HEATHEN DANCE AND SHAM FIGHT.
THE Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and
most-to-be-trusted friend. He influenced the Harbor Chiefs and their
people for eight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favor 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. The Tannese 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 clear space
in the center 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 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.
Not without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this
apparently unfriendly attitude of refusing to take their food. 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. Yet all the time I felt this
qualm,--that it might have been 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 then 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 seem 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.