“Missi, come in, quick, quick! I want to tell you something and to get

your advice!”

He ran into my house, and I followed; but before he had got into his

story, we heard the two women crying out,—

“Missi, missi, come quick! Miaki’s men are stealing your sheets and

blankets!”

I ran at once, but all were gone into the bush, and with them my sheets

and blankets. Miaki for a moment looked abashed, as I charged him with

deceiving me just to give his men their opportunity. But he soon rose to

the occasion. He wrought himself into a towering rage at them,

flourished his huge club and smashed the bushes all around, shouting to

me,—

“Thus will I smash these fellows, and compel them to return your

clothes.”

Perhaps he hoped to move me to intercede for his men, and to prevent

bloodshed, as he knew that I always did, even to my own loss; but I

resisted all his tricks, and urged him to return these articles at once

if there were any honour or honesty in him or his men. Of course, he

left me but to share the plunder. He kept out of my way for a

considerable time, which showed some small glimmering of conscience

somewhere; and when I tackled him on the subject, at our first meeting,

he declared he was unable to get the articles back, which of course

showed the lying spirit, amongst them everywhere applauded,—for a lie

that succeeded, or seemed to succeed, was in their esteem a crowning

virtue.

One dark night, I heard them amongst my fowls. These I had purchased

from them for knives and calico; and they now stole them all away, dead

or alive. Had I interfered, they would have gloried in the chance to

club or shoot me in the dark, when no one could exactly say who had done

the deed. Several of the few goats, which I had for milk, were also

killed or driven away; indeed, all the injury that was possible was done

to me, short of taking away my life, and that was now frequently

attempted. Having no fires or fireplaces in my Mission House, such being

not required there,—though sometimes a fire would have been invaluable

for drying our bed-clothes in the Rainy Season,—we had a house near by

in which all our food was cooked, and there, under lock and key we

secured all our cooking utensils, pots, dishes, etc. One night, that too

was broken into, and everything was stolen. In consternation, I appealed

to the Chief, telling him what had been done. He also flew into a great

rage, and vowed vengeance on the thieves, saying that he would compel

them to return everything. But, of course, nothing was returned; the

thief could not be found! I, unable to live without something in which

to boil water, at length offered a blanket to any one that would bring

back my kettle. Miaki himself, after much professed difficulty, returned

it _minus_ the lid—that, he said, probably fishing for a higher bribe,

could not be got at any price, being at the other side of the island in

a tribe over which he had no control! In the circumstances, I was glad

to get kettle _minus_ lid—realizing how life itself may depend on so

small a luxury!

Having no means of redress, and feeling ourselves entirely at their

mercy, we strove quietly to bear all and to make as little of our trials

as possible; indeed, we bore them all gladly for Jesus’ sake. All

through these sorrows, our assurance deepened rather than faded, that if

God only spared us to lead them to love and serve the same Lord Jesus,

they would soon learn to treat us as their friend and helper. That,

however, did not do away with the hard facts of my life—being now

entirely alone amongst them, and opposed by their cruelty at every turn,

and deceived by their unfailing lies.

One morning, the Tannese, rushing towards me in great excitement,

cried,—

“Missi, Missi, there is a God, or a ship on fire, or something of fear,

coming over the sea! We see no flames, but it smokes like a volcano. Is

it a Spirit, God, or a ship on fire? What is it? what is it?”

One party after another followed in quick succession, shouting the same

questions, in great alarm, to which I replied,—

“I cannot go at once; I must dress first in my best clothes; it will

likely be one of Queen Victoria’s Men-of-war, coming to ask of me if

your conduct is good or bad, if you are stealing my property, or

threatening my life, or how you are using me?”

They pled with me to go and see it; but I made much fuss about dressing

and getting ready to meet the great Chief on the vessel, and would not

go with them. The two principal Chiefs now came running and asked,—

[Illustration: NATIVES RETURNING STOLEN PROPERTY—]

“Missi, will it be a ship of war?”

I called to them, “I think it will; but I have no time to speak to you

now, I must get on my best clothes!”

They said, “Missi, only tell us, will he ask you if we have been

stealing your things?”

I answered, “I expect he will.”

They asked, “And will you tell him?”

I said, “I must tell him the truth; if he asks, I will tell him.”

They then cried out, “Oh, Missi, tell him not! Everything shall be

brought back to you at once, and no one will be allowed again to steal

from you.”

Then said I, “Be quick! Everything must be returned before he comes.

Away, away! and let me get ready to meet the great Chief on the

Man-of-war.”

Hitherto, no thief could ever be found, and no Chief had power to cause

anything to be restored to me; but now, in an incredibly brief space of

time, one came running to the Mission House with a pot, another with a

pan, another with a blanket, others with knives, forks, plates, and all

sorts of stolen property. The Chiefs called me to receive these things,

but I replied,—

“Lay them all down at the door, bring everything together quickly; I

have no time to speak with you!”

I delayed my toilet, enjoying mischievously the magical effect of an

approaching vessel that might bring penalty to thieves. At last the

Chiefs, running in breathless haste, called out to me,—

“Missi, Missi, do tell us, is the stolen property all here?”

Of course I could not tell, but, running out, I looked on the

promiscuous heap of my belongings, and said,—

“I don’t see the lid of the kettle there yet!”

One Chief said, “No, Missi, for it is on the other side of the island;

but tell him not, I have sent for it, and it will be here to-morrow.”

I answered, “I am glad you have brought back so much; and now, if you

three Chiefs, Nauka, Miaki, and Nowar, do not run away when he comes, he

will not likely punish you; but, if you and your people run away, he

will ask me why you are afraid and I will be forced to tell him! Keep

near me and you are all safe; only there must be no more stealing from

me.”

They said, “We are in black fear, but we will keep near you, and our bad

conduct to you is done.”

The charm and joy of that morning are fresh to me still, when H.M.S.

_Cordelia_, Captain Vernon, steamed into our lovely Harbour. The

Commander, having heard rumour of my dangers on Tanna, kindly came on

shore as soon as the ship cast anchor, with two boats, and a number of

his officers and men, so far armed. He was dressed in splendid uniform,

being a tall and handsome man, and he and his attendants made a grand

and imposing show. On seeing Captain Vernon’s boat nearing the shore,

and the men glittering in gold lace and arms, Miaki the Chief left my

side on the beach and rushed towards his village. I concluded that he

had run for it through terror, but he had other and more civilized

intentions in his heathen head! Having obtained, from some trader or

visitor in previous days, a soldier’s old red coat, he had resolved to

rise to the occasion and appear in his best before the Captain and his

men. As I was shaking hands with them and welcoming them to Tanna, Miaki

returned with the short red coat on, buttoned tightly round his

otherwise naked body; and, surmounted by his ugly painted face and long

whipcords of twisted hair, it completely spoiled any appearance that he

might otherwise have had of savage freedom, and made him look a dirty

and insignificant creature.

The Captain was talking to me, his men stood in order near by,—to my

eyes, oh how charming a glimpse of Home life!—when Miaki marched up and

took his place most consequentially at my side. He felt himself the most

important personage in the scene, and with an attempt at haughty dignity

he began to survey the visitors. All eyes were fixed on the impudent

little man, and the Captain asked,—

“What sort of character is this?”

I replied, “This is Miaki, our great war Chief;” and whispered to the

Captain to be on his guard, as this man knew a little English, and might

understand or misunderstand just enough to make it afterwards dangerous

to me.

The Captain only muttered, “The contemptible creature!”

But such words were far enough beyond Miaki’s vocabulary, so he looked

on and grinned complacently.

At last he said, “Missi, this great Chief whom Queen Victoria has sent

to visit you in her Man-of-war, cannot go over the whole of this island

so as to be seen by all our people; and I wish you to ask him if he will

stand by a tree, and allow me to put a spear on the ground at his heel,

and we will make a nick in it at the top of his head, and the spear will

be sent round the island to let all the people see how tall this great

man is!”

They were delighted at the good Captain agreeing to their simple

request; and that spear was exhibited to thousands, as the vessel, her

Commander, officers, and men, were afterwards talked of round and round

the island.

Captain Vernon was extremely kind, and offered to do anything in his

power for me, thus left alone on the island amongst such savages; but,

as my main difficulties were connected with my spiritual work amongst

them rousing up their cruel prejudices, I did not see how his kindness

could effectually interpose. At his suggestion, however, I sent a

general invitation to all the Chiefs within reach, to meet the Captain

next morning at my house. True to their instincts of suspicion and fear,

they despatched all their women and children to the beach on the

opposite side of the island beyond reach of danger, and next morning my

house was crowded with armed men, manifestly much afraid. Punctually at

the hour appointed, 10 a.m., the Captain came on shore; and soon

thereafter twenty Chiefs were seated with him in my house. He very

kindly spent about an hour, giving them wise counsels and warning them

against outrages on strangers, all calculated to secure our safety and

advance the interests of our Mission work. He then invited all the

Chiefs to go on board and see his vessel. They were taken to see the

Armoury, and the sight of the big guns running so easily on rails vastly

astonished them. He then placed them round us on deck and showed them

two shells discharged towards the Ocean, at which, as they burst and

fell far off, splash—splashing into the water, the terror of the Natives

visibly increased. But, when he sent a large ball crashing through a

cocoa-nut grove, breaking the trees like straws and cutting its way

clear and swift, they were quite dumb-foundered and pled to be again set

safely on shore. After receiving each some small gift, however, they

were reconciled to the situation, and returned immensely interested in

all that they had seen. Doubtless many a wild romance was spun by these

savage heads, in trying to describe and hand down to others the wonders

of the fire-god of the sea, and the Captain of the great white Queen.

How easily it all lends itself to the service of poetry and myth!

About this time also, the London Missionary Society’s ship, the _John

Williams_, visited me, having on board the Rev. Messrs. Turner, Inglis,

Baker, and Macfarlan. They urged me to go with them on a three weeks’

trip round the Islands, as I had lately suffered much from fever and

ague, and was greatly reduced by it. But a party of Bush natives had

killed one of our Harbour people the week before, and sadly bruised

several others with their clubs, and I feared a general war of revenge

if I left—for my presence amongst them at least helped to keep the

peace. I also was afraid that, if I left, they might not allow me to

return to the island,—so I declined once more the pleasure of

much-needed change and rest. Further, as the _John Williams_ brought me

the wood for building a Church which I had bought on Aneityum, the

Tannese now plainly saw that, though their conduct had been very bad,

and I had suffered much on their island, I had no intention of leaving

them or of giving up the work of Jehovah.

