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Heroes of the 



South §Efls. 



BY 



MARTHA BURR BANKS, 

AUTHOR OF ** THE CHILDREN'S SUMMER," " RICHARD AND ROBIN," 

ETC. 







AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

lO EAST 23d STREET, NEW YORK. 



COPYRIGHT, 1896, 
BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



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GONTRNTS. 



1. 






CHAPTER I. 

The Society Islands: A Night of Toil PAGE 7 

CHAPTER II. 

The Hervey Islands: A Brave Discoverer 25 

CHAPTER III. 

The Samoan Islands: Over the Sea to Samoa 43 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Samoan and Loyalty Islands: The Captain's Last Voy- 
age - 56 

CHAPTER V. 

New Zealand and the Friendly Islands: Islands Unworthy 

of their Name 71 

CHAPTER VI. 

New Zealand and the Melanesian Mission: Two College 

Athletes - 86 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Melanesian Mission: The Bishop and the Boys 97 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Fiji Islands: The People and the Lotu 108 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Fiji Islands: Cannibals Changed to Christians 1x8 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 

The New Hebrides: Little Johnnie Geddie 128 

CHAPTER XL 

The New Hebrides: The Man Who Dug the Well 146 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Sandwich Islands: A Country Opened by a Boy 163 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Micronesia: The " Little Islands " 181 

CHAPTER XIV. 

The Land of the "Crisp-Haired"— 199 

CHAPTER XV. 

"God's Men" in New Guinea-— - ^09 



PREFACE. 



For the material found in this volume the 
writer is indebted to "The Encyclopaedia of 
Missions,*' " The Cyclopaedia of Missions," " Mis- 
sion Stories of Many Lands," ** The Missionary 
Review of the World," "The Gospel in All 
Lands," " The Life of John Williams," " The 
Life of John Coleridge Patteson," " The Life of 
John Geddie," " Life of John G. Paton," " Life 
of James Calvert," " Life of James Chalmers," 
and several small books, magazines and papers. 



Heroes of the South Seas. 



CHAPTER I . 

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS : A NIGHT OF TOIL. 

Almost everybody has heard of Captain 
Cook, the famous old navigator who used to 
go cruising round the world, hunting up all 
sorts of queer places and queer people and 
opening the way for other explorers. It was 
in the year 1769, on one of his voyages, that 
he came across two neighboring groups of isl- 
ands in the Southern Pacific, one of which had 
been first seen by an Englishman through the 
eyes of Captain Wallis, who called it the Geor- 
gian Group, after King George of England. 
Captain Cook, however, did not stop to draw 
distinctions, but gave the whole cluster the 
name of the Society Islands, in honor of the 
Royal Society of London, and though for a while 
the two groups were commonly known as the 
Windward and the Leeward Islands they are 
now both included under the title bestowed upon 
them by Captain Cook. 



8 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

The largest island, Tahiti, has a circuit of 
one hundred and forty miles, and contains about 
six hundred square miles. It is made up of two 
rounded peninsulas joined by a narrow isthmus, 
and is crowned by a high mountain peak called 
The Diadem. The inhabitants were found to be 
tall and stout, with brown skin and dark eyes, 
and they seemed merry and good-natured ; but 
underneath they were very bad indeed, and 
thought nothing of stealing, or of telling lies, 
or even of killing anybody with whom they 
happened to be vexed, or whom they wished to 
put out of the way. 

In 1772 the Spaniards tried to settle upon 
Tahiti, and when Captain Cook again visited 
the islands, in 1777, he saw that they had left 
behind them some traces of their religion, for 
a house and a cross that had been set up by 
them were still carefully kept by the natives. 
Then about eleven years passed away, and noth- 
ing was heard of the Society Islands until at 
last the good ship *' Bounty " touched at those 
shores for the purpose of obtaining a supply of 
the plants of the breadfruit tree to transport to 
the British West Indies. 

The story brought back by the crew of this 
vessel, together with the former accounts of the 
island presented by Capt. Cook, roused so much 
interest in England that the London Missionary 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 9 

Society was formed in order that a ship might 
be fitted out to carry the gospel to those be- 
nighted people in the South Seas. Thirty men 
came forward who were willing to be the bearers 
of the glad tidings, and Capt. Wilson, who had 
retired from the East India service and was now 
living in wealth and ease at home, volunteered 
to take charge of the missionary ship, which had 
been named the DuflF. Four of the messengers 
were ministers and the rest were tradesmen. 
The ensign of the ship was a purple flag, having 
three doves bearing olive-branches as its device ; 
and as the banner fluttered in the wind and the 
vessel rode out of the harbor, on the loth of Au- 
gust, 1796, the little band broke out into the 
hymn, " Jesus, at thy command we launch into 
the deep ;" and so they sailed away, strong, 
firm, brave, and true, hoping to do some of the 
wonderful kind of fishing taught to mankind 
long ago by the Sea of Galilee. 

It took seven months for the DuflE to weather 
the gales and make the voyage to Tahiti, but 
the strangers received a warm welcome when 
they arrived. 

Seventy-five canoes came out to meet them, 
and the natives clambered over the sides of the 
vessel with many signs of joy, probably promis- 
ing themselves, down in their crafty hearts, that 
they could soon barter some of the pigs and the 



Id HEkoES 01!" tMe south s£aS. 

fruit that they had brought with them for those 
valuable knives and axes, and other things, that 
white men usually had about them. But the day 
was Sunday, and the new-comers would have 
nothing to do with bargains just then ; but, as 
some of the men were willing to stay with them, 
even though there was no prospect of trading, 
they held a service on board the ship, and the 
natives looked on in wonder while the mission- 
aries prayed and sang. 

When the white men went on shore one of 
the chiefs showed them an empty house, about 
one hundred feet long, where he said they might 
live ; so they at once took possession of their 
new home, and hallowed it by a little service 
within its walls that same night. On Sunday 
they preached to the people, having for an in- 
terpreter a white man who had been at some 
time cast upon the island and who had become 
very much like the natives. The following 
Sunday Pomare, the father of the ruling king, 
came to the meeting. In Tahiti, so soon as a son 
is bom into the royal family he is acknowledged 
as the sovereign, and the former king loses his 
authority. Pomare had been the supreme chief 
of the island, and he was supposed to be very 
wise, but his wisdom could not equal his wicked- 
ness had he had even more knowledge than was 
credited to him. 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. Il 

There were other queer customs on that 
island of Tahiti. The king and queen rode 
on the shoulders of men, and never touched 
their feet to the ground, because whatever they 
stood on became at once their property. When 
the attendants who carried them were exchanged 
for others the royal beings were obliged to jump 
over the heads of the first men to the shoulders 
of the second set. They would not go on board 
of the ship, for the reason that the vessel would 
then belong to them, and they warned their new 
friends not to hold an umbrella over their heads 
as that, too, would immediately become theirs. 

There were, besides, on these islands, some 
strange people who were called dancers. They 
blackened their bodies with charcoal and dyed 
their faces red. Their only business in life was 
to kill people, and their only amusements were 
dancing, boxing and wrestling. 

The favorite god, whose name was Oro, was 
nothing but a log of wood about as large as a 
man. It was kept in a shed among a grove of 
trees surrounded by a stone wall. The priests 
would roll themselves up in bundles of cloth, 
and by disguising their voices pretend to be 
speaking for the gods; and though the people 
were not really deceived they dared not disobey 
the commands of the priests. There were many 
other idols. Some were made of stone, but most 



12 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

of them were of wood, and there were more than 
one hundred kinds. Some of the gods were 
supposed to protect thieves, some cared for 
murderers, and most of them demanded hu- 
man sacrifices. There were numerous super- 
stitions, too. One of them was a strong belief 
in the power of red feathers ; and the people 
were sure that they never could have any suc- 
cess in fishing unless they carried a bunch of 
scarlet feathers with them when they went out 
upon the water. 

In this difficult place, among these ignorant, 
degraded people, the good men from over the 
sea settled down and went to work in earnest 
to do what they could to lift them from their 
low condition ; but the task was even harder than 
had been expected. When the missionaries 
were abused, if they did not revenge themselves, 
they were despised as cowards ; but they made 
up their minds that they would defend them- 
selves only when necessary, and would trust in 
God and try to win their way by kindness and 
patience. They started a hospital, but the sus- 
picious people would have nothing to do with it. 
They seemed to care little for the new teachings 
and were deeply offended if any of their evil 
customs were rebuked. 

But, after three years of labor, a Christian 
chapel was built, and in 1 800 eight new mission- 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 1 3 

aries came to the rescue. Among them was 
Henry Nott, who proved himself one of the 
best of the missionaries to the South Seas. Mr. 
Nott and one of his companions made a tour 
round the island and preached everywhere. 
Sometimes they preached two or three times a 
day, and all the time the missionaries prayed 
with all their hearts that they might bring a 
blessing to these poor people whom they had 
come to help. 

But still the wars and the wickedness went 
on, and the natives would answer all the per- 
suasions of their friends to leave their old ways, 
and take hold of better things, with the words : 
" None of the chiefs believe you, so why should 
we?" 

In 1803 the old king died, and his son took 
the name of Pomare Second. He had learned 
to read and write, and the people were much 
afraid of him. They believed that he had 
gained power by which he could kill a man just 
by prayers and charms. The missionaries then 
turned their attention towards the children. One 
of them opened a school in his own home, and 
taught reading and writing to the girls and boys 
by making letters in the sand. He also wrote 
some books, and sent them to England to be 
printed ; but it was hard to put Christian ideas 
into a language in which there was no word for 



14 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

God, and no way by which the thought of grati- 
tude might be expressed. 

In 1807 another war broke out, and all the 
missionaries had to flee from Tahiti. The king 
took refuge in the island of Eimeo, not far away, 
and after a while invited the missionaries to fol- 
low him to that place. They were ready to go 
anywhere if only there was a chance of doing 
good. So over to Eimeo they moved, from the 
island in which they had sought shelter, and 
there they built a chapel and started a school. 
Before long they noticed that the king seemed 
to be losing a little of his old faith in idols and 
superstitions. A sacred turtle was caught one 
day, and, instead of sending it to the temple, 
as was the custom in such cases, he was bold 
enough to have it cooked, and then ate it with 
much enjoyment. As no harm came to him in 
consequence of this meal, his confidence in his 
gods was still more shaken. Then further en- 
couragement came to the missionaries : Pomare 
really asked to be baptized. They thought it 
would be better to wait a while before granting 
his request, so that they might be sure that he 
was sincere in his profession that he meant to 
take Jehovah as his God; but when they saw 
that he was truly sorry for his past wickedness, 
and that he was careful about keeping Sunday 
in the Christian way and was doing his best to 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. IS 

persuade his subjects to give up their idols and 
to worship the true God, they could not doubt 
his earnestness. 

For nearly sixteen years now they had been 
working in these islands, and this was about all 
the fruit they had gathered so far. Some of 
them began to feel that, like Peter and his com- 
panions on the little lake in Palestine, they had 
toiled all the night and taken nothing. Even the 
London Missionary Society had almost decided 
to give up the work as hopeless. But there 
were one or two men who had not come to the 
end of their faith yet. One of them said that 
he would sell the clothes from his back before 
he would let go of the scheme, and he proposed 
that instead of sitting down in despair they 
should fall to praying harder than ever for this 
poor, disheartening little mission. To this the 
others agreed, and while the men in the Pacific 
labored the men at home prayed. 

Now just about this time Pomare was invited 
to go back to Tahiti, and the missionaries at 
Eimeo heard a rumor that the people there 
were beginning to wake up and to think a little 
about what had been told them by those stran- 
gers whom they had driven away. At this 
report, two of the exiles hurried back to Tahiti 
to see if the good news were true. They found 
out that two of their old servants who had been 



l6 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

left behind had been influenced by the words 
and the lives of their masters almost without 
knowing the fact themselves, and since their 
departure these men had been praying to- 
gether, as well as they knew how, and had 
persuaded others to join them in this practice. 
They had, too, made up their minds to give 
up their idols, to keep Sunday as a day of rest, 
and to worship only Jehovah. The way was 
wide open for the missionaries and their mes- 
sage. 

Mr. Nott gathered a crowd of savages in 
one of the cocoanut groves of Tahiti, and told 
them the beautiful, wonderful old story to which 
they would not listen before. As he was read- 
ing the sixteenth verse of the third chapter 
of John, one chief cried out, "Will you read 
that again?" Slowly and carefully Mr. Nott 
read over the words once more: "For God so 
loved the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should 
not perish, but have everlasting life." The man 
listened eagerly. **Does that mean Tahiti?" 
he asked. 

"Yes," said Mr. Nott, pointing his finger 
straight at the dusky figure before him, "it 
means you'' The chief took the answer in 
simple faith, and became himself, in course of 
time, a devoted missionary to his people. The 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 1 7 

men who were praying at home had their re- 
ward, too. The ship from London, carrying 
letters of cheer and hope to the missionaries in 
Eimeo, was met in mid-ocean by the vessel 
bearing the news of the overthrow of idolatry 
in Tahiti, and loaded with a cargo of the re- 
jected idols. So the night of toil was light- 
ened by the breaking of the dawn, and the One 
who had come to the aid of the weary fisher- 
men in Galilee had given these workers, too, 
the desire of their hearts. 

In 181 3 the people in Eimeo also began to 
throw away their gods of wood and of stone 
and to bow down to the one God of all man- 
kind. An old priest brought out the idols, one 
by one tore oflE their sacred garments, made of 
finely-braided cloth of cocoanut fibres and orna- 
mented with red feathers, and threw both gods 
and clothing into the fire, calling to the people 
to come and see how helpless were the logs 
that they had worshipped. 

King Pomare was not successful in estab- 
lishing his kingdom again in Tahiti, so he went 
back to Eimeo, taking with him a large number 
of followers who called themselves Christians. 
At Tahiti the native Christians who had been 
left there were cruelly treated by the remaining 
heathen, and many ran away to Eimeo. This 
action brought on a battle between the inhabi- 

Heroea of the Sontb Seas. 2 



1 8 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

tants of the two islands, and Pomare came oflE 
victor. Instead of destroying his enemies, ac 
cording to the old heathen fashion, he made 
away with their idols. Even that great god Oro 
he did not spare, but first disgraced it by stand- 
ing it up in his kitchen and driving pegs into 
it upon which to hang baskets of food, and then 
disposed of it altogether by burning it for fuel. 

Soon after this occurrence Pomare was re- 
stored to his rightful government, and the peo- 
ple themselves cast away the rest of their idols, 
pulled down their temples, and began to build 
chapels. Pomare wrote a prayer, which he 
often read in these places of worship ; and as for 
the missionaries, they could scarcely find time 
for rest, as they were so closely followed by 
those who had questions to ask, or who were 
anxious to learn to read. In 1816 Pomare col- 
lected his own household gods and sent them 
to England, so that, as he said, the people there 
might see the foolish idols that had been so 
highly valued in Tahiti. These idols were 
placed in the museum of the London Missionary 
Society. 

About this time a printing press was brought 
to Eimeo, and this fresh wonder caused great 
excitement among the natives of the islands. 
From far and near they flocked to see the 
strange sight, and their canoes lined the shore 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 1 9 

while the men were climbing up on one an- 
other's shoulders to peer in the windows of the 
room in which it had been placed, exclaiming 
in astonishment and delight, " O Britain, land 
of skill !** They also brought plantain leaves 
to the missionaries, begging that spelling-books 
might be written upon them, and when the 
Gospel of Luke was completed in the Tahitian 
language, and copies were printed, they could 
hardly be given out fast enough to the waiting 
people. Then dogs and cats and goats were 
killed, so that their skins might be used as 
covers for the precious volumes. 

It was about 1817 that John Williams, after- 
wards called "The Apostle of the Pacific," 
landed at Eimeo to put his shoulder to the 
wheel with the other men from abroad. On 
the voyage from England he had examined 
every part of the vessel on which he sailed, and 
the first thing that he did after his arrival was 
to complete a boat that had been laid down 
three years before. In ten months he had 
learned the language of the island, by moving 
freely among the people and chatting with them 
on every occasion, thus wiling away from them 
their hearts and their speech at the same time. 

The missionaries who had fled to Huahine, 
in the other group of the Society Islands, at the 
time of the trouble in Tahiti, had taught the 



20 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

natives there something about the gospel, and 
afterwards, when Pomare was at war with Tahiti, 
several ships from those islands had gone over to 
assist him to regain his throne, and had carried 
home with them a little more truth. Tamatoa, 
the king of Raiatea, had been especially im- 
pressed with the results that came from the 
Christian religion. 

On his return to his own island, when he saw 
the crowds on the shore waiting to welcome 
him with joy, and evidently expecting him to 
bring with him many war captives, he placed a 
herald in the front of his canoe and told him to 
shout to the people, " We have brought no vic- 
tims slain in battle. We are all praying peo- 
ple and worship the true God." 

Then the books that the missionaries had 
given him were held up, and the herald cried, 
" These are the victims, the trophies, with which 
we have returned !** When Tamatoa landed 
he gave an account of what he had seen in 
Tahiti, and about one-third of the people agreed 
to join him in trying to live in the Christian 
way. Soon after his arrival Tamatoa fell ill, 
and one of his friends said that Jehovah must 
have sent this sickness because he was angry 
that the great national idol had not been des- 
troyed, and he proposed that it should at once 
be put out of the way. A brave band went to 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 21 

the temple, took the god from his seat and set 
fire to the building. The heathen party was 
very angry at this deed, and a house of cocoanut 
trunks and breadfruit trees was built into which 
the Christians were to be thrust and burned alive. 
The Christians tried to make peace, but the only 
answer that they received was, " There is no 
peace for god-burners until they have felt the 
effects of the fire that destroyed Oro.'' Then 
the men who worshipped Jehovah sought his 
protection in prayer, and when their enemies 
came upon them early in the morning, while 
they were still on their knees, they rushed out 
and so 'boldly assailed the invaders that they 
departed in haste and alarm. They expected 
to receive the treatment that they had had in 
store for the Christians ; but when they were 
met with • forgiveness and kindness they were 
overcome with surprise. A great feast was 
spread for them, at which nearly one hundred 
pigs were baked whole, and served with bread- 
fruit and other vegetables, but the men were so 
humbled and abashed that they could hardly 
eat anything. One man arose and said : " Let 
every one eat as he will ; but for my part, never 
again, to my dying day, will I worship the gods 
that could not protect us in the hour of danger. 
We were four times the number of the pray- 
ing people, yet with the greatest ease they have 



22 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

conquered us. Jehovah is the true God. Had 
we been conquerers they would now be burning 
in the house we made for the purpose ; but in- 
stead of injuring us, or our wives or children, 
they have set for us this sumptuous feast. 
Theirs is a religion of mercy. I will go and 
join myself to this people.** 

That same night every one of the heathen 
party bowed in prayer to Jehovah, and all gave 
thanks for their own defeat. The next morning 
both parties worked together in destroying every 
idol and temple in the island, and in a small 
one near by as well ; and in three days after this 
time not a remnant of idolatry could be found 
in either place. Huahine, Borabora and Maurea, 
other islands of the group, began to follow the 
example of the people of Raiatea ; and two men 
from Huahine were sent to Tahiti to ask for 
teachers. John Williams, William Ellis, and one 
other missionary answered this call, and in 1818 
they went over to Huahine. Then Tamatoa 
begged for a missionary of his own, and John 
Williams finally settled at Raiatea. 

In 1 8 19 the Royal Mission Chapel in Tahiti 
was finished. It was two hundred and twelve 
feet longer than St. Paul's in London, and con- 
tained one hundred and three windows and 
twenty-nine doors. It was so large that no 
preacher could be heard throughout the whole 



THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 23 

building, so three pulpits were placed within it, 
at suitable distances apart, and three ministers 
preached at once to a congregation of six thou- 
sand people. 

After the dedication of the chapel laws were 
published, forbidding murder, theft, Sabbath- 
breaking, and other things, and when the king 
asked his chiefs if they would agree to these 
rules even the one who had been the ringleader 
among the rebels held up both hands, in token 
of his wish to be good and obedient. 

Pomare died in 1821, and his son, only four 
years old, was crowned by Mr. Nott. The trans- 
lation of the whole Bible into Tahitian was com- 
pleted in 1836, Mr. Nott having done most of the 
work. The remainder of his life was spent in 
Tahiti, and in 1844 he died. 

In the year 1827 some men were driven from 
the Pearl Islands to Tahiti on account of war in 
their own country. These islands are made up 
of bits of land called Harp Island, Chain Island, 
Crescent Island and Bow Island, on account of 
their various shapes. While away from home 
these people picked up some seeds of gospel 
truth, and on their return to their friends and 
relatives they told what they had seen and heard 
on their voyage, and their story was accepted 
and acted upon. The idols were cast down, and 
Jehovah was chosen as the God of the Pearl 



-1 



24 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Islands too. From Tahiti ^nd the adjacent 
islands not less thali one hundred and sixty 
evangelists have gone forth carrying the mes- 
sage of salvation to other tribes. The spirit that 
moves in the hearts and lives of these converts, 
who about a century ago were nothing but sav- 
ages, is well expressed in their own words. 

" Let our hands forget how to lift the club or 
throw the spear. Let our guns decay with rust ; 
we do not want them. Though we have been 
pierced with bows or spears, if we pierce each 
other now let it be with the word of God." 

The cause of missions has been much hin- 
dered by the French occupation of the islands, 
but the stations are now under the care of the 
French Protestant Society, and it is hoped that 
the good work may never be crushed out. It is 
said that the natives take much more kindly to 
the Protestant religion than to that of the Ro- 
manists, and that it is wonderful how well they 
keep to their good principles and their Christian 
faith when they are surrounded by so many evil 
influences. 



THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 25 



CHAPTER II. 

THE HERVEY ISLANDS: A BRAVE DISCOVERER. 

When John Williams went to live in Rai- 
atea he found the people scattered all over the 
island in separate villages, so far apart that there 
was no chance of helping the inhabitants to work 
together in leaving oiBf their old ways and form- 
ing new ones, and everybody was jealous and 
suspicious of everybody else. The first thing 
that he did, therefore, was to form a settlement 
where they might live together in comfort, 
peace and fellowship. He began by building a 
house for himself, so that he might show the na- 
tives what a good home should be like and how 
it was to be made. This house was sixty feet 
long and thirty feet broad, and had seven rooms, 
four of which were in front and three behind. 
He made also all the furniture of his new dwell- 
ing. The men were quick in catching his ideas, 
and clever in carrying them out, and at the end 
of twelve months the houses extended two miles 
along the seashore, and altogether there were 
about one thousand people living in them. 

Having finished this task, John Williams 
made up his mind that he must have a boat, 
and he soon had one put together, formed of 



26 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

planks held in place by the native cord. The 
natives, though naturally very lazy, set to work 
to imitate his example ; and while their hands 
were busy this new comrade of theirs lost no 
opportunity for teaching them other things be- 
sides boat-building, and in his pleasant, friendly 
way he dropped many a word of that good gos- 
pel that would do so much more for them than 
any other kind of learning. They listened to 
him readily, and tried to put this part of his 
teaching into practice. One man used to pray 
earnestly : " Oh, Jehovah, give thy word into 
my heart, all thy word, and cover it up there, 
that it may not be forgotten by me.** 

There was, too, a poor old cripple who used 
to sit by the wayside, and when the people were 
going home from church he would beg them to 
tell him a little of what they had heard there. 
** One gives me one piece,** he said, " and another 
another, and I gather them together in my 
heart; and thinking over what I thus obtain, 
and praying God to make me know, I get to 
understand.** When he first saw Mr. Williams 
he said, in greeting, ** Welcome, servant of God, 
who brought light into this dark island. To you 
we are indebted for the word of heaven.** 

Some Bibles were sent to the people and they 
were all anxious to learn to read. Then they 
wished to have their neighbors share some of 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 27 

the blessings that had come to them. A mis- 
sionary society was started, which in one year 
gave about $2,500 for the purpose of " causing 
the word of God to grow,** as they said them- 
selves. Even the king and queen prepared ar- 
row-root with their own hands, as a contribution 
to this object. " Why,** said Tamatoa, the king, 
" we would not give that to God upon which we 
bestowed no labor.** For some reason these new 
Christians go far ahead of the old ones some- 
times. Perhaps these people had caught the 
spirit of their leader, John Williams. "Our 
hearts take in all the ends of the earth,** he said, 
and he found it hard to content himself within 
the limits of a single reef when there was so 
much to be done outside of his own little island. 

But he did not neglect the work close at 
hand, in spite of the pulling of his heart-strings 
in another direction. " I have given myself 
wholly to the Lord,** said he ; and his Master*s 
work he could find anywhere. 

He built a new chapel for his congregation, 
setting oflf part of it for a court-house. Every- 
thing about the building astonished the natives, 
but that which was a special matter for won- 
der and admiration was that he had contrived 
a sort of chandelier in which cocoanut shells 
were used as lamps. The opening day two 
thousand four hundred persons were present. 



28 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

and the next day a code of laws was adopted 
and the king's brother was made chief judge of 
the island. Then Mr. Williams provided honest 
employment for the people by beginning the 
cultivation of the sugar-cane, which grows on 
the island, and he also put up a sugar-mill for 
their use. 

It was in the spring of the year 1821 that 
a pestilence broke out in the Austral Islands, 
about three hundred miles away, south of the So- 
ciety Islands. Two chiefs of Rurutu, one of these 
islands, each built himself a canoe, and then 
crowding their boats with as many persons as 
they would hold they set sail upon the broad 
ocean, not knowing whither they were going. 
They landed at Raiatea at last, and were much 
interested in all the new and surprising things 
that they saw there ; and when they thought it 
safe to venture back to their own country they 
begged two of the native teachers to go with 
them and teach them how to live as Christians. 
"We cannot go home to our land of darkness 
without a light in our hands," they said touch- 
ingly, and were made very happy by having 
their petition granted and being able besides to 
take with them several copies of the gospels in 
Tahitian, a language something like their own. 

"The priests have deceived us," they told 
their friends on their return; and in order to 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 29 

prove the truth of their words they made a 
feast at which they allowed the women to eat 
some of the things that were usually forbidden 
to them. As these women did not fall down 
and die on the spot, or have any other dreadful 
thing happen to them, the people believed what 
had been told them, and lost no time in pulling 
down their temples and burning their altars. 
In a few weeks Christianity became the religion 
of the island ; the converts sent a load of idols 
over to Raiatea, to tell their own story, and then 
hastened to spread the light among the other 
islands in the same group. These idols were 
publicly exhibited in the church at Raiatea. 
The national god of Rurutu was called Aa, and 
he was the most interesting of all the images, 
for he was decked all over outside with little 
gods, and in his back was a door, which was 
opened and twenty-four small idols were found 
hidden away inside of him. 

"Ah,** said one of the converts at Raiatea, 
"angels would rejoice to be employed by God 
to teach the world this gospel of Christ." 

The missionary society at Raiatea was so 
much encouraged by this good piece of work 
that its contributions grew to the sum of $9,000. 
" A little property given with the heart becomes 
big property in the sight of God,*' one of the 
members had said, and all the collections of this 



30 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

society must have been especially blessed, be- 
cause all were offered out of pure love and grati- 
tude. 

A Christian church was formed at Raiatea now, 
and about this time five hundred persons were 
baptized. Then John Williams and his wife both 
fell ill, partly because they had not proper food, 
and they had to take a trip to Australia in search 
of a doctor. On their way they stopped at Aitu- 
taki, one of the Hervey or Cook group of islands, 
and left there two native teachers among the 
savages, who were not pleasant-looking hosts. 
They were indeed most hideous to behold, for 
their bodies were tattooed all over and smeared 
with pipe-clay, red or yellow ochre, or charcoal. 

Mr. Williams soon won back his health at 
Sydney, and began at once to look round to see 
if he could not in some way obtain a ship that he 
might use for the purpose of trading from his 
islands to New South Wales. The London Mis- 
sionary Society at first thought the plan a foolish 
one, but John Williams was not a man to yield 
his point without good reason, so the members 
gave in at last to his arguments, and a schooner 
was bought for him, and called the Endeavor, a 
name that the natives afterwards changed to the 
Beginning. Mr. Williams loaded his boat with 
shoes, clothing, tea, and other articles, engaged 
a man to go with him to teach his people the art 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 3 1 

of cultivating sugar and tobacco, and with sev- 
eral sheep and cows as presents from the gov- 
ernor of New South Wales he sailed away 
home, having gained more on his voyage than 
many persons find on a hunt for health. 

Tamatoa, the king, was delighted with the 
new ship, and immediately sat down and wrote 
a letter of thanks to the directors of the London 
Society. 

