa.
Raho had a basket of earth, which he commenced
scattering about when he reached this, and all at
once up sprung the land, and here they remained.
Four places are sacred to the worship of the gods,
and once every three months all assemble. Their
"god is their belly." When they meet they first
sing to the praise of the bread-frmt tree, cocoa-nut,
yam, taro, banana, and everything eatable ; then feast;
and then dismiss. All is over in a day. Circum-
cision practised about the fifth year. When the body
dies the spirit is supposed to enter some one of the
family or of the village community. Marof, they
say, now talks through a man called Valea. Not-
withstanding all their intercourse with white men,
the Rotumans are deplorably ignorant of God. Put
questions to several about God, Jesus Christ, etc.,
but could get no intelligible reply. One man who
spoke English well, and who has been at sea three
voyages, after thinking a minute, said : " God —
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MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1845. 361
God — Yes. I know God ; He very good man.''
Poor feUow ! We tried to enligliteii his darkness.
As we were leaving tke beacli, overheard our good
captain talking in his simple, pointed way to one of
the white men living on shore : " No Bible ! what a
thing that is ! Why, that is just like a man at sea
without a chart. How do you think you could get
along at sea without a chart ?"
FUTUNA, XEW HEBRIDES.
IWi Ajyril. — Sighted Futuna this morning. It
rises up out of the sea like a great square table,
3000 feet high, and may contain a population of 800.
By nine o'clock were close in off the bold shore,
where we expected to find our teachers, Apela and
Samuela. Heavy sea and a strong wind. Lay to,
lowered the boat, and sent in her Faleese (a Samoan
who lived on the island for a time a few years ago)
to meet some canoes which were coming off. In one
canoe was the chief Kotiama. He recognized Fa-
leese, said the teachers were well, but away in the
distance working in their plantation. The boat re-
tm'ned to the ship, and Kotiama said he would go
and tell the teachers, and hasten them off to us in a
canoe. Waited an hour, and sent in the boat again.
No appearance of the teachers. Natives now said
that, owing to a fatal epidemic, for which the
teachers had been blamed, they were driven off to
another settlement, but that messengers had gone
for them. Waited another hour, and now four of
862 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
our Samoans volunteered to go on sliore, and find
their way to tlie place where the teachers were said
to be. Manned the boat again, and let them go
under the care of Captain Morgan, but with strict
charges not to set a foot on shore, unless the captain
got a cliief or two from the shore to come off with
him to the ship. The boat Avas soon back, but no
teachers. The captain got a chief in the boat
to come off to the ship, but whenever he understood
that the Samoans were going to land to see after
Apela and Samuela, he jumped out of the boat, and
swam off to the shore. The Samoans, of course, did
not land, but hastened out to us with this dismal
tale. Our worst fears were now roused. Ran below
for my cap and Macintosh, and in five minutes Mr.
Murray and I were over the ship's side, into the
boat, and off through the heavy sea to the shore,
with Faleese as our interpreter, to see how the na-
tives looked, and whether anything more could be
done. As we jDulled in we saw that every canoe was
hauled up, natives armed, and hiding behind the
trees and rocks, and no women or children to be
seen. All looked bad and hostile. Held on, and
shouted, "Why are you afraid of us? Nothing
here to hurt you. "We want our teachers, Apela
and Samuela." Up starts a fellow from behind a
block of coral, and replied, " They are far away.
Take round your vessel to the other side ; they are
there." "Where is the chief Kotiama ?" we again
shouted. " He told us he was oroinor for them."
" He is dead," was the reply, twice over, " he is
MISSIONAKY VOYAGE IN 1845. 363
dead." "Dead! how can that be? He was there
only a httle ago." But just as we were saying this to
each other, we saw a movement among them, rising
up, changing positions, etc., and, as we were within
reach of their arrows and shngs, we backed out.
In the hurry, ran on to a rock just below the sur-
face, but the men jumped out, pushed off, and we
were clear. Pulled out a bit, and then held on,
loath to give it up, but we could do no more.
Night was coming on, a strong wind, and the sea
running high outside, and so, with heavy hearts,
we pulled out again to the vessel. Got safely on
board, and as we feel all but certain that our poor
teachers have been killed, we are now standing
direct for Aneiteum. Hope our teachers there are
alive, and that we may soon get relief from our
present painful suspense respecting poor Apela and
Samuela.
16th xijjril, at Anchor off Aname, north-east side
of Aneiteum. — Bad weather, aud with difficulty got
in to this sheltered little roadstead this afternoon.
In the morning we were cheered by the sight of a
white plastered cottage, evidently a teacher's house
or chapel. What a contrast to everything we saw
yesterday ! By and by we had a canoe alongside,
and there was our teacher Simeone. We were
breathless to hear about our Futuna teachers.
" AU dead, killed by the Futuna people upwards of
two years ago." Poor fellows ! we were afraid
yesterday that this was to be recorded. It seems
that an epidemic was cutting off the people ; they
364 " NlNETEEiV YEAliS IN POLYNESIA.
blamed the teachers and the new rehgion for it, and
determined to kill them. On the morning of the
day fixed for their massacre, a party surrounded
Samuela, who was unsuspectingly at work in his
plantation. He started up when he saw them, and
stood vnih. the hatchet in his hand with which he
had been working. Spears flew in upon him from
all sides, and he fell speared in both legs and in the
chest. Apela and a girl, the daughter of Samuela,
were caught on the road, on the way home fi^om the
plantation, and also killed. The party then went to
the house, where the wife of Samuela was, quite un-
conscious of the horrid work which had been going
on. An offer was made to her to become the wife of
the chief who headed the gang ; but no, she would
die rather. She handed out an axe and some other
things, to appease the leader of this savage rabble,
and a few pleaded for her life, but the multitude
cried out for her death, and with liis ot\ti hands he
beat her brains out. They cooked the bodies of
Samuela and his wife, and sank in the sea the
bodies of Apela and the girl. After dividing out
their property, they wound up the tragic scenes by
burning the house. Father, forgive them ; for they
know not what they do ! I was acquainted with
Apela. He was a humble, harmless, kind little- man.
Samuela and his wife were of good report also. It
cheered us to hear that, at the last, they died as
they lived, inoffensive and peaceful, like Stephen of
old, and did not lift a hand to injure their deluded
murderers. 'Wlien some of the Futuna people were
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 365
at Aneitemn, a few months ago, tliej had not re-
pented of their foul deed, but were rather persuad-
ing the Aneiteum people to kiU the teachers Simeone
and Apolo, as the best means of getting rid of
disease. Poor people ! I fear we shaU have to
leave them to their heathenism for a time.
ANEITEUM.
There has been a breach in the mission party
here by the death of Tavita and his wife. The one
died of dropsy, and the other of consumption.
Their end was peace. On the death of these two,
the natives wished their bodies thrown into the sea,
according to custom. Apolo and Simeone would not
consent. They had bought the plot of ground close
by their house, and insisted on the right to bury in,
or do what they pleased with their own land. The
point was yielded, and since that time the teachers
have succeeded in persuading some of the people to
bury their dead rather than "cast them away," as
Apolo says, "to the savage fish of the sea." Up to
this date five have been buried. Wlien they cast a
dead body into the sea, if it is the body of a man,
they do not wrap it up in anything, but paint the
face red, and sink it not far from the shore by tying
stones to the feet. If it is the body of a woman,
they wrap it up in the leaf girdles worn by the
women.
The lives of Simeone and Apolo have been re-
peatedly in jeopardy. Only two months ago, when
366 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
a chief of the place where the}^ reside died, it was
proposed to kill them for the " weeping feast,"
which follows the death of any one. It is the
custom on these occasions to slaughter any strangers
who are living on the premises, or in the neighbour-
hood. " Go to our plantations, and take anything
you hke for your feast," said the teachers. This
satisfied them. They delight in the custom, for the
more they kill, the more taro, yams, and bananas
they get. With the body of the poor victim his
plantation goes as well to help in the feast.
Simeone and Apolo report that the attendance on
Sabbath-days is very irregular. Sometimes twenty
or thirty, and at other times two and three. With
the exception of one man called Umra, the people all
keep to their heathenism, and are more inclined to go
to their plantation on a Sabbath than to listen to a
sermon. AYhen the grown-up people found that the
children were getting wiser than themselves, they
ordered the teachers to give up the day-school.
Driven jfrom the day they tried the night, and at
present there are eleven true sons of Nicodemus,
who go privately to the teachers' house at night for
instruction.
17th April. — Hearing that some white men had
taken up their abode on a small sandbank on the
other side of the island, and also that a chief there
has long been wishing to have a teacher, we deter-
mined to visit both parties. Taking Simeone with
us as our pilot and interpreter, we left the ship this
morning at daylight. For a time we kept inside the
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IX 1845, 367
reef, and tlien had to strike out to sea, and along the
bold shore. It is a lovely island ; fertile, cultivated
towards the sea, and well watered. Here and there
we saw in the distance a silvery waterfall among the
mountain gorges. By nine we were at the little
island, quite a sandbank, and, with another one,
forming a pretty good harbour between them and
the mainland. The position of this harbour is
20" 15' south latitude, and 169' 44' east longitude.
Here we found a jetty, flag-staff, weather-boarded
houses, piles of sandal-wood, a rusty swivel mounted
here and there, and every appearance of a foreign
settlement. A Mr, Murphy came down as we
landed, and conducted us to the store, where we
sat for a little. He said that Captain Paddon, who
was at the head of the concern, was absent; that
they came here in January ; that they have two ves-
sels collecting sandal-wood ; and that they have
advertised the place in the colonial papers as a con-
venient harbour for whaling and other vessels. He
says they have bought the island from the natives.
Our teachers confirm this, and add that they paid for
it an axe, a rug, and a string of beads. It is little
more than a mile in circumference, without a cocoa-
nut, and hardly a blade of grass. It was considered
by the natives a haunted spot, and hence they never
planted anything on it. They had no objections, how-
ever, to sell it to the white men. At present there
is only one white man there, in addition to Mr. Mur-
phy, and five Chinese. We saw the Chinamen at
work sawing wood. Spoke a word or two to them.
868 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
Tliey are from Macao, and are not unlike some of
our Eastern Polynesians. From Mr. M. we got
some information respecting the adjacent islands,
and an account of an attack on their vessel, the
"Brigand," by the Mare people, in whicli a party
who had gone on shore were all cut off, with the ex-
ception of three, who were saved by our teachers.
But I reserve a record of that until we get to Mare.
Mr. Murphy offered to receive our teachers for a
time in their fort on the Uttle island, in the event of
our being unable to locate them safely on the main-
land. We thanked him, but said we did not antici-
pate any difficulty.
Taking our leave of Mr. M. and his romantic
little settlement, we got up our sail, and crossed the
bay to the mainland. Not a house to be seen ; but
after landing and going into the bush, we came upon
some huts, which were said to be the headquarters
of the chief Nohuat. He was not at hand, but a
message was sent for him. Not knowing but that
the people may have had some recent fight with
white men, and be just watching their chance for
revenge, as at Dillon's Bay in 1839, we did not ven-
ture far inland, but returned to the beach. Sat
down under a tree, had a bit of beef and biscuit, and
soon were surrounded by a number of boys, glad to
sbare in our luncheon. Presently Nohuat came — a
little, middle-aged man, in scanty Tannese costume,
hair twisted in a multitude of cords, etc., and a dark
Jewish countenance. Simeone was our interpreter
at first, but, hearing that Nohuat had lived at Tanna,
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1845. 3G9
I took speech in hand in Tannese. He wondered
however I could speak that dialect, shook his arms,
and cracked his fingers in amazement, as if I had
dropped from the clouds, I had to tell him all about
it, and then went on to say that Mr. Murray and I
had come to locate, on his division of the island, two
teachers, who would instruct him and his people in
the knowledge of the true God and Jesus Christ, the
way to heaven. He opened his mind to us all at
once, said sad things about the doings of white men
on their shores, which led us to assure him that wo
had an entirely different object in view from that of
the sandal-wooders. His confidence was complete.
He rejoiced in the offer of teachers, acceded to our
proposal that he should go with us to the vessel,
where we could select his teachers, and commit them
to his care, and in a few minutes we were all in our
boat, with the addition of Xohuat, outside the reef,
and sailing back to our vessel. Chatted with Xohuat
the most of the way. Says he is a disease-maker,
and the dread of the place where he is chief. Tried
to tell him of immortality, heaven and hell, sin and
salvation. He hstened as if for the first time, ex-
pressed his amazement, but soon tried to change the
subject, with " What a fine boat this is ! How she
flies !" Yerily, the carnal mind is enmity against
God !
Reached the ship by three p.m. Arranged at once
for the location of the Samoan teachers, Simeone
and Poti, in the district of Xohuat. Gave him a
present, begged him to be kind to the teachers, and
370 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
listen to tlieir instructions. He replied, promised a
number of things, such as a plot of ground, help
in house-building, protection against thieves, and a
supply of food. Umra sat listening attentively to
Nohuat, and when he had done, got up and said,
" Nohuat, all that is very well ; but you have for-
gotten one thing, you ^ivust attend to the Word of
God.^' This well-timed hint from his own country-
man pleased us exceedingly. Arranged also to
leave another teacher with Apolo, at the station in-
land of where we are anchored. The chief, lata,
has of late been unkind to the teachers, and jeering
them as castaways. We have rendered good for
evil, have given him a present, and have had his
acknowledgment of shame and regret, and promises
of amendment.
18th April. — Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Turner ac-
companied us on shore to-day — the first European
ladies, I suppose, who have ever set a foot on
Aneiteum. The teachers' house is wattled and
plastered, and its middle room serves at present for
the chapel. The burning of the coral-stones, and
the wonders of lime, plaster, and whitewash, made
the natives declare the teachers to be gods, not men.
The island is volcanic, and rises 2700 feet above the
level of the sea. It is wooded with pine {Dammara
australis), and other useful trees. Bread-fruits,
cocoa-nuts, yams, taro, bananas, and sugar-cane are
the principal things cultivated by the natives. Saw
nothing like a decent village. Two or three huts
are put up in a plantation, and when the food is
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 871
consumed there, another spot is selected, and there
they plant and build again ; and thus they migrate
from place to place within a certain division of the
island. Mr. Murray and I were stooping down to
step into one of their four-feet-high oblong hovels,
when half a dozen voices called out for us to stop.
We understood them to say that there was a pig
there, being fed for an approaching feast, and that
it was death for a stranger to go near his hog ship
under such circumstances.
The Aneiteum people resemble the Tannese, their
dialect, however, although of the same Papuan
class, is veiy different. At present, the tribes all
over the island are on friendly terms. They seldom
fight. In a case of murder, an apology, with a pig,
wiU generally settle the affair. Circumcision is
practised about the fifth year. The ceremony is
attended with feasting. Polygamy prevails. They
worship the spirits of their ancestors, and princi-
pally on occasions of sickness. Have sacred groves,
where they leave ofierings of food to rot. They
suppose that the spirit at death leaves the body,
goes to the west end of the island, plunges into the
sea, and swims away to a place of spirits called
Umatmas, where, it is said, there are two divisions,
one for the good and another for the bad. Plenty of
good food constitutes their heaven, and the contrary
their hell, for the abode of the thief, the liar, or the
murderer.
The most melancholy thing connected with
the heathenism of Aneiteum is the strangling of
372 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
the widows.* Our teachers strongly oppose the
sad custom, and risk their lives sometimes in en-
deavouring to prevent it. Lately they went to a
scene where all was ready for strangling. They
remonstrated. The woman became afraid, and ran
to the teachers for protection ; but they were over-
powered by the enraged people, and obliged to
flee for their lives. The woman, however, was
saved.
Monday, 2\st April, still at Anchor off Aneiteum.
— It blew half a gale on Saturday. Could not get
out ; but I am not sorry that we have been able to
spend a Sabbath here, and see for ourselves how the
people observe the Lord's Day. Yesterday, all day
not a canoe came near the ship. I preached at
nine a.m. to our Samoan party on board. At
half-past ten Mr. Murray preached in English.
At one we all went on shore for an afternoon
service with the natives. Found about forty as-
sembled. They all behaved well. No whispering
or smiling all the time. Simeone prayed, and acted
as interpreter to Mr. Murray and myself. Our hearts
were filled with joy to see even such a day of small
things on this heathen island. After going on board,
had service with five Tanna men we have picked
up here, and intend giving them a passage across
to their home. I preached in the evening to the
crew.
* On the death of a beloved child, too, the mother, or, it may-
he, the aunt, or the grandmother, is strangled to accompany it to
the world of spirits.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 37'3
TANNA.
Tuesday, 22nd April, at Anchor, Port Resolution,
Tanna. — Left Aneiteum this morning, and arrived
here this afternoon. The Tanna lads on board
shouted to the shore as we entered the heads, and
before the anchor was well down, our old friend
Kuanuan, and several of the chiefs, were out to the
ship to welcome us. Glad to find that there is a re-
action in our favour all round the bay, and even
among the very people who were our greatest ene-
mies. Kuanuan says that, after we left in 1843,
dysentery raged more fatally than ever among our
enemies. They still fought, however, with our
people for a month, and then gave it up. For a
long time they have been on friendly terms again,
and say that they are now prepared to receive
teachers. As a further proof of this, we find our
Samoan teachers, lona and Atamu, here, from the
neighbouring island of Niua. They were blamed
for causing disease, their lives were threatened, and
they fled hither in a vessel which happened to touch
there just at the time.
Kuanuan was faithful to our injunctions. He
counted the days, kept up the remembrance of
the Sabbath, and when our teachers came from
Niua, they found that he had still got the day
exactly, and met for prayer and religious conversa-
tion with some twenty others. One of my first
questions to him was, " Kuanuan, when is the Sab-
374 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
bath?" He \vp with liis left hand finger-almanack,
counted, and told me correctly. He said that they
had taken care of our house, but that a white man
called Satan had come and taken up his abode in it
whether they would or not. Kuanuan looked very
serious as he told us his name, and added that he
was lying sick. They tried to frighten him away by
saying that we should drive him out of the house if
we came and found him there, but he only laughed
and said, "No, no; I know missionary." We were
curious to know who this " Satan" was, and also to
shake hands with our old friends ; and so off Captain
Morgan, Mr. Murray, and I went to the shore.
A crowd of natives met us on the beach. Shame,
surprise, and delight seemed depicted in their coun-
tenances, and they followed us as we walked up to
our house. Found all much as when we were driven
two years ago. In passing from room to room we
came to the "little pantry," and there we found
the poor fellow of whose name Kuanuan seemed so
suspicious. He reclined on a sort of bedstead made
of some sticks lashed together, and raised a little off
the ground. A mat and a blanket formed his scanty
bedding. A loaded gun lay at his right side, another
stood up in the corner at his left. He had an old
number of the Times newspaper in his hand, and
a little fire smouldered in a hole in the earth at the
foot of the bed. There he lay, with a long black
beard, pale, pensive, and emaciated. As we appeared
at the door of the little place, he raised himself,
1)0 wed, and spoke most politely : " Have I the honour
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IX 1845. 375
of addressing either Mr. Nisbet or Mr. Turner ?"
"Yes," said Mr. Murray, "this is Mr. Turner."
He said the natives spoke of us with great respect,
and he hoped we might be able soon again to retiu-n,
etc. But our hearts yearned over the poor fellow
now before us. We wished to know about himself.
He says his name is S — t — n ; that he is thirty-two
years of age, and belongs to Essex. Was some time
in New Zealand ; prospects failed ; came off sandal-
wooding. Says he should have been killed at Mare
but for our teachers. AVas subsequently on Anei-
teum, and now is laid up here. He came to try the
hot springs. Says he has had sores all over his body,
and now suffers principally from one on his " tendo
Achillis, and from tertian ague." In every word we
could trace a respectable origin and education. If I
mistake not, he is nearly related to one of the most
respectable families in England. His initials are
R. M. S. He has no wish to leave at present. Says
he has a desire to see all the islands, and then go
home. Does not know what he should do but for
our teachers. They never cook a meal without
sharing it with him. The natives steal from him at
all hands, day and night. As he was dropping off
to sleep in the dark last night, he felt his last blanket
beginning to move away. He pulled the trigger,
and fired his gun through the roof of the house,
when off the thieves fled. In the adjacent room we
saw two decent-looking trmiks. His principal re-
quest is for arrow-root, medicine, and salves. We
have promised him a supply, and have also invited
376 NINETEEN YEAR'S IN POLYNESIA.
liim to come on board, and make himself at home
with us while we are here.
After a stroll among the villages, sending mes-
sages to the chiefs in the distance to come and meet
with us in the morning in our old house, we re-
turned on board, and rejoiced to think that the way
is perfectly clear for again taking up the mission.
Wednesday, 2^rd A;pril. — Went on shore this
morning. Found two or three hundred people
waiting to receive us : all painted, armed, and to
the eye of a stranger a fearful-looking crowd. But
the women and children were there, and we who
knew the people saw at a glance that all was peace
and friendship, and thrcAV ourselves among them
with perfect confidence. Mrs. Turner's old school-
girls came wading into the water, vieing with each
other for the first shake of her hand ; and when we
got into the house, they took up their places around
her and our httle girl Martha. Our invalid friend
" Satan " was up, had shaved to a smart moustache,
and dressed as well as his scanty wardrobe admitted ;
but notwithstanding his humble habihments, he had
still the air and bearing of the gentleman. He
doffed his red nightcap, received us at the door
with a respectful bow, and seemed quite cheered
by our presence and friendship. We had the prin-
cipal chiefs and people assembled in a large room,
and the rest crowded about the doors and windows.
I addressed them for Mr. Murray and myself, re-
minded them of the way in which we were driven in
1843, renewed our assurances of forgiveness and
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 377
love, and told them that they had this day the fulfil-
ment of our promise to them when we left, that we
should again visit them. All seemed grateful, said
that they wished teachers, and promised to behave
better to them for the future. After a few words of
exhortation and prayer, we separated, with the under-
standing that the chiefs meet us on board to-morrow
morning, to receive their teachers. Walked again
up the hill, through the villages, and then returned
to the ship. We have now three Harotongan and four
Samoan teachers, all ready for their location (D.Y.)
on the coming day.
24th Ajjril. — Have had twelve of the chiefs on
board to-day, and have committed to their care the
teachers. We gave each of the chiefs the present
of a hatchet, a knife, a fathom of calico, and a piece
or two of Samoan native cloth. Begged them to be
kind to their new teachers, and attend to their in-
structions. Went on shore with the three who
have gone to Kasurumene, and found a party wait-
ing to receive them. They soon picked up the
teachers' things, and off they went accompanied by
the old chief letika. Captain Morgan, Mr. Murray,
and I went along the road a bit with them, and
then said good-bye, counseUing the teachers to be
faithful, and entreating the people to regard them
as their best friends. To me it was especially
affecting to see the very men, who, three years ago,
were thirsting for our blood, now surrounding us
with every expression of affection, and recei^dng so
cordially these messengers of mercy. We deputed
378 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
two of our Samoans to go all the way to Kasuru-
mene, and return to-morrow with a report. Went
on shore also with the teachers to be located in the
mountain of Enekahi. Found that the people had
cleared a piece of ground, and were preparing to
erect a house for the teachers. Left there also
other two, who are to spend the night, and bring us
a report in the morning.
2bth April. — Our Samoans, who accompanied the
teachers yesterday, returned this morning. Reports
all that we could wish. At Kasurumene, their
approach was hailed by the people with a shout,
letika assembled the village. They all stood in a
circle. He told them of our love to them, that he
has received teachers, and that they are all pledged
to attend to the Word of God. All assented, ex-
pressed their delight, went off, killed a pig, blew
up the oven, and received their new friends with a
sumptuous repast. Accounts from those who went
with the teachers to Enekahi, equally favourable.
Have been trying to get a messenger sent to Naum,
chief of Pesu, but there is so much fighting going
on in that direction we cannot get one to venture.
We have been hoping to get some one here to go
with us to Eromanga as an interpreter, but I am
afraid we shall not succeed. Talked till after sun-
down with a man at one of the villages who has
been there, but he will not consent. They dread
going near Eromanga. The chief Lahi, however,
and another young man, have decided on going with
us to Samoa, to see what the gospel has done there.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 379
Their wives and two children will also go. They
are now on board, and we are ready for sea.
Saturday Evening, 26th Ajrril, Port Resolution. —
Could not get out this morning. Wind right a-
head and a heavy sea setting in. Mr. Murray and
some others on board being desirous to see the
volcano, and as we also wished to see for ourselves
whether the tribes in that neighbourhood were now
really friendly with this people, we went on shore
to consult with old Kuanuan. He shrugged his
shoulders, said he was afraid, and thought we had
better take a gun with us. " No, no, Kuanuan ;
you know we don't carry guns. No fear; come
along." He ran in for his club, took the lead, and
off we went, twelve of us, including some of our
Samoans. All went on well. Was glad to see
Raumia and other villages, which were burned at
the time we were driven, built up and inhabited
again. Had a look once more down the crater,
saw two or three eruptions, and then returned. As
we were leaving the mountain, we saw a party of
forty armed men coming out of the bush. Kuanuan
sprung up six inches higher than his usual gait, but
there was no danger. They passed a little to our
right, and returned warmly our friendly salutation
and '' good night." Rested and had some cocoa-
nuts near the village of Maro. A lovely spot, look-
ing down upon the harbour. Gave some beads to
the children who crowded about us, and brought us
cocoa-nuts and bananas. Only a month ago the
Maro people killed, on that very spot, a poor fellow
380 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
wlio had ventured from an inland tribe, to come and
have a peep at a vessel at anchor. They cooked his
body, and sent a leg to Fatarapa in the bay, but
neither Viavia nor Kuanuan would taste. Their
people, however, thought it was too good to throw
away. The inland tribe were soon in arms in search
for their man, or some one in his place, and killed a
woman near Maro.
Sabbath Evening, 27th Aj^ril. — Have had the
pleasure of once more spending a Sabbath at
Tanna. Had a good tiu*n-out of the natives on
shore, and at nine a.m. I preached to them from,
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved." Mr. Murray preached to us on board in
Eneflish at eleven. Had another service with the
natives in the afternoon. Our invalid friend, whom
Kuanuan calls " Satan," dined with us again to-day.
Told us some more of his history. Hopes to go
home in a year and a-half. He seems much better
within the last day or two. Poor fellow ! he has
friends in Sydney and in England who would grieve
to see him in his present circumstances.*
* While among these islands again in 1848, I was sony to
learn that this poor wanderer was killed at New Caledonia.
Could not ascertain precisely what led to his death, but it must
have occurred about two years after we parted with him at
Tanna.
Another illustration of the way in which the raissionary is a
blessing to poor wanderers far from home and in distress, may
be gathered from the following extract of a letter which was
addressed to me from the United States of America some years
ago:—
" I beg to tender you the heartfelt gratitude of an afflicted
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 381
Monday, 28th April, at Sea off Eromanga. — Fine
fair wind this morning. Got out from Port Resolu-
tion by six o'clock, and stood for
NIUA.
Niua (Neeooali) is tlie native name. Captain
Cook named these islands according to the names
given him at Tanna. Hence the difference between
the names on the chart, and the real name of the
island. Niua is called Immer on the charts. It is
a coral island, 200 feet above the level of the sea,
and has a population of probably 600 natives. By
nine o'clock we were close in. Lowered the boat,
and went off with Mr. Murray and Captain Morgan.
family and large circle of friends. Tour afflicting but much
valued epistle, which reached us a few weeks since, contained
the first intelligence we received of my much beloved brother.
The manifest interest which you took in my brother
during his sickness, and the great kindness you extended to us
after his death, is a cause of much consolation to us all ; but
in a pecuUar manner to my dear mother. That he should have
had those with him who could administer to his spiritual wants,
is to her a great comfort, and indeed the only thing which seems
to reconcile her to this sad bereavement. My dear brother left
home about three years since, and the first intelHgence we re-
ceived from him was contained in your and the accompanying
letters. . . . My dear sii', I cannot express to you the con-
solations we derive from the perusal of these three epistles which
are now before us. Oh, sir, that they were on parchment ! for
already do they show the effects of being handed from friend to
friend and passed from State to State. My dear sir, I feel that
I am inadequate to address you on this sad occasion, but trust-
ing that your own heart will tell you more of our feelings than
words can express, I bid you farewell."
382 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
The entrance tlirough the reef is narrow, and the
sea was breaking. But we did not msh to land all
at once, and so lay on our oars behind the reef, and
waved to the natives to come out to us. They, too,
were shy. Hearing that we were calling some of
them by name, two of them dashed through the
surf and swam out. They were the very men we
wanted, viz., our old friends Naurita and Fangota,
who had spent months with us at Tanna. We got
them into the boat, pulled off to the ship, and the
result was, our taking up the mission again by
locating two fresh teachers from Samoa. We have
confidence in Fangota. He told us the Sabbath
correctly, and assures us that he and some others
still meet on that day and pray to God, as they were
taught by the teachers and ourselves.
By mid-day we had finished at Niua, and were
heading for Eromanga. Mr. Murray and I paced the
quarter-deck, hardly knowing where to go. "Now,
where next ?" says Captain Morgan. " Dillon's
Bay or Traitor's Head ? You decide. Fair wind
for either." We had intended to go to Traitor's
Head, and also to look in upon Takakum, where
our teachers lived for a time, the year after Mr.
Williams was killed. But, hearing at Tanna of the
recent massacre of a party of Niua people at Taka-
kum, and that the sandal- wooders have of late been
fighting with the natives at both places, we thought
it was a choice of difficulties, and determined to try
once more at Dillon's Bay. We are now standing
off for the night, and hope to anchor in the morn-
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1845. 383
ing wliere eveiytliing will remind us of liim who
fell in the very first attempt to extend the gospel to
these regions of darkness.
EEOMANGA.
Tuesday, 29 th Ajpril, Dillon^ s Bay, Eromanga. —
Anchored here this morning, close in-shore, and near
the spot where our lamented Williams fell. Not a
canoe or house or plantation to be seen. By and by
some natives made their appearance on the beach,
and four of them swam off to us. We threw them
a rope and soon they were in our midst on the
quarter-deck. They shook from head to foot,
seemed terribly frightened, but when we gave them
some yams and bananas to eat, they sat down,
looked cheerful, and as if they thought all was
right. We gazed with indescribable interest upon
these poor creatures, who were, no doubt, part and
parcel of the murderers of Williams and Harris, on
that fatal morning in November, 1839. They re-
semble the Tannese, only they wear their hair short,
and paint their faces black. Tried the Tannese and
Niuan dialects, but could not get them to understand.
We gave them each some beads, fish-hooks, bits of
hoop-iron for adzes, and a plane-iron. They recog-
nized the names of some of their chiefs, which we
had obtained at Tanna. Tried to make them under-
stand that we wanted these chiefs to come to us,
then lowered the boat and took them on shore. As
we puUed in. Captain Morgan pointed out the very
384 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
spot where Mr. AYilliams rushed into the sea in his
last struggle. At the beach a number of natives came
running towards us. They were unarmed, but we
could see no women or children among them. The
bush close behind is like a thickset hedge ; could
not see what was beyond. Might be full of armed
men, as in November, 1839, for anything we could
see. The four men we took on shore ran off imme-
diately into the bush. We wondered what they were
after ; thought they might be going for the chiefs,
but back they came in a few minutes carrying some-
thing, and one pulling a log after him. It was a
present of sandal-wood in return for our kindness !