Too much, perhaps, had I hoped for from the closely succeeding visits of

the good Bishop Selwyn, the gallant Captain Vernon, and the Mission ship

_John Williams_. The impressions were undoubtedly good, but evanescent;

and things soon went on as they had done before among our benighted

Tannese, led by Satan at his will, and impelled to the grossest deeds of

heathen darkness. The change by Divine grace, however, we knew to be

possible; and for this we laboured and prayed incessantly, fainting not,

or if fainting, only to rise again and tackle every duty in the name of

the Lord who had placed us there.

Fever and ague had attacked me fourteen times severely with slighter

recurring attacks almost continuously after my first three months on the

island, and I now felt the necessity of taking the hint of the Tannese

Chief before referred to,—“Sleep on the higher ground.” Having also

received medical counsel to the same effect, though indeed experience

was painfully sufficient testimony, I resolved to remove my house, and

began to look about for a suitable site. There rose behind my present

site, a hill about three hundred feet high or rather more, surrounded on

all sides by a valley, and swept by the breezes of the trade winds,

being only separated from the Ocean by a narrow neck of land. On this I

had set my heart; there was room for a Mission House and a Church, for

which indeed Nature seemed to have adapted it. I proceeded to buy up

every claim by the Natives to any portion of the hill, paying each

publicly and in turn, so that there might be no trouble afterwards. I

then purchased from a Trader the deck planks of a shipwrecked vessel,

with which to construct a house of two apartments, a bedroom and a small

store-room adjoining it, to which I purposed to transfer and add the old

house as soon as I was able.

Just at this juncture, the fever smote me again more severely than ever;

my weakness after this attack was so great, that I felt as if I never

could rally again. With the help of my faithful Aneityumese Teacher,

Abraham, and his wife, however, I made what appeared my last effort to

creep, I could not climb, up the hill to get a breath of wholesome air.

When about two-thirds up the hill, I became so faint that I concluded I

was dying. Lying down on the ground, sloped against the root of a tree

to keep me from rolling to the bottom, I took farewell of old Abraham,

of my Mission work, and of everything around! In this weak state I lay,

watched over by my faithful companion, and fell into a quiet sleep. When

consciousness returned, I felt a little stronger, and a faint gleam of

hope and life came back to my soul.

Abraham and his devoted wife, Nafatu, lifted me and carried me to the

top of the hill. There they laid me on cocoa-nut leaves on the ground,

and erected over me a shade or screen of the same; and there the two

faithful souls, inspired surely by something diviner even than mere

human pity, gave me the cocoa-nut juice to drink and fed me with native

food and kept me living—I know not for how long. Consciousness did,

however, fully return. The trade wind refreshed me day by day. The

Tannese seemed to have given me up for dead; and providentially none of

them looked near us for many days. Amazingly my strength returned, and I

began planning about my new house on the hill. Afraid again to sleep at

the old site, I slept under the tree, and sheltered by the cocoa-nut

leaf screen, while preparing my new bedroom.

[Illustration: “THERE THEY LAID ME ON COCOA-NUT LEAVES ON THE GROUND.”]

Here again, but for these faithful souls, the Aneityumese Teacher and

his wife, I must have been baffled, and would have died in the effort.

The planks of the wreck, and all other articles required they fetched

and carried, and it taxed my utmost strength to get them in some way

planted together. But life depended on it. It was at length

accomplished; and after that time I suffered comparatively little from

anything like continuous attacks of fever and ague. That noble old soul,

Abraham, stood by me as an angel of God in sickness and in danger; he

went at my side wherever I had to go; he helped me willingly to the last

inch of strength in all that I had to do; and it was perfectly manifest

that he was doing all this not from mere human love, but for the sake of

Jesus. That man had been a Cannibal in his heathen days, but by the

grace of God there he stood verily a new creature in Christ Jesus. Any

trust, however sacred or valuable, could be absolutely reposed in him;

and in trial or danger, I was often refreshed by that old Teacher’s

prayers, as I used to be by the prayers of my saintly father in my

childhood’s home. No white man could have been a more valuable helper to

me in my perilous circumstances, and no person, white or black, could

have shown more fearless and chivalrous devotion.

When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious

scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in

conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has

yearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the “natural” man all

around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one

“spiritual” man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them,

feeding them, saving them “for the love of Jesus,”—that I might just

learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a

reality after all! All the scepticism of Europe would hide its head in

foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the

new light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted

Cannibal’s eye.

Perhaps it may surprise some unsophisticated reader to learn, though

others who know more will be quite prepared for it, that this removal of

our house, as also Mr. Mathieson’s for a similar reason, was severely

criticised by the people who try to evangelize the world while sitting

in easy chairs at home. Precious nonsense appeared, for instance, in the

_Nova Scotian Church Magazine_, about my house being planted on the

fighting ground of the Natives, and thereby courting and provoking

hostilities. As matter of fact, the hill-top was too narrow to

accommodate both the Church and my house, and had to be levelled out for

that purpose, and it was besides surrounded by a deep valley on three

sides; but the arm-chair critics, unwilling to believe in the heathen

hatred of the Gospel, had to invent some reason out of their own brains

to account for my being so persecuted and plundered. In truth, we were

learning by suffering for the benefit of those who should follow us to

these Islands,—that health could be found only on the higher levels,

swept by the breath of the trade winds, and that fever and ague lay in

wait near the shore, and especially on the leeward side. Even Mr. Inglis

had his house on Aneityum removed also to the higher ground; and no

Missionary since has been located in the fever-beds by the swamp or

shore. Life is God’s great gift, to be preserved for Him, not thrown

away.

CHAPTER VIII.

_MORE MISSION LEAVES FROM TANNA._

The Blood-Fiend Unleashed.—In the Camp of the Enemy.—A Typical South

Sea Trader.—Young Rarip’s Death.—The Trader’s Retribution.—Worship

and War.—Saved from Strangling.—Wrath Restrained.—Under the

Axe.—The Clubbing of Namuri.—Native Saint and Martyr.—Bribes

Refused.—Widows Saved from Strangling.—The Sinking of the

Well.—Church-Building on Tanna.—Ancient Stone God.—Printing First

Tannese Book.—A Christian Captain.—Levelled Muskets.—A French

Refugee.—A Villainous Captain.—Like Master Like Men.—Wrecked on

Purpose.—The Kanaka Traffic.—A Heathen Festival.—Sacrifices to

Idols.—Heathen Dances and Sham Fights.—Six Native Teachers.—A

Homeric Episode.—Victims for a Cannibal Feast.—The Jaws of

Death.—Nahak or Sorcery.—Killing Me by Nahak.—Nahak

Defied.—Protected by Jehovah.—Almost Persuaded.—Escorted to the

Battlefield.—Praying for Enemies.—Our Canoe on the Reef.—A

Perilous Pilgrimage.—Rocks and Waters.

The Peace-party, my band of twenty Chiefs already spoken of, kept all

the tribes around the Harbour acting only on the defensive for a season.

But the Inland people murdered eight Chiefs from a distance who, after

paying a friendly visit to the Harbour people, were returning to their

homes. At the same time, one of the Inland Chiefs, who had pled with his

people to give up war and live at peace with surrounding tribes, was

overthrown and murdered by his own men, as also his brother and four

wives and two children, and was supplanted by another leader more akin

to their wishes and tastes. They proceeded, according to their custom of

declaring war, to shoot one of the Harbour men and to break down their

fences and plantations. So once again, the blood-fiend was

unleashed,—the young men of Tanna being as eager to get up a battle, as

young men of the world at home seem eager to get up a concert or a ball.

The Harbour people advised me to remove a mile further away from these

warriors; but the Inland tribes sent me word not to desert my house,

lest it might be burned and plundered, for that they themselves had no

quarrel against me. Early next morning, I, accompanied by Abraham and

another Aneityumese, started off to visit the Bush party, and if

possible avert the impending war, but without informing my Harbour

people. About four miles from our Station, we met the Chief of our

farthest inland friendly tribe with all his fighting men under arms.

Forcing me to disclose our errand, he reluctantly allowed us to pass.

Praying to Jesus for guidance and protection, we pressed along the path

through the thick bush four miles further still. My two attendants,

sinking into silence, betrayed growing fear; and I, after trying to

cheer them, had at their most earnest appeal to walk on also in silence,

my heart and theirs going up to Jesus in prayer. We passed many deserted

villages and plantations, but saw no living person. At last,

unexpectedly, we stumbled upon the whole host assembled on the Village

Common at a great feast; and at sight of us every man rushed for his

weapons of war. Keeping my Teachers close beside me, I walked straight

into the midst of them, unarmed of course, and cried as loud as I

possibly could in their own tongue,—

“My love to all you men of Tanna! Fear not; I am your friend; I love you

every one, and am come to tell you about Jehovah God and good conduct

such as pleases Him!”

An old Chief thereon came and took me by the hand, and, after leading me

about among the people, said,—

“Sit down beside me here and talk with me; by-and-by the people will not

be afraid.”

A few ran off to the bush in terror. Others appeared to be beside

themselves with delight. They danced round us frantically, striking the

ground and beating a canoe with their clubs, while shouting to each

other, “Missi is come! Missi is come!” The confusion grew every moment

wilder, and there was a fiendish look about the whole scene. Men and

boys rushed thronging around from every quarter, all painted in varied

and savage devices, and some with their hair stuck full of fantastic

feathers. Women and children peered through the bush, and

instantaneously disappeared. Even in that anxious moment, it struck me

that they had many more children amongst them than the people around the

shores, where women and children are destroyed by the cruelty and vices

of “civilized” visitors! After spending about an hour, conversing and

answering all questions, they apparently agreed to give up the war, and

allowed me to conduct the Worship amongst them. They then made me a

present of cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane and two fowls, which my attendants

received from them; and I, in return, presented a red shirt to the

principal Chief, and distributed a quantity of fish-hooks and pieces of

red calico amongst the rest. The leading men shook hands graciously, and

invited us often to come and see them, for after that visit they would

harm no person connected with our Mission. Meantime, the Harbour people

having learned where we had gone, had concluded that we would all be

killed and feasted upon. When we returned, with a present of food, and

informed them what we had heard and seen, their astonishment was beyond

measure; it had never been so seen after this manner on Tanna! The peace

continued for more than four weeks, an uncommonly prolonged truce. All

hands were busy at work. Many yam plantations were completed, and all

fences were got into excellent condition for a year.