" A ship is good," wrote he, wisely, " for by 
its means useful property will come to our lands 
and our bodies be covered with decent cloth. 
But this is another use of the ship: when we 
compassionate the little lands near to us, and 
desire to send two among us to those lands to 
teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good 
word of the kingdom.** 

Ah, to send on " the good word of the king- 
dom ** — that was what John Williams was all on 
fire to do. The teachers left at Aitutaki had, for 
a while, had a hard time with their wild pupils. 
The savages had laughed at them, calling them 
" two logs of driftwood cast up by the sea," and 
had not treated them with much courtesy in any 
way. But before long the natives became some- 
what interested, and would listen to what was 
told them about this strange new religion. They 
even promised, at last, that if John Williams 
would come himself to see them again they 



32 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

would give up their idols. * Of course, with such 
an invitation it did not take much urging to 
bring John Williams over the water, for he be- 
lieved that " a lazy missionary is an ugly and 
useless thing," and he could never have too 
much of this sort of work to do. When he 
reached Aitutaki the people waded out into the 
sea, and crowded round his boat, calling out like 
pleased children, " Good is the word of God. It 
is well now with Aitutaki. The good word has 
taken root at Aitutaki." Then they held up 
their hats and their books and said over as 
many bits from the Bible as they could remem- 
ber, trying to show that they were doing their 
best to fall into the new way. They had built 
many houses, and had a neat chapel, which 
had been whitewashed by the teachers. This 
work had caused great surprise among the 
islanders. " Just see, they are roasting stones," 
they whispered one to another; and when the 
coating was dry they shook their puzzled heads, 
and said, solemnly, " The very stones in the sea 
and the sand on the shore become good property 
in the hands of those who worship the true God 
and regard his word." 

But Mr. Williams did not end his journey 
at Aitutaki, for there he found some natives 
from Rarotonga, another of the Hervey Islands. 
These men had been driven out of their course 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 33 

by a gale, and had been thrown upon Aitutaki. 
There they had become Christians, and now 
they wished to return and tell the people of 
Rarotonga the good things that they had 
learned. 

Captain Cook had once been to Rarotonga, 
and the inhabitants of the island had been in- 
terested in the white men, all of whom they 
called ** Kookes,'* after Captain Cook. Since 
that time they had been looking out for a second 
visit from the " Kookes,** and now here was a 
chance to fulfil their expectations, if the white 
men would go home with the wanderers. There 
was only one trouble about csLTvying out this 
plan, and that was that none of them knew the 
way. John Williams thought that they might 
find it together, and here was a little cruise after 
his own heart ; for to reach new islands was his 
constant desire and aim. He took the lost 
mariners on board his ship, and also the king 
of Aitutaki, and thirty-one of the discarded 
idols. There went with him besides one of the 
native teachers, whose name was Papeiha, and 
who was the kind of Christian that we read 
about in the Acts of the Apostles, in the days 
of Paul and Philip and Stephen, and all the rest. 
Then oflE they sailed upon their voyage of dis- 
covery. 

But Rarotonga seemed astray in the ocean, 

HeroM of the tkmtb Seal. 3 



34 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

and nobody knew exactly where to look for it. 
The vessel touched at the island of Atui, where 
two teachers had been living for two months, 
although they had not been very well cared for. 
They had often been hungry, and many of their 
goods had been stolen from them. The chief 
of the island came on board the ship, and 
Papeiha took him down into the hold and 
showed him the idols stowed away there, while 
Mr. Williams told him what the Bible says about 
such gods. The chief was much impressed, and 
the next day declared his intention of throwing 
aside his images forever. ** Eyes they have, it is 
true,** he said, " but wood cannot see ; ears they 
have, but wood cannot hear." He then carried 
his guests over to two small islands in his king- 
dom and ordered the people there to cast away 
their idols. These natives were very simple 
and ignorant, and willingly obeyed. The goats 
that Mr. Williams brought with him they called 
"birds with great teeth in their heads.** 

The chief of these islands told Mr. Williams 
that Rarotonga was only a few days* sail distant, 
and having learned the direction in which to 
steer the party again set forth, although the 
natives among them begged that no further 
search might be made, as the people of Raro- 
tonga were known to be terrible cannibals. 

Still Mr. Williams tried to calm their fears 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 35 

and pressed on. Five days passed and nothing 
came to reward their efforts. At the end of 
that time, John Williams, like Columbus before 
him, had to promise to turn back if land were 
not sighted at a given hour. One half -hour be- 
fore the close of this period there was a cry 
from the man on the look-out, "There is the 
island we are seeking !" 

There it lay before them — Rarotonga, with 
its cruel, wicked inhabitants. 

So soon as the ship came into sight thirty or 
forty of the savages jumped into their canoes 
and went forth to meet the strangers, eager to 
see what sort of beings they were. Fortunately 
the natives seemed very friendly, and greeted 
the new-comers in the best South Sea manner, 
by rubbing their noses, which were covered with 
cocoanut oil, against those of the missionaries 
and teachers. This action, though not very 
agreeable, was comforting, for it showed good 
feeling ; but the Rarotongans seemed not very 
anxious to have any of the visitors go ashore 
with them. However, Papeiha made his way to 
the land and explained to the people the object 
of the expedition. Makea, the king, greeted 
him kindly, promised to protect the teachers, 
and went on board the ship to conduct them 
to the shore. But during the night these 
teachers were so badly abused that in the mom- 



36 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ing they returned to the boat and were not will- 
ing to go back to the island. Then Papeiha 
c'ame nobly to the front. " I will stay here/* he 
said, "if you will send my friend Tiberio to 
work with me. I am not afraid. Whether they 
spare me or kill me I will land among them. 
Jehovah is my shepherd ; I am in his hand." 

So with only his clothes, his little store of 
books and his New Testament, Papeiha stepped 
into a canoe and went over to the shore. A 
crowd of warriors gathered upon some rocks 
that jutted into the water, and as he stepped 
upon the beach they lifted their spears ready 
to hurl them at him ; but, either from awe or 
curiosity, they dropped their arms and let him 
passed unharmed. As he walked on towards the 
house of the chief the people followed him in a 
body, one crying ; " I '11 have his hat ;** and an- 
other, " 1 11 take his shirt,'' and a third, " I shall 
have his jacket." But before they could rob him 
of his clothes they were met by Makea, the king. 

" Speak to us, O man," he said to Papeiha, 
" that we may know the business on which you 
have come." 

" Why," replied Papeiha, " I have come to tell 
you about my God, and about Jesus Christ, so 
that you may bum up your idols as the people 
in all the other islands are doing." 

" Bum our gods !" exclaimed the people, in 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 37 

dismay. ** What gods shall we have then, and 
what shall we do without gods?** 

Papeiha did not stop to answer all their ques- 
tions just then, but day after day, after his com- 
panions had left him, he patiently instructed 
them in the learning of the One who, as he 
could read in his Gospel of Matthew, had prom- 
ised to be with his followers always and every- 
where. 

And that One had been in Rarotonga before 
him. A heathen woman had already, in some 
manner, brought a little of the gospel story from 
Tahiti, so far away. Makea had been interested, 
and had built an altar to Jehovah ; so, like Paul 
at Athens, Papeiha had only to declare unto the 
people the Unknown God whom so ignorantly 
they were worshipping. When Tiberio, the 
friend of Papeiha, came to Rarotonga, the two 
men did their best to teach the natives a better 
religion than they yet knew. One old chief was 
anxious to learn how to pray, but as the idea of 
prayer was new to him he was a slow pupil, and 
poor tired Papeiha would sometimes fall asleep 
during the lesson. Then the chief would awa- 
ken him, saying piteously: "Please go over 
it again for me, for I have forgotten it." 

Papeiha told the people that their idols were 
not gods, and that the true God was a Spirit, and 
could not be seen. 



38 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

" Oh ! oh !*' cried the excited natives. " Why 
does he talk like this ? Does he think that we 
are blind ? He says that his God cannot be seen ; 
and yet look at him ! He carries his God about 
with him. See how he talks to it, and what his 
God says to him he tells us. Wherever he goes 
he carries it ; when he sleeps he has it near him. 
That is his God." 

What the people thought was Papeiha's God 
was simply his little New Testament that he 
had always near him, and when he was reading 
it they believed that it was talking to him. 

But after a while they began to see things 
more clearly, and at last one of the priests de- 
cided to destroy his idols. He brought his little 
boy and placed him under the care of the teach- 
ers, lest some evil should befall him on account 
of this daring act, and then went home and came 
back staggering under the weight of the god he 
was carrying. 

His friends told him that he was a madman, 
and begged him not to put himself in so much 
danger, and when a saw was brought out, with 
which to cut the sacred object to pieces, they all 
fled in great alarm, thinking that the end of all 
things had come. But when they saw that the 
priest went on with his work and then threw the 
bits of wood into a large fire, where they quietly 
burned to ashes, and nothing terrible came upon 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 39 

him, they made up their minds that their idols, 
too, were good for nothing, and should meet the 
same fate. In less than ten days fourteen idols 
were cast into the flames, and then one of the 
chiefs set fire to the temple. "My heart has 
taken hold of the word of Jehovah," he said, as 
a reason for his conduct. 

The king himself gave up his faith in his 
worthless gods, and a small chapel was built for 
the worship of Jehovah. 

Meanwhile Mr. Williams was having his own 
trials in the island of R^iatea. The London 
Missionary Society had decided that, after all, 
the Endeavor was an unnecessary expense, and 
with much regret Mr. Williams was obliged to 
part from the little vessel that had been so help- 
ful to him. But if he could not go out of Raia- 
tea he would work the harder there. He began 
to translate the Bible into the native tongue, and 
his wife formed a class for poor, lame, deaf or 
blind old women, who were neglected by the 
people. 

Then Mr. and Mrs. Pitman came from Eng- 
land to assist in the labor in Rarotonga. " If I 
only had a ship," said Mr. Williams in greeting 
to these new workers, " not an island in the Pa- 
cific but I would, with God's will, go to see, and 
leave teachers there." 

But while he was waiting he learned to make 



40 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ropes, which he sold to captains of ships. In 
1827 he took Mr. Pitman to his field in Raroton- 
ga. He himself expected to come back with the 
ship, but it had received damage from a storm, 
and the captain felt that he must hasten home 
and begin repairs, and could not wait for Mr. 
Williams. 

John Williams, therefore, took his clothes 
and a few other articles on shore, and there he 
stayed for twelve months. 

His first work was to move the missionary 
settlement to a better site, on the other side of 
the island. When this was done, he was asked 
to seat himself outside of his house, and then 
a long train of natives filed past him and laid 
their idols at his feet. The smallest of these 
images was five feet long and about four inches 
in diameter. The next Sunday there was a 
congregation of four thousand people, and as 
the chapel was too small for the attendance it 
was thought best to build a new one. In seven 
weeks this house of worship was completed, al- 
though five years before not a man on the island 
had ever seen an axe or a plane. 

While the chapel was building Mr. Williams 
made a great stir among the natives by writing 
something on a chip and sending it to his wife ; 
for when it was found that she understood the 
message without a word having to be spoken 



THE HERVEY OR COOK ISLANDS. 4 1 

one of the men caught up the wonderful piece 
of wood, and holding it high above his head he 
ran through the village, shouting, " See the wis- 
dom of these English people: they can make 
chips talk ! They can make chips talk !** 

Among the queer customs of Rarotonga was 
one that allowed a son, so soon as he was old 
enough, to wrestle with his father for the pos- 
session of the property. Should he prove the 
stronger he would turn his parents out and 
claim the house and farm for his own. If a man 
died all the relatives could come to his house 
and take anything they might wish, leaving the 
widow and children to starve. To do away with 
these unfair practices Mr. Williams brought out 
the code of laws used at Raiatea, and it was 
adopted by the people. 

It was not luxurious living on these islands 
of the Pacific. It was ten years after their ar- 
rival before Mr. and Mrs. Williams tasted beef, 
and then they had lost their relish for it. In 
Rarotonga they had nothing to eat for weeks 
except a scanty supply of native roots. 

For many months no ship came near the 
island. But Mr. Williams was as full of devices 
as was Robinson Crusoe. As he had no boat at 
hand he would make one to suit himself. He 
had no knowledge of ship-building, except the 
little that he had picked up here and there, 



42 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

and he had few of the necessary tools. He had 
no saw, no oakum, cordage or sail-cloth ; but he 
twisted the bark of the hibiscus into ropes, 
quilted native mats for sails, and constructed a 
rudder out of a piece of a pick-axe, a cooper's 
adze and a large hoe. In five months it was 
ready for use. He called it the Messenger of 
Peace, and he made a successful trial trip in 
the little vessel to Aitutaki and back. On his 
return he found that his devoted natives had 
cleared away all the rubbish left by the build- 
ing. " We will not leave a chip against which 
he can strike his foot,'* they said. 

Two new missionaries, named Mr. and Mrs. 
Buzacott, came to Rarotonga in 1828. They 
set Mr. Williams free to go back to Raiatea, and 
when there he offered to lend his new ship to 
the London Missionary Society, so that they 
might send missionaries to visit the Marquesas 
Islands. Some teachers had been placed upon 
these islands by the Duff, on her first voyage, 
although they had had but slight encourage- 
ment so far. 



THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 43 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. OVER THE SEA TO 

SAMOA. 

The following year Mr. Williams went over 
to Rurutu, where he met a chief from another 
island who had been waiting two years hoping 
to take back a teacher to his own land. While 
away from home his wife and two children had 
died, but he would not leave the spot until he 
had accomplished his object. 

After John Williams had returned to Raiatea 
he immediately set about preparations for a voy- 
age to the Samoan Islands, which had not yet 
been reached by the gospel. This was a plan 
that he had long had in mind, and now, with the 
help of the Messenger of Peace, he meant to 
carry it out. The Samoan Islands were about 
two thousand miles away, but that fact did not 
take the courage and the determination out of 
John Williams. Difficulty and danger seemed 
only to make him more resolute and more 
daring. 

Before going to Samoa he visited the Her- 
vey Islands, although they were out of his 
course. He stopped first at Mangaia, to which 



44 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

two teachers had been sent after Mr. Williams* 
first call at that island five or six years before, 
and the good missionary was delighted to be 
welcomed by about five hundred Christians, the 
results of the work of these men. 

These converts had cut off their hair. The 
heathen wear long hair, but as the Christians 
wear their hair short it had come to be a kind of 
first step in giving up heathenism to bring the 
length of the locks down to that of those of the 
white men. In speaking of any one who had 
accepted the Christian religion the natives were 
wont to say, " Such a one has cut his hair.** 
So John Williams felt sure of the sincerity of 
the people of Mangaia because they had been 
willing to make this sacrifice in order to be as 
much as possible like the Christians. 

At Atui, where he next landed, a great ad- 
vance was seen in all good things. Then he 
went on to Rarotonga, where he found that dur- 
ing his absence a terrible plague had broken 
out and nearly six hundred persons had died. 
Fortunately the missionaries had with them a 
large supply of medicines, with which they were 
able to give much relief. Then the Messenger 
of Peace touched at Aitutaki, where the converts 
placed in his hands the large sum of $515 for 
the London Missionary Society. This money 
had been made by the sale of pigs ; each family 



THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 45 

having dedicated a pig to the work of " causing 
the word of God to grow,** and these animals 
had been sold to the crews of the vessels that 
had come to Aitutaki. 

With a happy heart Mr. Williams said good- 
by to these generous Christian natives; and 
then oflF for far-away Samoa. 

Within five days he reached Savage Island, 
which had been so called by Captain Cook, who 
had this time hit the mark better than he had 
sometimes when naming the lands that he dis- 
covered. With a good deal of difficulty a chief 
was coaxed on board the ship, but perhaps 
Mr. Williams was sorry for his pressing invita- 
tion when he saw the behavior of his guest. 
He danced furiously up and down on the deck, 
howling frightfully, gnashing his teeth and 
gnawing his long beard. The worst of it was 
that none of his countrymen seemed any bet- 
ter than he, and it was no wonder that the poor 
teachers lost heart and begged not to be handed 
over to the mercy of such creatures as these. 
All that John Williams could do was to persuade 
two of the young warriors to come away with 
him in his ship, hoping that they might receive 
some good influence and after a while go back 
and teach their companions. 

After a run of three hundred and fifty miles 
the Messenger of Peace reached Tonga, in the 



46 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

group of the Friendly Islands, where, as we 
shall hear by and by, the Wesleyan missionaries 
had already begun to work. At Tonga Mr. Wil- 
liams met Fauea, a Samoan chief who had been 
converted in this place, and he oflFered to take 
the missionaries to his own home. The Mes- 
senger of Peace went on to Lefuga, another 
island of the same group, and here the mission- 
aries came across Finau, a chief of the Vauvau 
Islands, where John Williams was longing to 
station a teacher. But Finau was not like Fauea. 
He was not a Christian, and had no wish that 
anybody else should be one. He held out little 
encouragement to these strangers from over the 
sea. He did, indeed, say that he would try to 
protect the life of any man who should be fool- 
ish enough to risk it among these people ; but 
as for the people, if any of them should be con- 
verted he would at once have them put to death. 
The outlook was not very promising, thought 
John Williams, and it was hardly worth while 
to throw away any of his teachers under these 
conditions. He must lay aside his dreams for 
Vauvau for the present, and hope for better 
things in the future. His faith was to be re- 
warded sometime, for Savage Island and Vau- 
vau were both in God's keeping, and were still 
to own him as king. 

For seven days the Messenger of Peace was 



THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 47 

tossed about in the Pacific, in the grasp of more 
than one violent storm; but at last the weary 
party sighted Savaii, the largest of the Samoan, 
or Navigator Islands, as they are sometimes 
called, perhaps, as John Williams suggested, 
because of the superior skill shown by the na- 
tives in building and navigating their canoes. 

These islands are very beautiful, with the 
coral walls around them, the stretch of silver 
sand fringed with the foliage of the cocoanut, 
palm and banana trees, and the mountain slopes 
and the cascades beyond all touched by the pe- 
culiar yellow haze in the atmosphere. On the 
shore of one of these islands there is a bay 
called "Massacre Bay," the name coming from 
the fact that it was entered in 1787 by a French 
navigator whose crew was there brutally mur- 
dered by the natives. 

In spite of their cruelty and treachery the 
Samoans are naturally ingenious in many ways. 
Their boats are made from pieces of bread- 
fruit trees, neatly fitted one into another, and 
then lashed together by native twine. The 
houses meant for public entertainments are 
large, and shaped to look like something be- 
tween round and oval. They are formed of 
two or three large posts, fixed in the ground, 
and a short ridge-pole, from four to six feet in 
length, covered with rafters and thatch. The 



48 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

rafters come from the wood of the breadfruit 
tree, and the leaf of the sugar-cane is used for 
thatching. These buildings are usually open all 
around at the sides, and are covered with mats 
for carpets. The dwelling-houses are similar in 
style, but lower and smaller. The Samoans had 
neither temples nor altars. Their religion con- 
sisted in a belief that spirits live in certain ani- 
mals, and these animals were looked upon with 
superstitious reverence. Sometimes a dignified 
old man would be seen bowing down to a little 
g^een lizard. They had some idea of a Supreme 
Being, whom they regarded as the creator of all 
things. They called him Tangaloa, and at their 
great feasts, before they began to eat, some 
chief would arise and say, "Thank you, great 
Tangaloa, for this food.'* The Samoans were 
the only people in Polynesia who had in their 
language any word for "Thank you." 

Just before Mr. Williams arived at Samoa 
it had been declared by an aged chief that the 
worship of spirits would soon cease in these isl- 
ands, and that shortly after his own death a 
great white chief would come over the water and 
teach the people a new religion. The chief was 
very wicked and very powerful, so that Fauea 
thought with a sinking of his heart that it would 
be almost impossible for the missionaries to do 
anything in the face of this evil old man. But 



THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 49 

no sooner had Fauea landed than he heard the 
news of the chief *s death, which so delighted him 
that he began to dance about and to sing with 
joy. Then he took the copper-colored people of 
his island on board the strange ship and showed 
them how to receive these new friends with 
courtesy and kindness. He tried to impress 
them with the idea that the white men were far 
ahead of them in every respect and that they 
must learn all that they could from them. The 
people were very curious about the new-comers. 
They examined their dress with great care and 
earnestness, and even asked Mr. Williams to pull 
off his shoes so that they might see which part of 
his foot was skin and which was leather. Then 
they were horrified to find that he seemed to 
have no toes. Fauea explained that these supe- 
rior beings wore two kinds of covering over their 
feet, and then Mr. Williams had to take off his 
stockings to prove that Fauea spoke the truth. 

When the king of Samoa heard that the 
vessel in the harbor was what was called a 
" praying ship *' he sent a large quantity of 
food on board and refused to take any pay for 
it. Eight men with their wives and children 
then ventured to go on shore, where they were 
greeted by a crowd of people bearing lighted 
torches, thus forming a sort of missionary torch- 
light procession. 

Heroee of the tioath Seas. A 



50 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Some remarkable customs were found in 
these islands also. One of them was that the 
women expressed their grief at the death of a 
friend, not by wearing black garments, but by 
burning themselves all over in small blisters, 
which they thought were very ornamental. 
They were fond, too, of adorning themselves 
with wreaths and garlands of flowers and leaves, 
and blue beads they admired so much that 
a large pig would be readily given for six of 
them. 

The morning after the landing of the mis- 
sionaries a public meeting was held at which 
both the king and his brother were present, al- 
though there was at that time on the island some 
disturbance and threatening of war following 
some trouble that had arisen in connection with 
the death of the old chief. Both men promised 
to take good care of the teachers that should be 
left with them, and before the ship sailed a 
giant chief from a neighboring island came over 
and pleaded that he might have a teacher for 
^his people. " I will make them listen and learn,** 
he said earnestly. 

" There are two little words in our language 
that I have always admired,** said Mr. Williams, 
as he set sail from Samoa. " They are * Trust * 
and * Try.* ** Certainly he had reason to believe 
in the motto if anybody ever had, for he was al- 



^THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 5 I 

ways ready to act upon its advice and knew 
the result of doing so. 

Owing to the contrary winds he could not 
stop at Savage Island on his way home, so he 
pushed on to Rarotonga. The plague had dis- 
appeared, and Rarotonga was again Rarotonga, 
as one man said. Then the ship called at Ei- 
meo, where, as in the old days in Antioch, when 
Paul returned from his missionary journey, the 
disciples gathered to hear of the adventures 
and experiences of the one who had been on a 
tour among the heathen. 

About this time Tamatoa, the old king of 
Raiatea, died. His last words were, " Beware 
lest the gospel be driven from these islands." 
In 1 83 1 John Williams again visited Rarotonga, 
and from that place started on a voyage among 
all the islands of the Hervey group. "The 
natives cling round him, and he seems really 
one with them, " said the missionaries who went 
with him. 

On his return to Rarotonga he set to work 
to finish his translation of the Bible into the 
native tongue, but he was interrupted by a 
fearful hurricane, which hurled down one thou- 
sand houses and helped the sea to pick up the 
poor little Messenger of Peace in its arms and 
wash it several miles inland, dropping it at last 
in a hole five feet deep. Some of the natives 



52 HEROES OF THE SOUTH. SEAS. 

declared that the storm was the fault of the 
Christians, and made that an excuse for going 
back to their old ways. Others comforted them- 
selves with the thought that the Bible was left to 
them at any rate. Mr. Williams diverted their 
minds by putting them to work to repair dam- 
ages, but it was a month or two before the 
Messenger of Peace could be dug out and again 
set afloat. When once more in the water, Mr. 
Williams took the boat over to Tahiti to obtain 
provisions for the hungry Rarotongans, whose 
crops had been destroyed. 

At Raiatea Mr. Williams had to form a tem- 
perance society, to withstand the evil influence 
of the introduction of whiskey by a trading ves- 
sel. He carried back with him to Rarotonga 
several barrels of flour, and with them as much 
food as he could, buying various articles from an 
American captain. He had with him, besides, 
some horses, donkeys and horned cattle. These 
animals amazed the natives, who had never 
before seen anything like them, and they gave 
them very queer names. The horse they called 
"the great pig that carries the man;** the don- 
key, " the noisy pig,** or " the long-eared pig ;** 
and the dog, " the barking pig." All of these 
things were of great service to the people of 
Rarotonga, and so helped the missionaries in 
bringing the gospel to them. 



THE SAMOAN ISLANDS. 53 

In 1832 Mr. Williams made another voyage 
to Samoa. On this trip, Makea, king of Raro- 
tonga, went with him, as well as a native convert 
named Teara. As they started forth on their 
missionary tour Teara expressed his feelings 
in a beautiful prayer, which it is hard to realize 
came from the lips of a man who nine years 
before had been a cannibal. 

"If we fly to heaven,'* he said, "there, O 
God, we shall find thee ; if we dwell upon land, 
thou art there also ; if we sail on the sea, thou 
art here. This affords us comfort, so that we sail 
upon the ocean without fear, because thou, O 
God, art in our ship. The king of our bodies 
has his subjects to whom he issues his orders, 
but if he himself goes with them his presence 
stimulates their zeal, they work with energfy, 
they do it readily and they do it well. O Lord, 
thou art the King of our spirits ; thou hast issued 
orders to thy subjects to do a great work : thou 
hast commanded them to preach the gospel to 
every creature. We are going on that errand 
now. Let thy presence go with us to quicken 
us and enable us to persevere in the great work 
until we die. Thou hast said that thy presence 
shall go with thy people even to the end of the 
world. Fulfil, O Lord, to us this cheering 
promise. I see, O Lord, a compass in this ves- 
sel by which the seamen steer the right course 



54 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

that we may escape destruction and danger. Be 
to us, O Lord, like this compass, our Guide and 
our Saviour." 

Teara became a faithful worker and was a 
great help to the missionaries, and always an 
honor to the Master whom he trusted so well. 

John Williams hoped that this time he might 
visit every island in the Samoan group. He 
stopped at several of them, and in many places 
he found people who, in various ways, had caught 
echoes of the gospel story from other islands 
and were longing for a " religion ship '* to come 
along and bring them teachers for themselves. 
Some of them had begun to follow in the steps 
of the missionaries, and were trying, so far as 
they knew how, to live the Christian life, calling 
themselves " Sons of the Word.*' 

In one spot Mr. Williams was met by a 
chief who hailed him with these words : " You 
needn't be afraid of us; we are Christians." 

"Christians?" asked Mr. Williams. "Why, 
what do you know about being Christians ?" 

"Why," answered the man, "there was a 
great chief from the white man's country, whose 
name was Williams, who came to Savaii about 
twenty moons ago and placed there some work- 
ers of religion; and some of our people who 
were there have come home and taught us what 
he taught them." 



THE SAMOAN islands, 5^ 

Then he showed Mr. Williams a little chapel 
that had been built and told him that there were 
fifty persons in the congregation. The Chris- 
tians were distinguished from the other natives 
by a piece of white cloth worn by each one 
around the arm. 

" Well/' said Mr. Williams, " I am that white 
man ; but who preaches to the people here ?*' - 

"Oh/* replied the man, " I go over to the mis- 
sion station once in a while and get some relig- 
ion which I bring carefully home and g^ve to the 
people. Then, when that is gone, I take my ca- 
noe and go and fetch some more. Now, wont 
you g^ve me a man full of religion, so that I 
sha'n't have to risk my life going so far to 
get it?" 

Mr. Williams was touched by this appeal, 
and promised to send soon to this earnest work- 
er some man who would be " full of religion,'* 
and be able to teach and to help these dark 
brothers who were striving to walk in the 
right way. 



56 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS: THE CAP- 
TAIN'S LAST VOYAGE. 

It was Sunday when Mr. Williams landed at 
the principal settlement at Savaii, and he went 
directly to church, where he preached to seven 
hundred people. It was the wildest congrega- 
tion he had ever seen. Some chiefs had mats 
over their shoulders or tied around their waists, 
and their long, stiff hair stood out like the 
prickles of a hedgehog. Some persons had long 
frizzled locks, and others had their hair tied up 
in huge balls on the top of their heads. After 
the afternoon service one of the native teachers 
made an address, and told the people that Mr. 
Williams had come to prove to them that that 
which had been taught them was true. Then up 
rose the king and said, " For my part, my whole 
soul shall be given to the word of Jehovah, and 
I will use my utmost endeavors that the word of 
Jehovah shall encircle the land.** 

In the evening Mr. Williams himself 
preached, and this time he had about one thou- 
sand hearers. After the meeting he sat down 
alone and composed three hymns for the use of 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 57 

the Samoans, one of which is given here, as it 
reads in the translation : 

" Great is his compassion, 
His mercy to us. 
Great the love of Jesus Christ 
To die upon the earth. 

" A beloved Son was Jesus Christ, 
A very good Son ; 
But he died down here below 
To obtain salvation for us. 

" Let us every one believe 
With our whole hearts. 
That our souls may obtain salvation 
When Jesus Christ shall come." 

As the king had decided to give up idolatry, 
the god of war, which was only a piece of old 
matting carried in the canoe of the leader in 
time of war, was sentenced to be drowned. The 
people felt that it would be too dreadful and dis- 
graceful a death for it to be thrown anto the fire 
and burned. This mat was rescued by Mr. Will- 
iams, who took it to England and had it placed in 
the museum of the London Missionary Society. 

One great trouble that the teachers found in 
trying to educate the people was the laziness of 
the natives. When they had worked for five 
minutes at the alphabet they would say : "Oh, 
how tired we are ! Let us put it away !" One 
man excused himself from study by saying 



58 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

grandly : " Yes, writing very good for captain ; 
but Samoan more clever ; he can keep things in 
his head ; he no need writing/' 

This was rather discouraging, of course ; but 
there were some hopeful things as well. 

