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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28025-8.txt b/28025-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4950bc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/28025-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11672 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story of John G. Paton, by James Paton + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of John G. Paton + Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals + + +Author: James Paton + + + +Release Date: February 8, 2009 [eBook #28025] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON*** + + +E-text prepared by Carl D. DuBois + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 28025-h.htm or 28025-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/2/28025/28025-h/28025-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/2/28025/28025-h.zip) + + + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON + +Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals + +by + +REV. JAMES PATON, B.A. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +A. L. Burt Company,Publishers, New York + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +EVER since the story of my brother's life first appeared (January 1889) +it has been constantly pressed upon me that a YOUNG FOLKS' EDITION would +be highly prized. The Autobiography has therefore been re-cast and +illustrated, in the hope and prayer that the Lord will use it to inspire +the Boys and Girls of Christendom with a wholehearted enthusiasm for the +Conversion of the Heathen World to Jesus Christ. + +A few fresh incidents have been introduced; the whole contents have been +rearranged to suit a new class of readers; and the service of a gifted +Artist has been employed, to make the book every way attractive to the +young. For _full_ details as to the Missionary's work and life, the +COMPLETE EDITION must still of course be referred to. + +JAMES PATON. +GLASGOW, _Sept,_ 1892. + +CONTENTS. +CHAP. + + 1. Our Cottage Home + 2. Our Forebears + 3. Consecrated Parents + 4. School Days + 5. Leaving the Old Home + 6. Early Struggles + 7. A City Missionary + 8. Glasgow Experiences + 9. A Foreign Missionary +10. To the New Hebrides +11. First Impressions of Heathendom +12. Breaking Ground on Tanna +13. Pioneers in the New Hebrides +14. The Great Bereavement +15. At Home with Cannibals +16. Superstitions and Cruelties +17. Streaks of Dawn amidst Deeds of Darkness +18. The Visit of H.M.S. "Cordelia" +19. "Noble Old Abraham" +20. A Typical South Sea Trader +21. Under Axe and Musket +22. A Native Saint and Martyr +23. Building and Printing for God +24. Heathen Dance and Sham Fight +25. Cannibals at Work +26. The Defying of Nahak +27. A Perilous Pilgrimage +28. The Plague of Measles +29. Attacked with Clubs +30. Kowia +31. The Martyrdom of the Gordons +32. Shadows Deepening on Tanna +33. The Visit of the Commodore +34. The War Chiefs in Council +35. Under Knife and Tomahawk +36. The Beginning of the End +37. Five Hours in a Canoe +38. A Race for Life +39. Faint yet Pursuing +40. Waiting at Kwamera +41. The Last Awful Night +42. "Sail O! Sail O!" +43. Farewell to Tanna +44. The Floating of the "Dayspring" +45. A Shipping Company for Jesus +46. Australian Incidents +47. Amongst Squatters and Diggers +48. John Gilpin in the Bush +49. The Aborigines of Australia +50. Nora +51. Back to Scotland +52. Tour through the Old Country +53. Marriage and Farewell +54. First Peep at the "Dayspring" +55. The French in the Pacific +56. The Gospel and Gunpowder +57. A Plea for Tanna +58. Our New Home on Aniwa +59. House-Building for God +60. A City of God +61. The Religion of Revenge +62. First Fruits on Aniwa +63. Traditions and Customs +64. Nelwang's Elopement +65. The Christ-Spirit at Work +66. The Sinking of the Well +67. Rain from Below +68. The Old Chief's Sermon +69. The First Book and the New Eyes +70. A Roof-Tree for Jesus +71. "Knock the Tevil out!" +72. The Conversion of Youwili +73. First Communion on Aniwa +74. The New Social Order +75. The Orphans and their Biscuits +76. The Finger-Posts of God +77. The Gospel in Living Capitals +78. The Death of Namakei +79. Christianity and Cocoa-Nuts +80. Nerwa's Beautiful Farewell +81. Ruwawa +82. Litsi +83. The Conversion of Nasi +84. The Appeal of Lamu +85. Wanted! A Steam Auxiliary +86. My Campaign in Ireland +87. Scotland's Free-will Offerings +88. England's Open Door +89. Farewell Scenes +90. Welcome to Victoria and Aniwa +91. Good News from Tanna, 1891 + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON. + + + +CHAPTER I. +OUR COTTAGE HOME. + +MY early days were all spent in the beautiful county of Dumfries, which +Scotch folks call the Queen of the South. There, in a small cottage, on +the farm of Braehead, in the parish of Kirkmahoe, I was born on the 24th +May, 1824. My father, James Paton, was a stocking manufacturer in a +small way; and he and his young wife, Janet Jardine Rogerson, lived on +terms of warm personal friendship with the "gentleman farmer," so they +gave me his son's name, John _Gibson_; and the curly-haired child of the +cottage was soon able to toddle across to the mansion, and became a +great pet of the lady there. On my visit to Scotland in 1884 I drove out +to Braehead; but we found no cottage, nor trace of a cottage, and amused +ourselves by supposing that we could discover by the rising of the +grassy mound, the outline where the foundations once had been! + +While yet a mere child, five years or so of age, my parents took me to a +new home in the ancient village of Torthorwald, about four and a quarter +miles from Dumfries, on the road to Lockerbie. At that time, say 1830, +Torthorwald was a busy and thriving village, and comparatively populous, +with its cottars and crofters, large farmers and small farmers, weavers +and shoemakers, doggers and coopers, blacksmiths and tailors. Fifty-five +years later, when I visited the scenes of my youth, the village proper +was extinct, except for five thatched cottages where the lingering +patriarchs were permitted to die slowly away,--soon they too would be +swept into the large farms, and their garden plots plowed over, like +sixty or seventy others that had been blotted out! + +From the Bank Hill, close above our village, and accessible in a walk of +fifteen minutes, a view opens to the eye which, despite several easily +understood prejudices of mine that may discount any opinion that I +offer, still appears to me well worth seeing amongst all the beauties of +Scotland. At your feet lay a thriving village, every cottage sitting in +its own plot of garden, and sending up its blue cloud of "peat reek," +which never somehow seemed to pollute the blessed air; and after all has +been said or sung, a beautifully situated village of healthy and happy +homes for God's children is surely the finest feature in every +landscape! Looking from the Bank Hill on a summer day, Dumfries with its +spires shone so conspicuous that you could have believed it not more +than two miles away; the splendid sweeping vale through which Nith rolls +to Solway, lay all before the naked eye, beautiful with village spires, +mansion houses, and white shining farms; the Galloway hills, gloomy and +far-tumbling, bounded the forward view, while to the left rose Criffel, +cloud-capped and majestic; then the white sands of Solway, with tides +swifter than horsemen; and finally the eye rested joyfully upon the +hills of Cumberland, and noticed with glee the blue curling smoke from +its villages on the southern Solway shores. + +There, amid this wholesome and breezy village life, our dear parents +found their home for the long period of forty years. There too were born +to them eight additional children, making in all a family of five sons +and six daughters. Theirs was the first of the thatched cottages on the +left, past the "miller's house," going up the "village gate," with a +small garden in front of it, and a large garden across the road; and it +is one of the few still lingering to show to a new generation what the +homes of their fathers were. The architect who planned that cottage had +no ideas of art, but a fine eye for durability! It consists at present +of three, but originally of four, pairs of "oak couples" (Scottice +_kipples_) planted like solid trees in the ground at equal intervals, +and gently sloped inwards till they meet or are "coupled" at the ridge, +this coupling being managed not by rusty iron, but by great solid pins +of oak. A roof of oaken wattles was laid across these, till within +eleven or twelve feet of the ground, and from the ground upwards a stone +wall was raised, as perpendicular as was found practicable, towards +these overhang-wattles, this wall being roughly "pointed" with sand and +clay and lime. Now into and upon the roof was woven and intertwisted a +covering of thatch, that defied all winds and weathers, and that made +the cottage marvelously cozy,--being renewed year by year, and never +allowed to remain in disrepair at any season. But the beauty of the +construction was and is its durability, or rather the permanence of its +oaken ribs! There they stand, after probably not less than four +centuries, japanned with "peat reek" till they are literally shining, so +hard that no ordinary nail can be driven into them, and perfectly +capable of service for four centuries more on the same conditions. The +walls are quite modern, having all been rebuilt in my father's time, +except only the few great foundation boulders, piled around the oaken +couples; and parts of the roofing also may plead guilty to having found +its way thither only in recent days; but the architect's one idea +survives, baffling time and change--the ribs and rafters of oak. + +Our home consisted of a "but" and a "ben" and a "mid room," or chamber, +called the "closet." The one end was my mother's domain, and served all +the purposes of dining-room and kitchen and parlor, besides containing +two large wooden erections, called by our Scotch peasantry "box beds"; +not holes in the wall, as in cities, but grand, big, airy beds, adorned +with many-colored counterpanes, and hung with natty curtains, showing +the skill of the mistress of the house. The other end was my father's +workshop, filled with five or six "stocking-frames," whirring with the +constant action of five or six pairs of busy hands and feet, and +producing right genuine hosiery for the merchants at Hawick and +Dumfries. The "closet" was a very small apartment betwixt the other two, +having room only for a bed, a little table and a chair, with a +diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. This was the +Sanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day, +generally after each meal, we saw our father retire, and "shut to the +door"; and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct +(for the thing was too sacred to be talked about) that prayers were +being poured out there for us, as of old by the High Priest within the +veil in the Most Holy Place. We occasionally heard the pathetic echoes +of a trembling voice pleading as if for life, and we learned to slip out +and in past that door on tiptoe, not to disturb the holy colloquy. The +outside world might not know, but we knew, whence came that happy light +as of a new-born smile that always was dawning on my father's face: it +was a reflection from the Divine Presence, in the consciousness of which +he lived. Never, in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I +hope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and +talking with men, than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and +oaken wattles. Though everything else in religion were by some +unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, or blotted from my +understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut +itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the +echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the +victorious appeal, "He walked with God, why may not I?" + + + +CHAPTER II. +OUR FOREBEARS. + +A FEW notes had better here be given as to our "Forebears," the kind of +stock from which my father and mother sprang. My father's mother, Janet +Murray, claimed to be descended from a Galloway family that fought and +suffered for Christ's Crown and Covenant in Scotland's "killing time," +and was herself a woman of a pronouncedly religious development. Her +husband, our grandfather, William Paton, had passed through a roving and +romantic career, before he settled down to be a douce deacon of the +weavers of Dumfries, like his father before him. + +Forced by a press-gang to serve on board a British man-of-war, he was +taken prisoner by the French, and thereafter placed under Paul Jones, +the pirate of the seas, and bore to his dying day the mark of a slash +from the captain's sword across his shoulder for some slight disrespect +or offense. Determining with two others to escape, the three were hotly +pursued by Paul Jones's men. One, who could swim but little, was shot, +and had to be cut adrift by the other two, who in the darkness swam into +a cave and managed to evade for two nights and a day the rage of their +pursuers. My grandfather, being young and gentle and yellow-haired, +persuaded some kind heart to rig him out in female attire, and in this +costume escaped the attentions of the press-gang more than once; till, +after many hardships, he bargained with the captain of a coal sloop to +stow him away amongst his black diamonds; and thus, in due time, he +found his way home to Dumfries, where he tackled bravely and wisely the +duties of husband, father, and citizen for the remainder of his days. +The smack of the sea about the stories of his youth gave zest to the +talks round their quiet fireside, and that, again, was seasoned by the +warm Evangelical spirit of his Covenanting wife, her lips "dropping +grace." + +On the other side, my mother, Janet Rogerson, had for parents a father +and mother of the Annandale stock. William Rogerson, her father, was one +of many brothers, all men of uncommon strength and great force of +character, quite worthy of the Border Rievers of an earlier day. Indeed, +it was in some such way that he secured his wife, though the dear old +lady in after days was chary about telling the story. She was a girl of +good position, the ward of two unscrupulous uncles who had charge of her +small estate, near Langholm; and while attending some boarding school +she fell devotedly in love with the tall, fair-haired, gallant young +blacksmith, William Rogerson. Her guardians, doubtless very properly, +objected to the "connection"; but our young Lochinvar, with his six or +seven stalwart brothers and other trusty "lads," all mounted, and with +some ready tools in case of need, went boldly and claimed his bride, and +she, willingly mounting at his side, was borne off in the light of open +day, joyously married, and took possession of her "but and ben," as the +mistress of the blacksmith's castle. + +Janet Jardine bowed her neck to the self-chosen yoke, with the light of +a supreme affection in her heart, and showed in her gentler ways, her +love of books, her fine accomplishments with the needle, and her general +air of ladyhood, that her lot had once been cast in easier, but not +necessarily happier, ways. Her blacksmith lover proved not unworthy of +his lady bride, and in old age found for her a quiet and modest home, +the fruit of years of toil and hopeful thrift, their own little +property, in which they rested and waited a happy end. Amongst those who +at last wept by her grave stood, amidst many sons and daughters, her son +the Rev. James J. Rogerson, clergyman of the Church of England, who, for +many years thereafter, and till quite recently, was spared to occupy a +distinguished position at ancient Shrewsbury and has left behind him +there an honored and beloved name. + +From such a home came our mother, Janet Jardine Rogerson, a +bright-hearted, high-spirited, patient-toiling, and altogether heroic +little woman; who, for about forty-three years, made and kept such a +wholesome, independent, God-fearing, and self-reliant life for her +family of five sons and six daughters, as constrains me, when I look +back on it now, in the light of all I have since seen and known of +others far differently situated, almost to worship her memory. She had +gone with her high spirits and breezy disposition to gladden as their +companion, the quiet abode of some grand or great-grand-uncle and aunt, +familiarly named in all that Dalswinton neighborhood, "Old Adam and +Eve." Their house was on the outskirts of the moor, and life for the +young girl there had not probably too much excitement. But one thing had +arrested her attention. She had noticed that a young stocking-maker from +the "Brig End," James Paton, the son of William and Janet there, was in +the habit of stealing alone into the quiet wood, book in hand, day after +day, at certain hours, as if for private study and meditation. It was a +very excusable curiosity that led the young bright heart of the girl to +watch him devoutly reading and hear him reverently reciting (though she +knew not then, it was Ralph Erskine's _Gospel Sonnets_, which he could +say by heart sixty years afterwards, as he lay on his bed of death); and +finally that curiosity awed itself into a holy respect, when she saw him +lay aside his broad Scotch bonnet, kneel down under the sheltering wings +of some tree, and pour out all his soul in daily prayers to God. As yet +they had never spoken. What spirit moved her, let lovers tell--was it +all devotion, or was it a touch of unconscious love kindling in her +towards the yellow-haired and thoughtful youth? Or was there a stroke of +mischief, of that teasing, which so often opens up the door to the most +serious step in all our lives? Anyhow, one day she slipped in quietly, +stole away his bonnet, and hung it on a branch near by, while his trance +of devotion made him oblivious of all around; then, from a safe retreat, +she watched and enjoyed his perplexity in seeking for and finding it! A +second day this was repeated; but his manifest disturbance of mind, and +his long pondering with the bonnet in hand, as if almost alarmed, seemed +to touch another chord in her heart--that chord of pity which is so +often the prelude of love, that finer pity that grieves to wound +anything nobler or tenderer than ourselves. Next day, when he came to +his accustomed place of prayer, a little card was pinned against the +tree just where he knelt, and on it these words: "She who stole away +your bonnet is ashamed of what she did; she has a great respect for you, +and asks you to pray for her, that she may become as good a Christian as +you." + +Staring long at that writing, he forgot Ralph Erskine for one day! +Taking down the card, and wondering who the writer could be, he was +abusing himself for his stupidity in not suspecting that some one had +discovered his retreat and removed his bonnet, instead of wondering +whether angels had been there during his prayer,--when, suddenly raising +his eyes, he saw in front of old Adam's cottage, though a lane amongst +the trees, the passing of another kind of angel, swinging a milk-pail in +her hand and merrily singing some snatch of old Scottish song. He knew, +in that moment, by a Divine instinct, as infallible as any voice that +ever came to seer of old, that she was the angel visitor that had stolen +in upon his retreat--that bright-faced, clever-witted niece of old Adam +and Eve, to whom he had never yet spoken, but whose praises he had often +heard said and sung--"Wee Jen." I am afraid he did pray "for her," in +more senses than one, that afternoon; at any rate, more than a Scotch +bonnet was very effectually stolen; a good heart and true was there +virtually bestowed, and the trust was never regretted on either side, +and never betrayed. + +Often and often, in the genial and beautiful hours of the autumntide of +their long life, have I heard my dear father tease "Jen" about her +maidenly intentions in the stealing of that bonnet; and often have heard +her quick mother-wit in the happy retort, that had his motives for +coming to that retreat been altogether and exclusively pious, he would +probably have found his way to the other side of the wood, but that men +who prowled about the Garden of Eden ran the risk of meeting some day +with a daughter of Eve! + + + +CHAPTER III. +CONSECRATED PARENTS. + +SOMEWHERE in or about his seventeenth year, my father passed through a +crisis of religious experience; and from that day he openly and very +decidedly followed the Lord Jesus. His parents had belonged to one of +the older branches of what is now called the United Presbyterian Church; +but my father, having made an independent study of the Scotch Worthies, +the Cloud of Witnesses, the Testimonies, and the Confession of Faith, +resolved to cast in his lot with the oldest of all the Scotch Churches, +the Reformed Presbyterian, as most nearly representing the Covenanters +and the attainments of both the first and second Reformations in +Scotland. This choice he deliberately made, and sincerely and +intelligently adhered to; and was able at all times to give strong and +clear reasons from Bible and from history for the principles he upheld. + +Besides this, there was one other mark and fruit of his early religious +decision, which looks even fairer through all these years. Family +Worship had heretofore been held only on Sabbath Day in his father's +house; but the young Christian, entering into conference with his +sympathizing mother, managed to get the household persuaded that there +ought to be daily morning and evening prayer and reading of the Bible +and holy singing. This the more readily, as he himself agreed to take +part regularly in the same, and so relieve the old warrior of what might +have proved for him too arduous spiritual toils! And so began in his +seventeenth year that blessed custom of Family Prayer, morning and +evening, which my father practised probably without one single avoidable +omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven years of age; when +ever to the last day of his life, a portion of Scripture was read, and +his voice was heard softly joining in the Psalm, and his lips breathed +the morning and evening Prayer,--falling in sweet benediction on the +heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, but +all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace. + +Our place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Dumfries, +under the ministry, during most of these days, of Rev. John McDermid--a +genuine, solemn, lovable Covenanter, who cherished towards my father a +warm respect, that deepened into apostolic affection when the yellow +hair turned snow-white and both of them grew patriarchal in their years. +The Minister, indeed, was translated to a Glasgow charge; but that +rather exalted than suspended their mutual love. Dumfries was four miles +fully from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during all +these forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the +worship of God--once by snow, so deep that he was baffled and had to +return; once by ice on the road, so dangerous that he was forced to +crawl back up the Roucan Brae on his hands and knees, after having +descended it so far with many falls; and once by the terrible outbreak +of cholera at Dumfries. + +Each of us, from very early days, considered it no penalty, but a great +joy, to go with our father to the church; the four miles were a treat to +our young spirits, the company by the way was a fresh incitement, and +occasionally some of the wonders of city-life rewarded our eager eyes. A +few other pious men and women, of the best Evangelical type, went from +the same parish to one or other favorite Minister at Dumfries; and when +these God-fearing peasants "forgathered" in the way to or from the House +of God, we youngsters had sometimes rare glimpses of what Christian talk +may be and ought to be. + +We had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord's Day evening,--mother +and children and visitors reading in turns, with fresh and interesting +question, answer, and exposition, all tending to impress us with the +infinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the great gift of His dear +Son Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was gone through +regularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been +explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts +adduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to meet with +men who blamed this "catechizing" for giving them a distaste to +religion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the +opposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life. +After-years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or +a modified meaning, but none of us has ever once even dreamed of wishing +that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents are not +devout, sincere, and affectionate,--if the whole affair on both sides is +taskwork, or worse, hypocritical and false,--results must be very +different indeed! + +Oh, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings; no blinds down, and +shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some scandalously affirm; +but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a Christian father, mother +and children to spend. Others must write and say what they will, and as +they feel; but so must I. There were eleven of us brought up in a home +like that; and never one of the eleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has +been heard, or ever will be heard, saying that Sabbath was dull and +wearisome for us, or suggesting that we have heard of or seen any way +more likely than that for making the Day of the Lord bright and blessed +alike for parents and for children. But God help the homes where these +things are done by force and not by love! + +As I must, however, leave the story of my father's life--much more +worthy, in many ways, of being written than my own--I may here mention +that his long and upright life made him a great favorite in all +religious circles far and near within the neighborhood, that at +sick-beds and at funerals he was constantly sent for and much +appreciated, and that this appreciation greatly increased, instead of +diminishing, when years whitened his long, flowing locks, and gave him +an apostolic beauty; till finally, for the last twelve years or so of +his life, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the +four nearest parishes, and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good +seed of the Kingdom as a Colporteur of the Tract and Book Society of +Scotland. His success in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all +belief. Within a radius of five miles he was known in every home, +welcomed by the children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly +by the sick and aged. He gloried in showing off the beautiful Bibles and +other precious books, which he sold in amazing numbers. He sang sweet +Psalms beside the sick, and prayed like the voice of God at their dying +beds. He went cheerily from farm to farm, from cot to cot; and when he +wearied on the moorland roads, he refreshed his soul by reciting aloud +one of Ralph Erskine's "Sonnets," or crooning to the birds one of +David's Psalms. His happy partner, our beloved mother, died in 1865, and +he himself in 1868, having reached his seventy-seventh year, an +altogether beautiful and noble episode of human existence having been +enacted, amid the humblest surroundings of a Scottish peasant's home, +through the influence of their united love by the grace of God; and in +this world, or in any world, all their children will rise up at mention +of their names and call them blessed! + + + +CHAPTER IV. +SCHOOL DAYS. + +IN my boyhood, Torthorwald had one of the grand old typical Parish +Schools of Scotland; where the rich and the poor met together in perfect +equality; where Bible and Catechism were taught as zealously as grammar +and geography; and where capable lads from the humblest of cottages were +prepared in Latin and Mathematics and Greek to go straight from their +Village class to the University bench. Besides, at that time, an +accomplished pedagogue of the name of Smith, a learned man of more than +local fame, had added a Boarding House to the ordinary School, and had +attracted some of the better class gentlemen and farmers' sons from the +surrounding country; so that Torthorwald, under his _régime_, reached +the zenith of its educational fame. In this School I was initiated into +the mystery of letters, and all my brothers and sisters after me, though +some of them under other masters than mine. My teacher punished +severely--rather, I should say, savagely--especially for lessons badly +prepared. Yet, that he was in some respects kindly and tender-hearted, I +had the best of reasons to know. + +When still under twelve years of age, I started to learn my father's +trade, in which I made surprising progress. We wrought from six in the +morning till ten at night, with an hour at dinner-time and half an hour +at breakfast and again at supper. These spare moments every day I +devoutly spent on my books, chiefly in the rudiments of Latin and Greek; +for I had given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a +Missionary of the Cross, or a Minister of the Gospel. Yet I gladly +testify that what I learned of the stocking frame was not thrown away; +the facility of using tools, and of watching and keeping the machinery +in order, came to be of great value to me in the Foreign Mission field. + +One incident of this time I must record here, because of the lasting +impression made upon my religious life. Our family, like all others of +peasant rank in the land, were plunged into deep distress, and felt the +pinch severely, through the failure of the potato, the badness of other +crops, and the ransom-price of food. Our father had gone off with work +to Hawick, and would return next evening with money and supplies; but +meantime the meal barrel ran low, and our dear mother, too proud and too +sensitive to let any one know, or to ask aid from any quarter, coaxed us +all to rest, assuring us that she had told God everything, and that He +would send us plenty in the morning. Next day, with the carrier from +Lockerbie came a present from her father, who, knowing nothing of her +circumstances or of this special trial, had been moved of God to send at +that particular nick of time a love-offering to his daughter, such as +they still send to each other in those kindly Scottish shires--a bag of +new potatoes, a stone of the first ground meal or flour, or the earliest +homemade cheese of the season--which largely supplied all our need. My +mother, seeing our surprise at such an answer to her prayers, took us +around her knees, thanked God for His goodness, and said to us: + +"O my children, love your Heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer +all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for +your good and His glory." + +Perhaps, amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, this +was the hardest time they ever had, and the only time they ever felt the +actual pinch of hunger; for the little that they had was marvelously +blessed of God, and was not less marvelously utilized by that noble +mother of ours, whose high spirit, side by side with her humble and +gracious piety, made us, under God, what we are to-day. + +I saved as much at my trade as enabled me to go for six weeks to +Dumfries Academy; this awoke in me again the hunger for learning, and I +resolved to give up that trade and turn to something that might be made +helpful to the prosecution of my education. An engagement was secured +with the Sappers and Miners, who were mapping and measuring the county +of Dumfries in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The +office hours were from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M.; and though my walk from +home was above four miles every morning, and the same by return in the +evening, I found much spare time for private study, both on the way to +and from my work and also after hours. Instead of spending the mid-day +hour with the rest, at football and other games, I stole away to a quiet +spot on the banks of the Nith, and there pored over my book, all alone. +Our lieutenant, unknown to me, had observed this from his house on the +other side of the stream, and after a time called me into his office and +inquired what I was studying. I told him the whole truth as to my +position and my desires. After conferring with some of the other +officials there, he summoned me again, and in their presence promised me +promotion in the service, and special training in Woolwich at the +Government's expense, on condition that I would sign an engagement for +seven years. Thanking him most gratefully for his kind offer, I agreed +to bind myself for three years or four, but not for seven. + +Excitedly he said, "Why? Will you refuse an offer that many gentlemen's +sons would be proud of?" + +I said, "My life is given to another Master, so I cannot engage for +seven years." He asked sharply, "To whom?" I replied, "To the Lord +Jesus; and I want to prepare as soon as possible for His service in the +proclaiming of the Gospel." + +In great anger he sprang across the room, called the paymaster and +exclaimed, "Accept my offer, or you are dismissed on the spot!" + +I answered, "I am extremely sorry if you do so, but to bind myself for +seven years would probably frustrate the purpose of my life; and though +I am greatly obliged to you, I cannot make such an engagement." + +His anger made him unwilling or unable to comprehend my difficulty; the +drawing instruments were delivered up, I received my pay, and departed, +without further parley. Hearing how I had been treated, and why, Mr. +Maxwell, the Rector of Dumfries Academy, offered to let me attend all +classes there, free of charge so long as I cared to remain; but that, in +lack of means of support, was for the time impossible, as I would not +and could not be a burden on my dear father, but was determined rather +to help him in educating the rest. I went therefore to what was known as +the Lamb Fair at Lockerbie, and for the first time in my life took a +"fee" for the harvest. On arriving at the field when shearing and mowing +began, the farmer asked me to bind a sheaf; when I had done so, he +seized it by the band, and it fell to pieces! Instead of disheartening +me, however, he gave me a careful lesson how to bind; and the second +that I bound did not collapse when shaken, and the third he pitched +across the field, and on finding that it still remained firm, he cried +to me cheerily: + +"Right now, my lad; go ahead!" + +It was hard work for me at first, and my hands got very sore; but, being +willing and determined, I soon got into the way of it, and kept up with +the best of them. The male harvesters were told off to sleep in a large +hayloft, the beds being arranged all along the side, like barracks. Many +of the fellows were rough and boisterous; and I suppose my look showed +that I hesitated in mingling with them, for the quick eye and kind heart +of the farmer's wife prompted her to suggest that I, being so much +younger than the rest, might sleep with her son George in the house--an +offer, oh, how gratefully accepted! A beautiful new steading had +recently been built for them; and during certain days, or portions of +days, while waiting for the grain to ripen or to dry, I planned and laid +out an ornamental garden in front of it, which gave great +satisfaction--a taste inherited from my mother, with her joy in flowers +and garden plots. They gave me, on leaving, a handsome present, as well +as my fee, for I had got on very pleasantly with them all. This +experience, too, came to be valuable to me, when, in long-after days, +and far other lands, Mission buildings had to be erected, and garden and +field cropped and cultivated without the aid of a single European hand. + + + +CHAPTER V. +LEAVING THE OLD HOME. + +BEFORE going to my first harvesting, I had applied for a situation in +Glasgow, apparently exactly suited for my case; but I had little or no +hope of ever hearing of it further. An offer of £50 per annum was made +by the West Campbell Street Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, then +under the good and noble Dr. Bates, for a young man to act as district +visitor and tract distributor, especially amongst the absentees from the +Sabbath School; with the privilege of receiving one year's training at +the Free Church Normal Seminary, that he might qualify himself for +teaching, and thereby push forward to the Holy Ministry. The candidates, +along with their application and certificates, were to send an essay on +some subject, of their own composition, and in their own handwriting. I +sent in two long poems on the Covenanters, which must have exceedingly +amused them, as I had not learned to write even decent prose. But, much +to my surprise, immediately on the close of the harvesting experience, a +letter arrived, intimating that I, along with another young man, had +been put upon the short leet, and that both were requested to appear in +Glasgow on a given day and compete for the appointment. + +Two days thereafter I started out from my quiet country home on the road +to Glasgow. Literally "on the road," for from Torthorwald to +Kilmarnock--about forty miles--had to be done on foot, and thence to +Glasgow by rail. Railways in those days were as yet few, and +coach-travelling was far beyond my purse. A small bundle contained my +Bible and all my personal belongings. Thus was I launched upon the ocean +of life. I thought on One who says, "I know thy poverty, but thou art +rich." + +My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His +counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are +fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my +cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the +scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost +unbroken silence,--my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in +hand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later +years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips +kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our +eyes met each other in looks of which all speech was vain! We halted on +reaching the appointed parting-place; he grasped my hand firmly for a +minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: + +"God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from +all evil!" + +Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we +embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to +turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back +and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left +him--gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and +out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry +me farther, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. +Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood +where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him +climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after +he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his +face towards home, and began to return--his head still uncovered, and +his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched +through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, +hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live +and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as He +had given me. The appearance of my father, when we parted,--his advice, +prayers, and tears--the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then +walking away, head uncovered--have often, often, all through life, risen +vividly before my mind, and do so now while I am writing, as if it had +been but an hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to +many temptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian +angel. + + + +CHAPTER VI. +EARLY STRUGGLES. + +I REACHED Glasgow on the third day, having slept one night at Thornhill, +and another at New Cumnock; and having needed, owing to the kindness of +acquaintances upon whom I called by the way, to spend only three +halfpence of my modest funds. Safely arrived, but weary, I secured a +humble room for my lodging, for which I had to pay one shilling and +sixpence per week. Buoyant and full of hope and looking up to God for +guidance, I appeared at the appointed hour before the examiners, as did +also the other candidate; and they having carefully gone through their +work, asked us to retire. When recalled, they informed us that they had +great difficulty in choosing, and suggested that the one of us might +withdraw in favor of the other, or that both might submit to a more +testing examination. Neither seemed inclined to give it up, both were +willing for a second examination; but the patrons made another +suggestion. They had only £50 per annum to give; but if we would agree +to divide it betwixt us, and go into one lodging, we might both be able +to struggle through, they would pay our entrance fees at the Free Normal +Seminary, and provide us with the books required; and perhaps they might +be able to add a little to the sum promised to each of us. By dividing +the mission work appointed, and each taking only the half, more time +also might be secured for our studies. Though the two candidates had +never seen each other before, we at once accepted this proposal, and got +on famously together, never having had a dispute on anything of common +interest throughout our whole career. + +As our fellow-students at the Normal were all far advanced beyond us in +their education, we found it killing work, and had to grind away +incessantly, late and early. Both of us, before the year closed, broke +down in health; partly by hard study, but principally, perhaps, for lack +of nourishing diet. A severe cough seized upon me; I began spitting +blood, and a doctor ordered me at once home to the country and forbade +all attempts at study. My heart sank; it was a dreadful disappointment, +and to me a bitter trial. Soon after, my companion, though apparently +much stronger than I, was similarly seized. He, however, never entirely +recovered, though for some years he taught in a humble school; and long +ago he fell asleep in Jesus, a devoted and honored Christian man. + +I, on the other hand, after a short rest, nourished by the hill air of +Torthorwald and by the new milk of our family cow, was ere long at work +again. Renting a house, I began to teach a small school at Girvan, and +gradually but completely recovered my health. + +Having saved £10 by my teaching, I returned to Glasgow, and was enrolled +as a student at the College; but before the session was finished my +money was exhausted--I had lent some to a poor student, who failed to +repay me--and only nine shillings remained in my purse. There was no one +from whom to borrow, had I been willing; I had been disappointed in +attempting to secure private tuition; and no course seemed open for me, +except to pay what little I owed, give up my College career, and seek +for teaching or other work in the country. I wrote a letter to my father +and mother, informing them of my circumstances; that I was leaving +Glasgow in quest of work, and that they would, not hear from me again +till I had found a suitable situation. I told them that if otherwise +unsuccessful, I should fall back on my own trade, though I shrank from +that as not tending to advance my education; but that they might rest +assured I would do nothing to dishonor them or my own Christian +profession. Having read that letter over again through many tears, I +said,--I cannot send that, for it will grieve my darling parents; and +therefore, leaving it on the table, I locked my room door and ran out to +find a place where I might sell my precious books, and hold on a few +weeks longer. But, as I stood on the opposite side and wondered whether +these folks in a shop with the three golden balls would care to have a +poor student's books, and as I hesitated, knowing how much I needed them +for my studies, conscience smote me as if for doing a guilty thing; I +imagined that the people were watching me like one about to commit a +theft; and I made off from the scene at full speed, with a feeling of +intense shame at having dreamed of such a thing! Passing through one +short street into another, I marched on mechanically; but the Lord God +of my father was guiding my steps, all unknown to me. + +A certain notice in a window, into which I had probably never in my life +looked before, here caught my eye, to this effect--"Teacher wanted, +Maryhill Free Church school; apply at the Manse." A coach or bus was +just passing, when I turned round; I leapt into it, saw the Minister, +arranged to undertake the School, returned to Glasgow, paid my +landlady's lodging score, tore up that letter to my parents and wrote +another full of cheer and hope; and early next morning entered the +School and began a tough and trying job. The Minister warned me that the +School was a wreck, and had been broken up chiefly by coarse and bad +characters from mills and coal-pits, who attended the evening classes. +They had abused several masters in succession; and, laying a thick and +heavy cane on the desk, he said: + +"Use that freely, or you will never keep order here!" + +I put it aside into the drawer of my desk, saying, "That will be my last +resource." + +There were very few scholars for the first week--about eighteen in the +Day School and twenty in the Night School. The clerk of the mill, a good +young fellow, came to the evening classes, avowedly to learn +book-keeping, but privately he said he had come to save me from personal +injury. + +The following week, a young man and a young woman began to attend the +Night School, who showed from the first moment that they were bent on +mischief. On my repeated appeals for quiet and order, they became the +more boisterous, and gave great merriment to a few of the scholars +present. I finally urged the young man, a tall, powerful fellow, to be +quiet or at once to leave, declaring that at all hazards I must and +would have perfect order; but he only mocked at me, and assumed a +fighting attitude. Quietly locking the door and putting the key in my +pocket, I turned to my desk, armed myself with the cane, and dared any +one at his peril to interfere betwixt us. It was a rough struggle--he +smashing at me clumsily with his fists, I with quick movements evading +and dealing him blow after blow with the heavy cane for several +rounds--till at length he crouched down at his desk, exhausted and +beaten, and I ordered him to turn to his book, which he did in sulky +silence. Going to my desk, I addressed them and asked them to inform all +who wished to come to the School,--That if they came for education, +everything would be heartily done that it was in my power to do; but +that any who wished for mischief had better stay away, as I was +determined to conquer, not to be conquered, and to secure order and +silence, whatever it might cost. Further, I assured them that that cane +would not again be lifted by me, if kindness and forbearance on my part +could possibly gain the day, as I wished to rule by love and not by +terror. But this young man knew he was in the wrong, and it was that +which had made him weak against me, though every way stronger far than +I. Yet I would be his friend and helper, if he was willing to be +friendly with me, the same as if this night had never been. At these +words a dead silence fell on the School: every one buried face +diligently in book; and the evening closed in uncommon quiet and order. + +The attendance grew, till the School became crowded, both during the day +and at night. During the mid-day hour even, I had a large class of young +women who came to improve themselves in writing and arithmetic. By and +by the cane became a forgotten implement; the sorrow and pain which I +showed as to badly-done lessons, or anything blameworthy, proved the far +more effectual penalty. + +The School Committee had promised me at least ten shillings per week, +and guaranteed to make up any deficit if the fees fell short of that +sum; but if the income from fees exceeded that sum, all was to be mine. +Affairs went on prosperously for a season; indeed, too much so for my +selfish interest. The Committee took advantage of the large attendance +and better repute of the School, to secure the services of a master of +the highest grade. The parents of many of the children offered to take +and seat a hall, if I would remain, but I knew too well that I had +neither education nor experience to compete with an accomplished +teacher. Their children, however, got up a testimonial and subscription, +which was presented to me on the day before I left and this I valued +chiefly because the presentation was made by the young fellows who at +first behaved so badly, but were now my devoted friends. + +Once more I committed my future to the Lord God of my father, assured +that in my very heart I was willing and anxious to serve Him and to +follow the blessed Saviour, yet feeling keenly that intense darkness had +again enclosed my path. + + + +CHAPTER VII. +A CITY MISSIONARY. + +BEFORE undertaking the Maryhill School, I had applied to be taken on as +an agent in the Glasgow City Mission; and the night before I had to +leave Maryhill, I received a letter from Rev. Thomas Caie, the +superintendent of the said Mission, saying that the directors had kept +their eyes on me ever since my application, and requesting, as they +understood I was leaving the School, that I would appear before them the +next morning, and have my qualifications for becoming a Missionary +examined into. Praising God, I went off at once, passed the examination +successfully, and was appointed to spend two hours that afternoon and +the following Monday in visitation with two of the directors, calling at +every house in a low district of the town, and conversing with all the +characters encountered there as to their eternal welfare. I had also to +preach a "trial" discourse in a Mission meeting, where a deputation of +directors would be present, the following evening being Sunday; and on +Wednesday evening they met again to hear their report and to accept or +reject me. + +All this had come upon me so unexpectedly, that I almost anticipated +failure; but looking up for help I went through with it, and on the +fifth day after leaving the School they called me before a meeting of +directors, and informed me that I had passed my trials most +successfully, and that the reports were so favorable that they had +unanimously resolved to receive me at once as one of their City +Missionaries. Deeply solemnized with the responsibilities of my new +office, I left that meeting praising God for all His undeserved mercies, +and seeing most clearly His gracious hand in all the way by which He had +led me, and the trials by which He had prepared me for this sphere of +service. Man proposes--God disposes. + +I found the district a very degraded one. Many families said they had +never been visited by any Minister; and many were lapsed professors of +religion who had attended no church for ten, sixteen, or twenty years, +and said they had never been called upon by any Christian visitor. In it +were congregated many avowed infidels, Romanists, and drunkards,--living +together, and associated for evil, but apparently without any effective +counteracting influence. In many of its closes and courts sin and vice +walked about openly--naked and not ashamed. + +After nearly a year's hard work, I had only six or seven +non-church-goers, who had been led to attend regularly there, besides +about the same number who met on a week evening in the ground-floor of a +house kindly granted for the purpose by a poor and industrious but +ill-used Irishwoman. She supported her family by keeping a little shop, +and selling coals. Her husband was a powerful man--a good worker, but a +hard drinker; and, like too many others addicted to intemperance, he +abused and beat her, and pawned and drank everything he could get hold +of. She, amid many prayers and tears, bore everything patiently, and +strove to bring up her only daughter in the fear of God. We exerted, by +God's blessing, a good influence upon him through our meetings. He +became a Total Abstainer, gave up his evil ways, and attended Church +regularly with his wife. As his interest increased, he tried to bring +others also to the meetings, and urged them to become Abstainers. His +wife became a center of help and of good influence in all the district, +as she kindly invited all and welcomed them to the meeting in her house, +and my work grew every day more hopeful. + +By and by Meetings and Classes were both too large for any house that +was available for us in the whole of our district. We instituted a Bible +Class, a Singing Class, a Communicants' Class, and a Total Abstinence +Society; and, in addition to the usual meetings, we opened two +prayer-meetings specially for the Calton division of the Glasgow +Police--one at a suitable hour for the men on day duty, and another for +those on night duty. The men got up a Mutual Improvement Society and +Singing Class also amongst themselves, weekly, on another evening. My +work now occupied every evening in the week; and I had two meetings +every Sabbath. By God's blessing they all prospered, and gave evidence +of such fruits as showed that the Lord was working there for good by our +humble instrumentality. + +The kind cowfeeder had to inform us--and he did it with much genuine +sorrow--that at a given date he would require the hay-loft, which was +our place of meeting; and as no other suitable house or hall could be +got, the poor people and I feared the extinction of our work. At that +very time however, a commodious block of buildings, that had been +Church, Schools, Manse, etc., came into the market. My great-hearted +friend, the late Thomas Binnie, persuaded Dr. Symingrton's congregation, +Great Hamilton Street, in connection with which my Mission was carried +on, to purchase the whole property. Its situation at the foot of Green +Street gave it a control of the district where my work lay; and so the +Church was given to me in which to conduct all my meetings, while the +other Halls were adapted as Schools for poor girls and boys, where they +were educated by a proper master, and were largely supplied with books, +clothing, and sometimes even food, by the ladies of the congregation. + +Availing myself of the increased facilities, my work was all +reorganized. On Sabbath morning, at seven o'clock, I had one of the most +deeply interesting and fruitful of all my Classes for the study of the +Bible. It was attended by from seventy to a hundred of the very poorest +young women and grown-up lads of the whole district. They had nothing to +put on except their ordinary work-day clothes,--all without bonnets, +some without shoes. Beautiful was it to mark how the poorest began to +improve in personal appearance immediately after they came to our Class; +how they gradually got shoes and one bit of clothing after another, to +enable them to attend our other Meetings, and then to go to Church; and, +above all, how eagerly they sought to bring others with them, taking a +deep personal interest in all the work of the Mission. Long after they +themselves could appear in excellent dress, many of them still continued +to attend in their working clothes, and to bring other and poorer girls +with them to that Morning Class, and thereby helped to improve and +elevate their companions. My delight in that Bible Class was among the +purest joys in all my life, and the results were amongst the most +certain and precious of all my Ministry. + +I had also a very large Bible Class--a sort of Bible-Reading--on Monday +night, attended by all, of both sexes and of any age, who cared to come +or had any interest in the Mission. Wednesday evening, again, was +devoted to a prayer-meeting for all; and the attendance often more than +half-filled the Church. There I usually took up some book of Holy +Scripture and read and lectured right through, practically expounding +and applying it. On Thursday I held a Communicants' Class, intended for +the more careful instruction of all who wished to become full members of +the Church. Our constant text-book was _Paterson on the Shorter +Catechism_ (Nelson and Sons), than which I have never seen a better +compendium of the doctrines of Holy Scripture. Each being thus trained +for a season, received from me, if found worthy, a letter to the +Minister of any Protestant Church which he or she felt inclined to join. +In this way great numbers became active and useful communicants in the +surrounding congregations; and eight young lads of humble circumstances +educated themselves for the Ministry of the Church--most of them getting +their first lessons in Latin and Greek from my very poor stock of the +same! Friday evening was occupied with a Singing Class, teaching Church +music, and practising for our Sabbath meetings. On Saturday evening we +held our Total Abstinence meeting, at which the members themselves took +a principal part, in readings, addresses, recitations, singing hymns, +etc. + +Great good resulted from this Total Abstinence work. Many adults took +and kept the pledge, thereby greatly increasing the comfort and +happiness of their homes. Many were led to attend the Church on the +Lord's Day, who had formerly spent it in rioting and drinking. But, +above all, it trained the young to fear the very name of intoxicating +drink, and to hate and keep far away from everything that led to +intemperance. + +I would add my testimony also against the use of tobacco, which injures +and leads many astray, especially lads and young men, and which never +can be required by any person in ordinary health. But I would not be +understood to regard the evils that flow from it as deserving to be +mentioned in comparison with the unutterable woes and miseries of +intemperance. + +To be protected, however, from suspicion and from evil, all the +followers of our Lord Jesus should in self-denial (how small!) and in +consecration to His service, be pledged Abstainers from both of these +selfish indulgences, which are certainly injurious to many, which are no +ornament to any character, and which can be no help in well-doing. +Praise God for the many who are now so pledged! + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +GLASGOW EXPERIENCES. + +ON one occasion, it becoming known that we had arranged for a special +Saturday afternoon Temperance demonstration, a deputation of Publicans +complained beforehand to the Captain of the Police--that our meetings +were interfering with their legitimate trade. The Captain, a pious +Wesleyan, who was in full sympathy with us and our work, informed me of +the complaints made, and intimated that his men would be present; but I +was just to conduct the meeting as usual, and he would guarantee that +strict justice would be done. The Publicans having announced amongst +their sympathizers that the Police were to break up and prevent our +meeting and take the conductors in charge, a very large crowd assembled, +both friendly and unfriendly, for the Publicans and their hangers-on +were there "to see the fun," and to help in "baiting" the Missionary. +Punctually, I ascended the stone stair, accompanied by another +Missionary who was also to deliver an address, and announced our opening +hymn. As we sang, a company of Police appeared, and were quietly located +here and there among the crowd, the sergeant himself taking his post +close by the platform, whence the whole assembly could be scanned. Our +enemies were jubilant, and signals were passed betwixt them and their +friends, as if the time had come to provoke a row. Before the hymn was +finished, Captain Baker himself, to the infinite surprise of friend and +foe alike, joined us on the platform, devoutly listened to all that was +said, and waited till the close. The Publicans could not for very shame +leave, while he was there at their suggestion and request, though they +had wit enough to perceive that his presence had frustrated all their +sinister plans. They had to hear our addresses and prayers and hymns; +they had to listen to the intimation of our future meetings. When all +had quietly dispersed, the Captain warmly congratulated us on our large +and well-conducted congregation, and hoped that great good would result +from our efforts. This opposition also the Lord overruled to increase +our influence, and to give point and publicity to our assaults upon the +kingdom of Satan. + +Though Intemperance was the main cause of poverty, suffering, misery, +and vice in that district of Glasgow, I had also considerable opposition +from Romanists and Infidels, many of whom met in clubs, where they drank +together, and gloried in their wickedness and in leading other young men +astray. + +An Infidel, whose wife was a Roman Catholic, became unwell, and +gradually sank under great suffering and agony. His blasphemies against +God were known and shuddered at by all the neighbors. His wife pled with +me to visit him. She refused, at my suggestion, to call her own priest, +so I accompanied her at last. The man refused to hear one word about +spiritual things, and foamed with rage. He even spat at me, I mentioned +the name of Jesus. "The natural receiveth not the things of the Spirit +of God; for they are foolishness unto him!" There is a "wisdom" which is +at best earthly, and _at worst_ "sensual and devilish." I visited the +poor man daily, but his enmity to God and his sufferings together seemed +to drive him mad. Towards the end I pleaded with him even then to look +to the Lord Jesus, and asked if I might pray with him? With all his +remaining strength he shouted at me, "Pray for me to the devil!" + +Reminding him how he had always denied that there was any devil, I +suggested that he must surely believe in one now, else he would scarcely +make such a request, even in mockery. In great rage he cried, "Tes, I +believe there is a devil, and a God, and a just God too; but I have +hated Him in life, and I hate Him in death!" With these awful words he +wriggled into Eternity; but his shocking death produced a very serious +impression for good, especially amongst young men, in the district where +his character was known. + +How different was the case of that Doctor who also had been an +unbeliever as well as a drunkard! Highly educated, skilful, and gifted +above most in his profession, he was taken into consultation for +specially dangerous cases, whenever they could find him tolerably sober. +After one of his excessive "bouts" he had a dreadful attack of _delirium +tremens_. At one time wife and watchers had a fierce struggle to dash +from his lips a draught of prussic acid; at another, they detected the +silver-hafted lancet concealed in the band of his shirt, as he lay down, +to bleed himself to death. His aunt came and pleaded with me to visit +him. My heart bled for his poor young wife and two beautiful little +children. Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes even more frequently, +I found the way somehow into his heart, and he would do almost anything +for me and longed for my visits. When again the fit of self-destruction +seized him, they sent for me; he held out his hand eagerly, and grasping +mine said, "Put all these people out of the room, remain you with me; I +will be quiet, I will do everything you ask!" + +I got them all to leave, but whispered to one in passing to "keep near +the door." + +Alone I sat beside him, my hand in his, and kept up a quiet conversation +for several hours. After we had talked of everything that I could think +of, and it was now far into the morning, I said, "If you had a Bible +here, we might read a chapter, verse about." + +He said dreamily, "There was once a Bible above yon press; if you can +get up to it, you might find it there yet." + +Getting it, dusting it, and laying it on a small table which I drew near +to the sofa on which we sat, we read there and then a chapter together. +After this I said; "Now, shall we pray?" + +He replied heartily, "Yes." + +I having removed the little table, we kneeled down together at the sofa; +and after a solemn pause I whispered, "You pray first." + +He replied, "I curse, I cannot pray; would you have me curse God to His +face?" + +I answered, "You promised to do all that I asked; you must pray, or try +to pray, and let me hear that you cannot." + +He said, "I cannot curse God on my knees; let me stand, and I will curse +Him; I cannot pray." + +I gently held him on his knees, saying, "Just try to pray, and let me +hear you cannot." + +Instantly he cried out, "O Lord, Thou knowest I cannot pray," and was +going to say something dreadful as he strove to rise up. But I took up +gently the words he had uttered as if they had been my own and continued +the prayer, pleading for him and his dear ones as we knelt there +together, till he showed that he was completely subdued and lying low at +the feet of God. On rising from our knees he was manifestly greatly +impressed, and I said, "Now, as I must be at College by daybreak and +must return to my lodging for my books and an hour's rest, will do you +one thing more for me before I go?" + +"Yes," was his reply. + +"Then," said I, "it is long since you had a refreshing sleep: now, will +you lie down, and I will sit by you till you fall asleep?" + +He lay down, and was soon fast asleep. After commending him to the care +and blessing of the Lord, I quietly slipped out, and his wife returned +to watch by his side. When I came back later in the day, after my +Classes were over, he, on hearing my foot and voice, came to meet me, +and clasping me in his arms, cried, "Thank God, I can pray now! I rose +this morning refreshed from sleep, and prayed with my wife and children +for the first time in my life; and now I shall do so every day, and +serve God while I live, who hath dealt in so great mercy with me!" + +After delightful conversation, he promised to go with me to Dr. +Symington's church on Sabbath Day; there he took sittings beside me; at +next half-yearly Communion he and his wife were received into +membership, and their children were baptized; and from that day till his +death he led a devoted and most useful Christian life. He now sleeps in +Jesus; and I do believe I shall meet him in Glory as a trophy of +redeeming grace and love! + +In my Mission district I was the witness of many joyful departures to be +with Jesus,--I do not like to name them "deaths" at all. They left us +rejoicing in the bright assurance that nothing present or to come "could +ever separate them or us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus +our Lord." Many examples might be given; but I can find room for only +one. John Sim, a dear little boy, was carried away by consumption. His +child-heart seemed to be filled with joy about seeing Jesus. His simple +prattle, mingled with deep questionings, arrested not only his young +companions, but pierced the hearts of some careless sinners who heard +him, and greatly refreshed the faith of God's dear people. It was the +very pathos of song incarnated to hear the weak quaver of his dying +voice sing out-- + +"I lay my sins on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God." + +Shortly before his decease he said to his parents, "I am going soon to +be with Jesus; but I sometimes fear that I may not see you there." + +"Why so, my child?" said his weeping mother. + +"Because," he answered, "if you were set upon going to Heaven and seeing +Jesus there, you would pray about it, and sing about it; you would talk +about Jesus to others, and tell them of that happy meeting with Him in +Glory. All this my dear Sabbath School teacher taught me, and she will +meet me there. Now why did not you, my father and mother, tell me all +these things about Jesus, if you are going to meet Him too?" Their tears +fell fast over their dying child; and he little knew, in his unthinking +eighth year, what a message from God had pierced their souls through his +innocent words. + +One day an aunt from the country visited his mother, and their talk had +run in channels for which the child no longer felt any interest. On my +sitting down beside him, he said, "Sit you down and talk with me about +Jesus; I am tired hearing so much talk about everything else but Jesus; +I am going soon to be with Him. Oh, do tell me everything you know or +have ever heard about Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God!" + +At last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or freedom +from pain--for of that he had very little--but, as he himself always put +it, "to see Jesus." And, after all, that was the wisdom of the heart, +however he learned it. Eternal life, here or hereafter, is just the +vision of Jesus. + + + +CHAPTER IX. +A FOREIGN MISSIONARY. + +HAPPY in my work as I felt through these ten years, and successful by +the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and chiefly during my last +years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the +South Seas; and I saw that few were caring for them, while I well knew +that many would be ready to take up my work in Calton, and carry it +forward perhaps with more efficiency than myself. Without revealing the +state of my mind to any person, this was the supreme subject of my daily +meditation and prayer; and this also led me to enter upon those medical +studies, in which I purposed taking the full course; but at the close of +my third year, an incident occurred, which led me at once to offer +myself for the Foreign Mission field. + +The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which I had been +brought up, had been advertising for another Missionary to join the Rev. +John Inglis in his grand work on the New Hebrides. Dr. Bates, the +excellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee, was deeply +grieved, because for two years their appeal had failed. At length, the +Synod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the claims of the +Heathen so gently pressed upon them by the Lord's repeated calls, that +they resolved to cast lots, to discover whether God would thus select +any Minister to be relieved from his home-charge, and designated as a +Missionary to the South Seas. Each member of Synod, as I was informed, +agreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to God, the names of the three +best qualified in his esteem for such a work, and he who had the clear +majority was to be loosed from his congregation, and to proceed to the +Mission field--or the first and second highest, if two could be secured. +Hearing this debate, and feeling an intense interest in these most +unusual proceedings, I remember yet the hushed solemnity of the prayer +before the names were handed in. I remember the strained silence that +held the Assembly while the scrutineers retired to examine the papers; +and I remember how tears blinded my eyes when they returned to announce +that the result was so indecisive, that it was clear that the Lord had +not in that way provided a Missionary. The cause was once again solemnly +laid before God in prayer, and a cloud of sadness appeared to fall over +all the Synod. + +The Lord kept saying within me, "Since none better qualified can be got, +rise and offer yourself!" Almost overpowering was the impulse to answer +aloud, "Here am I, send me." But I was dreadfully afraid of mistaking my +mere human emotions for the will of God. So I resolved to make it a +subject of close deliberation and prayer for a few days longer, and to +look at the proposal from every possible aspect. Besides, I was keenly +solicitous about the effect upon the hundreds of young people and +others, now attached to all my Classes and Meetings; and yet I felt a +growing assurance that this was the call of God to His servant, and that +He who was willing to employ me in the work abroad, was both able and +willing to provide for the on-carrying of my work at home. My medical +studies, as well as my literary and divinity training, had specially +qualified me in some ways for the Foreign field, and from every aspect +at which I could look the whole facts in the face, the voice within me +sounded like a voice from God. + +It was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had begun my +career in Glasgow--receiving £25 per annum for district visitation in +connection with his Congregation, along with instruction under Mr. +Hislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal Seminary--and oh, how Dr. +Bates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, when I called on him, and +offered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I returned to my lodging +with a lighter heart than I had for sometime enjoyed, feeling that +nothing so clears the vision, and lifts up the life, as a decision to +move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord. I +said to my fellow-student, Joseph Copeland, who had chummed with me all +through our course at college, "I have been away signing my banishment" +(a rather trifling way of talk for such an occasion). "I have offered +myself as a Missionary for the New Hebrides." + +After a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in +far-wandering thoughts, his answer was, "If they will accept of me, I am +also resolved to go!" + +I said, "Will you write the Convener to that effect, or let me do so?" + +He replied, "You may." + +A few minutes later his letter of offer was in the post-office. Next +morning Dr. Bates called upon us, early, and after a long conversation, +commended us and our future work to the Lord God in fervent prayer. At a +meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee, held immediately thereafter, +both were, after due deliberation, formally accepted, on condition that +we passed successfully the usual examinations required of candidates for +the Ministry. And for the next twelve months we were placed under a +special committee for advice as to medical experience, acquaintance with +the rudiments of trades, and anything else which might be thought useful +to us in the Foreign field. + +When it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as Missionary, +nearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr. Bates and my +fellows-student. My dear father and mother, however, when I consulted +them, characteristically replied, "that they had long since given me +away to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave me to God's +disposal." From other quarters we were besieged with the strongest +opposition on all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my professors in +divinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation +I had wrought so long as a City Missionary, and in whose Kirk Session I +had for years sat as an Elder, repeatedly urged me to remain at home. + +To his arguments I replied, "that my mind was finally resolved; that, +though I loved my work and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them +to the care of Jesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than +I; and that, with regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only +once to die, I was content to leave the time and place and means in the +hand of God who had already marvelously preserved me when visiting +cholera patients and the fever-stricken poor; on that score I had +positively no further concern, having left it all absolutely to the +Lord, whom I sought to serve and honor, whether in life or by death." + +The house connected with my Green Street Church was now offered to me +for a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared to ask (as against +the promised £120 per annum for the far-off and dangerous New Hebrides), +on condition that I would remain at home. I cannot honestly say that +such offers or opposing influences proved a heavy trial to me; they +rather tended to confirm my determination that the path of duty was to +go abroad. + +Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian +gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, "The cannibals! you will +be eaten by cannibals!" At last I replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are +advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the +grave, there to be eaten by worms, I confess to you, that if I can but +live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no +difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the +Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the +likeness of our risen Redeemer." + +The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left the +room exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!" + +My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of my +leaving them, and daily pleaded with me to remain. Indeed, the +opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm +Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was +carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own. +But conscience said louder and clearer every day, "Leave all these +results with Jesus your Lord, who said, 'Go ye into all the world, +preach the Gospel to every creature, and lo! I am with you alway.'" +These words kept ringing in my ears; these were our _marching orders_. + +Some retorted upon me, "There are Heathen at home; let us seek and save, +first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors." This I felt to be +most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those +who made this retort neglected these Home Heathen themselves; and so the +objection, as from them, lost all its power. + +On meeting, however, with so many obstructing influences, I again laid +the whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply was to this +effect:--"Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why +we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your father's +heart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims forced him to give +it up! When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon +the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a +Missionary of the Cross; and it has been their constant prayer that you +might be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision; and we pray +with all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare +you, and give you many souls from the Heathen World for your hire." From +that moment, every doubt as to my path of duty forever vanished. I saw +the hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading +me to, the Foreign Mission field. + +Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were +warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for my +education they could of course, give me no money help. All through, on +the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest in +a family of eleven; though I here most gladly and gratefully record that +all my brothers and sisters, as they grew up and began to earn a living, +took their full share in this same blessed privilege. For we stuck to +each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all things "in +common," as a family in Christ--and I knew that never again, howsoever +long they might be spared through the peaceful autumn of life, would the +dear old father and mother lack any joy or comfort that the willing +hands and loving hearts of all their children could singly or unitedly +provide. For all this I did praise the Lord! It consoled me beyond +description, in parting from them, probably forever, in this world at +least. + + + +CHAPTER X. +TO THE NEW HEBRIDES. + +ON the first of December 1857--being then in my thirty-third year--the +other Missionary-designate and I were "licensed" as preachers of the +Gospel. Thereafter we spent four months in visiting and addressing +nearly every Congregation and Sabbath School in the Reformed +Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the people might see us and know +us, and thereby take a personal interest in our work. On the 23d March +1858, in Dr. Symington's church, Glasgow, in presence of a mighty crowd, +and after a magnificent sermon on "Come over and help us," we were +solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart as +Missionaries to the New Hebrides. On the 16th April of the same year, we +left the Tail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the _Clutha_ for +the Foreign Mission field. + +Our voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously, +under Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did +everything that was possible for our comfort. He himself led the singing +on board at Worship, which was always charming to me, and was always +regularly conducted--on deck when the weather was fair, below when it +was rough. I was also permitted to conduct Bible Classes amongst both +the crew and the passengers, at times and places approved of by the +Captain--in which there was great joy. + +Arriving at Melbourne, we were welcomed by Rev. Mr. Moor, Mr. and Mrs. +Samuel Wilson, and Mr. Wright, all Reformed Presbyterians from Geelong. +Mr. Wilson's two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under our care +during the voyage; and my young wife and I went with them for a few days +on a visit to Geelong, while Mr. Copeland remained on board the _Clutha_ +to look after our boxes and to watch for any opportunity of reaching our +destination on the Islands. He heard that an American ship, the _Frances +P. Sage_, was sailing from Melbourne to Penang; and the Captain agreed +to land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides, with our two boats and fifty +boxes, for £100. We got on board on the 12th August, but such a gale +blew that we did not sail till the 17th. On the _Clutha_ all was quiet, +and good order prevailed; in the _F. P. Sage_ all was noise and +profanity. The Captain said he kept his second mate for the purpose of +swearing at the men and knocking them about. The voyage was most +disagreeable to all of us, but fortunately it lasted only twelve days. +On the 29th we were close up to Aneityum; but the Captain refused to +land us, even in his boats; some of us suspecting that his men were so +badly used that had they got on shore they would never have returned to +him! In any case he had beforehand secured his £100. + +He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see what we +wanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the Missionaries +there. Early next horning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, accompanied +by Mr. Mathieson, a newly arrived Missionary from Nova Scotia; bringing +also Captain Andersen in the small Mission schooner, the _John Knox_, +and a large Mission boat called the _Columbia_, well manned with crews +of able and willing Natives. Our fifty boxes were soon on board the +_John Knox_, the _Columbia_, and our own boats--all being heavily loaded +and built up, except those that had to be used in pulling the others +ashore. Dr. Geddie, Mr. Mathieson, Mrs. Paton, and I were perched among +the boxes on the _John Knox_, and had to hold on as best we could. On +sheering off from the _F. P. Sage_, one of her davits caught and broke +the mainmast of the little _John Knox_ by the deck; and I saved my wife +from being crushed to death by its fall, through managing to swing her +instantaneously aside in an apparently impossible manner. It did graze +Mr. Mathieson, but he was not hurt. The _John Knox_, already overloaded, +was thus quite disabled; we were about ten miles at sea, and in imminent +danger; but the captain of the _F. P. Sage_ heartlessly sailed away, and +left us to struggle with our fate. + +We drifted steadily in the direction of Tanna, an island of cannibals, +where our goods would have been plundered and all of us cooked and +eaten. Dr. Geddie's boat, and mine had the _John Knox_ in tow; and Mr. +Copeland, with a crew of Natives, was struggling hard with his boat to +pull the _Columbia_ and her load towards Aneityum. As God mercifully +ordered it, though we had a stiff trade wind to pull against, we had a +comparatively calm sea; yet we drifted still to leeward, till Dr. Inglis +going round to the harbor in his boat, as he had heard of our arrival, +saw us far at sea, and hastened to our rescue. All the boats now, with +their willing Native crews, got fastened to our schooner, and to our +great joy she began to move ahead. After pulling for hours and hours, +under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, we were all safely landed on +shore at Aneityum, about six o'clock in the evening of 30th August, just +four months and fourteen days since we sailed from Greenock. We got a +hearty welcome from the Missionaries' wives, Mrs. Geddie, Mrs. Inglis, +and Mrs. Mathieson, and from all our new friends the Christian Natives +of Aneityum; and the great danger in which both life and property had +been placed at the close of our voyage, made us praise God all the more +that He had brought us to this quiet resting-place, around which lay the +Islands of the New Hebrides, to which our eager hearts had looked +forward, and into which we entered now in the name of the Lord. + +Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I went round the island to Dr. Inglis's +Station, where we were most cordially received and entertained by his +dear lady, and by the Christian Natives there. As he was making several +additions to his house at that time, we received for the next few weeks +our first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building, as +well as in higher matters. Soon after, a meeting was called to consult +about our settlement, and, by the advice and with the concurrence of +all, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south +side of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs. Paton and I at Port Resolution, +on the same island. At first it was agreed that Mr. Copeland should be +placed along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs. Mathieson's +health, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least, Mr. +Copeland should live at either Station as seem most suitable or most +requisite. + +Dr. Inglis and a number of his most energetic Natives accompanied us to +Umairarekar Tanna. There we purchased a site for Mission House and +Church, and laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable +the erection of a dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. Thence we +proceeded to Port Resolution, Tanna, and similarly purchased a site, and +advanced, to a forward stage, the house which Mrs. Paton and I were to +occupy on our settlement there. Lime for plastering had to be burned in +kilns from the coral rocks; and thatch, for roofing with sugar-cane +leaf, had to be prepared by the Natives at both Stations before our +return; for which, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon, and +was scrupulously paid. Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that +both houses were too near the shore, exposed to unwholesome miasma, and +productive of the dreaded fever and ague,--the most virulent and +insidious enemy to all Europeans in those Southern Seas. + + + +CHAPTER XI. +FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HEATHENDOM. + +MY first impressions drove me, I must confess, to the verge of utter +dismay. On beholding these Natives in their paint and nakedness and +misery, my heart was as full of horror as of pity. Had I given up my +much-beloved work and my dear people in Glasgow, with so many delightful +associations, to consecrate my life to these degraded creatures? Was it +possible to teach them right and wrong, to Christianize, or even to +civilize them? But that was only a passing feeling; I soon got as deeply +interested in them, and in all that tended to advance them, and to lead +them to the knowledge and love of Jesus, as ever I had been in my work +at Glasgow. We were surprised and delighted at the remarkable change +produced on the Natives of Aneityum through the instrumentality of Drs. +Geddie and Inglis in so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful +perseverance in the use of similar means, to see the same work of God +repeated on Tanna. Besides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs. +Inglis and Mrs. Geddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the +buoyant hope of being instruments in the hand of God to produce an +equally beneficent change amongst the savage women of Tanna. Mrs. Paton +had been left with Mrs. Inglis to learn all she could from her of +Mission work on the Islands, till I returned with Dr. Inglis from the +house-building operations on Tanna; during which period Mr. and Mrs. +Mathieson were also being instructed by Dr. and Mrs. Geddie. + +To the Tannese, Dr. Inglis and I were objects of curiosity and fear; +they came crowding to gaze on our wooden and lime-plastered house; they +chattered incessantly with each other, and left the scene day after day +with undisguised and increasing wonderment. Possibly they thought us +rather mad than wise! + +Party after party of armed men going and coming in a state of great +excitement, we were informed that war was on foot; but our Aneityumese +Teachers were told to assure us that the Harbor people would only act on +the defensive, and that no one would molest us at our work. One day two +hostile tribes met near our Station; high words arose, and old feuds +were revived. The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbor people, false +to their promises, flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their +enemies. The discharge of muskets in the adjoining bush, and the horrid +yells of the savages, soon informed us that they were engaged in deadly +fights. Excitement and terror were on every countenance; armed men +rushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted +hair,--with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one cheek +black, the other red, others, the brow white, the chin blue--in fact, +any color and on any part,--the more grotesque and savage-looking, the +higher the art! Some of the women ran with their children to places of +safety; but even then we saw other girls and women, on the shore close +by, chewing sugar-cane and chaffering and laughing, as if their fathers +and brothers had been engaged in a country dance, instead of a bloody +conflict. + +In the afternoon, as the sounds of the muskets and the yelling of the +warriors came unpleasantly near to us, Dr. Inglis, leaning against a +post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and said, "The +walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and why not the +Mission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and pray for these +poor Heathen." + +We retired to a Native house that had been temporarily granted to us for +rest, and there pled before God for them all. The noise and the +discharge of muskets gradually receded, as if the Inland people were +retiring; and towards evening the people around us returned to their +villages. We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot +dead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors from the +field of battle, and cooked and eaten that very night at a boiling +spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the spot where my +house was being built. We had also a more graphic illustration of the +surroundings into which we had come, through Dr. Inglis's Aneityum boy, +who accompanied us as cook. When our tea was wanted next morning, the +boy could not be found. After a while of great anxiety on our part, he +returned, saying, "Missi, this is a dark land. The people of this land +do dark works. At the boiling spring they have cooked and feasted upon +the slain. They have washed the blood into the water; they have bathed +there, polluting everything. I cannot get pure water to make your tea. +What shall I do?" + +Dr. Inglis told him that he must try for water elsewhere, till the rains +came and cleansed away the pollution; and that meanwhile, instead of +tea, we would drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often done before. +The lad was quite relieved. It not a little astonished us, however, to +see that his mind regarded their killing and eating each other as a +thing scarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible that they should +spoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts the creatures +of mere circumstances! I, if trained like him, would probably have felt +like him. + +Next evening, as we sat talking about the people, and the dark scenes +around us, the quiet of the night was broken by a wild wailing cry from +the villages around, long-continued and unearthly. We were informed that +one of the wounded men, carried home from the battle, had just died; and +that they had strangled his widow to death, that her spirit might +accompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had +been here. Now their dead bodies were laid side by side, ready to be +buried in the sea. Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within +ear-shot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene, every fresh +incident, set more clearly before us the benighted condition and +shocking cruelties of these Heathen people, and we longed to be able to +speak to them of Jesus and the love of God. We eagerly tried to pick up +every word of their language, that we might, in their own tongue, unfold +to them the knowledge of the true God and of salvation from all these +sins through Jesus Christ. + + + +CHAPTER XII. +BREAKING GROUND ON TANNA. + +OUR small Missionary schooner, the _John Knox_, having no accommodation +for lady passengers, and little for anybody else except the discomfort +of lying on deck, we took advantage of a trader to convey us from +Aneityum to Tanna. The Captain kindly offered to take us and about +thirty casks and boxes to Port Resolution for £5, which we gladly +accepted. After a few hours' sailing we were all safely landed on Tanna +on the 5th November, 1858. Dr. Geddie went for a fortnight to +Umairarekar, now known as Kwamera, on the south side of Tanna, to assist +in the settlement of Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, and to help in making their +house habitable and comfortable. Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I were +left at Port Resolution, to finish the building of our house there, and +work our way into the good will of the Natives as best we could. + +On landing, we found the people to be literally naked and painted +Savages; they were at least as destitute of clothing as Adam and Eve +after the fall, when they sewed fig-leaves for a girdle, and even more +so, for the women wore only a tiny apron of grass, in some cases shaped +like a skirt or girdle, the men an indescribable affair like a pouch or +bag, and the children absolutely nothing whatever. + +At first they came in crowds to look at us, and at everything we did or +had. We knew nothing of their language; we could not speak a single word +to them, nor they to us. We looked at them, they at us; we smiled and +nodded, and made signs to each other; this was our first meeting and +parting. One day I observed two men, the one lifting up one of our +articles to the other, and saying, "Nungsi nari enu?" + +I concluded that he was asking, "What is this?" Instantly, lifting a +piece of wood, I said, "Nungsi nari enu?" + +They smiled and spoke to each other. I understood them to be saying, "He +has got hold of our language now." Then they told me their name for the +thing which I had pointed to. I found that they understood my question, +What is this? or, What is that? and that I could now get from them the +name of every visible or tangible thing around us! We carefully noted +down every name they gave us, spelling all phonetically, and also every +strange sound we heard from them; thereafter, by painstaking comparison +of different circumstances, we tried to ascertain their meanings, +testing our own guess by again cross-questioning the Natives. One day I +saw two men approaching, when one, who was a stranger, pointed to me +with his finger, and said, "Se nangin?" + +Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed! to one of them with my +finger, and looking at the other, inquired, "Se nangin?" + +They smiled, and gave me their names. We were now able to get the names +of persons and things, and so our ears got familiarized with the +distinctive sounds of their language; and being always keenly on the +alert, we made extraordinary progress in attempting bits of conversation +and in reducing their speech for the first time to a written form--for +the New Hebrideans had no literature, and not even the rudiments of an +alphabet. I used to hire some of the more intelligent lads and men to +sit and talk with us, and answer our questions about names and sounds; +but they so often deceived us, and we, doubtless, misunderstood them so +often, that this course was not satisfactory, till after we had gained +some knowledge of their language and its construction, and they +themselves had become interested in helping us. Amongst our most +interesting helpers, and most trustworthy, were two aged chiefs--Nowa +and Nouka--in many respects two of Nature's noblest gentlemen, kind at +heart to all, and distinguished by a certain native dignity of bearing. +But they were both under the leadership of the war-chief Miaki, a kind +of devil-king over many villages and tribes. + +The Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, which +they abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed. They were +given up to countless superstitions, and firmly glued to their dark +heathen practices. Their worship was entirely a service of fear, its aim +being to propitiate this or that Evil Spirit, to prevent calamity or to +secure revenge. They deified their chiefs, like the Romans of old, so +that almost every village or tribe had its own Sacred Man, and some of +them had many. They exercised an extraordinary influence for evil, these +village or tribal priests, and were believed to have the disposal of +life and death through their sacred ceremonies, not only in their own +tribe, but over all the Islands. Sacred men and women, wizards and +witches, received presents regularly to influence the gods, and to +remove sickness, or to cause it by the _Nahak, i. e._ incantation over +remains of food, or the skin of fruit, such as banana, which the person +has eaten on whom they wish to operate. They also worshiped the spirits +of departed ancestors and heroes, through their material idols of wood +and stone, but chiefly of stone. They feared these spirits and sought +their aid; especially seeking to propitiate those who presided over war +and peace, famine and plenty, health and sickness, destruction and +prosperity, life and death. Their whole worship was one of slavish fear; +and, so far as ever I could learn, they had no idea of a God of mercy or +grace. + +But these very facts--that they did worship something, that they +believed in spirits of ancestors and heroes, and that they cherished +many legends regarding those whom they had never seen, and handed these +down to their children--and the fact that they had ideas about the +invisible world and its inhabitants, made it not so hard as some might +suppose to convey to their minds, once their language and modes of +thought were understood, some clear ideal of Jehovah God as the great +uncreated Spirit Father, who Himself created and sustains all that is. +It could not, however, be done offhand, or by a few airy lessons. The +whole heart and soul and life had to be put into the enterprise. But it +could be done--that we believed because they were men, not beasts; it +had been done--that we saw in the converts on Aneityum; and our hearts +rose to the task with quenchless hope! + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +PIONEERS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES. + +A GLANCE backwards over the story of the Gospel in the New Hebrides may +help to bring my readers into touch with the events that are to follow. +The ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with the +earliest efforts to introduce Christianity amongst this group of islands +in the South Pacific Seas. John Williams and his young Missionary +companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, +landed on Erromanga on the 30th of November 1839. Alas, within a few +minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death; and the +savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies. Thus were the New +Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs; and Christ thereby told the +whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own. His +cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been +poured forth in His name! The poor Heathen knew not that they had slain +their best friends; but tears and prayers ascended for them from all +Christian souls, wherever the story of the martyrdom on Erromanga was +read or heard. + +Again, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out +Messrs. Turner and Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan. They placed +their standard on our chosen island of Tanna, the nearest to Erromanga. +In less than seven months, however, their persecution by the savages +became so dreadful, that we see them in a boat trying to escape by night +with bare life. Out on that dangerous sea they would certainly have been +lost, but the Ever-Merciful drove them back to land, and sent next +morning a whaling vessel, which, contrary to custom, called there, and +just in the nick of time. They, with all goods that could be rescued, +were got safely on board, and sailed for Samoa. Say not their plans and +prayers were baffled; for God heard and abundantly blessed them there, +beyond all their dreams. + +After these things, the London Missionary Society again and again placed +Samoan Native Teachers on one or other island of the New Hebrides; but +their unhealthiness, compared with the more wholesome Samoa or +Rarotonga, so afflicted them with the dreaded ague and fever, besides +what they endured from the inhospitable savages themselves, that no +effective Mission work had been accomplished there till at last the +Presbyterian Missionaries were led to enter upon the scene. Christianity +had no foothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the +memory and the blood of the Martyrs of Erromanga. + +The Rev. John Geddie and his wife, from Nova Scotia, were landed on +Aneityum, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, in 1848; and +the Rev. John Inglis and his wife, from Scotland, were landed on the +other side of the same island, in 1852. An agent for the London +Missionary Society, the Rev. T. Powell, accompanied Dr. Geddie for about +a year, to advise as to his settlement and to assist in opening up the +work. Marvelous as it may seem, the Natives on Aneityum, showed interest +in the Missionaries from the very first, and listened to their +teachings; so that in a few years Dr. Inglis and Dr. Geddie saw about +3500 savages throwing away their idols, renouncing their Heathen +customs, and avowing themselves to be worshipers of the true Jehovah +God. Slowly, yet progressively, they unlearned their Heathenism; surely +and hopefully they learned Christianity and civilization. When these +Missionaries "came to this Island, there were no Christians there; when +they left it, there were no Heathens." + +Further, these poor Aneityumese, having glimpses of the Word of God, +determined to have a Holy Bible in their own mother tongue, wherein +before no book or page ever had been written in the history of their +race. The consecrated brain and hand of their Missionaries kept toiling +day and night in translating the book of God; and the willing hands and +feet of the Natives kept toiling through fifteen long but unwearying +years, planting and preparing arrowroot to pay the £1200 required to be +laid out in the printing and publishing of the book. Year after year the +arrowroot, too sacred to be used for their daily food, was set apart as +the Lord's portion; the Missionaries sent it to Australia and Scotland, +where it was sold by private friends, and the whole proceeds consecrated +to this purpose. On the completion of the great undertaking by the Bible +Society, it was found that the Natives had earned as much as to pay +every penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to them, +purchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years! + +Let those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on those things. Eight +shillings for every leaf, or the labor and proceeds of fifteen years for +the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too +much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the +Missionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and +which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming +love! + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +THE GREAT BEREAVEMENT. + +MY first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and +Nisbet, near the shore, for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above +tide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials as goods +being landed, and, as we imagined, close to the healthy breezes of the +sea. Alas! we had to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all +untried Mission fields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and +Ague, mine especially; and much of this might have been escaped by +building on the higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing +trade-winds. For all this, however, no one was to blame; everything was +done for the best, according to the knowledge then possessed. Our house +was sheltered behind by an abrupt hill about two hundred feet high, +which gave the site a feeling of coziness. It was surrounded and much +shaded, by beautiful breadfruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees; +too largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze +that we sorely needed! There was a long swamp at the head of the bay, +and, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely +raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us. +Once, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to +me, "Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tanna man sleeps so +low down as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep +on the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and +sleep on the hill, and then you will have better health." + +I at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the earliest +practicable moment; heavy though the undertaking would necessarily be, +it seemed our only hope of being able to live on the island. Alas, for +one of us, it was already too late! + +My dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson, landed with me on Tanna on the 5th +November 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy +hopes. On the 12th February 1859 God sent to us our first-born son; for +two days or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our +island-exile thrilled with joy! But the greatest of sorrows was treading +hard upon the heels of that joy! My darling's strength showed no signs +of rallying. She had an attack of ague and fever a few days before; on +the third day or so thereafter, it returned, and attacked her every +second day with increasing severity for a fortnight. Diarrhea ensued, +and symptoms of pneumonia, with slight delirium at intervals; and then +in a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she died on the 3d March. To crown +my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear baby-boy, whom we had +named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one +week's sickness, on the 20th March. Let those who have ever passed +through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me; as for all +others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows! + +I knew then, when too late, that our work had been entered on too near +the beginning of the rainy season. We were both, however, healthy and +hearty; and I daily pushed on with the house, making things hourly more +comfortable, in the hope that long lives were before us both, to be +spent for Jesus in seeking the salvation of the perishing Heathen. In +our mutual inexperience, and with our hearts aglow for the work of our +lives, we incurred this risk which should never have been incurred; and +I only refer to the matter thus, in the hope that others may take +warning. + +Stunned by that dreadful loss, in entering upon this field of labor to +which the Lord had Himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a +time almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and +weakening hand upon me, continuously recurring, and reaching oftentimes +the very height of its worst burning stages. But I was never altogether +forsaken. The ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust +of my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the +end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite +breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round +and round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white +coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and +much-frequented shrine, during all the following months and years when I +labored on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst +difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord, +and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that +spot still green,--where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that +land for God in which I had "buried my dead" with faith and hope. But +for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have gone +mad and died beside that lonely grave! + +Dr. Inglis, my brother Missionary on Aneityum, wrote to the Reformed +Presbyterian Magazine:--"I trust all those who shed tears of sorrow on +account of her early death will be enabled in the exercise of faith and +resignation to say, 'The Will of the Lord be done; the Lord gave and the +Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord!' I need not say +how deeply we sympathize with her bereaved parents, as well as with her +sorrowing husband. By her death the Mission has sustained a heavy loss. +We were greatly pleased with Mrs. Paton during the period of our short +intercourse with her. Her mind, naturally vigorous, had been cultivated +by a superior education. She was full of Missionary spirit, and took a +deep interest in the Native women. This was seen further, when she went +to Tanna, where, in less than three months, she had collected a class of +eight females, who came regularly to her to receive instruction. There +was about her a maturity of thought, a solidity of character, a +loftiness of aim and purpose, rarely found in one so young. Trained up +in the fear of the Lord from childhood, like another Mary she had +evidently chosen that good part, which is never taken away from those +possessed of it. When she left this island, she had to all human +appearance a long career of usefulness and happiness on Earth before +her, but the Lord has appointed otherwise. She has gone, as we trust, to +her rest and her reward. The Lord has said to her as He said to David, +'Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart to build a House for My +Name.' Let us watch and pray, for our Lord cometh as a thief in the +night." + +Soon after her death, the good Bishop Selwyn called at Port Resolution, +Tanna, in his Mission Ship. He came on shore to visit me, accompanied by +the Rev. J. O. Patteson. They had met Mrs. Paton on Aneityum in the +previous year soon after our arrival, and, as she was then the picture +of perfect health, they also felt her loss very keenly. Standing with me +beside the grave of mother and child, I weeping aloud on his one hand, +and Patteson--afterward the Martyr Bishop of Kakupu--sobbing silently on +the other, the godly Bishop Selwyn poured out his heart to God amidst +sobs and tears, during which he laid his hands on my head, and invoked +Heaven's richest consolations and blessings on me and my trying labors. + +Sorrow and love constrain me to linger over her last words. She cried, +"Oh, that my dear mother were here! She is a good woman, my mother, a +jewel of a woman." + +Then, observing Mr. Copeland near by, she said, "Oh, Mr. Copeland, I did +not know you were there! You must not think that I regret coming here, +and leaving my mother. If I had the same thing to do over again, I would +do it with far more pleasure, yes, with all my heart. Oh no! I do not +regret leaving home and friends, though at the time I felt it keenly." + +Soon after this, looking up and putting her hand in mine, she said-- + +"J. C. wrote to our Janet saying, that young Christians under their +first impressions thought they could do anything or make any sacrifice +for Jesus, and he asked if she believed it, for he did not think they +could, when tested; but Janet wrote back that she believed they could, +and (added she with great emphasis) _I believe it is true!_" + +In a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she fell asleep in Jesus, with +these words on her lips. "Not lost, only gone before to be forever with +the Lord"--my heart keeps saying or singing to itself from that hour +till now. + +It was very difficult to be resigned, left alone, and in sorrowful +circumstance; but feeling immovably assured that my God and Father was +too wise and loving to err in anything that He does or permits, I looked +up to the Lord for help, and struggled on in His work. I do not pretend +to see through the mystery of such visitations,--wherein God calls away +the young, the promising, and those sorely needed for His service here; +but this I do know and feel, that, in the light of such dispensations, +it becomes us all to love and serve our blessed Lord Jesus so that we +may be ready at His call for death and Eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XV. +AT HOME WITH CANNIBALS. + +IN the first letter, sent jointly by Mr. Copeland and myself from Tanna +to the Church at home, the following statements occur:-- + +"We found the Tannese to be painted Savages, enveloped in all the +superstition and wickedness of Heathenism. All the men and children go +in a state of nudity. The older women wear grass skirts, and the young +women and girls, grass or leaf aprons like Eve in Eden. They are +exceedingly ignorant, vicious, and bigoted, and almost void of natural +affection. Instead of the inhabitants of Port Resolution being improved +by coming in contact with white men they are rendered much worse; for +they have learned all their vices but none of their virtues,--if such +are possessed by the pioneer traders among such races! The Sandal-wood +Traders are as a class the most godless of men, whose cruelty and +wickedness make us ashamed to own them as our countrymen. By them the +poor defenseless Natives are oppressed and robbed on every hand; and if +they offer the slightest resistance, they are ruthlessly silenced by the +musket or revolver. Few months here pass without some of them being so +shot, and, instead of their murderers feeling ashamed, they boast of how +they despatch them. Such treatment keeps the Natives always burning +under a desire for revenge, so that it is a wonder any white man is +allowed to come among them. Indeed, all Traders here are able to +maintain their position only by revolvers and rifles; but we hope a +better state of affairs is at hand for Tanna." + +The novelty of our being among them soon passed away, and they began to +show their avarice and deceitfulness in every possible way. The Chiefs +united and refused to give us the half of the small piece of land which +had been purchased, on which to build our Mission House, and when we +attempted to fence in the part they had left to us, they "tabooed" it, +_i. e._ threatened our Teachers and us with death if we proceeded +further with the work. This they did by placing certain reeds stuck into +the ground here and there around our house, which our Aneityumese +servants at once knew the meaning of, and warned us of our danger; so we +left off making the fence, that we might if possible evade all offense. +They then divided the few breadfruit and cocoa-nut trees on the ground +amongst themselves, or demanded such payment for these trees as we did +not possess, and threatened revenge on us if the trees were injured by +any person. They now became so unreasonable and offensive, and our +dangers so increased, as to make our residence amongst them extremely +trying. At this time a vessel called; I bought from the Captain the +things for payment which they demanded; on receiving it, they lifted the +Taboo, and for a little season appeared to be friendly again. This was +the third payment they had got for that site, and to yield was teaching +them a cruel lesson; all this we felt and clearly saw, but they had by +some means to be conciliated, if possible, and our lives had to be +saved, if that could be done without dishonor to the Christian name. + +After these events, a few weeks of dry weather began to tell against the +growth of their yams and bananas. The drought was instantly ascribed to +us and our God. The Natives far and near were summoned to consider the +matter in public assembly. Next day, Nouka, the high chief, and Miaki, +the war-chief, his nephew, came to inform us that two powerful Chiefs +had openly declared in that assembly that if the Harbor people did not +at once kill us or compel us to leave the island they would, unless the +rain came plentifully in the meantime, summon all the Inland people and +murder both our Chiefs and us. The friendly Chiefs said, "Pray to your +Jehovah God for rain, and do not go far beyond your door for a time; we +are all in greatest danger, and if war breaks out we fear we cannot +protect you." + +But this friendliness was all pretense; they themselves, being Sacred +Men, professed to have the power of sending or withholding rain, and +tried to fix the blame of their discomfiture on us. The rage of the poor +ignorant Heathen was thereby fed against us. The Ever-Merciful, however, +again interposed on our behalf. On the following Sabbath, just when we +were assembling for worship, rain began to fall, and in great abundance. +The whole inhabitants believed, apparently, that it was sent to save us +in answer to our prayers; so they met again, and resolved to allow us to +remain on Tanna. Alas! on the other hand, the continuous and heavy rains +brought much sickness and fever in their train, and again their Sacred +Men pointed to us as the cause. Hurricane winds also blew and injured +their fruits and fruit-trees,--another opportunity for our enemies to +lay the blame of everything upon the Missionaries and their Jehovah God! +The trial and the danger daily grew, of living among a people so +dreadfully benighted by superstition, and so easily swayed by prejudice +and passion. + +The Natives of Tanna were well-nigh constantly at war amongst +themselves, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, and +almost every quarrel ending in an appeal to arms. Besides many battles +far inland, one was fought beside our houses and several around the +Harbor. In these conflicts many men were bruised with clubs and wounded +with arrows, but few lives were lost, considering the savage uproar and +frenzy of the scene. In one case, of which we obtained certain +information, seven men were killed in an engagement; and, according to +Tannese custom, the warriors and their friends feasted on them at the +close of the fray, the widows of the slain being also strangled to +death, and similarly disposed of. Besides those who fell in war, the +Natives living in our quarter had killed and feasted on eight persons, +usually, in sacrificial rites. + +It is said that the habitual Cannibal's desire for human flesh becomes +so horrible that he has been known to disinter and feast upon those +recently buried. Two cases of this revolting barbarism were reported as +having occurred amongst the villagers living near us. On another +occasion the great chief Nouka took seriously unwell, and his people +sacrificed three women for his recovery! All such cruel and horrifying +practises, however, they tried to conceal from us; and many must have +perished in this way of whom we, though living at their doors, were +never permitted to hear. + +Amongst the Heathen, in the New Hebrides, and especially on Tanna, +_woman_ is the down-trodden slave of man. She is kept working hard, and +bears all the heavier burdens, while he walks by her side with musket, +club, or spear. If she offends him, he beats or abuses her at pleasure. +A savage gave his poor wife a severe beating in front of our house and +just before our eyes, while in vain we strove to prevent it. Such scenes +were so common that no one thought of interfering. Even if the woman +died in his hands, or immediately thereafter, neighbors, took little +notice, if any at all. And their children were so little cared for, that +my constant wonder was how any of them survived at all! As soon as they +are able to knock about, they are left practically to care for +themselves; hence the very small affection they show towards their +parents, which results in the aged who are unable to work being +neglected, starved to death, and sometimes even more directly and +violently destroyed. + +A Heathen boy's education consists in being taught to aim skilfully with +the bow, throw the spear faultlessly at a mark, to wield powerfully the +club and tomahawk, and to shoot well with musket and revolver when these +can be obtained. He accompanies his father and brothers in all the wars +and preparations for war, and is diligently initiated into all their +cruelties and lusts, as the very prerequisite of his being regarded and +acknowledged to be a man and a warrior. The girls have, with their +mother and sisters, to toil and slave in the village plantations, to +prepare all the materials for fencing these around, to bear every +burden, and to be knocked about at will by the men and boys. + +Oh, how sad and degraded is the position of Woman where the teaching of +Christ is unknown, or disregarded though known! It is the Christ of the +Bible, it is His Spirit entering into humanity, that has lifted Woman, +and made her the helpmate and the friend of Man, not his toy or his +slave. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +SUPERSTITIONS AND CRUELTIES. + +ABOUT the time of my dear wife's death, our brother Missionary, Mr. +Mathieson, also became exceedingly unwell. His delicate frame fast gave +way, and brought with it weakness of the mind as well; and he was +removed to Aneityum apparently in a dying condition. These sad +visitations had a bad effect on the natives, owing to their wild +superstitions about the cause of death and sickness. We had reason to +fear that they would even interfere with the precious grave, over which +we kept careful watch for a season; but God mercifully restrained them. +Unfortunately, however, one of my Aneityumese Teachers who had gone +round to Mr. Mathieson's Station took ill and died there, and this +rekindled all their prejudices. He, poor fellow, before death said, "I +shall not again return to Port Resolution, or see my dear Missi; but +tell him that I die happy, for I love Jesus much, and I am going to +Jesus!" + +Hearing these things, the natives insolently demanded me to tell them +the cause of his death, and of Mr. Mathieson's trouble, and of the other +deaths. Other reasoning or explanation being to them useless, I turned +the tables, and demanded them to tell me why all this trouble and death +had overtaken us in their land, and whether they themselves were not the +cause of it all? Strange to say, this simple question turned the whole +current of their speculations. They held meeting after meeting to +discuss it for several days, and returned the message, "We do not blame +you, and you must not blame us, for causing these troubles and deaths; +but we believe that a Bushman must have got hold of a portion of +something we had eaten, and must have thrown it to the great Evil Spirit +in the volcano, thereby bringing all these troubles and curses." + +Another Chief vindicated himself and others thus:--"Karapanamun, the +Aurumanu or great Evil Spirit of Tanna, whom we all fear and worship, is +causing these troubles; for he knows that if we become worshipers of +your Jehovah God, we cannot continue to fear him, or present him with +the best of everything, as our forefathers have always done; he is angry +at you and at us all." + +The fear of the deaths and troubles being ascribed to them silenced +their talk against us for a season; but very little made them either +friends or foes, as the next event will too painfully show. + +Nowhat, an old Chief of the highest rank from Aneityum, who spoke +Tannese and was much respected by the natives all round the south side +of Tanna, came on a visit to our island. After returning home, he became +very ill and died in a few days. The deluded Tannese, hearing of his +death, ascribed it to me and the Worship, and resolved to burn our house +and property, and either murder the whole Mission party, or compel us to +leave the island. Nowhat's brother was sent from Aneityum to talk to the +Tannese and conciliate them, but unfortunately he could not speak the +language well; and the Aneityumese Teachers felt their lives to be at +this time in such danger that they durst not accompany him as +interpreters, while I, on the other hand, did not understand his +language, nor he, mine. Within two days after landing, he had a severe +attack of ague and fever; and, though the vessel he came in remained +eight days, he was prostrated all the time, so that his well-intentioned +visit did us much harm. The Tannese became furious. This was proof +positive that we were the cause of all their sickness and death! Inland +and all along the weather side of the island, when far enough away from +us, they said that the natives were enjoying excellent health. Meeting +after meeting was held; exciting speeches were delivered; and feasts +were given, for which it was said that several women were sacrificed, +cooked and eaten,--such being the bonds by which they entered into +covenant with each other for life or death. + +The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, but +God put it into even savage hearts to save us. Old Nowar, the Chief +under whom we lived, and the Chief next under him, Arkurat, set +themselves to rescue us. Along with Manuman and Sirawia they opposed +every plan in the public assembly for taking our lives. Some of their +people also remained friendly to us, and by the help of our Aneityumese +Teachers, warned us of danger and protected our lives. Determined not to +be baffled, a meeting of all our enemies on the island was summoned, and +it was publicly resolved that a band of men be selected and enjoined to +kill the whole of those friendly to the Mission, old Nowar among the +rest, and not only to murder the Mission party, but also a trader who +had lately landed to live there, that no one might be left to give +information to the white men or bring punishment on the Islanders. +Frenzy of excitement prevailed, and the blood-fiend seemed to override +the whole assembly; when, under an impulse that surely came from the +Lord of Pity, one great warrior Chief who had hitherto kept silent, +rose, swung aloft a mighty club, and smashing it earthwards, cried +aloud, "The man that kills Missi must first kill me,--the men that kill +the Mission Teachers must first kill me and my people,--for we shall +stand by them and defend them till death." + +Instantaneously, another Chief thundered in with the same declaration; +and the great assembly broke up in dismay. All the more remarkable was +this deliverance, as these two Chiefs lived nearly four miles inland, +and, as reputed disease makers and Sacred Men, were regarded as amongst +our bitterest enemies. It had happened that, a brother of the former +Chief having been wounded in battle, I had dressed his wounds and he +recovered, for which perhaps he now favored us. But I do not put very +much value on that consideration; for too clearly did our dear Lord +Jesus interpose directly on our behalf that day. I and my defenseless +company had spent it in anxious prayers and tears; and our hearts +overflowed with gratitude to the Saviour who rescued us from the lions' +jaws. + +Leaving all consequences to the disposal of my Lord, I determined to +make an unflinching stand against wife-beating and widow-strangling, +feeling confident that even their natural conscience would be on my +side, I accordingly pled with all who were in power to unite and put +down these shocking and disgraceful customs. At length ten Chiefs +entered into an agreement not to allow any more beating of wives or +strangling of widows, and to forbid all common labor on the Lord's day; +but alas, except for purposes of war or other wickedness, the influence +of the Chiefs on Tanna was comparatively small. One Chief boldly +declared, "If we did not beat our women, they would never work; they +would not fear and obey us; but when we have beaten, and killed, and +feasted on two or three, the rest are all very quiet and good for a long +time to come!" + +I tried to show him how cruel it was, besides that it made them unable +for work, and that kindness would have a much better effect; but he +promptly assured me that Tannese women "could not understand kindness." +For the sake of teaching by example, my Aneityumese Teachers and I used +to go a mile or two inland on the principal pathway, along with the +Teachers' wives, and there cutting and carrying home a heavy load of +firewood for myself and each of the men, while we gave only a small +burden to each of the women. Meeting many Tanna-men by the way, I used +to explain to them that this was how Christians helped and treated their +wives and sisters, and then they loved their husbands and were strong to +work at home; and that as men were made stronger, they were intended to +bear the heavier burdens, and especially in all labors out of doors. Our +habits and practises had thus as much to do as, perhaps more than, all +our appeals, in leading them to glimpses of the life to which the Lord +Jesus was calling them. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +STREAKS OF DAWN AMIDST DEEDS OF DARKNESS. + +ANOTHER war-burst, that caused immense consternation, passed over with +only two or three deaths; and I succeeded in obtaining the consent of +twenty Chiefs to fight no more except on the defensive,--a covenant to +which, for a considerable time, they strictly adhered, in the midst of +fierce provocations. But to gain any such end, the masses of the people +must be educated to the point of desiring it. The few cannot, in such +circumstances, act up to it, without laying themselves open to be +downtrodden and swept away by the savages around. + +About this time, several men, afraid or ashamed by day, came to me +regularly by night for conversation and instruction. Having seen the +doors of the Mission House made fast and the windows blinded so that +they could not be observed, they continued with me for many hours, +asking all strange questions about the new Religion and its laws. I +remember one Chief particularly, who came often, saying to me, "I would +be an Awfuaki man (_i. e._ a Christian) were it not that all the rest +would laugh at me; that I could not stand!" + +"Almost persuaded"--before you blame him, remember how many in Christian +lands and amid greater privileges live and die without ever passing +beyond that stage. + +The wife of one of those Chiefs died, and he resolved to imitate a +Christian burial. Having purchased white calico from a Trader, he came +to me for some tape which the Trader could not supply, and told me that +he was going to dress the body as he had seen my dear wife's dressed, +and lay her also in a similar grave. He declined my offer to attend the +funeral and to pray with them, as in that case many of the villagers +would not attend. He wanted all the people to be present, to see and to +hear, as it was the first funeral of the kind ever celebrated among the +Tannese; and my friend Nowar the Chief had promised to conduct a Service +and offer prayer to Jehovah before all the Heathen. It moved me to many +strange emotions, this Christian burial, conducted by a Heathen and in +the presence of Heathens, with an appeal to the true and living God by a +man as yet darkly groping among idols and superstitions. Many were the +wondering questions from time to time addressed to me. The idea of a +resurrection from the dead was that which most keenly interested these +Natives, and called forth all their powers of inquiry and argument. Thus +the waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we +embraced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the +life and death of Jesus, in the strong hope that God would spare us yet +to bring the benighted Heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation, +and to love and serve the only Saviour. + +Confessedly, however, it was uphill, weary, and trying work. For one +thing, these Tannese were terribly dishonest; and when there was any +special sickness, or excitement from any cause, their bad feeling +towards the Worship was displayed by the more insolent way in which they +carried off whatever they could seize. When I opposed them, the club or +tomahawk, the musket or _kawas_ (_i. e._ killing-stone), being instantly +raised, intimated that my life would be taken, if I resisted. Their +skill in stealing on the sly was phenomenal! If an article fell, or was +seen on the floor, a Tanna-man would neatly cover it with his foot, +while looking you frankly in the face, and, having fixed it by his toes +or by bending in his great toe like a thumb to hold it, would walk off +with it, assuming the most innocent look in the world. In this way, a +knife, a pair of scissors or any smaller article, would at once +disappear. Another fellow would deftly stick something out of sight +amongst the whipcord plaits of his hair, another would conceal it +underneath his naked arm, while yet another would shamelessly lift what +he coveted and openly carry it away. + +With most of them, however, the shame was not in the theft, but in doing +it so clumsily that they were discovered! Once, after continuous rain +and a hot damp atmosphere, when the sun shone out I put my bedclothes on +a rope to dry. I stood at hand watching, as also the wives of two +Teachers, for things were mysteriously disappearing almost under our +very eyes. Suddenly, Miaki, who with his war-companions had been +watching us unobserved, came rushing to me breathless and alone, crying, +"Missi, come in, quick, quick! I want to tell you something and to get +your advice!" + +He ran into my house, and I followed; but before he had got into his +story, we heard the two women crying out, "Missi, Missi, come quick! +Miaki's men are Stealing your sheets and blankets!" + +I ran at once, but all were gone into the bush, and them my sheets and +blankets. Miaki for a moment looked abashed, as I charged him with +deceiving me just to give his men their opportunity. But he soon rose to +the occasion. He wrought himself into a towering rage at them, +flourished his huge club and smashed the bushes all around, shouting to +me, "Thus will I smash these fellows, and compel them to return your +clothes." + +One dark night, I heard them amongst my fowls. These I had purchased +from them for knives and calico; and they now stole them all away, dead +or alive. Had I interfered, they would have gloried in the chance to +club or shoot me in the dark, when no one could exactly say who had done +the deed. Several of the few goats, which I had for milk, were also +killed or driven away; indeed, all the injury that was possible was done +to me, short of taking away my life, and that was now frequently +attempted. Having no fires or fireplaces in my Mission House, such being +not required there,--though sometimes a fire would have been invaluable +for drying our bedclothes in the rainy season,--we had a house near by +in which all our food was cooked, and there, under lock and key, we +secured all our cooking utensils, pots, dishes, etc. One night that too +was broken into, and everything was stolen. In consternation, I appealed +to the Chief, telling him what had been done. He also flew into a great +rage, and vowed vengeance on the thieves, saying that he would compel +them to return everything. But, of course, nothing was returned; the +thief could not be found! I, unable to live without something in which +to boil water, at length offered a blanket to any one that would bring +back my kettle. Miaki himself, after much professed difficulty, returned +it _minus_ the lid,--that, he said, probably fishing for a higher bribe, +could not be got at any price, being at the other side of the island in +a tribe over which he had no control! In the circumstances, I was glad +to get kettle _minus_ lid--realizing how life itself may depend on so +small a luxury! + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +THE VISIT OF H. M. S. "CORDELIA." + +ONE morning, the Tannese, rushing towards me in great excitement, cried, +"Missi, Missi, there is a God, or a ship on fire, or something of fear, +coming over the sea! We see no flames, but it smokes like a volcano. Is +it a Spirit, a God, or a ship on fire? What is it? what is it?" + +One party after another followed in quick succession, shouting the same +questions in great alarm, to which I replied, "I cannot go at once; I +must dress first in my best clothes; it will likely be one of Queen +Victoria's Men-of-war, coming to ask of me if your conduct is good or +bad, if you are stealing my property, or threatening my life, or how you +are using me?" + +They pled with me to go and see it; but I made much fuss about dressing, +and getting ready to meet the great Chief on the vessel, and would not +go with them. The two principal Chiefs now came running and asked, +"Missi, will it be a ship of war?" + +I called to them, "I think it will; but I have no time to speak to you +now, I must get on my best clothes!" + +They said, "Missi, only tell us, will he ask you if we have been +stealing your things?" + +I answered, "I expect he will." + +They asked, "And will you tell him?" + +I said, "I must tell him the truth; if he asks, I will tell him." + +They then cried out, "Oh, Missi, tell him not! Everything shall be +brought back to you at once, and no one will be allowed again to steal +from you." + +Then said I, "Be quick! Everything must be returned before he comes. +Away, away! and let me get ready to meet the great Chief on the +Man-of-war." + +Hitherto, no thief could ever be found, and no Chief had power to cause +anything to be restored to me; but now, in an incredibly brief space of +time, one came running to the Mission House with a pot, another with a +pan, another with a blanket, others with knives, forks, plates, and all +sorts of stolen property. The Chiefs called me to receive these things, +but I replied, "Lay them all down at the door, bring everything together +quickly; I have no time to speak with you!" + +I delayed my toilet, enjoying mischievously the magical effect of an +approaching vessel that might bring penalty to thieves. At last the +Chiefs, running in breathless haste, called out to me, "Missi, Missi, do +tell us, is the stolen property all here?" + +Of course I could not tell, but, running out, I looked on the +promiscuous heap of my belongings, and said, "I don't see the lid of the +kettle there yet!" + +One Chief said, "No, Missi, for it is on the other side of the island; +but tell him not, I have sent for it, and it will be here to-morrow." + +I answered, "I am glad you have brought back so much; and now, if you +three Chiefs, Nauka, Miaki, and Nowar, do not run away when he comes, he +will not likely punish you; but, if you and your people run away, he +will ask me why you are afraid, and I will be forced to tell him! Keep +near me and you are all safe; only there must be no more stealing from +me." + +They said, "We are in black fear, but we will keep near you, and our bad +conduct to you is done." + +The charm and joy of that morning are fresh to me still, when H. M. S. +_Cordelia_, Captain Vernon, steamed into our lovely Harbor. The +Commander, having heard rumor of my dangers on Tanna, kindly came on +shore as soon as the ship cast anchor, with two boats, and a number of +his officers and men, so far armed. He was dressed in splendid uniform, +being a tall and handsome man, and he and his attendants made a grand +and imposing show. On seeing Captain Vernon's boat nearing the shore, +and the men glittering in gold lace and arms, Miaki the Chief left my +side on the beach and rushed towards his village. I concluded that he +had run for it through terror, but he had other and more civilized +intentions in his Heathen head! Having obtained, from some trader or +visitor in previous days, a soldier's old red coat, he had resolved to +rise to the occasion and appear in his best before the Captain and his +men. As I was shaking hands with them and welcoming them to Tanna, Miaki +returned with the short red coat on, buttoned tightly round his +otherwise naked body; and, surmounted by his ugly painted face and long +whipcords of twisted hair, it completely spoiled any appearance that he +might otherwise have had of savage freedom, and made him look a dirty +and insignificant creature. + +The Captain was talking to me, his men stood in order near by--to my +eyes, oh how charming a glimpse of Home life!--when Miaki marched up and +took his place most consequentially at my side. He felt himself the most +important personage in the scene, and with an attempt at haughty dignity +he began to survey the visitors. All eyes were fixed on the impudent +little man, and the Captain asked, "What sort of a character is this?" + +I replied, "This is Miaki, our great war Chief?"; and whispered to the +Captain to be on his guard, as this man knew a little English, and might +understand or misunderstand just enough to make it afterwards dangerous +to me. + +The Captain only muttered, "The contemptible creature!" But such words +were far enough beyond Miaki's vocabulary, so he looked on and grinned +complacently. + +At last he said, "Missi, this great Chief whom Queen Victoria has sent +to visit you in her Man-of-war, cannot go over the whole of this island +so as to be seen by all our people; and I wish you to ask him if he will +stand by a tree, and allow me to put a spear on the ground at his heel, +and we will make a nick in it at the top of his head, and the spear will +be sent round the island to let all the people see how tall this great +man is!" They were delighted at the good Captain agreeing to their +simple request; and that spear was exhibited to thousands, as the +vessel, her Commander, officers, and men, were afterwards talked of +round and round the island. + +Captain Vernon was extremely kind, and offered to do anything in his +power for me, thus left alone on the island amongst such savages; but, +as my main difficulties were connected with my spiritual work amongst +them, rousing up their cruel prejudices, I did not see his kindness +could effectually interpose. At his suggestion, however, I sent a +general invitation to all the Chiefs within reach, to meet the Captain +next morning at my house. True to their instincts of suspicion and fear, +they despatched all their women and and children to the beach on the +opposite side of the island, beyond reach of danger, and next morning my +house was crowded with armed men, manifestly much afraid. Punctually at +the hour appointed, 10 A.M., the Captain came on shore; and soon +thereafter twenty Chiefs were seated with him in my house. He very +kindly spent about an hour, giving them wise counsels and warning them +against outrages on strangers, all calculated to secure our safety and +advance the interests of our Mission work. He then invited all the +Chiefs to go on board and see his vessel. They were taken to see the +Armory, and the sight of the big guns running so easily on rails vastly +astonished them. He then placed them round us on deck and showed them +two shells discharged towards the ocean, at which, as they burst and +fell far off, splash--splashing into the water, the terror of the +Natives visibly increased. But, when he sent a large ball crashing +through a cocoanut grove, breaking the trees like straws and cutting its +way clear and swift, they were quite dumfounded and pled to be again set +safely on shore. After receiving each some small gift, however, they +were reconciled to the situation, and returned immensely interested in +all that they had seen. Doubtless many a wild romance was spun by these +savage heads, in trying to describe and hand down to others the wonders +of the fire-god of the sea, and the Captain of the great white Queen. +How easily it all lends itself to the service of poetry and myth! + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +"NOBLE OLD ABRAHAM." + +FEVER and ague had now attacked me fourteen times severely, with +slighter recurring attacks almost continuously after my first three +months on the island, and I now felt the necessity of taking the hint of +the Tannese Chief before referred to--"Sleep on the higher ground." +Having also received medical counsel to the same effect, though indeed +experience was painfully sufficient testimony, I resolved to remove my +house, and began to look about for a suitable site. There rose behind my +present site, a hill about two hundred feet high, surrounded on all +sides by a valley, and swept by the breezes of the trade-winds, being +only separated from the ocean by a narrow neck of land. On this I had +set my heart; there was room for a Mission House and a Church, for which +indeed Nature seemed to have adapted it. I proceeded to buy up every +claim by the Natives to any portion of the hill, paying each publicly +and in turn, so that there might be no trouble afterwards. I then +purchased from a Trader the deck planks of a shipwrecked vessel, with +which to construct a house of two apartments, a bedroom and a small +store-room adjoining it, to which I purposed to transfer and add the old +house as soon as I was able. + +Just at this juncture, the fever smote me again more severely than ever; +my weakness after this attack was so great, that I felt as if I never +could rally again. With the help of my faithful Aneityumese Teacher, +Abraham, and his wife, however, I made what appeared my last effort to +creep--I could not climb--up the hill to get a breath of wholesome air. +When about two-thirds up the hill, I became so faint that I concluded I +was dying. Lying down on the ground, sloped against the root of a tree +to keep me from rolling to the bottom, I took farewell of old Abraham, +of my Mission work, and of everything around! In this weak state I lay, +watched over by my faithful companion, and fell into a quiet sleep. When +consciousness returned, I felt a little stronger, and a faint gleam of +hope and life came back to my soul. + +Abraham and his devoted wife Nafatu lifted me and carried me to the top +of the hill. There they laid me on cocoanut leaves on the ground, and +erected over me a shade or screen of the same; and there the two +faithful souls, inspired surely by something diviner even than mere +human pity, gave me the cocoanut juice to drink and fed me with native +food and kept me living--I know not for how long. Consciousness did, +however, fully return. The trade-wind refreshed me day by day. The +Tannese seemed to have given me up for dead; and providentially none of +them looked near us for many days. Amazingly my strength returned, and I +began planning about my new house on the hill. Afraid again to sleep at +the old site, I slept under the tree, and sheltered by the cocoanut leaf +screen, while preparing my new bedroom. + +Here again, but for these faithful souls, the Aneityumese Teacher and +his wife, I must have been baffled, and would have died in the effort. +The planks of the wreck, and all other articles required, they fetched +and carried; and it taxed my utmost strength to get them in some way +planted together. But life depended on it. It was at length +accomplished; and after that time I suffered comparatively little from +anything like continuous attacks of fever and ague. That noble old soul, +Abraham, stood by me as an angel of God in sickness and in danger; he +went at my side wherever I had to go; he helped me willingly to the last +inch of strength in all that I had to do; and it was perfectly manifest +that he was doing all this not from mere human love, but for the sake of +Jesus. That man had been a Cannibal in his Heathen days, but by the +grace of God there he stood verily a new creature in Christ Jesus. Any +trust, however sacred or valuable, could be absolutely reposed in him; +and in trial or danger I was often refreshed by that old Teacher's +prayers, as I used to be by the prayers of my saintly father in my +childhood's home. No white man could have been more valuable helper to +me in my perilous circumstances; and no person, white or black, could +have shown more fearless and chivalrous devotion. + +When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious +scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in +conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has +yearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the "natural" man all +around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one +"spiritual" man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them, +feeding them, saving them "for the love of Jesus"--that I might just +learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a +reality after all! All the skepticism of Europe would hide its head in +foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the +new light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted +Cannibal's eye. + + + +CHAPTER XX. +A TYPICAL SOUTH SEA TRADER. + +THE prejudices and persecutions of Heathens were a sore enough trial, +but sorer and more hopeless was the wicked and contaminating influence +of, alas, my fellow-countrymen. One, for instance, a Captain Winchester, +living with a native woman at the head of the bay as a Trader, a +dissipated wretch, though a well-educated man, was angry forsooth at +this state of peace! Apparently there was not the usual demand for +barter for the fowls, pigs, etc., in which he traded. He developed at +once a wonderful interest in their affairs, presented all the Chiefs +around with powder, caps, and balls, and lent among them a number of +flash-muskets. He urged them not to be afraid of war, as he would supply +any amount of ammunition. I remonstrated, but he flatly told me that +peace did not suit his purposes. Incited and encouraged thus, these poor +Heathen people were goaded into a most unjust war on neighboring tribes. +The Trader immediately demanded a high price for the weapons he had +lent; the price of powder, caps, and balls rose exorbitantly with every +fresh demand; his yards were crowded with poultry and pigs, which he +readily disposed of to passing vessels; and he might have amassed great +sums of money but for his vile dissipations. Captain Winchester, now +glorying in the war, charged a large hog for a wine-glass full of +powder, or three or four balls, or ten gun-caps; he was boastful of his +"good luck" in getting rid of all his old muskets and filling his yards +with pigs and fowls. Such is the infernal depth to which we can sink, +when the misery and the ruin of many are thought to be more than atoned +for by the wealth and prosperity of a few who trade in their doom! + +Miaki the war Chief had a young brother, Rarip by name, about eighteen +years of age. When this war began he came to live with me at the Mission +House. After it had raged some time, Miaki forced him to join the +fighting men; but he escaped through the bush, and returned to me, +saying, "Missi, I hate this fighting; it is not good to kill men; I will +live with you!" + +Again the war Chief came, and forced my dear young Rarip to join the +hosts. Of course, I could only plead; I could not prevent him. This +time, he placed him at his own side in the midst of his warriors. On +coming in sight of the enemy, and hearing their first yells as they +rushed from the bush, a bullet pierced young Rarip's breast, and he fell +dead into the arms of Miaki. The body was carried home to his brother's +village, with much wailing, and a messenger ran to tell me that Rarip +was dead. On hasting thither, I found him quite dead, and the center of +a tragic ceremonial. Around him, some sitting, others lying on the +ground, were assembled all the women and girls, tearing their hair, +wounding themselves with split bamboos and broken bottles, dashing +themselves headlong to the earth, painting all black their faces, +breasts, and arms, and wailing with loud lamentations! Men were also +there, knocking their heads against the trees, gashing their bodies with +knives till they ran with streaks of blood, and indulging in every kind +of savage symbol of grief and anguish. My heart broke to see them, and +to think that they knew not to look to our dear Lord Jesus for +consolation. + +I returned to the Mission House, and brought a white sheet and some +tape, in which the body of dear young Rarip was wrapped and prepared for +the grave. The Natives appeared to be gratified at this mark of respect; +and all agreed that Rarip should have, under my direction, a Christian +burial. The men prepared the grave in a spot selected near to his own +house; I read the Word of God, and offered prayer to Jehovah, with a +psalm of praise, amidst a scene of weeping and lamentation never to be +forgotten; and the thought burned through my very soul--oh, when, when +will the Tannese realize what I am now thinking and praying about, the +life and immortality brought to light through Jesus? + +As the war still raged on, and many more were killed, vengeance +threatened the miserable Trader. Miaki attacked him thus, "You led us +into this war. You deceived us, and we began it. Rarip is dead, and many +others. Your life shall yet go for his." + +Captain Winchester, heartless as a dog so long as pigs and fowls came to +the yard at whatever cost to others' lives, now trembled like a coward +for himself. He implored me to let him and his Mare wife sleep at my +house for safety; but I refused to allow my Mission to be in any way +identified with his crimes. The Natives from other islands, whom he kept +and wrought like slaves, he now armed with muskets for his defence; but, +having no faith in their protecting or even warning him, he implored me +to send one of my Teachers, to assist his wife in watching till he +snatched a few hours of sleep every day, and, if awake, he would sell +his life as dearly as he could by aid of musket and revolver. The +Teachers were both afraid and disinclined to go; and I could not +honestly ask them to do so. His peril and terror became so real that by +night he slept in his boat anchored out in the center of the bay, with +his arms beside him, and a crew ready to start off at the approach of +danger and lose everything; while by day he kept watch on shore, armed, +and also ready to fly. Thus his miserable existence dragged on, keeping +watch alternatively with his wife, till a trading vessel called and +carried him off with all that he had rescued--for which deliverance we +were unfeignedly thankful! The war, which he had wickedly instigated, +lingered on for three months; and then, by a present given secretly to +two leading Chiefs, I managed to bring it to a close. But feelings of +revenge for the slain burned fiercely in many breasts; and young men had +old feuds handed on to them by the recital of their fathers' deeds of +blood. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +UNDER AX AND MUSKET. + +ABOUT this time, our Sabbath audiences at the Mission numbered forty or +so. Nowar and three or four more, and only they, seemed to love and +serve Jesus. They were, however, changeable and doubtful, though they +exerted a good influence on their villages, and were generally friendly +to us and to the Worship. + +One morning at daybreak I found my house surrounded by armed men, and a +Chief intimated that they had assembled to take my life. Seeing that I +was entirely in their hands, I knelt down and gave myself away body and +soul to the Lord Jesus, for what seemed the last time on earth. Rising, +I went out to them, and began calmly talking about their unkind +treatment of me and contrasting it with all my conduct towards them. I +also plainly showed them what would be the sad consequences, if they +carried out their cruel purpose. At last some of the chiefs, who had +attended the Worship, rose and said, "Our conduct has been bad; but now +we will fight for you, and kill all those who hate you." + +Grasping hold of their leader, I held him fast till he promised never to +kill any one on my account, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies and +always to return good for evil! During this scene, many of the armed +slunk away into the bush, and those who remained entered into a bond to +be friendly and to protect us. But again their Public Assembly resolved +that we should be killed, because, as they said, they hated Jehovah and +the Worship; for it made them afraid to do as they had always done. If I +would give up visiting the villages, and praying and talking with them +about Jehovah, they intimated that they would like me to stay and trade +with them, as they liked the Traders but hated the Missionaries! I told +them that the hope of being able to teach them the Worship of Jehovah +alone kept me living amongst them; that I was there, not for gain or +pleasure, but because I loved them, and pitied their estate, and sought +their good continually by leading them to know and serve the only true +God. + +But my enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my life, +however calmed or baffled for the moment. Within a few days of the above +events, when Natives in large numbers were assembled at my house, a man +furiously rushed on me with his ax; but a Kaserumini Chief snatched a +spade with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from +instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to +the Lord Jesus; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how attack might +be made; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the Hand once nailed +on Calvary, and now swaying the scepter of the Universe, calmness and +peace and resignation abode in my soul. + +Next day, a wild Chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded +musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand. +I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been +there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would +protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing +prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt +immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes +strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow; +and they did tread swiftly upon each other's heels. Without that abiding +consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour, +nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my +reason and perishing miserably. His words, "Lo, I am with you alway, +even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not +have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the +scene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, "I +can do all things through Christ which strengthened me." It is the sober +truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I had my +nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed Lord in +those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being leveled at my +life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing "Him who is +invisible!" One evening, I awoke three times to hear a Chief and his men +trying to force the door of my house. Though armed with muskets, they +had some sense of doing wrong, and were wholesomely afraid of a little +retriever dog which had often stood betwixt me and death. God restrained +them again; and next morning the report went all round the Harbor that +those who tried to shoot me were "smitten weak with fear," and that +shooting would not do. A plan was therefore deliberately set on foot to +fire the premises, and club us if we attempted to escape. But our +Aneityumese Teacher heard of it, and God helped us to frustrate their +designs. When they knew their plots were revealed to us, they seemed to +lose faith in themselves, and cast about to circumvent us in some more +secret way, Their evil was overruled for good. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +A NATIVE SAINT AND MARTYR. + +NAMUEI, one of my Aneityumese Teachers, was placed at our nearest +village. There he had built a house for himself and his wife, and there +he led amongst the Heathen a pure and humble Christian life. Almost +every morning he came and reported on the state of affairs to me. +Without books or a school, he yet instructed the Natives in Divine +things, conducted the worship, and taught them much by his good example. +His influence was increasing, when one morning a Sacred Man threw at him +the _kawas_ or killing-stone, a deadly weapon like a scythe stone in +shape and thickness, usually round but sometimes angular, and from +eighteen to twenty inches long. They throw it from a great distance and +with fatal precision. The Teacher, with great agility, warded his head +and received the deep cut from it in his left hand, reserving his right +hand to guard against the club that was certain to follow swiftly. The +Priest sprang upon him with his club and with savage yells. He evaded, +yet also received, many blows; and, rushing out of their hands, actually +reached the Mission House, bleeding, fainting, and pursued by howling +murderers. I had been anxiously expecting him, and hearing the noise I +ran out with all possible speed. + +On seeing me, he sank down by a tree, and cried, "Missi, Missi, quick! +and escape for your life! They are coming to kill you; they say they +must kill us all to-day, and they have begun with me; for they hate +Jehovah and the Worship!" + +I hastened to the good Teacher where he lay; I bound up, washed, and +dressed his wounds; and God, by the mystery of His own working, kept the +infuriated Tannese watching at bay. Gradually they began to disappear +into the bush, and we conveyed the dear Teacher to the Mission House. In +three or four weeks, he so far recovered by careful nursing that he was +able to walk about again. Some petitioned for him to return to the +village; but I insisted, as a preliminary, that the Harbor Chiefs should +unitedly punish him who had abused the Teacher; and this to test them, +for he had only carried out their own wishes,--Nowar excepted, and +perhaps one or two others. They made a pretense of atoning by presenting +the Teacher with a pig and some yams as a peace-offering; but I said, +"No! Such bad conduct must be punished, or we would leave their island +by the first opportunity." + +Now that Sacred Man, a Chief too, had gone on fighting with other +tribes, till his followers had all died or been slain; and, after three +weeks' palaver, the other Chiefs seized him, tied him with a rope, and +sent me word to come and see him punished, as they did not want us after +all to leave the island. I had to go, for fear of more bloody work, and +after talk with them, followed by many fair promises, he was loosed. + +All appearing friendly for some time, and willing to listen and learn, +the Teacher earnestly desired to return to his post. I pled with him to +remain at the Mission House till we felt more assured, but he replied, +"Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when +the Missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder him, as they +now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have +remained Heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till, +by the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now the same God that +changed me to this can change these poor Tannese to love and serve Him. +I cannot stay away from them; but I will sleep at the Mission House, and +do all I can by day to bring them to Jesus." + +It was not in me to keep such a man, under such motives, from what he +felt to be his post of duty. He returned to his village work, and for +several weeks things appeared most encouraging. The inhabitants showed +growing interest in us and our work, and less fear of the pretensions of +their Heathen Priest, which, alas! fed his jealousy and anger. One +morning during worship, when the good Teacher knelt in prayer, the same +savage Priest sprang upon him with his great club and left him for dead, +wounded and bleeding and unconscious. The people fled and left him in +his blood, afraid of being mixed up with the murder. The Teacher, +recovering a little, crawled to the Mission House, and reached it about +midday in a dying condition. On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he +fell near the Teacher's house, saying, "Missi, I am dying! They will +kill you also. Escape for your life." + +Trying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and +nursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and +rejoicing that he would soon be with Him in Glory. His pain and +suffering were great but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept +saying, "For the sake of Jesus! For Jesu's sake!" He was constantly +praying for his persecutors, "O Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know +not what they are doing. Oh, take not away all Thy servants from Tanna! +Take not away Thy Worship from this dark island! O God, bring all the +Tannese to love and follow Jesus!" + +To him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his death. +He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory of his +Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world's esteem, I knew that a +great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would +take rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a coffin, +and dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many tears, +we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy +resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for +the Missionaries, whom God had honored in bringing him to Jesus. May +they have many like Namuri for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the +great day! + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +BUILDING AND PRINTING FOR GOD. + +FOR fully three months, all our available time, with all the native help +which I could hire, was spent in erecting a building to serve for Church +and School. It was fifty feet long, by twenty-one feet six inches broad. +The studs were three feet apart, and all fixed by tenon and mortise into +upper and lower wall plates. The beautiful roof of iron-wood and +sugar-cane leaf was supported by three massive pillars of wood, sunk +deeply into the ground. The roof extended about three feet over the wall +plates, both to form a verandah and to carry the raindrops free beyond +the walls. It was made of sugar-cane leaf and cocoanut leaves all +around. The floor was laid with white coral, broken small, and covered +with cocoanut leaf mats, such as those on which the Natives sat. Indeed, +it was as comfortable a House of Prayer as any man need wish for in the +tropics, though having only open spaces for doors and windows! I bought +the heavy wood for it on Aneityum--price, fifty pairs of trousers for +Natives; and these again were the gift of my Bible Class in Glasgow, all +cut and sewed by their own hands. I gave also one hundred and thirty +yards of cloth, along with other things, for other needful wood. + +As we were preparing a foundation for the Church, a huge and +singular-looking round stone was dug up, at sight of which the Tannese +stood aghast. The eldest Chief said, "Missi, that stone was either +brought there by Karapanamun (the Evil Spirit), or hid there by our +great Chief who is dead. That is the Stone God to which our forefathers +offered human sacrifices; these holes held the blood of the victim till +drunk up by the Spirit. The Spirit of that stone eats up men and women +and drinks their blood, as our fathers taught us. We are in greatest +fear!" + +A Sacred Man claimed possession, and was exceedingly desirous to carry +it off; but I managed to keep it, and did everything in my power to show +them the absurdity of these foolish notions. Idolatry had not indeed yet +fallen throughout Tanna; but one cruel idol, at least, had to give way +for the erection of God's House on that benighted land. + +An ever-memorable event was the printing of my first book in Tannese. +Thomas Binnie, Jun., Glasgow, gave me a printing-press and a font of +type. Printing was one of the things I had never tried, but having now +prepared a booklet in Tannese, I got my printing press into order, and +began fingering the type. But book-printing turned out to be for me a +much more difficult affair than house-building had been. Yet by dogged +perseverance I succeeded at last. My biggest difficulty was how to +arrange the pages properly! After many failures, I folded a piece of +paper into the number of leaves wanted, cut the corners, folding them +back, and numbering as they would be when correctly placed in the book; +then folding all back without cutting up the sheet, I found now by these +numbers how to arrange the pages in the frame or case for printing, as +indicated on each side. And do you think me foolish, when I confess that +I shouted in an ecstasy of joy when the first sheet came from the press +all correct? It was about one o'clock in the morning. I was the only +white man then on the island, and all the Natives had been fast asleep +for hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like +a schoolboy round and round that printing-press; till I began to think, +Am I losing my reason? Would it not be like a Missionary to be upon my +knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever +printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me--that +was as true worship as ever was David's dancing before the Ark of his +God! Nor think that I did not, over that first sheet of God's Word ever +printed in the Tannese tongue, go upon my knees too, and then, and every +day since, plead with the mighty Lord to carry the light and joy of His +own Holy Bible into every dark heart and benighted home on Tanna! + +Yet dangers darkened round me. One day, while toiling away at my house, +the war Chief and his brother, and a large party of armed men, +surrounded the plot where I was working. They all had muskets, besides +their own native weapons. They watched me for some time in silence, and +then every man leveled a musket straight at my head. Escape was +impossible. Speech would only have increased my danger. My eyesight came +and went for a few moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either Himself to +protect me or to take me home to His Glory. I tried to keep working on +at my task, as if no one was near me. In that moment, as never before, +the words came to me--"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will do +it;" and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little from their first +position, no word having been spoken, they took up the same attitude +somewhat farther off, and seemed to be urging one another to fire the +first shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, and they +withdrew, leaving me with a new reason for trusting Him with all that +concerned me for Time and Eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +HEATHEN DANCE AND SHAM FIGHT. + +THE Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and +most-to-be-trusted friend. He influenced the Harbor Chiefs and their +people for eight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favor of +the Worship of Jehovah. All were personally and specially invited, and +it was the largest Assembly of any kind that I ever witnessed on the +Islands. + +When all was ready, Nowar sent a party of Chiefs to escort me and my +Aneityumese Teachers to the feast. Fourteen Chiefs, in turn, made +speeches to the assembled multitude; the drift of all being, that war +and fighting be given up on Tanna,--that no more people be killed by +Nahak, for witchcraft and sorcery were lies,--that Sacred Men no longer +profess to make wind and rain, famine and plenty, disease and +death,--that the dark Heathen talk of Tanna should cease,--that all here +present should adopt the Worship of Jehovah as taught to them by the +Missionary and the Aneityumese,--and that all the banished Tribes should +be invited to their own lands to live in peace! These strange speeches +did not draw forth a single opposing voice. The Tannese are born +talkers, and can and will speechify on all occasions; but most of it +means nothing, bears no fruit. + +After these speeches, a scene followed which gradually assumed shape as +an idolatrous ceremonial and greatly horrified me. It was in connection +with the immense quantity of food that had been prepared for the feast, +especially pigs and fowls. A great heap had been piled up for each Tribe +represented, and a handsome portion also set apart for the Missionary +and his Teachers. The ceremony was this, as nearly as I could follow it. +One hundred or so of the leading men marched into the large clear space +in the center of the assembled multitudes, and stood there facing each +other in equal lines, with a man at either end closing up the passage +between. At the middle they stood eight or ten feet apart, gradually +nearing till they almost met at either end. Amid tremendous silence for +a few moments, all stood hushed; then every man kneeled on his right +knee, extended his right hand, and bent forward till his face nearly +touched the ground. Thereon the man at the one end began muttering +something, his voice rising ever louder as he rose to his feet, when it +ended in a fearful yell as he stood erect. Next the two long lines of +men, all in a body, went through the same ceremonial, rising gradually +to their feet, with mutterings deepening into a howl, and heightening +into a yell stood erect. Finally, the man at the other end went through +the same hideous forms. All this was thrice deliberately repeated, each +time with growing frenzy. And then, all standing on their feet, they +united as with one voice in what sounded like music running mad up and +down the scale--closing with a long, deep-toned, hollow howl as of souls +in pain. With smiles of joy, the men then all shook hands with each +other. Nowar and another Chief briefly spoke; and the food was then +divided and exchanged, a principal man of each Tribe standing by to +receive and watch his portion. + +At this stage, Nowar and Nerwangi, as leaders, addressed the Teachers +and the Missionary to this effect; "This feast is held to move all the +Chiefs and People here to give up fighting, to become friends, and to +worship your Jehovah God. We wish you to remain, and to teach us all +good conduct. As an evidence of our sincerity, and of our love, we have +prepared this pile of food for you." + +In reply, I addressed the whole multitude, saying how pleased I was with +their speeches and with the resolutions and promises which they all had +made. I further urged them to stick fast by these, and that grand fruits +would arise to their island, to themselves, and to their children. + +Having finished a brief address, I then walked forward to the very +middle of the circle, and laid down before them a bundle of stripes of +red calico and pieces of white calico, a number of fish-hooks, knives, +etc., etc., requesting the two Chiefs to divide my offering of goodwill +among the Tribes assembled, and also the pile of food presented to us, +as a token of my love and friendship to them all. + +Not without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this +apparently unfriendly attitude of refusing to take their food. But I +feared to seem even to approve of any act of devil-worship, or to +confirm them in it, being there to discourage all such scenes, and to +lead them to acknowledge only the true God. Yet all the time I felt this +qualm,--that it might have been better to eat food with men who +acknowledged some God and asked his blessing, than with those white +Heathens at home, who asked the blessing of no God, nor thanked Him--in +this worse than the dog which licks the hand that feeds it! Nowar and +Nerwangi explained in great orations what I meant, and how I wished all +to be divided amongst the assembled Tribes to show my love. With this, +all seemed highly satisfied. + +Heathen dances were now entered upon, their paint and feathers and +ornaments adding to the wildness of the scene. The men seemed to dance +in an inside ring, and the women in an outside ring, at a considerable +distance from each other. Music was supplied by singing and clapping of +hands. The order was perfect, and the figures highly intricate. But I +have never been able to associate dancing with things lovely and of good +report! After the dancing, all retired to the bush; and a kind of sham +fight then followed on the public cleared ground. A host of painted +savages rushed in and took possession with songs and shoutings. From the +bush, on the opposite side, the chanting of women was heard in the +distance, louder and louder as they approached. Snatching from a burning +fire flaming sticks, they rushed on the men with these, beating them and +throwing burning pieces of wood among them, till with deafening yells +amongst themselves and amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, they +drove them from the space, and danced thereon and sang a song of +victory. The dancing and fighting, the naked painted figures, and the +constant yells and shoutings gave one a weird sensation, and suggested +strange ideas of Hell broken loose. + +The final scene approached, when the men assisted their women to fill +all the allotted food into baskets to be carried home and eaten there; +for the different Tribes do not sit down together and eat together as we +would do; their coming together is for the purpose of exchanging and +dividing the food presented. And now they broke into friendly confusion, +and freely walked about mingling with each other; and a kind of savage +rehearsal of Jonathan and David took place. They stripped themselves of +their fantastic dresses, their handsomely woven and twisted grass +skirts, leaf skirts, grass and leaf aprons; they gave away or exchanged +all these, and their ornaments and bows and arrows, besides their less +romantic calico and print dresses more recently acquired. The effusion +and ceremonial of the gifts and exchanges seem to betoken a loving +people; and so they were for the feast--but that laid not aside a single +deadly feud, and streams of blood and cries of hate would soon efface +all traces of this day. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +CANNIBALS AT WORK. + +EARLY one morning, the savage yells of warring Tribes woke me from +sleep. They had broken into a quarrel about a woman, and were fiercely +engaged with their clubs. According to my custom, I rushed in amongst +them, and, not without much difficulty, was blessed in separating them +before deadly wounds had been given or received. On this occasion, the +Chiefs of both Tribes, being very friendly to me, drove their people +back from each other at my earnest appeals. Sitting down at length +within earshot, they had it out in a wild scolding match, a contest of +lung and tongue. Meanwhile I rested on a canoe midway betwixt them, in +the hope of averting a renewal of hostilities. By and by an old Sacred +Man, a Chief, called Sapa, with some touch of savage comedy in his +breast, volunteered an episode which restored good humor to the scene. +Leaping up, he came dancing and singing towards me, and there, to the +amusement of all, reenacted the quarrel, and mimicked rather cleverly my +attempt at separating the combatants. Smashing at the canoe with his +club, he yelled and knocked down imaginary enemies; then, rushing first +at one party and then at the other, he represented me as appealing and +gesticulating and pushing them afar from each other, till he became +quite exhausted. Thereon he came and planted himself in great glee +beside me, and looked around as if to say, "You must laugh, for I have +played." At this very juncture, a loud cry of "Sail O" broke upon our +ears, and all parties leapt to their feet, and prepared for a new +sensation; for in those climes, everything--war itself--is a smaller +interest than a vessel from the Great Unknown Beyond sailing into your +Harbor. + +Not many days thereafter, a very horrible transaction occurred. Before +daybreak, I heard shot after shot quickly discharged in the Harbor. One +of my Teachers came running, and cried, "Missi, six or seven men have +been shot dead this morning for a great feast. It is to reconcile Tribes +that have been at war, and to allow a banished Tribe to return in +peace." + +I learned that the leading men had in council agreed upon this +sacrifice, but the name of each victim was kept a secret till the last +moment. The torture of suspense and uncertainty seemed to be borne by +all as part of their appointed lot; nor did they prepare as if +suspecting any dread assault. Before daylight, the Sacred Men allocated +a murderer to the door of each house where a victim slept. A signal shot +was fired; all rushed to their doors, and the doomed ones were shot and +clubbed to death, as they attempted to escape. Their bodies were then +borne to a sacred tree, and hung up there by the hands for a time as an +offering to the gods. Being taken down, they were carried ceremoniously +and laid out on the shore near my house, placed under a special guard. + +Information had reached me that my Teachers and I were also destined +victims for this same feast; and sure enough we espied a band of armed +men, the killers, despatched towards our premises. Instantaneously I had +the Teachers and their wives and myself securely locked into the Mission +House; and, cut off from all human hope, we set ourselves to pray to our +dear Lord Jesus, either Himself to protect us or to take us to His +glory. All through that morning and forenoon we heard them +tramp-tramping round our house, whispering to each other, and hovering +near window and door. They knew that there were a double-barreled +fowling-piece and a revolver on the premises, though they never had seen +me use them, and that may, under God, have held them back in dread. But +the thought of using them did not enter our souls even in that awful +time. I had gone to save, and not to destroy. It would be easier for me +at any time to die, than to kill one of them. Our safety lay in our +appeal to that blessed Lord who had placed us there, and to whom all +power had been given in Heaven and on Earth. He that was with us was +more than all that could be against us. This is strength;--this is +peace:--to feel, in entering on every day, that all its duties and +trials have been committed to the Lord Jesus,--that, come what may, He +will use us for His glory and our own real good! + +All through that dreadful morning, and far into the afternoon, we thus +abode together, feeling conscious that we were united to this dear Lord +Jesus; and we had sweet communion with Him, meditating on the wonders of +His person and the hopes and glories of His kingdom. Oh, that all my +readers may learn something of this in their own experience of the Lord! +I can wish them nothing more precious. Towards sundown, constrained by +the Invisible One, they withdrew from our Mission House, and left us +once more in peace. They bore away the slain to be cooked, and +distributed amongst the Tribes, and eaten in their feast of +reconciliation; a covenant sealed in blood, and soon, alas, to be buried +in blood again! For many days thereafter we had to take unusual care, +and not unduly expose ourselves to danger; for dark characters were seen +prowling about in the bush near at hand, and we knew that our life was +the prize. We took what care we could, and God the Lord did the rest; or +rather He did all--for His wisdom guided us, and His power baffled them. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +THE DEFYING OF NAHAK. + +SHORTLY thereafter war was again declared, by the Inland people +attacking our Harbor people. It was an old quarrel; and the war was +renewed and continued, long after the cause thereof had passed away. +Going amongst them every day, I did my utmost to stop hostilities, +setting the evils of war before them, and pleading with the leading men +to renounce it. Thereon arose a characteristic incident of Island and +Heathen life. One day I held a Service in the village where morning +after morning their Tribes assembled, and declared that if they would +believe in and follow the Jehovah God, He would deliver them from all +their enemies and lead them into a happy life. There were present three +Sacred Men, Chiefs, of whom the whole population lived in +terror--brothers or cousins, heroes of traditional feats, professors of +sorcery, and claiming the power of life and death, health and sickness, +rain and drought, according to their will. On hearing me, these three +stood up and declared they did not believe in Jehovah, nor did they need +His help; for they had the power to kill my life by Nahak (_i.e._ +sorcery or witchcraft), if only they could get possession of any piece +of the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an essential condition +of their black art; hence the peel of a banana or an orange, and every +broken scrap of food, is gathered up by the Natives, lest it should fall +into the hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for Nahak. This +superstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and terror upon +Tanna; and being thus challenged, I asked God's help, and determined to +strike a blow against it. + +A woman was standing near with a bunch of native fruit in her hand, like +our plums, called quonquore. I asked her to be pleased to give me some; +and she, holding out a bunch, said, "Take freely what you will!" + +Calling the attention of all the Assembly to what I was doing, I took +three fruits from the bunch, and taking a bite out of each, I gave them +one after another to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said in the +hearing of all, "You have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen me +give the remainder to your Sacred Men; they have said they can kill me +by Nahak, but I challenge them to do it if they can, without arrow or +spear, club or musket; for I deny that they have any power against me, +or against any one, by their Sorcery." + +The challenge was accepted; the Natives looked terror-struck at the +position in which I was placed! The ceremony of Nahak was usually +performed in secret,--the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans would +from the touch of the plague; but I lingered and eagerly watched their +ritual. As the three Chiefs arose, and drew near to one of the Sacred +Trees, to begin their ceremonial, the Natives fled in terror, crying, +"Missi, Iawé? Alas, Missi!" + +But I held on at my post of observation. Amidst wavings and +incantations, they rolled up the pieces of the fruit from which I had +eaten, in certain leaves of this Sacred Tree, into a shape like a waxen +candle; then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and continued +their mutterings, gradually burning a little more and a little more of +the candle-shaped things, wheeling them round their heads, blowing upon +them with their breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly at +me as if expecting my sudden destruction. Wondering whether after all +they did not believe their own lie, for they seemed to be in dead +earnest, I, more eager than ever to break the chains of such vile +superstition, urged them again and again, crying, "Be quick! Stir up +your gods to help you! I am not killed yet; I am perfectly well!" + +At last they stood up and said, "We must delay till we have called all +our Sacred Men. We will kill Missi before his next Sabbath comes round. +Let all watch, for he will soon die and that without fail." + +I replied, "Very good! I challenge all your Priests to unite and kill me +by Sorcery or Nahak. If on Sabbath next I come again to your village in +health, you will all admit that your gods have no power over me, and +that I am protected by the true and living Jehovah God!" + +Every day throughout the remainder of that week the Conchs were sounded; +and over that side of the island all their Sacred Men were at work +trying to kill me by their arts. Now and again messengers arrived from +every quarter of the island, inquiring anxiously after my health, and +wondering if I was not feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed +amongst the poor deluded idolaters. + +Sabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to that village in more +than my usual health and strength. Large numbers assembled, and when I +appeared they looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really +be I myself still spared and well. Entering into the public ground, I +saluted them to this effect, "My love to you all, my friends! I have +come again to talk to you about the Jehovah God and His Worship." + +The three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted that they had tried to +kill me by Nahak, but had failed; and on being questioned, why they had +failed; they gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself a +Sacred Man, and that my God being the stronger had protected me from +their gods. Addressing the multitude, I answered thus, "Yea, truly; my +Jehovah God is stronger than your gods. He protected me, and helped me; +for He is the only living and true God, the only God that can hear or +answer any prayer from the children of men. Your gods cannot hear +prayer, but my God can and will hear and answer you, if you will give +heart and life to Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God, and +He is also your friend if you will hear and follow His voice." + +Having said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and +addressed them, "Come and sit down all around me, and I will talk to you +about the love and mercy of my God, and teach you how to worship and +please Him." + +Two of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the people gathered round +and seated themselves very quietly. I tried to present to them ideas of +sin, and of salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in the +Holy Scriptures. + +The third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man of great stature and +uncommon strength, had meantime gone off for his warrior's spear, and +returned brandishing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the +people, "Of course he can kill me with his spear, but he undertook to +kill me by Nahak or Sorcery, and promised not to use against me any +weapons of war; and if you let him kill me now, you will kill your +friend, one who lives among you and only tries to do you good, as you +all know so well. I know that if you kill me thus, my God will be angry +and will punish you." + +Thereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the crowd, while he +leaped about in rage, scolding his brothers and all who were present for +listening to me. The other Sacred Men, however, took my side, and, as +many of the people also were friendly to me and stood closely packed +around me, he did not throw his spear. To allay the tumult and obviate +further bloodshed, I offered to leave with my Teachers at once, and, in +doing so, I ardently pled with them to live at peace. Though we got +safely home, that old Sacred Man seemed still to hunger after my blood. +For weeks thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly appear on the +path behind me, poising in his right hand that same Goliath spear. God +only kept it from being thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution, +had all the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were there, +leaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. This whole incident +did, doubtless, shake the prejudices of many as to Sorcery; but few even +of converted Natives ever get entirely clear of the dread of Nahak. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +A PERILOUS PILGRIMAGE. + +THE other Mission Station, on the southwest side of Tanna, had to be +visited by me from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, there, were +both in a weak state of health, having a tendency to consumption. On +this account they visited Aneityum several times. They were earnestly +devoted to their work, and were successful as far as health and the time +allowed to them permitted. At this juncture, a message reached me that +they were without European food, and a request to send them a little +flour if possible. The war made the journey overland impossible. A +strong wind and a high sea round the coast rendered it impracticable for +my boat to go. The danger to life from the enemy was so great that I +could not hire a crew. I pled therefore with Nowar and Manuman, and a +few leading men, to take one of their best canoes, and themselves to +accompany me. I had a large flat-bottomed pot with a close fitting lid, +and that I pressed full of flour; and, tying the lid firmly down, I +fastened it right in the center of the canoe, and as far above +water-mark as possible. All else that was required we tied around our +own persons. Sea and land being as they were, it was a perilous +undertaking, which only dire necessity could have justified. They were +all swimmers, but as I could not swim, the strongest man was placed +behind me, to seize me and swim ashore, if a crash came. + +Creeping round near the shore all the way, we had to keep just outside +the great breakers on the coral reef, and were all drenched through and +through with the foam of an angry surf. We arrived, however, in safety +within two miles of our destination, where lived the friends of my +canoe's company, but where a very dangerous sea was breaking on the +reef. Here they all gave in, and protested that no further could they +go; and truly their toil all the way with the paddles had been severe. I +appealed to them, that the canoe would for certain be smashed if they +tried to get on shore, that the provisions would be lost, and some of us +probably drowned. But they turned to the shore, and remained for some +time thus, watching the sea. At last their Captain cried, "Missi, hold +on! There's a smaller wave coming; we'll ride in now." + +My heart rose to the Lord in trembling prayer! The wave came rolling on; +every paddle with all their united strength struck into the sea; and +next moment our canoe was flying like a sea-gull on the crest of the +wave towards the shore. Another instant, and the wave had broken on the +reef with a mighty roar, and rushed passed us hissing in clouds of foam. +My company were next seen swimming wildly about in the sea, Manuman the +one-eyed Sacred Man alone holding on by the canoe, nearly full of water, +with me still clinging to the seat of it, and the very next wave likely +to devour us. In desperation, I sprang for the reef, and ran for a man +half-wading, half-swimming to reach us; and God so ordered it, that just +as the next wave broke against the silvery rock of coral, the man caught +me and partly swam with me through its surf, partly carried me till I +was set safely ashore. Praising God, I looked up and saw all the others +as safe as myself, except Manuman, my friend, who was still holding on +by the canoe in the face of wind and sea, and bringing it with him. +Others ran and swam to his help. The paddles were picked up amid the +surf. A powerful fellow came towards me with the pot of flour on his +head, uninjured by water! The Chief who held on by the canoe got +severely cut about the feet, and had been badly bruised and knocked +about; but all the rest escaped without further harm, and everything +that we had was saved. Amongst friends at last, they resolved to await a +favorable wind and tide to return to their own homes. Singing in my +heart unto God, I hired a man to carry the pot of flour, and soon +arrived at the Mission Station. + +Supplying the wants of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, whom we +found as well as could be expected, we had to prepare, after a few hours +of rest, to return to our own Station by walking overland through the +night. I durst not remain longer away, lest my own house should be +plundered and broken into. Though weak in health, my fellow-Missionaries +were both full of hope, and zealous in their work, and this somewhat +strange visit was a pleasant blink amidst our darkness. Before I had +gone far on my return journey, the sun went down, and no Native could be +hired to accompany me. They all told me that I would for certain be +killed by the way. But I knew that it would be quite dark before I +reached the hostile districts, and that the Heathen are great cowards in +the dark and never leave their villages at night in the darkness, except +in companies for fishing and suchlike tasks. I skirted along the +sea-shore as fast as I could, walking and running alternately; and, when +I got within hearing of voices, I slunk back into the bush till they had +safely passed, and then groped my way back near the shore, that being my +only guide to find a path. + +Having made half the journey, I came to a dangerous path, almost +perpendicular, up a great rock round the base of which the sea roared +deep. With my heart lifted up to Jesus, I succeeded in climbing it, +cautiously grasping roots, and resting by bushes, till I safely reached +the top. There, to avoid a village, I had to keep crawling slowly along +the brush near the sea, on the top of that great ledge of rock--a feat I +could never have accomplished even in daylight without the excitement; +but I felt that I was supported and guided in all that life-or-death +journey by my dear Lord Jesus. I had to leave the shore, and follow up +the bank of a very deep ravine to a place shallow enough for one to +cross, and then through the bush away for the shore again. By holding +too much to the right, I missed the point where I had intended to reach +it. Small fires were now visible through the bush; I heard the voices of +the people talking in one of our most Heathen villages. + +Quietly drawing back, I now knew where I was, and easily found my way +towards the shore; but on reaching the Great Rock, I could not in the +darkness find the path down again. I groped about till I was tired. I +feared that I might stumble over and be killed; or, if I delayed till +daylight, that the savages would kill me. I knew that one part of the +rock was steep-sloping, with little growth or none thereon, and I +searched about to find it, resolved to commend myself to Jesus and slide +down thereby, that I might again reach the shore and escape for my life. +Thinking I had found this spot, I hurled down several stones and +listened for their splash that I might judge whether it would be safe. +But the distance was too far for me to hear or judge. At high tide the +sea there was deep; but at low tide I could wade out of it and be safe. +The darkness made it impossible for me to see anything. I let go my +umbrella, shoving it down with considerable force, but neither did it +send me back any news. + +Feeling sure, however, that this was the place I sought, and knowing +that to await the daylight would be certain death, I prayed to my Lord +Jesus for help and protection, and resolved to let myself go. First, I +fastened all my clothes as tightly as I could, so as not to catch on +anything; then I lay down at the top on my back, feet foremost, holding +my head downwards on my breast to keep it from striking on the rock; +then, after one cry to my Saviour, having let myself down as far as +possible by a branch, I at last let go, throwing my arms forward and +trying to keep my feet well up. A giddy swirl, as if flying through the +air, took possession of me; a few moments seemed an age; I rushed +quickly down, and felt no obstruction till my feet struck into the sea +below. Adoring and praising my dear Lord Jesus, who had ordered it so, I +regained my feet; it was low tide, I had received no injury, I recovered +my umbrella, and, wading through, I found the shore path easier and +lighter than the bush had been. The vary darkness was my safety, +preventing the Natives from rambling about. I saw no person to speak to, +till I reached a village quite near to my own house, fifteen or twenty +miles from where I had started; I here left the sea path and promised +some young men a gift of fish-hooks to guide me the nearest way through +the bush to my Mission Station, which they gladly and heartily did. I +ran a narrow risk in approaching them; they thought me an enemy, and I +arrested their muskets only by a loud cry-- + +"I am Missi! Don't shoot; my love to you, my friends!" + +Praising God for His preserving care, I reached home, and had a long +refreshing sleep. The natives, on hearing next day how I had come all +the way in the dark exclaimed-- + +"Surely any of us would have been killed! Your Jehovah God alone thus +protects you and brings you safely home." + +With all my heart, I said, "Yes! and He will be your protector and +helper too, if only you will obey and trust in Him." + +Certainly that night put my faith to the test. Had it not been the +assurance that I was engaged in His service, and that in every path of +duty He would carry me through or dispose of me therein for His glory I +could never have undertaken either journey. St. Paul's words are true +to-day and forever--"I can do all things through Christ which +strengthened me." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +THE PLAGUE OF MEASLES. + +ABOUT this time I had a never-to-be-forgotten illustration of the +infernal spirit that possessed some of the Traders towards these poor +Natives. One morning, three or four vessels entered our Harbor and cast +anchor in Port Resolution. The captains called on me, and one of them, +with manifest delight, exclaimed, "We know how to bring down your proud +Tannese now! We'll humble them before you!" + +I answered, "Surely you don't mean to attack and destroy these poor +people?" + +He replied, not abashed but rejoicing, "We have sent the measles to +humble them! That kills them by the score! Four young men have been +landed at different ports, ill with measles, and these will soon thin +their ranks." + +Shocked above measure, I protested solemnly and denounced their conduct +and spirit; but my remonstrances only called forth the shameless +declaration, "Our watchword is,--Sweep these creatures away and let +white men occupy the soil!" + +Their malice was further illustrated thus: they induced Kapuku, a young +Chief, to go off to one of their vessels, promising him a present. He +was the friend and chief supporter of Mr. Mathieson and of his work. +Having got him on board, they confined him in the hold amongst natives +lying ill with measles. They gave him no food for about four-and-twenty +hours; and then, without the promised present, they put him ashore far +from his own home. Though weak and excited, he scrambled back to his +tribe in great exhaustion and terror. He informed the Missionary that +they had put him down amongst sick people, red and hot with fever, and +that he feared their sickness was upon him. I am ashamed to say that +these Sandal-wood and other Traders were our own degraded countrymen; +and that they deliberately gloried in thus destroying the poor Heathen. +A more fiendish spirit could scarcely be imagined; but most of them were +horrible drunkards, and their traffic of every kind amongst these +islands was, generally speaking, steeped in human blood. + +The measles, thus introduced, became amongst our islanders the most +deadly plague. It spread fearfully, and was accompanied by sore throat +and diarrhea. In some villages, man, woman, and child were stricken, and +none could give food or water to the rest. The misery, suffering, and +terror were unexampled, the living being afraid sometimes even to bury +the dead. Thirteen of my own Mission party died of this disease; and, so +terror-stricken were the few who survived, that when the little Mission +schooner _John Knox_ returned to Tanna, they all packed up and left for +their own Aneityum, except my own dear old Abraham. + +At first, thinking that all were on the wing, he also had packed his +chattels, and was standing beside the others ready to leave with them. I +drew near to him, and said, "Abraham, they are all going; are you also +going to leave me here alone on Tanna, to fight the battles of the +Lord?" + +He asked, "Missi, will you remain?" + +I replied, "Yes; but Abraham, the danger to life is now so great that I +dare not plead with you to remain, for we may both be slain. Still, I +cannot leave the Lord's work now." + +The noble old Chief looked at the box and his bundles, and, musingly, +said, "Missi, our danger is very great now." + +I answered, "Yes; I once thought you would not leave me alone to it; +but, as the vessel is going to your own land, I cannot ask you to remain +and face it with me!" + +He again said, "Missi, would you like me to remain alone with you, +seeing my wife is dead and in her grave here?" + +I replied, "Yes, I would like you to remain; but, considering the +circumstances in which we will be left alone, I cannot plead with you to +do so." + +He answered, "Then, Missi, I remain with you of my own free choice, and +with all my heart. We will live and die together in the work of the +Lord. I will never leave you while you are spared on Tanna." + +So saying, and with a light that gave the fore-gleam of a Martyr's glory +to his dark face, he shouldered his box and bundles back to his own +house; and thereafter, Abraham was my dear companion and constant +friend, and my fellow-sufferer in all that remains still to be related +of our Mission life on Tanna. + +Before this plague of measles was brought amongst us I had sailed round +in the _John Knox_ to Black Beach on the opposite side of Tanna, and +prepared the way for settling Teachers. And they were placed soon after +by Mr. Copeland and myself with encouraging hopes of success, and with +the prospect of erecting there a Station for Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, the +newly arrived Missionaries from Nova Scotia. But this dreadful imported +epidemic blasted all our dreams. They devoted themselves from the very +first, and assisted me in every way to alleviate the dread sufferings of +the Natives. We carried medicine, food, and even water, to the +surrounding villages every day, few of themselves being able to render +us much assistance. Nearly all who took our medicine and followed +instructions as to food, etc., recovered; but vast numbers of them would +listen to no counsels, and rushed into experiments which made the attack +fatal all around. When the trouble was at its height, for instance, they +would plunge into the sea, and seek relief; they found it an almost +instant death. Others would dig a hole into the earth, the length of the +body and about two feet deep; therein they laid themselves down, the +cold earth feeling agreeable to their fevered skins; and when the earth +around them grew heated, they got friends to dig a few inches deeper, +again and again, seeking a cooler and cooler couch. In this ghastly +effort many of them died, literally in their own graves, and were buried +where they lay! It need not be surprising, though we did everything in +our power to relieve and save them, that the natives associated us with +the white men who had so dreadfully afflicted them, and that their blind +thirst for revenge did not draw fine distinctions between the Traders +and the Missionaries. Both were whites--that was enough. + +Before leaving this terrible plague of measles, I may record my belief +that it swept away, with accompanying sore throat and diarrhea, a third +of the entire population of Tanna; nay? in certain localities more than +a third perished. The living declared themselves unable to bury the +dead, and great want and suffering ensued. The Teacher and his wife and +child, placed by us at Black Beach, were also taken away; and his +companion, the other Teacher there, embraced the first opportunity to +leave along with his wife for his own island, else his life would have +been taken in revenge. Yet, from all accounts afterwards received, I do +not think the measles were more fatal on Tanna than on the other Islands +of the group. They appear to have carried off even a larger proportion +on Aniwa--the future scene of many sorrows but of greater triumphs. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +ATTACKED WITH CLUBS. + +THE 1st January 1861 was a New Year's Day ever to be remembered. Mr. and +Mrs. Johnston, Abraham, and I, had spent nearly the whole time in a kind +of solemn yet happy festival. Anew in a holy covenant before God, we +unitedly consecrated our lives and our all to the Lord Jesus, giving +ourselves away to His blessed service for the conversion of the Heathen +on the New Hebrides. After evening Family Worship, Mr. and Mrs. Johnston +left my room to go to their own house, only some ten feet distant; but +he returned to inform me that there were two men at the window, armed +with huge clubs, and having black painted faces. Going out to them and +asking them, what they wanted, they replied, "Medicine for a sick boy." + +With difficulty I persuaded them to come in and get it. At once, it +flashed upon me, from their agitation and their disguise of paint, that +they had come to murder us. Mr. Johnston had also accompanied us into +the house. Keeping my eye constantly fixed on them, I prepared the +medicine and offered it. They refused to receive it, and each man +grasped his killing-stone. I faced them firmly and said, "You see that +Mr. Johnston is now leaving, and you too must leave this room for +to-night. To-morrow, you can bring the boy or come for the medicine." + +Seizing their clubs, as if for action, they showed unwillingness to +withdraw, but I walked deliberately forward and made as if to push them +out, when both turned and began to leave. + +Mr. Johnston had gone in front of them and was safely out. But he bent +down to lift a little kitten that had escaped at the open door; and at +that moment one of the savages, jerking in behind, aimed a blow with his +huge club, in avoiding which Mr. Johnston fell with a scream to the +ground. Both men sprang towards him, but our two faithful dogs +ferociously leapt in their faces and saved his life. Rushing out, but +not fully aware of what had occurred, I saw Mr. Johnston trying to raise +himself, and heard him cry, "Take care these men have tried to kill me, +and they will kill you!" + +Facing them sternly I demanded, "What is it that you want? He does not +understand your language. What do you want? Speak with me." + +Both men, thereon, raised their great clubs and made to strike me; but +quick as lightning these two dogs sprang at their faces and baffled +their blows. One dog was badly bruised, and the ground received the +other blow that would have launched me into Eternity. The best dog was a +little cross-bred retriever with terrier blood in him, splendid for +warning us of approaching dangers, and which had already been the means +of saving my life several times. Seeing how matters stood, I now hounded +both dogs furiously upon them, and the two savages fled. I shouted after +them, "Remember, Jehovah God sees you and will punish you for trying to +murder His servants!" + +In their flight, a large body of men, who had come eight or ten miles to +assist in the murder and plunder, came slipping here and there from the +bush and joined them, fleeing too. Verily, "the wicked flee, when no man +pursueth." David's experience and assurance came home to us, that +evening, as very real:--"God is our refuge and our strength...therefore +we will not fear." + +I, now accustomed to such scenes on Tanna, retired to rest and slept +soundly; but my dear fellow-laborer, as I afterwards learned, could not +sleep for one moment. His pallor and excitement continued next day, +indeed for several days; and after that, though he was naturally lively +and cheerful, I never saw him smile again. + +For that morning, 1st January 1861, the following entry was found in his +Journal: "To-day, with a heavy heart and a feeling of dread, I know not +why, I set out on my accustomed wanderings amongst the sick. I hastened +back to get the Teacher and carry Mr. Paton to the scene of distress. I +carried a bucket of water in one hand and medicine in the other; and so +we spent a portion of this day endeavoring to alleviate their +sufferings, and our work had a happy effect also on the minds of +others." In another entry, on 22d December, he wrote: "Measles are +making fearful havoc amongst the poor Tannese. As we pass through the +villages, mournful scenes meet the eye; young and old prostrated on the +ground, showing all these painful symptoms which accompany loathsome and +malignant diseases. In some villages few are left able to prepare food, +or to carry drink to the suffering and dying. How pitiful to see the +sufferers destitute of every comfort, attention, and remedy that would +ameliorate their suffering or remove their disease! As I think of the +tender manner in which we are nursed in sickness, the many remedies +employed to give relief, with the comforts and attention bestowed upon +us, my heart sickens, and I say, Oh my ingratitude and the ingratitude +of Christian people!" + +Having, as above recorded, consecrated our lives anew to God on the +first day of January, I was, up till the 16th of the month, accompanied +by Mr. Johnston and sometimes also by Mrs. Johnston on my rounds in the +villages amongst the sick, and they greatly helped me. But by an unhappy +accident I was laid aside when most sorely needed. When adzing a tree +for housebuilding I observed that Mahanan, the war Chief's brother, had +been keeping too near me, and that he carried a tomahawk in his hand; +and, in trying both to do my work and to keep an eye on him, I struck my +ankle severely with the adze. He moved off quickly, saying, "I did not +do that," but doubtless rejoicing at what had happened. The bone was +badly hurt, and several of the blood-vessels cut. Dressing it as well as +I could, and keeping it constantly soaked in cold water, I had to +exercise the greatest care. In this condition, amidst great sufferings, +I was sometimes carried to the villages to administer medicine to the +sick, and to plead and pray with the dying. + +On such occasions, in this mode of transit even, the conversations that +I had with dear Mr. Johnston were most solemn and greatly refreshing. He +had, however, scarcely ever slept since the 1st of January, and during +the night of the 16th he sent for my bottle of laudanum. Being severely +attacked with ague and fever, I could not go to him, but sent the +bottle, specifying the proper quantity for a dose, but that he quite +understood already. He took a dose for himself, and gave one also to his +wife, as she too suffered from sleeplessness. This he repeated three +nights in succession, and both of them obtained a long, sound and +refreshing sleep. He came to my bedside, where I lay in the ague-fever, +and said with great animation, amongst other things, "I have had such a +blessed sleep, and feel so refreshed! What kindness in God to provide +such remedies for suffering man!" + +At midday his dear wife came to me crying, "Mr. Johnston has fallen +asleep, so deep that I cannot awake him." + +My fever had reached the worst stage, but I struggled to my feet got to +his bedside, and found him in a state of coma, with his teeth fixed in +tetanus. With great difficulty we succeeded in slightly rousing him; +with a knife, spoon, and pieces of wood, we forced his teeth open, so as +to administer an emetic with good effects, and also other needful +medicines. For twelve hours, we had to keep him awake by repeated cold +dashes in the face, by ammonia, and by vigorously moving him about. He +then began to speak freely; and next day he rose and walked about a +little. For the two following days, he was sometimes better and +sometimes worse; but we managed to keep him up till the morning of the +21st, when he again fell into a state of coma, from which we failed to +rouse him. At two o'clock in the afternoon he fell asleep--another +Martyr for the testimony of Jesus in those dark and trying Isles, +leaving his young wife in indescribable sorrow, which she strove to bear +with Christian resignation. Having made his coffin and dug his grave, we +two alone at sunset laid him to rest beside my own dear wife and child, +close by the Mission House. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +KOWIA. + +ANOTHER tragedy followed, with, however, much of the light of Heaven +amid its blackness, in the story of Kowia, a Tannese Chief of the +highest rank. Going to Aneityum in youth, he had there become a true +Christian. He married an Aneityumese Christian woman, with whom he lived +very happily and had two beautiful children. Some time before the +measles reached our island he returned to live with me as a Teacher and +to help forward our work on Tanna. He proved himself to be a decided +Christian; he was a real Chief amongst them, dignified in his whole +conduct, and every way a valuable helper to me. Everything was tried by +his own people to induce him to leave me and to renounce the Worship, +offering him every honor and bribe in their power. Failing these, they +threatened to take away all his lands, and to deprive him of +Chieftainship, but he answered "Take all! I shall still stand by Missi +and the Worship of Jehovah." + +From threats they passed to galling insults, all which he bore patiently +for Jesu's sake. But one day a party of his people came and sold some +fowls, and an impudent fellow lifted them after they had been bought and +offered to sell them again to me. Kowia shouted, "Don't purchase these, +Missi; I have just bought them for you, and paid for them!" + +Thereon the fellow began to mock at him. Kowia, gazing round on all +present, and then on me, rose like a lion awaking out of sleep, and with +flashing eyes exclaimed, "Missi, they think that because I am now a +Christian I have become a coward! a woman! to bear every abuse and +insult they can heap upon me. But I will show them for once that I am no +coward, that I am still their Chief, and that Christianity does not take +away but gives us courage and nerve." + +Springing at one man, he wrenched in a moment the mighty club from his +hands, and swinging it in air above his head like a toy, he cried, "Come +any of you, come all against your Chief! My Jehovah God makes my heart +and arms strong. He will help me in this battle as He helps me in other +things, for He inspires me to show you that Christians are no cowards, +though they are men of peace. Come on, and you will yet know that I am +Kowia your Chief." + +All fled as he approached them; and he cried, "Where are the cowards +now?" and handed back to the warrior his club. After this they left him +at peace. + +He lived at the Mission House, with his wife and children, and was a +great help and comfort to Abraham and myself. He was allowed to go more +freely and fearlessly amongst the people than any of the rest of our +Mission staff. The ague and fever on me at Mr. Johnston's death so +increased and reduced me to such weakness that I had become insensible, +while Abraham and Kowia alone attended to me. On returning to +consciousness I heard as in a dream Kowia lamenting over me, and +pleading that I might recover, so as to hear and speak with him before +he died. Opening my eyes and looking at him, I heard him say, "Missi, +all our Aneityumese are sick. Missi Johnson is dead. You are very sick, +and I am weak and dying. Alas, when I too am dead, who will climb the +trees and get you a cocoanut to drink? And who will bathe your lips and +brow?" + +Here he broke down into deep and long weeping, and then resumed, "Missi, +the Tanna-men hate us all on account of the Worship of Jehovah; and I +now fear He is going to take away all His servants from this land, and +leave my people to the Evil One and his service!" + +I was too weak to speak, so he went on, bursting into a soliloquy of +prayer: "O Lord Jesus, Missi Johnston is dead; Thou hast taken him away +from this land. Missi Johnston the woman and Missi Paton are very ill; I +am sick, and Thy servants the Aneityumese are all sick and dying. O +Lord, our Father in Heaven, art Thou going to take away all Thy +servants, and Thy Worship from this dark land? What meanest Thou to do, +O Lord? The Tannese hate Thee and Thy Worship and Thy servants; but +surely, O Lord, Thou canst not forsake Tanna and leave our people to die +in the darkness! Oh, make the hearts of this people soft to Thy Word and +sweet to Thy Worship; teach them to fear and love Jesus; and oh, restore +and spare Missi, dear Missi Paton, that Tanna may be saved!" + +Touched to the very fountains of my life by such prayers, from a man +once a Cannibal, I began under the breath of God's blessing to revive. + +A few days thereafter, Kowia came again to me, and rousing me out of +sleep, cried, "Missi, I am very weak; I am dying. I come to bid you +farewell, and go away to die. I am nearing death now, and I will soon +see Jesus." + +I spoke what words of consolation and cheer I could muster, but he +answered, "Missi, since you became ill my dear wife and children are +dead and buried. Most of our Aneityumese are dead, and I am dying. If I +remain on the hill, and die here at the Mission House, there are none +left to help Abraham to carry me down to the grave where my wife and +children are laid. I wish to lie beside them, that we may rise together +in the Great Day when Jesus comes. I am happy, looking unto Jesus! One +thing only deeply grieves me now; I fear God is taking us all away from +Tanna, and will leave my poor people dark and benighted as before, for +they hate Jesus and the Worship of Jehovah. O Missi, pray for them, and +pray for me once more before I go!" + +He knelt down at my side, and we prayed for each other and for Tanna. I +then urged him to remain at the Mission House, but he replied, "O Missi, +you do not know how near to death I am! I am just going, and will soon +be with Jesus, and see my wife and children now. While a little strength +is left, I will lean on Abraham's arm, and go down to the graves of my +dear ones and fall asleep there, and Abraham will dig a quiet bed and +lay me beside them. Farewell, Missi, I am very near death now; we will +meet again in Jesus and with Jesus!" + +With many tears he dragged himself away; and my heart-strings seemed all +tied round that noble simple soul, and felt like breaking one by one as +he left me there on my bed of fever all alone. Abraham sustained him, +tottering to the place of graves; there he lay down, and immediately +gave up the ghost and slept in Jesus; and there the faithful Abraham +buried him beside his wife and children. Thus died a man who had been a +cannibal Chief, but by the grace of God and the love of Jesus, changed, +transfigured into a character of light and beauty. I lost, in losing +him, one of my best friends and most courageous helpers; but I knew that +day, and I know now, that there is one soul at least from Tanna to sing +the glories of Jesus in Heaven--and, oh, the rapture when I meet him +there! + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +MARTYRDOM OF THE GORDONS. + +MAY 1861 brought with it a sorrowful and tragic event, which fell as the +very shadow of doom across our path; I mean the martyrdom of the Gordons +on Erromanga. Rev. G. N. Gordon was a native of Prince Edward Island, +Nova Scotia, and was born in 1822. He was educated at the Free Church +College, Halifax, and placed as Missionary on Erromanga in June 1857. +Much troubled and opposed by the Sandal-wooders, he had yet acquired the +language and was making progress by inroads on Heathenism. A +considerable number of young men and women embraced the Christian Faith, +lived at the Mission House, and devotedly helped him and his excellent +wife in all their work. But the hurricanes and the measles, already +referred to, caused great mortality in Erromanga also; and the degraded +Traders, who had introduced the plague, in order to save themselves from +revenge, stimulated the superstitions of the Heathen, and charged the +Missionaries there too with causing sickness and all other calamities. +The Sandal-wooders hated him for fearlessly denouncing and exposing +their hideous atrocities. + +When Mr. Copeland and I placed the Native Teachers at Black Beach, +Tanna, we ran across to Erromanga in the _John Knox,_ taking a harmonium +to Mrs. Gordon, just come by their order from Sydney. When it was opened +out at the Mission House, and Mrs. Gordon began playing on it and +singing sweet hymns, the native women were in ecstasies. They at once +proposed to go off to the bush and cut each a burden of long grass, to +thatch the printing-office which Mr. Gordon was building in order to +print the Scriptures in their own tongue, if only Mrs. Gordon would play +to them at night and teach them to sing God's praises. They joyfully did +so, and then spent a happy evening singing those hymns. Next day being +Sabbath, we had a delightful season there, about thirty attending Church +and listening eagerly. The young men and women living at the Mission +House were being trained to become Teachers; they were reading a small +book in their own language, telling them the story of Joseph; and the +work every way seemed most hopeful. The Mission House had been removed a +mile or so up a hill, partly for Mrs. Gordon's health, and partly to +escape the annoying and contaminating influence of the Sandal-wooders on +the Christian Natives. + +On the 20th May 1861 he was still working at the roofing of the +printing-office, and had sent his lads to bring each a load of the long +grass to finish the thatching. Meantime a party of Erromangans from a +district called Bunk-Hill, under a Chief named Lovu, had been watching +him. They had been to the Mission House inquiring and they had seen him +send away his Christian lads. They then hid in the bush and sent two of +their men to the Missionary to ask for calico. On a piece of wood he +wrote a note to Mrs. Gordon to give them two yards each. They asked him +to go with them to the Mission House, as they needed medicine for a sick +boy, and Lovu their Chief wanted to see him. He tied up in a napkin a +meal of food, which had been brought to him but not eaten, and started +to go with them. He requested the native Narubulet to go on before with +his companion, but they insisted upon his going in front. In crossing a +streamlet, which I visited shortly afterwards, his foot slipped. A blow +was aimed at him with a tomahawk, which he caught; the other man struck, +but his weapon was also caught. One of the tomahawks was then wrenched +out of his grasp. Next moment a blow on the spine laid the dear +Missionary low, and a second on the neck almost severed the head from +the body. The other Natives then rushed from their ambush, and began +dancing round him with frantic shoutings. Mrs. Gordon hearing the noise, +came out and stood in front of the Mission House, looking in the +direction of her husband's working place, and wondering what had +happened. Ouben, one of the party, who had run towards the Station the +moment that Mr. Gordon fell, now approached her. A merciful clump of +trees had hid from her eyes all that had occurred, and she said to +Ouben, "What's the cause of that noise?" + +He replied, "Oh, nothing! only the boys amusing themselves!" + +Saying, "Where are the boys?" she turned round. Ouben slipped stealthily +behind her, sank his tomahawk into her back, and with another blow +almost severed her head! + +Such was the fate of those two devoted servants of the Lord; loving in +their lives, and in their deaths not divided--their spirits, wearing the +crown of martyrdom, entered Glory together to be welcomed by Williams +and Harris, whose blood was shed near the same now hallowed spot for the +name and cause of Jesus. They had labored four years on Erromanga, +amidst trials and dangers manifold, and had not been without tokens of +blessing in the Lord's work. Never more earnest or devoted Missionaries +lived and died in the Heathen field. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +SHADOWS DEEPENING ON TANNA. + +IMMEDIATELY thereafter, a Sandal-wood Trader brought in his boat a party +of Erromangans by night to Tanna. They assembled our Harbor Chiefs and +people, and urged them to kill us and Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson and the +Teachers, or allow them to do so, as they had killed Mr. and Mrs. +Gordon. Then they proposed to go to Aneityum and kill the Missionaries +there, as the Aneityumese Natives had burned their Church, and thus they +would sweep away the Worship and the servants of Jehovah from all the +New Hebrides. Our Chiefs, however, refused, restrained by the Merciful +One, and the Erromangans returned to their own island in a sulky mood. + +Notwithstanding this refusal, as if they wished to reserve the murder +and plunder for themselves, our Mission House was next day thronged with +armed men, some from Inland, others from Mr. Mathieson's Station. They +loudly praised the Erromangans! The leader said again and again in my +hearing, "The men of Erromanga killed Missi Williams long ago. We killed +the Rarotongan and Samoan Teachers. We fought Missi Turner and Missi +Nisbet, and drove them from our island. We killed the Aneityumese +Teachers on Aniwa, and one of Missi Paton's Teachers too. We killed +several white men, and no Man-of-war punished us. Let us talk over this, +about killing Missi Paton and the Aneityumese, till we see if any +Man-of-war comes to punish the Erromangans. If not, let us unite, let us +kill these Missionaries, let us drive the Worship of Jehovah from our +land!" + +An Inland Chief said or rather shouted in my hearing, "My love to the +Erromangans! They are strong and brave men, the Erromangans. They have +killed their Missi and his wife, while we only talk about it. They have +destroyed the Worship and driven away Jehovah!" + +I stood amongst them and protested, "God will yet punish the Erromangans +for such wicked deeds. God has heard all your bad talk, and will punish +it in His own time and way." + +But they shouted me down, amidst great excitement, with the cry, "Our +love to the Erromangans! Our love to the Erromangans!" + +After I left them, Abraham heard them say, "Miaki is lazy. Let us meet +in every village, and talk with each other. Let us all agree to kill +Missi and the Aneityumese for the first of our Chiefs that dies." + +The night after the visit of the Erromangan boat, and the sad news of +Mr. and Mrs. Gordon's death, the Tannese met on their village +dancing-grounds and held high festival in praise of the Erromangans. Our +best friend, old Nowar the Chief, who had worn shirt and kilt for some +time and had come regularly to the Worship, relapsed once more; he +painted his face, threw off his clothing, resumed his bow and arrows and +his tomahawk, of which he boasted that it had killed very many men and +at least one woman! On my shaming him for professing to worship Jehovah +and yet uniting with the Heathen in rejoicing over the murder of His +servants on Erromanga, he replied to this effect, "Truly, Missi, they +have done well. If the people of Erromanga are severely punished for +this by the Man-of-war, we will all hear of it; and our people will then +fear to kill you and the other Missionaries, so as to destroy the +Worship of Jehovah. Now, they say, the Erromangans killed Missi Williams +and the Samoan, Rarotongan, and Aneityumese Teachers, besides other +white men, and no Man-of-war has punished either them or us. If they are +not punished for what has been done on Erromanga, nothing else can keep +them here from killing you and me and all who worship at the Mission +House!" + +I answered, "Nowar, let us all be strong to love and serve Jehovah +Jesus. If it be for our good and His glory, He will protect us; if not, +He will take us to be with Himself. We will not be killed by their bad +talk. Besides, what avails it to us, when dead and gone, if even a +Man-of-war should come and punish our murderers?" + +He shrugged his shoulders, answering, "Missi, by and by you will see. +Mind, I tell you the truth. I know our Tannese people. How is it that +Jehovah did not protect the Gordons and the Erromangan worshipers? If +the Erromangans are not punished, neither will our Tannese be punished, +though they murder all Jehovah's people!" + +I felt for Nowar's struggling faith, just trembling on the verge of +Cannibalism yet, and knowing so little of the true Jehovah. + +Groups of Natives assembled suspiciously near us and sat whispering +together. They urged old Abraham to return to Aneityum by the very first +opportunity, as our lives were certain to be taken, but he replied, "I +will not leave Missi." + +Abraham and I were thrown much into each other's company, and he stood +by me in every danger. We conducted Family Prayers alternately; and that +evening he said during the prayer in Tannese, in which language alone we +understood each other:-- + +"O Lord, our Heavenly Father, they have murdered Thy servants on +Erromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now +they want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and +make their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are +permitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of +Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for +sinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to Heaven--that +good place where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon the woman and all +thy dear servants now are singing Thy praise and seeing Thy face. Our +Lord, our hearts are pained just now, and we weep over the death of Thy +dear servants; but make our hearts good and strong for Thy cause, and +take thou away all our fears. Make us two and all Thy servants strong +for Thee and for Thy Worship; and if they kill us two, let us die +together in Thy good work, like Thy servants Missi Gordon the man and +Missi Gordon the woman." + +In this manner his great simple soul poured itself out to God; and my +heart melted within me as it had never done under any prayer poured from +the lips of cultured Christian men! + +Under the strain of these events, Miaki came to our house, and attacked +me in hearing of his men to this effect, "You and the Worship are the +cause of all the sickness and death now taking place on Tanna! The +Erromanga men killed Missi Gordon the man and also the woman, and they +are all well long ago. The Worship is killing us all; and the Inland +people will kill us for keeping you and the Worship here; for we love +the conduct of Tanna, but we hate the Worship. We must kill you and it, +and we shall all be well again." + +I tried to reason firmly and kindly with them, showing them that their +own conduct was destroying them, and that our presence and the Worship +could only be a blessing to them in every way, if only they would accept +of it and give up their evil ways. I referred to a poor girl, whom Miaka +and his men had stolen and abused--that they knew such conduct to be +bad, and that God would certainly punish them for it. + +He replied, "Such is the conduct of Tanna. Our fathers loved and +followed it, we love and follow it, and if the Worship condemns it, we +will kill you and destroy the Worship." + +I said, "The Word of the Holy God condemns all bad conduct, and I must +obey my God in trying to lead you to give it up, and to love and serve +His Son Jesus our Saviour. If I refuse to obey my God, He will punish +me." + +He declared that his heart was good, that his conduct was good, but that +he hated the teaching of the Worship. He had a party of men staying with +him from the other side of the island, and he sent back a present of +four large fat hogs to their Chiefs, with a message as to the killing of +the Mathiesons. If that were done, his hands would be strengthened in +dealing with us. + +To know what was best to be done, in such trying circumstances, was an +abiding perplexity. To have left altogether, when so surrounded by +perils and enemies, at first seemed the wisest course, and was the +repeated advice of many friends. But again, I had acquired the language, +and had gained a considerable Influence amongst the Natives, and there +were a number warmly attached both to himself and to the Worship. To +have left would have been to lose all, which to me was heartrending; +therefore, risking all with Jesus, I held on while the hope of being +spared longer had not absolutely and entirely vanished. + +The following quotation from a letter of the late A. Clark, Esq., J. P., +Auckland, New Zealand, will show what Bishop Selwyn thought of my +standing fast on Tanna at the post of duty, and he knew what he was +writing about. These are the words:--"'Talk of bravery! talk of heroism! +The man who leads a forlorn hope is a coward in comparison with him, +who, on Tanna, thus alone, without a sustaining look or cheering word +from one of his own race, regards it as his duty to hold on in the face +of such dangers. We read of the soldier, found after the lapse of ages +among the ruins of Herculaneum, who stood firm at his post amid the +fiery rain destroying all around him, thus manifesting the rigidity of +the discipline among those armies of Ancient Rome which conquered the +World. Mr. Paton was subjected to no such iron law. He might with honor, +when offered to him, have sought a temporary asylum in Auckland, where +he would have been heartily received. But he was moved by higher +considerations. He chose to remain, and God knows whether at this moment +he is in the land of the living!' When the Bishop told us that he +declined leaving Tanna by H. M. S. _Pelorus,_ he added, 'And I like him +all the better for so doing!'" + +For my part I feel quite confident that, in like circumstances, that +noble Bishop of God would have done the same. I, born in the bosom of +the Scottish Covenant descended from those who suffered persecution for +Christ's honor, would have been unworthy of them and of my Lord had I +deserted my post for danger only. Yet not to me, but to the Lord who +sustained me, be all the praise and the glory. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +THE VISIT OF THE COMMODORE. + +AT that time, though my life was daily attempted, a dear lad, named +Katasian, was coming six miles regularly to the Worship and to receive +frequent instruction. One day, when engaged in teaching him, I caught a +man stealing the blind from my window. On trying to prevent him, he +aimed his great club at me, but I seized the heavy end of it with both +my hands as it swung past my head, and held on with all my might. What a +prayer went up from me to God at that dread moment! The man, astonished +and abashed at my kind words and appeal, slunk away and left me in +peace. God never took away from me the consciousness that it was still +right for me to be kind and forgiving, and to hope that I might lead +them to love and imitate Jesus. + +For some time, Nouka and his wife and daughter--a handsome girl, his +only child--and Miaki's principal wife and her two sons, and nine Chiefs +attended Worship regularly at the Mission House, on Sabbaths and on the +afternoon of every Wednesday. In ail, about sixty persons somewhat +regularly waited on our ministrations at this time; and amidst all +perils I was encouraged, and my heart was full of hope. Yet one evening +when feeling more consoled and hopeful than ever before, a musket was +discharged at my very door, and I was constrained to realize that we +were in the midst of death. Father, our times are in Thy hand! + +In my Mission School, I offered as a prize a red shirt for the first +Chief who knew the whole Alphabet without a mistake. It was won by an +Inikahi Chief, who was once a terror to the whole community. Afterwards, +when trying to teach the A B C to others, he proceeded in something like +this graphic style: "A is a man's legs with the body cut off; B is like +two eyes; C is a three-quarters moon; D is like one eye; E is a man with +one club under his feet and another over his head; F is a man with a +large club and a smaller one," etc., etc.; L was like a man's foot; Q +was the talk of the dove, etc. Then he would say, "Remember these +things; you will soon get hold of the letters and be able to read. I +have taught my little child, who can scarcely walk, the names of them +all. They are not hard to hold, but soft and easy. You will soon learn +to read the book, if you try it with all your heart!" + +But Miaki was still our evil genius, and every incident seemed to be +used by him for one settled purpose of hate. A Kaserumini Chief, for +instance, and seven men took away a young girl in a canoe to Aniwa, to +be sold to friends there for tobacco leaf, which the Aniwans cultivated +extensively. They also prepared to take revenge there for a child's +death, killed in their belief by the sorcery of an Aniwan. When within +sight of the shore, the canoes were upset and all were said to have been +devoured by sharks, excepting only one canoe out of six. This one +returned to Tanna and reported that there were two white Traders living +on Aniwa, that they had plenty of ammunition and tobacco, but that they +would not come to Tanna as long as a Missionary lived there. Under this +fresh incitement, a party of Miaki's men came to my house, praising the +Erromangans for the murder of their Missionaries and threatening me. + +Even the friendly Nowar said, "Miaki will make a great wind and sink any +Man-of-war that comes here. We will take the Man-of-war and kill all +that are on board. If you and Abraham do not leave us we will kill you +both, for we must have the Traders and the powder." + +Just as they were assuming a threatening attitude, other Natives came +running with the cry, "Missi, the _John Knox_ is coming into the Harbor, +and two great ships of fire, Men-of war, behind her, coming very fast!" + +I retorted upon Nowar and the hostile company, "Now is your time! Make +all possible haste! Let Miaki raise his great wind now; get all your men +ready; I will tell them that you mean to fight, and you will find them +always ready!" + +Miaki's men fled away in unconcealed terror; but Nowar came to me and +said "Missi, I know that my talk is all lies, but if I speak the truth, +they will kill me!" + +I answered, "Trust in Jehovah, the same God who sent these vessels now, +to protect us from being murdered." But Nowar always wavered. + +And now from all parts of the island those who were most friendly +flocked to us. They were clamorous to have Miaki and some others of our +enemies punished by the Man-of-war in presence of the Natives; and then +they would be strong to speak in our defense and to lead the Tannese to +worship Jehovah. + +Commodore Seymour, Captain Hume, and Dr. Geddie came on shore. After +inquiring into everything, the Commodore urged me to leave at once, and +very kindly offered to remove me to Aneityum, or Auckland, or any place +of safety that I preferred. Again, however, I hesitated to leave my dear +benighted Tannese, knowing that both Stations would be instantly broken +up, that all the influence gained would be thrown away, that the Church +would lose all that had been expended, and above all, that those +friendly to us would be left to persecution and destruction. For a long +time I had seldom taken off my clothes at night, needing to be +constantly on the alert to start at a moment's notice; yet, while hope +burned within my soul I could not withdraw, so I resolved to risk all +with my dear Lord Jesus, and remained at my post. At my request, +however, they met and talked with all the leaders who could be assembled +at the Mission House. The Natives declared frankly that they liked me, +but did not like the Worship. The Commodore reminded them that they had +invited me to land among them, and had pledged their word more than once +to protect me; he argued with them that as they had no fault to find +with me, but only with the Worship, which could do them only good, they +must bind themselves to protect my life. Miaki and others promised, and +gave him their hand to do so. Lathella, an Aneityumese Chief, who was +with Dr. Geddie, interpreted for him and them, Dr. Geddie explaining +fully to Lathella in Aneityumese what the Commodore said in English, and +Lathella explaining all to the Tannese in their own tongue. + +At last old Mouka spoke out for all and said, "Captain Paddan and all +the Traders tell us that the Worship causes all our sickness and death. +They will not trade with us, nor sell us tobacco, pipes, powder, balls, +caps, and muskets, till we kill our Missi like the Erromangans, but +after that they will send a Trader to live among us and give us plenty +of all these things. We love Missi. But when the Traders tell us that +the Worship makes us sick, and when they bribe us with tobacco and +powder to kill him or drive him away, some believe them and our hearts +do bad conduct to Missi. Let Missi remain here, and we will try to do +good conduct to Missi; but you must tell Queen 'Toria of her people's +bad treatment of us, and that she must prevent her Traders from killing +us with their measles, and from telling us lies to make us do bad +conduct to Missi! If they come to us and talk as before, our hearts are +very dark and may again lead us to bad conduct to Missi." + +After this little parley, the Commodore invited us all on board, along +with the Chiefs. They saw about three hundred brave marines ranked up on +deck, and heard a great cannon discharged. For all such efforts to +impress them and open their eyes, I felt profoundly grateful; but too +clearly I knew and saw that only the grace of God could lastingly change +them! They were soon back to their old arguments, and were heard saying +to one another, "If no punishment is inflicted on the Erromangans for +murdering the Missi there, we fear the bad conduct of the Tannese will +continue." + +No punishment was inflicted at Erromanga, and the Tannese were soon as +bold and wicked as ever. For instance, while the Man-of-war lay in the +Harbor, Nowar kept himself closely concealed; but no sooner had she +sailed than the cowardly fellow came out, laughing at the others, and +protesting that he was under no promise and was free to act as he +pleased! Yet in the hour of danger he generally proved to be our friend; +such was his vacillating character. Nor was Miaki very seriously +impressed. Mr. Mathieson shortly thereafter sent his boat round to me, +being again short of European food. On his crew leaving her to deliver +their message to me, some of Miaki's men at once jumped into the boat +and started off round the island in search of kava. I went to Miaki, to +ask that the boat might be brought back soon, but on seeing me he ran +for his club and aimed to strike me. I managed to seize it, and to hold +on, pleading with God and talking with Miaki, till by interference of +some friendly Natives his wrath was assuaged a little. Returning home, I +sent food overland to keep the Mathiesons going till the boat returned, +which she did in about eight days. Thus light and shadow pursued each +other, the light brightening for a moment, but upon the whole the +shadows deepening. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. +THE WAR CHIEFS IN COUNCIL. + +A TIME of great excitement amongst the Natives now prevailed. War, war, +nothing but war was spoken of! Preparations for war were being made in +all the villages far and near. Fear sat on every face, and armed bands +kept watching each other, as if uncertain where the war was to begin or +by whom. All work was suspended, and that war spirit was let loose which +rouses the worst passions of human nature. Again we found ourselves the +center of conflict, one party set for killing us or driving us away; the +other wishing to retain us, while all old bitter grievances were also +dragged into their speeches. + +Miaki and Nouka said, "If you will keep Missi and his Worship, take him +with you to your own land, for we will not have him to live at the +Harbor." + +Ian, the great Inland Chief, rose in wrath and said, "On whose lands +does the Missi live, yours or ours? Who fight against the Worship and +all good, who are the thieves and murderers, who tell the lies, you or +we? We wish peace, but you will have war. We like Missi and the Worship, +but you hate them and say, 'Take him to your own land!' It is our land +on which he now lives; it is his own land which he bought from you, but +which our fathers sold Missi Turner long ago. The land was not yours to +sell; it was really ours. Your fathers stole it from us long ago by war; +but we would not have asked it back, had you not asked us to take Missi +away. Now we will defend him on it, and he will teach us and our people +in our own land!" So meeting after meeting broke into fiery speech, and +separated with many threats. + +To the next great meeting I was invited, but did not go, contenting +myself with a message pleading that they should live at peace and on no +account go to war with each other. But Ian himself came for me. I said, +"Ian, I have told you my whole heart. Go not to that meeting. I will +rather leave the island or die, than see you going to war about me!" + +He answered, "Missi, come with me, come now!" + +I replied, "Ian, you are surely not taking me away to kill me? If you +are, my God will punish it." + +His only reply was, "Follow me, follow me quickly." + +I felt constrained to go. He strode on before me till we reached the +great village of his ancestors. His followers, armed largely with +muskets as well as native weapons, filled one half the Village Square or +dancing-ground. Miaki, Nouka, and their whole party sat in manifest +terror upon the other half. Marching into the center, he stood with me +by his side, and proudly looking round, exclaimed, "Missi, these are my +men and your friends! We are met to defend you and the Worship." Then +pointing across to the other side, he cried aloud, "These are your +enemies and ours! The enemies of the Worship, the disturbers of the +peace on Tanna! Missi, say the word, and the muskets of my men will +sweep all opposition away, and the Worship will spread and we will all +be strong for it on Tanna. We will not shoot without your leave; but if +you refuse they will kill you and persecute us and our children, and +banish Jehovah's Worship from our land." + +I said, "I love all of you alike. I am here to teach you how to turn +away from all wickedness, to worship and serve Jehovah, and to live in +peace. How can I approve of any person being killed for me or for the +Worship? My God would be angry at me and punish me, if I did!" + +He replied, "Then, Missi, you will be murdered and the Worship +destroyed." + +I then stood forth in the middle before them all and cried, "You may +shoot or murder me, but I am your best friend. I am not afraid to die. +You will only send me the sooner to my Jehovah God, whom I love and +serve, and to my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, who died for me and for you, +and who sent me here to tell you all His love. If you will only love and +serve Him and give up your bad conduct, you will be happy. But if you +kill me, His messenger, rest assured that He will in His own time and +way punish you. This is my word to you all; my love to you all!" + +So saying, I turned to leave; and Ian strode suddenly away and stood at +the head of his men, crying, "Missi, they will kill you! they will kill +us, and you will be to blame!" + +Miaki and Nouka, full of deceit, now cried out, "Missi's word is good! +Let us all obey it. Let us all worship." + +An old man, Sirawia, one of Ian's under-chiefs, then said, "Miaki and +Nouka say that the land on which Missi lives was theirs; though they +sold it to him and he has paid them for it, they all know that it was +ours, and is yet ours by right; but if they let Missi live on it in +peace, we will all live at peace, and worship Jehovah. And if not, we +will surely claim it again." + +Miaki and his party hereon went off to their plantations, and brought a +large present of food to Ian and his men as a peace-offering. This they +accepted; and the next day Ian and his men brought Miaki a return +present and said, "You know that Missi lives on our land? Take our +present, be friends, and let him live quietly and teach us all. +Yesterday you said his word was good; obey it now, else we will punish +you and defend the Missi." + +Miaki accepted the token, and gave good promises for the future. Ian +then came to the hill-top near our house, by which passed the public +path, and cried aloud in the hearing of all, "Abraham, tell Missi that +you and he now live on our land. This path is the march betwixt Miaki +and us. We have this day bought back the land of our fathers by a great +price to prevent war. Take of our breadfruits and also of our cocoanuts +what you require, for you are our friends and living on our land, and we +will protect you and the Worship!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. +UNDER KNIFE AND TOMAHAWK. + +CHAFED at the upsetting of all their plans and full of revenge, Nouka +and Miaki and their allies declared publicly that they were now going to +kill Ian by sorcery, _i. e._ by Nahak, more feared by the poor Tannese +than the field of battle. Strange to say. Ian became sick shortly after +the Sacred Men had made the declaration about their Nahak-sorcery. I +attended him, and for a time he recovered, and appeared very grateful. +But he soon fell sick again. I sent him and the Chief next under him a +blanket each; I also gave shirts and calico to a number of his leading +men. They wore them and seemed grateful and pleased. Ian, however, +gradually sank and got worse. He had every symptom of being poisoned, a +thing easily accomplished, as they know and use many deadly poisons. His +sufferings were very great, which prevented me from ascribing his +collapse to mere superstitious terror. I did all that could be done; but +all thought him dying, and of course by sorcery. His people were angry +at me for not consenting before to their shooting of Miaki; and Miaki's +people were now rejoicing that Ian was being killed by Nahak. + +One night, his brother and a party came for me to go and see Ian, but I +declined to go till the morning for fear of the fever and ague. On +reaching his village, I saw many people about, and feared that I had +been led into a snare; but I at once entered into his house to talk and +pray with him, as he appeared to be dying. After prayer, I discovered +that I was left alone with him, and that all the people had retired from +the village; and I knew that, according to their custom, this meant +mischief. Ian said, "Come near me, and sit by my bedside to talk with +me, Missi." + +I did so, and while speaking to him he lay as if lost in a swoon of +silent meditation. Suddenly he drew from the sugar-cane leaf thatch +close to his bed a large butcher-like knife, and instantly feeling the +edge of it with his other hand, he pointed it to within a few inches of +my heart and held it quivering there, all atremble with excitement. I +durst neither move nor speak, except that my heart kept praying to the +Lord to spare me, or if my time was come to take me home to Glory with +Himself. There passed a few moments of awful suspense. My sight went and +came. Not a word had been spoken, except to Jesus; and then Ian wheeled +the knife around, thrust it into the sugar-cane leaf, and cried to me, +"Go, go quickly!" + +Next moment I was on the road. Not a living soul was to be seen about +the village. I understood then that it had been agreed that Ian was to +kill me, and that they had all withdrawn so as not to witness it, that +when the Man-of-war came to inquire about me, Ian would be dead, and no +punishment could overtake the murderer. I walked quietly till quite free +of the village, lest some hid in their houses might observe me. +Thereafter, fearing that they, finding I had escaped, might overtake and +murder me, I ran for my life a weary four miles till I reached the +Mission House, faint yet praising God for such a deliverance. Poor Ian +died soon after, and his people strangled one of his wives and hanged +another, and took out the three bodies together in a canoe and sank them +in the sea. + +Miaki was jubilant over having killed his enemy by Nahak; but the Inland +people now assembled in thousands to help Sirawia and his brother to +avenge that death on Miaki, Nouka, and Karewick. These, on the other +hand, boasted that they would kill all their enemies by Nahak-sorcery, +and would call up a hurricane to destroy their houses, fruit-trees, and +plantations. Immediately after Miaki's threat about bringing a storm, +one of their great hurricanes actually smote that side of the island and +laid everything waste. His enemies were greatly enraged, and many of the +injured people united with them in demanding revenge on Miaki. Hitherto +I had done everything in my power to prevent war, but now it seemed +inevitable, and both parties sent word that if Abraham and I kept to the +Mission House no one would harm us. We had little faith in any of their +promises, but there was no alternative for us. + +On the following Saturday, 18th January 1862, the war began. Musket +after musket was discharged quite near us, and the bush all around rang +with the yell of their war-cry, which if once heard will never be +forgotten. It came nearer and nearer, for Miaki fled, and his people +took shelter behind and around our house. We were placed in the heart of +danger, and the balls flew thick all around us. In the afternoon Ian's +brother and his party retired, and Miaki quickly sent messengers and +presents to the Inikahimini and Kaserumini districts, to assemble all +their people and help him "to fight Missi and the Tannese who were +friends of the Worship." He said, "Let us cook his body and Abraham's, +and distribute them to every village on this side of the island!" + +Yet all the while Miaki assured me that he had sent a friendly message. +The war went on, and poor Nowar the Chief protected us, till he had a +spear broken into his right knee. The enemy would have carried him off +to feast on his body; but his young men, shouting wildly his name and +battle-cry, rushed in with great impetuosity and carried their wounded +Chief home in triumph. The Inland people now discharged muskets at my +house and beat against the walls with their clubs. They smashed in the +door and window of our storeroom, broke open boxes and casks, tore my +books to pieces and scattered them about, and carried off everything for +which they cared, including my boat, mast, oars, and sails. They broke +into Abraham's house and plundered it; after which they made a rush at +the bedroom, into which we were locked, firing muskets, yelling, and +trying to break it in. A Chief, professing to be sorry for us, called me +to the window, but on seeing me he sent a tomahawk through it crying, +"Come on, let us kill him now!" + +I replied, "My Jehovah God will punish you; a Man-of-war will come and +punish you, if you kill Abraham, his wife, or me." + +He retorted, "It's all lies about a Man-of-war! They did not punish the +Erromangans. They are afraid of us. Come on, let us kill them!" + +He raised his tomahawk and aimed to strike my forehead, many muskets +were uplifted as if to shoot, so I raised a revolver in my right hand +and pointed it at them. The Rev. Joseph Copeland had left it with me on +a former visit. I did not wish it, but he insisted upon leaving it, +saying that the very knowledge that I had such a weapon might save my +life. Truly, on this occasion it did so. Though it was harmless they +fell back quickly. My immediate assailant dropped to the ground, crying, +"Missi has got a short musket! He will shoot you all!" + +After lying flat on the ground for a little, they all got up and ran to +the nearest bush, where they continued yelling about and showing their +muskets. Towards nightfall they left, loaded with the plunder of the +store and of Abraham's house. So God once more graciously protected us +from falling into their cruel hands. + +In the evening, after they left, I went to Miaki and Nouka. Miaki, with +a sneer, said, "Missi, where was Jehovah to-day? There was no Jehovah +to-day to protect you. It's all lies about Jehovah. They will come and +kill you, and Abraham, and his wife, and cut your bodies into pieces to +be cooked and eaten in every village upon Tanna." + +I said, "Surely, when you had planned all this, and brought them to kill +us and steal all our property, Jehovah did protect us, or we would not +have been here!" + +He replied, "There was no Jehovah to-day! We have no fear of any +Man-of-war. They dare not punish us. They durst not punish the +Erromangans for murdering the Gordons. They will talk to us and say we +must not do so again, and give us a present. That is all. We fear +nothing. The talk of all Tanna is that we will kill you and seize all +your property tomorrow." + +I warned him that the punishment of a Man-of-war can only reach the body +and the land, but that Jehovah's punishment reached both body and soul +in Time and in Eternity. + +He replied, "Who fears Jehovah? He was not here to protect you to-day!" + +"Yes," I said, "my Jehovah God is here now. He hears all we say, sees +all we do, and will punish the wicked and protect His own people." + +After this, a number of the people sat down around me, and I prayed with +them. But I left with a very heavy heart, feeling that Miaki was +evidently bent on our destruction. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. +THE BEGINNING OF THE END. + +I SENT Abraham to consult Nowar, who had defended us till disabled by a +spear in the right knee. He sent a canoe by Abraham, advising me to take +some of my goods in it to his house by night, and he would try to +protect them and us. The risk was so great we could only take a very +little. Enemies were on every hand to cut off our flight, and Miaki, the +worst of all, whose village had to be passed in going to Nowar's. In the +darkness of the Mission House, we durst not light a candle for fear of +some one seeing and shooting us. Not one of Nowar's men durst come to +help us. But in the end it made no difference, for Nowar and his men +kept what was taken there, as their portion of the plunder. Abraham, his +wife, and I waited anxiously for the morning light. Miaki, the false and +cruel, came to assure us that the Heathen would not return that day. +Yet, as daylight came in, Miaki himself stood and blew a great conch not +far from our house. I ran out to see why this trumpet-shell had been +blown, and found it was the signal for a great company of howling armed +savages to rush down the hill on the other side of the bay and make +straight for the Mission House. We had not a moment to lose. To have +remained would have been certain death to us all, and also to Matthew, a +Teacher just arrived from Mr. Mathieson's Station. Though I am by +conviction a strong Calvinist, I am no Fatalist. I held on while one +gleam of hope remained. Escape for life was now the only path of duty. I +called the Teachers, locked the door, and made quickly for Nowar's +village. There was not a moment left to carry anything with us. In the +issue, Abraham and his wife and I lost all our earthly goods, and all +our clothing except what we had on. My Bible, the few translations which +I had made into Tannese, and a light pair of blankets I carried with me. + +We durst not choose the usual path along the beach, for there our +enemies would have quickly overtaken us. We entered the bush in the hope +of getting away unobserved. But a cousin of Miaki, evidently secreted to +watch us, sprang from behind a breadfruit tree, and swinging his +tomahawk, aimed it at my brow with a fiendish look. Avoiding it I turned +upon him and said in a firm bold voice, "If you dare to strike me, my +Jehovah God will punish you. He is here to defend me now!" + +The man, trembling, looked all round as if to see the God who was my +defender, and the tomahawk gradually lowered at his side. With my eye +fixed upon him, I gradually moved backwards in the track of the +Teachers, and God mercifully restrained him from following me. + +On reaching Nowar's village unobserved, we found the people +terror-stricken, crying, rushing about in despair at such a host of +armed savages approaching. I urged them to ply their axes, cut down +trees, and blockade the path. For a little they wrought vigorously at +this; but when, so far as eye could reach, they saw the shore covered +with armed men rushing on towards their village, they were overwhelmed +with fear, they threw away their axes and weapons of war, they cast +themselves headlong on the ground, and they knocked themselves against +the trees as if to court death before it came. They cried, "Missi, it's +of no use! We will all be killed and eaten to-day! See what a host are +coming against us." + +Mothers snatched up little children and ran to hide in the bush. Others +waded as far as they could into the sea with them, holding their heads +above the water. The whole village collapsed in a condition of +indescribable terror. Nowar, lame with his wounded knee, got a canoe +turned upside-down and sat upon it where he could see the whole +approaching multitude. He said, "Missi, sit down beside me, and pray to +our Jehovah God, for if He does not send deliverance now, we are all +dead men. They will kill us all on your account, and that quickly. Pray, +and I will watch!" + +They had gone to the Mission House and broken in the door, and finding +that we had escaped, they rushed on to Nowar's village. For, as they +began to plunder the bedroom, Nouka said, "Leave everything. Missi will +come back for his valuable things at night, and then we will get them +and him also!" + +So he nailed up the door, and they all marched for Nowar's. We prayed as +one can only pray when in the jaws of death and on the brink of +Eternity. We felt that God was near, and omnipotent to do what seemed +best in His sight. When the savages were about three hundred yards off, +at the foot of a hill leading up to the village, Nowar touched my knee, +saying. "Missi, Jehovah is hearing! They are all standing still." + +Had they come on they would have met with no opposition, for the people +were scattered in terror. On gazing shorewards, and round the Harbor, as +far as we could see, was a dense host of warriors, but all were standing +still, and apparently absolute silence prevailed. We saw a messenger or +herald running along the approaching multitude, delivering some tidings +as he passed, and then disappearing in the bush. To our amazement, the +host began to turn, and slowly marched back in great silence, and +entered the remote bush at the head of the Harbor. Nowar and his people +were in ecstasies, crying out, "Jehovah has heard Missi's prayer! +Jehovah has protected us and turned them away back." + +About midday, Nouka and Miaki sent their cousin Jonas, who had always +been friendly to me, to say that I might return to my house in safety, +as they were now carrying the war inland. Jonas had spent some years on +Samoa, and been much with Traders in Sydney, and spoke English well; but +we felt they were deceiving us. Next night, Abraham ventured to creep +near the Mission House, to test whether we might return, and save some +valuable things, and get a change of clothing. The house appeared to +stand as when they nailed up the door. But a large party of Miaki's +allies at once enclosed Abraham, and, after asking many questions about +me, they let him go since I was not there. Had I gone there they would +certainly that night have killed me. Again, at midnight Abraham and his +wife and Matthew went to the Mission House, and found Nouka, Miaki, and +Karewick near by, concealed in the bush among the reeds. Once more they +enclosed them, thinking I was there too, but Nouka, finding that I was +not, cried out, "Don't kill them just now! Wait till Missi comes." + +Hearing this, Matthew slipped into the bush and escaped. Abraham's wife +waded into the sea, and they allowed her to get away. Abraham was +allowed to go to the Mission House, but he too crept into the bush, and +after an anxious waiting they all came back to me in safety. We now gave +up all hope of recovering anything from the house. + +Towards morning, when Miaki and his men saw that I was not coming back +to deliver myself into their hands, they broke up my house and stole all +they could carry away. They tore my books, and scattered them about. +They took away the type of my printing-press, to be made into bullets +for their muskets. For similar uses they melted down the zinc lining of +my boxes, and everything else that could be melted. What they could not +take away, they destroyed. + +As the night advanced, Nowar declared that I must leave his village +before morning, else he and his people would be killed for protecting +me. He advised me, as the sea was good, to try for Mr. Mathieson's +Station; but he objected to my taking away any of my property--he would +soon follow with it himself! But how to sail? Miaki had stolen my boat, +mast, sails, and oars, as also an excellent canoe made for me and paid +for by me on Aneityum; and he had threatened to shoot any person that +assisted me to launch either the one or the other. The danger still +increasing, Nowar said, "You cannot remain longer in my house! My son +will guide you to the large chestnut tree in my plantation in the bush. +Climb up into it, and remain there till the moon rises." + +Being entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends, I, +though perplexed, felt it best to obey. I climbed into the tree, and was +left there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all before me +as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of +muskets, and the yells of the savages. Yet I sat there among the +branches, as safe in the arms of Jesus. Never, in all my sorrows, did my +Lord draw nearer to me, and speak more soothingly in my soul, than when +the moonlight flickered among these chestnut leaves, and the night air +played on my throbbing brow, as I told all my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet +not alone! If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge to spend many +nights alone in such a tree, to feel again my Saviour's spiritual +presence, to enjoy His consoling fellowship. If thus thrown back upon +your own soul, alone, all, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in +the very embrace of death itself, have you a Friend that will not fail +you then? + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. +FIVE HOURS IN A CANOE. + +GLADLY would I have lingered there for one night of comparative peace! +But Nowar sent his son to call me down from the tree, and to guide me to +the shore where he himself was, as it was now time to take to sea in the +canoe. Pleading for my Lord's continuing presence, I had to obey. My +life and the lives of my Aneityumese now hung upon a very slender +thread; the risk was almost equally great from our friends so-called, or +from our enemies. Had I been a stranger to Jesus and to prayer, my +reason would verily have given way, but my comfort and joy sprang out of +these words, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; lo, I am with +you alway!" Pleading these promises, I followed my guide. We reached the +beach, just inside the Harbor, at a beautiful white sandy bay on Nowar's +ground, from which our canoe was to start. A good number of the Natives +had assembled there to see us off. Arkurat, having got a large roll of +calico for the loan of his canoe, hid it away, and then refused the +canoe, saying that if he had to escape with his family he would require +it. He demanded an ax, a sail for his canoe, and a pair of blankets. As +Koris had the ax and another had the quilt, I gave the quilt to him for +a sail, and the ax and blankets for the canoe, in fact, these few relics +of our earthly all at Nowar's were coveted by the savages and endangered +our lives, and it was as well to get rid of them altogether. He cruelly +proposed a small canoe for two; but I had hired the canoe for five, and +insisted upon getting it, as he had been well paid for it. As he only +laughed and mocked us, I prepared to start and travel overland to Mr. +Mathieson's Station. He then said, "My wrath is over! You may take it +and go." + +We launched it, but now he refused to let us go till daylight. He had +always been one of my best friends, but now appeared bent on a quarrel, +so I had to exercise much patience with him and them. Having launched +it, he said I had hired the canoe but not the paddles. I protested, +"Surely you know we hired the paddles too. What could we do without +paddles?" + +But Arkurat lay down and pretended to have fallen asleep, snoring on the +sand, and could not be awaked. I appealed to Nowar, who only said, "That +is his conduct, Missi, our conduct!" + +I replied, "As he has got the blankets which I saved to keep me from +ague and fever, and I have nothing left now but the clothes I have on, +surely you will give me paddles." + +Nowar gave me one. Returning to the village, friends gave me one each +till I got other three. Now Arkurat started up, and refused to let us +go. A Chief and one of his men, who lived on the other side of the +island near to where we were going, and who was hired by me to go with +us and help in paddling the canoe, drew back also and refused to go. +Again I offered to leave the canoe, and walk overland if possible, when +Faimungo, the Chief who had refused to go with us, came forward and +said, "Missi, they are all deceiving you! The sea is so rough, you +cannot go by it; and if you should get round the weather point, Miaki +has men appointed to shoot you as you pass the Black Rocks, while by +land all the paths are guarded by armed men. I tell you the truth, +having heard all their talk. Miaki and Karewick say they hate the +Worship, and will kill you. They killed your goats, and stole all your +property yesterday. Farewell!" + +The Teachers, the boy, and I now resolved to enter the canoe and attempt +it, as the only gleam of hope left to us. My party of five embarked in +our frail canoe; Abraham first, I next, Matthew after me, the boy at the +steering paddle, and Abraham's wife sitting in the bottom, where she +might hold on while it continued to float. For a mile or more we got +away nicely under the lee of the island, but when we turned to go south +for Mr. Mathieson's Station, we met the full force of wind and sea, +every wave breaking over and almost swamping our canoe. The Native lad +at the helm paddle stood up crying, "Missi, this is the conduct of the +sea! It swallows up all who seek its help." + +I answered, "We do not seek help from it, but from Jehovah Jesus." + +Our danger became very great, as the sea broke over and lashed around +us. My faithful Aneityumese, overcome with terror, threw down their +paddles, and Abraham said, "Missi, we are all drowned now! We are food +for the sharks. We might as well be eaten by the Tannese as by fishes; +but God will give us life with Jesus in heaven!" + +I seized the paddle nearest me; I ordered Abraham to seize another +within his reach; I enjoined Matthew to bail the canoe for life, and the +lad to keep firm in his seat, and I cried, "Stand to your post, and let +us return! Abraham, where is now your faith in Jesus? Remember, He is +Ruler on sea as on land. Abraham, pray and ply your paddle! Keep up +stroke for stroke with me, as our lives depend on it. Our God can +protect us. Matthew, bail with all your might. Don't look round on the +sea and fear. Let us pray to God and ply our paddles, and He will save +us yet!" + +Dear old Abraham said, "Thank you for that, Missi. I will be strong. I +pray to God and ply my paddle. God will save us!" + +With much labor, and amid deadly perils, we got the canoe turned; and +after four hours of a terrible struggle, we succeeded, towards daylight +as the tide turned, in again reaching smooth water. With God's blessing +we at last reached the shore, exactly where we had left it five hours +ago! + +Now drenched and weary, with the skin of our hands sticking to the +paddles, we left the canoe on the reef and waded ashore. Many Natives +were there, and looked sullen and disappointed at our return. Katasian, +the lad who had been with us, instantly fled for his own land; and the +Natives reported that he was murdered soon after. Utterly exhausted, I +lay down on the sand and immediately fell into a deep sleep. By and by I +felt someone pulling from under my head the native bag in which I +carried my Bible and the Tannese translations--the all that had been +saved by me from the wreck! Grasping the bag, I sprang to my feet, and +the man ran away. My Teachers had also a hedging knife, a useless +revolver, and a fowling-piece, the sight of which, though they had been +under the salt water for hours, God used to restrain the savages. +Calling my Aneityumese near, we now, in united prayer and kneeling on +the sands, committed each other unto the Lord God, being prepared for +the last and worst. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. +A RACE FOR LIFE. + +As I sat meditating on the issues, Faimungo, the friendly Inland Chief, +again appeared to warn us of our danger, now very greatly increased by +our being driven back from the sea. All Nowar's men had fled, and were +hid in the bush and in rocks along the shore; while Miaki was holding a +meeting not half a mile away, and preparing to fall upon us. Faimungo +said, "Farewell, Missi, I am going home. I don't wish to see the work +and the murders of this morning." + +He was Nowar's son-in-law. He had always been truthful and kindly with +me. His home was about half-way across the island, on the road that we +wanted to go, and under sudden impulse I said, "Faimungo, will you let +us follow you? Will you show us the path? When the Mission Ship arrives, +I will give you three good axes, blankets, knives, fish-hooks, and many +things you prize." + +The late hurricanes had so destroyed and altered the paths, that only +Natives who knew them well could follow them. He trembled much and said, +"Missi, you will be killed. Miaki and Karewick will shoot you. I dare +not let you follow. I have only about twenty men, and your following +might endanger us all." + +I urged him to leave at once, and we would follow of our own accord. I +would not ask him to protect us; but if he betrayed us and helped the +enemy to kill us, I assured him that our God would punish him. If he +spared us, he would be rewarded well; and if we were killed against his +wishes, God would not be angry at him. He said, "Seven men are with me +now, and thirteen are to follow. I will not now send for them. They are +with Miaki and Nouka. I will go; but if you follow, you will be killed +on the way. You may follow me as far as you can." + +Off he started to Nowar's, and got a large load of my stolen property, +blankets, sheets, etc., which had fallen to his lot. He called his seven +men, who had also shared in the plunder, and, to avoid Miaki's men, they +ran away under a large cocoanut grove skirting the shore, calling, "Be +quick! Follow and keep as near to us as you can." + +Though Nowar had got a box of my rice and appropriated many things from +the plunder of the Mission House besides the goods entrusted to his +care, and got two of my goats killed and cooked for himself and his +people, yet now he would not give a particle of food to my starving +Aneityumese or myself, but hurried us off, saying, "I will eat all your +rice and keep all that has been left with me, in payment for my lame +knee and for my people fighting for you!" + +My three Aneityumese and I started after Faimungo and his men. We could +place no confidence in any of them; but, feeling that we were in the +Lord's hands, it appeared to be our only hope of escaping instant death. +We got away unobserved by the enemies. We met several small parties of +friends in the Harbor, apparently glad to see us trying to get away. But +about four miles on our way, we met a large party of Miaki's men, all +armed, and watching as outposts. Some were for shooting us, but others +hesitated. Every musket was, however, raised and leveled at me. Faimungo +poised his great spear and said, "No, you shall not kill Missi to-day. +He is with me." Having made this flourish, he strode off after his own +men, and my Aneityumese followed, leaving me face to face with a ring of +leveled muskets. + +Sirawia, who was in command of this party, and who once, like Nowar, had +been my friend, said to me, Judas like, "My love to you, Missi." But he +also shouted after Faimungo, "Your conduct is bad in taking the Missi +away; leave him to us to be killed!" I then turned upon him, saying, +"Sirawia, I love you all. You must know that I sought only your good. I +gave you medicine and food when you and your people were sick and dying +under measles; I gave you the very clothing you wear. Am I not your +friend? Have we not often drunk tea and eaten together in my house? Can +you stand there and see your friend shot? If you do, my God will punish +you severely." + +He then whispered something to his company which I did not hear; and, +though their muskets were still raised, I saw in their eyes that he had +restrained them. I therefore began gradually to move backwards, still +keeping my eyes fixed on them, till the bush hid them from my view, +whereon I turned and ran after my party, and God kept the enemy from +following. We trusted in Jehovah Jesus, and pressed on in flight. + +A second hostile party encountered us, and with great difficulty we also +got away from them. Soon thereafter a friendly company crossed our path. +We learned from them that the enemies had slaughtered other two of +Manuman's men, and burned several villages with fire. Another party of +the enemy encountered us, and were eager for our lives. But this time +Faimungo withstood them firmly, his men encircled us, and he said, "I am +not afraid now, Missi; I am feeling stronger near my own land!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. +FAINT YET PURSUING. + +HURRYING still onwards, we came to that village on their high ground +called Aneai, _i. e._ Heaven. The sun was oppressively hot, the path +almost unshaded, and our whole party very exhausted, especially +Faimungo, carrying his load of stolen goods. So here he sat down on the +village dancing-ground for a smoke, saying, "Missi, I am near my own +land now. We can rest with safety." + +In a few minutes, however, he started up, he and his men, in wild +excitement. Over a mountain, behind the village and above it, there came +the shoutings, and anon the tramp, tramp of a multitude making rapidly +towards us. Faimungo got up and planted his back against a tree. I stood +beside him, and the Aneityumese woman and the two men stood near me, +while his men seemed prepared to flee. At full speed a large body of the +tallest and most powerful men that I had seen on Tanna came rushing on +and filled the dancing-ground. They were all armed, and flushed with +their success in war. A messenger had informed them of our escape, +probably from Miaki, and they had crossed the country to intercept us. + +Faimungo was much afraid, and said, "Missi, go on in that path, you and +your Aneityumese; and I will follow when I have had a smoke and a talk +with these men." + +I replied, "No, I will stand by your side till you go; and if I am +killed, it will be by your side, I will not leave you." + +He implored us to go on, but that I knew would be certain death. They +began urging one another to kill us, but I looked round them as calmly +as possible, saying, "My Jehovah God will punish you here and hereafter, +if you kill me or any of His servants." + +A killing-stone, thrown by one of the savages, grazed poor old Abraham's +cheek, and the dear soul gave such a look at me, and then upwards, as if +to say, "Missi, I was nearly away to Jesus." A club was also raised to +follow the blow of the killing-stone, but God baffled the aim. They +encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to strike the +first blow, or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; +I saw Him watching all the scene. In that awful hour I beheld His own +words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of Heaven: "Seek, +and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, +that the Father may be glorified in the Son." I could understand how +Stephen and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed up through +suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne! + +Yet I never could say that on such occasions I was entirely without +fear. Nay, I have felt my reason reeling, my sight coming and going, and +my knees smiting together when thus brought close to a violent death, +but mostly under the solemn thought of being ushered into Eternity and +appearing before God. Still, I was never left without hearing that +promise in all its consoling and supporting power coming up through the +darkness and the anguish, "Lo, I am with you alway;" And with Paul I +could say, even in this dread moment and crisis of being, "I am +persuaded that neither death nor life,.. nor any other creature, shall +be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our +Lord." + +Faimungo and others now urged us to go on in the path. I said, +"Faimungo, why are we to leave you? My God heard your promise not to +betray me. He knows now what is in your heart and in mine. I will not +leave you; and if I am to die, I will die by your side." + +He replied, "Now, I go on before; Missi, keep close to me." + +His men had gone, and I persuaded my Aneityumese to follow them. At +last, with a bound, Faimungo started after them. I followed, keeping as +near him as I could, pleading with Jesus to protect me or to take me +home to Glory. The host of armed men also ran along on each side with +their weapons ready; but leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if +they were my escort, or as if I saw them not. If any reader wonders how +they were restrained, much more would I, unless I believed that the same +Hand that restrained the lions from touching Daniel held back these +Savages from hurting me! We came to a stream crossing our path. With a +bound all my party cleared it, ran up the bank opposite, and disappeared +in the bush. "Faint yet pursuing," I also tried the leap, but I struck +the bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards the stream. At this +moment I heard a crash above my head amongst the branches of an +overhanging tree, and I knew that a _Kawas_ had been thrown, and that +that branch had saved me. Praising my God, I scrambled up on the other +side, and followed the track of my party into the bush. The savages +gazed after me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the stream; +and I saw them separate into two, one portion returning to the village +and another pressing inland. With what gratitude did I recognize the +Invisible One who brought their counsels to confusion. + +I found my party resting in the bush, and amazed to see me escaped alive +from men who were thirsting for my blood. Faimungo and his men received +me with demonstrations of joy, perhaps feeling a little ashamed of their +own cowardice. He now ascended the mountain and kept away from the +common path to avoid other Native bands. At every village enemies to the +Worship were ready to shoot us. But I kept close to our guide, knowing +that the fear of shooting him would prevent their shooting at me, as he +was the most influential Chief in all that section of the island. + +One party said, "Miaki and Karewick said that Missi made the sickness +and the hurricanes, and we ought to kill him." + +Faimungo replied, "They lie about Missi! It is our own bad conduct that +makes us sick." + +They answered, "We don't know who makes the sickness, but our fathers +have taught us to kill all Foreign men." + +Faimungo, clutching club and spear, exclaimed, standing betwixt them and +us, "You won't kill Missi to-day!" + +Faimungo now sent his own men home by a near path, and guided us himself +till we were close upon the shore. There sitting down, he said, "Missi, +I have now fulfilled my promise. I am so tired, I am so afraid, I dare +not go farther. My love to you all. Now go on quickly! Three of my men +will go with you to the next rocks. Go quickly! Farewell." + +These men went on a little, and then said, "Missi, we dare not go! +Faimungo is at war with the people of the next land. You must keep +straight along this path." So they turned and ran back to their own +village. + +To us this district was especially perilous. Many years ago the +Aneityumese had joined in a war against the Tannese of this tribe, and +the thirst for revenge yet existed in their hearts, handed down from +sire to son. Most providentially the men were absent on a war +expedition, and we saw only three lads and a great number of women and +children, who ran off to the bush in terror. In the evening the enraged +savages of another district assaulted the people of the shore villages +for allowing us to pass, and, though sparing their lives, broke in +pieces their weapons of war--a very grievous penalty. + +In the next district, as we hasted along the shore, two young men came +running after us, poising their quivering spears. I took the useless +revolver out of my little native basket, and raising it cried, "Beware! +Lay down your spears at once on the sand, and carry my basket to the +next landing at the Black Rocks." + +They threw their spears on the sand, lifted the bag, and ran on before +us to the rocks which formed the march betwixt them and their enemies. +Laying it down, they said appealingly, "Missi, let us return to our +home!" And how they did run, fearing the pursuit of their foes. + +In the next land we saw none. After that we saw crowds all along, some +friendly, others unfriendly, but they let us pass on, and with the +blessing of Almighty God we drew dear to Mr. Mathieson's Station in +safety. Here a man gave me a cocoanut for each of our party, which we +greatly required, having tasted nothing all that day, and very little +for several days before. We were so weak that only the struggle for life +enabled us to keep our feet; yet my poor Aneityumese never complained +and never halted, not even the woman. The danger and excitement kept us +up in the race for life; and by the blessing of God we were now +approaching the Mission House, praising God for His wonderful +deliverances. + +Hearing of our coming, Mr. Mathieson came running to meet me. They had +heard of our leaving my own Station, and they thought I was dead! They +were themselves both very weak; their only child had just been laid in +the grave, and they were in great grief and in greater peril. We praised +the Lord for permitting us to meet; we prayed for support, guidance, and +protection; and resolved now, in all events, to stand by each other till +the last. + + + +CHAPTER XL. +WAITING AT KWAMERA. + +BEFORE I left the Harbor I wrote and left with Nowar letters to be given +to the Captains of any vessels which called, for the first, and the +next, and the next, telling them of our great danger, that Mr. Mathieson +was almost without food, and that I would reward them handsomely if they +would call at the Station and remove any of us who might be spared +thence to Aneityum. Two or three vessels called, and, as I afterwards +learned, got my letters; but, while buying my stolen property from the +Natives for tobacco, powder, and balls, they took no further notice of +my appeals, and sailed past Mr. Mathieson's, straight on to Aneityum. +"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel!" + +Let me now cull the leading events from my Journal, that intervened +betwixt this date and the break-up of the Mission on Tanna--at least for +a season--though, blessed be God! I have lived to see the light +rekindled by my dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Watt, and shining more +brightly and hopefully than ever. The candle was quenched, but the +candlestick was not removed! + +On the 23d January, 1862, Mr. Mathieson sent for Taura, Kati, and +Kapuku, his three principal Chiefs, to induce them to promise protection +till a vessel called to take us away. They appeared friendly, and +promised to do their best. Alas! the promises of the Tannese Chiefs had +too often proved to be vain. + +On Friday, 24th January, report reached our Station that Miaki and his +party, hearing that a friendly Chief had concealed two of Manuman's +young men, compelled him to produce them and club them to death before +their eyes. Also, that they surrounded Manuman's party on a mountain, +and hemmed them in there, dying of starvation, and trying to survive on +the carcasses of the dead and on bark and roots. Also, that Miaki had +united all the Chiefs, friends and foes alike, in a bond of blood, to +kill every one pertaining to the whole Mission on Tanna. Jesus reigns! + +On Sunday, the 26th January, thirty persons came to worship at the +Mission House. Thereafter, at great risk, we had Worship at three of the +nearest and most friendly villages. Amidst all our perils and trials we +preached the Gospel to about one hundred and sixteen persons. It was +verily a sowing time of tears; but, despite all that followed, who shall +say that it was vain! Twenty years have passed, and now when I am +writing this, there is a Church of God singing the praises of Jesus in +that very district of Tanna. On leaving the second village, a young lad +affectionately took my hand to lead me to the next village; but a sulky, +down-browed savage, carrying a ponderous club, also insisted upon +accompanying us. I led the way, guided by the lad. Mr. Mathieson got the +man to go before him, while he himself followed, constantly watching. +Coming to a place where another path branched off from ours, I asked +which path we took, and, on turning to the left as instructed by the +lad, the savage, getting close behind me, swung his huge club over his +shoulder to strike me on the head. Mr. Mathieson, springing forward, +caught the club from behind with a great cry to me; and I, wheeling +instantly, had hold of the club also, and betwixt us we wrested it out +of his hands. The poor creature, craven at heart however bloodthirsty, +implored us not to kill him. I raised the club threateningly, and caused +him to march in front of us till we reached the next village fence. In +terror lest these villagers should kill him, he gladly received back his +club, as well as the boy his bow and arrows, and they were lost in the +bush in a moment. + +At the village from which this man and boy had come, one savage brought +his musket while we were conducting Worship, and sat sullen and scowling +at us all the time. Mocking questions were also shouted at us, such as, +"Who made the rains, winds, and hurricanes? Who caused all the disease? +Who killed Missi Mathieson's child?" They sneered and scoffed at our +answers, and in this Taura the Chief joined the rest. + +On the 27th, at daylight, a vessel was seen in the offing, as if to +tantalize us. The Captain had been at the Harbor, and had received my +letter from Nowar. I hoisted a flag to induce him to send or come on +shore, but he sailed off for Aneityum, bearing the plunder of my poor +Mission House, purchased for ammunition and tobacco for the Natives. He +left the news at Aneityum that I had been driven from my Station some +time ago, and was believed to have been murdered. + +On the 29th of January, the young Chief Kapuku came and handed to Mr. +Mathieson his own and his father's war-gods and household idols. They +consisted chiefly of a basket of small and peculiar stones, much worn +and shining with use. He said, "While many are trying to kill you and +drive the Worship of Jehovah from this island, I give up my gods, and +will send away all Heathen idols from my land." + +On the 31st, we learned that a party of Miaki's men were going about Mr. +Mathieson's district inciting the people to kill us. Faimungo also came +to inform us that Maiki was exerting all his artifice to get us and the +Worship destroyed. Manuman even sent, from inland, Raki, his adopted +son, to tell me of the fearful sufferings that he and his people were +now passing through, and that some were killed almost every day. Raki's +wife was a Chief's daughter, who, when the war began, returned to her +father's care. The savages of Miaki went to her own father's house and +compelled him to give her up as an enemy. She was clubbed and feasted +on. + +On Sabbath, 2d February, thirty-two people attended the Morning Service. +I addressed them on the Deluge, its causes and lessons. I showed them a +doll, explaining that such carved and painted images could not hear our +prayers or help us in our need, that the living Jehovah God only could +hear and help. They were much interested, and after Worship carefully +examined the doll. Mr. Mathieson and I, committing ourselves to Jesus, +went inland and conducted Worship at seven villages, listened to by +about one hundred people in all. Nearly all appeared friendly. The +people of one village had been incited to kill us on our return; but God +guided us to return by another way, and so we escaped. + +During the day, on 3d February, a company of Miaki's men came to the +Mission House, and forced Mrs. Mathieson to show them through the +premises. Providentially, I had bolted myself that morning into a closet +room, and was engrossed with writing. They went through every room in +the house and did not see me, concluding I had gone inland. They +discharged a musket into our Teacher's house, but afterwards left +quietly, greatly disappointed at not finding me. My heart still rose in +praise to God for another such deliverance, neither by man nor of man's +planning! + + + +CHAPTER XLI. +THE LAST AWFUL NIGHT. + +WORN out with long watching and many fatigues, I lay down that night +early, and fell into a deep sleep. About ten o'clock the savages again +surrounded the Mission House. My faithful dog Clutha, clinging still to +me amid the wreck of all else on earth, sprang quietly upon me, pulled +at my clothes, and awoke me, showing danger in her eye glancing at me +through the shadows. I silently awoke Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, who had +also fallen asleep. We committed ourselves in hushed prayer to God and +watched them, knowing that they could not see us. Immediately a glare of +light fell into the room! Men passed with flaming torches; and first +they set fire to the Church all round, and then to a reed fence +connecting the Church and the dwelling-house. In a few minutes the +house, too, would be in flames, and armed savages waiting to kill us on +attempting an escape! + +Taking my harmless revolver in the left hand and a little American +tomahawk in the right, I pleaded with Mr. Mathieson to let me out and +instantly to again lock the door on himself and wife. He very +reluctantly did so, holding me back and saying, "Stop here and let us +die together! You will never return!" + +I said, "Be quick! Leave that to God. In a few minutes our house will be +in flames, and then nothing can save us." + +He did let me out, and locked the door again quickly from the inside; +and, while his wife and he prayed and watched for me from within, I ran +to the burning reed fence, cut it from top to bottom, and tore it up and +threw it back into the flames, so that the fire could not by it be +carried to our dwelling-house. I saw on the ground shadows, as if +something were falling around me, and started back. Seven or eight +savages had surrounded me, and raised their great clubs in air. I heard +a shout--"Kill him! Kill him!" One savage tried to seize hold of me, +but, leaping from his clutch, I drew the revolver from my pocket and +leveled it as for use, my heart going up in prayer to my God. I said, +"Dare to strike me, and my Jehovah God will punish you. He protects us, +and will punish you for burning His Church, for hatred to His Worship +and people, and for all your bad conduct. We love you all; and for doing +you good only, you want to kill us. But our God is here now to protect +us and to punish you." + +They yelled in rage, and urged each other to strike the first blow, but +the Invisible One restrained them. I stood invulnerable beneath His +invisible shield, and succeeded in rolling back the tide of flame from +our dwelling-house. + +At this dread moment occurred an incident, which my readers may explain +as they like, but which I trace directly to the interposition of my God. +A rushing and roaring sound came from the South, like the noise of a +mighty engine or of muttering thunder. Every head was instinctively +turned in that direction, and they knew, from previous hard experience, +that it was one of their awful tornadoes of wind and rain. Now, mark, +the wind bore the flames away from our dwelling-house; had it come in +the opposite direction, no power on earth could have saved us from being +all consumed! It made the work of destroying the Church only that of a +few minutes; but it brought with it a heavy and murky cloud, which +poured out a perfect torrent of tropical rain. Now, mark again, the +flames of the burning Church were thereby cut off from extending to and +seizing upon the reeds and the bush; and, besides, it had become almost +impossible now to set fire to our dwelling-house. The stars in their +courses were fighting against Sisera! + +The mighty roaring of the wind, the black cloud pouring down unceasing +torrents, and the whole surroundings, awed those savages into silence. +Some began to withdraw from the scene, all lowered their weapons of war, +and several, terror-struck, exclaimed, "That is Jehovah's rain! Truly +their Jehovah God is fighting for them and helping them. Let us away!" A +panic seized upon them; they threw away their remaining torches; in a +few moments they had all disappeared in the bush; and I was left alone, +praising God for His marvelous works. "O taste and see that God is good! +Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!" + +Returning to the door of the Mission House, I cried, "Open and let me +in. I am now all alone." + +Mr. Mathieson let me in, and exclaimed, "If ever, in time of need, God +sent help and protection to His servants in answer to prayer, He has +done so to-night! Blessed be His holy Name!" + +In fear and in joy we united our praises. Truly our Jesus has all power, +not less in the elements of Nature than in the savage hearts of the +Tannese. Precious Jesus! Often since have I wept over His love and mercy +in that deliverance, and prayed that every moment of my remaining life +may be consecrated to the service of my precious Friend and Saviour! + + + +CHAPTER XLII. +"SAIL O! SAIL O!" + +ALL through the remainder of that night I lay wide awake keeping watch, +my noble little dog lying near me with ears alert. Early in the morning +friends came weeping around us. Our enemies were loudly rejoicing. It +had been finally resolved to kill us at once, to plunder our house and +then to burn it. The noise of the shouting was distinctly heard as they +neared the Mission premises, and our weeping, friendly Natives looked +terror-struck, and seemed anxious to flee for the bush. But just when +the excitement rose to the highest pitch, we heard, or dreamed that we +heard, a cry higher still, "Sail O!" + +We were by this time beginning to distrust almost our very senses; but +again and again that cry came rolling up from the shore, and was +repeated from crowd to crowd all along the beach, "Sail O! Sail O!" + +The shouts of those approaching us gradually ceased, and the whole +multitude seemed to have melted away from our view. I feared some cruel +deception, and at first peered out very cautiously to spy the land. But +yonder in very truth a vessel came sailing into view. It was the _Blue +Bell_ Captain Hastings. I set fire to the reeds on the side of the hill +to attract his attention. I put a black shawl as a flag on one end of +the Mission House and a white sheet on the other. + +This was one of the vessels that had been to Port Resolution, and had +sailed past to Aneityum some time ago. I afterwards saw the mate and +some of the men wearing my shirts, which they had bought from the +Tannese on their former visit. At the earnest request of Messrs. Geddie +and Copeland, Mr. Underwood, the owner, had sent Captain Hastings to +Tanna to rescue us if yet alive. For this purpose he had brought twenty +armed men from Aneityum, who came on shore in two boats in charge of the +mate, the notorious Ross Lewin. He returned to the ship with a boat-load +of Mr. Mathieson's things, leaving ten of the Natives to help us to pack +more and carry them down to the beach, especially what the Missionary +thought most valuable. + +The two boats were now loaded and ready to start. It was about two +o'clock in the afternoon, when a strange and painful trial befell us. +Poor dear Mr. Mathieson, apparently unhinged, locked himself all alone +into what had been his study, telling Mrs. Mathieson and me to go, for +he had resolved to remain and die on Tanna. We tried to show him the +inconsistency of praying to God to protect us or grant us means of +escape, and then refuse to accept a rescue sent to us in our last +extremity. We argued that it was surely better to live and work for +Jesus than to die as a self-made martyr, who, in God's sight, was guilty +of self-murder. His wife wept aloud and pleaded with him, but all in +vain! He refused to leave or to unlock his door. I then said, "It is now +getting dark. Your wife must go with the vessel, but I will not leave +you alone. I shall send a note explaining why I am forced to remain; and +as it is certain that we shall be murdered whenever the vessel leaves, I +tell you God will charge you with the guilt of our murder." At this he +relented, unlocked the door, and accompanied us to the boats, in which +we all immediately left. + +Meantime, having lost several hours, the vessel had drifted leeward; +darkness suddenly settled upon us, and when we were out at sea we lost +sight of her and she of us. After tumbling about for some hours in a +heavy sea, and unable to find her, those in charge of the boats came +near for consultation, and, if possible, to save the lives of all. We +advised that they should steer for Port Resolution by the flame of the +volcano--a never failing lighthouse, seen fifty miles away--and there +await the vessel. The boats were to keep within hearing of each other by +constant calling; but this was soon lost to the ear, though on arriving +in the bay we found they had got to anchor before us. There we sat in +the boats and waited for the coming day. + +As the light appeared, we anchored as far out as possible, beyond the +reach of musket shots; and there without water or food we sat under a +tropical sun till midday came, and still there was no sign of the +vessel. The mate at last put all the passengers and the poorest seamen +into one boat and left her to swing at anchor, while, with a strong crew +in the other, he started off in search of the vessel. + +In the afternoon, Nowar and Miaki came off in a canoe to visit us. Nowar +had on a shirt, but Miaki was naked and frowning. He urged me to go and +see the Mission House, but as we had seen a body of men near it I +refused to go. Miaki declared that everything remained as I had left it, +but we knew that he lied. Old Abraham and a party had slipped on shore +in a canoe, and had found the windows smashed and everything gone except +my books, which were scattered about and torn in pieces. They learned +that Miaki had sold everything that he could sell to the Traders. The +mate and men of the _Blue Bell_ had on my very clothes. They boasted +that they had bought them for a few figs of tobacco and for powder, +caps, and balls. But they would not return a single shirt to me, though +I was without a change. We had all been without food since the morning +before, so Nowar brought us off a cocoanut each, and two very small +roasted yams for the ladies. Those, however, only seemed to make our +thirst the more severe, and we spent a trying day in that boat under a +burning sun. + +Nowar informed me that only a few nights before this, Miaki and his +followers went inland to a village where last year they had killed ten +men. Having secretly placed a savage at the door of every house, at a +given signal they yelled, and when the terrified inmates tried to +escape, they killed almost every man, woman, and child. Some fled into +the bush, others rushed to the shore. A number of men got into a canoe +to escape, but hearing women and children crying after them they +returned, and taking those they could with them, they killed the rest, +lest they should fall alive into Miaki's hands. These are surely "they +who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." +The Chief and nearly his whole village were cut off in one night! The +dark places of the Earth are "full of the habitations of horrid +cruelty." To have actually lived amongst the Heathen and seen their life +gives a man a new appreciation of the power and blessings of the Gospel, +even where its influence is only very imperfectly allowed to guide and +restrain the passions of men. Oh, what it will be when all men in all +nations love and serve the glorious Redeemer! + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. +FAREWELL TO TANNA. + +ABOUT five o'clock in the evening the vessel hove in sight. Before dark +we were all on board, and were sailing for Aneityum. Though both Mr. and +Mrs. Mathieson had become very weak, they stood the voyage wonderfully. +Next day we were safely landed. We had offered Captain Hastings £20 to +take us to Aneityum, but he declined any fare. However, we divided it +amongst the mate and crew, for they had every one shown great kindness +to us on the voyage. + +After arriving on Aneityum, Mrs. Mathieson gradually sank under +consumption, and fell asleep in Jesus on 11th March, 1862, and was +interred there in the full assurance of a glorious resurrection. Mr. +Mathieson, becoming more and more depressed after her death, went over +to Mr. Creagh's Station, on Mare, and there died on 14th June, 1862, +still trusting in Jesus, and assured that he would soon be with Him in +Glory. + +After their death I was the only one left alive, in all the New Hebrides +Mission north of Aneityum, to tell the story of those pioneer years, +during which were sown the seeds of what is now fast becoming a glorious +harvest. Twenty-five years ago, all these dear brethren and sisters who +were associated with me in the work of the Mission were called home to +Glory, to cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus and enjoy the bliss of +the redeemed; while I am privileged still to toil and pray for the +salvation of the poor Islanders, and plead the cause of the Mission both +in the Colonies and at home, in which work the Lord has graciously given +me undreamt-of success. My constant desire and prayer are that I may be +spared to see at least one Missionary on every island of the group, or +trained Native Teachers under the superintendence of a Missionary, to +unfold the riches of redeeming love and to lead the poor Islanders to +Jesus for salvation. + +What could be taken in three boats was saved out of the wreck of Mr. +Mathieson's property; but my earthly all perished, except the Bible and +the translations into Tannese. Along with the goods pertaining to the +Mission, the property which I had to leave behind would be +under-estimated at £600, besides the value of the Mission House, etc. +Often since have I thought that the Lord stripped me thus bare of all +these interests that I might with undistracted mind devote my entire +energy to the special work soon to be carved out for me, and of which at +this moment neither I nor any one had ever dreamed. At any rate, the +loss of my little Earthly All, though doubtless costing me several +pangs, was not an abiding sorrow like that which sprang from the thought +that the Lord's work was now broken up at both Stations, and that the +Gospel was for the time driven from Tanna. + +In the darkest moment I never doubted that ultimately the victory there, +as elsewhere, would be on the side of Jesus, believing that the whole +Earth would yet be filled with the glory of the Lord. But I sometimes +sorely feared that I might never live to see or hear of that happy day! +By the goodness of the Ever-merciful One I have lived to see and hear of +a Gospel Church on Tanna, and to read about my dear fellow-Missionaries, +Mr. and Mrs. Watt, celebrating the Holy Supper to a Native Congregation +of Tannese, amid the very scenes and people where the seeds of faith and +hope were planted not only in tears, but tears of blood,--"in deaths +oft." + +My own intention was to remain on Aneityum, go on with my work of +translating the Gospels, and watch the earliest opportunity, as God +opened up my way, to return to Tanna, I had, however, got very weak and +thin; my health was undoubtedly much shaken by the continued trials and +dangers through which we had passed; and therefore, as Dr. and Mrs. +Inglis were at home carrying the New Testament through the press in the +language of Aneityum, and as Tanna was closed for a season--Dr. Geddie, +the Rev. Joseph Copeland, and Mr. Mathieson all urged me to go to +Australia by a vessel then in the Harbor and leaving in a few days. My +commission was to awaken an interest among the Presbyterian Churches of +our Colonies in this New Hebrides Mission which lay at their doors, up +till this time sustained by Scotland and Nova Scotia alone. And further, +and very specially, to raise money there, if possible, to purchase a new +Mission Ship for the work of God in the New Hebrides,--a clamant +necessity which would save all future Missionaries some of the more +terrible of the privations and risks of which a few examples have in +these pages already been recorded. + +With regrets, and yet with unquenchable hope for these Islands, I +embarked for Australia. But I had only spoken to one man in Sydney; all +the doors to influence had therefore to be unlocked; and I had no +helper, no leader, but the Spirit of my Lord. + +Oftentimes, while passing through the perils and defeats of my first +four years in the Mission field on Tanna, I wondered, and perhaps the +reader hereof has wondered, why God permitted such things. But on +looking back now, I already clearly perceive, and the reader of my +future pages will, I think, perceive, that the Lord was thereby +preparing me for doing, and providing me materials wherewith to +accomplish, the best work of all my life, namely, the kindling of the +heart of Australian Presbyterianism with a living affection for these +Islanders of their own Southern Seas--the binding of all their children +into a happy league of shareholders, first in one Mission Ship, and +finally in a larger and more commodious Steam-Auxiliary; and, last of +all, in being the instrument under God of sending out Missionary after +Missionary to the New Hebrides, to claim another island and still +another for Jesus. That work, and all that may spring from it in Time +and Eternity, never could have been accomplished by me, but for first +the sufferings and then the story of my Tanna days! + +Never for one moment have I had occasion to regret the step then taken. +The Lord has so used me, during the five-and-twenty years that have +passed over me since my farewell to Tanna, as to stamp the event with +His own most gracious approval. Oh, to see a Missionary, and Christian +Teachers, planted on every island of the New Hebrides! For this I labor, +and wait, and pray. To help on the fulfillment thereof is the sacred +work of my life, under God. When I see that accomplished, or in a fair +way of being so, through the organization that will provide the money +and call forth the men, I can lay down my head as peacefully and +gratefully as ever warrior did, with the shout of victory in his +ears--"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace!" + +(_For "Good News from Tanna," see Supplementary Chapter by the Editor,_ +p.393.) + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. +THE FLOATING OF THE "DAYSPRING." + +RESCUED from Tanna by the _Blue Bell_ in the Spring of 1869, I was +landed on Aneityum, leaving behind me all that I owned on Earth, save +the clothes upon my back, my precious Bible, and a few translations that +I had made from it into the Tannese language. The Missionaries on +Aneitymn united in urging me to go to Australia in the interests of our +Mission. A Mission Ship was sorely needed--was absolutely required--to +prevent the needless sacrifice of devoted lives. More Missionaries were +called for, and must somehow be brought into the field, unless the hope +of claiming these fair Islands for Jesus was to be forever abandoned. + +With unaffected reluctance, I at last felt constrained to undertake this +unwelcome but apparently inevitable task. It meant the leaving of my +dear Islanders for a season; but it embraced within it the hope of +returning to them again, with perhaps every power of blessing amongst +them tenfold increased. + +A _Sandal-wooder,_ then lying at Aneityum, was to sail in a few days +direct for Sydney. My passage was secured for £10. And, as if to make me +realize how bare the Lord had stripped me in my late trials, the first +thing that occupied me on board was the making with my own hands, from a +piece of cloth obtained on Aneityum, another shirt for the voyage, to +change with that which I wore--the only one that had been left to me. + +The Captain proved to be a profane and brutal fellow. And how my heart +bled for some poor Islanders whom he had on board! They knew not a word +of English, and no one in the vessel knew a sound of their language. +They were made to work, and to understand what was expected of them, +only by hard knocks and blows, being pushed and pulled hither and +thither. They were kept quite naked on the voyage up; but, when nearing +Sydney, each received two yards of calico to be twisted as a kilt around +his loins. A most pathetic spectacle it was to watch these poor +Natives,--when they had leisure to sit on deck,--gazing, gazing, +intently and imploringly, upon the face of the Sun! This they did every +day, and at all hours, and I wept much to look on them, and not be able +to tell them of the Son of God, the Light of the world, for I knew no +word of their language. Perhaps they were worshipers of the Sun; and +perhaps, amid all their misery, oh, _perhaps,_ some ray of truth from +the great Father of Lights may have streamed into those darkened souls! + +When we arrived at Sydney the Inspecting Officer of the Government, +coming on board, asked how these Islanders came to be there. The Captain +impudently replied that they were "passengers." No further question was +put. No other evidence was sought. Yet all who knew anything of our +South-Sea Island Traders were perfectly aware that the moral certainty +was that these Natives were there practically as Slaves. They would be +privately disposed of by the Captain to the-highest bidder; and that, +forsooth, is to be called the _Labor_ Traffic,--_Free_ Labor! I will, to +my dying breath, denounce and curse this _Kanaka_ traffic as the worst +of Slavery. + +As we came to anchorage, about midnight, in Sydney Harbor, I anxiously +paced the deck, gazing towards the gas-lighted city, and pleading with +God to open up my way, and give success in the work before me, on which +the salvation of thousands of the Heathen might depend. Still I saw them +perishing, still heard their wailing cry on the Islands behind me. At +the same time, I knew not a soul in that great city; though I had a note +of introduction to one person, which, as experience proved, I would have +been better without. + +That friend, however, did his best. He kindly called with me on a number +of Ministers and others. They heard my story, sympathized with me, shook +hands, and wished me success; but, strangely enough, something "very +special" prevented every one of them from giving me access to his pulpit +or Sabbath School. At length I felt so disappointed, so miserable, that +I wished I had been in my grave with my dear departed, and my brethren +on the Islands, who had fallen around me, in order that the work on +which so much now appeared to depend might have been entrusted to some +one better fitted to accomplish it. The heart seemed to keep repeating, +"All these things are against thee." + +Finding out at last the Rev. A. Buzacott, then retired, but formerly the +successful and honored representative of the London Missionary Society +on Rarotonga, considerable light was let in upon the mystery of my last +week's experiences. He informed me that the highly-esteemed friend, who +had kindly been introducing me all round, was at that moment immersed in +a keen Newspaper war with Presbyterians and Independents. This made it +painfully manifest that, in order to succeed, I must strike out a new +course for myself, and one clear from all local entanglement. + +Paying a fortnight in advance, I withdrew even from the lodging I had +taken, and turned to the Lord more absolutely for guidance. He brought +me into contact with good and generous-souled servants of His, the +open-hearted Mr. and Mrs. Foss. Though entire strangers, they kindly +invited me to be their guest while in Sydney, assuring me that I would +meet with many Ministers and other Christians at their house who could +help me in my work. God had opened the door; I entered with a grateful +heart; they will not miss their recompense. + +A letter and appeal had been already printed on behalf of our Mission. I +now re-cast and reprinted it, adding a postscript, and appending my own +name and address. This was widely circulated among Ministers and others +engaged in Christian work; and by this means, and by letters in the +newspapers, I did everything in my power to make our Mission known. But +one week had passed, and no response came. One Lord's Day had gone by, +and no pulpit had been opened to me. I was perplexed beyond measure how +to get access to Congregations and Sabbath Schools; though a something +deep in my soul assured me, that if once my lips were opened, the Word +of the Lord would not return void. + +On my second Sabbath in Sydney I wandered out with a great yearning at +heart to get telling my message to any soul that would listen. It was +the afternoon; and children were flocking into a Church that I passed. I +followed them--that yearning growing stronger every moment. My God so +ordered it that I was guided thus to the Chalmers Presbyterian Church. +The Minister, the Rev. Mr. M'Skimming, addressed the children. At the +close I went up and pleaded with him to allow me ten minutes to speak to +them. After a little hesitation, and having consulted together, they +gave me fifteen minutes. Becoming deeply interested, the good man +invited me to preach to his Congregation in the evening. This was duly +intimated in the Sabbath School; and thus my little boat was at last +launched--surely by the hand of the dear Lord, with the help of His +little children. + + + +CHAPTER XLV. +A SHIPPING COMPANY FOR JESUS. + +THE kindly minister of Chalmers church, now very deeply interested, +offered to spend the next day in introducing me to his clerical +brethren. For his sake, I was most cordially received by them all, but +especially by Dr. Dunmore Lang, who greatly helped me; and now access +was granted me to almost every church and Sabbath School, both +Presbyterian and Independent. In Sabbath Schools, I got a collection in +connection with my address, and distributed, with the sanction of +superintendents, collecting cards amongst the children, to be returned +through the Teachers within a specified date. In congregations, I +received for the Mission the surplus over and above the ordinary +collection when I preached on Sabbaths, and the full collection at all +week-night meetings for which I could arrange. + +I now appealed to a few of the most friendly ministers to form +themselves into an honorary committee of advice; and, at my earnest +request, they got J. Goodlet, Esq., an excellent elder, to become +honorary treasurer, and to take charge of all funds raised for the +Mission ship. For the public knew nothing of me; but all knew my good +treasurer and these faithful ministers, and had confidence in the work. +They knew that every penny went direct to the Mission; and they saw that +my one object was to promote God's glory in the conversion of the +heathen. Our dear Lord Jesus thus opened up my way; and now I had +invitations from more schools and congregations than I knew how to +overtake--the response in money being also gratifying beyond almost all +expectation. + +It was now that I began a little plan of interesting the children, that +attracted them from the first, and has since had an amazing development. +I made them shareholders in the new Mission Ship--each child receiving a +printed form, in acknowledgment of the number of shares, at sixpence +each, of which he was the owner. Thousands of these shares were taken +out, were shown about amongst families, and were greatly prized. The +Ship was to be their very own! They were to be a great Shipping Company +for Jesus. In hundreds of homes these receipt-forms have been preserved; +and their owners, now in middle years, are training their children of +to-day to give their pennies to support the white-winged Angel of the +Seas, that bears the Gospel and the Missionary to the Heathen Isles. + +Let no one think me ungrateful to my good Treasurer and his wife, to Dr. +and Mrs. Moon, and to other dear friends who generously helped me, when +I trace step by step how the Lord Himself opened up my way. The Angel of +His Presence went before me, and wonderfully moved His people to +contribute in answer to my poor appeals. I had indeed to make all my own +arrangements and correspond regarding all engagements and details,--to +me, always a slow and laborious writer, a very burdensome task. But it +was all necessary in order to the fulfillment of the Lord's purposes; +and, to one who realizes that he is a fellow-laborer with Jesus, every +yoke that He lays on becomes easy and every burden light. + +Having done all that could at that time be accomplished in New South +Wales, and as rapidly as possible--my Committee gave me a Letter of +Commendation to Victoria. But there I had no difficulty. The Ministers +had heard of our work in Sydney. They received me most cordially, and at +my request formed themselves into a Committee of Advice. Our dear +friend, James M'Bain, Esq., now Sir James, became Honorary Treasurer. +All moneys from this Colony, raised by my pleading for the Ship, were +entrusted to him; and, ultimately, the acknowledging of every individual +sum cost much time and labor. Dr. Cairns, and many others now gone to +their rest, along with two or three honored Ministers yet living, formed +my Committee. The Lord richly reward them all in that Day! + +As in New South Wales, I made, chiefly by correspondence, all my own +engagements, and arranged for Churches and Sabbath Schools as best I +could. Few in the other Denominations of Victoria gave any help, but the +Presbyterians rose to our appeal as with one heart. God moved them by +one impulse; and Ministers, Superintendents, Teachers, and Children, +heartily embraced the scheme as their own. I addressed three or four +meetings every Sabbath, and one or more every week-day; and thus +traveled over the length and breadth of Victoria, Tasmania, and South +Australia. Wheresoever a few of the Lord's people could be gathered +together, thither I gladly went, and told the story of our Mission, +setting forth its needs and claims. + +The contributions and collections were nearly all in very small sums, I +recall only one exception,--a gift of £250 from the late Hon. G. F. +Angus, South Australia, whose heart the Lord had touched. Yet gently and +steadily the required money began to come pouring in; and my personal +outlays were reduced to a minimum by the hospitality of Christian +friends and their kindly conveying of me from place to place. For all +this I felt deeply grateful; it saved money for the Lord's work. + +The work was unceasingly prosecuted. Meetings were urged upon me now +from every quarter. Money flowed in so freely that, at the close of my +tour, the fund had risen to £5000, including special Donations of £300 +for the support of Native Teachers. Many Sabbath Schools, and many +ladies and gentlemen, had individually promised the sum of £5 yearly to +keep a Native Teacher on one or other of the New Hebrides Islands. This +happy custom prevails still, and is largely developed; the sum required +being now £6 per annum at least--for which you may have your own +personal representative toiling among the Heathen and telling them of +Jesus. + +Returning to Melbourne, the whole matter was laid before my Committee. I +reported how God had blessed the undertaking, and what sums were now in +the hands of the several Treasurers, indicating also larger hopes and +plans which had been put into my soul. Dear Dr. Cairns rose and said, +"Sir, it is of the Lord. This whole enterprise is of God, and not of us. +Go home, and He will give you more Missionaries for the Islands." + +Of the money which I had raised, £3000 were sent to Nova Scotia, to pay +for the building of our new Mission Ship, the _Dayspring._ The Church +which began the Mission on the New Hebrides was granted the honor of +building our new Mission Ship. The remainder was set apart to pay for +the outfit and passage of additional Missionaries for the field, and I +was commissioned to return home to Scotland in quest of them. Dr. Inglis +wrote, in vindication of this enterprise, to the friends whom he had +just left, "From first to last, Mr. Paton's mission here has been a +great success; and it has been followed up with such energy and +promptitude in Nova Scotia, both in regard to the Ship and the +Missionaries, that Mr. Paton's pledge to the Australian Churches has +been fully redeemed. The hand of the Lord has been very visible in the +whole movement from beginning to end, and we trust He has yet great +blessing in store for the long and deeply-degraded Islanders." + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. +AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS. + +HERE let me turn aside from the current of Missionary toils, and record +a few wayside incidents that marked some of my wanderings to and fro in +connection with the Floating of the _Dayspring._ Traveling in the +Colonies in 1862-68 was vastly less developed than it is to-day; and a +few of my experiences then will, for many reasons, be not unwelcome to +most readers of this book. Besides, these incidents, one and all, will +be felt to have a vital connection with the main purpose of writing this +Autobiography, namely, to show that the Finger of God is as visible +still, to those who have eyes to see, as when the fire-cloud Pillar led +His People through the wilderness. + +Twenty-six years ago, the roads of Australia, except those in and around +the principal towns, were mere tracks over unfenced plains and hills, +and on many of them packhorses only could be used in slushy weather. +During long journeys through the bush the traveler could find his road +only by following the deep notches, gashed by friendly precursors into +the larger trees, and all pointing in one direction. If he lost his way, +he had to struggle back to the last indented tree, and try to interpret +more correctly its pilgrim notch. Experienced bush-travelers seldom miss +the path; yet many others, losing the track, have wandered round and +round till they sank and died. For then it was easy to walk thirty to +forty miles, and see neither a person nor a house. The more intelligent +do sometimes guide their steps by sun, moon, and stars, or by glimpses +of mountain peaks or natural features on the far and high horizon, or by +the needle of the compass; but the perils are not illusory, and +occasionally the most experienced have miscalculated and perished. + +An intelligent gentleman, a sheep farmer, who knew the country well, +once kindly volunteered to lift me in an out-of-the-way place, and drive +me to a meeting at his Station. Having a long spell before us, we +started at midday in a buggy drawn by a pair of splendid horses, in the +hope of reaching our destination before dusk. He turned into the usual +bush-track through the forests, saying, "I know this road well; and we +must drive steadily, as we have not a moment to lose." + +Our conversation became absorbingly interesting. After we had driven +about three hours, he remarked, "We must soon emerge into the open +plain." + +I doubtfully replied, "Surely we cannot have turned back! These trees +and bushes are wonderfully like those we passed at starting." + +He laughed, and made me feel rather vexed that I had spoken, when he +said, "I am too old a hand in the bush for that. I have gone this road +many a time before." + +But my courage immediately revived, for I got what appeared to me a +glint of the roof of the Inn beyond the bush, from which we had started +at noon, and I repeated, "I am certain we have wheeled, and are back at +the beginning of our journey; but there comes a Chinaman--let us wait +and inquire." + +My dear friend learned, to his utter amazement, that he had erred. The +bush-track was entered upon once more, and followed with painful care, +as he murmured, half to himself, "Well, this beats all reckoning! I +could have staked my life that this was impossible." + +Turning to me, he said, with manifest grief, "Our meeting is done for! +It will be midnight before we can arrive." + +The sun was beginning to set as we reached the thinly-timbered ground. +Ere dusk fell, he took his bearing with the greatest possible care. +Beyond the wood, a vast plain stretched before us, where neither fence +nor house was visible, far as the eye could reach. He drove steadily +towards a far-distant point, which was in the direction of his home. At +last we struck upon the wire fence that bounded his property. The horses +were now getting badly fagged; and, in order to save them a long +round-about drive, he lifted and laid low a portion of the fence, led +his horses cautiously over it, and, leaving it to be re-erected by a +servant next day, he started direct for the Station. That seemed a long +journey too; but it was for him familiar ground; and though amongst +great patriarchal trees here and there, and safely past dangerous +water-holes, we swung steadily on, reached his home in safety, and had a +joyous welcome. The household had by this time got into great excitement +over our non-appearance. The expected meeting had, of course, been +abandoned hours ago: and the people were all gone, wondering in their +hearts "whereto this would grow!" + +At that time, in the depth of winter, the roads were often wrought into +rivers of mire, and at many points almost impassable even for +well-appointed conveyances. In connection therewith, I had one very +perilous experience. I had to go from Clunes to a farm in the Learmouth +district. The dear old Minister there, Mr. Downes, went with me to every +place where a horse could be hired; but the owners positively +refused--they would sell, but they would not hire, for the conveyance +would be broken, and the horse would never return alive! Now, I was +advertised to preach at Learmouth, and must somehow get over the nine +miles that lay between. This would have been comparatively practicable, +were it not that I carried with me an indispensable bag of "curios," and +a heavy bundle of clubs, arrows, dresses, etc., from the Islands, +wherewith to illustrate my lectures and enforce my appeals. No one could +be hired to carry my luggage, nor could I get it sent after me by coach +on that particular way. Therefore, seeing no alternative opening up my +path, I committed myself once more to the Lord, as in harder trials +before, shouldered my bundle of clubs, lifted my heavy bag, and started +off on foot. They urged me fervently to desist; but I heard a voice +repeating, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." There came back to +me also the old adage that had in youthful difficulties, spurred me on, +"Where there's a will, there's a way." And I thought that with these two +in his heart, a Scotchman and a Christian would not be easily beaten. + +When I found the road wrought into mire, and dangerous, or impassable, I +climbed the fence, and waded along in the plowed fields--though they +were nearly as bad. My bundle was changed from shoulder to shoulder, and +my bag from hand to hand, till I became thoroughly tired of both. +Pressing on, however, I arrived at a wayside Public-house, where several +roads met, and there I inquired the way to Learmouth, and how far it +was. The innkeeper, pointing, answered-- + +"This is the road. If you are on horseback, it might be three to four +miles just now, as your horse is able to take it. If you are in a +conveyance, with a good horse, it might be six miles. And if you are +walking, it might be eight or ten miles, or even more." + +I said, "I am walking. How many English miles is it to Mr. Baird's +farm?" + +He laughingly replied, "You will find it a long way indeed this dark +night, considering the state of the road, fenced in on both sides so +that you cannot get off." + +I passed on, leaving my Job's comforter; but a surly watchdog got upon +my track, and I had much difficulty in keeping it from biting me. Its +attacks, renewed upon me again and again, had one good effect,--they +stirred up my spirits and made me hasten on. + +Having persevered along the Learmouth road, I next met a company of men +hastening on with a bundle of ropes. They were on their way to relieve a +poor bullock, which by this time had almost disappeared, sinking in the +mire on the public highway! They kindly pointed me to a light, visible +through the dusk. That was the farm at which I was to stay, and they +advised me to clear the fence, and make straight for that light, as the +way was good. + +With thankful heart, I did so. The light was soon lost to me, but I +walked steadily on in the direction thereof, to the best of my judgment. +Immediately I began to feel the ground all floating under me. Then at +every step I took, or tried to take, I sank deeper and deeper, till at +last I durst not move either backward or forward. I was floundering in a +deadly swamp. I called out again and again, and "coo-ee-d" with all my +strength, but there came no reply. It grew extremely dark, while I kept +praying to God for deliverance. About midnight, I heard two men +conversing, apparently at no very great distance. I began "coo-ee-ing" +again, but my strength was failing. Fortunately, the night was perfectly +calm. The conversation ceased for a while, but I kept on crying for +help. At length I heard one voice remark to the other, "Some one is in +the swamp." And then the question came, "Who's there?" + +I answered, "A stranger. Oh, do help me!" Again a voice came through the +darkness, "How did you get in there?" + +And I feebly replied, "I have lost my way." I heard the one say to the +other, "I will go and get him out, whoever he may be. We must not leave +him there; he'll be dead before the morning. As you pass by our door, +tell my wife that I'm helping some poor creature out of the swamp, and +will be home immediately." + +He kept calling to me, and I answering his call through the darkness, +till, not without peril, he managed to reach and aid me. Once I was +safely dragged out, he got my bag in his hand and slung my clubs on his +shoulder, and in a very short time landed me at the farm, dripping and +dirty and cold. Had God not sent that man to save me, I must have +perished there, as many others have similarly perished before. The +farmer's wife heartily welcomed me and kindly ministered to all my +needs. Though not yet gone to rest, they had given up all hope of seeing +me. I heard the kind servant say to his mistress, "I don't know where he +came from, or how far he has carried his bundles; but I got him stuck +fast in the swamp, and my shoulder is already sore from carrying his +clubs!" + +A cup of warm tea restored me. The Lord gave me a sound and blessed +sleep. I rose next morning wonderfully refreshed, though arms and +shoulders were rather sore with the burdens of yesterday. I conducted +three Services, and told the story of my Mission, not without comfort +and blessing; and with gratifying results in money. The people gave +liberally to the work. + +Thereafter, a Schoolmaster drove me a long distance across the country +to Violet Town, where for the night we had to stay at an Inn. We had a +taste of what Australian life really was, when the land was being broken +in. A company of wild and reckless men were carousing there at the time, +and our arrival was the signal for an outbreak of malicious mischief. A +powerful fellow, who turned out to be a young Medical, rushed upon me as +I left the conveyance, seized me by the throat, and shook me roughly, +shouting, "A parson! a parson! I will do for the parson!" + +Others with great difficulty relieved me from his grip, and dragged him +away, cursing as if at his mortal enemy. + +After tea, we got into the only bedroom in the house, available for two. +The Teacher and I locked ourselves in and barricaded the door, hearing +in the next room a large party of drunken men gambling and roaring over +their cards. By and by they quarreled and fought; they smashed in and +out of their room, and seemed to be murdering each other; every moment +we expected our door to come crashing in, as they were thrown or lurched +against it. Their very language made us tremble. One man in particular +seemed to be badly abused; he shouted that they were robbing him of his +money; and he groaned and cried for protection, all in vain. We spent a +sleepless and most miserable night. At four in the morning I arose, and +was glad to get away by the early coach. My friend also left in his own +conveyance, and reached his home in safety. At that period, it was not +only painful but dangerous for any decent traveler to stay at many of +these wayside Inns in the new and rough country. Every man lived and +acted just as he pleased, doing that which was right to his own eyes; +and Might was Right. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. +AMONGST SQUATTERS AND DIGGERS. + +AFTER this, I made a Mission tour, in a somewhat mixed and original +fashion, right across the Colony of Victoria, from Albury in New South +Wales to Mount Gambier in South Australia. I conducted Mission Services +almost every day, and three or more every Sabbath, besides visiting all +Sunday Schools that could be touched on the way. When I reached a +gold-digging or township, where I had been unable to get any one to +announce a meeting, the first thing I did on arriving was to secure some +Church or Hall, and, failing that, to fix on some suitable spot in the +open air. Then, I was always able to hire some one to go round with the +bell, and announce the meeting. Few will believe how large were the +audiences in this way gathered together, and how very substantial was +the help that thereby came to the Mission fund. + +Wheresover railway, steamboat, and coach were available, I always used +them; but failing these, I hired, or was obliged to friends of Missions +for driving me from place to place. On this tour, having reached a +certain place, from which my way lay for many miles across the country, +where there was no public conveyance, I walked to the nearest squatter's +Station and frankly informed the owner how I was situated; that I could +not hire, and that I would like to stay at his house all night, if he +would kindly send me on in the morning by any sort of trap to the next +Station on my list. He happened to be a good Christian and a +Presbyterian, and gave me a right cordial welcome. A meeting of his +servants was called, which I had the pleasure of addressing. Next +morning, he gave me £20, and sent me forward with his own conveyance, +telling me to retain it all day, if necessary. + +On reaching the next squatter's Station, I found the master also at +home, and said, "I am a Missionary from the South Sea Islands. I am +crossing Victoria to plead the cause of the Mission. I would like to +rest here for an hour or two. Could you kindly send me on to the next +Station by your conveyance? If not, I am to keep the last squatter's +buggy, until I reach it." + +Looking with a queer smile at me, he replied, "You propose a rather +novel condition on which to rest at my house! My horses are so employed +to-day, I fear that I may have difficulty in sending you on. But come +in; both you and your horses need rest; and my wife will be glad to see +you." + +I immediately discovered that the good lady came from Glasgow, from a +street in which I had lodged when a student at the Free Normal College. +I even knew some of her friends. All the places of her youthful +associations were equally familiar to me. We launched out into +deeply-interesting conversation, which finally led up, of course, to the +story of our Mission. + +The gentleman, by this time, had so far been won that he slipped out and +sent my conveyance and horses back to their owner, and ordered his own +to be ready to take me to the next Station, or, if need be, to the next +again. At parting, the lady said to her husband, "The Missionary has +asked no money, though he sees we have been deeply interested; yet +clearly that is the object of his tour. He is the first Missionary from +the Heathen that ever visited us here; and you must contribute something +to his Mission fund." + +I thanked her, explaining, "I never ask money directly from any person +for the Lord's work. My part is done when I have told my story and shown +the needs of the Heathen and the claims of Christ; but I gratefully +receive all that the Lord moves His people to give for the Mission." + +Her husband replied, rather sharply, "You know I don't keep money here." +To which she retorted with ready tact and with a resistless smile, "But +you keep a check-book; and your check is as good as gold! This is the +first donation we ever gave to such a cause, and let it be a good one." +He made it indeed handsome, and I went on my way, thanking them very +sincerely, and thanking God. + +At the next Station, the owner turned out to be a gruff Irishman, +forbidding and insolent. Stating my case to him as to the others, he +shouted at me, "Go on! I don't want to be troubled with the loikes o' +you here." + +I answered, "I am sorry if my coming troubles you; but I wish you every +blessing in Christ Jesus. Good-by!" + +As we drove off, he kept growling after us. On leaving his door, I heard +a lady calling to him from the window, "Don't let that Missionary go +away! Make haste and call him back. I want the children to see the idols +and the South Sea curios." + +At first he drowned her appeal in his own shoutings. But she must have +persisted effectually; for shortly we heard him "coo-ee-ing," and +stopped. When he came up to us, he explained, "That lady in my house +heard you speaking in Melbourne. The ladies and children are very +anxious to see your idols, dresses, and weapons. Will you please come +back?" + +We did so. I spent fifteen minutes or so, giving them information about +the Natives and our Mission. As I left, our boisterous friend handed me +a check for £5, and wished me great success. + +The next Station at which we arrived was one of the largest of all. It +happened to be a sort of payday, and men were assembled from all parts +of the "run," and were to remain there over night. The squatter and his +family were from home; but Mr. Todd, the overseer, being a good +Christian and a Scotchman, was glad to receive us, arranged to hold a +meeting that evening in the men's hut, and promised to set me forward on +my journey next day. The meeting was very enthusiastic; and they +subscribed £20 to the Mission--every man being determined to have so +many shares in the new Mission Ship. With earnest personal dealing, I +urged the claims of the Lord Jesus upon all who were present, seeking +the salvation of every hearer. I ever found even the rough digger, and +the lowest of the hands about far-away Stations, most attentive and +perfectly respectful. + +A lively and memorable extemporized meeting on this tour is associated +in memory with one of my dearest friends. The district was very remote. +He, the squatter, and his beloved wife were sterling Christians, and +have been ever since warmly devoted to me. On my arrival, he invited the +people from all the surrounding Stations, as well as his own numerous +servants, to hear the story of our Mission. Next day he volunteered to +drive me a long distance over the plains of St. Arnaud, his dear wife +accompanying us. At that time there were few fences in such districts in +Australia. The drive was long, but the day had been lovely, and the +fellowship was so sweet that it still shines a sunny spot in the fields +of memory. + +Having reached our destination about seven o'clock, he ordered tea at +the Inn for the whole party; and we sallied out meantime and took the +only Hall in the place, for an extemporized meeting to be held that +evening at eight o'clock. I then hired a man to go through the township +with a bell, announcing the same; while I myself went up one side of the +main street, and my friend up the other, inviting all who would listen +to us to attend the Mission meeting where South Sea Islands idols, +weapons, and dresses would be exhibited, and stories of the Natives +told. + +Running back for a hurried cup of tea, I then hasted to the Hall, and +found it crowded to excess with rough and boisterous diggers. The hour +struck as I was getting my articles arranged and spread out upon the +table, and they began shouting, "Where's the Missionary?"--"Another +hoax!"--indicating that they were not unwilling for a row. I learned +that, only a few nights ago, a so-called Professor had advertised a +lecture, lifted entrance money till the Hall was crowded, and then +quietly slipped off the scene. In our case, though there was no charge, +they seemed disposed to gratify themselves by some sort of promiscuous +revenge. + +Amidst the noisy chaff and rising uproar, I stepped up on the table, and +said, "Gentlemen, I am the Missionary. If you will now be silent, the +lecture will proceed. According to my usual custom, let us open the +meeting with prayer." + +The hush that fell was such a contrast to the preceding hubbub, that I +heard my heart throbbing aloud! Then they listened to me for an hour, in +perfect silence and with ever-increasing interest. At the close I +intimated that I asked no collection; but if, after what they had heard, +they would take a Collecting Card for the new Mission Ship, and send any +contributions to the Treasurer at Melbourne, I would praise God for +sending me amongst them. Many were heartily taken, and doubtless some +souls felt the "constraining love," who had till then been living +without God. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. +JOHN GILPIN IN THE BUSH. + +THE crowning adventure of my tour in Australia came about in the +following manner. I was advertised to conduct Services at Narracoort on +Sabbath, and at a Station on the way on Saturday evening. But how to get +from Penola was a terrible perplexity. On Saturday morning, however, a +young lady offered me, out of gratitude for blessings received, the use +of her riding horse for the journey. "Garibaldi" was his name; and, +though bred for a race-horse, I was assured that if I kept him firmly in +hand, he would easily carry me over the two-and-twenty miles. He was to +be left at the journey's end, and the lady herself would fetch him back. +I shrank from the undertaking, knowing little of horses, and having +vague recollections of being dreadfully punished for more than a week +after my last and almost only ride. But every one in that country is +quite at ease on the back of a horse. They saw no risk; and, as there +appeared no other way of getting there to fulfil my engagements, I, for +my part, began to think that God had unexpectedly provided the means, +and that He would carry me safely through. + +I accepted the lady's kind offer, and started on my pilgrimage. A friend +showed me the road, and gave me ample directions. In the bush, I was to +keep my eye on the notches in the trees, and follow them. He agreed +kindly to bring my luggage to the Station, and leave it there for me by +and by. After I had walked very quietly for some distance, three +gentlemen on horseback overtook me. We entered into conversation. They +inquired how far I was going, and advised me to sit a little "freer" in +the saddle, as it would be so much easier for me. They seemed greatly +amused at my awkward riding! Dark clouds were now gathering ahead, and +the atmosphere prophesied a severe storm; therefore they urged that I +should ride a little faster, as they, for a considerable distance, could +guide me on the right way. I explained to them my plight through +inexperience, said that I could only creep on slowly with safety, and +bade them Good-by. As the sky was getting darker every minute, they +consented, wishing me a safe journey, and started off at a smart pace. + +I struggled to hold in my horse; but seizing the bit with his teeth, +laying back his ears, and stretching out his eager neck, he manifestly +felt that his honor was at stake; and in less time than I take to write +it, the three friends cleared a way for us, and he tore past them all at +an appalling speed. They tried for a time to keep within reach of us, +but that sound only put fire into his blood; and in an incredibly short +time I heard them not; nor, from the moment that he bore me swinging +past them, durst I turn my head by one inch to look for them again. In +vain I tried to hold him in; he tore on, with what appeared to me the +speed of the wind. Then the thunderstorm broke around us, with flash of +lightning and flood of rain, and at every fresh peal my "Garibaldi" +dashed more wildly onward. + +To me, it was a vast surprise to discover that I could sit more easily +on this wild flying thing than when at a canter or a trot. At every turn +I expected that he would dash himself and me against the great forest +trees; but instinct rather than my hand guided him miraculously. +Sometimes I had a glimpse of the road, but as for the "notches," I never +saw one of them; we passed them with lightning speed. Indeed, I durst +not lift my eyes for one moment from watching the horse's head and the +trees on our track. My high-crowned hat was now drenched, and battered +out of shape; for whenever we came to a rather clear space, I seized the +chance and gave it another knock down over my head. I was spattered and +covered with mud and mire. + +Crash, crash, went the thunder, and on, on, went "Garibaldi" through the +gloom of the forest, emerging at length upon a clearer ground with a +more visible pathway. Reaching the top of the slope, a large house stood +out far in front of us to the left; and the horse had apparently +determined to make straight for that, as if it were his home. He skirted +along the hill, and took the track as his own familiar ground, all my +effort to hold him in or guide him having no more effect than that of a +child. By this time, I suspect, I really had lost all power. "Garibaldi" +had been at that house, probably frequently before; he knew those +stables; and my fate seemed to be instant death against door or wall. + +Some members of the family, on the outlook for the Missionary, saw us +come tearing along as if mad or drunk; and now all rushed to the +veranda, expecting some dread catastrophe. A tall and stout young groom, +amazed at our wild career, throwing wide open the gate, seized the +bridle at great risk to himself, and ran full speed, yet holding back +with all his might, and shouting to me to do the same. We +succeeded--"Garibaldi" having probably attained his purpose--in bringing +him to a halt within a few paces of the door. Staring at me with open +mouth, the man exclaimed, "I have saved your life. What madness to ride +like that!" Thanking him, though I could scarcely by this time +articulate a word, I told him that the horse had run away, and that I +had lost all control. + +Truly I was in a sorry plight, drenched, covered with mud, and my hat +battered down over my eyes; little wonder they thought me drunk or mad! +Finally, as if to confirm every suspicion, and amuse them all,--for +master, mistress, governess, and children now looked on from the +veranda,--when I was helped off the horse, I could not stand on my feet! +My head still went rushing on in the race; I staggered, and down I +tumbled into the mud, feeling chagrin and mortification; yet there I had +to sit for some time, before I recovered myself, so as either to rise or +to speak a word. When I did get to my feet, I had to stand holding by +the veranda for some time, my head still rushing on in the race. At +length the master said, "Will you not come in?" + +I knew that he was treating me for a drunken man; and the giddiness was +so dreadful still, that my attempts at speech seemed more drunken than +even my gait. + +As soon as I could stand, I went into the house, and drew near to an +excellent fire in my dripping clothes. The squatter sat opposite me in +silence, reading the newspapers, and taking a look at me now and again +over his spectacles. By and by he remarked, "Wouldn't it be worth while +to change your clothes?" + +Speech was now returning to me. I replied, "Yes, but my bag is coming on +in the cart, and may not be here to-night." + +He began to relent. He took me into a room, and laid out for me a suit +of his own. I being then very slender, and he a big-framed farmer, my +new dress, though greatly adding to my comfort, enhanced the singularity +of my appearance! + +Returning to him, washed and dressed, I inquired if he had arranged for +a meeting? My tongue, I fear, was still unsteady, for the squatter +looked at me rather reproachfully, and said, "Do you really consider +yourself fit to appear before a meeting to-night?" + +I assured him he was quite wrong in his suspicions, that I was a +life-long Abstainer, and that my nerves had been so unhinged by the +terrible ride and runaway horse. He smiled rather suggestively, and said +we would see how I felt after tea. + +We went to the table. All that had occurred was now consummated by my +appearing in the lusty farmer's clothes; and the lady and other friends +had infinite difficulty in keeping their amusement within decent bounds. +I again took speech in hand, but I suspect my words had still the +thickness of the tippler's utterance, for they seemed not to carry much +conviction, "Dear friends, I quite understand your feelings; appearances +are so strangely against me. But I am not drunken, as ye suppose. I have +tasted no intoxicating drink, I am a life-long Total Abstainer!" + +This fairly broke down their reserve. They laughed aloud, looking at +each other and at me, as if to say, "Man, you're drunk at this very +moment." + +Before tea was over they appeared, however, to begin to entertain the +idea that I _might_ address the meeting; and so I was informed of the +arrangements that had been made. At the meeting, my incredulous friends +became very deeply interested. Manifestly their better thoughts were +gaining the ascendency. And they heaped thereafter every kindness upon +me, as if to make amends for harder suspicions. + +Next morning the master drove me about ten miles farther on to the +Church. A groom rode the racehorse, who took no scathe from his +thundering gallop of the day before. It left deeper traces upon me. I +got through the Services, however, and with good returns for the +Mission. Twice since, on my Mission tours, I have found myself at that +same memorable house; and on each occasion, a large company of friends +were regaled by the good lady there with very comical descriptions of my +first arrival at her door. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. +THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. + +DETAINED for nearly a week at Balmoral by the breakdown of the coach on +these dreadful roads, I telegraphed to Hamilton for a conveyance; and +the Superintendent of the Sunday School, dear Mr. Laidlaw, volunteered, +in order to reduce expenses, to spend one day of his precious time +coming for me, and another driving me down. While awaiting him, I came +into painful and memorable contact with the Aborigines of Australia. The +Publicans had organized a day of sports, horse-racing, and circus +exhibitions. Immense crowds assembled, and, amongst the rest, tribe +after tribe of the Aborigines from all the surrounding country. Despite +the law prohibiting the giving of strong drinks to these poor creatures, +foolish and unprincipled dealers supplied them with the same, and the +very blankets which the Government had given them were freely exchanged +for the fire-water which kindled them to madness. + +Next day was the Sabbath. The morning was hideous with the yells of the +fighting savages. They tore about on the Common in front of the Church, +leading gentlemen having tried in vain to quiet them, and their wild +voices without jarred upon the Morning Service. About two o'clock, I +tried to get into conversation with them. I appealed to them whether +they were not all tired and hungry? They replied that they had had no +food all that day; they had fought since the morning! I said, "I love +you, black fellows. I go Missionary black fellows far away. I love you, +want you rest, get food. Come all of you, rest, sit round me, and we +will talk, till the _Jins_ (=women) get ready tea. They boil water, and +I take tea with you, and then you will be strong!" + +By broken English and by many symbols, I won their ear. They produced +tea and _damper, i. e._ a rather forbidding-looking bread, without +yeast, baked on the coals. Their wives hasted to boil water. I kept +incessantly talking, to interest them, and told them how Jesus, God's +dear Son, came and died to make them happy, and how He grieved to see +them beating and fighting and killing each other. + +When the tea was ready we squatted on the green grass, their tins were +filled, the _damper_ was broken into lumps, and I asked the blessing of +God on the meal. To me it was unpleasant eating! Many of them looked +strong and healthy; but not a few were weak and dying creatures. The +strong, devouring all they could get, urged me to be done, and let them +finish their fighting, eager for the fray. But having gained their +confidence, I prayed with them, and thereafter said, "Now, before I +leave, I will ask of you to do one thing for my sake, which you can all +easily do." With one voice they replied, "Yes, we all do whatever you +say." + +I got their leaders to promise to me one by one. I then said, "Now you +have got your tea; and I ask every man and boy among you to lie down in +the bush and take a sleep, and your wives will sit by and watch over +your safety!" + +In glum silence, their war weapons still grasped in their hands, they +stood looking intently at me, doubting whether I could be in earnest. I +urged then, "You all promised to do what I asked. If you break your +promise, these white men will laugh at me, and say that black fellows +only lie and deceive. Let them see that you can be trusted. I wait here +till I see you all asleep." + +One said that his head was cut, and he must have revenge before he could +lie down. Others filed past showing their wounds, and declaring that it +was too bad to request them to go to sleep. I praised them as far as I +could, but urged them for once to be men and to keep their word. +Finally, they all agreed to lie down, I waiting till the last man had +disappeared; and being doubly exhausted with the debauch and the +fighting, they were soon all fast asleep. I prayed that the blessed +Sleep might lull their savage passions. + +Before daylight next morning, the Minister and I were hastening to the +scene to prevent further fighting; but as the sun was rising we saw the +last tribe of the distant Natives disappearing over the brow of a hill. +A small party belonging to the district alone remained. They shouted to +us, "Black fellows all gone! No more fight. You too much like black +fellow!" + +For three days afterwards I had still to linger there; and if their dogs +ran or barked at me, the women chased them with sticks and stones, and +protected me. One little touch of kindness and sympathy had unlocked +their darkened hearts. + +Who wonders that the _dark_ races melt away before the _whites?_ The +pioneers of Civilization _will_ carry with them this demon of strong +drink, the fruitful parent of every other vice. The black people drink, +and become unmanageable; and through the white man's own poison-gift, an +excuse is found for sweeping the poor creatures off the face of the +earth. Marsden's writings show how our Australian blacks are destroyed. +But I have myself been on the track of such butcheries again and again. +A Victorian lady told me the following incident. She heard a child's +pitiful cry in the bush. On tracing it, she found a little girl weeping +over her younger brother. She said, "The white men poisoned our father +and mother. They threaten to shoot me, so that I dare not go near them, +I am here, weeping over my brother till we die!" + +The compassionate lady promised to be a mother to the little sufferers, +and to protect them. They instantly clung to her, and have proved +themselves to be loving and dutiful ever since. + + + +CHAPTER L. +NORA. + +WHILE I was pondering over Kingsley's words,--about the blacks of +Australia being "poor brutes in human shape," and too low to take in the +Gospel,--the story of Nora, an Aboriginal Christian woman, whom I myself +actually visited and corresponded with, was brought under my notice, as +if to shatter to pieces everything that the famous preacher had +proclaimed. A dear friend told me how he had seen Nora encamped with the +blacks near Hexham in Victoria. Her husband had lost, through drink, +their once comfortable home at a Station where he was employed. The +change back to life in camp had broken her health, and she lay sick on +the ground within a miserable hut. The visitors found her reading a +Bible, and explaining to a number of her own poor people the wonders of +redeeming love. My friend, Roderick Urquhart, Esq., overcome by the +sight, said, "Nora, I am grieved to see you here, and deprived of every +comfort in your sickness." + +She answered, not without tears, "The change has indeed made me unwell; +but I am beginning to think that this too is far the best; it has at +last brought my poor husband to his senses, and I will grudge nothing if +God thereby brings him to the Saviour's feet!" + +She further explained that she had found wonderful joy in telling her +own people about the true God and His Son Jesus, and was quite assured +that the Lord in His own way would send her relief. The visitors who +accompanied Mr. Urquhart showed themselves to be greatly affected by the +true and pure Christian spirit of this poor Aboriginal, and on parting +she said, "Do not think that I like this miserable hut, or the food, or +the company: but I am and have been happy in trying to do good amongst +my people." + +For my part, let that dear Christlike soul look out on me from her +Aboriginal hut, and I will trample under foot all teachings or +theorizings that dare to say that she or her kind are but poor brutes, +as mere blasphemies against Human Nature! "I thank thee, O Father, Lord +of Heaven and Earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and +prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." + +It is easy to understand how even experienced travelers may be deluded +to believe that the Aborigines have no idols and no religion. One must +have lived amongst them or their kindred ere he can authoritatively +decide these questions. Before I left Melbourne, for instance, I had met +Nathaniel Pepper, a converted Aboriginal from Wimmera. I asked him if +his people had any "Doctors," _i. e._ Sacred Men or priests. He said +they had. I inquired if they had any objects of Worship, or any belief +in God? He said, "No! None whatever." + +But on taking from my pocket some four small stone idols, his expression +showed at once that he recognized them as objects of Worship. He had +seen the Sacred Men use them; but he refused to answer any more +questions. I resolved now, if possible, to secure some of their idols, +and set this whole problem once for all at rest. + +At Newstead, on another occasion, I persuaded a whole camp of the +Aborigines to come to my meeting. After the address, they waited to +examine the idols and stone gods which I had shown. Some of the young +men admitted that their "doctors" had things like these, which they and +the old people prayed to; but they added jauntily, "We young fellows +don't worship; we know too much for that!" No "doctors" were, however, +in that camp; so I could not meet with them; but I already felt that the +testimony of nearly all white people that the "blacks" had "no idols and +no worship" was quickly crumbling away. + +On returning to Horsham, from a visit to a great camp of the blacks at +Wonwondah, and having purchased, in the presence of witnesses, specimens +of their idols from the Doctor or Sacred Man of these tribes, I informed +my dear friends, Rev. P. Simpson and his excellent lady, of my exploits +and possessions. He replied, "There is a black 'doctor' gone round our +house just now to see one of his people who is washing here to-day. Let +us go and test them, whether they know these objects." + +Carrying them in his hand, we went to them. The woman instantly on +perceiving them dropped what she was washing, and turned away in +instinctive terror. Mr. Simpson asked, "Have you ever before seen stones +like these?" + +The wily "doctor" replied, "Plenty on the plains, where I kick them out +of my way." + +Taking others out of my pocket, I said, "These make people sick and +well, don't they?" + +His rage overcame his duplicity, and he exclaimed, "What black fellow +give you these? If I know him I do for him!" + +The woman, looking the picture of terror, and pointing to one of the +objects, cried, "That fellow no good! he kill men. No good, no good! Me +too much afraid." + +Then, looking at me, she said, pointing with her finger, "That fellow +savvy (knows) too much! No white man see them. He no good." + +There was more in this scene and in all its surroundings, than in many +arguments; and Mr. Simpson thoroughly believed that these were objects +of idolatrous worship. + +And now let me relate the story of my visit to Nora, the converted +Aboriginal referred to above. Accompanied by Robert Hood, Esq., J. P., +Victoria, I found my way to the encampment near Hexham. She did not know +of our coming, nor see us till we stood at the door of her hut. She was +clean and tidily dressed, as were also her dear little children, and +appeared glad to see us. She had just been reading the _Presbyterian +Messenger_, and the Bible was lying at her elbow. I said, "Do you read +the _Messenger_?" + +She replied, "Yes; I like to know what is going on in the Church." + +We found her to be a sensible and humble Christian woman, conversing +intelligently about religion and serving God devotedly. Next Sabbath she +brought her husband, her children, and six blacks to church, all +decently dressed, and they all listened most attentively. + +At our first meeting I said, "Nora, they tell me you are a Christian. I +want to ask you a few questions about the blacks; and I hope that as a +Christian you will speak the truth." Rather hurt at my language, she +raised her right hand, and replied, "I am a Christian. I fear and serve +the true God. I always speak the truth." + +Taking from my pocket the stone idols from the Islands, I inquired if +her people had or worshipped things like these. She replied, "The +'doctors' have them." + +"Have you a 'doctor' in your camp?" I asked. She said, "Yes, my uncle is +the Sacred Man; but he is now far away from this." + +"Has he the idols with him now?" I inquired. She answered, "No; they are +left in my care." + +I then said, "Could you let us see them?" + +She consulted certain representatives of the tribe who were at hand. +They rose, and removed to a distance. They had consented. Mr. Hood +assured me that no fault would be found with her, as she was the real, +or at least virtual head of the tribe. Out of a larger bag she then drew +two smaller bags, and opened them. They were filled with the very +objects which I had brought from the Islands. I asked her to consult the +men of her tribe whether they would agree to sell four or five of them +to me, that I might by them convince the white people that they had gods +of their own, and are, therefore, above the brutes of the field; the +money to be given to their Sacred Man on his return. This, also, after a +time was agreed to. I selected three of the objects, and paid the +stipulated price. And I have the recorded testimony of "Robert Hood, J. +P., Hexham, Victoria, 28th February, 1863," certifying on his honor all +that I am here affirming. + +Mr. Hood asked Nora how he had never heard of or seen these things +before, living so long amongst them, and blacks constantly coming and +going about his house. She replied, "Long ago white men laughed at black +fellows praying to their idols. Black fellows said, white men never see +them again! Suppose this white man not know all about them, he would not +now see them. No white men live now have seen what you have seen." + +Thus it has been demonstrated on the spot, and in presence of the most +reliable witnesses, that the Aborigines, before they saw the white +invaders, were not "brutes" incapable of knowing God, but human beings, +yearning after a God of some kind. Nor do I believe that any tribe of +men will ever be found, who, when their language and customs are rightly +interpreted, will not display their consciousness of the need of a God, +and that Divine capacity of holding fellowship with the Unseen Powers, +of which the brutes are without one faintest trace. + +Poor, dear, Christian-hearted Nora! The Christ-spirit shines forth +unmistakably through thee,--praying for and seeking to save husband and +children, enduring trials and miseries by the aid of communion with thy +Lord, weeping over the degradation of thy people, and seeking to lift +them up by telling them of the true God and of His love to Mankind +through Jesus Christ. + + + +CHAPTER LI. +BACK TO SCOTLAND. + +EACH of my Australian Committees strongly urged my return to Scotland, +chiefly to secure, if possible, more Missionaries for the New Hebrides. +Dr. Inglis, just arrived from Britain, where he had the Aneityumese New +Testament carried through the press, also zealously enforced this +appeal. + +Constrained by what appeared to me the Voice of God, I sailed for London +in the _Kosciusko_, an Aberdeen clipper, on the 17th May, 1863. Captain +Stuart made the voyage most enjoyable to all. The Rev. Mr. Stafford, +friend of the good Bishop Selwyn and tutor to his son, conducted along +with myself, alternately, an Anglican and a Presbyterian Service. We +passed through a memorable thunder-burst in rounding the Cape. Our good +ship was perilously struck by lightning. The men on deck were thrown +violently down. The copper in the bulwarks was twisted and melted--a +specimen of which the Captain gave me and I still retain. When the ball +of fire struck the ship, those of us sitting on chairs, screwed to the +floor around the cabin table, felt as if she were plunging to the +bottom. When she sprang aloft again, a military man and a medical +officer were thrown heavily into the back passage between the cabins, +the screws that held their seats having snapped asunder. I, in grasping +the table, got my leg severely bruised, being jammed betwixt the seat +and the table, and had to be carried to my berth. All the men were +attended to, and quickly recovered consciousness; and immediately the +good Captain, an elder of the Church, came to me, and said, "Lead us in +prayer, and let us thank the Lord for this most merciful deliverance; +the ship is not on fire, and no one is seriously injured!" + +Poor fellow! whether hastened on by this event I know not, but he +struggled for three weeks thereafter in a fever, and it took our united +care and love to pull him through. The Lord, however, restored him; and +we cast anchor safely in the East India Docks, at London, on 26th +August, 1863, having been three months and ten days at sea from port to +port. + +It was 5.30 P. M. when we cast anchor, and the gates closed at 6 +o'clock. My little box was ready on deck. The Custom House officers +kindly passed me, and I was immediately on my way to Euston Square. +Never before had I been within the Great City, and doubtless I could +have enjoyed its palaces and memorials. But the King's business +entrusted to me, "required haste," and I felt constrained to press +forward, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. + +At nine o'clock that evening, I left for Scotland by train. Next +morning, about the same hour, I reported myself at the manse of the Rev. +John Kay, Castle Douglas, the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee +of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, to which I then belonged. We +arranged for a meeting of said Committee, at earliest practicable date, +that my scheme and plans might at once be laid before them. + +By the next train I was on my way to Dumfries, and thence by conveyance +to my dear old home at Torthorwald. There I had a Heavenly Welcome from +my saintly parents, yet not unmixed with many fast-falling tears. Five +brief years only had elapsed, since I went forth from their Sanctuary, +with my young bride; and now, alas! alas! that grave on Tanna held +mother and son locked in each other's embrace till the Resurrection Day. + +Not less glowing, but more terribly agonizing, was my reception, a few +days thereafter, at Coldstream, when I first gazed on the bereaved +father and mother of my beloved; who, though godly people, were +conscious of a heart-break under that stroke, from which through their +remaining years they never fully rallied. They murmured not against the +Lord; but all the same, heart and flesh began to faint and fail, even as +our Divine Exemplar Himself fainted under the Cross, which yet He so +uncomplainingly bore. + +The Foreign Mission Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church met in +Edinburgh, and welcomed me kindly, nay, warmly. A full report of all my +doings for the past, and of all my plans and hopes, was laid before +them. They at once agreed to my visiting and addressing every +Congregation and Sabbath School in the Church. They opened to me their +Divinity Hall, that I might appeal to the Students. My Address there was +published and largely circulated, under the motto--"Come over and help +us." It was used of God to deepen vastly the interest in our Mission. + +The Committee generously and enthusiastically did everything in their +power to help me. By their influence, the Church in 1864 conferred on me +the undesired and undeserved honor, the highest which they could +confer--the honor of being the Moderator of their Supreme Court. No one +can understand how much I shrank from all this; but, in hope of the +Lord's using it and me to promote His work amongst the Heathen, I +accepted the Chair, though, I fear, only to occupy it most unworthily, +for Tanna gave me little training for work like that! + +I have ever regarded it as a privilege and honor that I was born and +trained within the old covenanting Reformed Presbyterian Church of +Scotland. As a separate Communion, that Church was small amongst the +thousands of Israel; but the principles of Civil and Religious Liberty +for which her founders suffered and died are, at this moment, the heart +and soul of all that is best and divinest in the Constitution of our +British Empire. I am more proud that the blood of Martyrs is in my +veins, and their truths in my heart, than other men can be of noble +pedigree or royal names. + + + +CHAPTER LII. +TOUR THROUGH THE OLD COUNTRY. + +My tour through Scotland brought me into contact with every Minister, +Congregation, and Sabbath School in the Church of my fathers. They were +never at any time a rich people, but they were always liberal. At this +time they contributed beyond all previous experience, both in money and +in boxes of useful articles for the Islanders. + +Unfortunately, my visit to the far North, to our Congregations at Wick +and Stromness, had been arranged for the month of January; and thereby a +sore trial befell me in my pilgrimages. The roads were covered with snow +and ice. I reached Aberdeen and Wick by steamer from Edinburgh, and had +to find my way thence to Thurso. The inside seats on the mail coach +being all occupied, I had to take my place outside. The cold was +intense, and one of my feet got bitten by the frost. The storm detained +me nearly a week at Thurso, but feeling did not return to the foot. + +We started, in a lull, by steamer for Stromness; but the storm burst +again, all were ordered below, and hatches and doors made fast. The +passengers were mostly very rough, the place was foul with whisky and +tobacco. I appealed to the Captain to let me crouch somewhere on deck +and hold on as best I could. He shouted, "I dare not! You'll be washed +overboard." + +On seeing my appealing look, he relented, directed his men to fasten a +tarpaulin over me, and lash it and me to the mast, and there I lay till +we reached Stromness. The sea broke heavily and dangerously over the +vessel. But the Captain, finding shelter for several hours under the lee +of a headland, saved both the ship and the passengers. When at last we +landed, my foot was so benumbed and painful that I could move a step +only with greatest agony. Two meetings, however, were in some kind of +way conducted; but the projected visit to Dingwall and other places had +to be renounced, the snow lying too deep for any conveyance to carry me, +and my foot crying aloud for treatment and skill. + +On returning Southwards I was confined for about two months, and placed +under the best medical advice. All feeling seemed gradually to have +departed from my foot; and amputation was seriously proposed both in +Edinburgh and in Glasgow. Having somehow managed to reach Liverpool, my +dear friend, the Rev. Dr. Graham, took me there to a Doctor who had +wrought many wonderful recoveries by galvanism. Time after time he +applied the battery, but I felt nothing. He declared that the power used +would "have killed six ordinary men," and that he had never seen any +part of the human body so dead to feeling on a live and healthy person. +Finally, he covered it all over with a dark plaster, and told me to +return in three days. But next day, the throbbing feeling of +insufferable coldness in the foot compelled me to return at once. After +my persistent appeals, he removed the plaster; and, to his great +astonishment, the whole of the frosted part adhered to it! Again, +dressing the remaining parts, he covered it with plaster as before, and +assured me that with care and rest it would now completely recover. By +the blessing of the Lord it did, though it was a bitter trial to me +amidst all these growing plans to be thus crippled by the way; and to +this day I am sometimes warned in over-walking that the part is capable +of many a painful twinge. And humbly I feel myself crooning over the +graphic words of the Greatest Missionary, "I bear about in my body the +marks of the Lord Jesus." + +On that tour, the Sabbath Schools joyfully adopted my scheme, and became +"Shareholders" in the Mission Ship. It was thereafter ably developed by +an elder of the Church. A _Dayspring_ collecting box found its way into +almost every family; and the returns from Scotland have yielded ever +since about £250 per annum, as their proportion for the expenses of the +Children's Mission Ship to the New Hebrides. The Church in Nova Scotia +heartily accepted the same idea, and their Sabbath School children have +regularly contributed their £250 per annum too. The Colonial children +have contributed the rest, throughout all these years, with unfailing +interest. And whensoever the true and full history of the South Sea +Islands Mission is written for the edification of the Universal Church, +let it not be forgotten that the children of Australasia, and Nova +Scotia, and Scotland, did by their united pennies keep the _Dayspring_ +floating in the New Hebrides; that the Missionaries and their families +were thereby supplied with the necessaries of life, and that the +Islanders were thus taught to clothe themselves and to sit at the feet +of Jesus. This was the Children's Holy League, erewhile referred to; and +one knows that on such a Union the Divine Master smiles well pleased. + +The Lord also crowned this tour with another precious fruit of blessing, +though not all by any means due to my influence. Four new Missionaries +volunteered from Scotland, and three from Nova Scotia. By their aid we +not only re-claimed for Jesus the posts that had been abandoned, but we +took possession of other Islands in His most blessed Name. But I did not +wait and take them out with me. They had matters to look into and to +learn about, that would be infinitely helpful to them in the Mission +field. Especially, and far above everything else in addition to their +regular Clerical course, some Medical instruction was an absolute +prerequisite. Every Missionary was urged to obtain all insight that was +practicable at the Medical Mission Dispensary, and otherwise, especially +on lines known to be most requisite for these Islands. For this, and +similar objects, all that I raised over and above what was required for +the _Dayspring_ was entrusted to the Foreign Mission Committee, that the +new Missionaries might be fully equipped, and their outfit and traveling +expenses be provided for without burdening the Church at home. Her +responsibilities were already large enough for her resources. But she +could give men, God's own greatest gift, and His people elsewhere gave +the money,--the Colonies and the Home Country thus binding themselves to +each other in this Holy Mission of the Cross. + + + +CHAPTER LIII. +MARRIAGE AND FAREWELL. + +BUT I did not return alone. The dear Lord had brought to me one +prepared, all unknown to either of us, by special culture, by godly +training, by many gifts and accomplishments, and even by family +associations, to share my lot on the New Hebrides. Her brother had been +an honored Missionary in the Foreign field, and had fallen asleep while +the dew of youth was yet upon him; her sister was the wife of a devoted +Minister of our Church in Adelaide, both she and her husband being +zealous promoters of our work; and her father had left behind him a +fragrant memory through his many Christian works at Edinburgh, Kenneth, +and Alloa, besides being not unknown to fame as the author of those +still popular books, _Whitecross's Anecdotes_, illustrative of the +Shorter Catechism and of the Holy Scriptures. Ere I left Scotland in +1864, I was married to Margaret Whitecross, and God spares us to each +other still (1892); and the family which He has been pleased in His love +to grant unto us we have dedicated to His service, with the prayer and +hope that He may use every one of them in spreading the Gospel +throughout the Heathen World. + +Our marriage was celebrated at her sister's house in Edinburgh; and I +may be pardoned for recalling a little event which characterized the +occasion. My youngest brother, then tutor to a gentleman studying at the +University, stepped forth at the close of the ceremony and recited an +Epithalamium composed for the day. For many a month and year the +refrain, a play upon the Bride's name, kept singing itself through my +memory:-- + +"Long may the _Whitecross_ banner wave, +By the battle blasts unriven; +Long may our Brother and Sister brave +Rejoice in the light of Heaven." + +He describes the Bride as hearing a "Voice from the far Pacific Seas"; +and turning to us both, he sang of an Angel "beckoning us to the +Tanna-land," to gather a harvest of souls:-- + +"The warfare is brief, the crown is bright, +The pledge is the souls of men; +Go, may the Lord defend the Right, +And restore you safe again!" + +But the verse which my dear wife thought most beautiful for a bridal +day, and which her memory cherishes still, was this:-- + +"May the ruddy Joys, and the Graces fair, +Wait fondly around you now; +Sweet angel Hopes and young Loves repair +To your home and bless your vow!" + +My last scene in Scotland was kneeling at the family altar in the old +Sanctuary Cottage at Torthorwald, while my venerable father, with his +high-priestly locks of snow-white hair streaming over his shoulders, +commenced us once again to "the care and keeping of the Lord God of the +families of Israel." It was the last time that ever on this Earth those +accents of intercession, loaded with a pathos of deathless love, would +fall upon my ears. I knew to a certainty that when we rose from our +knees and said farewell, our eyes would never meet again till they were +flooded with the lights of the Resurrection Day. But he and my darling +mother gave us away once again with a free heart, not unpierced with the +sword of human anguish, to the service of our common Lord and to the +Salvation of the Heathen. And we went forth, praying that a double +portion of their spirit, along with their precious blessing, might rest +upon us in all the way that we had to go. + +Our beloved mother, always more self-restrained, and less demonstrative +in the presence of others, held back her heart till we were fairly gone +from the door; and then, as my dear brother afterward informed me, she +fell back into his arms with a great cry, as if all the heart-strings +had broken, and lay for long in a deathlike swoon. Oh, all ye that read +this page, think most tenderly of the cries of Nature, even where Grace +and Faith are in perfect triumph. Read, through scenes like these, a +fuller meaning into the words addressed to that blessed Mother, whose +Son was given for us all, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own +soul also." + + + +CHAPTER LIV. +FIRST PEEP AT THE "DAYSPRING." + +WE embarked at Liverpool for Australia in _The Crest o' the Wave_, +Captain Ellis; and, after what was then considered a fast passage of +ninety-five days, we landed at Sydney on 17th January, 1865. Within an +hour we had to grapple with a new and amazing perplexity. The Captain of +our _Dayspring_ came to inform me that his ship had arrived three days +ago and now lay in the stream,--that she had been to the Islands, and +had settled the Gordons, M'Cullaghs, and Morrisons on their several +stations,--that she had left Halifax in Nova Scotia fourteen months ago, +and that now, on arriving at Sydney, he could not get one penny of +money, and that the crew were clamoring for their pay, etc. etc. He +continued, "Where shall I get money for current expenses? No one will +lend unless we mortgage the _Dayspring_. I fear there is nothing before +us but to sell her!" I gave him £50 of my own to meet clamant demands, +and besought him to secure me a day or two of delay that something might +be done. + +Having landed, and been heartily welcomed by dear Dr. and Mrs. Moon and +other friends, I went with a kind of trembling joy to have my first look +at the _Dayspring_, like a sailor getting a first peep at the child born +to him whilst far away on the sea. Some of the irritated ship's company +stopped us by the way, and threatened prosecution and all sorts of +annoyance. I could only urge again for a few days' patience. I found her +to be a beautiful two-masted Brigantine, with a deck-house (added when +she first arrived at Melbourne), and every way suitable for our +necessities,--a thing of beauty, a white-winged Angel set a-floating by +the pennies of the children to bear the Gospel to these sin-darkened but +sun-lit Southern Isles. To me she became a sort of living thing, the +impersonation of a living and throbbing love in the heart of thousands +of "shareholders"; and I said, with a deep, indestructible faith,--"The +Lord has provided--the Lord will provide." + +Since she sailed, £1400 had been expended; for present liabilities at +least £700 more were instantly required: and, at any rate, as large a +sum to pay her way and meet expenses of next trip to the Islands. Having +laid our perplexing circumstances before our dear Lord Jesus, having +"spread out" all the details in His sympathetic presence, pleading that +the Ship itself and the new Missionaries were all His own, not mine, I +told Him that this money was needed to do His own blessed work. + +On Friday morning, I consulted friends of the Mission, but no help was +visible. I tried to borrow, but found that the lender demanded 20 per +cent for interest, besides the title-deeds of the ship for security. I +applied for a loan from the agent of the London Missionary Society (then +agent for us too) on the credit of the Reformed Presbyterian Church's +Foreign Committee, but he could not give it without a written order from +Scotland. There were some who seemed rather to enjoy our perplexity! + +Driven thus to the wall, I advertised for a meeting of Ministers and +other friends, next morning at eleven o'clock, to receive my report and +to consult _re_ the _Dayspring_. I related my journeyings since leaving +them and the results, and then asked for advice about the ship. + +"Sell her," said some, "and have done with it."