The prejudices and persecutions of Heathens were a sore enough trial,

but sorer and more hopeless was the wicked and contaminating influence

of, alas, my fellow-countrymen. One, for instance, a Captain Winchester,

living with a native woman at the head of the bay as a trader, a

dissipated wretch, though a well-educated man, was angry forsooth at

this state of peace! Apparently there was not the usual demand for

barter for the fowls, pigs, etc., in which he traded. He developed at

once a wonderful interest in their affairs, presented all the Chiefs

around with powder, caps, and balls, and lent among them a number of

flash-muskets. He urged them not to be afraid of war, as he would supply

any amount of ammunition. I remonstrated, but he flatly told me that

peace did not suit his purposes! Incited and encouraged thus, these poor

Heathen people were goaded into a most unjust war on neighbouring

tribes. The Trader immediately demanded a high price for the weapons he

had lent; the price of powder, caps, and balls rose exorbitantly with

every fresh demand; his yards were crowded with poultry and pigs, which

he readily disposed of to passing vessels; and he might have amassed

great sums of money but for his vile dissipations. Captain Winchester,

now glorying in the war, charged a large hog for a wine-glass full of

powder, or three or four balls, or ten gun-caps; he was boastful of his

“good luck” in getting rid of all his old muskets and filling his yards

with pigs and fowls. Such is the infernal depth, when the misery and

ruin of many are thought to be more than atoned for by the wealth and

prosperity of a few who trade in their doom!

Miaki the war Chief had a young brother, Rarip by name, about eighteen

years of age. When this war began, he came to live with me at the

Mission House. After it had raged some time, Miaki forced him to join

the fighting men; but he escaped through the bush, and returned to me,

saying,—

“Missi, I hate this fighting; it is not good to kill men; I will live

with you!”

Again the War Chief came, and forced my dear young Rarip to join the

hosts. Of course, I could only plead; I could not prevent him. This

time, he placed him at his own side in the midst of his warriors. On

coming in sight of the enemy, and hearing their first yells as they

rushed from the bush, a bullet pierced young Rarip’s breast and he fell

dead into the arms of Miaki. The body was carried home to his brother’s

village, with much wailing, and a messenger ran to tell me that Rarip

was dead. On hasting thither, I found him quite dead, and the centre of

a tragic ceremonial. Around him, some sitting, others lying on the

ground, were assembled all the women and girls, tearing their hair,

wounding themselves with split bamboos and broken bottles, dashing

themselves headlong to the earth, painting all black their faces,

breasts, and arms, and wailing with loud lamentations! Men were also

there, knocking their heads against the trees, gashing their bodies with

knives till they ran with streaks of blood, and indulging in every kind

of savage symbol of grief and anguish. My heart broke to see them, and

to think that they knew not to look to our dear Lord Jesus for

consolation.

I returned to the Mission House, and brought a white sheet and some

tape, in which the body of dear young Rarip was wrapped and prepared for

the grave. The Natives appeared to be gratified at this mark of respect;

and all agreed that Rarip should have under my direction a Christian

burial. The men prepared the grave in a spot selected near to his own

house; I read the Word of God, and offered prayer to Jehovah, with a

psalm of praise, amidst a scene of weeping and lamentation never to be

forgotten; and the thought burned through my very soul—oh, when, when

will the Tannese realize what I am now thinking and praying about, the

life and immortality brought to light through Jesus?

As the war still raged on, and many more were killed, vengeance

threatened the miserable Trader. Miaki attacked him thus,—

“You led us into this war. You deceived us, and we began it. Rarip is

dead, and many others. Your life shall yet go for his.”

Captain Winchester, heartless as a dog so long as pigs and fowls came to

the yard at whatever cost to others’ lives, now trembled like a coward

for himself. He implored me to let him and his Marè wife sleep at my

house for safety; but I refused to allow my Mission to be in any way

identified with his crimes. The Natives from other islands, whom he kept

and wrought like slaves, he now armed with muskets for his defence; but,

having no faith in them protecting or even warning him, he implored me

to send one of my Teachers, to assist his wife in watching till he

snatched a few hours of sleep every day, and, if awake, he would sell

his life as dearly as he could by aid of musket and revolver. The

Teachers were both afraid and disinclined to go; and I could not

honestly ask them to do so. His peril and terror became so real that by

night he slept in his boat anchored out in the centre of the bay, with

his arms beside him, and a crew ready to start off at the approach of

danger and lose everything; while by day he kept watch on shore, armed,

and also ready to fly. Thus his miserable existence dragged on, keeping

watch alternatively with his wife, till a trading vessel called and

carried him off with all that he had rescued—for which deliverance we

were unfeignedly thankful! The war, which he had wickedly instigated,

lingered on for three months; and then, by a present given secretly to

two leading Chiefs, I managed to bring it to a close. But feelings of

revenge for the slain, burned fiercely in many breasts; and young men

had old feuds handed on to them by the recital of their fathers’ deeds

of blood.

All through this war, I went to the fighting ground every Sabbath, and

held worship amongst our Harbour people. Hundreds assembled around me,

and listened respectfully, but they refused to give up the war. One day,

I determined to go through the bush that lay between and speak and pray

with the enemies also. Our Harbour folks opposed me, and one leading man

said,—

“Missi, pray only for us, and your God will be strong to help us and we

will not be afraid! You must not pray with the enemy, lest He may help

them too.”

After this episode, I made it my duty always to visit both Camps, when I

went to the fighting ground, and to have worship with both,—teaching

them that Jehovah my God was angry at all such scenes and would not

fight for either, that He commanded them to live at peace.

About this time, our Sabbath audiences at the Mission numbered forty or

so. Nowar and three or four more, and only they, seemed to love and

serve Jesus. They were, however, changeable and doubtful, though they

exerted a good influence on their villages, and were generally friendly

to us and to the Worship. Events sometimes for a season greatly

increased our usefulness. For instance, one of the Sacred Men when

fishing on the coral reef was bitten by a poisonous fish. After great

agony, he died, and his relatives were preparing to strangle his two

wives that their spirits might accompany and serve him in the other

world. Usually such tragedies were completed before I ever heard of

them. On this occasion, I had called at the village that very day, and

succeeded in persuading them to bury him alone—his wives being saved

alive at my appeal. Thus the idea got to be talked of, and the horrible

custom was being undermined—the strangling of widows!

In connection with such poisonings, I may mention that some of these

fishes were deadly poisonous; others were unwholesome, and even

poisonous, only at certain seasons; and still others were always

nutritious and good. For our own part, we used fish sparingly and

cautiously; and the doubtful ones we boiled with a piece of silver in

the water. If the silver became discoloured, we regarded the fish as

unwholesome; if the silver remained pure, we could risk it.

One morning at daybreak I found my house surrounded by armed men, and a

Chief intimated that they had assembled to take my life. Seeing that I

was entirely in their hands, I knelt down and gave myself away body and

soul to the Lord Jesus, for what seemed the last time on earth. Rising,

I went out to them, and began calmly talking about their unkind

treatment of me and contrasting it with all my conduct towards them. I

also plainly showed them what would be the sad consequences, if they

carried out their cruel purpose. At last some of the Chiefs, who had

attended the Worship, rose and said,—

“Our conduct has been bad; but now we will fight for you, and kill all

those who hate you.”

[Illustration: “AT DAYBREAK I FOUND MY HOUSE SURROUNDED.”]

Grasping hold of their leader, I held him fast till he promised never to

kill any one on my account, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies and

always to return good for evil! During this scene, many of the armed men

slunk away into the bush, and those who remained entered into a bond to

be friendly and to protect us. But again their Public Assembly resolved

that we should be killed, because, as they said, they hated Jehovah and

the Worship; for it made them afraid to do as they had always done. If I

would give up visiting the villages, and praying and talking with them

about Jehovah, they intimated that they would like me to stay and trade

with them, as they liked the Traders but hated the Missionaries! I told

them that the hope of being able to teach them the Worship of Jehovah

alone kept me living amongst them; that I was there, not for gain or

pleasure, but because I loved them, and pitied their estate, and sought

their good continually by leading them to know and serve the only true

God. One of the Chiefs, who had lived in Sydney and spoke English,

replied for all the rest,—

“Missi, our fathers loved and worshipped whom you call the Devil, the

Evil Spirit; and we are determined to do the same, for we love the

conduct of our fathers. Missi Turner came here and tried to break down

our worship, but our fathers fought him and he left us. They fought also

Peta, the Samoan Teacher, and he fled. They fought and killed some of

the Samoan Teachers placed on the other side of the Harbour, and their

companions left. We killed the last foreigner that lived in Tanna before

you came here. We murdered the Aneityumese Teachers, and burned down

their houses. After each of these acts, Tanna was good; we all lived

like our fathers, and sickness and death left us. Now, our people are

determined to kill you, if you do not leave this island; for you are

changing our customs and destroying our worship, and we hate the Jehovah

Worship.”

Then, surrounded by a number of men, who had spent some years in the

Colonies, he continued in a bitter strain to this effect,—

“The people of Sydney belong to your Britain; they know what is right

and wrong as well as you; and we have ourselves seen them fishing,

feasting, cooking, working, and seeking pleasure on the Sabbath as on

any other day. You say, we do not here need to cook any food on Sabbaths

or to toil at our ovens, but you yourself cook, for you boil your kettle

on that day! We have seen the people do all the conduct at Sydney which

you call bad, but which we love. You are but one, they are many; they

are right, and you must be wrong; you are teaching lies for Worship.”

After many such speeches, I answered all the questions of the people

fully, and besides I cross-questioned my assailants on several subjects,

regarding which they grossly contradicted each other, till the majority

of voices cried out,—

“They are lying! Their words are crooked! Missi knows all the truth

about the people of Sydney!”

Alas, I had to admit that what they reported was too true regarding the

godless multitudes at home who made the Sabbath a day of pleasure, but

not regarding Jehovah’s servants. By this time, they were willing to

remain quiet, and allowed me to talk of spiritual things and of the

blessings that the Sabbath and the Bible brought to all other lands, and

to conduct in their presence and hearing the Worship of Jehovah.

But my enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my life,

however calmed or baffled for the moment. Within a few days of the above

events, when Natives in large numbers were assembled at my house, a man

furiously rushed on me with his axe; but a Kaserumini Chief snatched a

spade with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from

instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to

the Lord Jesus; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how attack might

be made; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the hand once nailed

on Calvary, and now swaying the sceptre of the Universe, calmness and

peace and resignation abode in my soul.