This was delightful. In the savage of Eromanga we
have still the man, the human heart, the finest feel-
ings. We smiled gratitude to tlie poor fellows, gently
beckoned with the palm of the hand that they might
keep it, and that we did not care about sandal-wood.
They seemed surprised, but this was just such an
opportunity as we wished of teaching them lesson
the first, viz., that we are quite a different class of
men from the sandal- wooders, and do not visit them
for our own gain. Mr. Murray and I stood in the
bow of the boat, gave some bits of cloth, beads,
and fish-hooks, to those who crowded around us,
and, liaving succeeded so far, in showing friend-
ship and kindness, we returned to the ship.
After dinner our four friends of the morning
swam off again, bringing five others. None of
them seemed to be a chief, and Lahi thought the}?-
said the chiefs could not come on account of fight-
MISSIOXAEY VOYAGE IN 1845. 385
ing going on inland. We took them below, and
showed them all over the ship. When we came to
the portrait of Mr. Williams, Lahi pointed to it,
thumped his head, threw himself back, showed the
white of his eyes, let his tongue fall out, and then
pointed to the shore by way of showing them that
it was that man they killed. Lahi's gestures were
unmistakeable, but they, warily, took little notice of
them. We wrote down their names, and sent them
again on shore, in the hope of their bringing off a chief.
Towards sunset, we discovered, through the glass,
a venerable-looking man sitting on a pile of stones
on the beach, on the north side of the stream.
" That is a chief," said Lahi. Manned the boat
again, and took Lahi ^^dth us. Lahi's wife cried,
and would hardly let him over the ship's side, but
he promised not to land. As we neared the beach
several swam out to meet us. We sent by them a
present to the old man, but he turned his back to
us, and would not look round. We shouted and
beckoned for him to come, but he waved with his
hand for us to be off. We tried to get some about
us to come into the boat. They passed on the
word to the shore for the old cliief's consent, but
he forbad, and, we suppose, ordered all out of the
sea on to the beach, for they all left us. It was
night, and we pulled back to the ship. Poor
people ! The door seems quite shut. They will
mark us, however, as " the vessel which shows
kindness and does not take sandal- wood ;" and for
that let us be thankful.
c c
386 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
We have at anchor alongside of us here a
schooner from Sydney after sandal- wood.* The
captain has been on board. Says he has been here
for a week. Has not landed, nor have the natives
brought off any provisions for sale. Now and then
they swim off with a bit of sandal- wood, which he
buys for beads, hoop-iron, and fish-hooks. Spends
the most of his day in his long boat armed to the
teeth. Wlierever he sees some natives collected,
with wood, he pulls in, buys from them from the
rocks, with the pistol in the one hand, and his beads
or fish-hooks in the other. What will man not do
for money ?
This captain tells us, further, that he was lately
among the islands to the north, as far as Espirito
Santo. Found all quiet, and no white man to be
seen anywhere. Says that at Sandwich Island he
fell in with a Samoan called '' Swallow," who was
drifted down here with some Tongans and Samoans
many years ago. He had him on board for some
time, and found that he was known and influential
at several islands of the group. He told him about
the missionary vessel which carried about native
teachers, and " Swallow's " last charges to the cap-
tain were, that if he fell in with the missionary- ship,
to implore the missionaries on board to take Samoan
* The most of my readers are probably aware, that this is a
fragrant wood, used as incense in the temples of Confucius, and
in demand also in India and China, for the manufacture of fancy
articles. It is sold by weight, and fetches some £15 or £20 per
ton. Hence the number of vessels ovit from Sydney and else-
where in the trade.
MISSIONARY VOYAOxE IN 1845. 387
teachers to Vate, the native name of Sandwich
Island.
We are now full of interest in this tale about the
wanderer " Swallow." It seems something like the
finger of God. If we can only get hold of that man,
we have an interpreter at once to all with whom he
is acquainted. Our greatest difficulty to-day has
been the want of some one through whom we could
speak to the people. The captain of the schooner
has given us the bearings of the place, and also a
young New Zealander, who says he lived some time
with " Swallow," and we are bound for the place
the first thing in the morning.
Our Samoans are all wondering whoever this
" Swallow " will turn out to be. My servant recol-
lects a tale he heard at home about some one be-
longing to their family called Sualo (or Swallow),
who left once in a Tongan canoe, and was never
more heard of. To-morrow will, I trust, put an end
to aU conjectures. When we left Niua the turning
of a straw apparently would have taken -us to
Traitor s Head. We feel thankful to Grod for hav-
ing so guided our dehberations, as to bring us to
Dillon's Bay, where we have fallen in with this
schooner, and heard of this Samoan for whom we
are about to search.
VATE, OR SANDWICH ISLAND.
Wednesday y SOth April, at Sea off Sandwich
Island. — Left Dillon's Bay this morning. Took a
388 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
long look at the beach, but could not see a single
native. Had a fine wind, and sighted this island
about two o'clock. At sunset were off the place
on the south-west side, where we expect to find
" Swallow," but it was too late to communicate
with the shore, and so we have stood off" for the
night.
Thursday, 1st May, at Anchor, Sandwich Island. —
Stood in this morning, and are now at anchor in a
spacious bay under the lee of a little island. As we
neared the south-west point, we lowered the boat and
sent on shore the New Zealander, and two of our
Samoan teachers, to run inland and fetch " Swallow."
The natives are remarkably shy.* Have seen num-
bers of them in the distance, but not one will come
near. It is night. We have bm*ned a blue light
and set a lantern aloft, and hope we may yet have
the arrival of " Swallow " to-night.
Friday, 2)id May. — " Swallow " did not come in
the night. This morning the natives were seen
mustering on shore. They launched their canoes,
and paddled about surveying us on all sides in the
distance. At length a bold, good-natured looking
* No wonder they were shy. It turned out that this was the
very place where the captain and part of the crew of the " Cape
Packet " were massacred, and the ship plundered, burned to the
water's edge and then sunk. We did not know this till the
following year, but we accounted for their shyness by what we
knew of the doings of a three-ship sandal-wood expedition,
who fought hero tliree years befoi-e, carried off yams and pigs,
killed numbers of the natives, and suffocated others in caves,
whither thcj' had fled for refuge.
MISSrOXARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 389
fellow mustered courage and drew near. AVe gave
liim some strips of clotli for the yams lie handed
up. Grot liim on deck. Showed him about the
ship. Gave him some trifling presents, and now he
was fi^antic with joy. He took a fancy to Captain
Morgan's checked neckerchief, and, with the most
winning gestures, commenced gently to untie it.
" Don't let him do that," some of us said, but our
kind-hearted captain could not say No. " Poor
fellow, he may as well have it !" He spread it out
in admiration. Captain Morgan made signs for him
to keep it, and as he went below for another one,
the feUow jumped up, stood on the bulwarks, and
shouted out to his comrades, who were eagerly
waiting in their canoes in the distance. We could
not catch his dialect, but no doubt, he praised us
to the skies, as he spread out and waved his
presents, one by one, neckerchief and all. In-
stantly every paddle was in the water, and on they
came, splash, splash, splashing and racing to be
first. Their confidence was won, and as they were
unarmed, we did not fear treachery. They are a
fine race, a shade or two lighter than the Tannese ;
they are taller and stouter also. Several of their
words we recognize as Eastern Polynesian.
But it was now nine o'clock, and still no appear-
ance of the party we landed yesterday. So ofi" we
set in the boat, Mr. Murray, Captain Morgan, and
I, with a good crew, in search of them. Presently
we met a fleet of canoes. They shied ofi" towards
the shore, as if afraid of us. We lowered our sail,
390 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
and beckoned them to come near. I pulled out of
my pocket a piece of print, shook it out and held
it up as a flag of peace. On this, one canoe ven-
tured out to us. We tore the print in strips, a
piece for each man, handed it to them, and made
signs for them to go to the ship with some yams
they had. All right again. The word was passed
to the other canoes, and off they all set towards
the vessel. A mile further on, we met another
party in five canoes, and to our joy saw our teachers
among them all safe. They had found the man
" Swallow," and there he was, sitting with them.
We took them into the boat. The teachers first
gave us their tale. They had a narrow escape
yesterday. At the first village they reached, all
were friendly, and a native joined them. As
they approached the next village, down sat the
New Zealander, and declared he would go no fur-
ther. He said that he and " Swallow " had fought
there not long ago, and that the people would kill
him. " Why did you not tell us that when we were
in the ship ?" said our teachers. " No, we cannot
go back now. Come along. live or die, we must
go through with our errand, now that we have under-
taken it." On they went. The New Zealander was
recognized at the next village, and all were instantly
on their feet to embrace the chance and kill him.
The native who had just joined them, pleaded for the
strangers, offered his own life for them, and so they
were allowed to pass. After a time they reached
Erakor, the village where " Swallow " was said to
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 391
live. Some of tlie long-lost Samoans and Tongan
women recognized the Samoan faces of our teachers,
rushed out of the houses in amazement, and burst
into a fit of crying, as if wailing over the dead.
The settlement was all in commotion, and, by and
by, the teachers found themselves in " Swallow's "
house, surrounded by a comjDany listening with
breathless interest to all they said. They explained
to them the good news of salvation and happiness
in heaven, through Christ the Son of God ; told
them, what chano*es the Word of God had brouojht
about in Samoa ; told them also that God's ser-
vants were still carrying on the good work, and
that we had actually come, in a large vessel, out of
love to them, to begin this good work among them-
selves : and now, said our teachers, " decide at once
who among you will now cast off heathenism, and
begin the service of the true God?" Twelve of them,
including " Swallow " and the chief of the \dllage,
at once decided to embrace the new religion, and,
for the first time, bowed their heads and united
in prayer to the one living and true God. The
teachers were delighted with the result of their
expedition, and so were we.
By the time the teachers finished their tale to us
in the boat, we had reached the vessel. Found it
crowded with natives, and all perfectly friendly. As
soon as we got on board, we sat down with our in-
teresting wanderer " Swallow." He calls himself
Sualo (Sooallow) ; belongs to Savaii ; left Samoa
some time after the Atua war — twenty years ago
392 NINETEEN TEAES IN POLYNESIA.
probably — in company with about fifty others, prin-
cipally Tongans. They were in a double canoe, and
bound for Tonga. Missed their island, and were
blown away in this direction. They made the island
of Tongoa, or the " Three Hills," to the north of this
island. There they landed, club in hand, fought,
conquered, and took possession of two settlements.
They lived there a couple of years, and then started
afresh, to try and find Tonga. Failed again. Made
the very bay where we are now at anchor, and again
settled down. Ague cut ofi* numbers of them.
They then went in search of a more healthy locality,
and have ever since lived at Erakor. Death con-
tinued to thin their number, and now they are re-
duced to niiie, six here and three on Tongoa. Sualo
is quite a heathen, has three wives, has been a great
warrior, and is one of the most daring fighters on
the island. Chiefs are in the habit of hiring him,
for a pig or two, to join them in their battles. He
takes the lead, dashes among the enemy with his
long-handled tomahawk, lays low his victims, and
decides the contest. He has with him now his in-
strument of death, concealed as well as he can with
the head of it next to the palm of his hand, and
the handle running up under his arm. He promises
to begin a new life, and will, we trust, be of great
service to us. He seems to know all the natives
from the shore here, and they are as pleased as we
are to have him through whom to speak to us.
In addition to his own history, Sualo has given
us some information respecting this lovely island
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 393
and its population. It is probably 100 miles in cir-
cumference. No black lava to be seen anywhere ;
all an uplifted coral formation. There are numbers
of deep bays, with anchorage and fresh water, all
round, and on the north-west side there is a large
land-locked harbour. Population, 12,000 perhaps.
No kino- w^hose rule extends over all the island, but
numbers of petty chiefs here and there. The people
are decently covered compared with the Eromangans
and Tannese. They are girded round the waist with
half a dozen turns of fancy matting belts, eight
inches deep. Another strip is passed down in front
and up behind. Hair woolly and short. Trinkets
round the neck. Armlets are also worn. No tatoo-
ing ; paint the face only in war. They live in regular
villages. Houses long, 100 feet sometimes, but low
and narrow. Plenty of the usual Polynesian fruits
and vegetables ; pigs and domestic fowls also.
Diversity of dialect, but not so much as at Tanna.
Have intercourse, and intermarry, to some extent, all
over the island. Not so much given to war as some
other islands. Have no fire-arms ; fight vdth clubs,
spears, and poisoned arrows. The conquering party
will give up the dead body of one of the enemy for
a pig or some other present ; failing that, they cook
it. If it is one who spoke ill of the chief, his jaws
are hung up in the chief's house as a trophy. All
kinds of other bones are also hung up about the
posts and rafters *of the house. It is a strange mark
of rank among them. The greater the chief, the
greater the display of bones.
394 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
Infanticide is sadly prevalent. As the burden of
plantation and other work devolves on the woman,
she thinks she cannot attend to more than two or
three children, and that the rest must be buried as
soon as they are born. There are exceptions to this
want of maternal affection. At times the husband
urges the thing, contrary to the wishes of his wife.
If he thinks the infant will interfere with her work,
he forcibly takes the little innocent, and buries it,
and she, poor woman, cries for months after her
child.
There are no idols to be seen here. The people
worship the spirits of their ancestors. They pray
to them, over the kava-bowl, for health and pros-
perity ; reminding us, again, of the origin of
"healths," " toasts," etc. Not much sickness, and
many old people. Sualo says, " the men live till the
beards of their sons are gray." Disease traced to
human causes. If one man is angry with another,
he goes at night and buries certain leaves close by
his house, that the person, in coming out in the
morning, may step over them, and be taken iU. If a
person feels poorly, he thinks he must have stepped
over some of those leaves buried by an enemy.
He sends for native doctors, who administer juices
from the bush, and search for the mischievous leaves.
They get pigs for their fees. If the patient dies, it
is supposed that the leaves have not been found
out. Great wailing at death. Scratch their faces
till they are streaming with blood. Bodies of the
dead buried. The spirits of the departed supposed
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IX 1845. 395
to go westward. At the entrance to their hades,
one called Salatau sits with a hatchet in his hand.
Every one that comes gets a blow on the head, and
is sent below.
Canoes inferior ; still they venture a long way in
them, and have intercourse with some of the islands
to the north. Sualo has given us the names of fifteen
of these islands to the north, including Espirito Santo,
and says he has been at the most of them. What
a field ! When, oh when, will it be occupied ! He
was at the large harbour to the north-west some time
ago, where the sandal-wood expedition, three years
ago, under Captains S , D , and H , an-
chored and committed the most outrageous acts of
Avickedness. He says it is quite true that many were
killed, and many more suffocated in a cave. They
pulled down some houses, dragged them to the
mouth of the cave, and there set fire to them, until
the cries of those inside the cave were hushed in
death. Two women were taken on board, and kept
there while the vessels were at anchor. Plantations
were plundered, and the yams, together with hun-
dreds of pigs, taken away. Such is Sualo' s account.
Hope, on a subsequent voyage, to go to the large
harbour, and hear more particularly all about it.
The name here for white men is '■^sailing profli-
gates.'" What a name ! Given by heathens, too.
Saturday f 3rcZ May. — Ready for sea again. Have
located four Samoan teachers ; Setefano and Mose
in the settlement where Sualo lives, and Taavili and
Sipi at Pango, in the bay here. Might have located
396 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
forty if we had them. We had no idea when we
left Samoa of more than a reconnoitre here this
voyage, but having been driven from Futuna, still
shut out from Eromanga, and having had the door
opened to us here in such a remarkable manner, the
course was plain, and now we have fairly entered.
With hearts thankful to God for this fresh advance
on the territory of Satan, and encouraged for the
future, we are now ready for sea, and bound for the
Loyalty Islands and New Caledonia.
Monday^ 6th May, at Sea. — This morning a brig
hove in sight, on our lee quarter, standing for Tanna.
He hoisted his colours ; could not make them out.
He then fired two guns. We hoisted our " number."
He then put about and made towards us, with his
ensign half-mast high. Supposing him to be in dis-
tress, we headed round. Met at twelve o'clock. It
turned out to be the "N ," Captain C ,
D L B owner, ten months from China,
and after sandal-wood and beech-le-mer ; a large
crew in distress for provisions, and imploring help.
Captain Morgan asked him to come on board, and
arranged to let him have two months' provisions
in exchange for saws, hatchets, etc. Captain C
is suspicious of the Lifu people. Thinks they are
watching their chance to take a vessel. He
brought on board with him a young Englishman
he picked up there. Thinks he is likely to put
mischief into the heads of the natives, and in-
tends keeping him in the ship while he is about the
group. We took this poor fellow aside and talked
missiojS^ary voyage in 1845. 397
with him. Quite young ; t\Yenty, perhaps. Of re-
spectable origin apparently ; fair hair, and light com-
plexion. Decently clothed ; but he has allowed his
hair to grow long, and we can imagine what he is
when he is on shore among the natives. He calls
himself Charles George B , of Bristol. Left the
" Munford" four years ago, and has been knocking
about at Lifu ever since. " Nobody cares for me,
and what need I care for them?" was one of his
speeches, as Mr. Murray and I advised the poor
prodigal to go back to his father's house. Spoke
also to a young chief of Ilea, called lokui, who came
on board with Captain C . Ilea is the name of
a group, to the north-west of this, and well reported
of. This 3^oung man speaks broken English, and,
with an earnestness which I shall never forget, im-
plored us to take teachers to them. Told him we
had none this voyage, but hope to reach his group
of islands next cruise.
Wednesday, 7th May, at Sea, off Lifu. — ^Yester-
day and to-day, beating to windward to the bay
where we hope to find two teachers. As we tacked
in this afternoon, a canoe came ofi" with five natives.
Not unhke the Feejeeans in colour and figure. Two
came on deck. We bought their cocoa-nuts, and
gave them something extra. Could not catch a word
they said. They covered their faces with their hands,
bowed their heads, pointed to the skies, and said,
" lehovah." Thinkino; we mio-ht not understand this,
the two on deck called over to the three in the canoe
alongside. Immediately they all untied and pulled
398 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
off some long strips of native cloth which they had
wound round their long hair, bowed the head, and
one in the canoe commenced talking at the top of
his voice, with his eyes shut. Wliatever is it ? We
listened " lehovah." .... "lesu." . . . .
"Atua." .... "lehovah." .... They are pray-
ing. Listen ! All was quiet and solemn ; and by
and by they come to the unmistakeable " Amen.'*
Their heads were up again ; and as they readjusted
their hair, the leer of the eye was as much as to say,
" You see how well we can do it. You must now
know that we are friendly, and pray to the true
God!" They echoed the names of our teachers,
pointed to the land, and we commissioned them, as
well as we could by signs, to go on shore and send
out our teachers. The New Hebrides natives are low
enough, but these poor fellows are lower still. ISTot a
rag of clothing ; not a leaf even. Only the broad
bandage, or open cap, for the hair of the head.
Thursday, 8th May, at Sea, off Lifu. — We are now
off Mu, on the south-east side of the island, where
our teachers are. No anchorage ; and on standing
in, are in danger of being drifted on shore. Towards
evening, got our two teachers, Paoo and Sakaria,
on board, with the blind chief Bula (Boola), and his
chief speaker, and some young men the descendants
of Tongans who were drifted here many years ago.
This is the first missionary visit to Lifu. Paoo and
Sakaria were left at Mare three years ago, with in-
structions to come on to Lifu as soon as possible.
They came in October, 1842. Have been kindly
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 399
treated by the natives ever since. But Sakaria lias
turned out bad ; he has been living like a heathen.
Paoo, however, has been faithful, and a number are
gathered together on the side of a nominal Chris-
tianity. They still fight, however, have night
dances, pray to their ancestors, and add to all the
worship of God. A change has of late come over
the chief Bula ; he has given up cannibahsm. For-
merly he has had sixteen cooked bodies laid before
him at a meal, now he will not touch human flesh,
and threatens death to any of his family who ever
again tastes of it. This was confirmed by the young
Englishman, B , we saw yesterday. If a cooked
body is sent to him as a present, he gives orders to
bury it. The Lifu people have had no hand in the
late massacres at Mare and the Isle of Pines. They
have occasional intercourse, however, and traffic with
these islands. There is a party here now from the
Isle of Pines, and they are trying to persuade the
Lifu people to take a vessel also, as a good specu-
lation — a royal road to wealth.
Off Lifu, Friday, 9fh May. — Through Paoo, as
interpreter, have had a long talk this morning with
Bula and his party. Were minute in describing the
miseries they will bring upon themselves if they at-
tempt to take vessels. Exhorted them to take a firm
stand on the side of Christianity, and let it still be
the glory of their land that it is unstained by the
blood of a stranger. This touched the right cord.
Bula's speaker was on his feet directly, and holding
on by the rail of the saloon settee, addressed us
400 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
with great earnestness as follows : "In all past
generations Lifu lias had a good name. Lifu has
always been kind to strangers. You see these Ton-
gans sitting here ? Go on shore, and yon will see
the graves of their fathers who were drifted hither,
and Hved and died among us. Go on shore, and you
will see the children of Tanna men. The fathers are
all dead and bm^ied, but the children live. AYe
have always been kind to white men too. Do not
be suspicious. We are not going to take a bad
name for a good one. Now, too, that we have re-
ceived the Word of God, we are all the more deter-
mined to be kind and good to all." They left the
ship, assuring us that they would drive off these bad
fellows fi'om the Isle of Pines, and reject their
wicked project.
Lifu is probably eighty miles in circumference ;
an uplifted coral formation, and covered with pines
in some places. The highest land on the island may
be 300 feet above the level of the sea. Population
probably 8,000 or 10,000. Two political divisions
of the island. Kuiet is at the head of the one, and
Bula at the head of the other. Both at present
are hostile. Fought some time ago. Forty killed
on the side of Bula, and seventy on the side of
Kuiet. At present they kidnap from each other,
and dress for the oven a body when they get one.
They are inveterate cannibals, but this has received
a deathblow from Christianity. Great feasting at
their principal times for spirit worship. They pre-
serve relics of their dead, such as finger-nails, teeth,
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 401
tufts of hair, and these are, in fact, their idols.
Polygamy prevails. Bula has forty wives. Com-
mon men three or four. The dead are bm^ed, if
not cooked. The spirit is supposed to go west-
ward at death, to a place called Loeha. People in
general healthy. In sickness send for native doc-
tors, whose remedies are herbs and salt water. No
cure, no pay ! Laulaati is the name of their creator.
Said to have made a stone, out of which came the
first man and woman. The people are industrious,
and build round houses fifty feet in diameter. Only
one dialect in the island, pure Papuan. A sandal-
woo der lately shot fourteen men on the north-west
side of the island, and the people there had a plot
laid to take a ship, but it did not succeed.
Zona and his wife, who were at Tanna, and in-
tending to return to Samoa, have volunteered to join
Paoo here, and help him for a year or two. May
God bless their labours ! There is much to be done
on these cannibal shores.
We have left Lifu, and have shortened sail for
the night, as we are surrounded by islands. Counted
seven of them at sunset, including New Caledonia.
Saturday, lOfh May, at Sea off Mare. — Knowing
that between thirty and forty of our countrymen
have been massacred on the island, within the last
two years, we approached it to-day with no small
concern for the safety of our teachers. We saw
numbers of the natives in the distance, but they
were afraid of us. Canoes all hauled up. Captain
Morgan proposed to go in first and reconnoitre.
D D
402 NINETEEN YEAES IN TOLYNESIA.
We sent a Samoan with liim to shout to the natives
on the rocks in Samoan, thinking that would be
sure to bring the teachers, if ahve. We followed
the captain closely with our glasses. He kept well
off, hoisted a white Jflag, and lay on his oars.
Then up went a white flag on a long stick from a
crowd of natives on shore. Among them and close
to the flag, we saw a straw hat and a white shirt.
" That's our teacher," we all said. The captain
still kept off*. Then down went the man with the
straw hat into a canoe with three others, and pushed
ofl". Pulled slowly away in another direction, evi-
dently afraid of the boat. Soon however they head
round, both parties are pulling towards each other,
presently the man with the straw hat is into the
boat, and the captain is heading out to the ship.
It turned out to be our Samoan teacher Tataio.
It was like life from the dead to see him among us,
and with no small interest we listened to his
tale. He has been well himself, and, to our
astonishment, has been kindly treated by the
natives. Eight months ago his fellow-teacher,
Taniela, of Tutuila, died of consumption. His
greatest grief at the last was the thought of leaving
Tataio all alone. The natives wept and wailed, as
if it had been one of themselves. Their next fear
was, lest anything should happen to Tataio. Were
more careful than ever to supply him with food.
Would not allow him to work. Forbad his going
off" to ships. "If," said they, "you die or get
killed, the missionary ship will come, and think that
I
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 403
we have killed both you and Taniela. Numbers
joined the new religion at the outset in 1841. But,
after a time, there was a falling oflP, owing to a
severe influenza epidemic. "We thought," said
they, " that if we prayed to Grod we were to be free
from sickness, but here it is as bad as ever." Then
up came a message from Mantungu, the chief of the
Isle of Pines, saying that they had killed their
teachers, thought that they had been better in
health since, and advised the old chief leui to kill
Tataio and Taniela. " What," said leui, "kill my
children ! No, I can never do that. And as to
disease, why you die and we die, and all are to die
some day. Who lives for ever ?" But this kind-
hearted old man still holds on to heathenism ; and
as the people do what the chief does, Tataio has
no marked cases of conversion to report. He plods
on, however, every Sabbath at religious services.
Four or five attend regularly, and some others
occasionally. We thought Tataio would wish to
leave ; but no, he wishes to remain. Has hopes of
ultimate success, and so we have decided to let him
hold on. We have appointed another to help him ;
have given them their supplies, and the boat has gone
on shore with them, but Tataio returns to spend the
night with us, and give us what particulars he knows
of the massacres wliicli have taken place here.
Saturday Night, lOtJt, May, at Sea off Mare. —
Tataio returned this afternoon, bringing with him
Naisilini, the son of old leui, and we have been
listening for an hour or two to their sad tales. The
404 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
first massacre of wliicli Tataio knows, was that of a
boat's crew, six in number, wlio we suppose be-
longed to the " Martha," of Sydney, towards the
end of 1841. They pulled in to a place on the
north-west side of the island, called Sereuamiet, to
look for sandal-wood. They landed, looked about,
and were all in the boat about to return to the ship.
The chief wished to join them, and have a look at
the vessel. They refused, he persisted, and when
the men commenced pulling, one of the oars acci-
dentally struck his head. The beach was crowded
with natives, who on seeing their chief wounded, and
some supposing that it had been done intentionally,
rushed forward, killed the whole party, and smashed
the boat to pieces. The bodies were cooked.
Then followed the attack on the " Brigand," in
November, 1843. She anchored at a place called
Bula, six or eight miles from where the teachers
resided. Tataio and Taniela went off to see what
she was, told the captain that the natives were
savages, and that he ought not to land. A Mr.
Sutton and another proposed to take a run on
shore under the wing of Taniela, and off they went
to the village where the teachers live. Tataio, at
the request of the captain, remained on board.
That morning ten of the crew went on shore after
women, and remained all night. Early in the morn-
ing, a number of the natives came to the vessel, and
begged Tataio to go on shore. At first he refused,
then yielded ; he suspected from their urgency that
something was wrong, and, as he left, told the captain
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 405
to look well after his ship. When he got on shore,
he and Naisilini, who was with him, were called into
a house to have a hit of food. As they were eating,
they were startled by the sudden roars and yells of
a fight close by them, and, at the same moment,
bang, bang went a number of guns out at the
vessel. They threw down their food, darted out,
and were just in time to receive into their arms one
of the white men who had cleared the crowd, and
rushed to them. He would have been speared in a
moment by those at his heels, but out of respect to
Tataio and the chieftain rank of I^aisilini, no one
dared to touch him. The other nine, however, were
all dead in a few seconds. The natives had enticed
them out of the house singly into the bush, on pre-
tence of taking them to women, and when they had
thus separated them, each wheeled round and struck
his man. An attack was made at the same time on
board the vessel. There the plot was that four
natives rush upon each man, to fasten his hands be-
hind his back, while another clubbed him. The
captain made a desperate effort, extricated himself,
sprang below, got to his fire=arms, took his aim,
shot one man dead, and when he fell on the deck,
all the rest jumped overboard, and made off to the
shore, leaving two of their own party and one of
the white men dead.
Tataio and Naisilini hastened off along the coast
home with the white man they had saved. A report
of the massacre had preceded them, and Taniela had
sent off in safety to the ship the two who were with
40G NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
him. The captain got up anchor, and ran out to sea.
He stood in again on the following day, and gave
the teachers an opportunity of sending off to the
vessel the man they had saved. The bodies of the
unhappy sufferers were all cooked. So far as we
can judge, the great object which the natives had in
view by this massacre was the acquisition of property,
such as was obtained by the Isle of Pines people
when they took the brig " Star" the year before.
The next affray at Mare was the murder of the
entire crew of the " Sisters," a small vessel from
Sydney, like the rest, also in search of sandal-wood.
She anchored at Uelo, on the north-west side, ten
or twelve miles from where our teachers were. The
natives took off yams for sale. Bartering went on
well for a time, and then the captain quarrelled with
the chief over a perfect trifle. The chief had tivo
yams, and wanted two bits of hoop iron for them.
The captain gave him one piece, and insisted on hav-
ing the tivo yams. The chief refused, and, on this,
the captain seized a rope's end, and gave him a
beating. The chief ordered all his people on shore,
and at once they laid the plot to take the vessel.
Next morning they went on board. The crew were
below at breakfast, quite off their guard. The na-
tives divided themselves into groups. Presently the
crew came on deck, the signal was given, and, in a
minute or two, all on board, consisting of eleven in-
dividuals, were overpowered and fell. Seven of the
bodies were thrown into the sea, and four were taken
on shore to cook. They then stripped the vessel of
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 407
everytliing they wanted, and set fire to her, as
they heard the Isle of Pines natives had done with
the " Star." While turning over their treasures on
shore, and opening everything, they came upon some
kegs of powder. They had an idea of what it was,
and began amusing themselves by the blazes from
small quantities thrown into the fire in the middle
of the house. Some sparks reached the open kegs,
and then there was a fearful explosion. The great
house was blown to pieces, four were killed, and
many wounded. Among the killed was a chief who
was greatly lamented, and this set them all in a
rage, and vowing vengeance on the first white men
they could get hold of. Our teachers, Tataio and
Taniela, were at their own station when this hap-
pened. The natives for a while concealed it from
them, said it was a vessel which had been cast
ashore, and all the crew dead ; but after a time the
account of the afiair came out which Tataio has just
told us.
Two boats and many other things belonging to
the " Sisters" were taken to Lifu. Our teachers
there, hearing whence they had come, offered things
in exchange, and succeeded in procuring a chrono-
meter, sextant, boat, and log-book. These they in-
tended to keep until the missionary vessel came, and
then deliver them up. Captain L , of the barque
"Magnet," touched there, and forced the teachers to
give them up to him. They parted with them reluc-
tantly, and asked Captain L to give them what
they gave for the articles, since he must have them.
408 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
That even was refused ; and, subsequently, the most^
unfounded reports were spread abroad respecting
these teachers, which, had Captain L been able to
speak to them, or had he even communicated through
an honest interpreter, would never have been circu-
lated. When at Lifu, a few days ago, we received
from our teachers a writing-desk and some other
articles, which Captain Morgan will take to Sydney,
and hand to the friends of the unhappy sufferers.
