The voyage--The island, and a consultation in which danger is scouted
as a thing unworthy of consideration--Rats and cats--The native
teacher--Awful revelations--Wonderful effects of Christianity.
Our voyage during the next two weeks was most interesting and
prosperous. The breeze continued generally fair, and at all times
enabled us to lie our course; for being, as I have said before,
clipper-built, the pirate schooner could lie very close to the wind and
make little leeway. We had no difficulty now in managing our sails, for
Jack was heavy and powerful, while Peterkin was active as a kitten.
Still, however, we were a very insufficient crew for such a vessel, and
if any one had proposed to us to make such a voyage in it before we had
been forced to go through so many hardships from necessity, we would
have turned away with pity from the individual making such proposal as
from a madman. I pondered this a good deal, and at last concluded that
men do not know how much they are capable of doing till they try, and
that we should never give way to despair in any undertaking, however
difficult it may seem--always supposing, however, that our cause is a
good one, and that we can ask the Divine blessing on it.
Although, therefore, we could now manage our sails easily, we
nevertheless found that my pulleys were of much service to us in some
things; though Jack did laugh heartily at the uncouth arrangement of
ropes and blocks, which had, to a sailor's eye, a very lumbering and
clumsy appearance. But I will not drag my reader through the details of
this voyage. Suffice it to say that, after an agreeable sail of about
three weeks, we arrived off the island of Mango, which I recognised at
once from the description that the pirate Bill had given me of it
during one of our conversations.
As soon as we came within sight of it we hove the ship to and held a
council of war.
"Now, boys," said Jack, as we seated ourselves beside him on the cabin
skylight, "before we go further in this business, we must go over the
pros and cons of it; for although you have so generously consented to
stick by me through thick and thin, it would be unfair did I not see
that you thoroughly understand the danger of what we are about to
attempt."
"Oh, bother the danger!" cried Peterkin. "I wonder to hear you, Jack,
talk of danger. When a fellow begins to talk about it, he'll soon come
to magnify it to such a degree that he'll not be fit to face it when it
comes, no more than a suckin' baby."
"Nay, Peterkin," replied Jack gravely, "I won't be jested out of it. I
grant you that when we've once resolved to act, and have made up our
minds what to do, we should think no more of danger. But before we have
so resolved it behoves us to look it straight in the face, and examine
into it, and walk round it; for if we flinch at a distant view, we're
sure to run away when the danger is near.--Now, I understand from you,
Ralph, that the island is inhabited by thorough-going, out-and-out
cannibals, whose principal law is, 'Might is right, and the weakest
goes to the wall'?"
"Yes," said I; "so Bill gave me to understand. He told me, however,
that at the southern side of it the missionaries had obtained a footing
amongst an insignificant tribe. A native teacher had been sent there by
the Wesleyans, who had succeeded in persuading the chief at that part
to embrace Christianity. But instead of that being of any advantage to
our enterprise, it seems the very reverse; for the chief Tararo is a
determined heathen, and persecutes the Christians--who are far too weak
in numbers to offer any resistance--and looks with dislike upon all
white men, whom he regards as propagators of the new faith."
"Tis a pity," said Jack, "that the Christian tribe is so small, for we
shall scarcely be safe under their protection, I fear. If Tararo takes
it into his head to wish for our vessel, or to kill ourselves, he could
take us from them by force. You say that the native missionary talks
English?"
"So I believe."
"Then, what I propose is this," said Jack. "We will run round to the
south side of the island, and cast anchor off the Christian village. We
are too far away just now to have been descried by any of the savages,
so we shall get there unobserved, and have time to arrange our plans
before the heathen tribes know of our presence. But in doing this we
run the risk of being captured by the ill-disposed tribes, and being
very ill used, if not-a--"
"Roasted alive and eaten," cried Peterkin. "Come, out with it, Jack.
According to your own showing, it's well to look the danger straight in
the face!"
"Well, that is the worst of it, certainly. Are you prepared, then, to
take your chance of that?"