Next day, a wild Chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded

musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand.

I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been

there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would

protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing

prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt

immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes

strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow;

and they did tread swiftly upon each other’s heels. Without that abiding

consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour,

nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my

reason and perishing miserably. His words, “Lo, I am with you alway,

even unto the end of the world,” became to me so real that it would not

have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the

scene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, “I

can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” It is the

sober truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I

had my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed

Lord in those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being

levelled at my life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing “Him

who is invisible!”

One evening, I awoke three times to hear a Chief and his men trying to

force the door of my house. Though armed with muskets, they had some

sense of doing wrong, and were wholesomely afraid of a little retriever

dog which had often stood betwixt me and death. God restrained them

again; and next morning the report went all round the Harbour, that

those who tried to shoot me were “smitten weak with fear,” and that

shooting would not do. A plan was therefore deliberately set on foot to

fire the premises, and club us if we attempted to escape. But our

Aneityumese Teacher heard of it, and God helped us to frustrate their

designs. When they knew that their plots were revealed to us, they

seemed to lose faith in themselves, and cast about to circumvent us in

some more secret way. Their evil was overruled for good.

Namuri, one of my Aneityumese Teachers, was placed at our nearest

village. There he had built a house for himself and his wife, and there

he led amongst the Heathen a pure and humble Christian life. Almost

every morning, he came and reported on the state of affairs to me.

Without books or a school, he yet instructed the Natives in Divine

things, conducted the Worship, and taught them much by his good example.

His influence was increasing, when one morning a Sacred Man threw at him

the kawas, or killing stone, a deadly weapon, like a scythe stone in

shape and thickness, usually round but sometimes angular, and from

eighteen to twenty inches long. They throw it from a great distance and

with fatal precision. The Teacher, with great agility, warded his head

and received the deep cut from it in his left hand, reserving his right

hand to guard against the club that was certain to follow swiftly. The

Priest sprang upon him with his club and with savage yells. He evaded,

yet also received, many blows; and, rushing out of their hands, actually

reached the Mission House, bleeding, fainting, and pursued by howling

murderers. I had been anxiously expecting him, and hearing the noise I

ran out with all possible speed.

On seeing me, he sank down by a tree, and cried,—

“Missi, Missi, quick! and escape for your life! They are coming to kill

you; they say, they must kill us all to-day, and they have begun with

me; for they hate Jehovah and the Worship!”

I hastened to the good Teacher where he lay; I bound up, washed, and

dressed his wounds; and God, by the mystery of His own working, kept the

infuriated Tannese watching at bay. Gradually they began to disappear

into the bush, and we conveyed the dear Teacher to the Mission House. In

three or four weeks, he so far recovered by careful nursing that he was

able to walk about again. Some petitioned for him to return to the

village; but I insisted, as a preliminary, that the Harbour Chiefs

should unitedly punish him who had abused the Teacher; and this to test

them, for he had only carried out their own wishes,—Nowar excepted, and

perhaps one or two others. They made a pretence of atoning by presenting

the Teacher with a pig and some yams as a peace-offering; but I said,—

“No! such bad conduct must be punished, or we would leave their island

by the first opportunity.”

Now that Sacred Man, a Chief too, had gone on fighting with other

tribes, till his followers had all died or been slain; and, after three

weeks’ palaver, the other Chiefs seized him, tied him with a rope, and

sent me word to come and see him punished, as they did not want us after

all to leave the island. I had to go, for fear of more bloody work, and

after talk with them, followed by many fair promises, he was loosed.

All appearing friendly for some time, and willing to listen and learn,

the Teacher earnestly desired to return to his post. I pled with him to

remain at the Mission House till we felt more assured, but he replied,—

“Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when

the Missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder him, as they

now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have

remained Heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till,

by the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now the same God that

changed me to this, can change these poor Tannese to love and serve Him.

I cannot stay away from them; but I will sleep at the Mission House, and

do all I can by day to bring them to Jesus.”

It was not in me to keep such a man, under such motives, from what he

felt to be his post of duty. He returned to his village work, and for

several weeks things appeared most encouraging. The inhabitants showed

growing interest in us and our work, and less fear of the pretensions of

their heathen Priest, which, alas! fed his jealousy and anger. One

morning during worship, when the good Teacher knelt in prayer, the same

savage Priest sprang upon him with his great club and left him for dead,

wounded and bleeding and unconscious. The people fled and left him in

his blood, afraid of being mixed up with the murder. The Teacher,

recovering a little, crawled to the Mission House, and reached it about

mid-day in a dying condition. On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he

fell near the Teacher’s house, saying,—

“Missi, I am dying. They will kill you also. Escape for your life.”

Trying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and

nursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and

rejoicing that he would soon be with Him in Glory. His pain and

suffering were great, but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept

saying, “For the sake of Jesus! For Jesu’s sake!” He was constantly

praying for his persecutors,—

“O Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Oh,

take not away all Thy servants from Tanna! Take not away Thy Worship

from this dark island! O God, bring all the Tannese to love and follow

Jesus!”

To him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his death.

He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory of his

Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world’s esteem, I knew that a

great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would

take rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a coffin,

and dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many tears,

we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy

resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for

Dr. and Mrs. Geddie, whom God had honoured in bringing him to Jesus. May

they have many like him for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the

great day!

Immediately after this, a number of Chiefs and followers called on me at

the Mission House, professing great friendliness, and said,—

“Mr. Turner gave our fathers great quantities of calico, axes, and

knives, and they became his friends. If you would give the people some

just now they would be pleased. They would stop fighting against the

Worship.”

I retorted, “How was it then, if they were pleased, that they persecuted

Messrs. Turner and Nisbet till they had to leave the island? Your

conduct is deceitful and bad. I never will reward you for bad actions

and for murder! No present will be given by me.”

They withdrew sullenly, and seemed deeply disappointed and offended.

On one occasion, when a Chief had died, the Harbour people were all

being assembled to strangle his widow. One of my Aneityumese Teachers,

hearing of it, hastened to tell me. I ran to the village, and with much

persuasion, saved her life. A few weeks thereafter she gave birth to a

young chieftain, who prospered well. If our Harbour people told the

truth, the widows of all who fell in war were saved by our pleading.

Immediately after the foregoing incident, a Sacred Man was dying, and a

crowd of people were assembled awaiting the event in order to strangle

his three wives. I spoke to them of the horrid wickedness of such

conduct. I further reasoned with them, that God had made us male and

female, the sexes so balanced, that for every man that had three or a

dozen wives, as many men generally had none, and that this caused great

jealousy and quarrelling. I showed them further, that these widows being

spared would make happy and useful wives for other kind and loving

husbands. After the Worship, I appealed to the Chief and he replied,—

“Missi, it was a practice introduced to Tanna from the island of

Aneityum. It was not the custom of our fathers here to strangle widows.

And, as the Aneityumese have given it up since they became worshippers

of Jehovah, it is good that we now should give it up on Tanna too.”

Thus these three widows were saved; and we had great hope in Christ that

the ghastly practice would soon disappear from Tanna.

An incident of this time created great wonder amongst the Natives;

namely, the Sinking of a Well. We had, heretofore, a boiling spring to

drink from, the water of which literally required in that climate days

to cool down; we had also a stagnant pool at the lower end of a swamp in

which the Natives habitually bathed, the only available fresh water

bath! Beyond that, no drinking water could be had for six or seven

miles. I managed to sink a well, near the Mission House, and got about

twelve feet deep a good supply of excellent fresh water, though, strange

to say, the surface of the well rose and fell regularly with every tide!

This became the universal supply for us and for the Natives all round

the Harbour and for miles inland. Hundreds of Natives from all parts of

Tanna flocked to examine this greatest wonder they had ever seen—rain

rising up out of the earth. I built it round with a kind of stone

brought in my boat from the other side of the bay; and for many years it

was the only fresh water supply for the Natives all around. Some years

later a native Chief sank a well about a mile nearer the entrance to the

Harbour at his own village, and built it round with the bricks that I

had purchased for house-building; these he grabbed and thus

appropriated! Many a vessel, calling at the Harbour, was glad to get her

casks refilled at my well, and all were apparently more friendly because

of it; but the Sinking of this Well produced no such revolution as on

Aniwa,—to be hereafter related.

For fully three months, all our available time, with all the native help

which I could hire, was spent in erecting a building to serve for Church

and School. It was fifty feet long, by twenty-one feet six inches broad.

The studs were three feet apart, and all fixed by tenon and mortise into

upper and lower wall plates. The beautiful roof of iron, wood, and

sugar-cane leaf, was supported by three massive pillars of wood, sunk

deeply into the ground. The roof extended about three feet over the wall

plates, both to form a verandah and to carry the rain-drop free beyond

the walls. It was made of sugar-cane leaf and cocoa-nut leaves all

around. The floor was laid with white coral, broken small, and covered

with cocoa-nut leaf mats, such as those on which the Natives sat.

Indeed, it was as comfortable a House of Prayer as any man need wish for

in the tropics, though having only open spaces for doors and windows! I

bought the heavy wood for it on Aneityum—price, fifty pairs of native

trousers; and these again were the gift of my Bible Class in Glasgow,

all cut and sewed by their own hands. I gave also one hundred and thirty

yards of cloth, along with other things, for other needful wood.

My Tannese people at first opposed the erection of a Church. They did

not wish Jehovah to secure a House on their island. On the opening day,

only five men, three women, and three children were present, besides our

Aneityumese Teachers. But after the morning service, on that day, I

visited ten villages, and had worship in each. The people were generally

shy and unfriendly. They said that we were the cause of the prevailing

sickness and fever. They had no idea of any sickness or death being

natural, but believed that all such events were caused by some one

_nahaking_, _i.e._, bewitching them. Hence their incessant feuds; and

many were murdered in blind revenge.

As we were preparing a foundation for the Church, a huge and

singular-looking round stone was dug up, at sight of which the Tannese

stood aghast. The eldest Chief said,—

“Missi, that stone was either brought there by Karapanamun (the Evil

Spirit), or hid there by our great Chief who is dead. That is the Stone

God to which our forefathers offered human sacrifices; these holes held

the blood of the victim till drunk up by the Spirit. The Spirit of that

stone eats up men and women and drinks their blood, as our fathers

taught us. We are in greatest fear!”

A Sacred Man claimed possession, and was exceedingly desirous to carry

it off; but I managed to keep it, and did everything in my power to show

them the absurdity of these foolish notions. Idolatry had not, indeed,

yet fallen throughout Tanna, but one cruel idol, at least, had to give

way for the erection of God’s House on that benighted land.

