The islands of the Pacific : from the old to the new : a compendious sketch of missions in the Pacific

EX L1BRIS

ANCIENT HAWAIIAN CANOE.

STEAMER MARIPOSA, PLYING BETWEEN SAN FRANCISCO, HONOLULU,
SAMOA, AUCKLAND, AND SYDNEY.

GONTRNTS.

CHAPTER I.

The Pacific Ocean, its Islands and Peoples PAGE 13

CHAPTER II.

Uncivilizing Influences from Civilized Countries 30

CHAPTER III.

The Origin of Christian Missions in the Pacific 55

CHAPTER IV.

The Society Islands 65

CHAPTER V.

The Austral Islands 105

CHAPTER VI.

The Pearl Islands 116

CHAPTER VII.

The Hawaiian Islands 125

CHAPTER VIII.

The Marquesas Islands 215

CHAPTER IX.

The Hervey Islands 252

CHAPTER X.

Samoa 274

CHAPTER XI.

Micronesia 306

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

Tonga -._ — _ _ _._ 343

CHAPTER XIII.

New Zealand 353

CHAPTER XIV.

The Fiji Islands _ 390

CHAPTER XV.
Melanesia 408

CHAPTER XVI.

Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands 435

CHAPTER XVII.

The Future of the Pacific Ocean ___ 461

Appendix A. The Ancient Polynesians 485

" B. Languages of the Pacific Islands 501

" C. Names of Missionaries 504

" D. European Appropriations ._ 514

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Ancient Hawaiian Canoe; Steamer Mariposa PAGE 3

Map of the Hawaiian Islands 7

Cook's Bay in Moorea, Society Islands 15

Vaitapiha Valley in Tahiti 19

Samoan Girls making Kava 23

Coast Scene on Upolu, Samoan Islands ._ 35

Waterfall in Tahiti- — __ 41

Samoan Dancers 45

Vegetation in Tahiti 53

River in Tahiti 57

Map of the Society Islands 63

Papeete, Capital of the Society Islands 69

Haapiti, Isle Moorea 75

Mount Diademe, Tahiti — 79

Tahitian War Canoe - 85

Otu, King of Tahiti; Ceding Matavai to the Mission 89

A Tahitian __ , 97

Tahitian Belles - 103

The Broom Road, Tahiti _— 117

Madam Pele, and Vegetation on a Lava Flow 123

Hawaiian Heathen Temple; Kawaiahao Cl.urch, Honolulu— 129

Scene in lao Valley, Maui, Hawaiian Islands — - 133

Ancient Hawaiian Hut ; Residence of Keelikolani 137

Lava Cataract - - 143

Crater of Kilauea in 1840; Lake Kilauea in 1894 147

Rainbow Falls at Hilo, Hawaii 151

Hawaiian Woman 157

Papaya Trees, Hawaiian Islands 163

Traveller's Palm — 169

Kaumakapili Church ; Rev. J. Waiamau - 175

Hawaiian Monarchs 179

lolani Palace.— — 191

Queen Emma 195

Kamehameha School ; Mrs. Puahi Bishop _ 201

The Union Church at Honolulu. — 205

10 ILLUSTRATIONS.

President Dole Proclaiming the Hawaiian Republic 209

Map of the Marquesas Islands 213

Breadfruit Tree 219

President Dole and his Cabinet _~ 227

Royal Palms at Honolulu 235

Heathen Village and Christian Village at Aitutahi 253

Heathen Wedding March at Rarotonga 265

John Williams ; Messenger of Peace 269

Map of the Samoan Islands 275

A Samoan Girl 279

Malietoa, King of the Samoan Islands 285

Prince Mataafa, Samoan Islands 289

Mataafa's Bodyguard ^ 295

The Wrecked Ships _ 299

The Wreckage at Apia 303

Map of Micronesia 307

Heathen Micronesians ; Ponape Missionaries ___ 315

Marshall Island Warrior; Gilbert Island Belle 321

Micronesian Woman ; Princess Opatinia 331

Nukualofa, Tonga Island 341

Map of New Zealand- __ 351

New Zealand King, Tawhao; New Zealand Woman 361

Scene on Bird Island, Hawaiian Group 373

Scene on Bird Island, Hawaiian Group 383

Map of Fiji and Tonga Islands _ _ 391

Tanoa, Fiji King; Fiji Queen „ 399

Map of New Hebrides 409

Samoan Missionary 417

Landing-place at Bounty Bay, Pitcairn Island 443

Parliament of Pitcairn Island; Pitcairn Avenue 449

Scene in Tahiti 463

Scene on a Coral Island; First Method of Preaching 469

View of Mulimu, Samoa 475

Entrance to Apolima, Samoa 481

Valley of Voona, Fiji 487

Kaiulani - 495

Banana Trees at Honolulu _ 505

COOK'S BAY IN MOOREA, SOCIETY ISLANDS.

THE OCEAN, ITS ISLANDS AND PEOPLES. I?

Isthmus discovered a new ocean, we from our present
standpoint may behold, not far distant, a new age of en-
lightenment and benevolence, a Pacific Age, about to
dawn over all this ocean.

Of all the matters that attract attention to this part
of the world none are more important than these philan-
thropic enterprises. To understand them it is necessary
first to take a brief survey of the physical features of this
ocean and of its islands, and of the character and history
of its peoples.

The Pacific Ocean is the largest expanse of water in
the world, covering an area of 67,810,000 square miles :
more than a quarter of the earth's surface. Its greatest
dimensions are 10,000 miles east and west along the
Equator, from South America to Asia, and 9,000 miles
north and south, from Behring Strait to the Antarctic
Circle. Its average depth is 2,500 fathoms, and its
greatest depth yet discovered 4,475 fathoms, or about
five and a quarter miles, a depth found between the
Caroline and Ladrone Islands.

The islands of this ocean are classified as the Conti-
nental and Oceanic. The Continental islands lie near
and parallel to the continents of Asia and Australia, from
the Aleutian Islands on the north to Sumatra and New
Zealand on the south. The Oceanic islands occupy the
rest of the ocean. They lie in lines or ranges trending
from southeast to northwest, a few in lines tranverse to
this direction ; and each island is elongated in the same
direction with the group to which it belongs. These
lines of the islands are generally parallel to the outlines

18 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

of the continents and to the great mountain ranges of
the world ; which indicates that the same cosmic forces
that lifted the continents and their mountain ranges up-
heaved these islands.

The Oceanic islands are of two kinds : the coral and
the volcanic. The coral islands consist of atolls and
elevated islands. The atolls are mere sand-banks, formed
by accumulations of debris washed by the ocean upon
coral reefs, and are generally not more than ten or twelve
feet in height above high-water mark. They are narrow,
varying from a few yards to a hundred yards in breadth,
and generally inclose lagoons, into which the ocean
washes through openings on the leeward sides. On
these strips of sandy soil, seeds, enveloped in thick husks,
borne thither by the waves, have taken root and grown
into lofty trees. But the flora does not comprise more
than fifty species. These islands are subject to drouths,
being too low to attract the clouds and obtain frequent
rainfalls, and for this reason have been called "the
deserts of the Pacific." The food of the inhabitants
consists of cocoanuts, pandanus, and fish.

The elevated coral islands are few in number, and
situated amongst the volcanic islands, to which class
they belong. They have a fertile soil and a luxuriant
and varied vegetation. Many of them are of remarkable
beauty and fruitfulness.

These atolls and elevated coral islands lie, as it were,
in a valley between two ranges of volcanic islands, the
Marquesas and Hawaiian on the north, and the Society,
the Samoa, and other islands, on the south.

THE OCEAN, ITS ISLANDS AND PEOPLES. 21

This so-called valley of coral islands is generally be-
lieved to be the result of a subsidence which has occurred
since their first upheaval. Subsidences are now occurring
in some parts of the ocean and upheavals in others, as is
the case on the continents. As the coral polyp cannot live
below twenty-five fathoms depth beneath the surface of
the ocean, and the depth of the coral of some of these
islands is one thousand fathoms, the coral-polyp must
have commenced its operations in shoal water around
ancient islands, and continued building upward, as the
islands slowly sank, thus forming the barrier-reefs around
the volcanic islands, and, where the islands entirely sank
away, the reefs that inclose lagoons. The reason why
those lagoons and the spaces between the barrier-reefs
and the shores do not fill with a continuous growth of
coral is that the coral polyp thrives only on the outsides
of reefs, where it receives food from the pure aerated
water of the ocean currents, but dies amidst the muddy
water and debris near the shores.

The volcanic islands are so called because of their
volcanic origin. Their whole frame-work is volcanic
rock ; on nearly all of them are extinct craters ; and on
some of them are active volcanoes.

They are high, like mountains rising from the ocean,
varying from a few hundred to fourteen thousand feet in
height. In the South Pacific some of them are very pic-
turesque, being deeply cleft with valleys, and crowned
with peaks, pinnacles, and crags ; and over all there
spreads the richest tropical vegetation of every tint and
shade of green. Vines so overrun the cliffs and trees

22 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

that their appearance has been compared to waterfalls of
foliage. Tourists have described some of these islands
as like earthly paradises, and have remarked that "it is
difficult for the most glowing imagination to conceive of
places more enchanting." /

Around most of these islands are barrier-reefs, extend-
ing parallel with the shore at distances varying from a
few yards to several miles. Opposite the large valleys
there are openings through these reefs; for the coral
polyps cannot live in the muddy waters that are poured
forth by the streams of the valleys. These openings
form good entrances to excellent harbors, while the
barrier-reefs protect the shores from the violence of ocean
waves in time of storms, and thus enclose quiet waters
that are of great value for fishing, and for voyaging from
village to village.

The climate in all these islands has less extremes of
heat and cold than occur at similar latitudes on the
continents, as it is modified by the winds and currents
of the ocean. In the extreme South Pacific these
currents flow with the winds to the east, and send north
along the Patagonian coast a stream which trends with
the trade winds to the northwest, and moderates the
heat of the Southern Tropics. In the Western Pacific
the Japanese Gulf Stream flows northeast to the Aleutian
Islands, and then south along the coast of North America,
and trending with the northeast trade winds to the
southwest moderates the heat of the Northern Tropics.
Where these currents do not moderate the heat the
temperature of the ocean sometimes rises to 85° Fahren-

THE OCEAN, ITS ISLANDS AND PEOPLES. 2$

heit ; as is the case near Mexico and near Sumatra.
In the South Pacific, especially in the neighborhood of
the Samoa Islands, violent hurricanes sometimes occur
during the period from December to April.

The inhabitants of the Oceanic islands are of four
races : Polynesians, Papuans, Fijis, and Micronesians.

The area occupied by the Polynesians extends from
the Samoas on the west to the Paumotus on the east,
and from New Zealand on the south to Hawaii on the
north. The Polynesians are a brown people, the finest
in physical development of the Pacific races. They are
naturally of amiable, affectionate and happy tempera-
ment. Their origin is traced by their language to the
southern part of Asia, and particularly to the Malay
Peninsula. The same race inhabits Madagascar. Their
language is mellifluous, consisting chiefly of vowels.
The races of strong character, high thought and great
enterprise seem to have used many consonants in ex-
pressing their ideas, while this race, dwelling indolently
and listlessly in the comforts of the Tropics, expressed
their few, simple ideas by soft vowel sounds and ab-
breviated words. In their primitive migrations, as they
moved northward, they seem to have contracted their
words and dropped their consonants, till they reached
Hawaii, where only twelve letters were employed to
spell all the Hawaiian words. This language of Hawaii,
at the extreme north, is more similar to that of New
Zealand, at the extreme southwest, than to those of
some of the intermediate islands. Probably the lan-
guages of the intermediate islands were changed by the

26 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

coming of voyagers of others races from the west, while
New Zealand and Hawaii, in their secluded situations,
preserved their primitive language in greater purity. The
variations in their languages and the differences in their
customs indicate that all the Polynesians have been mixed
more or less with other races.

The Papuans occupy the New Hebrides and the
adjacent islands on the southwest. They are a black,
frizzly-haired people, and are allied to the tribes of
Australia and South Africa. They are generally small
in stature, and physically and intellectually inferior
to the Polynesians. Their language, unlike the Poly-
nesian, abounds in consonants and closed syllables, and
is divided into so many dialects that Papuans on many
closely adjacent islands cannot converse with each other.

The Fijis, who are situated between the Polynesians
and the Papuans, are a mixed race, part Polynesian and
part Papuan, inferior to the Polynesians and superior to
the Papuans.

The Micronesians, who are situated north of the
Samoas, are a mixed race, part Polynesian and part
Japanese, with traces of Papuan. The Japanese element
is accounted for by the fact that Japanese voyagers have
occasionally been storm-driven to great distances over
the ocean through the belt of Micronesian islands.
"In 1814 the British brig Forester met with a Japan-
ese junk off the coast of California, with three living men
and fourteen dead bodies on board. In December, 1832,
a Japanese junk arrived at Hawaii with four of her crew
living." The Micronesians are darker and of smaller

THE OCEAN, ITS ISLANDS AND PEOPLES. 27

stature than the Polynesians ; but in the western Mi-
cronesian islands they are of lighter complexion, and
more like the Japanese.

For ages these oceanic races lived secluded on the is-
lands of their watery domain, a world by themselves,
with a romantic history of voyages from island to is-
land, of pagan orgies, and savage wars. They labored
under disadvantages, for advancing in civilization, from
their lack of metals, of which to make tools, and from
the very salubrity of their climate and productiveness of
their soil, which obviated the need of labor for a liveli-
hood. They had but to throw the net into the still
waters inside their reefs to catch fish, and to reach out
the hand to pluck the ripe plantain or breadfruit, and
in the perennial mildness of their climate could live al-
most without clothing. With great skill they made
dwellings, canoes, and household fabrics, by the use of
stone adzes and knives of bones and shell, and beat out
a poor kind of clothing from the bark of trees ; but in
their primitive condition they were generally little better
in appearance than herds of wild animals.

In their social condition they were not much better.
Though occupying regions of enchanting beauty, they
were by no means, as represented by some writers of
fiction, mere sinless creatures of love and light. The
popular author, Hermann Melville, has humorously
written of the felicity of their condition, with "no
taxes to pay, no mortages to be foreclosed, without the
everlasting strife of civilized nations for money." But
they did not merely enjoy freedom and frolic and love-

28 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

making. Savage strife often embittered their lives.
Wars among them were almost incessant and most cruel.
Rev. John Williams once visited Hervey Island, and
found that its population had been diminished by war
from two thousand to sixty. Seven years afterwards he
again visited this island, and found that there were only
five men and three women surviving ; and these were
still contending who should be king.

In all these islands immorality was appalling, and
frightful crimes of frequent occurrence. Infanticide was
so common that from one fourth to two thirds of the
children were strangled or buried alive. The sick and
the aged were so commonly killed that few persons died
natural deaths. Cannibalism was practiced in many
of the islands. In Hawaii and in a few other islands it
was unknown ; but in the Marquesas and the Fiji Is-
lands it prevailed with horrors unsurpassed elsewhere in
the world. Distressing superstitions darkened all the
lives of the natives and held them in iron bondage. In
the long night of their isolation from enlightening in-
fluences they had come to worship innumerable gods
and demigods and demons, with which they supposed
the sky and earth and sea to swarm. With this wor-
ship were combined painful restrictions, called tabu, div-
ination, sorcery, the use of charms to cure sickness,
and black arts to employ evil spirits in destroying their
enemies. Their worship was also accompanied with
human sacrifices and wild carousals that have been
described as like orgies of the infernal regions.

It should be noted that these races were not utterly

THE OCEAN, ITS ISLANDS AND PEOPLES. 29

evil nor utterly wretched. Paganism does not make men
fiends. Some remnants of man's nobler nature survive
his fall. In the wild barbarism of these islanders some
forms of social order and civil government existed, and
beautiful instances occurred of friendship and parental
and conjugal affection ; and there was much of com-
fort and enjoyment in their beautiful surroundings, with
their balmy climate and profusion of delicious fruits.
But with the best that may be said of their condition it
must be admitted that it was not to be envied, but was
calculated only to excite pity and call for benevolent en-
terprise in their behalf.

3O THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER II.
UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES FROM CIVILIZED COUNTRIES.

DEPLORABLE as was the primitive condition of the
Pacific Islanders, it was rendered even worse by evil in-
fluences that came to them from enlightened nations.
Among the early voyagers to the Pacific were indeed
some worthy men, who led irreproachable lives and ex-
erted good influences. But most of the new-comers
plunged into every form of dissipation. It became pro-
verbial that in coming to this far-away ocean many men,
even from the best circles of society, "hung up their
consciences off Cape Horn," and seemed to conclude
that "God did not rule west of America." Some of
these adventurers were from the worst classes of civilized
communities; from the dark corruption that seethes in
great cities, and pours forth only to blight and blast
wherever the ships of commerce sail. The histories of
some of these men would be darker than those of the
heathen themselves.

The first to sail on the waters of this ocean were the
explorers, who, after Magalhaes' discovery of the strait
at the southern extremity of South America, went thither
in great numbers to search for gold. Foremost among
these were the Spaniards ; and these, with many other
early navigators, belonged chiefly to the same class of
buccaneers who under Cortes devastated Mexico, and

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 31

under Pizarro did sad work in Peru. As might be sup-
posed, many of these navigators were guilty of great
excesses and atrocities in the Pacific Islands. The fact
that the colony formed by them at Tahiti in those early
times gave to that island the name, " Isla D'Amat," in-
dicates the style of life they led.

After these Spaniards came navigators from other
nations, among whom was the English Lieutenant Bligh,
whose mutinous crew, after setting him adrift in a boat,
led a wild life of drunkenness and murder on Pitcairn
Island. No one of these navigators ranked higher in
scientific attainments and character than Capt. James
Cook ; yet one of the historians of his voyages, Mr.
George Foster, who accompanied him as a naturalist,
narrates that at Tahiti and other islands further west
his vessels were sometimes the scene of indescribable
debaucheries with the natives, and that often these
were cruelly treated and more than once killed by his
officers for trivial offences. A murder of this kind at
Hawaii was doubtless the chief cause of the massacre of
the great navigator himself. From the conduct of this
expedition, led by so respectable a man, it can be in-
ferred how scandalous must have been the behavior of
the seamen of ships commanded by sensual and brutal
captains.

The next class of adventurers to visit this ocean was
the traders, who came to search on the northwest coast
of America for furs and in the islands of the Tropics for
sandal-wood, b£che-de-mer (a marine slug), copra (dried
cocoanut), and pearl shells. The sandal-wood was

32 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

sought for sale in China, where it brought high prices
for use as incense in idol-worship ; the b£che-de-mer
also was sold to the Chinese, who used it for food ; and
the furs and copra and pearl shells were taken to Europe.
Sometimes one vessel would engage in all these forms
of trade, going first to the Arctic for furs, then to the
Tropics for sandal-wood, and finally taking silks and
tea from China to Europe. The profits of these trades
were very great, but the conduct of the traders towards
the islanders was even worse than that of the explorers.
They often gave sad lessons of treachery and cruelty,
which all too well the natives practised in return.

"In 1842 three English vessels visited the island
Vate, of the New Hebrides, and there took by force a
large quantity of fruits and vegetables and two hundred
hogs. The natives made resistance, and a fight ensued
in which twenty-six natives were killed and the remain-
der of the natives driven to take refuge in a cave. The
crews of the ships then piled wood at the mouth of the
cave, and set it on fire and suffocated all within. The
next year the crew of the Cape packet were massacred
at this island.

"At Mare, of the New Hebrides, three natives once
swam off to a vessel that called for sandal-wood, and
while bargaining got into an altercation with the captain.
He fired on them, killing two ; the third swam ashore.
A few months afterwards the crew of the Lady Ann
were massacred at this island."

It was to avenge such outrages as these that the mis-
sionary, Rev. John Williams, was murdered by the na-

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 33

tives of Erromanga. The early missionaries at Hawaii
remarked of some of these traders that they made their
vessels ' ' like floating exhibitions of Sodom and Gomor-
rah," and that their influence was only "to make the
Hawaiians a nation of drunkards. "

The infernal spirit of some of these traders was shown
by an outrage they committed at Tanna, of the New
Hebrides, which is recounted by Rev. John G. Paton in
his interesting Autobiography. During the year 1860
three captains came to Port Resolution, of Tanna, and
gleefully informed Mr. Paton that to humble the Tan-
nese and to diminish their number they had put on shore
at different ports four young men ill with the measles.
As Mr. Paton remonstrated they exclaimed, ' ' Our watch-
word is, ' Sweep these creatures away and let white men
occupy the soil. ' They then invited a chief by the name
of Kapuku on board one of their vessels, promising him
a present, and confined him for twenty-four hours with-
out food in the hold among natives ill with the measles,
and finally sent him ashore without a present to spread
the disease. ' ' The measles thus introduced spread fear-
fully, and decimated the population of the island. In
some villages men, women and children were stricken
down together, and none could give food or water to the
sick or bury the dead. "

The sandal-wood trade was followed in 1828 by the
whale fishery. The ships engaged in this business often
visited the islands to obtain supplies or to spend the win-
ter. The writer has seen as many as a hundred of them
at one time at the port of Lahaina, of the Hawaiian

34 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Islands. When the crews of these ships took their fur-
loughs on shore they easily had everything their own
way, and sometimes made bedlam of the quiet villages
of the natives.

When the whale fishery declined, on account of the
discovery of coal-oil, numerous agricultural enterprises
were started in some of the islands and vessels were sent
to the western part of the Pacific to procure laborers for
these enterprises. These vessels were sometimes sent
out under trustworthy officials, who took care that the
laborers were taken only with their voluntary consent
and with well-explained contracts for wages and for their
free return to their island homes. But irresponsible par-
ties sometimes undertook to supply plantations in Aus-
tralia and Fiji by methods as infamous as the slave-trade
of Africa. A captain of a small vessel would sometimes
get clearance-papers from Sydney for trading in copra
and trepang, and then cruise to kidnap the natives who
would come off in canoes with supplies. Sometimes he
would assume the guise of a missionary. Painting his
vessel white, that it might resemble the mission packets,
he would approach an island with a white flag flying, and
on arriving at port go ashore dressed like a respectable
gentleman, wearing spectacles, carrying an umbrella over
his head and a Bible under his arm. As the natives joy-
fully flocked to meet him, he would invite them aboard
his ship and into his cabin, and then suddenly seize and
manacle them, and put his vessel to sea amid the cries
of their relatives and friends in the surrounding canoes.

An outrage of this kind occasioned the death of

COAST SCENE ON UPOLU, SAMOAN ISLANDS.

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 37

Bishop Patteson, of the Melanesian Mission. "Some
traders once painted their ship in imitation of his, and
by this artifice were able to kidnap some natives from
the island of Nakapu, of the Swallow Group, for the pur-
pose of sending them to plantations in Queensland and
Fiji. When the missionary ship, as it cruised among
the islands, again approached Nakapu, the natives, mis-
taking it for the kidnapping craft, determined to avenge
themselves. The bishop, unsuspicious, lowered his boat
and went to meet them coming in their canoes. Accord-
ing to their custom they asked him to get into one of
their boats, which he did, and was taken to the shore.
He was never seen alive again. Immediate search was
made and his body was found, pierced with five wounds
and wrapped in a coarse mat, with a palm-leaf laid on
his breast."

This infamous traffic in human flesh has been recently
carried on for furnishing laborers to plantations in Gua-
temala and South America. In 1890 the ship Alma
took 400 natives of Micronesia to Guatemala, and two
years afterwards only 180 of them were living, the rest
having died of fevers contracted in the malarious swamps
of the plantations. In 1892 the brig Tahiti took 300
natives from the Gilbert Islands to labor on plantations
in America, and was capsized near the coast of Mexico,
and afterwards found floating bottom up. Not one of
its living freight was ever heard of.

^On the 23d of April of the same year the steamer
Monserrat, Capt. W. H. Ferguson, manager, and Capt.
Blackburn, sailing-master, cleared from San Francisco

38 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ostensibly for a trading voyage to Nanaimo, but really
for a kidnapping expedition to the Gilbert Islands.
The publishers of the newspaper "Examiner," of San
Francisco, secretly sent a reporter, Mr. W. H. Brom-
mage, as one of the crew, from whose narrative the fol-
lowing items are culled.

Mr. Ferguson had made a bargain with the planters
of San Jose" de Guatemala that they should pay him #100
per head for laborers. With such an inducement he
"shipped " all he could get by fair means or foul, wheth-
er little children, or men and women bent over with age
and hardly able to walk up the gangway of the steamer.
The chief inducement of the natives to embark on
the steamer was the hope that they might earn money on
the plantations to pay the heavy debts of their king, on
account of which their lands were held by treacherous
traders. Many of the natives had died of starvation
because they were forbidden by the traders to gather
their own cocoanuts. They ' ' shipped " for seven dol-
lars per month for labor for five years. The form of the
contracts that were made with them was legitimate, but
they were entrapped into making them by deceit, vio-
lence and cruelty, and the amount of wages contracted
for was entirely inadequate to yield them the profit they
expected, while most of them would die in the fever-
stricken marshes to which they were going.

Mr. Ferguson arrived first at the island Marakei, of
the Gilbert group, and here for awhile was unable to ship
any adult natives. He therefore seized four boys, and
locked them up over night. Three of them escaped ;

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 39

and the fourth was taken aboard the steamer. The
parents begged piteously for his release and, not obtain-
ing it, finally " shipped" to accompany him. This ruse
was again tried. Children were kidnapped and held till
their heart-broken parents, rather than leave them to be
carried forever away, embarked to go with them. The
parting of others from their parents was heart-rending. A
chief of Apaiang went off to the steamer with his wife to
bid good-by to their son and give him presents. Capt.
Ferguson, seeing cocoanuts in the chief's boat, applied
for them, but was informed that they were for the chief's
son. Furious with rage he drove back the parents from
ascending the gangway and cut their boat adrift. The
chief offered to bring cocoanuts for him, if he might be
permitted to see his boy, but was refused. With the
mother weeping bitterly they were forced to leave, never
to see their boy again. Several times some of the natives
tried to escape, but were fired upon while swimming away
and generally were recovered. Some of them piteously
offered beads and necklaces, all the valuables they had,
to be permitted to escape, but in vain.

By these and other perfidious and violent methods
Capt. Ferguson obtained 400 natives, of whom 388 were
laborers and the remainder children. They were secured
as follows : 3 from Butaritari, 40 from Marakei, 6 from
Tarava, 8 from Miana, 40 from Apaiang, 107 from Non-
outi, 97 from Tapiteuea, 22 from Peru, and 5 from
Nukuwor.

On their voyage to America they suffered greatly from
uncomfortable accommodation, lack of drinking-water,

40 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

and exposure to the weather. After their arrival at Guate-
mala it was remarked by the planters that within a year
seventy-five per cent, of them would die of fevers.

Rev. John G. Paton, of the New Hebrides Mission,
has stated that "the Kanaka labor-traffic has destroyed
many thousands of the natives in colonial slavery, and
largely depopulated the islands either directly or indirect-
ly, by spreading disease and vice, misery and death,
among them even at the best, at the worst tasking many
of them till they perished at their toils, shooting down
others under one or other guilty pretence, and positively
sweeping thousands to an untimely grave. A common
cry on the lips of the slave-hunters was, ' Let them perish,
and let the white man occupy these islands. ' " He has
estimated that 70,000 Pacific Islanders have been taken
from their homes by slave-hunters.

Besides transient visitors, there were many men from
civilized countries who made their permanent home in
the Pacific Islands and exerted a more abiding influ-
ence. Frequently seamen were attracted by the enchant-
ing beauty of the islands to desert their ships and live
with the natives. Some of these "run-away sailors"
were worthy men and exerted excellent influences. Some
of them became missionaries, and greatly promoted the
good of the natives. But the greater number of them
led sensual and brutal lives, and some of them became
even worse than the natives ; for civilized men turned
savage become the worst of savages.

In the year 1834 the American missionaries found on
the island of Nukuhiva, of the Marquesas group, one of

WATERFALL IN TAHITI.

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 43

these "run-away sailors," a man by the name of Hellish,
who claimed to be the son of an English nobleman and
that he had been sent to sea as a bad boy to be reformed.
He was tattooed all over except on his face, and was al-
most entirely nude. His chief delight was in attending
native feasts ; for which he would often climb over the
steepest and highest ridges of the island. He remarked
that this was the "happiest period of his life." On the
same island another of these " run-aways," by the name of
Morrison, formed a diabolical plan to massacre the mis-
sionaries in order to obtain their few articles of property ;
but before he could accomplish his purpose he suddenly
died in consequence of excessive gluttony. It has been
ascertained that many piracies of vessels and massacres
of seamen in the Southern Pacific have been instigated
and conducted by men of this stripe.

One of these men was the notorious pirate, called
"Bully Hayes," who began his career by kidnapping
from San Francisco a vessel loaded with lumber. He sold
the lumber in Mexico, and then sailed to China, and there
took aboard his vessel a large number of coolies for New
South Wales. As a capitation tax of five dollars a head
was required to be paid for introducing coolies into New
South Wales he was supplied with money for paying it.
He skilfully contrived to retain this money and get rid
of the coolies. On arriving off New South Wales he put
up a flag of distress and flooded the hold of his vessel
from his fresh- water casks, and when a vessel came to his
relief he showed by the fresh water that his vessel was
rapidly leaking, as he was pumping clear water, and re-

44 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

marked that he could take care of his vessel if he could
be relieved of his coolies. The captain who had come
for his assistance kindly took the coolies aboard his ves-
sel ; whereupon Hayes put to sea, and soon was out of
sight. The captain who took the coolies was afterwards
obliged to pay the tax for landing them.

Hayes was next heard of at the Micronesian Islands,
where he undertook to buy a larger vessel loaded with
rice. Being permitted to try the vessel before purchasing
her, he put to sea on her, and was not again seen by the
owner. Hayes had wives and children on many of the
islands. Once he upset a boat with one of his wives and
some of his children, in order to get rid of them ; but as
they could swim as well as he they all escaped to land.
Rev. John G. Paton tells how "the notorious Hayes
once sent an armed band inland on Tanna, who night
after night robbed and plundered whatever came to hand.
The natives, seeing the food of their children ruthlessly
stolen, made objection, and were shot down without
mercy. Glad were we, " says Mr. Paton, ' ' when a ves-
sel carried away these white heathen savages. " Hayes led
a wild life of sensuality, cruelty, and piracy, and at last
was killed by one of his mates, whom he had maltreated,
on one of the vessels he had stolen from San Francisco.

The most desperate class of settlers in the Pacific
Islands were the convicts from Europe. In 1604 a num-
ber of these escaped from New South Wales, and settled
at Mbau and Rewa of the Fiji group. They were regard-
ed by the natives as supernatural beings, because of their
skill in the use of fire-arms, and thereby gained unbound-

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 47

ed influence. They made no effort to acquire dominion
over the islands, but sought only to gratify their vilest
passions. There were twenty-seven of these lawless men ;
but in a few years the greater part of them had fallen in
the wars of the natives and in quarrels with each other.
Their dissipation and cruelty amazed even the cannibal
Fijis.

This description of the evil conduct in the Pacific of
men from civilized nations would be incomplete without
some allusion to the aggressions by these nations them-
selves. Strange to say, several of these nations, while
sometimes severely punishing the islanders for wrongs
done to their subjects, have themselves committed simi-
lar wrongs. Acting on the doctrines of the Dark Ages,
they have sought to take possession of the islands which
their subjects have discovered. It has not mattered that
already the native people were in possession, since the
usurpation has been professedly for their benefit. With
this view the cross has been erected as well as flags of
dominion ; and Romish priests have been sent to in-
trigue by religion while war-ships made forcible in-
vasion.

The priests that have been sent to the Pacific Islands
have shown a singular zeal in prosecuting their mission.
In Tahiti they contrived a happy device for saving the
souls of the heathen, and wrote of it to Europe. They
said that they were accustomed to carry two flasks, one of
perfumed water and the other of holy water, and on meet-
ing a mother with an infant they would engage her at-
tention by the perfumed water and then secretly sprinkle

m OI

f UNIVERSITY

.

48 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

on her child a few drops of the water that would work
regeneration. They also artfully performed apparent mir-
acles to overcome the incredulity of the natives. Some-
times their miracles were too transparent to influence the
natives ; as was once the case at Kauai, where an image
of the Virgin was made to bow its head at the "Ave
Marias " of a priest but at length ceased to bow, in spite of
repeated salutations ; and finally a native put out his head
from a curtain in the rear and exclaimed, ' ' Ua moku ka
kaula." "The string is broken ! "

These pious ' ' fathers " strove less against paganism
than against Protestantism, and sometimes less to exor-
cise the devil than to deport or murder Protestant mis-
sionaries. Their benevolent aim was not so much to save
the souls of the natives as to gain dominion for their re-
spective countries ; for they rarely went where there were
heathen to be converted, but chiefly where Protestant
missionaries, by long years of toil, suffering and martyr-
dom, had first converted the heathen and made the
islands safe and delightful places of residence. Almost
always the islanders at first rejected their superstition be-
cause it too much resembled their own old idolatry ; and
in some cases, as at Hawaii, they expelled the priests
because their worship of images was a violation of the
new laws that had been enacted against idolatry. Such
occurrences afforded pretexts for military invasion ; for
which there seems to have been a preconcerted plan.

On this plan, France sent Admiral Dupetit-Thouars and
several priests of the Picpusian Order to the Pacific in
about the year 1851. Two of these priests landed in

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 49

disguise at Tahiti, and were expelled by Queen Pomare
because of their intrigues against her government. Ad-
miral Thouars soon brought them back and demanded
that they should be allowed to reside in Tahiti, that an
indemnity of $30,000 should be paid to France for al-
leged insults to the French flag, and that the Tahitians
should erect a Roman Catholic Church at their own ex-
pense in every district where they had built one for Prot-
estant worship. He threatened to bombard the island if
the Queen did not assent to his demands in three days.
As it was impossible for her to pay the required indem-
nity she fled to the neighboring island, Moorea, while
the greater part of her people took refuge in the moun-
tains.

The Admiral sent his troops against them and these
troops were repeatedly overcome in desperate conflicts ;
but finally they conquered by their superior military
prowess. In November, 1843, Admiral Thouars de-
clared the Queen incompetent to govern, and proclaimed
a Protectorate over her islands. The name Protectorate
was a misnomer ; for the French ever afterwards com-
pletely ruled her islands. In June, 1880, the French per-
suaded King Pomare, a successor of the Queen, to cede
the nominal sovereignty of his islands to France. The
annexation was formally proclaimed at Papeete on the
24th of March, 1881, and celebrated with a brilliant
festival.

Admiral Thouars also visited the Marquesas Islands,
in 1842, and there proposed to make a chief by the name
of Mowana king of that group. The natives at first
3

50 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

welcomed the admiral, but when they perceived his de-
signs they fiercely opposed him. In one battle on Nu-
kuhiva one hundred and fifty natives were killed. But
the French finally triumphed, and took formal possession
of the Marquesas Islands, and also of the adjacent Gam-
bier, Astral, and Tuamotu or Pearl Islands.

Similar aggressions have been perpetrated by Spain in
the Caroline Islands, and by Germany in the Marshall
and Samoa Islands, which will be described in other
chapters of this book.

The dark record that has been given of the conduct
of enlightened races in the Pacific affords only a faint
view of the mischief they have done. Besides their bar-
barities and felonious usurpations they have introduced
intoxicating liquors and new diseases, and thereby caused
a terrible mortality of the native races. The native pop-
ulation of the Hawaiian Islands has diminished, since
their discovery in 1778, from 400,000 to 32,000 ; that of
the Marquesas Islands from 20,000 to 5,000; and that of
Strong's Island, in Micronesia, from 6,000 to 600. A
similar diminution has occurred in almost all the islands
of the Pacific.

A cheap way of explaining this diminution has been
to attribute it to the influence of civilization and Chris-
tianity. It has been said that the mistakes made by the
islanders in adapting themselves to the changed condi-
tions in Christian civilization caused them to contract
many diseases which caused great mortality.

It may be answered that civilization, with its tendency
to awaken to industrial activities, and Christianity, with

UNCIVILIZING INFLUENCES. 51

its power to cause righteous living, do not destroy com-
munities ; also that physicians have proved beyond ques-
tion that the diminution of the Pacific Islanders has been
caused by diseases introduced by the vices and intemper-
ance of the white races. Christianity has only retarded
this diminution. In the islands where missions have not
been established the diminution has been the most rapid.
In some of these islands the natives have become almost
extinct. But in other islands, where missions have done
their best work, and where foreigners have seldom come,
the natives are increasing in number. In some of the
secluded localities of the Samoa Islands the population
has been increasing at the rate of one per cent, per an-
num. The Rev. Mr. Moulton, missionary in the Tonga
group, has asserted that the population of the Tonga
Islands has increased twenty-five per cent, in twenty
years, and that in the island of Nini the increase is more
than three per cent, per annum. The explanation of this
increase is that these islands lie out of the common track
of ships, and that in them missions have been very suc-
cessful.

Sadder than the diminution of these populations has
been the deeper barbarism caused by the influences from
enlightened lands. The result of the untold barbarities
perpetrated by foreigners in return for the most generous
hospitality of the natives, and of the introduction of fire-
arms and ardent spirits, has sometimes been to change
the simple-hearted islanders almost into fiends. The
saddest thing for a heathen people is to come into con-
tact with civilization without Christianity. The tidal

52 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

waves that sometimes send up briny surges into the beau-
tiful vegetation of the islands, and the volcanic torrents
that burn through their noblest forests, have hardly been
more terrible than these uncivilizing influences of the
civilized races.

But good influences, as well as evil, have gone from
civilized nations. It is delightful to turn from the dark
record of the atrocities of unprincipled adventurers to
consider the blessed influences of Christian missions in
the Pacific. The success of these missions against the
primeval paganism and the worse barbarism of "white
heathen savages " has been almost miraculous.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PACIFIC. 55

CHAPTER III.

THE ORIGIN OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PACIFIC.

THE rise of the islands of the Pacific through the ages
of the past from the depths of the ocean, and their
transformation from wastes of rock and volcanic fire into
Edens of beauty, was hardly more wonderful and sublime
than the elevation, proposed through Christianity, of the
inhabitants of those islands from their primeval degrada-
tion into the highest character of which human nature
is capable, and finally to the glories of heaven. The en-
terprise to accomplish so great and glorious a work was
not devised through the promptings of mere human mo-
tives, nor through confidence in mere human strength.
Captain Cook, in commenting on the conduct of the
Spaniards in erecting the cross on Tahiti, wrote that in
his opinion nothing would ever be done to Christianize
the Pacific Islanders ; ' ' since there were no motives in
public ambition nor in private avarice for such an under-
taking. " He was correct in the view that neither avarice
nor ambition would prompt to such an enterprise. But
he knew little of the motives which Christianity supplies,
and of the power it exerts to lift up the lowest races of
men.

The enterprise of foreign missions originated only in
the highest developments of Christianity. When the

56 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

long political conflicts in Great Britain between the
Roman Catholics and the Protestants had ceased the
churches in that country became free to rise into the
highest philanthropic activities. The remarkable revivals
of religion that then occurred resulted in the sending
forth of missionaries- to evangelize heathen nations, just
as the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in ancient Antioch
resulted in the sending forth of the great missionary-
apostle Paul, and his companion, Barnabas, to labor
among the Gentiles.

It is interesting to note that the particular occasion
of the enterprise in England for foreign missions was the
publication of the narratives of Cook's voyages in the
Pacific. A young man by the name of William Carey,
while preaching in the small town of Moulton, and at
the same time working as a cobbler for the support of
his family, read these narratives, and with a large map
and a leather globe, which he himself had made, de-
scribed Cook's voyages to his pupils, and at length was
fired with a desire to carry the good news of God to the
islanders — who had most hospitably entertained Cook
and had been maddened by his injustice to kill him. So
interested did Carey become in the Pacific Islanders that
in a gathering of Baptist ministers he proposed a dis-
cussion of the duty of the Church to evangelize heathen
countries. To this proposition Dr. Ryland, an aged
minister, replied, "Sit down, young man. When God
proposes to convert the heathen he will do it without
your help or mine." Dr. Ryland further remarked that
' ' nothing could be done for such an object until another

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PACIFIC. 59

Pentecost, when an effusion of miraculous gifts, includ-
ing the gift of tongues, would give effect to the commis-
sion of Christ as at first. " But the young man was not
silenced, and at length succeeded, by impassioned ap-
peals to the public and by sermons preached before the
Baptist Association, in persuading twelve ministers to
unite with him in organizing at Kettering, on October 2,
1792, the first Foreign Missionary Society of Great Brit-
ain. Fifty years afterwards thousands of people gath-
ered at Kettering to celebrate the jubilee of that organi-
zation, and in 1892 a more notable gathering celebrated
its centennial.

It is an interesting fact that the first wish of Mr.
Carey was to go as a missionary to the Pacific Ocean, to
Tahiti, and that the first plan of this society was to send
him thither. But about this time a Mr. John Thomas,
a surgeon who had engaged in missionary work while in
the employ of the East India Company, arrived in Lon-
don seeking a missionary assistant, and so set forth the
needs of India that the plan of the society was changed,
and William Carey arid John Thomas were sent to India.

The sublime act of faith of these two men, in going
as voluntary exiles from home to labor for a heathen
race, kindled a fire of missionary enthusiasm throughout
England. It was remarked that the Baptist Society had
"a gold mine in India," but that it seemed almost as
deep as the centre of the earth. Carey replied, " I will
go down into the mine ; but the Society at home must
hold the ropes. " Others besides the Baptists soon de-
sired a part in working this gold mine,

60 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

On November 4, 1794, a company of ministers of
various denominations united in London in issuing a
circular calling for a convention of the delegates of the
churches to meet in London on the 22d, 23d, and 24th
days of the ensuing month, to consider the project of
forming an undenominational missionary society. At the
time appointed great multitudes met together, and two
sermons were preached each day by eminent divines upon
themes pertinent to foreign missions. In these meetings
"Christians of all denominations for the first time met
together in the same place, using the same hymns and
prayers, and feeling themselves to be one. Two hundred
ministers sat together in the galleries. One of the lead-
ers of these meetings said, ' We are called together for the
funeral of bigotry ; and I hope it will be buried so deep
as never to rise again.' Whereat the whole vast body
could scarce refrain from one general shout of joy." The
London Missionary Society was then formed, -composed
of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Independents.

It was declared in the constitution of this Society
that "the design of the Society was not to send Presby-
terianism, Independency, Episcopacy, or any other form
of church order and government (about which there may
be difference of opinion among serious persons), but the
glorious gospel of the blessed God to the heathen ; and
that it shall be left (as it ought to be left) to the minds of
the persons whom God may call into the fellowship of
his Son from among them to assume for themselves such
form of church government as to them shall appear most
agreeable to the Word of God. "

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN THE PACIFIC. 6l

It is interesting to note that the first foreign mission-
ary society in America, the American Board, was in like
manner undenominational at its origin. It may be said
that, as at the origin of Christianity the infant Church set
forth with the gift of tongues and a blessed fellowship
and community of property, pointing forward to the fu-
ture union of all mankind in fraternity and love, so the
foreign mission work began with a fellowship of all Chris-
tians, pointing forward to the ftiture church-union in
which alone foreign missions will finally be completely
successful.

The attention of the London Missionary Society was
drawn at its very origin to the islands of the Pacific
Ocean as a promising field for missions. Glowing ac-
counts were given of the South Sea Islands as ' ' very ter-
restrial paradises, the people loving and lovable children
of nature." Rev. Dr. Thomas Haweis, one of the found-
ers and most liberal supporters of the Society, delivered
an address upon the question " In what part of the world
they should commence their work, " and drew a compar-
ison between the climates, the governments, the lan-
guages, and the religions of heathen countries ; and con-
cluded that of all the dark places of the earth the South
Sea Islands presented the fewest difficulties and the fair-
est prospect of success. Dazzled by the pleasing picture
he had drawn, the London Society resolved without delay
to commence a mission to the South Sea Islands.

For this purpose this Society purchased a ship at a
cost of $24,375, and equipped her and furnished supplies
for her long voyage at an additional expense of $34,000.

62 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Capt. James Wilson, ' ' a worthy Christian gentleman who
had retired in affluence from the East India service,"
volunteered his services to command the vessel. Twenty
chosen missionaries were then set apart for the mission
to Tahiti. Six of them were married men, with whom
were two children. Only four of them were ordained
ministers. One was a physician and the others were
artisans. " Thousands of people joined in the novel
and most impressive services of their consecration to the
missionary enterprise ; and no less than ten clergymen,
Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Independent, Seceder, and
Methodist, shared in the exercises. It was remarked
that in no instance had such a spirit of prayer and sup-
plication been poured out upon the churches, or such
general approbation been discovered, as in the inception
of this mission enterprise. "

On the 23d of September, 1796, the Duff, flying an
ensign with a figure, on a blue field, of a dove with an
olive branch in her mouth, sailed from Portsmouth with
these first missionaries for the islands of the Pacific
Ocean.

RAR

OF THK

UNIVERSITY
CALJF225

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 65

CHAPTER IV.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.

THE island of Tahiti, to which the first missionaries
of the Pacific were sent, is one of a group called the
Society Islands ; so named by Capt. Cook in honor of
the Royal Society of London. This group is situated
between latitudes 16° and 18° South, and longitudes
148° and 155° West. It consists of thirteen islands and
several small islets, and is divided by a channel sixty
miles wide into two clusters ; the eastern, called the Wind-
ward or Georgian Islands, comprising six islands, the
western, called the Leeward or Society Islands, comprising
seven islands. Their aggregate area is 650 square miles.

With the exception of the coral islets in the extreme
northwest these islands are of volcanic origin ; as is
indicated by their lavas, basalt, and pumice-stone. In
general appearance the volcanic islands resemble each
other. A high mountain crowned with steep peaks
occupies the interior ; on all sides steep ridges descend
to the sea or to sloping plains ; and over all, mountains,
valleys and plains, spreads a most luxuriant robe of
tropical vegetation. Around most of these islands are
barrier reefs, situated from a few yards to five miles from
the shore.

Tahiti lies in the southern part of the Windward or
Georgian cluster, and is the largest island of the group,

66 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

having an area of 412 square miles. It is composed of
two distinct portions, united by an isthmus which is a
mile wide and of only fifty feet elevation above the
ocean. The southern portion is called Tairabu, and
measures six by twelve miles. The northern portion is
called Porionuu, and measures twenty by twenty-three
miles. At the northeast extremity of Porionuu is the
chief town of the group, Papeete, which is the capital of
the French possessions in the Pacific and the emporium
of the commerce of all the surrounding groups. It lies
on the crescent-formed shore at the head of the Matavai
Bay, embowered in beautiful tropical vegetation, with a
background of enchanting woods and grand mountains.
From a beach of white sand a continuous forest of wav-
ing palms and vine-clad trees spreads to verdant ridges
and deep ravines, and on to the mountains, Orohena,
7,250 feet high, and Aorai, 6,576 feet high. The latter is
jagged at its summit with rocky spires so as to resemble
a royal crown, and for this reason called "La Diademe"
A broad green road, called the ' ' Broom Road, " runs
around this island close to the sea, through districts
' ' which seem like one vast orchard of mango, bread-
fruit, feis, orange-trees, sugar-cane, papayas and cocoa-
nut-palms, together forming a succession of the very
richest foliage it is possible to conceive." The valleys
of this island, especially Hautana, Matavai and Apai-
ano, are very beautiful.

In all the Society Islands it is difficult to travel out-
side of the roads, so dense is the vegetation and so im-
passable are the gorges and precipices. It is said also

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 67

that travelling on horseback is unsafe because "the
land-crabs have literally riddled the by-paths." These
crabs are sometimes found in the huts of the natives and
under the mats of sleepers at night.

To voyagers who for weeks had no surroundings but
the blue ocean and the sky above the wonderful beauty
of this island is quite enrapturing. One writer says,
' ' The scenery of that island will live for ever in my
thoughts as some splendid dream of beauty, as early one
morning I entered the port of Papeete. Before me were
great mountains of every shade of blue, pink, gray, and
purple, torn and broken into every conceivable fantastic
shape, with deep, dark, mysterious gorges, showing
almost black by contrast with the surrounding bright-
ness, precipitous peaks and pinnacles rising one above
the other until lost in the heavy masses of clouds they
impaled, while below, stretching from the base of the
mountains to the shore, was a forest of tropical trees
with the huts and houses of the town peeping out be-
tween."

Two miles west of Tahiti is Moorea, or Eimeo, a
small but lofty and very picturesque island. Its moun-
tain, Afareaitu, 3,986 feet in height, has formerly been
rent asunder by violent volcanic convulsions, leaving
stupendous upright splinters which have been jocosely
called "Asses' ears."

Mr. Ellis says of this island : " In the varied forms of
its mountains,' the verdure with which they are clothed,
and the general romantic and beautiful character of
its scenery Moorea surpasses every other island of the

68 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Georgian or Society groups. A reef, like a ring, ex-
tends around it two miles from the shore. On this
reef are small verdant islets, appearing like emerald gems
of the ocean, one opposite Afareaitu on the east side, and
two south of Papetoai. "

The author of ' ' South Sea Bubbles " says : "As seen
from Tahiti. Moorea is a wonderfully beautiful island,
peaked and jagged in a way seldom seen. The harbor,
Openohu, is a gorge, and one of the wildest gorges I
have ever seen. Green precipices rise upwards of two
thousand feet sheer from the water, fringed round their
feet by cocoanut and orange-trees. Far up in the
green cliffs may be seen the large leaves of thefet\ or
wild plantain. One of the highest and most acute peaks
is perforated right through, just below the summit, the
natives say by an ancient hero throwing his spear
through the moutain peak. "

Several of the Leeward Islands are described as no
less picturesque and beautiful. Huahine and Raiatea
are noble islands encircled by one coral reef. In this
reef, at the northeast point of Raiatea, opposite the
harbor, Utumaoro, are three green islets. Raiatea con-
sists of two parts connected by an isthmus, and is com-
pletely covered with verdure, from the sea to the sum-
mits of the mountains ; the hibiscus and other shrubs
overhanging the salt water of the harbor.

Of Borabora the writer just quoted says: "This
splendid island rises like a giant's castle out of the sea.
At a distance it seems split into two parts, a tower and
a steeple ; but when approached the two blend into one.

o

OF THK

UNIVERSITY
^

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 71

There is an extinct volcanic crater in its summit. The
harbor is most magnificently beautiful, overhung by a
heap of rock 3,000 feet high, noble basaltic cliffs stand-
ing from a perfect cascade of verdure. Nowhere but
in these islands have I ever seen positively richly green
cliifs. I think Borabora is the most magnificently
beautiful piece of rock-scenery I have ever seen. "

The inhabitants of the Society Islands are the Poly-
nesian race, who, as has been mentioned, occupy the
eastern portion of the Pacific. They are physically a
very fine people. De Quatrefages, in a table giving the
stature of different races of men, puts the natives of
Samoa and Tonga as the largest people in the world.
He gives the average height of this race as 5 feet, 9.92
inches. The Society Islanders compare well in size with
the Samoans and Tongans, while in general symmetry
of form they are unsurpassed.

A brief description of the Tahitians will answer for
that of all the Polynesians of the Pacific. The Tahitians
are a brown race, varying in color from a light olive to a
swarthy brown according to the amount of their previous
exposure to the sun. Their hair is usually raven black,
and straight, wavy, or curly ; their eyes are black and
expressive ; their lips of a little more than medium
thickness ; their noses rather wide ; their foreheads
fairly high and rather narrow. " Their women rank with
the most beautiful in the Pacific."

In disposition the Tahitians are affable, light-hearted,
and generous, but fickle, and under provocation deceit-
ful, irritable, and brutal.

72 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. -

At the time of the arrival of the missionaries the
Tahitians were wearing their primitive costume, which
consisted of an oblong piece of bark-cloth, the tiputa,
with a hole in the centre for the head, a plain piece of
cloth around the loins, and a malo, or T bandage.

The women wore the parau, which was one piece of
cloth, two and a half yards wide by eleven long, wrapped
several times around the waist so as to hang down to the
knees. They also wore a shawl, called the ahaifara, over
the shoulders. They often wore brilliant flowers in their
hair and fragrant garlands and necklaces. In the heat
of the day they were uncovered to the waist, and the
men wore only the malo. In times of rain they wore
matting instead of cloth. At night their clothing served
for bedding. The children went naked until six or seven
years old. ' ' The chiefs wore also short feather-cloaks
and beautiful semicircular breastplates dexterously in-
terwoven with the black plumage of the frigate-bird,
with crimson feathers, and with sharks' teeth. "

Mr. George Foster tells of having once witnessed, in
1777, what he called a most magnificent sight. Entering
one of the harbors of Tahiti he saw "a fleet of 159 large
war-canoes with 170 small canoes arrayed along the
shore, manned with 1,500 warriors dressed in their
robes, targets and towering helmets : while on the beach
were 4,000 warriors about to embark. The targets
were of wicker-work covered with feathers and sharks'
teeth ; the helmets were five feet high, closely covered
with glossy bluish green feathers of a sort of pigeon, with
an elegant border of white plumes, and with a prodigious

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 73

number of the long tail-feathers of tropic-birds diverging
from its edges in a radiant line resembling that glory of
light with which painters commonly ornament the
heads of angels or saints." These warriors were prepar-
ing for an expedition against Moorea. The expedition
failed and nearly all the fleet was captured.

The Tahitians showed no little skill in manufactur-
ing bark-cloth, mats, fishing-tackle, canoes, and house-
hold furniture. They sometimes made bales of cloth,
all in one piece, two hundred yards long and four yards
wide, from strips of bark one and a half inches wide and
four feet long.

Their canoes were made of logs of trees, hollowed
out by sharp stones and by fire, and were either double
or single, with outriggers. The sterns were sometimes
from 15 to 1 8 feet high, ornamented with figures of
birds or gods.

Their houses were little more than thatched roofs
supported by posts and rafters. There were three rows
of posts — one in the centre and two at the sides. Pan-
danus leaves were used for thatch, and the ridge-pole was
bound over with ferns or grass. The lower part of the
house was open to the height of about four feet above
the ground. The floors were covered with long dried
grass or mats. The houses generally measured n by
24 feet. One of the king's houses at Waitowate was
397 feet long and 48 wide and 21 high.

The staple food of the Tahitians was the breadfruit ;
but besides this they subsisted on yams, taro, sweet-
potatoes, plantains, and a few varieties of fruit. The
4

74 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

quiet waters inclosed by their reefs afforded an abun-
dant supply of fish. They cooked their food by burying
it, well-wrapped with leaves, on heated stones in the
ground. They obtained fire by rubbing together sticks
of wood.

Like the rest of the Polynesians, the Tahitians wor-
shipped innumerable idols with horrid orgies and human
sacrifices. Almost every man had his special god, but
there were several principal gods : Taaroa (corresponding
to Kaneloa of Hawaii), Tane (corresponding to Kane of
Hawaii) and Oro, the national god of Tahiti (correspond-
ing to Lono of Hawaii). The idols measured from a
few inches to six feet long, and were ornamented with
sennit and red feathers. It was supposed that the gods
entered them at certain seasons, and in consequence of
certain ceremonies.

The Tahitians also worshipped the spirits of their
deceased ancestors, called Oromatuas (in Hawaii, Auma-
kuas). These they invoked in sickness, and for ven-
geance against their enemies ; in which latter case they
sought to obtain something from the victim they would
destroy — parings of the nails, locks of hair, or saliva — by
which to set the demon on the track of the victim ; a
method followed in Hawaii, the New Hebrides, and
other Polynesian Islands.

The places of Tahitian worship were piles of stones,
called morat, built in pyramidal form, with flights of steps
at the sides ; on these the idols were erected and the of-
ferings laid. A morai at Atahuru measured 270 feet by
ninety-four wide and fifty high. Other sacred places were

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 77

the platforms on which, under sheds, they exposed the
bodies of the dead ; for they did not bury their dead,
but partially embalmed them, and placed them on these
platforms with provisions.

By the Tahitian religion the women were forbidden
to eat with the men. The husband and the wife made
separate fires, kept their food separate, and ate apart, the
wife generally in another hut. The women were also
tabooed from eating pork, fowls, bananas, and several
kinds of fish.

Immorality, polygamy and infanticide prevailed in
Tahiti to an incredible extent. It was estimated by the
first missionaries that two-thirds of the children were
put to death at birth. This was generally done by
strangling, or by piercing with a bamboo. Rev. John
Williams once asked three women, whom he casually
met, whether they had killed any of their children. One
replied that she had killed nine, another seven, and the
other three. After the abolition of idolatry, a chief con-
fessed in a large assembly that he had been the father of
nineteen children, and that he had murdered them all ;
and he wept at remembrance of their deaths. A chief-
tainess was bitterly troubled in the hour of death by remem-
brance of having put to death her sixteen children.

Wars were almost incessant in Tahiti, and were most
cruel and destructive. During the first fifteen years of
the mission there were ten wars. Just before the arrival
of the missionaries there was an inter-tribal war which
resulted in the conquest of the whole island by Pomare
and his son Otu.

78 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The immorality of the Tahitians reached its climax in
a strange organization of men and women, called Areoi,
who lived together indiscriminately without marriage,
spent their time in licentious dancing and feasting from
village to village, and killed all their children. They
kept up their organization only by initiating new mem-
bers.

The vices of the Tahitians were vastly increased by
the coming of the white men, who gave free rein to their
avarice and sensuality. The women thronged every ship
to obtain trinkets and baubles, and especially bits of iron
hoop and nails, which were considered more precious
than gold.

Captain Cook said of the immorality of the Tahiti-
ans, for which his crew were partly responsible, ' ' There
is a scale of dissolute sensuality which these people have
ascended, wholly unknown to every other nation, and
which no imagination could possibly conceive." Rev.
William Ellis remarked, "Awfully dark, indeed, was
their moral character, and notwithstanding the apparent
mildness of their disposition, and the cheerful vivacity of
their conversation, no portion of the human race was
ever perhaps sunk lower in brutal licentiousness and
moral degradation than this isolated people."

Such were the islands and such the people to whom
the missionaries on the Duff were voyaging. These
missionaries were obliged by violent gales in the South
Atlantic to change their course and to round the Cape of
Good Hope instead of Cape Horn, and did not arrive at
Tahiti till March 4th, 1797, after a voyage of six months

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 8 1

and nineteen days. Because of their course around the
Cape of Good Hope their reckoning of the days of the
week differed by one day from that of the American
missionaries of Hawaii, their Sunday coming on the
Saturday of the American missionaries.

Hardly had their little vessel come to anchor off the
shores of Tahiti when seventy-four canoes came off to
her, and soon a hundred savages were capering with de-
light upon her decks. It was the Sabbath-day; and
therefore the missionaries, instead of bartering with the
natives, held a service of song and prayer, while the na-
tives looked on in silent wonder.

On the next day several of the missionaries went in
a boat to examine the island. About five hundred natives
gathered on the shore to receive them, and, wading into
the sea, dragged the boat up on the beach, and carried
them ashore on their backs. The king, Otu, and his
queen, Tetua, came to welcome them, borne on the
shoulders of natives ; for, according to their customs,
whatever the king set foot upon became his, whether it
was land or the deck of a vessel. There were two white
men residing on the island, dressed, or rather undressed,
like the natives. By the aid of one of these, a Swede,
who had escaped from shipwreck to the island, Captain
Wilson informed the king, Otu, of the purposes of the
missionaries. The king expressed himself as pleased,
and gave them a building one hundred and eight feet long
by forty-eight wide, and assigned them a large district,
called Matavai, in which to reside without dispossessing
the natives. As soon as the lower, unthatched, part of

82 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

the house was enclosed, the missionaries disembarked,
and entered the house with prayer and thanksgiving to
God. The Duff soon afterwards sailed away, taking ten
missionaries to the Tonga Islands. After her return she
took one missionary to the Marquesas Islands, and one,
by his own request, to England.

The missionaries located on Tahiti were Revs. James
Cover and wife, John Eyrie and wife, John Jefferson,
Thomas Lewis, and Messrs. Henry Bicknell, wheelwright,
Benjamin Broomhall, harness-maker, John Cock, car-
penter, Samuel Clode, gardener, John Gilham, surveyor,
William Henry, carpenter, and wife, Peter Hodges, bra-
zier, and wife, Rowland HarTell, weaver, and wife, Ed-
ward Main, tailor, Henry Nott, bricklayer, Francis
Oakes, shoemaker, James Puckey, carpenter, William
Puckey, carpenter, and William Smith, linen-draper.
There were also two children — James Cover, twelve years,
and Thomas Haffell, two years old.