Tataio has yet another massacre of which to tell
us. The murderers of the crew of the " Sisters,"
who were thirsting for the blood of a white man to
avenge the death of their chief, who was blown up
with the gunpowder, had not long to wait, A large
boat, with seven men in her, put in not long after,
near the same place. This was a party of runaway
convicts from Norfolk Island. Five of them were
killed, and the boat broken to pieces. The other two
had gone off to forage in the bush, and, happily, met
with old leui and his sons, who were travelling there
that very day about some war affairs. The mur-
derers of the five were in search of the other two ;
found them with leui and his sons, and proposed to
kill them. leui refused, and took them home with
him. They lived for two months under the wing
of the old chief and our teachers, and were kindly
treated.
But the fellows were out and out Norfolk
Islanders. One night they got up and robbed old
leui of four muskets, ten hatchets, four felling axes,
and a saw. Then they went to the teachers' house.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE [N 18-J^5. 409
took four shirts, two knives, and an axe, and off
they set in the teachers' canoe, to join some white
men reported to be at Lifu. At dayhght the things
were missed, and the place in an uproar. Suspicion
fell on the teachers. " Their canoe is away ; they
must have helped the fellows to lift it into the
water," etc. " No," said Tataio, " how can that be ?
We are robbed, too, and our canoe gone, to boot !
But, I'll tell you : they cannot be far away ; let us
be off after them. I go, for one. Who will join me ?"
A party was made up in a twinkling, and off they
went ; hard drive at their paddles, out to sea, in the
direction of Lifu. Soon they sighted something
rising now and then on the top of the waves. Two
men in it ; just the fellows. A little further, and
they were in sight of each other. The thieves
loaded their muskets, and fired two or three shots.
No one was hurt. Their pursuers paddle steadily
on, and are determined to be at them. Then they
threw the stolen property into the sea towards them,
but who could pick up sinking axes ? All were lost-
The two scoundrels knew what they deserved ;
thought it was a choice of deaths, and jumped into
the sea to drown themselves. " Poor fellows," said
Tataio, " they think we are going to kill them. Let
us save them if we can." He got his hand into the
mouth of one of them when he had all but sunk,
and pulled him up. The other was also secured,
and laid flat in the bottom of the canoe, half dead.
The sea was running high, the outrigger broke, and
all had to jump out, except the two vagabonds, wlio
410 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
were lying senseless in tlie bottom of the canoe.
But it was hard Avork to swim and drag the dis-
abled canoe through a heavy sea. " What are we
doing ?" said the natives to each other. " By and
by we shall be all dead. Why should we be drowned
in trying to save these fellows ? It is their own
doing. Let us tilt the canoe over, pitch them out,
and save ourselves. " No," said Tataio ; " see the
current is drifting us fast to that little island. Let
us try it a little longer."
They reached the little island, landed, rested, and
scolded the two scoundrels, as they recovered and
were able to listen to what was going on. Some
natives on the island, when they heard the tale, would
have them killed, but the votes with Tataio carried
it for their lives. " Well, then, spare their lives ;
but we 7mist punish them." They stripped them
naked, besmeared them from head to foot with a
mixture of mud and ashes, and then said, " Now you
must go about so." Native-like, however, they re-
pented next day, washed the fellows clean, and gave
them back their clothes. After resting a day or two,
the party returned to Mare.
The Mare people were delighted to see the party
return ; but, when they heard the story, and knew
that all the property was thrown away, they could
hardly keep their clubs off the vagabonds. But old
leui united with the teachers, and forbad. " Wliat
good," said he, "will it do to kill them ? It won't
bring back my property." Here, again, they were
allowed to live, and were fed, too, by the people as
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 411
if notliing had happened, until they had an oppor-
tunity of leaving in a vessel which touched at the
place some time after. Call the natives of Mare
savage or treacherous, or whatever we may, there
are still some good sort of folks among them. Here
is an example of humane forbearance in this old
leui which many a civilized people would find hard
to imitate.
Tataio says that the Mare people are now sorry
they have killed so many white men, and are deter-
mined to stop it. This constant dread of white men
and guns, when a vessel heaves in sight, is unbear-
able. Mare is a smaller island than Lifu. It, too,
is a mass of uplifted coral. There are marks of two
distinct upheavings. The highest parts may be 300
feet above the level of the sea. Nengone is the
native name of the island. The name Mare, which
is so prevalent, is said to be the name given to the
island on the Isle of Pines. There is a twofold
division of the island, in which the people are at
enmity with each other. Polygamy prevails. leui
has twenty wives. The dead are buried. Bodies of
the enemy who are kidnapped or fall in battle, are
cooked. Disease-makers similar to those at Tanna.
Have finger-nail, tooth, and hair relics, as at Lifu,
and deify the spirits of the departed.
Sahhath Evening, 11th May, at Sea off New Cale-
donia. — Captain Morgan went in early this morning
at Marc, and put Tataio and Naisilini on shore for
their Sabbath services. Wind light and fair, and so
we stood off for New Caledonia. Sighted it this
412 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
afternoon, and now we are waiting for the return ot
day to communicate mtli the shore.
12th May, off New Caledonia. What a noble
island ! Upwards of 200 miles long and 50 broad.
Well known since the days of Cook, and yet how
little has been done for its heathen population !
We were close in off the south-east corner of the
island by eleven a.m. Whenever the boat made her
appearance, our teachers Noa and Taunga were all
ready to come off to the vessel. Glad to see them
alive and well, poor fellows ; but they too had sorrow-
ful tales to tell us. They first told us of the death
of their fellow-teacher Teura, a Rarotongan, last
July. He died of consumption. His end was peace
and joy, fuU of the hope of heaven.
massacre at the isle of pines.
Then followed an account of the massacre of the
teachers who were at the Isle of Pines. There were
three of them. They were blamed for causing sick-
ness. Mantungu, the chief, ordered them away, and
as Captain Ebrill of the brig " Star" was there at
the time, and offered to take them to Samoa, they
left in his vessel. Captain Ebrill first went to
Sydney, came back, was on his way to Samoa with
the teachers, but touched at the Isle of Pines, to
procure some more sandal- wood. He anchored at
Uao, some little distance from the residence of the
chief. The natives went off to the vessel. " Wliere
are Mantungu and his sons?" said a person on
MISSION AEY VOYAGE IN 1845. 413
board. " Dead," replied the natives in a joke.
"Dead, dead! that is good," said the same per-
son. " Let such chiefs be dead, and let the common
people hve, and help us to cut sandal-wood." For
some reason which we cannot ascertain, Captain
Ebrill and his crew were angry with the old chief,
and, as a further proof of it, when he sent a present
of food to the teachers, who he heard were in the
vessel, it was not allowed to be received on board.
Those who took it had pieces of wood thrown at
them, and two musket-shots fired at them. None
were killed, but one man was wounded in the knee.
" What can they mean," said Mantungu, " wishing
me and my sons dead in our own land, and why
commit such outrages upon my people who went
with a present ?" Whether he had any intentions
previously to take a vessel, we know not ; but any
one who knows the old despot can imagine how
such treatment would make his savage heart flame
with revenge.
Next morning thirty select men were off, deter-
mined to kill all on board. They took some sandal-
wood with them to sell ; and. as a farther trick, did
not arm themselves with clubs or axes, but with the
adzes, which they use in dressing off the bark and
sap from the wood. They reached the vessel. The
sandal-wood pleased all on board, was immediately
bought, and the natives were allowed to go up on
deck to grind their adzes, on pretence that they
were going off for more wood. One of the crew
was turning the handle of the grindstone, a native
414 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
grinding an adze, and the captain close by. Seizing
a favourable moment, the native swung his adze,
and hit the captain in the face between the eyes.
This was instant death to Captain Ebrill, and the
signal for attack all over the vessel. In a few
minutes seventeen of the crew were killed, viz., ten
white men, including the captain, two Marquesans,
two Mangaians, one Aitutakian, one New Zealander,
and a Rarotongan teacher. The cook fought despe-
rately for a while with an axe, and killed one man,
but was at length overpowered and fell. This
occmTed on the afternoon of 1st of November, 1842.
A young man named Henry, two Samoan teachers,
and a native of the New Hebrides, made their
escape below. Henry loaded muskets and fired up
the companion, but without effect. It only exaspe-
rated the natives on deck, who threw down upon
him lumps of sandal-wood. The teachers then
collected their property, six red shirts, eight axes,
etc., called up and offered all for their lives, but
there was no mercy. Night came on. The natives
divided. A party went on shore in the boat, and
the rest remained on deck to guard those below.
In the morning the natives called down to
Henry and the Samoans to come up, take the vessel
farther in, and then go on shore, as Mantungu had
come and declared they were to live. The poor fel-
lows felt they were entirely in' the hands of the
natives, came up, ran the vessel close in shore, and
again dropped anchor. They were then taken to
the shore. A son of Mantungu, with a tomahawk
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 415
in his right hand, met Henry as he stepped out of
the boat, held out his left hand, with a feigned grin
of friendship, to shake hands, but the moment he
got hold of Henry's right hand, the villain up with
his axe, and laid the poor fellow dead at his feet.
Others were up and at the remaining three. Len-
golo, the New Hebrides native, and the Samoan,
Taniela, were kiUed at once. Mantungu and a party
of natives were sitting under the shade of the cocoa-
nuts, looking on. Lasalo, the other Samoan teacher,
escaped, streaming with blood, threw himself at the
feet of the old chief, and begged for life. Mantungu
was silent for a minute or two, but soon gave the
wink to a Lifu man. Lasalo was now dragged
away to be killed, but he sprang from the fellow as
he lifted his axe, and darted off to the sea. The
savages were at his heels ; he was hit repeatedly, but
escaped to the deep water, struck out, and swam off
to a little island. Four men jumped into a canoe,
and after him. He climbed a pine-tree, talked for a
while with them. They assured him Mantungu
had determined to spare him, and at last he came
down. It was treachery again. They sprang upon
him like tigers ; but again he extricated himself,
rushed to the canoe ; there, however, at length the
poor fellow was overpowered and fell.
After the massacre the bodies were divided.
There were people there from New Caledonia, Marc,
and Lifu, and each had a share. Then followed the
plundering of the vessel. Deck, cabins, and fore-
castle were stripped of everything. They cut down
416 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
the masts to get at the sails and rigging, and then
set fire to her, without opening the hold. As the
fire reached the powder, there was a terrific explo-
sion, but no lives lost. She burned to the water's
edge, and then sank.
The accounts lately published in the Sydney
papers of the attempt to take the " Caroline," of
Sydney, at the Isle of Pines, is substantially correct.
While the body of the crew were on shore, an attack
was made on the vessel. In the afiray, the powder
magazine blew up, and sent the deck flying, which
so alarmed the natives, that they all jumped over-
board, except three who were killed. The crew on
shore escaped to the vessel, got the fire under,
weighed anchor, and fled. Had the plot to kill the
crew on shore been carried out, this vessel would
have gone to the bottom also, like the " Star." So
far as we can ascertain, a desire for plunder was the
main cause of this attack on the " Caroline."
NEW CALEDONIA.
Passing from these disasters on the Isle of Pines,
Noa and Taunga proceeded to give us an account of
their own difiiculties at New Caledonia. The people
were friendly for awhile ; helped to build a chapel
and dwelling-house for the teachers. The chief,
however, seemed inclined to claim the latter as his
own. From sixty to seventy gave up working on
the Sabbath, and attended the services. Schools,
too, were commenced for the children and adults,
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 417
and all going on as well as could be expected, when
over came a message from Mantungu, of the Isle of
Pines, saying that they must kill the teachers, and
give up the worship of God, as he had done. With the
command, the old man sent an axe, said it had done
the deed in killing their teachers, and was to be
used in cutting off Noa and Taunga. The people
had a meeting, and wept over it. They could not
kill their teachers ; but as they are a conquered
tribe, and under the feet of the old tyrant, they
felt sadly afraid of the consequences of a refusal.
To please him a number gave up attending to the
services. But when he heard that his words were
not carried out to the very letter, his next was a
threat to "make food" of the whole district.
The teachers had now to be on their guard.
Taunga went, on a Sabbath-day, to preach at a
neighbouring village. Two sons of the chief ac-
companied him. On the way, the one proposed to
the other to kill Taunga. He refused ; said he was
afraid of his father. The other insisted on it ; said
he would do it. "You go home," said he; "leave
it with me to lead on Taunga a bit further. I can
manage it." They conversed in a dialect which they
thought Taunga did not understand ; but he caught
it, saw what was in the wind, and as the two sepa-
rated, he refused to go any further. The murderer
up with his club ; Taunga darted at him, twisted it
out of his hands, and ordered both the fellows to be
off home in the road before him. He followed at
their heels with the club in his hand.
E E
418 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
On two or three other occasions the lives of
these good men were in jeopardy, and the accoimts
which they give of their self-possession on these
trying occasions is heart- stirring and apostolic.
*' Come on," said Taunga cuie day when they
were surrounded, and all ready for the slaughter.
"Come on, kill us; we are not afraid. Close our
lips in death, if you please, but remember you will
not thereby silence the Word of Grod."
But their most narrow escape was only a few
days ago. On the 5th instant, a large party in five
canoes arrived from the Isle of Pines to kill Noa
and Taunga. On the following day an armed party,
headed by Uaise, son of Mantungu's brother, went
to the teachers' house to do the deed. They found
Noa outside near some graves, and commenced
jeering and wrangling with him about the resur-
rection.
" Do you mean to say that the bodies of these
people will rise ?" said Uaise.
"Yes; and that they will," rephed Noa.
" Christ will appear in the heavens, a trumpet
will sound, and the dead will be raised."
" Nonsense. All a parcel of lies."
" No hes about it. Wait till the time comes,
and you will see that it is all true."
" Lies. Rotten flesh and bones hve again ! Who
would beheve such a thing? What liars you Sa-
moans and Rarotongans are !"
"No lies. True words of God. And let me
tell you more : it will be a glorious day that for
MISSIONARY YOVAGE IX 1845. 419
all good people ; but those wlio are wicked when
they die, will rise in great misery, weeping and wail-
ing, and calling upon the mountains to fall do^^^l
and cover them up again."
" Stop, stop ! Don't want to hear any more of
your tales."
Taunga was in the house ; overheard what was
going on ; thought he would try and carry on the
conversation with the rough-looking fellows, and so
he called them all to step in and have some conver-
sation with him about the AYord of God. A number
went in. Taunga commenced on the resurrection,
respectfully addressing the chief, Uaise ; but before
he got out half-a-dozen of words, in rushed four
furious fellows, hatchet in hand, all excited, and
prepared for instant bloodshed. One seized Xoa's
arm with his left hand, and raised his axe with his
right. Another did the same to Taunga. Taunga
was speechless, bowed his head in silent prayer, and
waited the deadly blow. Noa bowed his head, too,
but raised his voice in prayer : " Father, if it be
thy wiU that we this day fall at the hands of the
heathen, receive our souls, through Jesus Christ our
Saviour." The assassins must first have the nod of
their leader ; they looked and looked. " Sha'n't we
strike ?" Uaise shook his head. They held on for
a minute or two, but it was still a shake, and " Xo,"
and off the four fellows darted out of the house
again. The hand which moves the world had
touched with fear or pity the savage heart of Uaise.
Taunga and Noa looked up. Hope of life returned.
420 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
" Sit still," said they to Uaise ; " our oven, which
was covered in an hour ago will now be ready ;
have a bit of food." In three minutes a tray of
smoking hot yams was brought in. This was the
finishino- touch. Their hard hearts were melted;
they partook of the teachers' hospitality, rose, shook
hands, went back to their quarters, and next morn-
ing left the islands.
We feel thankful to God that we have arrived
here just at this time. A great feast is to be held
towards the end of the month, at which Mantungu
and his people are to be present, and as the old man
still breathes out threatenings and slaughter against
the teachers, he no doubt looks forward to it as the
time for another attempt. Our arrival, therefore,
seems quite providential for the rescue of these good
men, who have so long hazarded their lives in the
cause of Christ among these people. The chief here
is an inactive simpleton, affords no protection, and
has treated the teachers more as if they were his
servants than otherwise. Nor do we at present
know of any other place on the island where they
are likely to be free fi^om the rage of Mantungu ; it
is said that he is dreaded all over the island. Noa is
quite decided ; he wishes to be removed. Taunga is
willing to do whatever we please ; either to let him
hold on, or try some other island. Says he wishes
to live and die in the service of Christ among the
heathen. On our proposing to remove him to Mare,
he said he might as well be killed on New Caledonia
as Mare. But when he heard how kind the Mare
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1845. 421
people had been to our teachers amid all their
slaughter of white men, he was mlling to go. Hap-
pily the chief Uathotha was on board. We called
him at once, and told him we were going to remove
the teachers. " Very well ; just as you think best."
AYe were surprised to see how coolly he and the
others with him took it. We gave him a present,
promised him another visit, and parted good friends.
We proposed to take two young men with us to
Samoa for instruction, and Uathotha has given up a
young man called Keamu, one of his relatives, and
another called ISTavie, a captive taken in war, who
has hved at Tuaulu for some time. We have left
New Caledonia, sorry to give it up even for a time,
but we have no alternative. We are now standing
towards Mare.
At Sea off Mare, Tuesday, IWi May. — Early this-
morning had Mare fall in view, but were becalmed.
After breakfast, Mr. Murray, Captain Morgan, and I
left the ship in the whale-boat. Had a pull of some
foiir miles before we got to the beach. Felt a
strange sensation as I stepped on to the island
where so many of our coimtrymen have of late been
massacred. But aU, at a glance, was perfect friend-
ship. The women and children were there, and the
men, though armed, were e^adently full of joyous
excitement to see us land among them without gun
or sword, either in the boat or in our hands. They
had heard of " servants of God," " men of j^eace,"
etc., and now that we were actually among them,
they looked as if it were a treat. All were orderly
422 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
at the word of old leui, cleared a patli for us through
the crowd, and we all walked up to the " great
house," a round, bee-hive looking building, sixty
feet in diameter, something like our large Samoan
houses. All were silent. Mr. Murray and I ad-
dressed the chiefs and people. leui and all were
delighted with our proposal to leave Taunga. We
closed our interview with prayer, walked about the
settlement a little, and then returned to our boat.
The natives crowded about like bees ; a yam in one
hand, holding on by the boat with the other, and
clamorous for fish-hooks. We satisfied the most of
them. Old leui gave the word of command, and
every man let go. We pushed ofi", but the old man
insisted on accompanying us out a bit, and to stuim
back. He seemed to think as little of that as we
should of walking. But we did not like to take the
old man far. Held on after pulling a few strokes ;
gave him some more fish-hooks. He saw we did not
wish to take him further, stowed them away in his
mouth, shook hands, tumbled overboard, and, with
the greatest good-humour, waddled away to the
shore.
As we pulled out to the vessel, sang a verse or
two of
" O'er the gloomy hills of darkness,"
and felt grateful to God for having enabled us to
complete so far the work which we had marked out
for ourselves in our cruise. A fair wind had sprung
up, and, as soon as we got on board, headed round
and shaped our course for Samoa. Have just had a
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 423
special thanksgiving service for God's goodness in
preserving our lives, and for having to such an ex-
tent given us favour in the eyes of the heathen, and
blessed the object of our voyage.
NOTES RELATIVE TO NEW CALEDONIA, FROM NOA AND
TAUNGA.
At Sea, Wednesday, 14th May. — Have not found
a native name for the entire island ; it is all broken
up into districts, each having a name. Tuaulu is
the name of the district where they lived on the
S.S.E. side of the island. Numea is a district
two days' journey to the north of that. Kraji
is the name of a place four days' journey beyond
that again, where there is a lighter race, speaking
an Eastern Polynesian dialect.
At the birth of a child the doorway is the place
set apart for the occasion, and the friends assemble
in a circle outside. If a girl she is betrothed forth-
with to some one present, and, when seven or eight
years of age, goes to his house, and is taken special
care of by the family until she is older. If it is a
boy, there are great shouts and rejoicings. A priest
cuts the umbilicus on a particular stone from Lifu,
that the youth may be stone -hearted in battle. The
priest,- too, at the moment of the operation, must
have a vessel of water before him, dyed black as
ink, that the boy, when he grows up, may be
courageous to go anywhere to battle on a pitch-
424 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
dark niglit, and thus, from liis very birtli, the
little fellow is consecrated to war.
Girls work in plantations. Boys learn to fight.
Boys fight withboys. The people generally are trained
to a keen sense of hearing. They listen on the ground,
and can discern the tread of a party coining to battle,
when they are yet a long way ofi". Circumcision is
practised " when the youth's whiskers reach the hair
of his head." No whiskers is considered a sign of
wickedness, a curse from the gods, and the mark of
an outcast. Chiefs have ten, twenty, and thirty
wives. The more wives the better plantations, and
the more food. Common men have one or two.
No laws of consanguinity are observed in their
marriages, the Clearest relatives unite. If a wife
misbehaves, the chief does not divorce her, but
makes her work all the harder.
Taro, yams, cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane, fish, pigeons,
bats, rats, and human flesh are the prevaiHng articles
of food. No pigs ; few bread-fruits. They cook in
earthenware pots, manufactured by the women. No
intoxicating kava, but they drink enormous quan-
tities of salt-water. They work in the morning till
eleven a.m. Then rest ; drink cup after cup of salt-
water until it operates ; cook, and have their daily
meal. Only one meal a-day.
They have no clothing. Married women only wear
a short fringe. Disease-makers burn rubbish as at
Tanna (see p. 89). They think white men are the
spirits of the dead, and bring sickness ; and give this
as a reason why they wish to kill white men. If a
MISSIONAET VOYAGE IN 1845. 425
man among themselves is suspected of mtclicraft,
and supposed to liave caused the death of several
persons, he is formally condemned. A great festival
is held. He is dressed up with a garland of red
flowers, arms and legs covered with flowers and
shells, and his face and body painted black. He
then comes dashing forward, rushes through among
them, jumps over the rocks into the sea, and is seen
no more.
At death they dress the body with a belt and
shell armlets. Raise and cut off the finger and toe
nails whole to preserve as relics. They spread the
grave with a mat, and bury all the body but the
head. After ten days, the friends twist off the head,
extract the teeth as further rehcs, and preserve the
skull also. In cases of sickness, and other calamities,
they present offerings of food to the skulls of the
departed. The bodies of the common people, as
well as those of the chiefs, are treated thus. The
teeth of old women are taken to the yam plantation
as a charm for a good crop, and their skulls are also
erected there on poles for the same purpose. They
set up spears at the head of a chief when they
bury him, fasten a spear-thrower on to his fore-
finger, and lay a club on the top of his grave.
Their villages are not permanent. They migrate
within certain bounds, as they plant. There are
fifty or sixty round houses in some villages. They
had only stone edge-tools until recently. They felled
their trees by a slow fire close to the ground ; took
four days to it. Burned off the branches also, and.
426 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
if for a canoe or liouse-post, tlie length of log re-
quired. If for a canoe, tliey cut a hole in the sur-
face of the log, kindled a small fire, and burned down
and along, carefully drop, drop, dropping water all
around, to confine the fire to a given spot ; and in
this way they hollowed out their logs for the largest
canoes.
The chiefs have absolute power of life and death.
Priests do not interfere in political affairs. At death
the chief nominates his successor, if possible, in a
son or a brother . The law of private revenge allows
the murder of the thief and the adulterer. In the
district of Kraji, the guilty parties of adultery are
tried, dressed up, fed before the multitude, and then
publicly strangled. A man of the friends of the
woman takes one end of the cord, and a man of the
friends of the man takes the other.
The population is principally along the coast.
The people think they are more numerous now than
formerly. They account for it by there being less war
now than formerly. Still, it is war, war, war, incessant
war ! They say that formerly they did not stop a fight
until one party was killed right out to the verge of
extinction, but that now they are more merciful.
They fight with clubs, spears, and slings. They
pick out the good bodies of the slain for the oven,
and throw the bad away ; they tie up a captive to a
tree, dig a hole, and kindle a hot stone-oven for his
body before his very eyes. The women go to battle.
They keep in the rear, and attend to the commissariat!
Whenever they see one of the enemy fall, it is their
MIBSIONAliY VOYAGE IN 1845. 427
business to rush forward, pull tlie body behind, and
dress it for the oven. The hands are the choice bits,
sacred to the priests. The priests go to battle, but
sit in the distance, fasting and praying for victory.
They fast for days if they get no hands. If the
body of a chief is cooked, every one must partake,
down to the little child, and before a gourmandizer
proceeds to polish the bones, he calls out, " Have all
tasted ?" If it is the body of a woman, they eat
only the arms and legs. On Mare they devour all.
Sometimes they cook in joints, and sometimes the
whole body is doubled up in a sitting posture, with
the knees to the chin, put into the oven, and served
up so, as they squat around for their meal. Their
appetite for human flesh is never satisfied. " Do
you mean to say that you will forbid us the fish of
the sea? Why, these are our fisJo !'' This is how
they talk when you speak against cannibalism.
Their gods are their ancestors, whose relics they
keep up and idolize. At Kraji they have wooden
idols before the chiefs' houses. The office of the
priest is hereditary. Almost every family has its
priest. To make sure of favours and prosperity,
they pray not only to their own gods, but also, in a
general way, to the gods of other lands. Fishing,
planting, house-building, and everything of import-
ance is preceded by prayers to their guardian spirits
for success. This is especially the case before going
to battle. They pray to one for the eye, that they
may see the spear as it flies towards them. To
another for the ear, that they may hear the approach
428 NINETEEN YEAES IN FOLYNESIA.
of the enemy. Thus too they pray for the feet, that
they may be swift in pursuing the enemy ; for the
heart, that they may be courageous ; for the body,
that it may not be speared ; for the head, that it may
not be clubbed ; and for sleep, that it may be undis-
turbed by an attack of the enemy. Prayers over,
arms ready, and equipped with their relic charms,
they go off to battle. The aiimmum honum of a
New Caledonian is to be praised as a great warrior.
A coward has neither food nor respect.
There is a rain-making class of priests. They
blacken themselves all over, exhume a dead body,
take the bones to a cave, joint them, and suspend
the skeleton over some taro leaves. Water is
poured on the skeleton to run down on the leaves.
They suppose that the soul of the departed takes up
the water, makes rain of it, and showers it down
again. They have to fast and remain in the cavern
until it rains, and sometimes die in the experiment.
They generally choose, however, the showery months
of March and April for their rain-making. If there
is too much rain, and they want fair weather, they
go through a similar process, only they kindle a fire
under the skeleton and burn it up.
The spirits of the departed are supposed to go
to the bush. Every fifth month they have a " spirit
night," or "grand concert of spirits." Heaps of
food are prepared for the occasion. The people
assemble in the afternoon, round a certain cave. At
sundown they have a feast, and that over, one gets
up and addresses the spirits inside the cave : " You
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1845. 429
spirits within, may it please you to sing a song,
that all the ladies and gentlemen out here may
listen to your sweet voices." Then out bursts a
strange unearthly concert of voices, in which the
nasal squeak of old men and women is uppermost.
Those outside listen a while with delight, and praise
the "sweet voices," and then get up and dance to
the music. The singing increases with the dance,
and then follow the other orgies of a night of un-
bridled liberty, which, drinking excepted, would com-
pare with some of the worst of the ancient baccha-
nalia. The " spirits " are the old men and women of
the place, who slip in unobserved during the day,
and carry on the hoax upon the children and young
people, who firmly believe that the spirits of the
dead really assemble that night in the cave, and
patronize the sports of the living.
At Sea, 20th May, long. 178° E., lat. 23° 5.—
Light but fair winds for the last week. All well on
board. Have classes with the Tannese and New
Caledonians to teach them Samoan. Mr. Murray is
writing our united journal of the voyage for the
Directors, and I am drawing out a paper for our
Be])OTter, and a special account of the massacres for
the Sychiey Herald. The friends of the sufferers will
read with melancholy interest all that we have to re-
cord, as it will probably be the first and the only
reliable account which they will have of the sad
transaction.
Vavau, Friendly Islands, 29th May. — Have just
430 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
dropped anchor here. Have called to inform our
Wesleyan brethren that we have removed our teachers
from Rotumah, and now commit the island entirely
to their care. We also form a special deputation
from the Samoan mission relative to some Tongans
now in Samoa, who profess to be religious teachers,
and are a great hindrance to the cause of Christ.
Vavau, Friday, 20th May. — We are now on shore,
and enjoying the kind hospitality of our missionary
friends here, Messrs. Turner, Wilson, and Kevern.
Have had a conference with them relative to the
objects of our visit. They assure us they will do
their best for Rotumah, and also do all in their
power to put an end to the evil of which we com-
plain in Samoa, as carried on by Tonga men calling
themselves Wesleyans.
4th June.' — Under weigh again, and now leaving
Yavau. Have spent a few happy days with our
brethren here. We are now off with a fair wind for
Samoa.
Apia, Upolu, Saturday, 7th June. — Anchored here
this morning. Groodness and mercy have foUowed
us since we set out, and to the God of missions be
all the praise ! A meeting of our brother mission-
aries is summoned to hear an account of the voyage,
and to deliberate on future movements. " God be
merciful unto us and bless us, and cause his face to
shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon
earth, thy saving health among all nations."
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 431
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848.
After an interval of three years, I was again called
to buckle on, and take a voyage among tke heathen
islands of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia
groups. In addition to the location of native
teachers, there was, on this occasion, the doubly
responsible work of selecting a field for the infant
mission of the United Secession Church of Nova
Scotia, whose agents, the Rev. John Geddie and Mr.
I. Archibald, a lay assistant, had come out with
instructions to commence a mission, if practicable,
on New Caledonia ; but to be guided principally by
us, in their final decision as to a sphere of labour.
At a general meeting of our Samoan mission
committee, on the return of the " John Williams," on
her second voyage from England, it was arranged
that the Rev. T. Powell form a third, with the
Nova Scotia brethren, in founding the new mission ;
that, owing to the unsettled state of New Caledonia,
the mission be commenced in the New Hebrides, and,
if possible, on the island of Yate ; that the Rev. H.
Nisbet accompany the party, and help them for
twelve months; and also that I should aid in the
selection of the new field, and other preliminaries ; go
the round of the islands to be visited in the voyage,
432 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
and return (d.v.) with a report of the whole. A full
account of this voyage would fill a volume, but I
proceed as before, to give some condensed jottings
from my journal, leaving it with the reader to draw
his own inferences, and make his own reflections.
On Board the "John Williams, ^^ Apia, TJpolii, Mon-
day, Srd July, 1848. — Once more on board the
barque for a missionary cruise. Parted early this
morning with my dear wife and children. Feel con-
cerned for their safety, owing to the late fight-
ing and the continued hostile state of Samoan
affairs. But the call of duty is urgent to go on
with the voyage, and God will, I doubt not, take
care of all I leave behind. Have just had a farewell
meeting with the friends on shore, and we are
about to weigh anchor.
Matautu Savaii, Tuesday, 4th July. — Have called
here, as usual, before leaving the group. Mr. Pratt
has two teachers to add to our party, a couple of
servants for Mr. and Mrs. Geddie, and his people are
ready with a present of .six pigs and thi-ee hundred
yams for the vessel. Our company is complete, and
now we take our final departure. We have on
board Mr. and Mrs. Geddie and child ; Mr. and Mrs.
Archibald and child ; Mr. and Mrs. Powell and two
children ; three Earotongans ; seven Samoans ; six
native women, the wives of the teachers ; and seven
native children. We have also with us the native
Keamu, of New Caledonia, Umra, of Aneiteum,
and loane, a Savage Islander, all of whom we have
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1848. 433
had with us in Samoa for a time, and who, we
trust, will be of much use to us, first as inter-
preters, and subsequently when they land among
their own people. The parting of the natives with
their friends a little ago brought the tears into my
eyes. Some of the aged parents waded into the
sea up to the waist, sobbing and crying, as our boat
moved away, and there they still stood in the deep
water, catching the last glance of those they love.