An ever-memorable event was the printing of my first book in Tannese.

Thomas Binnie, Esq., Glasgow, gave me a printing-press and a font of

type. Printing was one of the things I had never tried, but having now

prepared a booklet in Tannese, I got my press into order, and began

fingering the type. But book-printing turned out to be for me a much

more difficult affair than house-building had been. Yet by dogged

perseverance I succeeded at last. My biggest difficulty was how to

arrange the pages properly! After many failures, I folded a piece of

paper into the number of leaves wanted, cut the corners, folding them

back, and numbering as they would be when correctly placed in the book;

then folding all back without cutting up the sheet, I found now by these

numbers how to arrange the pages in the frame or case for printing, as

indicated on each side. And do you think me foolish, when I confess that

I shouted in an ecstasy of joy when the first sheet came from the press

all correct? It was about one o’clock in the morning. I was the only

white man then on the island, and all the Natives had been fast asleep

for hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like

a schoolboy round and round that printing-press; till I began to think,

Am I losing my reason? Would it not be liker a Missionary to be upon my

knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever

printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me, that

was as true worship as ever was David’s dancing before the Ark of his

God! Nor think that I did not, over that first sheet of God’s Word ever

printed in the Tannese tongue, go upon my knees too, and then, and every

day since, plead with the mighty Lord to carry the light and joy of His

own Holy Bible into every dark heart and benighted home on Tanna! But

the Tannese had a superstitious dread of books, and especially of God’s

Book. I afterwards heard that Dr. Turner had printed a small primer in

Tannese, translated by the help of the Samoan Teachers; but this I never

saw till near the close of my work on Tanna. Dr. Geddie sent me a copy,

but it was more Samoan than Tannese, especially in its spelling, and I

could make little or nothing of it.

Shortly after this, I was greatly refreshed by the visit of an American

whaler, the _Camden Packet_, under Captain Allan. He, his chief officer,

and many of his double company of seamen, were decided Christians—a

great contrast to most of the Traders that had called at Port

Resolution. The Captain cordially invited me on board to preach and

conduct a religious service. That evening I enjoyed exceedingly—wells in

the desert! The Captain introduced me, saying,—

“This is my ship’s company. My first officer and most of my men are real

Christians, trying to love and serve Jesus Christ. We have been three

years out on this voyage, and are very happy with each other. You would

never hear or see worse on board of this vessel than you see now. And

God has given us gratifying success.”

He afterwards told me that he had a very valuable cargo of sperm oil on

board, the vessel being nearly filled up with it. He was eager to leave

supplies, or do something for me, but I needed nothing that he could

give. His mate, on examining my boat, found a hole in her, and several

planks split and bulged in, as I had gone down on a reef with her when

out on Mission work, and narrowly escaped drowning. Next morning, the

Captain, of his own accord, set his carpenter to repair the boat, and

left it as good as new. Not one farthing of recompense would any of them

take from me; their own Christian love rewarded them, in the

circumstances. I had been longing for a chance to send it to Sydney for

repairs, and felt deeply thankful for such unexpected and generous aid.

The Captain would not admit that the delay was any loss to him,—his

boats spending the day in purchasing cocoa-nuts and provisions from the

Natives for his own ship. Oh, how the Christlike spirit knits together

all true followers of Christ! What other earthly or human tie could have

so bound that stranger to me? In the heart of Christ we met as brothers.

Dangers again darkened round me. One day, while toiling away at my

house, the war Chief, his brother, and a large party of armed men

surrounded the plot where I was working. They all had muskets, besides

their own native weapons. They watched me for some time in silence, and

then every man levelled a musket straight at my head. Escape was

impossible. Speech would only have increased my danger. My eyesight came

and went for a few moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either Himself to

protect me, or to take me home to His Glory. I tried to keep working on

at my task, as if no one was near me. In that moment, as never before,

the words came to me,—“Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will do

it;” and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little from their first

position, no word having been spoken, they took up the same attitude

somewhat farther off, and seemed to be urging one another to fire the

first shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, and they

withdrew, leaving me with a new cause for trusting Him with all that

concerned me for Time and Eternity. Perils seemed, however, to enclose

me on every hand, and my life was frequently attempted. I had to move

about more cautiously than ever, some days scarcely daring to appear

outside my Mission premises. For I have ever most firmly believed, and

do believe, that only when we use every lawful and possible means for

the preservation of our life, which is God’s second greatest gift to man

(His Son being the first), can we expect God to protect us, or have we

the right to plead His precious promises.

The vessel of one calling himself Prince de Jean Beuve, a French

refugee, who had become a naturalized American, visited Port Resolution.

He said, he had to escape from his own country for political offences.

His large and beautiful ship was fitted up and armed like a Man-of-war.

She was manned chiefly by slaves, whom he ruled with an iron hand. What

a contrast to Captain Allan’s whaler! Yet he also was very sympathetic

and kind to me. Having heard rumour of my trials and dangers, he came on

shore, as soon as his ship cast anchor, with a body of armed men. He was

effusively polite, with all a Frenchman’s gush and gesticulation, and

offered to do anything possible for me. He would take me to Aneityum or

Sydney or wherever I wished. The ship was his own; he was sailing

chiefly for pleasure, and he had called at our Islands to see if

sufficient trade could be opened up to justify his laying on a line of

steamers to call here in their transit. He urged me, I believe

sincerely, to give him the pleasure of taking me and my belongings to

some place of safety. But I was restrained from leaving, through the

fear that I would never be permitted to return, and that Christ’s work

would suffer. In the still burning hope of being able to lead the

Tannese to love and serve Jesus, I declined with much gratitude his

genuine kindness. He looked truly sorry to leave me in the circumstances

wherein I was placed. After two hours on shore, he returned to his ship

towards evening.

Knowing that the Tannese were threatening to burn my former house, which

I wished to remove to higher ground and add to the room I now occupied

on the hill, I took advantage of the presence of the Prince’s vessel,

and set my Aneityumese Teachers and some friendly Natives to prepare for

the task; but unfortunately, I forgot to send word to the Frenchman

regarding my plans and aims. We removed the sugar-cane leaf thatch from

the roof of the house, and began burning it on cleared ground, so that I

might be able to save the heavy wood which could not be replaced on

Tanna. Our French friend, on seeing the flames rising up furiously, at

once loaded his heavy guns, and prepared his men for action. Under great

excitement, he came ashore with a large number of armed men, leaving the

rest on board ready at a given signal to protect them with shot and

shell. Leaving one half of those brought on shore to guard the boats, he

came running towards my house, followed by the other half, wet with

perspiration, and crying,—

“Fer are dey? fer are dey? De scoundrels! I vill do for dem, and protect

you. I sall punish dem, de scoundrels!”

He was so excited, he could scarcely compose himself to hear my

explanations, which, when understood, he laughed at heartily. He again

urged me to leave in his vessel; he could not bear me to lead such a

life amongst savages. I explained to him my reasons for not leaving the

island, but these he seemed unable to understand. He put his men through

drill on shore, and left them under officers, ready for action at a

moment’s warning, saying they would all be the better for a day on

shore. He wished to take pot luck with me at our Mission House of one

room for all purposes! My humble dinner and tea must have been anything

but a treat for him, but he seemed to relish the deliverance for once

from all the conventionalisms of the world. Before he left, he sent of

his own accord for all the Chiefs within reach, and warned them that if

they hurt me or took my life, he would return with his Man-of-war and

punish them, by killing themselves and firing their villages; and that a

British Man-of-war would also come and set their island on fire. They

promised all possible good conduct, being undoubtedly put into great

terror. The kind-hearted Frenchman left, with profuse expressions of

admiration for my courage and of pity for my lot. No doubt he thought me

a foolish dreamer of dreams.

A miserable contrast befell us in the bad impression produced by the

conduct of one of Captain T——’s vessels in the Sydney sandal-wood trade.

Whale-boats had been sent out with Mr. Copeland and myself from Glasgow,

as part of the necessary equipment of every Missionary on these Islands.

Mine being rather large and heavy, I had sold it to one of T——’s

captains; but the other had also been left to my care. After having used

my boat for about twelve months—the best boat in that trade only being

expected to last two years—the Captain called on Mr. Copeland, and got a

note from him to me regarding the sale of his boat too. He declared,

when calling on me, that Mr. Copeland had authorized him to get his boat

from me in exchange for mine, which he had now been using for a year. I

asked for the letter, and found it to be authority for me to sell his

boat for cash only and at the same price as mine. Captain V—— then raged

at me and stormed, declaring that he would return my old boat, and take

the other in defiance of me. Swearing dreadfully, he made for his ship,

and returned with a large party of men whom he had picked up amongst the

Islands. Collecting also a company of Tannese, and offering them

tobacco, he broke down the fence, burst into the boat-house, and began

to draw out the boat. Here I reached the spot, and sternly opposed them.

He swore and foamed at me, and before the natives knocked and pulled me

about, even kicking at me, though I evaded his blows. Standing by, I

said in Tannese,—

“You are helping that man to steal my boat; he is stealing it as you

see.”

On hearing this, the Tannese ran away, and his own party alone could not

do it. In great wrath, he went off again to his vessel, and brought on

shore as much tobacco as could be held in a large handkerchief tied by

the four corners; but even for that, our own Natives refused to help

him. He offered it then to a crowd of Inland savages, gathered at the

head of the bay, who, regardless of my remonstrances, launched the boat,

he raging at and all but striking me. Instead of returning, however, the

other boat to the house, he merely set it adrift from his vessel, and it

was carried on to the reef, where it remained fast, and was knocked

about by the waves. After his vessel left, I, with much difficulty, got

it off and brought it to the boat-house. Imagine, when such was their

tyrannical treatment of a Missionary and a British fellow-subject, how

they would act towards these poor native Islanders.

By the earliest opportunity, I wrote all the facts of the case to his

employer, Captain T—— of Sydney, but got not even a reply, while Captain

V—— continued in their trade, a scourge to these Islands, and a

dishonour to his country and to humanity. Unfriendly Tannese now said,—

“When a white man from his own country can so pull and knock the

Missionary about and steal his boat and chain without being punished for

it, we also may do as we please!”