The report made by Captain Wilson about his voy-
age, after his return to England, excited so much enthu-
siasm that in the latter part of the following year the
Duff was again sent forth with twenty-nine more mis-
sionaries for the Pacific. But the Duff was captured by
a French privateer, and all the missionaries on board of
her, except one who died, after many distressing adven-
tures found their way back to England.

However romantic k may have seemed to engage in
this benevolent enterprise in the beautiful islands of the
Pacific it must have soon seemed hardly endurable, under
the privations and perils the missionaries experienced.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 83

At that time the wars of Great Britain with Napoleon
Bonaparte made it difficult for the London Society to
communicate with them ; and for five years no supplies
nor letters from England came to them. During the
seven following years letters and supplies came only twice,
and once the supplies, when they arrived, had been spoiled
by salt water. During these years they suffered from
want of the very necessaries of life. ' ' Their shoes wore
out, their clothes became threadbare, tea and sugar
were only remembered as luxuries of the past. " Their
situation was made worse by the neglect of the king, who
was disappointed in his hope of getting presents from
them, and ceased to provide them with food. He re-
marked that they gave him plenty of the Word of God,
but very few axes, knives, or scissors. Sometimes
they could obtain food only by sending a boy to the
mountains for wild fruit or to the breadfruit trees of a
friendly chief. The Swede, Peter Hagerstine, whom they
had employed as an interpreter in their conference with
the king and in their preaching, sought to influence the
king against them. Once when passing with the king
near their house, while they were kneeling in prayer, he
suggested that it would be easy at such a time to destroy
them all and appropriate their property. Their situation
also, without weapons of defence and with tender wives
and children, amongst the warring natives, was about as
perilous as that of a child in a menagerie of wild
animals.

Soon after their arrival the chiefs of the opposite
side of the island revolted against the king ; the war was

84 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

carried into the district of Matavai, and the half-clad
savages, appearing in their disfigurement of paint and with
their fierce war cries more like devils than men, made
their beautiful surroundings resemble the infernal regions.
Once four of the missionaries were seized and stripped
by the natives, and dragged into the river, and they bare-
ly escaped to the opposite banks.

Alarmed by these perils, and discouraged also because
there were no signs of success in their work, all but two
of the missionaries now proposed to leave the islands.
The king besought them to remain, and seven of them
did so ; while the rest went by way of Huahine to New
South Wales.

Only five missionaries now remained. But they per-
severed in their unpromising work, and soon succeeded
with the aid of a few chiefs in building the first chapel
erected for Christian worship in the Pacific. It was dedi-
cated on March 5th, 1800; three years after their arrival.
King Pomare, desiring to show favor on this occasion,
sent a fish as an offering to Jesus Christ, requesting that
it should be hung up in the chapel.

In June, 1801, a reinforcement of eight more mission-
aries arrived in the Royal Admiral, Capt. Wilson, making
the whole number now twelve. Mr. Nott had mastered
the language sufficiently to be able to preach, and now
with Mr. Elder made the first tour of the island, preach-
ing in thirty villages. Some of the natives seemed quite
affected by the preaching, especially the accompanying
servants, who by attending the meetings at every village
gained considerable knowledge of gospel truth.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 87

But unhappily, when now a faint gleam of encourage-*
ment was appearing, a fierce civil war again broke out.
King Pomare had forcibly removed the national idol called
Oro, a mere shapeless log six feet long, from the district
Atehuru, where it had always been kept ; and the natives
of this district, with other tribes, went to war to recover
it. Providentially, there were twenty-three English sea-
men on the island, most of whom had recently escaped
from shipwreck ; they came together to the house of the
missionaries to make common defense against the rebels.
With their aid the missionaries pulled down their chapel,
to prevent its being set on fire or used as a place of refuge
for the enemy, cut down their breadfruit trees, and made
a stockade around their house. Four brass cannon, ob-
tained from a wrecked ship, were placed in the upper
rooms of the house ; and by turns the seamen and the
missionaries stood guard. The rebels at length, seeing
the preparation for defense, desisted from the war.

In 1803 King Pomare died; and his son, Otu, be-
came king, and assumed the title, Pomare II. The first
Pomare had been a most vicious and inhuman savage.
It was estimated by the missionaries that during his
reign of thirty years he had sacrificed two thousand human
victims as offerings to his idols. Pomare II. at first ap-
peared to be little better, and committed so many acts of
violence that in 1805, after eight years of apparently
fruitless labor, six missionaries removed from Tahiti to
Huahine.

On the 6th of November, 1808, another rebellion
broke out ; and finally Pomare was defeated, the house

88 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

« of the missionaries destroyed, and their printing types
were melted for bullets. By Pomare's advice the mission-
aries now fled to the other islands ; and on the 26th of Oc-
tober, 1809, they all, except Mr. Nott and Mr. Hay ward,
went to Port Jackson, New South Wales. The mission
now seemed to be broken up, only two missionaries re-
maining as ' * the forlorn hope. " These felt more than
. ever before that there was no success for them except
through divine aid.

But light was about to dawn. The reading of trans-
lations of the New Testament was having an effect on
the people. As a missionary once read the words, " God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life, " a native exclaimed, ' ' Is that true ? "
When assured that it was true he replied, " Your God
is unlike our gods. Your God has love ; our gods
have only cruelty ; and we make offerings to them only
to propitiate them. But," he continued, "your God
has love for you, not for us." The missionary assured
him that the proffers of the gospel were for him and all
his people. He was greatly affected, and remained long
in deep meditation.

King Pomare also now became interested, and attend-
ed the preaching more regularly, and sent a message to
the missionaries at Port Jackson expressing deep sorrow
at their absence and entreating them to return. In the
latter part of the year, 1811, five of them, Messrs. Bick-
nell, Davies, Henry, Scott and Wilson, returned, and re-
sided with Messrs. Nott and Hayward at Moorea, in the

OTU, KING OF TAHITI.

CEDING MATAVAI TO THE MISSION.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. gi

district of Papetoai, whither King Pomare had fled from
Tahiti.

About this time King Pomare made a striking test of
the power of his false gods. When a turtle, which was
considered a sacred animal, was brought to him for food,
instead of making the customary offering of a part of it to
the idol in the temple before eating it, he gave orders to
bake it at once, and when it was prepared proceeded to
eat it. The natives watched him with horror, expecting
to see him writhe in convulsions, and when they saw that
no harm came to him were much shaken in their belief re-
specting idolatry.

King Pomare now urged Tapoa, king of Raiatea, and
several chiefs of that island, who were visiting Tahiti, to
unite with him in renouncing idolatry. One of these
chiefs, a brother of Tapoa, went a step further than Po-
mare, and burnt his idol, and ate breadfruit baked in its
ashes.

Pomare now returned by invitation to resume the
government of Tahiti, and there labored to dissuade the
people from worshipping idols, and to enlighten them
about the true religion. When the missionaries heard
what he was doing they sent two of their number,
Messrs. Scott and Hayward, to aid him. In the morn-
ing after their arrival Mr. Scott heard a native among the
bushes near their lodging engaged in prayer. It was
the first native voice in praise and prayer that he had
ever heard, and he listened almost entranced and with
tears of joy. The name of the native was Oito. He was
awakened to interest about the Christian religion by re-

92 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

marks made by the king, and had applied for counsel to
a man by the name of Tuahine, who had been a servant
of the missionaries, and with him and a number of others
had renounced idolatry and commenced the practice of
secret prayer.

The missionaries now took Tuahine and Oito to
Moorea, and with them made a tour of that island. On
the 25th of July, 1813, they dedicated a new chapel,
which they had built at the request of Pomare. During
the ceremony of dedication they gave notice that on the
following day a meeting would be held for those who
would be willing to renounce idolatry and worship the
true God. The result was that thirty-one natives made
Christian confession ; and in a few days eleven more
forsook their idols and covenanted to worship Jehovah.
A priest now, by the name of Patii, announced that on
the following day he would burn his idols. At the time
appointed a great number of the natives came together
to witness the performance, and were deeply impressed,
as he brought out his images one by one, tore off their
coverings of cinet and red feathers, and burned them,
calling upon the people to witness their inability to help
themselves.

These first successes of the missionaries occurred after
a long "night of sixteen years of toil." But the tri-
umphs that followed throughout all the Pacific were
worth all the toil and suffering they cost.

The devil of idolatry, however, did not go out of the
Tahitians without some tearing. In almost every in-
stance of the overthrow of idolatry in the Pacific the

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 93

overthrow has been opposed by war. In this case the
heathen soon began to persecute the Christians. ' ' It
had been customary for the priests to name certain
families from whom to select victims for sacrifice.
These selections were now made from the number of the
Christians. Many of the Christians fled to other islands,
and many who did not flee were sacrificed. At length
a midnight attack was planned for surprising and massa-
cring all the Christians. But a few hours before the
time appointed for the attack a secret hint was given to
the Christians, and they launched their canoes and fled
to Moorea."

Soon afterwards, by invitation of the idolaters, the
Christians, eight hundred in number, returned to Tahiti.
On the following Sabbath, November 12, 1815, as they
were engaged together in prayer at Narri near Bunauia,
the idolaters attacked them in great force. The Chris-
tians had barely time to seize their arms and form three
columns, two near the beach and one in the rear to-
wards the mountains. In the latter column Mahine, the
king of Huahine, assisted, wearing a helmet covered
with plates of spotted cowrie, and ornamented with
plumes of tropic birds. His sister fought beside him,
clothed in strongly twisted native flax. The idolaters
drove in the first ranks, and pressed on towards Mahine
and his sister, when one of Mahine's men, Raveae, with
a spear killed Upufara, the leader of the heathen. On
learning of the death of their leader the pagan army fled.
Pomare now forbade pursuit and murder, and sent a
select band to Tautina to destroy the temple, altars,

94 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

idols, and every appendage of idolatry they could find.
The idol, Oro, was now made a post for the king's kitch-
en, and finally cut up for fire-wood. Nearly all the
other idols on the island and also the temples and altars
were destroyed. Pomare sent twelve of the idols to the
missionaries in Moorea, with the request that they should
be sent to the Missionary Society in London.

The clemency Pomare now displayed, in pardoning
his defeated enemies, who according to ancient customs
would have been put to death, greatly affected the hea-
then ; and they almost universally abandoned idolatry
and united with the Christians in worshipping the true
God.

The missionaries at Moorea were overjoyed at hear-
ing of these events, and sent one of their number to Ta-
hiti ; and he was occupied for many days from morning
till night in religious conversation with the people.
Schools were now established everywhere, the worship of
idols renounced, infanticide and other abominations
of idolatry discontinued, and peace and prosperity
reigned.

While these encouraging events were occurring, the
directors of the London Missionary Society were discuss-
ing whether they should not recall these missionaries and
give up their mission in Tahiti, because of its apparent
failure. But Rev. Thomas Haweis, one of the founders
of the society, earnestly protested against this proposi-
tion, and made a new donation of $1,000 for this mis-
sion. Rev. Matthew Wilkes remarked that he would
sell the clothes from his back rather than abandon the

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 95

mission, and proposed that a special season of prayer
should be observed in behalf of the Society-Islanders.
While these discussions were going on a vessel was on
her way from Tahiti bearing the news of the complete
downfall of idolatry in Tahiti and Moorea, and convey-
ing the rejected idols of the people.

The missionaries were unable to fully meet the de-
mand that now arose for books and translations of the
Bible. Especially was this the case when, in 1817, Rev.
William Ellis arrived with a printing-press. The wonder
and delight of the natives at the marvellous machine
knew no bounds. They gathered from the surrounding
districts and from the other islands ; they filled the
houses of the district to overflowing, and temporary
sheds were erected for their accommodation ; and they
crowded together around the building in which the press
was operated, climbing on each others' shoulders and
darkening the windows, so eager was their curiosity to
see the wonderful machine and so desirous were they to
procure books. Some of them waited five or six weeks
before returning home rather than return without
books.

The natives now also aided the missionaries with
great enthusiasm in building school-houses and -churches.
King Pomare provided the materials, and erected a house
of worship at Papaoa, on Tahiti, which measured 712
feet in length by 54 in breadth. This building contained
three pulpits, 260 feet apart. A watercourse five or six
feet wide crossed it in an oblique direction. It was a
natural stream from the mountains to the sea, and

96 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

could not be diverted. For a church bell a thick
iron hoop was used, which was struck by an iron bolt.
In the same year, on the 6th of June, the first bap-
tism at the Society Islands was performed, when in the
presence of 4,000 people the king, the first subject of
this sacrament, was baptized, and after him many other
natives.

With new views of duty, derived from Christian expe-
rience, Pomare now began to feel the need of a better
system of governing his islands, and sought the aid of
the missionaries in making a written code of laws.
When this cc-de was prepared he called a great assembly
of 7,000 of the natives and read it to them ; and they
unanimously voted to accept it. Copies of it were sent
to all the chiefs and it was afterwards rigorously enforced ;
so rigorously that the Queen-Dowager was afterwards
arrested for cutting down a tree of a poor man, and
made to pay restitution, which, however, the man
gallantly refused to receive. The result of the estab-
lishment of the code was a greater peace and order and
prosperity of the islands.

In the year 1821 King Pomare died in joyful Chris-
tian hope. He was succeeded by his son, who was only
four years old ; but the boy lived only a little over a
year, and was succeeded by his sister, who reigned with
the title, "Queen Pomare."

The good work that had been accomplished in
Tahiti soon extended to the Leeward Islands ; for mis-
sionaries had occasionally labored in these islands from
the beginning of their work in Tahiti. Those of them

A TAHITIAN.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. 99

who fled from Tahiti in 1808 spent several months on
Huahine preaching the gospel. In 1814 Mr. Nott and
Mr. Hayward visited Huahine and Raiatea, and made
the circuit of these islands preaching to the people.
The news of the downfall of the great national idol,
Oro, was carried to these islands, and shook the faith
of the natives in their idols. After the victory over the
heathen in Tahiti King Mahine sent Vahaivi, one of
his chiefs, to destroy the idols on his island of Huahine.
The other chiefs on that island at first opposed this, but
finally submitted. King Tapoa of Raiatea also, and
some of his chiefs, visited Tahiti, and listened to the
instructions of the missionaries, and on returning to their
islands publicly renounced idolatry, and persuaded many
of their people to follow their example. In the year
1818 four missionaries removed from Moorea to Raiatea
and Borabora, and there found that many of the in-
habitants had renounced idolatry. But the idolatrous
chiefs in Raiatea, like those of Tahiti, resorted to arms
to maintain their paganism, and vowing vengeance on
the Christians for the destruction of the national idol,
Oro, erected a house of cocoanut and breadfruit trunks
in which to burn the Christians alive, and attacked the
Christians while they were engaged in prayer. A des-
perate conflict followed, in which the heathen were de-
feated.

The Christians followed up their victory with kind-
ness, instead of the customary barbarities, and pro-
claiming forgiveness for their prisoners conducted them
to a sumptuous feast. The heathen were so amazed
5

100 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

at this clemency that they at once destroyed their idols
and temples.

In 1820 a house of worship was erected, on Hua-
hine, which was one hundred feet long and sixty wide,
and was plastered within and without with lime made
of coral from the reefs. Rustic chandeliers were made
for it of light wood and cocoanut shells, and sliding
shutters for its windows.

From this time for many years the Mission greatly
prospered. In the year 1836 there were in Tahiti 2,000
natives in church fellowship, and in the other islands
969. To voyagers who had witnessed the former de-
graded condition of the natives the transformation they
had undergone was very surprising. Capt. Harvey, of
a whale-ship, made the following statement in 1839 re-
specting Tahiti : "This is the most civilized place I
have been at in the South Seas. It is governed by a
dignified young lady twenty-five years of age. They have
a good code of laws, and no liquors are allowed to be
landed on the island. It is one of the most gratifying
sights the eye can witness, to see on Sunday in their
church, which holds about five thousand, the Queen
near the pulpit, with all her subjects around her, decently
apparelled and seemingly in pure devotion. "

In all these islands idolatry was soon entirely abol-
ished, codes of law were established, and the natives
adopted the outward forms of Christian civilization.

And now to these islands, just rising out of the
night of heathenism and receiving a little of the light of
heaven, came in 1836 two cowled emissaries of the Ro-

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS. IOI

man-catholic church. These priests soon contrived, as
has been described, to embroil the Windward Islands
with France, and to bring them under usurpation by
that country. The result was, that here one of the
most promising missions in the world was wrecked, and
in its place a sad reign of violence, intemperance and
lust was instituted. The French abolished the laws
against the importation and sale of ardent spirits to the
natives, placed the mission schools under the supervision
of their own officials, required that no language but
French should be used in the schools, and forbade con-
tributions to any foreign missionary society.

Under these circumstances the London Missionary
Society could only withdraw from its enterprise in
these islands. As the best alternative, it transferred its
missions in these islands to the Evangelical Society of
France. French priests have made great efforts to win
over the natives to the Roman-catholic religion ; but the
natives have been so well instructed by the English mis-
sionaries, and are so fortified by the translations of the
Bible they possess and use, that they have continued
firmly Protestant.

There are now in Tahiti sixteen churches with 1,663
members, in Moorea four churches with 360 members,
and in the Leeward Islands about 1,500 church-members.
But in all the Society Islands there has been a sad phys-
ical deterioration and mortality of the natives through
the intemperance and vice forced upon them by the
French. It is one of the miracles of missions that
there are still any churches at all in these islands, and

102 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

one of the saddest facts of history that the rapacity of
an enlightened country has forced back into darkness
this poor people who were just groping their way out
of pagan night. The spirit of remorseless greed, thus
shown, differs from the self-sacrificing benevolence that
animated the missionaries, as darkness from light.

TAHITIAN BELLES.

R A R^^

OFTHK '

UNIVERSITY

2^0^.,^^^

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. 105

CHAPTER V.

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS.

WHERE the first missionaries landed in Tahiti great
cocoanut-trees bent over the bay and often dropped into
the waves ripened nuts, which, borne by ocean currents
to distant reefs, sometimes germinated and grew, and
aided in forming little Edens where previously had been
only the dreary expanse of ocean and shifting coral
sands. Thus from the same place the truths proclaimed
by the missionaries were conveyed by various agencies to
distant islands, and caused the blessings of Christianity
where had been only the evil and gloom of paganism.
Before the missionaries had gone to labor beyond the
Society Islands natives of the Austral group visited
them and listened with intense curiosity to their in-
struction, and on returning home persuaded their coun-
trymen to renounce idolatry and begin Christian wor-
ship.

The Austral Islands are situated 350 miles south of
Tahiti, between 21° and 22° south latitude and 145°
and 150° west longitude. They are of volcanic forma-
tion, and covered, like Tahiti, with a luxuriant tropical
vegetation. The island Rurutu, the most interesting of
this group, is five miles long and two wide, and rises to
1,200 feet elevation above the ocean.

In the year 1820 a fearful epidemic prevailed on

OF

UNIVERSITY

106 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Rurutu, and two chiefs, believing that it was caused by
the anger of their gods, fled to the adjacent island, Tu-
buai, and there remained several months. In returning
home they were driven by a storm more than 300 miles ;
one of their canoes was lost, and the other, with a chief
by the name of Auura, safely reached Maurau, the most
westerly of the Society Islands. This chief and his com-
panions were surprised to find that here the pagan tem-
ples had been thrown down and the idols destroyed, and
that the natives were engaged in a new form of worship.
Learning that white men, who had come in ships, had
introduced the new religion and were residing on the
other Society Islands, they embarked in their canoe, and
on March 5, 1821, arrived at Borabora, where they found
the missionaries, and continued four months under their
instruction. Auura was exceedingly diligent in the
mission-school, and soon was able to read the Gospel of
Matthew and to repeat the greater part of the catechism.
He now publicly renounced idolatry and accepted the
true religion, and as he began to think of returning to
his islands entreated that teachers should be sent- with
him for his countrymen. Two native deacons, Maha-
mene and Puna, at once volunteered to go with him.
The Boraborans enthusiastically supplied them with the
necessary outfit and school-books and copies of the gos-
pel in Tahitian. They took passage for the Austral
Islands on July 5, 1821, taking with them a boat by
which to send back a report of their work. On the pth
of the ensuing August, after a little more than a month,
the boat returned, bringing fourteen of the idols of Ru-

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. 107

rutu, to indicate that idolatry had been overthrown in
that island.

A meeting of the Borabora Church was at once
called by the missionaries, and a great multitude of the
people came together to hear the reports from Rurutu
and to see the idols. The boatmen related that as soon
as the chief, Auura, reached Rurutu, the people gathered
in great numbers to welcome him, and that he immedi-
ately informed them of the abolition of idolatry in the
Society Islands and of his conversion to Christianity,
and urged them to destroy their idols. At the same
time one of the teachers, Puna, proposed that, for a test
of the power of their idols, they should prepare a feast
in a place considered sacred, and of articles of food which
their religion forbade to women. They agreed, and pre-
pared the feast, and Auura, with the Tahitian teachers
and their wives, partook of it, while the natives looked
on expecting to see them fall in the agonies of death.
When on the next day they perceived that they contin-
ued unharmed they exclaimed that their priests had
deceived them, and hastened to destroy their temples.
The teachers from Borabora were now welcomed to give
instruction, and a chapel was built which measured 80
feet long and 36 wide. In this chapel "the railing
around the table in front of the pulpit and by the sides
of the stairs was composed of the handles of spears ; for
they had resolved to learn war no more, but to submit
to the Prince of Peace."

Among the idols exhibited in the meeting was one
called "Taaroa" (Kaneloa of Hawaii), the ancestral

IO8 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

god of Rurutu. It was a rude figure made of sennit in
the shape of a man, with an opening down the front,
through which it was filled with twenty-four small idols,
the family gods of the chiefs.

In the meeting in which this report was given the
Borabora people were roused to great enthusiasm to send
the gospel to other islands, and the missionaries re-
marked that they ' ' felt some foretaste of the joy the
angels will feel when it is announced that the kingdoms
of our world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and
his Christ. "

As soon as the inhabitants of the neighboring island,
Tubuai, heard that idolatry had been abolished on Ru-
rutu they sent a deputation to Tahiti to obtain teachers
for themselves also. This deputation arrived at Tahiti
at a time when all that island was preparing for war.
They now requested the contending parties to postpone
hostilities till their application for teachers could be con-
sidered. The hostile chiefs assented and came together,
and in conferring about this mission enterprise became
reconciled to each other ; the war was terminated and
messengers of the religion of peace sent to Tubuai.

From other islands of this group natives now went in
canoes, some of them a distance of 300 miles, to Tahiti,
to obtain books and teachers. Thus mission work was
commenced on Rimatara, Rapa, and Raivavai. The
English missionaries afterwards often visited these islands
to direct the work, which was wholly carried on by na-
tive teachers, and in a few years the entire population
renounced heathenism and embraced Christianity.

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. 109

In 1822 the missionary inspectors, Rev. Daniel Tyer-
man and Mr. George Bennet, visited these islands. They
reported of Rurutu as follows : "At daybreak, Septem-
ter 30, 1822, we distinguished an island seven miles
long which reminded us of the lovely scenery of Tahiti.
As we drew near we saw a high central peak with lower
eminences sloping towards the shore, and intervening
valleys through which ran fertilizing streams and luxuri-
ous tropical foliage, and at the head of a bay several
neat white houses built in English style. A pier one-
fourth of a mile long had recently been made of huge
coral blocks for a landing-place. Nearly the whole pop-
ulation were standing on the beach to receive us, and
they welcomed us with great joy and affection, the king
among them, Teuruarii, a young man sixteen years old,
of light complexion, and the two teachers from Borabora.
Mr. Ellis preached to two hundred people and baptized
thirty-one. The chief, Auura, now guardian of the young
king, said, ' ' We have given up our island to Jesus Christ,
to be governed by him as our King. We have given our-
selves to him that we may serve him. We have given our
property to him for the advancement of his glory ; we
have given him our all, and desire to be entirely his."

At Raivavai (High Islands) they found a chapel of
plastered wicker-work 180 by 40 feet, with forty-three
windows, eight doors, and with fifteen pillars — three
of which were ornamented with wreaths of human beings
carved out of solid wood. Here Mr. Henry preached
to 2,000 people and baptized fifty-two adults, among
whom were the king and queen.

IIO THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

At Tubuai, where eighteen months previous there had
been war, they found peace, and were welcomed by the
king. Here they held a meeting with a congregation of
270 persons.

On September24, 1832, Messrs. Whitney, Tinker and
Alexander, a deputation from Hawaii, visited Rurutu
on their way to the Marquesas Islands.

An account of their visit was published by Mr. Alex-
ander, from which the following quotations are made :

"When about six miles from Rurutu we were boarded
by six natives who came to us in a double canoe, the
whole exterior of which exhibited very nea"t carved work.
The sides and stern were tastefully ornamented with
feathers, and the whole was calculated to give a favor-
able impression of the ingenuity and enterprise of the
natives of Rurutu. They informed us that they were
in the enjoyment of peace and plenty, and that they
would be glad to receive a visit from us. We accord-
ingly lowered our boat and followed the canoe, which
led the way through the entrance between the reefs.
This entrance is quite intricate and dangerous, being
not more than ten feet wide. As the swell was heavy
the surf broke entirely across it ; we however reached
the shore in safety. Just at the landing a large flag of
white tapa was streaming in the wind, indicative of
peace. About thirty natives had assembled on the beach,
decked in the best their wardrobes could supply ; and
they welcomed us to their shores with many an '/
orana,' 'Happiness attend you.' We were conducted
to a large framed house, neatly plastered, in which we

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. Ill

found two large comfortable settees, a dining-table, and
several well-made boxes. Having seated ourselves till
some cocoanuts should be brought, almost the whole
population of the village came to say 1 1 or ana.' All
the woman that I saw were wearing bonnets, which the
wives of the Tahitian teachers had taught them to make.

"After being refreshed with the milk of the cocoa-
nut I took a stroll through the village, and was as
much surprised as delighted to find most of the houses
neat, substantial, framed buildings, well plastered, fur-
nished with settees, tables, bedsteads and boxes — all of
which, as well as their houses, the Tahitians had taught
them to make. Most of the people can read, and having
several copies of the Scriptures they still meet regularly
for worship, and read and pray together.

' ' Having procured a guide we set out to cross
over to the opposite side of the island, where was the
largest settlement. Before we reached the ascent we
passed through a delightful grove of tamanu, chestnut,
breadfruit, ironwood, hala, papaya, cocoanut, paper-mul-
berry, sugar-cane, bananas, etc. We passed by a large
bed of faro, tracts of sweet-potatoes, and a large orchard
of pineapples. We found the ascent steep and tiresome,
the part over which we passed being probably 800 feet
above the level of the ocean, the highest part of the
island being 1,200 feet high. The thick brakes and tall
grass which overhung our path sometimes almost covered
us. After resting awhile on the summit, under the shade
of the hau, we had just begun to descend when we met
a company from the village to which we were going,

112 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

loaded with spears and paddles, curiously wrought
lapas of various patterns, and paroquets, which they
were bringing over to trade with us. Before we reached
the foot of the hill we met several other parties who were
also loaded with similar articles for barter. Exchang-
ing the salutation, ' I orana ,' we proceeded, entering as
we descended groves still more dense than those through
which we had first passed.

''The inhabitants of the village gave us a cordial
welcome. The first object that attracted our attention
was the church, which is a framed building, eighty by
thirty-six feet, the upright posts painted red, the interven-
ing spaces lathed and plastered. It has two windows in
front, one on each side of the door, one in each end,
and one on each side of the pulpit — which is really a
neat piece of workmanship. The railing on each side
of the stairs by which you ascend it is supported by
eighteen spear-handles. In front of the pulpit is a
neat painted desk for the clerk. It has a good floor
of the breadfruit wood and seats of the same material.
A large number of bamboos of oil are deposited at one
end of the house, and a pile of tapa in the pulpit, which
the natives have contributed to the London Missionary
Society to aid in sending the gospel to the heathen.
While we were surveying the church a large number
of the people assembled ; and though they could not
understand our language we did not consider it im-
proper to pray with and for them. Mr. Tinker there-
fore entered the clerk's desk saying, (E pule tatou, ' ' Let
us pray ;' and the whole assembly kneeled and behaved

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. 113'

with much decorum while prayer was offered. The
church is in the centre of a yard enclosed by a neat
wooden fence, through which up to the door is a raised
pavement eight feet wide. Opposite the church we en-
tered a house of similar construction in which we were
pleased to find several copies of the Tahitian Bible, six
or eight well-made chests, two very comfortable bed-
steads, and two settees. After passing through several
similar habitations we were led, by one who seemed to
be the highest chief, to his house. Taking us into a
back room he presented each of us with a piece of tapa.

' ' There are in this village twenty-five frame houses
besides others, after the original fashion, made of bam-
boos. Taking it as a whole, I have seen no village in the
Pacific where the generality of the houses are so good,
or where the people appear more kindly disposed to-
wards missionaries. They were very anxious that one
or both of us should stop and live among them. Bid-
ding them an affectionate farewell we returned to the
other side of the island, and found the people assem-
bling to hear a sermon from Mr. Whitney.

When we reached the house where we first stopped
after landing we found a good dinner awaiting us, for
which our walk had sharpened our appetites. It con-
sisted of roast pig, taro, yam, breadfruit, and cocoanut-
milk.

' ' Just as we were embarking, to return to our vessel,
we were surprised with the salutation, ' How do you
do, gentlemen ?' from one who looked like a native. She
told us that she was a native of Pitcairn Island, from

114 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

which she had been absent eight years. She perhaps
could have given us more satisfactory information re-
specting the islanders than any one we had met ; but we
were necessarily in such haste that we could ask but few
questions. We therefore bade the people farewell and
pulled away to the schooner, passing through the reefs
much more easily than we had expected.

"The number of inhabitants on the island is some-
where between two and three hundred. The readiness
with which they parted with their spears showed their
present disposition for peace and good order. We trust
that their desire for a missionary to instruct them will
not long be indulged in vain, and that some one who
loves the Lord Jesus in sincerity will be sent to show
them the way of life. "

In 1846 these islands were again visited by Mr. Barff,
missionary of Huahine, who was greatly encouraged by
what he witnessed. Peace and purity prevailed among
the native believers ; the native agents were faithful and
zealous in their work, and their labors appeared to have
been crowned with the divine blessing.

The Rev. Mr. Richards, of the London Society's
mission at Raiatea, gives an interesting account of a visit
which he made at Rurutu, Tupuai and Rimatara, in
company with Rev. Mr. Pearce, of New Guinea, in the
John Williams, in 1887. The object of the tour was
not merely to visit the native churches, but to secure
recruits for the mission in New Guinea. At Rurutu the
population is increasing, now amounting to seven hundred
and sixty; and their stone church, with walls two and one-

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS. 115

half feet thick, will seat five hundred. The church mem-
bers number three hundred and eleven, somewhat less than
one-half the population. Everything indicates .thrift and
careful cultivation, and the people are honest and indus-
trious. The chief trader said, "I could leave most of
them alone in my store without any fear of being robbed. "
When their church was being built the Rurutans heard
that a large log of foreign wood had been washed ashore
on an island two hundred and twenty miles distant. They
at once put to sea, found and purchased the log, and
brought it to Rurutu, to make seats for their new church.
The Church gladly gave up one of their members and his
wife to go as missionaries to New Guinea.

The increase of the population of Rurutu, from 200 or
300 in 1833 (at the time of the visit of Mr. Alexander) to
750 (at the time of the visit of Mr. Richards), and the
morality and religious prosperity of the natives illustrate
the advantage of seclusion from the baneful influences of
unworthy civilized people ; for these islands lie away
from the usual routes of ships.

In the year 1890 the London Missionary Society
gave this mission into the care of the Paris Missionary
Society ; for these islands had passed under French rule.
French Protestant missionaries are already at work in
these islands ; and there will probably be a peaceful
development of the native churches on Protestant lines.

Il6 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PEARL ISLANDS.

THE influence of the Tahitian Mission extended, as
by a sort of electric induction, to other distant islands
besides the Austral group. Natives from remote parts
of the Pacific either visited Tahiti and returning home
bore tidings about the true religion, or heard the rumor
of the change of religion in Tahiti, and were thereby in-
fluenced to abandon idolatry and accept Christianity.
Thus in the Tuamotu, or Pearl, Archipelago, of which
an account will now be given, also in the splendid
island of Rarotonga, and even in far-away Hawaii, most
delightful results followed the ' ' long night of toil " in
Tahiti.

The Tuamotu Islands are situated between 14° and
24° south latitude, and 134° and 148° west longitude.
At the southeast extremity of this group are the four
Gambier Islands, and further south Pitcairn Island,
famous for the Christian descendants of the mutineers of
the Bounty.

The Tuamotu Islands are of coral formation, and
have little vegetation but cocoanut and pandanus trees.
The fruits of these trees are the main reliance of the
inhabitants for subsistence.

" The Indian's nut alone

Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and can,
Boat, cable, sail and needle, all in one."

THE BROOM ROAD, TAHITI.

'Aflp

OF THR

UNIVERSITY

THE PEARL ISLANDS. 119

What these islands lack in vegetable productions
and attractions of scenery is in a measure compensated
for by the products and beauties of their reefs and la-
goons, which yield an almost inexhaustible supply of
fish, and also pearls ; which latter have given them the
name, "Pearl Islands." A't the time of their discovery
bags of pearls were found in the idol temples and pur-
chased with muskets. The pearls of the splendid neck-
lace of Empress Eugenie, and Queen Victoria's pearl
which is valued at $30,000, were obtained from these
islands. The pearl-shell itself, as well as the pearl, is
now an article of traffic. The cost of collecting the
shells is about $30 per ton ; and the amount realized for
them in London is $500 per ton. About 200 tons of
these shells are annually collected here. "The colonies
of pearl-shells are recruited every year by infant pearl-
shells, half an inch in diameter, like fairy coins, which
float in with the tide from the stormy outer seas during
the months from December to March."

The phenomena of the lagoons and reefs of these isl-
ands are a ceaseless delight to all who visit them. Poetic
rhapsodies have been written about these aqueous gar-
dens, where the weird and the fantastic mingle with the
beautiful, where strange sea-urchins, hermit-crabs and
sea-centipedes roam among scarlet corallines, and bril-
liant fish flit like butterflies among polyp-anemones and
coral groves.

In the warm ocean of this latitude the coral polyp
grows to the highest perfection and with great rapidity.
"The French war-vessel, Dayot, once spent two months
6

120 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

in the lagoon of Manga Rewa (of this group) and then
sailed to Tahiti ; and there specimens of living coral
were found attached to its copper sheathing, one of
which, discoidal in shape, with the upper and lower sur-
faces respectively convex and concave, measured nine
inches in diameter, and weighed two pounds and four
ounces. "

To view these islands and reefs, rising from depths of
four or five miles to the surface of the ocean through an
extent of more than 1,500 miles against the long sweep
of the fiercest billows of storms, is to be profoundly im-
pressed with the greatness of the work of the inert and
apparently insignificant polyps that have built them up.
Thus apparently unimportant agencies sometimes pro-
duce the vastest results. Thus in the higher realm of
human life forces despised as weak and insignificant have
prevailed against the greatest eVils, and in these islands
the gentleness and love of Christianity have overcome
primeval heathenism and caused the blessings of the
kingdom of heaven.

The first missionaries to these islands were their own
inhabitants returning from exile. In the early part of
the reign of Pomare II. a number of these fled from their
homes because of war and landed in Tahiti, and there
came under the instruction of the London missionaries.
When the Tahitians renounced idolatry they too cast
away the idols which they had brought with them and
accepted the true religion. In the year 1827 they re-
turned home ; and one of them, Moorea, undertook to
instruct his countrymen respecting the true religion. At

THE PEARL ISLANDS. 121

first his people could hardly credit his account of the
abolition of idolatry in Tahiti, and charged him with de-
ception ; and he was obliged to flee for his life. But
soon afterwards others coming from Tahiti confirmed his
statements, and then the natives burned their idols and
destroyed their temples.

The natives of the neighboring islands now hearing
of these events went by hundreds a distance of 300 miles,
to Tahiti, to obtain books and to receive instruction, and
some of them before leaving Tahiti were received by the
missionaries into church fellowship. The missionaries
remarked that they seemed to be witnessing a fulfilment
of the promise, ''The isles shall wait for his law."

In the year 1832 Moorea and another native, Teraa,
were ordained as evangelists and sent to Anaa, or Chain
Island, of this group. Not long afterwards a canoe from
this island brought to Tahiti the tidings that war, canni-
balism and idolatry had ceased, and that a house of wor-
ship had been erected in every district.

In 1839 Mr. Ormond, of the Society Islands Mission,
visited these islands, and addressed congregations of 300
or 400 persons and organized churches.

During the same year Commodore Charles Wilkes,
commander of the United States Exploring Expedition,
visited several of these islands, and was much impressed
with the good work that had been accomplished by the
native teachers. He said: " Nothing could be more
striking than the difference that prevailed between these
natives (those of Raraka, 15° 42' south, and 144° west)
and those of the Disappointment Islands (of the same

122 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC

archipelago). The half civilization of the natives of
Raraka was very marked, and it appeared as though we
had just issued out of darkness into light. They showed
a modest disposition to give us a hearty welcome. We
were not long at a loss what to ascribe it to : the
missionary had been at work here and his exertions had
been based on a firm foundation ; the savage had been
changed to a reasonable creature. Among the inhabi-
tants was a native missionary who had been instrumental
in this work. If the missionaries had effected nothing else
they would deserve the thanks of all those who roam over
this wide expanse of ocean and incur its many unknown
and hidden dangers. Here all shipwrecked mariners
would be sure of kind treatment and a share of the few
comforts the people possess."

In the year 1880 France took possession of this
Tuamotu Archipelago, and shortly afterwards the mis-
sion of this group was transferred by the London Soci-
ety to the Paris Missionary Society. The change of gov-
ernment was not as disastrous to the Pearl Islanders as
it was to the Tahitians. It is to be hoped that, in the
greater seclusion of these islands from the demoralizing
influences of enlightened races, the natives will continue
to grow in Christian civilization, and that, infinitely
more precious than the pearls for which traders visit their
lagoons, many of these dark-hearted natives will be up-
lifted to adorn the mission enterprise, and to shine at last
as jewels in the Redeemer's crown.

MADAM PELE, AND VEGETATION ON A LAVA FLOW.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY
PA

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 12$

CHAPTER VII.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

THE Pilgrim Fathers, who left their native land and
crossed the ocean and braved the horrors of the Ameri-
can wilderness to obtain civil and religious liberty,
founded the most prosperous and progressive nation of
human history and created a new era in the world.
But a higher movement began when there went out
from the United States and other enlightened countries
pilgrims seeking not so much to establish their own
rights as to promote the welfare of others, and even to
lift up and save the most unworthy and degraded of
mankind — a movement which promises to transform the
whole human race and bring in the latter-day glory of
the world.

In America this movement began by the organiza-
tion of the American Board of Commissioners for For-
eign Missions, which was formed on September 5, 1810,
at Farmington, Conn. This Society, like the Lon-
don Missionary Society, was at first undenominational.
For many years after its organization it was connected
with the Congregational, Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed
and Reformed German Churches. Its first mission enter-
prise was to India in 1813 ; its next was to Palestine in
1819 ; and almost simultaneous with the latter began its
mission to the Hawaiian Islands. As the British socie-

126 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ties had undertaken the evangelization of the islands of
the South Pacific this American Association directed its
attention to those of the North Pacific ; and in process
of time there was an agreement that the Equator should
be the boundary between their respective missions.

So many descriptions of the Hawaiian Islands have
been published in the United States that to describe
them to Americans is like describing parts of their own
country. But a brief description seems necessary for a
clear understanding of their history.

The name, Hawaiian Islands, has recently taken the
place of that of Sandwich Islands, which was given by
Capt. Cook in honor of his patron, Lord Sandwich ;
and sometimes this group is called simply Hawaii, a
name derived from its principal island.

The Hawaiian Islands are the only important islands
in the North Pacific east of Micronesia. The cosmic
forces that upheaved the lands from the ocean seem to
have been exerted in the North Pacific in forming this
one principal group, which, perhaps for that reason, is
the larger, loftier, and better adapted for a great popula-
tion. But in the North Pacific there is a system of nu-
merous islands like that of the South Pacific, only in the
North Pacific the islands have not been fully developed,
or many of them have been lost by subsidence. Chains
of embryo or rudimentary islands are found extending
from southeast to northwest throughout the North.
Thus near the Equator are the coral islands, Christmas,
Fanning, Washington and Palmyra ; and the Hawaiian
group extends on northwest about twenty degrees be-

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. I2/

yond Kauai in several rocks or coral islets, and in the
other direction from the other extremity, from Hawaii,
in submarine islands, one of which, discovered by deep-
sea soundings, is 200 miles from Hawaii, and two miles
high where the ocean above it is a mile and a half deep.

The Hawaiian Islands are therefore "the summits
of a gigantic submarine mountain range, their highest
mountains rising to nearly 14,000 feet above the ocean,
and their bases extending downwards to from 15,000
to 18,000 feet below it. Referred to the bottom of the
ocean these islands are higher than the Himalayas."
(Capt. C. E. Button.)

" The Hawaiian Islands are situated between the par-
allels 1 8° 50' and 23° 5' north latitude, and between the
meridians 154° 40' and 160° 50' west longitude. They
extend 380 miles from southeast to northwest. The dis-
tance of their chief seaport, Honolulu, from San Fran-
cisco is 2,080 miles; from Auckland, 3.800 miles ; from
Sydney, 4, 500 miles ; and from Hongkong, 4, 800 miles.

The importance of this group arises quite as much
from this advantageous location as from its resources.
Lying at the "cross-roads of the North Pacific," at
about the centre of the great lines of commerce from
British Columbia, San Francisco, Nicaragua and Pana-
ma on the east, to Japan, China, New Zealand and Aus-
tralia on the west and south, it will largely conduce to
the naval and commercial supremacy of whatever coun-
try gains possession of it.

The Hawaiian group originally consisted of ten
islands, but in 1894 the Hawaiian government annexed

128 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

several rocky islets far to the northwest of Kauai. Only
five of the Hawaiian Islands are of much importance.
Their aggregate area is 6, 200 square miles — a little less
than that of the State of Massachusetts.

Much of this area is unfit for agriculture. Only nar-
row strips of land near the shores and portions of the
valleys are cultivated ; but the interior is occupied by
rugged mountains and profound gorges of the wildest
description, and is fit only for pasturage. Yet the arable
portions are very fertile. When their resources are fully
developed these islands will be able to support a million
inhabitants and maintain a commerce worth more than
forty million dollars per annum.

In the Hawaiian Islands the climate is ten degrees
cooler than in the same latitude elsewhere. The ocean
current from the Arctic moderates the heat, so that at
the sea-level it rarely rises to 90° F. , and rarely sinks to
60° F. The climate is therefore like a mild summer,
and, " relatively to human comfort, a perfection of cli-
mate, the climate of Paradise." During the summer
months the trade-winds blow from the northeast ; during
the winter months occasional storms with heavy rains
blow from the southwest, and these storms sweep on
with their rains over the west coast of North America,
and over the Rocky Mountains, into the Mississippi Val-
ley. A remarkable difference of climate is noticeable in
passing from the northeast side of the islands, that are
exposed to the trade-winds and are cool and rainy, to the
southwest portions, that are sheltered by high mountains
and are warm and arid. Thus in Honolulu, on the

HAWAIIAN HEATHEN TEMPLE.

KAWAIAHAO CHI

OF THT?

UNIVERSITY

UJN.J I Y

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 131

south side of Oahu, the average rainfall is thirty-eight
inches, while in Hilo, on the north side of Hawaii, it is
nearly twelve feet. At higher elevations on the moun-
tains cooler climates are found, and at the highest sum-
mits snow falls in winter.

The Hawaiian Islands are less verdant than the isl-
ands of the South Pacific, but grander, with loftier moun-
tains. To one voyaging thither expecting to see islands
of tropical beauty, with orange-trees growing at the very
beach and birds of paradise flitting through the forest,
the first view is rather disappointing. In some parts are
rather to be seen extensive plains with little verdure,
high rugged ridges, and vast tracts of lava rock ; but
on the windward sides of these islands there is as won-
derful a beauty of verdure as in the islands of the South
Pacific. The glories of this vegetation are indescribable.
Its most striking features are its vines, especially the
palm-like leie (freycinetia scandens) that festoons the for-
ests, its parasites that make strange hanging gardens
high on the trees, and its ferns, of which there are 300
species, varying from gem-like forms, exquisite as butter-
fly wings, to trees thirty feet high, as graceful in figure
and delicate in pattern as the finest palms. The sides of
the ravines that are covered with these ferns have the ap-
pearance of being clothed with a gigantic plumage, in
comparison with which the most gorgeous feather-man-
tles of the Hawaiian kings were like beggars' garments.

The process of upheaval of the Hawaiian Islands, it
is conjectured, proceeded from northwest to southeast,
for Kauai, at the northwest extremity, seems to be the

132 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

oldest island of the group. It has the greatest amount
of fertile soil, the largest streams of running water, and
the most verdure, and on this account is called ' ' The
Garden Island." It is twenty-five miles long by twenty-
two wide, has an area of 500 square miles, and rises in
the centre 5,000 feet high. Its northwest coast, Na
Pali (the precipices), juts out in rocky cliffs that are
destitute of both soil and verdure ; but the opposite side
consists of sloping well-watered plains of great fertility,
on which are very productive plantations of sugar. On
the north side is the romantic valley, Waioli (singing-
water), called also Hanalei (wreath-making), of which
Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop has written, "It has every
element of beauty, and for mere loveliness exceeds any-
thing I have ever seen. "

Sixty-four miles southeast from this island is Oahu,
which measures forty-six by twenty-five miles, has an
area of 530 square miles, and two mountain ranges, one
on the west 4,030 feet high, and another at the eastern
extremity 3, 106 feet high. On this island is Honolulu,
the capital of the group, a city of 25,000 inhabitants.
It is situated on a sloping plain that is formed of the
partially decomposed lava cinders, about fourteen feet
deep, of the extinct volcano, Punchbowl, in the rear.
Near by is the magnificent inlet, Pearl Harbor, which
the United States has sought for a naval station. This
harbor will admit of twenty miles of wharves, and is
large enough to accommodate at once all the navies of
the world. Here and at Honololu artesian water has
been obtained by a hundred wells. On the other islands

SCENE IN IAO VALLEY, MAUI, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 135

artesian borings seem more likely to bring up molten
lava than water ; but here in former ages there have been
successive elevations and depressions of the land, as is
shown by fragments of wood that have been brought up
by well-borers from great depths, and in these geological
changes a hard stratum has been deposited at great
depth which retains the water that percolates from rain-
falls. Water has also been piped from splendid valleys
in the rear of Honolulu, and thereby this city has been
made as beautiful with the choicest ornamental vegeta-
tion of the Tropics as any city in the world.

Southeast from Oahu, twenty-three miles distant, is
Molokai, which is forty miles long and seven wide, has
an area of 190 square miles, and rises to the height
of 2, 500 feet. This island seems to have had its eastern
side rent away by some violent convulsion of nature ; so
that its mountain on this side rises sheer in awful preci-
pices from the ocean, while on the other side it slopes
gradually to the shore. From the precipitous side of this
island juts out the peninsula Kalauwao, where lepers,
1,000 in number, have been segregated. So fertile is
this tract of land, and so well are these wretched crea-
tures provided for by the Hawaiian government and by
religious associations, that natives in good health have
been known to endeavor to pass themselves off as lepers
in order to gain admission to the privileges of this
asylum.

About eight miles southeast from Molokai is Maui,
which measures forty-eight miles long and from eight to
twenty-five wide and has an area of 620 square miles. This

I36 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

island resembles Tahiti in being of two parts that are
connected by a low sandy isthmus. A captain of a ship
once, when approaching this island in the night, mistook
this isthmus for a channel of water and undertook to
pass through it, and left the bones of his ship on the
beach. The western portion of this island, 5,820 feet
high, is deeply cleft into ridges and valleys, among which
is the valley lao, which is well compared for its grandeur
to Yosemite. This valley expands in the heart of the
mountain to a breadth of two miles, and is surrounded
with precipices 4,000 feet in height, which are covered,
even over their most rocky walls, with an enchanting robe
of vegetation.

The eastern portion of this island is occupied by one
great dome-like mountain, Haleakala (house of the sun,
or, the ensnaring of the sun). The latter name is de-
rived from the tradition of a hero who is said to have
caught the sun, while it was making its daily circuits in
only two or three hours, and compelled it to go slower, a
tradition found also in New Zealand.

The northern portion of this mountain has been
deeply grooved by the action of water; for this side
of the island has received the full dash of the trade-wind
rains, and the mighty torrents thereby caused have torn
out the deep volcanic throats of the old crater hills and
the long empty caverns through which the lava once
flowed, and thus eroded grand valleys that are now
clothed with unbroken vegetation.

The wonder of this mountain is the crater at its sum-
mit— at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the ocean ; a

ANCIENT HAWAIIAN HUT.

im X? '9

iff

RESIDENCE OF KEELIKOLANI.

OF TTIV.

{ UNIVERSITY }

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 139

vast cavern seven miles long, three miles broad and two
thousand feet deep. This crater has evidently grown
out of a congeries of craters that have broken into each
other, as has been the case with Mokuaweoweo on
Mauna Loa. Its floor consists of the congealed lava
streams of ancient eruptions, which appear almost as
fresh and lustrous as though they had flowed but yester-
day. Within it there are sixteen cones, ranging one
after the other from southeast to northwest, some of
them 900 feet in height, covered with cinders and vol-
canic gravel. Of the appearance of this crater Capt. C.
E. Dutton has written, * ' Of all the scenes presented in
the Hawaiian Islands this is by far the most sublime and
impressive. Its grandeur and solemnity have often been
described, but the descriptions have not been over-
wrought. "

The largest island of the group is Hawaii, which is
situated southeast of Maui, and is ninety miles in length,
seventy in breath and 3, 950 square miles in area. It has
the highest mountains in the Pacific, Loa and Kea, each
14,000 feet in height ; besides which it has Mt. Hualalai,
8, 275 feet high, and the Kohala mountain, 5, 505 feet high.
On this island there are three volcanoes ; and for this
reason much of its surface is unattractive, with the black
desolation of lava flows, which nature has yet done little
to cloth with vegetation.

These flows are of two kinds: the Pahoehoe, consisting
of lava which has flowed smoothly and cooled in forms of
billows, coils and hummocks, and Aa, sometimes called
clinkers, consisting of lava which has broken up while

140 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

flowing and been piled in a horror of ruggedness like ice-
packs in rivers.

In these flows there are long caverns — the conduits
through which the lava once flowed from the mountains
to the ocean. In many places these caverns have been bro-
ken in from above, forming pitfalls dangerous to unwary
travellers and to ranging animals. In one of these caverns
at an elevation of 6,000 feet (on Mauna Loa) the writer
once found eighty carcases of goats that had leaped in
for shelter from storms, or for refuge from dogs, and had
been unable to leap out. A vaquero once, while chas-
ing cattle, came suddenly with his horses at full gallop
on one of these caverns that was hidden by tall ferns, and
spurred his horse to leap over it, but fell short of the
opposite brink. His horse was killed by the fall of
thirty feet on sharp rocks ; and he had one arm broken
and was unable to climb out. His companions twenty-
four hours afterwards found him and rescued him. Pit-
falls of another kind, equally dangerous, are found where
the lava has flowed through forests and has been mould-
ed by the trunks of trees into pits of their own shape and
size. The early missionaries used the name of these pits,
meke, in rendering the word hell ; and this name, with its
suggestion of volcanic fire, proved quite expressive.

In some parts of this island these lava-flows have de-
composed into very fertile soil and formed, in place of
their former desolation, most attractive tropical forests.
Such a region is Hilo, than which hardly a more inviting
place can be found, with its beautiful bay, its cascades
pouring into the ocean, its island of cocoanut, its town

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 141

embowered in tropical foliage, and its mountains crowned
with shining snows.

On the islands that have been particularly mentioned
sugar plantations and extensive live-stock ranches have
been established ; a good beginning also has been made
in the culture of coffee, rice, fibre-bearing plants, ba-
nanas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits, and immense
tracts are still uncultivated. On Hawaii alone seventy-
thousand acres of land, untouched as yet by the planter,
are finely adapted to the culture of coffee and almost all
tropical fruits. The soil is excellent, except on the-
steep declivities, where the rains have leached out its
best ingredients and left a stiff clay heavily impregnated
with iron. Such lava rocks as in Europe are ground up
and used as ferilizers have here almost wholly formed the
soil, and on the low lands, where they are mingled with
decayed vegetable matter or ocean sand, constitute a soil
of extraordinary fertility. On such land at Makaweli,
Kauai, and Ewa, Oahu, sugar-cane has yielded from five
to nine tons of sugar per acre.

The volcanoes of Hawaii are Kilauea, Mauna Loa,
and Hualalai, and are of surpassing interest to tourists
and scientists. Here is an opportunity to behold the
operations of that power which under cosmic influences,
it is supposed, reared the islands, the continents, and
the mountain ranges of our world, having raged with
devouring fire over all the face of nature. Here at al-
most all times one may look into nature's crucible and
imagine the formation of the crude fabric from which
by flood and fire and glacial action have been developed

142 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

all the minerals and metals of earth, and by forces of
life the varied and beautiful forms of the vegetable and
animal kingdoms.

Kilauea is situated at an elevation of 4,000 feet,
on the slopes of Mauna Loa, about 10,000 feet below
its summit. It is a vast pit sunk into the plain, and
measures seven and a half miles in circumference. The
centre of its activity is at its southeastern extremity,
where there has long been a lake of fire varying from
a thousand feet to half a mile in diameter. Frequent-
ly this lake has overflowed the white floor of the crater,
and sometimes its fiery torrents have burst through the
surrounding walls and poured down from the slope of
the mountain to the ocean. Twice within recent years
its fires have subsided and its lava sunk away, leaving a
pit five hundred feet deep. It is supposed that at these
times the down-plunge has been caused by outbreaks and
outflows below the level of the ocean. After a few weeks
or months the fires have always returned, beginning at
first feebly, and waxing more and more violent.

This volcano has had successive cycles of activity.
The process has been, first, a rising of the lake with the
formation of a congealed crust over its surface swelling
upward in the form of a mound ; then an eruption,
through this mound, of fountains of fire playing to the
height of from fifteen to one hundred feet ; then a sub-
sidence, and sometimes at last an extinction of the
fires. Then the same process has been repeated, and
thus continually. With each cycle the floor of the
crater has risen higher. In 1830 it was 1,500 feet be-

LAVA FLOW OVER WATERFALL.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 145

low the rim of the crater ; now it is only 350 feet below
the rim.

A hotel has been built near this crater where tour-
ists are very comfortably accommodated, and guides
are furnished who lead to the very brink of the fiery
lake. It is generally safe to approach near enough to
dip up the molten lava ; but extreme caution is neces-
sary, as sometimes the banks give way or sudden out-
bursts of fire occur. The missionary Dr. G. P. Judd
once descended into a pit of this crater and was en-
gaged in dipping up the lava when the fiery flood sud-
denly rose and cut off his retreat. A native hurried at
his call and drew him out, and immediately the pit
was filled with molten lava and began to throw up foun-
tains of fire.

The volcano of Mauna Loa is at the summit of the
mountain of that name, at an elevation of 14,000 feet
above the ocean, in the crater Mokuaweoweo, a crater
which measures 19,000 by 9,000 feet and about 800 feet
in depth. This mountain, though about a hundred feet
lower than Kea, is the grander mountain, being vastly
broader. As referred to its base at the bottom of the
ocean it is 19,000 feet in height. The upper portion, from
the summit to four miles down its sides, is a region of
utter desolation, without a vestige of vegetation even of,
moss or lichen ; a frightful waste of congealed streams,
cataracts, and tufa cones of lava. But during the winter
season its black horrors are covered with a beautiful
mantle of snow.

The eruptions of this volcano generally begin without
7

146 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

any premonition of earthquakes or subterranean noises,
' ' as quietly as the moon rises. " A light is first seen on
the summit of the mountain, and this increases till it
turns night to day to a distance of forty miles. Then
fires burst forth lower down from the side of the moun-
tain, and play like a fountain to a height of from 500 to
1,000 feet ; and a river of lava pours down the moun-
tain side, spreading from half a mile to two miles in
breadth and twenty or thirty miles in length, overwhelm-
ing forests and villages, and sometimes reaching the
ocean. Such a stream in 1855 broke out on this moun-
tain at an elevation of 12,000 feet and flowed for fifteen
months, reaching within eight miles of the beautiful town
of Hilo, when the eruption ceased and the town escaped.
Again, in 1880, a fiery stream from a point on this moun-
tain n, 100 feet above the ocean flowed nine months, and
reached within three quarters of a mile of Hilo. Real
estate in Hilo for the time being fell in value, and the
inhabitants prepared to flee with their movable property,
when the flowing of the lava ceased.

The magnificence of these volcanic displays is inde-
scribable. Rev. T. Coan visited an eruption on this
mountain in 1852 and spent a night beside it, and wrote
that no tongue, no pen, no pencil could portray the beau-
ty, the grandeur, the terrible sublimity of the scenes he
witnessed on that memorable night. Mrs. Isabella Bird
Bishop thus described an eruption she saw at the sum-
mit : ' ' A perfect fountain of pure yellow fire was regu-
larly playing in several united jets, throwing up its glori-
ous incandescence to a height of from 150 to 300 feet.

CRATER OF KILAUEA IN 1840.

LAKE OF KILAUEA IN 1894.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 149

You cannot imagine such a beautiful sight. The sunset
gold was not purer than the living fire. Suddenly a
change occurred. The jets, which for long had been
playing at a height of 300 feet, became quite low, and
for a few seconds appeared as cones of fire wallowing in
a sea of light ; then with a roar, like the sound of gath-
ering waters, nearly the whole surface of the lake rose
three times, with its whole radiant mass in one glorious
upward burst, to a height of 600 feet, while the earth
trembled and the moon and stars withdrew abashed into
far-off space. "

This volcano, considered as to the size of its moun-
tain, the noblest of the Pacific, as to the height of the
columns of fire it lifts upward, 14,000 feet, as to the
power of its eruptions, throwing fountains from 100 to
1,000 feet in height, and as to the amount of lava poured
forth, ejecting at one eruption as much as Vesuvius has
thrown forth in 2,000 years, is the grandest volcano in
the world.

The volcano of Hualalai has had only one eruption
in historical time, which occurred in 1801, and over-
whelmed an extensive plain and fish-pond and poured
into the ocean.

It would be interesting to consider the current theo-
ries respecting the causes of these volcanic phenomena
and the laws of their action, if it were compatible with
the plan of this sketch. Suffice it to say that the pre-
vailing opinions, as set forth by geologists, are that the
internal heat of the earth may be ascribed to the crush-
ing of rocks in the contraction of the earth and in its

150 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

changes, like those of ocean tides under lunar and solar
influences ; and that the eruptions of lava may be as-
cribed to the force of vapors formed by the percolation
of water from rain or from the ocean, a percolation that
is sometimes very local and causes very local eruptions,
as those of Mauna Loa while Kilauea is quiet, and those
through the mountain rim of Mokuaweoweo while the
crater eight hundred feet below does not fill up. It is
profoundly interesting to observe that the lines of direc-
tion of this volcanic action, like those of mountain chains
and ocean coasts throughout the world, have been from
northwest to southeast, or at right angles to this line —
the former line tangential to the Polar Circle and having
the same angle to the Equator as the Ecliptic — suggest-
ing that cosmic forces have directed the cleavage through
which volcanic discharges have burst forth ; also to note
that the distances apart of centres of volcanic action, as
of islands and mountains elsewhere in the world, have
generally been twenty miles or multiples of twenty, sug-
gesting that the crust of the earth above volcanic fires is
twenty miles in thickness ; also to note the correspond-
ence in time of volcanic action here with similar action
in other parts of the world.

Looking at these volcanic phenomena and also at the
marvellous struggle life is everywhere making to gain a
foothold in its rocky desolation and to overcome it,
sometimes sending forward its heralds in the form of
hardy plants into lava streams only a few weeks after
they have cooled, we are prepared to consider the higher
phenomena of the condition of the people of the Ha-

" ' l ^ ft LT
OF THB

UNIVERSITY
.PA

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 153

waiian Islands, their primitive paganism, and the strug-
gle that has been made to introduce Christianity among
them, and thereby to overcome their barbarism and
transform them into a civilized people.