AVe leave immediately, sixty of us in all, including
the ship's company.
At Sea, 12th Jidij. — Have had fine weather, and
a good run since leaving Samoa. We are close upon
the New Hebrides. Hope to anchor at Aneiteum
to-morrow, and have just had a special prayer-
meeting to implore God's help and blessing in the
commencement of our work on the coming day.
Aneiteum, New Hebrides, Friday, 14th July. —
Reached this island yesterday, and have come to
anchor in the large harbour, which we first visited
in the boat in 1845. Glad to see our teachers,
Simeone and Pita, on board soon after the anchor
was down. Soon saw the chief Nohuat, also, but he
is still a heathen. He let the teachers have a piece
of land on which to build their house, but gave no
help ; they persevered, however, and have finished
their httle plastered cottage of tlu-ee rooms. He
gave them land, also, on which to plant, but their
taro disappeared as soon as it was ripe. A few at-
tend the Sabbath services, but the mass of the people
still adhere to their heathenism, and are obstinate in
F F
434 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
strangling the widows. A commencement was made
some years ago to bury the dead, instead of throw-
ing them into the sea ; but the teachers found out
that a notion was spreading that all who were buried
went to heaven, and all who were cast into the sea
went to hell, and therefore gave up saying much
about it, that the people may understand it is a
matter of no moment, as regards his eternal in-
terests, where the body of a man is disposed of after
death. A man died lately who regularly attended
the services, and of whom the teachers have some
hope. After his death they succeeded in saving his
widow from being strangled. They had all but a
fight over it, as her brother insisted on carrying out
the old custom. I saw this woman in the teachers'
house this afternoon. War broke out some months
ago ; seven were killed. They are at peace again,
but there is still bad feeling between this and the
other side of the island, and the station there has
been broken up. The number of white men is in-
creasing. Several Roman Catholic priests have also
come, and appear to be making this a principal
station. They have erected a large iron house on
the opposite side of the bay from where the teachers
are. There are eight priests and eight lay brethren,
we are told.
In the event of our not finding things at Vatc as
we could wish, this seems to be the place for com-
mencing the Nova Scotia mission. Called on No-
huat this afternoon, to return his visit and say good-
bye. He promises to behave better to the teachers
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 435
for tlie future, and asked me to brino- him some
tobacco next time. "I never carry tobacco," was
my reply. " I believe it to be a bad thing, and could
not think of bringing you what I believe would do
you harm." He was pleased to hear that we intend
trying to locate the teachers among the unfriendly
tribes on the other side of the island.
Having decided to reoccupy the old station on
the other side, we have sent on Simeone and other
two Samoans, together with the Aneiteum native
Umra, to go overland to consult with the chief, and,
if all is favourable, to hoist a white flag on the beach
in the morning, as a signal for us, in passing in the
ship, to lower the boat and take on shore the teach-
ers ; if things look unfavourable, they are to come
off in a canoe to the vessel, and let us know.
At Sea of Aneiteum, Saturday Evening, Ihtli Jidij .
— Weighed anchor by daylight, and ran out with a
strong wind. Wet, squally morning, but it cleared
off in an hour or two. About ten o'clock the wind
got more ahead. To expedite our business, we
lowered the boat, and Captain Morgan, Mr. Nis-
bet, and I left the ship with the teachers, to pull
ahead round to Aname. After pulHng half an hour
we met two natives fishing. Recognized in one of
them an old face we had seen at Tanna. He was
delighted to see us. We said a few words, gave him
some fish-hooks, and passed on. After a time, got
round to the place, saw something white in the dis-
tance. Looked through the glass. " A long pole
and a white shirt flying ! All right ; that is our
436 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
flag." Pulled on, and soon had Simeone alongside
of our boat. Report all favourable. He said tbe
friends of Umra were delighted to see him back.
His accounts of Samoa, the missionaries, religious
worship, the love of Christ in coming to die for
sinners, the glories of heaven, and the miseries of
hell, all greatly astonished them. They killed two
pigs to receive him and our messengers, said they
were glad at the prospect of getting teachers again,
and were all ready to give us a cordial reception.
We went on shore, and left the men in charge of
the boat. It was proposed that we should meet the
chiefs and people at their headquarters, about a
mile inland. As the women and children were all
about, and every appearance of friendship, we did
not hesitate, but went on. We met with some sixty
natives altogether. Through Simeone, as our in-
terpreter, we told them of our object in coming on
shore ; that although we were now met on the
ground of the chief leta, that the teachers we were
about to leave were for all that side of the island,
and implored them to attend to the Word of God
and the way of salvation. The chief leta replied : — •
*' Come," said he, "let us all have something to
say in this affair. Let us cast off heathenism, and
attend to this true religion, lest we all go to that
fire Umra was telhng us about last night." All
spoke favourably. We then named some minor
matters, a house for the teachers, etc. "A house !
We shall send off directly to cut wood for a house,"
said leta, "and for the present my house is theirs."
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1848. 437
They said "Yes" to everything, and really seemed
sincere about it. We added a few words on the
great object of our mission, viz., that they may
know God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent to
save our souls from hell, and concluded our delibe-
rations with prayer.
As we were about to leave, three or four men came
trotting out of the bush, streaming with perspira-
tion, and laden with a heavy stick or two on their
shoulders. They threw them down close by us with
a shout, and looked up as pleased as if they had
done lis some favour. "What are these for ?" I in-
quired. "Wood for the teachers' house !" I thought
the directly of leta meant Monday or Tuesday, but,
with the word, he had given the wink for some of
his people to be off with their axes forthivUh. This
was all gratifying. We went back to the boat, had
the teachers' boxes put on shore, and have left the
young men with every prospect of success. Their
names are Opetaia and Palepo, and are from the
Hervey Islands. We have brought with us a smart
youth of the name of Kaipul, to take to Samoa for
instruction. He is related to UmriX. As we reached
the boat we found that another native had seated
himself, all ready to go with us to Samoa also. His
only covering was an old satin waistcoat, which
he appeared to think fully entitled him to a place
among good company. We did not fancy the looks
of the fellow, and declined, but he was quite stub-
born about it. After a little coaxing, however, we
got him quietly walked over the side. We pushed
438 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
off amid the farewells and waving of hands of all on
the beach. Up sail, with a fair wind, and were soon
outside the reef, and off to meet the ship. Got
safely on board. All were delighted to hear our
tale, and united with us in thanking God for his
goodness to us throughout the day. We are now
standing for Tanna.
TANNA.
Port Besolution, Tanna, Monday Evening, 17th
July. — Anchored here yesterday. Poor Tanna !
Clouds and sunshine — sunshine and clouds. Our
fair prospects in 1845 were blasted in 1846 by the
murder of one of the teachers, and the burning of
the mission premises, all owing to the belief that
the teachers and the new religion cause disease.
There has been war again among all the tribes round
the bay, and, for three months, the teachers on the
one side have not felt it safe to visit the people on
the other. Our old friend Lahi got an arrow wound
in a battle fought close by where our house stood.
It proved fatal. He died, like too many in more
favoured lands, mourning over his sins, and that he
had not lived as we had often taught him. The
chief, Viavia, and some others wished to fight with
the chief who burned our house. Kuanuan forbad.
"Never mind," said he; "although the house is
gone, we have still the religion in our hearts, and
can still pray to the true God." We have left an-
other Rarotongan teacher with the two on the
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 439
mountain of Enekalii, on the west side of the bay,
and they will embrace the first opportunity of reoc-
cupying some part on the east side. A large boat
from the sandal-wood settlement at Aneiteum was
lately taken, and her crew of three white men killed
at Nakosmene, a few miles to the west of the har-
bour where we are now at anchor. Cannot find out
the real cause. Soon after a vessel followed, to
avenge the death of the white men. The natives
foolishly mustered on the beach to fight with the
vessel. She opened fire on them. Six were shot
dead, and the rest ran off into the bush.
Tried to get out this afternoon. Wind failed,
and had again to "let go " the anchor. Just at this
time a schooner came in. They did not show colours,
but we saw a large crew of white men, besides na-
tives ; five swivels mounted ; smelt sandal- wood, and
concluded what she was. After tea, we were on the
eve of going on board to see what information we
could pick up, when the mate of the schooner came
to visit us. They have been sandal- wooding at
Eromanga. Lost a man off the jibboom in June
last, named Henry Johnson, of Londonderry. Had
a boat taken by the Eromangans, fifteen miles to the
south of Dillon's Bay. They were out in deep water,
but the natives upset the boat. One of the crew
clung to the keel, and was killed directly : his name
was William Thorington, of Chatham. The rest
swam out to sea towards the vessel. They had a
current in their favour, and, as the natives were
busy picking up the contents of the boat, they
440 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
escaped. One of them was four hours in the water,
and has been insensible ever since. Another, who
had a blow on the head from a tomahawk, is also
out of his mind. The mate of this schooner tells
sad tales of his brethren in the sandal- wood trade.
He names a vessel now in the group, and says they
fire upon every tribe that will not let them have the
wood. He says they take natives from one place to
another, and sell them for wood. Over and over
again he assured us that he and his party never do
any such tricks ; but at the same moment his own
boat's crew were telling our men on deck tales, which,
if true, made them out to be as bad as any in the
trade. They say they get a chief on board, and
keep him until they get boat-loads of wood for his
rescue. After getting the wood they take away
the poor man still, and sell him for more wood at
another place, there to be a slave, or, more likely,
a roast for the next meal. At this place they
will pick up some other person, and off Tsdth
him again. If they take some Tanna men in
this way to Eromanga, they will return to Tanna
and say, " Oh, they were killed at Eromanga."
And at Eromanga they will say the same of any
Eromangans who have been left here. Dogs and cats,
also, it appears, are in great demand at Eromanga.
A dishonest trader will show a cat ; a boat-load of
sandal- wood is brought for it ; he tells them to bring
more, they bring more; and, after all, he keeps the cat,
and sails off laughing with the wood. In retaliation
for injuries, if accounts are true, some of these white
MISSION AKY VOYAGE IN 1848. 441
men are as barbarous as the natives. It is reported
that this very party now at anchor took a chief of
Cook's Bay lately, first mangled his body on board,
then threw him into the sea, and shot at him as at
a target. This is a horrid trade. Every year dis-
closes more and more of its atrocities. And yet how
marked the judgments of Grod on those who pro-
secute it ? Dating from a sandal- wood expedition
which was at Eromanga not long before Mr.
Williams was killed, up to the present time, I can
reckon no fewer than three hundred and tiventy-tiuo
souls who have perished in the traffic.
Port Resolution, Tanna, Tuesday Evening, 18th
JuJij. — Wind this morning right in. Blew so hard
in the night, that the captain let go another anchor.
Had a visit from the chief Viavia after breakfast.
He wished me to let him have some medicines to
lay by for himself and family. I gave him some.
He begged also that plenty should be left with
the teachers. Their faith in medicine is rising, and
as that rises, down goes the craft of the disease-
makers. Just as Viavia was leaving the ship, I
heard a native say something to him about "kill-
ing," and presently it came out that an Eromangan
from the sandal-wooder alongside of us was killed
on shore to-day. The mate has just been on board
of us again. We asked him about it. He ex-
pressed surprise, denied that the man went on shore
in the ship's boat. Says he ran off without their
leave in a canoe. So many of the Tannese have
been killed at Eromanga, that an Eromangan cannot
442 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
expect to live five minutes after landing anywhere
on tliis beach. This mate himself admits this, says
he has seen them mth his own eyes massacred on
shore directly after landing. The wonder then is,
how that poor man was taken on shore to-day. We
can hardly imagine his going of his own accord.
We hear that the party on board this schooner have
bought upwards of twenty cats and a dog on the
beach to-day, and cannot divest our minds of the
dark suspicion that that poor fellow went as part
payment. That the Tannese are capable of such a
thing, we have no doubt, and hut for the tales of
these sandal'Wooders themselves, the thought woidd
never have entered into our heads, that white men
could be suspected, even, of such inhuman bar-
barities.*
* I have been at a loss sometimes to know how sensible-look-
ing men can reason, who are guilty of such atrocities as those
which we have had occasion too frequently to report ; but the
secret came out one day when I was in conversation with one of
them about his sad doings at Eromanga and Vate. " Mr. Tuiner,
seriously, you do not mean to say that these Eromangans are
men z"' " N^ot men ! and what do you suppose they are ? Non-
sense ! Don't you know that our own forefathers were just such
naked, painted savages as these ? Did you ever see a pig that
could build a house, or cultivate and fence such lovely plantations
as you saw there ?" " Well, well, we paid them out at Eromanga,
at any rate, for killing Mr. Williams, and that we did."
We had occasion, some years ago, to expose the doings of this
man, in company with other two, which led him to bluster
about Sydney streets, threatening prosecution. At the time re-
feiTed to, we recorded the following sentence : " They who com-
manded the expedition, and are responsible for such barbarous
wickedness, may attempt to conceal or deny these crimes, with a
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 443
NIUA.
At Sea, Wednesday Evening, 19th July. — Had a
fine southerly wind this morning, and were glad to
part company with the schooner alongside of us.
Stood across to the little island of Niua, and were
soon close in upon it. Lowered the boat, and Cap-
tain Morgan, Mr. Nisbet, Mr. Powell, and I left for
the shore. A heavy surf on, but we got the natives
to come out to us. Glad to see our old friend Fa-
ngota again. He grieves over the war which caused
the teachers to leave, who were placed there three
years ago. Poor fellow ! he has forgotten the Sab-
bath. Asked when it Avas. Says, however, that he
prays to God, and tries to remember what we told
him about Jesus. We are sorry that we have no
teachers for them this voyage ; but are glad to see
that the door is still open, and that we have some
warm friends on shore. Fangota's special request
is, that we send back the teacher lona, and one or
two others with him.
EEOMANGA.
We are now off Eromanga. The wind does not
admit of our running tlu*ough the straits, so we are
standing off to go east of the island. We were told
view to escape the withering frown of the wise and the good, but
the still more withering blast of the Divine displeasure will at
length overtake them." It did not need a prophet to say that.
The one soon after died at sea, the other died a di'unkard. And
the last accounts I heard of the third was, that he was a prisoner
for life in the United States.
444 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
at Aneiteum, and also at Tanna, that the "Elizabeth,"
a sandal- wooding barque, went on shore in a gale in
February last, in Dillon's Bay. It is supposed that
all were drowned except two. They reached the
shore, but were killed directly. The Eromangans
are constantly fighting with the sandal-wooders.
They have now a daring scheme of getting under the
boat and upsetting it. They go off swimming with
one arm, a tomahawk under the other, and a log of
sandal- wood as a bait. While the log is being hauled
into the boat, they dive under the keel, tip it over,
and then at the white men with their tomahawks.
The guns of the ship are then loaded, some natives
shot, and thus goes on the perpetual war. "Wliat can
be done to check the evil ? It is increasing every
year, and hindering our missionary labours beyond
description.* If we are beating in the morning, and
can run into Dillon's Bay without much delay, we
intend to do so. As we have so many on board, we
are anxious, with as httle delay as possible, to proceed
to Yate, to make the necessary arrangements there,
* We exposed to tlie world the doings of these sandal-
wooders for several years. Bishop Selwyn, of New Zealand,
followed and did the same. Captain Erskine and other naval
officers took up the case with great energy, and subsequently
all the colonial traders to these islands were led to understand
that they should have to answer for every criminal information
filed against them in their intercourse with the South Sea
Islanders. Then followed the trial at Sydney of Captain Lewis,
for shooting three natives of Mare ; and again of Captain Ross,
for the murder of a Lifu native. The consequence is, that for
several years back, we rarely hear of any of the atrocities which
characterized the trade ten and fifteen years ago.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 445
if possible, for the commencement of the new mis-
sion. We have just had a special prayer-meeting, in
anticipation of our approach to Vatc, and may we
have the divine presence which we have sought in all
our deliberations connected with this the main object
of the present voyage ! Mr. Geddie conducted the
meeting.
VATE.
At Sea, S.W. Side of Vate, 20th Jidij. —Strong
wind all night, and this morning found ourselves far
on towards Yatc. Were up to the principal station
late in the afternoon. The teachers recognized us,
started in their canoes, and we had them all on board
before sunset. It was too late to get to anchor, and
we are now standing off for the night. The brethren
Gill and Nisbet, on their visit here two years ago,
were much cheered, and increased the number of
teachers to nine. But now the sky is clouded, and
we shall have to record reverses. Death, in various
forms, has thinned the number to five. Two of the
women are also dead. I must defer, however, a
minute entry until we get to anchor, as the teachers,
fresh from the shore, are sea-sick, and laid down.
At Anchor, off Pango, Vate, 21st Juhj. — Anchored
here this morning. Arranged to have no natives
on board, but a few of the chiefs, and proceeded to
hear the reports of the teachers. The two stations,
Pango and Erakor, are still occupied, and with
fluctuating success. No marked case of true con-
version to God. The chiefs at these places are
446 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
friendly, but their influence does not prevent serious
annoyance occasionally. Taavili, the teacher at
Pango, for example, had his house set on fire lately,
because liis wife would not yield to the wicked pro-
posals of a neighbouring chief. The wife of Setefano
died of dropsy ; the teacher Lealamanua caught
cold, and was injured by a falling tree in a gale in
February last, from which he never recovered. He
died entreating the chiefs and people around him
to receive Christ into their hearts, and exhorting
his fellow-teachers to love one another, and be
faithful unto death. The teacher Taili, who was
stationed at Mele, died of ague last year. The
chief of the place claimed his property, and his
wife, too. Poor woman ! this was more than she
could bear. Preferring death to degradation, she
rushed into the sea and was drowned, before the
other teachers had time to unite in an effort to get
her removed from the station. Sipi and Ratai were
stationed at Fila. Ratai took ill, and died suddenly
in May last year. This was followed by the illness
of Sipi. It is a long story, but the substance of it
is, that poor Sipi was killed by the people of Fila,
with a view to get his property, we think, as the
people of Mele got that of Taili. The only modify-
ing clause in the affecting tale is, that Sipi, in his
illness, was occasionally delirious, and it is the
custom here to put the patient to death when
delirium appears, lest it should spread to the other
members of the family.
But the abandonment of another of the stations
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 447
on the south-west side of the island, viz., Eratap,
is associated with events more calamitous still.
Mose and Sepania, teachers from Samoa, were sta-
tioned here. One Friday afternoon, towards the end
of April, 1847, a boat reached a bay close by where
the teachers were. Two white men were in it, and
starving for want of food. The natives resolved on
killing them, desirous of getting their bodies, their
clothes, and their boat. Mose was the means of
saving one of them, a man named John Jones.
The other, a stout man, was taken by a person,
saying he would save him ; but he was killed and
cooked next morning. This was a boat belonging
to the " British Sovereign," a sandal- wooding
barque, which had gone ashore some nights before
on the east side of the island, and became a wreck.
The captain and the rest of the crew, having escaped
from the wreck, arrived at the same place on the
following Sabbath, on their way to the large harbour
on the south-west side of the island. Wlienever the
natives saw them they determined to kill them.
Some treated them with cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane,
while others went off to muster the district for their
massacre. Our teachers saw the people arming and
running off ; they said they were going to fight with
a neighbouring tribe ; but the plot came out, and
then our teacher and the man Jones were all
anxiety to be off to the spot to save life. The chief
stood up, and would not allow them ; and it was only
a conviction that it would be their death to go, that
kept them back. The tribes at hand were assem-
448 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
bled, all was arranged, and the natives, in company
with the foreigners, got up to advance along the
road. They walked single file, a native between
every white man, and a few on either side. The
chief took the lead, and gave the signal, when every
one wheeled round and struck his man. A few
Tanna men escaped to the sea, but were pursued
and killed, with the exception of one, who fled to
the bush. This native and a little boy, together
with the man Jones, were all who escaped the mas-
sacre, and are now ofi" in a vessel. Ten bodies of
the unhappy sufferers were cooked on the spot ; the
teachers mention adjacent villages among which
other ten were distributed ; they are not sure what
became of the rest, nor the exact number massacred.
In most cases the white men are the aggressors. In
this most cold-blooded affair, however, we cannot
learn any object on the part of the natives, but a
desire to obtain human flesh and the clothes of these
unfortunate men.
A few days after, another boat touched at the
same place, which we suppose was the long-boat
either of the "Elizabeth" or the "British Sove-
reign," in search of survivors. All on shore were
in arms again, bent upon killing the four or five
white men who were in this boat ; and when they
went off" towards it, the men fired upon them. The
chiefs were enraged at the firing, and determined
to be avenged on the teachers and Jones, who was
still a refugee with them. A woman, hearing of
the plot, ran and informed the teachers. Jones
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 449
and they had scarcely reached the bush, fleeing for
their Hves, when the party arrived at their house to
kill them. They were pursued to another station
whither they fled ; but, after remonstrance, and in
consideration of getting all the property of the
teachers, there was no further bloodshed. Before
leaving the island, Jones left the following docu-
ment with the teacher Mose, through whose exer-
tions, under God, he was saved. These self-denying
teachers are too often calumniated by our country-
men, whose projects their work and duty call them
to oppose ; but, after all, they are often forced to
change their tone, and give vent to their feehngs in
such grateful terms as the following, the original of
which I have now in my possession : —
" Sch. Hand, May 16th, 1847.
" This is to certify that Mose and his partner
left the tap (Eratap) on the 16th of May we had to
run for our life to get clear of them left everything
behind when the British Soverien his long boat came
and fire at them J Jones was the only one that was
saved out of the crew they killed them all through
Mose I was saved and I beg of you to give him
something he is a good man he venture more than
any man would think and after all had run I hope
the Lord will pay him for his trouble with me
(Signed) "John Jones."
But there is a bright side of the picture. The
teachers keep up Sabbath services, have several
preaching stations, schools during the week, and
GG
450 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
are able to visit distant parts of the island. They
have, in several instances, prevented infanticide. In
one case the child was actually buried, and the fire
kindled over the grave to smother the little fellow,
but his parents dug him up again at the remonstrance
of the teachers, and he is still ahve. The custom,
also, of burying alive the aged was prevented in
three instances, and the poor old women allowed to
die a natural death. It is considered a disgrace to
the family of an aged chief if he is not buried alive.
AVhen an old man feels sick and infirm, and thinks
he is dying, he deliberately tells his children and
friends to get all ready, and bury him. They yield
to his wishes, dig a round deep pit, wind a number
of fine mats round his body, and lower down the
poor old heathen into his grave in a sitting posture.
Live pigs are then brought, and tied, each with a
separate cord, the one end of the cord to the pig, and
the other end to the arm of the old man. The cords
are cut in the middle, leaving the one half hanging
at the arm of the old man, and ofi" the pigs are
taken to be killed and baked for the burial feast ;
the old man, however, is supposed still to take the
pigs with him to the world of spirits. The greater
the chief the more numerous the pigs, and the more
numerous the pigs the better the reception in their
hades of heathenism. The poor old man thus wound
up, furnished with his pig strings, and covered over
with some more mats, is all ready. His grave is
then filled up, and his dying groans are drowned
amid the weeping and the wailing of the living.
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1848. 451
This revolting custom of burying alive is, as I
have already noted, not confined to infants and the
aged. If a person in sickness shows signs of deli-
rium, his grave is dug, and he is buried forthwith,
to prevent tlie disease spreading to other members
of the family. A young man in the prime of life
was thus buried lately. He burst up the grave and
escaped. He was caught, and forced into the grave
again. A second time he struggled to the siu-face ;
and then they led him to the bush, lashed him fast
to a tree, and left him there to die. "The dark
places of the earth are full of the habitations of
cruelty."
After hearing the reports of the teachers, we
proceeded to deliberate on the course to pursue.
Sensible of the great importance of the subject, we
first bowed the knee and united in special prayer
for God's guidance, and I trust we have had it in
the following conclusions, on which we are about
to act : —
1. To occupy still, with native teachers, the tAvo
stations of Pango and Erakor.
2. Proceed to the large harbour of Sema, and
endeavour to locate three teachers there, with a
view to the occupation of that place by missionaries
next voyage, should all go on well in the interim ;
and, if possible, then occupy simultaneously some
parts of the large harbom', and either Pango or
Erakor.
3. That the brethren, Geddie, Powell, and Archi-
bald, return, for a time at least, to Aneiteum, and
452 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
take up their position there. That island is im-
portant, not only in itself, but relatively to the other
parts of the group, as forming a good post of obser-
vation, and affording facilities for extending a super-
intending care over the native agents. There, too,
the wives of missionaries and their jjroperty could
be left, when commencing operations at places such
as this, where, for a time at least, it would not be
prudent to take either.
At Sea, off Vate, Saturday Evening, 22nd July. —
Arranged for two teachers to be at each of the sta-
tions, and to take Mose with us as interpreter, and
to aid in the formation of a new station at the
large harbour. Gave them their supplies, and by
mid-day were all ready for sea again. We were de-
tained for an hour or two, waiting for the return of
one of the boats, which went to fetch the mdow and
child of one of the teachers who died, to take them
with us to Samoa. Just at this time we observed
that the natives were coming off in unusual numbers
— counted upwards of two hundred men alongside
— all armed with their clubs, spears, poisoned
arrows, and long-handled axes, and more coming off
in their canoes. We kept a sharp look-out, only
let the chiefs on board, and Captain Morgan gave
orders to make all haste to loose the sails and weigh
anchor. We had a breeze ; soon left the suspected
natives and their canoes astern of us, and sailed out
and in until we had finished our business. We
assembled the chiefs of Pango and Erakor on the
quarter-deck, committed the teachers afresh to their
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 453
care, and implored them to abandon heathenism and
embrace the gospel. We alluded to the late massa-
cres ; told them what they might expect from foreign
vessels for such conduct, and, moreover, of the
judgments of the Almighty. We expressed regret
for the way in which the teachers had been treated
at Mele, Eratap, and Fila, and said we hoped there
would be no more of it. Spoke particularly to the
Pango chief about the burning of Taavili's house,
and the ill-treatment of his wife. They acknow-
ledged the justness of all we said, expressed sorrow
for the past, and assured us all would be different
for the future. We gave them a small present, and
parted.
I was astonished to find one of the chiefs of Fila
among them. I took him aside, and talked to him
privately about the murder of Sipi. He denied it
flat ! Said he died of disease, and begged for
another teacher. I told him what we thought of
their conduct, and said that, for the present, they
must be content with an occasional visit from the
Pango teachers. I said that we have great regard
for them, notwithstanding all they have done, and
may give them a teacher some other day, if they
are kind and attentive for the future to the teachers
who visit them. By way of rendering good for evil,
we gave him a small present too, expressive of our
regard for him and his brother chiefs.
Fila is a place of considerable political im-
portance. After bidding all farewell, and seeing
them safe in their canoes, we bore away for the
454 NINETEEN YEAKS IN POLYNESIA.
north-west liarboiir. We are now standing off for
the nio-ht. ^Ye have our old friend " Swallow"
(Sualo) with us to help us in interpreting at the
place to which we are going. He is greatly altered
for the better in his appearance since I first met
with him three years ago. He has lost his excited,
savage looks, is well reported of by the teachers, and
will, we trust, go on to improve, give evidence of
true conversion, and be as active in the service of
Christ as he formerly was in the service of Satan.
Of Sema, Monday, 2Srcl July. — Stood in yester-
day morning, but as we had to beat up to this place
we did not reach it till the afternoon. For extent,
safety, and beauty of scenery, this is the finest har-
bour I have seen or heard of in the Pacific. We
were surprised to find all perfectly still after we cast
anchor, not a native or canoe to be seen. By and by
a canoe came from another part of the bay, fi:'om
which we learned that war is now going on between
Sema and Utaone ; that the former is now driven,
part of their settlement burned, and that it is unde-
cided which party has the upper hand. To-day we
have succeeded in getting some of the chiefs, and
have arranged for the location of Mose and another
Samoan at Utaone. We are now under weigh again,
and intend locating other two teachers down at the
entrance to the harbour.
At Sea, off Vate, Tuesday Evening, 24th July. —
Last night we were in great danger. Just as we
cleared the heads the wind died away. It came on
d,ark, and there we were ; no soundings, no wind,
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1848. 455
and the current drifting us on to the rocks. Every-
thing was ready, and the captain was about to order
all hands to the boats, with the tow-line, when up
sprang a gentle breath of air. It was only a breathy
but it filled our sails, she obeyed her helm, and we
were again, thank God, out of danger. We stood
off for the night. Ran in again this morning ; and,
about ten o'clock, Mr. Nisbet, Captain Morgan, and
I left the ship in the boat, to try and get the chief
who wished teachers, and at whose settlement we
intended to locate the two. It was low water at the
landing-place, and no possibihty of getting near, but
there were a number of canoes outside the reef, and
in one of them we found the brother of the very man
we wanted. He said his brother was away at their
plantations ; but, as we were assured that it was
much the same which of the brothers we got, we
puUed off to the ship with this one. He entered
joyfully into our proposal, and we arranged at once
for locating here the two teachers. Sualo will re-
main with them for a time, help them with the lan-
guage, and then return to Erakor. Mr. Powell and
Mr. Geddie went in the boat which took the chief
and teachers ashore, and aU were well received.
May the Lord smile on this fresh advance on the
territories of Satan, and make this lovely harbour a
chosen spot in the vineyard of Christ Jesus ! AYe
are now off for Mare of the Loyalty Islands.
At Sea, Wednesday, 2bth July. — Foul wind, close
hauled, pitching sadly, sea-sick, and making the best
of our way to Marc.
456 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
At Sea, Thursday, 26^/i.— Wind still ahead.
Better to-day.
Friday, 27th. — About two a.m. the wind shifted
a few points, and was in favour of our fetching
Aneiteum sooner than Mare. We therefore decided
to alter the coui-se, and are now making for
Aneiteum.
At Anchor, Aneiteum, 28th July. — Anchored here
to-day. Went on shore, saw the teachers, the chief
Nohuat, and several of the people. All were delighted
to see us back, and to learn that some of our number
were about to take up their abode on shore. Arranged
for services to-morrow in English, Samoan, and
Aneiteumese, and have just closed the day, and the
week, with our Saturday evening prayer-meeting.
Aneiteum, Monday, SOth July. — We had six re-
ligious services in the course of the day yesterday,
in three languages. Had some fifty of the natives
at the services on shore. The captain of a vessel at
anchor, and some other Europeans from the shore,
attended our services on board. In conversation
with Captain , after the morning service, he
expressed his displeasure at the way in which we
speak of sandal- wo oders in our missionary reports.
He alluded particularly to a letter written a few years
ago, by Mr. Buzacott, I think, in which they were
called "white barbarians." I admitted that, so far
as I had heard,* lie had hitherto carried on the trade
* It came out afterwards that this man was about as bad as
any of tbem. He was subsequently tried at Sydney for shoot-
ing some natives at Mare, of the Loyalty Islands.
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1848. 457
honestly and peaceably, and that some others did
the same ; but, at the same time, I defended the
accuracy of the reports which we have given of the
doings of others in the trade. I told him that we must
report such things. We are here for the very purpose
of doing all the good we can to these poor natives,
and are hindered beyond description, and our lives
in constant jeopardy, owing to the misdeeds of our
countrymen, and why should we not speak out ?