--"What," said others, +"have the Sabbath Schools given you the _Dayspring_ and can you not +support her yourselves?" + +I pointed out to them that the salary of each Missionary was then only +£120 per annum, that they gave their lives for the Heathen, and that +surely the Colonial Christians would undertake the up-keep of the ship, +which was necessary to the very existence of the Mission. I appealed to +them that, as my own Church in Scotland had now one Missionary abroad +for every six Ministers at home, and the small Presbyterian Church of +Nova Scotia had actually three Missionaries now on our Islands, it would +be a blessed privilege for the Australian Churches and Sabbath Schools +to keep the _Dayspring_ afloat, without whose services the Missionaries +could not live nor the Islanders be evangelized. + +Being Saturday, the morning Services for Sabbath were all arranged for, +or advertised; but Dr. M'Gibbon offered me a meeting for the evening, +and Dr. Steel an afternoon Service at three o'clock, combined with his +Sabbath School. Rev. Mr. Patterson of Piermont, offered me a Morning +Service; but, as his was only a Mission Church, he could not give me a +collection. These openings I accepted, as from the Lord, however much +they fell short of what I desired. + +At the Morning Service I informed the congregation how we were situated, +and expressed the hope that under God and their devoted pastor they +would greatly prosper, and would yet be able to help in supporting our +Mission to their South Sea neighbors. Returning to the vestry, a lady +and gentleman waited to be introduced to me. They were from Launceston, +Tasmania. + +"I am," said he, "Captain and owner of that vessel lying at anchor +opposite the _Dayspring_. My wife and I, being too late to get on shore +to attend any Church in the city, heard this little Chapel bell ringing, +and followed, when we saw you going up the hill. We have so enjoyed the +Service. We do heartily sympathize with you. This check for £50 will be +a beginning to help you out of your difficulties." + +The reader knows how warmly I would thank them; and how in my own heart +I knew _Who_ it was that made them arrive too late for _their_ plans, +but not for _His_, and led them up that hill, and opened their hearts. +Jehovah-Jireh? + +At three o'clock, Dr. Steel's Church was filled with children and +others. I told them in my appeal what had happened in the Mission +Chapel, and how God had led Captain Frith and his wife, entire +strangers, to sound the first note of our deliverance. One man stood up +and said, "I will give £10." Another, "I will give £5." A third, "I +shall send you £20 to-morrow morning." Several others followed their +example, and the general collection was greatly encouraging. + +In the evening I had a very large as well as sympathetic congregation. I +fully explained the difficulty about the _Dayspring_, and told them what +God had already done for us, announcing an address to which +contributions might be sent. Almost every mail brought me the free-will +offerings of God's people; and on Wednesday, when the adjourned meeting +was held, the sum had reached in all £456. Believing that the Lord thus +intervened at a vital crisis in our Mission, I dwell on it to the praise +of His blessed Name. Trust in Him, obey Him, and He will not suffer you +to be put to shame. + +Clearing out from her sister ships, then in harbor, the _John Williams_ +and the _John Wesley_, our little _Dayspring_ sailed for Tasmania. At +Hobart we were visited by thousands of children and parents, and +afterwards at Launceston, who were proud to see their own Ship, in which +they were "shareholders" for Jesus. Daily, all over the Colony, I +preached in churches, and addressed public meetings, and got +collections, and gave out Collection Cards to be returned within two +weeks. + +We received many tokens of interest and sympathy. The steam tug was +granted to us free, and the harbor dues were remitted. Many presents +were also sent on board the _Dayspring_. Still, after meeting all +necessary outlays, the trip to Tasmania gave us only £227: 8: 11 clear +for the Mission fund. + +Sailing now for South Australia, we arrived at Adelaide. Many friends +there showed the deepest interest in our plans. Thousands of children +and parents came to visit their own Mission Ship by several special +trips. Daily and nightly I addressed meetings, and God's people were +moved greatly in the cause. After meeting ail expenses while in port, +there remained a sum of £634: 9: 2 for the up-keep of the vessel. The +Honorable George Fife Angus gave me £241--a dear friend belonging to the +Baptist Church. But there was still a deficit of £400 before the +_Dayspring_ could sail free of debt, and my heart was sore as I cried +for it to the Lord. + +Leaving the ship to sail direct for Sydney, I took steamer to Melbourne; +but, on arriving there, sickness and anxiety laid me aside for three +days. Under great weakness, I crept along to my dear friends at the +Scotch College, Dr. and Mrs. Morrison, and Miss Fraser, and threw myself +on their advice. + +"Come along," said the Doctor cheerily, "and I'll introduce you to Mr. +Butchart and one or two friends in East Melbourne, and we'll see what +what can be done!" + +I gave all information, being led on in conversation by the Doctor, and +tried to interest them in our work, but no subscriptions were asked or +received. Ere I sailed for Sydney however, the whole deficiency was sent +to me. I received in all, on this tour, the sum of £1726: 9: 10. Our +_Dayspring_ once more sailed free, and our hearts overflowed with +gratitude to the Lord and to His stewards! + + + +CHAPTER LV. +THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC. + +We went down to the Islands with the _Dayspring_ in 1865. The full story +of the years that had passed was laid before my Missionary brethren at +their Annual Synod. They resolved that permanent arrangements must now +be made for the vessel's support, and that I must return to the Colonies +and see these matured, to prevent any such crisis as that through which +we had recently passed. This, meantime, appeared to all of them, the +most clamant of all Missionary duties,--their very lives, and the +existence of the Mission itself, depending thereon. The Lord seemed to +leave me no alternative: and, with great reluctance, my back was again +turned away from the Islands. + +The _Dayspring_, doing duty among the Loyalty Islands, left me, along +with my dear wife, on Mare, there to await an opportunity of getting to +New Caledonia, and thence to Sydney. Detained there for some time, we +saw the noble work done by Messrs. Jones and Creagh, of the London +Missionary Society, all being cruelly undone by the tyranny and Popery +of the French. One day, in an inland walk, Mrs. Paton and I came on a +large Conventicle in the bush. They were teaching each other, and +reading the Scriptures which the Missionaries had translated into their +own language, and which the French had forbidden them to use. They cried +to God for deliverance from their oppressors! Missionaries were +prohibited from teaching the Gospel to the Natives without the +permission of France; their books were suppressed, and they themselves +placed under military guard on the Island of Lifu. Even when, by +Britain's protest, the Missionaries were allowed to resume their work, +the French language was alone to be used by them; and some, like Rev. J. +Jones (as far down as 1888), were marched on board a Man-of-war, at half +an hour's notice, and, without crime laid to their charge, forbidden +ever to return to the Islands. While, on the other hand, the French +Popish Missionaries were everywhere fostered and protected, presenting +to the Natives as many objects of idolatry as their own, and following, +as is the custom of the Romish Church in those Seas, in the wake of +every Protestant Mission, to pollute and to destroy. + +Being delayed also for two weeks on Noumea, we saw the state of affairs +under military rule. English Protestant residents, few in number, +appealed to me to conduct worship, but liberty could not be obtained +from the authorities, who hated everything English. Again a number of +Protestant parents, some French, others English and German, applied to +me to baptize their children at their own houses. To have asked +permission would have been to court refusal, and to falsify my position. +I laid the matter before the Lord, and baptized them all. Within two +days the Private Secretary of the Governor arrived with an interpreter, +and began to inquire of me, "Is it true that you have been baptizing +here?" + +I replied quite frankly, "It is." + +"We are sent to demand on whose authority?" + +"On the authority of my Great Master." + +"When did you get that authority?" + +"When I was licensed and ordained to preach the Gospel, I got that +authority from my Great Master." + +Here a spirited conversation followed betwixt the two in French, and +they politely bowed, and left me. + +Very shortly they returned, saying, "The Governor sends his compliments, +and he wishes the honor of a visit from you at Government House at three +o'clock, if convenient for you." + +I returned my greeting, and said that I would have pleasure in waiting +upon his Excellency at the appointed hour. I thought to myself that I +was in for it now, and I earnestly cried for Divine guidance. + +He saluted me graciously as "de great Missionary of de New Hebrides." He +conversed in a very friendly manner about the work there, and seemed +anxious to find any indication as to the English designs. I had to deal +very cautiously. He spoke chiefly through the interpreter; but, +sometimes dismissing him, he talked to me as good, if not better English +himself. He was eager to get my opinions as to how Britain got and +retained her power over the Natives. After a very prolonged interview, +we parted without a single reference to the baptisms or to religious +services! + +That evening the Secretary and interpreter waited upon us at our Inn, +saying, "The Governor will have pleasure in placing his yacht and crew +at your disposal to-morrow. Mrs. Paton and you can sail all around, and +visit the Convict Island, and the Government Gardens, where lunch will +be prepared for you." + +It was a great treat to us indeed. The crew were in prison garments, but +all so kind to us. By Convict labor all the public works seemed to be +carried on, and the Gardens were most beautiful. The carved work in +bone, ivory, cocoanuts, shells, etc., was indeed very wonderful. We +bought a few specimens, but the prices were beyond our purse. It was a +strange spectacle--these things of beauty and joy, and beside them the +chained gangs of fierce and savage Convicts, kept down only by bullet +and sword! + +Thanking the Governor for his exceeding kindness, I referred to their +Man-of-war about to go to Sydney, and offered to pay full passage money +if they would take me, instead of leaving me to wait for a "trader." He +at once granted my request, and arranged that we should be charged only +at the daily cost for the sailors. At his suggestion, however, I took a +number of things on board with me, and presented them to be used at the +cabin table. We were most generously treated--the Captain giving up his +own room to my wife and myself, as they had no special accommodation for +passengers. + +Noumea appeared to me at that time to be wholly given over to +drunkenness and vice, supported as a great Convict Settlement by the +Government of France, and showing every extreme of reckless, worldly +pleasure, and of cruel, slavish toil. When I saw it again, +three-and-twenty years thereafter, it showed no signs of progress for +the better. It there be a God of justice and of love, His blight cannot +but rest on a nation whose pathway is stained with corruption and +steeped in blood, as is undeniably the case with France in the Pacific +Isles. + + + +CHAPTER LVI. +THE GOSPEL AND GUNPOWDER. + +Arriving at Sydney, I was at once plunged into a whirlpool of horrors. +H. M. S. _Curaçoa_ had just returned from her official trip to the +Islands, in which the Commodore, Sir William Wisenian, had thought it +his duty to inflict punishment on the Natives for murder and robbery of +Traders and others. On these Islands, as in all similar cases, the +Missionaries had acted as interpreters, and of course always used their +influence on the side of mercy, and in the interests of peace. But +Sydney, and indeed Australia and the Christian World, were thrown into a +ferment just a few days before our arrival, by certain articles in a +leading publication there, and by the pictorial illustrations of the +same. They were professedly from an officer on board Her Majesty's ship, +and the sensation was increased by their apparent truthfulness and +reality. Tanna was the scene of the first event, and a series was to +follow in succeeding numbers. The _Curaçoa_ was pictured lying at anchor +off the shore having the _Dayspring_ astern. The Tannese warriors were +being blown to pieces by shot and shell, and lay in heaps on the bloody +coast. And the Missionaries were represented as safe in the lee of the +Man-of-war, directing the onslaught, and gloating over the carnage. + +Without a question being asked or a doubt suggested, without a voice +being raised in fierce denial that such men as these Missionaries were +known to be could be guilty of such conduct,--men who had jeoparded +their lives for years on end rather than hurt one hair on a Native's +head,--a cry of execration, loud and deep, and even savage, arose from +the Press, and was apparently joined in by the Church itself. The common +witticism about the "Gospel and Gunpowder" headed hundreds of bitter and +scoffing articles in the journals; and, as we afterwards learned, the +shocking news had been telegraphed to Britain and America, losing +nothing in force by the way, and, while filling friends of Missions with +dismay, was dished up day after day with every imaginable enhancement of +horror for the readers of the secular and infidel Press. As I stepped +ashore at Sydney I found myself probably the best-abused man in all +Australia, and the very name of the New Hebrides Mission stinking in the +nostrils of the people. + +The gage of battle had been thrown and fell at my feet. Without one +moment's delay I lifted it in the name of my Lord and of my maligned +brethren. That evening my reply was in the hands of the editor, denying +that such battles ever took place, retailing the actual facts of which I +had been myself an eyewitness, and intimating legal prosecution unless +the most ample and unequivocal withdrawal and apology were at once +published. The Newspaper printed my rejoinder, and made satisfactory +amends for having been imposed upon and deceived. I waited upon the +Commodore and appealed for his help in redressing this terrible injury +to our Mission. He informed me that he had already called his officers +to account, but that all denied any connection with the articles or the +picture. He had little doubt, all the same, that some one on board was +the prompter, who gloried in the evil that was being done to the cause +of Christ. He offered every possible assistance, by testimony or +otherwise, to place all the facts before the Christian public and to +vindicate our Missionaries. + +The outstanding facts are best presented in the following extract from +the official report of the Mission Synod:-- + +"When the New Hebrides Missionaries were assembled at their annual +meeting on Aneityum, H. M. S. _Curaçoa_, Sir Win. Wiseman, Bart., C. B., +arrived in the harbor to investigate many grievances of white men and +trading vessels among the Islands. A petition having been previously +presented to the Governor in Sydney, as drawn out by the Revs. Messrs. +Geddie and Copeland, after the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon on +Erromanga, requesting an investigation into the sad event, and the +removal of a Sandal-wood Trader, a British subject, who had incited the +Natives to it,--the Missionaries gave the Commodore a memorandum on the +loss of life and property that had been sustained by the Mission on +Tanna, Erromanga, and Efate. He requested the Missionaries to supply him +with interpreters, and requested the _Dayspring_ to accompany him with +them. The request was at once acceded to. Mr. Paton was appointed to act +as interpreter for Tanna, Mr. Gordon (brother of the martyr) for +Erromanga, and Mr. Morrison for Efate. + +"At each of these Islands, the Commodore summoned the principal Chiefs +near the harbors to appear before him, and explained to them that his +visit was to inquire into the complaints British subjects had made +against them, and to see if they had any against British subjects; and +when he had found out the truth he would punish those who had done the +wrong and protect those who had suffered wrong. The Queen did not send +him to compel them to become Christians, or to punish them for not +becoming Christians. She left them to do as they liked in this matter; +but she was very angry at them because they had encouraged her subjects +to live amongst them, sold them land, and promised to protect them, and +afterwards murdered some of them and attempted to murder others, and +stolen and destroyed their property; that the inhabitants of these +islands were talked of over the whole world for their treachery, +cruelty, and murders; and that the Queen would no longer allow them to +murder or injure her subjects, who were living peaceably among them +either as Missionaries or Traders. She would send a Ship of War every +year to inquire into their conduct, and if any white man injured any +Native they were to tell the Captain of the Man-of-war, and the white +man would be punished as fast as the black man." + +After spending much time, and using peaceably every means in his power +in trying to get the guilty parties on Tanna, and not succeeding, he +shelled two villages,--having the day before informed the Natives that +he would do so, and advising to have all women, children, and sick +removed, which in fact they did. Indeed nearly the whole of the +inhabitants, young and old, went to Nowar's land, where they were +instructed they would be safe, while they witnessed what a Man-of-war +could do in punishing murderers. But before the hour approached, a +foolish host of Tannese warriors had assembled on the beach, painted and +armed and determined to fight the Man-of-war! And the Chief of a village +on the other side of the bay was at that moment assembled with his men +on the high ground within our view, and dancing to a war song in +defiance. + +The Commodore caused a shell to strike the hill and explode with +terrific fury just underneath the dancers. The earth and the bush were +torn and thrown into the air above and around them; and next moment the +whole host were seen disappearing over the brow of the hill. Two shots +were sent over the heads of the warriors on the shore, with terrific +noise and uproar: in an instant, every man was making haste for Nowar's +land, the place of refuge. The Commodore then shelled the villages, and +destroyed their property. Beyond what I have here recorded, absolutely +nothing was done. + +We returned then for a moment to Sydney. The public excitement made it +impossible for me to open my lips in the promotion of our Mission. The +Rev. Drs. Dunmore, Lang and Steel, along with Professor Smith of the +University, waited on the Commodore, and got an independent version of +the facts. They then called a meeting on the affair by public +advertisement. Without being made acquainted with the results of their +investigations, I was called upon to give my own account of the +_Curaçoa's_ visit and of the connection of the Missionaries therewith. +They then submitted the Commodore's statement, given by him in writing. +He exonerated the Missionaries from every shadow of blame and from all +responsibility. In the interests of mercy as well as justice, and to +save life, they had acted as his interpreters; and there all that they +had to do with the _Curaçoa_ began and ended. All this was published in +the newspapers next day, along with the speeches of the three deputies. +The excitement began to subside. But the poison had been lodged in many +hearts, and the ejectment of it was a slow and difficult process. + +Feeling absolutely conscious that I had only done my Christian duty, I +left all results in the hands of my Lord Jesus, and pressed forward in +His blessed work. But more than one dear personal friend had to be +sacrificed over this painful affair. A presbyterian Minister, and a +godly elder and his wife, all most excellent and well-beloved, at whose +houses I had been received as a brother, intimated to me that owing to +this case of the _Curaçoa_ their friendship and mine must entirely cease +in this world. And it did cease; but my esteem never changed. I had +learned not to think unkindly of friends, even when they manifestly +misunderstood my actions. Nor would these things merit being recorded +here, were it not that they may be at once a beacon and a guide. God's +people are still belied. And the mob is still as ready as ever to cry, +"Crucify! Crucify!" + + + +CHAPTER LVII. +A PLEA FOR TANNA. + +EVERYTHING having been at length arranged for in the Colonies, in +connection with the Mission and _Dayspring_, as far as could possibly +be,--and I having been adopted by the Victorian Assembly of 1866, as the +first Missionary from the Presbyterian Church of Australia to the New +Hebrides,--we sailed for the Islands on the 8th August of that year. +Besides my wife and child, the following accompanied us to the field: +Revs. Copeland, Cosh, and M'Nair, along with their respective wives. On +20th August we reached Aneityum; and, having landed some of our friends, +we sailed Northwards, as far as Efate, to let the new Missionaries see +all the Islands open for occupation, and to bring all our Missionaries +back to the annual meeting, where the permanent settlements would be +finally agreed upon. + +While staying at Aneityum, I learned with as deep emotion as man ever +felt for man, that noble old Abraham, the sharer of my Tannese trials, +had during the interval peacefully fallen asleep in Jesus. He left for +me his silver watch--one which I had myself sent to the dear soul from +Sydney, and which he greatly prized. In his dying hour he said, "Give it +to Missi, my own Missi Paton; and tell him that I go to Jesus, where +Time is dead." + +I learned also, and truly human-hearted readers will need no apology for +introducing this news in so grave a story--that my faithful dog +_Clutha_, entrusted to the care of a kindly Native to be kept for my +return, had, despite all coaxing, grown weary of heart amongst all these +dark faces, and fallen asleep too, truly not unworthy of a grateful +tear! + +At our annual Synod, after much prayerful deliberation and the careful +weighing of every vital circumstance, I was constrained by the united +voice of my brethren not to return to Tanna, but to settle on the +adjoining island of Aniwa (=A-neé-wa). It was even hoped that thereby +Tanna might eventually be the more surely reached and evangelized. + +By the new Missionaries all the other old Stations were reoccupied and +some fresh Islands were entered upon in the name of Jesus. As we moved +about with our _Dayspring_, and planted the Missionaries here and there, +nothing could repress the wonder of Natives. + +"How is this?" they cried. "We slew or drove them all away! We plundered +their houses and robbed them. Had we been so treated, nothing would have +made us return. But they come back with a beautiful new ship, and with +more and more Missionaries. And is it to trade and to get money, like +the other white men? No! no! But to tell us of their Jehovah God and of +His Son Jesus. If their God makes them do all that, we may well worship +Him too." + +In this way, island after island was opened up to receive the +Missionary, and their Chiefs bound themselves to protect and cherish +him, before they knew anything whatever of the Gospel, beyond what they +saw in the disposition and character of its Preachers or heard rumored +regarding its fruits on other Islands. Imagine _Cannibals_ found thus +prepared to welcome the Missionary, and to make not only his property +but his life comparatively safe. The Isles "wait" for Christ. + +On our way to Aniwa, the _Dayspring_ had to call at Tanna. By stress of +weather we lay several days in Port Resolution. And there many memories +were again revived--wounds that after five-and-twenty years, when I now +write, still bleed afresh! Nowar, the old Chief, unstable but friendly, +was determined to keep us there by force or by fraud. The Captain told +him that the council of the Missionaries had forbidden him to land our +boxes at Tanna. + +"Don't land them," said the wily Chief, "just throw them over; my men +and I will catch everything before it reaches the water, and carry them +all safely ashore!" + +The Captain said he durst not. "Then," persisted Nowar, "just point them +out to us; you will have no further trouble; we will manage everything +for Missi." + +They were in distress when he refused; and poor old Nowar tried another +tack. Suspecting that my clear wife was afraid of them, he got us on +shore to see his extensive plantations. Turning eagerly to her, he said, +leaving me to interpret, "Plenty of food! While I have a yam or a +banana, you shall not want." + +She answered, "I fear not any lack of food." + +Pointing to his warriors, he cried, "We are many! We are strong! We can +always protect you." + +"I am not afraid," she calmly replied. + +He then led us to that chestnut tree, in the branches of which I had sat +during a lonely and memorable night, when all hope had perished of any +earthly deliverance, and said to her with a manifest touch of genuine +emotion, "The God who protected Missi there will always protect you." + +She told him that she had no fear of that kind, but explained to him +that we must for the present go to Aniwa, but would return to Tanna, if +the Lord opened up our way. Nowar, Arkurat, and the rest, seemed to be +genuinely grieved, and it touched my soul to the quick. + +A beautiful incident was the outcome, as we learned only in long after +years. There was at that time an Aniwan Chief on Tanna, visiting +friends. He was one of their great Sacred Men. He and his people had +been promised a passage home in the _Dayspring_, with their canoes in +tow. When old Nowar saw that he could not keep us with himself, he went +to this Aniwan Chief, and took the white shells, the insignia of +Chieftainship, from his own arm, and bound them on the Sacred Man, +saying, "By these you promise to protect my Missi and his wife and child +on Aniwa. Let no evil befall them; or, by this pledge, I and my people +will revenge it." + +In a future crisis, this probably saved our lives, as shall be +afterwards related. After all, a bit of the Christ-Spirit had found its +way into that old cannibal's soul! And the same Christ-Spirit in me +yearned more strongly still, and made it a positive pain to pass on to +another Island, and leave him in that dim-groping twilight of the soul. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. +OUR NEW HOME ON ANIWA. + +ANIWA became my Mission Home in November, 1866; and for the next fifteen +years it was the heart and center of my personal labors in the Heathen +World. Since 1881, alas! my too frequent deputation pilgrimages among +Churches in Great Britain and in the Colonies have rendered my visits to +Aniwa but few and far between. God never guided me back to Tanna; but +others, my dear friends, have seen His Kingdom planted and beginning to +grow amongst that slowly relenting race. Aniwa was to be the land +wherein my past years of toil and patience and faith were to see their +fruits ripening at length. I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace +of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour's feet. + +The Island of Aniwa is one of the smaller isles of the New Hebrides. It +measures scarcely seven miles by two, and is everywhere girt round with +a belt of coral reef. The sea breaks thereon heavily, with thundering +roar, and the white surf rolls in furious and far. But there are days of +calm, when all the sea is glass, and the spray on the reef is only a +fringe of silver. + +Aniwa, having no hills to attract and condense the clouds, suffers badly +for lack of genial rains; and the heavy rains of hurricane and tempest +seem to disappear as if by magic through the light soil and porous rock. +The moist atmosphere and the heavy dews, however keep the Island covered +with green, while large and fruitful trees draw wondrous nourishment +from their rocky beds. + +Aniwa has no harbor, or safe anchorage of any kind for ships; though, in +certain winds, they have been seen at anchor on the outer edge of the +reef, always a perilous haven! There is one rock in the coral belt, +through which a boat can safely run to shore; but the little wharf, +built there of the largest coral blocks that could be rolled together, +has been once and again swept clean off by the hurricane, leaving "not a +wrack behind." + +When we landed, the Natives received us kindly. They and the Aneityumese +Teachers led us to a temporary home, prepared for our abode. It was a +large Native Hut. Walls and roof consisted of sugar-cane leaf and reeds, +intertwisted on a strong wooden frame. It had neither doors nor windows, +but open spaces instead of these. The earthen floor alone looked +beautiful, covered thick with white coral broken small. It had only one +apartment; and that, meantime, had to serve also for Church and School +and Public Hall. We screened off a little portion, and behind that +screen planted our bed, and stored our valuables. All the natives within +reach assembled to watch us taking our food! A box at first served for a +chair, the lid of another box was our table, our cooking was all done in +the open air under a large tree, and we got along with amazing comfort. +But the house was under the shelter of a coral rock, and we saw at a +glance that at certain seasons it would prove a very hotbed of fever and +ague. We were, however, only too thankful to enter it, till a better +could be built, and on a breezier site. + +The Aniwans were not so violently dishonorable as the Tannese. But they +had the knack of asking in a rather menacing manner whatever they +coveted; and the tomahawk was sometimes swung to enforce an appeal. We +strove to get along quietly and kindly, in the hope that when we knew +their language, and could teach them the principles of Jesus, they would +be saved, and life and property would be secure. But the rumor of the +_Curaçoa's_ visit and her punishment of murder and robbery did more, by +God's blessing, to protect us during those Heathen days than all other +influences combined. The savage cannibal was heard to whisper to his +bloodthirsty mates, "not to murder or to steal, for the Man-of-war that +punished Tanna would blow up their little island!" + +Sorrowful experience on Tanna had taught us to seek the site of our +Aniwan house on the highest ground, and away from the malarial +influences near the shore. There was one charming mound, covered with +trees, whose roots ran down into the crevices of coral, and from which +Tanna and Erromanga are clearly seen. But there the Natives for some +superstitious reason forbade us to build, and we were constrained to +take another rising ground somewhat nearer the shore. In the end, this +turned out to be the very best site on the island for us, central and +suitable every way. But we afterwards learned that perhaps superstition +also led them to sell us this site, in the malicious hope that it would +prove our ruin. The mounds on the top, which had to be cleared away, +contained the bones and refuse of their Cannibal feasts for ages. None +but their Sacred Men durst touch them; and the Natives watched us hewing +and digging, certain that their gods would strike us dead! That failing, +their thoughts may probably have been turned to reflect that after all +the Jehovah God was stronger than they. + +In leveling the site, and gently sloping the sides of the ground for +good drainage purposes, I had gathered together two large baskets of +human bones. I said to a Chief in Tannese, "How do these bones come to +be here?" + +And he replied, with a shrug worthy of a cynical Frenchman, "Ah, we are +not Tanna-men! We don't eat the bones!" + + + +CHAPTER LIX. +HOUSE-BUILDING FOR GOD. + +THE site being now cleared, we questioned whether to build only a +temporary home, hoping to return to dear old Tanna as soon as possible, +or, though the labor would be vastly greater, a substantial house--for +the comfort of our successors, if not of ourselves. We decided that, as +this was work for God, we would make it the very best we could. We +planned two central rooms, sixteen feet by sixteen, with a five feet +wide lobby between, so that other rooms could be added when required. +About a quarter of a mile from the sea, and thirty-five feet above its +level, I laid the foundations of the house. Coral blocks raised the wall +about three feet high all round. Air passages carried sweeping currents +underneath each room, and greatly lessened the risk of fever and ague. A +wide trench was dug all round, and filled up as a drain with broken +coral. At back and front, the verandah stretched five feet wide; and +pantry, bath-room, and tool-house were partitioned off under the +verandah behind. The windows sent to me had hinges; I added two feet to +each, with wood from Mission-boxes, and made them French door-windows, +opening from each room to the verandah. And so we had, by God's +blessing, a healthy spot to live in, if not exactly a thing of beauty! + +The Mission House, as ultimately finished, had six rooms, three on each +side of the lobby, and measured ninety feet in length, surrounded by a +verandah, one hundred feet by five, which kept everything shaded and +cool. Underneath two rooms a cellar was dug eight feet deep, and shelved +all round for a store. In more than one terrific hurricane that cellar +saved our lives,--all crushing into it when trees and houses were being +tossed like feathers on the wings of the wind. Altogether, the house at +Aniwa has proved one of the healthiest and most commodious of any that +have been planted by Christian hands on the New Hebrides. In selecting +site and in building "the good hand of our God was upon us for good." + +I built also two small Orphanages, almost as inevitably necessary as the +Missionary's own house. They stood on a line with the front of my own +dwelling, one for girls, the other for boys, and we had them constantly +under our own eyes. The orphans were practically boarded at the Mission +premises, and adopted by the Missionaries. Their clothing was a heavy +drain upon our resources; and every odd and curious article that came in +any of the boxes or parcels was utilized. We trained these young people +for Jesus. And at this day many of the best of our Native Teachers, and +most devoted Christian helpers, are amongst those who would probably +have perished but for these Orphanages. + +Every day after dinner we set the bell a-ringing--intimating, from, our +first arrival on Aniwa, readiness to give advice or medicine to all who +were sick. We spoke to them, so soon as we had learned, a few words +about Jesus. The weak received a cup of tea and a piece of bread. The +demand was sometimes great, especially when epidemics befell them. But +some rather fled from us as the cause of their sickness, and sought +refuge from our presence in remotest corners, or rushed off at our +approach and concealed themselves in the bush. They were but children, +and full of superstition; and we had to win them by kindly patience, +never losing faith in them and hope for them, any more than the Lord did +with us! + +Our learning the language on Aniwa was marked by similar incidents to +those of Tanna related in a preceding chapter; though a few of them +could understand my Tannese, and that greatly helped me. One day a man, +after carefully examining some article, turned to his neighbor and said, +"Taha tinei?" + +I inferred that he was asking, "What is this?" Pointing to another +article, I repeated their words; they smiled at each other, and gave me +its name. + +On another occasion, a man said to his companion, looking toward me, +"Taha neigo?" Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed towards +him, and repeated the words, and they at once gave me their names. + +Readers would be surprised to discover how much you can readily learn of +any language, with these two short questions constantly on your lips, +and with people ready at every turn to answer--"What's this?" "What's +your name?" Every word was at once written down, spelled phonetically +and arranged in alphabetic order, and a note appended as to the +circumstances in which it was used. By frequent comparison of these +notes, and by careful daily and even hourly imitation of all their +sounds, we were able in a measure to understand each other before we had +gone far in the house-building operations, during which some of them +were constantly beside me. + +One incident of that time was very memorable, and God turned it to good +account for higher ends. I often tell it as "the miracle of the speaking +bit of wood"; and it has happened to other Missionaries exactly as to +myself. While working at the house, I required some nails and tools. +Lifting a piece of planed wood, I penciled a few words on it, and +requested our old Chief to carry it to Mrs. Paton, and she would send +what I wanted. In blank wonder, he innocently stared at me, and said, +"But what do you want?" + +I replied, "The wood will tell her." He looked rather angry, thinking +that I befooled him, and retorted, "Who ever heard of wood speaking?" + +By hard pleading I succeeded in persuading him to go. He was amazed to +see her looking at the wood and then fetching the needed articles. He +brought back the bit of wood, and eagerly made signs for an explanation. +Chiefly in broken Tannese I read to him the words, and informed him that +in the same way God spoke to us through His Book. The will of God was +written there, and by and by, when he learned to read, he would hear God +speaking to him from its page, as Mrs. Paton heard me from the bit of +wood. + +A great desire was thus awakened in the poor man's soul to see the very +Word of God printed in his own language. He helped me to learn words and +master ideas with growing enthusiasm. And when my work of translating +portions of Holy Scripture began, his delight was unbounded and his help +invaluable. The miracle of a speaking page was not less wonderful than +that of speaking wood! + +One day, while building the house, an old Inland Chief and his three +sons came to see us. Everything was to them full of wonder. After +returning home one of the sons fell sick, and the father at once blamed +us and the Worship, declaring that if the lad died we all should be +murdered in revenge. By God's blessing, and by our careful nursing and +suitable medicine, he recovered and was spared. The old Chief +superstitiously wheeled round almost to another extreme. He became not +only friendly, but devoted to us. He attended the Sabbath Services, and +listened to the Aneityumese Teachers, and to my first attempts, partly +in Tannese, translated by the orator Taia or the Chief Namakei, and +explained in our hearing to the people in their mother tongue. + +But on the heels of this, another calamity overtook us. So soon as two +rooms of the Mission House were roofed in, I hired the stoutest of the +young men to carry our boxes thither. Two of them started off with a +heavy box suspended on a pole from shoulder to shoulder, their usual +custom. They were shortly after attacked with vomiting of blood; and one +of them, an Erromangan, actually died. The father of the other swore +that, if his son did not get better, every soul at the Mission House +should be slain in revenge. But God mercifully restored him. + +As the boat-landing was nearly three-quarters of a mile distant, and +such a calamity recurring would be not only sorrowful in itself but +perilous in the extreme for us all, I steeped my wits, and with such +crude materials as were at hand, I manufactured not only a hand-barrow, +but a wheel-barrow, for the pressing emergencies of the time. In due +course, I procured a more orthodox hand-cart from the Colonies, and +coaxed and bribed the Natives to assist me in making a road for it. +Perhaps the ghost of _Macadam_ would shudder at the appearance of that +road, but it has proved immensely useful ever since. + + + +CHAPTER LX. +A CITY OF GOD. + +When, in the course of years, everything had been completed to our +taste, we lived practically in the midst of a beautiful village,--the +Church, the School, the Orphanage, the Smithy and Joiner's Shop, the +Printing Office, the Banana and Yam House, the Cook House, etc.; all +very humble indeed, but all standing sturdily up there among the +orange-trees, and preaching the Gospel of a higher civilization and of a +better life for Aniwa. The little road leading to each door was laid +with the white coral broken small. The fence around all shone fresh and +clean with new paint. Order and taste were seen to be laws in the white +man's New Life; and several of the Natives began diligently to follow +our example. + +Many and strange were the arts which I had to try to practise, such as +handling the adze, the mysteries of tenon and mortise, and other feats +of skill. If a Native wanted a fish-hook, or a piece of red calico to +bind his long whip-cord hair, he would carry me a block of coral or +fetch me a beam; but continuous daily toil seemed to him a mean +existence. The women were tempted, by calico and beads for pay, to +assist in preparing the sugar-cane leaf for thatch, gathering it in the +plantations, and tying it over reeds four or six feet long with strips +of bark of pandanus leaf, leaving a long fringe hanging over on one +side. How differently they acted when the Gospel began to touch their +hearts! They built their Church and their Schools then, by their own +free toil, rejoicing to labor without money or price; and they have ever +since kept them in good repair, for the service of the Lord, by their +voluntary offerings of wood and sugar-cane leaf and coral-lime. + +The roof was firmly tied on and nailed; thereon were laid the reeds, +fringed with sugar-cane leaf, row after row tied firmly to the wood; the +ridge was bound down by cocoanut leaves, dexterously plaited from side +to side and skewered to the ridge-pole with hard wooden pins; and over +all, a fresh storm-roof was laid on yearly for the hurricane months, +composed of folded cocoanut leaves, held down with planks of wood, and +bound to the frame-work below--which, however, had to be removed again +in April to save the sugar-cane leaf from rotting beneath it. There you +were snugly covered in, and your thatching good to last from eight years +to ten; that is, provided you were not caught in the sweep of the +hurricane, before which trees went flying like straws, huts disappeared +like autumn leaves, and your Mission House, if left standing at all, was +probably swept bare alike of roof and thatch at a single stroke! Well +for you at such times if you have a good barometer indicating the +approach of the storm; and better still, a large cellar like ours, +four-and-twenty feet by sixteen, built round with solid coral +blocks,--where goods may be stored, and whereinto also all your +household may creep for safety, while the tornado tosses your dwelling +about, and sets huge trees dancing around you! We had also to invent a +lime-kiln, and this proved one of the hardest nuts of all that had to be +cracked. The kind of coral required could be obtained only at one spot, +about three miles distant. Lying at anchor in my boat, the Natives dived +into the sea, broke off with hammer and crowbar piece after piece, and +brought it up to me, till I had my load. We then carried it ashore, and +spread it out in the sun to be blistered there for two weeks or so. +Having thus secured twenty or thirty boat-loads, and had it duly +conveyed round to the Mission Station, a huge pit was dug in the ground, +dry wood piled in below, and green wood above to the height of several +feet, and on the top of all the coral blocks were orderly laid. When +this pile had burned for seven or ten days, the coral had been reduced +to excellent lime, and the plasterwork made therefrom shone like marble. + +On one of these trips the Natives performed an extraordinary feat. The +boat with full load was struck heavily by a wave, and the reef drove a +hole in her side. Quick as thought the crew were all in the sea, and, to +my amazement, bearing up the boat with their shoulder and one hand, +while swimming and guiding us ashore with the other! There on the land +we were hauled up, and four weary days were spent fetching and carrying +from the Mission Station every plank, tool, and nail, necessary for her +repair. Every boat for these seas ought to be built of cedar wood and +copper-fastened, which is by far the most economical in the end. And all +houses should be built of wood which is as full as possible of gum or +resin, since the large white ants devour not only other soft woods, but +even Colonial blue gum-trees, the hard cocoanut, and window sashes, +chairs, and tables! + +Glancing back on all these toils, I rejoice that such exhausting demands +are no longer made on our newly-arrived Missionaries. Houses, all ready +for being set up, are now brought down from the Colonies. Zinc roofs and +other improvements have been introduced. The Synod appoints a deputation +to accompany the young Missionary, and plant the house along with +himself at the Station committed to his care. Precious strength is thus +saved for higher uses; and not only property but life itself is +oftentimes preserved. + +I will close this chapter with an incident which, though it came to our +knowledge only years afterwards, closely bears upon our Settlement on +Aniwa. At first we had no idea why they so determinedly refused us one +site, and fixed us to another of their own choice. But after the old +Chief Namakei became a Christian, he one day addressed the Aniwan people +in our hearing to this effect:-- + +"When Missi came we saw his boxes. We knew he had blankets and calico, +axes and knives, fish-hooks and all such things. We said, 'Don't drive +him off, else we will lose all these things. We will let him land. But +we will force him to live on the Sacred Plot. Our gods will kill him, +and we will divide all that he has amongst the men of Aniwa.' But Missi +built his house on our most sacred spot. He and his people lived there, +and the gods did not strike. He planted bananas there, and we said, 'Now +when they eat of these they will all drop down dead, as our fathers +assured us, if any one ate fruit from that ground, except only our +Sacred Men themselves.' These bananas ripened. They did eat them. We +kept watching for days and days, but no one died! Therefore what we say, +and what our fathers have said, is not true. Our gods cannot kill them. +Their Jehovah God is stronger than the gods of Aniwa." + +I enforced old Namakei's appeal, telling them that, though they knew it +not, it was the living and true and only God who had sent them every +blessing which they possessed, and had at last sent us to teach them how +to serve and love and please Him. In wonder and silence they listened, +while I tried to explain to them that Jesus, the Son of this God, had +lived and died and gone to the Father to save them, and that He was now +willing to take them by the hand and lead them through this life to +glory and immortality together with Himself. + +The old Chief led them in prayer--a strange, dark, groping prayer, with +streaks of Heathenism coloring every thought and sentence; but still a +heart-breaking prayer, as the cry of a soul once Cannibal, but now being +thrilled through and through with the first conscious pulsations of the +Christ-Spirit, throbbing into the words--"Father, Father; our Father." + +When these poor creatures began to wear a bit of calico or a kilt, it +was an outward sign of a change, though yet far from civilization. And +when they began to look up and pray to One whom they called "Father, our +Father," though they might be far, very far, from the type of Christian +that dubs itself "respectable," my heart broke over them in tears of +joy; and nothing will ever persuade me that there was not a Divine Heart +in the Heavens rejoicing too. + + + +CHAPTER LXI. +THE RELIGION OF REVENGE. + +ON landing in November, 1866, we found the Natives of Aniwa, some very +shy and distrustful, and others forward and imperious. No clothing was +worn; but the wives and elder women had grass aprons or girdles like our +first parents in Eden. The old Chief interested himself in us and our +work; but the greater number showed a far deeper interest in the axes, +knives, fishhooks, strips of red calico, and blankets, received in +payment for work or for bananas. Even for payment they would scarcely +work at first, and they were most unreasonable, easily offended, and +started off in a moment at any imaginable slight. + +For instance, a Chief once came for medicine. I was so engaged that I +could not attend to him for a few minutes. So off he went, in a great +rage, threatening revenge, and muttering, "I must be attended to! I +won't wait on _him_." Such were the exactions of a naked savage! + +Shortly before our arrival, an Aneityumese Teacher was sacrificed on +Aniwa. The circumstances are illustrative of what may be almost called +their worship of revenge. Many long years ago, a party of Aniwans had +gone to Aneityum on a friendly visit; but the Aneityumese, then all +savages, murdered and ate every man of them save one, who escaped into +the bush. Living on cocoanuts, he awaited a favorable wind, and, +launching his canoe by night, he arrived in safety. The bereaved +Aniwans, hearing his terrible story, were furious for revenge; but the +forty-five miles of sea between proving too hard an obstacle, they made +a deep cut in the earth and vowed to renew that cut from year to year +till the day of revenge came round. Thus the memory of the event was +kept alive for nearly eighty years. + +At length the people of Aneityum came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. +They strongly yearned to spread their saving Gospel to the Heathen +Islands all around. Amid prayers and strong cryings to God they, like +the Church at Antioch, designated two of their leading men to go as +Native Teachers and evangelize Aniwa, viz. Navalak and Nemeyan; whilst +others went forth to Fotuna, Tanna, and Erromanga, as opportunity arose. +Namakei, the principal Chief of Aniwa, had promised to protect and be +kind to them. But as time went on, it was discovered that the Teachers +belonged to the Tribe on Aneityum, and one of them to the very land, +where long ago the Aniwans had been murdered. The Teachers had from the +first known their danger, but were eager to make known the Gospel to +Aniwa. It was resolved that they should die. But the Aniwans, having +promised to protect them, shrank from doing it themselves; so they hired +two Tanna-men and an Aniwan Chief, one of whose parents had belonged to +Tanna, to waylay and shoot the Teachers as they returned from their tour +of Evangelism among the villages on Sabbath afternoon. Their muskets did +not go off, but the murderers rushed upon them with clubs and left them +for dead. + +Nemeyan was dead, and entered that day amongst the noble army of the +Martyrs. Poor Navalak was still breathing, and the Chief Namakei carried +him to his village and kindly nursed him. He pleaded with the people +that the claims of revenge had been satisfied, and that Navalak should +be cherished and sent home,--the Christ-Spirit beginning to work in that +darkened soul! Navalak was restored to his people and is yet living +(1888)--a high class Chief on Aneityum, and an honor to the Church of +God, bearing on his body "the marks of the Lord Jesus." And often since +has he visited Aniwa, in later years, and praised the Lord amongst the +very people who once thirsted for his blood and left him by the wayside +as good as dead! + +For a time, Aniwa was left without any witness for Jesus,--the London +Missionary Society Teachers, having suffered dreadfully for lack of food +and from fever and ague, being also removed. But on a visit of a Mission +vessel, Namakei sent his orator Taia to Aneityum, to tell them that now +revenge was satisfied, the cut in the earth filled up, and a cocoanut +tree planted and flourishing where the blood of the Teachers had been +shed, and that no person from Aneityum would ever be injured by Aniwans. +Further, he was to plead for more Teachers, and to pledge his Chiefs +word that they would be kindly received and protected. They knew not the +Gospel, and had no desire for it; but they wanted friendly intercourse +with Aneityum, where trading vessels called, and whence they might +obtain mats, baskets, blankets, and iron tools. At length two +Aneityumese again volunteered to go, Kangaru and Nelmai, one from each +side of the Island, and were located by the Missionaries, along with +their families, on Aniwa, one with Namakei, and the other at the south +end, to lift up the Standard of a Christlike life among their Heathen +neighbors. + +Taia, who went on the Mission to Aneityum, was a great speaker and also +a very cunning man. He was the old Chief's appointed "Orator" on all +state occasions, being tall and stately in appearance, of great bodily +strength, and possessed of a winning manner. On the voyage to Aneityum +he was constantly smoking and making things disagreeable to all around +him. Being advised not to smoke while on board, he pleaded with the +Missionary just to let him take a whiff now and again till he finished +the tobacco he had in his pipe, and then he would lay it aside. But, +like the widow's meal, it lasted all the way to Aneityum, and never +appeared to get less--at which the innocent Taia expressed much +astonishment! + + + +CHAPTER LXII. +FIRST FRUITS ON ANIWA. + +THE two Teachers and their wives on Aniwa were little better than slaves +when we landed there, toiling in the service of their masters and living +in constant fear of being murdered. Doubtless, however, the mighty +contrast presented by the life, character, and disposition of these +godly Teachers was the sowing of the seed that bore fruit in other +days,--though as yet no single Aniwan had begun to wear clothing out of +respect to Civilization, much less been brought to know and love the +Saviour. + +So soon as I could speak a little to them in their own language, we +began to visit regularly at their villages and to talk to them about +Jesus and His love. We tried also to get them to come to our Church +under the shade of the banyan tree. Nasi and some of the worst +characters would sit scowling not far off, or follow us with loaded +muskets. Using every precaution, we still held on doing our work; +sometimes giving fish-hooks or beads to the boys and girls, showing them +that our objects were kind and not selfish. And however our hearts +sometimes trembled in the presence of imminent death and sank within us, +we stood fearless in their presence, and left all results in the hands +of Jesus. Often have I had to run into the arms of some savage, when his +club was swung or his musket leveled at my head, and, praying to Jesus, +so clung round him that he could neither strike nor shoot me till his +wrath cooled down, and I managed to slip away. Often have I seized the +pointed barrel and directed it upwards, or, pleading with my assailant, +uncapped his musket in the struggle. At other times, nothing could be +said, nothing done, but stand still in silent prayer, asking God to +protect us or to prepare us for going home to His Glory. He fulfilled +His own promise--"I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." + +The first Aniwan that ever came to the knowledge and love of Jesus was +the old Chief Namakei. We came to live on his land, as it was near our +diminutive harbor; and, upon the whole, he and his people were the most +friendly, though his only brother, the Sacred Man of the tribe, on two +occasions tried to shoot me. Namakei came a good deal about us at the +Mission House, and helped us to acquire the language. He discovered that +we took tea evening and morning. When we gave him a cup and a piece of +bread, he liked it well, and gave a sip to all around him. At first he +came for the tea, perhaps, and disappeared suspiciously soon thereafter; +but his interest manifestly grew, till he showed great delight in +helping us in every possible way. Along with him and as his associates +came also the Chief Naswai and his wife Katua. These three grew into the +knowledge of the Saviour together. From being savage Cannibals they rose +before our eyes, under the influence of the Gospel, into noble and +beloved characters, and they and we loved each other exceedingly. + +Namakei brought his little daughter, his only child, the Queen of her +race, called Litsi Soré (=Litsi the Great), and said, "I want to leave +my Litsi with you, I want you to train her for Jesus." + +She was a very intelligent child, learned things like any white girl, +and soon became quite a help to Mrs. Paton. On seeing his niece dressed, +and so smart-looking, the old Chief's only brother, the Sacred Man that +had attempted to shoot me, also brought his child, Litsi Sisi (=the +Little) to be trained like her cousin. The mothers of both were dead. +The children reported all they saw, and all we taught them, and so their +fathers became more deeply interested in our work, and the news of the +Gospel spread far and wide. Soon we had all the Orphans committed to us, +whose guardians were willing to part with them, and our Home become +literally the School of Christ--the boys growing up to help all my +plans, and the girls to help my wife and to be civilized and trained by +her, and many of them developing into devoted Teachers and Evangelists. + +Our earlier Sabbath Services were sad affairs. Every man came +armed--indeed, every man slept with his weapons of war at his side--and +bow and arrow, spear and tomahawk, club and musket, were always ready +for action. On fair days we assembled under the banyan tree, on rainy +days in a Native hut partly built for the purpose. One or two seemed to +listen, but the most lay about on their backs or sides, smoking, +talking, sleeping! When we stopped the feast at the close, which the +Aneityumese Teacher had been forced to prepare before our coming, and +for which they were always ready, the audiences at first went down to +two or three; but these actually came to learn, and a better tone began +immediately to pervade the Service. We informed them that it was for +their good that we taught them, and that they would get no "pay" for +attending Church or School, and the greater number departed in high +dudgeon as very ill-used persons! Others of a more commercial turn came +offering to sell their "idols," and when we would not purchase them, but +urged them to give up and cast them away for love to Jesus, they carried +them off, saying they would have nothing to do with this new Worship. + +Amidst our frequent trials and dangers in those earlier times on Aniwa, +our little Orphans often warned us privately and and saved our lives +from cruel plots. When, in baffled rage, our enemies demanded who had +revealed things to us, I always said, "It was a little bird from the +bush." So the dear children grew to have perfect confidence in us. They +knew we would not betray them; and they considered themselves the +guardians of our lives. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. +TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS. + +WHAT a suggestive tradition of the Fall came to me in one of those early +days on Aniwa! Upon our leaving the hut and removing to our new house, +it was seized upon by Tupa for his sleeping-place, though still +continuing to be used by the Natives as club-house, court of law, etc. +One morning at daylight this Tupa came running to us in great +excitement, wielding his club furiously, and crying, "Missi, I have +killed the Tebil. I have killed Teapolo. He came to catch me last night. +I raised all the people, and we fought him round the house with our +clubs. At daybreak he came out and I killed him dead. We will have no +more bad conduct or trouble now. Teapolo is dead!" + +I said, "What nonsense; Teapolo is a spirit, and cannot be seen." + +But in mad excitement he persisted that he had killed him. And at Mrs. +Paton's advice, I went with the man, and he led me to a great Sacred +Rock of coral near our old hut, over which hung the dead body of a huge +and beautiful sea-serpent, and exclaimed, "There he lies! Truly I killed +him." + +I protested, "That is not the Devil; it is only the body of a serpent." + +The man quickly answered, "Well? but it is all the game! He is Teapolo. +He makes us bad, and causes all our troubles." + +Following up this hint by many inquiries, then and afterwards, I found +that they clearly associated man's troubles and sufferings somehow with +the serpent. They worshiped the Serpent, as a spirit of evil, under the +name of Matshiktshiki; that is to say, they lived in abject terror of +his influence, and all their worship was directed towards propitiating +his rage against man. + +Their story of Creation, at least of the origin of their own Aniwa and +the adjacent Islands, is much more an outcome of the unaided Native +mind. They say that Matshiktshiki fished up these lands out of the sea. +And they show the deep print of his foot on the coral rocks, opposite +each island, whereon he stood as he strained and lifted them up above +the waters. He then threw his great fishing-line round Fotuna, +thirty-six miles distant, to draw it close to Aniwa and make them one +land; but, as he pulled, the line broke and he fell, where his mark may +still be seen upon the rock--so the Islands remain separated unto this +day. + +Matshiktshiki placed men and women on Aniwa. On the southern end of the +Island there was a beautiful spring and a freshwater river, with rich +land all around, for plantations. But the people would not do what +Matshiktshiki wanted them; so he got angry, and split off the richer +part of Aniwa, with the spring and river, and sailed with them across to +Aneityum, leaving them where Dr. Inglis has since built his beautiful +Mission Station. To this day, the river there is called "the water of +Aniwa" by the inhabitants of both islands; and it is the ambition of all +Aniwans to visit Aneityum and drink of that spring and river, as they +sigh to each other, "Alas, for the waters of Aniwa!" + +Their picture of the Flood is equally grotesque. Far back, when the +volcano now on Tanna was part of Aniwa, the rain fell and fell from day +to day, and the sea rose till it threatened to cover everything. All +were drowned except the few who climbed up on the volcano mountain. The +sea had already put out the volcano at the southern end of Aniwa; and +Matshiktshiki, who dwelt in the greater volcano, becoming afraid of the +extinction of his big fire too, split it off from Aniwa with all the +land on the southeastern side, and sailed it across to Tanna on the top +of the flood. There, by his mighty strength, he heaved the volcano to +the top of a high mountain in Tanna, where it remains to this day. For, +on the subsiding of the sea, he was unable to transfer his big fire to +Aniwa; and so it was reduced to a very small island, without a volcano, +and without a river, for the sins of the people long ago. + +Even where there are no snakes they apply the superstitions about the +serpent to a large, black, poisonous lizard called _Kekvau_. They call +it Teapolo, and women or children scream wildly at the sight of one. + +One of the darkest and most hideous blots on Heathenism is the practice +of Infanticide. Only three cases came to our knowledge on Aniwa; but we +publicly denounced them at all hazards, and awoke not only natural +feeling, but the selfish interests of the community for the protection +of the children. These three were the last that died there by parents' +hands. A young husband, who had been jealous of his wife, buried their +male child alive as soon as born. An old Tanna woman, who had no +children living, having at last a fine healthy boy born to her, threw +him into the sea before any one could interfere to save. And a savage, +in anger with his wife, snatched her baby from her arms, hid himself in +the bush till night, and returned without the child, refusing to give +any explanation, except that he was dead and buried. Praise be to God, +these three murderers of their own children were by and by touched with +the story of Jesus, became members of the Church, and each adopted +little orphan children, towards whom they continued to show the most +tender affection and care. + +Wife-murder was also considered quite legitimate. In one of our inland +villages dwelt a young couple, happy in every respect except that they +had no children. The man, being a Heathen, resolved to take home another +wife, a widow with two children. This was naturally opposed by his young +wife. And, without the slightest warning, while she sat plaiting a +basket, he discharged a ball into her from his loaded musket. It crashed +through her arm and lodged in her side. Everything was done that was in +my power to save her life; but on the tenth day tetanus came on, and she +soon after passed away. The man appeared very attentive to her all the +time; but, being a Heathen, he insisted that she had no right to oppose +his wishes! He was not in any way punished or disrespected by the people +of his village, but went out and in amongst them as usual, and took home +the other woman as his wife a few weeks thereafter. His second wife +began to attend Church and School regularly with her children; and at +last he also came along with them, changing very manifestly from his +sullen and savage former self. They have a large family; they are +avowedly trying to train them all for the Lord Jesus, and they take +their places meekly at the Lord's Table. + +It would give a wonderful shock, I suppose, to many namby-pamby +Christians to whom the title "Mighty to Save" conveys no ideas of +reality, to be told that nine or ten converted murderers were partaking +with them the Holy Communion of Jesus! But the Lord who reads the heart, +and weighs every motive and circumstance, has perhaps much more reason +to be shocked by the presence of some of themselves. Penitence opens all +the heart of God--"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. +NELWANG'S ELOPEMENT. + +SOME most absurd and preposterous experiences were forced upon us by the +habits and notions of the people. Amongst these I recall very vividly +the story of Nelwang's elopement with his bride. I had begun, in spare +hours, to lay the foundation of two additional rooms for our house, and +felt rather uneasy to see a well-known savage hanging around every day +with his tomahawk, and eagerly watching me at work. He had killed a man, +before our arrival on Aniwa; and had also startled my wife by suddenly +appearing from amongst the boxes, and causing her to run for life. On +seeing him hovering so alarmingly near, tomahawk in hand, I saluted him, +"Nelwang, do you want to speak to me?" + +"Yes, Missi," he replied; "if you will help me now, I will be your +friend forever." + +I answered, "I am your friend. That brought me here and keeps me here." + +"Yes," said he very earnestly, "but I want you to be strong as my +friend, and I will be strong for you!" + +I replied, "Well, how can I help you?" + +He quickly answered, "I want to get married, and I need your help." + +I protested,--"Nelwang, you know that marriages here are all made in +infancy, by children being bought and betrothed to their future +husbands. How can I interfere? You don't want to bring evil on me and my +wife and child? It might cost us our lives." + +"No! no! Missi," earnestly retorted Nelwang. "No one hears of this, or +can hear. Only help me now. You tell me, if you were my circumstances, +how would you act?" + +"That's surely very simple," I answered. "Every man knows how to go +about that business, if he wants to be honest! Look out for your +intended, find out if she loves you and the rest will follow +naturally,--you will marry her." + +"Yes," argued Nelwang, "but just there my trouble comes in!" + +"Do you know the woman you would like to get?" I asked, wishing to bring +him to some closer issue. + +"Yes," replied he very frankly, "I want to marry Yakin, the Chiefs' +widow up at the inland village, and that will break no infant +betrothals." + +"But," I persevered, "do you know if she loves you or would take you?" + +"Yes," replied Nelwang; "one day I met her on the path and told her I +would like to have her for my wife. She took out her ear-rings and gave +them to me, and I know thereby that she loves me. I was one of her late +husband's men; and if she had loved any of them more than she loved me, +she would have given them to another. With the ear-rings she gave me her +heart." + +"Then why," I insisted, "don't you go and marry her?" + +"There," said Nelwang gravely, "begins my difficulty. In her village +there are thirty young men for whom there are no wives. Each of them +wants her, but no one has the courage to take her, for the other +nine-and-twenty will shoot him!" + +"And if you take her," I suggested, "the disappointed thirty will shoot +you!" + +"That's exactly what I see, Missi," continued Nelwang; "but I want you +just to think you are in my place, and tell me how you would carry her +off. You white men can always succeed. Missi, hear my plans, and advise +me." + +With as serious a face as I could command, I had to listen to Nelwang, +to enter into his love affair, and to make suggestions, with a view to +avoiding bloodshed and other miseries. The result of the deliberations +was that Nelwang was to secure the confidence of two friends, his +brother and the orator Taia, to place one at each end of the coral rocks +above the village as watchmen, to cut down with his American tomahawk a +passage through the fence at the back, and to carry off his bride at +dead of night into the seclusion and safety of the bush! Nelwang's eyes +flashed as he flourished his tomahawk about and cried, "I see it now, +Missi! I shall win her from them all. Yakin and I will be strong for you +all our days." + +Next morning Yakin's house was found deserted. They sent to all the +villages around, but no one had seen her. The hole in the fence behind +was then discovered, and the thirty whispered to each other that Yakin +had been wooed and won by some daring lover. Messengers were despatched +to all the villages, and Nelwang was found to have disappeared on the +same night as the widow, and neither could anywhere be found. + +The usual revenge was taken. The houses of the offenders burned, their +fences broken down, and all their property either destroyed or +distributed. Work was suspended, and the disappointed thirty solaced +themselves by feasting at Yakin's expense. + +Three weeks passed. The runaways were nowhere to be found. It was +generally believed that they had gone in a canoe to Tanna or Erromanga. +But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang +appeared at my side! + +"Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?" + +"I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on +cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy. I come now to +fulfil my promise: I will help you, and Yakin will help Missi Paton the +woman, and we shall be your friends. I have ground to be built upon and +fenced, whenever we dare; but we will come and live with you, till peace +is secured. Will you let us come to-morrow morning?" + +"All right!" I said. "Come to-morrow!" And, trembling with delight, he +disappeared into the bush. + +Thus strangely God provided us with wonderful assistance. Yakin soon +learnt to wash and dress and clean everything, and Nelwang served me +like a faithful disciple. They clung by us like our very shadow, partly +through fear of attack, partly from affection; but as each of them could +handle freely both musket and tomahawk, which, though laid aside, were +never far away, it was not every enemy that cared to try issues with +Nelwang and his bride. After a few weeks had thus passed by, and as both +of them were really showing an interest in things pertaining to Jesus +and His Gospel, I urged them strongly to appear publicly at the Church +on Sabbath, to show that they were determined to stand their ground +together as true husband and wife, and that the others must accept the +position and become reconciled. Delay now could gain no purpose, and I +wished the strife and uncertainty to be put to an end. + +Nelwang knew our customs. Every worshiper has to be seated, when our +Church bell ceases ringing. Aniwans would be ashamed to enter after the +Service had actually begun. As the bell ceased, Nelwang, knowing that he +would have a clear course, marched in, dressed in shirt and kilt, but +grasping very determinedly his tomahawk! He sat down as near to me as he +could conveniently get, trying hard to conceal his manifest agitation. +Silently smiling towards me, he then turned and looked eagerly at the +other door through which the women entered and left the Church, as if to +say, "Yakin is coming!" But his tomahawk was poised ominously on his +shoulder, and his courage gave him a defiant and almost impudent air. He +was evidently quite ready to sell his life at a high price, if any one +was prepared to risk the consequences. + +In a few seconds Yakin entered; and if Nelwang's bearing and appearance +were rather inconsistent with the feeling of worship,--what on earth was +I to do when the figure and costume of Yakin began to reveal itself +marching in? The first visible difference betwixt a Heathen and a +Christian is,--that the Christian wears some clothing, the Heathen wears +none. Yakin had determined to show the extent of her Christianity by the +amount of clothing she could carry upon her person. Being a Chief's +widow before she became Nelwang's bride, she had some idea of state +occasions, and appeared dressed in every article of European apparel, +mostly portions of male attire, that she could beg or borrow from about +the premises! Her bridal gown was a man's drab-colored great-coat, put +on above her Native grass skirts, and sweeping down to her heels, +buttoned tight. Over this she had hung on a vest, and above that again, +most amazing of all, she had superinduced a pair of men's trousers, +planting the body of them on her neck and shoulders, and leaving her +head and face looking out from between the legs--a leg from either side +streaming over her bosom arid dangling down absurdly in front! Fastened +to the one shoulder also there was a red shirt, and to the other a +striped shirt, waving about her like wings as she sailed along. Around +her head a red shirt had been twisted like a turban, and her notions of +art demanded that a sleeve thereof should hang aloft over each of her +ears! She seemed to be a moving monster loaded with a mass of rags. The +day was excessively hot, and the perspiration poured over her face in +streams. She, too, sat as near to me as she could get on the women's +side of the Church. Nelwang looked at me and then at her, smiling +quietly, as if to say, "You never saw, in all your white world, a bride +so grandly dressed!" + +I little thought what I was bringing on myself when I urged them to come +to Church. The sight of that poor creature sweltering before me +constrained me for once to make the service very short--perhaps the +shortest I ever conducted in all my life! The day ended in peace. The +two souls were extremely happy; and I praised God that what might have +been a scene of bloodshed had closed thus, even though it were in a kind +of wild grotesquerie! + + + +CHAPTER LXV. +THE CHRIST-SPIRIT AT WORK. + +THE progress of God's work was most conspicuous in, relation to wars and +revenges among the Natives. The two high Chiefs, Namakei and Naswai, +frequently declared, "We are the men of Christ now. We must not fight. +We must put down murders and crimes among our people." + +Two young fools, returning from Tanna with muskets, attempted twice to +shoot a man in sheer wantonness and display of malice. The Islanders +met, and informed them that if man or woman was injured by them, the +other men would load their muskets and shoot them dead in general +council. This was a mighty step towards public order, and I greatly +rejoiced before the Lord. His Spirit, like leaven, was at work! + +My constant custom was, in order to prevent war, to run right in between +the contending parties. My faith enabled me to grasp and realize the +promise, "Lo, I am with you always." In Jesus I felt invulnerable and +immortal, so long as I was doing His work. And I can truly say that +these were the moments when I felt my Saviour to be most truly and +sensibly present, inspiring and empowering me. + +Another scheme had an excellent educative and religious influence. I +tried to interest all the villages, and to treat all the Chiefs equally. +In our early days, after getting into my two-roomed house, I engaged the +Chief, or representative man of each district, to put up one or other at +the many outhouses required at the Station. One, along with his people, +built the cookhouse; another, the store; another, the banana and +yam-house; another, the washing-house; another, the boys and girls' +house; the houses for servants and teachers, the Schoolhouse, and the +large shed, a kind of shelter where Natives sat and talked when not at +work about the premises. Of course these all were at first only Native +huts, of larger or smaller dimensions. But they were all built by +contract for articles which they highly valued, such as axes, knives, +yards of prints and calico, strings of beads, blankets, etc. They served +our purpose for the time, and when another party, by contract also, had +fenced around our premises, the Mission Station was really a beautiful, +little, lively, and orderly village, and in itself no bad emblem of +Christian and civilized life. The payments, made to all irrespectively, +but only for work duly done and according to reasonable bargain, +distributed property and gifts amongst them on wholesome principles, and +encouraged a well-conditioned rivalry which had many happy effects. + +Heathenism made many desperate and some strange efforts to stamp out our +Cause on Aniwa, but the Lord held the helm. One old Chief, formerly +friendly, turned against us. He ostentatiously set himself to make a +canoe, working at it very openly and defiantly on Sabbaths. He, becoming +sick and dying, his brother started, on a Sabbath morning and in +contempt of the Worship, with an armed company to provoke our people to +war. They refused to fight; and one man, whom he struck with his club, +said, "I will leave my revenge to Jehovah." + +A few days thereafter, this brother also fell sick and suddenly died. +The Heathen party made much of these incidents, and some clamored for +our death in revenge, but most feared to murder us; so they withdrew and +lived apart from our friends, as far away as they could get. By and by, +however, they set fire to a large district belonging to our supporters +burning cocoanut and breadfruit trees and plantations. Still our people +refused to fight, and kept near to protect us. Then all the leading men +assembled to talk it over. Most were for peace, but some insisted upon +burning our house and driving us away or killing us, that they might be +left to live as they had hitherto done. At last a Sacred Man, a Chief +who had been on Tanna when the Curaçoa punished the murderers and +robbers, but protected the villages of the friendly Natives there, stood +up and spoke in our defense, and warned them what might happen; and +other three, who had been under my instruction on Tanna, declared +themselves to be the friends of Jehovah and of His Missionary. Finally, +the Sacred Man rose again, and showed them rows of beautiful white +shells strung round his left arm, saying-- + +"Nowar, the great Chief at Port Resolution on Tanna, when he saw that +Missi and his wife could not be kept there, took me to his heart, and +pledged me by these, the shells of his office as Chief, taken from his +own arm and bound on mine, to protect them from all harm. He told me to +declare to the men of Aniwa that if the Missi be injured or slain, he +and his warriors will come from Tanna and take the full revenge in +blood." This turned the scale. The meeting closed in our favor. + +Close on the heels of this, another and a rather perplexing incident +befell us. A party of Heathens assembled and made a great display of +fishing on the Lord's Day, in contempt of the practice of the men on +Jehovah's side, threatening also to waylay the Teachers and myself in +our village circuits. A meeting was held by the Christian party, at the +close of the Sabbath Services. All who wished to serve Jehovah were to +come to my house next morning, unarmed, and accompany me on a visit to +our enemies, that we might talk and reason together with them. By +daybreak, the Chiefs and nearly eighty men assembled at the Mission +House, declaring that they were on Jehovah's side, and wished to go with +me. But, alas! they refused to lay down their arms, or leave them +behind; nor would they either refrain from going or suffer me to go +alone. Pledging them to peace, I was reluctantly placed at their head, +and we marched off to the village of the unfriendly party. + +The villagers were greatly alarmed. The Chief's two sons came forth with +every available man to meet us. That whole day was consumed in talking +and speechifying, sometimes chanting their replies--the Natives are all +inveterate talkers! To me the day was utterly wearisome; but it had one +redeeming feature,--their rage found vent in hours of palaver, instead +of blows and blood. It ended in peace. The Heathen were amazed at the +number of Jehovah's friends; and they pledged themselves henceforth to +leave the Worship alone, and that every one who pleased might come to it +unmolested. For this, worn out and weary, we returned, praising the +Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. +THE SINKING OF THE WELL. + +BUT I must here record the story of the Sinking of the Well, which broke +the back of Heathenism on Aniwa. Being a flat coral island, with no +hills to attract the clouds, rain is scarce there as compared with the +adjoining mountainous islands; and even when it does fall heavily, with +tropical profusion, it disappears, as said before, through the light +soil and porous rock, and drains itself directly into the sea. The rainy +season is from December to April, and then the disease most +characteristic of all these regions is apt to prevail, viz., fever and +ague. + +At certain seasons, the Natives drink very unwholesome water; and, +indeed, the best water they had at any time for drinking purposes was +from the precious cocoanut, a kind of Apple of Paradise for all these +Southern Isles! They also cultivate the sugar-cane very extensively, and +in great variety; and they chew it, when we would fly to water for +thirst; so it is to them both food and drink. The black fellow carries +with him to the field, when he goes off for a day's work, four or five +sticks of sugar-cane, and puts in his time comfortably enough on these. +Besides, the sea being their universal bathing-place, in which they +swattle like fish, and little water, almost none, being required for +cooking purposes, and none whatever for washing clothes, the lack of +fresh-springing water was not the dreadful trial to them that it would +be to us. Yet they appreciate and rejoice in it immensely too; though +the water of the green cocoanut is refreshing, and in appearance, taste, +and color not unlike lemonade--one nut filling a tumbler; and though +when mothers die they feed the babies on it and on the soft white pith, +and they flourish on the same, yet the Natives themselves show their +delight in preferring, when they can get it, the water from the well. + +Aniwa, having therefore no permanent supply of fresh water, in spring or +stream or lake, and my own household also suffering sadly for lack of +the same, I resolved by the help of God to sink a well near the Mission +Premises, hoping that a wisdom higher than my own would guide me to the +source of some blessed spring. Of the scientific conditions of such an +experiment I was comparatively ignorant; but I counted on having to dig +through earth and coral above thirty feet, and my constant fear was, +that owing to our environment, the water, if water I found, could only +be salt water after all my toils! Still I resolved to sink that shaft in +hope, and in faith that the Son of God would be glorified thereby. + +One morning I said to the old Chief and his fellow-Chief, both now +earnestly inquiring about the religion of Jehovah and of Jesus, "I am +going to sink a deep well down into the earth, to see if our God will +send us fresh water up from below." + +They looked at me with astonishment, and said in a tone of sympathy +approaching to pity, "O Missi! Wait till the rain comes down, and we +will save all we possibly can for you." + +I replied, "We may all die for lack of water. If no fresh water can be +got, we may be forced to leave you." + +The old Chief looked imploringly, and said "O Missi! you must not leave +us for that. Rain comes only from above. How could you expect our Island +to send up showers of rain from below?" + +I told him, "Fresh water does come up springing from the earth in my +Land at home, and I hope to see it here also." + +The old Chief grew more tender in his tones, and cried, "O Missi, your +head is going wrong; you are losing something, or you would not talk +wild like that! Don't let our people hear you talking about going down +into the earth for rain, or they will never listen to your word or +believe you again." + +But I started upon my hazardous job, selecting a spot near the Mission +Station and close to the public path, that my prospective well might be +useful to all. I began to dig, with pick and spade and bucket at hand, +an American axe for a hammer and crowbar, and a ladder for service by +and bye. The good old Chief now told off his men in relays to watch me, +lest I should attempt to take my own life, or do anything outrageous, +saying, "Poor Missi! That's the way with all who go mad. There's no +driving of a notion out of their heads. We must just watch him now. He +will find it harder to work with pick and spade than with his pen, and +when he's tired we'll persuade him to give it up." + +I did get exhausted sooner than I expected, toiling under that tropical +sun; but we never own before the Natives that we are beaten; so I went +into the house and filled my vest pocket with large, beautiful +English-made fish-hooks. These are very tempting to the young men as +compared with their own,--skilfully made though they be out of shell, +and serving their purposes wonderfully. Holding up a large hook, I +cried, "One of these to every man who fills and turns over three buckets +out of this hole!" + +A rush was made to get the first turn, and back again for another and +another. I kept those on one side who had got a turn, till all the rest +in order had a chance, and bucket after bucket was filled and emptied +rapidly. Still the shaft seemed to lower very slowly, while my +fish-hooks were disappearing very quickly. I was constantly there, and +took the heavy share of everything, and was thankful one evening to find +that we had cleared more than twelve feet deep,--when lo! next morning, +one side had rushed in, and our work was all undone. + +The old Chief and his best men now came around me more earnestly than +ever. He remonstrated with me very gravely. He assured me for the +fiftieth time that rain would never be seen coming up through the earth +on Aniwa! + +"Now," said he, "had you been in that hole last night, you would have +been buried, and a Man-of-war would have come from Queen 'Toria to ask +for the Missi that lived here. We would have to say, 'He is down in that +hole.' The Captain would ask, 'Who killed him and put him down there?' +We would have to say, 'He went down there himself!' The Captain would +answer, 'Nonsense! Who ever heard of a white man going down into the +earth to bury himself? You killed him, you put him there; don't hide +your bad conduct with lies!' Then he would bring out his big guns and +shoot us, and destroy our Island in revenge. You are making your own +grave, Missi, and you will make ours too. Give up this mad freak, for no +rain will be found by going downwards on Aniwa. Besides, all your +fish-hooks cannot tempt my men again to enter that hole; they don't want +to be buried with you. Will you not give it up now?" + +I said all that I could to quiet his fears, explained to them that this +falling in had happened by my neglect of precautions, and finally made +known that by the help of my God, even without all other help, I meant +to persevere. + +Steeping my poor brains over the problem, I became an extemporized +engineer. Two trees were searched for, with branches on opposite sides, +capable of sustaining a cross tree betwixt them. I sank them on each +side firmly into the ground, passed the beam across them over the center +of the shaft, fastened thereon a rude home-made pulley and block, passed +a rope over the wheel, and swung my largest bucket to the end of it. +Thus equipped, I began once more sinking away at the well, but at so +great an angle that the sides might not again fall in. Not a Native, +however, would enter that hole, and I had to pick and dig away till I +was utterly exhausted. But a Native Teacher, in whom I had confidence, +took charge above, managing to hire them with axes, knives, etc., to +seize the end of the rope and walk along the ground, pulling it till the +bucket rose to the surface, and then he himself swung it aside, emptied +it, and lowered it down again. I rang a little bell which I had with me, +when the bucket was loaded, and that was the signal for my brave helpers +to pull their rope. And thus I toiled on from day to day, my heart +almost sinking sometimes with the sinking of the well, till we reached a +depth of about thirty feet. And the phrase, "living water," "living +water," kept chiming through my soul like music from God, as I dug and +hammered away! + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. +RAIN FROM BELOW. + +AT this depth the earth and coral began to be soaked with damp. I felt +that we were nearing water. My soul had a faith that God would open a +spring for us; but side by side with this faith was a strange terror +that the water would be salt. So perplexing and mixed are even the +highest experiences of the soul; the rose-flower of a perfect faith, set +round and round with prickly thorns. One evening I said to the old +Chief, "I think that Jehovah God will give us water to-morrow from that +hole!" + +The Chief said, "No, Missi; you will never see rain coming up from the +earth on this Island. We wonder what is to be the end of this mad work +of yours. We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop through +into the sea and the sharks will eat you! That will be the end of it; +death to you, and danger to us all." + +I still answered, "Come to-morrow. I hope and believe that Jehovah God +will send you the rain water up through the earth." + +At the moment I knew I was risking much, and probably incurring +sorrowful consequences, had no water been given; but I had faith that +the Lord was leading me on, and I knew that I sought His glory, not my +own. + +Next morning, I went down again at daybreak and sank a narrow hole in +the center about two feet deep. The perspiration broke over me with +uncontrollable excitement, and I trembled through every limb, when the +water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy though it was, I +eagerly tasted it, lapping it with my trembling hand, and then I almost +fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom as my heart burst up in praise +to the Lord. It was water! It was fresh water. It was living water from +Jehovah's well! True, it was a little brackish, but nothing to speak of; +and no spring in the desert, cooling the parched lips of a fevered +pilgrim, ever appeared more worthy of being called a Well of God than +did that water to me! + +The Chiefs had assembled with their men near by. They waited on in eager +expectancy. It was a rehearsal, in a small way, of the Israelites coming +round, while Moses struck the rock and called for water. By and by, when +I had praised the Lord, and my excitement was a little calmed, the mud +being also greatly settled, I filled a jug, which I had taken down empty +in the sight of them all, and ascending to the top called for them to +come and see the rain which Jehovah God had given us through the well. +They closed around me in haste, and gazed on it in superstitious fear. +The old Chief shook it to see if it would spill, and then touched it to +see if it felt like water. At last he tasted it, and rolling it in his +mouth with joy for a moment, he swallowed it, and shouted, "Rain! Rain! +Yes, it is Rain! But how did you get it?" + +I repeated, "Jehovah my God gave it out of His own Earth in answer to +our labors and prayers. Go and see it springing up for yourselves!" + +Now, though every man there could climb the highest tree as swiftly and +as fearlessly as a squirrel or an opossum, not one of them had courage +to walk to the side and gaze down into that well. To them this was +miraculous! But they were not without a resource that met the emergency. +They agreed to take firm hold of each other by the hand, to place +themselves in a long line, the foremost man to lean cautiously forward, +gaze into the well, and then pass to the rear, and so on till all had +seen "Jehovah's rain" far below. It was somewhat comical, yet far more +pathetic, to stand by and watch their faces, as man after man peered +down into the mystery, and then looked up at me in blank bewilderment! +When all had seen it with their own very eyes, and were "weak with +wonder," the old Chief exclaimed-- + +"Missi, wonderful, wonderful is the work of your Jehovah God! No god of +Aniwa ever helped us in this way. The world is turned upside down since +Jehovah came to Aniwa! But, Missi," continued he, after a pause that +looked liked silent worship, "will it always rain up through the earth? +or will it come and go like the rain from the clouds?" + +I told them that I believed it would always continue there for our use, +as a good gift from Jehovah. + +"Well, but, Missi," replied the Chief some glimmering of self-interest +beginning to strike his brain, "will you or your family drink it all, or +shall we also have some?" + +"You and all your people," I answered, "and all the people of the +Island, may come and drink and carry away as much of it as you wish. I +believe there will always be plenty for us all, and the more of it we +can use the fresher it will be. That is the way with many of our +Jehovah's best gifts to men, and for it and for all we praise His Name!" + +"Then, Missi," said the Chief, "it will be our water, and we may all use +it as our very own." + +"Yes," I answered, "whenever you wish it, and as much as you need, both +here and at your own houses, as far as it can possibly be made to go." + +The Chief looked at me eagerly, fully convinced at length that the well +contained a treasure, and exclaimed, "Missi, what can we do to help you +now?" + +I was thankful, indeed, to accept of the Chief's assistance, now sorely +needed, and I said, "You have seen it fall in once already. If it falls +again, it will conceal the rain from below which our God has given us. +In order to preserve it for us and for our children in all time, we must +build it round and round with great coral blocks from the bottom to the +very top. I will now clear it out, and prepare the foundation for this +wall of coral. Let every man and woman carry from the shore the largest +block they can bring. It is well worth all the toil thus to preserve our +great Jehovah's gift!" + +Scarcely were my words uttered, when they rushed to the shore, with +shoutings and songs of gladness; and soon every one was seen struggling +under the biggest block of coral with which he dared to tackle. They lay +like limestone rocks, broken up by the hurricanes, and rolled ashore in +the arms of mighty billows; and in an incredibly short time scores of +them were tumbled down for my use at the mouth of the well. Having +prepared a foundation, I made ready a sort of bag-basket, into which +every block was firmly tied and then let down to me by the pulley--a +Native Teacher, a faithful fellow, cautiously guiding it. I received and +placed each stone in its position, doing my poor best to wedge them one +against the other, building circularly, and cutting them to the needed +shape with my American ax. The wall is about three feet thick, and the +masonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself decays. I +wrought incessantly, for fear of any further collapse, till I had it +raised about twenty feet; and now, feeling secure, and my hands being +dreadfully cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, and +finish the building then. But the Chief advanced and said-- + +"Missi, you have been strong to work. Your strength has fled. But rest +here beside us; and just point out where each block is to be laid. We +will lay them there, we will build them solidly behind like you. And no +man will sleep till it is done." + +With all their will and heart they started on the job; some carrying, +some cutting and squaring the blocks, till the wall rose like magic, and +a row of the hugest rocks laid round the top, bound all together, and +formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys, and all wished to have a hand +in building it, and it remains to this day, a solid wall of masonry, the +circle being thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at the top, and six +at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all, and fixed the +windlass and bucket, and there it stands as one of the greatest material +blessings which the Lord has given to Aniwa. It rises and falls with the +tide, though a third of a mile distant from the sea; and when, after +using it, we tasted the pure fresh water on board the _Dayspring_, the +latter seemed so insipid that I had to slip a little salt into my tea +along with the sugar before I could enjoy it! All visitors are taken to +see the well, as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of the Native +Church said to me, on a recent visit, "But for that water, during the +last two years of drought, we would have all been dead!" + +Very strangely, though the Natives themselves have since tried to sink +six or seven wells in the most likely places near their different +villages, they have either come to coral rock which they could not +pierce, or found only water that was salt. And they say amongst +themselves, "Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed and cried +to his God. We have learned to dig, but not how to pray, and therefore +Jehovah will not give us the rain, from below!" + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. +THE OLD CHIEF'S SERMON. + +THE well was now finished. The place was neatly fenced in. And the old +Chief said, "Missi, I think I could help you next Sabbath. Will you let +me preach a sermon on the well?" + +"Yes," I at once replied, "if you will try to bring all the people to +hear you." + +"Missi, I will try," he eagerly promised. The news spread like wildfire +that the Chief Namakei was to be Missionary on the next day for the +Worship, and the people, under great expectancy, urged each other to +come and hear what he had to say. + +Sabbath came round. Aniwa assembled in what was for that island a great +crowd. Namakei appeared dressed in shirt and kilt. He was so excited, +and flourished his tomahawk about at such a rate, that it was rather +lively work to be near him. I conducted short opening devotions, and +then called upon Namakei. He rose at once, with eye flashing wildly, and +his limbs twitching with emotion. He spoke to the following effect, +swinging his tomahawk to enforce every eloquent gesticulation:-- + +"Friends of Namakei, men and women and children of Aniwa, listen to my +words! Since Missi came here he has talked many strange things we could +not understand--things things all too wonderful; and we said regarding +many of them that they must be lies. White people might believe such +nonsense, but we said that the black fellow knew better than to receive +it. But of all his wonderful stories, we thought the strangest was about +sinking down through the earth to get rain! Then we said to each other, +The man's head is turned; he's gone mad. But the Missi prayed on and +wrought on, telling us that Jehovah God heard and saw, and that his God +would give him rain. Was he mad? Has he not got the rain deep down in +the earth? We mocked at him; but the water was there all the same. We +have laughed at other things which the Missi told us, because we could +not see them. But from this day I believe that all he tells us about his +Jehovah God is true. Some day our eyes will see it. For to-day we have +seen the rain from the earth." + +Then rising to a climax, first the one foot and then the other making +the broken coral on the floor fly behind like a war-horse pawing the +ground, he cried with great eloquence:-- + +"My people, the people of Aniwa, the world is turned upside down since +the word of Jehovah came to this land! Who ever expected to see rain +coming up through the earth? It has always come from the clouds! +Wonderful is the work of this Jehovah God. No god of Aniwa ever answered +prayers as the Missi's God has done. Friends of Namakei, all the powers +of the world could not have forced us to believe that rain could be +given from the depths of the earth, if we had not seen it with our eyes, +felt it and tasted it as we here do. Now, by the help of Jehovah God the +Missi brought that invisible rain to view, which we never before heard +of or saw, and"--(beating his hand on his breast, he exclaimed):-- + +"Something here in my heart tells me that the Jehovah God does exist, +the Invisible One, whom we never heard of nor saw till the Missi brought +Him to our knowledge. The coral has been removed, the land has been +cleared away, and lo! the water rises. Invisible till this day, yet all +the same it was there, though our eyes were too weak. So I, your Chief, +do now firmly believe that when I die, when the bits of coral and the +heaps of dust are removed which now blind my old eyes, I shall then see +the Invisible Jehovah God with my soul, as Missi tells me, not less +surely than I have seen the rain from the earth below. From this day, my +people, I must worship the God who has opened for us the well, and who +fills us with rain from below. The gods of Aniwa cannot hear, cannot +help us, like the God of Missi. Henceforth I am a follower of Jehovah +God. Let every man that thinks with me go now and fetch the idols of +Aniwa, the gods which our fathers feared, and cast them down at Missi's +feet. Let us burn and bury and destroy these things of wood and stone, +and let us be taught by the Missi how to serve God who can hear, the +Jehovah who gave us the well, and who will give us every other blessing, +for He sent His Son Jesus to die for us and bring us to Heaven. This is +what the Missi has been telling us every day since he landed on Aniwa. +We laughed at him, but now we believe him. The Jehovah God has sent us +rain from the earth. Why should He not also send us His Son from Heaven? +Namakei stands up for Jehovah!" + +This address, and the Sinking of the Well, broke the back of Heathenism +on Aniwa. That very afternoon, the old Chief and several of his people +brought their idols and cast them down at my feet beside the door of our +house. Oh, the intense excitement of the weeks that followed! Company +after company came to the spot, loaded with their gods of wood and +stone, and piled them up in heaps, amid the tears and sobs of some, and +the shoutings of others, in which was heard the oft-repeated word, +"Jehovah! Jehovah!" What could be burned, we cast into the flames; +others we buried in pits twelve or fifteen feet deep; and some few, more +likely than the rest to feed or awaken superstition, we sank far out +into the deep sea. Let no Heathen eyes ever gaze on them again! + +One of the very first steps in Christian discipline to which they +readily and almost unanimously took was the asking of God's blessing on +every meal and praising the great Jehovah for their daily bread. +Whosoever did not do so was regarded as a Heathen. (Query: how many +white Heathens are there?) The next step, and it was taken in a manner +as if by some common consent that was not less surprising than joyful, +was a form of Family Worship every morning and evening. Doubtless the +prayers were often very queer, and mixed up with many remaining +superstitions; but they were prayers to the great Jehovah, the +compassionate Father, the Invisible One--no longer to gods of stone! + +Necessarily these were the conspicuous features of our life as +Christians in their midst--morning and evening Family Prayer, and Grace +at Meat; and hence, most naturally, their instinctive adoption and +imitation of the same as the first outward tokens of Christian +discipline. Every house in which there was not Prayer to God in the +family was known thereby to be Heathen. This was a direct and practical +evidence of the New Religion; and, so far as it goes (and that is very +far indeed, where there is any sincerity beneath it), the test was one +about which there could be no mistake on either side. + +A third conspicuous feature stood out distinctly and at once,--the +change as to the Lord's Day. Village after village followed in this also +the example of the Mission House. All ordinary occupation ceased. +Sabbath was spoken of as the Day for Jehovah. Saturday came to be called +"Cooking Day," referring to the extra preparations for the coming day of +rest and worship. They believed that it was Jehovah's will to keep the +first day holy. The reverse was a distinctive mark of Heathenism. + +The first traces of a new Social Order began to rise visibly on the +delighted eye. The whole inhabitants, young and old, now attended +School,--three generations sometimes at the one copy or A B C book! +Thefts, quarrels, crimes, etc., were settled now, not by club law, but +by fine or bonds or lash, as agreed upon by the Chiefs and their people. +Everything was rapidly and surely becoming "New" under the influence of +the leaven of Jesus. Industry increased. Huts and plantations were safe. +Formerly every man, in traveling, carried with him all his valuables; +now they were secure, left at home. + +Even a brood of fowls or a litter of pigs would be carried in bags on +their person in Heathen days. Hence at Church we had sometimes lively +episodes, the chirruping of chicks, the squealing of piggies, and the +barking of puppies, one gaily responding to the other, as we sang, or +prayed, or preached the Gospel! Being glad to see the Natives there, +even with all their belongings, we carefully refrained from finding +fault; but the thread of devotion was sometimes apt to slip through +one's fingers, especially when the conflict of the owner to silence a +baby pig inspired the little wretch to drown everything in a +long-sustained and high-pitched scream. + +The natives, finding this state of matters troublesome to themselves and +disagreeable all round, called a General Assembly, unanimously condemned +dishonesty, agreed upon severe fines and punishments for every act of +theft, and covenanted to stand by each other in putting it down. The +chiefs, however found this a long and difficult task, but they held at +it under the inspiration of the gospel and prevailed. Even the trials +and difficulties with which they met were overruled by God, in assisting +them to form by the light of their own experience a simple code of +Social Laws, fitted to repress the crimes there prevailing, and to +encourage the virtues specially needing to be cultivated there. Heathen +Worship was gradually extinguished; and, though no one was compelled to +come to Church, every person on Aniwa, without exception, became ere +many years an avowed worshipper of Jehovah God. Again, "O Galilean, Thou +hast conquered!" + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. +THE FIRST BOOK AND THE NEW EYES. + +THE printing of my first Aniwan book was a great event, not so much for +the toil and worry which it cost me, though that was enough to have +broken the heart of many a compositor, as rather for the joy it gave to +the old Chief Namakei. + +The break-up at Tanna had robbed me of my own neat little +printing-press. I had since obtained at Aneityum the remains of one from +Erromanga, that had belonged to the murdered Gordon. But the supply of +letters, in some cases, was so deficient that I could print only four +pages at a time; and, besides, bits of the press were wanting, and I had +first to manufacture substitutes from scraps of iron and wood. I +managed, however, to make it go, and by and by it did good service. By +it I printed our Aniwan Hymn-Book, a portion of Genesis in Aniwan, a +small book in Erromangan for the second Gordon, and some other little +things. + +The old Chief had eagerly helped me in translating and preparing this +first book. He had a great desire "to hear it speak," as he graphically +expressed it. It was made up chiefly of short passages from the +Scriptures that might help me to introduce them to the treasures of +Divine truth and love. Namakei came to me, morning after morning, +saying, "Missi, is it done? Can it speak?" + +At last I was able to answer, "Yes!" + +The old Chief eagerly responded, "Does it speak my words?" + +I said, "It does." + +With rising interest, Namakei exclaimed, "Make it speak to me, Missi! +Let me hear it speak." + +I read to him a part of the book, and the old man fairly shouted in an +ecstasy of joy, "It does speak! It speaks my own language, too! Oh, give +it to me!" + +He grasped it hurriedly, turned it all round every way, pressed it to +his bosom, and then, closing it with a look of great disappointment, +handed it back to me, saying, "Missi, I cannot make it speak! It will +never speak to me." + +"No," said I; "you don't know how to read it yet, how to make it speak +to you; but I will teach you to read, and then it will speak to you as +it does to me." + +"O Missi, dear Missi, show me how to make it speak!" persisted the +bewildered Chief. He was straining his eyes so, that I suspected they +were dim with age, and could not see the letters. I looked out for him a +pair of spectacles, and managed to fit him well. He was much afraid of +putting them on at first, manifestly in dread of some sort of sorcery. +At last, when they were properly placed, he saw the letters and +everything so clearly that he exclaimed in great excitement and joy-- + +"I see it all now! This is what you told us about Jesus. He opened the +eyes of a blind man. The word of Jesus has just come to Aniwa. He has +sent me these glass eyes. I have gotten back again the sight that I had +when a boy. O Missi, make the book speak to me now!" + +I walked out with him to the public Village Ground. There I drew A B C +in large characters upon the dust, showed him the same letters in the +book, and left him to compare them, and find out how many occurred on +the first page. Fixing these in his mind, he came running to me, and +said, "I have lifted up A B C. They are here in my head and I will hold +them fast. Give me other three." + +This was repeated time after time. He mastered the whole Alphabet, and +soon began to spell out the smaller words. Indeed, he came so often, +getting me to read it over and over, that before he himself could read +it freely, he had it word for word committed to memory. When strangers +passed him, or young people came around, he would get out the little +book, and say, "Come, and I will let you hear how the book speaks our +own Aniwan words. You say, it is hard to learn to read and make it +speak. But be strong to try! If an old man like me has done it, it ought +to be much easier for you." + +One day I heard him read to a company with wonderful fluency. Taking the +book, I asked him to show me how he had learned to read so quickly. +Immediately I perceived that he could recite the whole from memory! He +became our right-hand helper in the Conversion of Aniwa. + +Next after God's own Word, perhaps the power of Music was most amazingly +blessed in opening up our way. Amongst many other illustrations, I may +mention how Namakei's wife was won. The old lady positively shuddered at +coming near the Mission House, and dreaded being taught anything. One +day she was induced to draw near the door, and fixing a hand on either +post, and gazing inwards, she exclaimed, "Awái, Missi! Kái, Missi!"--the +Native cry for unspeakable wonder. Mrs. Paton began to play on the +harmonium, and sang a simple hymn in the old woman's language. +Manifestly charmed, she drew nearer and nearer, and drank in the music, +as it were, at every pore of her being. At last she ran off, and we +thought it was with fright, but it was to call together all the women +and girls from her village "to hear the _bokis_ sing!" (Having no _x_, +the word _box_ is pronounced thus.) She returned with them all at her +heels. They listened with dancing eyes. And ever after the sound of a +hymn, and the song of the _bokis_, made them flock freely to class or +meeting. + +Being myself as nearly as possible destitute of the power of singing, +all my work would have been impaired and sadly hindered, and the joyous +side of the Worship and Service of Jehovah could not have been presented +to the Natives, but for the gift bestowed by the Lord on my dear wife. +She led our songs of praise, both in the Family and in the Church, and +that was the first avenue by which the New Religion winged its way into +the heart of Cannibal and Savage. + +The old Chief was particularly eager that this same aged lady, his wife +Yauwaki, should be taught to read. But her sight was far gone. So, one +day, he brought her to me, saying, "Missi, can you give my wife also a +pair of new glass eyes like mine? She tries to learn, but she cannot see +the letters. She tries to sew, but she pricks her finger, and throws +away the needle, saying, 'The ways of the white people are not good!' If +she could get a pair of glass eyes, she would be in a new world like +Namakei." In my bundle I found a pair that suited her. She was in +positive terror about putting them on her face, but at last she cried +with delight, "Oh, my new eyes! my new eyes! I have the sight of a +little girl. Oh, my new eyes!" + + + +CHAPTER LXX. +A ROOF-TREE FOR JESUS. + +AT first we moved about amongst the Natives from village to village, +acquired their language, and taught them everywhere,--by the roadside, +under the shade of a tree, or on the public Tillage Ground. Our old +Native Hut, when we removed to the Mission House formerly referred to, +was also used for all sorts of public meetings. Feeling by and by, +however, that the time had come to interest them in building a new +Church, and that it would be every way helpful, I laid the proposal +before them, carefully explaining that for this work no one would be +paid, that the Church was for all the Islanders and for the Worship +alone, and that every one must build purely for the love of Jesus. + +I told them that God would be pleased with such materials as they had to +give, that they must not begin till they had divided the work and +counted the cost, and that for my part I would do all that I could to +direct and help, and would supply the sinnet (= cocoanut fiber rope) +which I had brought from Aneityum, and the nails from Sydney. + +They held meeting after meeting throughout the Island. Chiefs made long +speeches; orators chanted their palavers; and warriors acted their part +by waving of club and tomahawk. An unprecedented friendliness sprang up +amongst them. They agreed to sink every quarrel, and unite in building +the first Church on Aniwa,--one Chief only holding back. Women and +children began to gather and prepare the sugar-cane leaf for thatch. Men +searched for and cut down suitable trees. + +The Church measured sixty-two feet by twenty-four. The wall was twelve +feet high. The studs were of hard ironwood, and were each by tenon and +mortise fastened into six ironwood trees forming the upper wall plates. +All were not only nailed, but strongly tied together by sinnet-rope, so +as to resist the hurricanes. The roof was supported by four huge +ironwood trees, and a fifth of equally hard wood, sunk about eight feet +into the ground, surrounded by building at the base, and forming massive +pillars. There were two doorways and eight window spaces; the floor was +laid with white coral, broken small, and covered with cocoanut tree +leaf-mats, on which the people sat. I had a small platform, floored and +surrounded with reeds; and Mrs. Paton had a seat enclosing the +harmonium, also made of reeds and in keeping. Great harmony prevailed +all the time, and no mishap marred the work. One hearty fellow fell from +the roof-tree to the ground, and was badly stunned. But, jumping up, he +shook himself, and saying--"I was working for Jehovah! He has saved me +from being hurt!"--he mounted the roof again and went on cheerily with +his work. + +But our pride in this New Church soon met with a dreadful blow. That +very season a terrific hurricane leveled it with the ground. After much +wailing, the principal Chief, in a public Assembly, said, "Let us not +weep, like boys over their broken bows and arrows! Let us be strong, and +build a yet stronger Church for Jehovah." + +By our counsel, ten days were spent first in repairing houses and +fences, and saving food from the plantations, many of which had been +swept into utter ruin. Then they assembled on the appointed day. A hymn +was sung. God's blessing was invoked, and all the work was dedicated +afresh to Him. Days were spent in taking the iron wood roof to pieces, +and saving everything that could be saved. The work was allocated +equally amongst the villages, and a wholesome emulation was created. One +Chief still held back. After a while, I visited him and personally +invited his help,--telling him that it was God's House, and for all the +people of Aniwa; and that if he and his people did not do their part, +the others would cast it in their teeth that they had no share in the +House of God. He yielded to my appeal, and entered vigorously upon the +work. + +One large tree was still needed to complete the couples, and could +nowhere be found. The work was at a standstill; for, though the size was +now reduced to fifty feet by twenty-two, the roof lowered by four feet, +and there was still plenty of smaller wood on Aniwa, the larger trees +were apparently exhausted. One morning, however, we were awakened at +early daybreak by the shouting and singing of a company of men, carrying +a great black tree to the Church, with this same Chief dancing before +them, leading the singing, and beating time with the flourish of his +tomahawk. Determined not to be beaten, though late in the field, he had +lifted the roof-tree out of his own house, as black as soot could make +it, and was carrying it to complete the couplings. The rest of the +builders shouted against this. All the other wood of the Church was +white and clean, and they would not have this black tree, conspicuous in +the very center of all. But I praised the old Chief for what he had +done, and hoped he and his people would come and worship Jehovah under +his own roof-tree. At this all were delighted! and the work went on +apace, with many songs and shoutings. + +Whenever the Church was roofed in, we met in it for Public Worship. +Coral was being got and burned, and preparations made for plastering the +walls. The Natives were sharp enough to notice that I was not putting up +the bell; and suspicions arose that I kept it back in order to take it +with me when I returned to Tanna. It was a beautiful Church bell, cast +and sent out by our dear friend, James Taylor, Esq., Birkenhead. The +Aniwans, therefore, gave me no rest till I agreed to have it hung on +their new Church. They found a large ironwood tree near the shore, cut a +road for half a mile through the bush, tied poles across it every few +feet, and with shouts lifted it bodily on their shoulders--six men or so +at each pole--and never set it down again till they reached the Church; +for as one party got exhausted, others were ready to rush in and relieve +them at every stage of the journey. The two old Chiefs, flourishing +their tomahawks, went capering in front of all the rest, and led the +song to which they marched, joyfully bearing their load. They dug a deep +hole, into which to sink it; I squared the top and screwed on the bell; +then we raised the tree by ropes, letting it sink into the hole, and +built it round eight feet deep with coral blocks and lime; and there +from its top swings and rings ever since the Church bell of Aniwa. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. +"KNOCK THE TEVIL OUT!" + +ONE of the last attempts ever made on my life resulted, by God's +blessing, in great good to us all and to the work of the Lord. It was +when Nourai, one of Nasi's men, struck at me again and again with the +barrel of his musket; but I evaded the blows, till rescued by the +women--the men looking on stupefied. After he escaped into the bush I +assembled our people, and said, "If you do not now try to stop this bad +conduct, I shall leave Aniwa, and go to some island where my life will +be protected." + +Next morning at daybreak, about one hundred men arrived at my house, and +in answer to my query why they came armed they replied, "We are now +going to that village where the men of wicked conduct are gathered +together. We will find out why they sought your life, and we will rebuke +their Sacred Man for pretending to cause hurricanes and diseases. We +cannot go unarmed. We will not suffer you to go alone. We are your +friends and the friends of the Worship. And we are resolved to stand by +you, and you must go at our head to-day!" + +In great perplexity, yet believing that my presence might prevent +bloodshed, I allowed myself to be placed at their head. The old Chief +followed next, then a number of fiery young men; then all the rest, +single file, along the narrow path. At a sudden turn, as we neared their +village, Nourai, who had attacked me the Sabbath day before, and his +brother were seen lurking with their muskets; but our young men made a +rush in front, and they disappeared into the bush. + +We took possession of the Village Public Ground; and the Chief, the +Sacred Man, and others soon assembled. A most characteristic Native +Palaver followed. Speeches, endless speeches, were fired by them at each +other. My friends declared, in every conceivable form of language and of +graphic illustration, that they were resolved at any cost to defend me +and the Worship of Jehovah, and that they would as one man punish every +attempt to injure me or take my life. The orator, Taia, exclaimed, "You +think that Missi is here alone, and that you can do with him as you +please! No! We are now all Missi's men. We will fight for him and his +rather than see him injured. Every one that attacks him attacks us. That +is finished to-day!" + +In the general scolding, the Sacred Man had special attention for +pretending to cause hurricanes. One pointed out that he had himself a +stiff knee, and argued, "If he can make a hurricane, why can't he +restore the joint of his own knee? It is surely easier to do the one +than the other!" + +The Natives laughed heartily, and taunted him. Meantime he sat looking +down to the earth in sullen silence; and a ludicrous episode ensued. His +wife, a big, strong woman, scolded him roundly for the trouble he had +brought them all into; and then, getting indignant as well as angry, she +seized a huge cocoanut leaf out of the bush, and with the butt end +thereof began thrashing his shoulders vigorously as she poured out the +vials of her wrath in torrents of words, always winding up with the cry, +"I'll knock the Tevil out of him! He'll not try hurricanes again!" + +The woman was a Malay, as all the Aniwans were. Had a Papuan woman on +Tanna or Erromanga dared such a thing, she would have been killed on the +spot. But even on Aniwa, the unwonted spectacle of a wife beating her +husband created uproarious amusement. At length I remonstrated, saying, +"You had better stop now! You don't want to kill him, do you? You seem +to have knocked 'the Tevil' pretty well out of him now! You see how he +receives it all in silence, and repents of all his bad talk and bad +conduct." + +They exacted from him a solemn promise as to the making of no more +diseases or hurricanes, and that he would live at peace with his +neighbors. The offending villagers at length presented a large quantity +of sugar-cane and food to us as a peace-offering; and we returned, +praising God that the whole day's scolding had ended in talk, not blood. +The result was every way most helpful. Our friends knew their strength +and took courage. Our enemies were disheartened and afraid. We saw the +balance growing heavier every day on the side of Jesus; and our souls +blessed the Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. +THE CONVERSION OF YOUWILI. + +THESE events suggest to me another incident of those days, full at once +of trial and of joy. It pertains to the story of our young Chief +Youwili. From the first, and for long, he was most audacious and +troublesome. Observing that for several days no Natives had come near +the Mission House, I asked the old Chief if he knew why, and he +answered, "Youwili has _tabooed_ the paths, and threatens death to any +one who breaks through it." + +I at once replied, "Then I conclude that you all agree with him, and +wish me to leave. We are here only to teach you and your people. If he +has power to prevent that we shall leave with the _Dayspring_." + +The old Chief called the people together, and they came to me, saying, +"Our anger is strong against Youwili. Go with us and break down the +_taboo_. We will assist and protect you." + +I went at their head and removed it. It consisted simply of reeds stuck +into the ground, with twigs and leaves and fiber tied to each in a +peculiar way, in a circle round the Mission House. The Natives had an +extraordinary dread of violating the taboo, and believed that it meant +death to the offender or to some one of his family. All present entered +into a bond to punish on the spot any man who attempted to replace the +_taboo_ or to revenge its removal. Thus a mortal blow was publicly +struck at this most miserable superstition, which had caused bloodshed +and misery untold. + +One day, thereafter, I was engaged in clearing away the bush around the +Mission House, having purchased and paid for the land for the very +purpose of opening it up, when suddenly Youwili appeared and menacingly +forbade me to proceed. For the sake of peace I for the time desisted. +But he went straight to my fence, and with his tomahawk cut down the +portion in front of our house, also some bananas planted there--the +usual declaration of war, intimating that he only awaited his +opportunity similarly to cut down me and mine. We saw the old Chief and +his men planting themselves here and there to guard us, and the Natives +prowling about armed and excited. On calling them, they explained the +meaning of what Youwili had done, and that they were determined to +protect us. I said. "This must not continue. Are you to permit one young +fool to defy us all, and break up the Lord's work on Aniwa? If you +cannot righteously punish him, I will shut myself up in my house and +withdraw from all attempts to teach or help you, till the vessel comes, +and then I can leave the island." + +Now that they had begun really to love us, and to be anxious to learn +more, this was always my most powerful argument. We retired into the +Mission House. The people surrounded our doors and windows and pleaded +with us. After long silence, we replied, "You know our resolution. It is +for you now to decide. Either you must control that foolish young man, +or we must go!" + +Much speech-making, as usual, followed. The people resolved to seize and +punish Youwili; but he fled, and had hid himself in the bush. Coming to +me, the Chief said, "It is left to you to say what shall be Youwili's +punishment. Shall we kill him?" + +I replied firmly, "Certainly not! Only for murder can life be lawfully +taken away." + +"What then?" they continued. "Shall we burn his houses and destroy his +plantations?" + +I answered, "No." + +"Shall we bind him and beat him?" + +"No." + +"Shall we place him in a canoe, thrust him out to sea, and let him drown +or escape as he may?" + +"No! by no means." + +"Then, Missi," said they, "these are our ways of punishing. What other +punishment remains that Youwili cares for?" + +I replied, "Make him with his own hands, and alone, put up a new fence, +and restore all that he has destroyed; and make him promise publicly +that he will cease all evil conduct towards us. That will satisfy me." + +This idea of punishment seemed to tickle them greatly. The Chiefs +reported our words to the Assembly; and the Natives laughed and cheered, +as if it were a capital joke! They cried aloud, "It is good! Obey the +word of the Missi." + +After considerable hunting, the young Chief was found. They brought him +to the Assembly and scolded him severely and told him their sentence. He +was surprised by the nature of the punishment, and cowed by the +determination of the people. + +"To-morrow," said he, "I will fully repair the fence. Never again will I +oppose the Missi. His word is good." + +By daybreak next morning Youwili was diligently repairing what he had +broken down, and before evening he had everything made right better than +it was before. While he toiled away, some fellows of his own rank +twitted him, saying, "Youwili, you found it easier to cut down Missi's +fence than to repair it again. You will not repeat that in a hurry!" + +But he heard all in silence. Others passed with averted heads, and he +knew they were laughing at him. He made everything tight and then left +without uttering a single word. My heart yearned after the poor fellow, +but I thought it better to let his own mind work away, on its new ideas +as to punishment and revenge, for a little longer by itself alone. I +instinctively felt that Youwili was beginning to turn, that the +Christ-Spirit had touched his darkly-groping soul. My doors were now +thrown open, and every good work went on as before. We resolved to leave +Youwili entirely to Jesus, setting apart a portion of our prayer every +day for the enlightenment and conversion of the young Chief, on whom all +other means had been exhausted apparently in vain. + +A considerable time elapsed. No sign came, and our prayers seemed to +fail. But one day, I was toiling between the shafts of a hand-cart, +assisted by two boys, drawing it along from the shore loaded with coral +blocks. Youwili came rushing from his house, three hundred yards or so +off the path, and said, "Missi, that is too hard for you. Let me be your +helper!" + +Without waiting for a reply, he ordered the two boys to seize one rope, +while he grasped the other, threw it over his shoulder and started off, +pulling with the strength of a horse. My heart rose in gratitude, and I +wept with joy as I followed him. I knew that that yoke was but a symbol +of the yoke of Christ, which Youwili with his change of heart was +beginning to carry! Truly there is only one way of regeneration, being +born again by the power of the Spirit of God, the new heart; but there +are many ways of conversation, of outwardly turning to the Lord, of +taking the actual first step that shows on whose side we are. + +Like those of old praying for the deliverance of Peter, and who could +not believe their ears and eyes when Peter knocked and walked in amongst +them, so we could scarcely believe our eyes and ears when Youwili became +a disciple of Jesus, though we had been praying for his conversion every +day. His once sullen countenance became literally bright with inner +light. His wife came immediately for a book and a dress saying, "Youwili +sent me. His opposition to the Worship is over now. I am to attend +Church and School. He is coming too. He wants to learn how to be strong, +like you, for Jehovah and for Jesus." + +Oh, Jesus! to Thee alone be all the glory. Thou hast the key to unlock +every heart that Thou hast created. + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. +FIRST COMMUNION ON ANIWA. + +AND this leads me to relate the story of our First Communion on Aniwa. +It was Sabbath, 24th October 1869; and surely the Angels of God and the +Church of the Redeemed in Glory were amongst the "great cloud of +witnesses" who eagerly "peered" down upon the scene,--when we sat around +the Lord's Table and partook the memorials of His body and blood with +those few souls rescued out of the Heathen World. My Communicants' Class +had occupied me now a considerable time. The conditions of attendance at +this early stage were explicit, and had to be made very severe, and only +twenty were admitted to the roll. At the final examination only twelve +gave evidence of understanding what they were doing, and of having given +their hearts to the service of the Lord Jesus. At their own urgent +desire, and after every care in examining and instructing, they were +solemnly dedicated in prayer to be baptized and admitted to the Holy +Table. On that Lord's Day, after the usual opening Service, I gave a +short and careful exposition of the Ten Commandments and of the Way of +Salvation according to the Gospel. The twelve Candidates then stood up +before all the inhabitants there assembled; and, after a brief +exhortation to them as Converts, I put to them the two questions that +follow, and each gave an affirmative reply, "Do you, in accordance with +your profession of the Christian Faith, and your promises before God and +the people, wish me now to baptize you?" + +And--"Will you live henceforth for Jesus only, hating all sin and trying +to love and serve your Saviour?" + +Then, beginning with the old Chief, the twelve came forward, and I +baptized them one by one according to the Presbyterian usage. Two of +them had also little children, and they were at the same time baptized, +and received as the lambs of the flock. Solemn prayer was then offered, +and in the name of the Holy Trinity the Church of Christ on Aniwa was +formally constituted. I addressed them on the words of the Holy +Institution--1 Corinthians xi. 23--and then, after the prayer of +Thanksgiving and Consecration, administered the Lord's Supper, the first +time since the Island of Aniwa was heaved out of its coral depths! Mrs. +M'nair, my wife, and myself, along with six Aneityumese Teachers, +communicated with the newly baptized twelve. And I think, if ever in all +my Earthly experience, on that day I might truly add the blessed +words--"Jesus in the midst." + +The whole Service occupied nearly three hours. The Islanders looked on +with a wonder whose unwonted silence was almost painful to bear. Many +were led to inquire carefully about everything they saw, so new and +strange. For the first time the Dorcas Street Sabbath School Teachers' +gift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use--a new +Communion Service of silver. They gave it in faith that we would require +it, and in such we received it. And now the day had come and gone! For +three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment +when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with +the blood of Cannibalism, but now stretched out to receive and partake +the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the +joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never +taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself. + +On the afternoon of that Communion Day an open-air Prayer Meeting was +held under the shade of the great banyan tree in front of our Church. +Seven of the new Church members there led the people in prayer to Jesus, +a hymn being sung after each. My heart was so full of joy that I could +do little else but weep. Oh, I wonder, I wonder, when I see so many good +Ministers at home, crowding each other and treading on each other's +heels, whether they would not part with all their home privileges, and +go out to the Heathen World and reap a joy like this--"the joy of the +Lord." + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. +THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER. + +THE new Social Order, referred to already in its dim beginnings, rose +around us like a sweet-scented flower. I never interfered directly, +unless expressly called upon or appealed to. The two principal Chiefs +were impressed with the idea that there was but one law--the Will of +God; and one rule for them and their people as Christians--to please the +Lord Jesus. In every difficulty they consulted me. I explained to them +and read in their hearing the very words of Holy Scripture, showing what +appeared to me to be the will of God and what would please the Saviour; +and then sent them away to talk it over with their people, and to apply +these principles of the Word of God as wisely as they could according to +their circumstances. Our own part of the work went on very joyfully, +notwithstanding occasional trying and painful incidents. Individual +cases of greed and selfishness and vice brought us many a bitter pang. +But the Lord never lost patience with us, and we durst not therefore +lose patience with them! We trained the Teachers, we translated and +printed and expounded the Scriptures, we ministered to the sick and +dying; we dispensed medicines every day, we taught them the use of +tools, we advised them as to laws and penalties; and the New Society +grew and developed, and bore amidst all its imperfections some traces of +the fair Kingdom of God amongst men. + +Our life and work will reveal itself to the reader if I briefly outline +a Sabbath Day on Aniwa. Breakfast is partaken of immediately after +daylight. The Church bell then rings, and ere it stops every worshiper +is seated. The Natives are guided in starting by the sunrise, and are +forward from farthest corners at this early hour. The first Service is +over in about an hour; there is an interval of twenty minutes; the bell +is again rung, and the second Service begins. We follow the ordinary +Presbyterian ritual; but in every Service I call upon an Elder or a +Church Member to lead in one of the prayers, which they do with great +alacrity and with much benefit to all concerned. + +As the last worshiper leaves, at close of second Service, the bell is +sounded twice very deliberately, and that is the signal for the opening +of my Communicants' Class. I carefully expound the Church's Shorter +Catechism, and show how its teachings are built upon Holy Scripture, +applying each truth to the conscience and the life. This class is +conducted all the year round; and from it, step by step, our Church +Members are drawn as the Lord opens up their way, the most of them +attending two full years at least before being admitted to the Lord's +Table. This discipline accounts for the fact that so very few of our +baptized converts have ever fallen away--as few in proportion, I verily +believe, as in Churches at home. Meantime, many of the Church members +have been holding a prayer-meeting amongst themselves in the adjoining +School,--a thing started of their own free accord,--in which they invoke +God's blessing on all the work and worship of the day. + +Having snatched a brief meal of tea, or a cold dinner cooked on +Saturday, the bell rings within an hour, and our Sabbath School +assembles,--in which the whole inhabitants, young and old, take part, +myself superintending and giving the address, as well as questioning on +the lesson, Mrs. Paton teaching a large class of adult women, and the +Elders and best readers instructing the ordinary classes for about +half-an-hour or so. + +About one o'clock the School is closed, and we then start off on our +village tours. An experienced Elder, with several Teachers, takes one +side of the Island this Sabbath, I with another company taking the other +side, and next Sabbath we reverse the order. A short Service is +conducted in the open air, or in Schoolrooms, at every village that can +be reached and on their return they report to me cases of sickness, or +any signs of progress in the work of the Lord. The whole Island is thus +steadily and methodically evangelized. + +As the sun is setting I am creeping home from my village tour; and when +darkness begins to approach, the canoe drum is beat at every village, +and the people assemble under the banyan tree for evening village +prayers. The Elder or Teacher presides. Five or six hymns are joyously +sung, and five or six short prayers offered between, and thus the +evening hour passes happily in the fellowship of God. On a calm evening, +after Christianity had fairly taken hold of the people, and they loved +to sing over and over again their favorite hymns, these village +prayer-meetings formed a most blessed close to every day, and set the +far-distant bush echoing with the praises of God. + +Nor is our week-day life less crowded or busy, though in different ways. +At gray dawn on Monday, and every morning, the _Tavaka_ (= the canoe +drum) is struck in every village on Aniwa. The whole inhabitants turn in +to the early School, which lasts about an hour and a half, and then the +Natives are off to their plantations. Having partaken of breakfast, I +then spend my forenoon in translating or printing, or visiting the sick, +or whatever else is most urgent. About two o'clock the Natives return +from their work, bathe in the sea, and dine off cocoanut, breadfruit, or +anything else that comes handily in the way. At three o'clock the bell +rings, and the afternoon School for the Teachers and the more advanced +learners then occupy my wife and myself for about an hour and a half. +After this, the Natives spend their time in fishing or lounging or +preparing supper,--which is amongst them always _the_ meal of the day. +Towards sundown the _Tavaka_ sounds again, and the day closes amid the +echoes of village prayers from under their several banyan trees. + +Thus day after day and week after week passed over us on Aniwa; and much +the same on all the Islands where the Missionary has found a home. In +many respects it is a simple and happy and beautiful life; and the man +whose heart is full of things that are dear to Jesus, feels no desire to +exchange it for the poor frivolities of what calls itself "Society," +which seems to find its life in pleasures that Christ cannot be asked to +share, and in which, therefore, Christians should have neither lot nor +part. + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. +THE ORPHANS AND THEIR BISCUITS. + +THE habits of morning and evening Family Prayer and of Grace at Meat +took a very wonderful hold upon the people; and became, as I have shown +elsewhere, a distinctive badge of Christian versus Heathen. This was +strikingly manifested during a time of bitter scarcity that befell us. I +heard a father, for instance, at his hut door, with his family around +him, reverently blessing God for the food provided for them, and for all +His mercies in Christ Jesus. Drawing near and conversing with them, I +found that their meals consisted of fig leaves which they had gathered +and cooked--a poor enough dish, but hunger makes a healthy appetite, and +contentment is a grateful relish. + +During the same period of privation, my Orphans suffered badly also. +Once they came to me, saying, "Missi, we are very hungry." + +I replied, "So am I, dear children, and we have no more white food till +the _Dayspring_ comes." + +They continued, "Missi, you have two beautiful fig-trees. Will you let +us take one feast of the young and tender leaves? We will not injure +branch or fruit." + +I answered, "Gladly, my children, take your fill!" + +In a twinkling each child was perched upon a branch; and they feasted +there happy as squirrels. Every night we prayed for the vessel, and in +the morning our Orphan boys rushed to the coral rocks and eagerly +scanned the sea for an answer. Day after day they returned with sad +faces, saying, "Missi, _Tavaka jimra_!" (= No vessel yet). + +But at gray dawn of a certain day we were awoke by the boys shouting +from the shore and running for the Mission House with the cry,--"_Tavaka +oa! Tavaka oa!_"(= The vessel, hurrah!) + +We arose at once, and the boy exclaimed, "Missi, she is not our own +vessel, but we think she carries her flag. She has three masts, and our +_Dayspring_ only two!" + +I looked through my glass, and saw that they were discharging goods into +the vessel's boats; and the children, when I told them that boxes and +bags and casks were being sent on shore, shouted and danced with +delight. As the first boat-load was discharged, the Orphans surrounded +me, saying, "Missi, here is a cask that rattles like biscuits? Will you +let us take it to the Mission House?" + +I told them to do so if they could; and in a moment it was turned into +the path, and the boys had it flying before them, some tumbling and +hurting their knees, but up and at it again, and never pausing till it +rolled up at the door of our Storehouse. On returning I found them all +around it, and they said, "Missi, have you forgotten what you promised +us?" + +I said, "What did I promise you?" + +They looked very disappointed and whispered to each other, "Missi has +forgot!" + +"Forgot what?" inquired I. + +"Missi," they answered, "you promised that when the vessel came you +would give each of us a biscuit." + +"Oh," I replied, "I did not forget; I only wanted to see if you +remembered it?" + +They laughed, saying, "No fear of that, Missi! Will you soon open the +cask? We are dying for biscuits." + +At once I got hammer and tools, knocked off the hoops, took out the end, +and then gave girls and boys a biscuit each. To my surprise, they all +stood round, biscuit in hand, but not one beginning to eat. + +"What," I exclaimed, "you are dying for biscuits! Why don't you eat? Are +you expecting another?" + +One of the eldest said, "We will first thank God for sending us food, +and ask Him to bless it to us all." + +And this was done in their own simple and beautiful childlike way; and +then they did eat, and enjoyed their food as a gift from the Heavenly +Father's hand. (Is there any child reading this, or hearing it read, who +never thanks God or asks Him to bless daily bread? Then is that child +not a white Heathen?) We ourselves at the Mission House could very +heartily rejoice with the dear Orphans. For some weeks past our European +food had been all exhausted, except a little tea, and the cocoanut had +been our chief support. It was beginning to tell against us. Our souls +rose in gratitude to the Lord, who had sent us these fresh provisions +that we might love Him better and serve Him more. + +The children's sharp eyes had read correctly. It was not the +_Dayspring_. Our brave little ship, as I afterwards learned, had gone to +wreck on 6th January 1873; and this vessel was the _Paragon_, chartered +to bring down our supplies. Alas! the wreck had gone by auction sale to +a French slaving company, who cut a passage through the coral reef, and +had the vessel again floating in the Bay,--elated at the prospect of +employing our Mission Ship in the blood-stained _Tanaka_-traffic (= a +mere euphemism for South Sea slavery)! Our souls sank in horror and +concern. Many Natives would unwittingly trust themselves to the +_Dayspring_ and revenge would be taken on us, as was done on noble +Bishop Patteson, when the deception was found out. What could be done? +Nothing but cry to God, which all the friends of our Mission did day and +night, not without tears, as we thought of the possible degradation of +our noble little ship. Listen! The French Slavers, anchoring their prize +in the Bay, and greatly rejoicing, went ashore to celebrate the event. +They drank and feasted and reveled. But that night a mighty storm arose, +the old _Dayspring_ dragged her anchor, and at daybreak she was seen +again on the reef, but this time with her back broken in two and for +ever unfit for service, either fair or foul. Oh, white winged Virgin, +daughter of the waves, better for thee, as for thy human sisters, to die +and pass away than to suffer pollution and live on in disgrace! + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. +THE FINGER-POSTS OF GOD. + +I HAD often said that I would not again leave my beloved work on the +Islands unless compelled to do so either by the breakdown of health, or +by the loss of our Mission Ship and my services being required to assist +in providing another. Very strange, that in this one season both of +these events befell us! During the hurricanes, from January to April +1873, when the _Dayspring_ was wrecked, we lost a darling child by +death, my dear wife had a protracted illness, and I was brought very low +with severe rheumatic fever. I was reduced so far that I could not +speak, and was reported as dying. The Captain of a vessel, having seen +me, called at Tanna, and spoke of me as in all probability dead by that +time. Our unfailing and ever-beloved friends and fellow-Missionaries, +Mr. and Mrs. Watt, at once started from Kwamera, in their open boat, and +rowed and sailed thirty miles to visit us. But a few days before they +arrived I had fallen into a long and sound sleep, out of which, when I +awoke, consciousness had again returned to me. I had got the turn; there +was no further relapse; but when I did regain a little strength, my +weakness was so great that I had to travel about on crutches for many a +day. + +In the circumstances of our baby Lena's death, every form of +heartrending tenderness seemed to meet. On Friday, 28th March, at 3 A.M. +she came from God, and seemed to both of us the Angel-child of all our +flock. Alas, on Saturday I was seized with sciatica, so dreadful and +agonizing, that I had to be borne to my bed, and could not stir a limb +any more than if my back had been broken. My dear wife struggled to +attend to the baby, with such help as Native girls could give; and I +directed the Teachers about the Services in Church next Sunday, the +first time as yet that I had been unable to appear and lead them. From +the beds where we lay, my wife and I could hear each other's voices, and +tried to console one another in our sorrowful and helpless state. On +Tuesday, 1st April, the child was bright and vigorous; but the mother's +strength had been overtaxed, and she fell back, fainting in her bed, +when helping to dress the baby. Next morning, to our dismay, there were +symptoms of wheezing and feverishness in the little darling. All due +measures were at once taken to check these; and Williag, an experienced +Native, now having charge, kept everything warm and cozy. Before tea, +when receiving a little food, Lena opened her dark blue eyes, and gazed +up peacefully and gladly in her mother's face. But, immediately after +tea, within less than an hour, when the nurse brought her and placed her +in the mother's arms, the Angel-Soul fled away. Poor Williag, seeing the +mother's pathetic look, and as if she herself had been guilty, fell on +her knees and cried,--"I knew it, Missi, I knew it! She gave two big +sighs, and went! Awai, Missi, Awai!" When the mother called to me +something about the child having "fainted," I was talking with Koris, +but my heart guessed the worst. Alas, all means were seen to be vain! I +could not rise, could not move, nor could the mother, but we prayed, in +each other's hearing, and in the hearing of our blessed Lord, and He did +not leave us without consolation. In such cases, the Heathen usually fly +away in terror, but our Teachers were faithful and obedient; and our +little boys, Bob and Fred, six and four respectively, followed all our +tearful directions. One of their small toy-boxes was readily given up to +make the baby's coffin. Yawaci brought calico, and dressed the precious +body at the mother's instructions. I then offered a prayer to the clear +Lord, whilst the mother clasped the coffin in her arms. The little +grave, dug by the Teachers in the Mission plot, was within earshot of +where we lay, and there Bob and Fred, kneeling in their snow-white +dresses, sang "There is a Happy Land," as their sister's dust was laid +in the Earth and in the arms of Jesus who is the Resurrection and the +Life. God only can ever know how our hearts were torn by the pathos of +that event, as we lay helpless, almost dying, and listened to our +children's trembling voices! Johna, the Teacher, then prayed; while the +Heathen, in groups of wonder, but holding far aloof, had many strange +ideas wakened in their puzzled brains. The mother and I gave ourselves +once more away to God, and to the Service of our dear Lord Jesus, as we +parted with our darling Lena; and when, by and by, we were raised up +again, and able to move about, often, often, did we find ourselves +meeting together at that precious grave. + +Being ordered to seek health by change and by higher medical aid, and if +possible in the cooler air of New Zealand, we took the first opportunity +and arrived at Sydney, anxious to start the new movement to secure the +_Paragon_ there, and then to go on to the sister Colony. Being scarcely +able to walk without the crutches, we called privately a preliminary +meeting of friends for consultation and advice. The conditions were laid +before them and discussed. The Insurance Company had paid £2000 on the +first _Dayspring_. Of that sum £1000 had been spent on chartering and +maintaining the _Paragon;_ so that we required an additional £2000 to +purchase her, according to Dr. Steel's bargain with the owners, besides +a large sum for alterations and equipment for the Mission. The late Mr. +Learmouth looked across to Mr. Goodlet, and said, "If you'll join me, we +will at once secure this vessel for the Missionaries, that God's work +may not suffer from the wreck of the _Dayspring_." + +Those two servants of God, excellent Elders of the Presbyterian Church, +consulted together, and the vessel was purchased next day. How I did +praise God, and pray Him to bless them and theirs! The late Dr. +Fullarton, our dear friend, said to them, "But what guarantee do you ask +from the Missionaries for your money?" + +Mr. Learmouth's noble reply was, and the other heartily re-echoed +it--"God's work is our guarantee! From them we will ask none. What +guarantee have they to give us, except their faith in God? That +guarantee is ours already." + +I answered, "You take God and His work for your guarantee. Rest assured +that He will soon repay you, and you will lose nothing by this noble +service." + +Having secured St. Andrew's Church for a public meeting, I advertised it +in all the papers. Ministers, Sabbath School Teachers, and other friends +came in great numbers. The scheme was fairly launched, and Collecting +Cards largely distributed. Committees carried everything out into +detail, and all worked for the fund with great goodwill. + +I then sailed from Sydney to Victoria, and addressed the General +Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in session at Melbourne. The work +was easily set agoing there, and willing workers fully and rapidly +organized it through Congregations and Sabbath Schools. Under medical +advice, I next sailed for New Zealand in the S. S. _Hero_, Captain +Logan. Reaching Auckland, I was in time to address the General Assembly +of the Church there also. They gave me cordial welcome, and every +Congregation and Sabbath School might be visited as far as I possibly +could. The Ministers promoted the movement with hearty zeal. The Sabbath +Scholars took Collecting Cards for "shares" in the New Mission Ship. A +meeting was held every day, and three every Sabbath. Auckland, Nelson, +Wellington, Dunedin, and all towns and churches within reach of these +were rapidly visited; and I never had greater joy or heartiness in any +of my tours than in this happy intercourse with the Ministers and people +of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. + +I arrived in Sydney about the end of March. My health was wonderfully +restored, and New Zealand had given me about £1700 for the new ship. +With the £1000 of insurance money, and about £700 from New South Wales, +and £400 from Victoria, besides the £500 for her support also from. +Victoria, we were able to pay back the £3000 of purchase money, and +about £800 for alterations and repairs, as well as equip and provision +her to sail for her next year's work amongst the Islands free of debt. I +said to our two good friends at Sydney: + +"You took God and His work for your guarantee. He has soon relieved you +from all responsibility. You have suffered no loss, and you have had the +honor and privilege of serving your Lord. I envy you the joy you must +feel in so using your wealth, and I pray God's double blessing on all +your store." + +Our agent. Dr. Steel, had applied to the Home authorities for power to +change the vessel's name from _Paragon_ to _Dayspring_, so that the old +associations might not be broken. This was cordially granted. And so our +second _Dayspring_, owing no man anything, sailed on her annual trip to +the New Hebrides, and we returned with her, praising the Lord and +reinvigorated alike in spirit and in body. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. +THE GOSPEL IN LIVING CAPITALS. + +IN Heathendom every true convert becomes at once a Missionary. The +changed life, shining out amid the surrounding darkness, is a Gospel in +largest Capitals which all can read. Our Islanders, especially, having +little to engage or otherwise distract attention, become intense and +devoted workers for the Lord Jesus, if once the Divine Passion for souls +stirs within them. + +A Heathen has been all his days groping after peace of soul in dark +superstition and degrading rites. You pour into his soul the light of +Revelation. He learns that God is love, that God sent His Son to die for +him, and that he is the heir of Life Eternal in and through Jesus +Christ. By the blessed enlightenment of the Spirit of the Lord he +believes all this. He passes into a third heaven of joy, and he burns to +tell every one of this Glad Tidings. Others see the change in his +disposition in his character in his whole life and actions; and amid +such surroundings, every Convert is a burning and a shining light. Even +whole populations are thus brought into the Outer Court of the Temple; +and Islands, still Heathen and Cannibal, are positively eager for the +Missionary to live amongst them, and would guard his life and property +now in complete security, where a very few years ago everything would +have been instantly sacrificed on touching their shores! They are not +Christianized, neither are they Civilized, but the light has been +kindled all round them, and though still only shining afar, they cannot +but rejoice in its beams. + +But even where the path is not so smooth, nor any welcome awaiting them, +Native Converts show amazing zeal. For instance, one of our Chiefs, full +of the Christ-kindled desire to seek and to save, sent a message to an +inland Chief, that he and four attendants would come on Sabbath and tell +them the Gospel of Jehovah God. The reply came back sternly forbidding +their Visit, and threatening with death any Christian that approached +their village. Our Chief sent in response a loving message, telling them +that Jehovah had taught the Christians to return good for evil, and that +they would come unarmed to tell them the story of how the Son of God +came into the world and died in order to bless and save His enemies. The +Heathen Chief sent back a stern and prompt reply once more, "If you +come, you will be killed." + +On Sabbath morning, the Christian Chief and his four companions were met +outside the village by the Heathen Chief, who implored and threatened +them once more. But the former said, "We come to you without weapons of +war! We come only to tell you about Jesus. We believe that He will +protect us to-day." + +As they steadily pressed forward towards the village, spears began to be +thrown at them. Some they evaded, being all except one most dexterous +warriors; and others they literally received with their bare hands, +striking them and turning them aside in an incredible manner. The +Heathen, apparently thunderstruck at these men thus approaching them +without weapons of war, and not even flinging back their own spears +which they had turned aside, desisted from mere surprise, after having +thrown what the old Chief called "a shower of spears." Our Christian +Chief called out, as he and his companions drew up in the midst of them +on the village Public Ground: + +"Jehovah thus protects us. He has given us all your spears! Once we +would have thrown them back at you and killed you. But now we come not +to fight, but to tell you about Jesus. He has changed our dark hearts. +He asks you now to lay down all these your other weapons of war, and to +hear what we can tell you about the love of God, our great Father, the +only living God." + +The Heathen were perfectly overawed. They manifestly looked upon these +Christians as protected by some Invisible One! They listened for the +first time to the story of the Gospel and of the Cross. We lived to see +that Chief and all his tribe sitting in the School of Christ. And there +is perhaps not an Island in these Southern Seas, amongst all those won +for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of Converts cannot +be recited by every Missionary to the honor of our poor Natives and to +the glory of their Saviour. + +Larger and harder tests were sometimes laid upon their new faith. Once +the war on Tanna drove about one hundred of them to seek refuge on +Aniwa. Not so many years before, their lives would never have been thus +intrusted to the inhabitants of another Cannibal Island. But the +Christ-Spirit was abroad upon Aniwa. The refugees were kindly cared for, +and in process of time were restored to their own lands, by our +Missionary ship the _Dayspring_. The Chiefs, however, and the Elders of +the Church laid the new laws before them very clearly and decidedly. +They would be helped and sheltered, but Aniwa was now under law to +Christ, and if any of the Tannese broke the public rules as to moral +conduct, or in any way disturbed the Worship of Jehovah, they would at +once be expelled from the Island and sent back to Tanna. In all this, +the Chief of the Tanna party, my old friend Nowar, strongly supported +our Christian Chiefs. The Tannese behaved well, and many of them wore +clothing and began to attend Church; and the heavy drain upon the poor +resources of Aniwa was borne with a noble and Christian spirit, which +greatly impressed the Tannese and commended the Gospel of Christ. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII. +THE DEATH OF NAMAKEI. + +IN claiming Aniwa for Christ, and winning it as a small jewel for His +crown, we had the experience which has ever marked God's path through +history,--He raised up around us and wonderfully endowed men to carry +forward His own blessed work. Among these must be specially commemorated +Namakei, the old Chief of Aniwa. Slowly, but very steadily, the light +broke in upon his soul, and he was ever very eager to communicate to his +people all that he learned. In Heathen days he was a Cannibal and a +great warrior; but from the first, as shown in the preceding chapter he +took a warm interest in us and our work,--a little selfish, no doubt, at +the beginning, but soon becoming purified, as his eyes and heart were +opened to the Gospel of Jesus. + +On the birth of a son to us on the Island, the old Chief was in +ecstasies. He claimed the child as his heir, his own son being dead, and +brought nearly the whole inhabitants in relays to see the _white_ Chief +of Aniwa! He would have him called Namakei the Younger, an honor which I +fear we did not too highly appreciate. As the child grew, he took his +hand and walked about with him freely amongst the people, learning to +speak their language like a Native, and not only greatly interesting +them in himself, but even in us and in the work of the Lord. This, too, +was one of the bonds, however purely human, that drew them all nearer +and nearer to Jesus. + +It was this same child, who, in the moment of our greatest peril, when +the Mission House was once surrounded by savages who had resolved to +murder us, managed in some incredible way to escape, and appeared, to +our horror and amazement, dancing with glee amongst the armed warriors. +He threw his arms around the neck of one after another, and kissed them, +to their great surprise,--at last, he settled down like a bird upon the +ringleader's knee, and therefrom prattled to them all, while we from +within gazed on in speechless and helpless terror! He roundly scolded +them for being "Naughty! Naughty!" The frowning faces began to relax +into broad grins, another spirit came over them, and, one after another, +they rapidly slipt away. The Council of Death was broken up; and we had +a new illustration of the Lord's precious work,--"A little Child shall +lead them." + +The death of Namakei had in it many streaks of Christian romance. He had +heard about the Missionaries annually meeting on one or other of the +Islands, and consulting about the work of Jehovah. What ideas he had +formed of a Mission Synod one cannot easily imagine; but in his old age, +and when very frail, he formed an impassioned desire to attend our next +meeting on Aneityum, and see and hear all the Missionaries of Jesus +gathered together from the New Hebrides. Terrified that he would die +away from home, and that that might bring great reverses to the good +work on Aniwa, where he was truly beloved, I opposed his going with all +my might. But he and his relations and his people were all set upon it, +and I had at length to give way. His few booklets were then gathered +together, his meager wardrobe was made up, and a small Native basket +carried all his belongings. He assembled his people and took an +affectionate farewell, pleading with them to be "strong for Jesus," +whether they ever saw him again or not, and to be loyal and kind to +Missi. The people wailed aloud, and many wept bitterly. Those on board +the _Dayspring_ were amazed to see how his people loved him. The old +Chief stood the voyage well. He went in and out to our meeting of Synod, +and was vastly pleased with the respect paid to him on Aneityum. When he +heard of the prosperity of the Lord's work, and how Island after Island +was learning to sing the praises of Jesus, his heart glowed, and he +said, "Missi, I am lifting up my head like a tree. I am growing tall +with joy!" + +On the fourth or fifth day, however, he sent for me out of the Synod, +and when I came to him, he said, eagerly, "Missi, I am near to die! I +have asked you to come and say farewell. Tell my daughter, my brother, +and my people to go on pleasing Jesus, and I will meet them again in the +fair World." + +I tried to encourage him, saying that God might raise him up again and +restore him to his people; but he faintly whispered, "O Missi, death is +already touching me! I feel my feet going away from under me. Help me to +lie down under the shade of that banyan tree." + +So saying, he seized my arm, we staggered near to the tree, and he lay +down under its cool shade. He whispered again, "I am going! O Missi, let +me hear your words raising up in prayer, and then my Soul will be strong +to go." + +Amidst many choking sobs, I tried to pray. At last he took my hand, +pressed it to his heart, and said in a stronger and clearer tone, "O my +Missi, my dear Missi, I go before you, but I will meet you again in the +Home of Jesus. Farewell!" + +That was the last effort of dissolving strength; he immediately became +unconscious, and fell asleep. My heart felt like to break over him. He +was my first Aniwan Convert--the first who ever on that Island, of love +and tears opened his heart to Jesus; and as he lay there on the leaves +and grass, my soul soared upward after his, and all the harps of God +seemed to thrill with song as Jesus presented to the Father this trophy +of redeeming love. He had been our true and devoted friend and +fellow-helper in the Gospel; and next morning all the members of our +Synod followed his remains to the grave. There we stood, the white +Missionaries of the Cross from far distant lands, mingling our tears +with Christian Natives of Aneityum, and letting them fall over one who +only a few years before was a blood-stained Cannibal, and whom now we +mourned as a brother, a saint, an Apostle amongst his people. Ye ask an +explanation? The Christ entered into his heart, and Namakei became a new +Creature. "Behold, I make all things new." + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX. +CHRISTIANITY AND COCOANUTS. + +NASWAI, the friend and companion of Namakei, was an inland Chief. He +had, as his followers, by far the largest number of men in any village +on Aniwa. He had certainly a dignified bearing, and his wife Katua was +quite a lady in look and manner as compared with all around her. She was +the first woman on the Island that adopted the clothes of civilization, +and she showed considerable instinctive taste in the way she dressed +herself in these. Her example was a kind of Gospel in its good influence +on all the women; she was a real companion to her husband, and went with +him almost everywhere. + +Naswai was younger and more intelligent than Namakei, and in everything, +except in translating the Scriptures, he was much more of a +fellow-helper in the work of the Lord. For many years it was Naswai's +special delight to carry my pulpit Bible from the Mission House to the +Church every Sabbath morning, and to see that everything was in perfect +order before the Service began. He was also the Teacher in his own +village School, as well as an Elder in the Church. His addresses were +wonderfully happy in graphic illustrations, and his prayers were fervid +and uplifting. Yet his people were the worst to manage on all the +Island, and the very last to embrace the Gospel. + +He died when we were in the Colonies on furlough in 1875; and his wife +Katua very shortly pre-deceased him. His last counsels to his people +made a great impression on them. They told us how he pleaded with them +to love and serve the Lord Jesus, and how he assured them with his dying +breath that he had been "a new creature" since he gave his heart to +Christ, and that he was perfectly happy in going to be with his Saviour. + +I must here recall one memorable example of Naswai's power and skill as +a preacher. On one occasion the _Dayspring_ brought a large deputation +from Fotuna to see for themselves the change which the Gospel had +produced on Aniwa. On Sabbath, after the Missionaries had conducted the +usual Public Worship, some of the leading Aniwans addressed the +Fotunese; and amongst others, Naswai spoke to the following effect: "Men +of Fotuna, you come to see what the Gospel has done for Aniwa. It is +Jehovah the living God that has made all this change. As Heathens, we +quarreled, killed, and ate each other. We had no peace and no joy in +heart or house, in villages or in lands; but we now live as brethren and +have happiness in all these things. When you go back to Fotuna, they +will ask you, 'What is Christianity?' And you will have to reply, 'It is +that which has changed the people of Aniwa.' But they will still say, +'What is it?' And you will answer, 'It is that which has given them +clothing and blankets, knives and axes, fish-hooks and many other useful +things; it is that which has led them to give up fighting, and to live +together as friends.' But they will ask you, 'What is it like?' And you +will have to tell them, alas, that you cannot explain it that you have +only seen its workings, not itself, and that no one can tell what +Christianity is but the man that loves Jesus, the Invisible Master, and +walks with Him and tries to please Him. Now, you people of Fotuna, you +think that if you don't dance and sing and pray to your gods, you will +have no crops. We once did so too, sacrificing and doing much +abomination to our gods for weeks before our planting season every year. +But we saw our Missi only praying to the Invisible Jehovah, and planting +his yams, and they grew fairer than ours. You are weak every year before +your hard work begins in the fields, with your wild and bad conduct to +please your gods. But we are strong for our work, for we pray to +Jehovah, and He gives quiet rest instead of wild dancing, and makes us +happy in our toils. Since we followed Missi's example, Jehovah has given +us large and beautiful crops, and we now know that He gives us all our +blessings." + +Turning to me, he exclaimed, "Missi, have you the large yam we presented +to you? Would you not think it well to send it back with these men of +Fotuna, to let their people see the yams which Jehovah grows for us in +answer to prayer? Jehovah is the only God who can grow yams like that!" + +Then, after a pause, he proceeded, "When you go back to Fotuna, and they +ask you, 'What is Christianity?' you will be like an inland Chief of +Erromanga, who once came down and saw a great feast on the shore. When +he saw so much food and so many different kinds of it, he asked, 'What +is this made of?' and was answered, 'Cocoanuts and yams.' 'And this?' +'Cocoanuts and bananas.' 'And this?' 'Cocoanuts and taro.' 'And this?' +'Cocoanuts and chestnuts,' etc. etc. The Chief was immensely astonished +at the host of dishes that could be prepared from the cocoanuts. On +returning, he carried home a great load of them to his people, that they +might see and taste the excellent food of the shore-people. One day, all +being assembled, he told them the wonders of that feast; and, having +roasted the cocoanuts, he took out the kernels, all charred and spoiled, +and distributed them, amongst his people. They tasted the cocoanut, they +began to chew it, and then spat it out, crying, 'Our own food is better +than that!' The Chief was confused, and only got laughed at for all his +trouble. Was the fault in the cocoanuts? No; but they were spoiled in +the cooking! So your attempts to explain Christianity will only spoil +it. Tell them that a man must live as a Christian, before he can show +others what Christianity is." + +On their return to Fotuna they exhibited Jehovah's yam, given in answer +to prayer and labor; they told what Christianity had done for Aniwa; but +did not fail to qualify all their accounts with the story of the +Erromangan Chief and the cocoanuts. + + + +CHAPTER LXXX. +NERWA'S BEAUTIFUL FAREWELL. + +THE Chief of next importance on Aniwa was Nerwa, a keen debater, all +whose thoughts ran in the channels of logic. When I could speak a little +of their language I visited and preached at his village; but the moment +he discovered that the teaching about Jehovah was opposed to their +Heathen customs, he sternly forbade us. One day, during my address, he +blossomed out into a full-fledged and pronounced Agnostic (with as much +reason at his back as the European type!), and angrily interrupted me: + +"It's all lies you come here to teach us, and you call it worship! You +say your Jehovah God dwells in Heaven. Who ever went up there to hear +Him or see Him? You talk of Jehovah as if you had visited His Heaven. +Why, you cannot climb even to the top of one of our cocoanut trees, +though we can and that with ease! In going up to the roof of your own +Mission House you require the help of a ladder to carry you. And even if +you could make your ladder higher than our highest cocoanut tree, on +what would you lean its top? And when you get to its top, you can only +climb down the other side and end where you began! The thing is +impossible. You never saw that God; you never heard Him speak; don't +come here with any of your white lies, or I'll send my spear through +you." + +He drove us from his village, and furiously threatened murder, if we +ever dared to return. But very shortly thereafter the Lord sent us a +little orphan girl from Nerwa's village. She was very clever, and could +soon both read and write, and told over all that we taught her. Her +visits home, or at least amongst the villagers where her home had been, +her changed appearance and her childish talk, produced a very deep +interest in us and in our work. + +An orphan boy next was sent from that village to be kept and trained at +the Mission House, and he too took back his little stories of how kind +and good to him were Missi the man and Missi the woman. By this time +Chief and people alike were taking a lively interest in all that was +transpiring. One day the Chief's wife, a quiet and gentle woman, came to +the Worship and said, "Nerwa's opposition dies fast. The story of the +Orphans did it! He has allowed me to attend the Church, and to get the +Christian's book." + +We gave her a book and a bit of clothing. She went home and told +everything. Woman after woman followed her from that same village, and +some of the men began to accompany them. The only thing in which they +showed a real interest was the children singing the little hymns which I +had translated into their own Aniwan tongue, and which my wife had +taught them to sing very sweetly and joyfully. Nerwa at last got so +interested that he came himself, and sat within earshot, and drank in +the joyful sound. In a short time he drew so near that he could hear the +preaching, and then began openly and regularly to attend the Church. His +keen reasoning faculty was constantly at work. He weighed and compared +everything he heard, and soon out-distanced nearly all of them in his +grasp of the ideas of the Gospel. He put on clothing, joined our School, +and professed himself a follower of the Lord Jesus. He eagerly set +himself, with all his power, to bring in a neighboring Chief and his +people, and constituted himself at once an energetic and very pronounced +helper to the Missionary. + +On the death of Naswai, Nerwa at once took his place in carrying my +Bible to the Church, and seeing that all the people were seated before +the stopping of the bell. I have seen him clasping the Bible like a +living thing to his breast, as if he would cry, "Oh, to have this +treasure in my own words of Aniwa!" + +When the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were at last printed in Aniwan, he +studied them incessantly, and soon could read them freely. He became the +Teacher in his own village School, and delighted in instructing others. +He was assisted by Ruwawa, whom he himself had drawn into the circle of +Gospel influence; and at our next election these two friends were +appointed Elders of the Church, and greatly sustained our hands in every +good work on Aniwa. + +After years of happy useful service, the time came for Nerwa to die. He +was then so greatly beloved that most of the inhabitants visited him +during his long illness. He read a bit of the Gospels in his own Aniwan, +and prayed with and for every visitor. He sang beautifully, and scarcely +allowed any one to leave his bedside without having a verse of one or +other of his favorite hymns, "Happy Land," and "Nearer, my God, to +Thee." + +On my last visit to Nerwa, his strength had gone very low, but he drew +me near his face, and whispered, "Missi, my Missi, I am glad to see you. +You see that group of young men? They came to sympathize with me; but +they have never once spoken the name of Jesus, though they have spoken +about everything else! They could not have weakened me so, if they had +spoken about Jesus! Read me the story of Jesus; pray for me to Jesus. +No! stop, let us call them, and let me speak with them before I go." + +I called them all around him, and he strained his dying strength, and +said, "After I am gone, let there be no bad talk, no Heathen ways. Sing +Jehovah's songs, and pray to Jesus, and bury me as a Christian. Take +good care of my Missi, and help him all you can. I am dying happy and +going to be with Jesus, and it was Missi that showed me this way. And +who among you will take my place in the village School and in the +Church? Who amongst you all will stand up for Jesus?" + +Many were shedding tears, but there was no reply; after which the dying +Chief proceeded, "Now let my last work on Earth be this--We will read a +chapter of the Book, verse about, and then I will pray for you all, and +the Missi will pray for me, and God will let me go while the song is +still sounding in my heart!" + +At the close of this most touching exercise, we gathered the Christians +who were near by close around, and sang very softly in Aniwan, "There is +a Happy Land." As they sang, the old man grasped my hand, and tried hard +to speak, but in vain. His head fell to one side, "the silver cord was +loosed, and the golden bowl was broken." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI. +RUWAWA. + +His great friend, Ruwawa the Chief, had waited by Nerwa like a brother +till within a few days of the latter's death, when he also was smitten +down apparently by the same disease. He was thought to be dying, and he +resigned himself calmly into the hands of Christ, One Sabbath afternoon, +sorely distressed for lack of air, he instructed his people to carry him +from the village to a rising ground on one of his plantations. It was +fallow; the fresh air would reach him; and all his friends could sit +around him. They extemporized a rest--two posts stuck into the ground, +slanting, sticks tied across them, then dried banana leaves spread on +these and also as a cushion on the ground--and there sat Ruwawa, leaning +back and breathing heavily. After the Church Services, I visited him, +and found half the people of that side of the Island sitting round him, +in silence, in the open air. Ruwawa beckoned me, and I sat down before +him. Though suffering sorely, his eye and face had the look of ecstasy. + +"Missi," he said, "I could not breathe in my village; so I got them to +carry me here, where there is room for all. They are silent and they +weep, because they think I am dying. If it were God's will, I would like +to live and to help you in His work. I am in the hands of our dear Lord, +If he takes me, it is good; if He spares me, it is good! Pray, and tell +our Saviour all about it." + +I explained to the people that we would tell our Heavenly Father how +anxious we all were to see Ruwawa given back to us strong and well to +work for Jesus, and then leave all to His wise and holy disposal. I +prayed, and the place became a very Bochim. When I left him, Ruwawa +exclaimed, "Farewell, Missi; if I go first, I will welcome you to Glory; +if I am spared, I will work with you for Jesus; so all is well!" + +One of the young Christians followed me and said, "Missi, our hearts are +very sore! If Ruwawa dies, we have no Chief to take his place in the +Church, and it will be a heavy blow against Jehovah's Worship on Aniwa." + +I answered, "Let us each tell our God and Father all that we feel and +all that we fear; and leave Ruwawa and our work in His holy hands." + +We did so with earnest and unceasing cry. And when all hope had died out +of every heart, the Lord began to answer us; the disease began to relax +its hold, and the beloved Chief was restored to health. As soon as he +was able, though still needing help, he found his way back to the +Church, and we all offered special thanksgiving to God. He indicated a +desire to say a few words; and although still very weak, spoke with +great pathos thus: + +"Dear Friends, God has given me back to you all. I rejoice thus to come +here and praise the great Father, who made us all, and who knows how to +make and keep us well. I want you all to work hard for Jesus, and to +lose no opportunity of trying to do good and so to please Him. In my +deep journey away near to the grave, it was the memory of what I had +done in love to Jesus that made my heart sing. I am not afraid of +pain,--my dear Lord Jesus suffered far more for me, and teaches me how +to bear it. I am not afraid of war or famine or death, or of the present +or of the future; my dear Lord Jesus died for me, and in dying I shall +live with him in Glory. I fear and love my dear Lord Jesus, because He +loved me and gave Himself for me." + +Then he raised his right hand, and cried in a soft, full-hearted voice: +"My own, my dear Lord Jesus!" and stood for a moment looking joyfully +upward, as if gazing into his Saviour's face. When he sat down, there +was a long hush, broken here and there by a smothered sob, and Ruwawa's +words produced an impression that is remembered to this day. + +In 1888, when I visited the Islands, Ruwawa was still devoting himself +heart and soul to the work of the Lord on Aniwa. Assisted by Koris, a +Teacher from Aneityum, and visited annually by our ever dear and +faithful friends, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, from Tanna, the good Ruwawa carried +forward all the work of God on Aniwa, along with others, in our absence +as in our presence. The meetings, the Communicants' Class, the Schools, +and the Church Services are all regularly conducted and faithfully +attended. "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" + + + +CHAPTER LXXXII. +LITSI SORÉ AND MUNGAW. + +LITSI, the only daughter of Namakei, had both in her own career and in +her connection with poor dear Mungaw, an almost unparalleled experience. +She was entrusted to us when very young, and became a bright, clever, +and attractive Christian girl. Many sought her hand, but she +disdainfully replied, "I am Queen of my own Island, and when I like I +will ask a husband in marriage, as your great Queen Victoria did!" + +Her first husband, however won, was undoubtedly the tallest and most +handsome man on Aniwa; but he was a giddy fool, and, on his early death, +she again returned to live with us at the Mission House. Her second +marriage had everything to commend it, but it resulted in indescribable +disaster. Mungaw, heir to a Chief, had been trained with us, and gave +every evidence of decided Christianity. They were married in the Church, +and lived in the greatest happiness. He was able and eloquent, and was +first chosen as a deacon, then as an Elder of the Church, and finally as +High Chief of one half of the Island. He showed the finest Christian +spirit under many trying circumstances. Once, when working at the lime +for the building of our Church, two bad men, armed with muskets, sought +his life for blowing the conch to assemble the workers. Hearing of the +quarrel, I rushed to the scene, and heard him saying, "Don't call me +coward, or think me afraid to die. If I died now, I would go to be with +Jesus. But I am no longer a Heathen; I am a Christian, and wish to treat +you as a Christian should." + +Two loaded muskets were leveled at him. I seized one in each of my +hands, and held their muzzles aloft in air, so that, if discharged, the +balls might pass over his head and mine; and thus I stood for some +minutes pleading with them. + +Others soon coming to the rescue, the men were disarmed; and, after much +talk, they professed themselves ashamed, and promised better conduct for +the future. Next day they sent a large present as a peace-offering to +me, but I refused to receive it till they should first of all make peace +with the young Chief. They sent a larger present to him, praying him to +receive it, and to forgive them. Mungaw brought a still larger present +in exchange, laid it down at their feet in the Public Ground, shook +hands with them graciously, and forgave them in presence of all the +people. His constant saying was, "I am a Christian, and I must do the +conduct of a Christian." + +In one of my furloughs to Australia I took the young Chief with me, in +the hope of interesting the Sabbath Schools and Congregations by his +eloquent addresses and noble personality. The late Dr. Cameron of +Melbourne, having heard him, as translated by me, publicly declared that +Mungaw's appearance and speech in his Church did more to show him the +grand results of the Gospel amongst the Heathen than all the Missionary +addresses he ever listened to or read. + +Our lodging was in St. Kilda. My dear wife was suddenly seized with a +dangerous illness on a visit to Taradale, and I was telegraphed for. +Finding that I must remain with her, I got Mungaw booked for Melbourne, +on the road for St. Kilda, in charge of a railway guard. Some white +wretches, in the guise of gentlemen, offered to see him to the St. Kilda +Station, assuring the guard that they were friends of mine, and +interested in our Mission. They took him, instead, to some den of infamy +in Melbourne. On refusing to drink with them, he said they threw him +down on a sofa, and poured drink or drugs into him till he was nearly +dead. Having taken all his money (he had only two or three pounds, made +up of little presents from various friends), they thrust him out to the +street, with only one penny in his pocket. + +On becoming conscious, he applied to a policeman, who either did not +understand or would not interfere. Hearing an engine whistle, he +followed the sound, and found his way to Spencer Street Station, where +he proffered his penny for a ticket, all in vain. At last a sailor took +pity on him, got him some food, and led him to the St. Kilda Station. +There he stood for a whole day, offering his penny for a ticket by every +train, only to meet with refusal after refusal, till he broke down, and +cried aloud in such English as desperation gave him: + +"If me savvy road, me go. Me no savvy road, and stop here me die. My +Missi Paton live at Kilda. Me want go Kilda. Me no money. Bad fellow +took all! Send me Kilda." + +Some gentle Samaritan gave him a ticket, and he reached our house at St. +Kilda at last. There for above three weeks the poor creature lay in a +sort of stupid doze. Food he could scarcely be induced to taste, and he +only rose now and again for a drink of water. When my wife was able to +be removed thither also, we found dear Mungaw dreadfully changed in +appearance and in conduct. Twice thereafter I took him with me on +Mission work; but, on medical advice, preparations were made for his +immediate return to the Islands. I intrusted him to the kind care of +Captain Logan, who undertook to see him safely on board the _Dayspring_, +then lying at Auckland. Mungaw was delighted, and we hoped everything +from his return to his own land and people. After some little trouble, +he was landed safely home on Aniwa. But his malady developed dangerous +and violent symptoms, characterized by long periods of quiet and sleep, +and then sudden paroxysms, in which he destroyed property, burned +houses, and was a terror to all. + +On our return he was greatly delighted; but he complained bitterly that +the white men "had spoiled his head," and that when it "burned hot" he +did all these bad things for which he was extremely sorry. He +deliberately attempted my life, and most cruelly abused his dear and +gentle wife; and then, when the frenzy was over, he wept and lamented +over it. Many a time he marched round and round our house with loaded +musket and spear and tomahawk, while we had to keep doors and windows +locked and barricaded; then the paroxysm passed off, and he slept, long +and deep, like a child. When he came to himself, he wept and said, "The +white men spoiled my head! I know not what I do. My head burns hot, and +I am driven." + +One day, in the Church, he leaped up during Worship with a loud yelling +war-cry, rushed off through the Imrai to his own house, set fire to it, +and danced around till everything he possessed was burned to ashes. +Nasi, a bad Tannese Chief living on Aniwa, had a quarrel with Mungaw +about a cask found at the shore, and threatened to shoot him. Others +encouraged him to do so, as Mungaw was growing every day more and more +destructive and violent. When any person became outrageous or insane on +Aniwa, as they had neither asylum nor prison, they first of all held him +fast and discharged a musket close to his ear; and then, if the shock +did not bring him back to his senses, they tied him up for two days or +so; and finally, if that did not restore him, they shot him dead. Thus +the plan of Nasi was favored by their own customs. One night, after +Family Worship--for amidst all his madness, when clear moments came, he +poured out his soul in faith and love to the Lord--he said, "Litsi, I am +melting! My head burns. Let us go out and get cooled in the open air." + +She warned him not to go, as she heard voices whispering under the +verandah. He answered a little wildly, "I am not afraid to die. Life is +a curse and burden. The white men spoiled my head. If there is a hope of +dying, let me go quickly and die!" + +As he crossed the door, a ball crashed through him, and he fell dead. We +got the mother and her children away to the Mission House; and next +morning they buried the remains of poor Mungaw under the floor of his +own hut, and enclosed the whole place with a fence. It was a sorrowful +close to so noble a career. I shed many a tear that I ever took him to +Australia. What will God have to say to those white fiends who poisoned +and maddened poor dear Mungaw? + +After a while the good Queen Litsi was happily married again. She became +possessed with a great desire to go as a Missionary to the people and +tribe of Nasi, the very man who had murdered her husband. She used to +say, "Is there no Missionary to go and teach Nasi's people? I weep and +pray for them, that they too may come to know and love Jesus." + +I answered, "Litsi, if I had only wept and prayed for you, but stayed at +home in Scotland, would that have brought you to know and love Jesus as +you do?" + +"Certainly not," she replied. + +"Now then," I proceeded, "would it not please Jesus, and be a grand and +holy revenge, if you, the Christians of Aniwa, could carry the Gospel to +the very people whose Chief murdered Mungaw?" + +The idea took possession of her soul. She was never wearied talking and +praying over it. When at length a Missionary was got for Nasi's people, +Litsi and her new husband offered themselves as the head of a band of +six or eight Aniwan Christians and were engaged there to open up the way +and assist, as Teachers and Helpers, the Missionary and his wife. There +she and they have labored ever since. They are "strong" for the Worship. +Her son is being trained up by his cousin, an Elder of the Church, to be +"the good Chief of Aniwa"; so she calls him in her prayers, as she cries +on God to bless and watch over him, while she is serving the Lord in at +once serving the Mission family and ministering to the Natives in that +foreign field. + +Many years have now passed; and when lately I visited that part of +Tanna, Litsi ran to me, clasped my hand, kissed it with many sobs, and +cried, "O my father! God has blessed me to see you again. Is my mother, +your dear wife, well? And your children, my brothers and sisters? My +love to them all! Oh my heart clings to you!" + +We had sweet conversation, and then she said more calmly, "My days here +are hard. I might be happy and independent as Queen of my own Aniwa. But +the Heathen here are beginning to listen. The Missi sees them coming +nearer to Jesus. And oh, what a reward when we shall hear them sing and +pray to our dear Saviour! The hope of that makes me strong for +anything." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIII. +THE CONVERSION OF NASI. + +NASI, the Tanna-man, was a bad and dangerous character, though some +readers may condone his putting an end to Mungaw in the terrible +circumstances of our case. During a great illness that befell him, I +ministered to him regularly, but no kindness seemed to move him. When +about to leave Aniwa, I went specially to visit him. On parting I said, +"Nasi, are you happy? Have you ever been happy?" + +He answered gloomily, "No! Never." + +I said, "Would you like this dear little boy of yours to grow up like +yourself, and lead the life you have lived?" + +"No!" he replied warmly! "I certainly would not." + +"Then," I continued, "you must become a Christian, and give up all your +Heathen conduct, or he will just grow up to quarrel and fight and murder +as you have done; and, O Nasi, he will curse you through all Eternity +for leading him to such a life and to such a doom!" + +He was very much impressed, but made no response. After we had sailed, a +band of our young Native Christians held a consultation over the case of +Nasi. They said, "We know the burden and terror that Nasi has been to +our dear Missi. We know that he has murdered several persons with his +own hands, and has taken part in the murder of others. Let us unite in +daily prayer that the Lord would open his heart and change his conduct, +and teach him to love and follow what is good, and let us set ourselves +to win Nasi for Christ, just as Missi tried to win us." + +So they began to show him every possible kindness, and one after another +helped him in his daily tasks, embracing every opportunity of pleading +with him to yield to Jesus and take the new path of life. At first he +repelled them, and sullenly held aloof. But their prayers never ceased, +and their patient affection continued to grow. At last, after long +waiting, Nasi broke down, and cried to one of the Teachers, "I can +oppose your Jesus no longer. If He can make you treat me like that, I +yield myself to Him and to you. I want Him to change me too. I want a +heart like that of Jesus." + +He rubbed off the ugly thick-daubed paint from his face; he cut off his +long heathen hair; he went to the sea and bathed, washing himself clean; +and then he came to the Christians and dressed himself in a shirt and a +kilt. The next step was to get a book,--his was the translation of the +Gospel according to St. John. He eagerly listened to every one that +would read bits of it aloud to him, and his soul seemed to drink in the +new ideas at every pore. He attended the Church and the School most +regularly, and could in a very short time read the Gospel for himself. +The Elders of the Church took special pains in instructing him, and +after due preparation he was admitted to the Lord's Table--my brother +Missionary from Tanna baptizing and receiving him. Imagine my joy on +learning all this regarding one who had sullenly resisted my appeals for +many years, and how my soul praised the Lord who is "Mighty to save!" + +During a recent visit to Aniwa, in 1886, God's almighty compassion was +further revealed to me, when I found that Nasi the murderer was now a +Scripture Reader, and able to comment in a wonderful and interesting +manner on what he read to the people! On arriving at the Island, after +my tour in Great Britain (1884-85), all the inhabitants of Aniwa seemed +to be assembled at the boat-landing to welcome me, except Nasi. He was +away fishing at a distance, and had been sent for, but had not yet +arrived. On the way to the Mission House, he came rushing to meet me. He +grasped my hand, and kissed it, and burst into tears. I said, "Nasi, do +I now at last meet you as a Christian?" + +He warmly answered, "Yes, Missi; I now worship and serve the only Lord +and Saviour Jesus Christ. Bless God, I am a Christian at last!" + +My soul went out with a silent cry, "Oh, that the men at home who +discuss and doubt about conversion, and the new heart, and the power of +Jesus to change and save, could but look on Nasi, and spell out the +simple lesson,--He that created us at first by His power can create us +anew by His love!" + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIV. +THE APPEAL OF LAMU. + +MY first Sabbath on Aniwa, after this tour in Great Britain and the +Colonies, gave me a blessed surprise. Before daybreak I lay awake +thinking of all my experiences on that Island, and wondering whether the +Church had fallen off in my four years' absence, when suddenly the voice +of song broke on my ears! It was scarcely full dawn, yet I jumped up and +called to a man that was passing, "Have I slept in? Is it already +Church-time? Or why are the people met so early?" + +He was one of their leaders, and gravely replied, "Missi, since you +left, we have found it very hard to live near to God! So the Chief and +the Teachers and a few others meet when daylight comes in every Sabbath +morning, and spend the first hour of every Lord's Day in prayer and +praise. They are met to pray for you now, that God may help you in your +preaching, and that all hearts may bear fruit to the glory of Jesus this +day." + +I returned to my room, and felt wonderfully "prepared" myself. It would +be an easy and a blessed thing to lead such a Congregation into the +presence of the Lord! They were there already. + +On that day every person on Aniwa seemed to be at Church, except the +bedridden and the sick. At the close of the Services, the Elders +informed me that they had kept up all the Meetings during my absence, +and had also conducted the Communicants' Class, and they presented to me +a considerable number of Candidates for membership. After careful +examination, I set apart nine boys and girls, about twelve or thirteen +years of age and advised them to wait for at least another year or so, +that their knowledge and habits might be matured. They had answered +every question, indeed, and were eager to be baptized and admitted; but +I feared for their youth, lest they should fall away and bring disgrace +on the Church. One of them with very, earnest eyes, looked at me and +said, "We have been taught that whosoever believeth is to be baptized. +We do most heartily believe in Jesus, and try to please Jesus." + +I answered, "Hold on for another year, and then our way will be clear." + +But he persisted, "Some of us may not be living then; and you may not be +here. We long to be baptized by you, our own Missi, and to take our +place among the servants of Jesus." + +After much conversation I agreed to baptize them, and they agreed to +refrain from going to the Lord's Table for a year, that all the Church +might by that time have knowledge and proof of their consistent +Christian life, though so young in years. This discipline, I thought, +would be good for them; and the Lord might use it as a precedent for +guidance in future days. + +Of other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. +She was about twenty-five, and the Elders objected because her marriage +had not been according to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us +weeping deeply. I was writing late at night in the cool evening air, as +was my wont in that oppressive tropical clime, and a knock was heard at +my door. I called out, "_Akai era_?" (= Who is there?) + +A voice softly answered, "Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!" + +This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door. + +"Oh, Missi," she began, "I cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in +pain. Am I to be shut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lord's Table +committed murder. They repented, and have been saved. My heart is very +bad; yet I never did any of those crimes of Heathenism; and I know that +it is my joy to try and please my Saviour Jesus. How is it that I only +am to be shut out from Jesus?" + +I tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all +very eagerly. Then she looked up at me and said, "Missi, you and the +Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my love to Jesus +at the Lord's Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has received +me; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory +and present me to the Father." + +Her look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit +her appeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with +convincing effect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. +And that Communion Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa. + +It has often struck me, when relating these events, to press this +question on the many young people, the highly privileged white brothers +and sisters of Lamu, Did you ever lose one hour of sleep or a single +meal in thinking of your Soul, your God, the claims of Jesus, and your +Eternal Destiny? + +And when I saw the diligence and fidelity of these poor Aniwan Elders, +teaching and ministering during all those years, my soul has cried aloud +to God, Oh, what could not the Church accomplish if the educated and +gifted Elders and others in Christian lands would set themselves thus to +work for Jesus, to teach the ignorant, to protect the tempted, and to +rescue the fallen! + + + +CHAPTER LXXXV. +WANTED! A STEAM AUXILIARY. + +IN December 1883 I brought a pressing and vital matter before the +General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. It pertained to +the New Hebrides Mission, to the vastly increased requirements of the +Missionaries and their families there, and to the fact that the +_Dayspring_ was no longer capable of meeting the necessities of the +case,--thereby incurring loss of time, loss of property, and risk and +even loss of precious lives. The Missionaries on the spot had long felt +this, and had loudly and earnestly pled for a new and larger Vessel, or +a Vessel with Steam Auxiliary power, or some arrangement whereby the +work of God on these Islands might be overtaken, without unnecessary +exposure of life, and without the dreaded perils that accrue to a small +sailing Vessel such as the _Dayspring_ alike from deadly calms and from +treacherous gales. + +The Victorian General Assembly, heartily at one with the Missionaries, +commissioned me to go home to Britain in 1884, making me at the same +time their Missionary delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council at +Belfast, and also their representative to the General Assemblies of the +several Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain and Ireland. And they +empowered and authorized me to lay our proposals about a new Steam +Auxiliary Mission Ship before all these Churches, and to ask and receive +from God's people whatever contributions they felt disposed to give +towards the sum of £6000, without which this great undertaking could not +be faced. + +A few days after my arrival I was called upon to appear before the +Supreme Court of the English Presbyterian Church, then assembled at +Liverpool. While a hymn was being sung, I took my seat in the pulpit +under great depression. But light broke around, when my dear friend and +fellow-student, Dr. Oswald Dykes, came up from the body of the Church, +shook me warmly by the hand, whispered a few encouraging words in my +ear, and, returned to his seat. God helped me to tell my story, and the +audience were manifestly interested. + +Next, by kind invitation, I visited and addressed the United +Presbyterian Synod of Scotland, assembled in Edinburgh. My reception +there was not only cordial,--it was enthusiastic. Though as a Church +they had no denominational interest in our Mission, the Moderator, +amidst the cheers of all the Ministers and Elders, recommended that I +should have free access to every Congregation and Sabbath School which I +found it possible to visit, and hoped that their generous-hearted people +would contribute freely to so needful and noble a cause. My soul rose in +praise; and I may here say, in passing, that every Minister of that +Church whom I wrote to or visited treated me in the same spirit +throughout all my tour. + +Having been invited by Mr. Dickson, an Elder of the Free Church, to +address a midday meeting of children in the Free Assembly Hall, I was +able by all appearances, greatly to interest and impress them. At the +close, my dear and noble friend, Principal Cairns, warmly welcomed and +cheered me, and that counted for much amid all anxieties; for I had +learned that very day, at headquarters, that the Free Church authorities +were resolved, in view of a difference of opinion betwixt the +_Dayspring_ Board at Sydney and the Victorian Assembly as to the new +Steam Auxiliary, to hold themselves absolutely neutral. + +Having letters from Andrew Scott, Esq., Carrugal, my very dear friend +and helper in Australia, to Dr. J. Hood Wilson, Barclay Free Church, +Edinburgh, I resolved to deliver them that evening; and I prayed the +Lord to open up all my path, as I was thus thrown solely on Him for +guidance and bereft of the aid of man. Dr. Wilson and his lady, neither +of whom I had ever seen before, received me as kindly as if I had been +an old friend. He read my letters of introduction, conversed with me as +to plans and wishes (chiefly through Mrs. Wilson, for he was suffering +from sore throat) and then he said with great warmth and kindliness: + +"God has surely sent you here to-night! I feel myself unable to preach +to-morrow. Occupy my pulpit in the forenoon and address my Sabbath +School, and you shall have a collection for your Ship." + +Thereafter, I was with equal kindness received by Mr. Balfour, having a +letter of introduction from his brother, and he offered me his pulpit +for the evening of that day. I lay down blessing and praising Him, the +Angel of whose Presence was thus going before me and opening up my way. +That Lord's Day I had great blessing and joy; there was an extraordinary +response financially to my appeals and my proposal was thus fairly +launched in the Metropolis of our Scottish Church life. I remembered an +old saying, Difficulties are made only to be vanquished. And I thought +in my deeper soul,--Thus our God throws us back upon Himself; and if +these £6000 ever come to me, to the Lord God alone, and not to man, +shall be all the glory! + +On the Monday following, after a long conversation and every possible +explanation, Colonel Young, of the Free Church Foreign Missions +Committee, said, "We must have you to address the Assembly on the +evening devoted to Missions." Thus I had the pleasure and honor of +addressing that great Assembly; and though no notice was taken of my +proposals in any "finding" of the Court, yet many were thereby +interested deeply in our work, and requests now poured in upon me from +every quarter to occupy pulpits and receive collections for the new +Ship. + +At the meeting in the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, which +along with others, I was cordially invited to address, the good and +noble Lord Polwarth occupied the chair. That was the beginning of a +friendship in Christ which will last and deepen as long as we live. From +that night he took the warmest personal interest, not only by generously +contributing to my fund, but by organizing meetings at his own Mansion +House, and introducing me to a wide circle of influential friends. + +Nor, whilst the pen leads on my mind to recall these Border memories, +must I fail to record how John Scott Dudgeon, Esq., Longnewton, a +greatly esteemed Elder of the Church went from town to town in all that +region, and from Minister to Minister, arranging for me a series of +happy meetings. I shared also the hospitality of his beautiful home, and +added himself and his much-beloved wife to the precious roll of those +who are dear for the Gospel's sake and for their own. Her Majesty's +Commissioner to the General Assembly for the year was that distinguished +Christian as well as nobleman, the Earl of Aberdeen. He graciously +invited me to meet the Countess and himself at ancient Holyrood. After +dinner he withdrew himself for a lengthened time from the general +company, and entered into a close and interested conversation about our +Mission, and especially about the threatened annexation of the New +Hebrides by the French. + +There also I had the memorable pleasure of meeting, and for a long while +conversing with that truly noble and large-hearted lady, his mother, the +much-beloved Dowager-Countess well known for her life-long devotion to +so many schemes of Christian philanthropy. At her own home, Alva House, +she afterwards arranged meetings for me, as well as in Halls and +Churches in the immediately surrounding district; and her letters of +interest in the work, of sympathy, and of helpfulness, from time to time +received, were amongst the sustaining forces of my spiritual life. + +When one sees men and women of noble rank thus consecrating themselves +in humble and faithful service to Jesus, there dawns upon the mind a +glimpse of what the prophet means, and of what the world will be like, +when it can be said regarding the Church of God on Earth,--"Kings have +become thy nursing fathers, and their Queens thy nursing mothers." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVI. +MY CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND. + +MY steps were next directed towards Ireland, immediately after the +Church meetings at Edinburgh; first to 'Derry, where the Presbyterian +Assembly was met in annual conclave, and thereafter to Belfast, where +the Pan-Presbyterian Council was shortly to sit. The eloquent fervor of +the Brethren at 'Derry was like a refreshing breeze to my spirit; I +never met Ministers anywhere, in all my travels, who seemed more +wholehearted in their devotion to the work which the Lord had given them +to do. + +I addressed the Assembly at 'Derry and also the Council at Belfast. The +memory of seeing all those great and learned and famous men--for many of +the leaders were eminently such--so deeply interested in the work of +God, and particularly in the Evangelizing of the Heathen World and +bringing thereto the knowledge of Jesus, was to me, so long exiled from +all such influences, one of the great inspirations of my life. I +listened with humble thankfulness, and blessed the Lord who had brought +me to sit at their feet. + +On the rising of the Council, I entered upon a tour of six weeks among +the Presbyterian Congregations and Sabbath Schools of Ireland. It had +often been said to me, after my addresses in the Assemblies and +elsewhere, "How do you ever expect to raise £6000? It can never be +accomplished, unless you call upon the rich individually, and get their +larger subscriptions. Our ordinary Church people have more than enough +to do with themselves. Trade is dull," etc. + +I explained to them, and also announced publicly, that in all similar +efforts I had never called on or solicited any one privately, and that I +would not do so now. I would make my appeal, but leave everything else +to be settled betwixt the individual conscience and the Saviour--I +gladly receiving whatsoever was given or sent, acknowledging it by +letter, and duly forwarding it to my own Church in Victoria. Again and +again did generous souls offer to go with me, introduce me, and give me +opportunity of soliciting subscriptions; but I steadily refused--going, +indeed, wherever an occasion was afforded me of telling my story and +setting forth the claims of the Missions, but asking no one personally +for anything, having fixed my soul in the conviction that one part of +the work was laid upon me, but that the other lay betwixt the Master and +His servants exclusively. + +"On what then do you really rely, looking at it from a business point of +view?" they would somewhat appealingly ask me. + +I answered, "I will tell my story; I will set forth the claims of the +Lord Jesus on the people; I will expect the surplus collection, or a +retiring collection, on Sabbath; I will ask the whole collection, less +expenses, at week-night meetings; I will issue Collecting Cards for +Sabbath Scholars; I will make known my Home-Address, to which everything +may be forwarded, either from Congregations or from private donors; and +I will go on, to my utmost strength, in the faith that the Lord will +send me the £6000 required. If He does not so send it, then I shall +expect He will send me grace to be reconciled to the disappointment, and +I shall go back to my work without the Ship." + +This, in substance, I had to repeat hundreds of times; and as often had +I to witness the half-pitying or incredulous smile with which it was +received, or to hear the blunt and emphatic retort, "You'll never +succeed! Money cannot be got in that unbusiness-like way." + +I generally added nothing further to such conversation; but a Voice, +deep, sweet, and clear, kept sounding through my soul--"The silver and +the gold are Mine." + +During the year 1884, as is well known, Ireland was the scene of many +commotions and of great distress. Yet at the end of my little tour +amongst the Presbyterian people of the North principally, though not +exclusively, a sum of more than £600 had been contributed to our Mission +Fund. And there was not, so far as my knowledge went, one single large +subscription; there were, of course, many bits of gold from those +well-to-do, but the ordinary collection was made up of the shillings and +pence of the masses of the people. Nor had I ever in all my travels a +warmer response, nor ever mingled with any Ministers more earnestly +devoted to their Congregations or more generally and deservedly beloved. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVII. +SCOTLAND'S FREE-WILL OFFERINGS. + +RETURNING to Scotland, I settled down at my headquarters, the house of +my brother James in Glasgow; and thence began to open up the main line +of my operations, as the Lord day by day guided me. Having the aid of no +Committee, I cast myself on Minister after Minister and Church after +Church, calling here, writing there, and arranging for three meetings +every Sabbath, and one, if possible, every week-day, and drawing-room +meetings, wherever practicable, in the afternoons. My correspondence +grew to oppressive proportions, and kept me toiling at it every spare +moment from early morn till bedtime. Indeed, I never could have +overtaken it, had not my brother devoted many days and hours of precious +time, answering letters regarding arrangements issuing the "Share" +receipts for all moneys the moment they arrived, managing all my +transactions through the bank, and generally tackling and reducing the +heap of communications, and preventing me falling into hopeless arrears. + +I printed, and circulated by post and otherwise, ten thousand copies of +a booklet, "Statement and Appeal,"--containing, besides my Victorian +Commission and my Glasgow address, a condensed epitome of the results of +the New Hebrides Mission and of the reasons for asking a new Steam +Auxiliary Ship. To this chiefly is due the fact, as well as to my +refusing to call for subscriptions, that the far greater portion of all +the money came to me by letter. On one day, though no doubt a little +exceptional, as many as seventy communications reached me by post; and +every one of these contained something for our fund-ranging from "a few +stamps," and "the widow's mite," through every variety of figure up to +the wealthy man's fifty or hundred pounds. I was particularly struck +with the number of times that I received £1, with such a note as, "From +a servant-girl that loves the Lord Jesus;" or "From a servant-girl that +prays for the conversion of the Heathen." Again and again I received +sums of five and ten shillings, with notes such as--"From a working-man +who loves his Bible;" or "From a working-man who prays for God's +blessing on you and work like yours every day in Family Worship." I +sometimes regret that the graphic, varied, and intensely interesting +notes and letters were not preserved; for by the close of my tour they +would have formed a wonderful volume of leaves from the human heart. + +I also addressed every Religious Convention to which I was invited, or +to which I could secure access. The Perth Conference was made memorable +to me by my receiving the first large subscription for our Ship, and by +my making the acquaintance of a beautiful type of Christian merchant. At +the close of the meeting, at which I had the privilege of speaking, an +American gentleman introduced himself to me. We at once entered into +each other's confidence, as brothers in the Lord's service. I afterwards +learned that he had made a competency for himself and his family, though +only in the prime of life; and he still carried on a large and +flourishing business--but why? to devote _the whole profits_, year after +year, to the direct service of God and His cause among men? He gave me a +cheque for the largest single contribution with which the Lord had yet +cheered me. God, who knows me, sees that I have never coveted money for +myself or my family; but I did envy that Christian merchant the joy that +he had in having money, and having the heart to use it as a steward of +the Lord Jesus! + +Thereafter I was invited to the annual Christian Conference at Dundee. A +most peculiar experience befell me there. Being asked to close the +forenoon meeting with prayer and the benediction, I offered prayer, and +then began, "May the love of God the Father--" but not another word +would come in English; everything was blank except the words in Aniwan, +for I had long begun to _think_ in the Native tongue, and after a dead +pause, and a painful silence, I had to wind up with a simple "Amen!" I +sat down wet with perspiration. It might have been wiser, as the +Chairman afterwards suggested, to have given them the blessing in +Aniwan, but I feared to set them alaughing by so strange a manifestation +of the "tongues." Worst of all, it had been announced that I was to +address them in the afternoon; but who would come to hear a Missionary +that stuck in the benediction? The event had its semi-comical aspect, +but it sent me to my knees during the interval in a very fever of +prayerful anxiety. A vast audience assembled, and if the Lord ever +manifestly used me in interesting His people in Missions, it was +certainly then and there. As I sat down, a devoted Free Church Elder +from Glasgow handed me his card, with "I. O. U. £100." This was my first +donation of a hundred pounds, and my heart was greatly cheered. I +praised the Lord, and warmly thanked His servant. A Something kept +sounding these words in my ears, "My thoughts are not as your thoughts;" +and also, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee." + +During my address at that meeting three colored girls, not unlike our +Island girls, sat near the platform, and eagerly listened to me. At the +close, the youngest, apparently about twelve years of age, rose, +salaamed to me in Indian fashion, took four silver bangles from her arm, +and presented them to me, saying, "Padre, I want to take shares in your +Mission Ship by these bangles, for I have no money, and may the Lord +ever bless you!" + +I replied, "Thank you, my dear child; I will not take your bangles, but +Jesus will accept your offering, and bless and reward you all the same." + +As she still held them up to me, saying, "Padre, do receive them from +me, and may God ever bless you!" a lady, who had been seated beside her, +came up to me, and said, "Please, do take them, or the dear girl will +break her heart. She has offered them up to Jesus for your Mission +Ship." + +I afterwards learned that the girls were orphans, whose parents died in +the famine; that the lady and her sister, daughters of a Missionary, had +adopted them to be trained as Zenana Missionaries, and that they +intended to return with them, and live and die to aid them in that +blessed work amongst the daughters of India. Oh, what a reward and joy +might many a lady who reads this page easily reap for herself in Time +and Eternity by a similar simple yet far-reaching service! Take action +when and where God points the way; wait for no one's guidance. + +The most amazing variety characterize the gifts and the givers. One +donor sent me an anonymous note to this effect, "I have been curtailing +my expenses. The first £5 saved I enclose that you may invest it for me +in the Bank of Jesus. I am sure He gives the best interest, and the most +certain returns." + +In Glasgow a lady called at my brother's house, saying, "Is the +Missionary at home? Can I see him alone? If not, I will call again." +Being asked into my room, she declined to be seated, but said, "I heard +you tell the story of your Mission in the City Hall, and I have been +praying for you ever since. I have called to give you my mite, but not +my name. God bless you. We shall meet in Heaven!" She handed me an +envelope, and was off almost before I could thank her. It was £49 in +bank-notes. + +Another dear Christian friend carne to see me, and at the close of a +delightful conversation, said: "I have been thinking much about you +since I heard you in the Clark Hall, Paisley. I have come to give a +little bit of dirty paper for your Ship. God sent it to me, and I return +it to God through you with great pleasure." I thanked her warmly, +thinking it a pound, or five at the most; on opening it, after she was +gone, it turned out to be £100. I felt bowed down in humble +thankfulness, and pressed forward in the service of the Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVIII. +ENGLAND'S OPEN BOOK. + +THE time now arrived for my attempting something amongst the +Presbyterians of England. But my heart sank within me; I was a stranger +to all except Dr. Dykes, and the New Hebrides Mission had no special +claims on them. Casting myself upon the Lord, I wrote to all the +Presbyterian Ministers in and around London, enclosing my "Statement and +Appeal," and asking a Service, with a retiring collection, or the +surplus above the usual collection, on behalf of our Mission Ship. All +declined, except two. I learned afterwards that the London Presbytery +had resolved that no claim beyond their own Church was to be admitted +into any of its pulpits for a period of months, under some special +financial emergency. My dear friend, Dr. J. Hood Wilson, kindly wrote +also to a number of them, on my behalf, but with a similar result; +though at last other two Services were arranged for with a collection, +and one without. Being required at London, in any case, in connection +with the threatened Annexation of the New Hebrides by the French, I +resolved to take these five Services by the way, and immediately return +to Scotland, where engagements and opportunities were now pressed upon +me, far more than I could overtake. But the Lord Himself opened before +me a larger door, and more effectual, than any that I had tried in vain +to open up for myself. + +The Churches to which I had access did nobly indeed, and the Ministers +treated me as a very brother. Dr. Dykes most affectionately supported my +Appeal, and made himself recipient of donations that might be sent for +our Mission Ship. Dr. Donald Fraser, and Messrs. Taylor and Mathieson, +with their Congregations, generously contributed to the Fund. And so did +the Mission Church in Drury Lane--the excellent and consecrated Rev. W. +B. Alexander, the pastor thereof, and his wife, becoming my devoted +personal friends and continuing to remember in their work-parties ever +since the needs of the Natives on the New Hebrides. Others also, whom I +cannot wait to specify, showed a warm interest in us and in our +department of the Lord's work. But my heart had been foolishly set upon +adding a large sum to the fund for the Mission Ship, and when only about +£150 came from all the Churches in London to which I could get access, +no doubt I was sensible of cherishing a little guilty disappointment. +That was very unworthy in me, considering all my previous experiences; +and God deserved to be trusted by me far differently, as the sequel will +immediately show. + +That widely-known and deeply-beloved servant of God, Mr. J. E. +Mathieson, of the Mildmay Conference Hall, had invited me to address one +of their annual meetings on behalf of Foreign Missions, and also to be +his guest while the Conference lasted. Thereby I met and heard many +godly and noble disciples of the Lord, whom I could not otherwise have +reached though every Church I had asked in London had been freely opened +to me. These devout and faithful and generous people, belonging to every +branch of the Church of Christ, and drawn from every rank and class in +society, from the humblest to the highest, were certainly amongst the +most open-hearted and the most responsive of all whom I ever had the +privilege to address. One felt there, in a higher degree than almost +anywhere else, that every soul was on fire with love to Jesus and with +genuine devotion to His Cause in every corner of the Earth. There it was +a privilege and a gladness to speak; and though no collection was asked, +or could be expected, my heart was uplifted and strengthened by these +happy meetings, and by all that Heavenly intercourse. + +But see how the Lord leads us by a way we know not! Next morning after +my address, a gentleman who had heard me, the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, +handed me a cheque from his father-in-law for £300, by far the largest +single donation at that time towards our Mission Ship; and immediately +thereafter I received from one of the Mildmay lady Missionaries £50, +from a venerable friend of the founder £20, from "Friends at Mildmay" +£30; and through my dear friend and brother, Mr. Mathieson, many other +donations were in due course forwarded to me. + +My introduction, however, to the Conference at Mildmay did far more for +me than even this; it opened up a series of drawing-room meetings in and +around London, where I told the story of our Mission and preached, the +Gospel to many in the higher walks of life, and received most liberal +support for the Mission Ship. It also brought me invitations from many +quarters of England, to Churches, to Halls, and to County Houses and +Mansions. + +Lord Radstock got up a special meeting, inviting by private card a large +number of his most influential friends; and there I met for the first +time one whom I have since learned to regard as a very precious personal +friend. Rev. Sholto D. C. Douglas, clergyman, of the Church of England, +who then, and afterwards at Douglas-Support in Scotland, not only most +liberally supported our fund, but took me by the hand as a brother, and +promoted my work by every means in his power. + +The Earl and Countess of Tankerville also invited me to Chillingham +Castle, and gave me an opportunity of addressing a great assembly there, +then gathered together from all parts of the County. The British and +Foreign Bible Society received me in a special meeting of the Directors; +and I was able to tell them how all we, the Missionaries of these +Islands whose language had never before been reduced to writing, looked +to them, and leant upon them, and prayed for them and their +work--without whom our Native Bibles never could have been published. +After the meeting the Chairman gave me £5, and one of the Directors a +check for £25 for our Mission Ship. + +I was also invited to Leicester, and made the acquaintanceship of a +godly and gifted servant of the Lord Jesus, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, B. A. +(now of London), whose books and booklets on the higher aspects of the +Christian Life are read by tens of thousands, and have been fruitful of +blessing. There I addressed great meetings of devoted workers in the +Lord's vineyard; and the dear friend who was my host on that occasion, a +Christian merchant, has since contributed £10 per annum for the support +of a Native Teacher on the New Hebrides. + +It was my privilege also to visit and address the Müller Orphanages at +Bristol, and to see that saintly man of faith and prayer moving about as +a wise and loving father amongst the hundreds, even thousands, that look +to him for their daily bread and for the bread of Life Eternal. At the +close of my address, the venerable founder thanked me warmly and said, +"Here are £50, which God has sent to me for your Mission." I replied +saying, "Dear friend, how can I take it? I would rather give you £500 +for your Orphans if I could, for I am sure you need it all!" + +He replied, with sweetness and great dignity, "God provides for His own +Orphans. This money cannot be used for them. I must send it after you by +letter. It is the Lord's gift." + +Often, as I have looked at the doings of men and Churches, and tried to +bring all to the test as if in Christ's very presence, it has appeared +to me that such work as Müller's and Barnardo's, and that of my own +fellow-countryman, William Quarrier, must be peculiarly dear to the +heart of our blessed Lord. And were He to visit this world again, and +seek a place where His very Spirit had most fully wrought itself out +into deeds, I fear that many of our so-called Churches would deserve to +be passed by, and that His holy, tender, helpful, divinely-human love +would find its most perfect reflex in these Orphan Homes. Still and +forever, amidst all changes of creed and of climate, this, this is "pure +and undefiled Religion" before God and the Father! + +But in this connection I must not omit to mention that the noble and +world-famous servant of God, the Minister of the Tabernacle, invited me +to a garden-party at his home, and asked me to address his students and +other Christian workers. When I arrived I found a goodly company +assembled under the shade of lovely trees, and felt the touch of that +genial humor, so mighty a gift when sanctified, which has so often given +wings to C. H. Spurgeon's words, when he saluted me as "The King of the +Cannibals!" On my leaving, Mrs. Spurgeon presented me with her husband's +_Treasury of David_, and also "£5 from the Lord's cows"--which I +afterwards learned was part of the profits from certain cows kept by the +good lady, and that everything produced thereby was dedicated to the +work of the Lord. I praised God that He had privileged me to meet this +extraordinarily endowed man, to whom the whole Christian World had been +so specially indebted, and who had consecrated all his gifts and +opportunities to the proclamation of the pure and precious Gospel. + +Of all my London associations, however, the deepest and the most +imperishable is that which weaves itself around the Honorable Ion +Keith-Falconer, who has already passed to what may truly be called a +Martyr's crown. At that time I met him at his father-in-law's house at +Trent; and on another occasion spent a whole day with him at the house +of his noble mother, the Countess-Dowager of Kintore. His soul was then +full of his projected Mission to the Arabs, being himself one of the +most distinguished Orientalists of the day; and as we talked together, +and exchanged experiences, I felt that never before had I visibly marked +the fire of God, the holy passion to seek and to save the lost, burning +more steadily or brightly on the altar of any human heart. The heroic +founding of the Mission at Aden is already one of the precious annals of +the Church of Christ. His young and devoted wife survives, to mourn +indeed, but also to cherish his noble memory; and, with the aid of +others, and the banner of the Free Church of Scotland, to see the +"Keith-Falconer Mission" rising up amidst the darkness of blood-stained +Africa, as at once a harbor of refuge for the slave, and a beacon-light +to those who are without God and without hope The servant does his day's +work, and passes on through the gates of sleep to the Happy Dawn; but +the Divine Master lives and works and reigns, and by our death, as +surely as by our life, His holy purposes shall be fulfilled. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIX. +FAREWELL SCENES. + +ON returning to Scotland, every day was crowded with engagements for the +weeks that remained, and almost every mail brought me contributions from +all conceivable corners of the land. My heart was set upon taking out +two or three Missionaries with me to claim more and still more of the +Islands for Christ; and with that view I had addressed Divinity Students +at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Again and again, by conversation +and correspondence, consecrated young men were just on the point of +volunteering; but again and again the larger and better known fields of +labor turned the scale, and they finally decided for China or Africa or +India. Deeply disappointed at this, and thinking that God directed us to +look to our own Australia alone for Missionaries for the New Hebrides, I +resolved to return, and took steps towards securing a passage by the +Orient Line to Melbourne. But just then two able and devoted students, +Messrs. Morton and Leggatt, offered themselves as Missionaries for our +Islands; and shortly thereafter a third, Mr. Landells, also an excellent +man; and all, being on the eve of their License as preachers, were +approved of, accepted, and set to special preparations for the Mission +field, particularly in acquiring practical medical knowledge. + +On this turn of affairs I managed to have my passage delayed for six +weeks, and resolved to cast myself on the Lord that He might enable me +in that time to raise at least £500, in order to furnish the necessary +outfit and equipment for three new Mission Stations, and to pay the +passage money of the Missionaries and their wives, that there might be +no difficulty on this score amongst the Foreign Mission Committees on +the other side. And then the idea came forcibly, and for a little +unmanned me, that it was wrong in me to speak of these limits as to time +and money in my prayers to God. But I reflected, again, how it was for +the Lord's own glory alone in the salvation of the Heathen, and for no +personal aims of mine; and so I fell back on His promise, "Whatsoever ye +shall ask in My Name," and believingly asked it in His Name, and for His +praise and service alone. I think it due to my Lord, and for the +encouragement of all His servants, that I should briefly outline what +occurred in answer to these prayers. + +Having gone to the center of one of the great shipbuilding districts of +Scotland, and held a series of meetings, and raised a sum of about £55 +only after nine services and many Sabbath School collecting cards, my +heart was beginning to sink, as I did not think my health would stand +another six weeks of incessant strain; when, at the close of my last +meeting in a Free Church, an Elder and his wife entered the vestry and +said, "We are deeply interested in you and in all your work and plans. +You say that you have asked £500 more. We gave you the first £100 at the +Dundee Conference; and it is a joy to us to give you this £100 too, +towards the making up of your final sum. We pray that you may speedily +realize your wish, and that God's richest blessing may ever rest upon +your head." + +Another week passed by, and at the close of it a lady called upon me, +and, after delightful conversation about the Mission, said, "How near +are you to the sum required?" I explained to her what is recorded above, +and she continued, "I gave you one little piece of paper at the +beginning of your efforts. I have prayed for you every day since. God +has prospered me, and this is one of the happiest moments of my life, +when I am now able to give you another little bit of paper." + +So saying, she put into my hand £100. I protested, "You are surely too +generous. Can you afford a second £100?" + +She replied to this effect, and very joyfully, as one who had genuine +gladness in the deed, "My Lord has been very kind to me, in my business. +My wants are simple, and are safe in His hands. I wait not till death +forces me, but give back whatever I am able to the Lord now, and hope to +live to see much blessing thereby through you in the conversion of the +Heathen." + +My last week had come, and I was in the midst of preparations for +departure, when amongst the letters delivered to me was one to this +effect: + +"Restitution money which never now can be returned to its owner. Since +my Conversion I have labored hard to save it. I now make my only +possible amends by returning it to God through you. Pray for me and +mine, and may God bless you in your work!" I rather startled my brother +and his wife at our breakfast table by shouting out in unwontedly +excited tones,--"Hallelujah! The Lord has done it! Hallelujah!" But my +tones softened down into intense reverence, and my words broke at last +into tears, when I found that this, the second largest subscription ever +received by me (£1000, by one friend, have since been given to the "John +G. Paton Mission Fund"), came from a converted tradesman who had +consecrated his all to the Lord Jesus, and whose whole leisure was now +centered upon seeking to bless and save those of his own rank and class, +amongst whom he had spent his early and unconverted days. Jesus said +unto him, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the +Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." + +Bidding farewell to dear old Glasgow, so closely intertwined with all my +earlier and later experiences, I started for London, accompanied by my +brother James. We were sitting at breakfast at Mrs. Mathieson's table, +Mildmay, when a telegram was put into my hands announcing a +"thank-offering" from Lord and Lady Polwarth, received since our +departure from Glasgow. The Lord had now literally exceeded my prayers. +With other gifts, repeated again by friends at Mildmay, the special fund +for outfit and traveling expenses for new Missionaries had risen above +the £500, and now approached £650. + +In a Farewell Meeting at Mildmay the Lord's servants, being assembled in +great numbers from all quarters of London, dedicated me and my work very +solemnly to God, amid songs of praise and many prayers and touching +"last words." And when at length Mr. Mathieson, intimating that I must +go, as another company of Christian workers were elsewhere waiting also +to say Good-by, suggested that the whole audience should stand up, and, +instead of hand-shaking, quietly breathe their benedictory Farewell as I +passed from the platform down through their great Hall, a perfect flood +of emotion overwhelmed me. I never felt a humbler man, nor more anxious +to hide my head in the dust, than when all these noble, gifted, and +beloved followers of Jesus Christ, and consecrated workers in His +service, stood up and with one heart said, "God speed" and "God bless +you," as I passed on through the Hall. To one who had striven and +suffered less, or who less appreciated how little we can do for others +compared with what Jesus had done for us, this scene might have +ministered to spiritual pride; but long ere I reached the door of that +Hall, my soul was already prostrated at the feet of my Lord in sorrow +and in shame that I had done so little for Him, and I bowed my head and +could have gladly bowed my knees to cry, "Not unto us; Lord, not unto +us!" + + + +CHAPTER XC. +WELCOME TO VICTORIA AND ANIWA. + +ON the 28th October, 1885, I sailed for Melbourne, and in due course +safely arrived there by the goodness of God. The Church and people of my +own beloved Victoria gave me a right joyful welcome, and in public +assembly presented me with a testimonial, which I shrank from receiving, +but which all the same was the highly-prized expression of their +confidence and esteem. + +During my absence at the Islands, to which I immediately proceeded, they +unanimously elected me Moderator of their Supreme Court, and called me +back to fill that highest Chair of honor in the Presbyterian Church. God +is my witness how very little any or all of these things in themselves +ever have been coveted by me; but how, when they have come in my way, I +have embraced them with a single desire thereby to promote the Church's +interest in that Cause to which my whole life and all my opportunities +are consecrated--the Conversion of the Heathen World. + +My Mission to Britain was to raise £6000, in order to enable the +Australian Churches to provide a Steam Auxiliary Mission Ship, for the +enlarged and constantly enlarging requirements of the New Hebrides. I +spent exactly eighteen months at home; and when I returned, I was +enabled to hand over to the Church that had commissioned and authorized +me no less a sum than £9000. And all this had been forwarded to me, as +the freewill offerings of the Lord's stewards, in the manner illustrated +by the preceding pages. "Behold! What God hath wrought!" + +Of this sum £6000 are set apart to build or acquire the new Mission +Ship. The remainder is added to what we call our Number II. Fund, for +the maintenance and equipment of additional Missionaries. It has been +the dream of my life to see one Missionary at least, with trained Native +Teachers, planted on every Island of the New Hebrides, and then I could +lie down and whisper gladly, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart +in peace!" + +As to the new Mission Ship, unexpected delay has arisen. There are +differences of opinion about the best way of carrying out the proposal. +There must be an understanding betwixt New South Wales and Victoria and +the other Colonies, as to the additional annual expenditure. And the +perplexity as to the wisest course has deepened, since the Colonial +Government began to run Mail Ships regularly from Australia to Fiji, +willing on certain terms of subsidy, to call at one or other harbor in +the New Hebrides. Meantime, let all friends who are interested in us and +our work understand--that the money so generously intrusted to me has +been safely handed over to my own Victorian Church, and is deposited at +good interest in the bank, to be spent at their discretion in due time, +when all details are settled, and, as nearly as possible in the altered +circumstances, exclusively for the purposes for which it was asked and +bestowed. + +To me personally, this delay is confessedly a keen and deep +disappointment. But the special work laid upon me has, however, been +accomplished. The Colonial Churches have now all the responsibility of +the further steps. In this, as in many a harder trouble of my checkered +life, I calmly roll all my burden upon the Lord. I await with quietness +and confidence His wise disposal of events. His hand is on the helm; and +whither He steers us, all shall be well. + +But let me not close this chapter, till I have struck another and a +Diviner note. I have been to the Islands again, since my return from +Britain. The whole inhabitants of Aniwa were there to welcome me, and my +procession to the old Mission House was more like the triumphal march of +a Conqueror than that of a humble Missionary. Everything was kept in +beautiful and perfect order. Every Service of the Church, as previously +described in this book, was fully sustained by the Native Teachers, the +Elders, and the occasional visit, once or twice a year, of an ordained +Missionary from one of the other Islands. Aniwa, like Aneityum, is a +Christian land. Jesus has taken possession, never again to quit those +shores. GLORY, GLORY TO HIS BLESSED NAME! + +My Home has since been at Melbourne. My life-work now (1892), and +probably during the remainder of my active days, will be to visit and +address the Congregations and Sabbath Schools of the Presbyterian +Churches of Australasia, telling them, as in this book, the story of my +experiences, and inspiring the Christian people of these Colonies to +support the New Hebrides Mission, and to claim all these Islands for the +Lord Jesus Christ. + +Reader, in your life, as in mine, one last Chapter still awaits us. By +His grace, who has sustained me from childhood till now, I would work +out that Chapter, and live through these closing scenes. With this book +still open before you, I implore you to go alone before your blessed +Saviour, and pledge yourself so to live, and so to die, in the service +and fellowship of the Lord Jesus, that you and I, who have companied +with each other through these pages, may meet again and renew our happy +intercourse in our FATHER'S HOUSE. + + + +CHAPTER XCI. +GOOD NEWS FROM TANNA, 1891. (By the Editor.) + +WHILST this page of manuscript passes through my hands, there is laid +before me a brilliant letter from Mrs. Watt of Tanna, which, I am sure, +she will pardon me for utilizing thus. It is written from Port +Resolution, in the closing days of 1891. Its main theme is the building +of the SCOTCH CHURCH, in the very heart of the district where my +brother's years of anguish and toil were endured. Friends in Scotland +gave Mr. and Mrs. Watt the money wherewith to purchase materials, and +St. Paul's Parish Church, Glasgow, provided the Bell. But let us hear +how she paints the scene, and unveils to us the Island life,--alike +Pagan and Christian. + +When they returned from Scotland and found their way to Kwamera, after +galling delays among the Islands, one of their first duties was the +making of "the annual contribution of arrow-root," the proceeds "to go +to line the roof of the Kwamera Church,--the Church itself having been +built in the same way," that is, by the sacred arrow-root! Then they +went round to Port Resolution for the erection of the SCOTCH CHURCH,--"A +Memorial of Workers and Work on Tanna." She tells how they "improvized a +derrick by lashing together the masts of the two boats, and, with the +aid of these and blocks and tackle, got the principals into their proper +position. And though carpenters or builders may laugh at it," she adds, +"we heaved a sigh of relief when the last one was secured." Listen to +this: "Mr. Gray (neighbor Missionary) and Mr. Watt were the only skilled +workmen. The others were all inexperienced, being Natives. We had them +all divided into two relays, and they came turn about, each alternate +day; and I can assure you there are no Natives in the Group, or indeed +in any land, who would have come more faithfully, or worked more +heartily, than these much-abused Tannese! The work went on every day, +Sabbaths excepted, from 6 A.M. till 6 P.M., for forty days. On ten of +these days Mr. Gray gave very valuable assistance; in truth, I do not +see how we could have done without him. Day by day the women prepared +food; the boys pulled drinking cocoanuts; and every one worked +willingly, while crowds came and gazed on in wonder as the edifice +arose." And if there be any shallow arm-chair critic of Missions ready +to sneer at such toils, let him first digest what this devoted lady +Missionary says: "Church Building may not be considered by some as +Mission work; yet we believe this Church erection has been the means of +much good to this people. We have had better attendances, both on +week-days and on Sabbaths, than ever before. And we managed to keep up +the daily morning and evening meetings during all the building +time,--as, after the devotional part was over, the builders went out, +but the rest remained for lessons." What more blessed than thus to work +and pray! To teach their hands to work, and their hearts to sing praises +to the Lord! + +Now let us pass on, and look in upon them at the opening and dedication +of this SCOTCH CHURCH ON TANKA to the Lord God. "On a fixed day, +Wednesday 28th October, exactly twelvemonths to a day from our leaving +Liverpool, Natives from far and near assembled for the occasion. Mr. and +Mrs. Gray, with their two children, a Mr. Voullaire, a German who has +come to Tanna as a Trader, and our neighbor Mr. Bramwell, joined us. So +that, when we all met for the Opening Services, we were a somewhat mixed +company, speaking a medley of languages,--English, Scotch, German, +Fijian, Aneityumese, Aniwan, and at least two of the Tannese languages! +The building was well filled; but the bigger crowd was gathered outside; +for our Heathen onlookers were afraid to enter the sacred edifice. The +Service was beautiful. All seemed very happy. After it, there was an +exchange of gifts, we giving fifty fathoms of prints and calicoes, some +handkerchiefs, two pots full of cooked rice, a pile of raw yams and +taro, and two pieces of salt beef. Our neighbor gave some print, some +tins of luncheon beef, and some uncooked rice. The Natives gave two +cooked pigs, and native puddings _ad libitum_. These things being +divided to the satisfaction of all, we had speeches, when doubtless some +good impressions were made. On the Sabbath following we had a good +attendance, Mr. Gray addressing the people. On the Sabbath following +that we made our first money collection on Tanna." I again ask to my +readers to listen, and to lay to heart what the lady Missionary tells us +of these once cruel and cannibal souls. "We asked the people to give it +as a thank-offering for the remarkable exemption from accident during +the building of the Church though at times the work was rather +dangerous. The collection was £3: 5s. We were much pleased with the +hearty way the people responded to this, the first call to give a free +gift to the Lord. One man, whose whole purse was 17s., gave 1s. himself, +and gave 1s. to each of his three sons, so that they too might have +something to give. Knowing how meanly the Tannese treated the Spirits +whom they worshiped in Heathenism,--giving them the scraggiest fish, the +poorest bananas, and the smallest yams,--we rejoiced in this Christian +liberality!!" + +Referring to exaggerated Newspaper rumors she says: "Tanna bulks largely +in some minds, though it is only a small Island, a little larger than +Arran! We had noticed that our Civil War was telegraphed not only to the +Australian papers, but to San Francisco, and even to the _London +Standard_. We have been receiving letters of condolence from friends, +who think our lives in danger!" Now, mark what the presence of the +Gospel and the Missionary has brought about, as compared with former +days: "Personally, the said Civil War has not affected us in the +slightest. The Grays, who were in the center of the scene of action, and +who more than once had the bullets whizzing over and around their house, +were so assured of their complete safety that Mrs. Gray stayed there +bravely alone with their children, while Mr. Gray came up here to assist +at our Church building!" + +But she does not pretend that all is Christlike: "The list of killed and +wounded has been unusually large for Tanna, while the atrocities +committed have been worse than we ever heard of before. Indignities were +offered to the dead of both sexes. And, in one case at least, a +mutilated woman was left unburied to be eaten by dogs,--and would have +been completely devoured, had not one of our Teachers come on the scene +next day, and, unaided, dug a grave and buried her." And then the writer +lets in the lurid light of the Nether Pit in this closing picture: "One +instance of the disgusting depravity of the people shocked me much. A +man, who even attends Service in the district where the above dreadful +affair took place, on seeing the poor mutilated form of the woman, +addressed it thus--'If only the Gospel had not reached my Village, how I +would have enjoyed a feast off you!' I cannot tell you how much this has +preyed upon my mind; or how glad I feel at realizing that Jesus is an +Almighty Saviour, and can save to the uttermost, else I would despair of +these People!" + +This may be commended to the attention of those who still affect to +believe that the Cannibalism of my brother's book is overdrawn. That +half-civilized Tanna man, smacking his lips at the thought of what might +have been his but for the Gospel, outweighs all cavils, and is tenfold +stronger than arguments. Also let us ask all readers to ponder the dear +lady's parting shot at unsympathetic and disparaging critics: "Some have +said that the backwardness of the Gospel on Tanna is due to the want of +faith on the part of her Missionaries; but I agree with our +fellow-laborer, Mr. Gray, who declares that it is only gigantic Faith +that could have toiled so many years amongst such a People!" Dear sister +in the Lord, courageous, much-enduring, free of all mock-modesty, +conscious of thy Cross, I thank thee for that word--it is the right +one--"Gigantic faith!