The ancient condition of these islanders was like that
of the natives of the South Pacific, to whose race they
belonged. Many ages ago a company of Polynesians,
driven by storms, drew near in canoes to these islands,
and joyfully beheld their beautiful mountains, and finally
landed, and gained a livelihood from the spontaneous
productions of their forests and the fish of their seas. In
remembrance of their former home, Savaii, they named
the largest island of this group Hawaii. Through un-
counted ages the descendants of this company roamed
over this little oceanic world, knowing of no land beyond
the blue horizon of the surrounding waters but Tahiti,
which their most daring navigators sometimes visited.

The primitive condition of this people has been well
described by the apostle Paul in his account of the an-
cient heathen world, which, because of its aversion to
the knowledge of the true God, had been given over to
the most senseless idolatry and the most revolting im-
morality. The Hawaiians worshipped three chief gods,
Kaneloa, Ku and Lono, and besides these a multitude
of lesser gods and demi-gods and spirits of their ances-
tors, with whom they supposed the whole earth, sky and
sea to swarm. These gods, they supposed, were induced
by human sacrifices to enter their idols. They also sup-
posed that they entered plants and animals. A native
who inadvertently stepped on a lizard would run scream-

154 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ing with terror, not because he was afraid of the little
reptile, but because he was horrified at having enraged a
god that he supposed had entered into it.

To these gods they ascribed evil passions like their
own. Says Rev. S. E. Bishop : ' ' The Hawaiian pan-
theon was an embodied diabolism. A loathsome filthi-
ness is not mere incident, but forms the groundwork of
character, not merely of the great hog-god Kamapuaa.
but even of the more humanlike Ku and Kane of the
chief trinity. "

As might be supposed, the worship of such gods was
most demoralizing, oppressive and distressing. Under
it, to be cruel, false, lewd, licentious, vile and most des-
picable was to be godlike ; and the rites of worship, the
dances, the sacrifices, and all the orgies were indescriba-
ble expressions of evil passions.

The priests (the kahunas) brought all this paganism
with terrific power into the every-day life of the natives.
They did this first by the tabu system, as they alleged
that the presence of the gods, or the necessity of propi-
tiating their favor, made certain articles, places and
times tabu — that is, forbidden for secular use. This sys-
tem rested with the greatest weight upon the women,
who by it were forbidden to eat many kinds of fish and
fruit, or to eat with the men, and in many other ways
painfully restricted — a cunning device whereby the "lords
of creation " monopolized whatever was choicest in the
productions of the islands.

The priests constantly applied this paganism also by
the practice of sorcery. Whenever any one became seri-

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 155

ously ill they extorted a large price to exorcise the evil
spirit, which they declared was the sole cause of the ill-
ness. Sometimes they practiced sorcery to destroy their
enemies. Like the natives of Southern Polynesia and
Australia, they endeavored to obtain something from their
victims — remnants of their food, portions of their clothing,
parings of their nails, or collections of their saliva — by
which to send demons for their destruction. For this
reason the chiefs kept trusty attendants with spit-boxes
who should prevent any exuviae of their persons from
coming into the possession of their enemies. The vic-
tims of the priests died either from terror, or from poi-
son, or from violence. And so it came to pass that by
threats of sorcery the priests, as instruments of the chiefs,
ruled the people with despotic power and kept them in
a constant terror. Sometimes the natives died from this
terror. This was once shown in a striking way when a
priest informed a white man that he was about to pray
him to death, and the white man replied that he too
could pray. The priest, supposing that the white man
was practising black arts against him, sank into despond-
ency and despair and finally died.

The priests made their severest requisitions on great
public occasions, and then not only imposed rigorous
tabus, but also required human sacrifices. When war
was to be declared, a temple dedicated, an idol made, a
new house built for a chief, a new canoe launched, or
when a chief was seriously sick or died, human sacrifices
were offered. Then for fear of being sought by the
executioner the natives fled to the mountains and lay

156 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

hid till the danger had passed. The victims were secret-
ly assassinated by a blow with a club from behind, and
were then laid before the idol on the heiau to putrefy in
the sun. The heiau was an oblong platform of stones,
sometimes over 200 feet long, 100 feet wide, and from
eight to twenty feet high, on which within a high sur-
rounding wall was a paved court for idol-worship. (W.
D. Alexander's " History of the Hawaiian People.")

The paganism of the Hawaiians took on its worst
aspects at the funerals of their chiefs. Then besides
making human sacrifices they utterly abandoned them-
selves to sensuality and violence. They ' ' threw off their
clothing and the restraints of decency, filled the air with
loud and long-continued waitings and the noise of shell-
trumpets, knocked out their front teeth, lacerated their
bodies, set fire to houses, danced in a state of nudity,
and appeared more like demons than human beings."

Although, as might be supposed, the influence of
this paganism was utterly brutalizing, the Hawaiians did
not become as degraded and inhuman as many of the
tribes in the South Pacific ; nor did they, like those
southern tribes, practice widow-murder, patricide and
cannibalism. Patricide is said to have once been com-
mon in Hawaii, but was discontinued in consequence
of a remark of an old man when his son was about to
throw him over a precipice to escape the trouble of
caring for him. The old man said, " If you throw me
over this precipice your son will throw you over it
when you become old." Startled by this warning the
son spared the old man ; and others hearing of the inci-

HAWAIIAN WOMAN, WITH HAIR NECKLACE AND WHALE'S TOOTH.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 159

dent desisted from patricide. But in Hawaii immoral-
ity, war and infanticide were as prevalent as in the
South Pacific. Probably one-third of the children were
put to death. One woman once said to a missionary,
"I have had thirteen children, and I have buried them
all alive. Oh that you had come sooner to teach me
better !" The missionaries once rescued a boy by the
name of Kuaea from a grave in which he had been
placed to be buried alive ; and he grew up in their care
to become the most popular preacher in Hawaii.

To this people in their primitive degradation the ad-
vent of white men from civilized countries was like the
coming of beings from another planet. The first of
these visitors was the Spanish navigator, Juan Gaetano,
who discovered part of this group in 1555 but in jeal-
ousy of other countries concealed the discovery. His
ancient chart, marking the situation ten degrees too far
east, has been found in the Spanish archives. Little is
known of his coming, so long ago, but more is known
of that of the English navigator, Capt. James Cook, who
made this group known to the world. He had been
sent to the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus from
Tahiti, and in a subsequent voyage went north to search
for a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and on the
1 8th of January, 1778, discovered the island of Kauai,
and afterwards the other Hawaiian islands.

When he landed on Kauai all the multitude of
natives who had gathered to see the strange phenomena
of his ships fell flat on the earth, and remained so until
he made signs to them to rise. They took him for their

l6o THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

god Lono, who they supposed had left the islands and
was now returning ; and the ships they took for floating
islands covered with trees. They called him and his
crew Haolis (white hogs) ; and this was ever afterwards
their name for foreigners. They meant no disrespect,
but gave this name because the hog was their largest
animal, and it was their custom to give such names to
each other ; as for instance the common name Puaahiva
(beloved hog). Cook and his crew did not belie the
name given them, but proved it to be more appropriate
than that of gods.

Although at first Cook sought to restrain his men,
because of the terrible effect of their vices at Tahiti, his
visits degenerated into mere sensual carousals, with con-
nivance at the heathenism of the natives and harsh
returns for their generous hospitality. On landing he
was induced to ascend a heiau and there receive the
worship of the priests, who prostrated themselves before
him with long prayers and offerings of baked hogs.
Taking advantage of this superstitious reverence for
himself he exacted from them immense supplies of food
and took the sacred fence of their temple for fuel.* The
king gave him six splendid feather cloaks, which were
worth in the labor of their construction over a million
dollars. They were made of the very beautiful golden-
yellow feathers of a rare bird, the Oo (Moho nobilis),
which has under each of its wings two of these feath-
ers. In return for these gifts he gave the king a linen
shirt and a cutlass.

Finally, presuming on the dread the natives had of

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 161

him as a god, Cook endeavored to take their king aboard
his vessel, to compel him to restore a boat that had been
stolen and broken up for its nails. He ordered his offi-
cers meanwhile to allow no canoes to enter the harbor,
and they fired on and killed a chief who, in ignorance of
this order, was crossing the harbor in a canoe. When
the news of this murder came to the attendants of the
king they began to throw stones at Cook, and he fired
upon them. A chief then seized him from behind, and
he called for help ; whereupon the chief exclaimed, " He
cries ; he is not a god, " and killed him. The sailors
then fled to their boats and pulling off a little distance
from the shore fired volleys of musketry upon the na-
tives, and the ships fired cannon shot upon them. The
natives, seeing the smoke of the firearms, hung up wet
mats to protect themselves, till seventeen of their num-
ber had been shot, and then fled to the mountains.
Thus Cook paid with his life for his complicity with the
idolatry of the natives. It was a rare opportunity he
had enjoyed of giving to the wondering natives their first
knowledge of civilization ; but his coming among them
was rather like the springing of a wolf into a sheep-fold
to slay some of the flock and be slain himself.

After this disastrous termination of Cook's visit no
ships went to the Hawaiian Islands for seven years, so
bad a reputation had their people acquired for barbarism.
At length the fur-trade with the northwest coast of Amer-
ica began, and vessels on their way from Nootka Sound
to China put in to the island for supplies. After this
trade declined that in sandal wood commenced, and

162 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

continued till 1826. This fragrant wood was taken to
China and sold at ten dollars per picul of 133^ pounds
for incense in the temples. This trade brought great
wealth to the Hawaiian chiefs, and enabled them to pur-
chase vessels, guns, liquors, and Chinese goods. Thus
Kamehameha I. was able to pay for one vessel, the
Niu, $51,750, and Liholiho for the yacht Cleopatra
$80,000, also for the brig Thaddeus $40,000, for a small
schooner $16,000, and for ammunition $11,000; and in
1826 the Hawaiian government undertook to pay off its
debts of $500,000 chiefly with sandal wood. But the
work of procuring this wood from the mountains was a
terrible drudgery to the common people, who carried it
on their shoulders or dragged it on the ground. After
this trade ended the whale-oil business began ; and,
whale-ships went to the Hawaiian Islands for supplies
and to spend the winters. When in later times, about
the year 1860, the whaling business declined, new agri-
cultural enterprises were started, and sugar, rice and
other tropical productions brought great wealth to the
islands.

The influence of the many adventurers who visited
the islands in these various enterprises was most deplor-
able. While some of them, like the British Capt. Van-
couver, exhorted the natives to refrain from war, and
foretold the future coming of missionaries, others were
little better than the savages themselves, and committed
most cruel outrages. Such an outrage was the massacre
perpetrated by Capt. Metcalf because a native of Mauri
had stolen one of his boats and broken it up for the

PAPAYA TREES, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 165

nails. He caused the natives, as they came off in canoes
for trade, to gather near the sides of his vessel, in the
range of his guns, and then fired broadsides of cannon
and muskets upon them, killing a hundred of them and
wounding many more. About two weeks after his
departure his son, a lad eighteen years old, arrived at
the same place and was suddenly attacked by the na-
tives, and with all but two of his men killed ; and his
vessel was dragged up on the beach.

Some of these foreigners provided the natives with
firearms, and cooperated with them in the wars which
raged after the death of Kalaniopuu, who was the king
of Hawaii at the arrival of Capt. Cook. A strife then
arose among the chiefs for the rule of Hawaii ; and from
that time, in 1792, like the storms that in winter blow
over this group, wars raged till 1796. First, Kamehame-
ha, a chief of the district of Kona, Hawaii, contended
against the chief of the adjoining district. The elements
of nature seemed to come to his aid, for a cloud of vol-
canic cinders from Kilauea destroyed a portion of the
army of his enemies and the natives concluded that the
gods were aiding him. Then sixteen foreigners joined
his army, and mingled the thunders of their muskets
and cannon with the savage yells of his barbaric warriors
and made him master of Hawaii. The storm of war
then swept over to Maui and like a cloud-burst raged
awhile in the beautiful valley of lao ; the king of Maui
was defeated and the streams of that valley choked with
the bodies of the slain. Not long after this a naval bat-
tle of hundreds of canoes and several schooners was

1 66 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

fought between Hawaii and Maui, and again Kameha-
meha was victorious. The war then passed on to Oahu,
and the army of that island was swept up the valley of
Nuuanu and over the frightful precipices of the Pali.
Finally, in 1810, the king of Kauai quietly submitted,
and Kamehameha became monarch of the whole group.

Sadder than the carnage that was caused by these
wars, and the tragic deaths of Capt. Cook and other voy-
agers, was the frightfully immoral influence of these
sensual foreigners, the distillation by them of ardent
spirits, and the introduction by them of diseases that
destroyed the natives. Their coming was like an inva-
sion of wild animals from the continents to ravage,
trample and devour. It has been well remarked that,
"while there have been no serpents or tigers in these
islands, there have been human brutes, worse than ser-
pents and tigers, that have greatly destroyed the people. "
Capt. Cook estimated the population at the time of his
coming at 400,000; in 1832 it was only 130,000; and
now, in 1895, the number of native Hawaiians is only
33,000. The dark side of the history of the Hawaiian
Islands is the record of the influence of these evil classes
of foreigners, and their opposition to Christian civiliza-
tion.

But the work of foreigners in aiding Kamehameha to
conquer the islands unintentionally on their part pre-
pared the way for the enterprise of Christian missions.
The establishment of one government over all the group
and the cessation of inter-island warfare paved the way
for the gospel of peace.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 1 67

The occasion of the introduction of Christianity into
the Hawaiian Islands was the arrival in the United States
of several Hawaiian boys who had been employed as
seamen on ships. One of these boys was found one
morning by Rev. Edwin Dwight weeping on the steps of
a Yale College building, and by him kindly cared for,
and at length, at the suggestion of Mr. Samuel Mills, one
of the founders of the American Board of Missions, sent
with other Hawaiian boys to a school for foreign children
at Cornwall, Conn. In this school most of these boys
embraced Christianity; and then they entreated that
Christian teachers should be sent to instruct their be-
nighted countrymen. Their request excited great inter-
est in the churches of New England and moved the
American Board of Missions to extend their enterprises
to the Hawaiian Islands, and finally, on the 23d of Octo-
ber, 1819, a little over forty years after the discovery of
Hawaii by Capt. Cook and twenty-three years after the
beginning of the London Mission to the South Pacific,
the first company of missionaries for the Hawaiian Isl-
ands embarked at Boston on the brig Thaddeus with
Capt. Blanchard.

This company consisted of the ordained ministers,
Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, Samuel Whitney —
who left Yale College in his sophomore year to engage
in this mission and was afterwards ordained at the Isl-
ands— Samuel Ruggles, a teacher, Dr. Thomas Holman,
Elisha Loomis, a printer, and Daniel Chamberlain, a
farmer. All these were married men ; and the farmer
took with him his five children.

168 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

From a worldly point of view the enterprise on which
these missionaries then entered was not inviting. To go
with their tender wives and children from the peace and
order and sweet amenities of civilization to dwell among
the wild, half-clothed savages of Hawaii was almost like
going into infernal regions. But the faith and Christian
devotion with which they went forth were rewarded
beyond their expectations ; for unknown to them, before
their arrival at the islands, idolatry was voluntarily
abandoned by the natives.

And here we have another beautiful illustration of the
far-reaching influence of the mission work at Tahiti.
The explanation of this overthrow of idolatry is found in
the influence of that mission work. Tidings had come
to Hawaii of the downfall of idolatry in Tahiti ; and
Kamehameha had made inquiries of sea-captains about
the astonishing event and about the nature of Christian-
ity. The news was very pleasing to the royal women of
Hawaii, who felt that the tabu system was an intolerable
burden. At the time of the death of Kamehameha I.
some of these women were liable to death, one for having
eaten bananas, and others fish, contrary to the tabu ;
and two of them, Keopuolani and Kaahumanu, wives of
Kamehameha, had secretly resolved to do away with the
tabu. With this view, in the pompous ceremony of the
investiture of Liholiho, Kamehameha II., with the
sovereignty, Kaahumanu, after proclaiming him king,
publicly exhorted him to abandon the tabu system. On
the evening of the same day Keopuolani, the mother of
Liholiho, broke over the tabu by eating with Kauikeaouli,

TRAVELLER'S PALM.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. IJl

the younger brother ; and a few weeks afterwards Kaahu-
manu succeeded in persuading the young king to disre-
gard the tabu by publicly sitting down to eat at a feast
with women. As he did so the people looked on in
consternation, expecting to see a manifestation of the
wrath of their gods, and when they saw that he contin-
ued unharmed exclaimed, ' ' The tabus are abolished !
The idols are a lie !" Strange to say, the high priest,
Hewahewa, was the first to apply a torch to the temples.
The natives then with a sort of frenzy went everywhere
destroying images and sanctuaries of their paganism even
to the most distant islands.

A brief stand for idolatry was made by a chief by the
name of Kekuaokalani (the god of heaven), with a mul-
titude of natives, and a battle was fought at Kuamoo,
Ha waii, but this chief was killed by a musket-ball fired
from a boat, and his fighting wife beside him fell, and
his army was vanquished. Then by royal proclamation
idolatry was for ever forbidden in the Hawaiian Islands.
So strictly was this law observed that when, in 1826,
Roman-catholic priests arrived they gained little influ-
ence over the people, and they were expelled in 1831 by
the regent queen, Kaahumanu, on account of their wor-
ship of images.

The first news, therefore, that came to the missiona-
ries on their arrival on March 30, 1820, was that the
warrior king, Kamehameha, was dead, and that the idols
had been destroyed. It had taken fifteen years of ardu-
ous, perilous work to abolish idolatry in the Society
Islands, but here, by the providence of God, it was abol-
8

1/2 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ished before the missionaries arrived. They felt that
God had gone before them preparing the way for his
work.

But to their great surprise they now found difficulty
in even gaining permission to land and reside in the
islands. The degraded foreigners who were dwelling in
sensuality among the natives viewed with regret the
coming of teachers of a holy religion, and hastened to
warn the king that the new-comers would forbid his
polygamy and make war upon him and wrest away his
kingdom. It was replied that the missionaries would
not have brought their wives and tender children if they
had come for war ; and in this way the king was barely
persuaded to allow them to land for one year on trial.

It is hard to realize now what it was for these mis-
sionaries to take up their residence among the natives.
When the ladies of their company first saw the natives
they exclaimed, "Can these be human beings? Are
they not devils rather ?" And some of them went below
into the cabin of their vessel and wept. The owner of a
trading vessel, on seeing them land, exclaimed, "These
ladies cannot remain here. They will all return to the
United States in less than a year. " And with kind solic-
itude for their welfare he gave orders that his vessels
should give them free passage to the United States when-
ever they should apply. The night before they landed
there had been a drunken carousal on shore, and the
next morning the rocks along the beach were covered
with the nude forms of intoxicated natives.

Sometimes there was something ludicrous, as well as

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 1/3

revolting, in the appearance of the natives, especially
when they endeavored to combine with their own bar-
baric style the fashions of civilized people. Not long
after the arrival of the missionaries there was a celebra-
tion of the accession of Liholiho to the sovereignty. On
this occasion the wives of the king were borne in a pro-
cession with great pomp. The head queen, Kamamalu,
was seated in a whaleboat fastened to a platform of spars
and borne on the shoulders of seventy men. The boat
and platform were covered with fine broadcloth, relieved
by richly-colored native cloth. The bearers marched in
a solid phalanx, the outer ranks of which wore scarlet
and yellow feather cloaks and superb helmets of the same
material. The queen wore a scarlet silk mantle and a
coronet of feathers, and was screened from the sun by a
huge umbrella of scarlet damask, supported by a chief
wearing a scarlet malo and a tall feather helmet. On
one quarter of the boat stood the chief Naihe, and on
the other the chief Kalaimoku, each similarly clad and
holding a scarlet kahili, or plumed staff of state, thirty
feet in height. The other wives of the king appeared in
similar pomp, and in lieu of a boat were mounted upon
double canoes. The dress of the queen-dowager was
seventy-two yards of orange and scarlet kerseymere,
which was wrapped around her waist until her arms were
sustained by it in a horizontal position, and the remain-
der was formed into a train supported by her attend-
ants. Meanwhile the king and his suite, nearly naked
and intoxicated, rode from place to place on horses
without saddles, followed on the run by a shabby escort

1/4 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

of fifty or sixty men. Eighty dogs were cooked for the
feast of this celebration.

Hardly had the year in which the missionaries had
been allowed to remain on probation expired when the
vile foreigners renewed their opposition. They now
informed the king that in the Society Islands mission-
aries had taken away the lands of the natives, and that
these American missionaries were offensive to the king
of Britain, and that if he did not send them away the
British monarch would give him proof of his anger.
But this opposition was overcome in a providential way.
Thirty years previous the British government had prom-
ised to give Kamehameha a vessel on account of his
services in rescuing vessels and seamen from the savages,
and now it occurred to that government to fulfil this
promise, and for this purpose a vessel was sent from New
South Wales to Hawaii. This vessel, with another con-
voying it, touched on its way at Tahiti, and there took
on board English missionaries and Tahitian Christians,
who engaged passage by the convoying vessel to the
Marquesas Islands. Just at this time, when the foreign-
ers were renewing their opposition, these vessels arrived
at Honolulu. The English gentlemen at once assured
the king of the friendship of the British monarch, and
the Tahitians informed him of the good work done by
missionaries in their islands, and thereby effectually
counteracted the slanders of the foreigners.

But this opposition was often afterwards renewed, as
in 1825 and 1826, when laws had been enacted against
intemperance and prostitution, and seamen several times

.,

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

assaulted the missionaries, and once fired cannon on
one of their houses, in order to compel them to use
their influence for the abrogation of these laws. Strange
to say, this opposition was led by the British Consul,
Richard Charlton.

In 1826 Commodore Thomas Ap Jones arrived,
and at the request of the missionaries made a public
examination of these matters. He afterwards wrote of
the meeting that was then held, "I own I trembled for
the cause of Christianity and for the poor benighted
islanders when I saw on one hand the British consul,
backed by the most wealthy and hitherto influential
foreign residents and shipmasters in formidable array,
and prepared, as I supposed, to testify against some
half dozen meek and humble servants of the Lord, calmly
seated on the other, ready and even anxious to be tried
by their bitterest enemies. But what was the result of
this portentous meeting ? The most perfect, full, com-
plete, and triumphant victory for the missionaries that
could have been asked by their most devoted friends."
The influence of unprincipled whites in the subsequent
history of the islands has been the chief cause of the
demoralization of the churches, the corruption of civil
government, and the recent fall of the Hawaiian mon-
archy.

From the first inception of this mission several cir-
cumstances contributed to its success. That of the
voluntary abolition of idolatry by the natives has been
mentioned. Besides this was the wonder with which
the natives regarded the art of reading and their conse-

1 78 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

quent zeal to read whatever was published by the mis-
sionaries. With the aid of the English missionary,
Rev. William Ellis, who came from Tahiti, the language
was quickly reduced to writing. Reading was easily
taught, as only thirteen letters were necessary to spell
the vernacular ; and since each syllable ended with a
vowel the natives needed little more than to learn the
alphabet to be able to read. The king insisted on being
the first pupil, and after he had learned to read gave
command that every one in his kingdom should attend
the mission schools. Those who learned to read now
became teachers to instruct others, and went everywhere
forming schools. In a few years thirty thousand of the
people were able to read and write. Savage sports were
then forgotten in the eagerness of the people to read
whatever was published by the missionaries. With great
zeal the missionaries now hastened to prepare school-
books, tracts, and translations of the Bible. In the year
1832 the translation of the New Testament was com-
pleted, and in 1839 tnat °f tne wno^e Bible. In a few
years twenty thousand copies of the Bible and fifty
thousand of the New Testament, and also a great quan-
tity of tracts and school-books, were distributed. Sixty-
five million pages were sent forth, ' ' which were to the
natives like leaves from the tree of life."

The missionaries gained a great advantage also by
the favor and cooperation of the surviving wives of Ka-
mehameha I. and of several high chiefs who were the
rulers of the islands. The high rank of these helpers is
especially noticeable. One of them, Keopuolani (the

Kamehameha IV. ? Kamehameha I

• vJts ' -7jr!0-'/7

Kamehameha V.

Kalakaua.
HAWAIIAN MONARCHS.

Liliuokalani.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. l8l

gathering of the clouds of heaven), was the grand-
daughter of the king who received Capt. Cook, the chief
queen of Kamehameha I., and the mother of the kings
Kamehameha II. and Kamehameha III. So sacred was
her person regarded that whenever she walked abroad
all who saw her prostrated themselves to the earth.
After Kamehameha's death she was married to Hoapili,
governor of Maui. She was one of the first converts and
displayed excellent Christian character, and earnestly
labored for the schools and churches until her death on
September 16, 1823.

The first convert on Oahu was the Regent Queen
Kaahumanu (feather mantle), who had been the favorite
wife of Kamehameha I., and who after his death mar-
ried Kamualii, the former king of Kauai and afterwards
governor of Oahu. She was so changed from a haughty,
cruel and besotted savage that the natives spoke of her
as the "new Kaahumanu." During her last illness a re-
inforcement of nineteen missionaries arrived and she
received them with tears of joy. It was remarked at her
death, June 5, 1832, that "the mission lost in her a
mother, a judicious counsellor, and a firm supporter ;
but heaven received a soul cleansed by the blood of
Christ from the foulest stains of heathenism, infanticide,
and abominable pollution."

Another distinguished assistant of the missionaries
was Kaakini, the brother of Kaahumanu. At the com-
ing of the missionaries he was the governor of Hawaii,
and afterwards the governor of Oahu. This chief built
the first church at Kailua, and in later times vigorously

1 82 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

defended the missionaries against the corrupt foreign-
ers.

Quite as notable was Kapiolani (the captive of
heaven), who was descended from a line of kings and was
the wife of Naihe, the national orator. In December.
1824, she determined to break the spell of the belief in
Pele, the dread goddess of the volcano. For this pur-
pose she made a long journey to Kilauea. Her husband
and a multitude of friends besought her not to provoke
the wrath of the supposed goddess ; and a priestess met
her at the brink of the crater and predicted her death if
she persisted in her course. But she boldly descended
into the volcano and walked to the brink of the burning
lake, then half a mile in breadth, and there defiantly ate
the berries consecrated to the goddess and threw stones
into the fountains of fire. As she did this she exclaimed,
"Jehovah is my God. He kindled these fires. I fear
not Pele. " She then knelt in prayer to the true God and
united with her attendants in singing a Christian hymn.
Rev. C. Forbes said at her death, in 1841 : "This nation
has lost one of its brightest ornaments. She was con-
fessedly the most decided Christian, the most civilized in
her manners, and the most thoroughly read in the Bible
of all the chiefs this nation ever had ; and it is saying no
more than truth to assert that her equal in these respects
is not left in the nation. The hand of God is to be seen
in the consistent Christian life for twenty years of this
child of a degraded paganism."

Another important helper was Kinau, daughter of
Kamehameha I., wife of Kekuanoa, who in later times

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 183

was governor of Oahu, and mother of the kings Kameha-
meha IV. and Kamehameha V. At the death of Kaa-
humanu she became regent during the minority of Kame-
hameha III., and afterwards premier. There was a
critical time in Hawaiian history when Kauikeaouli
(Kamehameha III.) assumed the sovereignty, and it was
feared he would appoint as his premier one of his disso-
lute favorites, and there was great rejoicing when finally
he appointed this Kinau, who proved to be an upright
Christian ruler.

The husbands of these women and many other high
chiefs nobly cooperated with the missionaries, as also did
Kamehameha III. It is hardly possible now to realize
how great was the influence for good when these, the
highest rulers of the nation, whose power was despotic,
allied themselves with the mission cause. The stars
seemed to be fighting against barbarism.

The mission also derived advantage from the prime-
val habit of the people to comply with the requirements
of their ancient religion. When idolatry was abolished
and Christianity approved by their rulers they carried
over their strict observance of religious requirements to
Christianity, and observed the Sabbath and Christian
ordinances with remarkable earnestness.

The mission cause was also greatly promoted by suc-
cessive reinforcements of new missionaries from the Uni-
ted States. The American Board early determined to
hasten the evangelization of the Hawaiian Islands, that
they might be able to hold them up to the world as an
example of the success of Foreign Missions, and for this

1 84 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

purpose sent thither their best men in large numbers.
Fifty-two ordained ministers, twenty-one lay helpers, and
eighty-three female missionaries, one hundred and fifty-
six in all, a strong body of able, consecrated workers,
labored for the good of this little nation during the years
from 1820 to 1869.

But notwithstanding all these favoring circumstances
the great mass of the people long continued indiiferent
to the gospel. It took time to beat into their darkened
minds the conception of a holy God and a sense of their
need of salvation. In 1825 there were only ten church
members, and in 1832 only five hundred and seventy-
seven in all the islands. The missionaries finally came
to realize more than ever before their need of divine help
to change the character of the people.

At length, in the years 1836 to 1839, occurred the
great religious awakening by which the Hawaiian people
were changed from a heathen to a Christian nation. This
revival began first in an increased earnestness of the mis-
sionaries themselves. In their annual gatherings in 1835
and 1836 they were moved as never before to pray, not
only for the conversion of the Hawaiians, but also for
that of the whole world. As they then returned to their
homes, some of them under sad bereavement, they soon
observed an increased earnestness of the church members.
Many of these became so active that it was remarked that
they would have been ornaments to any church in the
United States. There then occurred simultaneously over
all the islands such a revival of religion as has rarely been
seen in the history of the church. The people were so

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 185

moved that they could hardly attend to their usual avo-
cations. It was remarked that the voices of children
were not heard as usual at play upon the beach, but that
they were rather to be heard in the thickets and among
the rocks at prayer. From early morning till late at
night the natives came in crowds to the houses of the
missionaries to inquire the way of life. The number
attending preaching increased in some of the churches to
six thousand. There was not an undue excitement, but
a deep and solemn earnestness. The natives received the
divine word like little children, with perfect trust, and
drank in every word spoken like men dying with thirst.
During the years from 1836 to 1840 about twenty thou-
sand persons were received into the churches. During
the forty subsequent years the average number of annual
admissions to the churches was one thousand.

The result of this revival was a progress and prosper-
ity of the islands that has continued with little cessation
to the present time. The Hawaiians now awakened
with genuine earnestness to adopt the manners and cus-
toms of Christian civilization.

One of the most important results was the change
in the form of civil government. Previous to this time
the king and chiefs had been savage despots and the
people under them like slaves, with no rights and no
property, liable at any time to be driven from their
homes and deprived of the little all they possessed. They
cringed in abject fear before their chiefs, as before supe-
rior beings descended from gods. Now, under the in-
fluence of the new religious life that was pervading the

1 86 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

nation, the king and his chiefs came to realize their need
of a better system of government. They therefore in-
vited one of the missionaries, Rev. William Richards,
to deliver lectures before them on the sciences of politi-
cal economy and civil government. The result of these
lectures was that the king voluntarily relinquished a large
part of his lands and of his power for the good of the
people. Before this time he had been regarded as owner
of all the lands ; he now assigned one third of them to
the government and one third to the common people.
He appointed a royal commission, who made investiga-
tions in the case of every Hawaiian family and gave
them titles in fee simple to the lands on which they and
their forefathers had lived. He also employed the best
legal talent he could obtain to form a code of laws and
a constitution of government. This constitution provid-
ed for a legislature consisting of nobles appointive by the
king and of representatives elective by the people, a judi-
ciary of higher and lower courts, and an excellent system
of public schools.

This establishment of a stable and well - ordered
government caused a great improvement in the condition
of the people. As they now owned their lands they be-
came desirous to better cultivate the soil, to build better
houses, and to obtain the comforts and luxuries of civiliza-
tion. As they had political equality with the chiefs
they ventured to contend for their rights in the courts
with the higher classes, and even with the king himself,
and to take their places in the halls of legislation to
struggle for a proper administration of government.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 187

Great industrial enterprises were now inaugurated, for-
eign capital was introduced to develop the resources
of the country, and the wealth of all classes greatly in-
creased.

And now, because of having an excellent system of
government, the Hawaiian Islands obtained recognition
from other nations as an independent country. This
was needed ; for the felonious usurpations of France in
the Pacific had extended to these islands, and a long
struggle had been made by Roman-catholic priests and
French war-vessels to bring them under the dominion
of France, English officials had twice endeavored to
bring them under the rule of Britain, and Russia had
once sought possession of them. With great skill the
Hawaiian government thwarted all these efforts, and
obtained a joint treaty from France and Britain by which
they reciprocally engaged to forever respect the indepen-
dence of the Hawaiian Islands, "and never to take pos-
seesion, either directly or under the title of protectorate
or under any other form, of any part of the territory of
which they are composed. " The United States had pre-
viously made a treaty of friendly recognition of Hawaii
as an independent country, and thus this little group of
islands took a place in the world as entitled to the rank
and privileges of a Christianized and civilized nation.

Unfortunately the American Board now entered on
a course which seriously imperilled the results of the fifty
years of mission work that had been performed in these
islands. Concluding that their object of quickly evan-
gelizing the Hawaiians had been accomplished, and that

1 88 'THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

they could hold them up to the world as an illustration
of missionary success, they determined to withdraw from
them, and with this view sent their secretary, Rev.
Rufus Anderson, to the islands, in 1863, to arrange for
placing native pastors over the churches. Finally, on the
1 5th of June, 1870, a jubilee celebration of fifty years of
labor was held with great pomp in Honolulu ; and in
the Kawaiahao church, in the presence of a congregation
of three thousand people, of the king and queen, the high
officials of the government, and the representatives of
foreign powers, memorial addresses were delivered in
the Hawaiian and English languages, and the announce-
ment made that the work of the American Board in the
Hawaiian Islands was completed.

Delightful though this announcement was to the
public abroad, it was received by many people in the
islands with sad forebodings. It was evident that the
Hawaiian Christians needed to be kept under tutelage
many more years before they would be capable of properly
managing their churches. Trying times were before the
nation, when they would need the help of the best wis-
dom and best energy of the American missionaries. The
change was like putting a ship under inexperienced offi-
cers when breakers are ahead and storms brewing.

After this time the government of the islands was con-
ducted by monarchs who, with the exception of king
Lunalilo, were far from friendly to the mission cause.
As it had been of great advantage to the missionaries
during the fifty previous years for the kings and chiefs
to use their influence in their behalf, so now it was a

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 189

great disadvantage to them for the kings and their offi-
cials to use their influence against them. A struggle
now commenced in which the successive monarchs
sought to override or change the constitution of the
government in order to obtain power and money for
their dissipation and senseless pomp, and the intelligent
portion of the people sought to maintain constitutional
government. To overcome the opposition to their plans
the kings used bribery at the polls and in the legisla-
ture, awakened race prejudices, revived heathen sorcery,
and strove to demoralize the churches. The painful
history of these political events combines with the story
of the missionary operations like the strange blending
found on Hawaii of barren lava-flows with tracts of
luxuriant vegetation.

Kamehameha III., styled "The Good King," died
on December 15, 1854, and was succeeded by Alexander
Liholiho, Kamehameha IV. , a very bright but dissipa-
ted man. During the reign of the latter the ' ' Queen's
Hospital " was built by money raised by his personal
solicitations and those of his queen, for which they are
gratefully remembered by the people. During this reign
also the Anglican Church was introduced from England, "
the bishops of which refused to recognize the American
missionaries, and publicly gave thanks that "at last the
true religion had been brought to Hawaii. " They obtained
a small following of Englishmen, but almost none of the
natives. They have been sustained chiefly by money sent
from England. This king died November 30, 1863, at
the age of only twenty-nine years. His death was

190 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

hastened by dissipation. He was succeeded by his
brother Lot, Kamehameha V.

This prince contrived to have himself proclaimed
king without swearing to the constitution of the govern-
ment, and in an irregular way called a convention to
make a new constitution. Finding that he could not
control this convention he prorogued it, and taking a
cue from the words with which Kamehameha III. had
established the previous constitution, "I give this con-
stitution to my people," proclaimed a constitution of
his own making without submitting it to the suffrages
of the people. The chief change he made from the
former constitution was in requiring that the nobles and
representatives, who had formerly sat separately, should
sit and vote together in one chamber, so as to be more
powerfully controlled by himself and his cabinet. He
then compelled the legislature to enact a law for licens-
ing kahunas as doctors and introduced kahunas with the
licentious hula dancers into his palace, thereby legalizing
the essential elements of heathenism : its loathsome sen-
suality, its terrorizing sorcery, and its worship of demons
and even of idols. This was like the act of " Jeroboam
the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin." After this
sorcery became a powerful instrument in the hands of
the monarchs for carrying elections. This king died on
December n, 1872, at the age of forty-nine years, and
with him ended the line of the Kamehamehas.

The legislature was now called to elect a king, and
made choice of William Lunalilo, a grandson of the
chief who killed Capt. Cook and the highest in rank of

I

I

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 193

all the chiefs in the kingdom. The rival candidate for
the throne was David Kalakaua, who now instigated the
soldiers in the barracks to revolt, in order to gain the
throne for himself, but the revolt was skilfully quelled.
Lunalilo died on January 18, 1874,- after a reign of only
one year and twenty-five days. He left a noble monu-
ment for himself in his bequest of property worth a
quarter of a million dollars for the establishment of a
home for aged Hawaiians.

The legislature was then again summoned to elect a
king. There were two candidates — the ex-queen Em-
ma, the relict of Kamehameha IV., and the rebel
prince, David Kalakaua. The issue in the election was
a proposed reciprocity treaty with the United States.
As Emma was partly of British extraction, and a patron
of the Anglican Church, the foreign community threw
its influence for David Kalakaua, and he was elected on
February 12, 1874. As soon as the vote was announced
a mob of Emma's adherents attacked the legislature,
but they were quickly dispersed by marines that were
landed by request of the cabinet from American and
British war-ships in the harbor. The reciprocity treaty
was then negotiated, and went into effect on September
9, 1876, and greatly promoted the industrial prosperity
of the islands.

Encouraged by the increasing wealth of the country,
Kalakaua now entered on a course of extravagance,
usurpation and paganism that to the islands, which had
previously enjoyed a tolerably good government, was
like one of the mountain torrents that sudden cloud-
9

IQ4 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

bursts send down their valleys to devastate their culti-
vated fields. The scope of this sketch will not admit of
more than an allusion to the chief events of his reign :
his expensive journey around the world, his costly coro-
nation nine years after his accession to the throne, his
coinage of a million dollars at an expense of $150,000,
his scheme for a sort of empire of the Pacific, his promo-
tion of the traffic in ardent spirits and opium, and his fre-
quent arbitrary changes of his cabinet, which gave it the
name of being ' ' kaleidoscopic. "

Through all the changes of his cabinet one minister
was retained, Walter M. Gibson. He had gone to the
islands as an emissary of Brigham Young and had en-
riched himself by Mormonism, and afterwards renounced
that irreligion and had been excommunicated by the Lat-
ter-day Saints, "handed over to Satan, to be buffetted
for a thousand years," because he would not return a
thousand dollars lent to him by Brigham Young. He
posed as the friend of the Polynesian race against the
white people, and thereby got himself elected to the
legislature, and finally to the leadership of the king's
cabinet, and for many years aided the king in his prodi-
gality and usurpations.

The worst influences of Kalakaua were exerted to
demoralize the churches, the only remaining bulwark
against his corrupt measures. The faithful pastors of
these churches found their influence counteracted by
sorcerers who were employed by the king, and their
support cut off through the exertions of government
officials, while large offers of help were made if they

QUEEN EMMA.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 197

would favor the king's projects. On one occasion the
king persuaded the most of them to withdraw from the
Missionary Association in order to form a state church
under himself as their "Father;" and this scheme was
barely defeated by the fierce opposition of Rev. J. Waia-
mau, the pastor of the Kaumakapili Church of Honolu-
lu. It seemed for a while that there would be an out-
break of the ancient heathenism through the verdant
fields and luxuriant forests of the islands.

The indignation of the better classes against the evil
course of the king rose to a white heat when at last he
accepted a bribe to sell the license for the opium traffic
to a Chinaman for $75,000, and then, retaining this
money, gave the license to another Chinaman for another
bribe of $80,000. The people of all classes then assem-
bled in a great mass-meeting and demanded that he
should dismiss the corrupt Gibson cabinet and proclaim
a new constitution that would properly limit his power.
Although he had troops and munitions of war and the
people were unarmed he did not dare to resist the fierce
public sentiment, and signed a constitution which pro-
vided that the upper branch of the legislature should be
elected by the people voting on a property qualification,
instead of being appointed by himself; that the cabinet
should be removable only by an act of the legislature,
and that he could approve or veto acts of the legislature
only with the concurrence of his cabinet.

During these events the king's sister, Mrs. Lydia
Liliuokalani Dominis, was in England. On her return
she fiercely charged him with cowardice in signing the

198 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

new constitution, and conspired with several prominent
men to compel him to abdicate in her favor. Failing in
this she formed a secret league of the natives to over-
throw the government, and with the aid of Robert Wil-
cox, a half-caste, on the 3Oth of July, 1889, gathered
natives to her house and armed them with rifles and
cannon. They suddenly seized the government build-
ings, the palace and the military barracks, expecting
that there would be an uprising of the whole native pop-
ulation in their favor. But the white residents surrounded
the palace and by continual firing drove the rebels from
their cannon, and finally, by dynamite bombs, compelled
them to surrender. Wilcox was tried for treason and
acquitted by a native jury, and afterwards repeatedly
elected by the natives to the legislature.

After the death in San Francisco of King Kalakaua,
on the 2Oth of January, 1891, his sister reluctantly took
the oath to maintain the constitution and therefore was
declared Queen, with the title Liliuokalani. It was
hoped that she would be restrained by her good cabinet
and the requirements of the constitution ; but she strug-
gled to overcome all limitations to her power, and at
length succeeded in removing her good cabinet and ap-
pointing a new cabinet of her own accessaries. She
then signed bills for the opium traffic and the Louisiana
Lottery, and on the i4th of January, 1893, undertook to
proclaim a new constitution which would give her the
power of removing, as well as appointing, the judges of
the Supreme Court and disfranchise almost all the white
population. Even her corrupt cabinet shrank from sus-

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 199

taining her in this effort to subvert the government, and
turned to the leading citizens for aid in maintaining good
order and peace. The community now again assembled
in a great mass-meeting and established a provisional
government which should seek annexation to the United
States. This new government was at once recognized
by the United States and the other civilized nations.

It is delightful to note that during these unhappy
struggles the most intelligent native Hawaiians, their
leading clergymen and members of the legislature, resist-
ed the evil course of the monarchs at no little peril to
themselves. The traveller on Hawaii sometimes finds
trees of gorgeous bloom rising alone out of the ancient
lava-flows, seeming the more beautiful by contrast with
their gloomy surroundings. Thus the steadfast integrity
of these Hawaiians appears the more admirable because
of its continuance amid the almost universal corrup-
tion of the people and the wiles and threats of the mon-
archs.

During 1 8 93 a treaty of annexation of Hawaii to the
United States was partly negotiated with President Har-
rison, but it was withdrawn by his successor on the alle-
gation that the influence of American officials and troops
aided in the dethronement of the queen. For more than
a year the Hawaiian government was harassed by con-
spiracies for the restoration of the ex-queen to the throne.

Finally the provisional government, with the aid of
delegates from every district of the islands, formed a con-
stitution of republican government ; and on the Fourth
of July, 1894, President Dole proclaimed the new Re-

200 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

public from the steps of the lolani Palace in the presence
of a great concourse of the people. As he concluded his
brief and appropriate address by raising his hand towards
heaven and exclaiming, "God save the Republic !" the
intense feelings of the spectators broke forth in immense
applause, and a huge flag was raised with salutes of artil-
lery.

Thus the enterprise of Christian benevolence that was
begun seventy years before among pagan islanders, and
continued with perseverance, forbearance and courage
under the trials of monarchy, bore fruit in the establish-
ment of a civil government that is equal to the best gov-
ernments of enlightened countries.

In January, 1895, an insane attempt was made to
overthrow this government and reinstate Liliuokalani.
Taking advantage of the withdrawal of all war-ships from
Honolulu, a few former officials of the monarchy and
foreign adventurers imported firearms and ammunition,
armed over two hundred reckless Hawaiians at a place
near Diamond Head, about two miles from Honolulu,
and prepared to storm Honolulu by night with dynamite
bombs. Providentially in the evening, before the night
set for this attack, the 6th of January, some of these con-
spirators attracted the attention of the police by their
disorderly conduct, under the influence of gin, and the
plot was discovered. ' In the struggle that ensued with
the police the conspirators killed Charles Carter, one of
the leading citizens. They then rushed to attack the
city, but fortunately they mistook a small company of
citizen guards, that met them in the darkness, for a

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 203

strong force, and withdrew to the mountains. The gov-
ernment immediately called out its troops and volunteer
bands of citizens, and after several days of fighting cap-
tured all these rebels. They were tried by court-martial
and sentenced to various punishments of fines and im-
prisonment. As the rebellion had been planned in the
house of the ex-queen, and dynamite bombs were stored
in this building, she was arrested on a charge of mis-
prision. She hastened to abdicate all claims to the
throne and to take the oath of allegiance to the Repub-
lic. She was tried in court-martial and convicted, and
sentenced to five years' imprisonment.

All this struggle with a pagan monarchy would
doubtless never have occurred if the mission work had
been continued in the islands, and the natives contin-
ually lifted to a higher character and nerved to resist
the temptations and threats of corrupt rulers.

But notwithstanding these demoralizing influences
the Hawaiian islands have grown in wealth, culture
and material prosperity. The revenue of the govern-
ment has increased to $1,570,000, the exports to the
value of $13,870,00x3, and the imports to the value of
$5,438,000. There are no poorhouses in the islands,
and no occasions for them. All the people are in fairly
comfortable circumstances, and have some degree of edu-
cation ; all the children are taught the English language
in the public schools ; the natives are a peaceful and law-
abiding people ; the number of convicts in prison is only
one-third of one per cent, of the population, and the
greater part of these are Asiatics and Portuguese.

204 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The churches of the Hawaiian islands have survived
the corrupting influences of the Hawaiian monarchs,
but have greatly suffered, and the type of their piety is
lower than it was thirty years ago.

A happy result of the evangelization of the natives
has been the formation of a Christian colony, of the de-
scendants of the missionaries and of foreigners who
otherwise would never have been attracted to the islands.
In this portion of the community there are six churches
of the English-speaking people. The largest of these
is the Union Church of Honolulu, which in 1893 had a
membership of 460, and built, and dedicated without
debt, a house for worship at a cost of $125,000, and has
always most liberally contributed to the Hawaiian Home
and Foreign Mission enterprises. In these enterprises
churches have been organized of the Chinese, with 150
members, of the Japanese, with 120 members, and of
the Portuguese, with about 100 members. Besides the
excellent Government schools there is the noble Oahu
College, for higher education, and many Christian board-
ing-schools for Hawaiian children. One of these board-
ing-schools, the "Kamehameha School," was endowed
by Mrs. Charles R. Bishop by an investment worth
$500,000. There is also the North Pacific Missionary
Institute, which has been conducted by Rev. C. M.
Hyde, D. D., and Rev. H. H. Parker, for supplying
the churches and foreign fields with ordained ministers.
Foreign mission enterprises have been carried on with
great success by the aid of native Hawaiians in the
Micronesian and Marquesas Islands. The Hawaiian

THE UNION CHURCH AT HONOLULU.

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 2O7

islands are thus like a little world by themselves, with
their Evangelical Associations, their Young Men's Chris-
tian Association, their Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, and their Home and Foreign Missions.

If the reader were to land in Honolulu to-day he
might almost think he was in a city in the United States,
except for a rare beauty of tropical vegetation. He
would see street cars, and telegraph and telephone lines,
and electric lights. He would find nineteen steam-
ers plying between the islands, and great palatial packets
running to America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.
He would see the natives dressed like Americans, and
engaged in important work as teachers, lawyers, minis-
ters and officers of government. Where seventy years
ago there was an unclothed race of savages he would
find a civilized community, who live as Americans,
support their own churches, and with marvellous suc-
cess are carrying on foreign missions.

All this change from barbarism to civilization has
cost the American churches, in benevolent contributions
through sixty years, a little over a million dollars. This
investment has paid, even in dollars and cents. The
annual income of the vessels merely carrying the com-
merce of these islands is a million dollars, not to speak
of the commerce itself, which is worth $20,000,000, and
will increase to twice that amount.

This investment has paid in the security of life and
property that has thereby been caused. Instead of
these islands being a pirates' lair, as without the mission
enterprise they would have been, they are safe and en-

208 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

chanting places of resort. The United States spent
$6,000,000 in subduing the little tribe of Modocs
in California, in ten years $232,000,000 in wars with
Indians, and in their whole history $500,000,000 in
such wars ; but the Hawaiians are far better renovated
by a much smaller expenditure.

This investment has paid in the social and moral
good that has been thereby caused, and which cannot
be estimated in money. The United States has spent
$50,000,000 in feeding and clothing Indians, while by
mission enterprise much more could have been accom-
plished for them at far less expense.

This investment has paid also in the 50,000 per-
sons who have been received into the churches, the most
of them, it may be hoped, redeemed to everlasting life.
It is true that these converts have not risen to the high
character that has been displayed in countries of older
civilization, and that in recent times they have greatly
degenerated. As we go to them with high standards of
character, to which our race has come through centuries
of Christian privilege, we see much in them to regret ;
but when we call to mind what they formerly were, and
consider from what depths of degradation they have
been lifted, we cannot be too thankful to God for what
they are. The words that were once uttered by the
saintly John Newton of himself might well be adopted
by them : "I am not what I was ; I am not what I
should be ; I am not what I shall be : but by the grace
of God I am what I am." All that they are, all their
prosperity and progress, all the safety and delight of

A R y

UNIVERSITY

j\V

CALU

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 211

life among them, is because of the grace of God ; be-
cause, in answer to prayer, God poured out his Spirit in
connection with the labors of the missionaries among
them.

The prospect now is, that in closer relations with
the United States and other enlightened countries, and
in the increasing commerce that will be stimulated by
the future construction of the Nicaragua Canal and the
further development of great lines of trans-oceanic navi-
gation, the Hawaiian Islands will grow in wealth, popu-
lation and prosperity. The present population is esti-
mated at about 99,000. It consists of 33,000 Ha-
waiians, 8,000 half-castes, 23,000 Japanese, 15,000
Chinese, 13,000 Portuguese, and 7,000 foreign and
Hawaiian-born Americans and Europeans. The conver-
sion of the Hawaiians has not been a mere ' ' deathbed
repentance ;" it will continue in their blending with
foreign nationalities and in the Christian character of
the entire future population, of whatever races it may
consist. Though new difficulties will doubtless arise
in the way of their Christian progress, it may be be-
lieved that the same God, who by wonderful providences
and blessed outpourings of his Spirit has been with them
in former years, will continue with them in the future,
and that the Hawaiian Islands will ever stand as a
monument of his blessing on the cause of Christian
missions.

Hawaii's national motto is, ' ' Ua mau ka aea o ka
aina ika pono, " ' ' The life of the country is in right-
eousness. "

212 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Hawaii, victor o'er the deep,

From briny surge to sunlight risen,
With feet firm set on adamant,

With brow in purpling light of heaven,
With strength of rock and heart of fire,

Amid the ocean's mighty flow,
In tempest blast and earthquake throe

Triumphant, crowned with shining snow;

Victorious over Pele's fire,

Her flaming floods and awful gloom
.Of sulphurous caves and lava wastes

Transformed to gorgeous tropic bloom ;
Where stretched her tracts of barren rock,

Where rose her stifling brimstone fumes,
Now spread sweet fields of living green,

And wave triumphant cocoa plumes.

Victorious over heathenism,

From the dark depths of pagan night,
From gloomy thrall of demon hordes,

Now raised by Heaven's loving might
To blissful liberty and light,

And bright with wisdom's glorious rays,
Awakening distant pagan isles

To join her joyful hymns of praise.

Victorious over anarchism,

Its wild and fierce conspiracy
With fire and sword and dynamite

Forgot in calm tranquility ;
The turbulent uprisings quelled,
, And rightful law enthroned above,
Unfolding truth and righteousness
And blooming into peace and love.

Upon Hawaii Heaven shine !

Dispel her lingering shades of night ;
From ills within and foes without

Protect her with Jehovah's might ;
Awake her slumbering energies,

That nobler than her mountains grand,
And brighter than her sunlit seas,

She may by God's help ever stand !

140 13ft

MARQUESAS

O K

WASHINGTON 1

JferyeSt Rocks

NttkuKivaV^-j Hona,hu.n,ct or

^Marehandu^. 0 Washington I. ^

or

10

or

P

or

OF THR

UNIVERSITY

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 215

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS.

THE history of the Marquesas Islands is like a con-
tinuation of that of the Society and Hawaiian groups ;
as their first missionaries came from Tahiti and those of
subsequent times and of the present time are from
Hawaii, and as they will probably pass again under the
care of Tahitian missionaries, since France owns these
islands together with Tahiti and the adjacent groups.

The Marquesas Islands lie in two parallel groups,
thirteen in all, trending from southeast to northwest,
between latitudes 8° and 11° south, and longitudes 133°
and 150° west. The southern group was discovered
July 21, 1595, by Alvaro Mendafia de Neyra, as he
was voyaging with four ships to colonize the Solomon
Islands, and by him named Marquesas de Mendoca, in
honor of the viceroy of Peru. The northern group,
though near by, was not discovered until nearly two
hundred years later, in 1791, when they were seen by
Capt. Ingraham of Boston and named Washington Isl-
ands. But the term Marquesas now embraces both
groups.

It seems to be the rule that the further east one goes,
in the Pacific, the more wild, broken and picturesque
are the mountains. The Marquesas are even more re-
markable in this respect than the Society Islands, ex-

2l6 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

cepting Moorea. The terrific storms of the Western
Pacific have not reached this part of the ocean with
sufficient violence to cause excessive erosion, nor have
frosts here prevailed to disintegrate the beetling cliffs,
the sharp ridges and the spire-like crags ; but all the
mountain forms, even the most frail and fragile, still
seem to stand as when originally upheaved and rent by
volcanic forces.

"The coasts of these islands rise from the water
like walls. Deep gorges, serrated ridges, lofty promon-
tories with sea walls plunging thousands of feet into the
sea, cones pointed and truncated, rocky minarets, and
confused masses of rocks, scoria, and tufa, testify to
a terrific rage of Plutonic agencies in unknown ages past.
Many of the ridges are so precipitous and lofty that they
cannot be crossed by man ; and many of the rocky ribs
come down laterally from the lofty spine, or dividing
ridge, on an angle of thirty degrees, and form subma-
rine and subaerial buttresses, leaving no passage except
by canoes. The lowest of these inhabited islands reaches
a height of 2,430 feet above the level of the sea, and the
highest 7,360. Most of them have fertile valleys half a
mile to three miles deep and from one tenth of a mile to
a mile wide, filled with luxuriant shrubs, vines and mag-
nificent trees, beneath which rills of pure water, falling
from high inland cliffs, ripple along rocky and shaded
beds to the ocean." (Coan's " Life in Hawaii.")

The largest of these islands is Nukuhiva, named after
its discover ' ' Marchand. " It is seventy miles in cir-
cumference, and 7,360 feet high at its highest peak.

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 2 1/

' ' Almost every pinnacle of this island is carpeted with
vines ; even on the perpendicular walls of its precipices a
tapestry of shrubs and verdure hangs. On the south side
is the bay, Taiohae, or Anna-Maria, which is shaped like
a horse-shoe and is two miles deep, a mile broad at the
centre and half a mile broad at the entrance, where it is
flanked by two grand headlands over 500 feet high. Its
shore is a beautiful crescent of sand interrupted here and
there with shingle and bowlders." Says H. Melville
( ' ' Typee"), ' ' No description can do justice to the beauty
of the scenery of this bay. The mountains shut in a vast
amphitheatre of deep glens, overgrown with vines and
gleaming with cascades. I felt regret that a scene so
enchanting was hidden from the world in these remote
seas." Of a view he obtained from the summit of the
mountain he says, ' ' Had a glimpse of the gardens of
Paradise been given me I could scarcely have been more
ravished with the sight. "

About forty miles south of this island is Uapou, or
Adam Island, on the west side of which is the harbor
Hakahekau. From this harbor a valley, one fourth of a
mile wide, extends three miles inland, "crowded with
shrubbery, evergreen vines and lofty trees. The moun-
tains, ridges and towering cones of this island are very
grand. Within a vast amphitheatre of rugged hills,
which send down their spurs to the shore, buttressed by
lofty precipices, are eight remarkable columns, 200 to
300 feet high and 50 to 100 feet in diameter, rising in
solitary grandeur like a castellated fortress." (Coan).

East of this island, about sixty miles distant is Ha-

218 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

vaoa, named La Dominica by Mendana, because discov-
ered on the Sabbath day. On the northeast side of this
island is the valley Puamau, "one mile in length and
one quarter of a mile wide, a paradise of natural loveli-
ness, charming forever with the music of its rippling
stream." On the south side is Atuona, which is said to
be the most verdant valley in the Marquesas. Bread-
fruit, oranges, cocoanuts, limes and vi-apples abound.
In nine years after planting vi-apples grew to be gigantic
trees, two feet in diameter and seventy feet high, loaded
with fruit. Of this Island Geo. Forster (Cook's ' ' Voya-
ges") says, " We saw many craggy rocks likes spires and
several hollow summits piled up in the centre of the
island. All the eastern part is a prodigious steep
and almost perpendicular wall of a great height, which
forms a sharp ridge shattered into spires and precipices.
On the north side rises a peak. All the north is a black
burnt hill, of which the rock is vaulted along the shore,
and the top clad to the summit with casuarinas. Valleys
filled with trees lead up to the summit. " Of the view
from the highest point of this island Mr. Coan says,
"Around us was a vast panorama of cones, ridges, spurs
and valleys. Hills heaped on hills and spires bristling
among spires, the whole appeared as if a sea of molten
rocks, while raging, tossing and spouting in angry bil-
lows, had been suddenly solidified by an omnipotent
power. It was a wild assemblage of hills and ridges, of
gulfs and chasms, of towers and precipices."

At a little distance south of Hivaoa is Tahuata, or
Christiana, like the rest of the group "a great heap of

BREADFRUIT TREE.

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 221

scoria, tufa, cinders, and basaltic lavas, bristling with
jagged points, traversed with sharp and angular ridges,
and rent with deep and awful chasms." The valley
Vaitohu, at Resolution Bay on the west, one half mile
wide by one half deep, is shut in by rugged precipices
2,000 feet high and filled with breadfruit, cocoa-palm,
vi, orange, guava, and other trees.

The southermost island of this group is Fatuhiva,
called also Magdalena. The chief valley of this island
is Omoa, one mile wide and three miles deep, having
five lateral branches one half a mile or more deep, all
walled in by towering precipices and filled with magnifi-
cent vegetation.

The inhabitants of these islands are the same Polyne-
sian race that is found in nearly all the Pacific. So
similar is their language to that of Hawaii that they
easily read Hawaiian Bibles and other books. They are
described as " physically the most perfect of the human
species, many of them six feet high, muscular, symmet-
rical, agile, graceful, and lighter in complexion than
Tahitians. " The American missionaries remarked that
they were more noble in form and stature than the
Hawaiians, and the women, vile as they were, more
comely, though some of the people are horribly tat-
tooed. The artistic genius of this people found expres-
sion in grotesque tattooing and in fashioning head-
dresses. ' ' The faces of the men were pictured with
broad stripes, or sometimes crowded with figures of
sharks, lizards, and other animals, with open mouths
and extended claws."
10

222 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

They also shaved their heads in a way equally fantas-
tic. Some would shave only the crown or one side ;
some would leave a small tuft of hair on the apex only ;
others would shave a zone quite around the centre of the
head ; and others still would shave several such belts.

They went almost entirely unclothed, there being little
need of their scanty scarfs of bark-tapa in their perpetu-
ally warm climate.