On what principle of law, justice, or humanity, are
men to be allowed to go about these islands and
perpetrate atrocities which would cause them to be
imprisoned, tried, and hanged in any civilized part of
the world ? I instanced the expedition of S ,
D , and H at Yatc, a few years ago, and
what is now actually being done by two vessels at
present in the group. He could not deny it, and
wound up all by frankly admitting that it ought to
be reported to the world what is now being done by
these two vessels, viz., the " D W ," and
the " T ."
Aneiteum, Saturday, htli August. — Our brethren
Geddie, Powell, and Archibald, with their families,
are aU landed, and pretty comfortably lodged in the
little plastered cottage, which the teachers have
given up for their temporary use. Have just been
on shore, and after prayer, commending each other
and the interests of the mission to the divine care
and blessing, we bade our friends farewell. As the
appointment of Mr. Nisbet was with special reference
to the occupation of the large island of Yate, it is
458 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
virtually nullified by commencing tlie mission at
Aneiteum. The three brethren now on shore form
a sufficient number for the size and population of the
island. Mr. Nisbet will now return to his station
in Samoa, and, on the way thither, unite with me in
the visitation duties in the Loyalty Islands, at New
Caledonia, and at Savage Island. We have a fair
wind for Mare, and are about to weigh anchor.
At Sea.y Monday Afternoon, 7th August. — A me-
morable day in our eventful voyage. Death has
entered our little company and taken away the New
Caledonia native, Keamu. He has been wasting
away for the last twelve months, and died suddenly
this morning. Mr. Murray and I brought him and
Navie from New Caledonia, three years ago. The
year before last they were taken back by Messrs.
Gill and Nisbet, but war was then raging on shore,
the settlement burned, and the people off to the
mountains. As there was no hope of safety for the
young men if put on shore, they were brought away
again. Navie died soon after at Rarotonga, and
now we have just committed to the deep the body of
Keamu. Mr. Nisbet talked and prayed with him a
few minutes before he died. He was quite sensible,
and seemed to enjoy it. We did not think he was
so near his end. We have some hope that his
soul is safe in heaven, as the first-fruits unto God
from New Caledonia ; and, if so, one great end of
his removal from his native land has been accom-
plished.
At Sea off Mare, Wednesday, 9th August. —
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 459
Reached the island this afternoon. Bad weather,
but succeeded in having intercourse with the shore,
and in getting off the teachers, and now we are out
to sea again for the night. Here we have found the
four Lifu teachers, and, first of all, we listened to
their tale, and heard what led them to come hither.
LIFU.
They left Lifa a year ago owing to war, which
scattered the tribes among whom they laboured.
Up to the time they left, schools and services
on the Sabbath were kept up and attended. They
wait at Mare for a favourable issue of the war,
when they will return. The blind chief Bula is dead.
He died, we fear, a heathen ; yet he evinced a pleas-
ing concern on his death-bed for the safety and pro-
tection of the teachers after his decease. There are
rival claims for the chieftainship ; and these have led
to, and prolong, the war.
Many of the people, including some of the chiefs
of Lifu, were cut off by an epidemic towards the
end of 1846. As it broke out soon after the amval
of fi-esh teachers, they were blamed as having
brought it. Many were determined to kill them, but
somewere raised up todefend them. "Kill them," said
their enemies, *' and there will be an end to the sick-
ness !" "No," was the reply, "we are dead men if
we do ; their God will avenge their death." "Tlien,
l)anish them fi-om the island !" said they. "That
■svill also expose us to the divine judgments," their
460 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
friends replied. " Let tliem alone ; tbey have come
among us for good, not for evil !" A chief from the
Isle of Pines, who was there at the time, was then
consulted. " Spare the teachers !" said he ; "we
on our island foolishly killed our teachers, think-
ing it would remove disease, but, after their death,
their God punished us, and disease and death raged
among us more than ever. Spare them, lest it be
the same here !"
While these heathen deliberations were going on.
the teachers were assembled, expecting and preparing
for their death. They exhorted each other, and felt
cheered by the hope of a happy change from earth
to heaven, and ag-ain and asfain commended them-
selves in prayer to Him who said, " Lo, I am with
you always." Night came on. They sent for
Ngaisone, the principal adviser of the chief Bula,
and begged him to tell them candidly whether they
were to be killed. "No," said he; "dismiss your
fears. No one can touch you without the consent
of Bula and myself." The heathen council decided
that the teachers were to live. They were not
unanimous, however, and the last words of the dis-
satisfied were, " Well, let it be so ; but if Bula or any
other chief dies, then we shall certainly kill them."
A few days after, Bula was taken ill and died,
and, on the very same night, a brother chief of his,
called Uatenge, was reported to be dead too. Our
poor teachers thought it was all up with them now,
and had no hope whatever of life. It was at mid-
night when the death- wail of the friends of Bula burst
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 461
upon them. They all got up and prepared again for
their death. After conversing and praying for a
while, it occurred to them that it might have some
effect all to go boldly to the place, condole with the
mourners, and show their respect for the dead by
offering to assist in laying out the bodies. They
took a quantity of Samoan native cloth with them,
and off they went in the dark to the dismal scene.
The court or inclosure was full of people. Bula
was one of the greatest chiefs on the island, and
much venerated. The crowd were armed, all on their
feet, and talking of immediate revenge on the
teachers. The poor teachers shook from head to
foot as they approached, but, to their amazement,
the crowd were awe-struck, respectfully gave way,
opened a passage for them, laid dovm their arms,
and all sat down. The teachers went up to the
corpse of Bula. The body of Uatenge was laid side
by side with it, and Ngaisone was sitting among the
chief moiu-ners. " We have come," said they ; " we
have great compassion for you. We feel deeply
grieved, and, if you will allow us, we msh to show
our respect for our departed friends, by laying out
their bodies as we are accustomed to prepare the
bodies of chiefs for burial in Samoa." Ngaisone re-
plied, said he was glad to see them, that their pro-
posal was very grateful to his feelings, and that they
were quite at liberty to do as they wished. It is the
custom at Lifu, on these occasions, to shorten the
length of the body, by tying the head and the knees
together, they also gather together the arms and
462 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
legs. But tlie teachers proceeded to lay out the
bodies of the two chiefs in full length, in several
folds of native cloth, after the fashion of the ancient
Egyptians.
While this was going on, the friends of the de-
parted had assembled close by, in earnest debate, as
to who were to be killed. It is the custom to im-
pute the death of a chief to human agency, and, on
these occasions, the friends, like so many avengers
of blood, are up in arms, and rest not until they have
spread death and desolation somewhere in the land.
Malice is sure to be at work at such times, and cer-
tain parties are fixed upon as having caused the
death through their incantations or witchcraft.
When the teachers had dressed the bodies, they
slipped along, and listened to the deadly conference.
Many, but especially some people from an inland
settlement, blamed the teachers, and wished to kill
them at once. Ngaisone opposed, and said they
must kill him first. " Then let us kill him," said a
number of voices, but this made the division worse
divided, and, after a time, the majority of votes
went against another family, and ofi* a party in-
stantly went and killed the whole of them, viz., a
family of eight individuals. Ngaisone is still a
heathen, but to him, under God, the teachers owe
their lives. We have the old man now on board
with us, have given him a present, and have warmly
acknowledged his kindness to the teachers in their
time of need. He has fled hither also, owing to the
war. We have begged him to do all he can for
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 463
peace, that he and the teachers, and all the refugees,
may soon be able to return to their distracted island.
In a gale in February last, two sandal-wooding
schooners from Sydney went on shore at Lifu. The
one was got off, and all hands belonging to the two
vessels were saved, and went in her to Sydney.
The natives assisted to their utmost in saving life
and property, for which we are glad to learn the
captains of the vessels liberally rewarded them.
MARE.
The Mare teachers report that schools have fallen
off, but that the services are attended by many of
the people on the Sabbath. They have four preach-
ing stations at a distance, which they supply on
that day. Some, we trust, are " not far from the
kingdom of God ;" but the people generally still
amalgamate with their Christianity their former rites
of heathenism.
An old chief, hearing the teachers tracing
diseases to divine and not human agency, sent for
a noted priest, and engaged him to exert his power
and bring disease upon some of the teachers, to see
whether Jehovah or the priests of Mare were true.
The priest went to the bush behind the teachers'
house, with his basket of relics, viz., the hair, finger-
nails, bones, etc., of his forefathers ; and, striking
the air with his club, looked to see whether there
was blood on his basket — a sign that vengeance had
gone forth on the teachers. He beat the air and
464 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
looked at his basket until he was tired. No blood
appeared; and chief and priest concluded that
" Jehovah, the God of the teachers, must be a true
God and a mighty one." The chief is attached to
the teachers, and, since that time, the priest has
sent for the teachers to preach regularly in his
village.
A sandal- wooding schooner was driven on shore
here in the gale of February last. The crew took
to the boat when the vessel struck. After pulling
along the coast a little way, they were overpowered
by the gale, thrown among the breakers, washed
into a cave among the rocks, and there perished.
They were nine in all, viz., seven white men and
two natives of the Isle of Pines.
Some of the natives of Mare and Lifu, who have
been to Sydney, have returned. They relate what
they saw on Sahhatlis — great houses for the wor-
ship of God, crowds attending, schools for the
children, etc. ; and are thus testifying to their
countrymen that what the teachers have told them
of Christianity must be true. This is a happy cir-
cumstance, as our teachers have suffered from un-
principled men telling the natives that religion
was all a hoax, and that the Samoans were a set
of impostors. A Mare native one day smartly re-
plied to one of these fellows : " Samoan impostors !
No ; it was not a Samoan ship that brought
our teachers. It was an English ship, and white
Englishmen like yourselves." And now some of
them can add: "Is there no Sabbath in Sydney?
MISSIONAKY VOYAGE IN 1848. 465
What about the large churches we saw ? Everybody
yonder attends to the Word of God."
Last year, after a long drought, Mare suffered
grievously from famine. In such extremities the
natives eat the bark and leaves of certain trees,
grass, roots of bananas, etc., and are mad after
human flesh. This was a trying time for the
teachers, but God preserved their lives. They say
they felt getting faint-hearted, like the Israehtes in the
wilderness, and longed for their Samoan Egypt.
Tataio having now been out seven years, Ave have
removed him for a time for further instruction.
Three teachers remain, in addition to the three
from Lifu. Left Mare just before sunset, and are
now heading eastward, and bound next for Savage
Island. The death of Keamu has deprived us of
the interpreter upon whom we depended for holding
intercourse with New Caledonia, and as we have no
teachers to spare, we have given up the idea of call-
ing there this voyage.
SAVAGE ISLAND.
At Sea, off Savage Island, 2Sth August . — Knowing
the custom here of killing their countrymen who
\asit a foreign place, as soon as they return, with a
view to prevent disease, we approached the island
this afternoon with much concern for the safety of
our teacher Peniamina. He is a Savage Islander,
was some time in our institution in Samoa, and was
placed here, at his own request, last voyage. The
H n
466 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
first canoe relieved our minds. They echoed his
name, pointed behind, and soon we had our old
friend on board shaking hands with us. We have
just heard his report, and, as there is no anchorage,
have stood off for the night with himself and some
others on board. He says he was in great danger
when he first landed. The first day crowds assem-
bled, armed, and wishing to kill him. The Samoan
canoe given him, together with his chest and pro-
perty, they wanted sent back to the vessel as soon
as they were landed, saying that the foreign wood
would cause disease among them. He reasoned
with them, told them to examine the wood — it was
the very same as grew on their own island. And as
to himself, he said, "You know this is my country ;
I am not a god, I am just hke yourselves, and have
no control over disease." Then he told them of the
new religion, immortality, heaven, hell, and salvation
through Christ. He also prayed Avith them, and for
them. The hearts of many were touched, and they
wished him to be spared. Others still insisted on
his being put to death. " Let us do it now," they
said ; "let us do it now while he is alone, and before
disease breaks out ; by and by others will join him,
and then it will be a hard matter !" Night came on
and he had no place to lay his head. The people,
fearing pollution, were afraid to let him sleep in their
houses. They told him to sleep under a tree for the
night. Then they thought of a deserted fortification,
and said he had better go there. Thither he went,
but rain came on, and, as there was no shelter, he
I
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 467
got up and wandered about. He was asked into one
house, and there had a morsel of food ; and in another
he at last found a resting-place. Next day, he had
^ to open his chest and show them his property ; some
things were stolen, others he gave them at their
urgent request, and he was left with all but an
empty box.
Finding that his friends daily increased, some
priests tried the sorceries of their craft to put him
to death secretly, but all was in vain. The Word of
God grew and prevailed. The people of the district
gave up working on the Sabbath, and commenced
attending religious services on that day. Family
prayer, too, was begun, and also asking a blessing
at their meals ; and this is the state in which we
have now found them. "We are glad also to learn
that they are now willing to receive a Samoan
teacher. This they refused to do last voyage. They
live on hostile terms with other tribes ; but in one of
the other divisions of the island they think teachers
would be received. A desire for hatchets and fish-
hooks is the principal motive at present ; but time,
and an efi&cient labourer or two, under the divine
blessing, will, doubtless, give other results.
An American whaler touched here some time
ago, Peniamina went on board and showed his
paper of credentials, which we always leave with our
teachers. On the faith of it the captain landed with
two boats, and cut fire-wood. They were benighted,
but slept in a cave among the rocks, near the land-
ing-place. They were afraid, probably, to risk them-
468 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
selves among the natives. Peniamina remained with
them and all behaved well.
At Sea, off Savage Island, 29th August. — ^We have
just left Savage Island. Numbers of the natives,
wished to go with us to Samoa, but we have only
brought two. Pity but we had been able to leave
another teacher ; still we must be thankful for the
fact, that the door is at last wide open, and that
we may take teachers now to the island with
safety. Peniamina says the natives are struck with
the manifestly disinterested nature of our visits.
Some of them, in conversation to-day, were thought-
fully remarking to each other, " These men must
have great and true love for us, in visiting us so
often without getting anything. We never give any-
thing without getting something for it ; not so with
this vessel which is coming here time after time."
While Peniamina was with us ^t Malua, he gave
me some interesting items respecting his island
home. It is an uplifted coral island, 300 feet above
the level of the sea, about forty miles in circumfe-
rence ; in 19° S. lat., and 170" W. long. ; and popu-
lated by upwards of 4000 light copper-coloured
natives, very like the Samoans. Their dialect is a
compound of Samoan and Tongan. Their tradi-
tions trace their origin to Huanaki and Fao, two
men who swam from Tonga. They found the island
just above the surface, and washed by the ocean.
They got up on it, stamped with the foot, up it rose,
the water ran off, and the diy land appeared. They
stamped again, and up sprang the grass, trees, and
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1848. 4G9
other vegetation. Then tliey caused a man and a
woman to grow from the ti plant, and from these
sprang the race of man ! Polygamy prevails. The
women are kindly treated. Care is taken of the
children, with the exception of the illegitimate, who
are a disgrace to the family, and thrown into the
sea, or the bush, as soon as born. There is a three-
fold division of the island. They have no king.
Of old they had kings, but as they were the high-
priests as well, and were supposed to cause the food
to grow, the people got angry mth them in times of
scarcity, and killed them ; and as one after another
was killed, the end of it was that no one wished to be
king. In war and other matters, the heads of families
form the deliberative assembly, or government for
the time being. They are constantly at war with
each other. Stones, rounded like a cannon-ball, for
throwing with the hand, clubs, and spears, are their
weapons. In encouraging each other, on going to
battle, they say, " Well, if we die, we shall not have
to die over again. It is only the death we should
have to die some other day." Suicide is common.
In a fit of anger they jump from the rocks into the
ocean, and are seen no more. The houses are round
low huts. Yams, taro, bananas, cocoa-nuts, and fish
are the stafi" of life. They have no quadrupeds.
They are all teetotallers, and do not, hke the most of
their neighbouring islanders, drink the intoxicating
kava. Nor are they cannibals. They have a tradi-
tionary dread of Tongans as " men-eaters." The
women have a decent girdle of leaves. The men
470 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
wear tlie maro, wliicli is a belt, and strip of native
clotli, hardly an advance on nudity. They have
wooden flutes as musical instruments, they are single
and double, resembling those of the ancient Egyp-
tians, only shorter, and are blown with the nostrils.
The Savage Islanders worship the spirits of their
ancestors. They say that, a long time ago, they
paid rehgious homage to an image which had legs
like a man, but in the time of a great epidemic, and
thinking the sickness was caused by the idol, they
broke it in pieces, and threw it away. They dispose
of the dead by setting them adrift out to sea in a
canoe, or by laying the body on a pile of stones in
the bush, and covering it over with cocoa-nut leaves.
After a time the bones are gathered, and deposited
in family caves or vaults. The women singe off the
hair of their heads, as a token of mourning, on the
death of their husbands. They have a subterranean
region, called Maui, for the spirits of the departed,
but their favourite place is the land of Sina (Seena)
in the skies. They say there is "no night there ;"
and here again we have a fragment of the long-lost
theology.
The two lads taken away by Mr. Williams,
eighteen years ago, were sadly afraid on board the
"Messenger of Peace" when they saw the crew
eating salt meat. They had never seen such a thing
before, concluded it was human flesh, and supposed
that they had been picked up as food for the white
men. They were most kindly treated, but could not
for weeks get rid of the idea that they were only
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1848. 471
being fattened for the knife. They were taken back
to Savage Island in good health, and had much to
teU about the Tahitian and other islands. But after
a time influenza broke out, and the two young men
were blamed for bringing it from Tahiti. One of
them was killed, and also his father ; the other
escaped on board a whaler which was cruising off" the
island at the time, and, in his flight, was accompa-
nied by this very Peniamina, who is now a teacher.
Peniamina found his way to Samoa, became a con-
verted character, went back to his countrymen, six
years ago, in the " Camden," but had to leave again
by the same vessel, as his friends said he was sure to
be killed. He returned to Samoa, was a long time
under Mr. Drummond's care, and subsequently was
admitted to the institution at Malua. He tried to
gain a footing once more among his countrymen, and
the result I have just recorded. May God still be
with him, preserve his life, and keep the door open
for other labourers at Savage Island.
At Sea, off Tutuila, Friday, \st September. — Have
been on shore to-day for a few hours with Mr. Mur-
ray. Heard of the French Revolution, and of the flight
of Louis Philippe to England. Visited with much
emotion the grave of our fellow-voyager from
England, brother BuUen, and also the grave of
George Lundie. We hope to anchor at Apia to-
morrow.
Aida, Upolu, 2nd September, 1848. — Once more at
anchor here. Glad to find my dear wife and chil-
dren in the neighbourhood, and all well. Glad also
472 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
to hear that all the mission families are well, and
that the natives, though still encamped and hostile,
have had no fighting since we left. And now we
close the voyage on which we set out in July, and do
so with heartfelt thanks to God for all the protection
and guidance vouchsafed throughout its course, and
for all the encouragement he gives us to go forward
in our hallowed enterprise for the evangehzation of
these dark places of the earth.
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 473
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859.
Having been again appointed by the members of the
Samoan mission to proceed as a deputation to visit
the New Hebrides, Loyalty, and other islands, and
having arranged and done iip the supplies for native
teachers and their wives to the number of seventy, I
embarked in the " John Williams" on Tuesday, the
27th of September, 1859. In addition to the usual
crew of seventeen, our number consisted of the fol-
lowing parties : — The Rev. Messrs. Macfarlane and
Baker, just out from England as missionaries for the
Loyalty Islands, together with Mrs. Macfarlane, Mrs.
Baker, and two children ; three native teachers with
their wives, from the institution at Rarotonga ; four
native teachers from the institution at Samoa, of
whom two were married ; a native of Yate, who had
been a year in Samoa, and another from the same
island who had been about the same time at Raro-
tonga ; four natives of Lifu, who were lately rescued
from slavery on the island of Ascension ; some chil-
dren of the teachers also, who, with myself and
servant boy, made up our number to Jift //-three.
On the 30th we sighted and passed Home Island.
On the 1st of October we crossed the meridian of
474 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
Greenwich. On Tuesday, tlie 4tli, we sighted Fu-
tuna, of the New Hebrides, and on the following
morning anchored in the harbour of Anelicauhat, on
the S.W. side of Aneiteum. Found Mr. and Mrs.
Geddie and family well, and the affairs of the mis-
sion making progress in the right direction. The
walls of a new stone church were rising, beautifully
figurative of the steady advance of the cause of
Christ on this island ; and I was struck also with
the fact, that the place on the beach where the na-
tives were digging up the sandstone for their church
was about the very spot where Mr. Murray and I had
our meeting with the chief Nohuat and some of his
people, when we first visited that side of the island
fifteen years ago. In the afternoon we attended a
meeting of about 400 of the people. I spoke a few
words to them, expressive of my great joy in seeing
what God by the gospel had done for them; re-
minded them of our struggle with the heathenism
of former days, and exhorted them to be thankful
to God for having sent his servants to lead them
firom darkness to light.*
On Thursday, the 6th, met with Messrs. Geddie,
Inglis, Matheson, and Copeland, missionaries from
Glasgow and Nova Scotia, labouring in this group.
* Our old friend Noliuat died in June last ; but the disap-
pointment of not meeting with him was greatly modified by
learning that, for four years before his death, he had been a mem-
ber of the church, and also that his son, who succeeds him in the
chieftainship, is a church member too, and foremost in every-
thing that is good.
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 475
Messrs. Baker and Macfarlane were also present.
We had Captain Williams in the chair, and deli-
berated on various matters of importance relative
to the mission, and the movements of the " John
Wilhams."
We were sorry to learn that Mr. Matheson's
health had failed, and that he was obliged to retire
from his work on Tanna. He was better than he
had been some months before, but still /a?- from well.
Mr. Copeland has also retired from Tanna for a time,
but it is to take charge of Mr. Inglis's station, while
he proceeds to England with the manuscript of the
New Testament in the dialect of Aneiteum, to carry
through the press. We were grieved to hear that
the Tanna mission has been further weakened by the
lamented death of Mrs. Paton. Mr. Paton is the
only missionary there at present, and is solitary in-
deed on that savage shore. We arranged with the
Aneiteum brethren for two of their best teachers to
take with us to Vatc, as we are anxious to try a
Papuan native agency on that island, which has
hitherto proved so unhealthy to our Eastern Poly-
nesian teachers.
On Friday, the 7th, I left the ship, in company
with Mr. Inglis and Mr. Copeland, and visited the
first station we had on the island on the N.E. side,
and where Mr. and Mrs. luglis have laboured for
seven years. After the visit of 1845 war broke out,
and the station was abandoned. In 1848 Mr. Xisbet
and I recommenced the work by locating two teach-
ers, and ever since it has gone on. Instead of the
476 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
uncultivated lieatlieu shore, without a house to be seen,
there are now at Aname the lovely mission premises,
ehurch, class-room, dwelling-houses, and a cheerful
group of young men and women living in the neigh-
bourhood, and under regidar instruction. There
were only seven young lads there who knew their
letters in 1845 ; now there are a thousand people in
the district who can read the New Testament.
On the Sabbath-day I attended divine service.
About 400 were present, and they listened with
marked attention while Mr. Ino;lis and I addressed
them. Some of them, after the service, shook hands,
and said they could hardly suppress their tears while
I spoke to them of the heathen times of eleven and
fourteen years back. I was pleased, also, to see the
people pretty well clothed. The women, for in-
stance, had straw bonnets on, vdth the exception
of some three or four, and they had a decent cotton
handkerchief on their head as a substitute. There
are at this station 130 church members. But one of
the most hopeftd prospects for future progress which
I saw here was, the select class of sixty young men
and women, who are under tuition with a view to
their being employed as native teachers.
The entire population of Aneiteum is 3513.
All, I may say, are professedly Christian. Hardly
one can now be found who calls himself a heathen.
The church members number 297, and the candidates
for admission to the church 110. The island is en-
circled by fifty-six school-houses, eleven chapels, and
sixty native teachers and assistants. I was glad
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 477
also to learn that the missionaries of this group had
formed an auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible
Society. The sum raised during the last two years
amounts to £60, upwards of £20 of which have been
collected by Mrs. Captain Edwards from sandal-
wooding and other vessels visiting Eromanga.
On Monday, the 10th October, we were all ready
for sea again, with the addition to our party of four
Aneiteum teachers and their wives and children.
AVe had also on board a quantity of wood which had
been prepared at Aneiteum for building a chapel at
Tanna. Mr. Inglis, too, now joined us to visit
Tanna, and aid in the location of teachers at Futuna
and Niua. It was arranged also that the mission
schooner " John Knox," commanded by Mr. C. An-
derson, of the "John Williams," follow as our
tender, to take back Mr. Inglis to Aneiteum after
finishing our business at the islands just named.
FUTUNA.
Tuesday, IWi October. — Were off the island of
Futuna. At ten o'clock a.m. Mr. Inglis, Captain
Williams, and I left the ship in two boats, taking
with us a teacher who formerly laboured on the
island, and a fresh one. Reached the shore on the
N. W. side by eleven o'clock. Found the beach
lined with crowds of savages, armed with clubs,
spears^ bows and arrows, and kawases, much as they
were when I was first there with Mr. Murray in
18^5, in search of our teachers, who had recently
478 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
been killed. We saw women and children about,
and also two of the Aneiteum teachers among the
crowd, and felt confidence in going on shore among
them at once. We went up the hill to the teachers'
house, at the village called Ipau, and there met
with the teachers and some leading men from their
stations. On landing, and all the way up the hill, I
recognized the hiding-places among the rocks, and
great blocks of coral, behind which the natives con-
cealed themselves when I was here before. Guilt at
that time made them dread an attack from us, on ac-
count of the massacre of our teachers, and we were
shy of them, not seeing our teachers, and fearing
that they had been killed.
Since last year, the teacher's house at Ipau has
been burned. He was blamed as the cause of
disease. A person died, and the friends sought
reveng^e in burnino- the teacher's house. There was
a friend of the teacher, a sick man from Aneiteum,
lying in the house at the time, and they wished to
burn him with the house, thinking that he was the
cause of disease. The poor man, however, was got
out in time and saved ; and, with the burning of the
house, the anger of the people passed off. The
teachers soon got up another house.
A few at each of the three stations are nominally
Christian, but it is still the " night of toil " on that
heathen shore. Not long ago, the brother of the
chief Kotiama died. Some parties were blamed as
having caused his death by witchcraft, and six of
them were forthwith killed, viz., three men and
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 479
three women. More would probably have been
sacrificed, but they fled to sea, and escaped to Anei-
teum. It was this same Kotiama who consented to
the massacre of our teachers, a number of years ago.
He is friendly again, and it is hoped he will ere long
receive a teacher into his settlement.
We arranged to leave another Aneiteum teacher
here, and also an Aitutakian teacher, named Ru, and
his wife. The chiefs and people expressed their
satisfaction, and we had a religious service, in which
Mr. Inglis, Ru, and I engaged, and then returned to
our boats. We had promised to give four chiefs a
passage to Tanna, but when leaving the beach, a
number more were clamorous to join us. It was
difficult to distinguish one from another, and so we
pushed off, and pulled out to the deep water behind
the reef, with all who clung to the boats. AYe then
called out their names, and got the four into our
boat, to whom at our meeting we promised a pas-
sage. We commissioned Mr. Griffin, the second
mate, to return to the shore with the remaining six
in his boat, and put them safely on the rocks. He
got rid of his party, but as he came out we saw him
waving his cap, and heard him shouting that we
must go back and take off the new teacher Ru, as
the natives were going to kill him. We could not
imagine whatever had sprung up so suddenly, but
back we must go. We put the four chiefs we had in
our boat into Mr. Griffin's boat, and got him to keep
off "with them as hostages, while we went in alone to
see what was the matter. As we reached the rocks
480 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
close by tlie beach, two of the Aneiteum teachers
stood and shouted, that one of the party who had
been refused a passage was a bit of a chief, and a
passionate fellow, and that he was now in a rage,
and blustering about furiously. We told them to
go and tell him that if he was anxious to go, we had
no wish to disoblige him, and that he might come.
This made all right again. He came, we took him
into the boat, pulled off to the ship, got safely on
board by four o'clock, and made sail for Tanna.
TANNA.
Wednesday, 12th October. — Anchored at noon in
Port Resolution. Found Mr. Paton well, but, since
his arrival twelve months ago, he has been deeply
afflicted. In March last he lost his wife and infant
son. Mrs. Paton died very suddenly, apparently
from the rupture of a blood-vessel, on the 5th of
March; and on the 21st of the same month her
infant followed her to the grave. She was devotedly
attached to the cause of Christ, seemed healthy, and
bade fair to labour long in the mission. But how
short-sighted is man ! I visited the good woman's
grave in the garden, and planted the seed of a date-
palm at the head.
In addition to this heavy affliction, Mr. Paton
has had fourteen attacks of fever and ague in the
twelve months. He is pretty well at present, but
we fear he will soon break down, if not speedily
aided by some other missionaries, to share with him
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 481
in the toils of that very difficult mission. Like
other missionaries and teachers who have been
there, he is blamed as the cause of disease, and his
life has been repeatedly threatened, but, hitherto,
men have been raised up in each extremity to stand
by him, and oppose all attempts on his life. As the
tribes are all hostile in the neighbourhood, and
kidnapping each other, he has never been able to
venture more than a mile or two from his own door
on the south and west sides of the bay. He has
walked once, however, twelve miles to the south-
east, as far as the station lately occupied by Mr.
Matheson, where Aneiteum teachers are now labour-
ing with some encouragement.
Mr. Paton thinks that there are at least two
dialects on the island, widely differing from each
other, and both Papuan. He is about to erect a
house on a hill immediately behind the present mis-
sion premises, and we took him from Aneitemn a
large quantity of wood, with, which to build a chapel
close by it. He is fast acquiring the language, and
if spared to get the chapel up, hopes to be able to
conduct services regularly there every Lord's-day.
I only met with some three or four of the people
who were there seventeen years ago. Many are
dead, and many survive, but they have been driven
in war away inland. The district on the east side
of the harbour has of late years completely changed
hands. It is still the opinion that Tanna is densely
populated. Some think there may be 20,000 on the
island. It is all guess-work, but, from appearances,
I I
482 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
I should expect to hear that there are at least
15,000. TVe found a Sydney vessel at anchor
collecting sulphur. The captain said he had pro-
cured close upon forty tons in three weeks, but
owing to the hostile state of the tribes, between the
head of the bay and the volcano, it was difficult to
procure it. He got some from the natives on the
rocks on the west side of the bay, but had to send
his boats for the most of it, round three miles to
*' Sulphur Bay," as it is called, at the entrance to
the volcano valley, and there they bought it for
tobacco pipes, etc. The action of the volcano is
much the same as it was when I was there, eleven,
fourteen, and seventeen years ago, viz., an eruption
every five, seven, or ten minutes.
We left Tanna on Thursday the 13th. We tried
to persuade Mr, Paton to come on board with us for
a three weeks' cruise, to invigorate his weakened
system; but he declined, fearing lest his absence
should cause any reaction, and occasion the loss of
the little hold which he thinks he has obtained. If
he is spared to live and labour there, he wiU yet, I
trust, be blessed in effecting great things for that
savage people. He is aided by eleven Aneiteum
teachers, and occupies nine different points, but
at least three other European missionaries are ur-
gently wanted for that important field. May the
Lord of the harvest soon send them forth !
MISSEONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 483
NIUA.
Friday J 14ith October. — At daylight we were close
upon JSTiua. Lowered tlie boats at nine a.m., and
Mr. Inglis, Captain Williams, and I left for the
shore, taking with us an Aitutakian teacher, named
Makea, and liis wife and daughter. We headed in to
a place called Surama, on the west side of the island.