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/28025-8.zip b/28025-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5cab2c0 --- /dev/null +++ b/28025-8.zip diff --git a/28025-h.zip b/28025-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1f7035 --- /dev/null +++ b/28025-h.zip diff --git a/28025-h/28025-h.htm b/28025-h/28025-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc2de3b --- /dev/null +++ b/28025-h/28025-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12045 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story of John G. Paton, by James Paton</title> +<style type="text/css"> + body {background:#fdfdfd; + color:black; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + margin-top:100px; + margin-left:12%; + margin-right:12%; + text-align:justify; } + hr.full { width: 100%; + height: 5px; } + hr.narrow { width: 50%; + text-align: center; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red; + text-decoration: underline; } + pre {font-size: 85%; } +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 align="center">The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Story of John G. Paton, by James Paton</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Story of John G. Paton</p> +<p> Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals</p> +<p>Author: James Paton</p> +<p>Release Date: February 8, 2009 [eBook #28025]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Carl D. DuBois</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> +<center><img src="images/johngpaton.jpg" +alt="Frontispiece"></center> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<center> +<h3>THE STORY OF</h3> +<h1>JOHN G. PATON</h1> +<hr> +<h4>Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals</h4> +<hr><br> +<h3>By REV. JAMES PATON, B.A.</h3> +<br><br> +<img src="images/seal.jpg" alt="Seal"> +<br><br> +<h4>ILLUSTRATED</h4> +<hr> +<h4>A. L. BURT COMPANY,<br>PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK</h4> +<br><br><br><br> + +<h3>PREFACE.</h3> +</center> + +<p>EVER since the story of my brother's life first appeared (January +1889) it has been constantly pressed upon me that a YOUNG FOLKS' EDITION +would be highly prized. The Autobiography has therefore been re-cast and +illustrated, in the hope and prayer that the Lord will use it to inspire +the Boys and Girls of Christendom with a wholehearted enthusiasm for the +Conversion of the Heathen World to Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>A few fresh incidents have been introduced; the whole contents have +been rearranged to suit a new class of readers; and the service of a +gifted Artist has been employed, to make the book every way attractive +to the young. For <i>full</i> details as to the Missionary's work and +life, the COMPLETE EDITION must still of course be referred to.</p> + +<p>JAMES PATON.<br> +GLASGOW, <i>Sept,</i> 1892.</p> +<br><br><br> + +<center><h3>CONTENTS.</h3></center> +<h5><small>CHAP.</small></h5> +<table> +<tr><td align="right">1. </td> +<td><a href="#1">Our Cottage Home</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">2. </td> +<td><a href="#2">Our Forebears</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">3. </td> +<td><a href="#3">Consecrated Parents</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">4. </td> +<td><a href="#4">School Days</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">5. </td> +<td><a href="#5">Leaving the Old Home</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">6. </td> +<td><a href="#6">Early Struggles</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">7. </td> +<td><a href="#7">A City Missionary</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">8. </td> +<td><a href="#8">Glasgow Experiences</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">9. </td> +<td><a href="#9">A Foreign Missionary</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">10. </td> +<td><a href="#10">To the New Hebrides</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">11. </td> +<td><a href="#11">First Impressions of Heathendom</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">12. </td> +<td><a href="#12">Breaking Ground on Tanna</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">13. </td> +<td><a href="#13">Pioneers in the New Hebrides</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">14. </td> +<td><a href="#14">The Great Bereavement</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">15. </td> +<td><a href="#15">At Home with Cannibals</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">16. </td> +<td><a href="#16">Superstitions and Cruelties</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">17. </td> +<td><a href="#17">Streaks of Dawn amidst Deeds of Darkness</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">18. </td> +<td><a href="#18">The Visit of H.M.S. "Cordelia"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">19. </td> +<td><a href="#19">"Noble Old Abraham"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">20. </td> +<td><a href="#20">A Typical South Sea Trader</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">21. </td> +<td><a href="#21">Under Axe and Musket</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">22. </td> +<td><a href="#22">A Native Saint and Martyr</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">23. </td> +<td><a href="#23">Building and Printing for God</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">24. </td> +<td><a href="#24">Heathen Dance and Sham Fight</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">25. </td> +<td><a href="#25">Cannibals at Work</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">26. </td> +<td><a href="#26">The Defying of Nahak</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">27. </td> +<td><a href="#27">A Perilous Pilgrimage</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">28. </td> +<td><a href="#28">The Plague of Measles</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">29. </td> +<td><a href="#29">Attacked with Clubs</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">30. </td> +<td><a href="#30">Kowia</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">31. </td> +<td><a href="#31">The Martyrdom of the Gordons</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">32. </td> +<td><a href="#32">Shadows Deepening on Tanna</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">33. </td> +<td><a href="#33">The Visit of the Commodore</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">34. </td> +<td><a href="#34">The War Chiefs in Council</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">35. </td> +<td><a href="#35">Under Knife and Tomahawk</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">36. </td> +<td><a href="#36">The Beginning of the End</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">37. </td> +<td><a href="#37">Five Hours in a Canoe</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">38. </td> +<td><a href="#38">A Race for Life</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">39. </td> +<td><a href="#39">Faint yet Pursuing</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">40. </td> +<td><a href="#40">Waiting at Kwamera</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">41. </td> +<td><a href="#41">The Last Awful Night</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">42. </td> +<td><a href="#42">"Sail O! Sail O!"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">43. </td> +<td><a href="#43">Farewell to Tanna</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">44. </td> +<td><a href="#44">The Floating of the "Dayspring"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">45. </td> +<td><a href="#45">A Shipping Company for Jesus</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">46. </td> +<td><a href="#46">Australian Incidents</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">47. </td> +<td><a href="#47">Amongst Squatters and Diggers</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">48. </td> +<td><a href="#48">John Gilpin in the Bush</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">49. </td> +<td><a href="#49">The Aborigines of Australia</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">50. </td> +<td><a href="#50">Nora</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">51. </td> +<td><a href="#51">Back to Scotland</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">52. </td> +<td><a href="#52">Tour through the Old Country</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">53. </td> +<td><a href="#53">Marriage and Farewell</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">54. </td> +<td><a href="#54">First Peep at the "Dayspring"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">55. </td> +<td><a href="#55">The French in the Pacific</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">56. </td> +<td><a href="#56">The Gospel and Gunpowder</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">57. </td> +<td><a href="#57">A Plea for Tanna</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">58. </td> +<td><a href="#58">Our New Home on Aniwa</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">59. </td> +<td><a href="#59">House-Building for God</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">60. </td> +<td><a href="#60">A City of God</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">61. </td> +<td><a href="#61">The Religion of Revenge</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">62. </td> +<td><a href="#62">First Fruits on Aniwa</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">63. </td> +<td><a href="#63">Traditions and Customs</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">64. </td> +<td><a href="#64">Nelwang's Elopement</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">65. </td> +<td><a href="#65">The Christ-Spirit at Work</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">66. </td> +<td><a href="#66">The Sinking of the Well</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">67. </td> +<td><a href="#67">Rain from Below</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">68. </td> +<td><a href="#68">The Old Chief's Sermon</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">69. </td> +<td><a href="#69">The First Book and the New Eyes</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">70. </td> +<td><a href="#70">A Roof-Tree for Jesus</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">71. </td> +<td><a href="#71">"Knock the Tevil out!"</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">72. </td> +<td><a href="#72">The Conversion of Youwili</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">73. </td> +<td><a href="#73">First Communion on Aniwa</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">74. </td> +<td><a href="#74">The New Social Order</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">75. </td> +<td><a href="#75">The Orphans and their Biscuits</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">76. </td> +<td><a href="#76">The Finger-Posts of God</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">77. </td> +<td><a href="#77">The Gospel in Living Capitals</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">78. </td> +<td><a href="#78">The Death of Namakei</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">79. </td> +<td><a href="#79">Christianity and Cocoa-Nuts</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">80. </td> +<td><a href="#80">Nerwa's Beautiful Farewell</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">81. </td> +<td><a href="#81">Ruwawa</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">82. </td> +<td><a href="#82">Litsi</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">83. </td> +<td><a href="#83">The Conversion of Nasi</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">84. </td> +<td><a href="#84">The Appeal of Lamu</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">85. </td> +<td><a href="#85">Wanted! A Steam Auxiliary</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">86. </td> +<td><a href="#86">My Campaign in Ireland</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">87. </td> +<td><a href="#87">Scotland's Free-will Offerings</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">88. </td> +<td><a href="#88">England's Open Door</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">89. </td> +<td><a href="#89">Farewell Scenes</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">90. </td> +<td><a href="#90">Welcome to Victoria and Aniwa</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">91. </td> +<td><a href="#91">Good News from Tanna, 1891</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<br><br><br><br> + +<center><h1>THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON.</h1></center> + +<br><br> +<hr><br><br> +<a name="1"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER I.</h3></center> +<center><h4>OUR COTTAGE HOME.</h4></center> + +<p>MY early days were all spent in the beautiful county of Dumfries, +which Scotch folks call the Queen of the South. There, in a small +cottage, on the farm of Braehead, in the parish of Kirkmahoe, I was born +on the 24th May, 1824. My father, James Paton, was a stocking +manufacturer in a small way; and he and his young wife, Janet Jardine +Rogerson, lived on terms of warm personal friendship with the "gentleman +farmer," so they gave me his son's name, John <i>Gibson</i>; and the +curly-haired child of the cottage was soon able to toddle across to the +mansion, and became a great pet of the lady there. On my visit to +Scotland in 1884 I drove out to Braehead; but we found no cottage, nor +trace of a cottage, and amused ourselves by supposing that we could +discover by the rising of the grassy mound, the outline where the +foundations once had been!</p> + +<p>While yet a mere child, five years or so of age, my parents took me +to a new home in the ancient village of Torthorwald, about four and a +quarter miles from Dumfries, on the road to Lockerbie. At that time, say +1830, Torthorwald was a busy and thriving village, and comparatively +populous, with its cottars and crofters, large farmers and small +farmers, weavers and shoemakers, doggers and coopers, blacksmiths and +tailors. Fifty-five years later, when I visited the scenes of my youth, +the village proper was extinct, except for five thatched cottages where +the lingering patriarchs were permitted to die slowly away,—soon +they too would be swept into the large farms, and their garden plots +plowed over, like sixty or seventy others that had been blotted out!</p> + +<p>From the Bank Hill, close above our village, and accessible in a walk +of fifteen minutes, a view opens to the eye which, despite several +easily understood prejudices of mine that may discount any opinion that +I offer, still appears to me well worth seeing amongst all the beauties +of Scotland. At your feet lay a thriving village, every cottage sitting +in its own plot of garden, and sending up its blue cloud of "peat reek," +which never somehow seemed to pollute the blessed air; and after all has +been said or sung, a beautifully situated village of healthy and happy +homes for God's children is surely the finest feature in every +landscape! Looking from the Bank Hill on a summer day, Dumfries with its +spires shone so conspicuous that you could have believed it not more +than two miles away; the splendid sweeping vale through which Nith rolls +to Solway, lay all before the naked eye, beautiful with village spires, +mansion houses, and white shining farms; the Galloway hills, gloomy and +far-tumbling, bounded the forward view, while to the left rose Criffel, +cloud-capped and majestic; then the white sands of Solway, with tides +swifter than horsemen; and finally the eye rested joyfully upon the +hills of Cumberland, and noticed with glee the blue curling smoke from +its villages on the southern Solway shores.</p> + +<p>There, amid this wholesome and breezy village life, our dear parents +found their home for the long period of forty years. There too were born +to them eight additional children, making in all a family of five sons +and six daughters. Theirs was the first of the thatched cottages on the +left, past the "miller's house," going up the "village gate," with a +small garden in front of it, and a large garden across the road; and it +is one of the few still lingering to show to a new generation what the +homes of their fathers were. The architect who planned that cottage had +no ideas of art, but a fine eye for durability! It consists at present +of three, but originally of four, pairs of "oak couples" (Scottice +<i>kipples</i>) planted like solid trees in the ground at equal +intervals, and gently sloped inwards till they meet or are "coupled" at +the ridge, this coupling being managed not by rusty iron, but by great +solid pins of oak. A roof of oaken wattles was laid across these, till +within eleven or twelve feet of the ground, and from the ground upwards +a stone wall was raised, as perpendicular as was found practicable, +towards these overhang-wattles, this wall being roughly "pointed" with +sand and clay and lime. Now into and upon the roof was woven and +intertwisted a covering of thatch, that defied all winds and weathers, +and that made the cottage marvelously cozy,—being renewed year by +year, and never allowed to remain in disrepair at any season. But the +beauty of the construction was and is its durability, or rather the +permanence of its oaken ribs! There they stand, after probably not less +than four centuries, japanned with "peat reek" till they are literally +shining, so hard that no ordinary nail can be driven into them, and +perfectly capable of service for four centuries more on the same +conditions. The walls are quite modern, having all been rebuilt in my +father's time, except only the few great foundation boulders, piled +around the oaken couples; and parts of the roofing also may plead guilty +to having found its way thither only in recent days; but the architect's +one idea survives, baffling time and change—the ribs and rafters +of oak.</p> + +<p>Our home consisted of a "but" and a "ben" and a "mid room," or +chamber, called the "closet." The one end was my mother's domain, and +served all the purposes of dining-room and kitchen and parlor, besides +containing two large wooden erections, called by our Scotch peasantry +"box beds"; not holes in the wall, as in cities, but grand, big, airy +beds, adorned with many-colored counterpanes, and hung with natty +curtains, showing the skill of the mistress of the house. The other end +was my father's workshop, filled with five or six "stocking-frames," +whirring with the constant action of five or six pairs of busy hands and +feet, and producing right genuine hosiery for the merchants at Hawick +and Dumfries. The "closet" was a very small apartment betwixt the other +two, having room only for a bed, a little table and a chair, with a +diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. This was the +Sanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day, +generally after each meal, we saw our father retire, and "shut to the +door"; and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct +(for the thing was too sacred to be talked about) that prayers were +being poured out there for us, as of old by the High Priest within the +veil in the Most Holy Place. We occasionally heard the pathetic echoes +of a trembling voice pleading as if for life, and we learned to slip out +and in past that door on tiptoe, not to disturb the holy colloquy. The +outside world might not know, but we knew, whence came that happy light +as of a new-born smile that always was dawning on my father's face: it +was a reflection from the Divine Presence, in the consciousness of which +he lived. Never, in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I +hope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and +talking with men, than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and +oaken wattles. Though everything else in religion were by some +unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, or blotted from my +understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut +itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the +echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the +victorious appeal, "He walked with God, why may not I?"</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="2"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER II.</h3></center> +<center><h4>OUR FOREBEARS.</h4></center> + +<p>A FEW notes had better here be given as to our "Forebears," the kind +of stock from which my father and mother sprang. My father's mother, +Janet Murray, claimed to be descended from a Galloway family that fought +and suffered for Christ's Crown and Covenant in Scotland's "killing +time," and was herself a woman of a pronouncedly religious development. +Her husband, our grandfather, William Paton, had passed through a roving +and romantic career, before he settled down to be a douce deacon of the +weavers of Dumfries, like his father before him.</p> + +<p>Forced by a press-gang to serve on board a British man-of-war, he was +taken prisoner by the French, and thereafter placed under Paul Jones, +the pirate of the seas, and bore to his dying day the mark of a slash +from the captain's sword across his shoulder for some slight disrespect +or offense. Determining with two others to escape, the three were hotly +pursued by Paul Jones's men. One, who could swim but little, was shot, +and had to be cut adrift by the other two, who in the darkness swam into +a cave and managed to evade for two nights and a day the rage of their +pursuers. My grandfather, being young and gentle and yellow-haired, +persuaded some kind heart to rig him out in female attire, and in this +costume escaped the attentions of the press-gang more than once; till, +after many hardships, he bargained with the captain of a coal sloop to +stow him away amongst his black diamonds; and thus, in due time, he +found his way home to Dumfries, where he tackled bravely and wisely the +duties of husband, father, and citizen for the remainder of his days. +The smack of the sea about the stories of his youth gave zest to the +talks round their quiet fireside, and that, again, was seasoned by the +warm Evangelical spirit of his Covenanting wife, her lips "dropping +grace."</p> + +<p>On the other side, my mother, Janet Rogerson, had for parents a +father and mother of the Annandale stock. William Rogerson, her father, +was one of many brothers, all men of uncommon strength and great force +of character, quite worthy of the Border Rievers of an earlier day. +Indeed, it was in some such way that he secured his wife, though the +dear old lady in after days was chary about telling the story. She was a +girl of good position, the ward of two unscrupulous uncles who had +charge of her small estate, near Langholm; and while attending some +boarding school she fell devotedly in love with the tall, fair-haired, +gallant young blacksmith, William Rogerson. Her guardians, doubtless +very properly, objected to the "connection"; but our young Lochinvar, +with his six or seven stalwart brothers and other trusty "lads," all +mounted, and with some ready tools in case of need, went boldly and +claimed his bride, and she, willingly mounting at his side, was borne +off in the light of open day, joyously married, and took possession of +her "but and ben," as the mistress of the blacksmith's castle.</p> + +<p>Janet Jardine bowed her neck to the self-chosen yoke, with the light +of a supreme affection in her heart, and showed in her gentler ways, her +love of books, her fine accomplishments with the needle, and her general +air of ladyhood, that her lot had once been cast in easier, but not +necessarily happier, ways. Her blacksmith lover proved not unworthy of +his lady bride, and in old age found for her a quiet and modest home, +the fruit of years of toil and hopeful thrift, their own little +property, in which they rested and waited a happy end. Amongst those who +at last wept by her grave stood, amidst many sons and daughters, her son +the Rev. James J. Rogerson, clergyman of the Church of England, who, for +many years thereafter, and till quite recently, was spared to occupy a +distinguished position at ancient Shrewsbury and has left behind him +there an honored and beloved name.</p> + +<p>From such a home came our mother, Janet Jardine Rogerson, a +bright-hearted, high-spirited, patient-toiling, and altogether heroic +little woman; who, for about forty-three years, made and kept such a +wholesome, independent, God-fearing, and self-reliant life for her +family of five sons and six daughters, as constrains me, when I look +back on it now, in the light of all I have since seen and known of +others far differently situated, almost to worship her memory. She had +gone with her high spirits and breezy disposition to gladden as their +companion, the quiet abode of some grand or great-grand-uncle and aunt, +familiarly named in all that Dalswinton neighborhood, "Old Adam and +Eve." Their house was on the outskirts of the moor, and life for the +young girl there had not probably too much excitement. But one thing had +arrested her attention. She had noticed that a young stocking-maker from +the "Brig End," James Paton, the son of William and Janet there, was in +the habit of stealing alone into the quiet wood, book in hand, day after +day, at certain hours, as if for private study and meditation. It was a +very excusable curiosity that led the young bright heart of the girl to +watch him devoutly reading and hear him reverently reciting (though she +knew not then, it was Ralph Erskine's <i>Gospel Sonnets</i>, which he +could say by heart sixty years afterwards, as he lay on his bed of +death); and finally that curiosity awed itself into a holy respect, when +she saw him lay aside his broad Scotch bonnet, kneel down under the +sheltering wings of some tree, and pour out all his soul in daily +prayers to God. As yet they had never spoken. What spirit moved her, let +lovers tell—was it all devotion, or was it a touch of unconscious +love kindling in her towards the yellow-haired and thoughtful youth? Or +was there a stroke of mischief, of that teasing, which so often opens up +the door to the most serious step in all our lives? Anyhow, one day she +slipped in quietly, stole away his bonnet, and hung it on a branch near +by, while his trance of devotion made him oblivious of all around; then, +from a safe retreat, she watched and enjoyed his perplexity in seeking +for and finding it! A second day this was repeated; but his manifest +disturbance of mind, and his long pondering with the bonnet in hand, as +if almost alarmed, seemed to touch another chord in her heart—that +chord of pity which is so often the prelude of love, that finer pity +that grieves to wound anything nobler or tenderer than ourselves. Next +day, when he came to his accustomed place of prayer, a little card was +pinned against the tree just where he knelt, and on it these words: "She +who stole away your bonnet is ashamed of what she did; she has a great +respect for you, and asks you to pray for her, that she may become as +good a Christian as you."</p> + +<p>Staring long at that writing, he forgot Ralph Erskine for one day! +Taking down the card, and wondering who the writer could be, he was +abusing himself for his stupidity in not suspecting that some one had +discovered his retreat and removed his bonnet, instead of wondering +whether angels had been there during his prayer,—when, suddenly +raising his eyes, he saw in front of old Adam's cottage, though a lane +amongst the trees, the passing of another kind of angel, swinging a +milk-pail in her hand and merrily singing some snatch of old Scottish +song. He knew, in that moment, by a Divine instinct, as infallible as +any voice that ever came to seer of old, that she was the angel visitor +that had stolen in upon his retreat—that bright-faced, +clever-witted niece of old Adam and Eve, to whom he had never yet +spoken, but whose praises he had often heard said and sung—"Wee +Jen." I am afraid he did pray "for her," in more senses than one, that +afternoon; at any rate, more than a Scotch bonnet was very effectually +stolen; a good heart and true was there virtually bestowed, and the +trust was never regretted on either side, and never betrayed.</p> + +<p>Often and often, in the genial and beautiful hours of the autumntide +of their long life, have I heard my dear father tease "Jen" about her +maidenly intentions in the stealing of that bonnet; and often have heard +her quick mother-wit in the happy retort, that had his motives for +coming to that retreat been altogether and exclusively pious, he would +probably have found his way to the other side of the wood, but that men +who prowled about the Garden of Eden ran the risk of meeting some day +with a daughter of Eve!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="3"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER III.</h3></center> +<center><h4>CONSECRATED PARENTS.</h4></center> + +<p>SOMEWHERE in or about his seventeenth year, my father passed through +a crisis of religious experience; and from that day he openly and very +decidedly followed the Lord Jesus. His parents had belonged to one of +the older branches of what is now called the United Presbyterian Church; +but my father, having made an independent study of the Scotch Worthies, +the Cloud of Witnesses, the Testimonies, and the Confession of Faith, +resolved to cast in his lot with the oldest of all the Scotch Churches, +the Reformed Presbyterian, as most nearly representing the Covenanters +and the attainments of both the first and second Reformations in +Scotland. This choice he deliberately made, and sincerely and +intelligently adhered to; and was able at all times to give strong and +clear reasons from Bible and from history for the principles he +upheld.</p> + +<p>Besides this, there was one other mark and fruit of his early +religious decision, which looks even fairer through all these years. +Family Worship had heretofore been held only on Sabbath Day in his +father's house; but the young Christian, entering into conference with +his sympathizing mother, managed to get the household persuaded that +there ought to be daily morning and evening prayer and reading of the +Bible and holy singing. This the more readily, as he himself agreed to +take part regularly in the same, and so relieve the old warrior of what +might have proved for him too arduous spiritual toils! And so began in +his seventeenth year that blessed custom of Family Prayer, morning and +evening, which my father practised probably without one single avoidable +omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven years of age; when +ever to the last day of his life, a portion of Scripture was read, and +his voice was heard softly joining in the Psalm, and his lips breathed +the morning and evening Prayer,—falling in sweet benediction on +the heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, +but all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace.</p> + +<p>Our place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian Church at +Dumfries, under the ministry, during most of these days, of Rev. John +McDermid—a genuine, solemn, lovable Covenanter, who cherished +towards my father a warm respect, that deepened into apostolic affection +when the yellow hair turned snow-white and both of them grew patriarchal +in their years. The Minister, indeed, was translated to a Glasgow +charge; but that rather exalted than suspended their mutual love. +Dumfries was four miles fully from our Torthorwald home; but the +tradition is that during all these forty years my father was only thrice +prevented from attending the worship of God—once by snow, so deep +that he was baffled and had to return; once by ice on the road, so +dangerous that he was forced to crawl back up the Roucan Brae on his +hands and knees, after having descended it so far with many falls; and +once by the terrible outbreak of cholera at Dumfries.</p> + +<p>Each of us, from very early days, considered it no penalty, but a +great joy, to go with our father to the church; the four miles were a +treat to our young spirits, the company by the way was a fresh +incitement, and occasionally some of the wonders of city-life rewarded +our eager eyes. A few other pious men and women, of the best Evangelical +type, went from the same parish to one or other favorite Minister at +Dumfries; and when these God-fearing peasants "forgathered" in the way +to or from the House of God, we youngsters had sometimes rare glimpses +of what Christian talk may be and ought to be.</p> + +<p>We had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord's Day +evening,—mother and children and visitors reading in turns, with +fresh and interesting question, answer, and exposition, all tending to +impress us with the infinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the +great gift of His dear Son Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was +gone through regularly, each answering the question asked, till the +whole had been explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the +proof-texts adduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to +meet with men who blamed this "catechizing" for giving them a distaste +to religion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the +opposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life. +After-years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or +a modified meaning, but none of us has ever once even dreamed of wishing +that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents are not +devout, sincere, and affectionate,—if the whole affair on both +sides is taskwork, or worse, hypocritical and false,—results must +be very different indeed!</p> + +<p>Oh, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings; no blinds down, and +shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some scandalously affirm; +but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a Christian father, mother +and children to spend. Others must write and say what they will, and as +they feel; but so must I. There were eleven of us brought up in a home +like that; and never one of the eleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has +been heard, or ever will be heard, saying that Sabbath was dull and +wearisome for us, or suggesting that we have heard of or seen any way +more likely than that for making the Day of the Lord bright and blessed +alike for parents and for children. But God help the homes where these +things are done by force and not by love!</p> + +<p>As I must, however, leave the story of my father's life—much +more worthy, in many ways, of being written than my own—I may here +mention that his long and upright life made him a great favorite in all +religious circles far and near within the neighborhood, that at +sick-beds and at funerals he was constantly sent for and much +appreciated, and that this appreciation greatly increased, instead of +diminishing, when years whitened his long, flowing locks, and gave him +an apostolic beauty; till finally, for the last twelve years or so of +his life, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the +four nearest parishes, and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good +seed of the Kingdom as a Colporteur of the Tract and Book Society of +Scotland. His success in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all +belief. Within a radius of five miles he was known in every home, +welcomed by the children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly +by the sick and aged. He gloried in showing off the beautiful Bibles and +other precious books, which he sold in amazing numbers. He sang sweet +Psalms beside the sick, and prayed like the voice of God at their dying +beds. He went cheerily from farm to farm, from cot to cot; and when he +wearied on the moorland roads, he refreshed his soul by reciting aloud +one of Ralph Erskine's "Sonnets," or crooning to the birds one of +David's Psalms. His happy partner, our beloved mother, died in 1865, and +he himself in 1868, having reached his seventy-seventh year, an +altogether beautiful and noble episode of human existence having been +enacted, amid the humblest surroundings of a Scottish peasant's home, +through the influence of their united love by the grace of God; and in +this world, or in any world, all their children will rise up at mention +of their names and call them blessed!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="4"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>SCHOOL DAYS.</h4></center> + +<p>IN my boyhood, Torthorwald had one of the grand old typical Parish +Schools of Scotland; where the rich and the poor met together in perfect +equality; where Bible and Catechism were taught as zealously as grammar +and geography; and where capable lads from the humblest of cottages were +prepared in Latin and Mathematics and Greek to go straight from their +Village class to the University bench. Besides, at that time, an +accomplished pedagogue of the name of Smith, a learned man of more than +local fame, had added a Boarding House to the ordinary School, and had +attracted some of the better class gentlemen and farmers' sons from the +surrounding country; so that Torthorwald, under his +<i>régime</i>, reached the zenith of its educational fame. In +this School I was initiated into the mystery of letters, and all my +brothers and sisters after me, though some of them under other masters +than mine. My teacher punished severely—rather, I should say, +savagely—especially for lessons badly prepared. Yet, that he was +in some respects kindly and tender-hearted, I had the best of reasons to +know.</p> + +<p>When still under twelve years of age, I started to learn my father's +trade, in which I made surprising progress. We wrought from six in the +morning till ten at night, with an hour at dinner-time and half an hour +at breakfast and again at supper. These spare moments every day I +devoutly spent on my books, chiefly in the rudiments of Latin and Greek; +for I had given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a +Missionary of the Cross, or a Minister of the Gospel. Yet I gladly +testify that what I learned of the stocking frame was not thrown away; +the facility of using tools, and of watching and keeping the machinery +in order, came to be of great value to me in the Foreign Mission +field.</p> + +<p>One incident of this time I must record here, because of the lasting +impression made upon my religious life. Our family, like all others of +peasant rank in the land, were plunged into deep distress, and felt the +pinch severely, through the failure of the potato, the badness of other +crops, and the ransom-price of food. Our father had gone off with work +to Hawick, and would return next evening with money and supplies; but +meantime the meal barrel ran low, and our dear mother, too proud and too +sensitive to let any one know, or to ask aid from any quarter, coaxed us +all to rest, assuring us that she had told God everything, and that He +would send us plenty in the morning. Next day, with the carrier from +Lockerbie came a present from her father, who, knowing nothing of her +circumstances or of this special trial, had been moved of God to send at +that particular nick of time a love-offering to his daughter, such as +they still send to each other in those kindly Scottish shires—a +bag of new potatoes, a stone of the first ground meal or flour, or the +earliest homemade cheese of the season—which largely supplied all +our need. My mother, seeing our surprise at such an answer to her +prayers, took us around her knees, thanked God for His goodness, and +said to us:</p> + +<p>"O my children, love your Heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and +prayer all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall +be for your good and His glory."</p> + +<p>Perhaps, amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, +this was the hardest time they ever had, and the only time they ever +felt the actual pinch of hunger; for the little that they had was +marvelously blessed of God, and was not less marvelously utilized by +that noble mother of ours, whose high spirit, side by side with her +humble and gracious piety, made us, under God, what we are to-day.</p> + +<p>I saved as much at my trade as enabled me to go for six weeks to +Dumfries Academy; this awoke in me again the hunger for learning, and I +resolved to give up that trade and turn to something that might be made +helpful to the prosecution of my education. An engagement was secured +with the Sappers and Miners, who were mapping and measuring the county +of Dumfries in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The +office hours were from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M.; and though my walk from +home was above four miles every morning, and the same by return in the +evening, I found much spare time for private study, both on the way to +and from my work and also after hours. Instead of spending the mid-day +hour with the rest, at football and other games, I stole away to a quiet +spot on the banks of the Nith, and there pored over my book, all alone. +Our lieutenant, unknown to me, had observed this from his house on the +other side of the stream, and after a time called me into his office and +inquired what I was studying. I told him the whole truth as to my +position and my desires. After conferring with some of the other +officials there, he summoned me again, and in their presence promised me +promotion in the service, and special training in Woolwich at the +Government's expense, on condition that I would sign an engagement for +seven years. Thanking him most gratefully for his kind offer, I agreed +to bind myself for three years or four, but not for seven.</p> + +<p>Excitedly he said, "Why? Will you refuse an offer that many +gentlemen's sons would be proud of?"</p> + +<p>I said, "My life is given to another Master, so I cannot engage for +seven years." He asked sharply, "To whom?" I replied, "To the Lord +Jesus; and I want to prepare as soon as possible for His service in the +proclaiming of the Gospel."</p> + +<p>In great anger he sprang across the room, called the paymaster and +exclaimed, "Accept my offer, or you are dismissed on the spot!"</p> + +<p>I answered, "I am extremely sorry if you do so, but to bind myself +for seven years would probably frustrate the purpose of my life; and +though I am greatly obliged to you, I cannot make such an +engagement."</p> + +<p>His anger made him unwilling or unable to comprehend my difficulty; +the drawing instruments were delivered up, I received my pay, and +departed, without further parley. Hearing how I had been treated, and +why, Mr. Maxwell, the Rector of Dumfries Academy, offered to let me +attend all classes there, free of charge so long as I cared to remain; +but that, in lack of means of support, was for the time impossible, as I +would not and could not be a burden on my dear father, but was +determined rather to help him in educating the rest. I went therefore to +what was known as the Lamb Fair at Lockerbie, and for the first time in +my life took a "fee" for the harvest. On arriving at the field when +shearing and mowing began, the farmer asked me to bind a sheaf; when I +had done so, he seized it by the band, and it fell to pieces! Instead of +disheartening me, however, he gave me a careful lesson how to bind; and +the second that I bound did not collapse when shaken, and the third he +pitched across the field, and on finding that it still remained firm, he +cried to me cheerily:</p> + +<p>"Right now, my lad; go ahead!"</p> + +<p>It was hard work for me at first, and my hands got very sore; but, +being willing and determined, I soon got into the way of it, and kept up +with the best of them. The male harvesters were told off to sleep in a +large hayloft, the beds being arranged all along the side, like +barracks. Many of the fellows were rough and boisterous; and I suppose +my look showed that I hesitated in mingling with them, for the quick eye +and kind heart of the farmer's wife prompted her to suggest that I, +being so much younger than the rest, might sleep with her son George in +the house—an offer, oh, how gratefully accepted! A beautiful new +steading had recently been built for them; and during certain days, or +portions of days, while waiting for the grain to ripen or to dry, I +planned and laid out an ornamental garden in front of it, which gave +great satisfaction—a taste inherited from my mother, with her joy +in flowers and garden plots. They gave me, on leaving, a handsome +present, as well as my fee, for I had got on very pleasantly with them +all. This experience, too, came to be valuable to me, when, in +long-after days, and far other lands, Mission buildings had to be +erected, and garden and field cropped and cultivated without the aid of +a single European hand.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="5"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER V.</h3></center> +<center><h4>LEAVING THE OLD HOME.</h4></center> + +<p>BEFORE going to my first harvesting, I had applied for a situation in +Glasgow, apparently exactly suited for my case; but I had little or no +hope of ever hearing of it further. An offer of £50 per annum was +made by the West Campbell Street Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, +then under the good and noble Dr. Bates, for a young man to act as +district visitor and tract distributor, especially amongst the absentees +from the Sabbath School; with the privilege of receiving one year's +training at the Free Church Normal Seminary, that he might qualify +himself for teaching, and thereby push forward to the Holy Ministry. The +candidates, along with their application and certificates, were to send +an essay on some subject, of their own composition, and in their own +handwriting. I sent in two long poems on the Covenanters, which must +have exceedingly amused them, as I had not learned to write even decent +prose. But, much to my surprise, immediately on the close of the +harvesting experience, a letter arrived, intimating that I, along with +another young man, had been put upon the short leet, and that both were +requested to appear in Glasgow on a given day and compete for the +appointment.</p> + +<p>Two days thereafter I started out from my quiet country home on the +road to Glasgow. Literally "on the road," for from Torthorwald to +Kilmarnock—about forty miles—had to be done on foot, and +thence to Glasgow by rail. Railways in those days were as yet few, and +coach-travelling was far beyond my purse. A small bundle contained my +Bible and all my personal belongings. Thus was I launched upon the ocean +of life. I thought on One who says, "I know thy poverty, but thou art +rich."</p> + +<p>My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His +counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are +fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my +cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the +scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost +unbroken silence,—my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat +in hand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later +years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips +kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our +eyes met each other in looks of which all speech was vain! We halted on +reaching the appointed parting-place; he grasped my hand firmly for a +minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said:</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you +from all evil!"</p> + +<p>Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears +we embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about +to turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked +back and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left +him—gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the +corner and out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and +sore to carry me farther, so I darted into the side of the road and wept +for a time. Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he +yet stood where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a +glimpse of him climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see +me, and after he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got +down, set his face towards home, and began to return—his head +still uncovered, and his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for +me. I watched through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; +and then, hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, +to live and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and +mother as He had given me. The appearance of my father, when we +parted,—his advice, prayers, and tears—the road, the dyke, +the climbing up on it and then walking away, head uncovered—have +often, often, all through life, risen vividly before my mind, and do so +now while I am writing, as if it had been but an hour ago. In my earlier +years particularly, when exposed to many temptations, his parting form +rose before me as that of a guardian angel.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="6"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>EARLY STRUGGLES.</h4></center> + +<p>I REACHED Glasgow on the third day, having slept one night at +Thornhill, and another at New Cumnock; and having needed, owing to the +kindness of acquaintances upon whom I called by the way, to spend only +three halfpence of my modest funds. Safely arrived, but weary, I secured +a humble room for my lodging, for which I had to pay one shilling and +sixpence per week. Buoyant and full of hope and looking up to God for +guidance, I appeared at the appointed hour before the examiners, as did +also the other candidate; and they having carefully gone through their +work, asked us to retire. When recalled, they informed us that they had +great difficulty in choosing, and suggested that the one of us might +withdraw in favor of the other, or that both might submit to a more +testing examination. Neither seemed inclined to give it up, both were +willing for a second examination; but the patrons made another +suggestion. They had only £50 per annum to give; but if we would +agree to divide it betwixt us, and go into one lodging, we might both be +able to struggle through, they would pay our entrance fees at the Free +Normal Seminary, and provide us with the books required; and perhaps +they might be able to add a little to the sum promised to each of us. By +dividing the mission work appointed, and each taking only the half, more +time also might be secured for our studies. Though the two candidates +had never seen each other before, we at once accepted this proposal, and +got on famously together, never having had a dispute on anything of +common interest throughout our whole career.</p> + +<p>As our fellow-students at the Normal were all far advanced beyond us +in their education, we found it killing work, and had to grind away +incessantly, late and early. Both of us, before the year closed, broke +down in health; partly by hard study, but principally, perhaps, for lack +of nourishing diet. A severe cough seized upon me; I began spitting +blood, and a doctor ordered me at once home to the country and forbade +all attempts at study. My heart sank; it was a dreadful disappointment, +and to me a bitter trial. Soon after, my companion, though apparently +much stronger than I, was similarly seized. He, however, never entirely +recovered, though for some years he taught in a humble school; and long +ago he fell asleep in Jesus, a devoted and honored Christian man.</p> + +<p>I, on the other hand, after a short rest, nourished by the hill air +of Torthorwald and by the new milk of our family cow, was ere long at +work again. Renting a house, I began to teach a small school at Girvan, +and gradually but completely recovered my health.</p> + +<p>Having saved £10 by my teaching, I returned to Glasgow, and was +enrolled as a student at the College; but before the session was +finished my money was exhausted—I had lent some to a poor student, +who failed to repay me—and only nine shillings remained in my +purse. There was no one from whom to borrow, had I been willing; I had +been disappointed in attempting to secure private tuition; and no course +seemed open for me, except to pay what little I owed, give up my College +career, and seek for teaching or other work in the country. I wrote a +letter to my father and mother, informing them of my circumstances; that +I was leaving Glasgow in quest of work, and that they would, not hear +from me again till I had found a suitable situation. I told them that if +otherwise unsuccessful, I should fall back on my own trade, though I +shrank from that as not tending to advance my education; but that they +might rest assured I would do nothing to dishonor them or my own +Christian profession. Having read that letter over again through many +tears, I said,—I cannot send that, for it will grieve my darling +parents; and therefore, leaving it on the table, I locked my room door +and ran out to find a place where I might sell my precious books, and +hold on a few weeks longer. But, as I stood on the opposite side and +wondered whether these folks in a shop with the three golden balls would +care to have a poor student's books, and as I hesitated, knowing how +much I needed them for my studies, conscience smote me as if for doing a +guilty thing; I imagined that the people were watching me like one about +to commit a theft; and I made off from the scene at full speed, with a +feeling of intense shame at having dreamed of such a thing! Passing +through one short street into another, I marched on mechanically; but +the Lord God of my father was guiding my steps, all unknown to me.</p> + +<p>A certain notice in a window, into which I had probably never in my +life looked before, here caught my eye, to this effect—"Teacher +wanted, Maryhill Free Church school; apply at the Manse." A coach or bus +was just passing, when I turned round; I leapt into it, saw the +Minister, arranged to undertake the School, returned to Glasgow, paid my +landlady's lodging score, tore up that letter to my parents and wrote +another full of cheer and hope; and early next morning entered the +School and began a tough and trying job. The Minister warned me that the +School was a wreck, and had been broken up chiefly by coarse and bad +characters from mills and coal-pits, who attended the evening classes. +They had abused several masters in succession; and, laying a thick and +heavy cane on the desk, he said:</p> + +<p>"Use that freely, or you will never keep order here!"</p> + +<p>I put it aside into the drawer of my desk, saying, "That will be my +last resource."</p> + +<p>There were very few scholars for the first week—about eighteen +in the Day School and twenty in the Night School. The clerk of the mill, +a good young fellow, came to the evening classes, avowedly to learn +book-keeping, but privately he said he had come to save me from personal +injury.</p> + +<p>The following week, a young man and a young woman began to attend the +Night School, who showed from the first moment that they were bent on +mischief. On my repeated appeals for quiet and order, they became the +more boisterous, and gave great merriment to a few of the scholars +present. I finally urged the young man, a tall, powerful fellow, to be +quiet or at once to leave, declaring that at all hazards I must and +would have perfect order; but he only mocked at me, and assumed a +fighting attitude. Quietly locking the door and putting the key in my +pocket, I turned to my desk, armed myself with the cane, and dared any +one at his peril to interfere betwixt us. It was a rough +struggle—he smashing at me clumsily with his fists, I with quick +movements evading and dealing him blow after blow with the heavy cane +for several rounds—till at length he crouched down at his desk, +exhausted and beaten, and I ordered him to turn to his book, which he +did in sulky silence. Going to my desk, I addressed them and asked them +to inform all who wished to come to the School,—That if they came +for education, everything would be heartily done that it was in my power +to do; but that any who wished for mischief had better stay away, as I +was determined to conquer, not to be conquered, and to secure order and +silence, whatever it might cost. Further, I assured them that that cane +would not again be lifted by me, if kindness and forbearance on my part +could possibly gain the day, as I wished to rule by love and not by +terror. But this young man knew he was in the wrong, and it was that +which had made him weak against me, though every way stronger far than +I. Yet I would be his friend and helper, if he was willing to be +friendly with me, the same as if this night had never been. At these +words a dead silence fell on the School: every one buried face +diligently in book; and the evening closed in uncommon quiet and +order.</p> + +<p>The attendance grew, till the School became crowded, both during the +day and at night. During the mid-day hour even, I had a large class of +young women who came to improve themselves in writing and arithmetic. By +and by the cane became a forgotten implement; the sorrow and pain which +I showed as to badly-done lessons, or anything blameworthy, proved the +far more effectual penalty.</p> + +<p>The School Committee had promised me at least ten shillings per week, +and guaranteed to make up any deficit if the fees fell short of that +sum; but if the income from fees exceeded that sum, all was to be mine. +Affairs went on prosperously for a season; indeed, too much so for my +selfish interest. The Committee took advantage of the large attendance +and better repute of the School, to secure the services of a master of +the highest grade. The parents of many of the children offered to take +and seat a hall, if I would remain, but I knew too well that I had +neither education nor experience to compete with an accomplished +teacher. Their children, however, got up a testimonial and subscription, +which was presented to me on the day before I left and this I valued +chiefly because the presentation was made by the young fellows who at +first behaved so badly, but were now my devoted friends.</p> + +<p>Once more I committed my future to the Lord God of my father, assured +that in my very heart I was willing and anxious to serve Him and to +follow the blessed Saviour, yet feeling keenly that intense darkness had +again enclosed my path.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="7"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A CITY MISSIONARY.</h4></center> + +<p>BEFORE undertaking the Maryhill School, I had applied to be taken on +as an agent in the Glasgow City Mission; and the night before I had to +leave Maryhill, I received a letter from Rev. Thomas Caie, the +superintendent of the said Mission, saying that the directors had kept +their eyes on me ever since my application, and requesting, as they +understood I was leaving the School, that I would appear before them the +next morning, and have my qualifications for becoming a Missionary +examined into. Praising God, I went off at once, passed the examination +successfully, and was appointed to spend two hours that afternoon and +the following Monday in visitation with two of the directors, calling at +every house in a low district of the town, and conversing with all the +characters encountered there as to their eternal welfare. I had also to +preach a "trial" discourse in a Mission meeting, where a deputation of +directors would be present, the following evening being Sunday; and on +Wednesday evening they met again to hear their report and to accept or +reject me.</p> + +<p>All this had come upon me so unexpectedly, that I almost anticipated +failure; but looking up for help I went through with it, and on the +fifth day after leaving the School they called me before a meeting of +directors, and informed me that I had passed my trials most +successfully, and that the reports were so favorable that they had +unanimously resolved to receive me at once as one of their City +Missionaries. Deeply solemnized with the responsibilities of my new +office, I left that meeting praising God for all His undeserved mercies, +and seeing most clearly His gracious hand in all the way by which He had +led me, and the trials by which He had prepared me for this sphere of +service. Man proposes—God disposes.</p> + +<p>I found the district a very degraded one. Many families said they had +never been visited by any Minister; and many were lapsed professors of +religion who had attended no church for ten, sixteen, or twenty years, +and said they had never been called upon by any Christian visitor. In it +were congregated many avowed infidels, Romanists, and +drunkards,—living together, and associated for evil, but +apparently without any effective counteracting influence. In many of its +closes and courts sin and vice walked about openly—naked and not +ashamed.</p> + +<p>After nearly a year's hard work, I had only six or seven +non-church-goers, who had been led to attend regularly there, besides +about the same number who met on a week evening in the ground-floor of a +house kindly granted for the purpose by a poor and industrious but +ill-used Irishwoman. She supported her family by keeping a little shop, +and selling coals. Her husband was a powerful man—a good worker, +but a hard drinker; and, like too many others addicted to intemperance, +he abused and beat her, and pawned and drank everything he could get +hold of. She, amid many prayers and tears, bore everything patiently, +and strove to bring up her only daughter in the fear of God. We exerted, +by God's blessing, a good influence upon him through our meetings. He +became a Total Abstainer, gave up his evil ways, and attended Church +regularly with his wife. As his interest increased, he tried to bring +others also to the meetings, and urged them to become Abstainers. His +wife became a center of help and of good influence in all the district, +as she kindly invited all and welcomed them to the meeting in her house, +and my work grew every day more hopeful.</p> + +<p>By and by Meetings and Classes were both too large for any house that +was available for us in the whole of our district. We instituted a Bible +Class, a Singing Class, a Communicants' Class, and a Total Abstinence +Society; and, in addition to the usual meetings, we opened two +prayer-meetings specially for the Calton division of the Glasgow +Police—one at a suitable hour for the men on day duty, and another +for those on night duty. The men got up a Mutual Improvement Society and +Singing Class also amongst themselves, weekly, on another evening. My +work now occupied every evening in the week; and I had two meetings +every Sabbath. By God's blessing they all prospered, and gave evidence +of such fruits as showed that the Lord was working there for good by our +humble instrumentality.</p> + +<p>The kind cowfeeder had to inform us—and he did it with much +genuine sorrow—that at a given date he would require the hay-loft, +which was our place of meeting; and as no other suitable house or hall +could be got, the poor people and I feared the extinction of our work. +At that very time however, a commodious block of buildings, that had +been Church, Schools, Manse, etc., came into the market. My +great-hearted friend, the late Thomas Binnie, persuaded Dr. Symingrton's +congregation, Great Hamilton Street, in connection with which my Mission +was carried on, to purchase the whole property. Its situation at the +foot of Green Street gave it a control of the district where my work +lay; and so the Church was given to me in which to conduct all my +meetings, while the other Halls were adapted as Schools for poor girls +and boys, where they were educated by a proper master, and were largely +supplied with books, clothing, and sometimes even food, by the ladies of +the congregation.</p> + +<p>Availing myself of the increased facilities, my work was all +reorganized. On Sabbath morning, at seven o'clock, I had one of the most +deeply interesting and fruitful of all my Classes for the study of the +Bible. It was attended by from seventy to a hundred of the very poorest +young women and grown-up lads of the whole district. They had nothing to +put on except their ordinary work-day clothes,—all without +bonnets, some without shoes. Beautiful was it to mark how the poorest +began to improve in personal appearance immediately after they came to +our Class; how they gradually got shoes and one bit of clothing after +another, to enable them to attend our other Meetings, and then to go to +Church; and, above all, how eagerly they sought to bring others with +them, taking a deep personal interest in all the work of the Mission. +Long after they themselves could appear in excellent dress, many of them +still continued to attend in their working clothes, and to bring other +and poorer girls with them to that Morning Class, and thereby helped to +improve and elevate their companions. My delight in that Bible Class was +among the purest joys in all my life, and the results were amongst the +most certain and precious of all my Ministry.</p> + +<p>I had also a very large Bible Class—a sort of +Bible-Reading—on Monday night, attended by all, of both sexes and +of any age, who cared to come or had any interest in the Mission. +Wednesday evening, again, was devoted to a prayer-meeting for all; and +the attendance often more than half-filled the Church. There I usually +took up some book of Holy Scripture and read and lectured right through, +practically expounding and applying it. On Thursday I held a +Communicants' Class, intended for the more careful instruction of all +who wished to become full members of the Church. Our constant text-book +was <i>Paterson on the Shorter Catechism</i> (Nelson and Sons), than +which I have never seen a better compendium of the doctrines of Holy +Scripture. Each being thus trained for a season, received from me, if +found worthy, a letter to the Minister of any Protestant Church which he +or she felt inclined to join. In this way great numbers became active +and useful communicants in the surrounding congregations; and eight +young lads of humble circumstances educated themselves for the Ministry +of the Church—most of them getting their first lessons in Latin +and Greek from my very poor stock of the same! Friday evening was +occupied with a Singing Class, teaching Church music, and practising for +our Sabbath meetings. On Saturday evening we held our Total Abstinence +meeting, at which the members themselves took a principal part, in +readings, addresses, recitations, singing hymns, etc.</p> + +<p>Great good resulted from this Total Abstinence work. Many adults took +and kept the pledge, thereby greatly increasing the comfort and +happiness of their homes. Many were led to attend the Church on the +Lord's Day, who had formerly spent it in rioting and drinking. But, +above all, it trained the young to fear the very name of intoxicating +drink, and to hate and keep far away from everything that led to +intemperance.</p> + +<p>I would add my testimony also against the use of tobacco, which +injures and leads many astray, especially lads and young men, and which +never can be required by any person in ordinary health. But I would not +be understood to regard the evils that flow from it as deserving to be +mentioned in comparison with the unutterable woes and miseries of +intemperance.</p> + +<p>To be protected, however, from suspicion and from evil, all the +followers of our Lord Jesus should in self-denial (how small!) and in +consecration to His service, be pledged Abstainers from both of these +selfish indulgences, which are certainly injurious to many, which are no +ornament to any character, and which can be no help in well-doing. +Praise God for the many who are now so pledged!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="8"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>GLASGOW EXPERIENCES.</h4></center> + +<p>ON one occasion, it becoming known that we had arranged for a special +Saturday afternoon Temperance demonstration, a deputation of Publicans +complained beforehand to the Captain of the Police—that our +meetings were interfering with their legitimate trade. The Captain, a +pious Wesleyan, who was in full sympathy with us and our work, informed +me of the complaints made, and intimated that his men would be present; +but I was just to conduct the meeting as usual, and he would guarantee +that strict justice would be done. The Publicans having announced +amongst their sympathizers that the Police were to break up and prevent +our meeting and take the conductors in charge, a very large crowd +assembled, both friendly and unfriendly, for the Publicans and their +hangers-on were there "to see the fun," and to help in "baiting" the +Missionary. Punctually, I ascended the stone stair, accompanied by +another Missionary who was also to deliver an address, and announced our +opening hymn. As we sang, a company of Police appeared, and were quietly +located here and there among the crowd, the sergeant himself taking his +post close by the platform, whence the whole assembly could be scanned. +Our enemies were jubilant, and signals were passed betwixt them and +their friends, as if the time had come to provoke a row. Before the hymn +was finished, Captain Baker himself, to the infinite surprise of friend +and foe alike, joined us on the platform, devoutly listened to all that +was said, and waited till the close. The Publicans could not for very +shame leave, while he was there at their suggestion and request, though +they had wit enough to perceive that his presence had frustrated all +their sinister plans. They had to hear our addresses and prayers and +hymns; they had to listen to the intimation of our future meetings. When +all had quietly dispersed, the Captain warmly congratulated us on our +large and well-conducted congregation, and hoped that great good would +result from our efforts. This opposition also the Lord overruled to +increase our influence, and to give point and publicity to our assaults +upon the kingdom of Satan.</p> + +<p>Though Intemperance was the main cause of poverty, suffering, misery, +and vice in that district of Glasgow, I had also considerable opposition +from Romanists and Infidels, many of whom met in clubs, where they drank +together, and gloried in their wickedness and in leading other young men +astray.</p> + +<p>An Infidel, whose wife was a Roman Catholic, became unwell, and +gradually sank under great suffering and agony. His blasphemies against +God were known and shuddered at by all the neighbors. His wife pled with +me to visit him. She refused, at my suggestion, to call her own priest, +so I accompanied her at last. The man refused to hear one word about +spiritual things, and foamed with rage. He even spat at me, I mentioned +the name of Jesus. "The natural receiveth not the things of the Spirit +of God; for they are foolishness unto him!" There is a "wisdom" which is +at best earthly, and <i>at worst</i> "sensual and devilish." I visited +the poor man daily, but his enmity to God and his sufferings together +seemed to drive him mad. Towards the end I pleaded with him even then to +look to the Lord Jesus, and asked if I might pray with him? With all his +remaining strength he shouted at me, "Pray for me to the devil!"</p> + +<p>Reminding him how he had always denied that there was any devil, I +suggested that he must surely believe in one now, else he would scarcely +make such a request, even in mockery. In great rage he cried, "Tes, I +believe there is a devil, and a God, and a just God too; but I have +hated Him in life, and I hate Him in death!" With these awful words he +wriggled into Eternity; but his shocking death produced a very serious +impression for good, especially amongst young men, in the district where +his character was known.</p> + +<p>How different was the case of that Doctor who also had been an +unbeliever as well as a drunkard! Highly educated, skilful, and gifted +above most in his profession, he was taken into consultation for +specially dangerous cases, whenever they could find him tolerably sober. +After one of his excessive "bouts" he had a dreadful attack of +<i>delirium tremens</i>. At one time wife and watchers had a fierce +struggle to dash from his lips a draught of prussic acid; at another, +they detected the silver-hafted lancet concealed in the band of his +shirt, as he lay down, to bleed himself to death. His aunt came and +pleaded with me to visit him. My heart bled for his poor young wife and +two beautiful little children. Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes +even more frequently, I found the way somehow into his heart, and he +would do almost anything for me and longed for my visits. When again the +fit of self-destruction seized him, they sent for me; he held out his +hand eagerly, and grasping mine said, "Put all these people out of the +room, remain you with me; I will be quiet, I will do everything you +ask!"</p> + +<p>I got them all to leave, but whispered to one in passing to "keep +near the door."</p> + +<p>Alone I sat beside him, my hand in his, and kept up a quiet +conversation for several hours. After we had talked of everything that I +could think of, and it was now far into the morning, I said, "If you had +a Bible here, we might read a chapter, verse about."</p> + +<p>He said dreamily, "There was once a Bible above yon press; if you can +get up to it, you might find it there yet."</p> + +<p>Getting it, dusting it, and laying it on a small table which I drew +near to the sofa on which we sat, we read there and then a chapter +together. After this I said; "Now, shall we pray?"</p> + +<p>He replied heartily, "Yes."</p> + +<p>I having removed the little table, we kneeled down together at the +sofa; and after a solemn pause I whispered, "You pray first."</p> + +<p>He replied, "I curse, I cannot pray; would you have me curse God to +His face?"</p> + +<p>I answered, "You promised to do all that I asked; you must pray, or +try to pray, and let me hear that you cannot."</p> + +<p>He said, "I cannot curse God on my knees; let me stand, and I will +curse Him; I cannot pray."</p> + +<p>I gently held him on his knees, saying, "Just try to pray, and let me +hear you cannot."</p> + +<p>Instantly he cried out, "O Lord, Thou knowest I cannot pray," and was +going to say something dreadful as he strove to rise up. But I took up +gently the words he had uttered as if they had been my own and continued +the prayer, pleading for him and his dear ones as we knelt there +together, till he showed that he was completely subdued and lying low at +the feet of God. On rising from our knees he was manifestly greatly +impressed, and I said, "Now, as I must be at College by daybreak and +must return to my lodging for my books and an hour's rest, will do you +one thing more for me before I go?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," was his reply.</p> + +<p>"Then," said I, "it is long since you had a refreshing sleep: now, +will you lie down, and I will sit by you till you fall asleep?"</p> + +<p>He lay down, and was soon fast asleep. After commending him to the +care and blessing of the Lord, I quietly slipped out, and his wife +returned to watch by his side. When I came back later in the day, after +my Classes were over, he, on hearing my foot and voice, came to meet me, +and clasping me in his arms, cried, "Thank God, I can pray now! I rose +this morning refreshed from sleep, and prayed with my wife and children +for the first time in my life; and now I shall do so every day, and +serve God while I live, who hath dealt in so great mercy with me!"</p> + +<p>After delightful conversation, he promised to go with me to Dr. +Symington's church on Sabbath Day; there he took sittings beside me; at +next half-yearly Communion he and his wife were received into +membership, and their children were baptized; and from that day till his +death he led a devoted and most useful Christian life. He now sleeps in +Jesus; and I do believe I shall meet him in Glory as a trophy of +redeeming grace and love!</p> + +<p>In my Mission district I was the witness of many joyful departures to +be with Jesus,—I do not like to name them "deaths" at all. They +left us rejoicing in the bright assurance that nothing present or to +come "could ever separate them or us from the love of God which is in +Christ Jesus our Lord." Many examples might be given; but I can find +room for only one. John Sim, a dear little boy, was carried away by +consumption. His child-heart seemed to be filled with joy about seeing +Jesus. His simple prattle, mingled with deep questionings, arrested not +only his young companions, but pierced the hearts of some careless +sinners who heard him, and greatly refreshed the faith of God's dear +people. It was the very pathos of song incarnated to hear the weak +quaver of his dying voice sing out—</p> + +<p>"I lay my sins on Jesus, <br>The spotless Lamb of God."</p> + +<p>Shortly before his decease he said to his parents, "I am going soon +to be with Jesus; but I sometimes fear that I may not see you +there."</p> + +<p>"Why so, my child?" said his weeping mother.</p> + +<p>"Because," he answered, "if you were set upon going to Heaven and +seeing Jesus there, you would pray about it, and sing about it; you +would talk about Jesus to others, and tell them of that happy meeting +with Him in Glory. All this my dear Sabbath School teacher taught me, +and she will meet me there. Now why did not you, my father and mother, +tell me all these things about Jesus, if you are going to meet Him too?" +Their tears fell fast over their dying child; and he little knew, in his +unthinking eighth year, what a message from God had pierced their souls +through his innocent words.</p> + +<p>One day an aunt from the country visited his mother, and their talk +had run in channels for which the child no longer felt any interest. On +my sitting down beside him, he said, "Sit you down and talk with me +about Jesus; I am tired hearing so much talk about everything else but +Jesus; I am going soon to be with Him. Oh, do tell me everything you +know or have ever heard about Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God!"</p> + +<p>At last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or +freedom from pain—for of that he had very little—but, as he +himself always put it, "to see Jesus." And, after all, that was the +wisdom of the heart, however he learned it. Eternal life, here or +hereafter, is just the vision of Jesus.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="9"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A FOREIGN MISSIONARY.</h4></center> + +<p>HAPPY in my work as I felt through these ten years, and successful by +the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and chiefly during my last +years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the +South Seas; and I saw that few were caring for them, while I well knew +that many would be ready to take up my work in Calton, and carry it +forward perhaps with more efficiency than myself. Without revealing the +state of my mind to any person, this was the supreme subject of my daily +meditation and prayer; and this also led me to enter upon those medical +studies, in which I purposed taking the full course; but at the close of +my third year, an incident occurred, which led me at once to offer +myself for the Foreign Mission field.</p> + +<p>The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which I had been +brought up, had been advertising for another Missionary to join the Rev. +John Inglis in his grand work on the New Hebrides. Dr. Bates, the +excellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee, was deeply +grieved, because for two years their appeal had failed. At length, the +Synod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the claims of the +Heathen so gently pressed upon them by the Lord's repeated calls, that +they resolved to cast lots, to discover whether God would thus select +any Minister to be relieved from his home-charge, and designated as a +Missionary to the South Seas. Each member of Synod, as I was informed, +agreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to God, the names of the three +best qualified in his esteem for such a work, and he who had the clear +majority was to be loosed from his congregation, and to proceed to the +Mission field—or the first and second highest, if two could be +secured. Hearing this debate, and feeling an intense interest in these +most unusual proceedings, I remember yet the hushed solemnity of the +prayer before the names were handed in. I remember the strained silence +that held the Assembly while the scrutineers retired to examine the +papers; and I remember how tears blinded my eyes when they returned to +announce that the result was so indecisive, that it was clear that the +Lord had not in that way provided a Missionary. The cause was once again +solemnly laid before God in prayer, and a cloud of sadness appeared to +fall over all the Synod.</p> + +<p>The Lord kept saying within me, "Since none better qualified can be +got, rise and offer yourself!" Almost overpowering was the impulse to +answer aloud, "Here am I, send me." But I was dreadfully afraid of +mistaking my mere human emotions for the will of God. So I resolved to +make it a subject of close deliberation and prayer for a few days +longer, and to look at the proposal from every possible aspect. Besides, +I was keenly solicitous about the effect upon the hundreds of young +people and others, now attached to all my Classes and Meetings; and yet +I felt a growing assurance that this was the call of God to His servant, +and that He who was willing to employ me in the work abroad, was both +able and willing to provide for the on-carrying of my work at home. My +medical studies, as well as my literary and divinity training, had +specially qualified me in some ways for the Foreign field, and from +every aspect at which I could look the whole facts in the face, the +voice within me sounded like a voice from God.</p> + +<p>It was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had begun +my career in Glasgow—receiving £25 per annum for district +visitation in connection with his Congregation, along with instruction +under Mr. Hislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal +Seminary—and oh, how Dr. Bates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, +when I called on him, and offered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I +returned to my lodging with a lighter heart than I had for sometime +enjoyed, feeling that nothing so clears the vision, and lifts up the +life, as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the +will of the Lord. I said to my fellow-student, Joseph Copeland, who had +chummed with me all through our course at college, "I have been away +signing my banishment" (a rather trifling way of talk for such an +occasion). "I have offered myself as a Missionary for the New +Hebrides."</p> + +<p>After a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in +far-wandering thoughts, his answer was, "If they will accept of me, I am +also resolved to go!"</p> + +<p>I said, "Will you write the Convener to that effect, or let me do +so?"</p> + +<p>He replied, "You may."</p> + +<p>A few minutes later his letter of offer was in the post-office. Next +morning Dr. Bates called upon us, early, and after a long conversation, +commended us and our future work to the Lord God in fervent prayer. At a +meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee, held immediately thereafter, +both were, after due deliberation, formally accepted, on condition that +we passed successfully the usual examinations required of candidates for +the Ministry. And for the next twelve months we were placed under a +special committee for advice as to medical experience, acquaintance with +the rudiments of trades, and anything else which might be thought useful +to us in the Foreign field.</p> + +<p>When it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as Missionary, +nearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr. Bates and my +fellows-student. My dear father and mother, however, when I consulted +them, characteristically replied, "that they had long since given me +away to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave me to God's +disposal." From other quarters we were besieged with the strongest +opposition on all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my professors in +divinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation +I had wrought so long as a City Missionary, and in whose Kirk Session I +had for years sat as an Elder, repeatedly urged me to remain at +home.</p> + +<p>To his arguments I replied, "that my mind was finally resolved; that, +though I loved my work and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them +to the care of Jesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than +I; and that, with regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only +once to die, I was content to leave the time and place and means in the +hand of God who had already marvelously preserved me when visiting +cholera patients and the fever-stricken poor; on that score I had +positively no further concern, having left it all absolutely to the +Lord, whom I sought to serve and honor, whether in life or by +death."</p> + +<p>The house connected with my Green Street Church was now offered to me +for a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared to ask (as against +the promised £120 per annum for the far-off and dangerous New +Hebrides), on condition that I would remain at home. I cannot honestly +say that such offers or opposing influences proved a heavy trial to me; +they rather tended to confirm my determination that the path of duty was +to go abroad.</p> + +<p>Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian +gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, "The cannibals! you will +be eaten by cannibals!" At last I replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are +advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the +grave, there to be eaten by worms, I confess to you, that if I can but +live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no +difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the +Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the +likeness of our risen Redeemer."</p> + +<p>The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left +the room exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!"</p> + +<p>My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of my +leaving them, and daily pleaded with me to remain. Indeed, the +opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm +Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was +carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own. +But conscience said louder and clearer every day, "Leave all these +results with Jesus your Lord, who said, 'Go ye into all the world, +preach the Gospel to every creature, and lo! I am with you alway.'" +These words kept ringing in my ears; these were our <i>marching +orders</i>.</p> + +<p>Some retorted upon me, "There are Heathen at home; let us seek and +save, first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors." This I felt +to be most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that +those who made this retort neglected these Home Heathen themselves; and +so the objection, as from them, lost all its power.</p> + +<p>On meeting, however, with so many obstructing influences, I again +laid the whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply was to +this effect:—"Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must +tell you why we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. +Your father's heart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims +forced him to give it up! When you were given to them, your father and +mother laid you upon the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if +God saw fit, as a Missionary of the Cross; and it has been their +constant prayer that you might be prepared, qualified, and led to this +very decision; and we pray with all our heart that the Lord may accept +your offering, long spare you, and give you many souls from the Heathen +World for your hire." From that moment, every doubt as to my path of +duty forever vanished. I saw the hand of God very visibly, not only +preparing me for, but now leading me to, the Foreign Mission field.</p> + +<p>Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were +warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for my +education they could of course, give me no money help. All through, on +the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest in +a family of eleven; though I here most gladly and gratefully record that +all my brothers and sisters, as they grew up and began to earn a living, +took their full share in this same blessed privilege. For we stuck to +each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all things "in +common," as a family in Christ—and I knew that never again, +howsoever long they might be spared through the peaceful autumn of life, +would the dear old father and mother lack any joy or comfort that the +willing hands and loving hearts of all their children could singly or +unitedly provide. For all this I did praise the Lord! It consoled me +beyond description, in parting from them, probably forever, in this +world at least.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="10"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER X.</h3></center> +<center><h4>TO THE NEW HEBRIDES.</h4></center> + +<p>ON the first of December 1857—being then in my thirty-third +year—the other Missionary-designate and I were "licensed" as +preachers of the Gospel. Thereafter we spent four months in visiting and +addressing nearly every Congregation and Sabbath School in the Reformed +Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the people might see us and know +us, and thereby take a personal interest in our work. On the 23d March +1858, in Dr. Symington's church, Glasgow, in presence of a mighty crowd, +and after a magnificent sermon on "Come over and help us," we were +solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart as +Missionaries to the New Hebrides. On the 16th April of the same year, we +left the Tail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the <i>Clutha</i> +for the Foreign Mission field.</p> + +<p>Our voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously, +under Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did +everything that was possible for our comfort. He himself led the singing +on board at Worship, which was always charming to me, and was always +regularly conducted—on deck when the weather was fair, below when +it was rough. I was also permitted to conduct Bible Classes amongst both +the crew and the passengers, at times and places approved of by the +Captain—in which there was great joy.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Melbourne, we were welcomed by Rev. Mr. Moor, Mr. and +Mrs. Samuel Wilson, and Mr. Wright, all Reformed Presbyterians from +Geelong. Mr. Wilson's two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under +our care during the voyage; and my young wife and I went with them for a +few days on a visit to Geelong, while Mr. Copeland remained on board the +<i>Clutha</i> to look after our boxes and to watch for any opportunity +of reaching our destination on the Islands. He heard that an American +ship, the <i>Frances P. Sage</i>, was sailing from Melbourne to Penang; +and the Captain agreed to land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides, with our +two boats and fifty boxes, for £100. We got on board on the 12th +August, but such a gale blew that we did not sail till the 17th. On the +<i>Clutha</i> all was quiet, and good order prevailed; in the <i>F. P. +Sage</i> all was noise and profanity. The Captain said he kept his +second mate for the purpose of swearing at the men and knocking them +about. The voyage was most disagreeable to all of us, but fortunately it +lasted only twelve days. On the 29th we were close up to Aneityum; but +the Captain refused to land us, even in his boats; some of us suspecting +that his men were so badly used that had they got on shore they would +never have returned to him! In any case he had beforehand secured his +£100.</p> + +<p>He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see what +we wanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the +Missionaries there. Early next horning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, +accompanied by Mr. Mathieson, a newly arrived Missionary from Nova +Scotia; bringing also Captain Andersen in the small Mission schooner, +the <i>John Knox</i>, and a large Mission boat called the +<i>Columbia</i>, well manned with crews of able and willing Natives. Our +fifty boxes were soon on board the <i>John Knox</i>, the +<i>Columbia</i>, and our own boats—all being heavily loaded and +built up, except those that had to be used in pulling the others ashore. +Dr. Geddie, Mr. Mathieson, Mrs. Paton, and I were perched among the +boxes on the <i>John Knox</i>, and had to hold on as best we could. On +sheering off from the <i>F. P. Sage</i>, one of her davits caught and +broke the mainmast of the little <i>John Knox</i> by the deck; and I +saved my wife from being crushed to death by its fall, through managing +to swing her instantaneously aside in an apparently impossible manner. +It did graze Mr. Mathieson, but he was not hurt. The <i>John Knox</i>, +already overloaded, was thus quite disabled; we were about ten miles at +sea, and in imminent danger; but the captain of the <i>F. P. Sage</i> +heartlessly sailed away, and left us to struggle with our fate.</p> + +<p>We drifted steadily in the direction of Tanna, an island of +cannibals, where our goods would have been plundered and all of us +cooked and eaten. Dr. Geddie's boat, and mine had the <i>John Knox</i> +in tow; and Mr. Copeland, with a crew of Natives, was struggling hard +with his boat to pull the <i>Columbia</i> and her load towards Aneityum. +As God mercifully ordered it, though we had a stiff trade wind to pull +against, we had a comparatively calm sea; yet we drifted still to +leeward, till Dr. Inglis going round to the harbor in his boat, as he +had heard of our arrival, saw us far at sea, and hastened to our rescue. +All the boats now, with their willing Native crews, got fastened to our +schooner, and to our great joy she began to move ahead. After pulling +for hours and hours, under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, we were +all safely landed on shore at Aneityum, about six o'clock in the evening +of 30th August, just four months and fourteen days since we sailed from +Greenock. We got a hearty welcome from the Missionaries' wives, Mrs. +Geddie, Mrs. Inglis, and Mrs. Mathieson, and from all our new friends +the Christian Natives of Aneityum; and the great danger in which both +life and property had been placed at the close of our voyage, made us +praise God all the more that He had brought us to this quiet +resting-place, around which lay the Islands of the New Hebrides, to +which our eager hearts had looked forward, and into which we entered now +in the name of the Lord.</p> + +<p>Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I went round the island to Dr. Inglis's +Station, where we were most cordially received and entertained by his +dear lady, and by the Christian Natives there. As he was making several +additions to his house at that time, we received for the next few weeks +our first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building, as +well as in higher matters. Soon after, a meeting was called to consult +about our settlement, and, by the advice and with the concurrence of +all, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south +side of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs. Paton and I at Port Resolution, +on the same island. At first it was agreed that Mr. Copeland should be +placed along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs. Mathieson's +health, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least, Mr. +Copeland should live at either Station as seem most suitable or most +requisite.</p> + +<p>Dr. Inglis and a number of his most energetic Natives accompanied us +to Umairarekar Tanna. There we purchased a site for Mission House and +Church, and laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable +the erection of a dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. Thence we +proceeded to Port Resolution, Tanna, and similarly purchased a site, and +advanced, to a forward stage, the house which Mrs. Paton and I were to +occupy on our settlement there. Lime for plastering had to be burned in +kilns from the coral rocks; and thatch, for roofing with sugar-cane +leaf, had to be prepared by the Natives at both Stations before our +return; for which, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon, and +was scrupulously paid. Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that +both houses were too near the shore, exposed to unwholesome miasma, and +productive of the dreaded fever and ague,—the most virulent and +insidious enemy to all Europeans in those Southern Seas.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="11"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HEATHENDOM.</h4></center> + +<p>MY first impressions drove me, I must confess, to the verge of utter +dismay. On beholding these Natives in their paint and nakedness and +misery, my heart was as full of horror as of pity. Had I given up my +much-beloved work and my dear people in Glasgow, with so many delightful +associations, to consecrate my life to these degraded creatures? Was it +possible to teach them right and wrong, to Christianize, or even to +civilize them? But that was only a passing feeling; I soon got as deeply +interested in them, and in all that tended to advance them, and to lead +them to the knowledge and love of Jesus, as ever I had been in my work +at Glasgow. We were surprised and delighted at the remarkable change +produced on the Natives of Aneityum through the instrumentality of Drs. +Geddie and Inglis in so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful +perseverance in the use of similar means, to see the same work of God +repeated on Tanna. Besides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs. +Inglis and Mrs. Geddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the +buoyant hope of being instruments in the hand of God to produce an +equally beneficent change amongst the savage women of Tanna. Mrs. Paton +had been left with Mrs. Inglis to learn all she could from her of +Mission work on the Islands, till I returned with Dr. Inglis from the +house-building operations on Tanna; during which period Mr. and Mrs. +Mathieson were also being instructed by Dr. and Mrs. Geddie.</p> + +<p>To the Tannese, Dr. Inglis and I were objects of curiosity and fear; +they came crowding to gaze on our wooden and lime-plastered house; they +chattered incessantly with each other, and left the scene day after day +with undisguised and increasing wonderment. Possibly they thought us +rather mad than wise!</p> + +<p>Party after party of armed men going and coming in a state of great +excitement, we were informed that war was on foot; but our Aneityumese +Teachers were told to assure us that the Harbor people would only act on +the defensive, and that no one would molest us at our work. One day two +hostile tribes met near our Station; high words arose, and old feuds +were revived. The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbor people, false +to their promises, flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their +enemies. The discharge of muskets in the adjoining bush, and the horrid +yells of the savages, soon informed us that they were engaged in deadly +fights. Excitement and terror were on every countenance; armed men +rushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted +hair,—with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one +cheek black, the other red, others, the brow white, the chin +blue—in fact, any color and on any part,—the more grotesque +and savage-looking, the higher the art! Some of the women ran with their +children to places of safety; but even then we saw other girls and +women, on the shore close by, chewing sugar-cane and chaffering and +laughing, as if their fathers and brothers had been engaged in a country +dance, instead of a bloody conflict.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, as the sounds of the muskets and the yelling of the +warriors came unpleasantly near to us, Dr. Inglis, leaning against a +post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and said, "The +walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and why not the +Mission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and pray for these +poor Heathen."</p> + +<p>We retired to a Native house that had been temporarily granted to us +for rest, and there pled before God for them all. The noise and the +discharge of muskets gradually receded, as if the Inland people were +retiring; and towards evening the people around us returned to their +villages. We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot +dead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors from the +field of battle, and cooked and eaten that very night at a boiling +spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the spot where my +house was being built. We had also a more graphic illustration of the +surroundings into which we had come, through Dr. Inglis's Aneityum boy, +who accompanied us as cook. When our tea was wanted next morning, the +boy could not be found. After a while of great anxiety on our part, he +returned, saying, "Missi, this is a dark land. The people of this land +do dark works. At the boiling spring they have cooked and feasted upon +the slain. They have washed the blood into the water; they have bathed +there, polluting everything. I cannot get pure water to make your tea. +What shall I do?"</p> + +<p>Dr. Inglis told him that he must try for water elsewhere, till the +rains came and cleansed away the pollution; and that meanwhile, instead +of tea, we would drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often done +before. The lad was quite relieved. It not a little astonished us, +however, to see that his mind regarded their killing and eating each +other as a thing scarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible that +they should spoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts the +creatures of mere circumstances! I, if trained like him, would probably +have felt like him.</p> + +<p>Next evening, as we sat talking about the people, and the dark scenes +around us, the quiet of the night was broken by a wild wailing cry from +the villages around, long-continued and unearthly. We were informed that +one of the wounded men, carried home from the battle, had just died; and +that they had strangled his widow to death, that her spirit might +accompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had +been here. Now their dead bodies were laid side by side, ready to be +buried in the sea. Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within +ear-shot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene, every fresh +incident, set more clearly before us the benighted condition and +shocking cruelties of these Heathen people, and we longed to be able to +speak to them of Jesus and the love of God. We eagerly tried to pick up +every word of their language, that we might, in their own tongue, unfold +to them the knowledge of the true God and of salvation from all these +sins through Jesus Christ.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="12"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>BREAKING GROUND ON TANNA.</h4></center> + +<p>OUR small Missionary schooner, the <i>John Knox</i>, having no +accommodation for lady passengers, and little for anybody else except +the discomfort of lying on deck, we took advantage of a trader to convey +us from Aneityum to Tanna. The Captain kindly offered to take us and +about thirty casks and boxes to Port Resolution for £5, which we +gladly accepted. After a few hours' sailing we were all safely landed on +Tanna on the 5th November, 1858. Dr. Geddie went for a fortnight to +Umairarekar, now known as Kwamera, on the south side of Tanna, to assist +in the settlement of Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, and to help in making their +house habitable and comfortable. Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I were +left at Port Resolution, to finish the building of our house there, and +work our way into the good will of the Natives as best we could.</p> + +<p>On landing, we found the people to be literally naked and painted +Savages; they were at least as destitute of clothing as Adam and Eve +after the fall, when they sewed fig-leaves for a girdle, and even more +so, for the women wore only a tiny apron of grass, in some cases shaped +like a skirt or girdle, the men an indescribable affair like a pouch or +bag, and the children absolutely nothing whatever.</p> + +<p>At first they came in crowds to look at us, and at everything we did +or had. We knew nothing of their language; we could not speak a single +word to them, nor they to us. We looked at them, they at us; we smiled +and nodded, and made signs to each other; this was our first meeting and +parting. One day I observed two men, the one lifting up one of our +articles to the other, and saying, "Nungsi nari enu?"</p> + +<p>I concluded that he was asking, "What is this?" Instantly, lifting a +piece of wood, I said, "Nungsi nari enu?"</p> + +<p>They smiled and spoke to each other. I understood them to be saying, +"He has got hold of our language now." Then they told me their name for +the thing which I had pointed to. I found that they understood my +question, What is this? or, What is that? and that I could now get from +them the name of every visible or tangible thing around us! We carefully +noted down every name they gave us, spelling all phonetically, and also +every strange sound we heard from them; thereafter, by painstaking +comparison of different circumstances, we tried to ascertain their +meanings, testing our own guess by again cross-questioning the Natives. +One day I saw two men approaching, when one, who was a stranger, pointed +to me with his finger, and said, "Se nangin?"</p> + +<p>Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed! to one of them with +my finger, and looking at the other, inquired, "Se nangin?"</p> + +<p>They smiled, and gave me their names. We were now able to get the +names of persons and things, and so our ears got familiarized with the +distinctive sounds of their language; and being always keenly on the +alert, we made extraordinary progress in attempting bits of conversation +and in reducing their speech for the first time to a written +form—for the New Hebrideans had no literature, and not even the +rudiments of an alphabet. I used to hire some of the more intelligent +lads and men to sit and talk with us, and answer our questions about +names and sounds; but they so often deceived us, and we, doubtless, +misunderstood them so often, that this course was not satisfactory, till +after we had gained some knowledge of their language and its +construction, and they themselves had become interested in helping us. +Amongst our most interesting helpers, and most trustworthy, were two +aged chiefs—Nowa and Nouka—in many respects two of Nature's +noblest gentlemen, kind at heart to all, and distinguished by a certain +native dignity of bearing. But they were both under the leadership of +the war-chief Miaki, a kind of devil-king over many villages and +tribes.</p> + +<p>The Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, +which they abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed. They +were given up to countless superstitions, and firmly glued to their dark +heathen practices. Their worship was entirely a service of fear, its aim +being to propitiate this or that Evil Spirit, to prevent calamity or to +secure revenge. They deified their chiefs, like the Romans of old, so +that almost every village or tribe had its own Sacred Man, and some of +them had many. They exercised an extraordinary influence for evil, these +village or tribal priests, and were believed to have the disposal of +life and death through their sacred ceremonies, not only in their own +tribe, but over all the Islands. Sacred men and women, wizards and +witches, received presents regularly to influence the gods, and to +remove sickness, or to cause it by the <i>Nahak, i. e.</i> incantation +over remains of food, or the skin of fruit, such as banana, which the +person has eaten on whom they wish to operate. They also worshiped the +spirits of departed ancestors and heroes, through their material idols +of wood and stone, but chiefly of stone. They feared these spirits and +sought their aid; especially seeking to propitiate those who presided +over war and peace, famine and plenty, health and sickness, destruction +and prosperity, life and death. Their whole worship was one of slavish +fear; and, so far as ever I could learn, they had no idea of a God of +mercy or grace.</p> + +<p>But these very facts—that they did worship something, that they +believed in spirits of ancestors and heroes, and that they cherished +many legends regarding those whom they had never seen, and handed these +down to their children—and the fact that they had ideas about the +invisible world and its inhabitants, made it not so hard as some might +suppose to convey to their minds, once their language and modes of +thought were understood, some clear ideal of Jehovah God as the great +uncreated Spirit Father, who Himself created and sustains all that is. +It could not, however, be done offhand, or by a few airy lessons. The +whole heart and soul and life had to be put into the enterprise. But it +could be done—that we believed because they were men, not beasts; +it had been done—that we saw in the converts on Aneityum; and our +hearts rose to the task with quenchless hope!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="13"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>PIONEERS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES.</h4></center> + +<p>A GLANCE backwards over the story of the Gospel in the New Hebrides +may help to bring my readers into touch with the events that are to +follow. The ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with +the earliest efforts to introduce Christianity amongst this group of +islands in the South Pacific Seas. John Williams and his young +Missionary companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary +Society, landed on Erromanga on the 30th of November 1839. Alas, within +a few minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death; and +the savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies. Thus were the +New Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs; and Christ thereby told +the whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own. His +cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been +poured forth in His name! The poor Heathen knew not that they had slain +their best friends; but tears and prayers ascended for them from all +Christian souls, wherever the story of the martyrdom on Erromanga was +read or heard.</p> + +<p>Again, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out +Messrs. Turner and Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan. They placed +their standard on our chosen island of Tanna, the nearest to Erromanga. +In less than seven months, however, their persecution by the savages +became so dreadful, that we see them in a boat trying to escape by night +with bare life. Out on that dangerous sea they would certainly have been +lost, but the Ever-Merciful drove them back to land, and sent next +morning a whaling vessel, which, contrary to custom, called there, and +just in the nick of time. They, with all goods that could be rescued, +were got safely on board, and sailed for Samoa. Say not their plans and +prayers were baffled; for God heard and abundantly blessed them there, +beyond all their dreams.</p> + +<p>After these things, the London Missionary Society again and again +placed Samoan Native Teachers on one or other island of the New +Hebrides; but their unhealthiness, compared with the more wholesome +Samoa or Rarotonga, so afflicted them with the dreaded ague and fever, +besides what they endured from the inhospitable savages themselves, that +no effective Mission work had been accomplished there till at last the +Presbyterian Missionaries were led to enter upon the scene. Christianity +had no foothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the +memory and the blood of the Martyrs of Erromanga.</p> + +<p>The Rev. John Geddie and his wife, from Nova Scotia, were landed on +Aneityum, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, in 1848; and +the Rev. John Inglis and his wife, from Scotland, were landed on the +other side of the same island, in 1852. An agent for the London +Missionary Society, the Rev. T. Powell, accompanied Dr. Geddie for about +a year, to advise as to his settlement and to assist in opening up the +work. Marvelous as it may seem, the Natives on Aneityum, showed interest +in the Missionaries from the very first, and listened to their +teachings; so that in a few years Dr. Inglis and Dr. Geddie saw about +3500 savages throwing away their idols, renouncing their Heathen +customs, and avowing themselves to be worshipers of the true Jehovah +God. Slowly, yet progressively, they unlearned their Heathenism; surely +and hopefully they learned Christianity and civilization. When these +Missionaries "came to this Island, there were no Christians there; when +they left it, there were no Heathens."</p> + +<p>Further, these poor Aneityumese, having glimpses of the Word of God, +determined to have a Holy Bible in their own mother tongue, wherein +before no book or page ever had been written in the history of their +race. The consecrated brain and hand of their Missionaries kept toiling +day and night in translating the book of God; and the willing hands and +feet of the Natives kept toiling through fifteen long but unwearying +years, planting and preparing arrowroot to pay the £1200 required +to be laid out in the printing and publishing of the book. Year after +year the arrowroot, too sacred to be used for their daily food, was set +apart as the Lord's portion; the Missionaries sent it to Australia and +Scotland, where it was sold by private friends, and the whole proceeds +consecrated to this purpose. On the completion of the great undertaking +by the Bible Society, it was found that the Natives had earned as much +as to pay every penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to +them, purchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years!</p> + +<p>Let those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on those things. +Eight shillings for every leaf, or the labor and proceeds of fifteen +years for the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted +savages too much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the +Missionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and +which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming +love!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="14"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE GREAT BEREAVEMENT.</h4></center> + +<p>MY first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and +Nisbet, near the shore, for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above +tide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials as goods +being landed, and, as we imagined, close to the healthy breezes of the +sea. Alas! we had to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all +untried Mission fields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and +Ague, mine especially; and much of this might have been escaped by +building on the higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing +trade-winds. For all this, however, no one was to blame; everything was +done for the best, according to the knowledge then possessed. Our house +was sheltered behind by an abrupt hill about two hundred feet high, +which gave the site a feeling of coziness. It was surrounded and much +shaded, by beautiful breadfruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees; +too largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze +that we sorely needed! There was a long swamp at the head of the bay, +and, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely +raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us. +Once, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to +me, "Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tanna man sleeps so +low down as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep +on the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and +sleep on the hill, and then you will have better health."</p> + +<p>I at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the +earliest practicable moment; heavy though the undertaking would +necessarily be, it seemed our only hope of being able to live on the +island. Alas, for one of us, it was already too late!</p> + +<p>My dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson, landed with me on Tanna on the +5th November 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy +hopes. On the 12th February 1859 God sent to us our first-born son; for +two days or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our +island-exile thrilled with joy! But the greatest of sorrows was treading +hard upon the heels of that joy! My darling's strength showed no signs +of rallying. She had an attack of ague and fever a few days before; on +the third day or so thereafter, it returned, and attacked her every +second day with increasing severity for a fortnight. Diarrhea ensued, +and symptoms of pneumonia, with slight delirium at intervals; and then +in a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she died on the 3d March. To crown +my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear baby-boy, whom we had +named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one +week's sickness, on the 20th March. Let those who have ever passed +through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me; as for all +others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows!</p> + +<p>I knew then, when too late, that our work had been entered on too +near the beginning of the rainy season. We were both, however, healthy +and hearty; and I daily pushed on with the house, making things hourly +more comfortable, in the hope that long lives were before us both, to be +spent for Jesus in seeking the salvation of the perishing Heathen. In +our mutual inexperience, and with our hearts aglow for the work of our +lives, we incurred this risk which should never have been incurred; and +I only refer to the matter thus, in the hope that others may take +warning.</p> + +<p>Stunned by that dreadful loss, in entering upon this field of labor +to which the Lord had Himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for +a time almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and +weakening hand upon me, continuously recurring, and reaching oftentimes +the very height of its worst burning stages. But I was never altogether +forsaken. The ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust +of my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the +end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite +breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round +and round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white +coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and +much-frequented shrine, during all the following months and years when I +labored on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst +difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord, +and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that +spot still green,—where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed +that land for God in which I had "buried my dead" with faith and hope. +But for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have +gone mad and died beside that lonely grave!</p> + +<p>Dr. Inglis, my brother Missionary on Aneityum, wrote to the Reformed +Presbyterian Magazine:—"I trust all those who shed tears of sorrow +on account of her early death will be enabled in the exercise of faith +and resignation to say, 'The Will of the Lord be done; the Lord gave and +the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord!' I need not +say how deeply we sympathize with her bereaved parents, as well as with +her sorrowing husband. By her death the Mission has sustained a heavy +loss. We were greatly pleased with Mrs. Paton during the period of our +short intercourse with her. Her mind, naturally vigorous, had been +cultivated by a superior education. She was full of Missionary spirit, +and took a deep interest in the Native women. This was seen further, +when she went to Tanna, where, in less than three months, she had +collected a class of eight females, who came regularly to her to receive +instruction. There was about her a maturity of thought, a solidity of +character, a loftiness of aim and purpose, rarely found in one so young. +Trained up in the fear of the Lord from childhood, like another Mary she +had evidently chosen that good part, which is never taken away from +those possessed of it. When she left this island, she had to all human +appearance a long career of usefulness and happiness on Earth before +her, but the Lord has appointed otherwise. She has gone, as we trust, to +her rest and her reward. The Lord has said to her as He said to David, +'Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart to build a House for My +Name.' Let us watch and pray, for our Lord cometh as a thief in the +night."</p> + +<p>Soon after her death, the good Bishop Selwyn called at Port +Resolution, Tanna, in his Mission Ship. He came on shore to visit me, +accompanied by the Rev. J. O. Patteson. They had met Mrs. Paton on +Aneityum in the previous year soon after our arrival, and, as she was +then the picture of perfect health, they also felt her loss very keenly. +Standing with me beside the grave of mother and child, I weeping aloud +on his one hand, and Patteson—afterward the Martyr Bishop of +Kakupu—sobbing silently on the other, the godly Bishop Selwyn +poured out his heart to God amidst sobs and tears, during which he laid +his hands on my head, and invoked Heaven's richest consolations and +blessings on me and my trying labors.</p> + +<p>Sorrow and love constrain me to linger over her last words. She +cried, "Oh, that my dear mother were here! She is a good woman, my +mother, a jewel of a woman."</p> + +<p>Then, observing Mr. Copeland near by, she said, "Oh, Mr. Copeland, I +did not know you were there! You must not think that I regret coming +here, and leaving my mother. If I had the same thing to do over again, I +would do it with far more pleasure, yes, with all my heart. Oh no! I do +not regret leaving home and friends, though at the time I felt it +keenly."</p> + +<p>Soon after this, looking up and putting her hand in mine, she +said—</p> + +<p>"J. C. wrote to our Janet saying, that young Christians under their +first impressions thought they could do anything or make any sacrifice +for Jesus, and he asked if she believed it, for he did not think they +could, when tested; but Janet wrote back that she believed they could, +and (added she with great emphasis) <i>I believe it is true!</i>"</p> + +<p>In a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she fell asleep in Jesus, with +these words on her lips. "Not lost, only gone before to be forever with +the Lord"—my heart keeps saying or singing to itself from that +hour till now.</p> + +<p>It was very difficult to be resigned, left alone, and in sorrowful +circumstance; but feeling immovably assured that my God and Father was +too wise and loving to err in anything that He does or permits, I looked +up to the Lord for help, and struggled on in His work. I do not pretend +to see through the mystery of such visitations,—wherein God calls +away the young, the promising, and those sorely needed for His service +here; but this I do know and feel, that, in the light of such +dispensations, it becomes us all to love and serve our blessed Lord +Jesus so that we may be ready at His call for death and Eternity.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="15"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>AT HOME WITH CANNIBALS.</h4></center> + +<p>IN the first letter, sent jointly by Mr. Copeland and myself from +Tanna to the Church at home, the following statements occur:—</p> + +<p>"We found the Tannese to be painted Savages, enveloped in all the +superstition and wickedness of Heathenism. All the men and children go +in a state of nudity. The older women wear grass skirts, and the young +women and girls, grass or leaf aprons like Eve in Eden. They are +exceedingly ignorant, vicious, and bigoted, and almost void of natural +affection. Instead of the inhabitants of Port Resolution being improved +by coming in contact with white men they are rendered much worse; for +they have learned all their vices but none of their virtues,—if +such are possessed by the pioneer traders among such races! The +Sandal-wood Traders are as a class the most godless of men, whose +cruelty and wickedness make us ashamed to own them as our countrymen. By +them the poor defenseless Natives are oppressed and robbed on every +hand; and if they offer the slightest resistance, they are ruthlessly +silenced by the musket or revolver. Few months here pass without some of +them being so shot, and, instead of their murderers feeling ashamed, +they boast of how they despatch them. Such treatment keeps the Natives +always burning under a desire for revenge, so that it is a wonder any +white man is allowed to come among them. Indeed, all Traders here are +able to maintain their position only by revolvers and rifles; but we +hope a better state of affairs is at hand for Tanna."</p> + +<p>The novelty of our being among them soon passed away, and they began +to show their avarice and deceitfulness in every possible way. The +Chiefs united and refused to give us the half of the small piece of land +which had been purchased, on which to build our Mission House, and when +we attempted to fence in the part they had left to us, they "tabooed" +it, <i>i. e.