One day Mr. Williams set out to pay a visit 
to a village not far from the capital, and before 
he reached the place he was met by a long pro- 
cession of women each carrying a present in 
her hand. The leader was a woman who had 
become a Christian, and who had led nearly one 
hundred other women to follow her example. 
They had now formed in line to go out to 
greet the man who had been the one from 
whom the message had come to them through 
those whom he had taught. They brought him 
a baked pig, some cocoanuts, and other things 
besides. They were strangely attired, in red 
and white mats, and were decorated with strings 
of blue beads. But John Williams was pleased 
with their gratitude and their efforts to do what 
they thought was right, especially as they had 
no sympathy from their husbands because, as 
they said sadly, " They are not yet * Sons of the 
Word.' " 

Among the Samoan Islands is one that is 
small and oblong, and can be reached only by 
a narrow channel lying between high rocks. If 
people of the neighboring island, where the 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. $g 

giant chief lived, are defeated in battle, they 
run across to this island, throw a bridge over 
the chasm, from which they can hurl stones at 
the enemy, and lay a tripping-line along the 
water, so that no canoe can enter the passage 
without being upset. 

They call themselves Malo, or Victorious, 
and keep a record of their wars by dropping an 
oddly shaped stone into a basket after each 
victory. When Mr. Williams stopped at this 
island the basket held one hundred and seven 
stones. Here the Messenger of Peace was al- 
most wrecked, but escaped uninjured. 

The ship next touched at Apia, on the isl- 
and of Upolu, where about eighty Christians 
were found, and then called at KeppeVs Island, 
where a report was given of a teacher who had 
influenced about five hundred natives to turn 
to Christianity. Then Mr. Williams went on 
to Vauvau, in the Friendly Islands, where he 
learned with joy that some Wesleyan Mission- 
aries had managed to settle, in spite of the fierce 
chief Finau, and that the whole island was 
Christianized. 

The voyage from Vauvau to Tonga was a 
rough and dangerous one. The ship sprang a 
leak, and storms fell upon the passengers. But 
at Tonga the trouble was remedied, and on the 
fifth of December the Messenger of Peace was 



6o HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

off on her homeward voyage. She reached 
Rarotonga after an absence of fifteen weeks. 

Mr. Williams now resolved to take a little 
vacation and go home, as he had been away from 
England for eighteen years ; so he sold his faith- 
ful little vessel, and went back to his native land. 

A very warm welcome they gave him, there 
in old England, and he had a great deal to tell 
about his life and work down in the Pacific. 
He had written an account of it all, and now 
had the book published under the name of 
"Missionary Enterprises in the South Seas.*' 
Every body was eager to read it, and thirty- 
six thousand copies were sold in five years. 
He also raised money enough to buy a ship, 
which was called the Camden, and then, not 
willing to spend any more time in talking about 
the past, or in enjoying the present among his 
fond and admiring friends at home, his heart 
began to reach out after those dark people in 
the Pacific Islands, and he made ready for an- 
other voyage. On the eleventh of April, 1838, 
he set forth again for the South Seas. 

He went first to Samoa, and chose Upolu as 
the future mission station. Then he visited 
Rarotonga, and left there five thousand copies 
of the New Testament and made some arrange- 
ments for starting a college for the training of 
native converts as teachers. He stopped too 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 6l 

at other islands, going at last to Raiatea, where, 
with the exception of two short trips to Samoa, 
he stayed until he went off on his final voyage. 

The evening before he set out on this last 
journey an old blind chief came to him and 
begged to be taken with him. 

"Teacher Williams,'* said the old man, "I 
am a blind man, but I have a great desire to go 
with you to the dark lands. Perhaps my being 
blind will make them pity me, and not kill me, 
and while I can talk to them, and tell them of 
Jesus, my boy here can read and write, and so 
we can teach them something." 

Of course the poor old blind man could not 
go on the long perilous voyage, but brave ten- 
der-hearted John Williams was much touched 
by his devotion and earnestness, and no doubt 
the simple, honest, loving words came back to 
him with cheer and comfort during the follow- 
ing weeks on the stormy sea, as he sailed on to- 
wards the last harbor that he should make until 
he should anchor in the quiet haven of the 
heavenly home. 

On the third of November, 1839, ^^ preached 
his farewell sermon, the text of which was from 
Acts 20 : 36-38 : " And they all wept sore, and 
fell upon Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrow- 
ing most of all for the words which he spake, 
that they should see his face no more." 



62 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Did he feel, himself, the gfreat-hearted captain, 
that he should never come back to these true 
friends of his ? At any rate, he bade them good- 
by and sailed away for the New Hebrides, where 
he had long wished to scatter some gospel seed. 
After a run of six hundred miles the Camden 
made Rovuma on the twelfth of November. 
The next day Mr. Williams and his companions 
went on to the New Hebrides. On the seven- 
teenth of November they sighted Fortuna. The 
natives were gathering in groups and making 
signs for the ship to come near. A chief, tricked 
out in bracelets, and with rings of tortoise-shell 
in his ears, came on board, and after a while a 
bay was found where the passengers might land. 
The natives seemed very friendly, but nobody 
could be found who would go with the Camden 
to Tanna. On the evening of the nineteenth 
the ship was lying off Erromanga. Mr. Wil- 
liams said that as Samoa was now well supplied 
with missionaries he had thought of making his 
home here, but the next morning he had 
changed his mind and decided to go on to 
Aneityum, the most southerly island in the 
group. Still he wished to go on shore, so the 
small boat was lowered, and with two men, 
named Harris and Cunningham, he pulled away 
for land. They all rambled along the beach, as 
the natives seemed to be kindly disposed toward 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 63 

them. Mr. Williams gave some of them fish- 
hooks and a few small pieces of calico, and 
they took them with no sign of anything but 
peaceable feelings. Mr. Harris wandered on by 
himself, and was lost to sight in the bush, when 
suddenly there was a shriek from the savages in 
that direction and Mr. Harris was seen to be 
running towards the water with the natives in 
hot pursuit. He was struck down by their club§ 
and spears, and Mr. Cunningham called to Mr. 
Williams to take flight, but he could not bear to 
desert his friend, so paused a moment to see if 
there were any hope of helping him. The delay 
cost John Williams his life. He heard the war- 
shell blown, and the war-cry sounded in his ears, 
and then the savages were upon him. They 
followed him into the water, where they soon 
caught him and murdered him in the same way 
as they had his fellow soldier. The men in the 
ship were unable to lift a finger for his rescue, 
but their hearts were almost broken when they 
saw that he was really dead. They could hardly 
believe that their leader would be among them 
no more. 

The grief of the people of Samoa when they 
heard the sad news is almost impossible to de- 
scribe. **Alas, Williams! Alas, our father!** 
they cried, in sorrow and distress. A monument 
was set up at Apia bearing this inscription ; 



64 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

" Sacred to the memory of the Rev. John Wil- 
liams, father of the Samoan and other mis- 
sions, aged forty-three years and five months, 
who was killed by the cruel natives of Erro- 
manga, on November twentieth, 1839, while en- 
deavoring to plant the Gospel of Peace on their 
shores.'* 

But John Williams had a still better monu- 
ment in the work that had been accomplished 
among the islands that he loved so well. When 
he died there were in Raiatea, in place of the old 
huts and poor little villages, English-looking 
cottages, each one with its own garden ; and in- 
stead of wild, ignorant savages there were well- 
dressed children, with book and slate in hand, 
going back and forth from school. On Sundays 
there were many people on their way to church, 
with their Bibles and their hymn-books tied up 
in their handkerchiefs, in South Sea Island fash- 
ion, and there were few households in which 
family worship was not a regular part of the 
opening and the closing of each day. It is 
much the same with the other islands of the 
group. 

Then there was Rarotonga. In two years 
heathenism had been swept off the island. One 
old man of this place used to say that he had 
lived through the reign of four kings. " During 
the first," he said, "we were always at war. 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 6$ 

During the second, we were almost destroyed by 
a great famine. During the third, we were the 
prey of two other settlements. But during this 
reign we were visited by another King ; a good 
King ; a powerful King ; a King of love : Jesus, 
the Lord from heaven. He has gained the vic- 
tory. He has conquered our hearts. We are all 
his subjects. Therefore we now have peace and 
plenty in this world, and hope soon to dwell 
with him in heaven." 

The natives of Rarotonga have carried the 
gospel to the Loyalty Islands, to New Caledonia 
and to New Guinea. These native teachers 
have far more influence with the people than 
have the white men. They are simple and ear- 
nest, and their hearts are all in the work. They 
have been trained as warriors, and they know 
how to obey and to give their minds to what 
they are doing. 

" We are now the soldiers of Jesus Christ," 
they say, "tell us what he would like us to do." 
If they are told that their Master would not wish 
them to go to a certain place, they answer at 
once, " Then we wont go ;" or if some one says, 
" He would be sorry to hear you use such lan- 
guage," they reply, ** Then we wont say that any 
more ;" or if it is hinted that he would rather 
not have them do a certain thing, they still re- 
spond, " Then we wont do it." No wonder that 

H«row of tlM Booth 8mm. C 



66 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

they can win a hearing from others when they 
learn so well their own lessons. 

One of the converts of Rarotonga longed to 
work for others just as his teacher, John Wil- 
liams, had worked ; so in the ship named after 
the good captain this man Pao went to Mari, 
an island about fifty miles from Lifu, in the Loy- 
alty group. He was to stay and study with 
the missionaries who were stationed there and 
then go on to Lifu. But Pao learned the lan- 
guage as quickly as he could, and then, persuad- 
ing a native of Mari to accompany him, he set 
out in a canoe for Lifu, feeling that he could 
wait no longer. He was received in a friendly 
manner by the natives, in spite of the fact that 
they were all cannibals. The medicine men, it 
is true, did not like him very well ; they feared 
that he would interfere with their business ; but 
he did succeed in interesting most of the people, 
and even made friends with their enemies on 
the opposite side of the island. In course of 
time whole villages burned their idols and 
placed themselves under Christian teaching, and 
in twelve years the whole population of about 
ten thousand had accepted the gospel. The 
language was reduced to writing, and a school- 
book, catechism, hymn-book, and the New Tes- 
tament and Psalms were translated into the na- 
tive tongue, for by this time other missionaries 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 6/ 

had come over to help. Schools and churches 
were built in almost every village, and were filled 
with those who were eager to hear and to learn. 
A seminary had been started for the education 
of native pastors and teachers, and a missionary 
society had been formed that had sent workers 
to New Caledonia and the New Hebrides. The 
natives had good houses, fine roads, and many of 
the conveniences and comforts of civilized life. 
Several European shops had been opened, and 
traders often visited the island. 

The French have also interfered with work 
in the Loyalty Islands. The French governor 
of Lifu asked one of the native teachers, " Who 
told you to come here ?" " My Master said to 
me, * Go ye into all the world to preach the 
gospel.* That is what brought me here," re- 
plied the man. This reply was thought im- 
pudent, and the teacher was imprisoned for 
three days and then sent away. In Mari, a 
missionary who had labored there for thirty, 
four years was obliged to leave his charge, and 
the French government does all in its power 
to defeat the aims of the Protestants. Still the 
converts are true to their teaching. 

As for the church at Samoa, it has always 
been overflowing with missionary spirit. Those 
people have taken the gospel to the Tokelan and 
EUice Islands and to the Gilbert Islands, south 



68 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

of the Equator, and under the direction of their 
missionaries, Mr. A. Murray and Mr. George 
Turner, they began work in the New Hebrides. 
That dreadful Savage Island, too, where John 
Williams dared not land, has been completely 
Christianized through their efforts. 

It was in 1861 that a party set out for the 
EUice group, but the frail vessel being over- 
taken by a storm was driven about by winds 
and currents for eight weeks. At the end of 
that time the crew stumbled upon one of the 
EUice Islands, where they found that the people 
had gained a little religious knowledge from 
the sailors of a trading-vessel and had burned 
their idols. They were so hungry for the Bible 
that one of the new comers had to tear apart 
his Rarotongan New Testament, and give it out 
in bits to the natives. 

From this spot the gospel was carried to 
other islands. In one place the people had ob- 
tained a copy of the English Bible, which they 
kept wrapped in a large cotton handkerchief 
during the week, but which on Sunday was 
brought out and laid open in sight of the natives, 
who gathered round it and sang songs taught 
them by some visitors. 

The Samoans now have the whole Bible in 
their own tongue, a school for native teachers 
and preachers, and besides having built their 



THE SAMOAN AND LOYALTY ISLANDS. 69 

own churches and pastors* houses they have 
sent $6,500 every year to the London Mission- 
ary Society to help carry on its work. In 1892 
they gave $9,000 as a thank offering for having 
the gospel themselves. They have a beautiful 
custom in their churches of keeping on their 
books the names of members who have died, 
with a mark following each one which means 
that they will not think of that one as dead 
either to them or to the cause, and a contribtion 
will always be made for him by his friends. 

The Christian population is thirty-six thou- 
sand, among fifty thousand inhabitants. In 
the largest of the islands there are not fifty fami- 
lies where morning and evening worship is not 
a daily custom. There is a great demand for 
the pocket edition of the Bible. A large num- 
ber were sold in a short time, and there was a 
call for five thousand more. 

The king of Samoa has recently issued an 
order that no intoxicating drink whatever shall 
be given, sold, or offered to be bought or bartered 
by any native Samoan, or any Pacific Islander 
resident in Samoa. 

Robert Louis Stevenson, the distinguished 
writer, who lived for a long time in Samoa, said 
that when he went there he was much prejudiced 
against missions, but after having seen them on 
their own ground his objections vanished, and 



72 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

neighbors, tattooing themselves by way of adorn- 
ment, and killing one another by way of pas- 
time. They used to thrust pebbles down the 
throats of their children, in order, as they hoped, 
to make their hearts hard and pitiless. 

They were very superstitious, and when they 
were ill they believed that their god came to 
them in the form of a lizard, and, entering the 
side, gnawed at the organs that were necessary 
to life. When a person had a pain in his back 
he would lie down and ask another man to jump 
over him and then stamp upon him to press out 
the pain. 

Their houses were built of bulrushes, and 
were lined with the leaves of the palm-tree 
neatly braided together. They were about four 
or five feet high. The people had no furniture, 
and their cooking utensils were a few stones. 
They had an idea that there was a great Being 
somewhere who sent the thunder, but they were 
much afraid of him and had no form of wor- 
ship. They had some notion of a future life, but 
they thought that it would be much like this 
one ; and on the death of a chief his slaves were 
killed, that they might go with him and wait 
upon him. Altogether it did not seem an invi- 
ting spot for missionaries to settle in, but the 
need was great and some men were raised up to 
throw their lives into this great field. 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 73 

The first missionary to the country was Sam- 
uel Marsden, a British chaplain in New South 
Wales. In 1 8 14 he began a mission on the east- 
ern coast of the northern island. The islanders 
were known to be so savage that no ship cap- 
tain would take him to the shore, so he had to 
buy a brig at his own expense and landed with 
a single companion. 

Just about this time there was a young man 
in England, named Nathaniel Turner, who was 
a member of the Wesley an Methodist Church. 
He thought that he heard a voice, deep down in 
his heart, saying to him, " Go carry the glad 
tidings to the heathen ! Go carry the glad 
tidings to the heathen!** He listened to the 
command, and oflFered himself to the church as 
a missionary, but the church was in debt, and 
there was no money with which to send the 
young soldier out to fight for his Master. He 
must wait, he was told, until the necessary sum 
could be raised. 

But there was another side to the story. 
Soon afterwards a Mr. Leigh, who had been a 
missionary in New South Wales, and who had 
gone to New Zealand for the benefit of his 
health, came home to England for a little rest 
and change. His heart was full of the sad con- 
dition of the people of New Zealand and he 
could not keep from talking about it wherever he 



74 HEkOES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

went. He begged the society to let him have 
a missionary for New Zealand; and when he 
heard that there was a young man only waiting 
for a fund to be raised for his support before 
setting out to a foreign land he made up his 
mind that the lacking means should be supplied. 
After asking permission he started out to collect 
articles of manufacture that would be as useful 
as money to the missionaries, as they could barter 
them among the natives for food, land and build- 
ing material, and he succeeded in gathering a 
large number of axes, razors, fish-hooks, pots, 
kettles, prints, and calicoes. When he thought 
that he had enough of this kind of currency he 
sent oflE a message to Nathaniel Turner, " Pre- 
pare to go to New Zealand at once.** 

This was short notice, but Mr. Turner was 
quite ready for marching orders at any moment. 
There was a brave girl in England who had 
promised to go with him wherever he should 
be sent, and now she must be married to him in 
haste and fly away with him on the long wed- 
ding journey across the seas. On the third of 
August, 1823, in the year that John Williams 
found Rarotonga, Nathaniel Turner and his 
little bride landed at the Bay of Islands, from 
which place they were taken forty miles inland 
to the spot that had been chosen by Mr. Leigh 
for the mission station. 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 75 

Mr. Leigh was there before them, but they 
found him ill from the eflEects of the climate. 
The mission house, which was not yet completed, 
stood in a lovely quiet valley, surrounded by 
mountains and with a river rippling through 
it down to the sea, but the rainy season had be- 
gun and the roof of the new building was not 
water-proof. Mr. Leigh had been sleeping in 
an empty cask, in order to keep himself dry. 

Soon he had to go away and leave the two 
young people to look after themselves. But 
they did not lose heart. They had three assist- 
ant workers, and finding a better building site 
they set up a frame cottage that they had 
brought from Sydney. 

The chief of the region, whose civilized 
name was George, pretended at first to have most 
kindly intentions towards the strangers who 
had come to live with him, but no sooner was 
the little home ready for use than up stepped 
the big chief and said coolly, " This house is 
mine ; I will knock it down. You shall go away." 
The natives with him made a dash at the work- 
men and seized their spades, and then began a 
horrible howling, which they kept up both 
night and day for a long time. This kind of 
serenade did not make the new abode very 
cheerful, but fortunately the throats of the 
savages could not stand this exercise forever, 



^6 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

and fresh ways of tormenting the teachers had 
to be invented. 

The chief wished to be paid several times 
over for every article that he exchanged with 
the missionaries, and when he could not have 
his own will in the matter he threatened to 
shoot Mr. Turner. " You want to make us 
slaves,*' he said angrily. "We want muskets, 
powder, and tomahawks. You g^ve us nothing 
but prayers. We don't want to hear about 
Jesus Christ. If you love us, as you say you 
do, give us blankets." 

He also said that he meant to kill Mrs. Tur- 
ner and her maid, but after a while his rage 
died out, and he seemed sorry for his bursts of 
passion. 

" When my heart rests here,'* he said, laying 
his hand upon his breast, "then I love Mr. 
Turner very much; but when my heart rises 
to my throat, then I could kill him in a mo- 
ment." 

One cannot altogether blame those poor na- 
tives for their enmity to the white people. They 
had been so often ill-treated and deceived by the 
traders that it is not strange that they were a 
little suspicious and bitter in their feelings to- 
wards every pale-face. The missionaries realized 
that they were dealing with ignorant, quick- 
tempered savages, and kept tight hold of their 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. JJ 

patience, faith and love, in spite of many sad 
discouragements. They studied the languages, 
taught the children, and within a year built 
two chapels with their own hands. The natives 
continued to steal their goods, and still tried to 
take their lives, but after all they did learn to 
respect these friends, so brave and kind and for- 
bearing. ** We have tried all we could to make 
them afraid,'* the men owned to a visitor from 
another island, ** but we can't do it. They are 
a courageous tribe.*' 

Feeling the power of their devotion and 
heroism, the people began to come to church 
i^ large numbers, and listened quietly to what 
was said. They also sent their children to 
school. But this happy state of things did not 
last long. A whaling boat was captured by the 
islanders, and most of the crew murdered. This 
deed seemed to rouse all the old wicked, angry 
feelings of the natives. They were afraid, too, 
that England would send somebody down to 
punish them for their evil deed, and there was 
prospect of war with another island, just then, 
besides. In their fear and rage and excitement 
they fell upon the persons nearest at hand, and 
the missionaries saw that there was no hope of 
doing anything with them in their present state 
of mind, and thought that perhaps they would 
better withdraw from the scene for a while. 



78 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

But they had to leave much more suddenly 
than they had expected. One night in January, 
in the year 1827, the station was attacked, and 
the men and women had to flee for their lives. 
Mrs. Turner had a narrow escape from death, 
for one of the savages had raised his spear to 
strike her down when a friendly native pushed 
up a shelf over the doorway and caused a 
large number of nails that were lying there to 
come tumbling and rattling down upon the 
head of the pursuer, which frightened him so 
much that he dropped his arm and gave up the 
chase. 

Over the fields they went, the homeless little 
band ! There were three missionaries and three 
children, one of the latter a baby only four 
weeks old. Four times they -had to wade the 
winding river, and twice they were met by war 
parties, but they passed on uninjured. After a 
long walk of twenty miles they reached the sta- 
tion of the Church Missionary Society. 

They had but one convert to show for all 
their work, but Mrs. Turner gave no signs of 
wishing to desert the cause yet. " Can't we stay 
and carry on our mission somewhere else ?" she 
said. But this plan seemed out of the question 
for the present, so, after spending six months in 
Sydney, in Australia, the outcasts from one field 
resolved to take up work in another. In com- 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 79 

pany with some other missionaries they went to 
the help of the Tonga mission, in the Friendly 
Islands. 

The Friendly Islands also had been discov- 
ered by Capt. Cook, but he had made a slight 
mistake in giving this group its name. Closer 
acquaintance had made clear the fact that the 
English language could hardly have furnished 
a more unsuitable adjective with which to de- 
scribe the inhabitants. The first missionaries, 
who had gone to the islands in 1 796, had had to 
leave the place on account of most unfriendly 
treatment, and the second set were about to 
follow their example when the new force of 
workers lent them an extra spark of courage 
and hope, and made them willing to wait a 
while longer and try again. 

The houses of Tonga were thatched with 
reeds of sugar-cane, and the walls were of plaited 
cocoa-palm leaves. They had no stone founda- 
tions to raise them above the damp earth, and in 
many of the poorer huts the floors were merely 
strewn with dried grass. 

There was usually an inner room screened off 
for a sleeping room. The pillow was a bit of 
bamboo supported by two legs. The people are 
strong and robust, and have bright complexions. 
They are more intelligent than many of their 
neighbors, and have a good deal of influence 



8o HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

over surrounding islands. They seemed to have 
more noble traits than many of the South Sea 
Islanders, although they were very ignorant, 
and had no religious knowledge. They had 
never heard of fire, and ate everything raw, and 
they had no idea that water could be made to 
boil. They were almost ready to worship as 
a god anybody who could bring to pass anjrthing 
so wonderful ; and one man who thrust his hand 
into a kettle of hot water drew it quickly out 
again, saying ruefully, **The water has bitten 
my hand." 

In 1826 a good missionary named John 
Thomas had gone to Tonga, and now he and his 
company and the new band worked on together. 
There were still many hardships and trials to 
endure before there was much encouragement. 
Then there was a little breath of life, like a faint 
ripple of wind that steals over the water and whis- 
pers hope to a becalmed vessel. King George of 
Haabai, an island in the Friendly group, came 
across to Tonga for a visit. He was a fierce, 
warlike savage, devoted to his idols and his 
strange, heathen superstitions ; but he was deep- 
ly interested and really impressed by what he 
heard from the teachers in Tonga, and when he 
went home he took down his idols from their 
position of honor, and, to the horror and alarm 
of his people, hung them in a row from his ceil- 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 8 1 

ing, leaving them dangling there, to show how 
helpless and worthless they were. 

Next he built a church and asked that a mis- 
sionary might be sent over to preach in it, but as 
there was then no missionary to spare he per- 
suaded an English sailor who was living in 
Haabai to read the church service to the con- 
gregation every Sunday. 

A remarkable story is told in connection with 
the settling of a missionary in this island. Over 
in Tonga, John Thomas was wondering if it 
would be advisable to go to the extra expense 
of establishing a mission on Haabai ; and while 
he was praying and thinking over the question 
there was washed ashore one day an old cask in 
which was found a letter containing instructions 
about this very matter, and promising support in 
carrying out the plan that the missionaries had 
in mind. The ship bearing the letter had been 
wrecked, and the captain had set the message 
adrift, trusting that it might reach its destina- 
tion. In 1830, therefore, John Thomas went to 
Haabai and there he preached to the natives, and 
after a few months several of them were bap- 
tized. 

King George then paid a visit to Vauvau, 
where lived the surly chief Finau, who had 
not shown himself very cordial in his reception 
of John Williams* proposition to send him teach- 

HerocfloftlMSonth Seta. 6 



82 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ers. But King George made him listen to what 
he had to tell and tried to coax him into gfiving 
up his idols. After a while Finau consented to 
find out by an experiment the truth of what was 
said. He built a huge bonfire and then brought 
out his gods and placed them before it. " Now," 
said he, " if you are good for anything you can 
saye yourselves by running away." Then he 
took the idols, one by one, into his hands, and 
holding them over the fire said to each in turn, 
" Run, or be burned ! Run, or be burned !*' As 
not a single image made a motion to leave the 
spot, he flung them all into the flames, with a 
scornful laugh, and believed in them no longer. 

Vauvau is a dreary, lonely sort of a place. The 
people are shut in by tall crags ; there is little 
growth of any kind on the island, and the only 
sound that can be heard is the moaning of the 
sea as it rushes in under the rocks. But hearing 
of the interest in this place Mr. and Mrs. Turner 
decided to go down to see if they could do any- 
thing to help at this time. One of the first 
things that they did was .to begin to pray ear- 
nestly for all the people of the Friendly Islands, 
and the good Father above listened to the peti- 
tions of his servants on the desolate little island 
and sent them a rich blessing. 

In 1834 a wonderful revival began in Vauvau. 
King George heard of the great awakening that 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 83 

had come to his neighbors and went over to see 
what was taking place, and there he was con- 
verted and took the first steps in a Christian life 
that proved to be one of the most earnest that 
has ever been lived. He became a local preach- 
er, and was very helpful in carrying the gospel to 
others. The good work spread from Vauvau to 
Haabai and Tonga and through all the islands 
of the group. In Vauvau for a week or two the 
schools had to be closed and prayer-meetings 
were held five or six times a day. About one 
thousand persons were converted in a day. In 
the other islands there were at least two thou- 
sand conversions in the course of two weeks. 

King George built a large chapel in Haabai 
for the use of the missionaries. It was big 
enough to hold all the people of the island. 
Every one of the natives wished to do some- 
thing to help in the building, and the work was 
regularly divided among the inhabitants of the 
group. As they had no nails the timbers had to 
be fastened with cords made from the fibres 
of the cocoanut husks, dyed black, red, and other 
colors, and beautifully woven together in artistic 
patterns. The king gave to his new sanctuary 
several finely-carved spears, that had been left to 
him by his ancestors and had often been used 
in war. They were made into rails for the com- 
munion table ; and two handsome clubs, which 



84 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

had been worshipped as gods, were placed at the 
bottom of the pulpit stairs. 

So it was that when John Williams stopped at 
Vauvau, on his way home from Samoa, he found 
that the whole island had become Christian, as 
was said before. 

Next a printing-press was set up in Tonga, 
and the people became much interested in the 
books that were printed. A great many persons 
began to come to the schools and converts began 
to start out to preach the gospel to other islands. 

When Finau died King George became ruler 
of all the islands, and a good ruler he was in- 
deed. He was six feet four inches in height, 
well-formed and athletic, and had a most intel- 
ligent, trustworthy face, with the bearing and 
manners of a true gentleman. He was an un- 
mistakable Christian king. His kingdom had, 
in course of time, a constitution, with all the laws 
and regulations needed in a civilized nation. 
The people of the Friendly Islands are now 
amiable and courteous, and the women are kind- 
ly treated. Their homes are pleasant and their 
grounds are laid out with taste and care. For 
some years they have supplied fine native teach- 
ers and preachers and have sent out many mis- 
sionaries, giving large sums to the Wesleyan Mis- 
sionary Society — even so much as $15,000 in a 
year. 



NEW ZEALAND AND THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 85 

There are now about thirty thousand church- 
members in these islands. When a collection is 
taken in any of the churches it is said that there 
is never a penny, nor copper in any form, put 
into the plate. Nothing but gold or silver is 
offered to the Lord's work. On one occasion 
King George and his wife dropped in ten sov- 
ereigns, a gift to them from the captain of an 
English war-ship. 

Several years ago the commander of one of 
these English war-ships, who had been cruising 
about in the Southern Pacific, stopped at the 
Friendly Islands. When King George came out 
to meet him in his royal canoe, and wearing the 
dress of a British officer, the commander ex- 
claimed ; " He is every inch a king. Give him 
twenty-one guns !*' — a royal salute. 

