Anchored in the Bay of Conception to obtain meat and vegetables, and to
refresh our ship's company. The town whence we obtained supplies is
Talcaguana, the old town of Conception having been destroyed by an
earthquake, and the new town standing some way inland. It is a wealthy
place--no lack of silver and gold utensils in the houses, and flocks and
herds outside, but the inhabitants lead uneasy lives, for not far off
beyond the mountains are found tribes of fierce Araucanians, who, riding
fleet horses, now and again pounce down on the town, and never fail to
carry off a rich booty. They care not for the Spanish artillery and
musketry, they keep out of range of them; but might not the power of
gospel truth spoken in season change their savage natures? Could some
Christian men find their way among them, they might tell them of happier
employments than killing each other, and robbing their neighbours. Yet
I dream. Such seems to be the chief occupation, not only of savages,
but of civilised people all over the world. What power can assuage such
a flood of iniquity? There is one and one alone, the bright light of
gospel truth, and the living power of Divine grace.
Having shipped our stores, the boat was leaving the shore for the last
time, when a brown man, dressed as a seaman, with strange marks on his
face and hands, came down begging to be taken on board. His name he
said was Taro, and that he was a native of an island far to the west,
also that he had long been on board an English ship, the master of which
had left him here sick. Captain Fuller believing his tale, and well
pleased to obtain the services of one who might prove useful as an
interpreter, consented to receive him among the crew. Our ship's
company gave him at first the name of Tar, and hence he soon became
known among them as Tom Tar. He proves an amusing, and seemingly a
good-natured fellow till he is angered, and then he will cast off his
clothes, and seizing a billet of wood or whatever comes to hand, will
flourish it, threatening the lives of all near him, exhibiting his body
covered with strange devices, appearing, as he is still, the fierce,
vindictive savage. He comes from an island called New Zealand, where
the inhabitants are terribly fierce, and undoubted cannibals. I asked
Taro whether he had ever eaten any of his fellow-creatures. He nodded,
laughing, and I doubt not, from the expression of his countenance, that
he had often done so, and would not hesitate in again indulging in such
a practice. Though living so long among men professing to be
Christians, he is still a heathen in all his thoughts and ways. I asked
him one day how this was. His answer was simple: "They say and do just
what heathen man say and do. They no pray to their God; they no care
for their God; they no love their God. Why should I?"
Taro spoke the truth; I felt abashed. How can we expect the heathen to
become Christians, when those who call themselves so show so little
regard to the religion of Christ? I see the same sad shortcoming on
shore. Christians do not strive to bring honour to the name of Christ.
For three weeks and more we traverse the Pacific, keeping bright
look-out by night and day for rocks and reefs.
"Land on the starboard bow," is the cry. We haul up for it. As the
ship rises and falls on the long, slow swell, now the trees appear
partly out of the water, now they disappear looking thus at a distance
like a fleet at anchor. There are cocoa-nut palms, pandanus trees, and
many shrubs, growing on a low island, fifteen feet at most above the
level of the sea, some twelve miles long, and not a quarter of a mile
wide, with a deep blue lagoon inside. This is one of those wonderful
coral islands of which I have read, formed by minute insects working
upwards from rocky foundations amid the ocean, and ceasing their work
when they have reached the surface. The waves have torn off masses and
thrown them up so as to form an elevation above the water; then birds
have come, dropped seeds, and formed their nests, and dwelt there; and
timber and plants floating about have been cast on shore, and their
vitality not yet destroyed, have taken root; and more coral and shells
have been heaved up and ground fine by the toiling waves to form a
beach; and thus a fit dwelling-place for man has been formed. Nearing
the sandy beach we heave-to for soundings, but finding none, the ship
stands off, while Phineas and I, with Tom Tar and our boat's crew, well
armed, pull in with the intention of landing. This the surf will not
let us do; and as we are lying off on our oars, presently, from out of
the bushes, rush a herd of savages with spears and clubs, which they
flourish furiously, making signs to us to be gone. We pull on, however,
and find an opening in the reef, through which we get close to the
beach. The natives shout and gesticulate more vehemently than ever.
They declare (so Taro interprets) that we come for no good purpose, and
that they want no strangers. Phineas hopes that they may possess pearls
with which to trade, so we row in, he standing up in the bows of the
boat, holding up a looking-glass and a string of glass beads in one
hand, while he keeps his musket ready in the other. He is bold, and
leaping on shore, approaches the natives. At first the savages retire;
then one advances, stops, gazes at the supercargo, and with a loud
shout, flourishing his club, rushes towards him. Phineas, flinging down
the looking-glass and the beads, springs back, firing his musket in the
air. The savage is upon him. In another moment that huge club will
have dashed out his brains. I see his danger. I have no thought but to
save him--no feeling that I am about to slay a fellow-creature. I raise
my musket to my shoulder and fire, taking good aim. The savage falls.