</i> threatened our Teachers and us with death if we +proceeded further with the work. This they did by placing certain reeds +stuck into the ground here and there around our house, which our +Aneityumese servants at once knew the meaning of, and warned us of our +danger; so we left off making the fence, that we might if possible evade +all offense. They then divided the few breadfruit and cocoa-nut trees on +the ground amongst themselves, or demanded such payment for these trees +as we did not possess, and threatened revenge on us if the trees were +injured by any person. They now became so unreasonable and offensive, +and our dangers so increased, as to make our residence amongst them +extremely trying. At this time a vessel called; I bought from the +Captain the things for payment which they demanded; on receiving it, +they lifted the Taboo, and for a little season appeared to be friendly +again. This was the third payment they had got for that site, and to +yield was teaching them a cruel lesson; all this we felt and clearly +saw, but they had by some means to be conciliated, if possible, and our +lives had to be saved, if that could be done without dishonor to the +Christian name.</p> + +<p>After these events, a few weeks of dry weather began to tell against +the growth of their yams and bananas. The drought was instantly ascribed +to us and our God. The Natives far and near were summoned to consider +the matter in public assembly. Next day, Nouka, the high chief, and +Miaki, the war-chief, his nephew, came to inform us that two powerful +Chiefs had openly declared in that assembly that if the Harbor people +did not at once kill us or compel us to leave the island they would, +unless the rain came plentifully in the meantime, summon all the Inland +people and murder both our Chiefs and us. The friendly Chiefs said, +"Pray to your Jehovah God for rain, and do not go far beyond your door +for a time; we are all in greatest danger, and if war breaks out we fear +we cannot protect you."</p> + +<p>But this friendliness was all pretense; they themselves, being Sacred +Men, professed to have the power of sending or withholding rain, and +tried to fix the blame of their discomfiture on us. The rage of the poor +ignorant Heathen was thereby fed against us. The Ever-Merciful, however, +again interposed on our behalf. On the following Sabbath, just when we +were assembling for worship, rain began to fall, and in great abundance. +The whole inhabitants believed, apparently, that it was sent to save us +in answer to our prayers; so they met again, and resolved to allow us to +remain on Tanna. Alas! on the other hand, the continuous and heavy rains +brought much sickness and fever in their train, and again their Sacred +Men pointed to us as the cause. Hurricane winds also blew and injured +their fruits and fruit-trees,—another opportunity for our enemies +to lay the blame of everything upon the Missionaries and their Jehovah +God! The trial and the danger daily grew, of living among a people so +dreadfully benighted by superstition, and so easily swayed by prejudice +and passion.</p> + +<p>The Natives of Tanna were well-nigh constantly at war amongst +themselves, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, and +almost every quarrel ending in an appeal to arms. Besides many battles +far inland, one was fought beside our houses and several around the +Harbor. In these conflicts many men were bruised with clubs and wounded +with arrows, but few lives were lost, considering the savage uproar and +frenzy of the scene. In one case, of which we obtained certain +information, seven men were killed in an engagement; and, according to +Tannese custom, the warriors and their friends feasted on them at the +close of the fray, the widows of the slain being also strangled to +death, and similarly disposed of. Besides those who fell in war, the +Natives living in our quarter had killed and feasted on eight persons, +usually, in sacrificial rites.</p> + +<p>It is said that the habitual Cannibal's desire for human flesh +becomes so horrible that he has been known to disinter and feast upon +those recently buried. Two cases of this revolting barbarism were +reported as having occurred amongst the villagers living near us. On +another occasion the great chief Nouka took seriously unwell, and his +people sacrificed three women for his recovery! All such cruel and +horrifying practises, however, they tried to conceal from us; and many +must have perished in this way of whom we, though living at their doors, +were never permitted to hear.</p> + +<p>Amongst the Heathen, in the New Hebrides, and especially on Tanna, +<i>woman</i> is the down-trodden slave of man. She is kept working hard, +and bears all the heavier burdens, while he walks by her side with +musket, club, or spear. If she offends him, he beats or abuses her at +pleasure. A savage gave his poor wife a severe beating in front of our +house and just before our eyes, while in vain we strove to prevent it. +Such scenes were so common that no one thought of interfering. Even if +the woman died in his hands, or immediately thereafter, neighbors, took +little notice, if any at all. And their children were so little cared +for, that my constant wonder was how any of them survived at all! As +soon as they are able to knock about, they are left practically to care +for themselves; hence the very small affection they show towards their +parents, which results in the aged who are unable to work being +neglected, starved to death, and sometimes even more directly and +violently destroyed.</p> + +<p>A Heathen boy's education consists in being taught to aim skilfully +with the bow, throw the spear faultlessly at a mark, to wield powerfully +the club and tomahawk, and to shoot well with musket and revolver when +these can be obtained. He accompanies his father and brothers in all the +wars and preparations for war, and is diligently initiated into all +their cruelties and lusts, as the very prerequisite of his being +regarded and acknowledged to be a man and a warrior. The girls have, +with their mother and sisters, to toil and slave in the village +plantations, to prepare all the materials for fencing these around, to +bear every burden, and to be knocked about at will by the men and +boys.</p> + +<p>Oh, how sad and degraded is the position of Woman where the teaching +of Christ is unknown, or disregarded though known! It is the Christ of +the Bible, it is His Spirit entering into humanity, that has lifted +Woman, and made her the helpmate and the friend of Man, not his toy or +his slave.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="16"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>SUPERSTITIONS AND CRUELTIES.</h4></center> + +<p>ABOUT the time of my dear wife's death, our brother Missionary, Mr. +Mathieson, also became exceedingly unwell. His delicate frame fast gave +way, and brought with it weakness of the mind as well; and he was +removed to Aneityum apparently in a dying condition. These sad +visitations had a bad effect on the natives, owing to their wild +superstitions about the cause of death and sickness. We had reason to +fear that they would even interfere with the precious grave, over which +we kept careful watch for a season; but God mercifully restrained them. +Unfortunately, however, one of my Aneityumese Teachers who had gone +round to Mr. Mathieson's Station took ill and died there, and this +rekindled all their prejudices. He, poor fellow, before death said, "I +shall not again return to Port Resolution, or see my dear Missi; but +tell him that I die happy, for I love Jesus much, and I am going to +Jesus!"</p> + +<p>Hearing these things, the natives insolently demanded me to tell them +the cause of his death, and of Mr. Mathieson's trouble, and of the other +deaths. Other reasoning or explanation being to them useless, I turned +the tables, and demanded them to tell me why all this trouble and death +had overtaken us in their land, and whether they themselves were not the +cause of it all? Strange to say, this simple question turned the whole +current of their speculations. They held meeting after meeting to +discuss it for several days, and returned the message, "We do not blame +you, and you must not blame us, for causing these troubles and deaths; +but we believe that a Bushman must have got hold of a portion of +something we had eaten, and must have thrown it to the great Evil Spirit +in the volcano, thereby bringing all these troubles and curses."</p> + +<p>Another Chief vindicated himself and others thus:—"Karapanamun, +the Aurumanu or great Evil Spirit of Tanna, whom we all fear and +worship, is causing these troubles; for he knows that if we become +worshipers of your Jehovah God, we cannot continue to fear him, or +present him with the best of everything, as our forefathers have always +done; he is angry at you and at us all."</p> + +<p>The fear of the deaths and troubles being ascribed to them silenced +their talk against us for a season; but very little made them either +friends or foes, as the next event will too painfully show.</p> + +<p>Nowhat, an old Chief of the highest rank from Aneityum, who spoke +Tannese and was much respected by the natives all round the south side +of Tanna, came on a visit to our island. After returning home, he became +very ill and died in a few days. The deluded Tannese, hearing of his +death, ascribed it to me and the Worship, and resolved to burn our house +and property, and either murder the whole Mission party, or compel us to +leave the island. Nowhat's brother was sent from Aneityum to talk to the +Tannese and conciliate them, but unfortunately he could not speak the +language well; and the Aneityumese Teachers felt their lives to be at +this time in such danger that they durst not accompany him as +interpreters, while I, on the other hand, did not understand his +language, nor he, mine. Within two days after landing, he had a severe +attack of ague and fever; and, though the vessel he came in remained +eight days, he was prostrated all the time, so that his well-intentioned +visit did us much harm. The Tannese became furious. This was proof +positive that we were the cause of all their sickness and death! Inland +and all along the weather side of the island, when far enough away from +us, they said that the natives were enjoying excellent health. Meeting +after meeting was held; exciting speeches were delivered; and feasts +were given, for which it was said that several women were sacrificed, +cooked and eaten,—such being the bonds by which they entered into +covenant with each other for life or death.</p> + +<p>The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, +but God put it into even savage hearts to save us. Old Nowar, the Chief +under whom we lived, and the Chief next under him, Arkurat, set +themselves to rescue us. Along with Manuman and Sirawia they opposed +every plan in the public assembly for taking our lives. Some of their +people also remained friendly to us, and by the help of our Aneityumese +Teachers, warned us of danger and protected our lives. Determined not to +be baffled, a meeting of all our enemies on the island was summoned, and +it was publicly resolved that a band of men be selected and enjoined to +kill the whole of those friendly to the Mission, old Nowar among the +rest, and not only to murder the Mission party, but also a trader who +had lately landed to live there, that no one might be left to give +information to the white men or bring punishment on the Islanders. +Frenzy of excitement prevailed, and the blood-fiend seemed to override +the whole assembly; when, under an impulse that surely came from the +Lord of Pity, one great warrior Chief who had hitherto kept silent, +rose, swung aloft a mighty club, and smashing it earthwards, cried +aloud, "The man that kills Missi must first kill me,—the men that +kill the Mission Teachers must first kill me and my people,—for we +shall stand by them and defend them till death."</p> + +<p>Instantaneously, another Chief thundered in with the same +declaration; and the great assembly broke up in dismay. All the more +remarkable was this deliverance, as these two Chiefs lived nearly four +miles inland, and, as reputed disease makers and Sacred Men, were +regarded as amongst our bitterest enemies. It had happened that, a +brother of the former Chief having been wounded in battle, I had dressed +his wounds and he recovered, for which perhaps he now favored us. But I +do not put very much value on that consideration; for too clearly did +our dear Lord Jesus interpose directly on our behalf that day. I and my +defenseless company had spent it in anxious prayers and tears; and our +hearts overflowed with gratitude to the Saviour who rescued us from the +lions' jaws.</p> + +<p>Leaving all consequences to the disposal of my Lord, I determined to +make an unflinching stand against wife-beating and widow-strangling, +feeling confident that even their natural conscience would be on my +side, I accordingly pled with all who were in power to unite and put +down these shocking and disgraceful customs. At length ten Chiefs +entered into an agreement not to allow any more beating of wives or +strangling of widows, and to forbid all common labor on the Lord's day; +but alas, except for purposes of war or other wickedness, the influence +of the Chiefs on Tanna was comparatively small. One Chief boldly +declared, "If we did not beat our women, they would never work; they +would not fear and obey us; but when we have beaten, and killed, and +feasted on two or three, the rest are all very quiet and good for a long +time to come!"</p> + +<p>I tried to show him how cruel it was, besides that it made them +unable for work, and that kindness would have a much better effect; but +he promptly assured me that Tannese women "could not understand +kindness." For the sake of teaching by example, my Aneityumese Teachers +and I used to go a mile or two inland on the principal pathway, along +with the Teachers' wives, and there cutting and carrying home a heavy +load of firewood for myself and each of the men, while we gave only a +small burden to each of the women. Meeting many Tanna-men by the way, I +used to explain to them that this was how Christians helped and treated +their wives and sisters, and then they loved their husbands and were +strong to work at home; and that as men were made stronger, they were +intended to bear the heavier burdens, and especially in all labors out +of doors. Our habits and practises had thus as much to do as, perhaps +more than, all our appeals, in leading them to glimpses of the life to +which the Lord Jesus was calling them.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="17"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>STREAKS OF DAWN AMIDST DEEDS OF DARKNESS.</h4></center> + +<p>ANOTHER war-burst, that caused immense consternation, passed over +with only two or three deaths; and I succeeded in obtaining the consent +of twenty Chiefs to fight no more except on the defensive,—a +covenant to which, for a considerable time, they strictly adhered, in +the midst of fierce provocations. But to gain any such end, the masses +of the people must be educated to the point of desiring it. The few +cannot, in such circumstances, act up to it, without laying themselves +open to be downtrodden and swept away by the savages around.</p> + +<p>About this time, several men, afraid or ashamed by day, came to me +regularly by night for conversation and instruction. Having seen the +doors of the Mission House made fast and the windows blinded so that +they could not be observed, they continued with me for many hours, +asking all strange questions about the new Religion and its laws. I +remember one Chief particularly, who came often, saying to me, "I would +be an Awfuaki man (<i>i. e.</i> a Christian) were it not that all the +rest would laugh at me; that I could not stand!"</p> + +<p>"Almost persuaded"—before you blame him, remember how many in +Christian lands and amid greater privileges live and die without ever +passing beyond that stage.</p> + +<p>The wife of one of those Chiefs died, and he resolved to imitate a +Christian burial. Having purchased white calico from a Trader, he came +to me for some tape which the Trader could not supply, and told me that +he was going to dress the body as he had seen my dear wife's dressed, +and lay her also in a similar grave. He declined my offer to attend the +funeral and to pray with them, as in that case many of the villagers +would not attend. He wanted all the people to be present, to see and to +hear, as it was the first funeral of the kind ever celebrated among the +Tannese; and my friend Nowar the Chief had promised to conduct a Service +and offer prayer to Jehovah before all the Heathen. It moved me to many +strange emotions, this Christian burial, conducted by a Heathen and in +the presence of Heathens, with an appeal to the true and living God by a +man as yet darkly groping among idols and superstitions. Many were the +wondering questions from time to time addressed to me. The idea of a +resurrection from the dead was that which most keenly interested these +Natives, and called forth all their powers of inquiry and argument. Thus +the waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we +embraced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the +life and death of Jesus, in the strong hope that God would spare us yet +to bring the benighted Heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation, +and to love and serve the only Saviour.</p> + +<p>Confessedly, however, it was uphill, weary, and trying work. For one +thing, these Tannese were terribly dishonest; and when there was any +special sickness, or excitement from any cause, their bad feeling +towards the Worship was displayed by the more insolent way in which they +carried off whatever they could seize. When I opposed them, the club or +tomahawk, the musket or <i>kawas</i> (<i>i. e.</i> killing-stone), being +instantly raised, intimated that my life would be taken, if I resisted. +Their skill in stealing on the sly was phenomenal! If an article fell, +or was seen on the floor, a Tanna-man would neatly cover it with his +foot, while looking you frankly in the face, and, having fixed it by his +toes or by bending in his great toe like a thumb to hold it, would walk +off with it, assuming the most innocent look in the world. In this way, +a knife, a pair of scissors or any smaller article, would at once +disappear. Another fellow would deftly stick something out of sight +amongst the whipcord plaits of his hair, another would conceal it +underneath his naked arm, while yet another would shamelessly lift what +he coveted and openly carry it away.</p> + +<p>With most of them, however, the shame was not in the theft, but in +doing it so clumsily that they were discovered! Once, after continuous +rain and a hot damp atmosphere, when the sun shone out I put my +bedclothes on a rope to dry. I stood at hand watching, as also the wives +of two Teachers, for things were mysteriously disappearing almost under +our very eyes. Suddenly, Miaki, who with his war-companions had been +watching us unobserved, came rushing to me breathless and alone, crying, +"Missi, come in, quick, quick! I want to tell you something and to get +your advice!"</p> + +<p>He ran into my house, and I followed; but before he had got into his +story, we heard the two women crying out, "Missi, Missi, come quick! +Miaki's men are Stealing your sheets and blankets!"</p> + +<p>I ran at once, but all were gone into the bush, and them my sheets +and blankets. Miaki for a moment looked abashed, as I charged him with +deceiving me just to give his men their opportunity. But he soon rose to +the occasion. He wrought himself into a towering rage at them, +flourished his huge club and smashed the bushes all around, shouting to +me, "Thus will I smash these fellows, and compel them to return your +clothes."</p> + +<p>One dark night, I heard them amongst my fowls. These I had purchased +from them for knives and calico; and they now stole them all away, dead +or alive. Had I interfered, they would have gloried in the chance to +club or shoot me in the dark, when no one could exactly say who had done +the deed. Several of the few goats, which I had for milk, were also +killed or driven away; indeed, all the injury that was possible was done +to me, short of taking away my life, and that was now frequently +attempted. Having no fires or fireplaces in my Mission House, such being +not required there,—though sometimes a fire would have been +invaluable for drying our bedclothes in the rainy season,—we had a +house near by in which all our food was cooked, and there, under lock +and key, we secured all our cooking utensils, pots, dishes, etc. One +night that too was broken into, and everything was stolen. In +consternation, I appealed to the Chief, telling him what had been done. +He also flew into a great rage, and vowed vengeance on the thieves, +saying that he would compel them to return everything. But, of course, +nothing was returned; the thief could not be found! I, unable to live +without something in which to boil water, at length offered a blanket to +any one that would bring back my kettle. Miaki himself, after much +professed difficulty, returned it <i>minus</i> the lid,—that, he +said, probably fishing for a higher bribe, could not be got at any +price, being at the other side of the island in a tribe over which he +had no control! In the circumstances, I was glad to get kettle +<i>minus</i> lid—realizing how life itself may depend on so small +a luxury!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="18"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE VISIT OF H. M. S. "CORDELIA."</h4></center> + +<p>ONE morning, the Tannese, rushing towards me in great excitement, +cried, "Missi, Missi, there is a God, or a ship on fire, or something of +fear, coming over the sea! We see no flames, but it smokes like a +volcano. Is it a Spirit, a God, or a ship on fire? What is it? what is +it?"</p> + +<p>One party after another followed in quick succession, shouting the +same questions in great alarm, to which I replied, "I cannot go at once; +I must dress first in my best clothes; it will likely be one of Queen +Victoria's Men-of-war, coming to ask of me if your conduct is good or +bad, if you are stealing my property, or threatening my life, or how you +are using me?"</p> + +<p>They pled with me to go and see it; but I made much fuss about +dressing, and getting ready to meet the great Chief on the vessel, and +would not go with them. The two principal Chiefs now came running and +asked, "Missi, will it be a ship of war?"</p> + +<p>I called to them, "I think it will; but I have no time to speak to +you now, I must get on my best clothes!"</p> + +<p>They said, "Missi, only tell us, will he ask you if we have been +stealing your things?"</p> + +<p>I answered, "I expect he will."</p> + +<p>They asked, "And will you tell him?"</p> + +<p>I said, "I must tell him the truth; if he asks, I will tell him."</p> + +<p>They then cried out, "Oh, Missi, tell him not! Everything shall be +brought back to you at once, and no one will be allowed again to steal +from you."</p> + +<p>Then said I, "Be quick! Everything must be returned before he comes. +Away, away! and let me get ready to meet the great Chief on the +Man-of-war."</p> + +<p>Hitherto, no thief could ever be found, and no Chief had power to +cause anything to be restored to me; but now, in an incredibly brief +space of time, one came running to the Mission House with a pot, another +with a pan, another with a blanket, others with knives, forks, plates, +and all sorts of stolen property. The Chiefs called me to receive these +things, but I replied, "Lay them all down at the door, bring everything +together quickly; I have no time to speak with you!"</p> + +<p>I delayed my toilet, enjoying mischievously the magical effect of an +approaching vessel that might bring penalty to thieves. At last the +Chiefs, running in breathless haste, called out to me, "Missi, Missi, do +tell us, is the stolen property all here?"</p> + +<p>Of course I could not tell, but, running out, I looked on the +promiscuous heap of my belongings, and said, "I don't see the lid of the +kettle there yet!"</p> + +<p>One Chief said, "No, Missi, for it is on the other side of the +island; but tell him not, I have sent for it, and it will be here +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>I answered, "I am glad you have brought back so much; and now, if you +three Chiefs, Nauka, Miaki, and Nowar, do not run away when he comes, he +will not likely punish you; but, if you and your people run away, he +will ask me why you are afraid, and I will be forced to tell him! Keep +near me and you are all safe; only there must be no more stealing from +me."</p> + +<p>They said, "We are in black fear, but we will keep near you, and our +bad conduct to you is done."</p> + +<p>The charm and joy of that morning are fresh to me still, when H. M. +S. <i>Cordelia</i>, Captain Vernon, steamed into our lovely Harbor. The +Commander, having heard rumor of my dangers on Tanna, kindly came on +shore as soon as the ship cast anchor, with two boats, and a number of +his officers and men, so far armed. He was dressed in splendid uniform, +being a tall and handsome man, and he and his attendants made a grand +and imposing show. On seeing Captain Vernon's boat nearing the shore, +and the men glittering in gold lace and arms, Miaki the Chief left my +side on the beach and rushed towards his village. I concluded that he +had run for it through terror, but he had other and more civilized +intentions in his Heathen head! Having obtained, from some trader or +visitor in previous days, a soldier's old red coat, he had resolved to +rise to the occasion and appear in his best before the Captain and his +men. As I was shaking hands with them and welcoming them to Tanna, Miaki +returned with the short red coat on, buttoned tightly round his +otherwise naked body; and, surmounted by his ugly painted face and long +whipcords of twisted hair, it completely spoiled any appearance that he +might otherwise have had of savage freedom, and made him look a dirty +and insignificant creature.</p> + +<p>The Captain was talking to me, his men stood in order near +by—to my eyes, oh how charming a glimpse of Home life!—when +Miaki marched up and took his place most consequentially at my side. He +felt himself the most important personage in the scene, and with an +attempt at haughty dignity he began to survey the visitors. All eyes +were fixed on the impudent little man, and the Captain asked, "What sort +of a character is this?"</p> + +<p>I replied, "This is Miaki, our great war Chief?"; and whispered to +the Captain to be on his guard, as this man knew a little English, and +might understand or misunderstand just enough to make it afterwards +dangerous to me.</p> + +<p>The Captain only muttered, "The contemptible creature!" But such +words were far enough beyond Miaki's vocabulary, so he looked on and +grinned complacently.</p> + +<p>At last he said, "Missi, this great Chief whom Queen Victoria has +sent to visit you in her Man-of-war, cannot go over the whole of this +island so as to be seen by all our people; and I wish you to ask him if +he will stand by a tree, and allow me to put a spear on the ground at +his heel, and we will make a nick in it at the top of his head, and the +spear will be sent round the island to let all the people see how tall +this great man is!" They were delighted at the good Captain agreeing to +their simple request; and that spear was exhibited to thousands, as the +vessel, her Commander, officers, and men, were afterwards talked of +round and round the island.</p> + +<p>Captain Vernon was extremely kind, and offered to do anything in his +power for me, thus left alone on the island amongst such savages; but, +as my main difficulties were connected with my spiritual work amongst +them, rousing up their cruel prejudices, I did not see his kindness +could effectually interpose. At his suggestion, however, I sent a +general invitation to all the Chiefs within reach, to meet the Captain +next morning at my house. True to their instincts of suspicion and fear, +they despatched all their women and and children to the beach on the +opposite side of the island, beyond reach of danger, and next morning my +house was crowded with armed men, manifestly much afraid. Punctually at +the hour appointed, 10 A.M., the Captain came on shore; and soon +thereafter twenty Chiefs were seated with him in my house. He very +kindly spent about an hour, giving them wise counsels and warning them +against outrages on strangers, all calculated to secure our safety and +advance the interests of our Mission work. He then invited all the +Chiefs to go on board and see his vessel. They were taken to see the +Armory, and the sight of the big guns running so easily on rails vastly +astonished them. He then placed them round us on deck and showed them +two shells discharged towards the ocean, at which, as they burst and +fell far off, splash—splashing into the water, the terror of the +Natives visibly increased. But, when he sent a large ball crashing +through a cocoanut grove, breaking the trees like straws and cutting its +way clear and swift, they were quite dumfounded and pled to be again set +safely on shore. After receiving each some small gift, however, they +were reconciled to the situation, and returned immensely interested in +all that they had seen. Doubtless many a wild romance was spun by these +savage heads, in trying to describe and hand down to others the wonders +of the fire-god of the sea, and the Captain of the great white Queen. +How easily it all lends itself to the service of poetry and myth!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="19"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>"NOBLE OLD ABRAHAM."</h4></center> + +<p>FEVER and ague had now attacked me fourteen times severely, with +slighter recurring attacks almost continuously after my first three +months on the island, and I now felt the necessity of taking the hint of +the Tannese Chief before referred to—"Sleep on the higher ground." +Having also received medical counsel to the same effect, though indeed +experience was painfully sufficient testimony, I resolved to remove my +house, and began to look about for a suitable site. There rose behind my +present site, a hill about two hundred feet high, surrounded on all +sides by a valley, and swept by the breezes of the trade-winds, being +only separated from the ocean by a narrow neck of land. On this I had +set my heart; there was room for a Mission House and a Church, for which +indeed Nature seemed to have adapted it. I proceeded to buy up every +claim by the Natives to any portion of the hill, paying each publicly +and in turn, so that there might be no trouble afterwards. I then +purchased from a Trader the deck planks of a shipwrecked vessel, with +which to construct a house of two apartments, a bedroom and a small +store-room adjoining it, to which I purposed to transfer and add the old +house as soon as I was able.</p> + +<p>Just at this juncture, the fever smote me again more severely than +ever; my weakness after this attack was so great, that I felt as if I +never could rally again. With the help of my faithful Aneityumese +Teacher, Abraham, and his wife, however, I made what appeared my last +effort to creep—I could not climb—up the hill to get a +breath of wholesome air. When about two-thirds up the hill, I became so +faint that I concluded I was dying. Lying down on the ground, sloped +against the root of a tree to keep me from rolling to the bottom, I took +farewell of old Abraham, of my Mission work, and of everything around! +In this weak state I lay, watched over by my faithful companion, and +fell into a quiet sleep. When consciousness returned, I felt a little +stronger, and a faint gleam of hope and life came back to my soul.</p> + +<p>Abraham and his devoted wife Nafatu lifted me and carried me to the +top of the hill. There they laid me on cocoanut leaves on the ground, +and erected over me a shade or screen of the same; and there the two +faithful souls, inspired surely by something diviner even than mere +human pity, gave me the cocoanut juice to drink and fed me with native +food and kept me living—I know not for how long. Consciousness +did, however, fully return. The trade-wind refreshed me day by day. The +Tannese seemed to have given me up for dead; and providentially none of +them looked near us for many days. Amazingly my strength returned, and I +began planning about my new house on the hill. Afraid again to sleep at +the old site, I slept under the tree, and sheltered by the cocoanut leaf +screen, while preparing my new bedroom.</p> + +<p>Here again, but for these faithful souls, the Aneityumese Teacher and +his wife, I must have been baffled, and would have died in the effort. +The planks of the wreck, and all other articles required, they fetched +and carried; and it taxed my utmost strength to get them in some way +planted together. But life depended on it. It was at length +accomplished; and after that time I suffered comparatively little from +anything like continuous attacks of fever and ague. That noble old soul, +Abraham, stood by me as an angel of God in sickness and in danger; he +went at my side wherever I had to go; he helped me willingly to the last +inch of strength in all that I had to do; and it was perfectly manifest +that he was doing all this not from mere human love, but for the sake of +Jesus. That man had been a Cannibal in his Heathen days, but by the +grace of God there he stood verily a new creature in Christ Jesus. Any +trust, however sacred or valuable, could be absolutely reposed in him; +and in trial or danger I was often refreshed by that old Teacher's +prayers, as I used to be by the prayers of my saintly father in my +childhood's home. No white man could have been more valuable helper to +me in my perilous circumstances; and no person, white or black, could +have shown more fearless and chivalrous devotion.</p> + +<p>When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious +scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in +conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has +yearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the "natural" man all +around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one +"spiritual" man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them, +feeding them, saving them "for the love of Jesus"—that I might +just learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man +was a reality after all! All the skepticism of Europe would hide its +head in foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one +glance of the new light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the +converted Cannibal's eye.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="20"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A TYPICAL SOUTH SEA TRADER.</h4></center> + +<p>THE prejudices and persecutions of Heathens were a sore enough trial, +but sorer and more hopeless was the wicked and contaminating influence +of, alas, my fellow-countrymen. One, for instance, a Captain Winchester, +living with a native woman at the head of the bay as a Trader, a +dissipated wretch, though a well-educated man, was angry forsooth at +this state of peace! Apparently there was not the usual demand for +barter for the fowls, pigs, etc., in which he traded. He developed at +once a wonderful interest in their affairs, presented all the Chiefs +around with powder, caps, and balls, and lent among them a number of +flash-muskets. He urged them not to be afraid of war, as he would supply +any amount of ammunition. I remonstrated, but he flatly told me that +peace did not suit his purposes. Incited and encouraged thus, these poor +Heathen people were goaded into a most unjust war on neighboring tribes. +The Trader immediately demanded a high price for the weapons he had +lent; the price of powder, caps, and balls rose exorbitantly with every +fresh demand; his yards were crowded with poultry and pigs, which he +readily disposed of to passing vessels; and he might have amassed great +sums of money but for his vile dissipations. Captain Winchester, now +glorying in the war, charged a large hog for a wine-glass full of +powder, or three or four balls, or ten gun-caps; he was boastful of his +"good luck" in getting rid of all his old muskets and filling his yards +with pigs and fowls. Such is the infernal depth to which we can sink, +when the misery and the ruin of many are thought to be more than atoned +for by the wealth and prosperity of a few who trade in their doom!</p> + +<p>Miaki the war Chief had a young brother, Rarip by name, about +eighteen years of age. When this war began he came to live with me at +the Mission House. After it had raged some time, Miaki forced him to +join the fighting men; but he escaped through the bush, and returned to +me, saying, "Missi, I hate this fighting; it is not good to kill men; I +will live with you!"</p> + +<p>Again the war Chief came, and forced my dear young Rarip to join the +hosts. Of course, I could only plead; I could not prevent him. This +time, he placed him at his own side in the midst of his warriors. On +coming in sight of the enemy, and hearing their first yells as they +rushed from the bush, a bullet pierced young Rarip's breast, and he fell +dead into the arms of Miaki. The body was carried home to his brother's +village, with much wailing, and a messenger ran to tell me that Rarip +was dead. On hasting thither, I found him quite dead, and the center of +a tragic ceremonial. Around him, some sitting, others lying on the +ground, were assembled all the women and girls, tearing their hair, +wounding themselves with split bamboos and broken bottles, dashing +themselves headlong to the earth, painting all black their faces, +breasts, and arms, and wailing with loud lamentations! Men were also +there, knocking their heads against the trees, gashing their bodies with +knives till they ran with streaks of blood, and indulging in every kind +of savage symbol of grief and anguish. My heart broke to see them, and +to think that they knew not to look to our dear Lord Jesus for +consolation.</p> + +<p>I returned to the Mission House, and brought a white sheet and some +tape, in which the body of dear young Rarip was wrapped and prepared for +the grave. The Natives appeared to be gratified at this mark of respect; +and all agreed that Rarip should have, under my direction, a Christian +burial. The men prepared the grave in a spot selected near to his own +house; I read the Word of God, and offered prayer to Jehovah, with a +psalm of praise, amidst a scene of weeping and lamentation never to be +forgotten; and the thought burned through my very soul—oh, when, +when will the Tannese realize what I am now thinking and praying about, +the life and immortality brought to light through Jesus?</p> + +<p>As the war still raged on, and many more were killed, vengeance +threatened the miserable Trader. Miaki attacked him thus, "You led us +into this war. You deceived us, and we began it. Rarip is dead, and many +others. Your life shall yet go for his."</p> + +<p>Captain Winchester, heartless as a dog so long as pigs and fowls came +to the yard at whatever cost to others' lives, now trembled like a +coward for himself. He implored me to let him and his Mare wife sleep at +my house for safety; but I refused to allow my Mission to be in any way +identified with his crimes. The Natives from other islands, whom he kept +and wrought like slaves, he now armed with muskets for his defence; but, +having no faith in their protecting or even warning him, he implored me +to send one of my Teachers, to assist his wife in watching till he +snatched a few hours of sleep every day, and, if awake, he would sell +his life as dearly as he could by aid of musket and revolver. The +Teachers were both afraid and disinclined to go; and I could not +honestly ask them to do so. His peril and terror became so real that by +night he slept in his boat anchored out in the center of the bay, with +his arms beside him, and a crew ready to start off at the approach of +danger and lose everything; while by day he kept watch on shore, armed, +and also ready to fly. Thus his miserable existence dragged on, keeping +watch alternatively with his wife, till a trading vessel called and +carried him off with all that he had rescued—for which deliverance +we were unfeignedly thankful! The war, which he had wickedly instigated, +lingered on for three months; and then, by a present given secretly to +two leading Chiefs, I managed to bring it to a close. But feelings of +revenge for the slain burned fiercely in many breasts; and young men had +old feuds handed on to them by the recital of their fathers' deeds of +blood.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="21"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>UNDER AX AND MUSKET.</h4></center> + +<p>ABOUT this time, our Sabbath audiences at the Mission numbered forty +or so. Nowar and three or four more, and only they, seemed to love and +serve Jesus. They were, however, changeable and doubtful, though they +exerted a good influence on their villages, and were generally friendly +to us and to the Worship.</p> + +<p>One morning at daybreak I found my house surrounded by armed men, and +a Chief intimated that they had assembled to take my life. Seeing that I +was entirely in their hands, I knelt down and gave myself away body and +soul to the Lord Jesus, for what seemed the last time on earth. Rising, +I went out to them, and began calmly talking about their unkind +treatment of me and contrasting it with all my conduct towards them. I +also plainly showed them what would be the sad consequences, if they +carried out their cruel purpose. At last some of the chiefs, who had +attended the Worship, rose and said, "Our conduct has been bad; but now +we will fight for you, and kill all those who hate you."</p> + +<p>Grasping hold of their leader, I held him fast till he promised never +to kill any one on my account, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies +and always to return good for evil! During this scene, many of the armed +slunk away into the bush, and those who remained entered into a bond to +be friendly and to protect us. But again their Public Assembly resolved +that we should be killed, because, as they said, they hated Jehovah and +the Worship; for it made them afraid to do as they had always done. If I +would give up visiting the villages, and praying and talking with them +about Jehovah, they intimated that they would like me to stay and trade +with them, as they liked the Traders but hated the Missionaries! I told +them that the hope of being able to teach them the Worship of Jehovah +alone kept me living amongst them; that I was there, not for gain or +pleasure, but because I loved them, and pitied their estate, and sought +their good continually by leading them to know and serve the only true +God.</p> + +<p>But my enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my +life, however calmed or baffled for the moment. Within a few days of the +above events, when Natives in large numbers were assembled at my house, +a man furiously rushed on me with his ax; but a Kaserumini Chief +snatched a spade with which I had been working, and dexterously defended +me from instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very +near to the Lord Jesus; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how +attack might be made; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the +Hand once nailed on Calvary, and now swaying the scepter of the +Universe, calmness and peace and resignation abode in my soul.</p> + +<p>Next day, a wild Chief followed me about for four hours with his +loaded musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his +hand. I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not +been there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would +protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing +prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt +immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes +strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow; +and they did tread swiftly upon each other's heels. Without that abiding +consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour, +nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my +reason and perishing miserably. His words, "Lo, I am with you alway, +even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not +have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the +scene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, "I +can do all things through Christ which strengthened me." It is the sober +truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I had my +nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed Lord in +those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being leveled at my +life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing "Him who is +invisible!" One evening, I awoke three times to hear a Chief and his men +trying to force the door of my house. Though armed with muskets, they +had some sense of doing wrong, and were wholesomely afraid of a little +retriever dog which had often stood betwixt me and death. God restrained +them again; and next morning the report went all round the Harbor that +those who tried to shoot me were "smitten weak with fear," and that +shooting would not do. A plan was therefore deliberately set on foot to +fire the premises, and club us if we attempted to escape. But our +Aneityumese Teacher heard of it, and God helped us to frustrate their +designs. When they knew their plots were revealed to us, they seemed to +lose faith in themselves, and cast about to circumvent us in some more +secret way, Their evil was overruled for good.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="22"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A NATIVE SAINT AND MARTYR.</h4></center> + +<p>NAMUEI, one of my Aneityumese Teachers, was placed at our nearest +village. There he had built a house for himself and his wife, and there +he led amongst the Heathen a pure and humble Christian life. Almost +every morning he came and reported on the state of affairs to me. +Without books or a school, he yet instructed the Natives in Divine +things, conducted the worship, and taught them much by his good example. +His influence was increasing, when one morning a Sacred Man threw at him +the <i>kawas</i> or killing-stone, a deadly weapon like a scythe stone +in shape and thickness, usually round but sometimes angular, and from +eighteen to twenty inches long. They throw it from a great distance and +with fatal precision. The Teacher, with great agility, warded his head +and received the deep cut from it in his left hand, reserving his right +hand to guard against the club that was certain to follow swiftly. The +Priest sprang upon him with his club and with savage yells. He evaded, +yet also received, many blows; and, rushing out of their hands, actually +reached the Mission House, bleeding, fainting, and pursued by howling +murderers. I had been anxiously expecting him, and hearing the noise I +ran out with all possible speed.</p> + +<p>On seeing me, he sank down by a tree, and cried, "Missi, Missi, +quick! and escape for your life! They are coming to kill you; they say +they must kill us all to-day, and they have begun with me; for they hate +Jehovah and the Worship!"</p> + +<p>I hastened to the good Teacher where he lay; I bound up, washed, and +dressed his wounds; and God, by the mystery of His own working, kept the +infuriated Tannese watching at bay. Gradually they began to disappear +into the bush, and we conveyed the dear Teacher to the Mission House. In +three or four weeks, he so far recovered by careful nursing that he was +able to walk about again. Some petitioned for him to return to the +village; but I insisted, as a preliminary, that the Harbor Chiefs should +unitedly punish him who had abused the Teacher; and this to test them, +for he had only carried out their own wishes,—Nowar excepted, and +perhaps one or two others. They made a pretense of atoning by presenting +the Teacher with a pig and some yams as a peace-offering; but I said, +"No! Such bad conduct must be punished, or we would leave their island +by the first opportunity."</p> + +<p>Now that Sacred Man, a Chief too, had gone on fighting with other +tribes, till his followers had all died or been slain; and, after three +weeks' palaver, the other Chiefs seized him, tied him with a rope, and +sent me word to come and see him punished, as they did not want us after +all to leave the island. I had to go, for fear of more bloody work, and +after talk with them, followed by many fair promises, he was loosed.</p> + +<p>All appearing friendly for some time, and willing to listen and +learn, the Teacher earnestly desired to return to his post. I pled with +him to remain at the Mission House till we felt more assured, but he +replied, "Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see +myself when the Missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder +him, as they now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, +I would have remained Heathen; but he came, and continued coming to +teach us, till, by the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now the +same God that changed me to this can change these poor Tannese to love +and serve Him. I cannot stay away from them; but I will sleep at the +Mission House, and do all I can by day to bring them to Jesus."</p> + +<p>It was not in me to keep such a man, under such motives, from what he +felt to be his post of duty. He returned to his village work, and for +several weeks things appeared most encouraging. The inhabitants showed +growing interest in us and our work, and less fear of the pretensions of +their Heathen Priest, which, alas! fed his jealousy and anger. One +morning during worship, when the good Teacher knelt in prayer, the same +savage Priest sprang upon him with his great club and left him for dead, +wounded and bleeding and unconscious. The people fled and left him in +his blood, afraid of being mixed up with the murder. The Teacher, +recovering a little, crawled to the Mission House, and reached it about +midday in a dying condition. On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he +fell near the Teacher's house, saying, "Missi, I am dying! They will +kill you also. Escape for your life."</p> + +<p>Trying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and +nursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and +rejoicing that he would soon be with Him in Glory. His pain and +suffering were great but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept +saying, "For the sake of Jesus! For Jesu's sake!" He was constantly +praying for his persecutors, "O Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know +not what they are doing. Oh, take not away all Thy servants from Tanna! +Take not away Thy Worship from this dark island! O God, bring all the +Tannese to love and follow Jesus!"</p> + +<p>To him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his +death. He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory +of his Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world's esteem, I knew +that a great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he +would take rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a +coffin, and dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many +tears, we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy +resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for +the Missionaries, whom God had honored in bringing him to Jesus. May +they have many like Namuri for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the +great day!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="23"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>BUILDING AND PRINTING FOR GOD.</h4></center> + +<p>FOR fully three months, all our available time, with all the native +help which I could hire, was spent in erecting a building to serve for +Church and School. It was fifty feet long, by twenty-one feet six inches +broad. The studs were three feet apart, and all fixed by tenon and +mortise into upper and lower wall plates. The beautiful roof of +iron-wood and sugar-cane leaf was supported by three massive pillars of +wood, sunk deeply into the ground. The roof extended about three feet +over the wall plates, both to form a verandah and to carry the raindrops +free beyond the walls. It was made of sugar-cane leaf and cocoanut +leaves all around. The floor was laid with white coral, broken small, +and covered with cocoanut leaf mats, such as those on which the Natives +sat. Indeed, it was as comfortable a House of Prayer as any man need +wish for in the tropics, though having only open spaces for doors and +windows! I bought the heavy wood for it on Aneityum—price, fifty +pairs of trousers for Natives; and these again were the gift of my Bible +Class in Glasgow, all cut and sewed by their own hands. I gave also one +hundred and thirty yards of cloth, along with other things, for other +needful wood.</p> + +<p>As we were preparing a foundation for the Church, a huge and +singular-looking round stone was dug up, at sight of which the Tannese +stood aghast. The eldest Chief said, "Missi, that stone was either +brought there by Karapanamun (the Evil Spirit), or hid there by our +great Chief who is dead. That is the Stone God to which our forefathers +offered human sacrifices; these holes held the blood of the victim till +drunk up by the Spirit. The Spirit of that stone eats up men and women +and drinks their blood, as our fathers taught us. We are in greatest +fear!"</p> + +<p>A Sacred Man claimed possession, and was exceedingly desirous to +carry it off; but I managed to keep it, and did everything in my power +to show them the absurdity of these foolish notions. Idolatry had not +indeed yet fallen throughout Tanna; but one cruel idol, at least, had to +give way for the erection of God's House on that benighted land.</p> + +<p>An ever-memorable event was the printing of my first book in Tannese. +Thomas Binnie, Jun., Glasgow, gave me a printing-press and a font of +type. Printing was one of the things I had never tried, but having now +prepared a booklet in Tannese, I got my printing press into order, and +began fingering the type. But book-printing turned out to be for me a +much more difficult affair than house-building had been. Yet by dogged +perseverance I succeeded at last. My biggest difficulty was how to +arrange the pages properly! After many failures, I folded a piece of +paper into the number of leaves wanted, cut the corners, folding them +back, and numbering as they would be when correctly placed in the book; +then folding all back without cutting up the sheet, I found now by these +numbers how to arrange the pages in the frame or case for printing, as +indicated on each side. And do you think me foolish, when I confess that +I shouted in an ecstasy of joy when the first sheet came from the press +all correct? It was about one o'clock in the morning. I was the only +white man then on the island, and all the Natives had been fast asleep +for hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like +a schoolboy round and round that printing-press; till I began to think, +Am I losing my reason? Would it not be like a Missionary to be upon my +knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever +printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe +me—that was as true worship as ever was David's dancing before the +Ark of his God! Nor think that I did not, over that first sheet of God's +Word ever printed in the Tannese tongue, go upon my knees too, and then, +and every day since, plead with the mighty Lord to carry the light and +joy of His own Holy Bible into every dark heart and benighted home on +Tanna!</p> + +<p>Yet dangers darkened round me. One day, while toiling away at my +house, the war Chief and his brother, and a large party of armed men, +surrounded the plot where I was working. They all had muskets, besides +their own native weapons. They watched me for some time in silence, and +then every man leveled a musket straight at my head. Escape was +impossible. Speech would only have increased my danger. My eyesight came +and went for a few moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either Himself to +protect me or to take me home to His Glory. I tried to keep working on +at my task, as if no one was near me. In that moment, as never before, +the words came to me—"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will +do it;" and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little from their first +position, no word having been spoken, they took up the same attitude +somewhat farther off, and seemed to be urging one another to fire the +first shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, and they +withdrew, leaving me with a new reason for trusting Him with all that +concerned me for Time and Eternity.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="24"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>HEATHEN DANCE AND SHAM FIGHT.</h4></center> + +<p>THE Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and +most-to-be-trusted friend. He influenced the Harbor Chiefs and their +people for eight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favor of +the Worship of Jehovah. All were personally and specially invited, and +it was the largest Assembly of any kind that I ever witnessed on the +Islands.</p> + +<p>When all was ready, Nowar sent a party of Chiefs to escort me and my +Aneityumese Teachers to the feast. Fourteen Chiefs, in turn, made +speeches to the assembled multitude; the drift of all being, that war +and fighting be given up on Tanna,—that no more people be killed +by Nahak, for witchcraft and sorcery were lies,—that Sacred Men no +longer profess to make wind and rain, famine and plenty, disease and +death,—that the dark Heathen talk of Tanna should +cease,—that all here present should adopt the Worship of Jehovah +as taught to them by the Missionary and the Aneityumese,—and that +all the banished Tribes should be invited to their own lands to live in +peace! These strange speeches did not draw forth a single opposing +voice. The Tannese are born talkers, and can and will speechify on all +occasions; but most of it means nothing, bears no fruit.</p> + +<p>After these speeches, a scene followed which gradually assumed shape +as an idolatrous ceremonial and greatly horrified me. It was in +connection with the immense quantity of food that had been prepared for +the feast, especially pigs and fowls. A great heap had been piled up for +each Tribe represented, and a handsome portion also set apart for the +Missionary and his Teachers. The ceremony was this, as nearly as I could +follow it. One hundred or so of the leading men marched into the large +clear space in the center of the assembled multitudes, and stood there +facing each other in equal lines, with a man at either end closing up +the passage between. At the middle they stood eight or ten feet apart, +gradually nearing till they almost met at either end. Amid tremendous +silence for a few moments, all stood hushed; then every man kneeled on +his right knee, extended his right hand, and bent forward till his face +nearly touched the ground. Thereon the man at the one end began +muttering something, his voice rising ever louder as he rose to his +feet, when it ended in a fearful yell as he stood erect. Next the two +long lines of men, all in a body, went through the same ceremonial, +rising gradually to their feet, with mutterings deepening into a howl, +and heightening into a yell stood erect. Finally, the man at the other +end went through the same hideous forms. All this was thrice +deliberately repeated, each time with growing frenzy. And then, all +standing on their feet, they united as with one voice in what sounded +like music running mad up and down the scale—closing with a long, +deep-toned, hollow howl as of souls in pain. With smiles of joy, the men +then all shook hands with each other. Nowar and another Chief briefly +spoke; and the food was then divided and exchanged, a principal man of +each Tribe standing by to receive and watch his portion.</p> + +<p>At this stage, Nowar and Nerwangi, as leaders, addressed the Teachers +and the Missionary to this effect; "This feast is held to move all the +Chiefs and People here to give up fighting, to become friends, and to +worship your Jehovah God. We wish you to remain, and to teach us all +good conduct. As an evidence of our sincerity, and of our love, we have +prepared this pile of food for you."</p> + +<p>In reply, I addressed the whole multitude, saying how pleased I was +with their speeches and with the resolutions and promises which they all +had made. I further urged them to stick fast by these, and that grand +fruits would arise to their island, to themselves, and to their +children.</p> + +<p>Having finished a brief address, I then walked forward to the very +middle of the circle, and laid down before them a bundle of stripes of +red calico and pieces of white calico, a number of fish-hooks, knives, +etc., etc., requesting the two Chiefs to divide my offering of goodwill +among the Tribes assembled, and also the pile of food presented to us, +as a token of my love and friendship to them all.</p> + +<p>Not without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this +apparently unfriendly attitude of refusing to take their food. But I +feared to seem even to approve of any act of devil-worship, or to +confirm them in it, being there to discourage all such scenes, and to +lead them to acknowledge only the true God. Yet all the time I felt this +qualm,—that it might have been better to eat food with men who +acknowledged some God and asked his blessing, than with those white +Heathens at home, who asked the blessing of no God, nor thanked +Him—in this worse than the dog which licks the hand that feeds it! +Nowar and Nerwangi explained in great orations what I meant, and how I +wished all to be divided amongst the assembled Tribes to show my love. +With this, all seemed highly satisfied.</p> + +<p>Heathen dances were now entered upon, their paint and feathers and +ornaments adding to the wildness of the scene. The men seemed to dance +in an inside ring, and the women in an outside ring, at a considerable +distance from each other. Music was supplied by singing and clapping of +hands. The order was perfect, and the figures highly intricate. But I +have never been able to associate dancing with things lovely and of good +report! After the dancing, all retired to the bush; and a kind of sham +fight then followed on the public cleared ground. A host of painted +savages rushed in and took possession with songs and shoutings. From the +bush, on the opposite side, the chanting of women was heard in the +distance, louder and louder as they approached. Snatching from a burning +fire flaming sticks, they rushed on the men with these, beating them and +throwing burning pieces of wood among them, till with deafening yells +amongst themselves and amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, they +drove them from the space, and danced thereon and sang a song of +victory. The dancing and fighting, the naked painted figures, and the +constant yells and shoutings gave one a weird sensation, and suggested +strange ideas of Hell broken loose.</p> + +<p>The final scene approached, when the men assisted their women to fill +all the allotted food into baskets to be carried home and eaten there; +for the different Tribes do not sit down together and eat together as we +would do; their coming together is for the purpose of exchanging and +dividing the food presented. And now they broke into friendly confusion, +and freely walked about mingling with each other; and a kind of savage +rehearsal of Jonathan and David took place. They stripped themselves of +their fantastic dresses, their handsomely woven and twisted grass +skirts, leaf skirts, grass and leaf aprons; they gave away or exchanged +all these, and their ornaments and bows and arrows, besides their less +romantic calico and print dresses more recently acquired. The effusion +and ceremonial of the gifts and exchanges seem to betoken a loving +people; and so they were for the feast—but that laid not aside a +single deadly feud, and streams of blood and cries of hate would soon +efface all traces of this day.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="25"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>CANNIBALS AT WORK.</h4></center> + +<p>EARLY one morning, the savage yells of warring Tribes woke me from +sleep. They had broken into a quarrel about a woman, and were fiercely +engaged with their clubs. According to my custom, I rushed in amongst +them, and, not without much difficulty, was blessed in separating them +before deadly wounds had been given or received. On this occasion, the +Chiefs of both Tribes, being very friendly to me, drove their people +back from each other at my earnest appeals. Sitting down at length +within earshot, they had it out in a wild scolding match, a contest of +lung and tongue. Meanwhile I rested on a canoe midway betwixt them, in +the hope of averting a renewal of hostilities. By and by an old Sacred +Man, a Chief, called Sapa, with some touch of savage comedy in his +breast, volunteered an episode which restored good humor to the scene. +Leaping up, he came dancing and singing towards me, and there, to the +amusement of all, reenacted the quarrel, and mimicked rather cleverly my +attempt at separating the combatants. Smashing at the canoe with his +club, he yelled and knocked down imaginary enemies; then, rushing first +at one party and then at the other, he represented me as appealing and +gesticulating and pushing them afar from each other, till he became +quite exhausted. Thereon he came and planted himself in great glee +beside me, and looked around as if to say, "You must laugh, for I have +played." At this very juncture, a loud cry of "Sail O" broke upon our +ears, and all parties leapt to their feet, and prepared for a new +sensation; for in those climes, everything—war itself—is a +smaller interest than a vessel from the Great Unknown Beyond sailing +into your Harbor.</p> + +<p>Not many days thereafter, a very horrible transaction occurred. +Before daybreak, I heard shot after shot quickly discharged in the +Harbor. One of my Teachers came running, and cried, "Missi, six or seven +men have been shot dead this morning for a great feast. It is to +reconcile Tribes that have been at war, and to allow a banished Tribe to +return in peace."</p> + +<p>I learned that the leading men had in council agreed upon this +sacrifice, but the name of each victim was kept a secret till the last +moment. The torture of suspense and uncertainty seemed to be borne by +all as part of their appointed lot; nor did they prepare as if +suspecting any dread assault. Before daylight, the Sacred Men allocated +a murderer to the door of each house where a victim slept. A signal shot +was fired; all rushed to their doors, and the doomed ones were shot and +clubbed to death, as they attempted to escape. Their bodies were then +borne to a sacred tree, and hung up there by the hands for a time as an +offering to the gods. Being taken down, they were carried ceremoniously +and laid out on the shore near my house, placed under a special +guard.</p> + +<p>Information had reached me that my Teachers and I were also destined +victims for this same feast; and sure enough we espied a band of armed +men, the killers, despatched towards our premises. Instantaneously I had +the Teachers and their wives and myself securely locked into the Mission +House; and, cut off from all human hope, we set ourselves to pray to our +dear Lord Jesus, either Himself to protect us or to take us to His +glory. All through that morning and forenoon we heard them +tramp-tramping round our house, whispering to each other, and hovering +near window and door. They knew that there were a double-barreled +fowling-piece and a revolver on the premises, though they never had seen +me use them, and that may, under God, have held them back in dread. But +the thought of using them did not enter our souls even in that awful +time. I had gone to save, and not to destroy. It would be easier for me +at any time to die, than to kill one of them. Our safety lay in our +appeal to that blessed Lord who had placed us there, and to whom all +power had been given in Heaven and on Earth. He that was with us was +more than all that could be against us. This is strength;—this is +peace:—to feel, in entering on every day, that all its duties and +trials have been committed to the Lord Jesus,—that, come what may, +He will use us for His glory and our own real good!</p> + +<p>All through that dreadful morning, and far into the afternoon, we +thus abode together, feeling conscious that we were united to this dear +Lord Jesus; and we had sweet communion with Him, meditating on the +wonders of His person and the hopes and glories of His kingdom. Oh, that +all my readers may learn something of this in their own experience of +the Lord! I can wish them nothing more precious. Towards sundown, +constrained by the Invisible One, they withdrew from our Mission House, +and left us once more in peace. They bore away the slain to be cooked, +and distributed amongst the Tribes, and eaten in their feast of +reconciliation; a covenant sealed in blood, and soon, alas, to be buried +in blood again! For many days thereafter we had to take unusual care, +and not unduly expose ourselves to danger; for dark characters were seen +prowling about in the bush near at hand, and we knew that our life was +the prize. We took what care we could, and God the Lord did the rest; or +rather He did all—for His wisdom guided us, and His power baffled +them.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="26"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE DEFYING OF NAHAK.</h4></center> + +<p>SHORTLY thereafter war was again declared, by the Inland people +attacking our Harbor people. It was an old quarrel; and the war was +renewed and continued, long after the cause thereof had passed away. +Going amongst them every day, I did my utmost to stop hostilities, +setting the evils of war before them, and pleading with the leading men +to renounce it. Thereon arose a characteristic incident of Island and +Heathen life. One day I held a Service in the village where morning +after morning their Tribes assembled, and declared that if they would +believe in and follow the Jehovah God, He would deliver them from all +their enemies and lead them into a happy life. There were present three +Sacred Men, Chiefs, of whom the whole population lived in +terror—brothers or cousins, heroes of traditional feats, +professors of sorcery, and claiming the power of life and death, health +and sickness, rain and drought, according to their will. On hearing me, +these three stood up and declared they did not believe in Jehovah, nor +did they need His help; for they had the power to kill my life by Nahak +(<i>i.e.</i> sorcery or witchcraft), if only they could get possession +of any piece of the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an +essential condition of their black art; hence the peel of a banana or an +orange, and every broken scrap of food, is gathered up by the Natives, +lest it should fall into the hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for +Nahak. This superstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and +terror upon Tanna; and being thus challenged, I asked God's help, and +determined to strike a blow against it.</p> + +<p>A woman was standing near with a bunch of native fruit in her hand, +like our plums, called quonquore. I asked her to be pleased to give me +some; and she, holding out a bunch, said, "Take freely what you +will!"</p> + +<p>Calling the attention of all the Assembly to what I was doing, I took +three fruits from the bunch, and taking a bite out of each, I gave them +one after another to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said in the +hearing of all, "You have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen me +give the remainder to your Sacred Men; they have said they can kill me +by Nahak, but I challenge them to do it if they can, without arrow or +spear, club or musket; for I deny that they have any power against me, +or against any one, by their Sorcery."</p> + +<p>The challenge was accepted; the Natives looked terror-struck at the +position in which I was placed! The ceremony of Nahak was usually +performed in secret,—the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans +would from the touch of the plague; but I lingered and eagerly watched +their ritual. As the three Chiefs arose, and drew near to one of the +Sacred Trees, to begin their ceremonial, the Natives fled in terror, +crying, "Missi, Iawé? Alas, Missi!"</p> + +<p>But I held on at my post of observation. Amidst wavings and +incantations, they rolled up the pieces of the fruit from which I had +eaten, in certain leaves of this Sacred Tree, into a shape like a waxen +candle; then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and continued +their mutterings, gradually burning a little more and a little more of +the candle-shaped things, wheeling them round their heads, blowing upon +them with their breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly at +me as if expecting my sudden destruction. Wondering whether after all +they did not believe their own lie, for they seemed to be in dead +earnest, I, more eager than ever to break the chains of such vile +superstition, urged them again and again, crying, "Be quick! Stir up +your gods to help you! I am not killed yet; I am perfectly well!"</p> + +<p>At last they stood up and said, "We must delay till we have called +all our Sacred Men. We will kill Missi before his next Sabbath comes +round. Let all watch, for he will soon die and that without fail."</p> + +<p>I replied, "Very good! I challenge all your Priests to unite and kill +me by Sorcery or Nahak. If on Sabbath next I come again to your village +in health, you will all admit that your gods have no power over me, and +that I am protected by the true and living Jehovah God!"</p> + +<p>Every day throughout the remainder of that week the Conchs were +sounded; and over that side of the island all their Sacred Men were at +work trying to kill me by their arts. Now and again messengers arrived +from every quarter of the island, inquiring anxiously after my health, +and wondering if I was not feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed +amongst the poor deluded idolaters.</p> + +<p>Sabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to that village in more +than my usual health and strength. Large numbers assembled, and when I +appeared they looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really +be I myself still spared and well. Entering into the public ground, I +saluted them to this effect, "My love to you all, my friends! I have +come again to talk to you about the Jehovah God and His Worship."</p> + +<p>The three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted that they had tried to +kill me by Nahak, but had failed; and on being questioned, why they had +failed; they gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself a +Sacred Man, and that my God being the stronger had protected me from +their gods. Addressing the multitude, I answered thus, "Yea, truly; my +Jehovah God is stronger than your gods. He protected me, and helped me; +for He is the only living and true God, the only God that can hear or +answer any prayer from the children of men. Your gods cannot hear +prayer, but my God can and will hear and answer you, if you will give +heart and life to Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God, and +He is also your friend if you will hear and follow His voice."</p> + +<p>Having said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and +addressed them, "Come and sit down all around me, and I will talk to you +about the love and mercy of my God, and teach you how to worship and +please Him."</p> + +<p>Two of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the people gathered +round and seated themselves very quietly. I tried to present to them +ideas of sin, and of salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us +in the Holy Scriptures.</p> + +<p>The third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man of great stature and +uncommon strength, had meantime gone off for his warrior's spear, and +returned brandishing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the +people, "Of course he can kill me with his spear, but he undertook to +kill me by Nahak or Sorcery, and promised not to use against me any +weapons of war; and if you let him kill me now, you will kill your +friend, one who lives among you and only tries to do you good, as you +all know so well. I know that if you kill me thus, my God will be angry +and will punish you."</p> + +<p>Thereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the crowd, while he +leaped about in rage, scolding his brothers and all who were present for +listening to me. The other Sacred Men, however, took my side, and, as +many of the people also were friendly to me and stood closely packed +around me, he did not throw his spear. To allay the tumult and obviate +further bloodshed, I offered to leave with my Teachers at once, and, in +doing so, I ardently pled with them to live at peace. Though we got +safely home, that old Sacred Man seemed still to hunger after my blood. +For weeks thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly appear on the +path behind me, poising in his right hand that same Goliath spear. God +only kept it from being thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution, +had all the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were there, +leaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. This whole incident +did, doubtless, shake the prejudices of many as to Sorcery; but few even +of converted Natives ever get entirely clear of the dread of Nahak.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="27"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A PERILOUS PILGRIMAGE.</h4></center> + +<p>THE other Mission Station, on the southwest side of Tanna, had to be +visited by me from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, there, were +both in a weak state of health, having a tendency to consumption. On +this account they visited Aneityum several times. They were earnestly +devoted to their work, and were successful as far as health and the time +allowed to them permitted. At this juncture, a message reached me that +they were without European food, and a request to send them a little +flour if possible. The war made the journey overland impossible. A +strong wind and a high sea round the coast rendered it impracticable for +my boat to go. The danger to life from the enemy was so great that I +could not hire a crew. I pled therefore with Nowar and Manuman, and a +few leading men, to take one of their best canoes, and themselves to +accompany me. I had a large flat-bottomed pot with a close fitting lid, +and that I pressed full of flour; and, tying the lid firmly down, I +fastened it right in the center of the canoe, and as far above +water-mark as possible. All else that was required we tied around our +own persons. Sea and land being as they were, it was a perilous +undertaking, which only dire necessity could have justified. They were +all swimmers, but as I could not swim, the strongest man was placed +behind me, to seize me and swim ashore, if a crash came.</p> + +<p>Creeping round near the shore all the way, we had to keep just +outside the great breakers on the coral reef, and were all drenched +through and through with the foam of an angry surf. We arrived, however, +in safety within two miles of our destination, where lived the friends +of my canoe's company, but where a very dangerous sea was breaking on +the reef. Here they all gave in, and protested that no further could +they go; and truly their toil all the way with the paddles had been +severe. I appealed to them, that the canoe would for certain be smashed +if they tried to get on shore, that the provisions would be lost, and +some of us probably drowned. But they turned to the shore, and remained +for some time thus, watching the sea. At last their Captain cried, +"Missi, hold on! There's a smaller wave coming; we'll ride in now."</p> + +<p>My heart rose to the Lord in trembling prayer! The wave came rolling +on; every paddle with all their united strength struck into the sea; and +next moment our canoe was flying like a sea-gull on the crest of the +wave towards the shore. Another instant, and the wave had broken on the +reef with a mighty roar, and rushed passed us hissing in clouds of foam. +My company were next seen swimming wildly about in the sea, Manuman the +one-eyed Sacred Man alone holding on by the canoe, nearly full of water, +with me still clinging to the seat of it, and the very next wave likely +to devour us. In desperation, I sprang for the reef, and ran for a man +half-wading, half-swimming to reach us; and God so ordered it, that just +as the next wave broke against the silvery rock of coral, the man caught +me and partly swam with me through its surf, partly carried me till I +was set safely ashore. Praising God, I looked up and saw all the others +as safe as myself, except Manuman, my friend, who was still holding on +by the canoe in the face of wind and sea, and bringing it with him. +Others ran and swam to his help. The paddles were picked up amid the +surf. A powerful fellow came towards me with the pot of flour on his +head, uninjured by water! The Chief who held on by the canoe got +severely cut about the feet, and had been badly bruised and knocked +about; but all the rest escaped without further harm, and everything +that we had was saved. Amongst friends at last, they resolved to await a +favorable wind and tide to return to their own homes. Singing in my +heart unto God, I hired a man to carry the pot of flour, and soon +arrived at the Mission Station.</p> + +<p>Supplying the wants of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, whom +we found as well as could be expected, we had to prepare, after a few +hours of rest, to return to our own Station by walking overland through +the night. I durst not remain longer away, lest my own house should be +plundered and broken into. Though weak in health, my fellow-Missionaries +were both full of hope, and zealous in their work, and this somewhat +strange visit was a pleasant blink amidst our darkness. Before I had +gone far on my return journey, the sun went down, and no Native could be +hired to accompany me. They all told me that I would for certain be +killed by the way. But I knew that it would be quite dark before I +reached the hostile districts, and that the Heathen are great cowards in +the dark and never leave their villages at night in the darkness, except +in companies for fishing and suchlike tasks. I skirted along the +sea-shore as fast as I could, walking and running alternately; and, when +I got within hearing of voices, I slunk back into the bush till they had +safely passed, and then groped my way back near the shore, that being my +only guide to find a path.</p> + +<p>Having made half the journey, I came to a dangerous path, almost +perpendicular, up a great rock round the base of which the sea roared +deep. With my heart lifted up to Jesus, I succeeded in climbing it, +cautiously grasping roots, and resting by bushes, till I safely reached +the top. There, to avoid a village, I had to keep crawling slowly along +the brush near the sea, on the top of that great ledge of rock—a +feat I could never have accomplished even in daylight without the +excitement; but I felt that I was supported and guided in all that +life-or-death journey by my dear Lord Jesus. I had to leave the shore, +and follow up the bank of a very deep ravine to a place shallow enough +for one to cross, and then through the bush away for the shore again. By +holding too much to the right, I missed the point where I had intended +to reach it. Small fires were now visible through the bush; I heard the +voices of the people talking in one of our most Heathen villages.</p> + +<p>Quietly drawing back, I now knew where I was, and easily found my way +towards the shore; but on reaching the Great Rock, I could not in the +darkness find the path down again. I groped about till I was tired. I +feared that I might stumble over and be killed; or, if I delayed till +daylight, that the savages would kill me. I knew that one part of the +rock was steep-sloping, with little growth or none thereon, and I +searched about to find it, resolved to commend myself to Jesus and slide +down thereby, that I might again reach the shore and escape for my life. +Thinking I had found this spot, I hurled down several stones and +listened for their splash that I might judge whether it would be safe. +But the distance was too far for me to hear or judge. At high tide the +sea there was deep; but at low tide I could wade out of it and be safe. +The darkness made it impossible for me to see anything. I let go my +umbrella, shoving it down with considerable force, but neither did it +send me back any news.</p> + +<p>Feeling sure, however, that this was the place I sought, and knowing +that to await the daylight would be certain death, I prayed to my Lord +Jesus for help and protection, and resolved to let myself go. First, I +fastened all my clothes as tightly as I could, so as not to catch on +anything; then I lay down at the top on my back, feet foremost, holding +my head downwards on my breast to keep it from striking on the rock; +then, after one cry to my Saviour, having let myself down as far as +possible by a branch, I at last let go, throwing my arms forward and +trying to keep my feet well up. A giddy swirl, as if flying through the +air, took possession of me; a few moments seemed an age; I rushed +quickly down, and felt no obstruction till my feet struck into the sea +below. Adoring and praising my dear Lord Jesus, who had ordered it so, I +regained my feet; it was low tide, I had received no injury, I recovered +my umbrella, and, wading through, I found the shore path easier and +lighter than the bush had been. The vary darkness was my safety, +preventing the Natives from rambling about. I saw no person to speak to, +till I reached a village quite near to my own house, fifteen or twenty +miles from where I had started; I here left the sea path and promised +some young men a gift of fish-hooks to guide me the nearest way through +the bush to my Mission Station, which they gladly and heartily did. I +ran a narrow risk in approaching them; they thought me an enemy, and I +arrested their muskets only by a loud cry—</p> + +<p>"I am Missi! Don't shoot; my love to you, my friends!"</p> + +<p>Praising God for His preserving care, I reached home, and had a long +refreshing sleep. The natives, on hearing next day how I had come all +the way in the dark exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Surely any of us would have been killed! Your Jehovah God alone thus +protects you and brings you safely home."</p> + +<p>With all my heart, I said, "Yes! and He will be your protector and +helper too, if only you will obey and trust in Him."</p> + +<p>Certainly that night put my faith to the test. Had it not been the +assurance that I was engaged in His service, and that in every path of +duty He would carry me through or dispose of me therein for His glory I +could never have undertaken either journey. St. Paul's words are true +to-day and forever—"I can do all things through Christ which +strengthened me."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="28"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE PLAGUE OF MEASLES.</h4></center> + +<p>ABOUT this time I had a never-to-be-forgotten illustration of the +infernal spirit that possessed some of the Traders towards these poor +Natives. One morning, three or four vessels entered our Harbor and cast +anchor in Port Resolution. The captains called on me, and one of them, +with manifest delight, exclaimed, "We know how to bring down your proud +Tannese now! We'll humble them before you!"</p> + +<p>I answered, "Surely you don't mean to attack and destroy these poor +people?"</p> + +<p>He replied, not abashed but rejoicing, "We have sent the measles to +humble them! That kills them by the score! Four young men have been +landed at different ports, ill with measles, and these will soon thin +their ranks."</p> + +<p>Shocked above measure, I protested solemnly and denounced their +conduct and spirit; but my remonstrances only called forth the shameless +declaration, "Our watchword is,—Sweep these creatures away and let +white men occupy the soil!"</p> + +<p>Their malice was further illustrated thus: they induced Kapuku, a +young Chief, to go off to one of their vessels, promising him a present. +He was the friend and chief supporter of Mr. Mathieson and of his work. +Having got him on board, they confined him in the hold amongst natives +lying ill with measles. They gave him no food for about four-and-twenty +hours; and then, without the promised present, they put him ashore far +from his own home. Though weak and excited, he scrambled back to his +tribe in great exhaustion and terror. He informed the Missionary that +they had put him down amongst sick people, red and hot with fever, and +that he feared their sickness was upon him. I am ashamed to say that +these Sandal-wood and other Traders were our own degraded countrymen; +and that they deliberately gloried in thus destroying the poor Heathen. +A more fiendish spirit could scarcely be imagined; but most of them were +horrible drunkards, and their traffic of every kind amongst these +islands was, generally speaking, steeped in human blood.</p> + +<p>The measles, thus introduced, became amongst our islanders the most +deadly plague. It spread fearfully, and was accompanied by sore throat +and diarrhea. In some villages, man, woman, and child were stricken, and +none could give food or water to the rest. The misery, suffering, and +terror were unexampled, the living being afraid sometimes even to bury +the dead. Thirteen of my own Mission party died of this disease; and, so +terror-stricken were the few who survived, that when the little Mission +schooner <i>John Knox</i> returned to Tanna, they all packed up and left +for their own Aneityum, except my own dear old Abraham.</p> + +<p>At first, thinking that all were on the wing, he also had packed his +chattels, and was standing beside the others ready to leave with them. I +drew near to him, and said, "Abraham, they are all going; are you also +going to leave me here alone on Tanna, to fight the battles of the +Lord?"</p> + +<p>He asked, "Missi, will you remain?"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Yes; but Abraham, the danger to life is now so great that +I dare not plead with you to remain, for we may both be slain. Still, I +cannot leave the Lord's work now."</p> + +<p>The noble old Chief looked at the box and his bundles, and, musingly, +said, "Missi, our danger is very great now."</p> + +<p>I answered, "Yes; I once thought you would not leave me alone to it; +but, as the vessel is going to your own land, I cannot ask you to remain +and face it with me!"</p> + +<p>He again said, "Missi, would you like me to remain alone with you, +seeing my wife is dead and in her grave here?"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Yes, I would like you to remain; but, considering the +circumstances in which we will be left alone, I cannot plead with you to +do so."</p> + +<p>He answered, "Then, Missi, I remain with you of my own free choice, +and with all my heart. We will live and die together in the work of the +Lord. I will never leave you while you are spared on Tanna."</p> + +<p>So saying, and with a light that gave the fore-gleam of a Martyr's +glory to his dark face, he shouldered his box and bundles back to his +own house; and thereafter, Abraham was my dear companion and constant +friend, and my fellow-sufferer in all that remains still to be related +of our Mission life on Tanna.</p> + +<p>Before this plague of measles was brought amongst us I had sailed +round in the <i>John Knox</i> to Black Beach on the opposite side of +Tanna, and prepared the way for settling Teachers. And they were placed +soon after by Mr. Copeland and myself with encouraging hopes of success, +and with the prospect of erecting there a Station for Mr. and Mrs. +Johnson, the newly arrived Missionaries from Nova Scotia. But this +dreadful imported epidemic blasted all our dreams. They devoted +themselves from the very first, and assisted me in every way to +alleviate the dread sufferings of the Natives. We carried medicine, +food, and even water, to the surrounding villages every day, few of +themselves being able to render us much assistance. Nearly all who took +our medicine and followed instructions as to food, etc., recovered; but +vast numbers of them would listen to no counsels, and rushed into +experiments which made the attack fatal all around. When the trouble was +at its height, for instance, they would plunge into the sea, and seek +relief; they found it an almost instant death. Others would dig a hole +into the earth, the length of the body and about two feet deep; therein +they laid themselves down, the cold earth feeling agreeable to their +fevered skins; and when the earth around them grew heated, they got +friends to dig a few inches deeper, again and again, seeking a cooler +and cooler couch. In this ghastly effort many of them died, literally in +their own graves, and were buried where they lay! It need not be +surprising, though we did everything in our power to relieve and save +them, that the natives associated us with the white men who had so +dreadfully afflicted them, and that their blind thirst for revenge did +not draw fine distinctions between the Traders and the Missionaries. +Both were whites—that was enough.</p> + +<p>Before leaving this terrible plague of measles, I may record my +belief that it swept away, with accompanying sore throat and diarrhea, a +third of the entire population of Tanna; nay? in certain localities more +than a third perished. The living declared themselves unable to bury the +dead, and great want and suffering ensued. The Teacher and his wife and +child, placed by us at Black Beach, were also taken away; and his +companion, the other Teacher there, embraced the first opportunity to +leave along with his wife for his own island, else his life would have +been taken in revenge. Yet, from all accounts afterwards received, I do +not think the measles were more fatal on Tanna than on the other Islands +of the group. They appear to have carried off even a larger proportion +on Aniwa—the future scene of many sorrows but of greater +triumphs.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="29"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>ATTACKED WITH CLUBS.</h4></center> + +<p>THE 1st January 1861 was a New Year's Day ever to be remembered. Mr. +and Mrs. Johnston, Abraham, and I, had spent nearly the whole time in a +kind of solemn yet happy festival. Anew in a holy covenant before God, +we unitedly consecrated our lives and our all to the Lord Jesus, giving +ourselves away to His blessed service for the conversion of the Heathen +on the New Hebrides. After evening Family Worship, Mr. and Mrs. Johnston +left my room to go to their own house, only some ten feet distant; but +he returned to inform me that there were two men at the window, armed +with huge clubs, and having black painted faces. Going out to them and +asking them, what they wanted, they replied, "Medicine for a sick +boy."</p> + +<p>With difficulty I persuaded them to come in and get it. At once, it +flashed upon me, from their agitation and their disguise of paint, that +they had come to murder us. Mr. Johnston had also accompanied us into +the house. Keeping my eye constantly fixed on them, I prepared the +medicine and offered it. They refused to receive it, and each man +grasped his killing-stone. I faced them firmly and said, "You see that +Mr. Johnston is now leaving, and you too must leave this room for +to-night. To-morrow, you can bring the boy or come for the +medicine."</p> + +<p>Seizing their clubs, as if for action, they showed unwillingness to +withdraw, but I walked deliberately forward and made as if to push them +out, when both turned and began to leave.</p> + +<p>Mr. Johnston had gone in front of them and was safely out. But he +bent down to lift a little kitten that had escaped at the open door; and +at that moment one of the savages, jerking in behind, aimed a blow with +his huge club, in avoiding which Mr. Johnston fell with a scream to the +ground. Both men sprang towards him, but our two faithful dogs +ferociously leapt in their faces and saved his life. Rushing out, but +not fully aware of what had occurred, I saw Mr. Johnston trying to raise +himself, and heard him cry, "Take care these men have tried to kill me, +and they will kill you!"</p> + +<p>Facing them sternly I demanded, "What is it that you want? He does +not understand your language. What do you want? Speak with me."</p> + +<p>Both men, thereon, raised their great clubs and made to strike me; +but quick as lightning these two dogs sprang at their faces and baffled +their blows. One dog was badly bruised, and the ground received the +other blow that would have launched me into Eternity. The best dog was a +little cross-bred retriever with terrier blood in him, splendid for +warning us of approaching dangers, and which had already been the means +of saving my life several times. Seeing how matters stood, I now hounded +both dogs furiously upon them, and the two savages fled. I shouted after +them, "Remember, Jehovah God sees you and will punish you for trying to +murder His servants!"</p> + +<p>In their flight, a large body of men, who had come eight or ten miles +to assist in the murder and plunder, came slipping here and there from +the bush and joined them, fleeing too. Verily, "the wicked flee, when no +man pursueth." David's experience and assurance came home to us, that +evening, as very real:—"God is our refuge and our +strength...therefore we will not fear."</p> + +<p>I, now accustomed to such scenes on Tanna, retired to rest and slept +soundly; but my dear fellow-laborer, as I afterwards learned, could not +sleep for one moment. His pallor and excitement continued next day, +indeed for several days; and after that, though he was naturally lively +and cheerful, I never saw him smile again.</p> + +<p>For that morning, 1st January 1861, the following entry was found in +his Journal: "To-day, with a heavy heart and a feeling of dread, I know +not why, I set out on my accustomed wanderings amongst the sick. I +hastened back to get the Teacher and carry Mr. Paton to the scene of +distress. I carried a bucket of water in one hand and medicine in the +other; and so we spent a portion of this day endeavoring to alleviate +their sufferings, and our work had a happy effect also on the minds of +others." In another entry, on 22d December, he wrote: "Measles are +making fearful havoc amongst the poor Tannese. As we pass through the +villages, mournful scenes meet the eye; young and old prostrated on the +ground, showing all these painful symptoms which accompany loathsome and +malignant diseases. In some villages few are left able to prepare food, +or to carry drink to the suffering and dying. How pitiful to see the +sufferers destitute of every comfort, attention, and remedy that would +ameliorate their suffering or remove their disease! As I think of the +tender manner in which we are nursed in sickness, the many remedies +employed to give relief, with the comforts and attention bestowed upon +us, my heart sickens, and I say, Oh my ingratitude and the ingratitude +of Christian people!"</p> + +<p>Having, as above recorded, consecrated our lives anew to God on the +first day of January, I was, up till the 16th of the month, accompanied +by Mr. Johnston and sometimes also by Mrs. Johnston on my rounds in the +villages amongst the sick, and they greatly helped me. But by an unhappy +accident I was laid aside when most sorely needed. When adzing a tree +for housebuilding I observed that Mahanan, the war Chief's brother, had +been keeping too near me, and that he carried a tomahawk in his hand; +and, in trying both to do my work and to keep an eye on him, I struck my +ankle severely with the adze. He moved off quickly, saying, "I did not +do that," but doubtless rejoicing at what had happened. The bone was +badly hurt, and several of the blood-vessels cut. Dressing it as well as +I could, and keeping it constantly soaked in cold water, I had to +exercise the greatest care. In this condition, amidst great sufferings, +I was sometimes carried to the villages to administer medicine to the +sick, and to plead and pray with the dying.</p> + +<p>On such occasions, in this mode of transit even, the conversations +that I had with dear Mr. Johnston were most solemn and greatly +refreshing. He had, however, scarcely ever slept since the 1st of +January, and during the night of the 16th he sent for my bottle of +laudanum. Being severely attacked with ague and fever, I could not go to +him, but sent the bottle, specifying the proper quantity for a dose, but +that he quite understood already. He took a dose for himself, and gave +one also to his wife, as she too suffered from sleeplessness. This he +repeated three nights in succession, and both of them obtained a long, +sound and refreshing sleep. He came to my bedside, where I lay in the +ague-fever, and said with great animation, amongst other things, "I have +had such a blessed sleep, and feel so refreshed! What kindness in God to +provide such remedies for suffering man!"</p> + +<p>At midday his dear wife came to me crying, "Mr. Johnston has fallen +asleep, so deep that I cannot awake him."</p> + +<p>My fever had reached the worst stage, but I struggled to my feet got +to his bedside, and found him in a state of coma, with his teeth fixed +in tetanus. With great difficulty we succeeded in slightly rousing him; +with a knife, spoon, and pieces of wood, we forced his teeth open, so as +to administer an emetic with good effects, and also other needful +medicines. For twelve hours, we had to keep him awake by repeated cold +dashes in the face, by ammonia, and by vigorously moving him about. He +then began to speak freely; and next day he rose and walked about a +little. For the two following days, he was sometimes better and +sometimes worse; but we managed to keep him up till the morning of the +21st, when he again fell into a state of coma, from which we failed to +rouse him. At two o'clock in the afternoon he fell asleep—another +Martyr for the testimony of Jesus in those dark and trying Isles, +leaving his young wife in indescribable sorrow, which she strove to bear +with Christian resignation. Having made his coffin and dug his grave, we +two alone at sunset laid him to rest beside my own dear wife and child, +close by the Mission House.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="30"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>KOWIA.</h4></center> + +<p>ANOTHER tragedy followed, with, however, much of the light of Heaven +amid its blackness, in the story of Kowia, a Tannese Chief of the +highest rank. Going to Aneityum in youth, he had there become a true +Christian. He married an Aneityumese Christian woman, with whom he lived +very happily and had two beautiful children. Some time before the +measles reached our island he returned to live with me as a Teacher and +to help forward our work on Tanna. He proved himself to be a decided +Christian; he was a real Chief amongst them, dignified in his whole +conduct, and every way a valuable helper to me. Everything was tried by +his own people to induce him to leave me and to renounce the Worship, +offering him every honor and bribe in their power. Failing these, they +threatened to take away all his lands, and to deprive him of +Chieftainship, but he answered "Take all! I shall still stand by Missi +and the Worship of Jehovah."</p> + +<p>From threats they passed to galling insults, all which he bore +patiently for Jesu's sake. But one day a party of his people came and +sold some fowls, and an impudent fellow lifted them after they had been +bought and offered to sell them again to me. Kowia shouted, "Don't +purchase these, Missi; I have just bought them for you, and paid for +them!"</p> + +<p>Thereon the fellow began to mock at him. Kowia, gazing round on all +present, and then on me, rose like a lion awaking out of sleep, and with +flashing eyes exclaimed, "Missi, they think that because I am now a +Christian I have become a coward! a woman! to bear every abuse and +insult they can heap upon me. But I will show them for once that I am no +coward, that I am still their Chief, and that Christianity does not take +away but gives us courage and nerve."</p> + +<p>Springing at one man, he wrenched in a moment the mighty club from +his hands, and swinging it in air above his head like a toy, he cried, +"Come any of you, come all against your Chief! My Jehovah God makes my +heart and arms strong. He will help me in this battle as He helps me in +other things, for He inspires me to show you that Christians are no +cowards, though they are men of peace. Come on, and you will yet know +that I am Kowia your Chief."</p> + +<p>All fled as he approached them; and he cried, "Where are the cowards +now?" and handed back to the warrior his club. After this they left him +at peace.</p> + +<p>He lived at the Mission House, with his wife and children, and was a +great help and comfort to Abraham and myself. He was allowed to go more +freely and fearlessly amongst the people than any of the rest of our +Mission staff. The ague and fever on me at Mr. Johnston's death so +increased and reduced me to such weakness that I had become insensible, +while Abraham and Kowia alone attended to me. On returning to +consciousness I heard as in a dream Kowia lamenting over me, and +pleading that I might recover, so as to hear and speak with him before +he died. Opening my eyes and looking at him, I heard him say, "Missi, +all our Aneityumese are sick. Missi Johnson is dead. You are very sick, +and I am weak and dying. Alas, when I too am dead, who will climb the +trees and get you a cocoanut to drink? And who will bathe your lips and +brow?"</p> + +<p>Here he broke down into deep and long weeping, and then resumed, +"Missi, the Tanna-men hate us all on account of the Worship of Jehovah; +and I now fear He is going to take away all His servants from this land, +and leave my people to the Evil One and his service!"</p> + +<p>I was too weak to speak, so he went on, bursting into a soliloquy of +prayer: "O Lord Jesus, Missi Johnston is dead; Thou hast taken him away +from this land. Missi Johnston the woman and Missi Paton are very ill; I +am sick, and Thy servants the Aneityumese are all sick and dying. O +Lord, our Father in Heaven, art Thou going to take away all Thy +servants, and Thy Worship from this dark land? What meanest Thou to do, +O Lord? The Tannese hate Thee and Thy Worship and Thy servants; but +surely, O Lord, Thou canst not forsake Tanna and leave our people to die +in the darkness! Oh, make the hearts of this people soft to Thy Word and +sweet to Thy Worship; teach them to fear and love Jesus; and oh, restore +and spare Missi, dear Missi Paton, that Tanna may be saved!"</p> + +<p>Touched to the very fountains of my life by such prayers, from a man +once a Cannibal, I began under the breath of God's blessing to +revive.</p> + +<p>A few days thereafter, Kowia came again to me, and rousing me out of +sleep, cried, "Missi, I am very weak; I am dying. I come to bid you +farewell, and go away to die. I am nearing death now, and I will soon +see Jesus."</p> + +<p>I spoke what words of consolation and cheer I could muster, but he +answered, "Missi, since you became ill my dear wife and children are +dead and buried. Most of our Aneityumese are dead, and I am dying. If I +remain on the hill, and die here at the Mission House, there are none +left to help Abraham to carry me down to the grave where my wife and +children are laid. I wish to lie beside them, that we may rise together +in the Great Day when Jesus comes. I am happy, looking unto Jesus! One +thing only deeply grieves me now; I fear God is taking us all away from +Tanna, and will leave my poor people dark and benighted as before, for +they hate Jesus and the Worship of Jehovah. O Missi, pray for them, and +pray for me once more before I go!"</p> + +<p>He knelt down at my side, and we prayed for each other and for Tanna. +I then urged him to remain at the Mission House, but he replied, "O +Missi, you do not know how near to death I am! I am just going, and will +soon be with Jesus, and see my wife and children now. While a little +strength is left, I will lean on Abraham's arm, and go down to the +graves of my dear ones and fall asleep there, and Abraham will dig a +quiet bed and lay me beside them. Farewell, Missi, I am very near death +now; we will meet again in Jesus and with Jesus!"</p> + +<p>With many tears he dragged himself away; and my heart-strings seemed +all tied round that noble simple soul, and felt like breaking one by one +as he left me there on my bed of fever all alone. Abraham sustained him, +tottering to the place of graves; there he lay down, and immediately +gave up the ghost and slept in Jesus; and there the faithful Abraham +buried him beside his wife and children. Thus died a man who had been a +cannibal Chief, but by the grace of God and the love of Jesus, changed, +transfigured into a character of light and beauty. I lost, in losing +him, one of my best friends and most courageous helpers; but I knew that +day, and I know now, that there is one soul at least from Tanna to sing +the glories of Jesus in Heaven—and, oh, the rapture when I meet +him there!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="31"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>MARTYRDOM OF THE GORDONS.</h4></center> + +<p>MAY 1861 brought with it a sorrowful and tragic event, which fell as +the very shadow of doom across our path; I mean the martyrdom of the +Gordons on Erromanga. Rev. G. N. Gordon was a native of Prince Edward +Island, Nova Scotia, and was born in 1822. He was educated at the Free +Church College, Halifax, and placed as Missionary on Erromanga in June +1857. Much troubled and opposed by the Sandal-wooders, he had yet +acquired the language and was making progress by inroads on Heathenism. +A considerable number of young men and women embraced the Christian +Faith, lived at the Mission House, and devotedly helped him and his +excellent wife in all their work. But the hurricanes and the measles, +already referred to, caused great mortality in Erromanga also; and the +degraded Traders, who had introduced the plague, in order to save +themselves from revenge, stimulated the superstitions of the Heathen, +and charged the Missionaries there too with causing sickness and all +other calamities. The Sandal-wooders hated him for fearlessly denouncing +and exposing their hideous atrocities.</p> + +<p>When Mr. Copeland and I placed the Native Teachers at Black Beach, +Tanna, we ran across to Erromanga in the <i>John Knox,</i> taking a +harmonium to Mrs. Gordon, just come by their order from Sydney. When it +was opened out at the Mission House, and Mrs. Gordon began playing on it +and singing sweet hymns, the native women were in ecstasies. They at +once proposed to go off to the bush and cut each a burden of long grass, +to thatch the printing-office which Mr. Gordon was building in order to +print the Scriptures in their own tongue, if only Mrs. Gordon would play +to them at night and teach them to sing God's praises. They joyfully did +so, and then spent a happy evening singing those hymns. Next day being +Sabbath, we had a delightful season there, about thirty attending Church +and listening eagerly. The young men and women living at the Mission +House were being trained to become Teachers; they were reading a small +book in their own language, telling them the story of Joseph; and the +work every way seemed most hopeful. The Mission House had been removed a +mile or so up a hill, partly for Mrs. Gordon's health, and partly to +escape the annoying and contaminating influence of the Sandal-wooders on +the Christian Natives.</p> + +<p>On the 20th May 1861 he was still working at the roofing of the +printing-office, and had sent his lads to bring each a load of the long +grass to finish the thatching. Meantime a party of Erromangans from a +district called Bunk-Hill, under a Chief named Lovu, had been watching +him. They had been to the Mission House inquiring and they had seen him +send away his Christian lads. They then hid in the bush and sent two of +their men to the Missionary to ask for calico. On a piece of wood he +wrote a note to Mrs. Gordon to give them two yards each. They asked him +to go with them to the Mission House, as they needed medicine for a sick +boy, and Lovu their Chief wanted to see him. He tied up in a napkin a +meal of food, which had been brought to him but not eaten, and started +to go with them. He requested the native Narubulet to go on before with +his companion, but they insisted upon his going in front. In crossing a +streamlet, which I visited shortly afterwards, his foot slipped. A blow +was aimed at him with a tomahawk, which he caught; the other man struck, +but his weapon was also caught. One of the tomahawks was then wrenched +out of his grasp. Next moment a blow on the spine laid the dear +Missionary low, and a second on the neck almost severed the head from +the body. The other Natives then rushed from their ambush, and began +dancing round him with frantic shoutings. Mrs. Gordon hearing the noise, +came out and stood in front of the Mission House, looking in the +direction of her husband's working place, and wondering what had +happened. Ouben, one of the party, who had run towards the Station the +moment that Mr. Gordon fell, now approached her. A merciful clump of +trees had hid from her eyes all that had occurred, and she said to +Ouben, "What's the cause of that noise?"</p> + +<p>He replied, "Oh, nothing! only the boys amusing themselves!"</p> + +<p>Saying, "Where are the boys?" she turned round. Ouben slipped +stealthily behind her, sank his tomahawk into her back, and with another +blow almost severed her head!</p> + +<p>Such was the fate of those two devoted servants of the Lord; loving +in their lives, and in their deaths not divided—their spirits, +wearing the crown of martyrdom, entered Glory together to be welcomed by +Williams and Harris, whose blood was shed near the same now hallowed +spot for the name and cause of Jesus. They had labored four years on +Erromanga, amidst trials and dangers manifold, and had not been without +tokens of blessing in the Lord's work. Never more earnest or devoted +Missionaries lived and died in the Heathen field.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="32"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>SHADOWS DEEPENING ON TANNA.</h4></center> + +<p>IMMEDIATELY thereafter, a Sandal-wood Trader brought in his boat a +party of Erromangans by night to Tanna. They assembled our Harbor Chiefs +and people, and urged them to kill us and Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson and the +Teachers, or allow them to do so, as they had killed Mr. and Mrs. +Gordon. Then they proposed to go to Aneityum and kill the Missionaries +there, as the Aneityumese Natives had burned their Church, and thus they +would sweep away the Worship and the servants of Jehovah from all the +New Hebrides. Our Chiefs, however, refused, restrained by the Merciful +One, and the Erromangans returned to their own island in a sulky +mood.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this refusal, as if they wished to reserve the murder +and plunder for themselves, our Mission House was next day thronged with +armed men, some from Inland, others from Mr. Mathieson's Station. They +loudly praised the Erromangans! The leader said again and again in my +hearing, "The men of Erromanga killed Missi Williams long ago. We killed +the Rarotongan and Samoan Teachers. We fought Missi Turner and Missi +Nisbet, and drove them from our island. We killed the Aneityumese +Teachers on Aniwa, and one of Missi Paton's Teachers too. We killed +several white men, and no Man-of-war punished us. Let us talk over this, +about killing Missi Paton and the Aneityumese, till we see if any +Man-of-war comes to punish the Erromangans. If not, let us unite, let us +kill these Missionaries, let us drive the Worship of Jehovah from our +land!"</p> + +<p>An Inland Chief said or rather shouted in my hearing, "My love to the +Erromangans! They are strong and brave men, the Erromangans. They have +killed their Missi and his wife, while we only talk about it. They have +destroyed the Worship and driven away Jehovah!"</p> + +<p>I stood amongst them and protested, "God will yet punish the +Erromangans for such wicked deeds. God has heard all your bad talk, and +will punish it in His own time and way."</p> + +<p>But they shouted me down, amidst great excitement, with the cry, "Our +love to the Erromangans! Our love to the Erromangans!"</p> + +<p>After I left them, Abraham heard them say, "Miaki is lazy. Let us +meet in every village, and talk with each other. Let us all agree to +kill Missi and the Aneityumese for the first of our Chiefs that +dies."</p> + +<p>The night after the visit of the Erromangan boat, and the sad news of +Mr. and Mrs. Gordon's death, the Tannese met on their village +dancing-grounds and held high festival in praise of the Erromangans. Our +best friend, old Nowar the Chief, who had worn shirt and kilt for some +time and had come regularly to the Worship, relapsed once more; he +painted his face, threw off his clothing, resumed his bow and arrows and +his tomahawk, of which he boasted that it had killed very many men and +at least one woman! On my shaming him for professing to worship Jehovah +and yet uniting with the Heathen in rejoicing over the murder of His +servants on Erromanga, he replied to this effect, "Truly, Missi, they +have done well. If the people of Erromanga are severely punished for +this by the Man-of-war, we will all hear of it; and our people will then +fear to kill you and the other Missionaries, so as to destroy the +Worship of Jehovah. Now, they say, the Erromangans killed Missi Williams +and the Samoan, Rarotongan, and Aneityumese Teachers, besides other +white men, and no Man-of-war has punished either them or us. If they are +not punished for what has been done on Erromanga, nothing else can keep +them here from killing you and me and all who worship at the Mission +House!"</p> + +<p>I answered, "Nowar, let us all be strong to love and serve Jehovah +Jesus. If it be for our good and His glory, He will protect us; if not, +He will take us to be with Himself. We will not be killed by their bad +talk. Besides, what avails it to us, when dead and gone, if even a +Man-of-war should come and punish our murderers?"</p> + +<p>He shrugged his shoulders, answering, "Missi, by and by you will see. +Mind, I tell you the truth. I know our Tannese people. How is it that +Jehovah did not protect the Gordons and the Erromangan worshipers? If +the Erromangans are not punished, neither will our Tannese be punished, +though they murder all Jehovah's people!"</p> + +<p>I felt for Nowar's struggling faith, just trembling on the verge of +Cannibalism yet, and knowing so little of the true Jehovah.</p> + +<p>Groups of Natives assembled suspiciously near us and sat whispering +together. They urged old Abraham to return to Aneityum by the very first +opportunity, as our lives were certain to be taken, but he replied, "I +will not leave Missi."</p> + +<p>Abraham and I were thrown much into each other's company, and he +stood by me in every danger. We conducted Family Prayers alternately; +and that evening he said during the prayer in Tannese, in which language +alone we understood each other:—</p> + +<p>"O Lord, our Heavenly Father, they have murdered Thy servants on +Erromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now +they want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and +make their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are +permitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of +Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for +sinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to +Heaven—that good place where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon +the woman and all thy dear servants now are singing Thy praise and +seeing Thy face. Our Lord, our hearts are pained just now, and we weep +over the death of Thy dear servants; but make our hearts good and strong +for Thy cause, and take thou away all our fears. Make us two and all Thy +servants strong for Thee and for Thy Worship; and if they kill us two, +let us die together in Thy good work, like Thy servants Missi Gordon the +man and Missi Gordon the woman."</p> + +<p>In this manner his great simple soul poured itself out to God; and my +heart melted within me as it had never done under any prayer poured from +the lips of cultured Christian men!</p> + +<p>Under the strain of these events, Miaki came to our house, and +attacked me in hearing of his men to this effect, "You and the Worship +are the cause of all the sickness and death now taking place on Tanna! +The Erromanga men killed Missi Gordon the man and also the woman, and +they are all well long ago. The Worship is killing us all; and the +Inland people will kill us for keeping you and the Worship here; for we +love the conduct of Tanna, but we hate the Worship. We must kill you and +it, and we shall all be well again."</p> + +<p>I tried to reason firmly and kindly with them, showing them that +their own conduct was destroying them, and that our presence and the +Worship could only be a blessing to them in every way, if only they +would accept of it and give up their evil ways. I referred to a poor +girl, whom Miaka and his men had stolen and abused—that they knew +such conduct to be bad, and that God would certainly punish them for +it.</p> + +<p>He replied, "Such is the conduct of Tanna. Our fathers loved and +followed it, we love and follow it, and if the Worship condemns it, we +will kill you and destroy the Worship."</p> + +<p>I said, "The Word of the Holy God condemns all bad conduct, and I +must obey my God in trying to lead you to give it up, and to love and +serve His Son Jesus our Saviour. If I refuse to obey my God, He will +punish me."</p> + +<p>He declared that his heart was good, that his conduct was good, but +that he hated the teaching of the Worship. He had a party of men staying +with him from the other side of the island, and he sent back a present +of four large fat hogs to their Chiefs, with a message as to the killing +of the Mathiesons. If that were done, his hands would be strengthened in +dealing with us.</p> + +<p>To know what was best to be done, in such trying circumstances, was +an abiding perplexity. To have left altogether, when so surrounded by +perils and enemies, at first seemed the wisest course, and was the +repeated advice of many friends. But again, I had acquired the language, +and had gained a considerable Influence amongst the Natives, and there +were a number warmly attached both to himself and to the Worship. To +have left would have been to lose all, which to me was heartrending; +therefore, risking all with Jesus, I held on while the hope of being +spared longer had not absolutely and entirely vanished.</p> + +<p>The following quotation from a letter of the late A. Clark, Esq., J. +P., Auckland, New Zealand, will show what Bishop Selwyn thought of my +standing fast on Tanna at the post of duty, and he knew what he was +writing about. These are the words:—"'Talk of bravery! talk of +heroism! The man who leads a forlorn hope is a coward in comparison with +him, who, on Tanna, thus alone, without a sustaining look or cheering +word from one of his own race, regards it as his duty to hold on in the +face of such dangers. We read of the soldier, found after the lapse of +ages among the ruins of Herculaneum, who stood firm at his post amid the +fiery rain destroying all around him, thus manifesting the rigidity of +the discipline among those armies of Ancient Rome which conquered the +World. Mr. Paton was subjected to no such iron law. He might with honor, +when offered to him, have sought a temporary asylum in Auckland, where +he would have been heartily received. But he was moved by higher +considerations. He chose to remain, and God knows whether at this moment +he is in the land of the living!' When the Bishop told us that he +declined leaving Tanna by H. M. S. <i>Pelorus,</i> he added, 'And I like +him all the better for so doing!'"</p> + +<p>For my part I feel quite confident that, in like circumstances, that +noble Bishop of God would have done the same. I, born in the bosom of +the Scottish Covenant descended from those who suffered persecution for +Christ's honor, would have been unworthy of them and of my Lord had I +deserted my post for danger only. Yet not to me, but to the Lord who +sustained me, be all the praise and the glory.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="33"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE VISIT OF THE COMMODORE.</h4></center> + +<p>AT that time, though my life was daily attempted, a dear lad, named +Katasian, was coming six miles regularly to the Worship and to receive +frequent instruction. One day, when engaged in teaching him, I caught a +man stealing the blind from my window. On trying to prevent him, he +aimed his great club at me, but I seized the heavy end of it with both +my hands as it swung past my head, and held on with all my might. What a +prayer went up from me to God at that dread moment! The man, astonished +and abashed at my kind words and appeal, slunk away and left me in +peace. God never took away from me the consciousness that it was still +right for me to be kind and forgiving, and to hope that I might lead +them to love and imitate Jesus.</p> + +<p>For some time, Nouka and his wife and daughter—a handsome girl, +his only child—and Miaki's principal wife and her two sons, and +nine Chiefs attended Worship regularly at the Mission House, on Sabbaths +and on the afternoon of every Wednesday. In ail, about sixty persons +somewhat regularly waited on our ministrations at this time; and amidst +all perils I was encouraged, and my heart was full of hope. Yet one +evening when feeling more consoled and hopeful than ever before, a +musket was discharged at my very door, and I was constrained to realize +that we were in the midst of death. Father, our times are in Thy +hand!</p> + +<p>In my Mission School, I offered as a prize a red shirt for the first +Chief who knew the whole Alphabet without a mistake. It was won by an +Inikahi Chief, who was once a terror to the whole community. Afterwards, +when trying to teach the A B C to others, he proceeded in something like +this graphic style: "A is a man's legs with the body cut off; B is like +two eyes; C is a three-quarters moon; D is like one eye; E is a man with +one club under his feet and another over his head; F is a man with a +large club and a smaller one," etc., etc.; L was like a man's foot; Q +was the talk of the dove, etc. Then he would say, "Remember these +things; you will soon get hold of the letters and be able to read. I +have taught my little child, who can scarcely walk, the names of them +all. They are not hard to hold, but soft and easy. You will soon learn +to read the book, if you try it with all your heart!"</p> + +<p>But Miaki was still our evil genius, and every incident seemed to be +used by him for one settled purpose of hate. A Kaserumini Chief, for +instance, and seven men took away a young girl in a canoe to Aniwa, to +be sold to friends there for tobacco leaf, which the Aniwans cultivated +extensively. They also prepared to take revenge there for a child's +death, killed in their belief by the sorcery of an Aniwan. When within +sight of the shore, the canoes were upset and all were said to have been +devoured by sharks, excepting only one canoe out of six. This one +returned to Tanna and reported that there were two white Traders living +on Aniwa, that they had plenty of ammunition and tobacco, but that they +would not come to Tanna as long as a Missionary lived there. Under this +fresh incitement, a party of Miaki's men came to my house, praising the +Erromangans for the murder of their Missionaries and threatening me.</p> + +<p>Even the friendly Nowar said, "Miaki will make a great wind and sink +any Man-of-war that comes here. We will take the Man-of-war and kill all +that are on board. If you and Abraham do not leave us we will kill you +both, for we must have the Traders and the powder."</p> + +<p>Just as they were assuming a threatening attitude, other Natives came +running with the cry, "Missi, the <i>John Knox</i> is coming into the +Harbor, and two great ships of fire, Men-of war, behind her, coming very +fast!"</p> + +<p>I retorted upon Nowar and the hostile company, "Now is your time! +Make all possible haste! Let Miaki raise his great wind now; get all +your men ready; I will tell them that you mean to fight, and you will +find them always ready!"</p> + +<p>Miaki's men fled away in unconcealed terror; but Nowar came to me and +said "Missi, I know that my talk is all lies, but if I speak the truth, +they will kill me!"</p> + +<p>I answered, "Trust in Jehovah, the same God who sent these vessels +now, to protect us from being murdered." But Nowar always wavered.