Mrs. Alexander, of the Hawaiian Mission, remarked
of her first view of the Marquesans, "They made me
think of devils. They had long hair tied in two bunches
on the top of their heads. Their faces were tattooed
black. Strings of sharks' teeth were strung around their
necks, and tufts of human hair bound to their waist and
ankles." The description given of them by Geo. For-
ster is that ''they were naked except the malo, and ex-
cessively tattooed. They wore on their heads a kind of
diadem, consisting of a flat bandage of cocoanut husk
in the centre of which were fixed several round pieces of
mother-of-pearl, some five inches in diameter, and around
these plates of tortoise-shell perforated into curious fig-
ures. Several tufts of black long cocks' feathers formed
the plumes to this head-dress, which was really beautiful,
and noble in its kind. Some wore round coronets of
the small ligulated feathers of the man-of-war bird, and
others circlets from which several ranges of twisted
strings of cocoanut core diverged round the head. In
their ears they had two flat pieces of a "light wood of
an oval shape about three inches long, painted white,
and covering the whole ear. Bunches of human hair

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 223

were tied on a string round their waists, arms, knees,
and ankles. The leaders wore on the breast a gorget of
a light wood, like cork, glued together in a semicircular
form, a quantity of scarlet berries (abrous precatorius)
glued in a great number of rows around it. "

Their houses were on platforms of stones, and were
formed of bamboos closely joined together, rising to a
ridge-pole and covered with breadfruit leaves. The
furniture of their dwellings was ornamented with human
bones and their weapons of war with human hair. Their
food consisted chiefly of breadfruit, cocoanuts and fish.

In character the Marquesans were more bold, fierce
and bloodthirsty than their Polynesian neighbors. Says
Mr. Bingham ("Hawaiian Islands"), "The men were
distinguished more for pride and independence of feeling
than any other natives in the Pacific isles. Our missionaries
were struck with the lofty air with which these swarthy
half-naked sons of ignorance would pace the deck of
a foreign vessel, as if the ship and the ocean were at their
command, though they were as poor as Robinson Cru-
soe's goats."

On closer acquaintance they were found to be as
totally depraved in character and utterly lawless and
monstrous in conduct as the other races of the Pacific.
' ' In theft, in licentiousness, in guile, they were unrival-
led. They knew no mercy, and their selfishness was un-
mixed."

They could hardly be said to have the rudest systems
of civil government. They had a sort of democracy of
liberty, or license, without law. When once a mission-

224 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ary inquired who was their king the reply was, "You
are king ; I am king ; we are all kings." "The conse-
quence was that every man was his own protector and
avenger, that feuds, robberies, wars and bloodshed were
incessant, and that the people of every valley were ac-
customed to kill those of the neighboring valley at sight."

As in all pagan communities, the condition of the
women was most degraded, wretched and pitiful. By
their tabu system they were debarred many privileges :
forbidden to eat with the men, to eat many kinds of
food, to enter houses of idol-worship or to enter or sail
upon canoes. Says H. Melville, " Canoes were forbidden
to the women ; hence when a woman goes to a ship she
puts in requisition the paddles of her own fair body. "
When a woman would visit friends in another valley,
that was inaccessible by land, " she would swim around
bluffs and along the rugged shores until she reached some
point or crag where she could hold on and rest, pursu-
ing her way endangered by sharks and by the surf until
she reached her port or perished in the attempt." The
women were also cruelly abused, beaten, and otherwise
maltreated, by their husbands. Yet they desired to
have five or six husbands apiece. When reasoned with
about this they would ask, "Who will prepare our food
if we have only one husband ?" The first husband, they
would say, was a chief, and should not work ; and it was
not proper for the second husband to work, and there-
fore they should have several husbands.

Worse than this lawlessness and immorality was their
cannibalism, in which they were only surpassed, if in-

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 225

deed they were surpassed, by the natives of Fiji and the
New Hebrides. Besides devouring the bodies of their
enemies that were killed in battle they made special ex-
peditions to obtain victims for their feasts. Some-
times a company would go at night in a canoe to a
distant bay, and there land, and stealthily surround a
house, and at a given signal kill every one within, and
then hurry away with the dead bodies to their port and
there have a cannibal feast. The people of the distant
bay would do a similar act in retaliation and thus a
savage war would be occasioned.

The primitive character of this people was only made
worse by their acquaintance with civilized races. The
first discoverer of their group, Alvaro Mendana, brutally
fired volleys of shot among them, as they gathered in
crowds on the beach, because they had committed some
petty thefts. Capt. Cook, during his visit herein 1774,
shot and killed one of them for a trivial offense. The
historians of his vessels narrate that the Marquesan wo-
men at that time repelled the lustful advances of his
seamen, but in after times they were lured on by the
temptation of presents to throng every ship that came
to their ports, so that "their islands became like huge
brothels." In 1813 Capt. Porter, of the U. S. frigate Essex,
attacked the natives of Typee, Nukuhiva, burned their
villages and killed many of the people, to punish them
for some misdeeds ; but his marines were decoyed far
up the valley and finally the natives suddenly ran up the
steep ridges and rolled rocks upon them, and compelled
them to retreat. In 1842 France sent four frigates and

226 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

three corvettes under the command of Admiral Dupetit-
Thouars to take possession of this group. They suddenly
appeared at Taiohae, Nukuhiva, and gained the favor of
the natives by promising to make their leading man,
Mowana (a son of Hape), ruler of the whole group.
But the natives soon found that the French meant only
to appropriate the islands to themselves, and fiercely re-
sisted them. A desperate battle was fought in which
150 natives were killed. The natives were obliged to
succumb to the superior military power of the French
and allow them to build fortifications and maintain a
garrison at Taiohae. The consequences of these and
other outrages committed by sea-faring men have been
that the natives have become extremely violent, fierce
and treacherous in their conduct towards white men,
and the history of the visits here of ships has general-
ly been a history not only of brutal immorality but also
of murders, committed either by the natives or by the
white men, or both.

The treachery of the natives was once displayed in
an amusing way in an attempt to capture the brig
Betsy, Capt. Fanning. After remaining several days in
Taiohae Bay this captain raised his anchor and spread
his sails, when he observed that his vessel made no
progress, but rather was approaching the shore. Taking
a spyglass and examining a crowd of savages on the
beach he discovered that they were pulling away at a
rope and that the rope was attached under water to his
vessel. He cut this rope just in time to save his vessel
and himself and crew from destruction.

m

a

"

•S 5

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 22Q

Missionary work was commenced on these islands
about as early as anywhere in the Pacific. When, in
1797, Capt Wilson of the Duff brought the first mission-
ary company to the South Seas he landed two of them,
Messrs. Harris and Crook, on June 5, 1797, at Vaitohu
on the island of Tahuata (Christiana).

The chief, Tenai, welcomed them, and gave them
each a house. The native women flocked around them
and, being astonished that they were repelled, dealt so
roughly with Mr. Harris in the night that the next morn-
ing he returned to the ship, protesting that he would not
reside among such a people.

' ' His partner, Mr. Crook, remained alone on Tahua-
ta eight months. At the end of that time, May 22, 1798,
Capt. Fanning of the brig Betsy arrived off the island ;
and several canoes went to hail him and pressed him to
anchor, which he was unwilling to do, being ignorant
of the harbors. A heavy shower of rain coming on, the
vessel was deserted in a moment by the visitors, when a
small canoe darted out to meet it, manned by only two
persons. As it drew near, it was with profound aston-
ishment that the captain heard a man, dressed in Mar-
quesan style and nearly as dark as the natives, call out,
' Sir, I am an Englishman, and I have come to you to
save my life/ This was the Rev. Wm. Pascoe Crook.
No sooner had he reached the deck than, yielding to his
emotion, he kneeled down and thanked God for his de-
liverance. Then he stated that he was a missionary, and
that the disposition of the natives towards him had been
most alarming. Twice he had owed his life to the pro-

230 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

tection of the chief who accompanied him on board ;
and had it not been for him he would long before have
been killed and eaten. His chief persecutor had been
a runaway sailor, an Italian, who deserted a merchant-
man soon after the departure of the Duff and by the use
of a gun gained great power over the natives. This man
had sought to murder Mr. Crook, as being an obstacle to
his influence, and now proposed to capture the Betsy in
order to renew his stock of ammunition. Mr. Crook's
movements had been watched ; and it was only under
cover of the rainstorm that he had been able to hail the
Betsy and warn her captain. Liberal presents were
made to the chief, who had brought off Mr. Crook at
the risk of his life. The parting between the two friends
was very touching.

"Three days later the Betsy arrived at Taiohae Bay
in Nukuhiva, and here Mr. Crook found the natives so
friendly that he left the ship and took up his residence
among them. But again he was obliged to flee for his
life to a passing ship, and returned to Tahiti.

" For twenty-seven years now these islands remained
without missionaries. In January, 1825, Mr. Crook
went thither in the Lynx, Capt. Sibrill (son-in-law of
the missionary Henry, of Tahiti), with two native teach-
ers from Huahine, and was joyfully welcomed by the
natives of Tahuata. The women recited a ballad in his
honor as the adopted son of the late chief Tenai. He
left the two teachers at Hanatete, on the east side of the
island, but at the end of two months they fled to Ta-
hiti.

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 231

"Again, in October, 1828, four teachers were con-
veyed by the same Capt. Sibrill in the ship Minerva to
these islands. Two of them landed at Tahuata, but
soon after fled from the island just as the natives were
about to sacrifice them to their gods. The other two
settled at Uapoa but were expelled by the natives, who
declared them hypocrites, and that their lives did not
accord with their teachings.

"In 1829 Messrs. Pritchard and Simpson, of the
Tahiti Mission, went to renew their mission work on
these islands, but 'did not like the looks of things/ and
returned to Tahiti. " (Maile Wreath. )

Not long after this Rev. Charles Stewart, who had
been seamen's chaplain at Lahaina, Hawaiian Islands,
visited Nukuhiva while chaplain of the United States
war-ship Vincennes, and afterwards urged the American
Board to undertake mission work in these islands. In
compliance with his suggestions Rev. Messrs. R. Arm-
strong, B. F. Parker and W. P. Alexander were sent
thither in 1833. The detailed narratives of these mis-
sionaries give vivid pictures of the people, and well por-
tray the condition of missionaries laboring among a sav-
age race.

On the loth of August, 1833, they arrived at Taio-
hae, Nukuhiva. ' ' As soon as we arrived, " says Mrs.
Armstrong, ' ' the natives came off in great numbers, the
women swimming and holding by one hand their white
tapas, their only garment, out of the water. The deck
was soon crowded with men, women and children, most
of them entirely naked, a few having only a strip of tapa

232 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

around the waist, all making a deafening noise. At
sight of the women and children of the mission families
they were greatly excited, jumping on the deck with loud
shouts of laughter, and all the talk fore and aft was
' vahine ' and ' pikanini ' (women and children). "

The ladies remained bdow in the cabin until the
captain, by throwing hard bread to the front of the ves-
sel, gathered the natives forward, and then put up a
board fence, and through an interpreter informed them
that the ladies would come on deck, and could be seen,
if they would remain at the fore part of the vessel. As
soon as the ladies had come on deck the natives shouted
"Afoafa%e"'(good). Mrs. Alexander had a babe three
months old whom the women admired and begged for.
Swimming beside the ship they showed how they could
hold him out of water, and proposed to make him their
king. Most probably they would have put him into one
of their baking-ovens.

At evening the captain persuaded the natives to go
ashore, with the promise that the next day the mission-
aries would land. Some of the wild men immediately
proposed to exchange wives with the missionaries. " As
we gazed at the island," says Mrs. Armstrong, "it baf-
fled comprehension that beings so vile should be placed
in scenes so beautiful. "

On the 1 2th of August the missionaries went on
shore and visited Hape, the chief. He was sick, but
was pleased to see them, and said he would give them
the house he was then occupying. The savages every-
where followed them shouting, the women sometimes

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 233

coming close and lifting the bonnets of the ladies for a
fuller view, and exclaiming " Moatake!"

On the 1 5th of August they all took up their abode
in a house near the shore, furnished by Hape; It was
fifty feet long, open all the length on one side to four
feet above the ground, and thatched with breadfruit
leaves shingled over each other. The floor was paved
with smooth round stones. They closed the open side
of the house with boards, made doors four feet high,
formed windows by cutting away part of the breadfruit
leaves from the bamboo framework, and partitioned the
house by calico and sheeting into four rooms ; one of
these rooms at the end was used for a store-room, the
next was occupied by Mr. Parker's family, the next by
Mr. Alexander's, and the next, near the beach and almost
in the roaring surf, by Mr. Armstrong's family. At first
the doors and windows were crowded almost to suffoca-
tion by the savages gazing at them. Their cooking was
done outside, under a spreading breadfruit tree, by pla-
cing kettles on stones over the fire. It was the rainy
season, so that out-door cooking was difficult. Some-
times the natives would take the food out of the kettles
by hooks and carry it away.

The first work of the missionaries was to build com-
fortable homes. The natives were hired by knives and
fish-hooks to bring timber of breadfruit and cocoanut
trees, and breadfruit leaves ; but they were very tantaliz-
ing by their indolence. At length three houses were
completed, placed so near together that the missionaries
could call from one to the other. They were often

234 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

made to tremble at night, when the savages would pass
close by with flaming torches on their way from fishing.
One touch of their torches would have set the houses all
a-blaze.

The missionaries were much troubled by the thievish
propensities of the natives ; and for this reason set apart
a special room in each house for receiving their visits.
The natives would often thrust bamboo sticks with hooks
through their lattice windows to take whatever they
could reach ; and the missionaries often awoke at night
to find them, with their poles thrust through the win-
dows, taking clothing or anything they could get, or
pulling up the thatch to take whatever they could reach;
sometimes not one native only, but a gang of thieves
stealing at the same time at different parts of the house.
"It was most annoying," says Mrs. Alexander, "to see
their black faces peering through the windows, and
through openings they tore through the thatch. I dared
not look at them ; for I was sure to see a look that
would fill me with disgust and horror. "

The missionaries went out every day among them
with pencil and paper to learn words, and afterwards
compared notes, and as they roamed about were de-
lighted with the rich and beautiful scenery. The groves
of breadfruit, cocoanut, and papaia, and a great variety
of thick vines and shrubbery, formed one almost un-
broken shade. At almost every house they were hospi-
tably received, and invited to eat breadfruit poi.

On the fifth Sabbath after their arrival Mr. Alexander
preached the first sermon, telling the natives of the van-

ROYAL PALMS AT HONOLULU.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY
PA

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 237

ity of their gods, and of the true God. The big bread-
fruit tree that had been used as a cook-house was now
used as a church. The ladies sat under its shade on
chairs, while the natives rushed around in noisy confu-
sion. The preaching was no easy task, for the natives
would smoke and talk and mimic ; some would lie and
sleep, some laugh and talk, some mock and excite
laughter ; here one would sit smoking a pipe, there one
twisting a rope ; often there was such confusion that the
preacher could hardly hear himself speak, and not unfre-
quently the half of those present would arise and go off
laughing and mocking. They were ready to gnash on
the preacher with their teeth when told that their gods
were false, and would often say ' ' Tivava " (it is a lie).
"Your God is good for you," they would say, "ours
are good for us." When the preacher shut his eyes they
asked, "Is your God blind, that you shut your eyes?"
When an axe had been stolen they said, ' ' You tell us
your God is great and good, let him find the thief, if he is
so great." One preacher, when describing heaven, was
interrupted by the remark, ' ' That will be a good place
for cowards and lazy folks, who are afraid to fight and
too lazy to climb breadfruit and cocoanut trees. "

Afterwards the missionaries preached by rotation
every Sabbath, and after the 8th of December twice.
They also preached in English to the few foreigners on
the island. After four months' residence they were able
to translate into Marquesan four hymns, which much
pleased the natives and enlisted their attention. The
last three months of their stay they were able to pray

••

\B* '

OT Tfl'

SlT^"

238 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

extempore in Marquesan. Generally only twenty natives
attended their meetings. Once one hundred and fifty
attended. Mrs. Armstrong and the other ladies con-
ducted a school for the children ; but only a few attend-
ed, and that very irregularly ; and not more than half a
dozen learned the alphabet.

Mr. Alexander and Mr. Parker once undertook to
explore the valley of Typee, with a view to make a mis-
sion station there. With much difficulty they found a
man who was a sort of neutral, that is, one permitted
to go unharmed from one valley to another. Immedi-
ately on arriving at the valley of Typee they were sur-
rounded by a multitude of the savages vociferating
fiercely. Seeing the white missionaries the natives
called to mind how, in 1813, Capt. Porter of the United
States ship Essex had attacked them, and one of them
exclaimed, ''Porter killed my father." Another said,
"Porter killed my brother." Another, clapping his
hand on his shoulder, said, ' ' Porter shot me here. "
The missionaries were expecting to be killed, when their
guide said to the natives, "These men are not like
Porter. He came to fight ; but these men have come
to teach us not to fight." He then repeated very cor-
rectly the sermons which the missionaries had preached.
The natives then shouted "Moatake," and conducted
them to a house, where they spent the night, fearing
that they would be clubbed before morning. But they
were not disturbed, and the next morning were allowed
to return home ; which they did, by the advice of their
guide, by a different route from that of the previous day.

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 239

During their absence their wives suffered much from
fear of the natives. Says Mrs. Parker, ' ' Mrs. Alexander
proposed that I should come to her room and sleep with
her, to beguile loneliness and share anxiety. About
midnight we were startled by terrible savage yells, and
the sounds came nearer and nearer. Whatever it might
be it was headed in the direction of our homes. Our
first anxiety was lest Mrs. Alexander's babe should
awake frightened, and attract the attention of the sav-
ages. Mrs. Alexander said to me, 'Our only refuge
now is our God ; we will pray. ' The child slept on
between us; the sounds were deeper and nearer for
a short period, and then grew fainter ; the crowd
passed the house and went on in another direction, and
we went to sleep undisturbed, under divine protection.
In the morning we found that it was a religious proces-
sion that had passed by. A shark had been taken by
the fishermen ; and this was a god, to be worshipped in
the only way they knew. "

The hostility between the different valleys made the
situation of these missionaries very insecure. They
were several times informed that the Typees were com-
ing in the night to kill them, and to take their property.
But their most serious danger was from the foreigners,
civilized men turned savage, who resided among the
natives and were more dangerous than the natives.
Such a man was a convict from New Zealand, known
by the name of Morrison, of whom mention has been
made. One night the missionaries were hastily sent for
because he had suddenly become ill. The day previous

240 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

a great school of porpoises had come into the bay, and
the natives had caught them in such quantities that their
bodies were piled up on the shore ; and for many days,
even after putrefaction had begun, every one helped
himself to their flesh as he pleased. This man gave his
appetite full rein, and the consequence was that he
had an attack of apoplexy and died at eleven o'clock at
night. The natives now informed the missionaries that
he had planned to fire their houses and murder them all,
in order to obtain their few articles of property. Their
hearts overflowed with gratitude to God for this provi-
dential deliverance. They however determined to give
the body a burial in Christian style, the first such burial
on the island. They made a coffin out of their boxes,
dug a grave, and with prayer lowered the body into it.
A native then threw in a baked hog. Mr. Armstrong
threw it out, and it was again thrown in, and again
thrown out. The native then said, "The soul of that
man will come to me in the night and will say, ' You
are stingy. I am hungry. ' " It was supposed that he
afterwards dug into the grave and buried the pig along-
side of the corpse.

The chief, Hape, at length became quite unfriendly,
for he was disappointed that the missionaries did not
cure him of his illness and did not give him more pres-
ents, for which he daily begged, and he urged the natives
not to attend the meetings.

On the fourth of December, 1833, he died. "The
hills then echoed with wailing, the thumping of drums
and the blowing of conch shells." The body was hung

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 241

high in a canoe over the heiau (rock platform for wor-
ship) and the first wife was obliged to remain continually
in care of it, to provide food for the spirit, until the
body had so far decayed that the bones could be picked
out, which it was the privilege of the wife or the nearest
relative to do. Mr. Alexander has given a description
of the scenes he then witnessed. "The funeral rites,"
he says, "beggared description for obscenity, noise,
cruelty, and beastly exposure. They lasted seven days,
and were the darkest days I ever saw. Companies came
from all parts, filling the air with loud wailings, dancing
in a state of perfect nudity around the corpse like so
many furies, cutting their flesh with shells and sharp
stones till the blood trickled down to their feet, the wo-
men tearing out their hair, both men and women knock-
ing out their teeth, indulging in the most revolting
licentiousness, and feasting to excess, while muskets were
fired and sea-shells were kept a-blowing with a long deep
sepulchral sound during the whole night. Verily I
seemed to be for the time on the borders of the infernal
regions." Mrs. Parker mentions that "Hape soon
became a nuisance except when the wind favored us,
blowing in another direction."

After the missionaries had resided eight months
on this island they were visited by Mr. Orsmond, a
missionary from Tahiti, who had been making a mis-
sionary tour looking after native missionaries in the
Paumotu group. He informed them that the London
Society had sent six missionaries for the Marquesas Isl-
ands, that they had already sailed and would occupy the
ii

242 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

southern part of the group, and that it would be much
easier for their mission to send supplies to missionaries
here than it would be for the Hawaiian Mission ; since
they, the English missionaries, had a mission packet that
made regular trips to their out stations and the American
missionaries had none. It was very plain that he desired
the field to be given up to the London Missionary So-
ciety. The American missionaries spent a day in fast-
ing and praying over the matter, and decided that it
would be a wasteful expenditure for two distinct so-
cieties each to employ a vessel annually to visit their
missionaries in so small a field, and as the London So-
ciety were unwilling to surrender the whole field they
determined to leave it to them. Mrs. Alexander has re-
marked, ' ' It was very trying to us to leave, although
we knew that missionaries were on their way to take our
place. The people were in gross darkness, and I, for
one, was willing to spend my life among them. "

About this time some of the natives (Tais) among
whom these missionaries were residing went in the night
to the bay of the Taipis and killed two or three of them
and offered them in sacrifice. The Taipis now threatened
to invade the valley of the Tais and exterminate the
missionaries.

While the missionaries were expecting their attack two
whale-ships came to the island for supplies and the mis-
sionaries engaged passage on one of them, the Benjamin
Rush, Capt. Coffin, to the Hawaiian Islands. They
now had to contrive to get aboard the ship without the
oposition of the natives. They secretly packed their

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 243

goods, darkening their windows lest they should be ob-
served; and then the ladies with their infants, two of
whom had been born during their stay on the island,
suddenly went to the boat with a file of sailors on each
side. They were quickly surrounded by a great multi-
tude of the savages, armed with spears and clubs, but
they conciliated them by presents, and thereby succeed-
ed in getting away from the shore. Their husbands
came afterwards with the baggage.

' ' Oh what a sense of relief we felt, " says Mrs. Arm-
strong, " when we were all on board ! It was a critical mo-
ment, for the natives were like friction-matches, ready to
explode on the slightest provocation ; and when (on the
1 6th April, 1834) the sails were spread, and the shores
of Nukuhiva receded from view, we gave thanks to God
that during a residence there of over eight months he
had saved us from the fury of that heathen race. "

In October, 1834, the English missionaries, Mr.
Rodgerson and his wife and Mr. Stallworthy, with four
Tahitian teachers, arrived at the Marquesas Islands, and
landed on Tahuata at Hanatete. After three years of
labor and suffering Mr. and Mrs. Rodgerson abandoned
the field, "being convinced that the islands were unfit
to be the residence of civilized females." Their books,
furniture and clothing had been stolen piecemeal, their
house once set on fire, and at times they had to go to
other valleys to get breadfruit for food. During their
residence two persons were killed and eaten near their
houses.

Mr. Stallworthy remained until 1841, a butt, as a

244 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

French writer says, for the ridicule of the Tahuatans.
"What will we get," they would say, "for hearing your
lessons? You seem to wish to make speeches to us.
Well, give us powder ; we will hear you afterwards. "

In 1839 another missionary, Mr. R. Thompson,
arrived ; but in 1841 they all abandoned the field and
returned to Tahiti, not having achieved any success.

Twelve years after this a great interest for the Mar-
quesas Islands was awakened in the Hawaiian Islands by
an appeal of a Marquesan chief, Matunui, for missiona-
ries. This chief came with his son-in-law, a Hawaiian,
from Fatuhiva to Lahaina, Maui, and announced that he
had come thousands of miles to procure teachers to in-
struct himself and his people in the Word of God, and
pitifully told how there was nothing but war, fear and
poverty among his people, and how he desired that his
people might become like the Hawaiians. It was after-
wards suspected that he was insincere in this appeal, and
that he made it from fear, as an excuse for coming to
Hawaii. But the Hawaiian churches were thereby greatly
moved, made large contributions, chartered a vessel,
and sent two ordained Hawaiian ministers, Rev. James
Kekela and Rev. Samuel Kauwealoha, and two deacons,
with their wives, under the supervision of Rev. B. F.
Parker, to Fatuhiva, where they arrived August 26, 1853.

Five days after their arrival a French brig, which had
been hastily despatched from Tahiti to counteract their
mission, came to Futuhiva and landed a Roman-catholic
priest, who informed Matunui that the Marquesas Isl-
ands belonged to France, and demanded that he should

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 245

send away the Protestants. Matunui replied that no
Frenchmen had ever been born on his island and that
the island belonged to him, and refused to expel the
Hawaiian missionaries. The priest remained, opposing
the work of the Hawaiians many years ; and finally other
priests were located on the other islands.

Only brief records of the work of these missionaries
can be gleaned from their letters and reports of the dele-
gates of the Hawaiian Mission, Rev. T. Coan, who vis-
ited them in 1860 and 1867, and Rev. W. P. Alexander,
who visited them in 1871. The missionaries labored to-
gether a while at Omoa on Fatuhiva, and finally separated
to different islands, Rev. J. W. Kaivi, who had subse-
quently arrived with several other Hawaiians, and with
Rev. J. Bicknell, son of a missionary at Tahiti, remain-
ing at Omoa. Kaivi, after nineteen years of labor, in
which he had conducted a small school and organized a
small church, became deranged, and was removed to
Hawaii. He had faced enough perils and endured
enough trials to render him insane. Mr. Coan tells how
the cannibals of his valley were continually at war with
the people of the valley of Hanaveve, five miles distant,
and how once "a robber came at night within ten yards
of his house to kill a woman who was alone in her hut.
Kaivi and his wife, hearing the rustle of dry fallen
leaves, went out softly under cover of shrubs and des-
cried the assassin and threw stones, when he ran and the
woman was taken into Kaivi's house for protection.
On another dark night a blind woman was sleeping alone
near by, her husband having gone on board of a vessel,

246 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

when a cannibal with a long knife entered the house to
despatch her ; but before the bloody deed was done a
large dog seized the monster, and in the struggle the
neighbors were aroused and the invader fled up a steep
precipice to his own place on the other side of the ridge.
A native from the other valley decoyed two boys up a
high ridge with a promise of berries, and there in sight of
all the people drew a large knife, seized one of the lads
and severed his head from his body. The other boy fled
down the hill and gave the alarm, but the assassin went
on down to his valley with the bloody trophy in his
hand." Finally Kaivi's wife was lured away by the hea-
then, as was also the wife of the missionary Kaukau.
Mr. Coan tells how he sought out one of these women
and entreated her to return to her husband. He found
her forlorn and desiring to return : but she feared her
seducers, as they would surely kill her before they would
let her go. While they talked the young savages came
in, armed with sheath-knives, and took seats so as to
look her full in the face, keeping their keen eyes fixed on
her. She dared not speak again. Mr. Coan left her with
a heavy heart, and learned afterwards that both these
women died in misery.

The missionary Kauwealoha went from Fatuhiva to
Hivaoa, and there gathered a school of sixty pupils and
a congregation of one hundred and forty-nine ; but in a
war of the savages his house was torn down, and he and
his wife barely escaped with their lives. They then went
to Uapou, and first resided at Hakahekau on that island,
but the sand-flies were so numerous and intolerable that

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 247

they removed to a neighboring valley, Aneau. Here
they formed a female seminary, of which Mr. Alexander
speaks as the brightest gleam of light he had seen in the
Marquesas. When once it was proposed in Hawaii to
relinquish this mission, because of its cost and lack of
success, Kauwealoha wrote back that, whether aban-
doned or not, he would continue at his work, and that
if his salary was discontinued he would work, if so
obliged, in the costume, or undress, of his fathers in
their barbarous state.

Rev. James Kekela took his station at Paumau on
the island of Hivaoa, where were immense heiaus and
a stone idol nine feet high and three and a half in diame-
ter. Mr. Coan relates that "it was to this place of
infernal rites that, in 1864, Mr. Whalon, first officer
of the American whale-ship Congress, was brought,
bound hand and foot, to be devoured by savages.

"A Peruvian vessel had stolen men from Hivaoa,
and the people were looking for an opportunity for
revenge and seized Mr. Whalon when he went on shore
to trade for pigs, fowls, etc. , stripped him of his cloth-
ing and took him to this heiau to be cooked and eaten.
The savages then began to torment him, bending his
thumbs and fingers backward, pulling his nose and
ears, and brandishing their hatchets and knives close
to his head. Kekela was then absent ; but a German,
hearing of the affair, went to the place and begged the
savages to release their victim. This with ferocious
grins they refused to do, saying that they relished
human flesh and they were now to feast on a white

248 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

man. On the return of Kekela the following morning
he hastened thither, and begged for the life of the poor
man. But the savages were inexorable unless for a
ransom. Finally, for a gun and various other articles,
Mr. Whalon was released. Kekela took him to his
house and, with his intelligent wife, showed him the
greatest kindness and attention, and finally restored
him to his ship.

"Mr. Lincoln was then President of the United
States, and, hearing of this deed of Mr. Kekela, sent
out the value of $500 with a letter of congratulation,
as a reward for the rescue of an American citizen from
death at the hands of Marquesan cannibals. "

On the same island, at Hanahi, Rev. James Bicknell
was located. He afterwards removed to Hawaii, and
there did excellent missionary work.

At Hanatita, on the north side of this island, Rev.
A. Kaukau made his residence, and at Atuona, on the
south side, Hapuku was located. At Mr. Alexander's
arrival Hapuku's school came together ' ' dressed in the
highest style of Marquesan elegance ; their bodies reek-
ing with cocoanut oil and turmeric, their legs and arms
ornamented with feathers and bunches of human beard,
and on their heads gaudy helmets, plumes, and cockades,
while a large number of both men and women carried
butcher-knives girded to their waists. " This school did
themselves much credit in reading, writing and singing.

Full statistical reports of the churches of this mission
are not at hand. In 1870, in the islands where the mis-
sionaries were laboring, and where the population ag-

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 249

gregated 2,800, there were 221 pupils in the schools and
thirty-four members of churches. Now there are only
three missionaries in these islands, and they report very
little progress.

This is a poor showing for over sixty years or mis-
sion enterprise in this group. No mission field in the
Pacific has been more discouraging. It has been dis-
heartening to labor for a greatly diminishing population.
Because of foreign diseases the population diminished
from 50,006 in 1830 to 6,700 in 1871.

This has been quite as dangerous a people to labor for
as any in the Pacific. By their situation in valleys,
walled apart by impassable mountain ridges, they have
become more warlike towards each other than the inhab-
itants of the other islands. It has been shown here that

" Mountains interposed
Make enemies of nations who had else,
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one."

For this reason the people have been more indepen-
dent in spirit, more untamable, and more pertinacious in
adherence to their ancient rites, superstitions and abom-
inable practices.

Their unteachable character has been made worse by
the negligent method in which the mission work in their
behalf has been conducted. Missions have prospered,
not only according to the amount of work performed,
but also according to the method of the work. The
mission work here was often intermitted, once for thirty
years, at another time for twelve years, and several times

250 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

for shorter periods. As a consequence the gospel came
with little power to this people.

Besides, the native missionaries here were not sus-
tained, directed, and encouraged, as they should have
been, by the churches at home. The Polynesians, as
missionaries as well as in secular avocations, need over-
sight and supervision. The coming of delegates in mis-
sion packets from the home Boards has caused an in-
describable benefit both in cheering, instructing, and
inspiring the native evangelists and in confirming and
advancing their influence with the people for whom they
have labored. This group of islands should have been
the field of the Tahitian churches, from which vessels
could have been often and quickly despatched thither.
But those churches were too much occupied with the
thrilling work of their evangelists, in the groups to the
south and west, to properly attend to this difficult, un-
promising and dangerous field. And the Hawaiian
Mission Board found the expense too great, or thought
it was too great, to vigorously push their enterprise
here. Mr. Coan has remarked in regard to this matter
that, "the destruction of the poor is their poverty."
And thus this mission stands as a warning to those con-
ducting missions in the rest of the world, that by poverty,
or a presumption of poverty, a mission field may be so
neglected as to be ruined.

When finally, in spite of difficulties, success began to
appear, the mission enterprise here was wrecked, as at
Tahiti, by the usurpation of the French. This professed-
ly civilized people not only set an example for vice,

THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS. 251

intemperance, and infidelity, but also directly required
conformity to their example by compelling the sale of
intoxicating liquors to the natives, and making the Sab-
bath a holiday ; and they forbade the Hawaiian teachers
to use any language but the French in their schools.

Two or three Hawaiian missionaries still continue to
'abor in the pagan night of these islands, like Gideon's
band, ' ' faint, but pursuing, " knowing that the gospel
can reach and uplift the worst of races, and realizing that
the divine Presence is always with them.

252 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER IX.

THE HERVEY ISLANDS.

AFTER the influence of the Tahitian mission had
caused the wonderful changes that have been recounted
in the Austral and Pearl Islands the missionaries made
direct efforts to evangelize other groups. It had early
entered into their plans to make the Society Islands ra-
diating centres for mission enterprises to the rest of the
Pacific. In 1878 a great meeting was held at Tahiti in
which King Pomare proposed the formation of a society
to be auxiliary to the London Missionary Society, and
the assembly, to the number of 3,000, unanimously and
enthusiastically voted assent ; and the society was duly
organized. A few months afterwards a similar society
was organized in Raiatea. But these societies continued
inactive until the arrival of the boat bringing tidings of
the overthrow of idolatry in Rurutu, when they earnestly
proposed to send missionaries to other islands.

The first person to lead off in this new movement
was Rev. John Williams ; who had remarked that it did
not seem to him to fulfil his missionary obligation
for him to quietly labor for a few hundreds of people on
a single island while multitudes were in the darkness of
heathenism on other islands. With this view he took
the occasion of being obliged to go for his health to
New South Wales, to take native teachers to the Hervey

HEATHEN VILLAGE AT AITUTAHI, HERVEY ISLAND.

CHRISTIAN VILLAGE AT AITUTAHI, HERVEY ISLAND.

OF THB

UNIVERSITY

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 255

Islands, and persuaded the captain of the vessel on
which he took passage to turn a little from his course
and convey them thither.

The Hervey Islands are fifteen in number, consisting
of six principal islands and nine small coral islets. They
are situated from 500 to 600 miles southwest of Tahiti,
between 18° and 22° south latitude and 157° and 1630
west longitude. They are of three kinds : i. low coral-
line islands, rising but a few feet above the sea, having
little vegetation except cocoanuts, pandanus and stunted
hibiscus, of which class are the islands Hervey, Mauke,
and Mitiaro ; 2. elevated coral islands, which average
from 100 to 500 feet in height and are very fertile and
covered with luxuriant vegetation, of which class are
Aitutaki, Atiu, and Mangaia ; and, 3. one island of vol-
canic formation, the high and mountainous Rarotonga,
an island so picturesque and beautiful with its rocky
peaks and tropical vegetation that it has been well called
' ' the Queen of the South Seas. "

The inhabitants of these islands, unlike those of the
Society group, were somewhat addicted to cannibalism
and even more continually engaged in savage wars, and
in other respects equally depraved and barbarous. As
has been mentioned, in the year 1823 Mr. Williams vis-
ited Hervey Island and found that by frequent and ex-
terminating wars the population there had been reduced
to sixty in number ; six years afterwards he again visited
this island and found that the fighting had continued till
the only survivors were five men, three women, and a
few children, and these were still contending as to which

256 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

of them should be king. The island Mitiaro also was
almost depopulated by war and famine.

The history of the mission enterprises in these islands,
as told by Mr. Williams, from whose book the following
accounts are taken, reads like a romance. When Mr.
Williams arrived at Aitutaki the natives came off to his
vessel like the escaped inmates of an insane asylum,
dancing, shouting, and making frantic gestures. Mr.
Williams soon found that he could readily converse with
them in the Tahitian language, and informed them of
the downfall of idolatry in Tahiti and easily persuaded
them to receive two teachers to reside among them.

These teachers, on landing, were taken to a marae
(temple) and presented to idols and then robbed of their
property, and for many months afterwards were in great
privation and peril. After they had labored several
months a native of Raiatea brought them a supply of
school-books and hymn-books, with which he swam
ashore from a passing vessel. This native, on landing,
was taken to a marae and presented to an idol. Look-
ing up at the huge image he struck it, and asked the
people why they did not burn it, and advised them to
listen to their teachers. They replied that if Mr. Wil-
liams would return they would burn their idols.

The teachers finally gained an advantage by the fail-
ure of the priest to cause the recovery from sickness of
the king's favorite daughter, who died in spite of extraor-
dinary offerings to the idols. Disappointed and enraged
by her death, he ordered that all the idols and temples
should be destroyed. But the teachers persuaded him,

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 257

instead of destroying the idols, to send them as trophies
to Tahiti ; whereupon the whole population, district by
district, the chiefs and priests leading the way, came and
cast down their idols at their feet.

The natives now proceeded to erect a chapel for the
worship of the true God, the teachers instructing them
how to build it ; also how to make lime from coral for
plastering its walls. The latter process at first amused
them, and some of them exclaimed in ridicule, "Let
hurricanes now blow down our breadfruit and banana
trees, we shall never suffer from lack of food ; for these
strangers are roasting stones." But when they saw the
use made of the lime in forming the white walls of the
chapel they were filled with admiration and moved to
employ the same process in building houses for them-
selves. The chapel then built measured 300 feet by 30.
Its roof was completed in two days, and the whole build-
ing soon after.

Mr. Williams again visited Aitutaki eighteen months
afterwards, accompanied by a brother missionary, Mr.
Bourne, and by a number of native teachers for new
mission work on other islands. On arriving at this isl-
and, where not long before he had seen wild savages, he
was surprised and delighted to be greeted by the excla-
mations, "Good is the Word of God. It is now well
with Aitutaki. The good Word has taken root at Aitu-
taki." And his wonder and delight grew as he saw the
large chapel and the collections of discarded idols. In
passing through the village he saw two idols in use as
posts to support the roof of a kitchen, and bought them

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

with two fish-hooks. The owner gave them a kick as he
parted with them, saying, "Your reign is now over."
Mr. Williams preached in a chapel to a congregation of
2,000 people from the words of John 3:16.

It is delightful to imagine what must have been the
effect on those islanders of the truths proclaimed in that
discourse as well as in the instructions of the native
teachers. A little information from the outside world
had occasionally been brought to them by natives in
canoes driven by storms from other islands, and much
more by Capt. Cook and other navigators ; but never
had such a light dawned on them as came in that mes-
sage of God's love. ' ' The people that sat in darkness
saw great light, and to them in the region and shadow
of death light sprang up. "

Taking now on board his vessel a strange cargo of
the thirty-one discarded idols of Aitutaki, Mr. Williams
continued his missionary voyage, and soon came to the
island Mangai?, which is an elevated coral island twenty-
five miles in circumference, and has a population of
about 3,000. Here the natives were persuaded to re-
ceive two teachers ; but no sooner were they landed
than they were seized, robbed, and treated with great
brutality. The vessel then fired two cannon, which
frightened the natives away and gave the teachers an op-
portunity to escape to the vessel.

Soon after the departure of Mr. Williams an epidemic
on this island caused many deaths, which the natives
attributed to the wrath of the God of the white men be-
cause of their abuse of the teachers. They therefore

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 259

gladly welcomed two unmarried Tahitian teachers who
were brought to them during the following year.

From Mangaia Mr. Williams and his companions
went to a little coral island called Atiu, and persuaded
the king of this island to come aboard the vessel, in-
formed him of the overthrow of idolatry at Tahiti, and
showed him the rejected idols of Aitutaki. "He was
profoundly impressed by what he heard and saw, and
especially by the reading of the following words of
Isaiah, ' With part thereof he roasteth roast and is satis-
fied, and the residue thereof he maketh a god, and wor-
shippeth it, and saith, Deliver me ; for thou art my
god.'" In the language of this island two words simi-
lar in sound expressed opposite ideas : moa, meaning
things sacred to the gods, and noa, things profane or
common, such as food. The chief now saw the folly of
making a god and cooking food from the same tree,
uniting the moa and the noa. His wonder grew as he
spent the night in conversation with the teachers ; and
he frequently arose and stamped with his feet in aston-
ishment. In the morning he informed the missionaries
that he would destroy his idols and welcome teachers.

Learning from this king that there were two more
islands under his dominion, Mitiaro and Mauke, islands
that had never yet been seen by civilized men, the mis-
sionaries persuaded him to pilot them thither. On arri-
ving at these islands they exhorted the people to renounce
idolatry, and by the aid of the king succeeded in per-
suading them to do so and to receive teachers.

Mr. Williams often afterwards visited these three isl-

260 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ands and was always gratified by the steady improve-
ment of the natives, and sometimes preached to congre-
gations of from 1,500 to 2,00.0 people.

Learning from the king of Atiu that there was an-
other island further south, Rarotonga, which had never
yet been. seen by white men, the missionaries sailed to
search for it ; but baffling winds retarded their course,
their supply of provisions nearly gave out, and finally
they were about to give up the search when a sailor
from the mast-head descried this island in the distance.
It is thirty miles in circumference, very attractive with
lofty mountains and verdant valleys, and has a large area
of land under high cultivation between the mountains
and the ocean. The population at that time was about
7,000.

On the arrival of the vessel the king of this island
came on board and readily consented to receive two
teachers and their wives. But the next morning these
teachers returned in a canoe in a pitiable condition, with
a sad tale of brutal treatment they had received ; for a
chief of a neighboring district had endeavored to take
the wife of one of them for his harem, in which he
already had nineteen wives, and she was rescued only
after a desperate struggle. One of the unmarried teach-
ers, Papeiha, now offered to go ashore alone, if another
teacher, whom he named, should be sent to labor with
him, and the project was approved ; and with nothing
but a Testament and a few school-books he swam ashore,
and after a little rough treatment was permitted to dwell
in peace among the people.

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 261

A beautiful illustration was now discovered of the
influence of the Tahitian Mission on distant groups. A
woman from Tahiti had come to this island and informed
its people of the arrival at Tahiti of white men from for-
eign lands, of their superior utensils, of their knives,
axes, and looking-glasses, and of their new form of re-
ligion, and had made such an impression on them that
one of their chiefs had named one of his children Te-
hova (Jehovah), and another Jetu Terai (Jesus Christ) ;
and thus they were partly prepared to receive Chris-
tianity.

It was a delightful thought to Mr. Williams that the
first message from the outside world to this island and
to Mitiaro and Mauke was the gospel ; which was al-
most as wonderful and joyful to the natives in their deep
darkness as the glad tidings that angels sang to the an-
cient shepherds in Bethlehem.

Overjoyed at having discovered these islands and
introduced the gospel as the first message to them Mr.
Williams and his companion now returned to Raiatea,
and as they approached that island hung out on the
yard-arms of their vessel, as tokens of the success of
their voyage, the thirty-one idols which they had taken
from Aitutaki. ' ' The natives of Raiatea were greatly
moved by these visible evidences of the downfall of idol-
atry in Aitutaki. "

The assistant teacher who was asked for by Papeiha
was soon afterwards sent to him, and they together
visited all the chiefs on Rarotonga and reasoned with
them about, the folly of idolatry. Impressed by their ex-

262 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

hortations, one of the priests at length brought a great
idol to destroy it. A crowd of the natives followed him,
calling him a madman, and when he applied a saw to
the head of the idol they fled in terror into the thick-
ets. When however they saw that no harm came to the
priest they returned, and when he proceeded to roast
bananas in the ashes of the idol and to eat them they
were convinced of the folly of their superstitions. Hear-
ing of these acts of the priest the chiefs now renounced
idolatry, and proceeded to erect a chapel for Christian
worship. And so it happened that, within a year after
the discovery of this island, its idols were abandoned,
and a church-building 600 feet in length erected for the
worship of the true God.

When Mr. Williams returned to this island, as he did,
accompanied by his wife, in 1827, for a permanent resi-
dence, he was treated to a novel public reception. By
request of the teachers he took a seat in front of one
of their homes and then the natives came in procession
from different districts and deposited fourteen idols at
his feet. "Some of these idols were torn to pieces be-
fore his eyes ; others were used to decorate rafters of a
chapel, and one was sent to England."

Mr. Williams now gained a new influence with the
people by the wonder that was excited by the art of
writing. Having one morning forgotten to take a car-
penter's square to his work of building a chapel he wrote
on a chip a message to his wife, requesting her to send
the square to him, and asked a chief to take the chip to
her. The chief at first incredulously refused to do so,

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 263

but after a little urging complied, and was greatly
amazed when Mrs. Williams handed him the square.
Holding up the chip, he ran through the village exclaim-
ing, "These Englishmen make chips talk." The con-
sequence was that, when the matter was explained, the
natives were very eager to learn to read and to receive
the other instructions of the missionaries.

A touching illustration of their eagerness to learn the
way of life was afforded in the case of .a cripple, who by
disease had lost his hands and feet but was exceedingly
industrious in tilling the ground and raising food for
his wife and three children. As he was unable to
go to hear Mr. Williams preach he sat beside the road
and inquired of one and another of the natives, as they
were returning from the meetings, what Mr. Williams
had said, and thus acquired enough knowledge to be-
come a sincere Christian.

On the 2ist of December, 1831, Rarotonga was vis-
ited by a terrific hurricane, which lasted three days and
destroyed nearly every house on the island, and pros-
trated thousands of breadfruit trees and hundreds of
thousands of banana trees. The ocean increased the
destruction, rolling in great waves far up on the land,
and carried the missionary vessel several hundred feet
inland. It was only with great difficulty afterwards drag-
ged back to the ocean and repaired. In this storm the
families of the missionaries suffered greatly; but they
found refuge with the natives in the sheltered nooks of
the mountains.

In many other respects it was not all sunshine for

264 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Mr. Williams and the other missionaries who afterwards
came to aid him in this beautiful island. Clouds more
appalling than those of hurricanes sometimes gathered
over them. Their lives were repeatedly darkened by dire
bereavement, graves were made for their little ones and
wives near their homes, there were defections of hopeful
converts and occasional outbreaks of fiendish character
in their churches. As the rocks loomed up through the
bright foliage around them so griefs and discouragements
rose through the triumphs of their heaven-like enterprise.
But the holy joy they experienced in their work far sur-
passed their sorrows.

The London Missionary Society at length located
two missionaries, Messrs. Buzacot and Pitman, on
Rarotonga to labor in conjunction with Mr. Williams,
and by their joint labors churches were organized in all
parts of the island, the chiefs were influenced to form
codes of law for governing the people, and the Avarua
Institution was established, from which many native
missionaries went to other groups of islands.

Of the progress of the mission work in the island Mr.
Bourne testified in 1825 : "Much has been said concern-
ing the success of the gospel in Tahiti and the Society
Islands ; but it is not to be compared with its progress
in Rarotonga. In Tahiti European missionaries labored
for fifteen years before the least fruit appeared. But two
years ago Rarotonga was hardly known to exist, was
not marked on any of the charts, and we spent mucji
time in traversing the ocean in search of it. And now I
scruple not to say that the attention of the people of

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 267

this island to the means of grace, their practice of fami-
ly and private prayer, equals whatever has been witnessed
in Tahiti and the neighboring islands. And when we
look at the means it becomes more astonishing. Two
native teachers, not particularly distinguished among
their own countrymen, have been the instruments of
effecting this wonderful change, and that before a single
missionary had set his foot upon the island. "

The last visit Mr. Williams made to this island was
in 1834. Of the change in the condition of the people
he said, "When I found them, in 1823, they were igno-
rant of the nature of Christian worship ; and when I
left them, in 1834, I am not aware that there was a
house in the island where family prayer was not observed
every morning and every evening. "

In 1841 the directors of this mission reported "that
in Rarotonga the Christian churches presented a most
impressive and animating aspect, both as to numbers
and character ; and the social and moral character of
the people, a few years previous loathsome and terrific,
was then pure and peaceful. One of the most consist-
ent members of the church, and an active evangelist,
was in the days of his youth a cannibal. An institution
was commenced about this time at Avarua for the train-
ing of native missionaries, in which young men are in-
structed in Christian theology and other branches of use-
ful knowledge. "

In 1888, Rev. W. Wyatt Gill, in a meeting in Lon-
don, gave a statement of his work as a missionary in the
Hervey Islands since 1851. "He spoke of the former

268 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

condition of the people, of their love of revenge and
of their human sacrifices, of the bloody feuds that existed
among them, of the rule, followed by all, of keeping
alive only two children in a family, and of the whole
aspect of their life as something fearful ; and stated that
all this had been changed through the influence of
Christianity. He remarked that to see a people who
once were cannibals partaking of the Lord's Supper
has been most delightful. Looking around upon this
assembly gathered for this purpose he had seen the
bread administered by one to a man whose father that
man had murdered, or the reverse. He stated that
the work of evangelization in many of the South Pacific
Islands had been done almost entirely by natives trained
in the Avarua school ; that hundreds of these natives
have sacrificed their lives to carry the gospel to their
brethren, and that sixty of Mr. Gill's own church have
been killed while acting as missionaries."

In the year 1853 the writer, while on a voyage. from
Hawaii to the United States by way of Cape Horn,
visited Aitutaki and Rarotonga in company with a son
of the missionary Rev. D. B. Lyman, of Hawaii. At
Aitutaki we landed on a coral pier which measured 600
feet in length and eighteen in breadth, and which had
been constructed by the natives in 1826. A great mul-
titude of the natives had come together on this pier to
shake hands and to give the friendly greeting, " Orana"
(happiness to you), a reception quite unlike that once
previously given to a company of shipwrecked sailors
who, before the coming of missionaries, landed at this

JOHN WILLIAMS.

- -/-v^ '->-' '

THE MESSENGER OF PEACE.

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 271

place and were immediately seized by the natives,
dragged into the thickets, and killed.

About the first object that attracted our attention was
a handsome church built of hewn coral, not far from
the beach. Inquiring for the missionary, we were con-
ducted to the residence of Rev. Mr. Royle, who occu-
pied a comfortable building embowered under noble
orange trees. Very kindly Mr. Royle provided horses
and a guide, by which we went across the island (only
three miles wide and nine long. ) In our ride we passed
through a continuous garden of great beauty and fruit-
fulness. Great forest-trees, a species of banyan, the hau,
and the kukui, grew beside the path, while cocoanut,
breadfruit, orange and banana trees everywhere abound-
ed. Almost all the ground not occupied with trees and
residences was planted with potatoes, yams, taro, and
pineapples. The houses of the natives were substantial
buildings, constructed with hewn coral and masonry,
and surrounded by delightful gardens enclosed with
coral walls.

We scarcely saw a woman on the island ; for they
had well learned to conceal themselves when ships ar-
rived. Mr. Royle informed us that often seamen, en-
chanted by the beauty of this island, would desert their
ships, but invariably in a few weeks they would be
wearied of the monotony of life in this quiet island, and
eager to embark on any vessel coming thither.

Just as we were about to return to our ship we were
sent for by the natives, and going with them found a
great crowd assembled who opened a way for us to

2/2 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

come into their midst. We were then addressed by the
chief of the island, who presented us with an immense
quantity of fruit, vegetables and curios, as a token of
the regard he and his people entertained for missiona-
ries and their children. We thanked thein for their
generosity, and bade them a frienly adieu.

We found the island Rarotong'a even more attractive
than Aitutaki. It combined with the beauty of luxuriant
tropical vegetation the grandeur of lofty mountains and
magnificent valleys, and was strikingly picturesque, with
rocky spires and jutting crags rising out of its sea of
foliage. Here, too, we found a fine church ; and en-
joyed the kind hospitality of the veteran missionary
Rev. Mr. Buzacot. He informed us that a few years
previous a great hurricane had blown down one-half the
trees of this island. Yet, as we went about with him
along the shore and far up one of the valleys, we seemed
to be walking under a continuous shade of orange,
banana, and other trees. The natives were a fine-looking
people, and seem to lack little more than the color, the
wealth, the outward garb of enlightened races to rank
with civilized communities. It was a great pleasure
to meet these veteran missionaries, witness the wonder-
ful results of their labors, and pass for a few brief hours
from the tedium of a long sea voyage into the enchant-
ment of these tropical islands.

In 1889, by the invitation of the chiefs and people of
the Hervey group, a British Protectorate was proclaimed
over their islands. This at present means simply that no
other nation is to be allowed to annex these islands.

THE HERVEY ISLANDS. 273

In the Report of 1891 of the London Missionary
Society it is .stated that "with the increase of their
wants in their growing intelligence there has been an in-
crease of thrift and industry ; that they are building 100-
ton vessels, and extensively engaged in planting coffee
and cotton."

A correspondent of a newspaper of Auckland testifies
that ' ' the Rarotongans are the most advanced of all the
South Sea islanders in European industrial civilization.
They have become efficient artisans and mechanics ; they
build houses after the colonial type, also wagons and
boats ; they work extensive plantations and cotton gin-
ning machines ; they are good seamen, valued for their
docility, industry, and contented disposition. They
cultivate largely oranges and limes : of the former they
export millions ; from the limes they express the juice
and ship it in small barrels, some 2,000 gallons yearly
being sent away from the island. They also export cot-
ton, coffee, bananas, arrow-root, and copra. Thus they
thrive, are contented and happy, because free and unop-
pressed, and at liberty to enjoy the fruits of their labors. "

One instance of the benevolence of the natives of
Mangaia illustrates the Christian character of the people
of the Hervey Islands. In the Report of the London
Missionary Society for the year 1892 it is stated that the
people of Mangaia, in number about 1,900, after paying
all their school and church expenses and the stipends of
three native pastors, contributed for general missionary
enterprises upwards of $1,700.

2/4 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER X.

SAMOA.

No sooner did Mr. Williams gain a foothold in the
Hervey Islands than he determined to push on in the
missionary enterprise to the numerous islands farther
west, and with this view began to build a vessel to be
used exclusively for missionary purposes ; for it was
difficult to obtain passage to other islands by passing
vessels. In the construction of this vessel he displayed
a genius for mechanical contrivance hardly to have been
looked for in a missionary apostle. With the aid of the
chiefs of Rarotonga he obtained from the mountains the
timber needed, which he split into planks. To fashion
the ironmongery required he made a forge with bellows
of goat skins, but the innumerable rats on the island de-
voured the goat skins ; whereupon he made an apparatus
with two boxes and valves with which, with the aid
of eight or ten powerful men, he was able to make the
blasts of air required for his forge. He supplied the
vessel with sails made of mats, calked her with cocoanut
fibre and breadfruit gum, and furnished her with a rud-
der adjusted with a piece of a pick-axe, a cooper's adze,
and a large hoe. It measured sixty by eighteen feet,
and was of seventy or eighty tons burden, and named the
" Messenger of Peace. "

The first voyage of this vessel was successfully made

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

SAMOA. 277

to and from Aitutaki, and then Mr. Williams went in her
to Tahiti. No little curiosity and wonder were excited
among the seamen at Papeete when this strange-looking
craft came in sight, and still more when it was closely
examined. With the aid of competent ship-carpenters it
was then partly made over and rendered seaworthy.

In July 1830 Mr. Williams, with his colleague, Mr.
Barff, and seven native teachers, embarked on this vessel
for the Samoa, or Navigator's, Islands, two thousand
miles distant.

The Samoa Islands are situated between 13° 30' and
14° 30' south latitude and 163° and 173° west longitude,
and consist of thirteen islands, only four of which are of
much importance. The most easterly is Manua, a
dome-like island, rising to the height of 2, 500 feet. It
is sixteen miles in circumference, and covered with luxu-
riant vegetation. Near it are the two islets, Oloosinga
and Ofoo.

About sixty miles further west is Tutuila, an island
seventeen miles long and five wide. It is cut almost in
two from the south side by the inlet Pagopago, the safest
harbor of the group. The coasts of this island are bold
and without reefs except at the mouths of the harbors.
Along the shores there is a beautiful growth of cocoa-
nut, breadfruit and banana trees ; and a continuous
forest extends to the summits of the mountains, which
are crowned with grand perpendicular lava cliffs.

About thirty-six miles further northwest is Upolu, an
island forty miles long and fourteen broad, on the north
side of which is Apia, the chief town of the group. This

2/8 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

town extends in a semicircular form around the head of
a small bay that affords a safe anchorage for ships in
ordinary weather but is open to the full violence of the
northwesterly storms. The mountains of this island are
not lofty but very picturesque, with varied forms of deep
gorges, high ridges and rocky precipices, and with an
indescribable beauty of tropical vegetation. "The
plumes of the cocoanut wave from many a high hill
almost as profusely as from the groves at the shore."
Back of Apia, at an elevation of 750 feet, is a grand wa-
terfall, which is a valuable landmark for ships. At the
west end of Upolu are two islets, Apolima, which is rocky,
and inaccessible except through an entrance just wide
enough for a boat to enter, and Manono, which is cov-
ered with breadfruit trees.

About twelve miles west of Upoli is Savaii, an island
that has been compared to Hawaii, to which it probably
gave a name and like which it is, in comparison with the
rest of its group, the largest island, of the latest volcanic
formation, and has the highest mountains and the great-
est areas of rocky land. It measures forty miles by
twenty, and rises to the height of four thousand feet.

The Samoas have substantially the same flora as the
islands further east and north, but some different species
of fauna. Here are to be found elegant varieties of pig-
eons and parrots, also innumerable bats, called "flying-
foxes," which often hang in multitudes from the branches
of the trees, "giving the appearance of some curious
fruit ;" and small insectivorous bats, which cluster in
thousands among the rocks, "clinging to one another

A SAMOAN GIRL.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

SAMOA. 28l

till they appear like brown ropes; also giant crabs,
sometimes three feet long, which climb the cocoanut-
trees and tear open and feed on their nuts ; and harm-
less snakes, which grow sometimes to about four feet in
length. The missionary, Williams, during his first visit
to Savaii expressed a desire to see some of these snakes,
and in a few minutes some girls came to him with sev-
eral of them twined around their necks. ' ' The natives
sometimes enclose the snakes in their bamboo pillows,
that their noise of crawling and hissing may induce
sleep. "

On their way to the Samoa Islands the missionaries
on the Messenger of Peace turned aside to visit the Ton-
ga Islands, in order to confer with the Wesleyan mis-
sionaries in that group, and there took on board a
Samoan chief, Fauea, who desired to return to Savaii,
having been absent from his home eleven years. This
chief had a Christian wife and was friendly to the mis-
sionaries, and engaged to assist them in their work. On
arriving at Savaii they received a warm welcome from
the people through his influence. As yet the Samoans
had seen but few people from civilized lands, and they
gathered in great numbers to see the white missionaries,
some climbing the cocoanut-trees and gazing at them by
the light of torches as in the evening they went to pay
their respects to the chief of the district ; and finally
they took the missionaries on their shoulders and carried
them with blazing flambeaux to the chief. He gave them
a royal welcome, supplied their vessel with abundance of
vegetables, fruit and pigs, and gave permission for the

282 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

teachers to reside among his people. Messrs. Williams
and Barff promised, as they left the island, to return in
ten or eleven months.

After the departure of the Messenger of Peace, Fauea
assisted the Rarotongan teachers according to his prom-
ise ; and soon the chief Malietoa was induced to make a
trial of renouncing idolatry. But he requested his fam-
ily to wait six weeks to see the consequences before they
should imitate his example. After three weeks his sons,
who were eager to escape the requirements of their pa-
ganism, gathered their friends together and defied their
gods by eating the kind of fish called anae (mullet), in
which their tutelary gods were supposed to reside, and
which were regarded as tabu to them. Their immunity
in this conduct encouraged the people to renounce their
idolatry ; a great meeting was called, and it was decided
to send their chief idol, which was a mere piece of old
rotten matting, to sea to be drowned ; but by the request
of the teachers it was preserved and afterwards given to
Mr. Williams, and by him sent to the missionary muse-
um at London. The news of these events brought na-
tives in canoes from the neighboring islands to seek
instruction from the teachers, and these natives, after
returning home, destroyed their idols and erected chap-
els for Christian worship.

Mr. Williams was obliged to defer his return to the
Samoa Islands about two years, until the nth of Octo-
ber, 1839. In returning he went first to Manua, the
most easterly of the group. Here a delightful surprise
awaited him. The natives came off in canoes to his

SAMOA. 283

vessel exclaiming that they were "people of the Word,"
Christians, and were waiting for a missionary ship.
They had received Christian instruction from some Tahi-
tians who while voyaging among the Society Islands had
been storm-driven to this island. They had already
erected a chapel, were regularly observing the ordinances
of Christian worship, and were able to read the Tahitian
Scriptures. They were much disappointed that Mr.
Williams could not give them a missionary.