The natives on the rocks at the landing-place were
armed as usual, but quieter-looking than the Futuna
people. We found among them Navallak, the Anei-
teum teacher, who was located there last year, but
not his fellow-teacher, named Nemeian. Poor
fellow ! he was killed lately. The particulars of this
sad event are as follows : About thirty years ago a
party of Niua people left to visit some friends on
Aneiteum. Through stress of weather they were
driven to a different part of the coast from that to
which they wished to go. The natives there, accord-
inof to a common New Hebrides custom, killed the
strangers and cooked their bodies. Two of them,
however, escaped, and hid among the rocks. At
night they stole a canoe and two paddles from an
adjacent village, set up a cocoa-nut leaf for a sail,
and got back to their own island. They related all
about the massacre to their comrades, and from that
day the Niua people determined to be avenged on
the first Aneiteum men from that particular district
who came within their reach. To perpetuate the
memory of the tragic deed, and hand to posterity a
484 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
call for revenge, they set up sticks in tlie ground,
and renewed them as tliey rotted. Unhappily, but
quite imknown to the missionaries, one of the two
teachers who were taken there last voyage was
from the very spot where the Niua people were
massacred. Some of the old people scented out the
land and pedigree of this man. The teachers felt
uneasy when they heard that the old affair was
talked about, but did not think that matters would
reach such a crisis. The Niua people did not like to
strike the blow themselves, but gave the hint to two
Tanna desperadoes li\dng on the island at the time,
and they did the deed. They waylaid the teachers
on a Sabbath-day, when they were returning from
another part of the island, where they had gone to
preach. Nemeian was hit on the head with a kawas,
and fell dead. Navallak Avas beaten with a club, but
escaped wounded. The Niua people met, declared
that the death of ISFemeian was sufficient to wipe off
the stain, plucked up the sticks, and begged the
wounded teacher still to remain. He forgave them,
consented to stay, and there he now is, still at
Surama.
This man, Navallak, has got up a little chapel,
twenty-five feet long, near to his own house, and has
an attendance of some forty of the people at his
Sabbath services. He has presents of food, occa-
sionally, and other proofs that the people respect
him. One of the two Tanna natives who attacked
Navallak and Nemeian, was shot dead soon after, in
battle, at Tanna. There is another Aneiteum teacher
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1859. 485
on the island, called Nalmai, and lie, too, lias some
measure of success. We have now located a third
teacher, \iz., Makea of Aitutaki, with his Avife and
daughter.
We had a ser^ace, and conversed with some
forty of the chiefs and people, and were pleased
with their quiet and friendly aspect. This island
would form a fine station for a missionary, taking
under his care Futuna also, as the dialects of these
two islands are precisely alike. IS^iua was a spot
where we considered our teachers perfectly safe ; but
the unhappy circumstance to which I have just re-
ferred, makes it the i<ixtli island of the New Hebrides
stained with the blood of God's martyred servants.
But we will not give up the hope that it may, ere
long, be a fair and fertile spot in the vineyard of
Christ's Church.
After finishing our work there. Captain Wilhams
and I took Mr. Inglis on board our little mission
tender, the "John Knox," which had followed us
from Aneiteum. He was soon off" with a light wind
for that island, and we proceeded to the " John
Wilhams," and stood away towards Eromanga.
EROMANGA.
Anchored at Dillon's Bay on the following morn-
ing, viz., Saturday the 15th October. Mr. Gordon
was soon on board, and, accompanied by him, some
of us went on shore, and up the hill to his residence,
486 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
about 1000 feet above the level of tlie sea, and there
we found Mrs. Gordon, well. Owing to the unhealthy-
swamps on the low grounds, Mr. Gordon has built
his cottage on the high land. Close by the house
he has erected a small chapel, and has a fine bell at
the one end, which echoes from hill to hill, and calls
the tribes to their little Zion.
Every direction is associated with the tragic
scenes of ISTovember, 1839. At the foot of the hiU
on which the chapel stands is the stream in which
Mr. Harris fell, and the beach where Mr. "Williams
ran into the sea. Down the hill, below Mr. Gor-
don's study window, is the spot where the oven was
made in which Mr. Wilhams's body was cooked.
Over in another direction is the place where the
body of Mr. Harris was taken. Inland is a grove of
cocoa-nuts, underneath one of which the skull of
Mr. Williams was buried. The bones taken to
Samoa by Captain Croker,in H.B.M.'s ship, "Favom'-
ite," in 1840, were not the remains of Williams and
Harris. He had no proper interpreter. The natives
thought he wanted to buy human hones, and took off
for sale whatever were handy ft^om one of the adja-
cent caves, where they deposit their dead. One of
the skulls was that of the father of a lad we had for
some time with us in our institution in Samoa. It
is difficult, at present, owing to hostihty among the
tribes, to get at the precise tree under which the
skull of Mr. Williams was buried ; but there let the
remains of the martyr rest, and still form part and
parcel of that palm which waves its foliage in every
.^!g^:}
#
' 4
■ ;' '"' #lfe^f ■>:
. '>'\>^ ^s
<?s
^
4K ' . »
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 487
breeze, emblematic of the Cliristian hero's triumph !*
A piece of red sealing-wax, found in Mr. Williams's
pocket, was supposed by the natives to be some
portable god, and was carefully buried near where
the skull was laid. Mr. Gordon lately recovered
this, and handed it to me to convey to Mr. Williams's
children, as the only relic which he has been able to
obtain of their lamented father. At first he thought,
from the description of the natives, that this ^' god,^'
would turn out to be Mr. Williams's luatch; but,
when found, it was only red sealing-wax. The
clothes, and other things found on the body, after
the massacre, were all distributed about, with the
exception of this bit of sealing-wax, an inch and
a half long.
We had the pleasure of spending a Sabbath at
Eromanga, and met with about 150 of the people in
their little chapel. All were quiet and orderly. It
tlirilled our inmost soul to hear them, as led by Mrs.
Gordon, strike up the tune of " New Lydia," and
also the translation and tune of " There is a happy
land." ]\[r. Macfarlane and I addressed them
through Mr. Gordon. They were startled and
deeply interested as I told them of former times,
when we tried so hard to get intercourse with them,
and to show them that we were different from other
* In a letter just received from Mr. Gordon, it appears that
after I left Eromanga last year, he got some further light on
these sad transactions, and is now led to think that the body of
Mr. Harris was cooked in Dillon's Bay, and that the body of
Mr. Williams was taken to a place a few miles distant, and
divided among three different settlements.
488 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
white men wlio had \dsited their shores. When I
read out the names of seven who swam off to ns in
1845, and to whom we showed kindness, and took
on shore in the boat, it appeared from the sensation
created that one of them was present. He came
after the service, shook hands ; said some two or
three more of them were ahve ; that our visit that
day greatly surprised them, and that they marked
our vessel as the one which showed them kindness,
and did not take sandal-wood. They thought us
quite different from all the white men with whom
they had previously come in contact.
Mr. Gordon was glad to see so many at the ser-
vice, and considered our visit providential and oppor-
tune. There had been a reaction. Eeports were
raised that the Aneiteum people were all dying, and
that it was occasioned by the new religion. The
chiefs forbade the people attending the Sabbath ser-
vices, and the consequence was that the chapel, the
Sabbath before om' visit, was quite deserted; only
some five of the people ventured to attend. We
hope chat the good effects of our visit will not soon
pass away. But Mr. Gordon finds it up-hill work.
The population is not only widely scattered, but
constantly occupied with petty intertribal wars. He
thinks the entire population of the island may be set
down at 5000. There is one dialect which is known
all over the island, and in this Mr. Gordon has printed
some small four-page elementary pieces, catechisms,
hymns, etc. The Eromangan teacher Mana is sta-
tioned on the other side of the island, and has col-
MTSSIOXAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 489
lected a number around him. There is also an
Aneiteum teacher assisting Mr. Gordon at Dillon's
Bay, and Mr. G. has six young men under instruc-
tion, who, he hopes, may yet make useful helpers.
But Mr. G. sadly wants another missionary for Por-
tenia Bay, on the opposite side of the island.
On the Saturday I saw and shook hands with the
chief Kauiau who killed Mr. Williams, and on the
Monday met with him again. I also saw one of his
men, called O^naUo, who killed Mr. Harris. These
two men feel ashamed and shy when the " John
Williams" comes. Neither of them were at the
service on Sabbath. Probably they have had a fear
also which they found it dij0ficult to shake off. I
hope, however, that Kauiau has now perfect confi-
dence in our friendly intentions. On the Monday,
he and Oviallo walked about with us, showed us
the place where Mr. Harris was first struck, the
place in the stream, a few yards from it, where he
fell, and the course along the road, and down to the
beach, where Mr. Williams ran right into the sea.
Here, too, O^naUo helped us to pick up some stones
to take with us as mementoes, to survi^^ng friends,
of the sad event. Mr. Gordon has erected a little
printing-office and teachers' residence close to the
spot where the first blow was struck at Mr. Harris.
I have planted a date-palm seed there, in a line
towards the stream with the spot where Mr. Harris
was struck, and in a line towards the sea with the
place where Mr. AYilliams fell.
But the most striking and permanent memento of
490 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
tliat sad day is a great flat block of coral on the
road up the hill, about a gunshot from the place
where Mr. Williams fell. There the natives took the
body, laid it down, and cut three marks in the stone
to preserve the remembrance of its size. The one
mark indicates the length of the head and trunk, and
the other the lower extremities, thus : —
Head and trunk, JB Extremities,
37 inches. ^r 25 inclies.
A native lay down on the spot, and, laying on his
right side, with his knees somewhat bent, said that
was how it was measured.
When the " Camden" hove in sight on that
morning of the 20th November, 1839, the Eroman-
gans thought it was a sandal- wooding party returned
who had but recently killed a number of their people,
and plundered plantations. They were the more
confirmed in this impression from the fact that the
boat pulled in to the very place where that party had
landed before, and erected some huts. That morn-
ing they had all ready heaps of yams and taro, for
a feast which was to take place close by up the
river; could not bear the thought of their being
stolen by the white men, and determined to try and
prevent their landing, or, if they did land, to attack
them if they attempted to go up the river to the
place where the yams and taro were. They sent
the women and children out of the way, and hid
themselves in the bush, but especially off the road
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 491
leading up along tlie western bank of the stream.
Whenever Mr. Harris made to go up there, and had
reached the spot where I have planted the palm-tree,
the sheU blew. Kauiau rushed out with his party,
and commenced the attack. Five out of the seven
who were present at the massacre are dead. The
people were not united in the affair ; some were for
it, and some against it. Hence the remark of Cap-
tain Morgan : " They made signals for us to go
away." But the principal thing, on that sad day,
which melted their hearts with pity, was, they say,
" the man in the boat, who stood, and wrung his
hands, and wept." And that, I suppose, was good
Captain Morgan.
After surveying these scenes, so full of affecting
recollections, we went off to the vessel, and took
Kauiau with us. We got him down into the cabin ;
and, as this is the first time he has ventured to go
below, it proves that he has now entire confidence
in us. We exchanged presents also. We gave him
a trifle, and he and his people brought off to the ship
forty yams, twenty heads of taro, and three bunches
of bananas — the first present which the missionary
vessel has ever had from Eromanga, and the mur-
derer of John Williams. On showing Kauiau all
over the ship, we stood before Mr. Williams's por-
trait in the saloon, and told him that was the mis-
sionary he killed. He gazed with intense interest ;
said he thought he could recognize the full face and
the stout body, and was earnest in leading up to it
some others who were with him, and in explaining
492 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
what it meant. Kauiau is still a heathen compara-
tively ; but let US hope that he may soon take a
stand on the side of Christ. Mr. Gordon says that
Oviallo is a more hopeful character, and seems to be
deeply grieved, as he thinks of his having had a
hand in killing *' a man of God.''
In March last, three white men, and two natives
of Yate, belonging to a sandal-wooding establish-
ment at Dillon's Bay, were killed by the Eroman-
gans. So far as we could learn, the affair originated
in a dispute about a native woman. The white men
were mainly to blame. " They brought it upon
themselves," was the remark of Captain Edwards,
in whose employ the unhappy men were, and he, very
properly, did not allow any attempt at retaliation.
As Mr. Gordon's position is distinctly understood by
the natives, this melancholy affair did not involve
him. While the white men were fortifying their
premises down on the shore, firing off their guns to
intimidate, and in constant dread of an attack from
the natives, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were safe in their
cottage up the hill among the natives, without either
fort or fire-arms.
Wliile at Eromanga, our attention was called to
a somewhat questionable system of acquiring native
laboiu", which is now extensively practised. The
sandal- wooders cannot get the Eromangans to work
as they wish, and therefore remove thither natives
of the adjacent islands to work for them. "We saw
upwards of thirty natives of Vate, and were told that
there were as many more in the bush cutting wood.
MISSIONAIiY VOYAGE L\ 1859. 493
There were a number of Lifu natives also. In tlie
niglit eiglit Yate men swam oflf to our vessel, implor-
ing us to take them home ; and ten Lifu men also
wished us to compassionate them. They say that
they are badly provided for, flogged, or beaten with
a stick, at the discretion of their overseer ; are kept
longer from their home than they wish to stay, etc.;
and we were informed by Mr. Gordon, that numbers
of the poor creatures sink under it, and either die,
away from their friends, or are taken home in a
dying state. Captain Williams and I went on shore
to the sandal- wood establishment, to see what was to
be done about the said runaways and others who
wished us to take them away. A Captain Mair
claimed all the Lifu people as his men, and begged
us not to take one of them ; and Captain Edwards
said that the Yate men, to the number of about
sixty, were under engagement to him for six months,
and that he wished to keep them, and take them
home honourably, according to his contract with
them. He readily gave up two, however, in
whom we felt a special interest, as belonging to the
Christian settlement at Erakor, to which we were
going, and paid them for the four months they had
been with him. Captain Mair sent his boat to re-
move from our vessel any Lifu natives who were
there, and to watch, until the anchor was up, that
none escaped. We preferred his doing this, that the
natives might see it was his doing, not om^s, that
some of them did not go with us.
Mr. Gordon, if spared to labour at Eromanga,
494 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
will be able in a few years to furnish many details
respecting the manners, customs, and traditions of
that interesting branch of the Papuan tribes. For
the present, the following fragments, partly from him
and partly from a Samoan teacher who was three
years on the island, will not be uninteresting. The
population, it has been observed, may be set down
at 5000. They are a kindred race to the Tannese.
They are scattered, and without any settled, well-
ordered village. They are migratory in given
localities, as war and planting may require. Their
chiefs are numerous, but not powerful. There are
two dialects on the island, differing widely from each
other, but the one is only partially known on the
north-east end of the island, and among a tribe
which numbers but a few people. Children are
kindly treated in general, but Mr. Gordon thinks
there are some instances of infanticide, and that on
the death of a mother, her infant child is buried
ahve with her. There are but few children in a
family. Four is considered a large family. One
albino has been seen. The population of the island
is thought to be less now than formerly. The
dysentery which raged in 1842 in other parts of the
group, and which led to the breaking up of the
Tanna mission, and the massacre of our teachers on
Futuna, raged fearfully in Eromanga. They traced
it to some hatchets taken on shore from a sandal-
wooding vessel, and threw them all away. It is
supposed that about a third of the population of the
island died at that time.
MISSIONAEY VOYAGE IN 1859. 495
Women carry the cliildren on tlie side. Circum-
cision is practised. Connected with marriage there
is a formal dowery. Polygamy prevails. A great
chief has perhaps ten wives. The wife of a deceased
husband is taken by the brother of the departed.
Bread-fruit, yams, taro, fish, pork, and human flesh
are the prevailing kinds of food of the people. The
women cover their persons from the waist to the
heels with leaf-girdles. The men prefer nudity, and
a thick rope- work of leaves or cloth in front, half a
yard long. The women tatoo each other about the
mouth, cheeks, and chin, with rude devices of leaves
and flowers. The people are fond of such amuse-
ments as dancing, racing, dart and stone throwing.
The principal articles of manufacture are clubs and
bows and arrows.
A number of old people are to be seen. The sick
are not well cared for. They have some medicines
for cases of poisoning, difficult labour, etc. They
beheve in witchcraft, and other things as causing
disease. There are few hunchbacks. Ulcerous
sores are common, and also elephantiasis, and fever
and ague. The dead are buried, in some cases, with-
out any covering, and, in others, with a winding-
sheet of cocoa-nut leaves. They do not raise any
mark over the gTave. It is known rather by a
depression in the earth of a few inches, and by two
sticks standing up, the one at the head and the
other at the feet. Some also are laid in caves, with-
out any earth or covering. They do not eat any-
thing which grows within about 100 yards of a place
496 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
where their oion dead are buried, but strangers from
another district will pluck cocoa-nuts, and eat freely
of sucli tilings as grow there.
The spirits of the dead are supposed to go east-
icard, but they do not know where. Spirits are also
thouQfht to roam the bush. Nohti is the name which
they give to their great god. They say that after
creating the human race at Eromanga, he went away
to another land. When they first saw white men,
they concluded that they were made by the same
great spirit, and to this day call foreigners, whether
white or black, by the name of Nohu. They say
that " once upon a time " men walked like pigs, and
the pigs walked erect ! The birds and some reptiles
had a meeting about it. The lizard said he thought
the pig should go all fours, and the men walk erect.
The " water- wagtail " disputed this. It ended in
the lizard going up a cocoa-nut tree, falhng on the
back of the pig, and making it stoop, and creep as
it now does, and ever since pigs creep, and men
walk erect ! The first of the human race, they say,
was a u-oman, then her son, and from them sprmig
the race of men. They have many tales about the
doings of that woman and her son.
Eain they suppose to be caused by the sun, and
say that if he is a long time without giving any,
some of the stars get angry and stone him until he
causes rain to fall. In another curious fragment, we
trace the Scripture account of the prophet Jonah.
One of their people, they say, fell into the sea, and
was immediately swallowed by a tchale. After a
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 497
time the projecting pieces of wood, which he wore
horizontally as earrings, pricked the inside of the
whale and made it vomit him forth again. He was
still alive, but as he walked up from the beach he
was thin and weak ! •
Monday, 17th October. — In the afternoon we
parted with Mr. and Mrs. Grordon, and there, as at
Tanna, it made us sad to think of but one solitary
missionary on such an island. Another missionary
should be sent out at once for Eromanga.
VATE, OR EFAT.
Tuesday^ 18th October. — Anchored in Erakor
Bay, on the S.W. side of Vate, or Efat, as the
Erakor people call it. The Rarotongan teachers,
Teaumaru and Toma, witli a number of the people,
came off immediately. The two families were well ;
but we were sorry to learn that Teautoa had died
since last voyage, and his wife also. • Fever and
ague seemed to be the principal complaint of the
former, but the latter died in child-bed. The whole
of the settlement of Erakor is nominally Christian.
The population is about 250. All are kind to the
teachers, and supply them with food, without stint
and without price. Eight natives of the place are
employed by the teachers as helpers in the work,
and they, with six others, the teachers think, might
be admitted to church fellowship, were a church
constituted. There has been no war between Era-
kor and neighbouring tribes for a long time, but
K K
498 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
still the way for the teachers' preaching in other set-
tlements is hedged up. The peojDle forbid their going
there to preach, owing to the superstitious belief
that unusual sickness and death follow wherever the
new religion is received. Still the teachers have
done a good deal during the last twelve months.
They have acquired some fluency in the difl&cult
dialect, and have superintended the building of a
new chapel, twice the size of the old one.
As the teachers had suffered from fever and ague,
they expressed a desire that we should occupy this
place by Aneiteum teachers, who are more likely to
stand the climate. I said that was precisely our
own wish, and that we had now brought two of
them, with their wives, for the very purpose of
making a commencement. They were pleased with
the arrangement, agreed to remain for another year,
and we proceeded to give them their supphes. After
this. Captain Williams and I went on shore with the
new teachers and others we had to land at this
place, ten individuals in all, viz., the Aneiteum
teachers, Thevthev and Vathea, their wives and one
child; the two Yate natives, who were taken last
year on a visit to Samoa and Rarotonga ; the two
we picked up at Eromanga ; and the child of one of
the Rarotongan teachers.
After pulling for half an hour up the beautiful
lagoon, we reached the landing-place, and there a
crowd of natives awaited our arrival, who gave us a
warm and hospitable welcome. A table was spread
for the captain and myself in the house of the
MISSIONAfiY VOYAGE IN 1859. -i99
teacher, and in another house provision was made
for the boats' crews and the newly-arrived teachers.
After conversation with the teachers, the chief Po-
mare, and some of tlie people, about the new
teachers, it was arranged that, for the present, they
take up their abode with the Rarotongan teachers.
We then had the native drum beaten to call all to
service. The new chapel looks clean, light, and
commodious. It is forty-five feet by thirty-five,
wattled and plastered, thatched with grass, pulpit
built with coral stones, and some rough forms
throughout as seats. About 150 assembled in ten
minutes. One of the teachers gave out a hymn and
prayed. I addressed them through a Vate man who
knows Samoan, and he, in conclusion, sang and
prayed. All were remarkably attentive and orderly.
Soon after we dismissed, the captain and I were
led to two separate heaps of yams, taro, sugar-cane,
cocoa-nuts, covered with a mat or two ; the one was
a present to him, and the other to me. By and by
two lads, who had been at Samoa, came each with
a pig as a present to me ; and presently an old lady
came along with a cooked fowl and some hot yams in a
basket, as a present to the captain and myself. This
old lady, who was dressed in a straw bonnet and a
Turkey red cotton gown, turned out to be the wife
of the chief. Meanwhile Mr. Griffin, the second
officer, was busy on the beach buying pigs and yams
for the ship. We were pleased to see the great
change at this place in tlieir demands while bartering.
Formerly it was all trinkets and tobacco ; now it is
500 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
calico and shirts. Calico, calico, calico, was the
constant cry. Having filled the two boats, and pro-
mising to send in again, in the morning, some more
Manchester goods with which to buy the yams and
pigs they had still to sell, we said good-bye, and got
out to the ship again before dark.
Wednesday, 19th October. — After another day's
friendly intercourse with the people of Erakor, we
weighed anchor in the afternoon, and sailed for
Mare, or Nengone, of the Loyalty Islands. While
at Eromanga, we heard that a Captain Fletcher and
a boat's crew, from a sandal- wooding vessel, were
lately attacked by the natives about " Hat Island,"
at the entrance to Sema, or "Havannah Harbour."
We made inquiry about it while at Erakor, but could
not ascertain any account of the affair on which we
can rely. It is a fact, however, that the natives
attacked the said party, and mangled some of them
severely with their tomahawks.
MARE, OE NENGONE.
SahhaiJi, 2Srd October. — Anchored at nine a.m. in a
roadstead off Waeko, the station of Mr. Jones, on
the N.W. side of Mare. Soon after the anchor was
down, Mr. Jones came off in a canoe, baling with
his boot ! The canoe had turned out to be leaky,
and they could hardly keep her afloat ; but he got
safe on board, and we were glad to find that he and
his fellow-labourers on the island were well. About
4000 people, on the other side of the island, still
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 501
cleave obstinately to their heatlienism, but all in the
districts occupied by the brethren Jones and Creagh
are professedly Christian. Their number is about
3000. Of these, 224 are church members, and 220
candidates for admission to church fellowsliip. There
are eight teachers also, and a number of assistant-
teachers.
After our English and Samoan services on board,
Captain AYilhams, Mr. Macfarlane, Mr. Baker, and I
accompanied Mr. Jones to the shore, and there we
had an afternoon service with the natives. About
250 were present. Mr. Macfarlane and I addressed
them through Mr. Jones. A\Tiat a change, as I
told them in my address, the gospel has effected
at Mare ! Instead of seeing tliem armed savages,
as they were when I first saw them fourteen years
ago, with their bodies whitewashed fi'om head to
foot, and without a rag of clothing, there they were,
men, women, and children, clean and clothed, most
of them with books in their hands, singing God's
praises, following the words read, bowing the head
in prayer, and listening with deep interest to every
word we said. The contrast, however, between this
side of the island and the other is still most affecting.
There, a cloud of the darkest heathenism still hangs
over the people. There they still worship the gods
of their forefathers, fight with each other, eat the
bodies of the slain, and delight in all manner of
^Wckedness. Two of the Christian party, who went
to preach the gospel to them some time ago, were
killed by these heathens. This was not so much a
502 NINETEEN TEARS IN POLYNESIA.
blow at Christianity, however, as an outburst of
pohtical revenge on two men who belonged by birth
to the very tribe with whom that heathen party
were then at war. They were advised not to go,
but in the heat of their zeal and devotedness to the
good cause, they, with some others, went. They
were recognized, waylaid, and killed, and their
bodies dragged off to the oven. The rest of the
party were spared. Once a month, select parties of
teachers and church members, headed occasionally
by the missionary, visit that heathen side of the
island. God's hammer will yet break the rock.
Light will yet penetrate the darkness.
Monday, 24t]b October. — Mr. Creagh arrived from
his station at Guamha, and immediately after we
formed ourselves into committee to deliberate on the
affairs of the mission. The most important thing
before us was the location of the newly-arrived
brethren Macfarlane and Baker. After discussing
the subject, we were unanimous in the opinion,
that Mr. Macfarlane should be stationed at Wide
Bay, on the N.W. side of the island of Lifu, and
Mr. Baker at Mu, on the S.E, side. It was also
arranged that three of the newly arrived Samoan
teachers, and one Rarotongan teacher, should be
left with the brethren Baker and Macfarlane, in
order to be located by them as soon as they had an
opportunity of exploring their respective spheres of
labour.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 503
TOKA.
Thvrfidaij, 27 fh October. — Weighed anclior at six
o'clock A.M., and taking Mr. Jones with ns, and also
a Nenofone teacher and his Avife, we made sail for
the little island called Toka. By ten o'clock a.m. we
were abreast of the teachers' house, when Captain
Williams, Mr. Jones, and I made for the shore in the
whale-boat. There was a heavy sea on, and we were
in doubt about the opening. A native, seeing our
difficulty, swam out, and stood as a finger-post on
the edge of the reef close to the narrow entrance,
and soon we were inside clear of the breakers. As
Mr. Jones pays this place a pastoral visit occa-
sionally in his boat, we had little to do but to give
the Nengone teacher there, named Mose, his sup-
plies, and to take off the teacher Solia, who, after
thirteen years' service, wished to return to Samoa.
The people on this island number about 100.
They were more numerous formerly, owing to the
residence there of refugees from Mare and Ijifu, who
were driven in war, but who have now, in these days
of peace, gone home. They are a colony from Mare
and speak the Mare dialect. We saw about fifty of
them. Nine are church members, twelve are candi-
dates, and all are nominally Christian. They showed
some feeling in parting with Solia, and brought a
small present for the ship. They have a plastered
chapel, twenty feet by forty, and the settlement is
further enlivened by the white plastered cottages
504 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
of the chiefs, teacher, and some others of the people.
The island is a mass of uplifted coral ; it is only a
few miles in circumference, and some 200 feet high.
On the beach we observed a quantity of pumice-stone.
It is washed on shore by the sea, and the natives
formerly thought it was the dung of the whale I It
no doubt comes from the volcano at Tanna.
LIFU.
With the friendly aid of our living finger-post on
the edge of the reef, we got safely through the open-
ing again, and by one o'clock were snugly on board
out of the spray and plunge of a pull through a
heavy cross sea. As the wind was strong and fair,
we made all sail for Lifu, and by four p.m., were off
Mu, on the S.E. side of the island, where we
had arranged to place Mr. and Mrs. Baker and
family, and three of the Samoan teachers. There
being no anchorage. Captain Williams, Mr. Jones,
and I again left the ship in the boats, together with
Messrs. Baker and Macfarlane, and the new teachers.
A crowd of natives on the beach awaited our arrival,
and among them we were glad to find the young
chief Bula, his brother, and two of the teachers.
The first words, after the first shake of the hand,
were, " Have you brought us our missionaries ?"
Their joy was unbounded when we pointed to the
brethren Macfarlane and Baker, and said, " Yes ;
here they are. Mr. Baker to live here, and Mr.
Macfarlane on the other side of the island."
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1859. 505
Mr. Jones and I remained on sliore for the night,
to converse with the teachers, arrange for a meeting
with the people, the landing of the goods, etc., while
Captain AVilliams, with Messrs. Baker and Macfar-
lane, returned to the ship. AVhile conversing with
the teachers in the course of the evening, they related,
among other things, a remarkable escape which two
of our Samoans and the wife and children of a third
lately had from a watery grave. While crossing to
Mare, their canoe was struck by a sea and went
down, leaving them all swimming. A native tub
floated from the canoe, and into that one of them,
named Isaaka, placed the two children, steadied the
tub with the one hand, and swam with the other.
Three Lifu men who were with them, soon became
exhausted, and sank dead. For hours the two
teachers, and the woman struggled on, and at last
they were carried by a cun^ent to a little island.
But it was a bold shore, and they could see no
way of getting up. Here they thought they must
perish. At last Isaaka said, " Taniela, come here ;
you steady the tub, and let me throw myself on to
the next great roller ; if I perish, I perish ; but per-
haps God will lift me on to that rock up there."
He threw himself on the next wave, and was
borne aloft in safety upon the rock. But, on look-
ing down, he saw that the tub was upset, and the
children in the sea. Again he courageously jumped
over, dashed down among them, seized one of the
children, clasped it to his left breast, threw himself
on to another roller, and was lifted up, child and all.
606 NINETEEN TEARS IX POLYNESIA.
on to a ridge of rock. He threw the child up higher,
and chmbed after it. It seemed dead. He shook the
little fellow by the heels, sucked his mouth and
nostrils, and life returned. He then ran off in
search of natives, got ropes, and all were soon safe
up with himself, and there they sat down and wept,
and thanked God for their maiwellous preservation.
Isaaka deserves a gold medal.
Friday, 28th October. — Captain Wilhams stood in
again with the ship, manned three boats, and pro-
ceeded to land the goods. Mr. and Mrs. Baker, and
family, and Mr. and Mrs. Macfarlane came on shore
with the first boats, and soon we had a meeting in
the chapel. The chapel is a stone building, erected
some years ago by the teachers and people, 114 feet
by 38. About 600 people were present. The
brethren Jones, Baker, Macfarlane, and I spoke.
In my address, which was interpreted by Isaaka, I
referred to the time when the " John WiUiams "
first came to their shores ; of our intercourse with
their old blind chief Bula ; of his promise to be kind
to the teachers, and listen to their instructions ; of
the hope which Mr. Mmray and I held out of their
getting missionaries at a future time to teach them
the way of the Lord more perfectly; and then I
added, " Tliis day the promise has been fulfilled.
You have done your part, we have done ours. Mr.
and Mrs. Baker are now your missionaries, and may
the Lord bless you all."
Visitors continued to arrive every hour from
various parts of the district, to pay their respects,
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1859. 507
and express their joy. By eleven a.m. on Saturday,
everything was on shore. Mr. and Mrs. Baker were
.comfortably lodged in a neat plastered six-roomed
cottage, which the teachers gave up for their resi-
dence. AYe bowed the knee, committed our dear
friends to God, left them, and pulled out to the
ship. Mr. Baker has under his care six Samoan
and Rarotongan teachers, a number of Lifu assist-
ant-teachers, and a district containing a population
of about 4000 people, the most of whom have
abandoned heathenism and become professedly
Christian.