Phineas, shouting to us to give the Indians a volley, is hauled in. The
men obey as the Indians, with terrific howls, rush towards us. Five
more fall, some in the water, which is tinged with their blood, others
on the land. Our passions are up. Golding urges us to load and fire
again. Having thus done, we pull away. Says Golding, "They'll not
meddle another time with strangers who peaceably visit their shores to
trade." We leave ten or twelve poor heathens dead or wounded on their
native strand. My thoughts are sad. The face of that hapless savage as
he turned his eye on me when falling is still in my sight. True, I
fired to save the life of a shipmate. Yet it is an awful thing to shed
the blood of a fellow-being, let it be in warfare or in any other way
which men justify as from stern necessity.
Are such, too, the blessings which we Christian and civilised men
distribute in our course round the globe? The loud laugh of my
companion sounds in my ear. "Come, rouse thee, John Harvey," he says.
"Art down-hearted, lad, because we have not been more successful in our
traffic? Not a good beginning, but the Pacific is wide, and there will
be no lack of customers."
Standing on for three days we sight several islands. On the nearest is
a grove of fine cocoa-nut trees. We require a supply of nuts. Two
boats with crews well armed leave the ship. An opening appears in the
reef--we pull through it and land easily. Our men climb the tall trees
and shake down the nuts in heavy showers. While we are collecting the
nuts, the men in the trees shout that they see a fleet of large canoes
crossing from another island. We deem that it will be prudent to regain
the boats. The Indians, seeing the broken nuts strewing the ground, and
the heap we are carrying away, shriek, and shout, and shake their clubs
and spears, and then furiously rush towards us. Golding, as before,
cries out to the men to fire, but I order them to shove off, that we may
escape without killing any, for which I see no necessity. We have
stolen the savages' provisions, and they have right on their side. The
men obey me, and we strive to get the boat afloat. No time to lose.
The Indians draw their bows, and the arrows fall thick around us; some
come on with stones, and others plunge into the water with clubs and
spears to do battle for their rights. Our lives are in jeopardy, and
one of our men is fearfully wounded. The savages throng around the boat
and try to drag her to the shore. We keep back the savages with the
stretchers, and I hope to escape without bloodshed. Again Golding
shouts out, "Fire, lads! fire! Why keep back the men from firing? We
shall all be murdered." Urged by his example, the men fire a volley
among the surrounding savages. With fearful howls those grasping the
boat let go; others fall back killed; the mass rush in terror up the
beach. We escape into deep water, two or three arrows sticking in the
arms of our men and in the sides of the boat. Golding cries out for
vengeance; and the men fire till every savage has disappeared.
We return on board. It strikes me that we cannot appear very well
favoured in the sight of these poor savages. I say as much that day at
dinner to the captain. He is a man of few words.
"You are right, John; the next comers will suffer," he remarks.
"That matters nought to us," says Phineas Golding. "We shall not come
here again."
"Scant kindness to the next comers; as scant as that we have showed the
natives," I observe.
"We must all look out for ourselves in these seas," says the captain.
"It will be our own fault if we are at any time caught unawares.
Remember that, Master Harvey."
I make no answer, for the captain does not bear contradiction. The
first mate, Golding, and the doctor, keep always well with him. So do
I, for this reason: I heard him once say, "That John Harvey needs
keeping under." On that, I resolved, as far as it should lie in my
power, to keep myself under--to do my duty, and give him no occasion to
find fault. Thus far I have succeeded--but not always with ease; for
Simon Fuller has had uncontrolled power as a sea captain for many a long
year, often over rogues and vagabonds, whom fear alone will keep in
order, so he fancies. I have heard say that the rule of kindness will
work wonders. I have never seen it tried as I could desire, but I find
that the worst of our ship's company obey me more readily than they do
James Festing, and yet the first mate is an older, and, I truly believe,
a better seaman than I am. I speak quietly to the lads, eschew oaths,
and never handle a rope's end in wrath. He swears loudly, and uses
both.
I was called forward to see Tom Collis, the poor fellow who was wounded
in the boat. The surgeon can do nothing for him, he says, and I see
that the man's countenance is marked by death's hand. Around us, as I
sit by him, we hear laughter, and oaths, and gross talking. Collis is
suffering great agony. "Mercy! mercy!" he shrieks out. "To die thus--
no time for repentance, with hideous crimes weighing down my soul!"