About twenty men from Tonga were recently 
beaten and driven away from their homes by the 
remnants of the heathen party in the island. 
The governor of Fiji became interested in them 
and obtained liberty for them to return. As 
they sailed away from Fiji, singing, " Home, 
Sweet Home," the governor turned to a friend 
standing near by and said, " That is as fine a 
group of Christian gentlemen as I ever saw.*' 

And so at last the Friendly Islands have 
begun to live up to their name. 



86 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

NEW ZEALAND AND THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 

TWO COLLEGE ATHLETES. 

Before all these great things were accom- 
plished Mr. Turner went back to New Zealand. 
Other missionaries had been there in the mean- 
time, and a change had come over the people. 
But all the difficulties had not yet been removed, 
and there were still many foes to face and many 
battles to be won. The old warlike spirit would 
break out once in a while even among those who 
had been studying the gospel of peace, but Mr. 
Turner came in with new help and inspiration, 
and the churches grew, and the converts became 
more earnest. Mr. Turner worked in New Zea- 
land until his health failed and he had to give 
up his position. The rest of his life he spent in 
Sydney, in Australia, and he died in 1864. 

In 1 841 George Augustus Selwyn, of the 
English church, was made a missionary bishop 
and sent to New Zealand to look after the min- 
isters and teachers already there under the care 
of the Church Missionary Society. He was a 
young man, about thirty-three years old, strong, 
bright, and athletic, and with a highly cultivated 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 87 

mind. He had been a famous oarsman at Cam- 
bridge, and he could manage a schooner at sea 
like an old sailor. Now he threw all his unusual 
gifts and graces and accomplishments into the 
work before him. He went over all the island 
on foot, and became acquainted with almost 
every nook and corner of it. In 1849 ^^ ob- 
tained a small schooner, which went by the 
name of Undine, and started oflf on a tour of in- 
spection. 

He sailed one thousand miles, to Aneityum, 
in the New Hebrides, where John Geddie had 
just gone to work among his special group of 
cannibals, and taking Mr. Geddie with him he 
visited all the islands in the New Hebrides and 
Loyalty groups, and in the cluster called New 
Caledonia. Selwyn had marvellous art in win- 
ning the confidence of the savages. He would 
go among them altogether unarmed, only keep- 
ing his eye on them to make sure that they 
meant no mischief. Everywhere he went he 
would pick up a few words from the natives, and 
jot them down in his note-book, with the names 
of chiefs and of places, and then when he came 
again he would surprise and delight his new 
friends by using their language, and by seeming 
to know all about them. Each year he ventured 
a little farther on his voyages, until at last he 
had called at most of the islands between New 



88 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Zealand and the Solomon group. He was equal 
to almost everything that came in his way, from 
drawing charts and pulling ropes to making 
frocks for the women and taking care of poor 
sick little babies. 

In 1850 an Australasian Board of Missions 
was established and New Zealand fell under the 
care of this Board. In 185 1 the Bishop of New- 
castle in New South Wales, who had been an 
old comrade of Selwyn's on the Cambridge Uni- 
versity boat crew, went off with Selwyn on a 
voyage. 

Bishop Selwyn was anxious to take a few 
boys to Auckland, teach them something about 
Christianity, and then send them home to tell to 
their friends what they had learned. 

He was able to buy a larger boat, and in 1852 
he carried a missionary and his wife to Aneit- 
yum free of expense. This was the beginning 
of what is called the Melanesian Mission — Me- 
lanesian meaning the " Black Islands." 

In 1852 also Bishop Selwyn returned to 
England to tell about the work in Melanesia 
and to interest others in those distant lands. 
He made a deep impression, with his stirring 
sermons, and among other hearts that were 
especially roused was that of young John Cole- 
ridge Patteson. 

" Coley" Patteson, as he was called, had be- 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 89 

gun life with many advantages. He had a 
strong, true man for a father, and a gentle, wise 
and lovely woman for a mother, and his home 
was of just the kind to make a brave, manly, 
honest boy, both high-spirited and affectionate, 
winning and commanding. He was very fond 
of reading, and after his fifth birthday, when he 
received a present of a Bible, he became a great 
student of that book. 

There were some questions that his bright 
little brain had to struggle over; one was, 
" What became of the fishes during the flood?" 
and one day when his companions in the nursery 
called him impatiently to come and join in their 
play he said, absently, " Please wait a few min- 
utes, while I finish the binding of Satan for a 
thousand years.** This same little Bible that he 
loved so dearly when he was a boy was used, 
twenty-seven years later, when Coleridge Patte- 
son was consecrated to the office of a bishop. 

Early in life he began to plan for the future. 
At one time he heard the story of a missionary 
bishop who had in his field of labor undergone 
the experience of a terrible hurricane. " When I 
grow up,'* said small John to his mother, "I 
am going to be a bishop and have a hurricane 
too.** 

In course of time he went to school, after the 
fashion of most boys, and in the old Foundation 



90 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

School at Ottery St. Mary, he studied his les- 
sons, wrote home-sick letters to his mother, and 
enjoyed himself, in spite of an occasional long- 
ing look in another direction. He loved football 
and cricket, and would settle down to his books 
in good earnest so that he might push them out 
of the way and be free for out-of-door sports. 
He was only eight years old when first sent to 
this school, but he stood up for himself among 
the elder boys and took care of his younger 
brother as well. 

Once he broke his collar-bone, but nobody 
knew anything about it until three weeks after- 
wards, when he went home and his mother saw 
that something hurt him when she gave him 
a motherly hug in greeting. When she told 
him that he had done wrong not to make known 
his accident, he said simply, " Oh, well, I did n't 
want to make a fuss.** 

When he went to Eton he was the same sort 
of a boy. He was always a leader, always full 
of life, energy and fun, but always staunch, 
straightforward and noble. 

One Sunday afternoon he heard Bishop Sel- 
wyn speak in the parish church of New Wind- 
sor. Young Patteson stood in the aisle, as there 
was no seat for him, and in his white collar and 
short jacket, with his fair hair and earnest blue 
eyes, he looked like a little knight hearing the 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 9 1 

bugle-call to battle as lie listened, wholly ab- 
sorbed, to the ringing words of the bishop. 

The text was, " Thy heart shall be enlarged 
because the abundance of the sea shall be con- 
verted unto thee, the forces also of the Gentiles 
shall come unto thee.** 

After the meeting Coleridge ran home and 
sat down and scribbled a letter to his mother 
to tell her all about it. 

" It was beautiful," he wrote. " When he 
talked of his going out to found a church, and 
then to die neglected and forgotten, all the 
people burst out crying, he was so very much 
beloved by his parishioners. He spoke of his 
perils, and putting his trust in God, and then, 
when he had finished, I think I never heard 
anything like the sensation — a kind of feeling 
that, if it had not been on so sacred a spot, all 
would have exclaimed, ' God bless him !* ** 

Before Bishop Selwyn left England he called 
upon the Pattesons to say good-by. As he was 
about to depart he said gently, ** Lady Patteson, 
will you give me Coley ?** This was a hard ques- 
tion, but the answer of the mother was given 
to her boy when he came to her with the same 
thought, and she promised him that if he kept 
the desire as he grew older she would let him 
join the bishop in his work. 

But it was Coleridge who had to give up his 



92 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

mother before the time came when she could 
give up her son. His first great trial was the 
death of this mother whom he loved so well. He 
was almost broken-hearted over his loss, but he 
went back to school all the purer and better for 
this shadow over his life. He was as athletic 
and as popular as ever, and in one of the an- 
nual cricket contests with Harrow he broke the 
powerful bowling of the other side and by put- 
ting on fifty runs to the score won the match, 
to his own glory and the joy of his fellow stu- 
dents. 

His popularity and sociability brought pe- 
culiar temptations to him, but he saw things 
with clearer eyes than most of his companions 
and he came through unhurt. On an occasion 
of a dinner of the Eton eleven certain objection- 
able songs were started. Coleridge, who was 
chairman at the time, tried to hush them up, 
but one boy persisted in going on with his oc- 
cupation. Coleridge at once arose and said 
calmly, " If this does n't stop I shall leave the 
room.*' And leave the room he did, and the next 
day sent in his resignation as captain ; nor would 
he take up the position again until his school- 
fellows came and apologized to him. and prom- 
ised that nothing of the sort should happen 
again as long as the present eleven stayed in 
the school. 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 93 

From Eton he stepped into University life 
at Oxford, where he became a great student. 
He chose the ministry for his occupation, and 
in course of time was happily settled in England, 
at Alfington, in Devonshire ; but in the year 1854 
came his second call to work for God in foreign 
lands. When Bishop Selwyn again returned to 
England all the old admiration and enthusiasm 
once awakened by his presence flamed up again 
in Coleridge Patteson's heart. In a conversation 
with the bishop he showed that his early pur- 
pose was still in his mind, but the thought of 
his father kept him in England. The bishop 
pointed out to him that if he meant to devote 
his life to missionary labor he should begin 
while he was strong and vigorous, and the re- 
sult was that the father was asked if he could 
let his son go to New Zealand, " Oh I can't let 
him go,*' cried the old judge at first, but im- 
mediately added, with that generosity and cour- 
age that his son had inherited from him, " Gk)d 
forbid that I should stop him !* 

So, difficult as was the task, Coleridge Patte- 
son turned his back upon his family and home, 
and the brilliant prospects opening before him, 
and trying to forget himself, and to think only 
of his work, he followed the good bishop over 
the sea. 

On the voyage the young missionary studied 



94 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

the language of New Zealand and learned a 
good deal about navigation. When he reached 
Auckland he set to work to master his new 
duties. He was placed in the college, where 
among other things he had to make his own 
bed, keep his room in order, and clear away 
things after meals. He was very quick in ac- 
quiring the language, and the natives used 
to say to him, " We want you. You speak so 
plainly we can understand you.'* They were 
pleased, too, with his readiness to do anything 
that came in his way, from writing a sermon 
to cooking a dinner. "Gentleman-gentleman 
thought nothing that ought to be done too 
mean for him ; pig-gentleman never work,'* they 
said approvingly, in the words of one of their 
proverbs. 

In the Southern Cross he went oflf with the 
bishop on his missionary cruises among the 
islands of Melanesia. They had many narrow 
escapes in their visits to the islanders, and saw 
some strange sights, but Patteson looked be- 
low the surface and found much that was good 
and attractive in these children of the sea. 
"They are fond; that is the name for them," 
he wrote home. "I have had boys and men, 
in a few minutes after landing, follow me like 
a dog, holding their hands in mine as a little 
child does with its nurse." He never called 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 95 

them savages, but spoke of them as " my Mela- 
nesians/* 

There was probably something in Patteson 
himself that invited this confidence. Often 
when a native had lifted his arm to send an 
arrow flying at the strangers stepping upon the 
beach, he would look up, with his warm, bright 
smile, and the arrow would fall harmlessly to 
the ground. The boys that he taught and knew 
and loved he addressed by a name that meant 
" old fellow." 

When he settled down with his pupils at 
St. John's College, in Auckland, he was to them 
a father, a friend, a playmate, all in one. He 
taught them cricket, and printing, and weaving, 
besides those things that they learned from 
books, and when they were sick he gave up 
his own bed to them and nursed them with 
care and tenderness. That they were making 
progress, too, in the highest education was 
proved by their prayers. 

One boy of seventeen prayed in this way : 
"O God, thou strengthenest us. Thou lovest 
us. We have come from a distant land and 
no evil has happened to us, for thou lovest us. 
Thou hast provided us with a missionary to 
live here with us. Give us strength from thee 
every day. We are men who have done evil 
before thee, but thou watchest over us, and 



96 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

savest us from the hands of Satan. We do not 
wish to follow him, but to be thy servants, O 
Jesus, and the servants of thy great Father, and 
of the Holy Spirit who giveth us life for ever- 



more.** 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 97 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE MELANESIAN MISSION : THE BISHOP AND 

HIS BOYS. 

Some of the boys who were gathered for 
training in the college at Auckland were so 
delicate in health that it seemed best to start 
a school in some island that would be sufficiently 
sheltered for a winter residence. Lifu was the 
island chosen, and in this spot Patteson stayed 
for three weeks, teaching a class of twenty-five 
young men. The only comment that he made 
upon his life in this place was, "Of course I 
should have been glad sometimes for a good 
talk in English with somebody.*' 

The college was moved from Auckland to 
another site, about two miles away. Here he 
had a class of small boys; "the jolliest little fel- 
lows,'* he wrote, "seven of them, and scarcely 
too big to take on my knee and talk to about 
God and heaven and Jesus Christ." 

About this time Patteson made a cruise in an 
open boat to Saddle Island, but met with much 
stormy weather, and the hardships and exposure 
of this voyage caused on his return a painful 
tumor in his ear. Sometimes he would walk up 

HeroM of tta« South Smb. 7 



98 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

and down all night in agony ; but this affliction 
he bore with his usual fortitude and patience. 

In 1 86 1 John Coleridge Patteson was conse- 
crated missionary bishop of Melanesia. When 
the news reached England the aged father 
prayed at family prayers more earnestly than 
usual for all missionaries, adding in a trembling 
voice, "especially for John Coleridge Patteson, 
missionary bishop.** 

Not long afterwards the good old man was 
called home to the Father's house, and under 
this fresh sorrow Patteson *s health for a while 
gave way, and he left his work to go oflf on a 
cruise among the islands. 

Then he returned to his pupils, who clustered 
round him, as somebody said, "like chickens 
round a hen." When he came out of his rooms 
towards evening, when the boys were playing 
on the beach, there would be an immediate rush 
at him. Some of the youngsters would lay hold 
of his hands, some would seize the skirts of his 
coat, and each one had some special word for 
him. He would throw his arms round the neck 
of one of the taller boys, and with the rest 
clinging to him in one way or another they 
would stroll oflf together for a walk. 

The bishop still continued his voyages, 
preaching to the people on the islands, collect- 
ing boys for the schools and trying to do some- 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 99 

thing against the stealing of the natives by the 
slave-dealers from Queensland and other colo- 
nies. The slave-ships were called by the people 
the ** snatch-snatch boats/* or " kill-kill vessels.'* 
The traders used very mean methods for the pur- 
pose of luring the natives to their ships, often 
telling thein that the bishop was on board and 
wished to see some of them, and then making 
oflf with those who were simple enough to put 
themselves in their power. 

Patteson said that he found that two of the 
first words learned by islanders were " tobacco " 
and " missionary.*' The former word was taught 
them by the men who carried on the dreadful 
traffic in human beings and also planted in 
their minds seeds of distrust and hatred towards 
all of the white race. 

The bishop himself was often in danger. At 
one time when landing upon an island he saw 
by the gestures of the men that they meant to 
kill him. He asked permission to rest for a 
moment in a hut by the wayside, and there he 
fell upon his knees and prayed earnestly that if 
his last hour had come help might still be sent 
to these poor people. When he rose there was 
a look on his face that so overawed the savages 
that they gave up their evil purpose and took 
him in safety back to his boat. 

The boat called the Southern Cross, which 



lOO HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Selwyn and Patteson had brought with them 
from England, had been wrecked on some rocks 
known as the " Hen and Chickens," but a second 
boat of the name was sent to Bishop Patteson 
from home, and became of great service to him. 

He next paid a visit to Australia, where he 
engaged so much interest in his mission that he 
raised a large sum of money for his work. 

During his following voyage he landed at 
Santa Cruz. All went well until he returned to 
his boat, when the natives sent a shower of ar- 
rows flying after him. The bishop was unhurt, 
but two of his dear native Christian boys were 
killed. The last words of one of them were, 
" They never stop singing there, sir, do they ?" 
and so he passed away to the heavenly home of 
which he was thinking. This was a severe trial 
to the bishop but did not make him stop work. 
He gained a good deal of strength and consola- 
tion from a book sent him by his sister, the copy 
of the " Imitation of Christ '* that had belonged 
to brave young Bishop Mackenzie, who had laid 
down his life in Africa. The headquarters of the 
mission were removed to Norfolk Island, and 
soon afterwards Bishop Selwyn went back to 
England. 

It was hard for the two men to part. There 
were a few choked words; each tried to say, 
" God bless you,'* and that was all : but in a let- 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. lOI 

ter home Patteson said sadly, " I feel as though 
my master had been taken from my head/* 

A great joy came to him, however, when one 
of his native deacons was ordained as the first 
Melanesian Christian minister. 

There were by this time many English col- 
onists settled in New Zealand, and sometimes 
the new-comers would help themselves unfair- 
ly to the lands of the natives, which caused 
trouble and led to wars. Some of the people of 
New Zealand, as they learned to hate the Brit- 
ish residents, began to dislike their religion as 
well, and so they invented one of their own, 
called Howism ; those who took it up going by 
the name of How Hows, the title being derived 
from the sound of their war-cry, which resem- 
bles the barking of a dog. This religion was a 
mixture of truths from the Bit)le and old super- 
stitions of their own, and the movement was re- 
ally a return to heathenism. But in all the 
anger and excitement of these people they still 
showed traces of nobility and a remembrance 
and appreciation of the Christian ideas that had 
been taught them. They would allow wagons 
loaded with provisions and ammunition to pass 
them untouched on Sunday, and they took care 
of the wounded and allowed the dead to be bu- 
ried. In one battle the commander wrote on the 
orders of the day, " If thine enemy hunger, feed 



I02 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

him ; if he thirst, give him drink ;" and then, 
after the fight, he crept through the English 
lines at the risk of his own life to carry a cup 
of water to a wounded enemy who lay dying 
within the pales. 

About 1872 the warfare was given up and 
matters between the natives and the colonists 
have been going on more quietly. 

Bishop Patteson went on with his voyages 
until his mission had spread as far as the Solo- 
mon and Banks Islands ; but at last he lost his 
life in the cause to which he was devoting him- 
self, and by means of the people he was trying 
to save. 

The slave-traders, wishing to entrap more of 
the natives for their wicked designs, had gone 
farther than ever in their wiles. At one time 
one of them arrayed himself in a dress like the 
bishop's and held a mock service on board the 
ship, in order to entice the people whom they 
were seeking to come out to them. The plan 
was successful, and a large number of slaves 
was captured. This deed roused the hatred 
and suspicion of the deceived natives, and 
Bishop Patteson was the victim of their re- 
venge. He had started on a trip to the Santa 
Cruz group of islands, and on September twenti- 
eth, 1 87 1, the Southern Cross was headed to- 
wards Nukapu. The bishop was talking to the 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 103 

young Melanesians who were with him, and his 
closing words were these : " And I say unto you, 
my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the 
body, and after that have no more that they 
can do/' 

They drew near the island, and the bishop 
went ashore. No sooner had he landed than 
the men in the canoes along the coast drew 
their bows and began to fire upon their boat. 
The crew became anxious about the bishop and 
some of them set out to look for him , but before 
they had gone far a canoe was sent floating out 
from the beach to meet them. As it approached 
they saw with beating hearts that it held the 
dead body of a man. It was that of their be- 
loved bishop. A peaceful smile was on his face, 
but it was found that he had been wounded in 
five places. The fact that each wound had been 
given to avenge some native death was signified 
by a palm-leaf tied in five knots and laid upon 
his breast. As his sad-hearted comrades looked 
down at his sleeping form did they not think 
of the words of Coleridge Patteson*s Master, 
"Greater love hath no man than this — that a 
man lay down his life for his friends'* ? 

On this little island now stands an iron cross, 
twelve feet high, bearing this inscription : 



I04 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

" In Memory of 

John Coleridge Patteson, D. D., 

Missionary Bishop, 

Whose life was here taken by men for whom he 
would gladly have given it.*' 

Other memorials were erected in England; 
one is at Sperne Cross, near Exeter, and one is 
the magnificent pulpit in Exeter Cathedral. 

Bishop Patteson left his whole fortune of 
$65,000 to the mission to which he was so de- 
voted, and Miss Yonge, the popular writer, gave 
all the profits of her book, " The Daisy Chain,*' 
to the same work. 

Bishop Selwyn's son was next made Bishop 
of New Zealand, and he began his labors in 
1877. His missionary ship was the Southern 
Cross. In 1892 he had to resign his position on 
account of ill-health, and the boat was replaced 
by a fine steamer. 

Native teachers now carry on the missions 
among the islands throughout the year. During 
the winter months European ministers live with 
them to instruct and assist them a little, and to 
open as many new doors as possible to the en- 
trance of the gospel. Parts of the Bible have been 
translated into the various languages. Many of 
the islanders have been taught to read, a large 
number have become members of the church, 



THE MELANESIAN MISSION. 10$ 

and many young men have been trained to teach, 
several of them having become ministers. 

The work on the Banks Islands has been 
marked by success. Some of the islands have 
been Christianized, and they are now under the 
charge of native pastors. In 1881 Santa Cruz 
showed itself open and friendly to the missiona- 
ries, and it now vSends pupils to Norfolk Island. 

The gospel has a good footing, too, on the 
Swallow Islands, and this mission has stations 
on some of the New Hebrides also. 

On the Solomon Islands the natives are of 
the Papuan race, and have been in a low, savage 
state. The people of the northern islands have 
been said to be fiercer and more cruel than any 
of the tribes of the Pacific. 

The name is supposed to have come from 
the fact that these islandshave been conjectured 
to be the ones to which Solomon sent for his 
gold, ivory, apes and peacocks. The inhabitants 
build neat huts, make elaborate canoes, and are 
skilful in wood-carving and decorative work of 
inlaid shells and mother-of-pearl. A state canoe 
that belonged to the chief of one tribe was 
gracefully formed. Its stern-post rose like a 
mast, and it was beautifully ornamented. The 
canoe itself was made of bent planks cement- 
ed together by a kind of gum. This tribe 
worshipped a sacred image, or idol, which was 



I06 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

little more than a thick post, with a rude face 
having inlaid rings for the eyes, two rows of 
teeth for the mouth, and something on the sides 
to represent ears. In one island there are nu- 
merous huts built among the top branches of 
high trees, to which the people climb by a sort 
of rope-ladder, and in which they take refuge 
from their enemies, defending themselves by 
pouring down a volley of stones upon their pur- 
suers. They have spears from ten to fifteen feet 
long, with a point of sharp bone, for ordinary 
fighting, and they use bows and arrows besides. 
But even in this dark spot, among these head- 
hunters and man-eaters, mission stations and 
schools are now established, and these are large- 
ly owing to the influence of one of the boys of 
the group, who was educated at Norfolk Island. 
There are about nine thousand Melanesian Chris- 
tians altogether. 

In New Zealand at the present time there 
are nearly two thousand churches and chapels, 
besides many other buildings and houses in 
which services are held. The meetings are 
attended by about one-third of the population. 

Mr. Charles Darwin, the scientist, paid a visit 
to the island of New Zealand, and this is what 
he said when he came away : " The lesson of the 
missionary is an enchanter's wand. I took leave 
of the missionaries with thankfulness for their 



THE MELANESIAN ISLANDS. IO7 

welcome and high respect for their upright and 
useful characters." 

A while ago a Hindu and a New Zealander 
met on board a ship. Each saw that the other 
was a Christian, because each carried a Bible, 
but they could exchange no ideas because they 
could not speak each other's language. Sud- 
denly one of them smiled and said, " Hallelu- 
jah I" and the other man smiled back at him 
and responded with " Amen !** and then they 
felt * that they understood each other. The 
change in New Zealand has been called "the 
standing miracle of the age.'* 



foS HEROES OP THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FIJI ISLANDS: THE PEOPLE AND THE LOTU. 

When the people of the Friendly Islands 
bad learned the glad story of the Bible, they 
could not rest content with knowing it for them- 
selves, but felt that they must pass it on to 
others; and where could it be more needed than 
in the neighboring islands of Fiji ? 

There was never a worse place than Fiji, so 
far as the people were concerned, although the 
islands and their surroundings were among the 
most beautiful in the southern seas. There 
are more than two hundred of these islands, 
eighty of which are inhabited. The rest are so 
small that many of them cannot be seen except 
at low tide. Most of them are encircled by coral 
reefs, which mark oflf, by a long line of white 
foam, the purple waves outside from the blue 
waters of the harbor within, and shine like rain- 
bows up out of the ocean. Down through the 
clear water may be seen corals and seaweed of 
almost every tint, and fishes of brilliant hues 
dart here and there through the gay picture of 
color, which is varied continually by the ebb and 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. IO9 

flow of the tide and the shifting of light and 
shadow from above. 

The natives were not altogether savages in 
spite of their wickedness and cruelty, for they 
were very clever about some things. They 
built very good houses, and they had unusual 
skill in the making of native cloth and pottery, 
and were adepts at the work of carving and 
basket-weaving. They say that their ances- 
tors learned the art of pottery from the mason 
bee, and the common cooking and water ves- 
sels do, indeed, bear a close resemblance to 
the nests of these little creatures. The Fijians 
have no potter*s wheel, but the labor is all per- 
formed by hand. Their cloth and their pot- 
tery are both decorated, often in artistic and 
elaborate patterns which are designed by the 
women. 

The dwellers in the Fiji Islands are dark, 
but not black. It has been said that their shade 
is more like purple than like any other color. 
The dress of the men used to be made of a long 
piece of cloth, from three to one hundred yards 
in length, composed of pieces of tree-bark glued 
together and stained and figured in gay devices 
or in plain brown and white. This cloth would 
be wound round the hips and tied about the 
upper part of the body, the ends being left to 
trail behind. The women wore fastened round 



no HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

the waist a band of roots or of bark and gfrass 
with a deep fringe hangfing from it. Both men 
and women adorned themselves with shell am- 
ulets and finger-rings and with ornamental bands 
at their knees and ankles. They delighted in 
necklaces of dogs* and sharks* teeth, and in those 
made of the bones of bats and snakes. Nearly 
every man wore on his breast a large pearl shell 
and a boar*s tusk or two. On their foreheads 
many persons wore tufts of scarlet feathers, 
and in their ears were thrust rings ten inches 
around, or straight pieces as thick as their fin- 
gers or their wrists. Sometimes they would fling 
garlands of flowers or of vines across their 
shoulders, as though they had not already made 
themselves striking enough by tattooing them- 
selves in designs in blue, or by burning pat- 
terns down their backs or upon their sides and 
arms, or by painting their faces in grotesque 
figures and glaring colors. Their hair they 
dyed in almost every shade, red being the 
favorite tint among the young women. Then 
these disguised locks they would arrange in the 
most unnatural and startling style possible ; the 
chief aim seemed to be for each to make him- 
self or herself as hideous as might be. Some 
of these heads when dressed would be three 
feet around. Some looked as though they were 
bristling with stiff paint-brushes set on end. 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. Ill 

Some were shaved all over except for a patch 
of hair on each side or one in front, and some 
would be shaved on top, while the hair that 
was left would be brushed up into a tall fan be- 
hind. Sometimes there would be a black mop 
at the back and a white roll in front, and some- 
times the whole head would look as though it 
were covered with a crinkled worsted cap. 

Each chief had his own hair -dresser, who 
would spend hours each day arranging his mas- 
ter's hair. 

The Fijians were all cannibals of the lowest 
type. The man who had eaten the greatest 
number of human beings was thought the most 
worthy of regard, and a stone was set up by 
every one for every victim that was devoured 
by him. One chief had a long honor-roll of 
three hundred of these stones to mark his own 
cruelty. There were other customs, too, quite 
as bad as cannibalism. When a man died his 
widows were strangled and sent out of the world 
after him. Each wife of a chief always wore a 
strap around her neck, so that she might be 
ready to follow her husband at a moment's 
notice. Old and sick persons, and little chil- 
dren, too, were often killed in order that their 
friends might not be burdened with their sup- 
port. 

" Why should we let girls live ?*' asked one 



112 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

chief. " What are they good for ? They cannot 
swing a club or throw a spear !*' 

When the women were allowed to remain in 
the world they were simply slaves, and nobody 
cared much for them. Neither had the men 
much consideration for the lives and property 
of one another. They were always at war, and 
there was no harm in stealing, they thought, so 
long as they were not caught in the act. To 
have the theft found out was indeed a disgrace, 
and the man who was so stupid as to let his 
misdeed be discovered was looked upon with 
contempt. The natives had a sort of belief in a 
great Power who had other gods under him and 
who made known his will to the priests; and 
they had an idea that the spirits of their ances- 
tors lived in the animals about them. They be- 
lieved that every person had two spirits: one 
that left the body at death, and one that was 
seen in mirrors or was reflected in water. There 
was a temple in every village, but it served many 
other purposes besides those that were religious. 
There was no regular worship, and little heed 
was paid to the temple unless the chief wished 
to make some special request of the gods, when 
he would repair the building and bring an offer- 
ing of food, and sometimes, when he was un- 
usually anxious for the granting of some favor, 
even a number of whales* teeth. Whales' teeth 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. II3 

were the most valued of all possessions in Fiji. 
One tooth would buy a whole man. 