WIDE BAY, LIFU.
Sahhatli, SOth October. — At noon we anchored at
a place called Hepenehe, in the Wide Bay, on the
N.AV. side of Lifu, where we had arranged to locate
Mr. and Mrs. Macfarlane. Our arrival was the
occasion of great joy there again. We were in good
time for the afternoon service, which was held out of
doors, in front of the teachers' house. The chapel
was blown down in a gale in March last, but they
have raised the stone-walls of a new one, and were
ready for the roof.
On the following day, the teachers and, I should
think, 1000 people assembled from the neighbouring
villages, and here, as at Mr. Baker's station, they
brought us a present of yams for the ship. In the
short speech which accompanied their present, they
said : " We are greatly pleased that we have at
508 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
length got a missionary. We do not know what
may spring up in our hearts some other day, but at
present there is nothing there but joy." Mr. Mac-,
farlane's goods were soon landed. The willing
crowd picked up the things from the boat as soon as
it touched the beach, and trunks, casks, and cases
flew up to the teachers' house, in at the door, and
were laid down in whichever of the seven rooms
Mr. Macfarlane pleased to direct. So rapidly did
everything go on, that, by the evening, all was
landed, and Mr. Jones and I had a cup of tea from
Mrs. Macfarlane in her new abode, at the close of
her first day of actual missionary hfe.
In the division of the island assigned to Mr.
Macfarlane, he has under his care six Samoan and
Rarotongan teachers, a number of Lifu assistant
teachers, and a scattered population of probably 3000
to 4000 souls. War and cannibalism have for many
years been laid aside ; most of the people are pro-
fessedly Christian, our teachers and chapels en-
circle the island, and never, j^robably, were first
missionaries located under more favourable circum-
stances. But, although the people are nominally
Christian, they are but a step ft'om heathenism —
the merest babes in Christian knowledge ; and al-
though our brethren Macfarlane and Baker have had
"an abundant entrance," they have still the great
work to do of translating the Bible, of explaining
its meaning, and of raising up men qualified to be
the future pastors and teachers there and in the
regions beyond.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 509
The four natives of Lifti, to whom I have ah-eady
referred as being on board our vessel, now rejoiced
to find themselves once more on their native shore.
There is a tale connected with these four young men
which makes us ashamed of our country. They say
that they were decoyed from their island by a sandal-
wooding vessel from Sydney, upwards of three years
ago. They had gone on board to sell some things,
were battened down in the hold, and let up on deck
next day when their island was all but out of sight.
They were nearly a year on Espirito Santo, cutting
and cleaning sandal-wood, and were then taken to
Ascension, of the Caroline group, and sold for pigs,
yams, and firewood. They were rated according to
size, age, etc., and fetched from two to five pigs, and
a proportionable quantity of yams and firewood for
each man. There were ten of them in all. After a
time, six managed to run away, and escaped to
Honor-Konor where five of them died. The remain-
ing four might still have been in slavery on Ascen-
sion, but for the kind help of the American mission-
aries there, together with Captain Thompson, of the
whaling-ship " China." The captain bought off
two of them, and the other two were redeemed,
partly by their o^ti earnings, and partly by the mis-
sionary. They were then taken to Honolulu. The
Rev. C. Damon and others kindly attended to them at
that place, until Captain Manchester generously took
them to Rarotonga, there to await the amval of the
" John Williams." One of them speaks English
pretty well. Mr. Williams, the British consul at
510 NINETEEN YEAHS IN POLYNESIA.
Samoa, has taken down the deposition of the young
man, and reported all at the proper quarter. In the
course of our voyage we traced the name of the
vessel, and also that of her captain and supercargo.
The Lifu people had long given up these four young
men as dead, and their restoration was no small
addition to the joy occasioned by the arrival of the
missionaries. Two of them are of high rank in the
bay where we anchored, and it was affecting to see
how the people clung to them, listening to their tale,
and following them wherever they went.
UEA, OR lAI, BRITANNIA ISLANDS.
Tuesday, 1st November. — We parted with Mr.
and Mrs. Macfarlane at ten a.m., and were imme-
diately off with a fair wind for Ilea. About
dusk we dropped anchor again in the lagoon off the
teachers' house, in the settlement of King Whenegay,
as he is called, in 166" E. long., and 20° S. lat. This
is one of the loveliest coralline groups which I have
seen. Hnie is the name of the principal island, a
long, curved strip of land, thirty miles in length,
three miles wide in some places, and about 150 feet
high. Whakaia, about two miles long, is separated
from it by a narrow strait, and then there are up-
wards of twenty islets dotting the surface of the
ocean all around, and forming a beautiful oblong
lagoon, eighteen miles in length and nine in breadth,
with anchorage throughout.
The population may amount to -iOOO. Tbey are
MISSIONAKY VOYAGE IN 1859. 511
settled principally on the large island, and divided
into two parties, the one in the district called Ve-
kinie, under a king named Pasil, and six tribal chiefs ;
and the other in the division of the island called
Fazaue, under King Whenegay, and seven tribal
chiefs. Whenegay and his people call the group not
Ilea, but lai (Eaye). These two parties have not
fought for some time, and are on speaking terms.
They keep up two distinct dialects, but understand
each other. They are a shade or two hghter than
the Lifu people, but in most of their manners and
customs are akin to them. They subsist on yams,
taro, cocoa-nuts, fish, fowls, and pigs.
Wednesdai/, 2nd November. — After meeting with
the teachers on board, hearing their reports, and
giving them their annual supplies, Captain WilUams,
Mr. Jones, and I proceeded to the shore, and had a
meeting, with about 200 of the people, in a large
council-house at \Vhenegay's place, which is at pre-
sent used as a chapel. The size and general appear-
ance of this house struck me as being one of the best
specimens of ancient Polynesian royalty which I
have seen. It is 130 feet long, and 30 feet wide.
The posts round the sides of the house, close
to the eaves, are only five feet high, but they are
about nine feet in circumference, and fi'om them run
up the rafters, which are great beams four feet
round. The ridge-pole is supported by a row of
central pillars. The roof is thatched with grass.
The back, and ends, and two- thirds of the front, are
wattled and plastered. The remaining third is open
512 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
in front, and decorated on tlie outside of each post
with five carved boards, each having at the top a
human face, painted red, and as if grinning at an
enemy. An additional figure projects a few feet in
front on either side, as the guardian spirits of the
place, with a herculean wooden spear over their
heads, pointing to the entrance, through the high
palisade, a little way in front of the building.
This house was built by lokuie, whom I met at
sea, in company with Captain C , in 1845. He
is dead, but his son is now king. In my address
to those assembled in the great house, I reminded
them of the earnestness with which lokuie entreated
us to send teachers to their group of islands, and
expressed our joy in knowing that many of them had
abandoned heathenism, and commenced to worship
the true God, and seek salvation through Jesus
Christ. Mr. Jones, in his address, told tliem that
he had brought them a new teacher from Mare, and
likewise exhorted them to go on in the way to
heaven. We have now five teachers at Ilea, and five
preaching stations, at which an aggregate of 1300
people worship Grod and listen to his A¥ord every
Lord's-day. Fourteen are under special instruction
as candidates for church membership, as soon as
one of the missionaries from Mare or Lifu can
arrange to spend a week or two in the group, to aid
in the formation of a Christian Church, and other
pastoral duties. This is a fine field for a missionary,
and one is greatly needed.
Here, and also at Lifu, Mare, and Aneiteum, I
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 513
liad presented to me as many as eighty-six of the
castaway idol-gods of heathen times : gods of the
sea, gods of the land, gods of the plantation, war
gods, disease-making gods, storm and rain gods,
etc. I have also received twenty-six more, to be
taken to some of my brother missionaries, making
in all 112 of these unmistakeable trophies of the
power of the gospel of Jesus to overturn idolatry of
every name, and triumph in every place.
MAEE, OR NENGONE.
Thursday, Srd November. — ^We left Ilea early in
the morning, bound for Gruamha, Mr. Creagh's sta-
tion, there to land Mr. Jones, and the supphes of
Mr. Creagh, and his native teachers. AVe were close
in by nine a.m. on Sabbath, when Mr. Jones, Mr.
Turpie, the first ofiicer, and I w^ent on shore in the
whale-boat. As we reached the beach, I had a vivid
recollection of the naked savage crowd Mr. Murray
and I saw there on my first visit fourteen years ago.
Thrn some were painted from head to foot, and all
were armed with clubs, spears, or tomahawks. Old
leui gave the word of command, when an avenue
was formed for us to walk up through the motley
group, to his large round house, where we talked to
them of Christ, and his peaceful kingdom, and en-
treated them to abandon heathenism and embrace
the gospel. But how changed the scene now ! As
Mr. Jones, Mr. Turpie, and I walked up from the
boat all was (puet. It was the hour of divine ser-
LL
514 NINETEEN YEARS IN POL'i'NESIA.
vice, and tlie people were assembled in the chapel on
the rising ground a little to the left. We walked
up to the place, a stone building eighty feet by sixty,
looked in at the door, and saw that it was filled with
900 attentive worshippers. Mr. Creagh was in the
pulpit, and a black precentor stood leading the whole
in one harmonious song of praise. I felt it quite
overpowering, as we walked up the aisle, and took
our places in the missionary's pew. Mr. Creagh
preached, and as it was their day for administering
the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, we had the
further pleasure of uniting, at the close of the
morning service, with the church of ninety-four
members, in commemorating the death of Christ.
In the afternoon we met again with the people.
Through Mr. Creagh as my interpreter, I addressed
them, reminding them of the present days of light
and Christian privilege, compared with the state of
things which existed when I first saw them, and
" exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they
would cleave unto the Lord." At the close of my
address, I baptized Sarah Caroline, the infant
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Creagh. Mr. Jones then
addressed and baptized sixteen of the natives, and
soon after closed the public services of a day which
I shall long remember.
A gale in March last blew down the printing-
of&ce, but a substantial new one is all but finished,
and Mr. Creagh hopes soon to have the press at
work again to proceed with the issues of the books
of Scripture which he and Mr. Jones are preparing.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1859. 515
In May last, Mr. Creagh and Mr. Jones had tlieir
second annual missionary meeting at Guamha, and
collected £10 in casli for the London Missionary
Society — double what it was last year. From the
stations of the brethren Creagh and Jones we had
presents for the ship, amounting to upwards of 300
yams.
Tuesday, 8th Novemher. — Left Mare and sailed
for Aneiteum. Just before leaving, Mr. Creagh
received the report of a deputation from his church
members, who had visited one of the heathen dis-
tricts the day before. They pay them a monthly
visit directly after the Communion Sabbath. They
were unusually well received on this occasion, had
food given to them, and the remark was freely made
that Christianity was good, and that if their enemy
received a teacher, they would give up fighting too,
and have a teacher also. The said "enemy" has
at length expressed a willingness to have a teacher,
and Mr. Creagh was on the eve of sending them one.
This is the party who massacred the crew of the
"Brigand."
ANEITEUM.
Friday J Wth Novemher. — Anchored again at
Aneiteum. On that day, Saturday, and Monday, we
were busy taking in water, presents of provisions
for the ship, and a number of pine spars. Captain
Williams, with his usual foresight and economy for
the interests of the ship and the society, procured,
516 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
while there, seven spars, some of them of large
dimensions, such as will serve for a foreyard, top-
mast, etc. The natives not only allow Captain
Williams to select and cut spars without charge, but
muster in parties of two and three hundred, to carry
them out of the bush, and take them alongside the
vessel. This is no mean contribution. Captain
Williams estimates it on this occasion at £40.
On the Sabbath I had the pleasure of meeting
with about 1000 of the Aneiteum people at Mr.
Geddie's station at the morning service. Many of
the people from Mr. Inglis's station were present,
who had come over on the day previous, with pre-
sents for the ship, and to aid in getting the spars
out of the bush. In the afternoon we had a mis-
sionary prayer-meeting, at which I gave some
account of our voyage, and in the evening Mr.
Copeland preached to us on board the " John
Wilhams."
On Monday the 14th we took on board Mr. and
Mrs. Inglis, and three of the children of Mr. Geddie,
to proceed in the vessel to England. Mr. and Mrs.
Inglis revisit their native land, after an absence of
fifteen years, spent partly in New Zealand, and
partly on Aneiteum. Mr. Inglis takes with him a
translation of the New Testament, prepared by Mr.
Geddie and himself, to be printed in London by the
British and Foreign Bible Society. He takes with
him a native also to aid him in the revision of
the manuscript. At four p.m. we united in prayer
in the cabin. Committing each other and the
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 517
interests of our voyage to God, parted with Mr. and
Mrs. Geddie, Mr. and Mrs. Matheson, and Mr.
Copeland, and were immediately off for our next
place of call, viz..
NIUE, OR SAVAGE ISLAXD.
Monday, VMli December. — Sighted Savage Island
at nine a.m. Instead of approaching it as I did
eleven years ago, half expecting to hear that the
teacher was killed, it was dehghtful now to look
upon it as a Christian land, and to draw near to it
anticipating a happy meeting with a Christian
people. For a period of sixteen years, the powers of
darkness resisted every effort to obtain an entrance
for Christianity. It is eleven years now since the
Savage Islanders at last expressed a willingness to
receive a Samoan teacher, and from year to year
the good work has gone on and prospered.
By two P.M. we were off the station of our
teacher Samuela, on the south side of the island,
and Captain Williams, Mr. Inglis, and I proceeded
in the boats to the shore. Although the sea ran
high, no fewer than seventeen canoes were launched
and off to meet us, and, accompanied by this fleet,
and its happy band of natives, we pulled to the
landing-place. The first glance at the people in
their canoes, from the ship's deck, showed a marked
change since I was here before. Instead of nudity,
and the long dishevelled hair flying in the wind, or
fast in a coil between the teeth, aU have their hair
518 NINETEEN YEAJiS IN POLYNESIA.
cut short, and, at least, a wrapper, or kilt of some
sort, from tlie waist down below the knee.
We found the teacher Samuela and his family-
well, and living in one of the best teacher's houses I
have ever seen — quite a loalace of a place, eighty feet
by thirty, divided into seven apartments, well plas-
tered, finished with doors and Venetians, and fur-
nished with tables, chairs, sofas, and bedsteads. We
were delighted also with the size and unusually fine
workmanship of the chapel. It is ninety feet by
twenty-four, holds 500 people ; but it is too small,
and they are about to build a larger one. After
spending an hour or two here. Captain Williams and
Mr. Inglis returned to the ship. I remained on
shore, and arranged to meet them on the following
day at Alofi, eight miles further on, round to the
west.
The teacher Amosa soon arrived from his station
on the south side, and with him and Samuela I spent
the evening, talking over the afiairs of the mission,
and arranging for the services of the coming day.
Retired to rest on a nice muslin- curtained bedstead,
which they kindly spread for me with blanket and
sheets, luxuries rarely to be met with in a native
teacher's house ; but I had too much to think about
to get more than a short nap. Soon after midnight
the natives were all on the move, church members,
candidates, and others going to the meeting, and
others catching pigs and fowls to take oflf for sale to
the vessel.
Had family prayer early with the teachers, and
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 519
was off by four a.m., in the moonlight, to Avalk to
Alofi. It was heart- stirring at daylight, to hear the
voice of prayer and praise proceeding from the
cottages of the natives, as we passed along the road.
Some had family worship over, and were out, eager to
get a shake of the hand as I passed. Some were not
content with the hand or arm, but they must seize
the leg too, and give it a hearty national snuff or
smell ! I was thus brought to a hard fast standstill,
at times, but after a smiUiuj wrestle with the warm-
hearted people, I got clear, and on along the road
again.
The natives have completed a good six-feet wide
road aU round the island. It has been partly made, and
kept in repair, by fines. For theft, and other crimes,
the chiefs sentence offenders to two, five, ten, or
even fifty fathoms, of road-making. They fill up the
spaces between the uneven coral with small stones,
and level all -wath a layer of earth or sand. They
are raising a row of cocoa-nuts on either side of the
road for a shade. A missionary will find this road
a great facihty to his labours, as it will enable him
to take a horse all romid the island, a distance of
forty to fifty miles, perhaps.
The island is well wooded. Of the cultivated
places along the road, I was especially struck with
some large sugar-cane plantations, and the canes
standing erect as high as thirty feet. They support
them with long poles, which keep them erect, and
separate the clumps from each other. I observed,
too, that the cocoa-nuts of the island are unusually
520 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
large. Eigliteen inches in circumference is tlie com-
mon average of the nut after the husk has been
taken off.
About half way I looked in, as I passed, at a
school-house, just finished, fifty feet by twenty, and
in the finest style of their workmanship. They have
five more of these school-houses, at distances, round
the island, between the five large chapels.
I was at Alofi by seven a.m. Here I met with
some of the natives who had been with us at Samoa,
was besieged again by the hand-shakers, but soon
got into the teachers' house — a fine building that is,
too, even more so than the one I saw the day before.
Here I met with the other three teachers, viz.,
Paulo, Paula, and Sakaio, and commenced the im-
portant, but very difficult work of examining candi-
dates for admission to the church. The teachers
had evidently been careful in the selection of them,
and out of those proposed fi:*om the five stations, we
decided on receiving thirty-one men and nineteen
women. Those who were formed into a church last
year have all remained stedfast, and, with the addi-
tion of those just named, there is an aggregate of
102 of the Savage Islanders in church fellowship.
After baptizing the newly-admitted members, we all
united in commemorating the death of Christ.
After the communion I met again with the five
teachers, gave them their annual supplies, and talked
over a variety of matters. Arranged that Paula,
whose wife died some time ago, and who is aged
and inefficient, should return to Samoa, and that the
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 521
Samoan teacher Elia take his place. Supplied them
with copies of the commentary on the Gospel of
Matthew in the Samoan dialect, and left four thou-
sand copies of a revised hymn and Scripture lesson
book in the Savage Island dialect — the paper for
printing which was kindly furnished by the London
Religious Tract Society.
The teachers handed me a manuscript of a trans-
lation of the Gospel of Mark, in the dialect of Savage
Island, with a request to print it at Samoa if ap-
proved by us. It was translated by Paulo, who has
been ten years on the island, and subsequently aU
the teachers met in committee, and revised the
manuscript. I said they might go on with Matthew
next. Of course they translate from the Samoan
version. They will exert themselves, I have no
doubt, to do it well, and, although a translation of a
translation, and by native teachers, the manuscript
may be of much service to missionaries, who, I trust,
will ere long be sent forth to this island.*
The population may be set down at 4300. AU
are now Christian, with the exception of some ten,
who still stand aloof. The opinion is universal all
over the island, that there is now an increase of the
population. The women are more numerous than
the men, and we were all struck with the number of
* The manuscript of the Gospel of Mark, just referred to,
has been committed to my brother missionary, Mr. Pratt, to be
revised and prepared for the press by him, together with the aid
of one of the Savage Islanders, now in the Mission Seminary
at Malua.
522 NINETEEN YEARS IN POUT^JESIA.
children to be seen compared with many other
islands. There was a fearful destruction of children
in the days of heathenism, principally before birth.
The climate is remarkably healthy. We have found
this universal with the low coral formations. It is
on the high volcanic islands where our teachers and
missionaries have suffered so much from fever and
ague.
The teachers said the chiefs wished to know how
they could obtain a protectorate from the British
Government. I said it was not likely that Britain
would grant their request ; still it could do no harm
to make known their wishes, only they must do it
not through the missionaries, but through some of
H. B. M.'s official representatives — say, the British
consul at Samoa, or the commander of any of
H.B.M.'s ships which may touch at the island.
The " John Williams" was off the settlement at
Alofi all day, and the boats made five trips to the
shore, taking off arrow-root, pigs, fowls, yams,
teachers' jDarcels, etc. The arrow-root amounted to
upwards of 2000 lbs., and is the proceeds of the sale
of books. 1540 yams, ten pigs, and forty fowls
were a present from the people to the " John Wil-
liams," and, in addition, Mr. Griffin, the second
officer, bought about 50 pigs and 120 fowls for
the vessel. I was glad also to find that the de-
mand from Mr. Griffin was not tobacco, but ex-
clusively such useful articles as calico, shirts, knives,
hatchets, etc.
In the afternoon we had a pubhc meeting in the
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IX 1859. 523
chapel. It is 100 feet long by 85, and is one of
the finest native-built chapels I have seen in the
South Seas. It was closely packed with a clean,
decently-clothed, and attentive audience. Cai^tain
AVilliams, Mr. and Mrs. Inglis, the Misses Geddie,
and others from the ship, were also present. In-
cluding those on the verandahs, on either side of the
chapel, there were at least 1100 present. Mr. Inglis
and I addressed them through the teachers, as inter-
preters, and they also conducted the singing and
devotional parts of the service. Such a sight, and
in such a place, made it a season of joy to all of us
which we shall never forget.
We were again on board ship and off for Samoa
before dark. I repeatedly wished, in the course of
this voyage, that I had another body to dispose of,
and give up to labour in the cause of Christ ; but I
never felt this to such an extent as I did on leaving
that shore of Savage Island, covered with a loving,
grateful people, aU eager for a shake of the hand,
and to express, as best they could, their unfeigned
regard. And these are the children of the men
who rushed out upon our great na\agator Cook
"hke wild boars," and who, for sixty years after
his time, kept to the determination that no stranger
should ever live on their island. They repeatedly
rushed out upon parties of white men as they did
upon Captain Cook, and were sometimes fired upon.
Natives of other islands, who were drifted there in
distress, whether from Tonga, or Samoa, or else-
where, were invariably killed. Any of their own
524 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
people who went away in a ship, and came back,
were killed ; and all this was occasioned by a dread
of the introduction of disease. For years, too,
after they began to venture out to ships, they
would not immediately use anytliing obtained, but
hung it up in the bush in quarantine for weeks.
Eleven years ago, the exclusive system, against
which we had so long been strugghng, gave way,
and the wish was formally made known to us that
Samoan teachers would be received ; and, noiv, no-
thing would be more grateful to them than the arrival
of white missionaries. Soon may God grant them
the desire of their hearts ! Nor is the great change
confined to their reception of Christianity as a reli-
gious system, but, as is manifest from what I have
already said, the whole framework of their political
and social life is changed. Their wars, and more
clandestine lurking for each other's blood, are ended.
Old grievances are laid aside, and free intercourse is
the rule all over the island. The pig-sty dwellings
are fast giving way to the Samoan model of large
houses, well spread with mats. Instead of destroying
all the plantations and fruit-trees of a person who
dies, that they might go with him, all is now spared,
and the consequence is an abundance of food such
as they never had in the days of heathenismc In-
stead of living in single families, and migrating here
and there in the bush, the five teachers' stations
which encircle the island are fast becoming the
nuclei of settled villages, with magistrates and
laws ; and the change of the whole state of affairs
f
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 525
is as amazing to the people themselves as it is to a
stranger. I have never seen a more inviting field of
missionary labom*. Happy the men who are sent to
cultivate it !
In thus describing the triumphs of the gospel on
these once savage shores, I have great pleasure also
in giving publicity to the fact, that the young men
and women in the Bible-classes connected with the
United Presbyterian Chiu'ch, Campbeltown, Scotland,
under the pastoral care of the Rev. Dr. Boyd, have
contributed towards the support of two teachers on
that island for upwards of ten years. They have
doubtless often prayed as well for that heathen land,
and who can tell to what a large extent the success
over which we now rejoice is to be traced to the
" effectual fervent" prayers of these friends of mis-
sions ! May they continue the good work, and may
many others imitate their praiseworthy example.
FAKAAFO, TOKELAU.
Owing to the amount of business we had to do
in the Westward Islands, together with hindrances
from contrary winds, the time allotted for our
missionary cruise expired, without our being able to
call at Fakaafo, as we had hoped to do when we left
Samoa. This little coral island is in 171" W. long,
and 9° 22' S. lat. It is the principal of three, which
are inhabited in that group, called Union Group,
or by the natives, Tokelau. The entire population
of the three islands may not exceed 600.
526 NINETEEN YEAES IN POLYNESIA.
Tlie natives tliere say that men liad their origin
in a small stone on Fakaafo. The stone became
changed into a man. After a time he thought of
making a woman. This he did by collecting a
quantity of earth, and forming an earth model on
the ground. He made the head, body, arms, and
legs all of earth, then took out a rib from his left
side and thrust it inside of the earth model, when
suddenly the earth became alive, and up started a
woman on her feet. He called her Ivi (Eevee), or
rib, he took her to be his wife, and from them sprang
the race of men.*
The government is monarchical, and the king,
Tui Tokelau, is high priest as well. There are three
families from which the king is selected, and they
always select an aged man. They say that a young
man is a bad ruler, and that mature age is essential
to the office. They are a quiet people, and rarely
fight.
Their great god is called Tui Tokelau, or king of
Tokelau. He is supposed to be embodied in a stone,
which is carefully wrapped up with fine mats, and
never seen by any one but the king, and that only
once a year, when the decayed mats are stripped off
and thrown away. In sickness, ofierings of fine
mats are taken and rolled round the sacred stone,
and thus it gets busked up to a prodigious size ;
* This reminds us of Prometheus and his clay models
(eiKovia), but it is more interesting still as a manifest frag-
ment of the Divine doings as recorded in the Mosaic cos-
mogony.
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 527
but as the idol is exposed to the weather out of
doors, night and day, the mats soon rot. No one
dares to appropriate what has been offered to the
god, and lience, the old mats, as they are taken
off, are heaped in a place by themselves, and
allowed to rot.* Before the idol is its house, or
temple, a gi^eat thatched shed, which may hold some
400 people. Once a year, viz., about the month of
May, a whole month is devoted to the worship of
the god. All work is then laid aside. Great quan-
tities of food are prepared. The people assemble
from the three islands, pray for life and health and
a plentiful supply of fish and cocoa-nuts. They
have dancing too, men with men, and women with
women, and light up the temple all the night over
during the month with what they call " light in
honour of the god."
No fire is allowed to be kindled at nis-ht in the
houses of the people all the year round. It is
* How remarkably this compares with what the Earl of
Roden says of a stone idol, in his " Progress of the Reformation
in Ireland :" " In the south island, in the house of a man named
Monigan, a stone idol, called in the Irish ' Xeevougi,' has been
from time immemorial religiously preserved and worshipped.
This god resembles in appearance a thick roll of home-spun
flannel, which arises from the custom of dedicating a dress of
that material to it whenever its aid is sought ; this is sewn on
by an old woman, its priestess, whose peculiar care it is. Of
the early history of this idol, no authentic information can be
procured, but its power is believed to be immense ; they pray
to it in time of sickness ; it is invoked when a storm is desired
to dash some hapless ship upon their coast; and, again, the
exercise of its power is solicited in calming the angry waves, to
admit of fishing or visiting the mainland."
528 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
sacred to the god, and so, after sundown, they sit
and chat in the dark. There are only two excep-
tions to the rule : 1st, fire to cook fish taken in
the night, but then it must not be taken to their
houses, only to the cooking-house ; and, 2nd, a light
is allowed at night in a house where there happens
to be a confinement.
The origin of fire they trace to Mafuike, but, un-
like the Mafuike of the mythology of some other
islands, this was an old blind lady. Talanga went
down to her in her lower regions, and asked her to
give him some of her fire. She obstinately refused
until he threatened to kill her, and then she yielded.
With the fire he made her say what fish were to be
cooked with it, and what were still to be eaten raw ;
and then began the time of cooking food.
Polygamy prevails. Cocoa-nuts and fish form
the prevailing food of the people. There are no
fowls or pigs there, but swarms of rats. Boys at
sport play at catching rats. They who catch the
most win the game. Canoes are made from a single
log hollowed out. They are now getting iron tools,
but formerly they used shell hatchets. They some-
times burned the trunk of a tree to make it fall, but
as the fire occasionally ran up the heart of a tree
and destroyed it all, they usually cut away at the
trunk with their shell hatchets, day after day, until
it fell. It took ten, fifteen, and thirty days to fell a
tree. Another plan was to dig down and cut the
roots. They show some ingenuity in the manufac-
ture of buckets with lids. They are made by hollow-
MISSTONAin' VOYAGE IN 1859. 529
ing out a solid block ol' ^Y00cl. They do it by
burning.
AYlien a sbip is seen, they consult the king and
high priest whether they shall go out to it. He
decides for or against. If they go they do so with
great fear, praying all the way that they may be
preserved alive, and free from harm. ^Ylien a party
goes, the king will probably go with them. When
he goes, one sits a little before him, holding up a
cocoa-nut leaflet, as a sort of protecting flag, or
charm, and the king sits immediately behind, pray-
ing all the while, as the rest paddle, that they may
be kept from harm. A party of them once went
out to visit a ship, and when near the vessel, one of
their number was shot dead, all the rest fled to the
shore. They supposed that the people in the ship
thought they had gone out to fight.
Of old they thought a foreign ship something
unearthly, and the white crew sailing gods from
some region of spirits. The fire burning in their
inside, and sending forth volumes of smoke (tobacco
smoke) seemed superhuman, and the guns, belch-
ing out fire and smoke and " stones," seemed to be
no work of man. If any one died aboiit the time
a vessel had been seen, they concluded that the
party of sailing gods had come for his spirit, and
when they happened to see any on board ship with
their hair cut short, they supposed they were some
of the spirits but lately received.
Apart fi^om the god Tui Tokelau, there is a
particular disease-making god, whose priest receives
M M
530 NINETEEN YEM?S IN POLYNESIA.
offerings from the sick of fine mats. When the
friends of a sick man take a present to the priest,
he says he will pray to the god for recovery ; and
then he goes to the sick person and anoints with
oil the part affected. He uses no particular oil.
"When he sits down, he calls some one of the family
to hand him some oil, and dipping his hand in the
cup, passes it gently over the part two or three
times. No medicines are used for the sick. If the
body is hot, they go and Jie down in cold water ;
if cold, kindle a fire and warm themselves.
After death, the friends of the deceased are
anxious to know the cause of his death. They go,
with a present, to the priest, and beg him to get the
dead man to speak, and confess the sins which
caused his death. The priest may be distant from
the dead body, but he pretends to summon the spirit,
and to have it within him. He speaks in his usual
tone, and tells him to say before them all what he
did to cause his death. Then he (the priest) whines
out, in a weak, faltering voice, a reply, as if from the
spirit of the departed, confessing that he stole cocoa-
nuts from such a place ; or, that he fished at some
particular spot forbidden by the king ; or, that he
ate the fish which was the incarnation of his family
god. . As the priest whines out something of this
sort, he manages to squeeze out some tears, and sob
and cry over it ! The friends of the departed feel
reheved to know the cause, get up, and go home.
At death, one will say to his friends, " I'm going
to the moon — think of me as being there." An-
MISSIONARY VOYAGE IN 1859. 531
other will say, "I'm going to be a star ;" and men-
tions tlie particular part of the heavens where they
are to look for him. Another will say, " I shan't go
away; I shall remain in the grave, and be here
with you." Thus they seem to think they have only
to choose where their disembodied spirits are to go
after death.* They tell of a Tokelau man who went
up to the moon, and have their tale, also, of " tlte
man in the moon.''^ They say, too, that the moon
is the special residence of the kings and priests
of Tokelau. The stars they believe to be the spirits
of the departed. AYhen the fidl moon begins to
wane, they suppose that it is being eaten by the in-
habitants of the region. From the new moon until
the fuU they consider that the food is growing
again. An eclipse of the moon is thought to be
some sudden calamity, destroying the food of the
departed kings, and occasions special concern ; and
prayers and a meat-offering of grated cocoa-nut
are immediately presented to their great god, Tui
Tokelau, to avert the evil. As the eclipse passes off,
they think it is all owing to their prayers.