Sometimes he raves, and says things which make my blood run cold; but I
talk quietly to him, and he grows calmer. I tell him in few words of
that simple plan God in His gracious mercy arranged before the world
began, by which sinners even great as he might be saved. He drinks in
every word. I tell him how the loving Jesus came on earth to live as a
man a life of suffering, that men might understand that He knows how
they suffer; that He was tempted, that they might feel assured He
pities, and will help them when they are tempted; that He was
crucified,--made a sacrifice, that He might take their sins on His
shoulders; that His blood was shed that it might wash away the sins of
all who trust in it, and look to Him; that He was buried, and rose
again, that He might conquer death, and show that all who follow Him
must conquer too; and that He ascended up on high, that He might present
all who place their faith in Him washed from their sins pure and
undefiled before the throne of God.
"But all that could not be done for such a wretch as me," says Collis.
"If God would let me live, I might repent, and lead a different sort of
life, and do all sorts of things to please Him; and then perchance He
might think me more fit for heaven."
"Oh, my dear shipmate," I say, "don't think of such folly. You could
never do anything to make you more fit for heaven than you now are,
vile, sinful, guilty wretch as you may be."
I then read to him how the Israelites, bit by the fiery serpents in the
wilderness, were saved from death and cured by looking at the brazen
serpent held up by Moses. And then I read about the thief on the cross,
and then I say:
"Just look to Jesus in that way. Feel that you are bitten by sin,
helpless, and dying, and deserving of death; and He says to you, as He
said to the thief on the cross, `To-day shalt thou be with Me in
paradise.'--`Thy sins are forgiven thee.'"
"What, sir!" exclaims Collis, "you don't mean to say that the Son of the
great God who made heaven and earth, and all those thousands of stars we
see up there, did all that for me, and such as me,--that He says all
that to me, and such as me?"
"Shipmate," I answer, solemnly, "He did do all that for you, and such as
you,--and He says all that to you. Take hold of but the hem of His
garment, so to speak, by faith, and you are saved. As to satisfaction
to Divine justice, it is done. You have nothing to do with that, you
have but to feel that you are sinful and guilty. You have to repent,
which, may God the Holy Spirit help you to do. You have to look to
Jesus as the only cure, as the only Saviour,--to His blood as the only
means by which you can be cleansed; and the holy word of God says it,
`Thy faith hath saved thee,'--`By faith ye are saved,'--`His blood
cleanseth from all sin.' He doesn't say from little sins, or slight
sins, but from all sin. He doesn't say He will receive you by-and-by,
perhaps, when you have done something to please Him; but He does invite
you, He does receive you. No power of earth or hell can prevent Him
from presenting you faultless before the throne of grace. Shipmate, if
you only feel your guiltiness, it is you He invites, with all your sins
upon you, to come to Him,--it is you He will present faultless and
fearless before God's judgment throne, welcomed as a son of God,--not
crying out, as numbers will be doing, for the mountains to cover them,
for the rocks to fall on them."
"This is news indeed,--glorious news!" says the poor fellow, in a
cheerful, happy tone, very different from what he had before spoken in.
"I wish that I had known it before. But I know it now, and that's
enough. Jesus died for me, and I trust in Jesus."
I have soon to leave him to attend to my duty on deck. Captain Fuller
would not hold it as an excuse that I was attending to a dying man.
After some time, my watch on deck being almost out, Tony Hinks comes to
me and tells me that Collis is dead; but says he, "It was strange to
hear him saying over and over, again and again, `Jesus died for me, and
I trust in Jesus.' What does that mean, Mr Harvey?"
I tell him. He goes forward, muttering, "Strange! I never heard the
like."
I see Collis once more before he is sewn up in his hammock. There is a
smile on his features, such as I had never before seen there.
Six days more, and we sight the high land of King George the Third
Island, called by the natives Otaheite, or Taheite. As we draw near it,
the prospect becomes truly pleasing to the sight. Lofty hills, covered
with beautiful flowering shrubs, and fringed by pandanus, cocoa-nut, and
various other trees which we see in these tropical regions, rise up into
the clear blue sky, with green valleys between them, and sparkling
waterfalls rushing down their sides. A line of white breakers
intervene, however, foaming over a coral reef, with a belt of deep blue
water between it and the white glittering beach and the feathery fringe
of vegetation which springs up close to the strand, the trees
overshadowing it with their branches. Never have I seen a more lovely
picture; and Tony Hinks, who has been here before, tells us there is no
country, to his mind, more pleasant to dwell in. "A man may live here,"
says he, "with nothing to do, abundance to eat, and plenty of people to
tend on him." He gives the first mate and me a hint to keep a sharp
look-out on the ship's company, or some of them may be missing when we
sail. No wonder, I think, if the place is such an earthly paradise. He
speaks of many other things likely to prove attractive to seamen. I ask
if the natives are Christians. "Christians? no," he answers, with a
laugh. "They would be spoilt, to my mind, if they were. They are much
better as they are, as you'll agree, Mr Harvey, when you go on shore."