"I've been prepared and had my mind made up long ago," cried Peterkin,
swaggering about the deck with his hands thrust into his breeches
pockets. "The fact is, Jack, I don't believe that Tararo will be so
ungrateful as to eat us; and I'm quite sure that he'll be too happy to
grant us whatever we ask, so the sooner we go in and win the better."
Peterkin was wrong, however, in his estimate of savage gratitude, as
the sequel will show.
The schooner was now put before the wind, and after making a long run
to the southward, we put about and beat up for the south side of Mango,
where we arrived before sunset, and hove-to off the coral reef. Here we
awaited the arrival of a canoe, which immediately put off on our
rounding-to. When it arrived, a mild-looking native, of apparently
forty years of age, came on board, and, taking off his straw hat, made
us a low bow. He was clad in a respectable suit of European clothes;
and the first words he uttered, as he stepped up to Jack and shook
hands with him, were--
"Good day, gentlemen. We are happy to see you at Mango; you are
heartily welcome."
After returning his salutation, Jack exclaimed, "You must be the native
missionary teacher of whom I have heard; are you not?"
"I am. I have the joy to be a servant of the Lord Jesus at this
station."
"You're the very man I want to see, then," replied Jack; "that's lucky.
Come down to the cabin, friend, and have a glass of wine. I wish
particularly to speak with you. My men there," pointing to Peterkin and
me, "will look after your people."
"Thank you," said the teacher, as he followed Jack to the cabin; "I do
not drink wine, or any strong drink."
"Oh! then there's lots of water, and you can have biscuit."
"Now, 'pon my word, that's cool!" said Peterkin; "his _men_, forsooth!
Well, since we are to be men, we may as well come it as strong over
these black chaps as we can.--Hallo, there!" he cried to the half-dozen
of natives who stood upon the deck, gazing in wonder at all they saw,
"here's for you;" and he handed them a tray of broken biscuit and a can
of water. Then, thrusting his hands into his pockets, he walked up and
down the deck with an enormous swagger, whistling vociferously.
In about half-an-hour Jack and the teacher came on deck, and the
latter, bidding us a cheerful good-evening, entered his canoe and
paddled to the shore. When he was gone, Peterkin stepped up to Jack,
and, touching his cap, said--
"Well, captain, have you any communications to make to your _men?_"
"Yes," cried Jack; "ready about, mind the helm, and clew up your
tongue, while I con the schooner through the passage in the reef. The
teacher, who seems a first-rate fellow, says it's quite deep, and good
anchorage within the lagoon close to the shore."
While the vessel was slowly advancing to her anchorage, under a light
breeze, Jack explained to us that Avatea was still on the island,
living amongst the heathens; that she had expressed a strong desire to
join the Christians, but Tararo would not let her, and kept her
constantly in close confinement.
"Moreover," continued Jack, "I find that she belongs to one of the
Samoan Islands, where Christianity had been introduced long before her
capture by the heathens of a neighbouring island; and the very day
after she was taken she was to have joined the Church which had been
planted there by that excellent body the London Missionary Society. The
teacher tells me, too, that the poor girl has fallen in love with a
Christian chief, who lives on an island some fifty miles or so to the
south of this one, and that she is meditating a desperate attempt at
escape. So, you see, we have come in the nick of time. I fancy that
this chief is the fellow whom you heard of, Ralph, at the Island of
Emo. Besides all this, the heathen savages are at war among themselves,
and there's to be a battle fought the day after to-morrow, in which the
principal leader is Tararo; so that we'll not be able to commence our
negotiations with the rascally chief till the day after."
The village off which we anchored was beautifully situated at the head
of a small bay, from the margin of which trees of every description
peculiar to the tropics rose in the richest luxuriance to the summit of
a hilly ridge, which was the line of demarcation between the
possessions of the Christians and those of the neighbouring heathen
chief.