And this was Fiji, where those men who had 
earned their right to the name of their islands 
were about to go to work. They had not many 
missionaries themselves, those Friendly Island- 
ers, but they decided in the large-hearted Chris- 
tian way that they might spare two for their 
brothers in Fiji. They chose two of their very 
best, William Cross and David Cargill, who had 
come to them from the Wesleyan Church in 
Great Britain; and in the year 1834 the two 
men set sail for the abode of those of whom 
they had heard so much evil and so little good. 
During the voyage they spent most of their 
time in studying the new language that soon 
they would have to speak, but th . y could not 
do much with it in the four days that were 
taken in crossing the sea. They landed at La- 
kemba; but they had no introduction to the 
people of Fiji except that contained in a letter 
written to the chief by King George of Tonga, 
and that did not seem a very strong weapon 
just then with which to approach the crowd of 
painted savages, dancing and yelling on the 
beach, armed with clubs ten or fifteen feet long 
and battle-axes of hard wood. Still, the stran- 
gers made their way to the shore and forced 
themselves into the presence of the king, who 

Heroes of the South Seat. 3 



114 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

read the letter and condescended to say that the 
missionaries might stay if they wished. He even 
promised to build houses for them. 

That point was gained then, and the two 
men gratefully accepted the king s permission to 
live among his subjects, and went to work to see 
what could be done with the barbarians. They 
were interested in these new-comers, that was 
certain, and were curious about their homes and 
their ways, so unlike their own. They were 
willing to listen, too, to the words of the mis- 
sionaries, and after a while a church was built, 
and the natives came to the services. But 
troubles there were, aud hindrances, and all 
manner of discouragement, of course. Was 
there ever a mission without its share of these ? 
and wicked Fiji could not be reformed in a day. 
The crops of the teachers were destroyed, their 
goods were stolen, and they themselves were 
often in danger of losing their lives. Sometimes 
there were terrible cannibal-feasts close beside 
them, and they would have to shut themselves 
within their own homes, and pray, pray all night 
long, with sad hearts and distracted minds. 

Frequently, also, they suffered from lack of 
food and clothing, and sometimes had to barter 
some of the few things that they had that were 
not mere necessities of life for just enough to 
eat to keep themselves alive. 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 11$ 

But help was coming to these brave men. 
Down in England were two young fellows, 
named John Hunt and James Calvert, who were 
going out as missionaries, and who thought that 
this dreary, dinghy little corner of the world 
would be a good place to work in. So to Fiji 
they came, in the year 1838. Even with this 
addition to their force the missionaries had to 
spread themselves over as much ground as pos- 
sible. John Hunt was placed first at Rewa and 
afterwards at Buwa, a small island on the east- 
ern side of Great Fiji. James Calvert and his 
faithful wife were settled at Lakemba. 

The first thing that Mr. Calvert had to do 
was to bury the heads, hands and feet of eighty 
persons who had just been slaughtered for a can- 
nibal feast. This was a heart-sickening opening 
to his task, but he did not falter or fall back on 
that account. He lighted his little candle in the 
black night of heathenism and after a while it 
made its glimmer seen. The latest comers had 
brought a printing-press with them across the 
sea, and the books and translations of parts of the 
Bible that had been prepared by Mr. Cross and 
Mr. Cargill were printed at once. Mr. Calvert 
could not visit all the islands in his circuit, but 
the people used to come from all around to La- 
kemba to buy goods, and they always stopped at 
the mission-house for a call. Here they were al- 



Il6 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ways gladly welcomed, and they never failed to 
carry away something to think about and talk 
over. 

So the light began to steal out from Lakemba 
to other islands, and the people began to ask for 
more beams from that candle set aflame by the 
Sun of Righteousness. Teachers were sent to 
them, and it really seemed, in many places, as 
though the poor natives had only been waiting 
for a little guidance in order to turn their faces 
towards the Light of the World. The " Lotu/' 
they called the new religion, and many of them 
grasped it eagerly. Whole villages gave up 
their idols and humbly and patiently set out 
on the Christian path, that would shine for them 
more and more until the perfect day should 
dawn upon them. 

On the island of Ono the people had been 
going through severe trials, coming from war 
and sickness, and they had been praying to their 
gods for aid. But no answers had been given 
them, and they were almost in despair, when one 
of their number heard in some way that the na- 
tives of the Friendly Islands said that there was 
but one God, whom everybody ought to serve, 
and that, moreover, one day in seven was espe- 
cially set apart for his worship. The inhabitants 
of Ono at once made up their minds to go to this 
God for help, and to follow his wishes by keep- 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. II7 

ing one day sacred to him. For several months 
they clung steadfastly to this purpose, and then 
their prayers found a response. A canoe filled 
with men from a Christian island was driven out 
of its course by a storm — one of God's good 
storms, that have done so much for the South 
Sea folk — and this canoe brought them people 
who could tell them that which they had been 
longing to know. When news of their need was 
carried to Lakemba a teacher was sent to them, 
and when he reached Ono he was greeted by 
twenty persons who had given up idolatry and 
were ready to take Christianity into their hearts. 
A chapel was built, many converts were bap- 
tized, and of all the work in Fiji that done at 
Ono has been the most gratify ing. 



1X8 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FIJI ISLANDS. CANNIBALS CHANGED TO 

CHRISTIANS. 

Mr. Calvert made one or two visits to Ono 
and was always encouraged by, the good work 
that was going on in that island. At one time 
there was special interest among the people and 
whole days and nights were spent in praying 
and singing. One of the native converts said . 
" I am thankful to have lived until the Lord's 
work began. I feel it in my heart. I hold Je- 
sus ; I am happy. My heart is full of love to 
God." 

But there was one place upbn which the mis- 
sionaries had fixed their gaze and on which their 
eyes were now resting with especial anxiety and 
desire. That place was Mbau, where lived the 
king Tanoa, who had great influence over the 
whole of Fiji. He was one of the most blood- 
thirsty rulers among all the Pacific Islands, but 
his son, Thokambau, in whose hands the gov- 
ernment now really lay, was even worse than his 
father. He had been brought up to find his 
pleasure not in healthful sports, like ball or ten- 
nis, nor in the improving study of books and na- 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. II9 

ture, nor in harmless occupations like stamp-col- 
lecting or bug-hunting. His amusement came 
from fighting and from killing people, in tortur- 
ing his captives and watching their agonies, and 
his education was for the sake of making him 
familiar with all sorts of wicked heathen cus- 
toms'. His royal name was " Vuni Valu,'* which 
means " Root of War," and a very good name 
it was for the fierce prince. 

" I hate your Christianity," he said to the mis- 
sionaries. ** Do you think that you can keep us 
from our wars and from eating men ? Never r 

But the missionaries were praying for these 
bitter enemies of theirs with all their hearts, and 
they knew that there was Some One who was 
with them who was stronger than all those who 
were with Thokambau, even though as yet not 
one of the teachers had been allowed to settle at 
Mbau. Still they had some things to cheer them 
in their work : the king of Lakemba became a 
Christian, and another chief was converted who 
built a beautiful chapel at Lakemba. 

In 1845 good John Hunt died, after ten years 
of toil among the Fijians. He was so weak in 
his last moments that he was forbidden to 
speak, but he could not keep quiet. " Oh, let 
me pray once more for Fiji," he begged. " O 
God, bless Fiji ! Save Fiji ! Thou knowest my 
soul has loved Fiji !" 



120 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

The natives who had been under his care 
stood by in great distress at seeing their friend 
slipping away from them. One old war-chief 
prayed piteously, with the tears running down 
his cheek : ** O Lord ! we know that we are very 
evil, but spare Thy servant. Take me, take ten 
of us, but Spare Thy servant to preach Christ to 
the people.*' 

It was time, however, for John Hunt to go to 
his reward, but his prayers for Fiji were not 
forgotten above. 

Soon after Mr. Hunt's death Mr. Calvert 
moved over to Viwa, and soon the harvest be- 
gan to be gathered in. During the eight fol- 
lowing years great progress was made with the 
people. In 1853 a missionary named Waterhouse 
was really admitted to Mbau, and even those hard- 
hearted men, Tanoa and Thokambau, could not 
close their ears so tightly that some whisper of 
the wondrous message could not force its way in 
and refuse to be thrust out again. Still Thoka- 
mbau would do nothing more than promise that 
he would pay some attention to the words of the 
teachers when he should have subdued all his 
enemies. 

One day, when the missionaries were away 
from home, word was brought to their wives 
that some strangers had come to Fiji on a visit, 
and that fourteen women were to be sacrificed as 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 121 

an offering in their honor, according to the Fiji 
notions of hospitality. Two of these brave mis- 
sionary women, Mrs. Calvert and Mrs. Lyth, re- 
solved to stop this dreadful deed, if possible. 
Each took a whale's tooth in her hand, which is 
the usual present in Fiji when one has a favor to 
ask of a king, and hurried away by canoe to the 
island of Mbau, about two miles away. Women 
are forbidden to enter the king's house, but 
there was no time to pause to think about laws 
then. Into the king s presence they rushed, held 
out their gift, and made known their request. 
The king was quite overcome by their daring, 
but was so struck by their courage that he said 
that they might have the lives of the women 
who had not yet been killed, and five of the vic- 
tims were saved. 

When Tanoa died the missionaries tried to 
persuade his son to leave out the ceremony of 
strangling his wives, " for grass for lining his 
grave,** as the expression goes in Fiji. Mr. 
Calvert even went so far as to offer to have one 
of his fingers cut off, to follow the Fiji fashion 
in mourning, if the custom were omitted, but 
Thokambau insisted on carrying out the old 
practice. 

But even this " king of the cannibal islands '* 
was conquered at last. He had many misfor- 
tunes, one after another. He was defeated in 



122 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

battle, his life was threatened by his foes, and 
he became sick and discouraged and humble. 
He declared that he would give up his idols and 
become a Christian. In 1854 he called a large 
mass-meeting at Mbau. The drums that were 
formerly used to announce a cannibal feast were 
now beaten to summon the people to church. 
Three hundred persons heard and accepted the 
invitation, and looked on in awe and wonder as 
the " Root of War *' came in, accompanied by 
his wives, children, and relations, and knelt in 
worship before the Christian's God. 

After this time he came regularly to the 
meetings, kept Sunday faithfully, and began to 
learn his letters. He was taught by his own lit- 
tle boy, who was only six years old ; but it was 
hard work to start on the task of forming ac- 
quaintance with the alphabet at the age of fifty, 
and poor old Thokambau often fell asleep 
during the lesson. In 1857 he did indeed be- 
come truly converted, and he was baptized under 
the name of Ebenezer. He must have been in 
earnest in his new life, for he stood up before all 
the people, whom he had made treat him almost 
as though he were a god, and owned all his old 
wickedness. 

" I have been a bad man," he said. " The 
missionaries came and invited me to embrace 
Christianity, but I said to them, *I will con- 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 12$ 

tinue to fight.* God has singularly preserved 
my life. I desire to acknowledge him as the 
only and true God.*' 

In 1874 Thokambau ceded the Fijian Islands 
to England, and in 1886 he died, a gentle, faith- 
ful, intelligent Christian. His club and the 
bowl that used to hold the native drink of which 
he had been fond he presented to Queen Victo- 
ria, and they may still be seen in the British 
Museum. 

After eighteen years of labor Mr. Waterhouse 
also died. His last words were, ** Missionaries ! 
Missionaries ! Missionaries !** During the pe- 
riod of his stay in Fiji the whole of the Bible 
was translated and many copies of the New 
Testament were circulated. 

At last Mr. Calvert went back to England, 
leaving other missionaries in his place. In 1885 
he paid a visit to his old field, and found it an 
entirely different place from what it was when 
he had first seen it. One hundred thousand 
people, out of a population of one hundred and 
twenty-five thousand, were Christian converts. 
There were two hundred chapels, over two thou- 
sand missionary preachers and teachers, and 
twenty-six thousand church-members. In all 
the eighty inhabited islands there was not a per- 
son who was called a heathen. James Calvert 
died in 1892. 



124 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

On the island of Mbau there was once a large 
stone in front of the chief temple. Against this 
stone the bodies of victims were dashed, as an 
offering to the gods, before they were given 
over for the cannibal feasts. It has now been 
taken from its old position and placed as a bap- 
tismal font in the Mbau church, and for nearly 
forty years it has had upon it no new stain of 
human blood. 

There are now about one thousand Wesleyan 
churches in Fiji. Eighty-three per cent, of the 
population is made up of church-members, and 
there are over one thousand preachers and over 
two thousand teachers. Every morning and 
evening may be heard the sound of hymns float- 
ing on the air and the low murmur of voices 
engaged in prayer. 

It is easy to see that the people in Fiji are 
sincere in their Christian aims and desires by 
the hearty way in which they throw themselves 
into the task of giving the gospel to others. As 
we shall learn by and by, they have been quick 
to respond to the call from New Guinea. They 
have sent teachers to New Britain, and the light 
has begun to creep over to New Ireland too. A 
Wesleyan missionary, the Rev. George Brown, 
began a mission in New Britain in 1875. Many 
native teachers went with him, and though sev- 
eral were killed, others took their places, and 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 12$ 

their wives would not be left behind. One brave 
woman, who was urged not to risk her life in so 
savage a place, replied simply, " The outrigger 
must go with the canoe; I go with my hus- 
band." 

Forty-one churches were built in New Brit- 
ain, and six thousand persons go regularly to the 
services. There are nine hundred church-mem- 
bers, over one thousand Sunday-school scholars, 
and forty-five native preachers. In 1892 the 
people gave $150 to missions. 

In Fiji $5,000 is the yearly offering for mis- 
sionary work. One of the native collections 
was made up of the following articles, show- 
ing that each person gave as he was able: 
Seventy-six mats, twenty-four baskets, three 
bows with arrows, seven pieces of sandal wood, 
sixteen fans, sixty-two fine clubs, one pillow, 
thirty-one spears, eleven hand-clubs, four wom- 
en's dresses, three pieces of native cloth, five 
water vessels, four combs, and one pig. 

One is now as safe in Fiji as in any part of 
the world. There are no British troops there. 
The only protection needed is given by a hand- 
ful of native police. 

A sea-captain was once driven ashore on 
one of these islands and was much alarmed, 
as he expected to be devoured by cannibals 
without much warning. But to his surprise 



126 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

he was welcomed by men in civilized dress, 
who took him into their houses and treated him 
with all kindness and respect. When it was 
time to go to bed his host told him it was the 
hour for evening worship, and asked him to 
lead in prayer, but the captain had to confess 
that he did not know much about praying ; 
so, to his shame, he had to kneel down and let 
the poor Fijian speak for him to his Father in 
heaven. He was so much impressed with the 
circumstances of this visit that he sought the 
Christian way for himself and became in time 
a missionary, and tried to teach others what 
had been taught him by a man who was once 
a cannibal. 

There was another man who went to the 
Fiji Islands — an English earl and an infidel. 
He smiled in a superior manner when he met 
the natives. 

" You are a great chief," he said to one of 
them, ** and it is really a pity that you have been 
so foolish as to listen to the missionaries. No- 
body believes any longer in that old book called 
the Bible, or in that story of Jesus Christ. They 
have all learned better. I am sorry for you, that 
you have been so foolish as to take it in." 

The chief's eyes flashed as he replied, " Do 
you see that great stone over there? On that 
3tone we smashed the heads of our victims to 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 12/ 

death. Do you see that native oven over yonder ? 
In that oven we roasted the human bodies for 
our great feasts. Now if it had n*t been for the 
good missionaries, and that old Book, and the 
love of Jesus Christ, which has changed us from 
savages into God*s children, you would never 
leave this spot. You have to thank God for the 
Gospel ; for without it here we should have killed 
you, and roasted you in yonder oven, and feasted 
upon your body in no time.'* 

So we may say, with one of these changed 
Fijians, **Ask no more. What can the Lotu do? 
after what our eyes have seen this day. The 
Lotu is of God, and whatever we now see is the 
work of God.** 

There are a good many Hindoos now in the 
Fiji Islands, and missionary work has to be 
done among these people. It is interesting to 
know that a Hindoo convert from India, named 
John Williams, has gone to Fiji to labor among 
his countrymen. 



128 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NEW HEBRIDES : LITTLE JOHNNIE GEDDIE. 

The New Hebrides Islands belong to the 
Melanesian group and number about forty isl- 
ands, of which thirty are inhabited. They ex- 
tend three hundred miles from southeast to 
northwest. The population is about one hun- 
dred thousand. 

The natives are mostly Papuans, with dark 
skin and curly hair. They were once all canni- 
bals, and they had no regard for human life, 
and of women they thought nothing at all. " It 
was only a girl, you know,** said one man, care- 
lessly, after he had confessed to having buried 
his own child alive. Still they must have wives, 
as they were convenient in many ways, but they 
bought them as they bought any other article 
for the household, paying for them with pigs, 
the number of pigs varying on the different isl- 
ands in proportion as women were scarce or nu- 
merous. The people believed in a life after 
the death of the body, but were in continual fear 
of evil spirits and witches. They had many 
gods : gods of the sea, gods of the bush, and gods 
of everything. They believed, too, in men 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 29 

who, as they thought, had power over disease, 
over the wind, over the thunder, and over other 
forces of nature. 

The first missionary who tried to reach these 
people was that untiring John Williams, who 
was murdered at that cruel little island of Erro- 
manga. 

On hearing of his death twenty-five men at 
once offered themselves as missionaries, and the 
Christians in England made up their minds that 
the New Hebrides must be won for Christ. The 
missionaries at Samoa managed to station teach- 
ers at Erromanga, and at some other islands, 
but they could not stay long, strong and stead- 
fast as they were. Some of them died, and the 
rest gave up the work in despair. In 1841 Mr. 
Murray left some teachers at Aneityum, and in 
1842 Mr. Turner and Mr. Nisbet went to Tanna ; 
but Tanna was not yet ready for the gospel, and 
the missionaries were driven away. In 1 845 an- 
other attempt was made, and some teachers were 
placed there, and later four natives from the isl- 
ands were taken to the Missionary Institute at 
Samoa, given three years* training, and then 
sent home to do what they could among their 
countrymen. Then good Bishop Selwyn would 
call occasionally in his mission boat. 

The natives of the island of Aneityum are 
somewhat different from the other inhabitants 

UeroM of the South Seas. ^ 



I30 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

of Eastern Polynesia. They are small, dark, and 
slender, and lack the spirit and energy of many 
of the South Sea Islanders. The climate of the 
island is like June all the year round. Bananas, 
cocoanuts and yams grow there in abundance, 
and there is no lack of bread-fruit, sandal-wood, 
sugar-cane and arrowroot. There are no wild 
beasts, and no poisonous snakes, and nothing 
was savage or unlovely except the people. But 
the people ! They seemed to some persons to 
be too little like men, and too much like ani- 
mals, for anything to be done for them. But 
God had a man ready for even a place like 
this. Not a strong, athletic man, like Bishop 
Selwyn or John Coleridge Patteson, but a fine 
man for all that — a man with a big heart, full 
of the love of God and his fellow-man, and one 
who, giving all diligence, added to his faith 
virtue, and patience, and many other traits of 
which Peter has written. 

" Little Johnnie Geddie ** he was called when 
he was a boy at home in Nova Scotia, and used 
to pore over the stories of the heroes of the 
South Seas until he was filled with their spirit, 
and was glowing with a great desire to do as 
they had done. He would be a missionary, too, 
he told his mother, and steadily did he hold to 
his purpose. Through striving and self-denial 
he managed to get an education, and then he 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I3I 

had to win his way into the work on which he 
had set his heart. 

With his old horse, whose name was Sam- 
son, he started on a tour round the country and 
talked missions wherever he went. People lis- 
tened to him because they could not help listen- 
ing. The young man was so earnest, and so 
determined, and so burning with his subject, 
that the churches were all stirred too, and 
they agreed to raise enough money for his sup- 
port in his chosen field. 

Then he gave himself up to studying medi- 
cine and to learning other useful things. He 
found out how to build a house, and a boat, and 
then felt as though he might venture out to his 
work. 

At last he set forth, on a small brig, on a 
long journey, of nineteen thousand miles, round 
Cape Horn to the Sandwich Islands. At this 
place he stayed several weeks, and then was off 
to the Samoan group. At Samoa he lingered 
for two months, during which time he learned 
the Samoan language, and then the John Wil- 
liams took him with another missionary, whose 
name was Powell, over to the New Hebrides. 

They decided to begin work at Aneityum, 
but they were not as warmly welcomed as they 
might have been. " You must n't hurt the 
white men,'* said the chief, Nohoat, to his fol- 



132 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

lowers, " but you may steal from them as much 
as you like, and by and by they will be tired and 
go away.** 

But Mr. Geddie had no mind to fall in with 
this arrangment. He built a house and then set 
at work at the language. He could not make the 
natives talk at first, but by offering each one a 
biscuit for each word that he said he succeeded 
in coaxing away from them some knowledge of 
their speech. This was certainly an easy way 
of earning one*s living, but perhaps the plan 
sometimes cost Mr. Geddie his own meal. When 
he had gained enough of the language to make 
himself understood he started out to explore 
his island, and on this tour he preached at every 
point where he stopped — sometimes under the 
trees, sometimes by the sea-shore — and when he 
went home he sent teachers to go on with the 
work he had begun. Then he held regular 
services at his first station and the people came 
to the meetings, although they really thought 
they should be paid for doing so. 

For a while everything seemed to be doing 
well, when a sudden change came over the na- 
tives. They stole from the missionaries more 
frequently than ever, and abused their belong- 
ings. One of the sacred men of the island, who 
had the remarkable title of " The man who rules 
the sea,** said that the reason for this conduct 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 33 

was that Mr. Geddie was using his cocoanuts in- 
stead of saving them for the sacred feasts, and 
that the gods were displeased because he had 
taken coral for his house and so they had driven 
away the fish ; and besides he had built a fence 
in the way of the gods, so that they could not 
reach the sea, and as their wrath had fallen on 
the islanders and brought them disease and 
death the natives were revenging themselves 
upon the strangers. 

John Geddie was too kind and sensible to 
laugh at the ignorant natives for their foolish 
notions. He tried to yield to their whims so 
far as possible, and by his gentleness and gen- 
erosity he kept his influence over them and was 
all the time gaining a little more. But they 
were very suspicious and superstitious, and very 
fond of fighting, so that they were always fall- 
ing into their old ways and having to be pulled 
out again. 

When the island was visited by a hurricane 
Nohoat said that it was caused by one of their 
wonder-workers, called " The wind-maker,** and 
he tried to kill him. This brought on a war 
and Mr. Geddie had to be peace-maker. He 
stepped bravely in between the two parties drawn 
up for battle and told them that it was Jehovah 
only who ruled the clouds, and that He would be 
displeased with them if they should fight about 



134 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

his actions. At last the natives agreed th.at they 
would hold a council over the matter, and the 
chiefs made up the quarrel by giving each other 
a spear and piece of cloth. 

Next all the missionaries fell ill, and the 
natives declared that the gods were now indeed 
angry with them. Only a few persons would 
come to church, and those who were present at 
the meetings did not behave very well. Some 
of them would use the opportunity for a com- 
fortable little nap, and some would smoke their 
pipes, and some would run away before the 
service was half over. Mr. Powell's health gave 
out altogether, and when the John Williams 
touched at the island he seized the chance to go 
back to Samoa. 

For three years John Geddie was alone 
among the savages, except for his wife and 
three little children, but he kept bravely on 
with his work. He printed a book of twelve 
pages, and started both a boys' and a girls* 
school. The natives began to come to church 
again after a while, and as time passed on four 
prominent men gave up their idols and became 
Christians. Then the people all took the mis- 
sionary into favor and wished to make him a 
chief. More natives turned away from heathen- 
ism, and the converts went out and preached to 
their neighbors in other parts of the island. 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 35 

Nothing was stolen now ; no clubs nor spears 
came to church, but the people were there with- 
out them. Attentive and reverent they were 
too; and indeed they were so anxious now to 
be like their friend Mr. Geddie that they felt 
that they must be dressed like him. But on the 
whole island there was not enough of the kind 
of clothing that he wore to supply everybody, 
so the natives hit upon a plan to make it go 
round. One article would be passed from one 
member of a family to another, so that each one 
might have a turn at wearing it one Sunday at 
least. Sometimes this precious bit of raiment 
would be only a scrap of an old sail, but it was 
eagerly put on, as being as near to a white man's 
garment as anything that they could find. 

The heathen party at last became alarmed, 
and resolved to bring to an end all this interest 
in the new religion. Nohoat, the chief, prom- 
ised Mr. Geddie that he should not be hurt ; 
they only wished to sweep away all the native 
Christians. But if Mr. Geddie's converts were 
touched he was touched too, and in a very ten- 
der spot. 

" If you make war on my Christians," said 
he, " we will all go away to another island.*' 

Now that was not to the liking of the old 
chief. He felt that it was a great distinction to 
have a missionary all to himself, on his own 



136 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

island ; and, besides, what should he do for med- 
icine and the other useful things that went with 
the missionaries ? 

He would wait a while before stirring up 
strife, after all, he thought ; but in little under- 
hand ways the converts were persecuted all the 
time by their heathen neighbors, and Mr. Ged- 
die's life was often threatened. In the midst of 
everything he fell ill ; but his loving disciples 
were so faithful and brave and steadfast that he 
was comforted and helped in his trials, and at 
last the clouds blew over. A sickness from 
which the Christians were free broke put among 
the heathen, and some of them began to think 
that perhaps they had been mistaken in sup- 
posing that the Christian religion brought them 
trouble, and they were glad enough to have that 
good Christian, John Geddie, at hand just then 
with his little stock of remedies. 

Another of the medicine-men was converted, 
and as he at once began to teach others the 
number of Christians grew from day to day. 
Parts of the Bible were printed in the language 
of the island, and in spite of the enmity and 
evil influence of the sandal-wood traders then on 
Aneityum the gospel kept on spreading. One 
man stretched out his arms and then brought 
his hands together, saying, ** The word of God is 
like this ; it has gone round the island." 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 37 

Even Nohoat showed that he was dropping 
some of his old ideas, by eating food forbidden 
to chiefs, and " Father Geddie,*' as he was 
called, was authority on almost every subject. 
Whenever there was a disagreement he had to 
settle it, and his advice had to be given in many 
matters. The sacred groves were cut down 
and the sacred stones were scattered. 

Mr. Geddie was so busy that he wrote home 
and begged for a missionary to be sent out to 
help him, but no missionary came. Then his 
supplies gave out, and he would have had no 
bread at all if some shipwrecked sailors had not 
shared some mouldy bread with him. He was 
sick, too, but he had no time to devote to rest 
and nursing, for he had to bolster himself up in 
bed and prepare doses for others. 

The John Williams had not been seen for 
two years and a half, but when the boat did ap- 
pear at last how gladly was it greeted ! 

The Samoans who came with it could hardly 
believe their eyes when they saw what a change 
had passed over the island in four years. The 
language had been learned and reduced to wri- 
ting, and thousands of books were in the hands 
of the people, hundreds of whom could read 
them. Hundreds of children were in school, 
half of the four thousand people on the island 
had been brought to Christ, and a little church 



138 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

had been formed which had fifteen members. 
This was the first church of the Papuan race. 

Soon afterwards Bishop Selwyn and Cole- 
ridge Patteson arrived bringing with them a 
new missionary, the Rev. John Inglis. He was 
placed upon the other side of the island, where 
he did the same kind of work that John Geddie 
had done on this side. 

After a while Simeona and Pita, the two 
teachers who had been the first missionaries at 
Aneityum, moved over to Tanna to see what 
could be done there, and two or three years 
afterwards the old chief Nohoat, who had be- 
come a Christian, went forth on the same 
errand. 

The natives at Aneityum built a house for 
Mr. Geddie, and a large church which would 
hold one thousand people. Chapels and school- 
houses were scattered all over the island. A 
form of government was established, and a law 
was passed forbidding the women to be sold as 
slaves. More land was cultivated, and the peo- 
ple began to export arrowroot and other pro- 
ducts. 

After fifteen years of service Mr. Geddie 
went home for a short vacation, returning to 
Aneityum after a year's absence. But the cli- 
mate and the work and the care had broken his 
constitution, and in 1 872 he died, at the age of 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I39 

fifty-eight. On a simple tablet in his church is 
this inscription : ** When he landed in 1848 there 
were no Christians here, and when he left in 
1872 there were no heathen." 

Nobody could wish to leave a nobler record 
than that shown in these words. 

The Rev. Mr. Murray took up the work at 
Aneityum. That was already firmly established, 
but over in Erromanga the struggle to plant the 
banner of the cross was still going on. 

The Rev. George Gordon, from Prince Ed- 
ward's Island, had begun work in 1857, ^^^ had 
met the same sort of trials that had befallen 
Geddie at Aneityum, though with a less happy 
result. 

In 1 86 1 there was a hurricane on the island 
and an epidemic of measles as well, both of 
which misfortunes were, of course, laid at the 
door of the foreigners, and the natives fell upon 
Mr. Gordon and his wife and murdered them 
both. Bishop Patteson, who stopped at the isl- 
and soon afterwards, read the burial-service over 
their bodies, not thinking, perhaps, that he 
would soon fall in the same manner himself. 

Three years later George Gordon's brother 
James reached the spot where the dreadful deed 
had been done, hoping to be able to go on with 
the work that his brother had started. In 1867 he 
was joined by James Mac Nair, from Scotland, 



140 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

who died in 1 870, leaving the first James alone 
again. 