I hesitate not to record my conviction that that man’s conduct had a

very bad effect, emboldening them in acts of dishonesty and in attempts

upon my life till the Mission Station was ultimately broken up. After I

had to escape from Tanna, with bare life in my hand, one of the same

Captain’s vessels called at Port Resolution and gave the Natives about

three pounds weight of useless tobacco, purchasable at Sydney for less

than one shilling per pound, to allow them to take away my boat, with

oars, sails, mast, and all other belongings. They also purchased all the

plunder from my house. Both boats were so large and so strongly built,

that by adding a plank or two they turned them into small-decked

schooners, admirably suited for the sandal-wood traffic round the

shores, while larger vessels lay at safe anchorage to receive what they

collected. Once, when Dr. Inglis and I met in Sydney, we called on

Captain T—— and stated the whole case, asking reasonable payment at

least for the boats. He admitted that the boats had been taken and were

in his service, and agreed to pay us for the boats if we would repay the

large sum invested therein by his Captains. Calling one of his clerks,

he instructed him to trace in the office record how much had been paid

to the Tannese for the Missionary’s boat.

The young man innocently returned the reply, “Three pounds of tobacco.”

In anger, he said, “I understood that a larger value had been given!”

The clerk assured him, “That is the only record.”

Captain T——, after discussing the worth of the boat as being about £80,

agreed to give us £60, but in writing out the cheque, threw down the pen

and shouted, “I’ll see you —— first!”

Offering £50, to which we agreed, he again resiled, and declared he

would not give a penny above £30.

We appealed to him to regard this as a debt of honour, and to cease

haggling over the price, as he well knew how we had been wronged in the

matter.

Finally we left him declaring, “I am building similar boats just now at

£25 apiece; I will send you one of them, and you may either take that or

want!”

We left, glad to get away on any terms from such a character; and,

though next year he did send one of his promised boats for me to

Aneityum, yet the conduct of his degraded servants engaged in the

sandal-wood trade had a great share in the guilt of breaking up and

ruining our Mission. Thousands upon thousands were made by it yearly, so

long as it lasted; but it was a trade steeped in human blood and

indescribable vice, nor could God’s blessing rest on them and their

ill-gotten gains. Oh, how often did we pray at that time to be delivered

from the hands of unreasonable and wicked men! Sandal-wood traders

murdered many of the Islanders when robbing them of their wood, and the

Islanders murdered many of them and their servants in revenge. White

men, engaged in the trade, also shot dead and murdered each other in

vicious and drunken quarrels, and not a few put end to their own lives.

I have scarcely known one of them who did not come to ruin and poverty;

the money that came even to the shipowners was a conspicuous curse.

Fools there made a mock at sin, thinking that no one cared for these

poor savages, but their sin did find them out, and God made good in

their experience His own irrepealable law, “The wages of sin is death.”

Ships, highly insured, were said to be sent into our Island trade to be

deliberately wrecked. One Sabbath evening, towards dark, the notorious

Captain H——, in command of a large ship, allowed her to drift ashore and

be wrecked without any apparent effort to save her. Next morning, the

whole company were wading about in the water and pretending to have lost

everything! The Captain, put in prison when he returned to Sydney for

running away with another man’s wife and property, imposed on Mr.

Copeland and myself, getting all the biscuits, flour, and blankets we

could spare for his destitute and shipwrecked company. We discovered

afterwards that she was lying on a beautiful bank of sand, only a few

yards from the shore, and that everything contained in her could be

easily rescued without danger to life or limb! What we parted with was

almost necessary for our life and health; of course he gave us an order

on Captain T—— for everything, but not one farthing was ever repaid. At

first he made a pretence of paying the Natives for food received; but

afterwards, an armed band went inland night by night and robbed and

plundered whatever came to hand. The Natives, seeing the food of their

children ruthlessly stolen, were shot down without mercy when they dared

to interfere; and the life of every white man was marked for speedy

revenge. Glad were we when a vessel called, and carried away these white

heathen Savages.

The same Captain T—— also began the shocking Kanaka labour-traffic to

the Colonies, after the sandal-wood trade was exhausted, which has since

destroyed so many thousands of the Natives in what was nothing less than

Colonial slavery, and has largely depopulated the Islands either

directly or indirectly. And yet he wrote, and published in Sydney, a

pamphlet declaring that he and his sandal-wooders and Kanaka labour

collectors had done more to civilize the Islanders than all our Mission

efforts combined. Civilize them, indeed! By spreading disease and vice,

misery and death amongst them, even at the best; at the worst, slaving

many of them till they perished at their toils, shooting down others

under one or other guilty pretence, and positively sweeping thousands

into an untimely grave. A common cry on their lips was,—

“Let them perish and let the white men occupy these Isles.”

It was such conduct as this, that made the Islanders suspect all

foreigners and hate the white man and seek revenge in robbery and

murder. One Trader, for instance, a sandal-wooder and collector of

Kanakas, living at Port Resolution, abominably ill-used a party of

Natives. They determined in revenge to plunder his store. The cellar was

underneath his house, and he himself slept above the trap-door by which

alone it could be entered. Night and day he was guarded by armed men,

Natives of adjoining islands, and all approaches to his premises were

watched by savage dogs that gave timely warning. He felt himself secure.

But the Tannese actually constructed a tunnel underground from the bush,

through which they rolled away tobacco, ammunition, etc., and nearly

emptied his cellar! My heart bled to see men so capable and clever thus

brutally abused and demoralized and swept away. By the Gospel, and the

civilization which it brings, they were capable of learning anything and

being trained to a useful and even noble manhood. But all influence that

ever I witnessed from these Traders was degrading, and dead against the

work of our Missions.

The Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and

most-to-be-trusted friend He was one of the nine or ten who were most

favourable to the Mission work, attending the Worship pretty regularly,

conducting it also in their own houses and villages, and making

generally a somewhat unstable profession of Christianity. One or more of

them often accompanied me on Sabbath, when going to conduct the Worship

at inland villages, and sometimes they protected me from personal

injury. This Nowar influenced the Harbour Chiefs and their people for

eight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favour of the

Worship of Jehovah. All were personally and specially invited, and it

was the largest Assembly of any kind that I ever witnessed on the

Islands.

When all was ready, Nowar sent a party of Chiefs to escort me and my

Aneityumese Teachers to the feast. Fourteen Chiefs, in turn, made

speeches to the assembled multitude; the drift of all being, that war

and fighting be given up on Tanna,—that no more people be killed by

nahak, for witchcraft and sorcery were lies,—that Sacred Men no longer

profess to make wind and rain, famine and plenty, disease and

death,—that the dark heathen talk of Tanna should cease, that all here

present should adopt the Worship of Jehovah as taught to them by the

Missionary and the Aneityumese,—and that all the banished Tribes should

be invited to their own lands to live in peace! These strange speeches

did not draw forth a single opposing voice. Doubtless these men were in

earnest, and had there been one master mind to rule and mould them,

their regeneration had dawned. Though for the moment a feeling of

friendliness prevailed, the Tannese were unstable as water and easily

swayed one way or the other. They are born talkers, and can and will

speechify on all occasions, but most of it means nothing, bears no

fruit.

After these speeches, a scene followed which gradually assumed shape as

an idolatrous ceremonial and greatly horrified me. It was in connection

with the immense quantity of food that had been prepared for the feast,

especially pigs and fowls. A great heap had been piled up for each Tribe

represented, and a handsome portion also set apart for the Missionary

and his Teachers. The ceremony was this, as nearly as I could follow it.

One hundred or so of the leading men marched into the large cleared

space in the centre of the assembled multitudes, and stood there facing

each other in equal lines, with a man at either end closing up the

passage between. At the middle they stood eight or ten feet apart,

gradually nearing till they almost met at either end. Amid tremendous

silence for a few moments all stood hushed; then every man kneeled on

his right knee, extended his right hand, and bent forward till his face

nearly touched the ground. Thereon the man at the one end began

muttering something, his voice rising ever louder as he rose to his

feet, when it ended in a fearful yell as he stood erect. Next the two

long lines of men, all in a body, went through the same ceremonial,

rising gradually to their feet, with mutterings deepening into a howl,

and heightening into a yell as they stood erect. Finally, the man at the

other end went through the same hideous forms. All this was thrice

deliberately repeated, each time with growing frenzy. And then, all

standing on their feet, they united as with one voice in what sounded

like music running mad up and down the scale, closing with a long,

deep-toned, hollow howl as of souls in pain. With smiles of joy, the men

then all shook hands with each other. Nowar and another Chief briefly

spoke, and the food was then divided and exchanged, a principal man of

each Tribe standing by to receive and watch his portion.

At this stage, Nowar and Nerwangi, as leaders, addressed the Teachers

and the Missionary to this effect:—

“This feast is held to move all the Chiefs and People here to give up

fighting, to become friends, and to worship your Jehovah God. We wish

you to remain, and to teach us all good conduct. As an evidence of our

sincerity, and of our love, we have prepared this pile of food for you.”

In reply, I addressed the whole multitude, saying how pleased I was with

their speeches and with the resolutions and promises which they all had

made. I further urged them to stick fast by these, and that grand fruits

would arise to their island, to themselves and to their children.

Having finished a brief address, I then walked forward to the very

middle of the circle, and laid down before them a bundle of stripes of

red calico and pieces of white calico, a number of fish-hooks, knives,

etc. etc., requesting the two Chiefs to divide my offering of goodwill

among the Tribes assembled, and also the pile of food presented to us,

as a token of my love and friendship to them all.

Their insisting upon me taking their present of food, laid upon me an

unpleasant and dangerous necessity of explaining my refusal. I again

thanked them very warmly, and explained that, as they had in my presence

given away all their food to an Idol God and asked his blessing on it as

a sacrifice, even to Karapanamun, the great Evil Spirit, my people and I

durst not and could not eat of it, for that would be to have fellowship

with their Idols and to dishonour Jehovah God. Christians could

acknowledge only the one true and living God, and ask His blessing on

their food, and offer it and themselves in thanksgiving unto Him, but

unto no cruel or evil Spirit. Yet I explained to them how much I thanked

them, and how I loved them just as much as if we had eaten all their

gifts, and how it would please us to see them all, along with my own

gifts, divided amongst their Tribes.