The site of the settlement was an extensive plot of flat land,
stretching in a gentle slope from the sea to the mountain. The cottages
stood several hundred yards from the beach, and were protected from the
glare of the sea by the rich foliage of rows of large Barringtonia and
other trees which girt the shore. The village was about a mile in
length, and perfectly straight, with a wide road down the middle, on
either side of which were rows of the tufted-topped ti tree, whose
delicate and beautiful blossoms, hanging beneath their plume-crested
tops, added richness to the scene. The cottages of the natives were
built beneath these trees, and were kept in the most excellent order,
each having a little garden in front, tastefully laid out and planted,
while the walks were covered with black and white pebbles.
Every house had doors and Venetian windows, painted partly with
lamp-black made from the candle-nut, and partly with red ochre, which
contrasted powerfully with the dazzling coral lime that covered the
walls. On a prominent position stood a handsome church, which was quite
a curiosity in its way. It was a hundred feet long by fifty broad, and
was seated throughout to accommodate upwards of two thousand persons.
It had six large folding doors, and twelve windows with Venetian
blinds; and although a large and substantial edifice, it had been
built, we were told by the teacher, in the space of two months! There
was not a single iron nail in the fabric, and the natives had
constructed it chiefly with their stone and bone axes and other tools,
having only one or two axes or tools of European manufacture.
Everything around this beautiful spot wore an aspect of peace and
plenty; and as we dropped our anchor within a stone's cast of the
substantial coral wharf, I could not avoid contrasting it with the
wretched village of Emo, where I had witnessed so many frightful
scenes. When the teacher afterwards told me that the people of this
tribe had become converts only a year previous to our arrival, and that
they had been living before that in the practice of the most bloody
system of idolatry, I could not refrain from exclaiming, "What a
convincing proof that Christianity is of God!"
On landing from our little boat, we were received with a warm welcome
by the teacher and his wife; the latter being also a native, clothed in
a simple European gown and a straw bonnet. The shore was lined with
hundreds of natives, whose persons were all more or less clothed with
native cloth. Some of the men had on a kind of poncho formed of this
cloth, their legs being uncovered; others wore clumsily fashioned
trousers, and no upper garment except hats made of straw and cloth.
Many of the dresses, both of women and men, were grotesque enough,
being very bad imitations of the European garb; but all wore a dress of
some sort or other. They seemed very glad to see us, and crowded round
us as the teacher led the way to his dwelling, where we were
entertained, in the most sumptuous manner, on baked pig and all the
varieties of fruits and vegetables that the island produced. We were
much annoyed, however, by the rats: they seemed to run about the house
like domestic animals. As we sat at table, one of them peeped up at us
over the edge of the cloth, close to Peterkin's elbow, who floored it
with a blow on the snout from his knife, exclaiming as he did so--
"I say, Mister Teacher, why don't you set traps for these brutes?
Surely you are not fond of them!"
"No," replied the teacher with a smile; "we would be glad to get rid of
them if we could; but if we were to trap all the rats on the island, it
would occupy our whole time."
"Are they, then, so numerous?" inquired Jack.
"They swarm everywhere. The poor heathens on the north side eat them,
and think them very sweet. So did my people formerly; but they do not
eat so many now, because the missionary who was last here expressed
disgust at it. The poor people asked if it was wrong to eat rats; and
he told them that it was certainly not wrong, but that the people of
England would be much disgusted were they asked to eat rats."
We had not been an hour in the house of this kind-hearted man when we
were convinced of the truth of his statement as to their numbers; for
the rats ran about the floors in dozens, and during our meal two men
were stationed at the table to keep them off!
"What a pity you have no cats!" said Peterkin, and he aimed a blow at
another reckless intruder, and missed it.
"We would indeed be glad to have a few," rejoined the teacher, "but
they are difficult to be got. The hogs, we find, are very good
rat-killers, but they do not seem to be able to keep the numbers down.
I have heard that they are better than cats."
As the teacher said this, his good-natured black face was wrinkled with
a smile of merriment. Observing that I had noticed it, he said--
"I smiled just now when I remembered the fate of the first cat that was
taken to Rarotonga. This is one of the stations of the London
Missionary Society. It, like our own, is infested with rats, and a cat
was brought at last to the island. It was a large black one. On being
turned loose, instead of being content to stay among men, the cat took
to the mountains, and lived in a wild state, sometimes paying visits
during the night to the houses of the natives; some of whom, living at
a distance from the settlement, had not heard of the cat's arrival, and
were dreadfully frightened in consequence, calling it a 'monster of the
deep,' and flying in terror away from it. One night the cat--feeling a
desire for company, I suppose--took its way to the house of a chief who
had recently been converted to Christianity, and had begun to learn to
read and pray. The chief's wife, who was sitting awake at his side
while he slept, beheld with horror two fires glistening in the doorway,
and heard with surprise a mysterious voice. Almost petrified with fear,
she awoke her husband, and began to upbraid him for forsaking his old
religion and burning his god, who, she declared, was now come to be
avenged of them. 'Get up and pray! get up and pray!' she cried. The
chief arose, and on opening his eyes beheld the same glaring lights and
heard the same ominous sound. Impelled by the extreme urgency of the
case, he commenced, with all possible vehemence, to vociferate the
alphabet, as a prayer to God to deliver them from the vengeance of
Satan! On hearing this, the cat, as much alarmed as themselves, fled
precipitately away, leaving the chief and his wife congratulating
themselves on the efficacy of their prayer."
We were much diverted with this anecdote, which the teacher related in
English so good that we certainly could not have supposed him a native
but for the colour of his face and the foreign accent in his tone. Next
day we walked out with this interesting man, and were much entertained
and instructed by his conversation, as we rambled through the cool,
shady groves of bananas, citrons, limes, and other trees, or sauntered
among the cottages of the natives, and watched them while they laboured
diligently in the taro beds or manufactured the tapa or native cloth.
To some of these Jack put questions through the medium of the
missionary; and the replies were such as to surprise us at the extent
of their knowledge. Indeed, Peterkin very truly remarked that "they
seemed to know a considerable deal more than Jack himself!"
Among other pieces of interesting information that we obtained was the
following, in regard to coral formations:--
"The islands of the Pacific," said our friend, "are of three different
kinds or classes. Those of the first class are volcanic, mountainous,
and wild; some shooting their jagged peaks into the clouds at an
elevation of ten and fifteen thousand feet. Those of the second class
are of crystallised limestone, and vary in height from one hundred to
five hundred feet. The hills on these are not so wild or broken as
those of the first class, but are richly clothed with vegetation, and
very beautiful. I have no doubt that the Coral Island on which you were
wrecked was one of this class. They are supposed to have been upheaved
from the bottom of the sea by volcanic agency, but they are not
themselves volcanic in their nature, neither are they of coral
formation. Those of the third class are the low coralline islands,
usually having lagoons of water in their midst; they are very numerous.
"As to the manner in which coral islands and reefs are formed, there
are various opinions on this point. I will give you what seems to me
the most probable theory--a theory, I may add, which is held by some of
the good and scientific missionaries. It is well known that there is
much lime in salt water; it is also known that coral is composed of
lime. It is supposed that the polypes, or coral insects, have the power
of attracting this lime to their bodies; and with this material they
build their little cells or habitations. They choose the summit of a
volcano, or the top of a submarine mountain, as a foundation on which
to build; for it is found that they never work at any great depth below
the surface. On this they work; the polypes on the mountain top, of
course, reach the surface first, then those at the outer edges reach
the top sooner than the others between them and the centre, thus
forming the coral reef surrounding the lagoon of water and the central
island; after that the insects within the lagoon cease working. When
the surface of the water is reached, these myriads of wonderful
creatures die. Then birds visit the spot, and seeds are thus conveyed
thither, which take root, and spring up, and flourish. Thus are
commenced those coralline islets of which you have seen so many in
these seas. The reefs round the large islands are formed in a similar
manner. When we consider," added the missionary, "the smallness of the
architects used by our heavenly Father in order to form those lovely
and innumerable islands, we are filled with much of that feeling which
induced the ancient king to exclaim, 'How manifold, O Lord, are Thy
works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all.'"
We all heartily agreed with the missionary in this sentiment, and felt
not a little gratified to find that the opinions which Jack and I had
been led to form from personal observation on our Coral Island were
thus to a great extent corroborated.
The missionary also gave us an account of the manner in which
Christianity had been introduced among them. He said: "When
missionaries were first sent here, three years ago, a small vessel
brought them; and the chief, who is now dead, promised to treat well
the two native teachers who were left with their wives on the island.
But scarcely had the boat which landed them returned to the ship, than
the natives began to maltreat their guests, taking away all they
possessed, and offering them further violence, so that, when the boat
was sent in haste to fetch them away, the clothes of both men and women
were torn nearly off their backs.
"Two years after this the vessel visited them again, and I, being in
her, volunteered to land alone, without any goods whatever, begging
that my wife might be brought to me the following year--that is, _this_
year; and, as you see, she is with me. But the surf was so high that
the boat could not land me; so with nothing on but my trousers and
shirt, and with a few catechisms and a Bible, besides some portions of
the Scripture translated into the Mango tongue, I sprang into the sea,
and swam ashore on the crest of a breaker. I was instantly dragged up
the beach by the natives; who, on finding I had nothing worth having
upon me, let me alone. I then made signs to my friends in the ship to
leave me; which they did. At first the natives listened to me in
silence, but laughed at what I said while I preached the Gospel of our
blessed Saviour Jesus Christ to them. Afterwards they treated me ill
sometimes; but I persevered, and continued to dwell among them, and
dispute, and exhort them to give up their sinful ways of life, burn
their idols, and come to Jesus.
"About a month after I landed, I heard that the chief was dead. He was
the father of the present chief, who is now a most consistent member of
the Church. It is a custom here that when a chief dies his wives are
strangled and buried with him. Knowing this, I hastened to his house to
endeavour to prevent such cruelty if possible. When I arrived, I found
two of the wives had already been killed, while another was in the act
of being strangled. I pleaded hard for her, but it was too late; she
was already dead. I then entreated the son to spare the fourth wife,
and after much hesitation my prayer was granted; but in half-an-hour
afterwards this poor woman repented of being unfaithful, as she termed
it, to her husband, and insisted on being strangled; which was
accordingly done.
"All this time the chief's son was walking up and down before his
father's house with a brow black as thunder. When he entered I went in
with him, and found, to my surprise, that his father was _not_ dead!
The old man was sitting on a mat in a corner, with an expression of
placid resignation on his face.
"'Why,' said I, 'have you strangled your father's wives before he is
dead?'
"To this the son replied, 'He is dead. That is no longer my father. He
is as good as dead now. He is to be _buried alive_.'
"I now remembered having heard that it is a custom among the Feejee
Islanders, that when the reigning chief grows old or infirm, the heir
to the chieftainship has a right to depose his father; in which case he
is considered as dead, and is buried alive. The young chief was now
about to follow this custom, and despite my earnest entreaties and
pleadings, the old chief was buried that day before my eyes in the same
grave with his four strangled wives! Oh, my heart groaned when I saw
this! and I prayed to God to open the hearts of these poor creatures,
as He had already opened mine, and pour into them the light and the
love of the Gospel of Jesus. My prayer was answered very soon. A week
afterwards, the son, who was now chief of the tribe, came to me,
bearing his god on his shoulders, and groaning beneath its weight.
Flinging it down at my feet, he desired me to burn it!
"You may conceive how overjoyed I was at this. I sprang up and embraced
him, while I shed tears of joy. Then we made a fire, and burned the god
to ashes, amid an immense concourse of the people, who seemed terrified
at what was being done, and shrank back when we burned the god,
expecting some signal vengeance to be taken upon us; but seeing that
nothing happened, they changed their minds, and thought that our God
must be the true one after all. From that time the mission prospered
steadily; and now, while there is not a single man in the tribe who has
not burned his household gods and become a convert to Christianity,
there are not a few, I hope, who are true followers of the Lamb, having
been plucked as brands from the burning by Him who can save unto the
uttermost. I will not tell you more of our progress at this time; but
you see," he said, waving his hand around him, "the village and the
church did not exist a year ago!"
We were indeed much interested in this account, and I could not help
again in my heart praying to God to prosper those missionary societies
that send such inestimable blessings to these islands of dark and
bloody idolatry. The teacher also added that the other tribes were very
indignant at this one for having burned its gods, and threatened to
destroy it altogether, but they had done nothing yet. "And if they
should," said the teacher, "the Lord is on our side; of whom shall we
be afraid?"
"Have the missionaries many stations in these seas?" inquired Jack.
"Oh yes. The London Missionary Society have a great many in the Tahiti
group, and other islands in that quarter. Then the Wesleyans have the
Feejee Islands all to themselves, and the Americans have many stations
in other groups. But still, my friend, there are hundreds of islands
here the natives of which have never heard of Jesus, or the good word
of God, or the Holy Spirit; and thousands are living and dying in the
practice of those terrible sins and bloody murders of which you have
already heard. I trust, my friends," he added, looking earnestly into
our faces--"I trust that if you ever return to England, you will tell
your Christian friends that the horrors which they hear of in regard to
these islands are _literally true,_ and that when they have heard the
worst, the _'half has not been told them;'_ for there are perpetrated
here foul deeds of darkness of which man may not speak. You may also
tell them," he said, looking around with a smile, while a tear of
gratitude trembled in his eye and rolled down his coal-black
cheek--"tell them of the blessings that the Gospel has wrought _here_!"
We assured our friend that we would certainly not forget his request.
On returning towards the village, about noon, we remarked on the
beautiful whiteness of the cottages.
"That is owing to the lime with which they are plastered," said the
teacher. "When the natives were converted, as I have described, I set
them to work to build cottages for themselves, and also this handsome
church which you see. When the framework and other parts of the house
were up, I sent the people to fetch coral from the sea. They brought
immense quantities. Then I made them cut wood, and piling the coral
above it, set it on fire.
"'Look! look!' cried the poor people in amazement, 'what wonderful
people the Christians are! He is roasting stones. We shall not need
taro or bread-fruit any more; we may eat stones!'
"But their surprise was still greater when the coral was reduced to a
fine, soft white powder. They immediately set up a great shout, and
mingling the lime with water, rubbed their faces and their bodies all
over with it, and ran through the village screaming with delight. They
were also much surprised at another thing they saw me do. I wished to
make some household furniture, and constructed a turning-lathe to
assist me. The first thing that I turned was the leg of a sofa; which
was no sooner finished than the chief seized it with wonder and
delight, and ran through the village exhibiting it to the people, who
looked upon it with great admiration. The chief then, tying a string to
it, hung it round his neck as an ornament! He afterwards told me that
if he had seen it before he became a Christian, he would have made it
his god!"
As the teacher concluded this anecdote we reached his door. Saying that
he had business to attend to, he left us to amuse ourselves as we best
could.
"Now, lads," said Jack, turning abruptly towards us, and buttoning up
his jacket as he spoke, "I'm off to see the battle. I've no particular
fondness for seein' bloodshed, but I must find out the nature o' these
fellows and see their customs with my own eyes, so that I may be able
to speak of it again, if need be, authoritatively. It's only six miles
off, and we don't run much more risk than that of getting a rap with a
stray stone or an overshot arrow. Will you go?"
"To be sure we will," said Peterkin.
"If they chance to see us we'll cut and run for it," added Jack.
"Dear me!" cried Peterkin--"_you_ run! I thought you would scorn to run
from any one."
"So I would, if it were my duty to fight," returned Jack coolly; "but
as I don't want to fight, and don't intend to fight, if they offer to
attack us I'll run away like the veriest coward that ever went by the
name of Peterkin. So come along."