One day when he was sitting on the veranda 
of his own home, revising the translation of the 
seventh chapter of Acts, which tells of the death 
of Stephen, a native came creeping up with his 
tomahawk and laid another victim low. Like 
Stephen, he had died a martyr to the cause that 
he loved. 

Now it did seem as though Erromanga 
were a hopeless field and all labor bestowed 
upon her were worse than wasted ; but then out 
stepped another heroic soul, saying, " Here am 
I ; send me !" 

Hugh Robertson was his name, and he, too, 
was from Nova Scotia. He had once read a 
little book written by Mr. Gill, one of the Sa- 
moan missionaries, called " Gems from the Coral 
Isles," and these stories had taken so strong a 
hold of his fancy, and so touched his heart, 
that nothing seemed to him worth doing except 
going out as a missionary to people like those 
about whom he had read. Now James Gordon 
was about to sail from Halifax about the time 
that young Robertson was turning over this 
matter in his mind, so the latter resolved to go 
with him and see for himself what missionary 
work was like. He was taken to Aneityum, 
where he lived for four years and a half, keep- 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I4I 

ing his keen eyes open to judge fairly what 
heathenism really was when one saw it close at 
hand, with all the romance rubbed oflf. But 
what he found, though worse than he had 
imagined, only made him more eager than ever 
to engage in a conflict with evil; but it made 
him feel, too, that he needed more preparation 
for the fight. He went home, took a course in 
theology and a course in medicine, and then 
was ready for the call to Erromanga — Erro- 
manga that killed all the prophets that were 
sent unto her and would not be helped by any- 
body. 

But God had not given up Erromanga, so 
why should his servant, Hugh Robertson? It 
was in 1872 that he set sail with his wife for the 
New Hebrides. Even the sailors on the ship 
were afraid to stay near the land, so they hastily 
placed their passengers upon the shore and hur- 
ried away as fast as they could. It must have 
been a strange, thrilling moment for the two 
deserted beings when they saw the vessel dis- 
appear in the distance, and knew that they 
themselves were now beyond human knowledge 
and human aid. After a while some natives 
appeared and stared at them in surprise. They 
could speak a little English, and after a few mo- 
ments of parleying they consented to conduct 
the strangers to the mission-house, which had 



142 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

been surrounded by a stockade for the protec- 
tion of the former inhabitants. There the sav- 
ages left their guests for a time, but before 
long back they came, armed with clubs, looking 
fierce and angry and like anything but hospita- 
ble hosts. Mr. Robertson stepped out upon his 
veranda and told them quietly and pleasantly 
that he himself could do nothing against them, 
of course, but that Jehovah, his God, had him 
in charge, and if they should injure him they 
would have an account to settle with God. 
They listened to these words, looked at each 
other, and then slunk away. They were afraid 
of the One whom the Christians worshipped. 

Still, when their wicked feelings rose again, 
they hurried back, fully resolved to rid them- 
selves of these white people who had forced 
themselves upon them. Once more Mr. Rob- 
ertson met them with the same calm words, 
and once more they gave up their purpose and 
went meekly home. Over and over did they 
go through this performance, but at last they 
seemed to tire of these visits, and were willing 
to have the missionaries among them. Mr. Rob- 
ertson lived with them for a year, and then sum- 
moned the chiefs for a consultation. 

"Now," said he, "I have been here for a 
good while. You have seen that I am your 
friend and that I have tried to help you. If 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I43 

you will treat me well, and stop trying to kill 
me, I will stay with you longer. If not, I will go 
away at once. You must decide for yourselves." 

The chiefs withdrew, and talked the matter 
over. " Let us kill him at once,*' said one, " and 
be rid of him." " No," said another, " let him 
be here with us ; he does no harm " ; and so 
they reasoned, back and forth, until the friendly 
party carried the day, and word was sent to the 
missionaries that they were to be allowed to re- 
main. After this favor on their part the natives 
seemed to lose many of their objections to the 
outsiders, and adopted them as their charge. 
They began to listen to their teaching, too, and 
love and devotion were not without their reward. 

During the following year many persons 
were converted, and in eleven years the island 
was won. At the close of 1882 five hundred Er- 
romangans went regularly to church, and one 
hundred and ninety of them were church-mem- 
bers. Then, as he had thirty-three native teach- 
ers to carry on the work at various stations 
throughout the island, Mr. Robertson felt that 
he might go home for a visit. As he was about 
to depart, an old chief lifted a little child in his 
arms and said, "When I was the age of this 
baby there was not a Christian on this island. 
When he is my age, there will not be one 
heathen." 



144 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Perhaps he had heard of Mr. Geddie's inscrip- 
tion at Aneityum, or perhaps the facts in this 
case were as plain as they were in the other, so 
that the same expression came naturally into 
mind. 

In 1880 a church was dedicated at Dillon's 
Bay, not far from the spot where John Williams 
fell. It was called "The Martyrs' Memorial 
Church." Not long afterwards the natives paid 
for having one thousand copies of the " Acts of 
the Apostles" printed and gave generously to 
the fund for publishing the four Gospels, design- 
ed for circulation among the people. There are 
now about twenty-five hundred Christians on the 
island, in thirty-four villages. There are schools 
and teachers in every part, and church services 
are held every Wednesday and Sunday. 

In the Memorial Church may be seen the 
following inscription: 

Sacred to the memory of Christian mis- 
sionaries who died on this island : 

John Williams, 
James Harris, 

Killed at Dillon's Bay by the natives, 
30th November, 1839. 

George N. Gordon, 
Ellen C. Gordon, 

Killed on the 20th of May, 1861. 



the new hebrides. i45 

James MacNair, 

Who died at Dillon's Bay, i6th July, 1870; 

and 
James D. Gordon, 

Killed at Portinia Bay, /th March, 1872. 

They hazarded their lives for the sake of the 

Lord Jesus. 

In 1889, the fiftieth anniversary of the death 
of John Williams, a monument was erected at 
Erromanga. The man who laid its comer-stone 
was the son of his murderer, and another son of 
this same savage was at the time preaching the 
gospel in Australia. 



HeroM of the South Sbm. IO 



14^ HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



CHAPTER XL 

THE NEW HEBRIDES: THE MAX WHO DUG 

THE WELL. 

About ten years after John Geddie went tc 
Aneityum, and shortly after George Gordon ha' 
made an attack on Erromanga, that man wh 
has become so famous among missionarj* heroc 
Dr. John G. Paton, fell into the same line 
work at Tanna. 

There is a volcano on Tanna which gi 
the island the name of the " Lighthouse of 
South Pacific," but we know very well i 
Tanna was not a light in the way of morax 
of manners. Dark, very dark, was it in Tt - 
in those respects, and every spark of the or. 
glow had been dashed out just as soon as it 
been kindled. 

But John Paton was willing to give i. 
another trial. 

He was another one who had made t^. 
mind when he was a little boy that he \\\ji ,•-. 
a missionary so soon as he was old enou;^ ». 
his home in Scotland, where he grew u^. j^, 
the care of one of the wisest and bes! 
and one of the loveliest mothers tL. .. 

lived, must have been just the sort -i 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 147 

from which to send out a good missionary. He 
must have drunk in high thoughts and aims 
with the mountain air and learned patience and 
steadfastness from the hills, while from his 
father and mother he gained much of his simple 
trust, his industry and thrift, his courage and 
his hardihood, as well as his bright, hopeful 
disposition and kind, warm heart. Yet from 
all the beauty of his native land, and from all 
the home ties and associations, he turned away 
to cast in his lot among the savages of Tanna. 

He found the people cannibals, like all the 
natives of the New Hebrides. They lived in 
poor little huts, the men spending their time in 
fighting while the women did the work. They 
had many idols and worshipped almost every- 
thing, after the way of their neighbors. 

They allowed Mr. Paton and his companions 
to stay with them because they thought that 
they would give them axes and fish-hooks, and 
making the most of this permission Mr. Paton 
tried to become acquainted with them, and to 
learn their language while he was working his 
way into their lives. One day he noticed that a 
man picked up some object that was new to 
him and said, inquiringly, " Nunski nari enu?** 
That must mean, " What is it ?" thought Mr. Pa- 
ton, quickly, and then he put his lesson into 
practice. He caught up some article and hold- 



148 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ing it out towards a savage he smiled and asked ; 
" Nunski nari enu ?*' The native at once replied 
with the name of the thing that Mr. Paton had 
in his hand, and from that time " Nunski nari 
enu?" brought the missionary a good deal of in- 
formation. 

Next he laid hold of the children and taught 
them to sing. The music pleased the older peo- 
ple so much that they wished to learn how to 
make it too, so Mr. Paton had a singing-class of 
men and women. By means of the hymns he 
was able to put into their minds ideas that would 
have been difficult for them to grasp in . any 
other way. The first hymn that he gave them 
spoke of God the Father, the second one of Jesus 
Christ, and the third of the Holy Spirit; and 
when they were curious about the meaning of 
what they were singing he would explain to 
them, as simply as he could, as much Bible 
truth as they could understand. 

But they were just as superstitious and as 
suspicious as the people of Aneityum, and when 
the rain came when it was not wished, or failed 
to appear when they thought that it should, it 
was all the fault of the missionary and his 
friends. " Missi,*' they called him, in their child- 
like fashion, and " Missi " was to them a wonder- 
ful being. When they laid plans to kill him he 
seemed to know it, and to be prepared for them. 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I49 

•* How can you tell, Missi, what we mean to 
do to you?" they would ask, innocently. 

"Oh, a little bird whispers it to me,** he would 
answer, with a smile. 

"What kind of a bird is it, Missi?" they 
would go on, still more puzzled than ever. 

But Mr. Paton would only smile again, and 
leave them to guess that the bird was one of the 
children of whom he was so fond, and who loved 
him in return. 

He did gain some influence over the older 
people too after a while. They were afraid of 
him, and were often so angry with him that they 
would gladly have murdered him, but he inter- 
ested them, and they could not fail to respect 
him and to enjoy his kindness and his help in 
time of need. He often broke off a war when 
they were bent on fighting, and at one time ran 
into the midst of a party gathered together to 
talk over the coming battle, and called out : 
" My love to all you men of Tanna! Fear not. 
I am your friend. I have come to tell you about 
Jehovah God, and good conduct such as pleases 
him." 

One of the men led him to a seat and the 
savages danced about him like madmen, flour- 
ishing their knives and clubs in a frightful man- 
ner ; but when this performance was over they 
consented to hold a second council on the sub- 



ISO HEROES or THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ject of the war, and finally agreed to give it up 
for the time. This peace lasted for four months, 
and Mr. Paton felt that they had really made a 
long Stride in the progress of civilization when 
they could lay by their weapons for a whole 
third of a year. 

But his trials were by no means over. His 
wife and his little child both died, and his own 
life was more than once almost brought to an 
end by an axe or a gun in savage hands. 

Sometimes a friendly native would interfere, 
sometimes Mr. Paton himself would talk to the 
men and make them ashamed of their evil no- 
tions. Sometimes they felt some power about 
him that filled them with awe and held them in 
check. Perhaps they had a dim vision of the 
One who walked with the three men in the fiery 
furnace ; for Mr. Paton said of himself : " I had 
my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and 
smile of my blessed Lord in those dread mo- 
ments when musket, club or spear was levelled 
at my life.*' He felt that he must have a church, 
and built one, largely by the labor of his own 
hands. The wood came from Aneityum, and 
was paid for by fifty pairs of trousers, sent to 
him for the purpose by his old mission-class in 
Glasgow. 

Only five men, three women and three chil- 
dren came to the first service after the church 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. I5I 

was ready, but that made a beginning, and that 
afternoon Mr. Paton visited ten villages and 
preached in each one. A great deal of his time 
was spent in caring for the sick, and he was both 
doctor and nurse. 

At last six stations were established along the 
coast and placed under the care of teachers f n^m 
Aneityum. But as the consciences of the jvoiv 
pie awoke they became uneasy, and were sorry 
that these strangers had come to spoil all the 
good, old comfortable easy times. Then* sad to 
say, a trading-vessel came to the island and blew 
all the little flames of discontent into a great 
blaze. 

" The only way to deal with these savages,'* 
said the savages of the trading-ship, *' is to sweep 
them oflF the face of the earth. We will man- 
age them for you," and then they put on shore 
several men who had the measles, and left them 
to scatter the disease. It spread like fire over 
the island and the natives fell rapidly before it. 
Thirteen persons from the mission party also 
died. 

The people were roused to fury. They did 
not stop to think that the missionaries had suf- 
fered as well as themselves. They were full 
of hatred for all white men, and they would 
destroy any upon whom they could lay hands. 
To add to the commotion a hurricane tore over 



•f. 



152 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

the island, and now the natives knew that the 
gods were surely ang^, and would have the 
visitors at Tanna removed without delay. 

One chief, whose name was No war, stood 
by Mr. Paton, but everybody else had turned 
against him. Everything was forgotten except 
that he belonged to the wicked race of white 
men, and time after time was he attacked. 
Every night bands of men prowled round the 
house, and Mr. Paton and his fellow-worker had 
to sleep with their clothes on, in readiness for a 
sudden flight. 

They stuck to their post so long as there 
was a shadow of hope of doing any good there, 
but at last they were forced to believe that the 
work must be given up at Tanna for the present. 
One night, with nothing but their Bibles, their 
Tannese translations and a pair of blankets 
they slipped away, and after many adventures 
and hairbreadth escapes they reached the vil- 
lage of Nowar, on another part of the island. 

Here they found the people in a state of 
terrible excitement. Crowds of armed men 
were seen bearing down upon them from every 
direction. They begged Mr. Paton to begin to 
pray for them as hard as he could, for they felt 
that they were lost. In his usual unruffled 
manner the good missionary turned, like a little 
child, to his Father, and asked for help. The 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 53 

savages were still pressing forward. On they 
came, until they were about three hundred yards 
away, when suddenly, and with no apparent 
reason, they wheeled round and walked off to 
their own village. 

Two days Mr. Paton stayed with Nowar, but 
then even Nowar was afraid to have him longer 
in the house, so the next night the hunted man 
had to go out and climb into the arms of a tall 
chestnut-tree and there he spent the long hours 
until morning. All the time he could hear be- 
low him the cries of the savages and the pop- 
ping of their muskets. 

The following day Mr. Paton had another 
exciting journey, going this time to Mr. Mathe- 
son*s station on the opposite side of the island. 
Here he waited ten days, hoping that a vessel 
might come and take him awayo One night 
he awoke to find the church on fire, and he saw, 
too, that the fence that connected it with the 
house was also in a blaze. He ran out and cut 
down one end of the fence, but then the natives 
were upon him. " Kill him ! kill him !*' they 
shrieked. 

But just then there was a rumbling sound 
from the south. A hurricane was coming ! The 
savages took fright at once. 

" It is Jehovah's rain," they cried, and fled 
like dry leaves before the wind. 



154 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

The next morning a ship from Aneityum 
touched at the island, and bore all the mission- 
aries away. 

Mr. Paton went to Australia and to England 
and Scotland, and told about the work that must 
be done in the New Hebrides, ungrateful and 
unpromising though the people were. He suc- 
ceeded in raising money enough to buy a mis- 
sion-boat, most of it coming from children in 
Sunday-schools. The children's boat it was, that 
" white- winged angel," as Mr. Paton called the 
beautiful little vessel that had been named the 
Dayspring, and when it began to cruise among 
the islands the natives were filled with surprise. 
"Why, how is this?*' they cried. "We have 
killed some of the missionaries and driven the 
others away. If we had been treated so nothing 
could bring any of us back. And is it to trade 
or get money, like other white men ? No, but it 
is to tell us of their Jehovah God, and of his 
Son, Jesus. If their God makes them do all 
that we may well worship him too." 

Mr. Paton and his new wife settled at Aniwa, 
a small island about nine miles long and three 
and a half miles wide. The language was not 
the same as that of Tanna, so he had to go to 
studying again. His experiences were much the 
same at first as those that had been met on the 
other island. The natives blamed the mis^iona- 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. 1 55 

ries for all their misfortunes, and thought that 
the gods would like to have them put out of the 
way. He visited many of the villages, and at 
the risk of his life he told the people the story of 
God*s love. Sometimes he could protect himself 
only by running straight into the arms of some 
cannibal, and by clinging tightly around him 
keep him from lifting his hand to strike with his 
club or to fire with his gun. Sometimes he 
would knock up the barrel of the musket pointed 
at him, and send the bullet in another direction. 
An old chief, Namakei, was converted, and 
he was a great help to the missionaries. He 
brought his daughter to be taught, and that was 
the beginning of a school that trained many 
young persons for service among their fellow- 
men. The older people were much hurt because 
they received no rewards for going to church, 
and because the missionaries would not buy 
their idols from them, so they tried to revenge 
themselves in various ways. One night the old 
chief, Namakei, came running into the mission- 
aries* house, crying, *' Rise, Missi, and help ! The 
heathen are trying to burn your house. All 
night we have tried to keep them oflf, but they 
are many, and we are few. Rise quickly, and 
set a lamp in every window. Let us pray to Je- 
hovah, and talk loud, as if we were many. God 
will make us strong.'* 



156 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

The woods were full of savages with lighted 
torches, but near the house the teachers and 
some friendly natives were keeping watch with 
buckets of water, ready to put out the fire should 
one be started. No harm was done, however, 
and when the day dawned the enemy slunk 
away. 

There is little rain on the island of Aniwa» 
and all that falls soon sinks into the soil. There 
was one place called the " public water-hole," 
which was on the ground of some of the " sacred 
men,*' and which was filled by the rain. But 
these men pretended that they had the manage- 
ment of the weather, and would promise to 
bring a supply of water only when they were 
bribed with presents. So, of course, there was 
much suflEering among the people for lack of 
good water. 

Mr. Paton said that he meant to have a well 
of his own, from which anybody might help 
himself, but the people laughed at his idea. 
How could he bring rain up out of the ground ? 
Rain came from above, they said. But Mr. Pa- 
ton went to work to dig. He coaxed the natives 
to help him by paying them with fish-hooks, but 
they became frightened, when one side of the 
hole caved in, and no more of that kind of work 
would they do. The gods were angry with them, 
they thought; but Mr. Paton toiled on alone. 



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THE NEW HEBRIDES. 15/ 

They begged him to give up the job. " If you 
do reach water/* said they, " you will fall through 
into the sea, and the sharks will eat you. We 
wonder what will be the end of this mad work !'* 

Still he dug away. The coral and earth were 
becoming damp. His hopes rose as his hole 
grew deeper. " I think God will give us water 
to-morrow/* he said, one night. 

Early the next morning he went down into 
his well and sank a small hole in the bottom. 
The water rushed in and overflowed it in a mo- 
ment. He was so happy that he could hardly 
steady his hand while he tasted it from a cup 
that he had taken with him, but he eagerly 
sipped the water himself, and then, filling a jug 
that he had brought down empty, he carried it 
to the top of the well and showed it to the na- 
tives. 

They fell back in wonder. Yes. It certainly 
was rain, though at first they dared not touch it. 
At last the old chief ventured to shake it, to see 
if it would spill, and laid his finger upon it, to 
learn if it felt like real water. Then he took 
some into his mouth and rolled it round there, 
finally letting it slip down his throat, and then 
shouting, ** Rain ! rain ! Yes, it is rain !" 

Then all the men had to peer down the well, 
and they were all "weak with wonder,** as they 
said, at this marvellous event. They were ready 



l6o HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

face, when transformed from a savage into a 
Christian. 

Tanna, too, is reaching out her hands towards 
the light. The natives who had been converted 
there were joined afterwards by other teachers, 
and through their efforts about fourteen hun- 
dred Christians have been gained even in Tan- 
na. The best of it is that every convert is a 
missionary, so the work will go on. 

On a small deserted island near Tanna Mr. 
Paton found on a recent visit that the people 
were trying to keep Sunday, though no mission- 
ary had been near them. Two old men kept 
track of the days, and on the first day of each 
week they would lay aside their ordinary occu- 
pations and each one would put on a calico shirt 
that he had, and then, calling the people round 
them, they would tell them as much as they 
knew of the gospel story. Upon inquiry Dr. 
Paton discovered that, thirty-three years before, 
he had stopped at this island for a week or so, 
and at that time had taught some of the people 
a little of the Bible and given out two calico 
shirts. Through all these long years these two 
men had cherished these bits of knowledge and 
carefully kept the shirts, wearing them only once 
in seven days in order to be able to make some 
difference between Sunday and the rest of the 
week. They further observed the day by doing 



THE NEW HEBRIDES. l6l 

the only other thing that seemed to them to be- 
long to the occasion — sharing with others their 
own scanty portion of truth. 

On Tonga, the Rev. Oscar Michelson toiled 
alone for twelve years. At first he had many 
perilous adventures, and often had to run away 
and hide somewhere in order to save his life, 
but he kept at work, and the people liked him 
better after a while. His home they called the 
** Sunday House,** and they began to gather there 
to hear the music, and learned to sing some 
Christian hymns. Then the work grew, and all 
over the island the good news was told. Now 
there are thirty Christian teachers settled in va- 
rious parts of the island, and Mr. Michelson *s 
field includes three islands besides his own. At 
one meeting lately three hundred persons rose 
for prayer. The people of Tonga are now so hon- 
est that if one of them should find a coin on the 
road he would stick it up in some conspicuous 
place and there it would stay until the rightful 
owner should come along. 

Fortuna was converted through the work of 
teachers from Aneityum. Some of the medicine 
men here when they became Christians brought 
their sacred stones, which they value above their 
lives, and burned them in the public square. 
Last year nine casks of arrowroot were sent to 
Edinburgh by the people of Aneityum, and 

HeroM of the South Seas. I I 



l62 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

three casks by the Christians in Fortuna. The 
latter contribution was to pay the expenses of 
building the first church in Fortuna. These 
people were so hungry for Bibles that they were 
willing to buy them at the rate of $2 a leaf. 

Efat^, Malo and Nguna all have missionaries 
now, and a new mission has been started on the 
largest island, EwSpirito Santo. The second Day- 
spring has been sold and a small steamer has 
been provided in its place. About twenty 
islands are now occupied, and there are about 
fourteen thousand converts altogether. Por- 
tions of the Bible have been translated into fif- 
teen distinct languages. There are about forty 
thousand cannibals in the New Hebrides that 
are still unreached, and for these Dr. Paton asks 
the prayers and the aid of Christians all over the 
world. He is anxious, too, to gain the sympathy 
and the help of the Christian nations in putting 
down the slave-trade in these islands, and in 
forbidding the bringing in by traders of rum, 
opium and fire-arms. These things are doing 
untold harm among the natives. 

Dr. Paton has been able to devote the sum 
of $25,000 to his work from the proceeds of the 
book in which he has told the story of his life, and 
he has lived to have the pleasure of seeing one of 
his sons go back as a missionary to the New Heb- 
rides, and another one is making ready to go. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 163 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SANDWICH ISLANDS: A COUNTRY OPENED 

BY A BOY. 

The Sandwich Islands and Micronesia cannot 
be said to belong to the islands of the South 
Seas, as they lie north of the Equator, but they 
do make part of what is known as Polynesia, so 
their story is properly included with the other 
groups of that division. 

The Sandwich Islands were named in 1778, 
by Capt. Cook, in honor of the Earl of Sandwich. 
There are ten of these islands, of which Hawaii 
is generally said to be the largest. It is, at least, 
the one of which we generally hear the most, 
and it now gives its name to the whole group. 

About seventy years ago the inhabitants of 
these islands were savages and idolaters, and 
were wild, rough, and ignorant. All that they 
knew about civilization was what they had 
learned from the sailors on the ships that came 
occasionally to these shores. Their homes were 
grass huts, in which the natives and the animals 
lived together, and where the pig was an impor- 
tant member of the family. 

Their religion was a mass of superstition. 



164 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Their idols were among the most hideous ever 
formed, and they had so many queer notions 
about everything that they could have found 
little comfort or pleasure in living. They be- 
lieved that certain places or objects were sacred, 
or " tabu,** as they said ; and if anybody should 
break any of the rules of " tabu ** he was at once 
put to death. Some kinds of fish might be eaten 
by men, but were thought to be too good for 
women. A man was not allowed to eat with his 
wife, or a mother with her son; and the poor 
natives had an idea that the gods were so par- 
ticular about such matters that if any offense 
were not speedily punished they would take the 
case into their own hands, and send to the whole 
group of islands some great calamity. 

On the island of Hawaii is Kilauea, the larg- 
est volcano on earth. The crater is nine miles 
round, and one thousand feet deep. It is on the 
flank of the mountain of Mauna Loa, at an ele- 
vation of four thousand feet. In this volcano, 
the people of the island believed, lived Pele, 
the goddess of fire. The old stories said that 
she had made her home on one island after an- 
other, from each of which she had been driven 
by the water-god, Kamapuaa, who had the body 
of a man and the head of a pig. At last she 
had taken refuge in the volcano of Kilauea, and 
whenever she was angry she would turn into a 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 65 

flow of lava and rush down upon the people, or 
throw over masses of hot rocks, and so overcome 
her enemies. The lava surrounding the crater 
is blown by the wind out into fine strands, which 
the natives called "Pele's hair,** and looked 
upon with reverence. Everybody stood in awe 
of Pele, and on her ground the "tabu** was 
more strictly kept than anywhere else. 

About the year 1809 a sea-captain, stopping 
at the Sandwich Islands, found a boy about four- 
teen years of age whose name was Obookiah. 
His father and mother had been killed in one of 
the native wars, and as he was lonely and sad 
he gladly accepted the invitation of the captain 
to go back with him to America. The boy was 
ignorant, clumsy, and awkward, and had little 
about him that was bright or attractive in any 
way ; but the captain took him to his own home 
in Boston and did his best to make the young 
stranger happy. But Obookiah seemed not 
much more contented than when in his native 
land. The new country and the new life awoke 
new desires, and made him uneasy. One day he 
was found, by a man who was passing by, sitting 
on the steps of one of the buildings of Yale Col- 
lege crying as though his heart would break. 

"What is the matter, my lad?** asked the 
stranger, pausing in surprise and sympathy. 
" Why are you weeping so distressingly ?*' 



1 66 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

" Because there is n't anybody to teach me 
anything,** whimpered the poor boy, rubbing his 
eyes to drive away the tears. 

" Well,*' said the man, who had a kind heart 
and a generous spirit, "come along with me, 
and we *11 see what we can do about it** And 
up jumped Obookiah, and followed his new 
friend with delight and confidence. He was 
placed in a Christian home and his education 
was begun at once. He studied with all his 
might, too, in order to make up for lost time. A 
while afterwards, Samuel Mills, who was one of 
the young men who had been present at the 
prayer-meeting held under the haystack in Wil- 
liamstown, and who, like the others, had decided 
to be a missionary, fell in with Obookiah, and 
took him to his father's house in Torringford, 
Connecticut. There he learned many other 
things besides those lessons that were taught 
from books. A little later he wrote a letter to a 
friend in New Haven speaking of his advan- 
tages. He used to say " c-a-t pig," he wrote, but 
now he could spell in words of four syllables, 
and he now knew the " chief end of man," too. 
His first prayer was something like this : " Great 
and eternal God, make heaven, make earth, make 
everything, have mercy on me ; make me un- 
derstand the Bible; make me good; make me 
go back Owhyee, tell folks in Owhyee no more 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 167 

pray to stone god ; make some good man go with 
me to Owhyee, tell folks in Owyhee about hea- 
ven. God, make all people good everywhere.** 

But Obookiah was only a boy, and often had 
feelings that were not quite on a level with those 
of his best moments. He owned afterwards that 
at first he cared more about having religion in 
his head than in his heart, and he made this 
frank little ' confession besides : " Sometimes,'* 
he said, " when good people talked to me on this 
subject, I was but just hate to hear it ;*' but he 
did not stay long in this frame of mind, and soon 
could say truthfully, " I cannot help think about 
heaven. I go in a meadow, work at the hay 
with my hands, but my heart no there : in hea- 
ven all the time. Then I feel very happy.** 

He was anxious to go back to his own land, 
and tell his people about God and about Christ, 
so he worked away at his studies with that end 
in view. With the help of a friend he tried to 
reduce his own language to writing, and he real- 
ly did make what he called " a kind of spelling- 
book, dictionary, and grammar.*' 

Obookiah was himself one of the best proofs 
that the church had ever had as to the value of 
foreign missions. The dull look went out of his 
face, which became bright and intelligent. His 
awkwardness all disappeared, and his manners 
became refined and graceful. In 18 16 a school 



l68 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

was started in Cornwall, Connecticut, for the 
purpose of educating other heathen boys, and 
turning them into Christian gentlemen like 
Henry Obookiah, but Obookiah himself never 
carried the gospel to his countrymen, although 
he fitted into God's plan for the salvation of 
the Sandwich Islands just as truly as if he 
had done as he hoped to do. In 1 8 19 he died. 
" God will do right,'* he said. " Let God do as 
he pleases.** 

The school in Cornwall was given up in 1 826, 
as it was found wiser to educate the heathen in 
their own countries, but Obookiah had pointed 
out the missionary path to the Sandwich Islands, 
and his wishes were not forgotten. In 1820 two 
students in the seminary at Andover, named 
Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, decided to 
devote themselves to this work, and with several 
other volunteers they sailed for Hawaii. The 
way had been wonderfully prepared for them. 