I am inclined to be at issue with Tony on that point; but still I would
fain judge of the savage virtues of which he speaks before I condemn
them.
We coast some way round the island, till we reach an opening in the
reef, entering through which we moor the ship in a commodious harbour.
Soon she is surrounded with native canoes, laden with cocoa-nuts,
bananas, bread-fruits, apples, figs, and other pleasant vegetable
productions. The natives bring boughs with them, which Tom Tar tells us
we are to make fast to the rigging, to show that we are friends. We now
drive a brisk trade, giving beads, and trinkets, and looking-glasses,
and bits of cloth and coloured calico, for fruit, vegetables, pigs, and
fowls; but the captain will allow no one to come on board. He says that
they are arrant thieves, and so we find them. By-and-by Phineas, with
the doctor, Tony, and I, having Tom Tar to interpret, go on shore, but
take ten men well armed at our heels. It is a hard matter to keep the
men together: but it is not safe to let them separate. The natives are
treacherous and revengeful, at least if they are like those we have
already encountered. Our men might easily provoke them, especially by
rude conduct to the women. Seldom have I seen more comely females.
Their manners are attractive, and they know how to add to their charms,
by dressing their glossy hair with flowers and shells, and such like
ornaments. The country is as beautiful as it appeared a distance. The
houses are mostly open at the sides, and thatched with palmetto leaves;
but some are enclosed, and all are neat and clean. A house is offered
to us by the chief, in which we may take up our abode while we remain on
shore. It is amidst a grove of trees, with matting for the walls and
floor. A sparkling torrent, rushing down the side of a hill, flows in
front of it, cooling the air, while afar off is seen the deep blue sea.
Provisions of all sorts are sent us by the king,--baked pig, and roasted
bread-fruit, and plantains, and fish, and other articles of food, all
served in large leaves. The bread-fruit is about the size of a
horse-chestnut, and when baked is somewhat of the consistency of new
bread. It is not fit to be eaten raw. The king and the people seem
friendly; but to my mind there is no dependence to be placed on them.
It is made clear to us that they are sadly depraved, nor can I describe
many of the scenes which take place. Suffice it to say that, like other
heathens who know not God, they give themselves up to work all manner of
abominations without constraint or shame. We place a guard during the
night; but when we awake there is great shouting among our party for
missing articles, and it is found that we all have been robbed of
articles of dress, knives, pistols, handkerchiefs, and pocket-books.
Phineas declares that he will shoot the first savage he finds
purloining, chief or not. We complain of our loss to the king, who gets
back some of the articles; but Taro surmises that he has got the
remainder himself.
After a bountiful breakfast we continue our progress through the island.
Our surprise is great to come upon a large edifice of stone among a
people supposed only able to erect huts of leaves. It is a pyramid,
nearly three hundred feet long and one hundred wide, with a flight of
steps on either side leading to the summit, which is fifty feet from the
ground. On the top is a bird made of wood, and a fish of stone. This
building forms one side of a court, the other three sides being composed
of a wall of hewn stone; the enclosed area is covered with a pavement of
flat stones. In this court are several altars of stone, on which are
placed baskets of bread-fruit, sweet potatoes, cocoa-nuts, and other
food, which we conclude were offerings to their Eatuas, or gods, which
they ignorantly worship. Not far off we come upon a figure of one of
these gods. It is made of wicker-work, in the form of a man; it is
seven feet high, and covered over with black and white feathers. We
learn that this pyramid is a temple, and that the court is a
burying-place, called a Morai; the altars are called Ewattuas. While we
are about to proceed on our journey we see a concourse of people
collecting from all quarters, and hurrying toward the morai. We inquire
of Taro for what object they are assembling.
"To offer a sacrifice to their Eatua, their god," he answers.
"Of what will the sacrifice consist?" I ask, thinking that it would be
of the bread-fruit and other fruits we saw on the altars.
"You will see," he answered, with one of those gleams of savage pleasure
which ever and anon pass over his countenance.
We remark that there are only men and boys among the crowd,--no women
nor girls. The crowd increases,--there is expectation on their
countenances, as if something of importance is about to happen. Still
we can obtain no information from Taro; he only says, "You will see, you
will see."
"A very well-behaved set of people are these," observes Golding. "In
England, among such a crowd, there would be fighting and squabbling. I
would as lief be one of these happy islanders as an Englishman, with all
our religion and civilisation."
"I have an idea, begging pardon, Master Golding, that you are not yet
very well acquainted with these happy islanders," observes Tony Hinks.
"It strikes me that ere long you will change your opinion. Wait a bit;
as Tom Tar says, you will see--you will see."