CHRISTIANITY AND COCOANUTS.
NASWAI, the friend and companion of Namakei, was an inland Chief. He
had, as his followers, by far the largest number of men in any village
on Aniwa. He had certainly a dignified bearing, and his wife Katua was
quite a lady in look and manner as compared with all around her. She was
the first woman on the Island that adopted the clothes of civilization,
and she showed considerable instinctive taste in the way she dressed
herself in these. Her example was a kind of Gospel in its good influence
on all the women; she was a real companion to her husband, and went with
him almost everywhere.
Naswai was younger and more intelligent than Namakei, and in everything,
except in translating the Scriptures, he was much more of a
fellow-helper in the work of the Lord. For many years it was Naswai's
special delight to carry my pulpit Bible from the Mission House to the
Church every Sabbath morning, and to see that everything was in perfect
order before the Service began. He was also the Teacher in his own
village School, as well as an Elder in the Church. His addresses were
wonderfully happy in graphic illustrations, and his prayers were fervid
and uplifting. Yet his people were the worst to manage on all the
Island, and the very last to embrace the Gospel.
He died when we were in the Colonies on furlough in 1875; and his wife
Katua very shortly pre-deceased him. His last counsels to his people
made a great impression on them. They told us how he pleaded with them
to love and serve the Lord Jesus, and how he assured them with his dying
breath that he had been "a new creature" since he gave his heart to
Christ, and that he was perfectly happy in going to be with his Saviour.
I must here recall one memorable example of Naswai's power and skill as
a preacher. On one occasion the _Dayspring_ brought a large deputation
from Fotuna to see for themselves the change which the Gospel had
produced on Aniwa. On Sabbath, after the Missionaries had conducted the
usual Public Worship, some of the leading Aniwans addressed the
Fotunese; and amongst others, Naswai spoke to the following effect: "Men
of Fotuna, you come to see what the Gospel has done for Aniwa. It is
Jehovah the living God that has made all this change. As Heathens, we
quarreled, killed, and ate each other. We had no peace and no joy in
heart or house, in villages or in lands; but we now live as brethren and
have happiness in all these things. When you go back to Fotuna, they
will ask you, 'What is Christianity?' And you will have to reply, 'It is
that which has changed the people of Aniwa.' But they will still say,
'What is it?' And you will answer, 'It is that which has given them
clothing and blankets, knives and axes, fish-hooks and many other useful
things; it is that which has led them to give up fighting, and to live
together as friends.' But they will ask you, 'What is it like?' And you
will have to tell them, alas, that you cannot explain it that you have
only seen its workings, not itself, and that no one can tell what
Christianity is but the man that loves Jesus, the Invisible Master, and
walks with Him and tries to please Him. Now, you people of Fotuna, you
think that if you don't dance and sing and pray to your gods, you will
have no crops. We once did so too, sacrificing and doing much
abomination to our gods for weeks before our planting season every year.
But we saw our Missi only praying to the Invisible Jehovah, and planting
his yams, and they grew fairer than ours. You are weak every year before
your hard work begins in the fields, with your wild and bad conduct to
please your gods. But we are strong for our work, for we pray to
Jehovah, and He gives quiet rest instead of wild dancing, and makes us
happy in our toils. Since we followed Missi's example, Jehovah has given
us large and beautiful crops, and we now know that He gives us all our
blessings."
Turning to me, he exclaimed, "Missi, have you the large yam we presented
to you? Would you not think it well to send it back with these men of
Fotuna, to let their people see the yams which Jehovah grows for us in
answer to prayer? Jehovah is the only God who can grow yams like that!"
Then, after a pause, he proceeded, "When you go back to Fotuna, and they
ask you, 'What is Christianity?' you will be like an inland Chief of
Erromanga, who once came down and saw a great feast on the shore. When
he saw so much food and so many different kinds of it, he asked, 'What
is this made of?' and was answered, 'Cocoanuts and yams.' 'And this?'
'Cocoanuts and bananas.' 'And this?' 'Cocoanuts and taro.' 'And this?'
'Cocoanuts and chestnuts,' etc. etc. The Chief was immensely astonished
at the host of dishes that could be prepared from the cocoanuts. On
returning, he carried home a great load of them to his people, that they
might see and taste the excellent food of the shore-people. One day, all
being assembled, he told them the wonders of that feast; and, having
roasted the cocoanuts, he took out the kernels, all charred and spoiled,
and distributed them, amongst his people. They tasted the cocoanut, they
began to chew it, and then spat it out, crying, 'Our own food is better
than that!' The Chief was confused, and only got laughed at for all his
trouble. Was the fault in the cocoanuts? No; but they were spoiled in
the cooking! So your attempts to explain Christianity will only spoil
it. Tell them that a man must live as a Christian, before he can show
others what Christianity is."
On their return to Fotuna they exhibited Jehovah's yam, given in answer
to prayer and labor; they told what Christianity had done for Aniwa; but
did not fail to qualify all their accounts with the story of the
Erromangan Chief and the cocoanuts.