Mr. Williams next went to Tutuila, and endeavored
to land in a boat on the south side of this island at a
place called Leone, where not long before a boat's crew
of the La Perouse Expedition had been massacred. See-
ing a large crowd on the shore he hesitated to land, when
a chief waded out towards the boat and urged him to
visit them, saying that his people had become Christians
through the instruction of teachers who were left by a
great white chief twenty months previous at Savaii. Mr.
Williams informed him that he was the chief referred to ;
whereupon the chief joyfully gave a signal to his people
and they instantly rushed into the sea, seized the boat,
and carried it, with Mr. Williams within, high up on the
land. Here already a chapel had been erected and a
considerable number of Christian worshippers gathered
together through the instruction of one of their number,
who had made frequent voyages in a little canoe to Sa-
vaii and thereby gained a little knowledge with which to
instruct his people.

Continuing his voyage Mr. Williams visited Upolu,
and there found that through acquaintance with the
13

284 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

teachers on Savaii one hundred of its people had re-
nounced idolatry and were earnestly desiring to obtain
the instruction of a missionary.

Arriving at last at Savaii he was joyfully welcomed
by the chiefs and people, and found a chapel, and held
several meetings, addressing audiences of over a thou-
sand people.

In the year 1835 the London Missionary Society sent
six missionaries, five of whom were accompanied by their
wives, to the Samoa Islands. From this time the pro-
gress of the mission was rapid : the Bible was translated,
schools and theological seminaries were formed, almost
the entire population embraced Christianity, and many
graduates of the schools went forth as foreign missiona-
ries to the New Hebrides, the Gilbert group, and other
neighboring islands.

In 1844 Rev. Charles Hardie, with Rev. G. Turner —
who in the previous year had been obliged to flee for his
life from the island of Tanna in the New Hebrides —
established a self-supporting boarding-school for higher
education at Malua, on the island of Upolu. They pur-
chased three hundred acres of land covered with wild
jungle and bordering on a lagoon, erected buildings, and
enrolled one hundred students, in classes of twenty-five,
for a four years' course of study. With the aid of the
students the land was cleared of brush and planted with
"ten thousand breadfruit and cocoanut trees, thousands
of bananas, and yams, taro, maize, manioc and sugar
cane, and a road was made in circuit around the tract
and shaded by the cocoanut palm." Besides cultivating

MALIETOA, KING OF THE SAMOAN ISLANDS.

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

SAMOA. 287

the soil and catching fish from the lagoon the students
learned useful mechanical arts. The produce of the
land and the fish of the lagoons supplied all their wants.
In this school pupils were received from the New Hebri-
des, New Caledonia, and Savage Island, as well as from
the Samoa Islands. The graduates of this school have
become the teachers of the common schools, the pastors
of churches, and "foreign missionaries ; and here over
2,000 teachers and native ministers have been trained.
In the year 1891 ninety-five graduates of this school were
acting as ordained pastors in the Samoa and other groups
of islands. The Malua institution has been rated as
foremost in importance of the missionary agencies in
Samoa.

Besides this school there is a Normal Training School
at Leulumoenga ; five other schools are conducted by
missionaries on Savaii and Upolu, and arrangements
were about perfected in 1892 for the establishment of a
central boarding-school for girls.

The result of the work in these schools is that the
number of native pastors in Samoa is increasing while
the London Missionary Society refrains from appointing
many more English missionaries for this group of islands.
Some apprehension has been expressed lest the appoint-
ment of new foreign missionaries for Samoa may be
suspended before the natives have advanced sufficiently
in knowledge and character to wisely manage their
churches and religious enterprises. It is to be hoped
that warning will be taken from the mistake made by
the American Board in Hawaii.

288 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

In recent years the attention of the whole world has
been drawn to Samoa because of the unhappy struggles
of its people and foreign nations respecting its sovereign-
ty. To understand these struggles it is necessary to
glance at a long history of dissensions of the natives and
encroachments on their rights by foreigners. From time
immemorial there have been in Samoa intertribal disputes
and wars in which it has~ been no difficult matter for
foreigners to intervene for their own emolument. Thus
a firm presided over by John Caesar Godeffroy, of Ger-
many, artfully and by fraud obtained twenty-five thou-
sand acres of the finest alluvial land of Samoa. Back of
Apia they put ten thousand acres of this land into use,
inclosed them partly with hedges of limes and other
trees, intersected them with avenues of palms, and cul-
tivated them with cotton, cacao, coffee, cocoanuts, pine-
apples and other fruits. In process of time Godeffroy
went into bankruptcy, owing $5,000,000, and this
Samoan estate passed into other hands, and was placed
under the management of one Theodor Weber (Misi
Ueba). Another firm, called "The Polynesian Land
Company," obtained 300,000 acres on four islands.
The result of this land-grabbing was that the poor natives
were to a great extent dispossessed from their ancestral
estates and from their means of a livelihood.

To put an end to incessant disputes of the natives
with each other and with the foreign traders the Samoan
chiefs, in 1875, with the aid of Col. A. B. Steinberger,
who had been sent by President Grant to secure a navnl
coaling station in Samoa, formed a written constitution

ft

PRINCE MATAAFA, SAMOAN ISLANDS.

SAMOA. 291

of government and a code of laws; and in 1879, with
the aid of Sir A. H. Gordan and the German consul,
established the "Municipality of Apia," the Americans
in Samoa objecting. This municipality was an arrange-
ment that Apia, the emporium of Samoa, should be
governed by a Board consisting of the consuls and per-
sons nominated, one apiece, by them. At about the
same time a convention of commissioners of England,
Germany and the United States was held at Washington,
and an agreement partly made by these nations to mutu-
ally respect each other's rights in Samoa.

All would now have gone well with Samoa if there
had not been a • deeply laid plot of the German govern-
ment in conjunction with the German residents at Apia
to obtain possession of these islands. An opportunity
for carrying out this scheme was afforded by the dis-
agreement of the natives in the appointment of their
king. According to Samoan custom, the electors of the
king were the "Taimura," a senate of seven chiefs
chosen every two years by the other chiefs and repre-
senting the different districts, and the suffrages were
given in the form of names or titles. A chief by the
name of Laupepa (sheet of paper), a man of excellent
character, who had been educated for the Christian
ministry, received three names, Malietoa, Natoaitele,
and Tamasoalii ; another chief, Tamasese, obtained the
title Tuiana ; and another, Mataafa, the title Tuiata.
Laupepa was therefore declared king, and Tamasese and
Mataafa vice-kings.

The German firm now under the lead of Mr. Weber

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

made a stand against Laupepa and in favor of Tama-
sese, and trumped up demands against Laupepa for
$ 1,000 on account of alleged disrespect of natives to the
German nation, and of $12,000 for cocoanuts stolen by
famishing natives from the German plantations. The
German consul combined with Mr. Weber in making
these demands and expelled Laupepa from his residence
in Apia. Five German war vessels were brought to
enforce the demands, and they hoisted the flag of Tama-
sese and declared him king.

Laupepa, being of peacable disposition, readily com-
plied with advice given by the American and British
consuls to avoid war, and trusted promises made by
them to restore his rights. At length from a hiding-
place in the forest he sent a message to the consuls,
reminding them of their promises, and calling upon
them to redeem them and to cause the lives and liberties
of his people to be respected. Finally, to prevent blood-
shed, he delivered himself to the German war-vessels,
and with touching farewells to his people was conveyed
away, first to Australia, then to Cape Town, then to
Germany, and finally to Jaluit, a low lagoon island of
the Marshall group, and there put on shore and kept on
coarse fare of beef, tea, and biscuit. After his deporta-
tion the chief Mataafa gathered six hundred troops in
the forest and fought several desperate battles against
Tamesese, who was in a fort under the protection of the
Germans. German marines were now sent to enforce a
disarmament of Mataafa. A combat ensued, and twen-
ty Germans were killed and thirty wounded. The Ger-

SAMOA. 293

mans now declared war against Samoa, placed Apia
under martial law, suppressed the English newspaper,
imprisoned several English and American residents, and
bombarded some villages.

This high-handed course of Germany excited intense
indignation in the Samoa Islands and also in England
and the United States. The American consul at Apia,
Harold Marsh Sewall, and the trader, Moors, sent forci-
ble despatches about the state of affairs to Washington,
and finally went thither themselves to give fuller informa-
tion. The result was that the government at Washing-
ton telegraphed to Minister Pendleton to notify the
German minister of Foreign Affairs "that the United
States expected that nothing would be done to impair
their rights under their existing treaty with Samoa."
Thereupon Count Bismarck telegraphed to the German
consul at Apia that " annexation was impracticable, on
account of the diplomatic agreement with England and
the United States."

These contentions about Samoa were now hurried to
a settlement by a hurricane that wrecked all but one of
seven war-ships of Germany, the United States and
England that were congregated at Apia to stand guard
over the interests of their respective countries. Of these
ships three were American, the Nipsic, the Vandalia, and
the Trenton ; three German, the Adler, the Eber, and
the Olga ; one British, the Calliope ; and there were also
in the Apia harbor six merchantmen and nine smaller
craft. It was considered unsafe for more than four ships
to be anchored in this harbor at one time ; and for this

294 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

reason two of the war-ships, the Trenton and Vandalia,
had taken their position just outside of the reef.

The extreme peril of remaining in this harbor when a
northerly storm was blowing into it was well known ;
and it was the custom of sea-faring men, at the first
indications of such a storm, to put to sea and seek
shelter in the lee of the islands. A captain of a smaller
vessel once, when unable to get away at such a time,
scuttled and sank his vessel in shoal water as the only
method of saving her, and after the hurricane raised her
again. During the previous month a storm had blown
from the north and the Eber had barely been rescued by
a hawser from the Olga, and the ship Constitution and
a small vessel, the Tamesese, had been wrecked. But
now these war-ships, like angry bull dogs, were obliv-
ious to every thing but their quarrels with each other,
and remained at Apia notwithstanding sure indications
of a coming tempest.

The first sign of the storm was the falling of the
barometer to 29° u' at 2 p. M., on March 15, 1889. At
night-fall on this day the heavens to the north grew
black, and heavy rain began to fall. At midnight a
cyclone was blowing and mountain waves were rushing
into the small harbor and, like vast behemoths, spring-
ing upon the ships and almost wrenching them from
their moorings. The ships steamed with the utmost
power of their machinery to the aid of their anchor-
cables, but steadily drifted towards the reefs. Before
morning the Eber struck twice on the reef and then
sank, stern foremost, carrying down all of her eighty

,

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

SAMOA. 297

men but four, who were rescued by the very natives with
whom they had been at war. At seven A. M. the Nip-
sic fortunately drove upon the sand beach, losing only a
few of her men. At eight A. M. the Adler drifted near
the reef; but the captain, when she was about to strike,
watched for the coming of a mountain wave, suddenly
slipped his cables, and his ship was lifted high on the
reef and laid over on her beam ends, with a loss of twen-
ty of her men. The remainder of her crew clung many
hours to her wreck, till they were heroically rescued by
the Samoans. At nine A. M. the Trenton and the Cal-
liope were about coming into collision with each other
when the captain of the latter, as the only means of
safety, slipped his cables, put on all possible steam and
slowly worked to sea. The Americans near by on the
doomed ship Trenton gallantly cheered as this ship
almost imperceptibly worked her way against the torna-
do. The Trenton now, with fires gone out, her rudder
and propeller gone and all her anchor-cables but one
broken, was drifting on to the reef when her captain set
storm sails, slipped his cable, and endeavored to drive
her on the beach. Just before this the Vandalia had
struck the reef and sunk, and most of her crew had
climbed to her masts, and now the Trenton, "as
unmanageable as a wild mustang," drove against these
masts and shook off many of the men, while some of
them clambered on her decks. Forty-three men were
drowned in this way and by the sinking of the Vandalia.
But the Trenton continued on her course, and finally
settled in shoal water, with a loss of only one of her 450

298 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

men. The Olga now loosed from her moorings, and
with all steam on safely reached the sand beach. All
the merchantmen and smaller craft in the harbor were
wrecked. It was afterwards ascertained that this hurri-
cane extended more than 1,200 miles, and destroyed
three ships in the Hervey Islands.

The news of this hurricane made a profound impres-
sion all over the world ; and Germany, England and the
United States, awe-struck, as if a higher Power had in-
tervened against their rapacity for the islands of the poor
Samoans, hastened to settle their disputes by an interna-
tional conference at Berlin. The result of the conference
was that Germany brought Malietoa back to Samoa, and
he was reinstated as king. The contending nations
agreed to respect the autonomy of Samoa, and provided
for the appointment of a Land Commission to settle land
claims, and of a Supreme Judge to be elected by the
treaty powers or, in case they should fail to agree, by the
king of Norway and Sweden. This judge should adju-
dicate questions arising between the treaty nations or
between the natives and foreigners. It was also ar-
ranged that the government of Samoa should be carried
on by a senate, called Taimura, consisting of the king,
vice-king, and the chiefs of the different tribes, and by a
house of representatives, called the Faipule, elected by
the people. A Swedish jurist, O. K. W. von Ceder-
crantz, was appointed Chief Justice, at a salary of $6, ooo
per annum, a German, Baron Von Pilsach, President of
the Municipal Council, at a salary of $5,000, and a
Commission sent out to settle land-claims at an aggre-

Adler.

m

Trenton. Vandalia. Olga.

THE WRECKED SHIPS.

OF THE

UNIVERSITY

SAMOA. 301

gate annual expense of $15,000, while King Malietoa
had a nominal salary of only $1,000, which he was un-
able to wholly collect. Part of the customs receipts of
Apia were assigned for payment of the salary of the
President. A capitation tax of one dollar per annum
was imposed on each man, woman and child in Samoa
to raise money to pay the other salaries and to defray
the expenses of bridge-building, road-repairing, and all
other public works.

The Samoans led such free and easy lives, " plucking
their food from trees, sheltering themselves with banana-
leaf thatch, and clothing themselves with bark cloth,"
that they did not see the necessity of taxes, nor were able
to give more for their payment than "small contribu-
tions of taro, pigs, cocoanuts and chickens," and soon
revolted against the tripartite government. When Malie-
toa was reinstated his old companion, Mataafa, met him
in a friendly way, and sought to engage his help to
throw off this expensive foreign government, but found
that the Samoan king could do no more than a child
against the great treaty powers. He then withdrew from
him and became decidedly hostile, encamping with his
warriors at Malie, two miles from Apia. Finally, on the
seventh and eighth of July, 1893, he attacked the gov-
ernment troops and was repulsed. Three ships of the
joint protectorate then steamed to the place of conflict
and with threats of bombardment compelled him and his
chiefs to deliver themselves up to them, and in a few
days he and ten of his chiefs were deported to the
Marshall Islands, twenty-four of his followers were sen-

302 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

tenced to three years of penal labor, and eighty-seven
fined.

This banishment and punishment of the revolting
chiefs did not stop the rebellion, and consequently the
high officials, Cedercrantz and Pilsach, seeing that they
could accomplish no good, but rather were exciting the
natives to war by imposing the burden of their own sup-
port upon them, resigned, and H. C. Ide, of Vermont,
U. S. A. , was sent out as Chief Justice, and Mr. Schmidt,
a German resident of Samoa, made President. Judge
Ide began his career in Samoa by inviting seventeen of
the chiefs to a friendly conference, and imprisoning
them, and putting them to work with convicts on the
road, because they refused to pay the capitation taxes.
The natives were enraged at this ignominious treatment
of their chiefs, which they claimed was a violation of an
agreement for safe conduct, and they flew to arms.
They expressed a desire that Malietoa should continue to
be their king, but opposition to the burdensome foreign
government, and with nightly prayers and psalm-singing
marched against the forces of the king. They fought
a fierce and indecisive battle, and by the last accounts
were still making war.

Thus the tripartite protectorate of Samoa, which was
not designed so much to protect the Samoans or pro-
mote their welfare as to protect the respective interests of
the great contracting nations from each other's rapacity,
has been imposed for pecuniary support on the poor
Samoans, and has only maddened them to deplorable
war against their king. The greatest boon the Samoans

SAMOA. 305

could receive would be to be delivered from these pro-
tectors and permitted to govern themselves.

As may be supposed, the turmoils in Samoa have had
a sad influence on the churches and powerfully operated
to reduce the people to their former barbarism. Yet it
is a remarkable fact that only one pupil of the Malua In-
stitute has relinquished his studies to engage in these
wars, and that the various Home and Foreign Mission
enterprises of the churches have continued through all
the dissensions. The patience of the Samoans in endur-
ing the long series of outrages which they suffered before
resorting to war, their comparatively humane method of
conducting the war, and their magnanimity in rescuing
the shipwrecked Germans, are certainly very creditable to
a people just emerging from paganism and rudely tram-
pled upon by wealthy and intelligent races.

The whole population of the Samoa Islands may
now be styled as nominally Christian. On the largest
islands there are probably not fifty families that fail to
observe family worship ; and the genuineness of their
piety is shown by their benevoTence and missionary en-
terprise. In 1890, besides supporting the gospel at
home they sent $9,000 as a thank-offering to the London
Missionary Society for foreign mission work. But many
years of religious culture and development of the educa-
tional institutions, now organized, are needed to estab-
lish the churches on stable foundations and best promote
their mission enterprises for the neighboring islands.

306 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER XI.

MICRONESIA.

MICRONESIA, as its name imports, consists of numer-
ous little islands, which are situated in the far western
part of the Pacific, and classified as the Gilbert, Mar-
shall, Caroline and Ladrone groups. Voyaging south-
west 2, 500 miles from Hawaii we come to the eastern
group of this Archipelago, the Gilbert Islands ; so named
after Capt. Gilbert, who went thither in 1788, and whose
fellow-voyager, Capt. Marshall, at the same time gave
the name Marshall Islands to the group near by on the
north. The Gilbert Islands lie on both sides of the
equator, between 3° north and 30 south. Their appear-
ance to one approaching them is of plumes of cocoanuts
apparently growing out of the ocean ; on going nearer a
white sand beach is to be seen and brown huts nestling
in shrubbery, and beyond through the trees glimpses
may be caught of still waters of lagoons ; for these isl-
ands are low coral atolls. They consist of strips of reef,
varying from a few yards to twenty miles in length, and
from a few feet to half a mile in breadth, covered with
sand and encircling lagoons, appearing with their bright
vegetation "like green beads" on the blue expanse of
the ocean. The atoll Apaiang has islets averaging a
quarter of a mile broad, the largest of which is twenty-
three miles long ; and this atoll encloses a lagoon eigh-

MICRONESIA. 309

teen miles long, six miles wide, and a hundred feet deep.
The islets of Apemama stretch along in a semicircular
form twenty-five miles, and average half a mile in breadth.
Those of Tapiteuea extend thirty-three miles, and cover
an area of six square miles. The largest, most fertile,
and most populous atoll of this group is Butaritari at the
north. The other atolls, to the south, have little fertil-
ity of soil, and only twelve species of plants, of which
only the cocoanut and the pandanus yield food for the
inhabitants.

These atolls are the "tiny deserts of the Pacific;"
for they are situated in the region of the least rains, in
the "doldrums," where calms and variable winds pre-
vail, and they have so little elevation above the ocean,
generally only about five feet, that they do not catch the
rain-clouds that pass over them. Though the cocoanut-
tree can grow even where its roots are washed by the
briny waters of the ocean, it does not thrive well where
there is little rain, here yielding only six or eight nuts to
a tree, and these only two or three inches in diameter ;
while where much rain falls it yields from 200 to 300
nuts, and these of the largest size.

But the poorest cocoanut-trees yield considerable
food by the flow of sap from their flower-stalks. The
islanders here do not live so much on the nuts as on this
sap. Before the nuts form they cut off the flower-stalks,
and with large shells as containers catch the sap that drips
from the pruned steins, emptying the shells twice a day.
When this sap is kept several days it becomes an intoxi-
cating drink, but when fresh it is healthful and nutri-

310 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

tious. One cocoanut-tree will feed a man ; and a grove
of cocoanut-trees is as valuable to a family of natives as
a herd of milch cows to a Bedouin tribe in Arabia.

The poor provision afforded by these trees is supple-
mented by the kind ocean, which pours over the reefs
and into the lagoons profuse supplies of fish, and with
these most beautiful decorations of shells, corals, and
marine vegetation. The value of these lagoons has been
much appreciated by the Hawaiian missionaries, who
have compared them with the small fish-ponds construct-
ed with great labor in their islands. Here by the work
of nature better fish-ponds have been made. The Sea of
Galilee did not yield more fish, nor would a thousand
acres of tropical forest yield more food, than these natu-
ral fish-ponds.

Yet seasons of famine sometimes prevail in these
islands, when long-continued storms prevent fishing, or
war causes destruction of trees. Mr. E. Bailey, the del-
egate of the Hawaiian Board, reported that during his
visit to these islands several natives died of starvation.
The American missionaries who have resided here have
not been able to keep in good health while living on the
poor fare of the natives, just as the trees of their country
will not thrive in the hot sands and briny waters of these
islands ; and these missionaries have been obliged to im-
port nearly all their food, as well as their other supplies,
as though they were living on board of ships.

Northwest of this group, like an extension of it, is
the Marshall group, consisting of two nearly parallel
chains of atolls, from 100 to 300 miles apart, the eastern

MICRONESIA. 311

known as the Ratak, the western as the Ralik, Islands.
In each of these chains of islands are about sixteen atolls,
measuring from two to fifty miles in circumference. One
of these atolls, Ebon (A-bone), is a ring-reef of twenty-
five miles' circumference, broken into eighteen islets, the
largest six miles long and half a mile wide. The great-
est and most populous atoll is Arno, the most important
Jaluij, which, on account of its excellent anchorage for
ships, has been made the commercial emporium of the
group. This island has been called the "Naturalist's
Paradise ;" for here on a reef-floor 200 feet broad and
many miles in length, covered with only a few inches'
depth of water, one may gather the choicest of shells, the
" Orange Cowries," worth $50 a pair, the most beautiful
of corals, and innumerable other rare curiosities.

In the Marshall group there is more rain than in the
Gilbert Islands, and therefore more various and abun-
dant vegetation. Here the trunks of the trees are partly
covered with bright green moss and ferns, and here
breadfruit and jackfruit trees are found. In Mille some
of the breadfruit trees measure twelve feet in diameter
four feet above the ground, and are eighty feet in height.
A few of these trees would yield more food than many
acres of wheat and corn.

In the centre of these islands, as also in the Mort-
lock group, there are depressions in which fresh water is
found ; and here taro, arrow-root, and in some places
bananas, are cultivated, also a caladium, the ape of Ha-
waii, which has leaves measuring five feet by three, and
rising on their stems twelve feet high.

312 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Voyaging on westward from the Marshall group we
come to the Caroline Islands, so named by the Spanish
Admiral Lazeano, in 1686, in honor of the royal consort
of Charles II. ; and first we arrive at Kusaie, an island of
volcanic formation, 2, 200 feet in height, covered from its
beach to the summits of its mountains with dense vegeta-
tion. On this island rain is so abundant that everywhere
there is a splendid jungle of palms, tree-ferns and giant
forest trees, and the trunks of the trees are covered with
moss and wreathed with climbing ferns and blooming
vines. The vegetation does not stop at the shore, but
reaches out in the shoal waters of the bays in the form
of great mangrove-trees, which grow only in salt water.
To those coming from the low coral atolls the beauty of
this island and of Ponape is very striking. For this rea-
son these islands have been called "The Gems of the
Pacific." Kusaie has fringing reefs that are scarcely
anywhere separated from the shore.

West of Kusaie are two islands of coral formation,
Pingelap and Mokil, which rise twenty feet in height
above the ocean, and resemble the Marshall Islands
in their vegetation ; and a little further west is Pona-
pe, an island, like Kusaie, of volcanic formation, and
having mountains 2,858 feet in height. This island has
barrier reefs separated from the land by from two to
eight miles of water. In the waters thus enclosed the
largest ships might sail entirely around it. There are
also twelve small islands, the "miniatures of Ponape,"
in these enclosed waters, and fifteen islets, many of them
of coral formation, in the barrier reef. This reef mea-

MICRONESIA. 313

sures eighty miles in circumference and the main island
sixty miles. On the west of Ponape is the small island,
Pakin, having forty inhabitants, and on the southwest
the small Ant Islands. Ponape has a fine harbor on the
east, called Owa, which is completely land-locked ; near
by is the Metalanim Harbor, which has within it a re-
markable peak of prismatic basaltic rocks, called Sugar-
loaf ; and on the northwest is the Kenan Harbor, which
is faced by a great precipice of basaltic rocks : and on
the south the Kiti Harbor, at the mouth of the Ran-Kiti
River.

The flora of Ponape is as rich as that of Kusaie.
Here is found the ivory palm, which has a fruit re-
sembling ivory, and rises with a trunk twelve inches
thick to a height of eighty feet. Mr. E. Bailey says,
"Its crown of immense graceful fronds would be the
despair of any green-house in the world. I have seen
many graceful palms, but none comparable to this."
Here are also banyan trees, which are said to begin their
growth from seeds lodged by birds high up on trees, and
which spread over extensive regions, sending down innu-
merable aerial roots. Mr. Bailey saw one of these trees
beginning its growth from the lofty top of a breadfruit
tree, which it doubtless in a few years destroyed. An-
other remarkable tree is the durion, which has been
imported from Yap, and grows to the height of seventy
feet, and is loaded with pear-shaped fruit nine inches in
length and five in thickness, most offensive in odor and
most delicious in taste. The English scientist, Mr.
Wallace, has called it "The King of Fruits," and has

314 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

remarked that it is worth a journey across the ocean to
taste it.

As might be supposed, the scenery of Ponape is very
delightful. Rev. E. Doane has said of his home on this
island, "It is built in a wonderfully beautiful spot,
where from all sides I have views of almost enchanting
loveliness — of. mountains and valleys, the lagoon with its
wonderful colors in the water, the long line of snowy,
rolling, roaring breakers, and beyond that the great blue
ocean always beautiful." One of the missionary dele-
gates from Hawaii has written, ' ' A visit to this island is
like wandering in fairy land. The verdure is excessive.
We cannot get through the bush except along paths.
The people carry knives to cut their way. Breadfruit,
oranges, taro, bananas, pine-apples, papaias, arrow-root,
and sago-palms abound, also cheremoias, guavas, man-
gos, and other tropical fruits. "

In this same Caroline group, 300 miles southwest
from Ponape, are the Mortlock Islands, named after
Capt. Mortlock, of the ship Young William, who discov-
ered them in 1793. The Mortlocks consist of three
atolls : Satoan, which has sixty islets around its lagoon,
Etol, which has many islets, and Lukunor. Mr. Bailey
remarks of these islands that their soil is the most fertile
that he saw in Micronesia, and their inhabitants the
richest ; but they are so low that they have sadly suffered
from overflows of the ocean. In 1874 a hurricane drove
great waves over the Lukunor Island and destroyed the
breadfruit trees, and many of the natives died of starva-
tion.

HEATHEN MICRONESIANS.

PONAPE MISSIONARIES.

MICRONESIA. 317

Two hundred miles northwest of the Mortlocks is
Ruk (Hogolu) which has a lagoon 100 by forty miles in
extent, surrounded by ten large islands, some of them
300 feet in height, all very fertile and abounding in fruit
and vegetables. The population of Ruk alone is 12,000.
Further on northwest are numerous atolls and two more
high islands ; for, as has been beautifully remarked, this
whole region "is studded with ocean gems, as if to
mirror the starry sky above."

The climate of all Micronesia is probably the mildest
in the world ; too mild to be wholly enjoyable. Living
here is like living near a furnace ; for here are brewed
the hot airs and vapors that are swept by westerly winds
to the northwest coast of America, and which there
moderate the cold and yield copious rains. The heat
here is not excessive, but is too unvarying for comfort,
hardly changing more than twelve degrees in a year,
ranging from 75° to 87° Fahrenheit ; a climate like that to
which the fabled Lotus-eaters went, where

" It seemed always afternoon ;
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that had a weary dream."

During the months from October to May the north-
east Trade Winds oscillate south, and blow over the
northern part of this Archipelago ; and during the rest
of the year the westerly winds prevail, with occasional
heavy gales, and bring much rain to the high islands but
little to the coral islands, that reach up no mountains to
seize the treasures of the clouds.

It would seem that islands like these, in the full sweep

318 THE ISLANDS OF THE ^ACIFIC.

of the ocean winds and currents, would be very healthy
places of residence ; but, strange to say, malaria prevails
in some of them. It is developed on the high islands
from the decaying vegetation in the swamps under the
mangrove trees, and on some of the low islands because
perhaps in some places the tides do not flow in and out
the lagoons with sufficient force to keep them pure.
Many American missionaries have here fallen victims to
malaria as well as to the enervating climate ; about as
many as in other groups have been killed by the savages.

The population of Micronesia has been estimated at
80,000 ; consisting of 25,000 in the Gilbert group, 15,000
in the Marshall group, 5,000 in Ponape and its adjacent
islands, 4,000 in the Mortlock Islands, 12,000 in Ruk,
and 19,000 in the islands further west. Probably the
population has greatly diminished since this estimate was
made; as that of Kusaie was estimated at 1,500 forty
years ago and now is only 400. It is remarkable that in
the most barren islands, the Gilberts, the population is
the densest, there being in Butaritari 6,000 inhabitants to
an area of six square miles, 1,000 to a square mile, and
in the other islands of this group about the same propor-
tion.

The Micronesians are a mixed race, derived from
Polynesians, Papuans, and Mongolians. In the Gilbert
and Marshall Islands the Polynesian element predomi-
nates ; in the Caroline Islands " occasionally the oblique
Mongolian eye is noticed," and features of real beauty
are sometimes seen. The languages of the natives are
distinct in different groups, and yet sufficiently similar to

MICRONESIA. 319

indicate a common origin. In the eastern part of the
Archipelago the syllables of the words are generally open,
in the western closed syllables abound.

Few people in the world give appearance of greater
poverty and degradation than these isolated races ; espe-
cially is this true of the Gilbert Islanders. In their
perpetually warm climate they need little clothing, and
wear little. The Gilbert men formerly wore none, and
the women wore only a fringed skirt ten or twelve inches
in breadth. Says Mr. E. Bailey, "They considered
clothing a badge of shame, and were as unconscious of
their nakedness as cattle." In the other Micronesian
islands the men 'wore skirts twenty-five or thirty inches
broad, and the women two mats, each a yard square,
belted at the w*iist.

The Gilbert Islanders dressed their hair to stand
straight out at great length in every direction, ' ' a fash-
ion by which they had some protection from the sun. "
The Marshall Islanders tied their hair in knots on the
tops of their heads, and ornamented it with feathers and
flowers. The Mortlock men wore their hair in rolls on
the back of their necks, and the women let it fall in
ringlets on each side of the face ; making their appear-
ance "decidedly comely." In most of these islands a
curious custom prevails of slitting the lobe of the ear
and stretching it so as to make an aperture eight inches
long, in which a cylinder of leaf or tortoise shell is
placed. In this cylinder ornaments and valuables are
carried, sometimes two or three pounds' weight to each
ear.

320 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The Micronesians have not clung to their little is-
lands, like echinoderms to reefs and limpets to rocks, but
have been ever voyaging to and fro on their lagoons and
far out on the ocean. Where large trees abound they
have easily made "dug-outs," and by binding wide
boards together considerable-sized canoes ; but in the
Gilbert Islands, where the only trees are the cocoanut
and pandanus, their only resource has been to sew
together with sinnet small strips of cocoanut wood and
thus make canoes; and yet in the frail canoes thus
constructed they fearlessly venture over the greatest
waves of the ocean, as the Tartars ride the wildest
steeds of the desert.

The Marshall Islanders boldly go 300 and even 500
miles to other groups, guiding themselves by the stars.
Capt. Gillett of the Morning Star once found a compa-
ny of these natives in a canoe beating their way home
300 miles against a head wind, and gave them a com-
pass, and taught them how to direct their course by it ;
but one of them pointed to an old man with a great
shaggy head of hair, and said, ' ' His head all same
compass. "

The religion of the Micronesians, if it may be called
a religion, -is spiritism. They have no idols, no temples,
and no priests. They do obeisance to certain trees,
rocks, or slabs of coral, into which they suppose spirits
have entered ; and they are very particular in the care
of the bodies of their deceased friends, whose spirits
they would conciliate. With this view the Gilbert Isl-
anders formerly kept the dead bodies of their people,

MICRONESIA. 323

anointed with oil and covered with mats, many weeks,
and sometimes over a year, and after they were decayed
away carried their skulls as charms, a custom that illus-
trates the uncleanness and revolting horrors of nearly all
pagan religions.

This religion, like all pagan superstitions, exerted no
restraint on immorality, but rather fostered it. The
Micronesians lived continually in strife, carried weapons
at all times, and most of them were covered with scars
of wounds received in battle. Hardly an adult Micro-
nesian is living who has not seen some of his relatives
killed in savage combats.

An illustration of the brutal character developed
under their superstitions was afforded by the late king
of Butaritari, Nakaiea, who ' ' was famous for having
hanged one of his wives and shot three Hawaiian sailors.
He was jealous of this wife ; and on one occasion, as
he was playing with her on a schooner, he made a
noose with a rope and proposed to her to put her head
into it. She complied, thinking he was joking; but
he immediately made his men hoist her up and kept her
swinging till she was dead. He afterwards had twenty
wives, whom he kept like prisoners in jail. When the
king of Hawaii remonstrated with him for killing Ha-
waiians, he sent word he would fight him in single com-
bat. He weighed 200 pounds, was a great drunkard,
and passionately fond of heathen dances."

At first view so degraded a people as this would
seem fit only for destruction, like reptiles or ravenous
beasts, or like the Canaanites of old. But deep as is

324 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

the ocean surrounding their reefs and high as the heavens
above them, so deep and high, and more glorious, is the
Divine Mercy that would save so wretched a race ; and
the hearts of Christian people were moved to seek to
save and reform them.

The first suggestion of the mission enterprise to this
people was made by Rev. John D. Paris and Rev. C.
B. Andrews, of the Hawaiian Mission, who in 1850 vis-
ited the United States and persuaded the American
Board to send Hawaiian missionaries to them, in order
to awake the Hawaiian churches to new activity. Adopt-
ing this plan the American Board sent Rev. Luther H.
Gulick, M. D. , son of the missionary Rev. P. J. Gulick,
of Hawaii, Rev. Benjamin Snow, and Rev. Albert A.
Sturgis, to labor in Micronesia in conjunction with
Hawaiian missionaries. On their arrival at Honolulu
two Hawaiian ministers, Rev. Messrs. Opunui and
Kaaikaia, with their wives, were appointed to accompany
them. A meeting was then held by the Hawaiian
Board, formally organizing the Mission to Micronesia
by appropriate exercises of a consecrating prayer, charges
to the missionaries, addresses of fellowship, and a dis-
course by Rev. L. H. Gulick. The children of the mis-
sionaries in Hawaii then organized themselves into a so-
ciety, and undertook to support Rev. L. H. Gulick. The
Hawaiian king Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III., placed
in the hands of these missionaries a letter greeting all
the chiefs of the islands in the great ocean to the west-
ward of Hawaii, telling of the errand of the missionaries
going to them, commending the missionaries to their

MICRONESIA. 325

care and friendship, exhorting them to listen to their
instructions, testifying of the enlightenment, peace and
prosperity resulting in Hawaii from the influence of
the Bible, and advising them to renounce their idols
and acknowledge, worship and love Jehovah.

On the 1 5th of July, 1852, these missionaries with
their wives, and Rev. E. W. Clark as an accompanying
delegate from Hawaii, embarked on the chartered
schooner Caroline, Capt. H. Holdsworth, for Micro-
nesia. After visiting two of the Gilbert Islands they
arrived at Kusaie on the 2 1 st of August, and were piloted
into the harbor by a Mr. Kirkland, one of the three
foreigners residing on the island. They found the king
dressed in a faded flannel shirt, while his wife wore a
cotton gown ; and they observed that the natives treated
him with great respect, crouching on their knees as they
approached him. The foreigners called him "Good
King George," and had reason to thus name him ; for he
ruled his people well, and forbade the manufacture of
intoxicating toddy from cocoanuts. Kamehameha's
letter was interpreted to him, presents were given to
him (red shirts, turkey red, and scissors), and it was
explained to him that the missionaries came, not to rule,
but to command all to ' ' fear God and honor the king. "
He was pleased with this explanation, and consented to
the residence of Mr. Snow among his people, and said,
" I will be a father to him." After conveying the other
missionaries to Ponape, the Caroline, on her return
voyage, brought Mr. Snow and his wife to this island
and they were welcomed by the king.

326 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The mission work on Kusaie was successful from the
very beginning. The king faithfully assisted Mr. Snow
and the other missionaries who subsequently came to
aid him, built a house for worship, and finally himself
united with the church. A Girls' Seminary and a Train-
ing School have been many years successfully conducted
on this island ; and pupils from the Gilbert and Marshall
Islands have been educated here for missionary work.

The Caroline arrived at Ponape on the 6th of Septem-
ber, and entered the Metalanim harbor. There were 100
foreigners at that time residing on this island, who
on account of their dissolute character might well have
been called, according to the Chinese style, ' ' Foreign
Devils. " It was a fortunate thing that the natives soon
distinguished the missionaries from them, as the Chinese
also have learned to do, calling them "Jesus men."
Twelve of the foreigners came on board the Caroline and
begged for tobacco, and were much disappointed that
they could not obtain it. The missionaries were wel-
comed by the chiefs of the five tribes on the island, and
settled in two districts.

Two months afterwards the foreigners became decid-
edly hostile to the missionaries. They were infuriated
because the missionaries exposed a plot of theirs to get
possession of the Metalanim Harbor by a fraudulent
contract with the chiefs. Their opposition was strength-
ened by the dissolute crews of trading vessels and whale
ships, twenty of which came to the island in six months ;
this opposition became serious when the small-pox was
introduced, and the foreigners informed the natives that

MICRONESIA. 327

it was caused by the missionaries. On the iqih of Feb-
ruary, 1854, the ship Delta, Capt. Wicks, arrived with
two men sick of this disease, contracted at Honolulu.
The captain put them ashore on the Paniau Island, a
little island near Ponape, in order to care for them there
in seclusion ; but the Ponape natives stole their blankets
and thus propagated the disease. Dr. Gulick had ob-
tained vaccine matter from Hawaii, but it proved worth-
less ; he therefore attempted inoculation, and was gen-
erally successful in saving the lives of the natives on
whom he operated. About this time the house occupied
by Mr. Sturgis burned down, and he was obliged with
his wife to camp in the woods. War also broke out
between the different tribes, and raged for many months.
Dr. Gulick has remarked that it would be impossible for
any one to realize "the gloom that was over them during
those awful months of sickness and death, of the panic
of the natives and of war between the tribes."

After eight years of persevering labor the missionaries
on this island were cheered by the conversion of three
natives ; and soon eight more made Christian profession.
A church was then built measuring forty by sixty feet ;
and a bell for it was received from friends in Illinois.
Soon afterwards the chief, Nanakin, and fourteen others
joined the church. In 1867 meetings were held i
twelve places, there were 1,000 readers, three churches,
100 church members, and congregations at religious ser-
vices sometimes increased to the number of 600. "The
missionaries had held steadily on till the day broke."

In 1857 mission work was begun in the Gilbert and

328 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Marshall groups ; in the former by Rev. H. Bingham,
son of the pioneer missionary of that name in Hawaii.
The first station in this group was made at Apaiang, than
which hardly a more desolate island with a more unat-
tractive people could be found in the world. To come
into the small area of this island, with its contracted
horizon, its unchanging climate, with no sounds but the
unceasing roar and gurgle of the waves, the soughing of
the winds through the cocoa plumes, and the yells of the
savages, with no fellowship with congenial spirits and no
tidings from home oftener than from six to twenty-four
months, would seem like going into solitary confinement.
But it was even worse — like dwelling in a mad-house
with its different wards at war with each other ; for the
people of the neighboring islands occasionally attacked
each other, and Mr. Bingham and his wife were once in
a situation like that described of Robinson Crusoe when
savages invaded his island. A fleet of canoes from the
island of Tarawa, six miles distant, came to the very vil-
lage where Mr. Bingham dwelt and near by fought a
desperate battle. The king of Apaiang was killed ; but
the Tarawans were finally defeated, and driven away,
leaving many of their number dead. After this battle
Mr. Bingham rescued a Tarawan boy, who many years
afterwards became a very serviceable helper in translating
the Bible. Besides the perils and privations experienced
on this island was the discouraging indifference of the
natives to the work of the missionary. They would do
nothing except for pay, and demanded tobacco and fire-
arms as their only pay. It was remarked that a native

MICRONESIA. 329

would kill a man for a plug of tobacco. It seemed about
as difficult to gather them into churches and schools as
to tame the sea birds that flew over the island and the
roving fish of the lagoons. But in process of time the
unremitting labors of the missionaries resulted in the
conversion of many natives, and churches were organized
on this and the adjacent islands. After seventeen years
of residence here Mr. Bingham was obliged by failing
health to remove to Honolulu, where he completed the
translation of the Bible. Other missionaries then took
his place, among whom were many Hawaiians, and
nearly all the Gilbert Islanders embraced Christianity.

The occasion of the mission work on the Marshall Isl-
ands was the arrival in canoes at Kusaie of one hundred
storm-driven natives of Ebon who there landed expecting
to be killed, according to the former customs, but were
rescued by the missionaries. So interested did Rev. G,
Pierson and Rev. E. Doane become in these natives that
after their return to their homes they took passage on
the Morning Star to labor among them. They were
warned by sea-captains that it was dangerous to visit
Ebon, as the inhabitants were treacherous and ferocious.
Foreigners had committed such outrages on these natives
that they had resolved to kill the first white man that
should come to their shores ; and when the Morning
Star with these missionaries drew near they put off
to her in a multitude of canoes ; and the captain of the
vessel became apprehensive that they designed to cap-
ture her. He therefore put up boarding-netting and put
men fore and aft in readiness for an assault. But Dr.

330 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Pierson addressed a few Marshall words, which he had
previously learned, to a man in a canoe ; and then the
natives exclaiming, " Docotor, Mijineri," (Doctor,
Missionary), and laughing joyously, requested him to
land, and welcomed him to their island.

The work of the missionaries was greatly advanced,
as in other islands, by the wonder with which the natives
regarded the art of reading. An amusing incident illus-
trated this. One of the missionaries once sent a native
with two melons and a letter to his assistant at a distant
place. On the journey, the sun being hot, the native
ate one of the melons. When he arrived at his destina-
tion he handed the other melon with the letter to the
teacher. But the latter inquired for another melon.
The native expressed surprise that he should have known
that two melons were sent. "Why," he said, " I covered
the letter with a stone while I was eating the melon.
How could the letter have known that I ate it ?"

Other missionaries, American and Hawaiian, subse-
quently went to the Marshall group, and in a few years
a wonderful change was wrought in the inhabitants.

In 1871 Mr. Sturgis went by the Morning Star to
the island of Pingelap and persuaded the people of that
island, who were "living like dogs in kennels/' to con-
sent to the coming of missionaries. But when, a few
months afterwards, teachers were sent thither the king of
that island forbade them to land. It was found that a
few weeks previous the pirate, "Bully Hayes," had ex-
torted from the king a written agreement, signed by the
king's ' ' marks, " that no other traders and no missiona-

MICRONESIA. 333

ries should be allowed to dwell in his island for ten
years. But about this time six natives of this island
were carried by a trader to Kusaie and there set adrift.
They were kindly treated and instructed by the mission-
aries. Two of them were converted and returned as
teachers to their island. A pagan sorcerer of their island
now endeavored to kill them by incantations, but in the
performance fell in convulsions, and only at last recov-
ered when the teachers came and prayed over him. The
natives then exclaimed that the new religion had tri-
umphed. Other teachers were then sent thither and
were welcomed by the people. In 1885 Dr. C. H. Wet-
more, of Hawaii, visited this island, and found a house
of worship that would seat 1,000 people and a church
organized with 250 members, and remarked that "the
change wrought in this people was perfectly marvellous. "
The mission enterprise to the Mortlock Islands began
by a wonderful self-consecration of a royal princess of
Ponape, Opatinia, daughter of one of the kings of Pona-
pe and heir to the throne. She relinquished her oppor-
tunity of becoming queen and offered herself as a mis-
sionary to the dark islands to the west, and in 1873, with
her husband, Obadiah, and two other teachers, was con-
veyed on the Morning Star to Lukunor, of the Mortlocks.
On arriving at this island the accompanying missionary
asked the natives whether they would welcome and pro-
vide for these teachers, and they assented. For more
than a year the Morning Star could not be again sent
thither, and it was feared that these teachers had seri-
ously suffered ; but it was found that the natives had
15

334 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

faithfully fulfilled their agreement, and though an unu-
sual storm had swept great waves over their island and
destroyed most of their breadfruit trees, and many of the
natives had died of famine, they had generously fed these
teachers. When, a year after, the Morning Star again
arrived, a multitude of natives gathered at the beach
singing songs to welcome her, and the missionary dele-
gate was conducted to an elegant house of worship that
had been built, and a large number of the natives were
organized into a church.

The natives of the great atoll of Ruk, further west,
now "hearing of the mission work in the Mortlock Isl-
ands, sought for teachers. With this desire a chief of
Ruk went forty miles, to Nama, of the Mortlocks, and
persuaded a Ponape teacher, Moses, to return with him
to his island and instruct his people. This chief built a
house of worship for the use of Moses, and in a year,
with thirty-six of his people, sought baptism. In 1884
Rev. Robert Logan and his wife and Miss A. Palmer
went to the aid of Moses, and settled at a beautiful place
on an island of Ruk which they named Anapauo (rest-
ing-place). Mr. Logan did energetic work till he died
of malarial fever, and then his work was heroically con-
tinued by his wife. In 1886 there were 1,000 members
of churches in Ruk and the Mortlock Islands.

Notable assistance has been rendered to the Micro-
nesian Mission by the pupils of Sunday-schools in the
United States. At the suggestion of Rev. T. Coan, of
Hawaii, subscriptions of ten cents a share were solicited
from the Sunday-schools for the construction of a vessel,

MICRONESIA. 335

to be called the Morning Star, for carrying supplies to
Micronesia and for conveying the missionaries to and
fro. The first vessel thus built proved inadequate and
was sold. Another was then built, and this after several
voyages was carried by powerful ocean currents, during
a lull of the wind, on the reefs of Kusaie and wrecked.
A third Morning Star was then built by the aid of the
children ; and this also on February 23, 1883, was
wrecked in the same way in the same place. The fourth
Morning Star was then built, a barkentine of 430 tons
with auxiliary steam power, and this vessel has done
good service ever since. Recently a small schooner,
the Robert Logan, has been built, and a vessel called
the Hiram Bingham, with a gasoline engine, for use
among the Micronesian Islands. The Sunday-schools
have contributed $114,593 for the construction of these
vessels.

When at length all Micronesia seemed about to be
illuminated by Christian light kindled from island to
island, dark clouds rose through the establishment by
European nations of foreign sovereignty over this Archi-
pelago. Germany proclaimed a Protectorate over all
Micronesia and Spain protested that Micronesia be-
longed to her by the right of discovery. The dispute
was referred to the Pope of Rome, and he assigned the
Caroline Islands to Spain and the Marshall Islands to
Germany.

In accordance with this decision a Spanish war ves-
sel was sent to Ponape in July, 1886, and the com-
mander, consulting as little the natives as he did the

336 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

crabs that scrambled over the sands and the birds that
flew over the island, required the Ponapean chiefs to
cede their property and sovereignty to Spain ; and under
duress, with heavy hearts, they made their "marks" to
the document of cession.

In the following year, in the month of March, an-
other Spanish war vessel took thither a governor, six
Catholic priests, fifty soldiers, and twenty-five convicts.
This governor at once took possession of a piece of land,
called Mejiniong, the deeds for which had long been held
by Mr. Doane for the American Mission. Mr. Doane
remonstrated, offering to give another tract of land, and
was arrested, and with no notification of charges against
himself was conveyed 2,000 miles, to Manilla. But by
the prompt intervention of the United States ship Essex
the governor of Manilla was obliged to release him and
convey him back to Ponape.

But before the return of Mr. Doane the wrath of the
natives burst forth. They had been obliged by the Span-
iards to work without pay, constructing a fort on the
purloined land. When at length they refused to go to
work a company of twenty soldiers fired on them, kill-
ing two of them and wounding three more. They then
rushed upon the soldiers and killed them to a man.
The governor and the rest of the Spaniards now took
refuge in the fort, and the natives, feeling as they some-
times did when a whale was stranded in one of their
lagoons, gathered in great numbers to storm the fort.
Seeing that defence of the fort was impossible the gov-
ernor and his officers and soldiers at midnight undertook

MICRONESIA. 337

to flee over the shallow water to their war-ship, and
were attacked by the natives, and all, fifty in number,
killed.

Mr. Doane now persuaded the new governor to pro-
claim pardon to the natives, and the natives, excepting
the Metalanim tribe, to give up their arms and submit.
The governor then sent four war vessels and 1,200 sol-
diers to the Metalanim harbor of Owa, and they erected
a fort on the mission premises notwithstanding the pro-
test of the lady missionary, Miss Palmer. As serious
trouble was inevitable, the missionary ladies, Misses
Palmer, Fletcher and Foss, Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Rand, with
eleven pupils, took passage to Mokil, and soon after the
Spaniards shelled Owa and burned the mission build-
ings, consisting of three dwelling-houses, a large girls'
schoolhouse, and a church. Three battles were then
fought; but in the almost impenetrable jungles no na-
tives were able to keep at bay 1,200 Spanish soldiers.
In these battles the natives lost only six men, and killed
369 Spaniards and captured 100 guns. The Spanish
governor then sent messages to the exiled missionaries,
requesting them to return, as "their presence was neces-
sary for the maintenance of order. " Recently Spain has
yielded to the demands of the United States for repara-
tion, and offered to pay for the destruction of the prop-
erty of the American Mission ; but the Spaniards now
forbid the missionaries and the Morning Star to come
to Ponape, while they admit vessels of every other kind.
And so, while the Spaniards have done nothing for the
welfare of the Ponapeans during the hundred years since

338 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

they discovered them, they claim authority by the "right
of discovery " to expel the American missionaries, who
have spent forty years in costly, arduous and perilous
labors for the Ponapeans, and have lifted them out of
pagan barbarism into a considerable degree of Christian
civilization.

In the Marshall Islands the Germans avoided war
with the natives, but grievously oppressed them by im-
posing taxes and obstructing the mission work. The
little island of Ebon was required to pay annually $500
as taxes to Germany, and the other islands in like pro-
portion. The missionaries were forbidden to labor in
islands where they had not previously been located ; and
two of them were imprisoned for several weeks for preach-
ing outside of their own fields. Permission was refused
them to buy or lease land for sites for schools or churches.
The Morning Star was required to take out annually a
license, at an expense of $250, for selling Bibles and
other books and articles needed by the churches.

The natives of the Gilbert Islands now became
alarmed lest one of these Christian nations should ex-
tend its kind protection over them also. To escape such
a fate, Tebureimoa, king of Butaritari, took passage to
San Francisco, arriving there in April, 1892, and offered
his island to the United States. Not receiving a reply
from President Harrison, but expecting a favorable an-
swer, he returned home, and in preparation for the ces-
sion to the United States constructed a wharf 1,000 feet
long. But the news of his overtures was secretly sent
to Britain, and the British war-ship Royalist, Capt. Da-

MICRONESIA. 339

vis, hastened to Butaritari, and there on the 1 2th of June
hoisted the British flag, although the king protested that
negotiations for annexation to the United States were
pending. The rule of the British in this island has thus
far been excellent. They have forbidden the sale of
liquors and firearms to the natives, and put a stop to the
' ' black-bird traffic, " or slave-trade.

Although the mission work in Micronesia has been
seriously retarded by these usurpations of European na-
tions the churches have generally held their own, and in
some of the islands made great progress. On Ponape a
Christian chief, Mr. Nanapei, has been laboring as a
missionary, and reports that the native Christians are
continuing steadfast notwithstanding the threats and
allurements of the Spaniards, and that their schools and
churches are progressing satisfactorily. The mission
boarding-school that was expelled by the Spaniards from
this island is now successfully established on Mokil. In
the Marshall Islands the native missionary, Mr. Lanien,
after having been imprisoned six months for preaching
at Mejuro, has been released and has again begun to
preach, saying that he would rather be executed by the
Spaniards than cease from preaching. It may be said
that a great work of God has been performed, and is still
going on, in these islands. From the inception of this
mission to the present time 20,000 natives have been re-
ceived into the churches. There are now 47 churches in
Micronesia, with an enrolled membership of 4,509.
There are four training-schools with 114 pupils, three
girls' boarding schools with 79 pupils, and common

340 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

schools with 2,422 pupils. The annual contributions
for evangelical work amount to $2,000.

As these islands wave their beautiful cocoa plumes in
triumph over the briny deep, so their churches now sing
glad songs of victory over the foul paganism of yore.
Though the native converts do not attain to the high
type of piety seen in countries that have enjoyed centu-
ries of Christian culture, they exhibit instances of as gen-
uine goodness as is found in more favored lands — a
goodness that doubtless causes rejoicing in heaven. And
these sea-swept reefs and tiny deserts of the ocean, that
have long been polluted with the lust and cruelty of pa-
ganism and the more blamable atrocities of savage white
men, are now becoming almost holy ground by the con-
secrated toil and premature deaths of Christian mission-
aries, and by the beginnings, in the fiendlike natures of
the degraded islanders, of heavenly character and divine
life.

THE TONGA, OR FRIENDLY, ISLANDS. 343

CHAPTER XII.

THE TONGA, OR FRIENDLY, ISLANDS.

CONTINUING, the narrative of mission work in the
Pacific, we now pass from accounts of the operations
of the London Missionary Society and American Board
to those of the Wesleyan Society in the Tonga and Fiji
Islands. It is interesting and most important to note
that no less efficient labor was performed, and divine
blessing enjoyed, by the agents of the latter society than
by those of the former. The peculiar distinctions that
separated the denominations represented by these socie-
ties were of no practical importance in the missionary
enterprise, if anywhere else. In no part of the world
has that enterprise achieved nobler triumphs, nor enjoyed
more of the divine blessing, than in the Tonga and Fiji
groups.

The Tonga Islands are situated between 18° and 23°
south latitude, and 174° and 176° west longitude, and
consist of three clusters : the Tongatabu islands at the
south, the Happai group in the centre, and the Vavau
group, the most beautiful of the Tongas, at the north-
west. The collective area of these islands is 374 square
miles. Only thirty of them are of any considerable size ;
the rest, 1 50 in number, are small islets of coral.

In the Vavau group are the volcanic peaks Kao,
5,080 feet high, Tofua, 2,846 feet high, and Late, 1,820

344 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

feet high. The rest of the Tongas are low islands, having
a few hills 600 feet in height, but averaging only from
40 to 60 feet above the surface of the ocean. While they
lack in attractions of natural scenery they are unsurpassed
in the beauty of their vegetation ; for their soil, which is
composed of ocean sand, vegetable mould, and volcanic
debris, is like "garden soil," and so well cultivated as to
make them indeed gardens of beauty and fruitfulness.

The underlying rock of the low islands is coral lime-
stone, and also a white crystalline rock which is perhaps
a metamorphic from sandstone. In the strata of these
rocks stalactitic caves of great beauty have been formed.
Into one of these caves, which opens under water in the
sea, a young chief once dove, when condemned to die,
and here was visited and fed by his lady-love, until to-
gether they went in a canoe to another group of islands.

The natives of the Tonga Islands are physically and
mentally the finest of the Polynesian race. As has been
remarked, De Quatrefages, in a table giving the stature
of different races of men, puts the natives of Samoa and
Tonga as the largest in the world, giving their average
height as 5 feet and 9.92 inches. Their superiority to
the other Pacific Islanders may be attributed to the facts
that they lived in a better style, that they did not gener-
'ally contract marriages at a very early age, and that they
cared well for their children. But their primitive condi-
tion was bad enough. Cannibalism and other inhuman
practices prevailed, though to a less extent than in some
other islands of the Pacific. When, in 1773, Capt. Cook
visited this group he named them the Friendly Islands,

THE TONGA, OR FRIENDLY, ISLANDS. 345

because of the friendly reception the natives gave him ;
but he knew little of their true character. From events
that transpired among them during the first years after
their discovery, from their treacherous murders of chiefs
and savage wars, we may infer that the long ages of their
previous history had been a fearful period of barbarous
strife, revolting crimes and gloomy superstitions.

To this people in their primeval darkness mission-
aries, in 1797 and subsequent years, brought that light
which alone has transformed human nature, and some-
times has raised the vilest of men to angelic character.
Our previous consideration of the mission in Tahiti leads
us to inquire what became of those members of the first
company of missionaries to the Pacific who, in 1797,
were conveyed by the ship Duff to these Tonga Islands.
We learn that they went to Tongatabu, and landed in a
district called Hihifu, and were welcomed by a chief; that
soon afterward this chief was murdered by his own bro-
ther and the island involved in sanguinary war, and dur-
ing this war three of the missionaries were killed, and the
rest were obliged to hide among the rocks and caverns.

In these days, when a halo of glory surrounds the
name of missionary, when in many mission fields the
comforts and luxuries of civilization are enjoyed and
there are opportunities by steamers and telegraphs for
quick communication with friends, it is well to look
back to the condition of these pioneers of the mission
enterprise when it was new and untried, and regarded by
the public with great incredulity ; when a voyage of six
months separated them from their relatives ; when they

346 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

toiled almost hopelessly amid great privations and perils,
and sometimes were robbed, half-starved, and obliged
to flee for their lives. Their sufferings and privations
were not indeed essential, nor to be desired, in this
enterprise. It is matter for rejoicing that the sublime
work of missions is becoming comparatively easy and
even attractive ; but the disinterested benevolence shown
by these first laborers in this cause indicates that it orig-
inated in something higher than mere human motives
and has something of the lustre of heaven.

These missionaries of the London Missionary Society
struggled on many years amid great hardships and per-
ils, with no prospect of success, and finally, in the year
1800, went by an English ship to New South Wales.
Then for over twenty years these islands were left to their
primitive heathenism. Finally, in 1822, a Wesleyan mis-
sionary, Rev. Walter Lawry, encouraged by the success
of the missionaries in the Society Islands, went from
Sydney to begin missionary work at Hihifu on the island
of Tongatabu. He found there an Englishman by the
name of Singleton, who had been tossing many years like
a drift log on the ocean and at last had been thrown
upon this island, and had remained here long enough to
learn the native language. His misfortunes had pre-
pared him to receive good ; as men sometimes ' ' only
by shipwreck find the shores of divine wisdom." He
acted as interpreter for Mr. Lawry, accepted the gospel
and greatly assisted in the missionary work. After
laboring fourteen months Mr. Lawry was obliged, on
account of the failure of his wife's health, to go to New

THE TONGA, OR FRIENDLY, ISLANDS. 347

South Wales. The reports he sent home of his labors
encouraged the Wesleyan Society to send more mission-
aries to the Tonga Islands, among whom were the Revs.
John Thomas and John Hutchinson, who arrived in
1826, and Revs. Nathaniel Turner and William Cross
and Mr. Weiss, who arrived in 1827.

Here now we find a new link connecting this mission
with that of Tahiti. These missionaries found at one of
the chief towns of Tongatabu, Nukualofa, two native
teachers from Tahiti preaching in the Tahitian language,
and a chapel already erected in which 240 persons were
regularly attending their preaching. Thus the mission-
ary work in these islands grew out of that in Tahiti, and
in various ways derived an important impetus there-
from.

Tidings of the introduction of a new religion were
now soon carried to the other islands ; and the chief of
the Haabai group, Taufaahau, went to Tongatabu to
judge of it for himself. It seems never to have occurred
to the Polynesians in their primitive state to doubt
respecting the value of their idol-worship; but when
once doubt was suggested, and the impotence of their
idols shown, they were quick to renounce their supersti-
tions. Taufaahau's eyes were opened to the folly of
paganism by his visit at Tongatabu ; and he hastened
home to his island to destroy his idols and all the para-
phernalia of their worship. The priests made opposition
to this project and prepared to celebrate a great festival
in order to promote enthusiasm for their pagan rites.
To prevent this festival Taufaahau now desecrated their

348 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

temple by driving a drove of pigs into it and by sending
his women servants to sleep in it ; for, with the low esti-
mation generally entertained by pagan nations for women,
the Tongans regarded the presence of a woman as a
pollution to a temple. When the heathen now came
with their offerings of turtle and sacred fish they found
their gods hanging by the neck from the rafters, and,
fearing lest they themselves should be similarly treated by
the wrath of their king, retired. Taufaahau then sent a
canoe and brought Rev. John Thomas to his island, and
under his guidance erected a large chapel in which con-
gregations of from a thousand to fifteen hundred people
often assembled.