Not without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this

apparently unfriendly attitude. But I feared to seem even to approve of

any act of devil-worship, or to confirm them in it, being there to

discourage all such scenes, and to lead them to acknowledge only the

true God. I felt as if guilty and as if the hat were rising from my

head, when I heard them imprecating and appeasing their God, without

being able to show them the God of Love and the better way into His

presence through Jesus Christ. My opportunity to do so arose over the

refusal of the food offered unto Idols, and I told them of the claims of

Jehovah, the jealous God, who would not share His worship with any

other. But all the time I felt this qualm,—that it were better to eat

food with men who acknowledged some God and asked his blessing than with

those white Heathens at home, who asked the blessing of no God, nor

thanked Him, in this worse than the dog which licks the hand that feeds

it! Nowar and Nerwangi explained in great orations what I meant, and how

I wished all to be divided amongst the assembled Tribes to show my love.

With this, all seemed highly satisfied.

Heathen dances were now entered upon, their paint and feathers and

ornaments adding to the wildness of the scene. The men seemed to dance

in an inside ring, and the women in an outside ring, at a considerable

distance from each other. Music was supplied by singing and clapping of

hands. The order was perfect, and the figures highly intricate. But I

have never been able to associate dancing with things lovely and of good

report! After the dancing, all retired to the bush, and a kind of sham

fight followed on the public cleared ground. A host of painted savages

rushed in and took possession with songs and shoutings. From the bush,

on the opposite side, the chanting of women was heard in the distance,

louder and louder as they approached. Snatching from a burning fire

flaming sticks, they rushed on the men with these, beating them and

throwing burning pieces of wood among them, till with deafening yells

amongst themselves and amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, they

drove them from the space, and danced thereon and sang a song of

victory. The dancing and fighting, the naked painted figures, and the

constant yells and shoutings gave one a weird sensation, and suggested

strange ideas of Hell broken loose.

The final scene approached, when the men assisted their women to fill

all the allotted food into baskets, to be carried home and eaten there;

for the different Tribes do not sit down together and eat together as we

would do; their coming together is for the purpose of exchanging and

dividing the food presented. And now they broke into friendly confusion,

and freely walked about mingling with each other; and a kind of savage

rehearsal of Jonathan and David took place. They stripped themselves of

their fantastic dresses, their handsomely woven and twisted grass

skirts, leaf skirts, grass and leaf aprons; they gave away or exchanged

all these, and their ornaments and bows and arrows, besides their less

romantic calico and print dresses more recently acquired. The effusion

and ceremonial of the gifts and exchanges seemed to betoken a loving

people; and so they were for the feast—but that laid not aside a single

deadly feud, and streams of blood and cries of hate would soon efface

all traces of this day.

I had now six Stations, opened up and ministered to by Aneityumese

Teachers, at the leading villages along the coast, and forming links in

a chain towards the other Mission Establishment on Tanna. And there were

villages prepared to receive as many more. These Teachers had all been

cannibals once, yet, with one exception, they proved themselves to the

best of my judgment to be a band of faithful and devoted followers of

Christ. Their names were Abraham, Kowari, Nomuri, Nerwa, Lazarus, and

Eoufati. I visited them periodically and frequently, encouraging and

guiding them, as well as trying to interest the villagers in their

teaching and work. But, whenever war broke out they had all to return to

the Mission House, and sleep there for safety by night, visiting their

Stations, if practicable, by the light of day. My poor dear Teachers,

too, had to bear persecutions for Jesu’s sake, as the following incident

will sorrowfully prove.

A native woman, with some murderous purpose in her heart, pretended

great friendship to the excellent wife of one of my fellow-labourers.

She was specially effusive in bringing to her dishes of food from time

to time. Having thus gained confidence, she caught a little black fish

of those parts, known to be deadly poisonous, and baked it up in a mess

for the unsuspecting Teacher’s wife. On returning, she boasted of what

she had done, and thereon a friendly neighbour rushed off to warn the

other, but arrived just to learn that the fatal meal had been taken.

Beyond all reach of human skill, this unknown martyr for Christ died

soon after in great agony, and doubtless received her Master’s reward.

In helping to open up new Stations, those dear native Teachers often

bore the greatest hardships and indignities with a noble self-denial and

positively wonderful patience. Nothing known to men under Heaven could

have produced their new character and disposition, except only the grace

of God in Christ Jesus. Though still marred by many of the faults of

Heathenism, they were at the roots of their being literally new

creatures, trying, according to their best light, to live for and to

please their new Master, Jesus Christ. This shone out very conspicuously

in these two apostolic souls, Abraham and Kowari, as leaders among all

the devoted band.

Let me recall another occasion, on which I prevented a war. Early one

morning, the savage yells of warring Tribes woke me from sleep. They had

broken into a quarrel about a woman, and were fiercely engaged with

their clubs. According to my custom, I rushed in amongst them, and, not

without much difficulty, was blessed in separating them before deadly

wounds had been given or received. On this occasion, the Chiefs of both

Tribes, being very friendly to me, drove their people back from each

other at my earnest appeals. Sitting down at length within earshot, they

had it out in a wild scolding match, a contest of lung and tongue.

Meanwhile I rested on a canoe midway betwixt them, in the hope of

averting a renewal of hostilities. By-and-by an old Sacred Man, a Chief

called Sapa, with some touch of savage comedy in his breast, volunteered

an episode which restored good humour to the scene. Leaping up, he came

dancing and singing towards me, and there, to the amusement of all,

re-enacted the quarrel, and mimicked rather cleverly my attempt at

separating the combatants. Smashing at the canoe with his club, he

yelled and knocked down imaginary enemies; then, rushing first at one

party and then at the other, he represented me as appealing and

gesticulating and pushing them afar from each other, till he became

quite exhausted. Thereon he came and planted himself in great glee

beside me, and looked around as if to say,—“You must laugh, for I have

played.” At this very juncture, a loud cry of “Sail O!” broke upon our

ears, and all parties leapt to their feet, and prepared for a new

sensation; for in those climes, everything—war itself—is a smaller

interest than a vessel from the Great Unknown World sailing into your

Harbour.

Not many days thereafter, a very horrible transaction occurred. Before

daybreak, I heard shot after shot quickly discharged in the Harbour. One

of my Teachers came running, and cried,—

“Missi, six or seven men have been shot dead this morning for a great

feast. It is to reconcile Tribes that have been at war, and to allow a

banished Tribe to return in peace.”

I learned that the leading men had in council agreed upon this

sacrifice, but the name of each victim was kept a secret till the last

moment. The torture of suspense and uncertainty seemed to be borne by

all as part of their appointed lot, nor did they prepare as if

suspecting any dread assault. Before daylight, the Sacred Men allocated

a murderer to the door of each house where a victim slept. A signal shot

was fired; all rushed to their doors, and the doomed ones were shot and

clubbed to death as they attempted to escape. Their bodies were then

borne to a sacred tree, and hung up there by the hands for a time, as an

offering to the Gods. Being taken down, they were carried ceremoniously

and laid out on the shore near my house, placed under a special guard.

Information had reached me that my Teachers and I were also destined

victims for this same feast, and sure enough we espied a band of armed

men, the killers, despatched towards our premises. Instantaneously I had

the Teachers and their wives and myself securely locked into the Mission

House; and, cut off from all human hope, we set ourselves to pray to our

dear Lord Jesus, either Himself to protect us or to take us to His

glory. All through that morning and forenoon we heard them

tramp-tramping round our house, whispering to each other, and hovering

near window and door. They knew that there were a double-barrelled

fowling-piece and a revolver on the premises, though they never had seen

me use them, and that may, under God, have held them back in dread. But

such a thought did not enter our souls even in that awful time. I had

gone to save, and not to destroy. It would be easier for me at any time

to die than to kill one of them. Our safety lay in our appeal to that

blessed Lord who had placed us there, and to whom all power had been

given in Heaven and on Earth. He that was with us was more than all that

could be against us. This is strength; this is peace:—to feel, in

entering on every day, that all its duties and trials have been

committed to the Lord Jesus,—that, come what may, He will use us for His

own glory and our real good!

All through that dreadful morning, and far into the afternoon, we thus

abode together, feeling conscious that we were united to this dear Lord

Jesus, and we had sweet communion with Him, meditating on the wonders of

His person and the hopes and glories of His kingdom. Oh, that all my

readers may learn something of this in their own experience of the Lord!

I can wish them nothing more precious. Towards sundown, constrained by

the Invisible One, they withdrew from our Mission House, and left us

once more in peace. They bore away the slain to be cooked, and

distributed amongst the Tribes, and eaten in their feast of

reconciliation; a covenant sealed in blood, and soon, alas, to be buried

in blood again! For many days thereafter, we had to take unusual care,

and not unduly expose ourselves to danger; for dark characters were seen

prowling about in the bush near at hand, and we knew that our life was

the prize. We took what care we could, and God the Lord did the rest, or

rather He did all—for His wisdom guided us, and His power baffled them.

Shortly thereafter, war was again declared by the Inland people

attacking our Harbour people. It was an old quarrel; and the war was

renewed and continued, long after the cause thereof had passed away.

Going amongst them every day, I did my utmost to stop hostilities,

setting the evils of war before them, and pleading with the leading men

to renounce it. Thereon arose a characteristic incident of Island and

Heathen life. One day I held a Service in the village where morning

after morning their Tribes assembled, and declared that if they would

believe in and follow the Jehovah God, He would deliver them from all

their enemies and lead them into a happy life. There were present three

Sacred Men, Chiefs, of whom the whole population lived in

terror,—brothers or cousins, heroes of traditional feats, professors of

sorcery, and claiming the power of life and death, health and sickness,

rain and drought, according to their will. On hearing me, these three

stood up and declared they did not believe in Jehovah, nor did they need

His help, for they had the power to kill my life by Nahak (_i.e._,

sorcery or witchcraft), if only they could get possession of any piece

of the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an essential condition

of their black art; hence the peel of a banana or an orange, and every

broken scrap of food, is gathered up by the Natives, lest it should fall

into the hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for Nahak. This

superstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and terror upon

Tanna; and being thus challenged, I asked God’s help, and determined to

strike a blow against it. A woman was standing near with a bunch of

native fruit in her hand, like our plums, called quonquore. I asked her

to be pleased to give me some; and she, holding out a bunch, said,—

“Take freely what you will!”

Calling the attention of all the Assembly to what I was doing, I took

three fruits from the bunch, and taking a bite out of each, I gave them

one after another to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said in the

hearing of all,—

“You have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen me give the remainder

to your Sacred Men; they have said they can kill me by Nahak, but I

challenge them to do it if they can, without arrow or spear, club or

musket, for I deny that they have any power against me or against any

one by their Sorcery.”