Two young men belonging to Fakaafo, who
* They believe, however, that there are certain evil spirits
always on the watch for human beings, and that, if any are
caught, their souls are dragged up and down the universe for
ever, as the slaves of these demons, and never find a resting-
place. Hence it is a common saying at Tokelau, " Take care of
the soul, it lives for ever ; never mind the body, it dies and rots
in the grave." And hence, too, a man would rather die than go
at night to certain haunted spots, where he thinks it probable
he might be seized by one of these evil spirits.
532 KCNETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
had long been in Samoa, were taken tliere lately.
One of them lived with us at Maliia for three
years ; was a member of the church ; knew the
Samoan language well, and took with him the entire
Bible, and aU the books printed in the Samoan
dialect. We cherish the hope that, if his life is
spared, he may act as a Christian teacher to his
countrymen, and prepare the way for other teachers.
From tliis young man, and also fi^om the other, I
received some curious mythological and other frag-
ments, of which the above are a specimen.
CONCLUSION. 533
CHAPTER XXXY.
CONCLUSION.
In summing up oui' progress in these islands just
visited, where twenty years ago we had not a single
missionary, or a single convert fi^om heathenism,
and at the very entrance to which John Williams
then fell, we find that out of a population, in the
twelve islands which we now occupy, of about 65,500
souls, we have 19,743 who have renounced hea-
thenism, and are professedly Christian. Of these
there are 645 church members, and 689 who are
candidates for admission to the church. And there
are now labouring among them ten European mis-
sionaries, and 231 native teachers and assistants.
Three printing-presses, also, are at work, especially
devoted to the Papuan vernacular of the respective
islands.
While in the New Hebrides and Loyalty Islands,
I submitted to the missionaries there a plan, which
had occurred to us in Samoa, for such a change in
the future course of the "John Wilhams" as shall
enable her to visit these Westward Islands twice in
the course of the year, instead of once, so as to
enable our brethren there to go on extending their
labours to the heathen islands to the north. They
534 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
warmly entered into tlie sclieme, and united with ns
in submitting it to the consideration of missionaries
in the Eastward Islands, and of the Directors in
London, that the facilities for extension which it will
furnish may soon be enjoyed. May our brethren be
blessed in training up a native agency, and in
speedily locating them in the regions beyond, where
there is a great harvest of souls yet to be reaped in
the name of the Lord Jesus.
But the great want in the South Sea Islands, at
the present day, ' is more European missionaries.
Some of the older stations need reinforcement, and
wherever native teachers are located in the re-
gions beyond, which are every year being thrown
open, it is essential that European missionaries go
along with them to translate the Bible, to instruct
and counsel, to maintain unity of action, and to aid
in a variety of ways those valuable agents in their
struggles with their more civilized enemies, and
advocates of a corrupted Christianity. For the
present wants of Polynesia, the number of our mis-
sionaries already there should be doubled. The
Church has done much for the last fifty years ; but
she must do more still, for the conversion of the
world. Yes ; we maintain that the Church has yet
to arise to the full development of the ample resources
which she actually has for this great object, and
which, if still withheld, will eat as a cankerworm at
home prosperity, and retard, from year to year, the
cause of Christ in the world. May the Divine
Spirit be poured out on the Churches of Christen-
CONCLUSION. 535
dom, tliat all may see, and consider, and strive at
once to pay the debt of obedience wliicli they owe
to the Saviour, and then the men and the means
will be forthcoming, not only to carry the gospel
to every island in the Pacific, but to publish it to
all the world, and to every creature of its heathen
population.
On the 17th of December the "John Wilhams"
anchored again at Upolu, Samoa, and after taking
on board ]\Irs. Turner and our four children, Mrs.
Stallworthy and eight children, and other five children
of the missionaries, we left the Samoan group on the
16th of January. Proceeding eastward, we" called
at Aitutaki, Rarotonga, Mangaia, Tahiti, Huahine,
and Raiatea, and were deeply interested in all we
saw at these stations of the Society, about which
volumes have been written. At Rarotonga Mr. and
Mrs. George Gill and family joined our party. For
some weeks, when we were about the Tahitian
Islands, we were greatly affllicted with a malignant
fever which appeared among us, and carried ofi" three
of Mrs. Stallworthy' s children. As other two of her
children were dangerously ill, she remained at
Raiatea for a time, intending to prosecute her
voyage to England as soon as practicable, in com-
pany with Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm, of the mission
there.
From Raiatea we had a run of 110 days round
Cape Horn, and up the Atlantic, and on the 30th
of June once more arrived in London, after an
absence of nineteen years and eleven months, and
536 NINETEEN YEARS IN POLYNESIA.
after having sailed upwards of fifty thousand miles
in advancing the cause of Christ. To his name be
all the praise, and to Him may our lives still be
devoted, even unto death.
As to the fntiire I need not enlarge. I will only
add, that if spared to carry through the press the
Samoan Bible, and the commentaries to which I
have already referred, my desire is then to return to
the South Sea Islands. The sacrifice, or rather the
offering, which I laid on the missionary altar twenty-
five years ago, is there still, and I have never had
the shadow of a wish to take it down. My prayer
to Grod' is, that it may remain there until death, and
that when the days of my missionary service are
ended, my next engagements may be the hallowed
employments of God's servants in a better world.
w
hich separates some of the Vowels, represents the
Lihar to some of the dialects of Eastcm Polynesia, and
It of the A which is common to many of the dialects.
^.
brol Is-
of M.
Jnille.
ItyGrouj
E. Lon.
S. Lat.
Astl
Hiia
Hetlf
Aon
Lan
tas
Men
Thu
Lanj
Taft
Mall
Mat
Pnn
Solo
Han
Tha '
Hot!
Voi
Sas
Oi
iith
o
ontra
k
irinjr
^le
thu
net
sthe
Ta
Rua
Thol i
Hak I
Limn
On emen
Hith Jmen
Vol remcn
Siar
Sangh
Talau
Afe
Dialect
spoken at
Tnaiiln on
the S.E.
side of
NEW
CALEDOXIA,
Ngi
Mue
Ve
Kuontre
Kiia
'Hi
luea
Treo
Knie
Chciia
MpQne
One of the
Marshall, or
Kahck Islands
168' E. Lon.
5' 2s\ Lat.
EBON.
Mure
Mere
Ngue
Nu
Nta
lu
Ntio
Ntio
Ngoc
Unga
Una
AI
Aleng
Uchu
Kurra
Nalong
Xoot
Chanim
Chonir
Kuttow
Mcram
Merok
Eung
Ruk
Rear
Kabelung
Eljcow
Ebmil
Tol
Eni
Bok
Ejman
Dren
Laugith
Ta
Bo
Beth
Beu
Takue
Xota
Xobo
Xobeth
Nobeu
Tukue
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Takuanie
Kwero
IlTO
luwnn
Drud
Chilu
Emer
Lailem
Chilchinu
Chilchimc
Twalithuk
Twalmejuwon
lungou
lituke
Dialect spoken
bv the
l rom Marsden's
Aborigines of
Malayan Diction-
New
Holland, near
arj-, 1812.
MORETOX BAY.
MALAYAN'.
Biggc
Mata-firi
Bobbin
Bulan
Miriyau
Bintang
Yuriii
Awan
Biram
I^ingit
Tiirnimturrum
LTjan
Balabiram
Kilat
Muganra
Guruh
Buran
Angin
Kitte
Trang
iluno
Gahip
1 avai
Utara
Barin
Salatan
Voijir
Timor
Burran
Barat
Tantan
Dingin
Urun
Ka-pjinas-fin
Bibba
Gunong
Ta
Tanah
Govarra
Pasir
Mullo
Batu
Kung
Ajer
Bagan
Tasek
Gira
Puhn
Inungei
Ngintia
Kalim
Bullae
Buppur
MilUng kalla
Moan in
Suatu & satu
Dua
Tinga
Ampat
Lima
Anam
Tujuh
Sahipaii
Sambilan
Sa-puluh
Dua-puluh
Ratus
Ribu
Salaksa
Sa-puluh laksa
tCAL
particle. 9, Reciprocity of action indicated by a prefix and sufiix, and
often a reduplication of the word as welL
tive goes nominal suffix, such as mi/, thy, his, etc.
'^F
A COM^
LRATIVE VIEW OF THE POLYNESIAN
DIALECTS.
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THE PREVAILING GRAMMATICAL STEDCTUBE OF l""^-^;'^^,2,I,llI^'it»^i!J.''
ALEUTS SHOWS:—
I
APPENDIX.
For several years I have been in the habit of noting daily the
readings of the barometer and thermometer, and other meteorolo-
gical occorrences, and have drawn out the following table, as
such information from Central Polynesia may, in some quarters,
still be a desideratum.
Let me further add, that the position of the barometer is
twenty feet above the level of the sea. It is an instrument from
the well-known house of " Gardner, Glasgow."
The thermometer has been tested by one of Gardner's ; it is
fixed in a window-sash fronting the south, and is always shaded.
Between the months of December and April, we were always
in dread of a cyclone if we saw the barometer falHng and the
wind setting in from the north. Hardly a year passed without
oar hearing of one of these gales in our neighbourhood. Now
and then we got a touch of the outer circle, and occasionally had
one tearing everything to pieces in its way through the middle
of the group. Their course is generally towards E.S.E. In
April, 1850, one swept right over the centre of Upolu; and
in April, 1855, another " skinned," as the natives called it,
everything along the east end of Upolu. Up to the time I left,
there had not been another. Daring the one of April, 1850, the
barometer fell to 27*15.
During the seven years referred to in the table, we had
twenty-three earthquakes. They were not confined to any par-
ticular time of the year, but were principally between the months
of February and August. Shocks in general double, and merely
a slight tremulous horizontal motion, from E. to W. or fi-om
N. to S. Occasionally they gave a sharper jerk, and created
alarm for a few seconds ; but there is neither fact nor tradition
of anything which ever threw down houses or endangered life.
538
APPENDIX.
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APrENDix. 530
DIALECTS OF THE PACIFIC.
While voyaging, and as other opportunities offered, I have
collected specimens of the dialects spoken in the Pacific. The
following table contains some notes and specimens, from my
jottings and vocabularies, which may be of use to many who are
now deeply interested in the study of ethnography. (See Table,
" A Comparative Vleiv of the Polynesian Dialects.")
INDEX.
A.
Adopted childi-cii, 179.
Adidtery, punishment of, 86, 185, 28o,
310, 426.
Adidt years, customs connected with,
181.
Adzes, 262.
Ambush, 311.
Amusements, 210, 495.
Aname, island of Aneiteum, 363, 435,
475.
Anderson, Mr. Clu-istopher, 477.
Aneiteum, New Hebrides, 51, 363, 365,
433, 456, 515.
Anointing, 311.
Armlets, 81, 314, 393.
Armour, 81, 300, 311, 469.
Arms, a disgrace to throw down, 44.
Arrows, 311.
Arrow-root, 277.
Articles of manufacture in Samoa, 271.
Attempts to kill the missionaries, 22,
26, 30, 33.
Ava, an intoxicating draught, 85, 123,
197, 394.
Avengers of blood, 462.
B.
Backslider, a, reclaimed, 14i, 145.
Baker, Eev. \V., 473, SOi, 507.
Baldness, 312.
Banian-tree, the, sacred at Tanna, 88.
Bi.rb for spears, 276.
Barff, Eev. C, 99.
Baskets, 275.
Bat, tradition respecting, 251.
Battle, attempt to mediate in, 18.
Beds, 259, 313.
Begging habits, 312.
Bible Society, British and Foreign,
168—171.
Bible, Samoan, with marginal refer-
ences, 171.
Birth, customs at, 174, 178, 423.
Bishops, missionary, 120.
Boardmg-schools, 63, 164.
Boats, native built, 268.
Books, sold to the natives, 170, 171.
Bones, singular use of, 393.
Bones, exhumed, 313.
Bonnets, tortoise-shell, 207.
Bougainville, M., at Samoa, 97.
Boxing and fencing, 212.
Boy killed in declaring war, 41.
Boyd, Eev. Dr., Campbeltown, 525.
Bracelets, 314.
Branches, green, of peace, 314.
Bread-fruit, 193.
" Brigand," attack on the, 404.
Brig "Highlander," of HobartTown,62.
Bristol, a native of, 397.
Britannia Islands, 510.
"British Sovereign," massacre of the
crew of, 447.
Brother, use of the term, 314,
Brother's widow, custom respecting,
190.
Buffoons, court, 211.
Bullcn, Eev. T., 471.
Burial, 93, 229, 315, 365, 434, 450.
Burning devices in the skin, 79.
542
INDEX.
Burning refuse of food by disease-
makers, 89—91.
Burnings for the dead, 232, 315.
Bm-yiug alive, 450.
Buzacott, Rev. A., 456.
C.
Caledonia, New, 412, 416.
" Camden," missionary brig, 490.
Campbeltown U. P. cliurch, 525.
Candidates for church fellowship, 156.
Cannibalism, 83, 194, 358, 389, 427.
Canoes, and canoe-builders, 266.
" Cape Packet," massacre of crew of,
388.
Captain B , shamefid conduct of, 9.
Captain Ebril, of the brig " Star," 412.
Captain L and the Lifu teachers,
407.
" Caroline," of Sydney, attack on the,
416.
Carpenters, house, 261.
Carpenters, canoe and boat, 267.
Caves for the dead, 495.
Chanting in canoes, 269.
Chastity, 184.
Cliildren, notices respecting, 174, 175,
177, 469, 494.
Chisholm, Eev. A., 535.
Chiefs, 116, 161, 280, 343, 348, 426,
450.
Clmst's second coming predicted by an
impostor, 107.
Church members, 110, 156.
Cmnet, 275.
Circumcision, 87, 177, 316, 360, 371,
424, 495.
Classes at the mission seminary, 130,
133.
Cleanhness, 204.
Cloth, native, 203.
Clothuig, 202, 316, 339, 343, 393, 398,
469, 495.
Cock-crowing, 316.
Cocoa-nut oil, 109, 277.
Cocoa-nut water, 196.
Combs, 206, 276.
Commercial advances, 109, 208.
Commentaries in the Samoan dialect,
136.
Committees for Scripture revision, 168.
Common interest in family property,
264.
Comparison of Polynesian dialects. — Sec
Appendix.
Concert, spirit, 428.
Concubinage, 189.
Constellations, 89.
Contributions, missionary, 110, 160>
513, 522.
Conversions, 142.
Convicts, runaway, from Norfolk Island,
408.
Cook, Captain, notices respecting, 70,
75, 381, 412.
Cooking with hot stones, 195.
Co-operation of missionaries, 118.
Copeland, Eev. J., 474, 516.
Coral reefs, 96.
Cosmogony, 244, 324.
Council to kill the missionaries, 32.
Court buffoons, 211.
Creagh, Eev. S. M., 502, 513.
Croker, Captain, at Eromanga, 486.
Cups, sacred, 241.
Curses, 293, 313, 318.
Cuttings and burnings, for ornament
79, 319, 394.
Cyclones, 536.
D.
Damon, Eev. C, 509.
Dancing, 210, 320.
Daughters, 321.
Death and burial, 227, 321, 365, 425,
434, 470, 495.
Death, the Clu-istian in, 151, 165.
Death, di-ead of, 145.
Death, heathen notions as to the cause
of, 530.
Deluge, the, 249.
Departure from England, 1.
Dialects of Polynesia, 83, 494, 539.
Disease-makers, 18, 89, 394, 424.
INDEX.
543
])iseases, 24, 28, 92, 220, 22^1, 391, 42^1,
4G2, 466.
Disgrace, a, to throw away a club, 45.
District, extent of one, 112, 155.
Divorce, 190.
])octor.s, 113, 221, 223, 401.
Doweries, 187, 322.
])ivs.s at festivals, 205.
Drill, native, used in the Pacific, 274.
Drink-ofrci-ings, 194, 200, 394.
Drinking customs, 123.
Driunmond, Rev. George, 471.
Dust from the Tanna volcano, 71.
Dutch expedition in 1772, 97.
Duties, missionary, 113, 133—135, 163,
Duties of native teachers, 139, 143, 163.
E.
Earrings, tortoise shell, 79.
Ears cut off, 286, 324.
Earth, its formation, 324, 468.
Earthquakes, 536.
Eating, allusions to, 325.
Edwards, Captain, 192.
Eclipses, notions respecting, 531.
Egypt, ancient, 79, 262, 288.
" Elizabeth " barque, v\Teck of, 414.
Elopements, 188.
Embalming, 231.
Eromanga, 3, 378, 383, 439, 443, 485,
494.
Error respecting coral reefs, 96.
Erskine, Captain J. E., 444.
Escape from Tanna, 65, 66.
Ethnological papers, 173.
Examination of schools, 164.
Exchange of property, 178, 179.
Exports at Samoa, 109, 277.
Eyes put out for adidtery, etc., 286,
325.
F.
Fabulous fights, 250.
Fakaafo, Tokelau group, 525.
Famine, 193, 165.
Fans, 275.
False Christs in Samoa, 106.
Fastings, 326, 127.
Fencing, 212.
Festivals, marriage, etc., 85, 178, 186,
205.
Fight, missionaries urged to, 42.
Fig-trees, 87.
Fire, origin of, 252—255, 528.
Fire-offerings to gods, 260.
Fire-signs, 326.
Fire used in felling trees, 426.
First-fruits presented to the gods, 88,
327.
Fishing and fishmg-nets, 213, 271.
Fish-hook of pearl-shell, 273.
Food, 87, 192, 424.
Forbidden food, 196.
FormaUty instead of true religion, 109,
114.
Fletcher, Captain, 500.
Fly-flappers, 288.
Frencli navigators, 97.
Futuna, New Hebrides, 361, 477.
Future state, 235.
G.
Games, 212.
Garments, 339.
Geddie, Rev. J., 131, 451, 455, 471,
516.
Genealogies, 328.
Gifts, 329.
Gill, Rev. G., 535.
Gill, R«v. W., 445, 458.
Girdle of leaves, 80.
Girls' school, 12.
Gods, 88, 238, 212, 360, 427, 496, 529.
Gods, offerings to, 85, 174, 194.
Gods of individuals, how kno\^ni, 17 1.
Gods, things sacred to them, 196.
Gordon, Rct. G. N., 485—497.
Government and laws, 279, 281.
Grammar and vocabulary of the Samoan
dialect, 97.
Graves, 93, 230, 450, 495.
Griffni, Mr. F., 479.
Groves, sacred, 88, 240, 329, 371.
Giuipowder, fearfid explosion of, at
Lifu, 407.
544
INDEX.
H.
Hades, 235, 371, 395, 470.
Hair, 77, 205, 319, 329, 401.
Hanging iu siiicidc, 330.
HarcUe, Rer. C, 7, 124, 149.
Harris, Mr. J., massacre of, 2, 486, etc.
Heads of cliildrcn, altered form of, 175.
Heads of the enemy, 301, 331.
Heathenism, tendency of, 94.
Healths and toasts, 394.
Heathen opposition, 101.
Heavens, raishig of, 245.
Heavens, intercourse with, 246.
Heroes, 301.
Hieroglypliic taboo, 294.
" Highlander" brig, 62.
High priest, 239, 241.
Hindrances to Christianity in Samoa,
101.
Hobart Town brig " Highlander," 62.
Hooping-cough, 222.
Hospitahty, 198, 331.
Hostile state of the Tannese, 15, 17, 82.
Hot grovmd, 71, 75.
Hot sprhigs, 71.
Household gods, 239.
Idol at Savage Island, 470.
Ignorance of the Tannese, 14.
Illegitimate children, 469.
Illustrations of Scripture, 191, 303, 310.
Imports at Samoa, 110, 278.
Imprecations, 293.
Incarnation of the gods, 238, 242.
Infants and infancy, 174, 219, 423.
Inianticidc, 175, 391., 450, 494.
Influenza, 222.
Inglis, Eev. J., 474, 483, 485.
Institution for native teachers, 124, 306.
Intoxicating kava, 85, 123.
Isle of Pmes, 399, 412, 417.
Itmerating, missionary, 14, 20, 26.
Jonah, the prophet, 496.
Jones, Rev. J., 500 — 51G.
" John Williams" missionary barque,
356, etc.
Johnston, Henry, of Londonderry, 439.
Kangaroo, 87.
Kava, or intoxicatmg di'aught, 85, 123,
197, 394.
Kawas, battle stone, 81.
Kidnapping of natives, 509.
Kings, 287, 331, 342, 348, 469, 526,
529.
Kinnesipathy, 223.
Kitto, Rev. Dr., 252, 255, 347.
Kneeling, 332.
" Knox, John," mission schooner, 477,
485.
L.
La Perouse, M., at Samoa, 98.
Labour, mode of obtaining, 492.
Land, owners of, 284.
Langle, M. de, massacre of, 97.
Laws and government, 279, 284.
Leaf-gu'dles, 80.
Leg ornaments, 332.
Lifu, Loyalty Islands, 397, 400, 459,
504.
Lightnmg, 296.
Liquors, intoxicating, 85, 196.
Livingstone, Rev. Dr., 79.
Longevity, 220.
Lots, 214.
Lucas, Captain, 62 — 68.
Lundie, George, 471.
M.
Macfarlane, Rev. S., 473, 502, 508.
Man-, Captam, 493.
Malua mission seminary, 12k
Mammon, 333.
Man, liis origin, 245, 401, 469, 496.
Manchester, Captain, 509.
Manslayer, refuge for, 334.
Mare, Loyalty Islands, 401, 421, 463,
513.
Marks on the body, 349.
Matheson, Rev. Mr., 474, 517.
INDEX.
545
Manufacture, articles of, 271.
Mamages, 185—189, 282.
Massacre of M. clc Langle and others, 97.
Massacre of Williams and Harris, 2,
486.
Massacres, various, 17, 99, 285, 363,
370, 399, 401, '106, 412, 416, 417,
462, 478, 483, 492.
Mats, fine, 203, 282.
Meals, 199.
Medical knowledge, value of, 113.
Medicines, 223.
Meetings, public, 287.
Meteorological register, 537.
Migratory habits of the natives, 494.
Millar, Rev. F., 130.
Mjllenniiun of an impostor, 107.
MiUs, Eev. W., 68, 357.
Mission business, 119.
Mission, commencement of a, 425.
Mission seminar}-, 124.
Missionary duties, 113, 133—135, 163.
Missionary aid to white men in distress,
374, 380.
Missionary voyages, 356, 431, 473.
Missionaries at Samoa, 110.
Missionaries, co-operation of, 118.
Missionaries, more wanted, 534.
Moon, traditions respecting, 247, 530.
Morgan, Captain R. C, 311 — 435, 491.
MortaUty, 176, 219.
Mourning, 77, 229, 335, 470.
Murray, Eev. A. W., 144, 171, 356,
etc., 458.
Music and musical instruments, 211,
337, 345, 470.
Mythological traditions, 244.
N.
Nated and not asliamed, 335, 398.
Names, 335.
Narratives of native conversions, 142 —
154.
Native teachers, 110, 121, 139, 140,
152, 163.
Native teachers, institution for training,
124.
Native teachers, how supported, 158 —
162.
Natives of various islands, 127.
Natives, removal of, by sandal-wooders,
492.
Natives, how scattered, 359, 386.
Navigators' Islands, 95, 270.
Necks trodden, 336.
Necklaces, 80.
Necromancy, 336.
Netting needles, 272.
Neutrality of missionaries in war, 305.
New Caledonia, 423.
Nmeveh, 78.
Nisbet, Eev. H., 1—68, 111, 132, 171,
431—457.
Niua, New Hebrides, 381, 4-13, 483.
Nine, or Savage Island, 465, 517.
No ciu-e, no pay, 401.
Nose ornaments, 79, 337.
Noses bitten oIT, 286, 336.
Numerals at Tanna, 84.
O.
Oaths, 118.
Offerings to the gods, 174, 200, 241,
260, 425.
Opposition from the heathen, 18, 26.
Orators, 86, 288, 348.
Ornaments, 205, 332, 393.
Paddles, 268.
Painted natives, 5, 77.
Pandean pipe, 337.
Papuan dialects, 83.
Paradise of the heathen, 237.
Parental care, 147.
Parental neglect, 148, 179.
Parliamentary meetings, 287.
Paton, Eev. J. G., 475, 480.
Patriarchal government, 280.
Peace, branches a sign of, 314.
Penalties, various, 286.
Pei-secution, 24.
Phylacteries, 338.
Pigeon-catcliing, 213.
N N
546
INDEX.
Pillars of a temple of the gods, 338.
Pillows, 216, 259, 338.
Plot to kill the missiouaries, 33.
Political affhu-s of the Tamiesc, 8 1.
Political interference of chiefs, 116.
Polygiuny, 86, 189, 282, 401, 411, 424,
469, 495.
Poor-laws, 264.
Population, 220, 521.
Port Eesolutiou, Tanna, 70.
Poverty, 265.
PoweU, Eev. T., 431, 443, 451, 455.
Pratt, Eev. George, 97, 171, 357, 521.
Prayer, 35, 48, 61.
Prayer to the gods, 85, 174, 200, 427.
Preaching, 149, 155.
Presbyterians and Congregationalists,
118.
Presents, 55, 60, 115, 329, 337, 339.
Press, mission, 167, 533.
Priests, 19, 239, 241, 427, 463, 529.
Prisoners in war, 301.
Prodigal, a wandeiing, 396.
Property, common interest in, 264.
E.
Eain-matei's, etc., 428, 496.
Bank, marks of, 281, 393.
Keefs, 96.
EeUcs of the depai-ted, 338, 400, 463.
Eehgiou of the Samoans, 238.
Eeligions affairs, interference of the
chiefs in, 106, 161.
Eeligions pretendei-s, 103, 105, 109.
Echgious Tract Society of London, 136,
521.
Eending garments, 340.
Eevenge, 312.
Eevision committee, 168.
Kib of Adam, 340, 526.
Eiddles, 215, 340.
Eoden, Earl of, 347, 527.
Eod of office, 341.
Eoggewem's exi^edition, 97.
Eotmnah, island of, 357, 130.
Eunaway sailors, 103 — 105.
S.
Sabbath, imwillingncss to obsei've, 13.
Sabbath at llahia, 131.
Sacred men, disease-makers, etc., 89.
Safata, labom-s at, 112.
Salutations, 342.
Samoa, 95, 98, 109, 270.
Samoan Bible, with references, 171.
Samoan grammar and vocabulary, 97.
Sandal-wood traders, 386, 394, 440,
442, 444, 456, 509.
Sandwich Island, New Hebrides, 387,
397, 497.
Savage Island, 465, 517.
Savaii, a Samoan group, 95.
School at Tanna, etc., 12, 113, 156, 164,
376.
Scriptm-e illustrations in the Pacific,
191, 303, 310.
Scripture translations, 167 — 172.
Scriptm-es sold to the natives, 170.
Self-supporting scheme of the Mission
Seminary, 127, etc.
Selwyn, Bishop, 441.
Seminary, Samoan Mission, 124, 306.
Servants, domestic, 115.
Shame, cause of, 343.
Shell ornaments and trumpets, 269.
Ships, native ideas of, 529.
Sick, deceived by the disease-makers,
19, 90.
Sick, treatment of, 90, 225, 530.
" Sides of the pit," illustration of,
93.
Signs, 344.
Sm, 150, 345.
Singing, 345.
Sister protected by her brother, 345.
Sitting, a mark of respect, 342.
Skies, intercourse with, 246.
Skidls set up in plantations, 519.
Slatyer, Eev. W., 144.
Sluigs and slingers, 346.
SmaU-pox, 114.
SmeULug, custom of, 346.
Sneezing, 347.
Songs, 269.
INDEX.
647
Spear and arrow heads, 81.
Spears, 212, 276, 301, 318.
Spear-thrower, 81.
Spirit, the Uolj, his work in conver-
sion, 1 12.
Spirit-worahip of heathenism unpopular,
106.
Spirits, 88, 319, 371, 394, 400, 428,
469, 496, 530.
Sports, 213.
Staff of Elisha, 349.
Stair, Rev. J. B., 170.
StaUworthy, Rev. G., 132. ^
Stars, 531.
Stealing, 6.
Stipend of a Samoan minister, 161,
162.
Stone axes, 425.
Stones, sacred, 346, 526.
Strangling of widows, 93, 372, 433.
Students in Mission Seminary, 129 —
131.
Sugar-cane plantations, 519.
Suicide, 330.
Sulphur and sidphurous vapours, 71,
72, 402.
Summary of progress in Western Poly-
nesia, 533.
Simday-school Union of London, 136.
Sun standing still, 218.
Sim-stroke, 351.
Superstitious fear, 292.
Support of native teachers, 158 — 163.
Surgery, 224.
T.
Taboo, varieties of, 294.
Tanna and the Tannese, 69.
Tanna, New Hebrides, 5, 373, 438,
441, 480.
Tatooing, 181—183, 349.
Teachers, native, 110, 121, 124, 139,
143, 152, 158, 163, 401, 402, 412.
Teachers, native, massacre of, 363,
446, 483.
Teeth charms, 425.
TeetotaUers, 424, 462.
Telegraphs of fire and smoke, 326.
Temples, 240, 527.
Thatch, 257.
Thieves, 6, 152.
Thompson, Captain, 509.
Thoi-ington, Wm., of Chatham, 439.
Throwmg the spear, 212.
Thunder, 296.
Tidman, Rev. Dr., 112.
Titles of chiefs, 282.
Toasts, probable origin of, 394.
Tobacco, 123, 435.
Toka, Loyalty Islands, 503.
Tools, edge, 425.
Toucliing the sick, 351.
Trading of missionaries forbidden, 163.
Translation of the Scriptures, 167 — 172,
521.
Trumpets , 352.
Turpie, Mr. R., 513.
Tutuila, Samoan group, 95.
T^vhis, 179.
U.
Ilea, Britannia Islands, 510.
Unburied, the, 233.
Uncircumcised, .352.
Union group, 525.
Upolu, Samoan group, 95.
V.
Vaccination, 114, 223.
Tate, New Hebrides, 387, 393, 445,
497.
Yavau, Friendly Islands, visit to, 430.
Tilliige gods, 240,
Tillages, 286, 425.
Tocabidary of the Samoan dialect, 97.
Tolcano at Tanna, 72, 76, 379.
Tows, 352.
Toyage in 1845, 352.
Toyage m 1848, 431.
Toyage in 1859, 473.
W.
Waihng over the dead, 17, 227, 394.
Wars, 39, 298, 393.
548
INDEX.
Water of life, etc., 353.
WaTe-offerings, 241.
Weapons, 300, 469.
Wesleyan Missionary Society, 358, 430.
Western Polynesia, summary of labours
in, 533.
Whales' teetli necklace, 80.
Whiskers, 424.
White men, notices respecting, 103,
394, 442, 456, 464, 509.
White men in distress, 374, 380.
Wide Bay, Lifu, 507.
Widows, 93, 190, 353, 372, 433, 495.
WiUiams, Captain W. H., 475—523.
Wilhams, ili-. Consid, 509.
Williams, Eev. J., at Savage Island, 470.
Williams, Eev. J., at Samoa, 99.
Williams, Eev. J., massacre of, 2, 486.
Witchcraft, 425, 462, 495.
Wives of a chief strangled, 93.
Worms, man's origin in, 354.
Worsliip of the gods, 85, 174, 200, 360,
400, 469.
Wrestling, 212.
THE END.
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