As in other groups of islands, the mission successes
here spread from one island to another ; for Taufaahau
now, with his heart glowing with the new light, visited
Finau, the king of the Vavau Islands, and persuaded him
to renounce idolatry. Finau did this in a dramatic way.
Causing seven of his principal idols to be set in a row be-
fore himself he said to them, "I have brought you here
to prove you. If you are gods run away, or I will burn
you." As none of them ran he burned them, together
with eighteen temples.

Finau left the government of the Vavau group at his
death to Taufaahau, who had been baptized with the
name of " King George Tubou." The Tongatabu group
was afterwards added to his dominion, and he became
king of all the Tongas. He still, however, continued to
be an earnest and humble Christian, and became an ex-
cellent local preacher, faithfully meeting the classes that

THE TONGA, OR FRIENDLY, ISLANDS. 349

were appointed to him and superintending the schools.
On one occasion he took into a meeting one of the idols
which he previously had suspended to the rafters of a
temple, and said, "This is the thing I formerly wor-
shipped ;" and then, holding up first one hand and then
the other, each of which was minus two joints of the little
finger, he said, "My father cut oft' these fingers and
oifered them in sacrifice to this very thing. "

This King George was a man of great ability and
high character. He is described as upwards of six feet in
height, remarkably well proportioned and athletic, with
a fine open countenance and unassuming dignity. He
has been styled the "Father of the Tonga Mission," so
greatly did he assist this mission by all his influence.

In 1834 an extraordinary revival of religion prevailed
over the Tonga Islands. The missionaries believed that
on one day 1,000 souls were converted. Other revivals
followed ; and the result was, as in other groups of isl-
ands, that forms of constitutional civil government took
the place of the previous savage despotism, common
schools and a high school were established, and at Nu-
kualofa a training school was formed for educating
preachers. It was called "Tubou College" in honor of
King George Tubou. In 1860 nearly 500 licensed
preachers had gone out from this institution to stations
in their own islands and distant pagan groups.

In 1870 it was confidently asserted that not one hea-
then remained in the Tonga Islands. The Rev. Robert
Young testified that, with the exception of fifty persons,
the entire population had embraced Christianity, that not

350 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

less than 8,000 of them could read the sacred Scriptures,
and 5,000 could write their own language.

The Tongan Mission had now become not only self-
supporting, but also a large contributor to the funds of
the Wesleyan Society. Situated as these islands are,
away from the most frequented routes of ships, they have
developed better results from mission work than have
been seen in almost any other groups of the Pacific, and
exhibit the true achievements of the mission enterprise.

isg to i

ItfEWZEAXAND

rt> t native r<i»ie ofttt tforctiT.

£aiuinO«aut

sftkt Middle I

NEW ZEALAND. 353

CHAPTER XIII.

NEW ZEALAND.

ALTHOUGH New Zealand is situated almost at our
antipodes, where the North Star, the Great Bear and
other constellations that are constantly familiar to us
are lost to view, while the Southern Cross and Magellan
Clouds are almost overhead and the frosty breath of the
antarctic zone blows keen in the face, it has become like
a near neighbor by the improved facilities of trade and
travel, and is of peculiar interest to us because of having
a similar Anglo-Saxon people, a similar civilization, and
probably a similar destiny. In this sketch of missions
an account of New Zealand is needed for a completion
of the mission history of the Polynesian race, and for an
illustration of the influence of missions on the foreign
populations in the Pacific, and it is interesting to pass
from consideration of the little palm-fringed islands of
volcanic or coral formation to that of a country which is
of almost continental proportions and characteristics,
and has the climate and productions of the temperate
zone.

New Zealand lies between the parallels of 34° 15' and
470 30' south latitude, and the meridians 166° and 179°
east longitude, and about 8,000 miles southwest of San
Francisco and 1,200 southeast of Australia. Its area is
101,500 square miles, one-sixth less than that of Great
16

354 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Britain and Ireland. Of this area 12,000,000 acres are
arable and 50,000,000 fit for pasturage.

New Zealand consists of three islands : the Northern
Island, 500 miles long and from five to 300 broad, con-
taining 44,000 square miles; the Middle or Southern
Island, 550 miles long, with an average breadth of no
miles, containing 55,000 square miles; and Stewart Isl-
and, 30 miles in diameter, having an area of 800 square
miles. These islands combined have been compared to
a boot with the toe turned north, also to Italy, which
they nearly equal in area.

In New Zealand we find the volcanic rocks of the
Pacific Islands mingled with the metamorphic and sed-
imentary strata of the continents. These strata contain
slate, sandstone, limestone, coal, copper, silver and gold.
In the North and South Islands gold has been success-
fully mined by hydraulic processes.

The chief feature of New Zealand is the grand range
of mountains which runs parallel with its western
coasts. In Stewart Island these mountains reach an
altitude of 3, 200 feet ; in South Island they reach their
greatest height in Mount Cook, 13,200 feet high, near
which are many peaks of nearly the same height ; in the
North Island the highest mountain is Ruapahu, 9,100
feet high, which rises into perpetual snow, and has one
peak, Tangariro, that is an active volcano, 7,000 feet
high. Further south is Mount Egmont, 8,270 feet high,
a perfect cone capped with snow.

In the southwestern part of the South Island the great
arms of the Southern Ocean have extended far up into

NEW ZEALAND. 355

the wild solitudes of this mountain range ; and here is
the grandest scenery of this country. One of these in-
lets, called Milford Sound, "three miles from its entrance
contracts to the width of half a mile, and its sides rise
perpendicularly from the water's edge 2,000 feet, and
then slope at a high angle to peaks that are covered
with perpetual snow. Further inland the sound becomes
more expanded and receives several large valleys that ra-
diate in different directions into the highest ranges.
Immediately above rises Pembroke Peak to the height of
nearly 7,000 feet, covered with perpetual snow, and with
a glacier reaching down to within 2,000 feet of the sea.
The lower slopes of this mountain are covered with fine
trees and with luxuriant and evergreen foliage of the
tree-fern and other beautiful undergrowth of the New
Zealand forests. Two permanent waterfalls, one 700
and the other 540 feet in height, add picturesque beauty
to the gloomy and desolate grandeur of the upper part
of this sound. " (Dr. Hector.)

The lower portion of this mountain range is covered
with noble forests of pine and other valuable trees ; and
further down on their eastern side are large lakes ; one
of which, in South Island, Lake Wakitipu, is sixty miles
long and has two flourishing towns on its banks and
several steamers plying between them. In North Island
is Lake Taupo, which measures thirty by twenty miles,
and has one small island, Motu Taiko, of extreme beau-
ty, in the centre. On this island are also the Roturua
lakes, sixteen in number, among which is the Rotoma-
hana Lake (warm lake), one mile long, with water at

356 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

the temperature of 90°. Here also are geysers, which
eject water two degrees above the boiling point, holding
silicates in solution, and also the "bathing-place,"
wh'ich is described as "terraces of soft friable stone de-
posited by water streaming down from hot pools above.
These terraces, white and pink, three hundred feet in
width, rise two hundred feet. As you ascend you step
along a raised fret- work of stone as fine as chased silver.
In the terraces are smooth alabaster-like bathing pools,
three to four feet deep, formed by silica, and above are
wonderful overhanging cornices formed by the drip."
Recently this "bathing-place" has been broken up by
earthquakes ; but new depositions of silica are forming
it again.

From these lakes stretch extensive plains to the
ocean. These plains were originally covered with native
grasses and ferns, but are now cultivated with grain or
planted with English grasses and clovers for pasturage.
Where formerly hardly one sheep to the acre could be
pastured on the native grasses, now from five to seven
sheep to the acre are kept on English grasses. The soil
is generally lighter and better than that of Great Britain.
In some places it contains iron, and as much as seventy
per. cent of iron has been extracted from the ore.

The flora of New Zealand consists of one thousand
species of plants, which have affinities with those of Au-
stralia, Polynesia, and South America. The most con-
spicuous trees are the coniferae, of which the most re-
markable is the Kauri pine (dammara australis), which
is found in the northern part of the North Island. It is

NEW ZEALAND.

sometimes forty feet in circumference, and rises nine-
ty feet before its branches begin, and lifts its head above
the rest of the forest sometimes to the height of two
hundred feet above the ground. The gum which has
collected in the ground from ancient forests of this tree
is much sought after for use in glazing calico and for a
substitute for copal-varnish, and is worth from eight to
ten dollars per hundred pounds. Almost all the other
trees are evergreen. The puriki tree resembles teak and
rivals the English oak, and is said to be almost as im-
perishable as stone. Splendid flowering trees abound,
among which are the rata (meirosideros robustd), like
the Hawaiian ohia, which are gorgeous with dazzling
scarlet blossoms, and the kowhai (Edwardia microphylld),
which has yellow papilionaceous flowers. The chief
ornaments of the forest are the tree ferns (Dicksonia and
cyathea), which rise thirty feet in height, the palms
(areca sapida), which rear their green crowns in pic-
turesque majesty throughout the whole length of the
islands, and the vines "which entwine the topmost
branches of trees in gordian knots. " One writer says,
"There were convolvuli and clematis and passiflorae
festooning the branches with their light garlands, and
enormous brambles, covered with wild roses, clamber-
ing up to the summits of some tall tree and toppling
down again in a cascade of bloom." Two of the
vines are very troublesome, the ripogonum parviflorum, a
rope-like vine which entangles the traveller, and the
rubus australis, the thorny strings of which scratch the
face and are therefore called "bush-lawyers." In the

358 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

open grounds are to be seen species of viola, primula,
ranunculus, and, to the delight of Englishmen, daisies
(microcalis australis);

The climate of New Zealand has been compared to
that of England with the seasons reversed, but is more
rainy and windy. January is the hottest and driest
month of the year, July the coolest and most rainy.
Winds blowing from the northwest bring rain to all the
islands, and sometimes snow for a few hours to the
South Island. In Auckland the rainfall in 1882 was
forty-five inches, in Wellington fifty-five inches. The
average temperature of the North Island is 57° F., that
of the South Island 52°, while that of London is 51°.
The salubrity of the climate is shown by the fact that,
while the average mortality of British soldiers quartered
in Great Britain has been 16 to 1,000, here it has been
5 to 1,000.

Like the island of Saint Patrick, New Zealand has no
snakes ; and, like most of the Pacific Islands, it formerly
had no quadrupeds but dogs, swine, and rats. An
enormous wingless bird, called the moa, the skeletons
of which have been found measuring thirteen feet in
height, once abounded.

A romantic interest attaches to the origin of the abo-
rigines, the Maoris, of New Zealand. Tourists readily
perceive that in physical characteristics, in language,
customs and traditions, they are the same race that in-
habits the other Pacific Islands even as far north as Ha-
waii. The resemblance of their language to that of
Hawaii is very striking. To best observe this, it must

NEW ZEALAND. 359

be noted that among Polynesian tribes the letters 1 and r
are interchangeable, as also k and t, and that the letter k
when found between vowels is often dropped in Hawaii.
Thus the New Zealand word ariki (chief) becomes alii in
Hawaii, and the word atua (god), aktia, and Hawaiki be-
comes Hawaii.

The Maoris claim that they emigrated from Hawaiki,
doubtless meaning Savaii (of the Samoa group) and
from Rarotonga (of the Hervey group), and Pirima and
Manono (of the Samoa group). Their tradition is that
about the year 140x3 A. D., as it is estimated from their
genealogies of their kings, two chiefs fled in canoes from
Samoa on account of war, and were driven by stormy
weather to New Zealand, and returning brought eight
hundred of their countrymen in twenty canoes to the
splendid islands they had discovered.

A detailed description of the customs and supersti-
tions of the Maoris would be little more than a repeti-
tion of what has been narrated of the peoples of the
other Pacific islands. Suffice it to say that they wor-
shipped three chief gods, Tane, Ra and Tangaroa, cor-
responding to Kane, Ka and Kaneloa of Hawaii, and to
supposed deities of similar names in most of the other
islands of the Pacific ; that, like other Polynesians, they
imposed on themselves the restrictions of tabu, practiced
sorcery, tattooed their bodies, and were cannibals. The
stories of their cannibalism are revolting. They differed
from the other Polynesians in that, besides feasting on
enemies who were killed in battle, they specially fattened
slaves for their feasts. A poor slave girl would some-

360 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

times be commanded by her master to fetch fuel, light a
fire, and heat an oven, and then would be knocked in
the head and cast into the oven. One cannibal testi-
fied that, when he first heard the missionaries speak of
the sinfulness of eating human flesh, he thought their
words were very foolish, and questioned whether it was
any more wicked to eat a man than a dog, or pig, or any
other animal ; but remembering the words he did not
relish his next cannibal feast, and finally loathed the
sight of such food and became a Christian.

The Maoris had a singular custom, called muru, of
showing sympathy for each other in misfortunes by rob-
bing each other of property. If a man's wife ran away,
or his child got his leg broken, or any other calamity
came upon him, a taua (multitude) of his neighbors
would kindly call on him, and in condolence eat all his
food and carry away all his goods. This prevented the
accumulation of property.

The Maoris dressed in shaggy mats made of flax (the
phormium tenax, which was a flag-like plant with sword-
shaped drooping leaves). Their food consisted chiefly of
fern roots (the pteris esculenta), also of palm shoots and
kumera (the sweet potato), but they ate little meat.
They cooked their food by burying it, wrapped in leaves
with heated stones, in the ground. They made no use
of the metals which abounded in their country, but used
stone adzes with surprising skill.

In comparison with the degraded Australians and the
natives of the New Hebrides they were a noble race.
Their average height was the same as that of Europeans,

NEW ZEALAND. 363

five feet and six inches. Rev. Samuel Marsden, founder
of the missions in New Zealand, said of them : "They
are vastly superior in understanding to anything you can
imagine of a savage nation." Sir Anthony Trollope has
written that "they are more pliable and nearer akin in
their manners to civilized mankind than are the Ameri-
can Indians, and more manly, more courteous, as well
as more sagacious than the African negro. " The British
military officers have testified that in war, when supplied
with firearms, they were fully a match for the best disci-
plined English troops. In defense of the fortification
Gate Pah, 300 of them repulsed 1,600 English soldiers.

Like the other Polynesians, the Maoris have melted
away as they have come into contact with foreign races.
In 1769 it was estimated that they numbered several
hundred thousands. By the census of 1888 they now
number only 42,000, while the foreign population of
New Zealand is 607,380.

The Europeans who first visited New Zealand, with a
few exceptions, were in character as uncouth, repulsive
and terrible as the Maoris in physical appearance. Some
of these Europeans were not a little amused when Maoris
shrank away in horror on first seeing their own likenesses
reflected in looking-glasses, but the abhorrence they felt
for the Maori in his paint, tattoo and grotesque head-
gear might well have been felt for themselves in their
reckless avarice, lust and cruelty. Our first accounts of
New Zealand are of wanton outrages committed by these
foreigners on the natives, and of dreadful retaliations
made by the natives. The first discoverer, the Dutch-

^N

_ ^a

364 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

man Abel Tasman, on anchoring, September 18, 1642,
near Nelson, of the Middle Island, got into a conflict
with the natives and killed several of them, and they in
return killed four of his men. For this reason he named
this port Massacre Bay, but the group he named New
Zealand, after his own country. In 1769 Capt. Cook
arrived at these islands and announced that he took
possession of them for Britain. Three years afterwards
the French captain Marion du Fresne arrived with two
ships in the Bay of Islands, and because of cruel outra-
ges committed by him on chiefs was killed, with twenty-
five of his men. In 1809 the captain of the British ship
Boyd, having flogged a chief, was killed with his crew
and passengers, seventy in number. In later times
escaped convicts from Botany Bay led lives of horrible
lust and cruelty among the natives ; and finally, as will
be more particularly recounted in another part of this
chapter, the great British Colonization Company was
extremely lawless, and occasioned fierce and destructive
wars.

One agency alone has operated for the welfare of the
Maoris as well as for that of the foreign population of
New Zealand : the Missionary Society. The first mission
in New Zealand was originated by Rev. Samuel Marsden,
who in 1792 went as chaplain to Port Jackson, of the
penal colony of New South Wales. His attention was
drawn to New Zealand by the Maoris, who as seamen
occasionally visited Port Jackson and greatly impressed
him with their superiority to the Papuans. While the
common cry was that the Maoris should be extermina-

NEW ZEALAND. 365

ted, he built a hut in his parsonage for their accommo-
dation. To most of the residents of Port Jackson the
coming of these Maoris was about as alarming as the
coming of savages was to Robinson Crusoe ; and it was
an exercise of no ordinary philanthropy for Mr. Marsden
not merely to treat them kindly when he casually met
them, but to bring them to occupy a home at his very
door. He often had as many as thirty staying with him
at one time. In 1807 he went to England and persua-
ded the Church Mission Society to undertake a mission
to this people, and returned with two missionaries : Mr.
William Hall, a carpenter, and Mr. John King, a shoe-
maker and ropemaker. These men were selected that
they might teach the natives the industrial arts ; but it
was afterwards discovered that evangelization must pre-
cede civilization.

As Mr. Marsden with these missionaries embarked
from England on the 25th of August, 1809, on the ship
Ann, they observed a Maori chief, Ruatara, sitting dis-
consolate, and evidently very ill, on the forecastle of the
ship. This chief had left home as a seaman in order to
see the world, and had been badly abused by captains of
ships. A short time before he had been put ashore with
a few other men at Bounty Island, east of New Zealand,
to collect sealskins, under the assurance that he would
be taken off in a few days, but he was left there ten
months ; and when the faithless captain rescued him
three of his companions had perished of starvation. He
had collected eight thousand sealskins, and with these
was taken to England and then was turned adrift. Mr.

366 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Marsden most kindly befriended him, and thereby
gained a kind reception for his missionaries in New Zea-
land.

On their arrival at Port Jackson they heard of the
massacre of the crew and passengers of the Boyd, and that
afterwards whalers had taken vengeance on the natives.
Ruatara's uncle had been killed, and a war had thereby
been occasioned between the tribes of natives. Ruatara
therefore took passage on a ship to investigate whether
missionaries would be received ; but the captain with
whom he embarked refused to land him when he was in
sight of his home, and he was tossed about in rough
seafaring life nearly two years before he arrived among
his people, from whom he had then been absent seven
years. The accounts he gave of the wonders he had
seen in foreign lands, especially of horse-riding, were too
much for the belief of his people ; but they were per-
suaded to send invitations for missionaries to reside
among them.

When at last he returned to Port Jackson Mr. Mars-
den at his own risk purchased a little brig, the Active,
for $10,000, and embarked on the 28th of November,
1814, for New Zealand with three missionaries and their
wives and three Maori chiefs, among whom was this
Ruatara. Arriving off the northeast coast of New Zea-
land, at Whangaroa, within forty miles of Rangihoua,
Ruatara's home, they learned from natives in canoes that
there was a feud, originated from the massacre of the
Boyd, between the natives of this region and Ruatara's
tribe. Mr. Marsden therefore landed with the chiefs to

NEW ZEALAND. 367

sue for peace, and sent Ruatara before, to a body of
armed men, to apply for a friendly interview. A woman
then came forward waving a red mat and exclaiming,
' ' Haeremai, " " Come hither " (Hawaiian, Helemai). In
compliance with this invitation they then went forward,
and found the chiefs sitting, with warriors holding spears
twenty feet in length standing around them. The chiefs
were dressed in handsome mats, had their hair tied in
top-knots ornamented with long white feathers, and
wore around their necks the dollars taken from the Boyd.
The warriors now brandished their spears with frightful
yells, and sprang around Mr. Marsden and his compan-
ions in a menacing war-dance which was meant for a
welcome. Mr. Marsden remained over night with them
and persuaded them to make peace.

Before reaching Ruatara's home, which was on the
northwest side of the Bay of Islands, one of the chiefs
went ashore to prepare for their reception ; and as they
drew near ten war canoes came off, and bore swiftly
upon them, and gave them a welcome of war-cries,
shrieks, and threatening gesticulations.

As they landed on Sunday, December 25, 1814, they
were surprised to find that Ruatara had with great inge-
nuity prepared for a religious meeting. He had enclosed
about half an acre of land with a fence, erected in the
centre a pulpit covered with black mats, arranged canoes
on each side as seats for the white men, rigged a flagstaff,
and hoisted the British flag. Mr. Marsden preached
from the text, "Behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy ;" and the sermon was interpreted by Ruatara,

368 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Mr. Marsden had brought a horse, which he now
took ashore, mounted and rode, to the utter astonish-
ment of the natives. He had also brought a grist mill,
and now ground some wheat, that had been raised by
Ruatara, and made flour and bread, and thereby con-
vinced the natives that Ruatara's reports of foreign lands
were true, and won golden opinions for the mission-
aries.

Subsequently the missionaries had the usual expe-
riences of missionaries in the Pacific, of losses of proper-
ty by thefts and robberies, lack of food, when the natives
would take nothing but fire-arms or ammunition as pay
for provisions, and perils from intertribal wars. They
were obliged to constantly watch the natives who came
to visit them ; but ' ' in spite of their vigilance, tools,
ropes, knives, wearing apparel, blankets, etc., disap-
peared ; and two volumes of Milner's Church History
were taken and converted into New Zealand cartridges. "

In order to provide more reliable supplies of food
than could be obtained from the natives or from ships
they enclosed and cultivated about ten acres of land,
planting wheat, barley, oats and vegetables. They also
set out fruit trees, peaches, apricots, oranges and lem-
ons, which in a few years bore abundance of fruit ; and
they taught the natives to do similar work for them-
selves.

As more missionaries were expected to arrive from
England they explored the surrounding country to se-
lect places for new mission stations. Once in their ex-
peditions they went by boat up the Kerikeri River at a

NEW ZEALAND. 369

time when that river was tabued by the kahunga, priest,
(Hawaiian, kahuna). "The indignant natives dragged
the boat ashore, plundered it of its contents, and hastily
swallowed jams and medicines. The unpleasant conse-
quences convinced them that the mana, power, of the
pakeha, foreigner, was too strong for their gods, and that
the tabu did not apply to the missionaries."

In 1819, at the request of the natives, another settle-
ment was made nine miles distant, on the banks of the
Kerikeri River, five miles from its mouth, near a water-
fall called Waiani-waniwa (rainbow) ; and in August,
1823, another settlement on the south side of the bay,
at Paihia, " a beautiful spot of three hundred acres of
level ground sheltered in an amphitheatre of fern-
clad and wooded hills, with a view of the bay near
by, and of three small rocky islands covered with foli-
age."

In 1820 the chief of the Ngapui tribe, Hongi Hika,
one of the most formidable Maori warriors, called the
"Napoleon of New Zealand," went to England, hoping
to obtain weapons with which to make himself monarch
of all New Zealand. Though he failed to obtain the
supply of weapons he wished, he started off, as soon as
he returned, on war expeditions, and soon brought home
two thousand captives, chiefly women and children, of
part of whom he made a cannibal feast.

In 1827 he again started on the war-path and at-
tacked Whangaroa, where the Wesleyans, in 1821, had
established a mission station at Kaeo, and where now
Rev. Nathaniel Turner and his family were residing.

37<D THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

As usual, he was victorious ; and then he attacked the
Wesleyan settlement and plundered and burned it. Mr.
Turner and his wife and three children, the youngest of
whom was five weeks old, fled in the night through the
woods twenty miles, to Kerikeri, and were met by the
Episcopal missionary, Rev. Henry Williams, and kindly
cared for. Hongi now horrified the missionaries at
Kerikeri by cannibal feasts in celebration of his victo-
ries.

Soon afterwards the missionaries, Williams and Da-
vis, boldly ventured among the warring tribes and per-
suaded their chiefs to forego the usual exaction of uku,
redress, and to make peace. All the Methodist mission-
aries ha'd fled to New South Wales ; and now they re-
turned and resumed their work.

About this time a beautiful illustration was afforded
of the far-reaching influence of the Tahiti mission. "A
Christian chief from Tahiti arrived at Kerikeri, and as
his native tongue was so similar to that of the Maoris as
to allow of free communication he readily acceded to the
request of the missionaries to address their people. With
his Bible in his hand this once blinded idolater stood be-
fore the assembled group ; his face beamed with love,
his voice trembled with emotion, while he read to them
John 3:16 and 17, and told them of what Tahiti had
been and what it now was. As he spoke to them of
the mighty change that had been wrought upon himself
and his countrymen every eye was rivetted on him ; and
as he urged them to turn to God, and prayed that the
Holy Spirit might lead them to the Saviour, the mission-

NEW ZEALAND. 371

ary felt an earnest hope that his exhortations and pray-
ers would be blessed and answered."

It was ten years after the inception of the mission
when the first genuine success was realized in the con-
version of natives. One of the first converts was a slave,
Dudidudi, who made Christian confession on his death-
bed. On the 23d of August, 1830, the first public adult
baptism took place when, at Paihia, the chief Taiwunga
and two other natives were baptized. Before the end of
this year thirteen more natives were received into the
church at this place. The people had now generally
given up their intertribal wars, and were much inter-
ested in agricultural pursuits ; and the number of Chris-
tian converts rapidly increased. New mission stations
were now formed, one, in 1831, at Waimate, twelve miles
inland from Kerikeri, another, in 1834, at Kaitaia on the
western coast, forty miles northwest from Waimate, and
another at Kororaika, two miles from Paihia.

The very wars of the natives were now found to have
singularly aided in spreading Christianity. Thus a
Christian girl, who had been captured in war, and con-
veyed to Waima near Hokianga, and made a slave of the
chief Tawai, who was a fierce enemy of the Christian
tribe, continued to repeat her prayers and catechisms,
though her master threatened to shoot her if she per-
sisted, and thereby influenced him to accept Christianity
and welcome missionaries. Thus also three Christian
lads, who were taken captive to Puriri on the Thames at
the Bay of Islands, gave Christian instruction to their
captors; and when in October, 1833, a company of

3/2 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

missionaries, consisting of Rev. II. Williams, Rev. A. N.
Brown, Mr. Morgan, and Mr. Fairchild, on a voyage of
exploration up the Thames, landed at this place, and
attempted to sing a hymn in a gathering of 200 natives,
the whole multitude to their great surprise joined with
them, singing the words and tune correctly, and after-
wards repeated in unison with them the Lord's Prayer.
The missionaries now ascertained how these three boys
had done missionary work, and they located two mis-
sionaries here.

Quite as remarkable was the beginning of a mission
station through the influence of wandering natives at
Kapiti, in Cook's Straits at the south part of the island.
The chief of this district, Rauparaha, son of one of the
most formidable warriors, found a prayer-book, a cate-
chism, and part of a torn gospel of Luke, in the keeping
of some of his people, who had visited the missionaries
and had been taught by them, and with great curiosity
employed one of them to read these books to him. He
at once accepted the truths of Christianity and led his
people to do the same ; and so eager did he now become
to gain instruction directly from the lips of the white
men that he took passage on a ship to Waimate and
visited Mr. Williams and applied for a missionary for his
tribe. Hearing of his request, Rev. Octavius Hadfield
volunteered to go with him, and soon afterwards with
Mr. Williams accompanied him to Kapiti. They found
that already, in their heathen darkness, these natives had
erected, a church lined with reeds, and were assembled
within to the number of 1,200 to hear their preaching.

OF THB

UNIVERSITY

NEW ZEALAND. 375

Six months afterwards Mr. Hadfield baptized twenty of
these natives, among whom was Rauparaha and another
chief.

In like manner an interest to learn about Christianity
was awakened at Otaki by a single page of a catechism
that was taken thither by a native. The chief of this re-
gion inquired what "the black marks" on this page
meant, and found a native who could read them. The
page contained the Ten Commandments. The chief was
deeply impressed by hearing them read, renounced his
false gods, commenced observing the Sabbath, and
endeavored to live as God required. Not long af-
terwards he joyfully received missionaries. A church
eighty feet long, thirty-six wide and forty high was
now built here. Its principal beam was dragged
twelve miles, from the depth of the forest — the choicest
tree there.

With these successes there were distressing discour-
agements. The unprincipled crews of ships repeatedly
committed outrages on the natives and caused fierce
intertribal wars ; the dissolute white men living in New
Zealand warned the natives that the design of the mis-
sionaries was to take them as slaves to England, and
thereby for a while estranged some of the chiefs from the
missionaries ; and when at length, in 1838, the mission
work had made residence in New Zealand safe and
delightful a Romish bishop and his priests arrived,
"following the missionaries like spirits of evil, and
spared neither pains nor money to make proselytes."
Their influence was more seriously exerted afterwards,

376 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

during the war against the English government in excit-
ing rebellion and attacks upon the missionaries.

But, in spite of these difficulties, by the year 1845
nearly all the tribes of New Zealand had renounced idol-
atry and accepted Christianity. Schools and churches
had been established in every district and several col-
legiate institutions organized for Riving the natives high
education ; and agriculture, the care of flocks and herds,
and other peaceful industries, were taking the place of
war, pagan carousals, and cannibalism.

And now occurred the unhappy civil war, that for
a while paralyzed the mission enterprise, and occasioned
the destruction of multitudes of the Maoris as well as of
British colonists ; after which there was a rapid settle-
ment of the country by foreigners, till now the few
remaining Maoris are almost lost to view in the great
population of Anglo Saxons. A brief account of the
origin of the British Colony and of this war is necessary,
to show how different were the operations of the mission
from those of a mercenary society, and how the mission
ever worked for the welfare of the natives as well as for
that of the foreign population.

In 1825 a company was formed in England by Lord
Durham to buy land in New Zealand and send settlers
thither. The missionaries warned the British govern-
ment against giving this company a charter, lest it should
trample on the rights of the natives ; and no charter was
given till 1839. This company, failing to receive a
charter, undertook colonization in defiance of the
Crown, and sold New Zealand land by lottery in Eng-

NEW ZEALAND. 377

land to the value of $500,000, and sent ships loaded
with emigrants to New Zealand. But it soon was real-
ized that some governing power was necessary for the
colony ; and therefore, before leaving England, the emi-
grants entered into a mutual compact for their govern-
ment. But they were warned by the English court that
in so doing they were usurping the functions of the
British Crown and were liable to arrest. To obviate
this difficulty, on arriving at Port Nicholson they called
together the native chiefs, and went through the form of
having them adopt their Contract of Government.

All now went well for a while. ' ' The natives were
delighted to have the pakehas, foreigners, among them ;
for the pakehas were good traders, and brought utensils,
clothes, guns, and gun-powder, for which the natives
exchanged flax, kauri-gum, and whale and seal oil."
But presently the natives asserted their rights to the
lands on which the colonists settled, and "which the
New Zealand Company had bought, with guns, looking-
glasses, shaving-brushes and pocket-handkerchiefs, of
chiefs who had no authority to sell and did not under-
stand the sale." The settlers, being ignorant of native
law of property, viewed these claims as mere pretexts for
extortion and violence, but were driven by the natives to
a narrow tract of land of the projected town of Welling-
ton.

And now by suggestion of the missionaries the British
government interposed to adjust these difficulties, and in
1839 proclaimed New Zealand a part of the colony of
New South Wales, and sent thither Capt. Hobson as

3/8 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

lieutenant governor, there being then 1,000 Europeans
in New Zealand.

In 1840 Capt. Hobson collected forty-six Maori
chiefs at Waitangi, on the Bay of Islands, and proposed
a treaty by which it would be stipulated that the natives
owed allegiance to the British queen ; that the natives
owned the land, and that the queen would protect the
natives. Some Romish priests made great efforts to
prevent the chiefs from signing this treaty, but the mis-
sionaries advised them to sign it ; and in confidence in
the missionaries they finally did so, in February, 1840,
and thus New Zealand became a British province.

The chiefs however did not realize that in ceding
their sovereignty to England they thereby gave power to
abrogate their own customs, to impose new laws, and to
determine the ownership of their lands. When therefore
the new government proceeded to try criminals in
British courts, and to impose tariffs on articles of com-
merce, and the settlers demanded the lands which they
claimed by purchase from the New Zealand Company,
the natives were excited to resist.

The New Zealand Company claimed to have bought
of the natives 20,000,000 acres ; nearly one-third of New
Zealand. The settlers now urged the government to ap-
propriate the waste lands of the country and provide
them with homesteads. But the natives regarded no
lands as waste, claiming the forests for their birds and
the swamps and streams for their fish, and they carefully
handed down titles for this land from father to son. The
British government refused to break faith with the natives

NEW ZEALAND. 379

by violating the treaty of Waitangi, and therefore appoint-
ed a commission to examine the documents of purchase
of land held by the New Zealand Company, and soon
the possessions of that company were reduced to 282,000
acres. The natives contested this decision, and a further
reduction was made to 3, 500 acres.

And now, to prevent such a settlement as this, the
New Zealand Company precipitated a conflict with the
natives that would have been prevented if the processes
of the government had not been interrupted. In July,
1843, this company sent surveyors to lay out tracts of
1 50 acres for immigrants in the South Island at Wairau
Valley, in Cloudy Bay District, seventy miles from Nel-
son. The natives protested against this appropriation of
their lands without the action of the courts, and sent
their women to pull up the surveyors' stakes and flags
and to cut their chain. Two powerful chiefs of this re-
gion, Rauparaha and Rangiata, now went to Porirua, on
the north side of Cook's Strait, and urged the land com-
missioner, Mr. Spain, to settle the dispute, and he
agreed to do so in a few months. They then returned to
Cloudy Bay and ordered the surveyors to leave, and
burned their hut. The surveyors reported their conduct
at Nelson ; and the police magistrate, Mr. Thompson,
issued a warrant for their arrest for burning the hut, and
with a company of soldiers went to enforce the warrant.
The chiefs insisted on deferring these matters of dispute
to the coming of Mr. Spain ; whereupon Mr. Thompson
threatened to fire on them if they persisted in refusing to
surrender themselves in arrest, and ordered his troops to

380 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

fix bayonets and advance. Shots were then fired by the
troops, and the wife of the chief Rangiata was killed.
The natives then rushed upon the Europeans, and the
most of these turned in flight, while a few of them re-
mained, throwing down their arms and urging that there
should be no battle. But Rangiata was enraged at the
murder of his wife and called for vengeance ; and then
the natives killed twenty-four of the Europeans and
wounded four more, while four of their own number
were killed. This began the destructive wars between
the Maoris and the English in New Zealand.

Ten years after this event a committee of the New
Zealand House of Representatives reported that the con-
duct of the New Zealand Company on this occasion, in
thrusting forward its surveyors regardless of the courts
and forcing this affray, was the cause of the war in New
Zealand. Rev. Richard Taylor has remarked that "this
war began for nothing which an ordinary law court could
not have decided — the question whether one party had a
right to what the other wanted to buy or not. "

The massacre of the British in this affray sent a thrill
of horror through Europe. The enlistment of emigrants
for New Zealand now ceased. The newspapers of Paris
even proposed that, instead of sending out more settlers,
they should raise benevolent contributions to bring back
to England those then remaining in New Zealand. The
missionaries were compromised by this affray, as well as
by all the subsequent wars, since they had advised acqui-
escence in the treaty propositions of England ; and noth-
ing but the confidence of the natives in their integrity

NEW ZEALAND. 381

saved them from serious trouble, while their work was
sadly interrupted.

From the conduct of the British soldiers in this affray
the natives formed a low estimate of their prowess, and
afterwards did not hesitate to assert their rights by force.
Immediately after this fight at Wairau the two chiefs
crossed over to the North Island and prepared to attack
the settlement at Wellington. There were no troops at
that time at Wellington, nor could any be obtained under
a month from Auckland, five hundred miles distant. The
chiefs refused to grant an armistice, and only by the in-
fluence of the missionary, Rev. Octavius Hadfield, of
Kapiti, were dissuaded from destroying the community
of Wellington.

So bitter did the natives now become against the
British, because of their claims for land and because of
tariffs imposed on articles of commerce, that one of their
chiefs, John Heke, three times cut down the British flag-
staff at Kororeka in the Bay of Islands, the last time with
a battle in which the British troops were obliged to flee
to their ships. The governor now sent troops against
Heke and his followers ; many tribes combined with
Heke and a few with the British, and thus the war ex-
tended over nearly all New Zealand.

In June, 1848, the natives chose one of their num-
ber, the head chief of Waikato, Te Wherowero, as king,
under the title Potatau I. In proclaiming him king
they raised a flag of a cross, three stars, and the name of
the country, Niu Tirini, in the centre, read a chapter of
the New Testament, offered prayer, and fired volleys of

382 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

musketry. Under this king they entered into a league to
sell no land to the white people ; ' ' to prevent the run-
ning off of the fresh water into the salt." They an-
nounced as their sentiment, "The king on his land, the
queen on her land, God over both, and love binding
them together." They wrote to the governor advising
that all the forces engaged in the war should be dis-
banded and the difficulties arbitrated by the queen ;
but the advice was rejected.

A small portion of the natives now formed a religious
sect which was called by the white people " Hauhaus "
from the resemblance of its noise to the barking of dogs,
and by the natives Pai-mariri. It was allied with the
Roman-catholics, and its chief idea was hostility to the
British and to Protestantism. Its worship consisted in
the practice of mesmerism, in dancing around a pole,
and calling on the Virgin Mary. At the instigation of
the Roman priests its members burned Bibles and mur-
dered the Protestant missionary, Rev. Mr. Volkner, and
placed his head on the pulpit of the papal church.

The natives fought against the British with great
bravery and skill, in fortifications called pahs, which
were surrounded with palisades, and inside the palisades
with a deep ditch, in which they were able to avoid bul-
lets. When defeated they simply retreated to other
pahs, and surrendered only at last when driven to the
end of the valleys and almost exterminated. Repeat-
edly they repulsed many times their number of British
troops.

Three wars were waged, each on account of claims

OF THK

UNIVERSITY

NEW ZEALAND. 385

for land ; and finally, in 1860, through the mediation of
the missionaries, peace was established. Ten thousand
British soldiers were engaged in these wars, and one-
third of them were killed. The cost of these wars was
$60,000,000.

After these wars the government confiscated 4,000,-
ooo acres of the Maoris'. Governor Gray then forced a
measure through the New Zealand Parliament for paying
the New Zealand Company $1,000,000 for a surrender of
its charter. This payment and the expenses of the war
brought a heavy burden of taxation on the colony ; and
this burden was subsequently increased by loans of
$95,000,000 procured from the Bank of England at four
per cent, for building railroads, telegraphs, and other
public works, for purchasing land, and for aiding immi-
gration. In 1883 the gross debt was $151,785,555.

In 1852 the British government set off New Zealand
as a separate colony from New South Wales, and divided
it into six districts — viz., Auckland, Taranaki, Welling-
ton, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago — and gave it a Con-
stitution of government. This Constitution provided for
a governor appointed by the Crown, a legislative council
of members appointive for life as lords by the governor,
a house of representatives elective by the people voting
on a small property qualification, a cabinet of ministers
appointive by the governor but removable by the house
of representatives by a vote of want of confidence, and
the government by each district of its own local affairs.
It has been the aim of the British government to govern
the Maoris in a paternal way, as they are unfit for exer-

386 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

cising the elective franchise with advantage to themselves
or to the country at large. They are allowed a repre-
sentation of four members in the house of represent-
atives.

Since the termination of the wars the mission has
prospered, schools and churches have been multiplied,
the Maoris have largely entered into the peaceful occupa-
tions of civilization, and have advanced from accepting
Christianity to conveying it with marvellous heroism to
the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands. Forty-eight Maori
clergymen have been ordained, and the church members
now number more than 18,000. Their decadence in
population, which without the influence of missions
would have resulted almost in their extinction, has been
checked, and now they are actually increasing in num-
bers. Their race is gradually blending with the white
races ; and it seems probable that at some future time
their lineage will be discernible only by a more tropical
hue in their complexion and a deeper black in their hair
and eyes, and a pure-blooded Maori will be as hard to
find as the wingless moa-birds of yore.

The great foreign population of 600,000 people in
New Zealand is now a prosperous Christian community.
Notwithstanding its vast burdens of debt it is developing
more wealth than is needed for its obligations. The
last report of the Premier, Mr. Richard Sedden, is that
" its financial position is impregnable ; that the estimate
of revenue for the current year has thus far been ex-
ceeded by actual receipts, while the expenditure is be-
ing kept within the appropriation and the estimated

NEW ZEALAND. 387

surplus of the year will be fully realized ; that there is
plenty of money to meet the requirements of the colony,
and no further loans should be made."

The statistics of the industries of New Zealand con-
firm this statement. The yield of gold from 1859 to
1893 was worth $250,000,000; the number of frozen
sheep exported to London during the last ten years was
13,000,000; the value of butter exported in 1893 was
$3,062,780, the number of fine-graded sheep in the
colony is now 20,000,000; during the year 1883 the
total value of the exports was $30,607,235, and of the
imports $43,046,350, indicating a commerce worth
over $70,000,000. The population is steadily increas-
ing. Already the chief cities have populations as fol-
lows : Auckland, 60,000, Dunedin, 90,000, Wellington,
the capital, 40,000, and Christchurch 30,000.

The people of New Zealand are also making remark-
able progress in social and political reforms. They have
arranged to prevent, or settle, their struggles between
labor and capital by compulsory arbitration ; to provide
their poorer classes with work at fairly good wages in
construction of government roads and other public im-
provements ; to make their railroads the property of
their government, and thus reduce the cost of freight
and travel as low as possible ; they employ commissions
to determine the construction of new roads and to take
direction of such work, forbid large acquisitions of land,
a little over 600 acres being the largest area hereafter to
be sold to any one person ; assess taxes only on lands
and incomes, limit suffrage by property and educational

388 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

qualifications, and permit it to women as well as men ;
and thus are making experiments in social and political
methods that may well be watched with close attention
by the older nations on our side of the globe.

This people at our antipodes are also developing as
remarkably in intelligence, culture and character as in
outward prosperity. Consisting chiefly of the best
classes of English and Scotch emigrants, they are the
best of Great Britain's colonies, and seem destined to
have a great future importance beside the advancing
empires of Australia and Asia, in intercourse with the
beautiful island world of the Pacific, and in the world-
embracing lines of commerce.

All this special growth and promise is to be at-
tributed to the influence of Christian missions. It may
be said that missionaries made the colonization of New
Zealand possible, and secured New Zealand to Great
Britain. Until they went unarmed among the warring
savages, whose only intercourse with foreigners had been
to kill or to be killed, and caused them to break their
spears and cast away their clubs, adopt peaceful industries
and accept heavenly rules of conduct, hardl}7 a single Eng-
lishman dared to make his home in New Zealand. When,
afterwards, war broke out, they caused it to be less bar-
barous than it would have been by the ancient customs,
and went in and out among the contending armies and
arranged for peace. Their influence was also to devel-
op a Christian character of the whole foreign population
of this country. Without their influence the coming of
white men would have been like the beating of the icy

NEW ZEALAND. 389

waters and wild storms of the Antarctic zone on its
shores ; but amidst the destructive conduct of the reck-
less classes of men their influence was rather like the
warm breezes that bring refreshing showers from the
Tropics. And now the hope for the future of this coun-
try is not so much in its amazing resources, nor in its
vast commercial relations, nor even in its noble civiliza-
tion, as in the character implanted by Christian missions,
which, like the inner life of the gorgeous trees that adorn
its coasts, must rise into a glorious future bloom and
fruitage.

3QO THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE FIJI ISLANDS.

THREE hundred miles west of the Tongas, and the
same distance south of the Samoas, are 250 islands, some
of them, mere islets of coralline formation, appearing
like groves of cocoanuts rising out of the ocean, others
mountainous, with summits 5,000 feet in height, as at-
tractive with perennial verdure and picturesque forms
of vale and precipice and peak as any islands in the
Pacific. They are the Fiji, or Viti, group. They con-
sist of the Lau, or Windward Islands, which are a chain
of small fertile islands on the east ; the Loma-i-viti, or
Inner Fiji, which are the islands west of the Lau, togeth-
er with Viti-Levu and Vanua-Levu ; and the Ra, or Lee-
ward Islands, which are the islands further west.

In the Lau cluster the largest island is Lakemba,
which is only six miles in diameter, and is described as
of surpassing beauty. Near by it is Matuka, which is
"eminent for loveliness where all are lovely ;" also Vul-
anga, which has a lagoon studded with islets.

Among the Inner Fiji is the island Taviuni, twenty-
five miles long, with a mountain 2,100 feet high, at the
summit of which is a lake in an extinct crater. This
island has been called " The Garden of Fiji,-" so covered
is it "with luxuriance and beauty beyond the concep-
tion of the most glowing imagination." The foliage

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 393

is described as "like a succession of green waterfalls;"
for white, blue and pink convolvuli most richly over-
spread its trees, ferns and shrubbery. (Miss Gumming).

In the western part of this group is Viti-Levu (Great
Fiji), the largest of the Fijis, fifty by ninety miles, with
mountains 5,000 feet high ; and further south Vanua-
Levu (the Great Land), twenty-five by a hundred miles,
on the eastern coast of which is the small island, Mbau,
which was formerly the capital of the group. Mbau is
about a mile long and 100 feet high, and connected
with Vanua-Levu by a long flat of coral, which is forda-
ble at high tide and bare at low tide. On Vanua-Levu,
a little southwest of Mbau, is the river Rewa, which is
navigable sixty miles, and flows into the ocean by many
mouths, making a fertile delta of twenty square miles.
Along its shores are extensive sugar plantations. The
total area of the Fiji Islands is 7,400 square miles.

To one coming from the northern islands of the
Pacific there is much that is new in the fauna of the Fiji
Islands. It is interesting to find here ten varieties of
harmless snakes, some of which are from four to six feet
long and are used by the natives for food ; also flying-
foxes (bats : nopteris Macdonaldii) which measure nearly
a yard from tip to tip of their wings, and chameleons
(chloroscartes fasciculus) two feet long, which inhabit
trees, and (jogs that abound in the swamps ; also fireflies,
and robber-crabs (birgos latro) , which climb cocoanut
trees and devour their nuts.

The Fiji Islands occupy the extreme limits of the
Malayo-Polynesian territory on the east and of the Pa-
18

394 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

puan on the west. The natives are therefore a mixed
race, part Polynesian and part Papuan ; a fine people,
hardly inferior to the Tongans and Samoans and much
superior to the Papuans.

The mission history of the Fijis is a picture of the
brightest light shining in the deepest darkness. To ap-
preciate it we need to observe how deep was the primitive
darkness. While all the aborigines of the Pacific were
barbarous the Fijis were superlatively bad. "The very
name Fiji has become a synonym for whatever is bar-
barous, inhuman and cannibalistic." A full description
of the former condition of the Fijis cannot and ought
not to be given. The missionaries who labored among
them have remarked that they saw scenes ' ' too horri-
ble to be described, too full of fiendish cruelty to be
imagined ; that the Fiji, going beyond the ordinary lim-
its of rapine and bloodshed, and violating the elementa-
ry instincts of mankind, stood unrivalled as a disgrace
to mankind. "

Looking at the fascinating beauty of these islands
with their plumed and garlanded vegetation, it is hard to
realize that in them was about the worst barbarism known
in the world ; nor is it easier to realize that human
nature, with its capacity for angelic loveliness and divine
fellowship, could have sunk so low. It would seem that
with the darker shade of complexion acquired in min-
gling with Papuan stock this race had also obtained a
darker character. Here infanticide was more common
and more heartless than in the islands further east. The
early missionaries have testified that not less than two-

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 395

thirds of the children were put to death. Especially
were female children killed. "Why should the girl
live ? " they would say. ' ' She cannot poise the spear,
she cannot wield the club." A mother would often
strangle her own child, with one hand holding the
nostrils and the other holding the mouth, and then
herself dig the grave and bury the child.

Here, too, with as pitiless brutality, the infirm, the
sick and the aged were put to death. A few illustra-
tions will be sufficient to show the barbarity of these
and other practices of this people. Chief Ratu Varani
once had a grave dug for a girl who had long been
somewhat unwell. Hearing the exclamations of the
workmen the girl went out of the house to see what
was going on, when she was seized and thrown into
the grave, and in spite of her cries, ' ' Do not bury me ;
I am quite well now," trodden down and buried alive.
Strange to say this cruelty was practiced even on the
chiefs themselves. The missionary, Rev. Thomas Wil-
liams, hearing that king Tuithaku, of Taviuni, had died,
hastened to his house to prevent the cruelties usually
practiced on such occasions, and was surprised to find
him alive. "My father is dead," said the king's son.
"His soul has gone out of him, and he moves only
unconsciously." The king was then taken, stripped
of his robes and buried alive. So generally were the
sick put to death that few people died natural deaths
and few attained to old age.

Unnecessary cruelties were also practiced in the ordi-
nary affairs of life. When a chief's house was to be

396 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

built men were placed in the pestholes, clasping the
posts, and there buried. At the launching of a canoe
men were used as rollers, and over them the canoe was
dragged, and afterwards their bodies were eaten.

Another revolting custom was the strangling of
widows after the death of their husbands. This was a
matter of pride to their relatives, and was sought by the
widows themselves, because of the insults, the neglect
and the cruelty to which they would be subjected if they
survived their husbands. It was the privilege of the
oldest son to take the lead in strangling his mother at
the death of his father. When chief Rambethi was lost
at sea seventeen of his wives were killed. When, in
1839, tne army of Viva was defeated eighty women were
strangled.

But the worst horror of ancient Fiji was cannibalism.
In almost all ages and countries this inhuman practice
has been known. Historians relate that in ancient
Scythia, in India, and even among our ancestors in
Britain, anthropophagi were to be found. Columbus
found them among the Caribees ; and from the name
Caribee the term cannibal was derived. Henry M.
Stanley and other travellers tell how the tribes dwelling
along the Congo seek human flesh, because of scarcity
of food, and delight in obtaining ' ' long hogs, " human
victims, just as hunters delight to secure deer, antelope
and other animals for food. On many islands of the
Pacific, as in Hawaii, cannibalism was almost unknown ;
in some of the Pacific Islands it was practiced only in
times of famine and in war ; but in the Fiji Islands it

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 397

prevailed to an extent and with horrors unsurpassed
elsewhere in the world. The Fijis ate human flesh
chiefly from the love of it. They ate it also in the fury
of hatred, to show vengeance and to excite terror in their
enemies, and were confirmed in the practice by their
religion, supposing that the gods to whom they offered
victims in sacrifices devoured the spirits of the victims,
while they themselves ate the bodies. They declared
that human flesh was more palatable than pork ; though
the flesh of foreigners was often found to be too strong-
ly flavored with salt and tobacco to be agreeable. The
shipwrecked, and those slain in war, or executed for any
cause by order of the chiefs, were invariably eaten. On
the occasions of high hospitalities to visiting chiefs, and
in almost all festivities, human flesh was considered
essential for banquets. The missionaries tell how the
king Tanoa, of Mbau, was accustomed to return from
tributary islands with bodies of infants hanging from
the yard-arms of his canoe, as tribute exacted for food
from their parents. They tell a ghoulish story, how
once at Na Ruwai a man by the name of Loti had his
wife help him plant taro, fetch wood for an oven and a
bamboo knife, which she cheerfully did, and then killed,
cooked and ate her. Twenty-eight persons were once
seized while fishing, and merely stunned, and then
thrown into an oven; some of them recovered and
endeavored to escape, but were driven back upon the
red hot stones. A chief, Ra Undreundre, registered the
number of the bodies he ate by stones set up on end.
The Rev. Mr. Lythe counted 872 of these stones.

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

There was no excuse for cannibalism. The land
could have been made to sustain more than twice its
population. Heathenism had simply made the Fijis
fiends.

The evangelization of the Fijis resulted partly, in a
striking way, from that of Tahiti. Like the ripples in a
still pool, that run to its furthest shores, the influences of
the gospel triumphs in Tahiti extended even to this
group, and caused remarkable results in the little island
of Ono, which is situated 1 50 miles south of Lakemba.
A frightful epidemic prevailed in this island in the year
1835, and the natives in vain made extraordinary offer-
ings to their gods to obtain relief. At that time an Ono
chief visited Lakemba, and learned from a Fiji chief,
who had visited Tahiti, that the only true God was Jeho-
vah, and that one day in seven should be observed in his
worship. Returning home with this little spark of truth
he persuaded his countrymen, who were now despairing
of aid from their idol-worship, to undertake the worship
of Jehovah. But they soon found that they needed in-
struction about the mode of this worship, and therefore
sent two of their people to the Tonga Islands to obtain
teachers. A Christian Tongan, who was visiting in a
neighboring island, Vatoa, hearing of their desire, now
went to them and endeavored to instruct them ; they
gladly welcomed him, built a chapel for Christian wor-
ship, and daily attended his preaching. Afterwards the
teachers who had been sent for from the Tonga Islands
arrived, one of them a native of Ono \\ho had wandered
from home and had been converted at the Tonga Isl-

;

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 40!

ands. The Ono people received them with great de-
light, eagerly listened to their instructions, and at length
became very anxious to obtain the ministrations of the
English missionaries themselves. For this purpose they
sent messengers in a canoe to Lakemba, where missiona-
ries had now arrived. These messengers, while out alone
on the great deep, came in an accidental way to make a
trial of their superstitions, and to renounce them. A
tropic bird lighted on their canoe, and several of them
did obeisance to it ; when one of them seized it, saying
that if it was a god it could get away and if not he
would kill and eat it, and proceeded to do so, to the
horror of his companions. When they saw that no ill
consequences followed this act they concluded that their
paganism was utter folly. In response to their request
Rev. John Calvert now went to Ono and commenced
mission labor there. Not long afterwards he baptized
200 persons. The heathen on this island then made
war upon the Christians, but were defeated, and finally
were won over to Christianity by the clemency of the
Christians. The good work here so prospered that in a
few years the whole population united with the churches,
many went forth as teachers to other islands, and no-
where in the Fiji group did the gospel win as quick and
full success.

While these events were occurring at Ono the Wes-
leyan missionaries in the Tonga Islands were commen-
cing a mission at Lakemba. Observing that many Ton-
gans visited the Fiji Islands for trade, and to procure
timber for canoes, they sent two of their number, Revs.

4O2 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Wm. Cross and David Cargill, to Lakemba in 1835.
They reached this island by schooner in four days, and
were welcomed by a large number of Tongans, with
whom they were able to converse in their own language,
and by their influence gained favor with the Fijian king.
Their first night on shore was made so uncomfortable by
mosquitos and by hogs, that entered their place of lodg-
ing, that they returned to their vessel ; but soon houses
were built for them and a place of worship, in which
from the outset they addressed audiences of 1 50 people.
They suffered many hardships, were sometimes at great
peril amid the fierce wars of the natives, and were much
opposed by the heathen king ; but were able in five
months to baptize thirty-one of the resident Tongans,
and in one year to form a church of 280 members.
Two seamen from the wrecked ship Active took up their
abode with them and rendered them much service, but
finally, against their warnings, went to sea in a boat, and
were pursued by natives of another island, and killed
and eaten. The good work of these missionaries ex-
tended to the numerous small islands in the vicinity, and
in these, after many struggles, churches were formed,
and the mission enterprise ever afterwards prospered.

Thus far the missionaries in the Fiji Islands had seen
little more hardship than they had experienced in the
Tonga Islands ; and their labors had been as abundantly
blessed. They were therefore encouraged to extend
their enterprise to the Inner Islands, from which invita-
tions were now coming to them. With this view, in 1839,
Revs. John Hunt and Lythe went to Somosomo, on the

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 403

island of Taviuni, the "Garden of Fiji." They landed
to witness almost immediately the strangling of sixteen
wives of the king's son, who had been drowned at sea,
and to see a cannibal feast on eleven bodies of men
killed in war. These were cooked and eaten so close to
their house that they had to close their blinds to shut
out the revolting sight. For this slight on his feast the
king sought to kill one of them, and with difficulty was
dissuaded from doing so. They afterwards saw the same
king buried alive while he was very ill.

So frightful did it now become for them to remain at
Somosomo, that in September, 1847, tne7 a^ secretly
and suddenly embarked on a schooner, and went to
Mbau ; but this island was at that time in such a whirl-
wind of war with other islands that they soon removed
to Rewa, a few miles south, on the island of Vanua-Levu.
Here, however, they lived in perils and scenes of horror
similar to those they had fled from in Taviuni.

One incident of their terrible experiences should be
related to show the heroism of their wives. In 1849 a
marauding tribe, called Mbutoni, came to Mbau bearing
tribute to King Tanoa ; and he, desiring to show them
extraordinary hospitality, ordered a cannibal feast to be
prepared for them. The purveyor for this feast, Ngav-
indi, entrapped and killed two youth ; but their bodies
were not considered enough for the feast, and he there-
fore hid with his warriors in canoes covered with green
leaves under mangrove trees by the shore and surprised a
party of women, and seized fourteen of them. Tidings
of this event were borne to the island of Viva, a few miles

404 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

north, where two missionary ladies, Mrs. Calvert and Mrs.
Lythe, were alone with their children, their husbands
being away at a conference of missionaries on another
island. These ladies felt that they must do what they
could to save these women, and for this purpose set out
with a friendly chief in a canoe for Mbau. As they drew
near to Mbau they heard the din of the death-drums and
the shrieks of the women who were being murdered, and
hurried the paddling of their boatmen, and at length
leaped ashore and pressed through the throngs of savages
to the house of the king. Although there was the pen-
alty of death for any woman who should go unbidden
into the presence of the king they went directly to him,
and with whales' teeth as presents in their hands de-
manded the release of the women. Strange to say, he
granted their request ; five women who were not yet
killed were rescued, and the missionary ladies returned
safely to their homes. Amid such scenes as these the
missionaries labored on, sometimes suffering greatly in
the terrible hurricanes that occasionally swept over this
part of the Pacific, sometimes in peril amid the wars of
the natives, and often utterly horrified by the brutal vices
and fiendish cruelty of the people.

The spirit of the gospel that would rescue the most
degraded and evil of mankind was illustrated in their
labors among these monsters of lust and cruelty, and the
power of the gospel to uplift and ennoble the most
hopeless of men in the success that followed their labors.
Gradually they gathered children into their schools and
congregations into their chapels, and one by one the

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 405

haughtiest and fiercest of the savages bowed before their
proclamation of divine love. Finally a wonderful re-
vival of religion occurred. The natives were utterly
overcome with fear and contrition for their sins. "They
prayed in agony. They literally roared for hours to-
gether. Sometimes they fainted from exhaustion, and
they had no comfort till they found peace in believing
in Christ." Hundreds were afterwards received into
the churches, and among them some of the most savage
chiefs.

After this revival the progress of the missionary work
was very rapid. Heathenism was soon universally re-
nounced, the awful horrors of cannibalism ceased ;
churches were everywhere organized and the forms of
Christian civilization adopted. On the Island of Mbau
a great stone, on which it had been the custom to
slaughter victims for cannibal feasts, on which Mr. Lythe
once saw fourteen persons killed, was conveyed by the
natives to a church, hollowed out, and made a baptis-
mal font; "a fit emblem/' it was remarked, "of the
people who had been transformed from pagan barbarism
into Christian character. "

During the year 1874 a terrible mortality was caused
by measles in the Fiji Islands. King Thakombau and his
three sons visited Sydney and returned home ill with this
disease. A multitude of chiefs and friends gathered from
all the islands, to welcome them, and returning to their
homes spread the contagion. When taken sick the
natives rushed into the streams of water to cool their
fever, and when recovering ate improper food. The

406 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

result was that 40,000 people, one-third of the popula-
tion, died.

The present population of the Fiji archipelago is
about 128,400. At the time of its discovery it was
estimated at 200,000. The diminution is chiefly at-
tributable to the mortality caused by foreign diseases.
Of the present population, 111,743 are Fijis, 3,567
Europeans, 796 half-castes and 4,230 Rotumans.