The challenge was accepted; the Natives looked terror-struck at the

position in which I was placed! The ceremony of Nahak was usually

performed in secret,—the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans would

from the touch of the plague; but I lingered and eagerly watched their

ritual. As the three Chiefs arose, and drew near to one of the Sacred

Trees, to begin their ceremonial, the Natives fled in terror, crying,—

“Missi, away! Alas, Missi!”

But I held on at my post of observation. Amidst wavings and

incantations, they rolled up the pieces of the fruit from which I had

eaten, in certain leaves of this Sacred Tree into a shape like a waxen

candle; then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and continued

their mutterings, gradually burning a little more and a little more of

the candle-shaped things, wheeling them round their heads, blowing upon

them with their breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly at

me as if expecting my sudden destruction. Wondering whether after all

they did not believe their own lie, for they seemed to be in dead

earnest, I, more eager than ever to break the chains of such vile

superstition, urged them again and again, crying,—

“Be quick! Stir up your Gods to help you! I am not killed yet; I am

perfectly well!”

At last they stood up and said,—

“We must delay till we have called all our Sacred Men. We will kill

Missi before his next Sabbath comes round. Let all watch, for he will

soon die and that without fail.”

I replied, “Very good! I challenge all your Priests to unite and kill me

by Sorcery or Nahak. If on Sabbath next I come again to your village in

health, you will all admit that your Gods have no power over me, and

that I am protected by the true and living Jehovah God!”

For every day throughout the remainder of that week, the Conchs were

sounded, and over that side of the island all their Sacred Men were at

work trying to kill me by their arts. Now and again messengers arrived

from every quarter of the island, inquiring anxiously after my health,

and wondering if I was not feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed

amongst the poor deluded idolaters.

Sabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to that village in more

than my usual health and strength. Large numbers assembled, and when I

appeared they looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really

be I, myself, still spared and well. Entering into the public ground, I

saluted them to this effect,—

“My love to you all, my friends! I have come again to talk to you about

the Jehovah God and His Worship.”

The three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted that they had tried to

kill me by Nahak, but had failed; and on being questioned, why they had

failed, they gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself a

Sacred Man, and that my God being the stronger had protected me from

their Gods. Addressing the multitude, I answered thus,—

“Yea, truly; my Jehovah God is stronger than your Gods. He protected me,

and helped me; for He is the only living and true God, the only God that

can hear or answer any prayer from the children of men. Your Gods cannot

hear prayers, but my God can and will hear and answer you, if you will

give heart and life to Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God,

and He is also your friend if you will hear and follow His voice.”

Having said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and

addressed them,—

“Come and sit down all around me, and I will talk to you about the love

and mercy of my God, and teach you how to worship and please Him.”

Two of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the people gathered round

and seated themselves very quietly. I tried to present to them ideas of

sin, and of salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in the

Holy Scriptures.

The third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man of great stature and

uncommon strength, had meantime gone off for his warrior’s spear, and

returned brandishing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the

people,—

“Of course he can kill me with his spear, but he undertook to kill me by

Nahak or Sorcery, and promised not to use against me any weapons of war;

and if you let him kill me now, you will kill your friend, one who lives

among you and only tries to do you good, as you all know so well. I know

that if you kill me thus, my God will be angry and will punish you.”

Thereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the crowd, while he

leaped about in rage, scolding his brothers and all who were present for

listening to me. The other Sacred Men, however, took my side, and, as

many of the people also were friendly to me and stood closely packed

around me, he did not throw his spear. To allay the tumult and obviate

further bloodshed, I offered to leave with my Teachers at once, and, in

doing so, I ardently pled with them to live at peace. Though we got

safely home, that old Sacred Man seemed still to hunger after my blood.

For weeks thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly appear on the

path behind me, poising in his right hand that same Goliath spear. God

only kept it from being thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution,

had all the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were there,

leaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. This whole incident

did, doubtless, shake the prejudices of many as to Sorcery; but few even

of converted Natives ever get entirely clear of the dread of Nahak.

If not truly converted, the two Priests were fast friends of mine from

that day, as also another leading man in the same district. They also

received an Aneityumese Teacher to their village, protecting and showing

kindness to him; one of the Sacred Men who could speak his language

lived almost constantly with him, and some young people were allowed

daily to attend our School. These two and a number of others began to

wear a kilt, and some a shirt also. Three of them especially, if not

Christians, appeared to be not far from the Kingdom of God, and did all

that was in their power to protect and to assist me. A few began to pray

to Jehovah in their houses, offering a kind of rude family worship, and

breathing out such prayers and desires as I had taught them for the

knowledge of the true God and only Saviour. And these, as my companions,

accompanied me from place to place when I visited their district.

But let us return to the war. Many Chiefs and villages were now involved

in it; and a large part of the bush over the country between had been

consumed by fire, to prevent surprises. Yet, our Harbour people being

assembled one night for consultation, a number of the Inland warriors

crept near unobserved and discharged a volley of muskets amongst them.

Several were shot dead, and in the darkness and confusion the enemy got

clear away. Revenge and self-preservation now united our people as one

man, and every man assembled for action on the borders of the hostile

Tribes. I again visited them on the fighting ground. As I was seen

approaching, the two old Priests, my friends, came to receive and escort

me, protected by their clubs and muskets,—the one blind of an eye lost

in war marching before me, and the other behind me with poised spear and

mighty club. Seating me in a central position, they assembled all the

warriors, except the watchmen, and these savage men listened attentively

to my message, and bowed quietly during prayer. God only knows what may

be the fruit in some dark benighted soul! The whole host of them ceased

firing, till the two friendly Priests had again conveyed me safely

beyond the reach of danger.

Going among them frequently thus, they treated me with exceptional

kindness, till one Sabbath I determined to go over and talk with the

enemy also, in the hope of getting this sad war put an end to. Our

people were sternly opposed to this, not for fear of my safety, but lest

I prayed for the enemy and my God might help them in the war. But my two

friends, the old Priests, persuaded them to let me go, and to cease

their shooting till my return. They had an idea to buy, in this way, my

intercession with Jehovah exclusively on their behalf; but I explained

to them as on former occasions, that I was there for the good of all

alike, that I loved them all and sought to lead them to give up war and

bad conduct, for my God would hear and bless only those who feared and

loved and obeyed Him. I had a long interview with the enemies also,

arguing against the evils of war, and urging them to give it up. They

were so far friendly; they allowed me to have worship amongst them, and

I returned in safety before another musket was discharged on either

side. The war still went on, though more languidly; but after a time the

leaders entered into a kind of truce, and peace reigned for a season.

The other Mission Station, on the south-west side of Tanna, had to be

visited by me from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, there, were

both in a weak state of health, having a tendency to consumption. On

this account they visited Aneityum several times. They were earnestly

devoted to their work, and were successful so far as health and the time

allowed to them permitted. At this juncture, a message reached me that

they were without European food, and a request to send them a little

flour if possible. The war made the journey overland impossible. A

strong wind and a high sea round the coast rendered it impracticable for

my boat to go. The danger to life from the enemy was so great, that I

could not hire a crew. I pled therefore with Nowar and Manuman, and a

few leading men to take one of their best canoes, and themselves to

accompany me. I had a large flat-bottomed pot with a close-fitting lid,

and that I pressed full of flour; and, tying the lid firmly down, I

fastened it right in the centre of the canoe, and as far above

water-mark as possible. All else that was required we tied around our

own persons. Sea and land being as they were, it was a perilous

undertaking, which only dire necessity could have justified. They were

all good swimmers, but as I could not swim the strongest man was placed

behind me, to seize me and swim ashore, if a crash came.

Creeping round near the shore all the way, we had to keep just outside

the great breakers on the coral reef, and were all drenched through and

through with the foam of an angry surf. We arrived, however, in safety

within two miles of our destination, where lived the friends of my

canoe’s company, but where a very dangerous sea was breaking on the

reef. Here they all gave in, and protested that no further could they

go; and truly their toil all the way with the paddles had been severe. I

appealed to them, that the canoe would for certain be smashed if they

tried to get on shore, that the provisions would be lost, and some of us

probably drowned. But they turned to the shore, and remained for some

time thus, watching the sea. At last their Captain cried,—“Missi, hold

on! There’s a smaller wave coming; we’ll ride in now.”

[Illustration: THE DANGEROUS LANDING THROUGH THE SURF.]

My heart rose to the Lord in trembling prayer! The wave came rolling on;

every paddle with all their united strength struck into the sea; and

next moment our canoe was flying like a sea-gull on the crest of the

wave towards the shore. Another instant, and the wave had broken on the

reef with a mighty roar, and rushed passed us hissing in clouds of foam.

My company were next seen swimming wildly about in the sea, Manuman, the

one-eyed Sacred Man, alone holding on by the canoe, nearly full of

water, with me still clinging to the seat of it, and the very next wave

likely to devour us. In desperation, I sprang for the reef, and ran for

a man half-wading, half-swimming to reach us; and God so ordered it,

that just as the next wave broke against the silvery rock of coral, the

man caught me and partly swam with me through its surf, partly carried

me till I was set safely ashore. Praising God, I looked up and saw all

the others nearly as safe as myself, except Manuman, my friend, who was

still holding on by the canoe in the face of wind and sea, and bringing

it with him. Others ran and swam to his help. The paddles were picked up

amid the surf. A powerful fellow came towards me with the pot of flour

on his head, uninjured by water. The Chief who held on by the canoe got

severely cut about the feet, and had been badly bruised and knocked

about; but all the rest escaped without further harm, and everything

that we had was saved. Amongst friends, at last, they resolved to await

a favourable wind and tide to return to their own homes. Singing in my

heart unto God, I hired a man to carry the pot of flour, and soon

arrived at the Mission Station.

Supplying the wants of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, whom we

found as well as could be expected, we had to prepare, after a few hours

of rest, to return to our own Station by walking overland through the

night. I durst not remain longer away, lest my own house should be

plundered and broken into. Though weak in health, my fellow-Missionaries

were both full of hope, and zealous in their work, and this somewhat

strange visit was a pleasant blink amidst our darkness. Before I had

gone far on my return journey, the sun went down, and no Native could be

hired to accompany me. They all told me that I would for certain be

killed by the way. But I knew that it would be quite dark before I

reached the hostile districts, and that the Heathen are great cowards in

the dark and never leave their villages at night in the darkness, except

in companies for fishing and such-like tasks. I skirted along the

sea-shore as fast as I could, walking and running alternately; and, when

I got within hearing of voices, I slunk back into the bush till they had

safely passed, and then groped my way back near the shore, that being my

only guide to find a path.