The king, Kamehameha, had become sov- 
ereign of all the islands, so they were now under 
one government and for that reason would be 
more easily reached. Kamehameha had, be- 
sides, learned a little about the Christian re- 
ligion from Captain Vancouver, who had visited 
the islands several times, and the ideas of all 
the people had changed in many points. When 
they saw that the sailors with whom they were 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 69 

thrown could do without harm the things that 
they had never dared to they began to lose 
their faith in their system of *'tabu/' and to 
venture to break through its laws once in a 
while themselves. This disbelief grew all the 
time, and when Kamehameha was about to die 
he tried to gain more knowledge about the true 
God and his teachings from an American who 
was then at Hawaii; but this American was 
sadly ignorant on the subject himself and could 
do nothing to help the dying king. But after 
Kamehameha's death his wife, Kaahumanu, 
whose name means " The Feather Mantle," de- 
clared that there was no truth in the traditions 
about " tabu," and the whole system was swept 
from the island, except so far as the domains of 
Pele were concerned, who was as much an ob- 
ject of homage as ever. Kaahumanu also per- 
suaded the people to throw away their idols, and 
before the missionaries landed they heard that 
the gods of stone, that Obookiah had prayed 
might be no longer worshipped, were indeed 
cast aside. 

Captain Vancouver had led the natives to 
expect that men would come from England to 
teach them of a new religion, so they were not 
sure that these teachers from America would 
do as well. However the missionaries were 
at last allowed to come on shore; and were 



i;70 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

told that they might stay. They stationed them- 
selves upon three of the largest islands, and be- 
gan work by starting schools. 

Kaahumanu was regent at that time, and at 
first she would have nothing to do with the mis- 
sionaries ; but in time she became interested in 
learning to read, and from the moment when 
she opened a book she threw aside her cards 
and her old amusements and devoted herself to 
study. Before long she was truly converted, and 
then she gave herself to the work of missions, 
using all her influence on the side of the teach- 
ers and doing all she could to help them. She 
opened schools in various places and herself 
travelled round the islands begging people to 
turn from their idols and to take up the new 
and better faith of the Christians. 

Kapiolani was another important woman in 
Hawaii. She was the daughter of a chieftain 
and the wife of a man who was for a time gov- 
ernor of Hawaii. She was one of the first con- 
verts and she built a church at her home, near 
the spot where Captain Cook had been mur- 
dered. Before this time the meetings had been 
held under the open sky. As Kapiolani grew 
wiser in the lessons of the Bible she began to 
feel sure that the superstition about Pele was 
only a story, like all the other old tales, and she 
felt that it was time that it was outgrown. She 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 17I 

made up her mind to prove her belief by walk- 
ing over the mountain and showing that she 
could come back uninjured. Her friends to 
whom she confided her intention begged her 
not to be so rash as to risk her life in so danger- 
ous an undertaking. Crowds of men and women 
met her along the way and implored her to go 
no further, but with her little New Testament 
in her hand she pressed cheerily on. " If I am 
destroyed you may all believe in Pele," she said. 
' A woman who claimed to be a prophetess 
of the goddess stepped out upon the road and 
warned Kapiolani not to go near the mountain 
without an oflfering; but out came the Testa- 
ment then, and reading her answers from that 
the brave woman still kept on her course. 

The people, though alarmed at her daring, 
were really too curious in regard to her fate to 
let her go out of their sight, so about eighty 
persons, trembling with fear and excitement, 
followed her towards the mountain. Straight 
up its side she went and walked directly to the 
brink of the crater, calmly nibbling some berries 
that she had plucked along the path, which 
were supposed to be sacred to Pele. Then she 
carelessly flung stones into the opening, an 
action that was said to be especially displeasing 
to the being who dwelt in the burning volcano. 
Still nothing unusual happened. The mass of 



iy2 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

fire roared and swayed before the people, shoot- 
ing flames thirty and forty feet into the air, 
while beneath their feet were loud explosions 
and the earth shook around them, but Kapio- 
lani was not dismayed. " Jehovah is my God," 
she said, quietly. "He kindled these fires. I 
fear not Pele. Should I perish by her anger 
then you may fear her power ; but if Jehovah 
save me when breaking her * tabus * then must 
you fear and serve Jehovah. The gods of Ha- 
waii are vain. Great is the goodness of Jehovah 
in sending missionaries to turn us from these 
vanities to the living God.*' 

Then Kapiolani asked that a Christian hymn 
should be sung, and after a prayer was offered 
the people turned and went wonderingly home, 
and the power of Pele was broken forever. 

Kapiolani was admired and honored all over 
the kingdom. A visitor to the islands said that 
she was so intelligent, so amiable, and so lady- 
like that nobody could meet her without feel- 
ing in her more than ordinary interest. When 
she spoke of what the missionaries had done for 
her country she said ; " Our happiness is the joy 
of a captive just freed from prison ;** but when she 
remembered the dreadful things that were once 
common in the islands she could not help think- 
ing, "Oh, why didn't the missionaries come 
sooner ?" 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 73 

From this time the blessed work went rapid- 
ly on. Within ten years the language was re- 
duced to a written form, parts of the Bible had 
been translated, and the printing-press at Hon- 
olulu was throwing off hundreds of pages of 
good reading matter. Churches were built, one 
of which held three thousand persons, and there 
were two hundred church members. In 1834 
the first newspaper was published. . 

In 1835 the Rev. Titus Coan went to Hawaii 
and was stationed at Hilo, where about one-third 
of the people had learned to read and a church 
of thirty-six members had been formed. The 
first year he made circuit of the island by canoe 
and on foot, travelling over three hundred miles. 
He always spent a great deal of time in visiting, 
and he trained his native converts to go out 
two by two, on this sort of work, after the man- 
ner of the disciples long ago. They climbed 
mountains, went through forests, and crossed 
rivers, sometimes fording the streams, some- 
times scrambling over, as well as they could, 
clinging to a rope fastened to the shore, to 
keep themselves from floating down with the 
rapid current. 

After several of these tours interest began 
to waken all over the island and crowds flocked 
to Hilo to hear Mr. Coan preach. In 1837 there 
was a wonderful revival, and everybody, from 



174 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

near and from far, came to listen to the message 
of the gospel. Even sick people and old people 
and lame people were brought on litters to the 
services. Throngs gathered from all the villages, 
and the natives put up shelters in which to live 
while away from home. The cabins were thick 
in every direction within a mile of the mission, 
and the village of one thousand inhabitants 
swelled suddenly to ten thousand. Meetings 
were held every day and schools were opened for 
the children. At any hour, by simply ringing a 
bell, a congregation of six thousand might be 
gathered in a moment. Those who became 
Christians showed their earnestness by trying 
to set right that which had been wrong in their 
lives. Stolen things were given back, quarrels 
were made up, lazy folk became industrious, 
and drunkards stopped drinking. Within three 
years over ten thousand converts were added to 
the number of Christians. 

A missionary who went to Hawaii in 1832 said 
later that at his first service he had a congregation 
of about twelve hundred natives, and a Sunday- 
school of about seven hundred pupils. These peo- 
ple were almost all of them clothed in the native 
cloth and seated on the ground. The meeting- 
house was a large grass building, with open doors, 
« rough pulpit and one window behind the pulpit. 
In 1857 he kept his first jubilee. Then there was 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 75 

a pretty church, and within its walls were gath- 
ered people from fifteen out-districts, all dressed 
in European style. In 1853 one-fourth of the 
population belonged to the various churches. 

In 1862 the real mission work in Hawaii was 
over, because the Sandwich Islands were num- 
bered among the Christian nations. In 1873 the 
connection of the islands with the American 
Board was severed, and the churches became in- 
dependent of outside aid and control. Now sixty 
per cent, of the population will be found to be 
regular attendants at church, and Hawaii has a 
congregation numbering four thousand five hun- 
dred persons ; one of the largest in the world. 

So many foreigners have come to live in the 
islands that missions have to be carried on for 
their benefit. Among a population of ninety- 
thousand, fifty-five thousand people are from 
other lands. This fact, as well as that of the 
recent trouble between the rulers and the people 
and the still unsettled condition of the govern- 
ment, has done much to hinder the growth of 
true religion, and to arouse the old heathen- 
ism and wickedness; but the native Christian 
church holds on its way. Thirty per cent, of 
its ministers will be found to be missionaries 
and two per cent, of its missionary giving may 
be counted on for foreign countries. The 
Hawaiian children are early taught the art of 



ty€ HFROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

giving. The mother will hold her baby*s hand, 
with a penny in its grasp, over the contribntion- 
box and gently shake it nntil the small fist tm- 
closes and the money falls into the box. Then 
she kisses and pets the hand, and tries the plan 
again, nntil after a while the child learns to 
enjoy the performance, and thinks of giving as 
a pleasure. 

It cost $1,250,000 to evangelize Hawaii, but 
during the fifty years of work in the islands 
that nation brought into our country $4,000,000 
in trade. 

General Armstrong, who was so long the 
head of the Industrial School at Hampton, Vir- 
ginia, and who was the son of a missionary in 
Hawaii, has said : " What are Christians put into 
the worid for except to do the impossible in the 
strength of God ?" 

What must have seemed to be impossible 
had in the strength of God been accomplished 
in the land from which General Armstrong 
came, and the beginning of the whole matter 
was so small a thing as the coming of a heathen 
boy to America so long ago. 

One of the fields of the mission work of the 
converts of the Sandwich Islands is that group 
of which we have heard a little now and then 
as we have voyaged about the South Seas— the 
Marquesas Islands. 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 77 

When the Duff had left the first mission- 
aries at Tahiti, in 1797, it passed on and dropped 
two teachers on these islands. The Marquesas 
people were much like those on other cannibal 
islands, only perhaps they were more wicked 
and cruel and more elaborately tattooed than 
many other tribes in the Pacific. They were 
marked with figures of fishes, lizards and stars, 
and they had besides added to the beauty of 
their decorations by rubbing themselves with 
oil, day after day, until some of the older ones 
had taken on a polish like that on old furniture, 
and beneath this covering the lines of the tat- 
tooing might be traced as veins and marks may 
be seen in wood. 

They were also given to the use of orna- 
ments made of teeth and shells and feathers, 
and some of them wore long white cloaks that 
fell from their shoulders to their heels. The 
other garments were skirts and some sort of 
waists formed of scarfs flowing across the chest. 
Their cloth is made from the inner bark of 
trees, softened in water and pounded by a mal- 
let into a soft white material. 

The natives are divided into almost number- 
less clans, and are always at war among them- 
selves. The first teachers did not stay long 
with them, but in 1825 some others came to 
them and tried to settle in the islands, but the 

HeroM of tbe South Seas. 1 2 



178 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

natives threatened to kill and to eat them if 
they did not take themselves speedily away, 
SO the men returned to Tahiti. In 1832 three 
American missionaries, among whom were the 
father and mother of General Armstrong, had a 
similar experience, and the mission was given 
up altogether for a while. 

But in 1853 some result of all this seed- 
sowing began to appear. A chief of one of the 
islands put to sea in a whale-ship and came, over 
one thousand miles, to the Sandwich Islands to 
ask that a missionary might be sent to him and 
his friends. "We have nothing but war, war, 
war," he said ; "and fear, trouble and poverty. 
We are tired of living so, and wish to be as you 
are here." 

The churches were much interested in this 
man and his errand, and the people contributed 
willingly to the expense of fitting out an expedi- 
tion to the Marquesas Islands. On the sixteenth 
of June two native pastors and two deacons, 
with their wives, sailed for the Marquesas in a 
brig chartered for the purpose at a cost of $2,000. 
They were accompanied by a white missionary, 
who would help them in starting their work 
and then come home. 

They were joyfully greeted by the natives, 
but the French were jealous of this intrusion 
into whs^t they called their territory, and cona- 



THE SANDWICH ISLANDS. 1 79 

manded the chiefs to send away the teachers. 
The chiefs, however, refused to obey, and the 
Protestant missionaries were soon established 
in a house owned by one of the tribes, and the 
work has been carried on in spite of the oppo- 
sition of the French and the Romanists, and 
through many difficulties of all kinds. The na- 
tive teachers have proved themselves capable 
and faithful, and have won honor outside of 
their place of labor as well as within it. 

Peruvian pirates had carried away so many 
of the people for slaves that the savage chief of 
one clan vowed that he would kill and eat the 
first white man that fell in his way. This man 
happened to be the mate of an American 
whaler; but he was saved from the horrible 
death designed for him by the gallantry of Ke- 
kela, one of the Hawaiian teachers, who rescued 
him by offering the natives, in exchange for 
their victim, a six-oared boat just received from 
Boston. 

Abraham Lincoln heard of this action, and 
sent Kekela a valuable present in token of the 
gratitude of the United States. In his note of 
reply Kekela said : " As to this friendly deed of 
mine, its seed was brought from your own land 
by some of your own people who had received 
the love of God. It was planted in Hawaii, and 
I brought it here that these dark regions might 



l8o HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

receive the root of all which is good and true, 
and that is aH. How shall I repay your great 
kindness ? This is my only payment — that which 
I have read of the Lord — love/* 

Could anything have been more modestly 
and more gracefully expressed ? 

The great need now among these people is 
an increase of missionaries; but that spirit of 
love that reigns in the hearts of those already in 
the field will surely conquer at last, even in the 
dark regions of the Marquesas. 



MICRONESIA. l8l 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MICRONESIA: THE "LITTLE ISLANDS." 

The word Micronesia means *'The Little 
Islands/* The clusters that bear this name lie 
in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Hawaii. The 
principal groups that make up this division are 
the Caroline, Gilbert or Kingswell, Marshall and 
Ladrone Islands; but there are many smaller 
circles that come under this title, too. 

Most of these islands are low and barren, 
with a lagoon in the centre. They rest like 
green rings on the surface of the ocean, having 
no hills nor streams, few land birds, and no flow- 
ers. No horses, cows nor sheep can live on 
them long, and on one island, that of Apaiang, 
the soil is so poor that only twenty-five kinds of 
growing things can be found there, including 
every sort of shrub and weed. Some of the 
islands, however, like Ponape and Kusaie, are 
volcanic, and have mountains two or three thou- 
sand feet high. They are also covered with 
forests which are filled with the songs of birds 
of gay plumage, that make the woods brilliant 
with color. The trees are the bread-fruit, ba- 
nana, cocoanut, lemon and orange, with a great 



1 82 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

variety of timber trees. The people build little 
reed houses under them and plant round them 
bananas and yams, training the vines of the 
latter plant upon the trees. 

The people of Micronesia are of two kinds. 
Some are copper-colored and some are olive in 
hue. They have black eyes and straight black 
hair, and when they were first known by white 
men many of them were frightfully tattooed. 
Their dress was different in the different islands. 
In the Marshall group the costume was made up 
of two mats braided by hand from the leaves of 
the pandanus tree, with an edge embroidered 
with bark dyed brown, black or yellow, and put 
in in all sorts of ingenious patterns. These were 
worn tied round the waist by a cord, and with 
the man the skirt was made to stand out before 
and behind in a remarkable manner. The men 
arranged their hair on the top of the head, and 
all the natives had their ears pierced early in 
life, and then, by taking first small sticks and 
then larger ones and forcing them through the 
opening, the hole was gradually enlarged until, 
in some cases, a man's arm might be thrust 
through without touching the flesh. A fash- 
ionable young man might sometimes have been 
seen with an enormous cup fastened in each ear. 
In the Caroline Islands the men wore cocoa- 
nut trousers and a skirt of deep fringe. This 



MICRONESIA. 183 

Style of skirt was also worn by the women. The 
men were fond of trinkets, and adorned them- 
selves with many kinds of ornaments, from 
wreaths to belts and necklaces. As they had 
no pockets they carried their pipes in their ears. 
The people of the Gilbert Islands had little 
clothing of any sort. 

The natives of these islands are as much at 
home in the water as on the land, and they dive 
to great depths. A favorite pastime with the 
boys is to bend a tall, slender sapling over the 
water in such a way that when they have 
climbed to its tip they will be flung out into 
the waves. They also find great amusement 
on surf-boards, with which they ride over the 
waves to the shore with ease and delight. 

The islanders had no meat nor milk, and their 
food was largely obtained from the cocoanut-tree. 
They got something like milk from the grated 
meat of the nut and this was used in many ways 
in preparing their meals. The sap from the bud 
makes a pleasant drink, and when boiled makes 
a good syrup.^ If allowed to ferment it supplies 
yeast for bread. The water of the young cocoa- 
nut is also helpful in quenching thirst. When 
the meat of the nut is ripe it is dried and sold as 
food, and thus it serves the natives as money 
with which to buy articles that they need. They 
also eat the fruit of the pandanus tree, which, 



184 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

when cooked, is almost as good as pumpkin. It 
is dried and kept for long voyages or for hard 
times. Dishes and bottles for holding water, oil 
and sap were formed from the cocoanut shells, 
and now from the fibre of the husk are manu- 
factured cords, ropes, scrubbing-brushes and 
door-mats. The cocoa palm gives them also 
timber for building and for making spears, as 
well as oil, and material for torches, fuel and 
medicine. It grows in great luxuriance on these 
islands. The fruit has a peculiar shape that 
keeps it afloat after it has fallen into the water, 
so that it is carried all over the South Seas and 
plants its seeds on many shores. The bread- 
fruit also is a valuable tree, and is of great ser- 
vice in the making of canoes, some of which 
are fifty or sixty feet long. They are ingenious- 
ly put together, and the men are skilful navi- 
gators. They steer without chart or compass, 
and are guided by the moon, the stars and the 
wave-lines. 

The leaves of the pandanus are as useful as 
the fruit, although in a different way. From 
these leaves are made mats, sails, hats, and such 
things, and the trunk furnishes strong and hard 
timber. 

The inhabitants of these islands were once 
all wicked and igfnorant and hard-hearted. They 
were thieves and liars, and were cruel to women 



MICRONESIA. 185 

and to old people. They believed in spirits, and 
brought offerings to stones set up in their honor. 
Their only occupations were fishing and fight- 
ing. 

It was to these islands that there came in the 
year 1852 three American missionaries, sent by 
the American Board, bringing with them their 
wives and two native teachers from the Sand- 
wich Islands. They settled upon the Caroline 
group and there worked for five years without 
much encouragement. Then the boat called 
the Morning Star was built by money given by 
the Sunday-school children of the United States, 
and this ship went out to Micronesia bearing 
three new missionaries, among whom was Hi- 
ram Bingham, the son of the man of the same 
name who had gone to Hawaii in 18 19. 

The missionaries scattered their forces among 
the three larger groups, and Ebon in the Mar- 
shall Islands, Ponape and Kusaie in the Caro- 
line Islands and Apaiang in the Gilbert Islands 
were occupied by mission families. Hiram Bing- 
ham and his wife set up a station at Apaiang ; 
that place in which but twenty-five kinds of 
things would grow, and where there were still 
fewer signs of any of the fruits of the Spirit 
among the natives. 

Hiram Bingham had taken with him mate- 
rial for a cottage, and he at once put up his 



1 86 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

little house on some land given him by the 
king. Then he and his wife began to learn the 
language and tried to give it a written form, 
and they were very glad when a small printing- 
press was sent to them. Here, however, they 
met fresh difficulties, for the types had been 
chosen with respect to the English language, 
and there were too many d*s and h*s for the Gil- 
bert tongue, and not enough r's and k*s. But 
Mr. Bingham was clever and ingenious. He 
mastered the trouble by cutting off the tops of 
the small d*s and turning them into r's, and by 
making a notch in the little h's and transform- 
ing them into k's. He did not know much about 
printing, either, but was seeking first the king- 
dom of God and this thing that he needed was 
added unto him. Just about this time an expert 
printer was wrecked near this island and he 
came over to Apaiang, hoping to catch the 
Morning Star before she should start on her 
homeward trip. But she had left the place two 
days before his arrival, and so he was laid hold 
upon by the good missionary, and had the honor 
of directing the first printing ever done in the 
Gilbert language. 

During the nine following years there was 
steady progress in the work at all the mission 
stations, in spite of the disheartening beginning 
in Micronesia. Three churches were started, and 



MICRONESIA. 187 

there was teaching, preaching and translation 
going on all the time, and the churches grew 
rapidly. After ten years of voyaging among the 
islands the Morning Star was sold because she 
was becoming old and decrepit ; but in 1856 Mr. 
and Mrs. Bingham went home, and Mr. Bingham 
raised enough money to build another one, and 
as he had been studying navigation meanwhile 
he set out the next year as captain of the second 
Morning Star and sailed around the Horn for 
the third time. He was in command of the ves- 
sel for a year and a half, and journeyed back 
and forth from Honolulu to Apaiang. This 
vessel, too, gave way to another of the same 
name, as she was wrecked in the year 1859. 

For various reasons there was at this time 
but one white missionary in Micronesia. This 
was the Rev. E. T. Doane ; but in 1871 the third 
Morning Star brought back some of the former 
missionaries and some new native teachers from 
Hawaii for the Gilbert Islands. In 1873 the 
Morning Star carried native missionaries from 
Ponape to the Mortlock Islands. Among these 
teachers was the Princess Opatinia, the daugh- 
ter of King Hezekiah, the chief of the island, 
with her husband Opataia. They went forth 
most joyfully upon their errand of love, wil- 
lingly giving up all the comforts and honors 
and enjoyments of their homes for the sake 



1 88 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

of their needy neighbors. Their letters were 
eagerly waited for in the church at Ponape and 
read to attentive crowds, ready to weep or re- 
joice with those who wept or rejoiced on the new 
field. In less than five years the brave pioneers 
had established on the Mortlock Islands seven 
churches, with three hundred and thirty-eight 
members altogether. The natives were devoted 
to these kind friends, built houses for them, 
brought them food, denying themselves in time 
of famine so that their teachers should not suf- 
fer want, and did all their work in order that 
they might have more leisure for studying and 
preaching. 

Help was next given to the island of Pinge- 
lap. Six natives of this island had been brought 
by a trader to Ponape as servants. When their 
time of service ended he set them adrift, and in 
their helpless condition they fell in with a mis- 
sionary, who let them use some native houses 
and have a little land to cultivate. He also took 
them into school, where they became so deeply 
interested that they would often sit up until 
midnight to study by the light of a cocoanut- 
oil lamp. They became Christians, and two of 
them were baptized, under the names of Thomas 
and David, and then went back to Pingelap 
with the story of the gospel. At first they met 
a good deal of opposition from their own people, 



MICRONESIA. 189 

and an old priest gathered a large crowd of 
natives and told them that he would prove to 
them that this religion was false by killing the 
teachers by his incantations. But instead of 
having his charms work as he had planned he 
himself fell down insensible, and the prayers 
of the two whom he had meant to destroy 
were followed by his restoration. The people 
declared that the new faith had conquered, and 
all went over to that side. A new teacher came 
from Ponape, and in place of the queer houses, 
that were only thatched roofs resting on the 
ground, with a hole in the gable through which 
the occupants scrambled in and out, there was 
soon a village of good dwellings with proper 
doors and windows, and a fine church that would 
hold six hundred persons. One of the two teach- 
ers who had been first in Pingelap became the 
pastor, and this little church, besides taking care 
of itself, has sent about $100 every year1:o the 
American Board for its missionary fund. 

In 1874 Mr. Taylor, Mr. Logan and Mr. Rand 
joined the missionary ranks in Micronesia, and 
in 1875 Hiram Bingham and his wife went to 
Honolulu to devote themselves to the transla- 
tion of the Bible into the Gilbert language. In 
all parts of the mission more attention was now 
paid to building up training-schools and educat- 
ing native teachers. 



IQO HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

When the missionaries began work at Pon- 
ape there were some people there from the 
Gilbert Islands, among whom were a man and a 
woman with their child, a boy baby. These 
people fell into a quarrel with the natives, and 
the father and mother of the boy were killed in 
battle. After the fight was over the poor little 
fellow was picked up from the ground by a wo- 
man of rank, who hid him from his enemies for 
a while and then gave him over to the care of 
one of the missionaries. He became a Christian, 
as he grew older, and thinking that his story 
was something like that of Moses he was bap- 
tized under the name of the grand old leader of 
the Israelites. Then he wished to start out as 
a missionary. So he was sent over to the Mort- 
lock group, where he stayed two years, gather- 
ing a church of eighty-six members. Then he 
moved on, to another island, and founded a 
church of fifty-seven members. 

In 1879 ^® went to the island of Ruk, where 
there were about ten thousand people sunk in 
darkness and crime; but one year brought a 
wondrous change to the inhabitants. When 
the Morning Star stopped at Ruk after a twelve 
months' absence she was welcomed by a crowd 
of children clapping their hands and singing 
Sunday-school songs. They led the visitors that 
bad come on the ship up a pleasant path to the 




MICRONESIA. 191 

Spot where the teacher's home was nestled under 
the trees, and pointed to the new church build- 
ing not far away. After that time, whenever 
the Morning Star called at this island, she 
found that the mission begun by Moses at Ruk 
was stepping along at a steady pace. 

A native teacher had been placed at Ape- 
mama too. This was one of the Gilbert Islands, 
and was in no better condition in many ways 
than that other island of Ruk. In a short time 
he had gathered about one hundred pupils into 
his school, but he did not find them always easy 
to manage. The king was jealous of any one 
who, he feared, knew more than himself, and 
if any of his school-mates went above him in 
the class he would at once order his head to 
be cut ofi, that he himself might alnjv be first 
But the work went on, and the Ung learned 
more justice and self-control, and devemess 
was not quite so dangeir/os a tsut as it had 
been. After seven or eight tm» a church of 
seventy-one members was fcmed and in ten 
years there were about ttee imbed perHunn 
wishing to be added to ibe tJL 

About the year jgfe tPB« naiiven of this 
island leftjMn^ a msdr^ragt over to an- 
otherggjj^^^ ^ smciktn hy a .storm 
*^®y tBtrflbdr course, and n- 

^^ wtm tMf vessel yf»' 



192 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

beating about in the ocean, unable to make any 
harbor. At last those who survived were dis- 
covered, by the Northern Light, about six hun- 
dred miles distant from their native land. All 

« 

the food that remained to them was a small 
quantity of dried pulverized banana, and a few 
bottles of cocoanutoil. They had also about 
six gallons of water. 

Perhaps the sailors on the Northern Light 
were a little afraid to take in these people from 
a savage island, for experience would have 
taught them that the natives whom they met 
in the waters of the Pacific were often not the 
most safe and pleasant companions in the world, 
but, to their surprise, these wanderers seemed 
to be devout Christians. 

No sooner were they on board the ship than 
one of them offered thanks to the One who had 
rescued them from their perilous position, and 
then they all hastened to express their gratitude 
to these earthly friends who had held out to 
them a helping hand. 

Owing to the unfavorable currents, they 
could not be landed upon their own shores, but 
they were taken to Yokohama, in Japan, where 
the foreign residents were so much pleased with 
their looks and their behavior that they raised 
a sum of money for the purpose of helping them 
to find their way home. 



MICRONESIA. 193 

The Morning Star went on its voyages year 
after year, bearing missionaries and messages 
and goods back and forth over the water, and 
carrying converts from one island to another 
as bringers of good tidings. As the little mes- 
senger with its white wings would approach the 
shore of some unknown island the natives would 
run away and hide themselves in the woods. 
Gradually growing a little bolder they would 
peep out from behind the trees, and perhaps a 
few of their bravest warriors would venture to 
risk themselves in a canoe and steal out towards 
the strange ship, from which would be sent 
to meet them a native from another island, so 
that they need not be alarmed at sight of a 
being too unlike themselves. This native would 
tell them as well as he could, considering the 
difference in dialect between various islands, that 
there were other countries in the world besides 
their own, and that the people from these coun- 
tries knew many marvellous things of which the 
poor islanders had never heard, and that they 
were willing to leave with them a man who 
would tell them about all these wonders, and 
would teach them a great deal, and help them 
in many ways. If the natives agreed to the 
plan some teachers were set upon the shore and 
the ship would sail away, leaving the mission- 
aries and their families to their task. 

HeroMoftlMUoathBeM. I3 



194 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

For a whole year nothing is heard from them 
and they know nothing of the outside world. 
But when the time draws near for the appear- 
ance of the Morning Star on its annual visit 
how eagerly and longingly beat the hearts of 
these lonely teachers as they wait for the cry of 
** Sail-ho !" from some watcher in a tree-top or 
down on the beach. Ah, there it is at last: 
"Sail-ho!*' The cry is taken up by one voice 
and another until the sound goes ringing 
through the trees. The flag of the pretty 
vessel is run up in the breeze, and the salute is 
answered by hats and handkerchiefs, as well as 
by branches waved in the air. A boat is launched 
from the shore, and then comes the joyful meet- 
ing. It is only to be appreciated by those who 
have been exiled so long from home and friends. 
There is much to tell and hear about on both 
sides, and how happy are the men on the Morn- 
ing Star when they can bring to these thirsty 
souls good news from a far country, and can 
take back pleasant tidings of peace and pros- 
perity in the mission work of the island. Some- 
times, too, there would be cheering hints of 
awakening from neighboring islands, the natives 
of whom had sent word to the missionaries near 
them, " Give us teachers, too, that we may learn 
the good way, and stop fighting.'* 

After thirteen years of labor this Morning 



MICRONESIA. 195 

Star, too, was tumbled upon the beach and brok- 
en to pieces in a storm. The Micronesians felt 
very sad over this mishap. " Me, too, much 
sorry Morning Star broke,** said one of them. 
" No come back to us any more.** 

A barkentine with steam attachment was 
next given to this work in the Pacific, and it 
made its first voyage in 1884. The figure-head * 
was the figure of a woman holding an open Bible 
in her hand. 