The Fiji Islands were formally annexed to Great
Britain in the year 1874. The king, Thakombau, had
for many years been harassed by the contentions of
his chiefs, the opposition of the foreign settlers and
the demands of foreign countries for redress of wrongs,
and therefore finally ceded his islands unconditionally to
Great Britain. On this occasion he said to Governor
Sir Hercules Robinson, the English commissioner, "If
matters remain as they are, Fiji will become like a piece
of driftwood and be picked up by the first passer-by.
I am assured that, if we do not cede Fiji, the white
stalkers on the beach, the cormorants, will open their
maws and swallow us. By annexation the two races,
the white and the black, will be bound together under
laws, and the stronger nation will lend stability to the
weaker. " In the ceremony of cession Thakombau handed
his war-club to the commissioner, saying, as interpreted,
"The king gives her Majesty, Queen Victoria, his old
and favorite war-club — the former, and until lately the
only known, law of Fiji. In abandoning club-law and
adopting the forms and principles of civilized societies
he lays by his old weapon and covers it with the em-

THE FIJI ISLANDS. 407

blems of peace. The barbaric law and age are of the
past ; and his people now submit themselves, under her
Majesty's rule, to civilization. "

The result of the mission work in Fiji is that, where
sixty-five years ago there was not a single Christian,
to-day there is not an avowed heathen. For many years
cannibalism has been wholly extinct. Miss Gordon-
Cumming has remarked in her book, "At Home in
Fiji," that "it is difficult now to imagine that this peo-
ple, with their mellifluous speech and almost Parisian
manners, were the cannibals of ancient times." The
number of their churches is now 900, the number of
their church-members 27,000, the attendants at religious
meetings 100,000 and the pupils of Sunday-schools 40-
ooo. In almost every house family worship is observed,
and with great enthusiasm and benevolence the people
are conducting mission enterprises for the pagan islands
further west.

In all history no human enterprises have caused
such a change in the character, conduct and condition
of a degraded people as this that has been accomplished
in Fiji, nor is there any more remarkable transforma-
tion reported in the annals of missions. The uplifting
by the sun of the briny waters that surge around these
islands, to float in the sky and gleam in hues of light,
is not more wonderful than this transformation by divine
grace of the foul and fiendish heathen into humble,
loving and lovable Christians, into sons of God and
joint-heirs with Christ.

408 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

CHAPTER XV.

MELANESIA.

THE missionary enterprise has been progressive.
Each island in turn, as it has received light, has beauti-
fully become a radiating centre to send light into the
surrounding pagan night, and thus almost every group
of the South Pacific has sent evangelists to the little clus-
ters of the New Hebrides, the Loyalty and the Solomon
Islands, and to New Caledonia and Sumatra.

A description of these islands would be like a repeti-
tion of the sketches that have been given of mountains
of verdure rising from the blue ocean, with waving
plumes of palm and plantain and picturesque forms of
ridges, valleys and cliffs ; ' ' summer isles of Eden lying
in dark purple spheres of sea."

But a brief account should be given of a few of the
New Hebrides, which are of special interest in mission
history. Erromanga, where Williams and several other
missionaries were martyred, is an island measuring thirty
by twenty-two miles, with mountains 3,000 feet high.
Tanna, where the most thrilling adventures of missiona-
ries occurred, is "the most lovely and fertile island of
this group," measuring twenty by eighteen miles, "rising
abruptly from the ocean, with green table-topped moun-
tains piled gracefully together." On this island is the
volcano Yoswa, that gives out a great light and throws

NEW HEBRIDES & ADJOINING ISLANDS.

SOLOMON

ISLANDS \

aoo 300 900 foo

^\B « A R y

UNIVERSITY
tit*

MELANESIA. 411

up large stones at regular intervals of five or six minutes.
Aniwa, where there has been extraordinary missionary suc-
cess, is a " dainty gem " of coral formation, ten miles in
circumference and of about fifty feet elevation above the
ocean. Aneityum, where there have been equally great
missionary triumphs, is the most southerly island of this
group. It has mountains 2,788 feet high, and is partly
barren, with a bare red soil, and partly clothed with a
dense foliage of beautifully contrasting shades of green.

The inhabitants of the New Hebrides are mixed races,
as is indicated by the fact that they speak some twenty
different languages — in some cases on the same island
two or three languages as different from each other as
French and German. But all these languages have the
same grammatical construction. The natives are chiefly
of Papuan stock with some traces of Polynesian lineage.
They are smaller, darker and weaker than the Polyne-
sians, but lighter than the true Papuans ; their hair frizzly,
foreheads receding, and noses flat.

It would almost seem to have been in grim irony
that, in 1606, Quiros, on discovering the most northern
island of this group, gave it sacred names — calling it
Espiritu Santo, its harbor Vera Cruz, its river Jordan,
and its chief town New Jerusalem — for the character of
the natives was not in keeping with such names. To
those who have always lived in the comforts and refine-
ments of civilization hardly anything could be more re-
volting than the appearance and conduct of these natives.
They are described as ' ' roving about in a state of perfect
nudity, the women wearing only a petticoat a few inches

412 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

wide of matting wrought in diamond patterns of red,
white and black colors, and all, men and women, smeared
over their faces with a red pigment of ochreous earth or
turmeric, or blackened with charcoal ; sometimes, with a
horrid humor, painted with different colors on opposite
sides of their faces ; the cartilage of the nose in many in-
stances pierced and the orifice filled with a circular piece
of stone, and the lobe of each ear hung with ornaments
of sea- or tortoise-shell. Ingeniously wrought bracelets
or small rings of ground cocoanut shells were worn
around their arms and ankles, garters of green leaves
were tied around the leg under the knee, and their long
crisp hair was gathered into a large topknot colored yel-
low and surmounted with a plume of cocks' feathers."
On Aneityum the men dressed their hair in small tresses,
each bound round very neatly, with thin, well-prepared
fibres of a slender plant, to within one inch of the ends.
"They lived in wretched huts, built of branches
of trees stuck into the ground, fastened to each other
at the top and covered with leaves. For the most part
these huts were not more than four feet high, six feet
wide, and varying in length according to the number of
people in a family — if indeed such an assembly of de-
graded beings may be called a family — a man having
three to seven wives, and these his slaves ; the children
of whom huddled together in these wretched hovels
without any sense of shame, having in most cases only
dried grass to cover them and in some instances burying
their bodies in the earth for warmth or protection from
the mosquitos,"

MELANESIA. 413

Rev. Joseph Annand, who spent three years on Fate,
thus speaks of his experiences there in 1874 with a bro-
ther missionary, Mr. Mackenzie : ' ' We met one man
who had thirty-five wives and had eaten sixty-seven
human beings. We slept in a low grass house, about
forty feet long and eight feet high, with a door two and
a half feet high. Just outside of the door was a gutter
of filth, ankle deep. We had cocoanut mats to sleep on.
The oven was open near us, and in consequence we
could not eat some of the food cooked there. We
had a shelf on the wall two and a half feet high by
as many wide, for two of us to sleep on, and thin mats to
cover us. The mosquitos and fleas cannot be imagined.
Each leg of our bedstead-shelf had a pig tied to it, which
tugged so that we feared a great fall. An old woman
who slept on the stove belabored the pigs in the night to
keep them quiet. In the morning we were awakened by
the crowing of a cock which was right beside us. The
census of the dwelling for the night was, ' Thirteen pigs,
seven people, rats, and fowls/ Four or five months later
the enemies of our entertainers came down upon them
and cooked and ate every person in the family."

Like the savage races further east, the New Hebridese
were addicted to infanticide, widow-strangling, cannibal-
ism and idol-worship, and, like, them, were made only
worse by contact with foreigners ; for traders and ' ' black-
birders " repeatedly pillaged their property, burned their
villages and massacred or sold into slavery many of their
people. They were also maddened by the belief that
diseases were introduced by the white men, and in this
19

414 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

belief were partly correct ; for, as has been mentioned,
the measles were purposely introduced into Tanna and
other diseases were caused by the vices and intemperance
of the foreigners. The result has been that the natives
of these islands have taken every possible opportunity to
kill the white men and destroy their ships, and have sur-
passed all the races of the Pacific in treachery, cruelty
and malignity towards foreigners. For this reason these
islands have well been named "The Dangerous Islands,"
and described as ' ' hells on earth. "

To accomplish the high aims of missions towards
such a people would seem to have been impossible. One
might almost as well hope to transform the denizens of
the ocean around their shores — the reptile-like eels, the
wallowing whales, the slimy octopi and the man-eating
sharks — into gentle creatures of the land and upper air,
into flying fowl or birds-of-paradise, as to change so
demon-like a race into a pure, godly and loving people.
But beneath their savage exterior and in their wild feroc-
ity were germs of a nature made in the image of God,
susceptible of the holiest culture and capable of the high-
est growth, and when there came to them, in their dark-
ness, woe and degradation, evangels of the sublimest
truths, and with these truths the blessed influences of the
Divine Spirit, they were gradually subdued, and changed
to humility, purity and nobleness of character.

But the process of transformation was slow. At first
there was for the missionaries a period of perils and mar-
tyrdoms. When the light first shone "the darkness
comprehended it not." These islands have been well

SAMOAN MISSIONARY.

MELANESIA. 417

called "The Martyr Islands," so many pioneers of the
missionary enterprise have fallen here. The natives were
moved to destroy these devoted heroes by the supersti-
tion that they caused malarial diseases by supernatural
influences. The history of these islands is almost repe-
titious by its ever-recurring accounts of this wrath of
the natives, which broke forth at the returns of the un-
healthy seasons as regularly as the eruptions of their Tan-
nese volcano. It is not to be wondered at that, with
this delusion, they sought to murder the missionaries ;
for with equally absurd delusions civilized people have
persecuted and put to death persons whom they suspect-
ed of witchcraft, and have often mobbed and lynched
monstrous villains. The natives were also moved by
their very idea of justice to destroy the missionaries in
retaliation for robberies, murders and kidnappings com-
mitted by white men, just as Americans inflict fierce
vengeance on the Indians who burn their homes and kill
their wives and children.

The history of the New Hebrides mission begins with
accounts of such conduct of natives towards the mission-
aries at the island of

ERROMANGA.

Capt. Cook, the discoverer of this island, gave its in-
habitants sad first impressions of the character of white
men. While here on shore he became alarmed because
some natives laid hands on his boat, and therefore
caused his seamen to fire two volleys of shot into their
midst, and killed four of them and wounded many

418 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

more. Afterwards he fired from his vessel four-pound
shot among their houses. In subsequent times traders
who came to obtain sandal-wood, which brought great
prices in China, committed many similar outrages. At
this island a trader killed a son of the chief Raniani
just before the great missionary apostle John Williams
and a young missionary by the name of James Harris
arrived to introduce Samoan teachers. Unfortunately
these missionaries landed here as among infuriated
wolves. As they were going inland they saw too late
their danger and turned to flee. Harris was quickly
knocked down and clubbed. Williams reached the sea,
but stumbled over the slippery stones of the beach and
was pierced with arrows by the very chief whose son had
been killed by the trader, and their bodies were eaten by
the savages. During the following year some of their
bones, as it was supposed, were recovered and interred
at Upolu, Samoa ; but it is probable that the natives de-
livered up bones of their own people, supposing that
merely human bones were asked for.

To renew the mission enterprise on this island, and
afterwards to continue it here and on the other islands,
after terrible martyrdoms, could not have been suggested
by "motives of avarice or of worldly ambition." To
leave homes of safety, comfort and refinement and go
into fellowship with these unclean and sensual savages,
and into the fire of their demoniac rage, could have been
prompted only by a pure benevolence kindled by divine
love. It is delightful to note that even the degraded
Polynesian races themselves entered upon this crusade

MELANESIA. 419

against heathenism and went to the front in its trials and
martyrdoms. It was native Samoans, just lifted out of
the depths of pagan degradation, who were often the
pioneer missionaries in these islands, again and again
took up the blood-stained banner of the cross, and toiled
and suffered and died in this holy warfare.

These Samoans now volunteered to renew the attempt
to carry the gospel to Erromanga, and in 1 840, under
the conduct of Rev. T. Heath, two of them were taken
thither to labor as evangelists. They were badly treated
and for several months suffered for lack of food, obtain-
ing barely enough to sustain life by the kindness of a
friendly native who supplied them by stealth. When
the missionary vessel arrived during the following year
they fled with difficulty to it and returned to Samoa.

In 1852 two natives of Rarotonga and a native of
this island of Erromanga, who had been educated at a
mission school at Samoa, went thither, and were wel-
comed by the people. The result of their labors was
that in process of time one hundred natives renounced
idolatry, two chapels were built, and the very chief who
murdered Williams embraced Christianity and delivered
up to the teachers the club with which the murder had
been committed.

In 1857 Rev. George N. Gordon, a young man from
the Presbyterian College at Halifax, Nova Scotia, vol-
unteered to aid in the perilous work on this island, and
proceeded thither with his wife. Soon after their arrival
a terrific hurricane occurred, and after this the measles
were introduced by a trading ship and caused many

42O THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

deaths. As usual the natives attributed all such calami-
ties to their gods, and now, supposing that the presence
of the missionaries was the cause of their anger, became
infuriated against them. While Mr. Gordon, in order
to get away from the malaria of the low swamps,
was building a house at a place elevated 1,000 feet
above Dillon's Bay, some natives waylaid and killed
him, and then meeting his wife, who ran to inquire
about the disturbance, killed her also.

A younger brother of Mr. Gordon, Rev. James D.
Gordon, now offered to take up the standard of missions
on this island, and heroically went thither in 1864. He
labored efficiently eight years, but finally was tomahawked
by a savage who supposed that he had caused the death
of his child by supernatural influence. About two years
before the Rev. James McNair, who had come to assist
Mr. Gordon, had died of malarial disease. And now
another missionary, Rev. Hugh A. Robinson, hastened
to continue the work on this island, and in a few years
was able to organize a church of 190 members and to
employ thirty-three native teachers in evangelical work.
In the church built by him at Dillon's Bay a tablet was
placed with this inscription :

MELANESIA. 421

"Sacred to the memory of Christian missionaries
who died on this island :

JOHN WILLIAMS,
JAMES HARRIS,

Killed at Dillon's Bay by the natives, 3Oth November, 1839 ;

GEORGE N. GORDON,

ELLEN C. GORDON,

Killed on 2Oth of May, 1861 ;

JAMES McNAiR,
Who died at Dillon's Bay, i6th July, 1870; and

JAMES D. GORDON,
Killed at Portinia Bay, yth March, 1872.

They hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord

Jesus. Acts 15 : 26.

It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

i Tim. i : 15."

Other islands of this group as well as Erromanga have
merited the title of "Martyr Islands," among which is

FATE, OR SANDWICH ISLAND.

Here, as at Erromanga, the primitive ferocity of the
people was increased by the horrible atrocities of the
foreigners. Here, as has been related, the crews of three
sandal-wood vessels got into a quarrel with the natives,
killed one hundred of them, and then pursued a com-
pany of thirty aged men, women and children to a cave,
and there kindled a fire and suffocated them, and then
cut down the fruit-bearing trees and pillaged the houses

422 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

of the villages. In retaliation a chief afterwards killed
twenty-two seamen of a wrecked whaleship and distribu-
ted their bodies to his people to be eaten. For mission-
aries to land among these natives, while they were thus
fierce for revenge against foreigners, was like Daniel
entering the lions' den.

But providentially the way was opened to make a
peaceful beginning of the mission work on this island.
A Samoan chief, by the name of Sualo, while endeavor-
ing to voyage to the Tongas was driven to this island by
a storm. He gained the favor of the natives, married
the daughter of the chief and became a leading man.
Hearing what had been accomplished by missionaries at
Samoa he sent a request to Messrs. Murray and Turner,
as they were passing in the missionary packet John Wil-
liams, that they would send teachers to this island, and
four Samoan teachers were committed to his protection.
He aided them in their Christian work, and finally with
a number of the natives renounced heathenism. The
idolaters on the island made opposition and, with their
ever-recurring suspicion that the teachers were bringing
the wrath of their gods upon them, murdered several of
them.

In subsequent times the mission work on this island
was carried to signal success, and such a change effected
in the character of the people that when a vessel with
one hundred and twenty people on board was wrecked
here, instead of killing and devouring them, as they
would have done in former times, they rescued them all,
took them, thirty to one village, thirty to another, and so

MELANESIA. 423

on around the island, and sheltered and fed them all
until a vessel arrived on which they were provided with
safe passage to Fiji.

No island of this group has a more thrilling history
than

TANNA,

which has been called "The Light-house of the South
Pacific." Here were a people like their own climate;
sometimes mild and pleasing, like their days of calm and
sunshine, and sometimes wild and furious, like the
cyclones that occasionally stormed over their island and
prostrated their forests and destroyed their houses.

On this island were a greater number of different
tribes, speaking different languages, than on any other
of the group. Any native going beyond the boundaries
of his own tribe was in peril of his life. Once two
young men stole their way to an eminence to see a ship
lying at anchor and were discovered by the neighboring
tribe, murdered and eaten. These tribes were constant-
ly at war. When once informed by a chief returning
from Aneityum that there was no war on that island they
incredulously exclaimed, "When was such a thing heard
of as a country without war !"

Into this babel of languages and whirlpool of stnfe
missionaries at length ventured with their messages of
divine peace and blessing. Rev. John Williams came
here on the day before his death, and was much pleased
with the apparent friendliness and peaceful disposition of
the people, and set on shore three excellent Samoans,
who were most cordially welcomed. So eager were the

424 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

natives that these teachers should take up their abode
among them that they would not allow them to return
to the vessel for their baggage, except as three of the
crew remained as hostages till they again landed. But
soon after the vessel departed the teachers found them-
selves in peril because of the intertribal wars and the
disposition of the natives to attribute the diseases caused
by malaria to supernatural influence exercised by them.
Two of these teachers died of these epidemics and the
others fled from the island.

So important however seemed this beautiful island,
the most fertile and attractive of the group, having a
population of 12,000, that the Samoan Assembly of
missionaries in 1842 sent thither Rev. Messrs. Turner
and Nesbit, with their wives. The story of their expe-
riences and that of the missionaries who succeeded them,
although distressingly full of painful incidents, may well
be considered in detail, as it pictures the light shining in
darkness, and illustrates how the Lord was with his ser-
vants, to interpose by special providences in their behalf
and to bless their labors.

Messrs. Turner and Nesbit at first were most kindly
received by the natives. But as soon as they were able
to use the language, and had given some little instruc-
tion, a body of cannibal sorcerers living near the volcano
became jealous of them, because of their increasing
influence with the people, and made several futile at-
tempts to destroy them. Finally an epidemic broke out,
and these priests persuaded the natives that the mission-
aries were the cause of it ; whereupon the heathen tribes,

MELANESIA. 42$

infuriated as against the worst of enemies, surrounded
the village in which they resided. The natives of the
village now entreated the missionaries to aid them in the
battle that was about to occur, and when this was re-
fused asked them to lend them a gun, which also they
would not do. The only resource of the missionaries
now was prayer. But just as the heathen were about to
attack them a terrific thunderstorm burst upon the isl-
and, and the natives fled in every direction for shelter
from the torrents of rain. During the following day,
however, they again gathered, to the number of 2,000,
around the village, and at night approached, setting fire
to the houses of those friendly to the missionaries.
Finally, as the only way of escape, the missionaries
secretly fled with their Samoan assistants to a canoe at
the beach, and put to sea. But the violent wind and
the high sea compelled them to return, and at length,
utterly exhausted and despairing of deliverance, they
went back to their home. At daybreak hundreds of the
heathen again surrounded their premises, uttering their
horrid war-cries, and for two hours they were in contin-
ual suspense, expecting every moment to be massacred,
when suddenly the cry, "Sail ho !" was raised. A ship,
the Highlander, Capt. Lucas, was entering the harbor.
The captain of this ship had heard of their going to this
island, and in passing by had been moved by interest for
them to enter the harbor and inquire about their condi-
tion. He now provided them with armed protectors,
took them aboard his vessel and conveyed them to
Samoa.

426 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Two years after this the missionary vessel was em-
ployed to take back the Samoan and Rarotongan teach-
ers to this island ; and they were joyfully welcomed by
the natives. The war of persecution had ended ; many
natives had died of pestilence, and inferring that the
judgment of heaven had been visited upon them for their
ill treatment of God's servants they were anxious to show
favor to these teachers. But at the return of the un-
. healthy season of the year fever, ague and dysentery again
prevailed ; several of the teachers died, and the rest were
obliged by the natives to flee from the island for their
lives.

But many of the Tannese had become warmly at-
tached to these teachers, and during the following year
they fitted up canoes and went to Aneityum and persua-
ded them to return to Tanna. Again, however, the
fevers broke out, and the smallpox, which was recklessly
introduced by a trading vessel, made terrible havoc.
To attempt to assuage the fears and rage that now mad-
dened the natives was like attempting to curb their vol-
cano, to repress its vapors and discharges of rocks and
fire. The teachers, therefore, were again obliged to flee
from the island.

The Presbyterian churches of Scotland, Canada, Aus-
tralia and New Zealand now united in assuming the
care of this mission. ' ' The missionaries sent by these
churches were organized into one synod, called the New
Hebrides Mission Synod, which should meet annually
and determine upon their own operations, each mission-
ary being responsible to his own church. "

MELANESIA. 427

Under this arrangement Rev. Messrs. John G. Paton,
Joseph Copeland, and J. W. Matheson, with their wives,
in 1858 set out for Tanna. They went first to Aneityum,
and leaving their families in the care of the missionaries
Geddie and Inglis proceeded to Tanna to build houses.
Mr. Paton remarks, in his intensely interesting aubiogra-
phy, that their first sight of the natives ' ' drove them to
the verge of dismay, as they beheld them in their paint,
nakedness and misery."

They built houses for Messrs. Paton and Matheson
at Port Resolution and for Mr. Copeland at Juakaraka,
on the opposite side of the island. With axes, knives,
fish-hooks and blankets they purchased sites for build-
ings, coral for lime, timber for the framework of the
houses and sugar-cane leaves for thatch.

While they were laying the foundations of these
houses intertribal wars raged around them, and bodies
of the slain were cooked and feasted upon before their
eyes. So horrible was the appetite of the natives for hu-
man flesh that, as Mr. Paton relates, they sometimes
even disinterred the bodies of men recently buried and
devoured them. The stream from which they obtained
drinking water was polluted with the blood of those
slain in battle, and the missionaries were obliged to use
only the milk of cocoanuts for drink.

Having partially finished their houses they brought
their families to this island on November 5, 1858. Un-
fortunately Mr. Paton had selected a location for his
house in the low malarial region ; in consequence of
which during the first year he had fourteen attacks of

428 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

fever, and in less than five months after his arrival had
the overwhelming affliction of losing his wife by malarial
sickness.

The subsequent history of these missionaries is a
painful record of sufferings incurred amid hurricanes,
epidemics, wars, and cannibal practices. More than
once Mr. Paton came to the point of death by fever.
Finally he erected another house, on a high ridge in the
sweep of the trade-winds, and there afterwards enjoyed
better health. In 1860 the Rev. Mr. Johnson, of Nova
Scotia, who was sent to assist him, died of fever while
his house was surrounded by savages threatening his
life. Soon afterwards Mr. Copeland was obliged by ill
health to leave the island, and Mr. and Mrs. Matheson
took their place at Juakaraka. Several of the Samoan
teachers also were murdered, and others died of the
smallpox and the measles, which were purposely intro-
duced and which destroyed one third of the people.
Because of the drouths, pestilences and hurricanes the
sorcerers living near the volcano repeatedly plotted to
destroy them, and their escapes were most marvellous.
Once Mr. Paton, to teach the priests the folly of their
superstitions, challenged them to kill him by their incan-
tations, and with this view bit off and ate pieces of bana-
nas and gave the remainder to them for use in sorcery,
for, according to their belief, he was by this act com-
pletely in their power, since they had these fragments of
food partly eaten by him to conjure with, and they made
extraordinary prayers many days for his death, but finally
admitted that his Jehovah was mightier than their gods.

MELANESIA. 429

At length some vile foreigners on this island positively
informed the natives that the missionaries were the cause
of their diseases, and offered to supply them with pow-
der and shot for destroying them. Nothing was now
talked of but war. By the advice of a friendly chief Mr.
Paton at last fled from his house just in time to escape
their attack, and took refuge in the top of a huge chest-
nut-tree. Afterwards at night he secretly went to the
beach, and with his assistant Samoan teacher put to sea
in a canoe ; but a strong head wind and rough sea nearly
swamped the canoe and drove them back to port. Mr.
Paton then hired a chief to guide him by a secret path to
the other side of the island ; and with wonderful escapes
from savages, who repeatedly met and threatened him,
reached the residence of Mr. Matheson. Here he and
Mr. Matheson's family were rescued by the vessel Blue
Bell, which had been sent by the missionaries at Aneity-
um to deliver them, and arrived just as the savages were
about to attack them. In subsequent years the mission
work was resumed on Tanna by Rev. Mr. Watt and Ra-
rotongan and Samoan teachers ; schools were established
and churches organized, but the condition of the peo-
ple is still deplorable.

The sublime epic of this struggle against the sav-
agery and paganism of the New Hebridese continues in
narratives of the wonderful work that was performed in

ANEITYUM.

This island is situated only a few miles from Tanna.
In 1841 two Samoan teachers were taken thither, and

430 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

were welcomed by a multitude of the natives with joyful
shouts and a waving of green boughs. They succeeded
well in their labors till the occurrence of an epidemic,
by which one of them, as well as many of the natives,
died, and on account of which they were driven by the
natives to the barren parts of the island. In October of
the following year they left this district and made their
residence on the opposite side of the island ; and here
in process of time were able to persuade many of the
natives to abandon their heathen practices. This aroused
the jealousy of the priests, and at times their lives were
in great peril.

In 1848 Rev. Messrs. John Geddie and Powell, with
their wives, were sent from Nova Scotia to this island.
They found that a good work had already been done
among the people by the Samoan teachers, and subse-
quently were able every year to report remarkable suc-
cess ; but they had also to tell of persecution by the
idolaters. Their church was burned and their own
house set on fire, and barely saved by Christian natives
who were keeping watch by night. Four of the con-
verts were killed and eaten. At another time three men
and three women of the Christian tribe were killed by
the heathen. Mr. Geddie unwittingly incurred the
wrath of the natives by cutting trees from a sacred
grove, and by erecting a fence in a way, according
to the natives' superstitions, to shut off the path by
which demons were accustomed to pass from the moun-
tains to the sea. But by kind words and friendly con-
duct he succeeded in conciliating them ; though on

MELANESIA. 431

several occasions he narrowly escaped death at their
hands.

In a few years almost the entire people embraced
Christianity. They showed the genuineness of their con-
version by their works. Immorality and heathen prac-
tices were abandoned ; deeds of benevolence took the
place of deeds of cruelty; $5,000 were contributed for
the publication of a translation of the Bible ; and the
product of their cocoanut trees for six months, amount-
ing to twenty-six tons of copra, worth $574, was given
for roofing two churches with corrugated iron. Fifty
natives went forth as evangelists to other islands. After
the death of Mr. Geddie a wooden tablet was placed
back of the pulpit at Anelcauhet with the inscription,
"When he landed, in 1848, there were no Christians
here ; and when he left, in 1872, there were no heathen."

Turning from this island of Aneityum we find an
equally bright record of work performed in the little
coral island of

ANIWA.

Here in 1840 Samoan teachers landed, and afterwards
teachers from Aneityum. The latter were attacked by
the savages ; one of them was murdered, and the other
fled. In 1866 Rev. J. G. Paton, after his escape from
Tanna, was located here. Remembering his sufferings
from malaria at Tanna he chose for the site of his house
the highest ground of the island, a mound which had
been used for ages as a place for the burial of bones
thrown out from cannibal feasts. The natives supposed
that their gods would destroy any one who should des-

432 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ecrate this place. But when they perceived that his
family continued unharmed, and finally were able with-
out evil consequences to eat fruit of banana trees culti-
vated on this ground, they concluded that the God of
the missionaries was able to resist their gods.

The history of this island is, like that of the other
New Hebrides, a story of sufferings, privations and dan-
gers experienced among the squalid and barbarous
natives and amid the fearful hurricanes that occasionally
occurred, and also of wonderful deliverances, and of
signal successes in the mission work. As on Tanna, the
savages many times sought to take Mr. Paton's life and
to burn his buildings, but by the vigilance of friendly
natives, and by his own sagacity and presence of mind,
he escaped. His first church, almost as soon as built,
was torn to pieces by a hurricane ; his house also was
destroyed, and he with his family escaped only by taking
refuge in their cellar.

Mr. Paton gained a great advantage by founding an
orphan school, from which many teachers and preachers
went forth who did excellent work in this and other
islands of the group. Three years after his arrival he
received to the Lord's Supper twelve natives, the most
of whom had been murderers and cannibals. Finally
the whole population embraced Christianity.

In September, 1892, Mr. Paton went to the United
States to apply for an international contract -forbidding
the sale of ardent spirits and fire-arms to the natives of
New Hebrides, and also forbidding the continuance of
the ''Kanaka traffic," or slave-trade, by which one third

MELANESIA. 433

of the natives of those islands have been transported to
Australia and the Fijis. On his arrival in San Francisco
the writer had the pleasure of meeting him. He was
then venerable in appearance, about seventy years of
age, with a long white beard and hair and a kindly beam-
ing eye ; in looks and manner a veritable missionary
apostle. He made a profound impression by mission-
ary appeals in the United States. Rev. F. A. Noble,
D. D. , of Chicago, said : ' ( Whoever has seen him has
been drawn to him in trust and admiration. Whoever
has heard him, whether in parlor or pulpit or on the
platform, will never forget him. He is a man of God,
full of faith and the Holy Ghost, devout, tender, sweet,
humble, loyal to the truth, and consecrated in every
pulse and power of his being to the service of Christ."

There are now in the New Hebrides 18 ordained
missionaries and 120 evangelists. The islands, Aneit-
yum, Aniwa, Erromanga, Fate", Nguna, Metoso, Maku-
ru and Emae, are almost entirely Christian. Missionaries
are located on the other islands, and meeting with suc-
cess. The Bible has been more or less translated into
fifteen languages of this group.

In the Loyalty, Santa Cruz, Solomon, and other isl-
ands further west, mission work has been conducted by
the Melanesian Society of the Anglican Church of New
Zealand. The method of this society has been to gather
bands of young men from the various islands, educate
them at Norfolk Island, and finally send them as mis-
sionaries to their respective homes. Bishop John C.
Patteson, while engaged in this work, was murdered at

434 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Nakapu, of the Swallow group, in retaliation for atrocities
of traders. The report of this society for 1888 shows
766 baptisms, 145 teachers, and 2,514 scholars.

The south-eastern portion of New Guinea, under the
government of Great Britain, was entered by the Lon-
don Missionary Society in 1872; and they report 12
churches organized, 500 natives baptized, and 2,000
children received into schools. This promises to be one
of the most successful and important* missions of the
Pacific ; but it is almost too soon to narrate its history.

When we consider the degraded condition of the
people of these islands, the extreme difficulty of com-
municating with them, through their many languages, the
indescribable sufferings and numerous deaths of the mis-
sionaries by hurricanes, malarial fevers and the ferocity
of the natives, we must regard the missionary enterprise
among them as one of the most extraordinary displays
of heroism of modern times, and the uplifting of this
degraded race as one of the greatest illustrations of the
far-reaching love and divine power of Christ.

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 435

CHAPTER XVI.

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS.

THE desperate adventurers who in the latter part of
the last century settled on Pitcairn Island led a life of
more romantic interest, more tragic events, and more
remarkable consequences, than that of the so-called
Robinson Crusoe, who was described as residing on the
neighboring island of Juan Fernandez. Though the
story of these adventurers does not strictly belong to
mission history, it seems to be necessary to give it in
this book in order to complete the history of the
"changes from the old to the new in the Pacific."

After the return of Capt. Cook from his voyages of
exploration in this part of the world, the British govern-
ment determined to introduce the breadfruit trees, of
which marvellous accounts were given, into the West
Indies, and for this purpose sent Lieut. William Bligh
to procure them from Tahiti. Lieut. Bligh had formerly
visited the Pacific as captain of the Resolution, under
Capt. Cook. He sailed from England on the 23d of
December, 1777, in the war-sloop Bounty, with forty-
four seamen, a botanist, and a gardener, and arrived in
Tahiti in the following October. Remaining there six
months, he carefully stored his ship with over a thousand
breadfruit trees, planted in 800 tubs and boxes, and then
in April, 1779, set sail for the West Indies.

436 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

One would have thought that, after their long exile
from England, these seamen would have been delighted
to be "homeward bound;" but they had become de-
moralized with the enchantments of Tahiti, and were
impatient under the severity of their commander and the
tiresome routine of sea-faring life. Their commander,
Lieut. Bligh, seems to have been a pious man, and he
doubtless had reason for exercising severity towards
them, as some of them were desperate men ; but he
certainly was unwise in his methods of discipline.

The foremost one to revolt against him was his mate,
Fletcher Christian, who had been with him on a former
voyage and was under pecuniary obligations to him.
Christian came from a respectable family in England,
being a brother of Prof. Christian, the annotator of
Blackstone's Commentaries, and he had a wife and chil-
dren in England. He therefore had everything to lose
by committing crime. But he was exasperated because
Lieut. Bligh often made taunting allusions to his indebt-
edness and now charged him with pilfering from the
ship's supply of cocoanuts. Upset by these annoyances,
as a ship without ballast may capsize in the lightest
squalls, he resolved to desert the ship. As he was about
to do this on a raft, on the 28th of April, while the
ship was near Tofoa, of the Tonga group, he confided his
plan to a shipmate, and this man advised him rather to
undertake to capture the ship and return to Tahiti.
Strange to say, this mad proposition pleased him ; and
he at once suggested it to many of the crew. They
agreed to it, some from desire to return to sensual life at

PITCA1RN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 437

Tahiti, and others from fear of being in the weaker party
on the ship. Thinking that "if it were to be done, it
were well it were done quickly," they lost no time in
acting on this proposition. Christian with three men
seized Lieut. Bligh when he was asleep in his berth ;
and the other conspirators- seized the officers. Lieut.
Bligh broke away, and sprang upon the upper deck, and
called for help to put down the mutiny ; but he was
quickly overcome, and with his officers and special
friends, nineteen in number, placed in the launch. This
was a boat twenty-three feet long, and six feet nine inches
broad, and had a mast and sails. The mutineers put into
this boat 150 pounds of bread, thirty-two pounds of
pork, twenty-eight gallons of water, six bottles of wine,
six gallons of rum, a compass, a quadrant and four cut-
lasses, and set the boat adrift.

It will be of interest to briefly consider the adven-
tures of that little company in this boat before proceed-
ing with the history of the mutineers. So many men in
so small a boat were uncomfortably crowded ; the boat
was weighted down to within six inches of the water ;
the wind was strong, the sea high, and it was necessary
to continually bale out water from the boat to keep it
afloat. They steered for the island, Tofoa, which was
thirty miles distant ; but as they drew near to it they
found that its shores were high and lashed with a tre-
mendous surf. They therefore sailed around to the lee-
ward, or northwest, side of the island, and there entered
a cove and anchored.

On going ashore to search for food and water they

43^ THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

found that only a few cocoanuts could be obtained, and
that with peril, from trees on the cliffs, and that water
was scarce ; but climbing the precipices to the interior
of the island they met two natives, who gave them a
little food and water. As the storm continued they re-
mained in this cove several days, and were visited by the
natives bringing cocoanuts for barter. Finally a great
multitude of the natives gathered around them, and
showed by their insolence, and by knocking together
stones in their hands, that they meditated violence.
Bligh therefore suddenly ordered his men to rush with
him to the boat, and all but one succeeded in doing so.
This one made the mistake of running along the shore,
and was pursued by the savages and clubbed to death.

The white men now had considerable difficulty to
loose from their anchor, and this gave the natives time
to fetch their canoes and pursue them. Paddling to-
wards them the natives hurled stones upon them, and
finally were about to lay hold of the boat when Lieut.
Bligh threw overboard some articles of clothing. The
natives stopped so long to pick up these that the boat
got a considerable distance away. As night was coming
on the natives then returned to the island.

Lieut. Bligh and his companions now resolved not to
again risk themselves among savages, but to endeavor to
reach some civilized settlement ; and to make their pro-
visions hold out for a long voyage they limited them-
selves to an allowance of an ounce of bread and one-
fourth of a pint of water per day for each man. Bligh
measured out the allowance for each meal very accu-

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 439

rately by means of a pair of scales which he made out of
two cocoanut-shells, while a pistol bullet (of twenty-five
to the pound) served as a weight. The sea continued
many days very rough, with squalls of wind and rain,
and several heavy thunder-storms occurred, by which
they were thoroughly chilled and nearly swamped ; but
they thereby caught twenty gallons of water, which saved
them from dying with thirst.

Lieut. Bligh composed a prayer, partly from his recol-
lection of the prayer-book, for use on this voyage, and
wrote it in a blank signal-book which is now extant. It
contained confessions of sins, invocations of God's help,
and thanks for his mercies, and was often repeated by
the party. He also kept a brief journal of their expe-
riences.

Several times they passed close to islands, and once
they were pursued by two large canoes filled with canni-
bals, and barely succeeded in escaping. Their situation
was anything but comfortable, with "sharks beneath,
cannibals behind, and storms above " ! As they passed
along the northern coast of Australia they entered a bay
and landed on a little island, and obtained abundance of
water and feasted on shell-fish. On the i4th of June
they arrived at the Dutch settlement at Coupon, on the
island of Timore, having been forty-seven days in their
little open boat, voyaging 4,000 miles. The Dutch
governor, William Adrian Von Este, received them very
kindly and provided for them.

Lieut. Bligh arrived again in England on the 2$d of
March, 1790, and reported the mutiny ; and the war-ship

440 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Pandora was sent to arrest the mutineers. Bligh was
promoted by the British government and commanded a
ship under Nelson. He was afterwards appointed gov-
ernor of New South Wales, and ultimately became a
vice-admiral.

Turning now to the history of the mutineers, we find
that, after setting the boat adrift, they sailed for two
hours in a westerly direction, to prevent the company in
the boat from knowing whither they were going, and
then went to Tubuai, of the Austral group. The natives
of this island resisted their attempt to land, and they
therefore went to Tahiti to procure interpreters. They
informed the Tahitians that the commander and officers
of their ship had found an island suitable for settlement,
and had sent them to procure provisions. Believing this
story, the Tahitians supplied them bountifully with fruit,
vegetables and hogs, and even gave back to them a bull
and cow that Lieut. Bligh had presented to them. The
mutineers then returned to Tubuai and were permitted
to land. They at once set about constructing a fort for
defence ; but the natives got the idea that it was de-
signed for a tomb for themselves, and suddenly attacked
them and drove them to their ship.

Christian now proposed that they should go to some
uninhabited island, where they would be safe from mo-
lestation, but several of them objected. They therefore
returned to Tahiti, and there put on shore those who
so desired, and divided to them part of the stores of the
ship. Thirteen of these men who settled on Tahiti were
arrested by the frigate Pandora in March, 1791. This

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 441

frigate was wrecked in the following August on a coral
reef near Australia, and four of .the mutineers with thirty
of the crew went down with her. The remainder of the
crew took the surviving mutineers a thousand miles in
open boats, and obtained passsage for them and them-
selves to England. These mutineers were tried in the
English courts, and two of them were hung.

The mutineers who remained on the ship invited
some native women to a farewell banquet, and then sud-
denly put to sea, keeping them and six native men on
board. They then sailed, by Christian's advice, to Pit-
cairn Island, and landed at its northwestern extremity in
a little bay, which they named Bounty Bay. In going
ashore through the surf they carried an infant daughter
of one of their Tahitian women in a barrel to protect her
from the ocean spray. They then took everything they
desired from the ship and set it on fire, that it might not
be a means of their being discovered.

Pitcairn Island, which they had now made their
home, was discovered by the English captain, Philip
Carteret, on the 2d of July, 1767, and by him named
Pitcairn after a midshipman who was the first to see it.
It is situated at latitude 25° south and longitude 1300
west, and is part of the Pearl, or Tuamotu, group, being
one hundred miles south of Oeno, of this group. It is
five and a half miles in circumference and two and a half
in diameter, and rises at its highest point in a central
ridge 1,109 feet above the ocean. At its northern ex-
tremity there is another peak that faces Bounty Bay with
great precipices. This island has no coral reef, but its

442 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

shores rise abruptly in steep and rugged basaltic cliffs,
which preclude the possibility of landing except at two
or three points. Near the bay is a plateau of fertile land
of four hundred feet elevation above the ocean, and be-
yond this there is a little valley. Water is scarce, and
for this reason it is customary to collect it in tanks
during times of rain.

At the latitude of Pitcairn cocoanut and breadfruit
trees do not thrive well ; but bananas, oranges, pine-
apples, and the yam, sweet-potato, and taro, have been
successfully cultivated on this island. When the
mutineers arrived there was here a luxuriant vegeta-
tion of palms, pandanus, and grand banyan trees ; and
brilliant vines overran the rocks and hung veils of beauty
adown the faces of the precipices. The island seemed
to be just the place they desired, a place where they
might realize the poet's dream of uninterrupted enjoy-
ment :

" Never comes the trader, never floats a European flag.
Slides the bird o'er lustrous woodland, swings the trailer from the
crag.

Here the passions, cramped no longer, should have scope and

breathing space.
They would take their savage women ; these should rear their

dusky race.

Iron-jointed, supple-sinewed, they should dive, and they should run*
Catch the wild goats by the hair and hurl their lances in the sun."

But there were elements in the characters of these
men that made an elysium for them impossible. The
restless waters that beat on the shores of their island
were not more turbulent than the passions that surged

V,i » •« «t re y,

OP THR

UNIVERSITY

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 445

in their minds, and were yet to change their paradise
into a hell.

The number of people who first settled here was
twenty-eight. It consisted of nine white men, four
Tahitian men, two Austral men, twelve Tahitian women
and one infant Tahitian girl. The names of the white
men were Fletcher Christian, John Mills, Isaac Martin,
William Brown, Matthew Quintal, John Williams, Ed-
ward Young, William McCoy, and John Adams, whose
name in the ship records was Alexander Smith.

For a few days these people lived in tents while they
were building houses, which they erected on the plateau
near the bay. Then they began to clear the land for
cultivation, and divided it among themselves. They
gave no land to the natives, and the natives quietly sub-
mitted, as they expected to be only servants to the
whites. In clearing the land the mutineers left a row of
trees between the village and the sea, to conceal the
houses from passing ships. They also left a cluster of
trees at the mouth of a cave in a secluded part of the
island, as they proposed to hide there in case they should
be pursued.

For two years this little community lived in peace,
cultivating the ground with seeds and plants they had
brought from Tahiti, and providing themselves with
whatever they could contrive for their comfort. Then
there began a struggle among them that reminds one of
the war that Rev. John Williams found at Hervey Island,
by which the population of that island was reduced
from two thousand to seven. In this struggle there was

446 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

an illustration of the proverb that there is generally a
woman in every trouble ; for the occeasion of the con-
troversy was the death of Williams' wife, who fell from a
precipice while collecting birds' eggs. Williams demand-
ed that another wife should be given to him, and finally
appropriated a wife of one of the native men. Then the
natives conspired to kill all the whites. They would
have succeeded in doing so if the women had not di-
vulged the plot by singing the words,

" Why does black man sharpen axe ?
To kill white men."

Hearing this song, Christian seized his gun and went
in search of the native men. Finding one of them he dis-
charged his gun, loaded only with powder, to show that
the plot was discovered. The native then fled to the
woods, and soon with the other natives sued for pardon.
This was granted on condition that they would kill two
of their ringleaders. One of these, the husband of the
woman Williams had taken, was killed, horrible to tell,
by this woman herself, and the other by other natives.

For two years now there was peace on the island ;
but the situation was anything but delightful. Desper-
adoes such as these and their savage wives could not
long continue in tranquil enjoyment. Often were to be
heard the loud altercations of the men contending with
each other, or the screams of the women receiving chas-
tisement from their husbands. Always the men were
in painful anxiety lest their retreat should be discovered
and they taken to punishment. Much of the time one
of their number sat on a high rock, called "Lookout

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 447

Rock, " watching for any war-vessel that might approach
to search for them. As they passed tedious hours in
this way they suffered from the monotony of their life,
homesick desire for the friends from whom they had
been long separated, remorse for the crimes they had
committed, and dread of the retribution that surely
awaited them. They had sought low sensual pleasures,
but now they found these as unsatisfactory as the brine
of the sea to the thirst ; they had fled from civilization,
but they needed to fly from themselves ; and they could
no more escape from trouble than withdraw their island
from the ocean that surrounded it.

The oppressive conduct of two of the men, Quintal
and McCoy, finally moved the natives to conspire again
to destroy all the whites. Taking some guns, with the
pretense of shooting hogs, they shot Christian, as he was
at work in his yam patch, and then killed four of the
other men. There now remained only four white men
on the island : Adams, Quintal, Young and McCoy.
These with the aid of the women killed the remaining
native men, completing the terrible work on the 3d of
October 1793. The next tragic event was the death
of McCoy, who distilled intoxicating liquor from
the sweet roots of the Ti plant (draccena terminalis),
and in a delirium of drunkenness threw himself over a
precipice. Not long after this Quintal lost his wife by
her falling over a precipice while hunting birds' eggs.
Forgetful of the former trouble that originated from such
a cause, he then insisted on taking one of the wives of
the other two men. Fearing that he would kill them

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

to accomplish his purpose they attacked him, and
after a desperate struggle killed him with an axe. Thus
all but two of the white men came to sudden and vio-
lent deaths — terrible retibutions, it would seem, for the
mutiny they had committed ten years before.

There were now on the island the two surviving men,
Adams and Young, ten women and twenty-three chil-
dren. In the greater quiet that prevailed, these men
now meditated on their responsibility in the care of these
people and on the terrible wickedness of their lives.
Adams was first moved to this meditation by a dream.
The remembrance of religious instruction received in
childhood had remained under all his wild career, like
a spark buried under ashes, and now burst into flame.
Finding a Bible and prayer-book that had been pre-
served from the ship, he and Young endeavored to
give the little company under their care religious instruc-
tion. But Young did not long survive to aid in this
work : in the following year, 1800, he died from asthma.

Adams now, with genuine repentance of his former
evil life, devoted himself to the religious education of
the women and children. It was just the time when
such education could be most successfully given to the
the children, for the oldest of them was not over ten
years of age ; and the situation in this secluded island,
away from the contaminating influences of evil society,
was as favorable for their training as that of the most
isolated monasteries or nunneries.

After this, the little colony on this island led a quiet,
peaceful and virtuous life. They began and closed

m

PARLIAMENT OF PITCAIRN ISLAND.

By permission, from " The Story of Pitcairn.

PITCAIRN AVENUE.

By permission, from " The Story of Pitcairn."

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 451

each day with prayer and praise to God. They spent
much time in labor, the men cultivating the fields, fish-
ing in the surrounding ocean, constructing houses and
canoes, and hunting wild goats and hogs, the women
making cloth from the bark of the paper-mulberry, and
mats and hats from palm and pandanus leaves. In pro-
cess of time the patriarch Adams was called to perform
wedding ceremonies for the young people that grew up.
Rings, ingeniously fashioned out of sea-shells, were used
to seal the marriage vows, and new cottages were built
for the new families. The little village thus enlarged on
the plateau became very attractive, with embowering
palm, banana and cocoanut trees, a grand banyan at one
extremity, the great mountain peak standing guard near
by, and a magnificent outlook over the ocean.

Eight years were thus passed in utter seclusion from
the outside world, and then a startling event occurred :
a ship arrived ; the first ship that had visited the island
since the mutiny. Twenty years had passed without the
civilized world knowing anything about the mutineers or
their descendants. To the young Pitcairners this ship
was about as wonderful as Capt. Cook's ships to the Ha-
waiians, who thought them islands covered with trees.
A young woman ran to Adams telling him that an upset
shed, with its roof in the water and its posts standing
mid-air, was floating towards the island. He at once
understood that a ship was coming. It was the Topaz, of
Nantucket, Capt. Mayhew Folger, on a sealing voyage to
the South Pacific. It arrived at Pitcairn on the 7th of
February, 1808. Capt. Folger was surprised to see
21

452 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

smoke rising from the island, for it had been reported
to be uninhabited. He despatched two boats to search
on the shore for seals ; as these boats approached the
land they were met by three men in a canoe. The men
spoke English, and stated that there was a white man on
the island. Capt. Folger and his crew were cordially
welcomed and delightfully entertained by the Pitcairners.
On returning to England Capt. Folger reported his dis-
covery of the descendants of the mutineers, describing
them as "a very humane and hospitable people," and
Adams as " a reformed and worthy man."

For six more years this island remained in isolation
from the rest of the world ; and then the British war-
ships Briton and Tagus arrived on their way from the Mar-
quesas to Valparaiso. The people on these ships were
surprised to see well-constructed houses and cultivated
fields on the island ; and still more were they surprised
when two young men, who paddled off in a canoe, called
out in English, "Wont you heave us a rope now?"
The young men were cordially received on board the
ships. One of them gave his name as Thursday October
Christian, a name given to commemorate the time of his
birth. He was "a tall, handsome young man, about
twenty-four years of age. His scanty clothing consisted
of a waist-cloth, while he wore a broad-brimmed straw
hat adorned with black cocks' feathers." His compan-
ion, George Young, was ' ' a fine noble-looking youth,
seventeen or eighteen years of age. " These young men
were invited into the cabin and to a repast. Before par-
taking of food they rose and reverently asked the divine

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 453

blessing. The people on the ships were much amused
at their curious inquiries about whatever they saw on
the ship. Seeing a cow, they inquired whether it was
a "huge goat or a horned sow." John Adams had
resolved to give himself up to these ships for trial by
the British government ; but the Tahitian women en-
treated so earnestly with tears that he should not be
taken from them that he was permitted to remain on
the island.

In October, 1823, the English whaleship Cyrus,
Capt. Hall, visited this island, and at Adams' request left
on shore a young man, by the name of John Buffett, to
assist in instructing the children. A friend of Buffett,
John Evans, nineteen years old, at the same time de-
serted the ship, hiding in a hollow tree, and remained on
the island. It became apparent soon after why he had
left the ship. He asked the hand of Adams' daughter.
The old man hesitated to give her to a stranger, and
referred the matter to the young woman. She replied,
"Try it, Daddy." They were then married. Buffett
also was married, obtaining for his bride Dorothy, a
daughter of Edward Young. About this time a way-
ward daughter of Quintal was so harshly treated by her
brother that she went on a passing ship to Rurutu, of
the Austral group, and there became the wife of a chief,
and reared a numerous family. It was this woman that
in 1833 applied to Alexander and Whitney, of the Ha-
waiian Islands, when they were visiting Rurutu, to
baptize her children. (See Chapter V.)

A very interesting account has been given by Capt.

454 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

F. W. Beechey of a visit he made to Pitcairn in the
British war-ship Blossom in 1825. Adams, then sixty-
five years old, went on board this ship, the first he had
boarded since the mutiny, and persuaded the captain to
marry him to his wife. He was described as "a bald,
corpulent man, dressed in a sailor's shirt, trowsers, and
a low-crowned hat. " At that time there were sixty-one
persons on the island, of whom twenty-six were adults
and thirty-five children. Like the other descendants of
white men married to Polynesian women, they were a
fine handsome people, of tall stature, well-proportioned,
and very vigorous. The average height of the men was
five feet and nine inches. "The women also were
above the common height ; they were muscular from
climbing the mountains ; their complexion was fairer
than that of the men, and of a gypsy color, their hair
was dark and glossy, and hung over their shoulders in
long waving tresses, that were nicely oiled, tastefully
turned back from the forehead and temples, and bound
in place by chaplets of red and white aromatic blos-
soms."

Capt. Beecher and his officers were very cordially
entertained by the Pitcairners two days on shore. They
were feasted on pigs, chickens, yams and sweet pota-
toes that had been cooked in the earth, wrapped with
hot stones in ti leaves. At nightfall torches of kukui nuts,
strung on the midrib of the cocoanut leaf, were lighted
in the houses, and religious worship was conducted.
The bedding in which they slept consisted of mats and
cloth made from the wauki, or paper-mulberry tree.

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 455

Capt. Beechey found that the people were all thoroughly
versed in Bible history, and described them as "guileless
and unsophisticated beyond conception/'

In the year 1828 a Mr. George Huns Nobbs, who
had led an adventurous life, having been a midshipman
in the British navy, a captive in Spain, and there a while
under sentence of death till released by exchange of pris-
oners, and haring gone four times round the world, at-
tracted by the accounts he read of Pitcairn Island started
to go thither from London. On his way he arrived at
Valparaiso, and obtained a boat, in which with one
companion he made the voyage of 2,000 miles to Pit-
cairn. Old Adams welcomed him, and perceiving that
he was a worthy and well-educated man employed him
as a school teacher, and finally as a minister of the gos-
pel. He was married to Sarah Christian, a grand-
daughter of the mutineer Fletcher Christian, and the
materials of his boat were used to construct a house for
him.

For many years the remuneration Mr. Nobbs re-
ceived for his services was very scanty, so poor were
the islanders. In 1844 he thus wrote to a clergyman in
Valparaiso: "My stock of clothing which I brought
from England is, as you may suppose, very nearly ex-
hausted, and I have no friends there to whom I can
with propriety apply for more. Until the last three
years it was my custom to wear a black coat on the
Sabbath ; but since that period I have been obliged to
substitute a nankeen jacket of my own making. My
only remaining coat, which is quite threadbare, is re-

456 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

served for marriages and burials ; so that it is customary
to say when a wedding is going to take place, ' Teach-
er, you will have to put on your coat next Sunday/
which is equivalent to informing me that a couple are
to be married." He was afterwards very kindly and
abundantly provided for both by the islanders and by
friends abroad.

After the death of Adams, which occurred on the
29th of March, 1829, it became necessary to appoint
a magistrate and enact laws. An election was held,
the women voting as well as the men, and a son of
Quintal was elected magistrate, and seven other men
chosen to act as a parliament. A code of laws was then
carefully written. The introduction of intoxicating
liquors was forbidden, except for medicinal purposes.
Women were forbid to go on board of ships, except by
the magistrates' permission and in company with four
men of the island. It was forbidden to kill cats, unless
they were positively detected in killing fowls. Any
one violating this ordinance was required to destroy
three hundred rats, submitting their tails for inspec-
tion to the magistrate. The reason for this law was
the great number of rats, which did much damage to su-
gar cane.

At length it became a serious question whether the
limited resources of this island would much longer sus-
tain its increasing population. The British government
therefore arranged for a tract of land in Tahiti to
be assigned to the Pitcairners, and in February, 1831,
conveyed them all thither. But soon after their arrival

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 457

in this new home a fever broke out among them and
caused the deaths of fourteen ; they were also much
distressed at the immorality of the Tahitians. They
therefore all returned to Pitcairn five months after their
departure from that island.

Afterwards the British government again became
anxious lest the Pitcairners should fail to gain a suffi-
cient livelihood from their little island ; for occasionally
drouths diminished their crops and supply of water.
They therefore granted them Norfolk Island, and in
April, 1856, transported them all thither.

Norfolk Island is situated 400 miles northwest of
New Zealand, in latitude 29° 10' south and longitude
1670 58' east. Near it are Nepean and Philip Islands
and some rocks called Bird Islands. Norfolk Island is
about five miles long, two and a half miles broad, has
an area of 8,607 acres, is generally about 400 feet
high above the sea, and rises at its highest point to an
elevation of 1,050 feet. The soil consists of decom-
posed basalt and is very fertile. The noble Norfolk
Pine (Eutassa excelsa) abounds, also maples, iron-wood,
palms and gigantic ferns. Oranges, lemons, guavas,
bananas, peaches, figs and pineapples have been intro-
duced, also potatoes, yams, maize and various cereals.

Norfolk Island was discovered by Capt. Cook in
1774, and colonized with convicts from New South
Wales in 1787. At one time the number of these
settlers was 2,000; but before 1856 they were removed
because the people of New Zealand objected to the use
of this island as a penal station.

458 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

The Pitcairners arrived at this island on the 8th of
June, 1856, after a voyage of thirty-six days. They
found excellent houses of stone in readiness for them,
and also delightful gardens, and an abundance of cattle
and sheep. They were able to procure plentiful supplies
of fish from the surrounding waters and rabbits from a
neighboring island. They were visited and kindly pro-
vided with flour and other necessary articles by Bishop
Patteson, who afterwards established his missionary
school for the natives of the Loyalty groups on the op-
posite side of this island.

The change from Pitcairh to this productive island
would seem to have been most delightful ; but soon two
families became homesick for their old home — the fam-
ilies of Moses Young and Mayhew Young, sixteen in
number; and in the latter part of the year 1858 they
returned thither. They found Pitcairn, after its long
abandonment, overgrown with vegetation, the orange
and breadfruit trees loaded with fruit, yams and potatoes
abundant in the fields, and chickens, pigs and goats
roaming everywhere. In process of time four more fam-
ilies returned to Pitcairn, although Bishop Patteson en-
treated them to remain where they had educational and
religious privileges. Two young men, however, of these
families, Edwin Nobbs and Fisher Young, remained
with Bishop Patteson, to attend his school and prepare
for missionary work. These young men went on a mis-
sionary voyage with Bishop Patteson and were attacked
and killed by the natives of Santa Cruz. The families
that returned to Pitcairn have ever since remained in that

PITCAIRN AND NORFOLK ISLANDS. 459

lonely island, away from the stirring activities of the civ-
ilized world, content and happy in the unchanging mo-
notony of life,

" Where all things always seem the same."
The number of people now on the island is one hundred
and thirty.

In the year 1886 Rev. John I. Tay, a missionary of
the Seventh-Day Adventists of America, visited the Pit-
cairners and persuaded them to adopt Saturday as their
Sabbath. The Christian people of England expressed
much regret at this event. It might be said that the fact
that those who go from England to this island by the
way of Cape Horn gain a day in reckoning on those who
go thither by the way of the Cape of Good Hope — the
Sabbath of the former coming on Sunday and that of the
latter on Saturday — indicates that neither of these days
should be very strenuously insisted upon as the only one
to be kept sacred.

In their lonely retreat the Pitcairners have greatly
enjoyed the visits of the mission brig Pitcairn, of the
Seventh-Day Adventists, whereby they have been kept in
touch with the civilized world. They will doubtless be
led to embark with the Adventists in mission enterprises
to the natives of New Guinea and other islands, while
the Norfolk Islanders are likewise engaging in the Me-
lanesian mission. Thus the descendants of the wild
mutineers of the ship Bounty have become a new force
in the missionary enterprises of the Pacific.

The beautiful development that has been on this isl-
land, from its former pandemonium into its present Eden,

460 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

is one of the marvels of our times. Plainly it is to be
attributed to Christianity ; to God's blessing on the truth
of the Bible and on education of children in that truth.
Through this divine blessing good has here been brought
out of evil, light out of darkness, virtue out of vice ; "in-
stead of the thorn has come up the fir tree, and instead
of the briar the myrtle tree."

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 461

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

THERE is a Japanese proverb that "to know the
future we must learn the past. " This is scientific ; for
all science is built on inductions from the known to
the unknown.

It may seem vain to endeavor to cast a horoscope of
the future of the Pacific ocean ; but we know enough
of its past, and see sufficient signs in its present, to cor-
rectly predict its future. In reviewing its past history
we are like one wandering over lava-flows, and observ-
ing a few hardy plants that have gained a foothold in
their rugged surface, and that presage the future subju-
gation of the rocky desolation by the vegetable kingdom.
We have noticed in the islanders of the Pacific certain
developments of good that promise a future conquest
of their barbarism by Christian civilization.

The indications of this future conquest are to be
found in new forces that, like powers of life, are operat-
ing among these islanders. Our most important inquir-
ies therefore are, What are these forces ? What is their
power to overcome paganism and to rear over it a Chris-
tian civilization ? And how can these forces be best and
most rapidly brought into operation ?

In making these inquiries we cannot make much
account of the influences of mere civilization apart from

462 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Christianity. It has generally been supposed that the
establishment of commerce, the introduction of the
superior implements and the choicest fabrics of enlight-
ened countries, instruction in mechanical and fine arts,
and fellowship with people from civilized nations, would
most powerfully awaken and elevate barbarous nations.
A popular journalist, who happened to land in Hawaii on
Sunday and found its business houses closed on that day,
published his view that Honolulu was "a piety-stricken
city," and that the missionaries had made a great mis-
take in teaching the Hawaiians the stern tenets of Puri-
tanism instead of giving them instruction more in con-
formity with the beauty of their scenery, and leading
them with poetry and song into high culture and refine- -
ment. But the influences of civilization have never had
power to cause the moral renovation that is essential for
the beginning of true civilization, as well as for its
continuance and development. It has been true of the
people of the Pacific, as of all heathen races elsewhere,
that they have needed provision for their spiritual wants
before they would accept civilization. In many islands
the natives have refused to put on clothes, and have
preferred to bask in the sun, feeding on the spontaneous
fruits of their forests, instead of laboring in the enter-
prises of civilization, and have only at last accepted
clothing when they have become Christian. A few
chiefs from different groups have been taken to Europe
and America, clothed in the best style of civilized people,
shown the splendors of modern arts, and lavishly sup-
plied with the means of living in enlightened style, and

¥

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 465

have returned to their homes to be only more evil and
barbarous than before. King Kalakaua, of Hawaii, after
his journey around the world, after he had been honora-
bly received in the highest courts of every country that
he visited, endeavored only to lead his people back into
their former paganism, and was a more besotted and
despotic ruler than before.

