THE BERITANI WAR-CANOES
“TAMATE” was the name by which the Rarotongans called Mr. Chalmers
when he first reached the island. The natives of New Guinea called
the British men-of-war “Beritani war-canoes.” While Mr. Chalmers was
at Port Moresby five of them came to New Guinea, and sailed about in
its waters. Up till this time the south-eastern part of the island had
always been left in the hands of the natives. If these men had been
as able to keep away other people as they were to kill each other, it
might have been left to them always. But although they were very clever
with their bows and spears, they could do little against men who fought
them with guns.
Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Lawes, and those like them, were not the only
foreigners who came to New Guinea. Some very cruel men came. They
wished to make a great deal of money, and they did not care how much
they hurt other people in order to make it.
When they came to the island they bought land as Tamate did, but they
did not pay for it as he had done. Sometimes they bought a large piece
of ground, and gave the worth of one penny for it. The natives did not
know what their land was worth, so they were willing to let it go for
almost nothing. The strangers did not always take trouble to find out
who really owned the land. They bought it from those who had no right
to sell it.
But they did a very much more cruel thing than that. They tempted the
natives to go away with them to work and to get many things they wished
in payment for the work. The traders made the natives think they meant
to bring them back in “three moons.” Some of the men of New Guinea
thought it would be nice to come home rich men in so short a time, and
went with them. But three months, and six months, and a year passed,
and still they did not return. Their friends at last mourned for them
as dead, and gave the things that had been theirs to others. Often the
natives were so angry, when they found out what had been done, that
they killed other white men who did not wish to harm them.
Tamate had been in New Guinea for some years. By his kindness to the
natives, he had made it more possible for strangers to trade there. But
many sad things were happening. White men were cruel to natives, and
natives were cruel to white men. Often both white men and dark killed
people who had not hurt them, because they hated the whole race for
what single men of it had done.
Every one who knew about it felt that this must not go on, and England
sent her men-of-war to take Southern New Guinea under her care. She
did not take it for her own. She only said that she would try to keep
people from doing very wicked things there, and that she would punish
those who were unjust and cruel to others, whether they were natives of
New Guinea or not.
But the officers on board the men-of-war did not know the languages
of New Guinea. They could not tell the natives why they were there
nor what they wished to do. They asked Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Lawes to
go with them to let the natives know why it was that the “Beritani
war-canoes” had sailed to New Guinea.
One day all the chiefs that could be brought together from the tribes
near, met on board the war-ship _Nelson_ in the bay outside of Port
Moresby. They feasted there together, and then returned to the village.
But the doings of the day were not over. Two of the big guns began
to fire, and the natives danced with surprise. When darkness fell,
search-lights gleamed and glanced round the bay. They fell on the
far-off mountains and on the palm groves, and lighted up each creek and
cranny on the shore. They fell on the quaint houses of Port Moresby,
and on the dark faces of the startled natives. Then came the shriek of
the syren. It leapt about like an uncanny thing, and seemed to come now
from the plashing waves and now from the depths of the forest. Dogs and
men fled alike from the noise of it into the darkest corners of their
homes. Then the quiet of night fell on the village and on the “Beritani
war-canoes.”
Next morning the officers of H.M.S. _Nelson_ landed and marched to Mr.
Lawes’ house. Hundreds of black eyes watched them, and hundreds of ears
listened with delight to the music of the band.
The Union Jack was hoisted close to the house. After that Commodore
Erskine read a paper, which told what Britain would do for New Guinea,
and what she wished New Guinea to do for her.
The chiefs did not know what the Commodore read, but Mr. Lawes said it
all over to them in their own language.
Though Commodore Erskine was there in order to tell the men of New
Guinea what Britain wished, he could not be long with Mr. Chalmers and
Mr. Lawes without caring about their work too.
One afternoon, when his ship was in the bay, he came ashore to see the
school. The village bell began to ring. It did not hang in a church
tower, nor over the door of the school, but from the branch of a tree.
One hundred and twenty boys and girls pattered into a long cool room.
The walls and roof were made of plaited palm leaves, and the air
could get in while the hot sunshine had to stay outside. The children
answered many questions. They knew where their own home lay on the map,
and they thought of other places as near it, or far from it, for New
Guinea was the centre of the world to them.
They sang “Auld Lang Syne,” and “God Save the Queen,” and afterwards
they bowed their heads, and said, “Our Father which art in heaven.”
They did not say it in words that Commodore Erskine knew, but with
reverence and trust which are the same all over the world.
The Commodore would have liked to give the children sweets and
chocolates, but he gave them something that they liked much better.
Each of them bounded away with a string of beads, a bit of tobacco, and
a fish-hook!
At many other villages in New Guinea the people were told why the
“Beritani war-canoes” had come to their shores, and why the Union Jack
was hoisted.
At one place there was great joy because one of the war-ships brought
back seventeen men who had been tempted away by traders. One was a
chief, an older man than most of those who had gone. He sat gazing from
the ship while a canoe came from the shore. The two men in it climbed
up into the ship. Then there was a rush and a cry, and the three
natives were together. One of the men in the boat was the brother of
the old chief. He had thought he would never see him again, and now
they were together, weeping and rubbing noses, which was their way of
kissing.
But although the villagers were glad to see their friends again, some
were full of sorrow. Many had gone away and only seventeen had been
brought back. They gathered round Tamate and said:
“Where are the other boys? You have brought joy to some homes, but
others are left in sorrow.”
Mr. Chalmers wished them to go with him on the war-ship to tell
Commodore Erskine of their friends. The _Nelson_, on which the
Commodore sailed, was then at another part of the island. But the
natives were far too frightened to go. One, who had a son away, was
willing to give anything he had if the ships would only go quickly to
bring back his boy.
“Now go to-day, and we will fill the ship with pigs,” he said.
“Well, come and see the Commodore and tell him you want your son back.”
“No! white fellow speak three moons, no bring him again. You go bring
fellow boy back.”
The screw gave a sudden turn. The native darted overboard into his
canoe. He thought he was going to be carried off by force. When he saw
the water rippling between his canoe and the great war-ship, he shouted:
“Bring boy back!”