Within the last ten years there has been a 
steady increase in the number of converts and 
of hearers in these islands of Micronesia. In 
1885 the Germans took possession of the Marshall 
Islands and tried to seize the Carolines too, but 
the Spanish nation stepped up just then, and 
would not allow Spain*s claim to be set aside. 
The mission work in the islands had never been 
in a more hopeful state than at this time. Many 
of the chiefs had been baptized, and the evil of 
kava-drinking had been nearly rooted out of 
Ponape. The missionaries were sorry that the 
native independence was not respected and the 
chiefs assisted in forming a government that 
would have been advantageous on all sides, but 
the Spanish established themselves in Ponape 
and did their best to interfere with the work of 
the missions. Schools were closed, and the 
chiefs influenced to hinder preaching and the 



196 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

building of churches, and the cultivation of the 
kava-plant was encouraged. The intruders laid 
hold of lands deeded to missionaries, and when 
Mr. Doane objected to this sort of robbery he 
was arrested and imprisoned ; but he was soon 
set at liberty by the governor-general at Manilla, 
who spoke warmly of the services of the' mis- 
sionaries to the islands, and paid high tribute 
to their characters. Soon afterwards a new 
governor was sent to Ponape, who promised 
protection to both the missionaries and the 
natives. 

In 1 89 1, however, the Spaniards began to 
make trouble again, and Mr. Rand, who was at 
work in Ponape, was driven away, with his 
fellow-laborers, and was obliged to take refuge 
in a neighboring island. They work as well as 
they can from their present post, and a fine 
young native named Henry Naupei, an assist- 
ant in the training-school in Ponape, does wdn- 
derfuUy well in their place. He preaches and 
teaches, and makes tours round the island 
cheering the Christians, and helping them to 
stand fast in the faith in spite of all opposition. 
Sometimes the missionaries call at the island, 
and the young teacher comes out to their ship 
and a little conference is held on board. He 
has recently written a letter saying that the 
native Christians mean to spread the work just 



MICRONESIA. 197 

as far as they are able. The German rule is 
very oppressive on the Marshall Islands. 

On the Gilbert Islands, Hiram Bingham has 
lived to see eleven churches on thirteen islands, 
and to rejoice in sixteen hundred Christians 
among those whom he found savages. In the 
spring of 1893, after thirty-four years of toil, Mr. 
Bingham had the pleasure of standing in the 
pressroom of the American Bible Society in New 
York and reading aloud the last verse in the 
proof of his completed translation of the Bible 
in the Gilbert language. He then saw the last 
type set, and watched the first revolution of the 
roller that would so far help to send his book 
out in completed form. The whole Bible was 
printed on that day, and in the afternoon several 
volumes were bound and given as souvenirs to 
persons who were present This translation 
will open the Bible to about twenty thousand 
people. Hiram Bingham is, so far as is known, 
the only man who ever reduced a language to 
writing, made a vocabulary and a grammar, 
translated the whole Bible into that language, 
revised all the proofs, and finally held the 
finished book in his hand. He has now gone 
back to distribute his precious volumes among 
the waiting islanders. A new boat, called the 
Hiram Bingham, has recently been built for the 
benefit of the Gilbert Islands. 



198 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

The population of Micronesia is about eighty- 
four thousand. There are forty-six self-support- 
ing churches and forty-three hundred members. 
About fifty - thousand people have heard the 
gospel. This work has been done in about 
forty years. A strong missionary spirit is seen 
in the churches in Micronesia. It has been re- 
ported that the king of the Gilbert group has 
been making a missionary tour through his 
kingdom. That the people are eager to learn 
is shown by this list of books in their own lan- 
guage carried them in one cargo, by the Morning 
Star : 750 arithmetics, 250 geographies, 750 read- 
ers, 750 hymn-books, 465 New Testaments, and 
205 books of Bible stories. 

Last year the American Board called for 
more workers for Micronesia. A man is needed 
in the Ruk lagoon, where Robert Logan has 
lately died of fever. Robert Logan fought in 
the civil war in the United States, and then 
went out to fight the Lord's battle in Microne- 
sia, where, like a brave soldier, he fell on the 
field, faithful to the last. He was greatly loved 
and admired both by the missionaries and the 
natives. The field is white unto the harvest 
Let us pray that the Lord of the harvest will 
send out laborers to gather it in. 



THE LAND OF THE "CRISP-HAIRED.** I99 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE LAND OF THE "CRISP-HAIRED." 

New Guinea, or Papua, is said to be the 
largest island in the world, now that Australia is 
counted as a continent. It was discovered in 
the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, and 
was called by them New Guinea, because they 
thought that it looked like Guinea in Africa. 
The native name, Papua, means " crisp-haired." 

New Guinea is about fourteen hundred miles 
long, and is about four hundred miles wide in 
some places. It is a mountainous island covered 
with forests. In the interior are some very 
high mountains. There are also many swamps, 
and the climate is warm and moist. There is a 
great deal of fever along the coast, and on the 
whole the country is not a healthful one in 
which to live. 

But there are in New Guinea some rare and 
wonderful things that make up for some of the 
drawbacks. There are many beautiful kinds of 
birds, from parrots and cockatoos to the bird of 
paradise and the cassowary, and there are numer- 
ous sorts of insects. One traveller collected one 
thousand species of beetle in one square mile, in 



200 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

three months' time. One of the most remark- 
able birds is the megapodius, which is about the 
size of a large fowl, with an egg three and a half 
inches in length and two inches in diameter. It 
buries its eggs in high mounds built of sand, 
loose earth, sticks, leaves, and stones, and leaves 
them to be hatched by the sun. 

The population of New Guinea is nearly one 
million. There are two races of people on the 
island, but the real Papuan is of brown complex- 
ion with black hair. There are many different 
languages or dialects spoken in Papua. 

The inhabitants of the northern and western 
parts, having come more frequently into contact 
with other people, are more civilized than the 
rest of the natives, and have some good towns 
with fine streets and comfortable houses, where 
live the traders, planters, and fishermen; but 
farther inland everything is nearer to a savage 
state. The people live in villages in which the 
houses have thatched roofs and the sides are 
covered with cocoanut leaves. Some of these 
villages are built over swamps, where the 
streets are laid with large trees, and the houses 
are raised on poles fifteen feet high and are 
reached by ladders. In front of these lofty 
dwellings are elevated platforms, each one of 
which is enclosed with a fence that bounds a 
gay garden bed blooming with tropical plants 



THE LAND OF THE *' CRISP-HAIRED.** 201 

and flowers. One house is often three hundred 
feet long, and will hold all the people of the vil- 
lage. Many of these homes are lighted by the 
burning of the shells of the young cocoanut, and 
a string of shells is not seldom seen hanging 
above a fireplace. 

Long platforms slope up to the temples, or 
dubuSy as they are called, and there are bridges 
here and there across the creeks. The temples 
are large, and are divided into courts on each 
side of a long aisle, with the sacred place at one 
end. The partitions of the courts are formed of 
cocoanut leaves reaching to about nine feet from 
the floor, while curtains of sago-palm fronds 
hang from the roofs to the tops of these lower 
screens. Inside the courts are skulls of men, 
women, and children, crocodiles, and wild boars, 
some of them carved and colored. There is 
usually a fireplace, too. Within the inner sanc- 
tuary are often found queer figures carved out of 
cane. They look like fishes, with mouths like 
frogs, and they have bodies about nine feet long 
and seven broad. 

Some houses are built directly over the 
water, and sometimes the baby of the family 
will fall through a crack in the bamboo floor 
into the stream below, but as the nurses all 
know how to swim he is easily rescued. 

Other villages are on rich land, and are sur- 



202 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

rounded by cocoanut-palms. Some houses are 
perched in trees, with ladders for stairways. 
Altogether, one wishing to settle in New Guinea 
would have a wide choice in regard to the man- 
ner of housekeeping he would adopt. 

In the interior of the island the people wear 
little clothing. In some places the women have 
petticoats of palm-leaves dyed in various colors, 
and both men and women tattoo and paint 
themselves and delight in decorations of all 
sorts. In some tribes the hair is arranged in 
two great mops, one on each side of the head ; 
in others the heads are cropped in odd patterns, 
square, circular, or triangular in shape. For 
further ornamentation, when they are in full 
dress some of the natives adorn themselves with 
plumes of the young palm-fronds, which are fas- 
tened to their backs and wave gracefully over 
their heads, while colored leaves are hung from 
their arms, wrists and legs. 

The natives about Port Moresby, on the 
southern coast, believe that one of their ances- 
tors made the earth, the sea and the sky, and 
the ancestor of another line of chiefs made man. 
They believe, too, in a god of fate, who deals 
good and evil, success and failure, as he may 
please. A number of villages are named after 
this god, and in the planting-season a priest has 
to go through certain ceremonies in order that 




THE LAND OF THE ** CRISP-HAIRED.** 203 

he may be persuaded to grant good crops. If A 
man have a good soul good comes to him, if evil 
himself he can expect nothing but evil. The 
soul is called Tirava, and when it leaves the 
body it is supposed to travel to a land far away 
towards the setting sun beyond Cape Suckling, 
the last bold promontory to the west. There the 
sago-palm grows in abundance, and anyone who 
enters this delightful place may eat as much 
sago as he may wish. Some tribes believe in a 
being whom they call the Maker, and some of 
them say that he once came to earth as a man. 
They think that good men after death go to live 
in the Milky Way, where there are groves fillod 
with fruit, and joys of every kind abound. 

When anyone dies the relatives blacken thdr 
faces and cover themselves with ashes, to show 
their grief. The women are devoted to their 
children, and mourn unceasingly wlien a little 
one is taken away, and as they have no bope o/ 
ever meeting a friend again in a better world 
they cling fondly to what is left tc> tbein. i)M 
poor woman had all the booee <tf a dead d»ild 
strung into a necklace^ wliidi ilie w^/rt m a 
iken of love and faithfaliieMu 
,Th6 people have an idea HuA m €!Sm^ fii^ 
deserts the body and wmA^act vut Vx 
«aer spifit^ yrho itfimj^ v^ jt ^ia^^:JUtc^ 
e of vliat wam tafe i^aii^ ^ t^i.^ itj^.)^ 



204 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

For this reason they have great faith in dreams, 
and order their actions according to what they 
learn in this manner. -If on a journey they pass 
a spot where anybody has died they strike their 
feet with a stick, as a charm to ward off an attack 
of the spirit that is hovering near and may try 
to stop their progress. The feathers of the cas- 
sowary are sometimes waved in the air for the 
same purpose. There are men who pretend to call 
up any kind of weather that may seem to them 
desirable by conjuring with some small wooden 
figures, which they have named the makers of 
heaven and earth, thunder and lightning, south- 
east and north-west winds. These figures are 
placed side by side, and an object shaped like a 
sort of shuttle-cock is held up near them when 
thunder is to be summoned or driven away. 
When wind is desired the figures are placed in 
the direction from which it is invited to come 
and the shuttle-cock is differently handled. 

One of the favorite occupations of the men 
of New Guinea is fishing for dugong. The du- 
gong is a fish that is ten feet long and has a 
mouth like a horse, a head like a pig and a body 
like a porpoise. A sharp, jagged iron bolt is used 
in spearing this fish. The spear shaft is fifteen 
feet long, and ends in a round, heavy knob for 
the purpose of carrying the weapon home. 
The flesh of the dugong makes excellent food. 



THE LAND OF THE "CRISP-HAIRED.*' 20$ 

When fresh it tastes like beef or veal, and when 
cured like bacon. It is caught at the new and 
the full of the moon, when the high tides cover 
the reefs. Another amusement is hunting kan- 
garoos, which the Papuans call wallabies. 

The natives are very expert at carving. In 
some tribes the men accomplish wonders with a 
nail, a shell, or a piece of sharp flint. They also 
make pottery, which they barter for cocoanuts 
and sago with other tribes, going on long voy- 
ages to the Gulf of New Guinea for the sake of 
disposing of their wares. For these trips they 
build queer sort of craft called lakatois. They 
tie several canoes together and upon them place 
a firm platform of poles upon which a deck is 
laid, and strong houses are put up fore and 
aft. Often new canoes are made on the way, 
and these are added to the vessels, sometimes 
making them so unwieldy that one or two have 
to be allowed to drift away. The sail of a laka- 
toi is formed from mats and shaped like a large 
shield, or the biggest claw of a crab. When their 
destination is reached the men arrange the pot- 
tery in a row on the beach and two sticks of 
wood are placed in each piece, one stick being 
taken by the buyer, the other by the seller. When 
the lakatoi is about to leave the village the wood 
is brought out and the visitors are given a bundle 
of sago for each stick that they hold. 



206 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Among the religious ceremonies of New 
Gtiinea is a dance connected with one of their 
sacred feasts. • The men who are to take part 
in the performance are called Kaevaknku, and 
they leave their homes and do not see their fami- 
lies for at least three moons before the festival. 
At the proper time, they adorn themselves with 
masks, from two to four feet high, like a fool's 
cap with an animal's face. The dress varies 
with the tribe. In some of the tribes a cloak 
two and a half feet long is worn, and a kilt 
about eighteen inches long, both made from 
the fibre of the yellow hibiscus. Some of the 
men look like walking haystacks. Food is piled 
up on the platforms in front of the temples, and 
is also hung round on poles. The actors come 
out of the bush in their costumes and masks, 
singly or in groups, and dance about until food 
is given to them, when they go back again. The 
masks are all burned in one big bonfire at the 
close of the ceremony. 

The custom of buying wives is not as com- 
mon in New Guinea as in many savage nations, 
but some tribes do pay for this sort of a blessing. 
One chief boasted proudly that his wife had 
cost him ten arm-shells, three pearl shells, two 
strings of dogs* teeth, several hundreds of cocoa- 
nuts, a large number of yams, and two pigs. 

Mission work in New Guinea was begun in 



THE LAND OF THE " CRISP-HAIRED." 207 

1854 by the Dutch missionaries. They were 
all laid low by fever, again and again, but they 
held on as long as they could, until at the close 
of five years every one died. The Utrecht Mis- 
sionary Society sent out others to take their 
places, and these men translated part of the 
New Testament into one of the native dialects ; 
but though they started churches and schools, 
and accomplished good in several ways, there 
were not half enough workers for all that there 
was to be done. About 1872 the London Mis- 
sionary Society came to the help of the laborers 
in New Guinea. Mr. Murray, Mr. MacFarlane, 
and Mr. Gill stepped over from their fields in 
the islands of Polynesia to plunge into toil in 
Papua. They took with them converts from 
the Samoan, Loyalty and Savage Islands, and 
left them to fight their own way as strangers in 
a strange land. Twelve were killed, but their 
places were instantly filled by willing recruits, 
and in 1877 James Chalmers, who had been for 
ten years in Rarotonga, changed his post for one 
in New Guinea. The headquarters of the New 
Guinea Mission were about that time removed 
to Murray Island. The eastern part of the mis- 
sion was under the care of the Rev. W. G. 
Lawes and the stations in the western portion 
of the Gulf of New Guinea were watched over 
by the Rev. S. Macfarlane. There were be- 



208 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

sides fifteen Polynesian teachers, and ten more 
went with Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Macfarlane 
to plant missions at the eastern end of the pen- 
insula. They found a place that suited them 
for a station on Stacey's Island, not far from 
the main land. The natives were friendly, and 
gave the newcomers half of the largest house 
in the village to live in while they were build- 
ing a home for themselves, in a pleasant spot 
in a grove of bread-fruit trees. In 1878 Mr. 
Chalmers had to leave his wife at the station 
while he went to Cooktown for stores. He was 
a little afraid to have her stay there without 
him, but she said bravely, " We came here for 
Christ's sake, and he will protect us.*' She was 
ill while he was away, but by her tact and kind- 
ness she won the hearts of the people, and 
gained a good deal of influence over them. 



"god's men*' in new guinea. 209 



CHAPTER XV. 

"god's men*' in new guinea. 

After Mr. Chalmers returned to his station he 
undertook a sort of Robinson Crusoe tour of the 
island with the object of searching out the most 
healthful parts and choosing places where mis- 
sions might be begun. 

He made many friends on these journeys, 
and opened the way for future work. Then the 
mission steamer Ellengowan took him along 
the coast on a visit to one hundred and five vil- 
lages, in ninety of which the inhabitants had 
never before seen the face of a white man. 
They must have looked at this one with great 
curiosity and interest, and probably thought him 
much too pale for beauty. At one place he had 
a narrow escape with his life but was saved by 
the interference of a friendly chief. He learned 
afterwards that the people of that village made 
a point of killing all strangers. 

About this time Mrs. Chalmers became so 
feeble that she was obliged to go to Sydney, 
in Australia, and poor Mr. Chalmers had to 
work along by himself, without her help, com- 
panionship or sympathy. But he did not give 

B«roM of the South SeM. 1 4 



2IO HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

himself up to moping or mourning, but occu- 
pied himself in the pleasant task of translating 
hymns. " We can reach the people sooner by 
singing the gospel than by preaching it," he 
said. 

Later in the year the John Williams came 
along bringing more teachers from Polynesia. 
Eight of these men were from the Loyalty 
group. As they drew near the shore somebody 
began to talk about the dangers and the disa- 
greeable things that awaited them in the shape 
of climate, centipedes, serpents and insects. 

** Hold,*' said one of the Loyalty volunteers ; 
" are there men there ? ** 

" Men ? yes ; but they are horrible cannibals. 
They will probably kill and eat us in the twink- 
ling of an eye.*' 

" Never mind,'* returned the other man ; 
" that settles it. Wherever there are men, there 
are missionaries bound to go.*' So on they 
sailed. 

In 1879 -^^^s. Chalmers grew rapidly worse 
and finally died in Sydney. Mr. Chalmers had 
started to go to her, and only learned of her 
death by picking up a newspaper while on his 
journey and reading there the notice that told 
him that he should never see her again in this 
world. 

After the death of his wife Mr. Chalmers 



"god's men** in new guinea. 211 

moved to Port Moresby and made that town 
his central station. In 1880 he decided to de- 
vote six weeks to exploring the country be- 
hind the mountains called the " Owen Stanley 
Range.'* He made up a party and sent on ahead, 
by some natives going in that direction, a large 
supply of food, and articles for barter, keeping 
only enough of both kinds of things for the 
western part of the trip, which would take six 
months of hard walking. He could find few 
carriers, so he and his friends had to trudge 
along under the burning sun laden with their 
own burdens. It is this difficulty of carrying 
that has prevented much exploration in New 
Guinea. 

The country was very rough. Often the trav- 
ellers had to wade for hours in a stream and they 
scrambled through many mountain torrents. 
At last they reached a village built on the top of 
a large table-rock and surrounded by a high bar- 
ricade. They encamped for the night on the 
side of a hill at the foot of which flowed a river. 
In the morning they put a raft together to carry 
them down this river, but before long they were 
upset and had to crawl out of the water to the 
shore, where they built large bonfires with 
which to warm and dry themselves. The next 
day they hired a canoe at a village and sailed 
twenty miles, to the home of one of the teachers. 



212 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

Altogether they had passed over five hundred 
miles and climbed forty thousand feet 

Mr. Chalmers* next expedition led him along 
the coast towards the west, where he preached 
in some places and gained a good many new ac- 
quaintances among the natives. In 1881 the 
church at Port Moresby was opened and the 
first three converts were baptized. The natives 
called Mr. Chalmers "Tamate/* which means 
teacher, and they had great confidence in him. 
He heard, in some way, that some savage chiefs 
from the western part of the island were form- 
ing plans to fall upon the mission station, kill 
Mr. Chalmers and the teachers, and then attack 
the natives. These chiefs were a terror all along 
the shore and were a great hindrance to the work 
of the missionaries, so Mr. Chalmers made up 
his mind to go to meet these wild warriors on 
their own ground and see what he could do with 
them. Some of the natives were afraid to go 
with him on so dangerous an errand, but one of 
the baptized converts and several other men 
were glad to accompany him. ** It's all right," 
they said, " if we go with Tamate. We'll soon be 
back with sago and betel-nuts; or, anyway, if 
Tamate lives we shall live, and if he is murder- 
ed we shall be murdered, too. We will go with 
Tamate." 

All along the way the friendly natives tried 



**GOD*S men" in new GUINEA. 213 

to stop the party by warnings, and by promises 
of presents if these rash adventurers would but 
turn back. But nothing could persuade Tamate 
and his followers to give up the expedition, as 
the safety of the mission was at stake. 

At last the village of the robber chieftains 
was reached and the men were invited to en- 
gage in a sort of conference. They agreed to 
the plan, and Tamate beguiled them into mak- 
ing peace and obtained from them a promise 
that they would not molest their neighbors. 
Mr. Chalmers held a service for them besides. 
To be sure, they ran away as fast as they could 
go when he began to pray, but they were lured 
back by the singing, and they listened attentive- 
ly to his words and to those of a brother chief 
who had come with him. 

Not long afterwards Mr. Chalmers made an- 
other effort to spread his mission a little farther 
westward, and in spite of wars and disturbances 
among the various tribes he managed, by his 
grace of manner and his skill and tact with the 
natives, to keep them from destroying one an- 
other and to draw them into the work of start- 
ing stations. At one place, where everything 
was just ready to boil over into a deadly fight, he 
stepped in, smoothed over the trouble, calmed 
both sides and brought back good feeling. One 
of the men who had gone with him said, admir- 



214 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

ingly : '' As the sun shines, so do yotu Sadi a 
thing as you have now done has never before 
been done on this coast, and it is only by the 
gospel of peace that it could be done." Then 
all the crew joined in, as a sort of chorus, with 
" True, true, very true." 

They had a very good name for the mission- 
aries, these simple-hearted natives. They called 
them " God's men." 

On Mr, Chalmers' next journey westward he 
found some of the men from Port Moresby on 
a trading voyage to the village of the robber 
chieftains. They told him that they had not 
forgotten their training at the mission, though 
they were so far from home. They always asked 
God's blessing upon their food, and held services 
morning and evening. One of the men had a 
bell, which he rang around the village to tell the 
people of the meetings, and many of them had 
come in to share in the service. The converts 
had kept Sunday in mind by tying every day 
a knot in a cord ; when they had counted as far 
as seven they would stop work for a day of 
rest. 

In 1883 Mr. Chalmers joined a party going 
to the Gulf of Guinea in a lakatoi on a trading 
voyage. From the coast he walked inland to 
one of the villages over the swamps, where the 
people had heard of him and asked for a visit. 



"GOD*S MEN** IN NEW GUINEA. 21$ 

He was kindly received, and put in one of the 
temples to sleep among the carved skulls and 
other objects that were pleasant reminders that 
he was among cannibals. In the evening he 
sat out on the baldony and watched the scene 
about him. The dark temple was lighted by 
the flickering firelight within, while below him 
a crowd of savages was gathered around the 
teachers, among whom was that man who had 
been one of the first church members at Port 
Moresby, and another man who had been a fierce 
and warlike chief. The teachers were telling 
of the love of Jesus Christ, and the savages 
were listening with great interest. They had, 
indeed, so many questions to ask at the close of 
the little sermon that the strangers were kept 
talking all night. When Mr. Chalmers met his 
friends in the morning he said, " Well, Arua, 
have you been at it all night?" " Oh, yes, Tam- 
ate,** answered the poor fellow, who was so 
hoarse that he could hardly speak. ** When I 
lay down they would come with more questions, 
so I *d have to get up, and explain again. But 
never mind : I must tell them of Jesus Christ.** 
When Mr. Chalmers was ready to leave the 
men gathered round him, begging him to sing 
as much as he could before going away : " No 
more fighting, Tamate,** they said. '• No more 
man-eating. We have heard good news, and 



2l6 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 

we shall strive for peace." " Now sing to lis," 
added the women as he departed, ** so that when 
Tamate's face is lost we may hear his voice, and 
weep that he so soon leaves us." ** Tamate, come 
back soon, very soon," they all cried in chorus ; 
" do not disappoint us, and we will bring you 
everywhere upon the rivers." 

The voyagers had a high sea and a strong 
wind during most of the return journey, but they 
arrived in safety at Port Moresby on the first of 
November. 

In January of the next year the teachers 
and the converts from east and from west gath- 
ered at Port Moresby for a sort of thanksgiving 
celebration. Services were held on New Year's 
eve, and on New Year's morning there was a 
meeting for prayer and praise at half-past five 
o'clock. Then every body fell to work at prep- 
arations for dinner. When everything was in 
the oven the people assembled for the great 
service of the occasion, and then came the feast. 
The following day the teachers met quietly and 
talked over their work together. 

In February the John Williams appeared 
once more, bringing thirteen new teachers, who 
were stationed in various places. Then Mr. 
Chalmers set out in the Ellengowan for another 
cruise to the west, where lived the wildest but 
really the noblest people of New Guinea, who 



"GOD*S MEN** IN NEW GUINEA. 217 

needed the youngest, strongest, bravest, and 
brightest teachers. They always asked for " big 
men." "Pick the giants for them," Mr. Chal- 
mers said, ** and they will make their mark at 
once." 

On the way he called at many old stations, 
where he noticed with pleasure all signs of pro- 
gress, and he visited new places also where he 
hoped soon to begin work. Then he went to 
the east on a tour of inspection, and came back 
much encouraged by the growth that he saw 
there. In this year the British Government 
established a protectorate over the unannexed 
portion of New Guinea. 

In 1886 there was good news from all the 
stations along the coast. In August Mr. Chal- 
mers returned to England, where he received a 
hearty welcome, and people thronged to hear 
him tell of what he had seen and heard in great, 
neglected New Guinea. In 1887 he was sent 
back by the governor of Victoria to continue his 
explorations. A new ship has been recently 
called for by the London Missionary Society, for 
use in New Guinea, the cost of which will be 
$16,000, with an additional sum of $1,500 for 
running expenses. 

Two hundred and five teachers have gone to 
New Guinea from Samoa, Savage Island and 
Rarotonga, and from the Fiji and Loyalty 



2l8 HEROES OP THE SOUTH SEAS. 

groups. One hundred and three have died, 
been killed, or had to go home on account of 
the climate, but volunteers have never been 
wanting to fill up the gaps. When fifteen men 
were asked for lately forty men offered them- 
selves for the service, and the matter of which 
ones should stay at home had to be decided by 
lot. 

There are now stations six hundred miles 
along the coast. There are seventy stations on 
the mainland, and altogether there are five thou- 
sand converts. Six languages have been re- 
duced to writing, books have been published, 
and there is a translation of the New Testament 
in Motu, the speech of the trading-people on the 
southeast coast. 

In the meeting of Christians at Port Moresby 
in 1892 the collection for missions was $37 in 
money, with spears, armlets, bows and arrows, 
drums, necklaces, and ornaments. All these 
things have marketable value as curios. 

At one of their services one of the natives 
picked up a spear and said, " This used to be 
our constant companion : we dared not go to our 
gardens without it ; we took it in our canoes ; we 
carried it on our journeys ; we slept with it by 
our sides, and we took our meals with it close at 
hand ; but," he continued, holding up a copy of 
the gospel, " we can now sleep safely because of 



"GOD*S MEN** IN NEW GUINEA. 219 

this. This book has brought us peace and protec- 
tion, and we no longer require the spear." 

Altogether in Polynesia there are now seven 
thousand missionaries and forty thousand native 
helpers. There are about three hundred and 
fifty islands more or less fully evangelized, and 
the Bible, in whole or in part, has been translat- 
ed into fifty languages. 

The LfOndon Missionary Society asks for 
$80,000 with which to provide a new vessel for 
the South Seas, and a fourth ** John Williams '* is 
about to be sent out ; so the name of the " Apos- 
tle of the Pacific ** is not likely to be speedily 
forgotten. 

And so all up and down in the South Seas 
have these Heroes of the Cross told the sweet 
old story, and still is **the good word of the 
kingdom ** passed on from island to island. 

May the One who began the work, and who 
has kept it on its way all through these long 
years, never let it falter until the multitude of 
isles shall be glad because the Lord reigneth, 
and the inhabitants thereof shall every one have 
heard the good tidings that a Saviour has been 
born into the world. 

So at the last may all join in the chorus, 
** Glory to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace, good will to men.*' 



220 HEROES OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 



«« 



The Son of God goes forth to war, 

A kingly crown to gain ; 
His blood-red banner streams afar ; 

Who follows in his train ? 
Who best can drink his cup of woe, 

Triumphant over pain, 
Who patient bears his cross below — 

He follows in His train." 



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