It is said that Bishop Colenso once performed an
experiment in this line. " Believing that it was neces-
sary to civilize men before it would be possible to con-
vert them, he gathered a dozen boys from Zulu families
and had them bound to him for a number of years,
pledging himself that while he would provide for and
instruct them no effort should be made to bias their
minds upon religious questions. They made considera-
ble progress, and on the last day before the expiration
of the school term he told them the engagement under
which they had come, reminded them of his fidelity to
it, and appealed to their sense of gratitude that they
should remain with him and receive the instruction
which he considered far more important than all they
had received. The next morning every man was gone ;
and the only gratitude they showed was to leave their
European clothes with which he had furnished them
and go back to their native habits. It is said that the
next day he walked over to a station of the American
Mission and laid a ^"50 note on their bench, and said,
"You are right, and I was wrong."

A philanthropist once took a plough into the interior
of Africa and showed the natives how to use it. As they

466 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

saw it turning up more sod in an hour than they could
dig up in a month they danced and turned somersaults
in delight. But when, a few days afterwards, he returned
to see how they had succeeded in using it, he found
that they had turned it upside down, covered it with
flowers and were worshipping it. They had deeper
wants than to be provided with the mere implements of
civilization, and till those wants were supplied it was
useless to endeavor to civilize them. We might as well
expect that the winged seeds and butterflies that some-
times are blown into the volcanic craters of Hawaii
would there cause a kingdom of life, as to suppose that
the useful and ornamental arts of civilization, when in-
troduced into a pagan country, would cause a pure and
noble people.

But the influences of civilization have been not only
useless but also actually harmful, when not accompanied
by Christianity. They have only awakened cupidity, in-
stigated robberies, murders and piracies, and have been
accompanied by an immorality that has been more de-
grading and deadly than heathenism itself. And so the
worst developments of the islanders have been where
they have had the most contact with civilized races, and
the best where they have been most secluded from such
races.

It is evident that the only cause of the good hereto-
fore developed in the Pacific islands, as also the only
hope and the all-sufficient hope for their future, is in
Christianity. It is evident also that the power of Chris-
tianity has consisted in the supernatural influence that

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 467

has accompanied it. The islanders have been like peo-
ple dwelling in the wintry night of the Arctic and seeing
the first gleams of the returning sun. To a pious mind
the most important fact taught by the history of the Pa-
cific is that, in providences and quickening influences,
there has been a Divine Presence with the labors of the
missionaries. "The people who sat in darkness have
seen a great light, and to them who sat in the region and
shadow of death light is sprung up. "

It is evident also that the influence of Christianity
has operated only where human agencies have introduced
it. The method of the divine work in all the world has
been to operate through second causes. The only way,
therefore, to evangelize the benighted races is to employ
consecrated men and women to bear to them the light
and blessings of the gospel. A more beautiful work can-
not be conceived. It is as though men were employed
to bear in their hands the sunlight that makes the day,
-to fling it into the shades of night,* gild it upon the
clouds, and spread its glory over all the sky and earth ;
so men are to convey the higher light of heaven and
spread its blessings over all the world.

With men, therefore, is the opportunity as well as the
duty of promoting the new era of Christian civilization.
Dr. Josiah Strong has well remarked that "the progress
of humanity is neither fortuitous nor arbitrary ; that we
may promote or retard it." In inquiring, therefore,
what are the future prospects of the Pacific, we need to
first consider on what the best development of the island-
ers. Of this we learn from past history.

468 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

And first we learn that mission enterprises, when
once begun, should be persistently and continuously
pushed. This is very desirable at the inception of a
mission, as is illustrated by the history of the Marquesas
Islands, where through forty years the mission work was
repeatedly begun and abandoned, and the natives there-
by made indifferent, and actually hostile, to Christianity.
This is even more important in the later periods of mis-
sions, after idolatry has been overthrown and while the
natives are learning to care for their own churches, to con-
duct new and better systems of civil government, and to
enter into the industrial enterprises of civilization. Also,
where fields are occupied wholly by native laborers, it is
necessary for foreign missionaries to long continue to
supervise the work and encourage the members of the
churches and their pastors and teachers. The work of
overcoming paganism is hardly more difficult than the
later work of establishing Christian institutions. When
this work is neglected, and the reformed pagans back-
slide, it is exceedingly hard to recover them. Seven
devils then enter, and the last state is worse than the
first.

We also learn that Christian schools should be most
earnestly promoted. Without them evangelistic work
is like casting seed into a wild jungle, instead of into
carefully tilled soil. With such schools at the beginning
of a missionary enterprise, even among the most degraded
people, an army of laborers is soon raised up to con-
quer the whole people for Christ, as India was con-
quered by the Sepoys for Great Britain, and with them,

SCENE ON A CORAL ISLAND.

FIRST METHOD OF PREACHING IN HAWAII.

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 471

in the later periods of a missionary enterprise, stability,
permanence and splendid development are given to
Christian institutions. As the influence of Robert Col-
lege caused the development of Bulgaria into an inde-
pendent nation, under constitutional government, so the
influence of similar schools in the islands of the Pacific
will cause the development of enlightened civil govern-
ments as well as all the institutions of Christianity. It is
a matter of great encouragement that in Hawaii much
wealth has been nobly consecrated to founding such
schools. But far greater investments are needed for
this object in all the groups of the Pacific.

We also learn that men from civilized countries,
as well as the heathen, in the Pacific should be more
looked after in the future. It is very desirable that schools
and churches should be organized for this, the most
influential class in the Pacific Islands ; also that interna-
tional agreements should be made to stop the trade with
the natives in spirituous liquors and fire-arms, and the
' ' black-bird traffic, " or slave trade ; and that the great
nation should be induced to pursue a more just, mag-
nanimous and generous course towards those little
communities that are just rising out of darkness into
the light of Christianity.

We learn also that it is very desirable that the relig-
ious denominations in the great nations should be per-
suaded not to foist their sectarian strife upon the little
churches in the Pacific. Very beautifully the foreign
mission societies both in England and America began,
with a delightful fellowship of Christians of different

22

472 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

names and sects; and beautifully also missionaries of
different denominations have labored harmoniously to-
gether in the Pacific, ignoring unimportant differences
of creed, ceremony, and polity. These societies must
return to this spirit of union, and all denominations,
instead of competing with each other or of combining
as a mere federation of cliques, unite as one body in
Christ, before Christianity will truly prosper and win
its final victory over the world.

If, now, in accordance with these lessons from past
history, the influence of Christianity is wisely, faithfully
and earnestly promoted in the Pacific Islands, we may
hope for a sublime future era for this part of the world.
It is well to view this prospect as an ideal at least of
what should be striven for. We distinctly learn from
past history that we may promote Christianity, and that
it is operating to cause vast future changes for the better.
As at the rising of the sun the mists and shades of night
flee away, so the various evils of the primitive heathen-
ism, and those also of barbarous civilization, must
in process of time disappear under this influence.

This idolatry will for ever cease, and with it the
deep-seated superstitions that have originated it. The
latter will doubtless continue long, and be abolished
only with difficulty. It has been found that after idols
have been destroyed the islanders have long retained
a secret dread of demoniacal powers that have been
supposed to reside in nature. This superstition has
come to view when religion has declined and society
has been demoralized, and in Hawaii has renewed the

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 473

worship of idols seventy years after it had been re-
nounced. Even Anglo-Saxon nations, after a thousand
years of Christian culture, retain superstitious beliefs
in occult powers in nature, and practice divination,
necromancy, and sorcery, which are essential heathenism.
The influence of Christianity will be to abolish these
and all other such superstitions. The signs of the times
indicate with scientific certainty that they will utterly
and forever cease in the islands of the Pacific. Already
in most of these islands idols are becoming rare curiosi-
ties, to be obtained only at great prices. The restric-
tions of the tabu are nearly everywhere broken ; the
horrors of human sacrifices have ceased ; the occupa-
tion of the sorcerer is gone; the skies are clearing of
the demon tribe that were supposed to infest them,
and the clear light is shining.

Christianity will also put an end to the horrid im-
morality and cruelty that have grown out of paganism.
War, infanticide, patricide, the murder of widows, of the
sick, and of the aged, and cannibalism, must cease in all
the Pacific. Already in many islands they have been dis-
continued ; the turmoil, the fear and the agony they
caused are ended ; and the natives are beginning to lead
lives of peace, honesty, sobriety, and benevolence.

Christianity will also repress and finally overcome the
evils of unchristian civilization. The struggle with these
will be even longer and more difficult than with pagan-
ism. The influence of evil men from civilized nations
and the felonies of those nations will be in the future, as
in the past, the chief obstacle to the Christian develop-

474 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

ment of the Islanders ; for emigrants from those nations
will constitute the largest and most important portion of
the population of the islands. While the aborigines will
diminish foreign races will increase in number, lured to
the Pacific by the safety, delight and profit of living
where missionaries have done their good work. These
foreigners will chiefly own the wealth, conduct the in-
dustries and administer the governments of the islands.
So that the question in regard to the future condition of
the people of the Pacific is chiefly a question in regard
to the character of these immigrants. With them will be
conveyed the evil as well as the good prevailing in the
countries from which they come ; all the vices, all the
struggles of races, sects, creeds, and isms of every kind
that exist in those countries, will be introduced by them.
As also the world is becoming more closely united to-
gether by increasing means of intercommunication and
by a growing spirit of fraternity, the question in regard
to the future condition of the little islands of the Pacific
broadens into a question in regard to the future condi-
tion of the whole world.

But there is a power in Christianity to overcome all
the evils in the world. Greater is He that is in Christian-
ity than he that is in the world. All power in heaven
and earth is with the great Author of Christianity, who ;s
with his people always, to the end of the world.

Already both in the Pacific and in all the world the
signs of the times betoken the future victory of Christian-
ity over all evil. The civilizations that have been fos-
tered by missionaries among the aborigines of the islands

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 475

are proving to be nuclei for attracting the better classes
of people from foreign countries ; and the communities
thus formed of both natives and foreigners are doing
much for the evangelization of all the races coming into
their midst. Thus in Hawaii successful Home Mission
enterprises are conducted for the resident Chinese, Jap-
anese, Portuguese, and South-Sea Islanders. The in-
creasing prevalence of Christianity in the great nations
also is having an influence in these islands. Thus, in
consequence of the development of evangelical churches
in France, Protestant missions are conducted by that
country in the islands under its usurpation. And thus
also whatever is accomplished in any countries, in re-
pressing war, slavery, intemperance, and vice, and in
developing sublime enterprises of philanthropy, aids in
overcoming the evil in these little islands of the sea.

As the sun not only dispels darkness, but also causes
light and warmth and beauty, and sets in motion all the
activities of nature, Christianity will also cause positive
good in the Pacific. And first it will cause the physical
salvation of the aborigines from extinction, and their
development into a noble people. Heretofore where
civilized races have come into contact with wild tribes
the latter have utterly disappeared. Thus the primitive
inhabitants of the Azores and West Indies and most of
the Indians of the eastern United States have passed
away. Thus also in the far Western Pacific, in the Lad-
rone Islands, where only the Roman-catholic religion
was introduced, the natives have entirely disappeared,
and only Spaniards are to be found. Thus too in all

476 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

the islands of the Pacific there has been a wonderful
decadence of population. But since Christianity has
come with saving power it has retarded this extinction.
If it had not come the natives of many groups would
now be as scarce as Indians. Now, in consequence of
the conformity of the natives to the laws of health and
morality, and of wise medical care provided for them by
mission agencies and by new and intelligent governments,
their bodily health is promoted while their spiritual na-
tures are improved. As the missionaries have sometimes
rescued native infants from being buried alive by their
savage parents so they are rescuing the native race from
extinction ; and though greatly diminished in numbers
that race will continue as a monument of the power for
good of the Foreign Mission enterprise.

The surviving natives, however, will be a mixed race.
Already there are more than 6,000 half-caste children, in
Hawaii, to only 32,000 natives. The future population
will not for many years, if ever, be entirely homogene-
ous. It will comprise pure foreigners of many different
nationalities, and half-castes as various in form and
complexion as the many tinted foliage of their islands.

The half-caste race thus formed will be an improve-
ment on the former native race, if not on the foreign
races. The composite races of the world have been the
best. In Hawaii the half-castes are an improvement on
the native Hawaiians, handsomer, more healthy, and
more intelligent. It will not be a matter for regret that
the future Pacific Islander will be a composite man,
having an infusion of the best blood of the human race,

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 479

having a lighter complexion than the people who for
countless ages ran naked under a tropical sun, having
also a brighter intellect and greater energies than his
forefathers, who slept away an aimless existence in isola-
tion from the stirring activities of civilized nations and
in the dark idiocy of pagan superstitions. That this
future islander will be a man of noble physical propor-
tions many be inferred from the fact that in the Tonga and
Samoa Islands the primitive inhabitants have been on an
average the tallest people in the world, and as much
distinguished for symmetry of form as for height. When
now in the Pacific Islands the people better obey the
laws of health and morality than the ancient Tongans
and Samoans they must become a superior race. That
they will be a more intelligent and energetic race may
be inferred from the fact that they will be combined
with the most intelligent races of the world ; that they
will receive the most stimulating influences from those
nations, all the treasures of knowledge, all the advan-
tages gained by science and invention in all human
history, and that they will be quickened more and more
by the new life of Christianity.

Christianity will also here, as elsewhere, develop the
activities of civilization. The islanders will be moved
to develop all the resources of their countries. With
the aid of future better means of trans-oceanic convey-
ance, much that they can produce of sugar, rice, cotton,
coffee, textile fabrics, tropical fruits, and marine treas-
ures will be carried to foreign nations, and in return
much that foreign nations can produce will be brought

480 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

to them and much that the most skilled artisans of
foreign nations can do will be done in their islands.
The forces of electricity, magnetism and light will be
caught, with the aid of the winds, the waves, the water--
falls and the sunshine, and applied in countless and
ceaseless industries, in the illumination and glorification
of the islands and in linking them by submarine lines
of communication with each other and the continents.

Better than all this, the new race will be Christian.
This may be inferred from the nature of Christianity,
its adaptability to man, and the history of missions in
the Pacific. As the sun shines as brightly in these far-
away islands, the forms of vegetation are as luxuriant,
beautiful and fruitful, and the tribes of animal life as
numerous, varied and perfect as in the old regions of the
continents, so Christianity here has the same power and
causes the same results as in the Old World. The island-
ers have been as susceptible to its truths, have as truly
bowed in repentance before its holy revelations, have as
confidently accepted its salvation, and have as joyfully
consecrated themselves to the performance of its require-
ments as the more favored people of enlightened coun-
tries. The genuineness of their Christianity may be in-
ferred from their conduct. "By their fruits ye shall
know them. " They have ceased from idolatry and in-
human practices, have become honest, peaceful, law-
abiding and philanthropic, and many of them have
testified the genuineness of their piety by enduring mar-
tyrdoms. If these facts do not prove them to have been
genuine Christians there is no proof that there are any

THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 483

Christians in civilized countries, for Christians cannot be
proved to exist by any other kind of evidence. Judging
now from the achievements of missions in the Pacific
we may infer that the populations of all the islands of
that ocean will yet become as truly Christian as those of
the continents.

And they will display their Christianity in their con-
duct. Their very demeanor, their attire, and their words,
their deeds and occupations will exhibit Christian char-
acter. In former times to go from enlightened lands to
these islands was like going from the upper world into
the realm of the monsters of the deep, so inhuman in
appearance, condition and conduct were the natives.
But under the humanizing influence of missions their
outward mien and behavior, as well as their character,
are changing. It has become proverbial that as soon as
they become Christian they put on the dress of civilized
people, often indeed beginning in grotesque imitations
of foreign fashions, but in process of time conforming to
the best taste and style of refined communities. And
with change of dress they have adopted the manners and
sought after the arts and inventions, the treasures and
luxuries, of enlightened nations. The future man of the
Pacific will not be an unclothed savage, tattooed, and
smeared with turmeric and ochreous earth, delighting in
a helmet of bird feathers, wielding a war-club or shark-
teeth sword, and uttering unearthly yells and war-
whoops, but well clothed, cultured and refined, engaged
in the foremost arts, and conversing intelligently on the
best enterprises of the world.

484 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

Doubtless there will be distinctive peculiarities in his
style and conduct, just as his palm-fringed shores and
festooned forests differ from the prairies and open woods
of the continents. But there will be a charm in his sin-
gular phase of life ; and tourists, who find in place of
the former barbaric anarchy homes that reflect the sin-
gular beauty of the island scenery and afford suggestions
of the primitive Eden, will be drawn to go thither again,
as the plovers fly to and fro between the coasts of Amer-
ica and Hawaii ; for Christianity will here do its work,
as elsewhere, of enlightening and sweetening life. As
from the shining of the sun the living forms even in the
depths of the ocean, the fishes, shells, corals and algae,
catch the colors of the light, so in this people will be
kindled the varied beauty and glory of that higher light
that shines into the world from the Sun of Righteous-
ness.

And, best of all, the people will manifest their Chris-
tian character in high activities of philanthropy. As
here Christianity was missionary in its origin it will be
missionary in its results. Light will be borne from isl-
and to island and to the continents. Like the tidal
waves that roll over the whole expanse of the ocean, be-
nevolent enterprises will extend to the most distant
lands. The future pacific age in this ocean will be pe-
culiarly a philanthropic age.

APPENDIX A. 485

APPENDIX A.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF RESEARCHES RESPECT-
ING THE ANCIENT POLYNESIANS.

Like the fossils, that tell of ancient geological ages,
the legends, customs and languages of the people of the
Pacific Islands afford considerable information respect-
ing their history in the ancient ages before they knew
the art of writing. In some of these islands the inhabi-
tants have claimed to be autocthons ; but their very
appearance and words belie this claim.

It has been well said that "language is an amber in
which a thousand precious thoughts have been preserved. "
In the languages of these races not only many of their
ideas but also many facts of their history have been pre-
served. We thereby can trace their origin from group to
group, even to the continent of Asia, and also determine
something of the times and routes of the migrations.
There is here a rich field for archaeological research
which has hardly yet been fairly entered. An interesting
account of investigations in this field has been published
by the late Abraham Fornander, of Hawaii ; from whose
books on ' ' The Polynesian Race " some of the follow-
ing statements are quoted.

486 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

NAMES OF ISLANDS.

The ancient islanders seem to have carried along
with them the names of their former places of residence ;
just as emigrants from Great Britain brought to America
many names of the cities from which they came. The
following names of Hawaiian Islands seem to have been
brought from islands and districts in other groups.

The name Hawaii, which is composed of two words,
Hawa and t't, or iki, meaning Little Hawa, is found in
Raiatea, of the Society group, as the name of a sacred
place, in the Marquesas Islands and in New Zealand it
occurs in legends as Hawa-iki, and in Samoa as the name
of their principal island, Savaii. It evidently points
back to a great Hawa, from which the islanders came.
We find the name, Hawa, or Java, in the Sunda Islands,
Djava, of a river in Borneo, Sawa-it a place in Borneo,
Sawa-i a place in Seram. In this connection Judge
Fornander mentions the name Saba, or Zaba, of a place
of ancient importance in Arabia.

The name Oahu is similar to Ouahou, of a district in
Borneo, and Ouadju, of a territory in Celebes.

The name Molokai corresponds to Morotay in the
Moluccas and Borotai in Borneo.

The name Kauai resembles Tawai of the Batchian
Islands, and Kawai of Sumatra.

The name Maui is found in New Zealand as part of
the name of an island, and there and in many other
groups as the name of a god.

OF THB

UNIVERSITY

APPENDIX A. 489

NAMES OF GODS.

As has been mentioned in the foregoing chapters,
similar names of supreme gods obtained in many of the
Pacific groups of islands. Thus in the Hawaiian Islands
the chief gods were Kane, the creator of the world and
man, Kanaka, the creator of water and useful plants,
Ku, a malevolent being who delighted in human sacri-
fices, and Lono, who was invoked for rain. The natives
of the Society Islands worshipped Tane, Taaroa, and
Oro ; the New Zealanders Tane, Ra, and Tangaloa ; the
Austral Islanders Taaroa ; the Tonguise Tangaloa, Hea-
Moana-Uliuli, and Hikulao. In the Hawaiian, Society,
Tongan and New Zealand Islands a god by the name
of Maui was worshipped, who was said to have fished up
the islands with a hook and line from the bottom of the
ocean, arrested the sun in its course, when it was going
too rapidly, and made it go more slowly, and introduced
fire among mankind. The name Pele, of the Hawaiian
goddess of the volcano, is similar to the Tahitian word
pere, for a volcano, the name Fe-e, of a Samoan volcano-
god, and the common Polynesian word we/a, or wera,
for heat or fire. Judge Fornander mentions that the
word for hot in Mysol is pelah, in the Sunda Islands
belem, and that the name of the sun-god, or Jupiter-god,
in Babylon and Phoenicia was Bel.

GENEALOGIES.

A very interesting comparison has been made of the
genealogies of Hawaii and New Zealand, in each of

4QO THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

which groups the natives took great pains to preserve
the names of their ancient kings. In these groups,
situated at the opposite extremities of the Pacific, the
genealogies coincide in the names of four kings and their
wives of very ancient dates. The names are as follows :

NEW ZEALAND. HAWAIIAN.

Hema and Urutonga his wife Hema and Ulu-mahehoahis wife

Tawhaki and Hine-piri-piri Kahai and Hina-uluohia

Wahieroa and Kuru Wahieloa and Koolaukahili

Raka and Tongarautawhiri Laka and Hikawaelena

From these genealogies, as well as from other data,
we infer that about seven hundred years ago the ancestors
of the natives of these groups were one people, dwelling
in the Samoa Islands, and that they then went forth on
their migrations to the east, north, and south.

CUSTOMS.

A comparison of the peculiar customs of the natives
of the different Pacific Islands is very interesting. In
almost all these islands the custom of tattooing has
prevailed ; also similar funeral rites over the bodies of
the dead, also similar arts of sorcery for destroying one's
enemies ; and similar restrictions, called tabu, or tapu.
In nearly all these islands women have been prohibited,
on pain of death, from eating with men, and from eating
pork, many kinds of fish and of fruit. In the Marquesas
Islands they were tabued from entering canoes ; in the
Tonga Islands they were tabued from entering tem-
ples. The rite of circumcision was practised in Hawaii
and several other groups of islands. In Hawaii there

APPENDIX A. 491

were cities of refuge, called puuhonua ; in other groups
there were provisions for refuge on certain conditions at
the homes of certain chiefs. On the Hawaiian Island
Kauai there were two tfunhonuas, on Oahu two, on
Lanai one, and on Hawaii three. "The most celebrated
puuhonua was at Honaunau, on Hawaii. It measured
715 feet by 404 feet, contained seven acres, and was
surrounded by a stone wall twelve feet high and fifteen
feet thick. Large wooden images stood on the walls
four feet apart. Within the inclosure there were three
heiaus, or sacred platforms. ' Hither, ' says Ellis, ' the
man-slayer, the man who had broken a tabu, the thief,
and even the murderer, fled from his pursuers and was
safe. The gates were always open. As soon as a fugitive
had entered he repaired to the presence of the idol and
made a short address of thanksgiving. The priests and
their attendants would immediately put to death any
one who would follow or molest those who were within
the pale of this inclosure.''' (W. D. Alexander's "His-
tory of the Hawaiian People. ")

LEGENDS.

The Polynesians required their priests to very care-
fully memorize the legends of their gods and heroic
men. A Hawaiian priest would often spend an entire
night in reciting these legends, to the delight of his
companions ; and in voyaging around an island he
would sometimes chant them as connected with every
high promontory or deep gorge that he passed. At first
view these legends seem pleasing and poetical, but as

492 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

we dip deeply into them we stir up much that is too
foul to be repeated. They are valuable for the informa-
tion they give about the ancient style of thought of the
Polynesians, their power of imagination, their ideas
of justice, humanity, and benevolence, their concep-
tions about God and other supernatural beings, his-
tories of their ancient voyages from group to group in
the Pacific, and narratives that are similar to the ancient
Biblical history. An expurgated translation of this
folklore of Hawaii, when it is published, will be of great
interest to all lovers of imaginative literature. This
folklore indicates that the ancient Hawaiians were bold
and enterprising navigators, going in their dug-out
canoes, by the guidance of the stars, voyages of 3,000 or
4,000 miles to other groups; for the names of the So-
ciety, Marquesas, and Samoa Islands often occur in their
legends, and they have many accounts of their voyages to
and from these islands. In like manner the New Zeal-
anders tell, in their legends, of the Hervey and Samoa
Islands, and of their first emigration from those islands.
-The Rarotongans also tell of the ancient flight of their
ancestors from Tahiti on account of war.

It is a matter of great interest to explain the resem-
blance of their stories of the creation and of the first his-
tory of mankind to the accounts in the book of Genesis.
This resemblance is especially noticeable in the legends of
Hawaii. The original state of chaos and darkness, and
the separation of the firmament above from the earth be-
neath, is narrated by the Hawaiians and to some extent
by natives of the South Pacific Islands. The Hawaiians

APPENDIX A. 493

have related that their gods existed from eternity — "mat
ka Po mat," from the time of Night ; and that, by a great
exertion, they dissipated the Po, the Night, and caused
light to enter. The Marquesans have a legend, called
' ' Te vanana na Tanaoa, " the prophecy of Tanaoa, which
relates that in the beginning a boundless Po, Night, en-
veloped everything, over which Tanaoa, which means
darkness, and Mutu-hei, which means silence, reigned
supreme. In the course of time the god Atea, which
means light, drew away from Tanaoa, and made war on
him, and confined him in limits, and produced the gods
Atanua, dawn (Hawaiian, Ahanui), and Ono, sound,
which broke up Mutuhei, the silence. The New Zeal-
and legends relate that in the beginning the gods Rangi,
heaven (Hawaiian, Lani), and Papa, earth, were packed
close together, till their six children rent them asunder,
pushing the former up into space, and let in light to the
earth. The Samoans relate that of old the heavens fell
down, and people had to crawl about till a god named
Tiitii pushed the heavens up. The Dyaks of Borneo
relate that the sky was originally so close to the earth
that one could touch it with his hand, till the daughter
of Tana-compta raised it to its present height ; and then
the succession of day and night began.

In several of these groups of islands there were le-
gends of the lifting of the land out of the ocean, such as
those already mentioned of the exploits of the god Mam,
and others of the god Tangaroa.

In Hawaii there was a legerd that man was made of
earth and the spittle of the gods, and his head of white
23

494 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

clay, palolo, which was brought by Lono from the four
ends of the earth ; and that woman was made of one of
his lower ribs, lalo-puhaka, and therefore called run, bone.
The New Zealanders related that man was made by three
gods out of one of man's ribs.

In all the Pacific Islands there are legends of an an-
cient deluge, which, according to some accounts, was
partial, according to others universal. The Fijis, Mar-
quesans and Hawaiians related that during the preva-
lence of this deluge mankind found refuge in canoes.
The Hawaiians stated that they at last landed on the
summit of their Mauna Kea.

The Hawaiians have a tradition of a man who insti-
tuted the rite of circumcision and afterwards went to a
far distant island. They have also legends that are quite
similar to the story of Joseph and his brethren.

The correspondence of these legends to the Biblical
narratives is too great to be ascribed to the . accidental
development of the same trains of ideas in the minds of
people so widely separated as were the Hawaiians and
Israelites. It has been suggested that the Spaniards
who were shipwrecked on some of the Pacific islands
soon after the discovery of the Pacific Ocean gave the
islanders the Biblical narratives, and thus started these
legends. It has taken very little time to start legends,
or incorrect stories, among any people. Thus in Ha-
waii the volcanic eruption of Hualalai, that occurred as
recently as the year 1801, is explained by a legend re-
specting the goddess Pele. In Mexico several legends,
similar to the Biblical narratives, were started among

KAIULANI.

APPENDIX A. 497

the Indians by the religious instruction given by the
Roman-catholic priests. It has been shown, as men-
tioned in Dubois' "Religions of China," that the portion
of the biography of Gautama which resembles that of
Christ, and which Arnold has celebrated in his "Light
of Asia," was derived from the preaching of Nestorian
missionaries and interpolated into the Buddhist books.

But it is a remarkable fact that in the Hawaiian
legends there are no allusions to the leading events of
the Old Testament history: to the Egyptian bondage and
the exodus from Egypt to the land of Sinai, and to Solo-
mon's temple ; and especially that these legends are
totally silent upon the cruciolatry and Mariolatry that
the Spaniards practiced.

Even if we attribute a large part of these legends to
the teachings of the Spaniards we may find in them
some vestiges of the most ancient records from which the
earliest narratives of the Bible were derived. Judge For-
nander argues that they prove that the ancestors of the
Pacific Islanders emigrated from Asia at a time before
the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

LANGUAGES.

The Polynesian languages resemble each other in
grammatical structure and in words. They have almost
no inflections of nouns or verbs ; but use small particles
to express differences of cases in nouns, and of tenses,
number, and person in verbs. The passive voice is deno-
ted by a suffix. Number is expressed by a change of the
article ; ka being used in Hawaiian for the in the singu-

498 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC,

lar, and na for the in the plural. The nominative follows
the verb ; the adjective follows the substantive ; the pos-
sessive pronoun precedes its noun. The plural and dual
of the pronoun of the first person have two peculiar forms ;
as, in Hawaii, kokou, us, including the person addressed,
and makou, us, excluding the person addressed ; kaua, we
two, including the person addressed, and maua, we two, ex-
cluding the person addressed. A missionary who had not
fully mastered the language, in offering prayer, asked God
to pardon ko kakou lawehala, our sins, including those of
the One addressed, when he should have used the words,
ko makou lawehala, our sins, exclusive of any reference to
the Being addressed. Negation is conveniently expressed
in the Polynesian languages by the suffix ole, not. Thus,
in Hawaii, wanvat, water, or rich, is changed to waiwaw/e,
without water or, poor. * By this method the missionaries
in Tahiti coined the singular word paiitiole, meaning with-
out piety. The Polynesian languages express causation
by a prefix, like the Hebrew hiphil and hophal. Thus, in
Hawaii, maikai, good, is changed to hoomaikai, to make
good, to bless ; manawa nut, much time, to hoomanawanui,
to prolong time, to be patient ; lana, to swim, to hoolana,
to cause to swim, to hope. Through the idea of this
last word the noun for hope is manaolana, the swimming
thought. When all other thoughts sink this floats.

The forms of the Polynesian words change by regular
laws from group to group ; so that if a word is given
in the language of one group it can often be determined

* The value of water for irrigation caused it to be made a
symbol of wealth. A poor man was one who had no water.

APPENDIX A. 499

what it would be in the language of another. These
changes have consisted in dropping letters and abbrevi-
ating words till in Hawaii only fourteen letters were
needed to spell all Hawaiian words ; a change which
perhaps may be attributed to the disposition of the
people, while leading a listless, indolent life in the Trop-
ics, to express their few ideas with brief words and soft
vowel sounds.

As has been mentioned in the foregoing chapters,
the Hawaiian language remarkably resembles that of
New Zealand, while the languages of some of the inter-
mediate groups have many words that are not found in
Hawaii or New Zealand. It has been inferred that Pa-
puans and other races invaded some of the immediate
islands, and changed their languages, but did not reach
Hawaii or New Zealand to cause similar changes there.
By careful examination of these changes we may ascer-
tain with what races the first emigrants to the Pacific in-
termingled and by what routes they went to their various
islands. By comparison of their languages with those
of islands further west and of Asia we also discover the
affinities of the Pacific islanders to the people of Mada-
gascar and of the Malay Peninsula. It has been in-
ferred, from the absence of Sanscrit words in these lan-
guages, that the emigration of the ancestors of these
islanders from Asia occurred before the Malay language
had been changed by the invaders who spoke the Sans-
crit language. It is therefore supposed that the first
Polynesians emigrated from Asia at least 500 years be-
fore the time of Christ.

500

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

cd
4= cd

a-||

«*Z£S&

2 3

II

2 3 3 3

rt « a <u 222

1 M« o rt cd cd cd

>^^k> ^£ 5» 5J

1

rt <U

%£X «

cd <u cd "o

H h fc ^

cd

^3 5
cd cd O

^3

g O 3 .2 5&3

s 5 * 9 a ° 5

55 O h > K K K

3 3

.sill
^Sll

!

M C

i ,rt « 33

53

(2 £5

.3 3

§1 §

> ^ c/2 O O O

3 s

** 1> KH

3 O O

< W M

sfll

1

3 £

3 3
3

cd CD .2 cd cd

O C O Cd g

5 «s <u

^ ^ 3
5 cd -3

a 3 4

lilljlIiS^

9^-3 cd

cd C C .-3 jo > -j.

J= ^2 o j ^ .2 C

< < u < • ^

-III

3CC63I3

a c

w cd

111

03 en
*u *y

•G 22 ~
^.S 5
W 55 H

_|SS

APPENDIX B. 501

APPENDIX B.

SPECIMENS OF THE LANGUAGES OF THE
PACIFIC ISLANDERS.

JOHN 3:l6 IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

Pronunciation : a as in father, e as ey in they, i as in marine,
o as in note, u as in rule.

HAWAII. No ka mea, ua aloha nui mai ke Akua i ko
ke ao nei, nolaila, ua haawi mai oia i kana Keiki
hiwahiwa, i ole e make ka mea manaoio ia ia,
aka e loaa ia ia ke ola mau loa.

TAHITI. I aroha mai te Atua i to te ao, e ua tae roa i
te horoa mai i ta'na Tamaiti fanau tahi, ia ore
ia pohe te faaroo ia'na ra, ia roaa ra te ora mure
ore.

MARQUESAS. Ua kaoha nui mai te Atua i to te aomaa-
ma nei, noeia, ua tuu mai oia i taia Tama fanuata-
hi, ia mate koe te enata i haatia ia ia, atia ia koaa
ia ia ti pohoe mau ana'tu.

RAROTONGA. I aroa mai te Atua i to te ao nei, kua tae
rava ki te oronga anga mai i tana Tamaiti anau
tai, kia kore e mate te akarongo iaia, kia rauka
ra te ora mutu kore.

SAMOA. Aua ua faapea lava ona alofa mai o le Atua
i le lalolagi, ua ia au mai ai lona Atalii e toatasi,
ina ia le fano se tasi e faatuatua ia te ia, a ia
maua e ia le ola e faavavau.

502 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC. '

TONGA. He nae ofa behe ae Otua ki mama ni, naa ne
foaki hono Alo be taha nae fakatubu, koeuhi ko
ia kotoabe e tui kiate ia ke oua naa auha, kae
mau e moui taegata.

MAORI. Na, koia ano te aroha o te Atua ki te ao,
homai ana e ia tana Tamaiti ko tahi, kia kahore
ai e mate te tangata e whakapono ana ki a ia,
engari kia whiwhi ai ki te oranga tonutanga.

FIJI. Ni sa lomani ira vaka ko na Kalou na kai vuravura,
me solia kina na Luvena e dua bauga sa vakasikavi,
me kakua ni rusa ko ira yadua sa vakabauti koya,
me ra rawata ga na bula tawa mudu.

ANEITYUM. Is um ucce naiheuc vai iji asega o Atua is
abrai Jnhal o un is eti ache aien, va eri eti
emesmas a ilpu atimi asgeig iran asega, jam leh
nitai umoh iran ineig inyi ti lep ti.

ERROMANGA. Muve kimi mo, mumpi ovun nurie enyx,
6vun numpun 16 su, wumbaptiso iranda ra nin
eni Itemen, im ra nin eni Netni, im ra nin eni
Naviat Tumpora.

FATE. Leatu ki nrum emeromina nin, tewan kin kt
tubulua Nain iskeimau i mai, nag sernatamol nag
ru seralesok os ruk fo tu mat mou, me ruk fo
biatlaka nagmolien nag i tok kai mou tok.

GILBERT ISLANDS. Ba e bad taniran te aomata iroun
te Atua, ma naia are e ana Natina ae te rikitei
mana, ba e aona n aki mate ane onimakina, ma
e na maiu n aki toki.

MARSHALL ISLANDS. Bwe an Anij yokwe lol, einvot
bwe E ar letok juon wot Nejin E ar keutak, bwe

APPENDIX B. 503

jabrewot eo ej tomak kin E e jamin joko, a e naj

mour in drio.
KUSAIE. Tu God el lunsel fwalu ou ini, tu el kitamu

Mwen siewunu isusla natal, tu met e nu kemwu

su lalalfuni ki'el elos tiu mise, a mol lalos mapat-

pat.
PONAPE. Pue kot me kupura jappa ie me aki to ki Na

ieroj eu. pue me pojon la i, en ter me la, a en

me maur jo tuk.
MORTLOCK ISLANDS. Pue an kot a tane fanufan mi rapur,

ie mi a nanai na an Alaman, pue monison mi

luku i ra te pait mual la, pue ra pu uera i manau

samur.

APPENDIX C.

NAMES OF MISSIONARIES IN THE ISLANDS
OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN.

TAHITI AND THE SOCIETY ISLANDS.

PROMINENT L. M. S. MISSIONARIES.

NAME. DATE. SERVICE.

Nott, Henry 1796 1844 48 years.

Henry, William 1796 1842 46 "

Davies, John 1800 1855 55 "

Barff, Chas -1816 1864 48 "

Platt, Geo 1816 1865 49 "

Williams, John 1818 1839 21 "

Pritchard, George 1824 1827 13 "

Simpson, Alexander 1827 1850 23 "

Stallworthy, George 1833 1844 u "

—^ Howe, William 1838.- 1863 25 "

/ Joseph, Thomas 1838 1848 10 "

Barff, John 1841 1860 19 "

Chisholm, Alexander 1842 1862 20 "

Krause, Ernest R. W 1842 1855 13 "

Green, James Lampard 1860 1887 27 "

Viviati, James Clarke 1863 1874 n "

Saville, Alfred Thomas 1866 1878 12 "

Peaise, Albert 1869 1884 15 "

Cooper, Eben V 1880 1891 11 "

Richards, Wall D 1884 1887 3 "

MISSIONARIES OF THE ' ' SOCIETE DES MISSIONS EVANGEL-
IQUES," PARIS, FRANCE.

Rev. Arbousset, formerly labored in Tahiti and Moorea.
" Alger,
" Girard,
" Vernier, still laboring (1895) " "

APPENDIX C.

Rev. Vienot, formerly laboring in Tahiti and Moorea.
" Brun,

" de Pomares, "
" Brunei, " Raiatea.

" Langereau, Mare.

EUROPEAN SCHOOL TEACHERS.

Mons. and Madame Allard Still laboring (1895).

Mesdemoiselles de Verbizier "

" Bauzet and Bohin _ " "

" Abry and Villemejane "
Mons. and Madame Ahune "

THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.

MISSIONARIES OF THE A. B. C. F. M.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETIRED OR DIED.

Bingham, Rev. Hiram Oct. 23, 1819. Feb. 4, 1841.

Bingham, Mrs. (Sybil Moseley) "

Thurston, Rev. Asa " Mar. n, 1868.

Thurston, Mrs. (Lucy Goodale) " Oct. 13, 1876.

Whitney, Rev. Samuel " Dec. 15, 1845.

Whitney, Mrs. (Mercy Partridge)-- " Dec. 26, 1872.

Holman, Thomas, M. D. " July 30, 1820.

Holman, Mrs. (Lucia Ruggles) " "

Chamberlain, Daniel, a farmer " Mar. 21, 1823.

Chamberlain, Mrs, " Died.

Ruggles, Samuel, a schoolmaster __ " Jan., 1834.

Ruggles, Mrs. (Nancy Wills) " Died.

Loomis, Elisha, printer " 1837.

Loomis, Mrs. (Maria T. Sartwell)-- "

Bishop, Rev. Artemas Nov. 19, 1822. Dec. 18, 1872.

Bishop, Mrs. (Eliza Edwards) " Feb. 21, 1828.

Bishop, Mrs. (Delia Stone) Nov 3, 1829. April 13, 1875.

Richards, Rev. William Nov. 19, 1822. Nov. 7, 1847.

Richards, Mrs. (Clarissa Lyman) __ " 1860.

Stewart, Rev. Charles S " Oct. 15, 1825.

Stewart, Mrs. (Harriet B. Tiffany) _ " "

Ely, Rev. James

Ely, Mrs. (Louisa Everest) " "

Goodrich, Rev. Joseph " May 22, 1836.

Goodrich, Mrs " "

APPENDIX C.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETIRED OR DIED.

Blatchley, Abraham Nov. 19, 1822. 1826.

Blatchley, Mrs. (Jemima Marvin)-- "

Chamberlain, Levi " July 29, 1849.

Chamberlain, Mrs. (Maria Patten)_Nov. 3, 1827. Jan. 19, 1880.
/ Andrews, Rev. Lorrin Nov. 19, 1822. Sept. 29, 1868.

Andrews, Mrs. (Wilson) "

/ Clark, Rev. Ephraim Weston "

Clark, Mrs. (Mary Kittredge) " Aug. 14, 1857.

Green, Rev. Jonathan S " 1842.

Green, Mrs. (Theodosia Arnold)___ " "

' Gulick, Rev. Peter Johnson " 1874.

Gulick, Mrs. (Fanny H. Thomas)— " "

< Judd, Gerrit Parmelee, M. D " 1842.

Judd, Mrs. (Laura Fish) " "

Shepard, Stephen, printer " 1834.

Shepard, Mrs. (Margaret C. Stone). "

, Ogden, Miss Maria C " April 3, 1874.

, Baldwin, Rev. Dwight Dec. 28, 1830. 1886.

Baldwin, Mrs. (Charlotte Fowler). _ " Oct. 2, 1873.

^ Dibble, Rev. Sheldon " Jan. 22, 1845.

Dibble, Mrs. (Maria Tomlinson)— " Feb. 20, 1837.

Dibble, Mrs. (Antoinette Tomlinson) " April 12, 1848.

- Tinker, Rev. Reuben " 1840.

Tinker, Mrs. (Mary Throop Wood) " "

, Johnstone, Andrew, teacher " April 22,1836.

Johnstone, Mrs " "

Alexander, Rev. Wm. Patterson Nov. 26, 1831. Aug. 12, 1884.

Alexander, Mrs.

(Mary Ann McKinney)— " June 29, 1888.

/ Armstrong, Rev. Richard " 1860.

Armstrong, Mrs.

(Clarissa Chapman).- " July 20, 1891.

, Emerson, Rev. John " Mar. 23, 1867.

Emerson, Mrs.

(Ursula Sophia Newell).. " Nov. 24, 1888.

, Forbes, Rev. Cochran " April 2, 1848.

Forbes, Mrs. (Rebecca D. Smith).- " "

, Hitchcock, Rev. Harvey Rexford.. " Aug. 29, 1855.

Hitchcock, Mrs. (Rebecca Howard) " May 10, 1890.

/ Lyons, Rev. Lorenzo " 1886.

Lyons, Mrs. (Betsey Curtis) " May 14, 1837.

APPENDIX C.

Lyons, Mrs. (Lucia G. Smith) July 14, 1838. April 27, 1892.

+ Lyman, Rev. David Belden Nov. 26, 1831. 1884.

Lyman, Mrs. (Sarah Joiner) " 1886.

Spaulding, Rev. Ephraim " Dec. 26, 1836.

Spaulding, Mrs. (Julia Brooks) " "

Chapin, Alonzo, M. D. " Mar. 14, 1837.

Chapin, Mrs. (Mary Ann Tenney) _ "

, Rogers, Edmund, printer " Dec. i, 1853.

Rogers, Mrs. (Mary Ward) " May 23, 1834.

Rogers, Mrs. (Elizabeth Hitchcock) " Aug. 2, 1857.
, Parker, Rev. Benjamin Wyman __-Nov. 21, 1832. Mar. 23, 1877.

Parker, Mrs.

(Mary Elizabeth Barker) __

, Smith, Rev. Lowell " May, 1891.

Smith, Mrs. (Abba W. Tenney) " Jan. 31, 1885.

Fuller, Lemuel, printer " 1834.

^ Coan, Rev. Titus Dec. 5, 1834. 1883.

Coan, Mrs. (Fidelia Church) " Sept. 29, 1872.

Coan, Mrs. (Elizabeth Bingham) —

Dimond, Henry, bookbinder " 1894.

Dimond, Mrs. (Ann Maria Anner) _ "

, Hall, Edwin Oscar " 1850.

Hall, Mrs. (Sarah Lynn Williams) _ "

Brown, Miss Lydia " 1869.

s Bliss, Rev. Isaac Dec. 14, 1836. Dec. 2, 1841.

Bliss, Mrs. (Emily Curtis)

^ Conde, Rev. Daniel Toll " Mar. 18, 1857.

Conde, Mrs. (Andelusia Lee) " Mar. 30, 1855.

., Ives, Rev. Mark " 1851.

Ives, Mrs. (Mary Anna Brainerd)-- " •

, Lafon, Thomas, M. D " June 22, 1841.

Lafon, Mrs. (Sophia Louisa Barker) "

Johnson, Rev. Edward " Sept. i, 1867.

Johnson, Mrs. (Lois S. Hoyt) " Jan. 17, 1891.

, Andrews, Seth Lathrop, M. D " May u, 1849.

Andrews, Mrs. (Parmelly Pierce) — " "

, Bailey, Edward, teacher "

Bailey, Mrs. (Caroline Hubbard)___ " June 10, 1894.

Castle, Samuel Northrup " 1850.

Castle, Mrs. (Angeline L. Tenney)- " Mar. 5, 1841.

Castle, Mrs. (Mary Tenney) Nov. 2, 1842.

/ Cooke, Amos Starr, teacher Dec. 14, 1836. 1850.

APPENDIX C.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETIRED OR DIED.

Cooke, Mrs. (Juliette Montague).— Dec. 14, 1836. 1850.

Knapp, Horton Owen " Mar. 28, 1845.

Knapp, Mrs. (Charlotte Close) "

Locke, Edwin, teacher " 001.28,1843.

Locke, Mrs.

(Martha Laurens Rowell)— "

McDonald, Charles " Sept. 7, 1839.

.McDonald, Mrs.

(Harriet T. Halstead)__

Munn, Bethuel, teacher " April, 1842.

Munn, Mrs. (Louisa Clark) "

Van Duzee, William Sanford " 1840.

Van Duzee, Mrs. (Oral Hobart) __.

Wilcox, Abner, teacher " Aug. 20, 1869.

Wilcox, Mrs. (Lucy Eliza Hart) - Aug. 13, 1869.

Smith, Miss Marcia Maria " June 6, 1854.

Dole, Rev. Daniel Nov. 14, 1840. 1878.

Dole, Mrs. (Emily H. Ballard) " April 27, 1844.

Dole, Mrs. (Charlotte Close Knapp) -Dec. 14, 1836. June 5. 1874.

Bond, Rev. Elias Nov. 14, 1840.

Bond, Mrs. (Ellen Mariner Howell) " May 12, 1881.

Paris, Rev. John D " July 28, 1892.

Paris, Mrs. (Mary Grant) " Feb. 18, 1847.

Paris, Mrs. (Mary Carpenter) Nov. 18, 1851.

Rice, William Harrison, teacher Nov. 14, 1840. 1863.

Rice, Mrs. (Mary Sophia Hyde) __.

Smith, Rev. James W., M. D May 2, 1842. Nov. 30, 1887.

Smith, Mrs. (Mellicent K.) " Sept. 24, 1891.

Rowell, Rev. George B. " 1865.

Rowell, Mrs. (MalvinaJ. Chapin).-

Smith; Rev. Asa Bowen " 1846.

Smith, Mrs. (Sarah Gilbert WTlrite). "

Whittlesey, Rev. Eliphalet Dec. 4, 1843. 1854.

Whittlesey, Mrs.

(Elizabeth Keene Baldwin)-- "

Hunt, Rev. Timothy Dwight " * 1848.

Hunt, Mrs. (Mary Hedge) "

Pogue, Rev. John Fawcett " Dec. 4, 1877.

Pogue, Mrs. (Maria K. Whitney) _„

Andrews, Rev. Claudius Buchanan. " April 4, 1877.

APPENDIX C.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETIRED OR DIED.

Andrews, Mrs.

(Anna Seward Gilson)__ " Jan. 27, 1862.

Andrews, Mrs. (Miss Gilson) "

Dwight, Rev. Samuel Gelston Oct. 23, 1847. Sept. 26, 1854.

Kinney, Rev. Henry " Sept. 24, 1854.

Kinney, Mrs.

(Maria Louisa Walsworth) " "

Wetmore, Charles Hinckley, M.D._ " 001.16,1848.

Wetmore, Mrs.

(Lucy Sheldon Taylor).- " July, 1883.

Shipman, Rev. William Cornelius -June 4, 1854. Dec. 21, 1861.

Shipman, Mrs. (Jane Stobie) "

Baldwin, Rev. William Otis Nov. 28, 1854. April 26, 1860.

Baldwin, Mrs. (Mary Proctor) " "

Forbes, Rev. Anderson Oliver 1858. Aug. 8. 1888.

Forbes, Mrs. (Maria Patten) "

Gulick, Rev. Luther Halsey, M. D.-i862. 1870.

Gulick, Mrs. (Louisa Lewis) " "

Gulick, Rev. Orramel H " "

Gulick, Mrs. (Ann Eliza Clark)..- "

Bishop, Rev. Sereno Edwards " "

Bishop, Mrs. (C. Sessions) " •

Parker, Rev. Henry H. June 28, 1863.

Hyde, Rev. Charles M., D. D. 1877.

Hyde, Mrs. (Mary Knight) "

THE HERVEY ISLANDS.

PROMINENT L. M. S. MISSIONARIES.

NAME. , DATE. SERVICE.

Williams, John 1818 1839 21 years.

Pitman, Charles 1124 1855 31 "

Buzacott, Aaron 1827 1857 30 "

Royle, Henry 1838 1876 38 "

Gill, William 1838 1856 18 "

Krause, E. R. W. 1859 1870 n "

Chalmers, James 1866 1877 ll "

Harris, George Alfred 1870 1894 24 "

Hutchin, John J. K. 1882 1894 12

Lawrence, William M 1883 1894 n "

Ardill, Miss --1893 1894 i "

APPENDIX C.
THE SAMOAN ISLANDS.

PROMINENT L. M. S. MISSIONARIES.

NAME. DATE. SERVICE.

Murray, A. W 1835 1875 40 years

Hardie, Charles 1835 1856 21 "

Pratt, George 1838 1879 4* "

Harbutt, William 1839 1862 23 "

Drummond, George 1839 l&73 34 "

Nisbet, Henry, LL. D. 1840 1876 36 "

Turner, George 1840 1882 42 "

Powell, Thomas 1844 1887 43 "

Stallworthy, George 1844 1859 15 "

Sunderland, James P. 1844 1856 12 "

Ella, Samuel 1847 1876 29 "

Gee, Henry 1859 1868 9 "

King, Joseph 1863 1874 ll "

Whitmee, Samuel J 1863 1878 18 "

Davies, Samuel H 1866 1894 28 "

Turner, George, M. D 1868 1881 13 "

Marriott, John 1878 1894 16 "

Newell, James Ed 1880 1894 14 "

Clarke, W. E 1882 1894 12 "

Claxton, Arthur E 1885 1894 9 "

Schultze, Miss.
Moore, "
Large,

Gouards, "
Hills,
Hunns, "

THE LOYALTY ISLANDS.

PROMINENT L. M. S. MISSIONARIES.

NAME. DATE. SERVICE.

Jones, John 1853 1887 34 years.

Creagh, S. M 1853 1892 39 '<

McFarlane, Samuel 1859 1871 12 "

Sleigh, James 1862 1888 26 "

Ella, Samuel 1864 1876 12 "

Hadfiemd, James ... 1878 1894 16 "

APPENDIX C.
NIUE.

NAME. DATE. SERVICE.

Lawes, W. G 1860 1894 34 years.

Lawes, F. E 1867- 1894 27 "

NEW HEBRIDES.

MISSIONARIES OF PRESBYTERIAN SOCIETIES.

NAME. DATE. SERVICE.

Turner and Nisbet 1842. 7 months

Geddie, Rev. John Nov. 30, 1846. July 18, 1872.

Inglis, Rev. John July i, 1852. 1877.

Murray, Rev. James D 1872. 1876.

Annand, Rev. Joseph 1873.

Goedon, Rev. George N. 1857. May 20, 1844.

Matheson, Rev. J. W 1858. Mar. n, 1862.

Johnston, Rev. Samuel June 18, 1860. Jan. 21, 1861.

Copeland, Rev. J 1858.

Watt, Rev. William 1869.

Milne, Rev. Peter 1869.

Morrison, Rev. Donald June, 1865. Oct. 23, 1869.

Gordon, Rev. James D. 1864. 1872.

Robertson, Rev. H. A. 1872.

McNair, Rev. James 1866 July 16, 1870.

Mackenzie, J. W. 1872. April 30, 1893.

Macdonald, Rev. D._ 1872.

Michelsen, Rev. Oscar 1878.

Lawrie, Rev. J. H.._ 1879.

Eraser, Rev. R. M. 1882.

Gray, Rev. William 1882.

Gunn, William, M. D 1883.

Landels, Rev. J. D 1886.

Leggatt, Rev. T. W. 1886.

Gillan, John 1889.

Smaill, Rev. T. 1889.

Macdonald, Rev. A. H 1888.

Goodwill, Rev. J April 30, 1893.

APPENDIX C.

MICRONESIA.

MISSIONARIES OF THE A. J. C. F. M.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETURNED OR DIED.

Snow, Rev. Benjamin Galen Nov. 18, 1851. March i, 1880.

Snow, Mrs. (Lydia Vose Buck) " July n, 1882.

Gulick, Rev. Luther Halsey, M. D._ " 1862.

Gulick, Mrs. (Louisa Lewis)

Sturges, Rev. Albert A. Jan. 17, 1852. 1885.

Sturges, Mrs.

(Susan Mary Thompson)-. " 1881.

Doane, Rev. Edward Toppin June 4, 1854. May 15, 1890.

Doane, Mrs. (Sarah Wells Wilbur )_ Feb. 16, 1862.

Doane, Mrs. (Clara Hale Strong) --May 20, 1865. 1872.

Pierson, Rev. George, M. D. Nov. 28, 1854. 1860.

Pierson, Mrs.

(Nancy Annette Shaw)_-

Bingham, Rev. Hiram, Jr. Dec. 2, 1856.

Bingham, Mrs.

(Minerva Clarissa Brewster)--

Roberts, Rev. Ephraim Peter Oct. 30, 1857. July 30, 1861.

Roberts, Mrs.

(Myra Holman Farrington)-- "

Whitney, Rev. Joel Fisk June 23, 1871. April 18, 1881.

Whitney, Mrs.

(Louisa Maretta Bailey) _.

Taylor, Rev. Horace Judson July 11, 1874. 1882.

Taylor, Mrs. (Julia Ann Rudd) — _. " Sept. 26, 1874.

Taylor, Mrs. (Jennie Rudd) May 8, 1880. June 2, 1881.

Logan, Rev. Robert William June 20, 1874 Dec. 27, 1887.

Logan, Mrs. (Mary Elvira Fenn) _- 1894.

Rand, Rev. Frank E. June 20, 1874. "

Rand, Mrs. (Carrie F. Foss)-

Pease, Rev. Edmund Morris May 23, 1877.

Pease, Mrs.

(Harriet Almira Sturtevant)-- "
Walkup, Rev. Alfred Christopher -June 5, 1880.
\Valkup, Mrs. (Margaret L. Barr) _ " Aug. 18, 1888.

Houston, Rev. Albert Sturges May 6. 1882. 1883.

Houston, Mrs.

(Elizabeth Moffit Danskin)--

APPENDIX C.

NAME. EMBARKED. RETIRED OR DIED.

Price, Rev. Francis M. May 6, 1882. 1883.

Price, Mrs. (Sarah Jane Freeborn)- "

Trieber, Daniel J June 21, 1887. April 2, 1889.

Trieber, Mrs.

(Rose Ellen Standish)__

Snelling, Rev. Alfred July i, 1888.

Sneliing, Mrs.

(Elizabeth Maria Heymer)__July 19, 1889.

Forbes, Rev. John James July 19, 1889. Oct. 29, 1889.

Forbes, Mrs. (Rachel Crawford)-- 1894.

Channon, Rev. Irving Monroe June 28, 1890.

Channon, Mrs.

(Mary Long Goldsburg)— "

Cathcart, Miss Lillie Sophia June 4, 1881. 1887.

Fletcher, Miss Jennie Estella May 6, 1882.

Palmer, Miss Annette Augusta June 2, 1884.

Crosby, Miss Ellen Theodora June, 1886.

Smith, Miss Sarah Louise " Sept. 3, 1886.

Married Capt. Garland of the " Morning Star."
Hemingway, Miss Lydia Esther ...June i, 1886. 1887.
Ingersoll, Miss Lucy Merrill, M. D. .April 1887. Feb. 22, 1890.

Little, Miss Alice Cowles June 10, 1888.

Foss, Miss Ida Cressey June 28, 1890.

Kinney, Miss Rosetta Matthews ..

Hoppin, Miss Jessie Rebecca— --May 13, 1890.

Abell, Miss Annie Elizabeth--. .^-June 28, 1892.

Rife, Clinton F., M. D ...June 28, 1894.

Rife, Mrs. (Isadora) -

514 THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC.

APPENDIX D.

ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC APPROPRIATED
BY EUROPEAN NATIONS.

THE following statements are taken from an article
on the " Future of the Pacific " published by Hon. Lorin
Thurston in the April number of the "North American
Review. "

In the sixteenth century Spain took possession of the
Philippine and Ladrone Islands. About one hundred
years ago England appropriated Australia, and in the
early part of this century New Zealand. In 1842 France
raised her flag over the Marquesas group, and in 1853
over New Caledonia and the Loyalty group. In 1874
England took possession of the 250 islands of the Fiji
group. In 1880 France usurped dominion over the
Paumotu and Society Islands, comprising thirty-six in-
habited islands. In 1881 England annexed Rotumah.
In 1885 Spain took possession of the Caroline Islands;
and Germany took the Marshall, the Solomon, and the
Admiralty groups ; and England, Germany, and Holland
partitioned New Guinea between themselves. This
is 1,500 miles long, 400 wide, and contains over 300,000
square miles. In 1888 England took possession of the
Gilbert, Ellice, Enderbury and Union groups, containing
twenty-six inhabited islands, and the following single

APPENDIX D. 515

islands : Kingman, Fanning, Washington, Christmas, Jar-
vis, Maiden, Starbuck, Dudosa, and Nuie ; and in 1889,
1891 and 1892 Suwaroff, Coral, Gardner, and Danger
Islands. Thus Hawaii and Samoa are the only unap-
propriated islands of the Pacific ; the latter hardly to be
called unappropriated while under the tripartite sove-
reignty of England, Germany, and the United States.

Mr. Thurston remarks : " Prophesying is dangerous
and uncertain business ; but it seems altogether proba-
ble that within ten or fifteen years the railroad from St.
Petersburg to Vladivostok will have been completed, and
that steamships will radiate from the latter point to Van-
couver, San Francisco, the Nicaragua Canal, and the
southern nations. The railroad system of North Ameri-
ca will have been extended to Alaska on the north, and
to Chili on the south. The Nicaragua Canal will have
been constructed, and a large proportion of the com-
merce which now pours through the Suez Canal will have
been diverted to its American rival. Honolulu will be
the centre of a cable system, radiating to Tahiti, Austra-
lia, Japan, Vancouver, and San Francisco ; while between
all the main ports of the Pacific steamers of the size and
speed of those now plying between New York and Eur-
ope will be in use. The Pacific has already made giant
strides of progress ; but it is yet only upon the threshold
of the destiny which looms before it."

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

LOAN DEPT.

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

Mb

FEfi

REC'D LD

JAN 2 7 '66 -9 AM

JAN 9

LD 21A-40TO-4,'63
(D6471slO)476B

General Library

University of California

Berkeley

79/67

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY