A TYPICAL SOUTH SEA TRADER.
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 neighboring 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 to which we can sink,
when the misery and the 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 center 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 Mare 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 their 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 center 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.