TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS.
WHAT a suggestive tradition of the Fall came to me in one of those early
days on Aniwa! Upon our leaving the hut and removing to our new house,
it was seized upon by Tupa for his sleeping-place, though still
continuing to be used by the Natives as club-house, court of law, etc.
One morning at daylight this Tupa came running to us in great
excitement, wielding his club furiously, and crying, "Missi, I have
killed the Tebil. I have killed Teapolo. He came to catch me last night.
I raised all the people, and we fought him round the house with our
clubs. At daybreak he came out and I killed him dead. We will have no
more bad conduct or trouble now. Teapolo is dead!"
I said, "What nonsense; Teapolo is a spirit, and cannot be seen."
But in mad excitement he persisted that he had killed him. And at Mrs.
Paton's advice, I went with the man, and he led me to a great Sacred
Rock of coral near our old hut, over which hung the dead body of a huge
and beautiful sea-serpent, and exclaimed, "There he lies! Truly I killed
him."
I protested, "That is not the Devil; it is only the body of a serpent."
The man quickly answered, "Well? but it is all the game! He is Teapolo.
He makes us bad, and causes all our troubles."
Following up this hint by many inquiries, then and afterwards, I found
that they clearly associated man's troubles and sufferings somehow with
the serpent. They worshiped the Serpent, as a spirit of evil, under the
name of Matshiktshiki; that is to say, they lived in abject terror of
his influence, and all their worship was directed towards propitiating
his rage against man.
Their story of Creation, at least of the origin of their own Aniwa and
the adjacent Islands, is much more an outcome of the unaided Native
mind. They say that Matshiktshiki fished up these lands out of the sea.
And they show the deep print of his foot on the coral rocks, opposite
each island, whereon he stood as he strained and lifted them up above
the waters. He then threw his great fishing-line round Fotuna,
thirty-six miles distant, to draw it close to Aniwa and make them one
land; but, as he pulled, the line broke and he fell, where his mark may
still be seen upon the rock--so the Islands remain separated unto this
day.
Matshiktshiki placed men and women on Aniwa. On the southern end of the
Island there was a beautiful spring and a freshwater river, with rich
land all around, for plantations. But the people would not do what
Matshiktshiki wanted them; so he got angry, and split off the richer
part of Aniwa, with the spring and river, and sailed with them across to
Aneityum, leaving them where Dr. Inglis has since built his beautiful
Mission Station. To this day, the river there is called "the water of
Aniwa" by the inhabitants of both islands; and it is the ambition of all
Aniwans to visit Aneityum and drink of that spring and river, as they
sigh to each other, "Alas, for the waters of Aniwa!"
Their picture of the Flood is equally grotesque. Far back, when the
volcano now on Tanna was part of Aniwa, the rain fell and fell from day
to day, and the sea rose till it threatened to cover everything. All
were drowned except the few who climbed up on the volcano mountain. The
sea had already put out the volcano at the southern end of Aniwa; and
Matshiktshiki, who dwelt in the greater volcano, becoming afraid of the
extinction of his big fire too, split it off from Aniwa with all the
land on the southeastern side, and sailed it across to Tanna on the top
of the flood. There, by his mighty strength, he heaved the volcano to
the top of a high mountain in Tanna, where it remains to this day. For,
on the subsiding of the sea, he was unable to transfer his big fire to
Aniwa; and so it was reduced to a very small island, without a volcano,
and without a river, for the sins of the people long ago.
Even where there are no snakes they apply the superstitions about the
serpent to a large, black, poisonous lizard called _Kekvau_. They call
it Teapolo, and women or children scream wildly at the sight of one.
One of the darkest and most hideous blots on Heathenism is the practice
of Infanticide. Only three cases came to our knowledge on Aniwa; but we
publicly denounced them at all hazards, and awoke not only natural
feeling, but the selfish interests of the community for the protection
of the children. These three were the last that died there by parents'
hands. A young husband, who had been jealous of his wife, buried their
male child alive as soon as born. An old Tanna woman, who had no
children living, having at last a fine healthy boy born to her, threw
him into the sea before any one could interfere to save. And a savage,
in anger with his wife, snatched her baby from her arms, hid himself in
the bush till night, and returned without the child, refusing to give
any explanation, except that he was dead and buried. Praise be to God,
these three murderers of their own children were by and by touched with
the story of Jesus, became members of the Church, and each adopted
little orphan children, towards whom they continued to show the most
tender affection and care.
Wife-murder was also considered quite legitimate. In one of our inland
villages dwelt a young couple, happy in every respect except that they
had no children. The man, being a Heathen, resolved to take home another
wife, a widow with two children. This was naturally opposed by his young
wife. And, without the slightest warning, while she sat plaiting a
basket, he discharged a ball into her from his loaded musket. It crashed
through her arm and lodged in her side. Everything was done that was in
my power to save her life; but on the tenth day tetanus came on, and she
soon after passed away. The man appeared very attentive to her all the
time; but, being a Heathen, he insisted that she had no right to oppose
his wishes! He was not in any way punished or disrespected by the people
of his village, but went out and in amongst them as usual, and took home
the other woman as his wife a few weeks thereafter. His second wife
began to attend Church and School regularly with her children; and at
last he also came along with them, changing very manifestly from his
sullen and savage former self. They have a large family; they are
avowedly trying to train them all for the Lord Jesus, and they take
their places meekly at the Lord's Table.
It would give a wonderful shock, I suppose, to many namby-pamby
Christians to whom the title "Mighty to Save" conveys no ideas of
reality, to be told that nine or ten converted murderers were partaking
with them the Holy Communion of Jesus! But the Lord who reads the heart,
and weighs every motive and circumstance, has perhaps much more reason
to be shocked by the presence of some of themselves. Penitence opens all
the heart of God--"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."