</p> + +<p>And now from all parts of the island those who were most friendly +flocked to us. They were clamorous to have Miaki and some others of our +enemies punished by the Man-of-war in presence of the Natives; and then +they would be strong to speak in our defense and to lead the Tannese to +worship Jehovah.</p> + +<p>Commodore Seymour, Captain Hume, and Dr. Geddie came on shore. After +inquiring into everything, the Commodore urged me to leave at once, and +very kindly offered to remove me to Aneityum, or Auckland, or any place +of safety that I preferred. Again, however, I hesitated to leave my dear +benighted Tannese, knowing that both Stations would be instantly broken +up, that all the influence gained would be thrown away, that the Church +would lose all that had been expended, and above all, that those +friendly to us would be left to persecution and destruction. For a long +time I had seldom taken off my clothes at night, needing to be +constantly on the alert to start at a moment's notice; yet, while hope +burned within my soul I could not withdraw, so I resolved to risk all +with my dear Lord Jesus, and remained at my post. At my request, +however, they met and talked with all the leaders who could be assembled +at the Mission House. The Natives declared frankly that they liked me, +but did not like the Worship. The Commodore reminded them that they had +invited me to land among them, and had pledged their word more than once +to protect me; he argued with them that as they had no fault to find +with me, but only with the Worship, which could do them only good, they +must bind themselves to protect my life. Miaki and others promised, and +gave him their hand to do so. Lathella, an Aneityumese Chief, who was +with Dr. Geddie, interpreted for him and them, Dr. Geddie explaining +fully to Lathella in Aneityumese what the Commodore said in English, and +Lathella explaining all to the Tannese in their own tongue.</p> + +<p>At last old Mouka spoke out for all and said, "Captain Paddan and all +the Traders tell us that the Worship causes all our sickness and death. +They will not trade with us, nor sell us tobacco, pipes, powder, balls, +caps, and muskets, till we kill our Missi like the Erromangans, but +after that they will send a Trader to live among us and give us plenty +of all these things. We love Missi. But when the Traders tell us that +the Worship makes us sick, and when they bribe us with tobacco and +powder to kill him or drive him away, some believe them and our hearts +do bad conduct to Missi. Let Missi remain here, and we will try to do +good conduct to Missi; but you must tell Queen 'Toria of her people's +bad treatment of us, and that she must prevent her Traders from killing +us with their measles, and from telling us lies to make us do bad +conduct to Missi! If they come to us and talk as before, our hearts are +very dark and may again lead us to bad conduct to Missi."</p> + +<p>After this little parley, the Commodore invited us all on board, +along with the Chiefs. They saw about three hundred brave marines ranked +up on deck, and heard a great cannon discharged. For all such efforts to +impress them and open their eyes, I felt profoundly grateful; but too +clearly I knew and saw that only the grace of God could lastingly change +them! They were soon back to their old arguments, and were heard saying +to one another, "If no punishment is inflicted on the Erromangans for +murdering the Missi there, we fear the bad conduct of the Tannese will +continue."</p> + +<p>No punishment was inflicted at Erromanga, and the Tannese were soon +as bold and wicked as ever. For instance, while the Man-of-war lay in +the Harbor, Nowar kept himself closely concealed; but no sooner had she +sailed than the cowardly fellow came out, laughing at the others, and +protesting that he was under no promise and was free to act as he +pleased! Yet in the hour of danger he generally proved to be our friend; +such was his vacillating character. Nor was Miaki very seriously +impressed. Mr. Mathieson shortly thereafter sent his boat round to me, +being again short of European food. On his crew leaving her to deliver +their message to me, some of Miaki's men at once jumped into the boat +and started off round the island in search of kava. I went to Miaki, to +ask that the boat might be brought back soon, but on seeing me he ran +for his club and aimed to strike me. I managed to seize it, and to hold +on, pleading with God and talking with Miaki, till by interference of +some friendly Natives his wrath was assuaged a little. Returning home, I +sent food overland to keep the Mathiesons going till the boat returned, +which she did in about eight days. Thus light and shadow pursued each +other, the light brightening for a moment, but upon the whole the +shadows deepening.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="34"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE WAR CHIEFS IN COUNCIL.</h4></center> + +<p>A TIME of great excitement amongst the Natives now prevailed. War, +war, nothing but war was spoken of! Preparations for war were being made +in all the villages far and near. Fear sat on every face, and armed +bands kept watching each other, as if uncertain where the war was to +begin or by whom. All work was suspended, and that war spirit was let +loose which rouses the worst passions of human nature. Again we found +ourselves the center of conflict, one party set for killing us or +driving us away; the other wishing to retain us, while all old bitter +grievances were also dragged into their speeches.</p> + +<p>Miaki and Nouka said, "If you will keep Missi and his Worship, take +him with you to your own land, for we will not have him to live at the +Harbor."</p> + +<p>Ian, the great Inland Chief, rose in wrath and said, "On whose lands +does the Missi live, yours or ours? Who fight against the Worship and +all good, who are the thieves and murderers, who tell the lies, you or +we? We wish peace, but you will have war. We like Missi and the Worship, +but you hate them and say, 'Take him to your own land!' It is our land +on which he now lives; it is his own land which he bought from you, but +which our fathers sold Missi Turner long ago. The land was not yours to +sell; it was really ours. Your fathers stole it from us long ago by war; +but we would not have asked it back, had you not asked us to take Missi +away. Now we will defend him on it, and he will teach us and our people +in our own land!" So meeting after meeting broke into fiery speech, and +separated with many threats.</p> + +<p>To the next great meeting I was invited, but did not go, contenting +myself with a message pleading that they should live at peace and on no +account go to war with each other. But Ian himself came for me. I said, +"Ian, I have told you my whole heart. Go not to that meeting. I will +rather leave the island or die, than see you going to war about me!"</p> + +<p>He answered, "Missi, come with me, come now!"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Ian, you are surely not taking me away to kill me? If you +are, my God will punish it."</p> + +<p>His only reply was, "Follow me, follow me quickly."</p> + +<p>I felt constrained to go. He strode on before me till we reached the +great village of his ancestors. His followers, armed largely with +muskets as well as native weapons, filled one half the Village Square or +dancing-ground. Miaki, Nouka, and their whole party sat in manifest +terror upon the other half. Marching into the center, he stood with me +by his side, and proudly looking round, exclaimed, "Missi, these are my +men and your friends! We are met to defend you and the Worship." Then +pointing across to the other side, he cried aloud, "These are your +enemies and ours! The enemies of the Worship, the disturbers of the +peace on Tanna! Missi, say the word, and the muskets of my men will +sweep all opposition away, and the Worship will spread and we will all +be strong for it on Tanna. We will not shoot without your leave; but if +you refuse they will kill you and persecute us and our children, and +banish Jehovah's Worship from our land."</p> + +<p>I said, "I love all of you alike. I am here to teach you how to turn +away from all wickedness, to worship and serve Jehovah, and to live in +peace. How can I approve of any person being killed for me or for the +Worship? My God would be angry at me and punish me, if I did!"</p> + +<p>He replied, "Then, Missi, you will be murdered and the Worship +destroyed."</p> + +<p>I then stood forth in the middle before them all and cried, "You may +shoot or murder me, but I am your best friend. I am not afraid to die. +You will only send me the sooner to my Jehovah God, whom I love and +serve, and to my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, who died for me and for you, +and who sent me here to tell you all His love. If you will only love and +serve Him and give up your bad conduct, you will be happy. But if you +kill me, His messenger, rest assured that He will in His own time and +way punish you. This is my word to you all; my love to you all!"</p> + +<p>So saying, I turned to leave; and Ian strode suddenly away and stood +at the head of his men, crying, "Missi, they will kill you! they will +kill us, and you will be to blame!"</p> + +<p>Miaki and Nouka, full of deceit, now cried out, "Missi's word is +good! Let us all obey it. Let us all worship."</p> + +<p>An old man, Sirawia, one of Ian's under-chiefs, then said, "Miaki and +Nouka say that the land on which Missi lives was theirs; though they +sold it to him and he has paid them for it, they all know that it was +ours, and is yet ours by right; but if they let Missi live on it in +peace, we will all live at peace, and worship Jehovah. And if not, we +will surely claim it again."</p> + +<p>Miaki and his party hereon went off to their plantations, and brought +a large present of food to Ian and his men as a peace-offering. This +they accepted; and the next day Ian and his men brought Miaki a return +present and said, "You know that Missi lives on our land? Take our +present, be friends, and let him live quietly and teach us all. +Yesterday you said his word was good; obey it now, else we will punish +you and defend the Missi."</p> + +<p>Miaki accepted the token, and gave good promises for the future. Ian +then came to the hill-top near our house, by which passed the public +path, and cried aloud in the hearing of all, "Abraham, tell Missi that +you and he now live on our land. This path is the march betwixt Miaki +and us. We have this day bought back the land of our fathers by a great +price to prevent war. Take of our breadfruits and also of our cocoanuts +what you require, for you are our friends and living on our land, and we +will protect you and the Worship!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="35"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>UNDER KNIFE AND TOMAHAWK.</h4></center> + +<p>CHAFED at the upsetting of all their plans and full of revenge, Nouka +and Miaki and their allies declared publicly that they were now going to +kill Ian by sorcery, <i>i. e.</i> by Nahak, more feared by the poor +Tannese than the field of battle. Strange to say. Ian became sick +shortly after the Sacred Men had made the declaration about their +Nahak-sorcery. I attended him, and for a time he recovered, and appeared +very grateful. But he soon fell sick again. I sent him and the Chief +next under him a blanket each; I also gave shirts and calico to a number +of his leading men. They wore them and seemed grateful and pleased. Ian, +however, gradually sank and got worse. He had every symptom of being +poisoned, a thing easily accomplished, as they know and use many deadly +poisons. His sufferings were very great, which prevented me from +ascribing his collapse to mere superstitious terror. I did all that +could be done; but all thought him dying, and of course by sorcery. His +people were angry at me for not consenting before to their shooting of +Miaki; and Miaki's people were now rejoicing that Ian was being killed +by Nahak.</p> + +<p>One night, his brother and a party came for me to go and see Ian, but +I declined to go till the morning for fear of the fever and ague. On +reaching his village, I saw many people about, and feared that I had +been led into a snare; but I at once entered into his house to talk and +pray with him, as he appeared to be dying. After prayer, I discovered +that I was left alone with him, and that all the people had retired from +the village; and I knew that, according to their custom, this meant +mischief. Ian said, "Come near me, and sit by my bedside to talk with +me, Missi."</p> + +<p>I did so, and while speaking to him he lay as if lost in a swoon of +silent meditation. Suddenly he drew from the sugar-cane leaf thatch +close to his bed a large butcher-like knife, and instantly feeling the +edge of it with his other hand, he pointed it to within a few inches of +my heart and held it quivering there, all atremble with excitement. I +durst neither move nor speak, except that my heart kept praying to the +Lord to spare me, or if my time was come to take me home to Glory with +Himself. There passed a few moments of awful suspense. My sight went and +came. Not a word had been spoken, except to Jesus; and then Ian wheeled +the knife around, thrust it into the sugar-cane leaf, and cried to me, +"Go, go quickly!"</p> + +<p>Next moment I was on the road. Not a living soul was to be seen about +the village. I understood then that it had been agreed that Ian was to +kill me, and that they had all withdrawn so as not to witness it, that +when the Man-of-war came to inquire about me, Ian would be dead, and no +punishment could overtake the murderer. I walked quietly till quite free +of the village, lest some hid in their houses might observe me. +Thereafter, fearing that they, finding I had escaped, might overtake and +murder me, I ran for my life a weary four miles till I reached the +Mission House, faint yet praising God for such a deliverance. Poor Ian +died soon after, and his people strangled one of his wives and hanged +another, and took out the three bodies together in a canoe and sank them +in the sea.</p> + +<p>Miaki was jubilant over having killed his enemy by Nahak; but the +Inland people now assembled in thousands to help Sirawia and his brother +to avenge that death on Miaki, Nouka, and Karewick. These, on the other +hand, boasted that they would kill all their enemies by Nahak-sorcery, +and would call up a hurricane to destroy their houses, fruit-trees, and +plantations. Immediately after Miaki's threat about bringing a storm, +one of their great hurricanes actually smote that side of the island and +laid everything waste. His enemies were greatly enraged, and many of the +injured people united with them in demanding revenge on Miaki. Hitherto +I had done everything in my power to prevent war, but now it seemed +inevitable, and both parties sent word that if Abraham and I kept to the +Mission House no one would harm us. We had little faith in any of their +promises, but there was no alternative for us.</p> + +<p>On the following Saturday, 18th January 1862, the war began. Musket +after musket was discharged quite near us, and the bush all around rang +with the yell of their war-cry, which if once heard will never be +forgotten. It came nearer and nearer, for Miaki fled, and his people +took shelter behind and around our house. We were placed in the heart of +danger, and the balls flew thick all around us. In the afternoon Ian's +brother and his party retired, and Miaki quickly sent messengers and +presents to the Inikahimini and Kaserumini districts, to assemble all +their people and help him "to fight Missi and the Tannese who were +friends of the Worship." He said, "Let us cook his body and Abraham's, +and distribute them to every village on this side of the island!"</p> + +<p>Yet all the while Miaki assured me that he had sent a friendly +message. The war went on, and poor Nowar the Chief protected us, till he +had a spear broken into his right knee. The enemy would have carried him +off to feast on his body; but his young men, shouting wildly his name +and battle-cry, rushed in with great impetuosity and carried their +wounded Chief home in triumph. The Inland people now discharged muskets +at my house and beat against the walls with their clubs. They smashed in +the door and window of our storeroom, broke open boxes and casks, tore +my books to pieces and scattered them about, and carried off everything +for which they cared, including my boat, mast, oars, and sails. They +broke into Abraham's house and plundered it; after which they made a +rush at the bedroom, into which we were locked, firing muskets, yelling, +and trying to break it in. A Chief, professing to be sorry for us, +called me to the window, but on seeing me he sent a tomahawk through it +crying, "Come on, let us kill him now!"</p> + +<p>I replied, "My Jehovah God will punish you; a Man-of-war will come +and punish you, if you kill Abraham, his wife, or me."</p> + +<p>He retorted, "It's all lies about a Man-of-war! They did not punish +the Erromangans. They are afraid of us. Come on, let us kill them!"</p> + +<p>He raised his tomahawk and aimed to strike my forehead, many muskets +were uplifted as if to shoot, so I raised a revolver in my right hand +and pointed it at them. The Rev. Joseph Copeland had left it with me on +a former visit. I did not wish it, but he insisted upon leaving it, +saying that the very knowledge that I had such a weapon might save my +life. Truly, on this occasion it did so. Though it was harmless they +fell back quickly. My immediate assailant dropped to the ground, crying, +"Missi has got a short musket! He will shoot you all!"</p> + +<p>After lying flat on the ground for a little, they all got up and ran +to the nearest bush, where they continued yelling about and showing +their muskets. Towards nightfall they left, loaded with the plunder of +the store and of Abraham's house. So God once more graciously protected +us from falling into their cruel hands.</p> + +<p>In the evening, after they left, I went to Miaki and Nouka. Miaki, +with a sneer, said, "Missi, where was Jehovah to-day? There was no +Jehovah to-day to protect you. It's all lies about Jehovah. They will +come and kill you, and Abraham, and his wife, and cut your bodies into +pieces to be cooked and eaten in every village upon Tanna."</p> + +<p>I said, "Surely, when you had planned all this, and brought them to +kill us and steal all our property, Jehovah did protect us, or we would +not have been here!"</p> + +<p>He replied, "There was no Jehovah to-day! We have no fear of any +Man-of-war. They dare not punish us. They durst not punish the +Erromangans for murdering the Gordons. They will talk to us and say we +must not do so again, and give us a present. That is all. We fear +nothing. The talk of all Tanna is that we will kill you and seize all +your property tomorrow."</p> + +<p>I warned him that the punishment of a Man-of-war can only reach the +body and the land, but that Jehovah's punishment reached both body and +soul in Time and in Eternity.</p> + +<p>He replied, "Who fears Jehovah? He was not here to protect you +to-day!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I said, "my Jehovah God is here now. He hears all we say, sees +all we do, and will punish the wicked and protect His own people."</p> + +<p>After this, a number of the people sat down around me, and I prayed +with them. But I left with a very heavy heart, feeling that Miaki was +evidently bent on our destruction.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="36"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE BEGINNING OF THE END.</h4></center> + +<p>I SENT Abraham to consult Nowar, who had defended us till disabled by +a spear in the right knee. He sent a canoe by Abraham, advising me to +take some of my goods in it to his house by night, and he would try to +protect them and us. The risk was so great we could only take a very +little. Enemies were on every hand to cut off our flight, and Miaki, the +worst of all, whose village had to be passed in going to Nowar's. In the +darkness of the Mission House, we durst not light a candle for fear of +some one seeing and shooting us. Not one of Nowar's men durst come to +help us. But in the end it made no difference, for Nowar and his men +kept what was taken there, as their portion of the plunder. Abraham, his +wife, and I waited anxiously for the morning light. Miaki, the false and +cruel, came to assure us that the Heathen would not return that day. +Yet, as daylight came in, Miaki himself stood and blew a great conch not +far from our house. I ran out to see why this trumpet-shell had been +blown, and found it was the signal for a great company of howling armed +savages to rush down the hill on the other side of the bay and make +straight for the Mission House. We had not a moment to lose. To have +remained would have been certain death to us all, and also to Matthew, a +Teacher just arrived from Mr. Mathieson's Station. Though I am by +conviction a strong Calvinist, I am no Fatalist. I held on while one +gleam of hope remained. Escape for life was now the only path of duty. I +called the Teachers, locked the door, and made quickly for Nowar's +village. There was not a moment left to carry anything with us. In the +issue, Abraham and his wife and I lost all our earthly goods, and all +our clothing except what we had on. My Bible, the few translations which +I had made into Tannese, and a light pair of blankets I carried with +me.</p> + +<p>We durst not choose the usual path along the beach, for there our +enemies would have quickly overtaken us. We entered the bush in the hope +of getting away unobserved. But a cousin of Miaki, evidently secreted to +watch us, sprang from behind a breadfruit tree, and swinging his +tomahawk, aimed it at my brow with a fiendish look. Avoiding it I turned +upon him and said in a firm bold voice, "If you dare to strike me, my +Jehovah God will punish you. He is here to defend me now!"</p> + +<p>The man, trembling, looked all round as if to see the God who was my +defender, and the tomahawk gradually lowered at his side. With my eye +fixed upon him, I gradually moved backwards in the track of the +Teachers, and God mercifully restrained him from following me.</p> + +<p>On reaching Nowar's village unobserved, we found the people +terror-stricken, crying, rushing about in despair at such a host of +armed savages approaching. I urged them to ply their axes, cut down +trees, and blockade the path. For a little they wrought vigorously at +this; but when, so far as eye could reach, they saw the shore covered +with armed men rushing on towards their village, they were overwhelmed +with fear, they threw away their axes and weapons of war, they cast +themselves headlong on the ground, and they knocked themselves against +the trees as if to court death before it came. They cried, "Missi, it's +of no use! We will all be killed and eaten to-day! See what a host are +coming against us."</p> + +<p>Mothers snatched up little children and ran to hide in the bush. +Others waded as far as they could into the sea with them, holding their +heads above the water. The whole village collapsed in a condition of +indescribable terror. Nowar, lame with his wounded knee, got a canoe +turned upside-down and sat upon it where he could see the whole +approaching multitude. He said, "Missi, sit down beside me, and pray to +our Jehovah God, for if He does not send deliverance now, we are all +dead men. They will kill us all on your account, and that quickly. Pray, +and I will watch!"</p> + +<p>They had gone to the Mission House and broken in the door, and +finding that we had escaped, they rushed on to Nowar's village. For, as +they began to plunder the bedroom, Nouka said, "Leave everything. Missi +will come back for his valuable things at night, and then we will get +them and him also!"</p> + +<p>So he nailed up the door, and they all marched for Nowar's. We prayed +as one can only pray when in the jaws of death and on the brink of +Eternity. We felt that God was near, and omnipotent to do what seemed +best in His sight. When the savages were about three hundred yards off, +at the foot of a hill leading up to the village, Nowar touched my knee, +saying. "Missi, Jehovah is hearing! They are all standing still."</p> + +<p>Had they come on they would have met with no opposition, for the +people were scattered in terror. On gazing shorewards, and round the +Harbor, as far as we could see, was a dense host of warriors, but all +were standing still, and apparently absolute silence prevailed. We saw a +messenger or herald running along the approaching multitude, delivering +some tidings as he passed, and then disappearing in the bush. To our +amazement, the host began to turn, and slowly marched back in great +silence, and entered the remote bush at the head of the Harbor. Nowar +and his people were in ecstasies, crying out, "Jehovah has heard Missi's +prayer! Jehovah has protected us and turned them away back."</p> + +<p>About midday, Nouka and Miaki sent their cousin Jonas, who had always +been friendly to me, to say that I might return to my house in safety, +as they were now carrying the war inland. Jonas had spent some years on +Samoa, and been much with Traders in Sydney, and spoke English well; but +we felt they were deceiving us. Next night, Abraham ventured to creep +near the Mission House, to test whether we might return, and save some +valuable things, and get a change of clothing. The house appeared to +stand as when they nailed up the door. But a large party of Miaki's +allies at once enclosed Abraham, and, after asking many questions about +me, they let him go since I was not there. Had I gone there they would +certainly that night have killed me. Again, at midnight Abraham and his +wife and Matthew went to the Mission House, and found Nouka, Miaki, and +Karewick near by, concealed in the bush among the reeds. Once more they +enclosed them, thinking I was there too, but Nouka, finding that I was +not, cried out, "Don't kill them just now! Wait till Missi comes."</p> + +<p>Hearing this, Matthew slipped into the bush and escaped. Abraham's +wife waded into the sea, and they allowed her to get away. Abraham was +allowed to go to the Mission House, but he too crept into the bush, and +after an anxious waiting they all came back to me in safety. We now gave +up all hope of recovering anything from the house.</p> + +<p>Towards morning, when Miaki and his men saw that I was not coming +back to deliver myself into their hands, they broke up my house and +stole all they could carry away. They tore my books, and scattered them +about. They took away the type of my printing-press, to be made into +bullets for their muskets. For similar uses they melted down the zinc +lining of my boxes, and everything else that could be melted. What they +could not take away, they destroyed.</p> + +<p>As the night advanced, Nowar declared that I must leave his village +before morning, else he and his people would be killed for protecting +me. He advised me, as the sea was good, to try for Mr. Mathieson's +Station; but he objected to my taking away any of my property—he +would soon follow with it himself! But how to sail? Miaki had stolen my +boat, mast, sails, and oars, as also an excellent canoe made for me and +paid for by me on Aneityum; and he had threatened to shoot any person +that assisted me to launch either the one or the other. The danger still +increasing, Nowar said, "You cannot remain longer in my house! My son +will guide you to the large chestnut tree in my plantation in the bush. +Climb up into it, and remain there till the moon rises."</p> + +<p>Being entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends, +I, though perplexed, felt it best to obey. I climbed into the tree, and +was left there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all +before me as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent +discharging of muskets, and the yells of the savages. Yet I sat there +among the branches, as safe in the arms of Jesus. Never, in all my +sorrows, did my Lord draw nearer to me, and speak more soothingly in my +soul, than when the moonlight flickered among these chestnut leaves, and +the night air played on my throbbing brow, as I told all my heart to +Jesus. Alone, yet not alone! If it be to glorify my God, I will not +grudge to spend many nights alone in such a tree, to feel again my +Saviour's spiritual presence, to enjoy His consoling fellowship. If thus +thrown back upon your own soul, alone, all, all alone, in the midnight, +in the bush, in the very embrace of death itself, have you a Friend that +will not fail you then?</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="37"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FIVE HOURS IN A CANOE.</h4></center> + +<p>GLADLY would I have lingered there for one night of comparative +peace! But Nowar sent his son to call me down from the tree, and to +guide me to the shore where he himself was, as it was now time to take +to sea in the canoe. Pleading for my Lord's continuing presence, I had +to obey. My life and the lives of my Aneityumese now hung upon a very +slender thread; the risk was almost equally great from our friends +so-called, or from our enemies. Had I been a stranger to Jesus and to +prayer, my reason would verily have given way, but my comfort and joy +sprang out of these words, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; +lo, I am with you alway!" Pleading these promises, I followed my guide. +We reached the beach, just inside the Harbor, at a beautiful white sandy +bay on Nowar's ground, from which our canoe was to start. A good number +of the Natives had assembled there to see us off. Arkurat, having got a +large roll of calico for the loan of his canoe, hid it away, and then +refused the canoe, saying that if he had to escape with his family he +would require it. He demanded an ax, a sail for his canoe, and a pair of +blankets. As Koris had the ax and another had the quilt, I gave the +quilt to him for a sail, and the ax and blankets for the canoe, in fact, +these few relics of our earthly all at Nowar's were coveted by the +savages and endangered our lives, and it was as well to get rid of them +altogether. He cruelly proposed a small canoe for two; but I had hired +the canoe for five, and insisted upon getting it, as he had been well +paid for it. As he only laughed and mocked us, I prepared to start and +travel overland to Mr. Mathieson's Station. He then said, "My wrath is +over! You may take it and go."</p> + +<p>We launched it, but now he refused to let us go till daylight. He had +always been one of my best friends, but now appeared bent on a quarrel, +so I had to exercise much patience with him and them. Having launched +it, he said I had hired the canoe but not the paddles. I protested, +"Surely you know we hired the paddles too. What could we do without +paddles?"</p> + +<p>But Arkurat lay down and pretended to have fallen asleep, snoring on +the sand, and could not be awaked. I appealed to Nowar, who only said, +"That is his conduct, Missi, our conduct!"</p> + +<p>I replied, "As he has got the blankets which I saved to keep me from +ague and fever, and I have nothing left now but the clothes I have on, +surely you will give me paddles."</p> + +<p>Nowar gave me one. Returning to the village, friends gave me one each +till I got other three. Now Arkurat started up, and refused to let us +go. A Chief and one of his men, who lived on the other side of the +island near to where we were going, and who was hired by me to go with +us and help in paddling the canoe, drew back also and refused to go. +Again I offered to leave the canoe, and walk overland if possible, when +Faimungo, the Chief who had refused to go with us, came forward and +said, "Missi, they are all deceiving you! The sea is so rough, you +cannot go by it; and if you should get round the weather point, Miaki +has men appointed to shoot you as you pass the Black Rocks, while by +land all the paths are guarded by armed men. I tell you the truth, +having heard all their talk. Miaki and Karewick say they hate the +Worship, and will kill you. They killed your goats, and stole all your +property yesterday. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>The Teachers, the boy, and I now resolved to enter the canoe and +attempt it, as the only gleam of hope left to us. My party of five +embarked in our frail canoe; Abraham first, I next, Matthew after me, +the boy at the steering paddle, and Abraham's wife sitting in the +bottom, where she might hold on while it continued to float. For a mile +or more we got away nicely under the lee of the island, but when we +turned to go south for Mr. Mathieson's Station, we met the full force of +wind and sea, every wave breaking over and almost swamping our canoe. +The Native lad at the helm paddle stood up crying, "Missi, this is the +conduct of the sea! It swallows up all who seek its help."</p> + +<p>I answered, "We do not seek help from it, but from Jehovah +Jesus."</p> + +<p>Our danger became very great, as the sea broke over and lashed around +us. My faithful Aneityumese, overcome with terror, threw down their +paddles, and Abraham said, "Missi, we are all drowned now! We are food +for the sharks. We might as well be eaten by the Tannese as by fishes; +but God will give us life with Jesus in heaven!"</p> + +<p>I seized the paddle nearest me; I ordered Abraham to seize another +within his reach; I enjoined Matthew to bail the canoe for life, and the +lad to keep firm in his seat, and I cried, "Stand to your post, and let +us return! Abraham, where is now your faith in Jesus? Remember, He is +Ruler on sea as on land. Abraham, pray and ply your paddle! Keep up +stroke for stroke with me, as our lives depend on it. Our God can +protect us. Matthew, bail with all your might. Don't look round on the +sea and fear. Let us pray to God and ply our paddles, and He will save +us yet!"</p> + +<p>Dear old Abraham said, "Thank you for that, Missi. I will be strong. +I pray to God and ply my paddle. God will save us!"</p> + +<p>With much labor, and amid deadly perils, we got the canoe turned; and +after four hours of a terrible struggle, we succeeded, towards daylight +as the tide turned, in again reaching smooth water. With God's blessing +we at last reached the shore, exactly where we had left it five hours +ago!</p> + +<p>Now drenched and weary, with the skin of our hands sticking to the +paddles, we left the canoe on the reef and waded ashore. Many Natives +were there, and looked sullen and disappointed at our return. Katasian, +the lad who had been with us, instantly fled for his own land; and the +Natives reported that he was murdered soon after. Utterly exhausted, I +lay down on the sand and immediately fell into a deep sleep. By and by I +felt someone pulling from under my head the native bag in which I +carried my Bible and the Tannese translations—the all that had +been saved by me from the wreck! Grasping the bag, I sprang to my feet, +and the man ran away. My Teachers had also a hedging knife, a useless +revolver, and a fowling-piece, the sight of which, though they had been +under the salt water for hours, God used to restrain the savages. +Calling my Aneityumese near, we now, in united prayer and kneeling on +the sands, committed each other unto the Lord God, being prepared for +the last and worst.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="38"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A RACE FOR LIFE.</h4></center> + +<p>As I sat meditating on the issues, Faimungo, the friendly Inland +Chief, again appeared to warn us of our danger, now very greatly +increased by our being driven back from the sea. All Nowar's men had +fled, and were hid in the bush and in rocks along the shore; while Miaki +was holding a meeting not half a mile away, and preparing to fall upon +us. Faimungo said, "Farewell, Missi, I am going home. I don't wish to +see the work and the murders of this morning."</p> + +<p>He was Nowar's son-in-law. He had always been truthful and kindly +with me. His home was about half-way across the island, on the road that +we wanted to go, and under sudden impulse I said, "Faimungo, will you +let us follow you? Will you show us the path? When the Mission Ship +arrives, I will give you three good axes, blankets, knives, fish-hooks, +and many things you prize."</p> + +<p>The late hurricanes had so destroyed and altered the paths, that only +Natives who knew them well could follow them. He trembled much and said, +"Missi, you will be killed. Miaki and Karewick will shoot you. I dare +not let you follow. I have only about twenty men, and your following +might endanger us all."</p> + +<p>I urged him to leave at once, and we would follow of our own accord. +I would not ask him to protect us; but if he betrayed us and helped the +enemy to kill us, I assured him that our God would punish him. If he +spared us, he would be rewarded well; and if we were killed against his +wishes, God would not be angry at him. He said, "Seven men are with me +now, and thirteen are to follow. I will not now send for them. They are +with Miaki and Nouka. I will go; but if you follow, you will be killed +on the way. You may follow me as far as you can."</p> + +<p>Off he started to Nowar's, and got a large load of my stolen +property, blankets, sheets, etc., which had fallen to his lot. He called +his seven men, who had also shared in the plunder, and, to avoid Miaki's +men, they ran away under a large cocoanut grove skirting the shore, +calling, "Be quick! Follow and keep as near to us as you can."</p> + +<p>Though Nowar had got a box of my rice and appropriated many things +from the plunder of the Mission House besides the goods entrusted to his +care, and got two of my goats killed and cooked for himself and his +people, yet now he would not give a particle of food to my starving +Aneityumese or myself, but hurried us off, saying, "I will eat all your +rice and keep all that has been left with me, in payment for my lame +knee and for my people fighting for you!"</p> + +<p>My three Aneityumese and I started after Faimungo and his men. We +could place no confidence in any of them; but, feeling that we were in +the Lord's hands, it appeared to be our only hope of escaping instant +death. We got away unobserved by the enemies. We met several small +parties of friends in the Harbor, apparently glad to see us trying to +get away. But about four miles on our way, we met a large party of +Miaki's men, all armed, and watching as outposts. Some were for shooting +us, but others hesitated. Every musket was, however, raised and leveled +at me. Faimungo poised his great spear and said, "No, you shall not kill +Missi to-day. He is with me." Having made this flourish, he strode off +after his own men, and my Aneityumese followed, leaving me face to face +with a ring of leveled muskets.</p> + +<p>Sirawia, who was in command of this party, and who once, like Nowar, +had been my friend, said to me, Judas like, "My love to you, Missi." But +he also shouted after Faimungo, "Your conduct is bad in taking the Missi +away; leave him to us to be killed!" I then turned upon him, saying, +"Sirawia, I love you all. You must know that I sought only your good. I +gave you medicine and food when you and your people were sick and dying +under measles; I gave you the very clothing you wear. Am I not your +friend? Have we not often drunk tea and eaten together in my house? Can +you stand there and see your friend shot? If you do, my God will punish +you severely."</p> + +<p>He then whispered something to his company which I did not hear; and, +though their muskets were still raised, I saw in their eyes that he had +restrained them. I therefore began gradually to move backwards, still +keeping my eyes fixed on them, till the bush hid them from my view, +whereon I turned and ran after my party, and God kept the enemy from +following. We trusted in Jehovah Jesus, and pressed on in flight.</p> + +<p>A second hostile party encountered us, and with great difficulty we +also got away from them. Soon thereafter a friendly company crossed our +path. We learned from them that the enemies had slaughtered other two of +Manuman's men, and burned several villages with fire. Another party of +the enemy encountered us, and were eager for our lives. But this time +Faimungo withstood them firmly, his men encircled us, and he said, "I am +not afraid now, Missi; I am feeling stronger near my own land!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="39"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FAINT YET PURSUING.</h4></center> + +<p>HURRYING still onwards, we came to that village on their high ground +called Aneai, <i>i. e.</i> Heaven. The sun was oppressively hot, the +path almost unshaded, and our whole party very exhausted, especially +Faimungo, carrying his load of stolen goods. So here he sat down on the +village dancing-ground for a smoke, saying, "Missi, I am near my own +land now. We can rest with safety."</p> + +<p>In a few minutes, however, he started up, he and his men, in wild +excitement. Over a mountain, behind the village and above it, there came +the shoutings, and anon the tramp, tramp of a multitude making rapidly +towards us. Faimungo got up and planted his back against a tree. I stood +beside him, and the Aneityumese woman and the two men stood near me, +while his men seemed prepared to flee. At full speed a large body of the +tallest and most powerful men that I had seen on Tanna came rushing on +and filled the dancing-ground. They were all armed, and flushed with +their success in war. A messenger had informed them of our escape, +probably from Miaki, and they had crossed the country to intercept +us.</p> + +<p>Faimungo was much afraid, and said, "Missi, go on in that path, you +and your Aneityumese; and I will follow when I have had a smoke and a +talk with these men."</p> + +<p>I replied, "No, I will stand by your side till you go; and if I am +killed, it will be by your side, I will not leave you."</p> + +<p>He implored us to go on, but that I knew would be certain death. They +began urging one another to kill us, but I looked round them as calmly +as possible, saying, "My Jehovah God will punish you here and hereafter, +if you kill me or any of His servants."</p> + +<p>A killing-stone, thrown by one of the savages, grazed poor old +Abraham's cheek, and the dear soul gave such a look at me, and then +upwards, as if to say, "Missi, I was nearly away to Jesus." A club was +also raised to follow the blow of the killing-stone, but God baffled the +aim. They encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to +strike the first blow, or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the +Lord Jesus; I saw Him watching all the scene. In that awful hour I +beheld His own words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of +Heaven: "Seek, and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, +that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." I could +understand how Stephen and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed +up through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne!</p> + +<p>Yet I never could say that on such occasions I was entirely without +fear. Nay, I have felt my reason reeling, my sight coming and going, and +my knees smiting together when thus brought close to a violent death, +but mostly under the solemn thought of being ushered into Eternity and +appearing before God. Still, I was never left without hearing that +promise in all its consoling and supporting power coming up through the +darkness and the anguish, "Lo, I am with you alway;" And with Paul I +could say, even in this dread moment and crisis of being, "I am +persuaded that neither death nor life,.. nor any other creature, shall +be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our +Lord."</p> + +<p>Faimungo and others now urged us to go on in the path. I said, +"Faimungo, why are we to leave you? My God heard your promise not to +betray me. He knows now what is in your heart and in mine. I will not +leave you; and if I am to die, I will die by your side."</p> + +<p>He replied, "Now, I go on before; Missi, keep close to me."</p> + +<p>His men had gone, and I persuaded my Aneityumese to follow them. At +last, with a bound, Faimungo started after them. I followed, keeping as +near him as I could, pleading with Jesus to protect me or to take me +home to Glory. The host of armed men also ran along on each side with +their weapons ready; but leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if +they were my escort, or as if I saw them not. If any reader wonders how +they were restrained, much more would I, unless I believed that the same +Hand that restrained the lions from touching Daniel held back these +Savages from hurting me! We came to a stream crossing our path. With a +bound all my party cleared it, ran up the bank opposite, and disappeared +in the bush. "Faint yet pursuing," I also tried the leap, but I struck +the bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards the stream. At this +moment I heard a crash above my head amongst the branches of an +overhanging tree, and I knew that a <i>Kawas</i> had been thrown, and +that that branch had saved me. Praising my God, I scrambled up on the +other side, and followed the track of my party into the bush. The +savages gazed after me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the +stream; and I saw them separate into two, one portion returning to the +village and another pressing inland. With what gratitude did I recognize +the Invisible One who brought their counsels to confusion.</p> + +<p>I found my party resting in the bush, and amazed to see me escaped +alive from men who were thirsting for my blood. Faimungo and his men +received me with demonstrations of joy, perhaps feeling a little ashamed +of their own cowardice. He now ascended the mountain and kept away from +the common path to avoid other Native bands. At every village enemies to +the Worship were ready to shoot us. But I kept close to our guide, +knowing that the fear of shooting him would prevent their shooting at +me, as he was the most influential Chief in all that section of the +island.</p> + +<p>One party said, "Miaki and Karewick said that Missi made the sickness +and the hurricanes, and we ought to kill him."</p> + +<p>Faimungo replied, "They lie about Missi! It is our own bad conduct +that makes us sick."</p> + +<p>They answered, "We don't know who makes the sickness, but our fathers +have taught us to kill all Foreign men."</p> + +<p>Faimungo, clutching club and spear, exclaimed, standing betwixt them +and us, "You won't kill Missi to-day!"</p> + +<p>Faimungo now sent his own men home by a near path, and guided us +himself till we were close upon the shore. There sitting down, he said, +"Missi, I have now fulfilled my promise. I am so tired, I am so afraid, +I dare not go farther. My love to you all. Now go on quickly! Three of +my men will go with you to the next rocks. Go quickly! Farewell."</p> + +<p>These men went on a little, and then said, "Missi, we dare not go! +Faimungo is at war with the people of the next land. You must keep +straight along this path." So they turned and ran back to their own +village.</p> + +<p>To us this district was especially perilous. Many years ago the +Aneityumese had joined in a war against the Tannese of this tribe, and +the thirst for revenge yet existed in their hearts, handed down from +sire to son. Most providentially the men were absent on a war +expedition, and we saw only three lads and a great number of women and +children, who ran off to the bush in terror. In the evening the enraged +savages of another district assaulted the people of the shore villages +for allowing us to pass, and, though sparing their lives, broke in +pieces their weapons of war—a very grievous penalty.</p> + +<p>In the next district, as we hasted along the shore, two young men +came running after us, poising their quivering spears. I took the +useless revolver out of my little native basket, and raising it cried, +"Beware! Lay down your spears at once on the sand, and carry my basket +to the next landing at the Black Rocks."</p> + +<p>They threw their spears on the sand, lifted the bag, and ran on +before us to the rocks which formed the march betwixt them and their +enemies. Laying it down, they said appealingly, "Missi, let us return to +our home!" And how they did run, fearing the pursuit of their foes.</p> + +<p>In the next land we saw none. After that we saw crowds all along, +some friendly, others unfriendly, but they let us pass on, and with the +blessing of Almighty God we drew dear to Mr. Mathieson's Station in +safety. Here a man gave me a cocoanut for each of our party, which we +greatly required, having tasted nothing all that day, and very little +for several days before. We were so weak that only the struggle for life +enabled us to keep our feet; yet my poor Aneityumese never complained +and never halted, not even the woman. The danger and excitement kept us +up in the race for life; and by the blessing of God we were now +approaching the Mission House, praising God for His wonderful +deliverances.</p> + +<p>Hearing of our coming, Mr. Mathieson came running to meet me. They +had heard of our leaving my own Station, and they thought I was dead! +They were themselves both very weak; their only child had just been laid +in the grave, and they were in great grief and in greater peril. We +praised the Lord for permitting us to meet; we prayed for support, +guidance, and protection; and resolved now, in all events, to stand by +each other till the last.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="40"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XL.</h3></center> +<center><h4>WAITING AT KWAMERA.</h4></center> + +<p>BEFORE I left the Harbor I wrote and left with Nowar letters to be +given to the Captains of any vessels which called, for the first, and +the next, and the next, telling them of our great danger, that Mr. +Mathieson was almost without food, and that I would reward them +handsomely if they would call at the Station and remove any of us who +might be spared thence to Aneityum. Two or three vessels called, and, as +I afterwards learned, got my letters; but, while buying my stolen +property from the Natives for tobacco, powder, and balls, they took no +further notice of my appeals, and sailed past Mr. Mathieson's, straight +on to Aneityum. "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel!"</p> + +<p>Let me now cull the leading events from my Journal, that intervened +betwixt this date and the break-up of the Mission on Tanna—at +least for a season—though, blessed be God! I have lived to see the +light rekindled by my dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Watt, and shining more +brightly and hopefully than ever. The candle was quenched, but the +candlestick was not removed!</p> + +<p>On the 23d January, 1862, Mr. Mathieson sent for Taura, Kati, and +Kapuku, his three principal Chiefs, to induce them to promise protection +till a vessel called to take us away. They appeared friendly, and +promised to do their best. Alas! the promises of the Tannese Chiefs had +too often proved to be vain.</p> + +<p>On Friday, 24th January, report reached our Station that Miaki and +his party, hearing that a friendly Chief had concealed two of Manuman's +young men, compelled him to produce them and club them to death before +their eyes. Also, that they surrounded Manuman's party on a mountain, +and hemmed them in there, dying of starvation, and trying to survive on +the carcasses of the dead and on bark and roots. Also, that Miaki had +united all the Chiefs, friends and foes alike, in a bond of blood, to +kill every one pertaining to the whole Mission on Tanna. Jesus +reigns!</p> + +<p>On Sunday, the 26th January, thirty persons came to worship at the +Mission House. Thereafter, at great risk, we had Worship at three of the +nearest and most friendly villages. Amidst all our perils and trials we +preached the Gospel to about one hundred and sixteen persons. It was +verily a sowing time of tears; but, despite all that followed, who shall +say that it was vain! Twenty years have passed, and now when I am +writing this, there is a Church of God singing the praises of Jesus in +that very district of Tanna. On leaving the second village, a young lad +affectionately took my hand to lead me to the next village; but a sulky, +down-browed savage, carrying a ponderous club, also insisted upon +accompanying us. I led the way, guided by the lad. Mr. Mathieson got the +man to go before him, while he himself followed, constantly watching. +Coming to a place where another path branched off from ours, I asked +which path we took, and, on turning to the left as instructed by the +lad, the savage, getting close behind me, swung his huge club over his +shoulder to strike me on the head. Mr. Mathieson, springing forward, +caught the club from behind with a great cry to me; and I, wheeling +instantly, had hold of the club also, and betwixt us we wrested it out +of his hands. The poor creature, craven at heart however bloodthirsty, +implored us not to kill him. I raised the club threateningly, and caused +him to march in front of us till we reached the next village fence. In +terror lest these villagers should kill him, he gladly received back his +club, as well as the boy his bow and arrows, and they were lost in the +bush in a moment.</p> + +<p>At the village from which this man and boy had come, one savage +brought his musket while we were conducting Worship, and sat sullen and +scowling at us all the time. Mocking questions were also shouted at us, +such as, "Who made the rains, winds, and hurricanes? Who caused all the +disease? Who killed Missi Mathieson's child?" They sneered and scoffed +at our answers, and in this Taura the Chief joined the rest.</p> + +<p>On the 27th, at daylight, a vessel was seen in the offing, as if to +tantalize us. The Captain had been at the Harbor, and had received my +letter from Nowar. I hoisted a flag to induce him to send or come on +shore, but he sailed off for Aneityum, bearing the plunder of my poor +Mission House, purchased for ammunition and tobacco for the Natives. He +left the news at Aneityum that I had been driven from my Station some +time ago, and was believed to have been murdered.</p> + +<p>On the 29th of January, the young Chief Kapuku came and handed to Mr. +Mathieson his own and his father's war-gods and household idols. They +consisted chiefly of a basket of small and peculiar stones, much worn +and shining with use. He said, "While many are trying to kill you and +drive the Worship of Jehovah from this island, I give up my gods, and +will send away all Heathen idols from my land."</p> + +<p>On the 31st, we learned that a party of Miaki's men were going about +Mr. Mathieson's district inciting the people to kill us. Faimungo also +came to inform us that Maiki was exerting all his artifice to get us and +the Worship destroyed. Manuman even sent, from inland, Raki, his adopted +son, to tell me of the fearful sufferings that he and his people were +now passing through, and that some were killed almost every day. Raki's +wife was a Chief's daughter, who, when the war began, returned to her +father's care. The savages of Miaki went to her own father's house and +compelled him to give her up as an enemy. She was clubbed and feasted +on.</p> + +<p>On Sabbath, 2d February, thirty-two people attended the Morning +Service. I addressed them on the Deluge, its causes and lessons. I +showed them a doll, explaining that such carved and painted images could +not hear our prayers or help us in our need, that the living Jehovah God +only could hear and help. They were much interested, and after Worship +carefully examined the doll. Mr. Mathieson and I, committing ourselves +to Jesus, went inland and conducted Worship at seven villages, listened +to by about one hundred people in all. Nearly all appeared friendly. The +people of one village had been incited to kill us on our return; but God +guided us to return by another way, and so we escaped.</p> + +<p>During the day, on 3d February, a company of Miaki's men came to the +Mission House, and forced Mrs. Mathieson to show them through the +premises. Providentially, I had bolted myself that morning into a closet +room, and was engrossed with writing. They went through every room in +the house and did not see me, concluding I had gone inland. They +discharged a musket into our Teacher's house, but afterwards left +quietly, greatly disappointed at not finding me. My heart still rose in +praise to God for another such deliverance, neither by man nor of man's +planning!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="41"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE LAST AWFUL NIGHT.</h4></center> + +<p>WORN out with long watching and many fatigues, I lay down that night +early, and fell into a deep sleep. About ten o'clock the savages again +surrounded the Mission House. My faithful dog Clutha, clinging still to +me amid the wreck of all else on earth, sprang quietly upon me, pulled +at my clothes, and awoke me, showing danger in her eye glancing at me +through the shadows. I silently awoke Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, who had +also fallen asleep. We committed ourselves in hushed prayer to God and +watched them, knowing that they could not see us. Immediately a glare of +light fell into the room! Men passed with flaming torches; and first +they set fire to the Church all round, and then to a reed fence +connecting the Church and the dwelling-house. In a few minutes the +house, too, would be in flames, and armed savages waiting to kill us on +attempting an escape!</p> + +<p>Taking my harmless revolver in the left hand and a little American +tomahawk in the right, I pleaded with Mr. Mathieson to let me out and +instantly to again lock the door on himself and wife. He very +reluctantly did so, holding me back and saying, "Stop here and let us +die together! You will never return!"</p> + +<p>I said, "Be quick! Leave that to God. In a few minutes our house will +be in flames, and then nothing can save us."</p> + +<p>He did let me out, and locked the door again quickly from the inside; +and, while his wife and he prayed and watched for me from within, I ran +to the burning reed fence, cut it from top to bottom, and tore it up and +threw it back into the flames, so that the fire could not by it be +carried to our dwelling-house. I saw on the ground shadows, as if +something were falling around me, and started back. Seven or eight +savages had surrounded me, and raised their great clubs in air. I heard +a shout—"Kill him! Kill him!" One savage tried to seize hold of +me, but, leaping from his clutch, I drew the revolver from my pocket and +leveled it as for use, my heart going up in prayer to my God. I said, +"Dare to strike me, and my Jehovah God will punish you. He protects us, +and will punish you for burning His Church, for hatred to His Worship +and people, and for all your bad conduct. We love you all; and for doing +you good only, you want to kill us. But our God is here now to protect +us and to punish you."</p> + +<p>They yelled in rage, and urged each other to strike the first blow, +but the Invisible One restrained them. I stood invulnerable beneath His +invisible shield, and succeeded in rolling back the tide of flame from +our dwelling-house.</p> + +<p>At this dread moment occurred an incident, which my readers may +explain as they like, but which I trace directly to the interposition of +my God. A rushing and roaring sound came from the South, like the noise +of a mighty engine or of muttering thunder. Every head was instinctively +turned in that direction, and they knew, from previous hard experience, +that it was one of their awful tornadoes of wind and rain. Now, mark, +the wind bore the flames away from our dwelling-house; had it come in +the opposite direction, no power on earth could have saved us from being +all consumed! It made the work of destroying the Church only that of a +few minutes; but it brought with it a heavy and murky cloud, which +poured out a perfect torrent of tropical rain. Now, mark again, the +flames of the burning Church were thereby cut off from extending to and +seizing upon the reeds and the bush; and, besides, it had become almost +impossible now to set fire to our dwelling-house. The stars in their +courses were fighting against Sisera!</p> + +<p>The mighty roaring of the wind, the black cloud pouring down +unceasing torrents, and the whole surroundings, awed those savages into +silence. Some began to withdraw from the scene, all lowered their +weapons of war, and several, terror-struck, exclaimed, "That is +Jehovah's rain! Truly their Jehovah God is fighting for them and helping +them. Let us away!" A panic seized upon them; they threw away their +remaining torches; in a few moments they had all disappeared in the +bush; and I was left alone, praising God for His marvelous works. "O +taste and see that God is good! Blessed is the man that trusteth in +Him!"</p> + +<p>Returning to the door of the Mission House, I cried, "Open and let me +in. I am now all alone."</p> + +<p>Mr. Mathieson let me in, and exclaimed, "If ever, in time of need, +God sent help and protection to His servants in answer to prayer, He has +done so to-night! Blessed be His holy Name!"</p> + +<p>In fear and in joy we united our praises. Truly our Jesus has all +power, not less in the elements of Nature than in the savage hearts of +the Tannese. Precious Jesus! Often since have I wept over His love and +mercy in that deliverance, and prayed that every moment of my remaining +life may be consecrated to the service of my precious Friend and +Saviour!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="42"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>"SAIL O! SAIL O!"</h4></center> + +<p>ALL through the remainder of that night I lay wide awake keeping +watch, my noble little dog lying near me with ears alert. Early in the +morning friends came weeping around us. Our enemies were loudly +rejoicing. It had been finally resolved to kill us at once, to plunder +our house and then to burn it. The noise of the shouting was distinctly +heard as they neared the Mission premises, and our weeping, friendly +Natives looked terror-struck, and seemed anxious to flee for the bush. +But just when the excitement rose to the highest pitch, we heard, or +dreamed that we heard, a cry higher still, "Sail O!"</p> + +<p>We were by this time beginning to distrust almost our very senses; +but again and again that cry came rolling up from the shore, and was +repeated from crowd to crowd all along the beach, "Sail O! Sail O!"</p> + +<p>The shouts of those approaching us gradually ceased, and the whole +multitude seemed to have melted away from our view. I feared some cruel +deception, and at first peered out very cautiously to spy the land. But +yonder in very truth a vessel came sailing into view. It was the <i>Blue +Bell</i> Captain Hastings. I set fire to the reeds on the side of the +hill to attract his attention. I put a black shawl as a flag on one end +of the Mission House and a white sheet on the other.</p> + +<p>This was one of the vessels that had been to Port Resolution, and had +sailed past to Aneityum some time ago. I afterwards saw the mate and +some of the men wearing my shirts, which they had bought from the +Tannese on their former visit. At the earnest request of Messrs. Geddie +and Copeland, Mr. Underwood, the owner, had sent Captain Hastings to +Tanna to rescue us if yet alive. For this purpose he had brought twenty +armed men from Aneityum, who came on shore in two boats in charge of the +mate, the notorious Ross Lewin. He returned to the ship with a boat-load +of Mr. Mathieson's things, leaving ten of the Natives to help us to pack +more and carry them down to the beach, especially what the Missionary +thought most valuable.</p> + +<p>The two boats were now loaded and ready to start. It was about two +o'clock in the afternoon, when a strange and painful trial befell us. +Poor dear Mr. Mathieson, apparently unhinged, locked himself all alone +into what had been his study, telling Mrs. Mathieson and me to go, for +he had resolved to remain and die on Tanna. We tried to show him the +inconsistency of praying to God to protect us or grant us means of +escape, and then refuse to accept a rescue sent to us in our last +extremity. We argued that it was surely better to live and work for +Jesus than to die as a self-made martyr, who, in God's sight, was guilty +of self-murder. His wife wept aloud and pleaded with him, but all in +vain! He refused to leave or to unlock his door. I then said, "It is now +getting dark. Your wife must go with the vessel, but I will not leave +you alone. I shall send a note explaining why I am forced to remain; and +as it is certain that we shall be murdered whenever the vessel leaves, I +tell you God will charge you with the guilt of our murder." At this he +relented, unlocked the door, and accompanied us to the boats, in which +we all immediately left.</p> + +<p>Meantime, having lost several hours, the vessel had drifted leeward; +darkness suddenly settled upon us, and when we were out at sea we lost +sight of her and she of us. After tumbling about for some hours in a +heavy sea, and unable to find her, those in charge of the boats came +near for consultation, and, if possible, to save the lives of all. We +advised that they should steer for Port Resolution by the flame of the +volcano—a never failing lighthouse, seen fifty miles +away—and there await the vessel. The boats were to keep within +hearing of each other by constant calling; but this was soon lost to the +ear, though on arriving in the bay we found they had got to anchor +before us. There we sat in the boats and waited for the coming day.</p> + +<p>As the light appeared, we anchored as far out as possible, beyond the +reach of musket shots; and there without water or food we sat under a +tropical sun till midday came, and still there was no sign of the +vessel. The mate at last put all the passengers and the poorest seamen +into one boat and left her to swing at anchor, while, with a strong crew +in the other, he started off in search of the vessel.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon, Nowar and Miaki came off in a canoe to visit us. +Nowar had on a shirt, but Miaki was naked and frowning. He urged me to +go and see the Mission House, but as we had seen a body of men near it I +refused to go. Miaki declared that everything remained as I had left it, +but we knew that he lied. Old Abraham and a party had slipped on shore +in a canoe, and had found the windows smashed and everything gone except +my books, which were scattered about and torn in pieces. They learned +that Miaki had sold everything that he could sell to the Traders. The +mate and men of the <i>Blue Bell</i> had on my very clothes. They +boasted that they had bought them for a few figs of tobacco and for +powder, caps, and balls. But they would not return a single shirt to me, +though I was without a change. We had all been without food since the +morning before, so Nowar brought us off a cocoanut each, and two very +small roasted yams for the ladies. Those, however, only seemed to make +our thirst the more severe, and we spent a trying day in that boat under +a burning sun.</p> + +<p>Nowar informed me that only a few nights before this, Miaki and his +followers went inland to a village where last year they had killed ten +men. Having secretly placed a savage at the door of every house, at a +given signal they yelled, and when the terrified inmates tried to +escape, they killed almost every man, woman, and child. Some fled into +the bush, others rushed to the shore. A number of men got into a canoe +to escape, but hearing women and children crying after them they +returned, and taking those they could with them, they killed the rest, +lest they should fall alive into Miaki's hands. These are surely "they +who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." +The Chief and nearly his whole village were cut off in one night! The +dark places of the Earth are "full of the habitations of horrid +cruelty." To have actually lived amongst the Heathen and seen their life +gives a man a new appreciation of the power and blessings of the Gospel, +even where its influence is only very imperfectly allowed to guide and +restrain the passions of men. Oh, what it will be when all men in all +nations love and serve the glorious Redeemer!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="43"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FAREWELL TO TANNA.</h4></center> + +<p>ABOUT five o'clock in the evening the vessel hove in sight. Before +dark we were all on board, and were sailing for Aneityum. Though both +Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson had become very weak, they stood the voyage +wonderfully. Next day we were safely landed. We had offered Captain +Hastings £20 to take us to Aneityum, but he declined any fare. +However, we divided it amongst the mate and crew, for they had every one +shown great kindness to us on the voyage.</p> + +<p>After arriving on Aneityum, Mrs. Mathieson gradually sank under +consumption, and fell asleep in Jesus on 11th March, 1862, and was +interred there in the full assurance of a glorious resurrection. Mr. +Mathieson, becoming more and more depressed after her death, went over +to Mr. Creagh's Station, on Mare, and there died on 14th June, 1862, +still trusting in Jesus, and assured that he would soon be with Him in +Glory.</p> + +<p>After their death I was the only one left alive, in all the New +Hebrides Mission north of Aneityum, to tell the story of those pioneer +years, during which were sown the seeds of what is now fast becoming a +glorious harvest. Twenty-five years ago, all these dear brethren and +sisters who were associated with me in the work of the Mission were +called home to Glory, to cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus and +enjoy the bliss of the redeemed; while I am privileged still to toil and +pray for the salvation of the poor Islanders, and plead the cause of the +Mission both in the Colonies and at home, in which work the Lord has +graciously given me undreamt-of success. My constant desire and prayer +are that I may be spared to see at least one Missionary on every island +of the group, or trained Native Teachers under the superintendence of a +Missionary, to unfold the riches of redeeming love and to lead the poor +Islanders to Jesus for salvation.</p> + +<p>What could be taken in three boats was saved out of the wreck of Mr. +Mathieson's property; but my earthly all perished, except the Bible and +the translations into Tannese. Along with the goods pertaining to the +Mission, the property which I had to leave behind would be +under-estimated at £600, besides the value of the Mission House, +etc. Often since have I thought that the Lord stripped me thus bare of +all these interests that I might with undistracted mind devote my entire +energy to the special work soon to be carved out for me, and of which at +this moment neither I nor any one had ever dreamed. At any rate, the +loss of my little Earthly All, though doubtless costing me several +pangs, was not an abiding sorrow like that which sprang from the thought +that the Lord's work was now broken up at both Stations, and that the +Gospel was for the time driven from Tanna.</p> + +<p>In the darkest moment I never doubted that ultimately the victory +there, as elsewhere, would be on the side of Jesus, believing that the +whole Earth would yet be filled with the glory of the Lord. But I +sometimes sorely feared that I might never live to see or hear of that +happy day! By the goodness of the Ever-merciful One I have lived to see +and hear of a Gospel Church on Tanna, and to read about my dear +fellow-Missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, celebrating the Holy Supper to a +Native Congregation of Tannese, amid the very scenes and people where +the seeds of faith and hope were planted not only in tears, but tears of +blood,—"in deaths oft."</p> + +<p>My own intention was to remain on Aneityum, go on with my work of +translating the Gospels, and watch the earliest opportunity, as God +opened up my way, to return to Tanna, I had, however, got very weak and +thin; my health was undoubtedly much shaken by the continued trials and +dangers through which we had passed; and therefore, as Dr. and Mrs. +Inglis were at home carrying the New Testament through the press in the +language of Aneityum, and as Tanna was closed for a season—Dr. +Geddie, the Rev. Joseph Copeland, and Mr. Mathieson all urged me to go +to Australia by a vessel then in the Harbor and leaving in a few days. +My commission was to awaken an interest among the Presbyterian Churches +of our Colonies in this New Hebrides Mission which lay at their doors, +up till this time sustained by Scotland and Nova Scotia alone. And +further, and very specially, to raise money there, if possible, to +purchase a new Mission Ship for the work of God in the New +Hebrides,—a clamant necessity which would save all future +Missionaries some of the more terrible of the privations and risks of +which a few examples have in these pages already been recorded.</p> + +<p>With regrets, and yet with unquenchable hope for these Islands, I +embarked for Australia. But I had only spoken to one man in Sydney; all +the doors to influence had therefore to be unlocked; and I had no +helper, no leader, but the Spirit of my Lord.</p> + +<p>Oftentimes, while passing through the perils and defeats of my first +four years in the Mission field on Tanna, I wondered, and perhaps the +reader hereof has wondered, why God permitted such things. But on +looking back now, I already clearly perceive, and the reader of my +future pages will, I think, perceive, that the Lord was thereby +preparing me for doing, and providing me materials wherewith to +accomplish, the best work of all my life, namely, the kindling of the +heart of Australian Presbyterianism with a living affection for these +Islanders of their own Southern Seas—the binding of all their +children into a happy league of shareholders, first in one Mission Ship, +and finally in a larger and more commodious Steam-Auxiliary; and, last +of all, in being the instrument under God of sending out Missionary +after Missionary to the New Hebrides, to claim another island and still +another for Jesus. That work, and all that may spring from it in Time +and Eternity, never could have been accomplished by me, but for first +the sufferings and then the story of my Tanna days!</p> + +<p>Never for one moment have I had occasion to regret the step then +taken. The Lord has so used me, during the five-and-twenty years that +have passed over me since my farewell to Tanna, as to stamp the event +with His own most gracious approval. Oh, to see a Missionary, and +Christian Teachers, planted on every island of the New Hebrides! For +this I labor, and wait, and pray. To help on the fulfillment thereof is +the sacred work of my life, under God. When I see that accomplished, or +in a fair way of being so, through the organization that will provide +the money and call forth the men, I can lay down my head as peacefully +and gratefully as ever warrior did, with the shout of victory in his +ears—"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace!"</p> + +<p>(<i>For "Good News from Tanna," see Supplementary Chapter by the +Editor,</i> p.393.)</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="44"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE FLOATING OF THE "DAYSPRING."</h4></center> + +<p>RESCUED from Tanna by the <i>Blue Bell</i> in the Spring of 1869, I +was landed on Aneityum, leaving behind me all that I owned on Earth, +save the clothes upon my back, my precious Bible, and a few translations +that I had made from it into the Tannese language. The Missionaries on +Aneitymn united in urging me to go to Australia in the interests of our +Mission. A Mission Ship was sorely needed—was absolutely +required—to prevent the needless sacrifice of devoted lives. More +Missionaries were called for, and must somehow be brought into the +field, unless the hope of claiming these fair Islands for Jesus was to +be forever abandoned.</p> + +<p>With unaffected reluctance, I at last felt constrained to undertake +this unwelcome but apparently inevitable task. It meant the leaving of +my dear Islanders for a season; but it embraced within it the hope of +returning to them again, with perhaps every power of blessing amongst +them tenfold increased.</p> + +<p>A <i>Sandal-wooder,</i> then lying at Aneityum, was to sail in a few +days direct for Sydney. My passage was secured for £10. And, as if +to make me realize how bare the Lord had stripped me in my late trials, +the first thing that occupied me on board was the making with my own +hands, from a piece of cloth obtained on Aneityum, another shirt for the +voyage, to change with that which I wore—the only one that had +been left to me.</p> + +<p>The Captain proved to be a profane and brutal fellow. And how my +heart bled for some poor Islanders whom he had on board! They knew not a +word of English, and no one in the vessel knew a sound of their +language. They were made to work, and to understand what was expected of +them, only by hard knocks and blows, being pushed and pulled hither and +thither. They were kept quite naked on the voyage up; but, when nearing +Sydney, each received two yards of calico to be twisted as a kilt around +his loins. A most pathetic spectacle it was to watch these poor +Natives,—when they had leisure to sit on deck,—gazing, +gazing, intently and imploringly, upon the face of the Sun! This they +did every day, and at all hours, and I wept much to look on them, and +not be able to tell them of the Son of God, the Light of the world, for +I knew no word of their language. Perhaps they were worshipers of the +Sun; and perhaps, amid all their misery, oh, <i>perhaps,</i> some ray of +truth from the great Father of Lights may have streamed into those +darkened souls!</p> + +<p>When we arrived at Sydney the Inspecting Officer of the Government, +coming on board, asked how these Islanders came to be there. The Captain +impudently replied that they were "passengers." No further question was +put. No other evidence was sought. Yet all who knew anything of our +South-Sea Island Traders were perfectly aware that the moral certainty +was that these Natives were there practically as Slaves. They would be +privately disposed of by the Captain to the-highest bidder; and that, +forsooth, is to be called the <i>Labor</i> Traffic,—<i>Free</i> +Labor! I will, to my dying breath, denounce and curse this <i>Kanaka</i> +traffic as the worst of Slavery.</p> + +<p>As we came to anchorage, about midnight, in Sydney Harbor, I +anxiously paced the deck, gazing towards the gas-lighted city, and +pleading with God to open up my way, and give success in the work before +me, on which the salvation of thousands of the Heathen might depend. +Still I saw them perishing, still heard their wailing cry on the Islands +behind me. At the same time, I knew not a soul in that great city; +though I had a note of introduction to one person, which, as experience +proved, I would have been better without.</p> + +<p>That friend, however, did his best. He kindly called with me on a +number of Ministers and others. They heard my story, sympathized with +me, shook hands, and wished me success; but, strangely enough, something +"very special" prevented every one of them from giving me access to his +pulpit or Sabbath School. At length I felt so disappointed, so +miserable, that I wished I had been in my grave with my dear departed, +and my brethren on the Islands, who had fallen around me, in order that +the work on which so much now appeared to depend might have been +entrusted to some one better fitted to accomplish it. The heart seemed +to keep repeating, "All these things are against thee."</p> + +<p>Finding out at last the Rev. A. Buzacott, then retired, but formerly +the successful and honored representative of the London Missionary +Society on Rarotonga, considerable light was let in upon the mystery of +my last week's experiences. He informed me that the highly-esteemed +friend, who had kindly been introducing me all round, was at that moment +immersed in a keen Newspaper war with Presbyterians and Independents. +This made it painfully manifest that, in order to succeed, I must strike +out a new course for myself, and one clear from all local +entanglement.</p> + +<p>Paying a fortnight in advance, I withdrew even from the lodging I had +taken, and turned to the Lord more absolutely for guidance. He brought +me into contact with good and generous-souled servants of His, the +open-hearted Mr. and Mrs. Foss. Though entire strangers, they kindly +invited me to be their guest while in Sydney, assuring me that I would +meet with many Ministers and other Christians at their house who could +help me in my work. God had opened the door; I entered with a grateful +heart; they will not miss their recompense.</p> + +<p>A letter and appeal had been already printed on behalf of our +Mission. I now re-cast and reprinted it, adding a postscript, and +appending my own name and address. This was widely circulated among +Ministers and others engaged in Christian work; and by this means, and +by letters in the newspapers, I did everything in my power to make our +Mission known. But one week had passed, and no response came. One Lord's +Day had gone by, and no pulpit had been opened to me. I was perplexed +beyond measure how to get access to Congregations and Sabbath Schools; +though a something deep in my soul assured me, that if once my lips were +opened, the Word of the Lord would not return void.</p> + +<p>On my second Sabbath in Sydney I wandered out with a great yearning +at heart to get telling my message to any soul that would listen. It was +the afternoon; and children were flocking into a Church that I passed. I +followed them—that yearning growing stronger every moment. My God +so ordered it that I was guided thus to the Chalmers Presbyterian +Church. The Minister, the Rev. Mr. M'Skimming, addressed the children. +At the close I went up and pleaded with him to allow me ten minutes to +speak to them. After a little hesitation, and having consulted together, +they gave me fifteen minutes. Becoming deeply interested, the good man +invited me to preach to his Congregation in the evening. This was duly +intimated in the Sabbath School; and thus my little boat was at last +launched—surely by the hand of the dear Lord, with the help of His +little children.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="45"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A SHIPPING COMPANY FOR JESUS.</h4></center> + +<p>THE kindly minister of Chalmers church, now very deeply interested, +offered to spend the next day in introducing me to his clerical +brethren. For his sake, I was most cordially received by them all, but +especially by Dr. Dunmore Lang, who greatly helped me; and now access +was granted me to almost every church and Sabbath School, both +Presbyterian and Independent. In Sabbath Schools, I got a collection in +connection with my address, and distributed, with the sanction of +superintendents, collecting cards amongst the children, to be returned +through the Teachers within a specified date. In congregations, I +received for the Mission the surplus over and above the ordinary +collection when I preached on Sabbaths, and the full collection at all +week-night meetings for which I could arrange.</p> + +<p>I now appealed to a few of the most friendly ministers to form +themselves into an honorary committee of advice; and, at my earnest +request, they got J. Goodlet, Esq., an excellent elder, to become +honorary treasurer, and to take charge of all funds raised for the +Mission ship. For the public knew nothing of me; but all knew my good +treasurer and these faithful ministers, and had confidence in the work. +They knew that every penny went direct to the Mission; and they saw that +my one object was to promote God's glory in the conversion of the +heathen. Our dear Lord Jesus thus opened up my way; and now I had +invitations from more schools and congregations than I knew how to +overtake—the response in money being also gratifying beyond almost +all expectation.</p> + +<p>It was now that I began a little plan of interesting the children, +that attracted them from the first, and has since had an amazing +development. I made them shareholders in the new Mission Ship—each +child receiving a printed form, in acknowledgment of the number of +shares, at sixpence each, of which he was the owner. Thousands of these +shares were taken out, were shown about amongst families, and were +greatly prized. The Ship was to be their very own! They were to be a +great Shipping Company for Jesus. In hundreds of homes these +receipt-forms have been preserved; and their owners, now in middle +years, are training their children of to-day to give their pennies to +support the white-winged Angel of the Seas, that bears the Gospel and +the Missionary to the Heathen Isles.</p> + +<p>Let no one think me ungrateful to my good Treasurer and his wife, to +Dr. and Mrs. Moon, and to other dear friends who generously helped me, +when I trace step by step how the Lord Himself opened up my way. The +Angel of His Presence went before me, and wonderfully moved His people +to contribute in answer to my poor appeals. I had indeed to make all my +own arrangements and correspond regarding all engagements and +details,—to me, always a slow and laborious writer, a very +burdensome task. But it was all necessary in order to the fulfillment of +the Lord's purposes; and, to one who realizes that he is a +fellow-laborer with Jesus, every yoke that He lays on becomes easy and +every burden light.</p> + +<p>Having done all that could at that time be accomplished in New South +Wales, and as rapidly as possible—my Committee gave me a Letter of +Commendation to Victoria. But there I had no difficulty. The Ministers +had heard of our work in Sydney. They received me most cordially, and at +my request formed themselves into a Committee of Advice. Our dear +friend, James M'Bain, Esq., now Sir James, became Honorary Treasurer. +All moneys from this Colony, raised by my pleading for the Ship, were +entrusted to him; and, ultimately, the acknowledging of every individual +sum cost much time and labor. Dr. Cairns, and many others now gone to +their rest, along with two or three honored Ministers yet living, formed +my Committee. The Lord richly reward them all in that Day!</p> + +<p>As in New South Wales, I made, chiefly by correspondence, all my own +engagements, and arranged for Churches and Sabbath Schools as best I +could. Few in the other Denominations of Victoria gave any help, but the +Presbyterians rose to our appeal as with one heart. God moved them by +one impulse; and Ministers, Superintendents, Teachers, and Children, +heartily embraced the scheme as their own. I addressed three or four +meetings every Sabbath, and one or more every week-day; and thus +traveled over the length and breadth of Victoria, Tasmania, and South +Australia. Wheresoever a few of the Lord's people could be gathered +together, thither I gladly went, and told the story of our Mission, +setting forth its needs and claims.</p> + +<p>The contributions and collections were nearly all in very small sums, +I recall only one exception,—a gift of £250 from the late +Hon. G. F. Angus, South Australia, whose heart the Lord had touched. Yet +gently and steadily the required money began to come pouring in; and my +personal outlays were reduced to a minimum by the hospitality of +Christian friends and their kindly conveying of me from place to place. +For all this I felt deeply grateful; it saved money for the Lord's +work.</p> + +<p>The work was unceasingly prosecuted. Meetings were urged upon me now +from every quarter. Money flowed in so freely that, at the close of my +tour, the fund had risen to £5000, including special Donations of +£300 for the support of Native Teachers. Many Sabbath Schools, and +many ladies and gentlemen, had individually promised the sum of £5 +yearly to keep a Native Teacher on one or other of the New Hebrides +Islands. This happy custom prevails still, and is largely developed; the +sum required being now £6 per annum at least—for which you +may have your own personal representative toiling among the Heathen and +telling them of Jesus.</p> + +<p>Returning to Melbourne, the whole matter was laid before my +Committee. I reported how God had blessed the undertaking, and what sums +were now in the hands of the several Treasurers, indicating also larger +hopes and plans which had been put into my soul. Dear Dr. Cairns rose +and said, "Sir, it is of the Lord. This whole enterprise is of God, and +not of us. Go home, and He will give you more Missionaries for the +Islands."</p> + +<p>Of the money which I had raised, £3000 were sent to Nova +Scotia, to pay for the building of our new Mission Ship, the +<i>Dayspring.</i> The Church which began the Mission on the New Hebrides +was granted the honor of building our new Mission Ship. The remainder +was set apart to pay for the outfit and passage of additional +Missionaries for the field, and I was commissioned to return home to +Scotland in quest of them. Dr. Inglis wrote, in vindication of this +enterprise, to the friends whom he had just left, "From first to last, +Mr. Paton's mission here has been a great success; and it has been +followed up with such energy and promptitude in Nova Scotia, both in +regard to the Ship and the Missionaries, that Mr. Paton's pledge to the +Australian Churches has been fully redeemed. The hand of the Lord has +been very visible in the whole movement from beginning to end, and we +trust He has yet great blessing in store for the long and +deeply-degraded Islanders."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="46"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS.</h4></center> + +<p>HERE let me turn aside from the current of Missionary toils, and +record a few wayside incidents that marked some of my wanderings to and +fro in connection with the Floating of the <i>Dayspring.</i> Traveling +in the Colonies in 1862-68 was vastly less developed than it is to-day; +and a few of my experiences then will, for many reasons, be not +unwelcome to most readers of this book. Besides, these incidents, one +and all, will be felt to have a vital connection with the main purpose +of writing this Autobiography, namely, to show that the Finger of God is +as visible still, to those who have eyes to see, as when the fire-cloud +Pillar led His People through the wilderness.</p> + +<p>Twenty-six years ago, the roads of Australia, except those in and +around the principal towns, were mere tracks over unfenced plains and +hills, and on many of them packhorses only could be used in slushy +weather. During long journeys through the bush the traveler could find +his road only by following the deep notches, gashed by friendly +precursors into the larger trees, and all pointing in one direction. If +he lost his way, he had to struggle back to the last indented tree, and +try to interpret more correctly its pilgrim notch. Experienced +bush-travelers seldom miss the path; yet many others, losing the track, +have wandered round and round till they sank and died. For then it was +easy to walk thirty to forty miles, and see neither a person nor a +house. The more intelligent do sometimes guide their steps by sun, moon, +and stars, or by glimpses of mountain peaks or natural features on the +far and high horizon, or by the needle of the compass; but the perils +are not illusory, and occasionally the most experienced have +miscalculated and perished.</p> + +<p>An intelligent gentleman, a sheep farmer, who knew the country well, +once kindly volunteered to lift me in an out-of-the-way place, and drive +me to a meeting at his Station. Having a long spell before us, we +started at midday in a buggy drawn by a pair of splendid horses, in the +hope of reaching our destination before dusk. He turned into the usual +bush-track through the forests, saying, "I know this road well; and we +must drive steadily, as we have not a moment to lose."</p> + +<p>Our conversation became absorbingly interesting. After we had driven +about three hours, he remarked, "We must soon emerge into the open +plain."</p> + +<p>I doubtfully replied, "Surely we cannot have turned back! These trees +and bushes are wonderfully like those we passed at starting."</p> + +<p>He laughed, and made me feel rather vexed that I had spoken, when he +said, "I am too old a hand in the bush for that. I have gone this road +many a time before."</p> + +<p>But my courage immediately revived, for I got what appeared to me a +glint of the roof of the Inn beyond the bush, from which we had started +at noon, and I repeated, "I am certain we have wheeled, and are back at +the beginning of our journey; but there comes a Chinaman—let us +wait and inquire."</p> + +<p>My dear friend learned, to his utter amazement, that he had erred. +The bush-track was entered upon once more, and followed with painful +care, as he murmured, half to himself, "Well, this beats all reckoning! +I could have staked my life that this was impossible."</p> + +<p>Turning to me, he said, with manifest grief, "Our meeting is done +for! It will be midnight before we can arrive."</p> + +<p>The sun was beginning to set as we reached the thinly-timbered +ground. Ere dusk fell, he took his bearing with the greatest possible +care. Beyond the wood, a vast plain stretched before us, where neither +fence nor house was visible, far as the eye could reach. He drove +steadily towards a far-distant point, which was in the direction of his +home. At last we struck upon the wire fence that bounded his property. +The horses were now getting badly fagged; and, in order to save them a +long round-about drive, he lifted and laid low a portion of the fence, +led his horses cautiously over it, and, leaving it to be re-erected by a +servant next day, he started direct for the Station. That seemed a long +journey too; but it was for him familiar ground; and though amongst +great patriarchal trees here and there, and safely past dangerous +water-holes, we swung steadily on, reached his home in safety, and had a +joyous welcome. The household had by this time got into great excitement +over our non-appearance. The expected meeting had, of course, been +abandoned hours ago: and the people were all gone, wondering in their +hearts "whereto this would grow!"</p> + +<p>At that time, in the depth of winter, the roads were often wrought +into rivers of mire, and at many points almost impassable even for +well-appointed conveyances. In connection therewith, I had one very +perilous experience. I had to go from Clunes to a farm in the Learmouth +district. The dear old Minister there, Mr. Downes, went with me to every +place where a horse could be hired; but the owners positively +refused—they would sell, but they would not hire, for the +conveyance would be broken, and the horse would never return alive! Now, +I was advertised to preach at Learmouth, and must somehow get over the +nine miles that lay between. This would have been comparatively +practicable, were it not that I carried with me an indispensable bag of +"curios," and a heavy bundle of clubs, arrows, dresses, etc., from the +Islands, wherewith to illustrate my lectures and enforce my appeals. No +one could be hired to carry my luggage, nor could I get it sent after me +by coach on that particular way. Therefore, seeing no alternative +opening up my path, I committed myself once more to the Lord, as in +harder trials before, shouldered my bundle of clubs, lifted my heavy +bag, and started off on foot. They urged me fervently to desist; but I +heard a voice repeating, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." There +came back to me also the old adage that had in youthful difficulties, +spurred me on, "Where there's a will, there's a way." And I thought that +with these two in his heart, a Scotchman and a Christian would not be +easily beaten.</p> + +<p>When I found the road wrought into mire, and dangerous, or +impassable, I climbed the fence, and waded along in the plowed +fields—though they were nearly as bad. My bundle was changed from +shoulder to shoulder, and my bag from hand to hand, till I became +thoroughly tired of both. Pressing on, however, I arrived at a wayside +Public-house, where several roads met, and there I inquired the way to +Learmouth, and how far it was. The innkeeper, pointing, +answered—</p> + +<p>"This is the road. If you are on horseback, it might be three to four +miles just now, as your horse is able to take it. If you are in a +conveyance, with a good horse, it might be six miles. And if you are +walking, it might be eight or ten miles, or even more."</p> + +<p>I said, "I am walking. How many English miles is it to Mr. Baird's +farm?"</p> + +<p>He laughingly replied, "You will find it a long way indeed this dark +night, considering the state of the road, fenced in on both sides so +that you cannot get off."</p> + +<p>I passed on, leaving my Job's comforter; but a surly watchdog got +upon my track, and I had much difficulty in keeping it from biting me. +Its attacks, renewed upon me again and again, had one good +effect,—they stirred up my spirits and made me hasten on.</p> + +<p>Having persevered along the Learmouth road, I next met a company of +men hastening on with a bundle of ropes. They were on their way to +relieve a poor bullock, which by this time had almost disappeared, +sinking in the mire on the public highway! They kindly pointed me to a +light, visible through the dusk. That was the farm at which I was to +stay, and they advised me to clear the fence, and make straight for that +light, as the way was good.</p> + +<p>With thankful heart, I did so. The light was soon lost to me, but I +walked steadily on in the direction thereof, to the best of my judgment. +Immediately I began to feel the ground all floating under me. Then at +every step I took, or tried to take, I sank deeper and deeper, till at +last I durst not move either backward or forward. I was floundering in a +deadly swamp. I called out again and again, and "coo-ee-d" with all my +strength, but there came no reply. It grew extremely dark, while I kept +praying to God for deliverance. About midnight, I heard two men +conversing, apparently at no very great distance. I began "coo-ee-ing" +again, but my strength was failing. Fortunately, the night was perfectly +calm. The conversation ceased for a while, but I kept on crying for +help. At length I heard one voice remark to the other, "Some one is in +the swamp." And then the question came, "Who's there?"</p> + +<p>I answered, "A stranger. Oh, do help me!" Again a voice came through +the darkness, "How did you get in there?"</p> + +<p>And I feebly replied, "I have lost my way." I heard the one say to +the other, "I will go and get him out, whoever he may be. We must not +leave him there; he'll be dead before the morning. As you pass by our +door, tell my wife that I'm helping some poor creature out of the swamp, +and will be home immediately."</p> + +<p>He kept calling to me, and I answering his call through the darkness, +till, not without peril, he managed to reach and aid me. Once I was +safely dragged out, he got my bag in his hand and slung my clubs on his +shoulder, and in a very short time landed me at the farm, dripping and +dirty and cold. Had God not sent that man to save me, I must have +perished there, as many others have similarly perished before. The +farmer's wife heartily welcomed me and kindly ministered to all my +needs. Though not yet gone to rest, they had given up all hope of seeing +me. I heard the kind servant say to his mistress, "I don't know where he +came from, or how far he has carried his bundles; but I got him stuck +fast in the swamp, and my shoulder is already sore from carrying his +clubs!"</p> + +<p>A cup of warm tea restored me. The Lord gave me a sound and blessed +sleep. I rose next morning wonderfully refreshed, though arms and +shoulders were rather sore with the burdens of yesterday. I conducted +three Services, and told the story of my Mission, not without comfort +and blessing; and with gratifying results in money. The people gave +liberally to the work.</p> + +<p>Thereafter, a Schoolmaster drove me a long distance across the +country to Violet Town, where for the night we had to stay at an Inn. We +had a taste of what Australian life really was, when the land was being +broken in. A company of wild and reckless men were carousing there at +the time, and our arrival was the signal for an outbreak of malicious +mischief. A powerful fellow, who turned out to be a young Medical, +rushed upon me as I left the conveyance, seized me by the throat, and +shook me roughly, shouting, "A parson! a parson! I will do for the +parson!"</p> + +<p>Others with great difficulty relieved me from his grip, and dragged +him away, cursing as if at his mortal enemy.</p> + +<p>After tea, we got into the only bedroom in the house, available for +two. The Teacher and I locked ourselves in and barricaded the door, +hearing in the next room a large party of drunken men gambling and +roaring over their cards. By and by they quarreled and fought; they +smashed in and out of their room, and seemed to be murdering each other; +every moment we expected our door to come crashing in, as they were +thrown or lurched against it. Their very language made us tremble. One +man in particular seemed to be badly abused; he shouted that they were +robbing him of his money; and he groaned and cried for protection, all +in vain. We spent a sleepless and most miserable night. At four in the +morning I arose, and was glad to get away by the early coach. My friend +also left in his own conveyance, and reached his home in safety. At that +period, it was not only painful but dangerous for any decent traveler to +stay at many of these wayside Inns in the new and rough country. Every +man lived and acted just as he pleased, doing that which was right to +his own eyes; and Might was Right.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="47"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>AMONGST SQUATTERS AND DIGGERS.</h4></center> + +<p>AFTER this, I made a Mission tour, in a somewhat mixed and original +fashion, right across the Colony of Victoria, from Albury in New South +Wales to Mount Gambier in South Australia. I conducted Mission Services +almost every day, and three or more every Sabbath, besides visiting all +Sunday Schools that could be touched on the way. When I reached a +gold-digging or township, where I had been unable to get any one to +announce a meeting, the first thing I did on arriving was to secure some +Church or Hall, and, failing that, to fix on some suitable spot in the +open air. Then, I was always able to hire some one to go round with the +bell, and announce the meeting. Few will believe how large were the +audiences in this way gathered together, and how very substantial was +the help that thereby came to the Mission fund.</p> + +<p>Wheresover railway, steamboat, and coach were available, I always +used them; but failing these, I hired, or was obliged to friends of +Missions for driving me from place to place. On this tour, having +reached a certain place, from which my way lay for many miles across the +country, where there was no public conveyance, I walked to the nearest +squatter's Station and frankly informed the owner how I was situated; +that I could not hire, and that I would like to stay at his house all +night, if he would kindly send me on in the morning by any sort of trap +to the next Station on my list. He happened to be a good Christian and a +Presbyterian, and gave me a right cordial welcome. A meeting of his +servants was called, which I had the pleasure of addressing. Next +morning, he gave me £20, and sent me forward with his own +conveyance, telling me to retain it all day, if necessary.</p> + +<p>On reaching the next squatter's Station, I found the master also at +home, and said, "I am a Missionary from the South Sea Islands. I am +crossing Victoria to plead the cause of the Mission. I would like to +rest here for an hour or two. Could you kindly send me on to the next +Station by your conveyance? If not, I am to keep the last squatter's +buggy, until I reach it."</p> + +<p>Looking with a queer smile at me, he replied, "You propose a rather +novel condition on which to rest at my house! My horses are so employed +to-day, I fear that I may have difficulty in sending you on. But come +in; both you and your horses need rest; and my wife will be glad to see +you."</p> + +<p>I immediately discovered that the good lady came from Glasgow, from a +street in which I had lodged when a student at the Free Normal College. +I even knew some of her friends. All the places of her youthful +associations were equally familiar to me. We launched out into +deeply-interesting conversation, which finally led up, of course, to the +story of our Mission.</p> + +<p>The gentleman, by this time, had so far been won that he slipped out +and sent my conveyance and horses back to their owner, and ordered his +own to be ready to take me to the next Station, or, if need be, to the +next again. At parting, the lady said to her husband, "The Missionary +has asked no money, though he sees we have been deeply interested; yet +clearly that is the object of his tour. He is the first Missionary from +the Heathen that ever visited us here; and you must contribute something +to his Mission fund."</p> + +<p>I thanked her, explaining, "I never ask money directly from any +person for the Lord's work. My part is done when I have told my story +and shown the needs of the Heathen and the claims of Christ; but I +gratefully receive all that the Lord moves His people to give for the +Mission."</p> + +<p>Her husband replied, rather sharply, "You know I don't keep money +here." To which she retorted with ready tact and with a resistless +smile, "But you keep a check-book; and your check is as good as gold! +This is the first donation we ever gave to such a cause, and let it be a +good one." He made it indeed handsome, and I went on my way, thanking +them very sincerely, and thanking God.</p> + +<p>At the next Station, the owner turned out to be a gruff Irishman, +forbidding and insolent. Stating my case to him as to the others, he +shouted at me, "Go on! I don't want to be troubled with the loikes o' +you here."</p> + +<p>I answered, "I am sorry if my coming troubles you; but I wish you +every blessing in Christ Jesus. Good-by!"</p> + +<p>As we drove off, he kept growling after us. On leaving his door, I +heard a lady calling to him from the window, "Don't let that Missionary +go away! Make haste and call him back. I want the children to see the +idols and the South Sea curios."</p> + +<p>At first he drowned her appeal in his own shoutings. But she must +have persisted effectually; for shortly we heard him "coo-ee-ing," and +stopped. When he came up to us, he explained, "That lady in my house +heard you speaking in Melbourne. The ladies and children are very +anxious to see your idols, dresses, and weapons. Will you please come +back?"</p> + +<p>We did so. I spent fifteen minutes or so, giving them information +about the Natives and our Mission. As I left, our boisterous friend +handed me a check for £5, and wished me great success.</p> + +<p>The next Station at which we arrived was one of the largest of all. +It happened to be a sort of payday, and men were assembled from all +parts of the "run," and were to remain there over night. The squatter +and his family were from home; but Mr. Todd, the overseer, being a good +Christian and a Scotchman, was glad to receive us, arranged to hold a +meeting that evening in the men's hut, and promised to set me forward on +my journey next day. The meeting was very enthusiastic; and they +subscribed £20 to the Mission—every man being determined to +have so many shares in the new Mission Ship. With earnest personal +dealing, I urged the claims of the Lord Jesus upon all who were present, +seeking the salvation of every hearer. I ever found even the rough +digger, and the lowest of the hands about far-away Stations, most +attentive and perfectly respectful.</p> + +<p>A lively and memorable extemporized meeting on this tour is +associated in memory with one of my dearest friends. The district was +very remote. He, the squatter, and his beloved wife were sterling +Christians, and have been ever since warmly devoted to me. On my +arrival, he invited the people from all the surrounding Stations, as +well as his own numerous servants, to hear the story of our Mission. +Next day he volunteered to drive me a long distance over the plains of +St. Arnaud, his dear wife accompanying us. At that time there were few +fences in such districts in Australia. The drive was long, but the day +had been lovely, and the fellowship was so sweet that it still shines a +sunny spot in the fields of memory.</p> + +<p>Having reached our destination about seven o'clock, he ordered tea at +the Inn for the whole party; and we sallied out meantime and took the +only Hall in the place, for an extemporized meeting to be held that +evening at eight o'clock. I then hired a man to go through the township +with a bell, announcing the same; while I myself went up one side of the +main street, and my friend up the other, inviting all who would listen +to us to attend the Mission meeting where South Sea Islands idols, +weapons, and dresses would be exhibited, and stories of the Natives +told.</p> + +<p>Running back for a hurried cup of tea, I then hasted to the Hall, and +found it crowded to excess with rough and boisterous diggers. The hour +struck as I was getting my articles arranged and spread out upon the +table, and they began shouting, "Where's the Missionary?"—"Another +hoax!"—indicating that they were not unwilling for a row. I +learned that, only a few nights ago, a so-called Professor had +advertised a lecture, lifted entrance money till the Hall was crowded, +and then quietly slipped off the scene. In our case, though there was no +charge, they seemed disposed to gratify themselves by some sort of +promiscuous revenge.</p> + +<p>Amidst the noisy chaff and rising uproar, I stepped up on the table, +and said, "Gentlemen, I am the Missionary. If you will now be silent, +the lecture will proceed. According to my usual custom, let us open the +meeting with prayer."</p> + +<p>The hush that fell was such a contrast to the preceding hubbub, that +I heard my heart throbbing aloud! Then they listened to me for an hour, +in perfect silence and with ever-increasing interest. At the close I +intimated that I asked no collection; but if, after what they had heard, +they would take a Collecting Card for the new Mission Ship, and send any +contributions to the Treasurer at Melbourne, I would praise God for +sending me amongst them. Many were heartily taken, and doubtless some +souls felt the "constraining love," who had till then been living +without God.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="48"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>JOHN GILPIN IN THE BUSH.</h4></center> + +<p>THE crowning adventure of my tour in Australia came about in the +following manner. I was advertised to conduct Services at Narracoort on +Sabbath, and at a Station on the way on Saturday evening. But how to get +from Penola was a terrible perplexity. On Saturday morning, however, a +young lady offered me, out of gratitude for blessings received, the use +of her riding horse for the journey. "Garibaldi" was his name; and, +though bred for a race-horse, I was assured that if I kept him firmly in +hand, he would easily carry me over the two-and-twenty miles. He was to +be left at the journey's end, and the lady herself would fetch him back. +I shrank from the undertaking, knowing little of horses, and having +vague recollections of being dreadfully punished for more than a week +after my last and almost only ride. But every one in that country is +quite at ease on the back of a horse. They saw no risk; and, as there +appeared no other way of getting there to fulfil my engagements, I, for +my part, began to think that God had unexpectedly provided the means, +and that He would carry me safely through.</p> + +<p>I accepted the lady's kind offer, and started on my pilgrimage. A +friend showed me the road, and gave me ample directions. In the bush, I +was to keep my eye on the notches in the trees, and follow them. He +agreed kindly to bring my luggage to the Station, and leave it there for +me by and by. After I had walked very quietly for some distance, three +gentlemen on horseback overtook me. We entered into conversation. They +inquired how far I was going, and advised me to sit a little "freer" in +the saddle, as it would be so much easier for me. They seemed greatly +amused at my awkward riding! Dark clouds were now gathering ahead, and +the atmosphere prophesied a severe storm; therefore they urged that I +should ride a little faster, as they, for a considerable distance, could +guide me on the right way. I explained to them my plight through +inexperience, said that I could only creep on slowly with safety, and +bade them Good-by. As the sky was getting darker every minute, they +consented, wishing me a safe journey, and started off at a smart +pace.</p> + +<p>I struggled to hold in my horse; but seizing the bit with his teeth, +laying back his ears, and stretching out his eager neck, he manifestly +felt that his honor was at stake; and in less time than I take to write +it, the three friends cleared a way for us, and he tore past them all at +an appalling speed. They tried for a time to keep within reach of us, +but that sound only put fire into his blood; and in an incredibly short +time I heard them not; nor, from the moment that he bore me swinging +past them, durst I turn my head by one inch to look for them again. In +vain I tried to hold him in; he tore on, with what appeared to me the +speed of the wind. Then the thunderstorm broke around us, with flash of +lightning and flood of rain, and at every fresh peal my "Garibaldi" +dashed more wildly onward.</p> + +<p>To me, it was a vast surprise to discover that I could sit more +easily on this wild flying thing than when at a canter or a trot. At +every turn I expected that he would dash himself and me against the +great forest trees; but instinct rather than my hand guided him +miraculously. Sometimes I had a glimpse of the road, but as for the +"notches," I never saw one of them; we passed them with lightning speed. +Indeed, I durst not lift my eyes for one moment from watching the +horse's head and the trees on our track. My high-crowned hat was now +drenched, and battered out of shape; for whenever we came to a rather +clear space, I seized the chance and gave it another knock down over my +head. I was spattered and covered with mud and mire.</p> + +<p>Crash, crash, went the thunder, and on, on, went "Garibaldi" through +the gloom of the forest, emerging at length upon a clearer ground with a +more visible pathway. Reaching the top of the slope, a large house stood +out far in front of us to the left; and the horse had apparently +determined to make straight for that, as if it were his home. He skirted +along the hill, and took the track as his own familiar ground, all my +effort to hold him in or guide him having no more effect than that of a +child. By this time, I suspect, I really had lost all power. "Garibaldi" +had been at that house, probably frequently before; he knew those +stables; and my fate seemed to be instant death against door or +wall.</p> + +<p>Some members of the family, on the outlook for the Missionary, saw us +come tearing along as if mad or drunk; and now all rushed to the +veranda, expecting some dread catastrophe. A tall and stout young groom, +amazed at our wild career, throwing wide open the gate, seized the +bridle at great risk to himself, and ran full speed, yet holding back +with all his might, and shouting to me to do the same. We +succeeded—"Garibaldi" having probably attained his +purpose—in bringing him to a halt within a few paces of the door. +Staring at me with open mouth, the man exclaimed, "I have saved your +life. What madness to ride like that!" Thanking him, though I could +scarcely by this time articulate a word, I told him that the horse had +run away, and that I had lost all control.</p> + +<p>Truly I was in a sorry plight, drenched, covered with mud, and my hat +battered down over my eyes; little wonder they thought me drunk or mad! +Finally, as if to confirm every suspicion, and amuse them all,—for +master, mistress, governess, and children now looked on from the +veranda,—when I was helped off the horse, I could not stand on my +feet! My head still went rushing on in the race; I staggered, and down I +tumbled into the mud, feeling chagrin and mortification; yet there I had +to sit for some time, before I recovered myself, so as either to rise or +to speak a word. When I did get to my feet, I had to stand holding by +the veranda for some time, my head still rushing on in the race. At +length the master said, "Will you not come in?"</p> + +<p>I knew that he was treating me for a drunken man; and the giddiness +was so dreadful still, that my attempts at speech seemed more drunken +than even my gait.</p> + +<p>As soon as I could stand, I went into the house, and drew near to an +excellent fire in my dripping clothes. The squatter sat opposite me in +silence, reading the newspapers, and taking a look at me now and again +over his spectacles. By and by he remarked, "Wouldn't it be worth while +to change your clothes?"</p> + +<p>Speech was now returning to me. I replied, "Yes, but my bag is coming +on in the cart, and may not be here to-night."</p> + +<p>He began to relent. He took me into a room, and laid out for me a +suit of his own. I being then very slender, and he a big-framed farmer, +my new dress, though greatly adding to my comfort, enhanced the +singularity of my appearance!</p> + +<p>Returning to him, washed and dressed, I inquired if he had arranged +for a meeting? My tongue, I fear, was still unsteady, for the squatter +looked at me rather reproachfully, and said, "Do you really consider +yourself fit to appear before a meeting to-night?"</p> + +<p>I assured him he was quite wrong in his suspicions, that I was a +life-long Abstainer, and that my nerves had been so unhinged by the +terrible ride and runaway horse. He smiled rather suggestively, and said +we would see how I felt after tea.</p> + +<p>We went to the table. All that had occurred was now consummated by my +appearing in the lusty farmer's clothes; and the lady and other friends +had infinite difficulty in keeping their amusement within decent bounds. +I again took speech in hand, but I suspect my words had still the +thickness of the tippler's utterance, for they seemed not to carry much +conviction, "Dear friends, I quite understand your feelings; appearances +are so strangely against me. But I am not drunken, as ye suppose. I have +tasted no intoxicating drink, I am a life-long Total Abstainer!"</p> + +<p>This fairly broke down their reserve. They laughed aloud, looking at +each other and at me, as if to say, "Man, you're drunk at this very +moment."</p> + +<p>Before tea was over they appeared, however, to begin to entertain the +idea that I <i>might</i> address the meeting; and so I was informed of +the arrangements that had been made. At the meeting, my incredulous +friends became very deeply interested. Manifestly their better thoughts +were gaining the ascendency. And they heaped thereafter every kindness +upon me, as if to make amends for harder suspicions.</p> + +<p>Next morning the master drove me about ten miles farther on to the +Church. A groom rode the racehorse, who took no scathe from his +thundering gallop of the day before. It left deeper traces upon me. I +got through the Services, however, and with good returns for the +Mission. Twice since, on my Mission tours, I have found myself at that +same memorable house; and on each occasion, a large company of friends +were regaled by the good lady there with very comical descriptions of my +first arrival at her door.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="49"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XLIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.</h4></center> + +<p>DETAINED for nearly a week at Balmoral by the breakdown of the coach +on these dreadful roads, I telegraphed to Hamilton for a conveyance; and +the Superintendent of the Sunday School, dear Mr. Laidlaw, volunteered, +in order to reduce expenses, to spend one day of his precious time +coming for me, and another driving me down. While awaiting him, I came +into painful and memorable contact with the Aborigines of Australia. The +Publicans had organized a day of sports, horse-racing, and circus +exhibitions. Immense crowds assembled, and, amongst the rest, tribe +after tribe of the Aborigines from all the surrounding country. Despite +the law prohibiting the giving of strong drinks to these poor creatures, +foolish and unprincipled dealers supplied them with the same, and the +very blankets which the Government had given them were freely exchanged +for the fire-water which kindled them to madness.</p> + +<p>Next day was the Sabbath. The morning was hideous with the yells of +the fighting savages. They tore about on the Common in front of the +Church, leading gentlemen having tried in vain to quiet them, and their +wild voices without jarred upon the Morning Service. About two o'clock, +I tried to get into conversation with them. I appealed to them whether +they were not all tired and hungry? They replied that they had had no +food all that day; they had fought since the morning! I said, "I love +you, black fellows. I go Missionary black fellows far away. I love you, +want you rest, get food. Come all of you, rest, sit round me, and we +will talk, till the <i>Jins</i> (=women) get ready tea. They boil water, +and I take tea with you, and then you will be strong!"</p> + +<p>By broken English and by many symbols, I won their ear. They produced +tea and <i>damper, i. e.</i> a rather forbidding-looking bread, without +yeast, baked on the coals. Their wives hasted to boil water. I kept +incessantly talking, to interest them, and told them how Jesus, God's +dear Son, came and died to make them happy, and how He grieved to see +them beating and fighting and killing each other.</p> + +<p>When the tea was ready we squatted on the green grass, their tins +were filled, the <i>damper</i> was broken into lumps, and I asked the +blessing of God on the meal. To me it was unpleasant eating! Many of +them looked strong and healthy; but not a few were weak and dying +creatures. The strong, devouring all they could get, urged me to be +done, and let them finish their fighting, eager for the fray. But having +gained their confidence, I prayed with them, and thereafter said, "Now, +before I leave, I will ask of you to do one thing for my sake, which you +can all easily do." With one voice they replied, "Yes, we all do +whatever you say."</p> + +<p>I got their leaders to promise to me one by one. I then said, "Now +you have got your tea; and I ask every man and boy among you to lie down +in the bush and take a sleep, and your wives will sit by and watch over +your safety!"</p> + +<p>In glum silence, their war weapons still grasped in their hands, they +stood looking intently at me, doubting whether I could be in earnest. I +urged then, "You all promised to do what I asked. If you break your +promise, these white men will laugh at me, and say that black fellows +only lie and deceive. Let them see that you can be trusted. I wait here +till I see you all asleep."</p> + +<p>One said that his head was cut, and he must have revenge before he +could lie down. Others filed past showing their wounds, and declaring +that it was too bad to request them to go to sleep. I praised them as +far as I could, but urged them for once to be men and to keep their +word. Finally, they all agreed to lie down, I waiting till the last man +had disappeared; and being doubly exhausted with the debauch and the +fighting, they were soon all fast asleep. I prayed that the blessed +Sleep might lull their savage passions.</p> + +<p>Before daylight next morning, the Minister and I were hastening to +the scene to prevent further fighting; but as the sun was rising we saw +the last tribe of the distant Natives disappearing over the brow of a +hill. A small party belonging to the district alone remained. They +shouted to us, "Black fellows all gone! No more fight. You too much like +black fellow!"</p> + +<p>For three days afterwards I had still to linger there; and if their +dogs ran or barked at me, the women chased them with sticks and stones, +and protected me. One little touch of kindness and sympathy had unlocked +their darkened hearts.</p> + +<p>Who wonders that the <i>dark</i> races melt away before the +<i>whites?</i> The pioneers of Civilization <i>will</i> carry with them +this demon of strong drink, the fruitful parent of every other vice. The +black people drink, and become unmanageable; and through the white man's +own poison-gift, an excuse is found for sweeping the poor creatures off +the face of the earth. Marsden's writings show how our Australian blacks +are destroyed. But I have myself been on the track of such butcheries +again and again. A Victorian lady told me the following incident. She +heard a child's pitiful cry in the bush. On tracing it, she found a +little girl weeping over her younger brother. She said, "The white men +poisoned our father and mother. They threaten to shoot me, so that I +dare not go near them, I am here, weeping over my brother till we +die!"</p> + +<p>The compassionate lady promised to be a mother to the little +sufferers, and to protect them. They instantly clung to her, and have +proved themselves to be loving and dutiful ever since.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="50"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER L.</h3></center> +<center><h4>NORA.</h4></center> + +<p>WHILE I was pondering over Kingsley's words,—about the blacks +of Australia being "poor brutes in human shape," and too low to take in +the Gospel,—the story of Nora, an Aboriginal Christian woman, whom +I myself actually visited and corresponded with, was brought under my +notice, as if to shatter to pieces everything that the famous preacher +had proclaimed. A dear friend told me how he had seen Nora encamped with +the blacks near Hexham in Victoria. Her husband had lost, through drink, +their once comfortable home at a Station where he was employed. The +change back to life in camp had broken her health, and she lay sick on +the ground within a miserable hut. The visitors found her reading a +Bible, and explaining to a number of her own poor people the wonders of +redeeming love. My friend, Roderick Urquhart, Esq., overcome by the +sight, said, "Nora, I am grieved to see you here, and deprived of every +comfort in your sickness."</p> + +<p>She answered, not without tears, "The change has indeed made me +unwell; but I am beginning to think that this too is far the best; it +has at last brought my poor husband to his senses, and I will grudge +nothing if God thereby brings him to the Saviour's feet!"</p> + +<p>She further explained that she had found wonderful joy in telling her +own people about the true God and His Son Jesus, and was quite assured +that the Lord in His own way would send her relief. The visitors who +accompanied Mr. Urquhart showed themselves to be greatly affected by the +true and pure Christian spirit of this poor Aboriginal, and on parting +she said, "Do not think that I like this miserable hut, or the food, or +the company: but I am and have been happy in trying to do good amongst +my people."</p> + +<p>For my part, let that dear Christlike soul look out on me from her +Aboriginal hut, and I will trample under foot all teachings or +theorizings that dare to say that she or her kind are but poor brutes, +as mere blasphemies against Human Nature! "I thank thee, O Father, Lord +of Heaven and Earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and +prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."</p> + +<p>It is easy to understand how even experienced travelers may be +deluded to believe that the Aborigines have no idols and no religion. +One must have lived amongst them or their kindred ere he can +authoritatively decide these questions. Before I left Melbourne, for +instance, I had met Nathaniel Pepper, a converted Aboriginal from +Wimmera. I asked him if his people had any "Doctors," <i>i. e.</i> +Sacred Men or priests. He said they had. I inquired if they had any +objects of Worship, or any belief in God? He said, "No! None +whatever."</p> + +<p>But on taking from my pocket some four small stone idols, his +expression showed at once that he recognized them as objects of Worship. +He had seen the Sacred Men use them; but he refused to answer any more +questions. I resolved now, if possible, to secure some of their idols, +and set this whole problem once for all at rest.</p> + +<p>At Newstead, on another occasion, I persuaded a whole camp of the +Aborigines to come to my meeting. After the address, they waited to +examine the idols and stone gods which I had shown. Some of the young +men admitted that their "doctors" had things like these, which they and +the old people prayed to; but they added jauntily, "We young fellows +don't worship; we know too much for that!" No "doctors" were, however, +in that camp; so I could not meet with them; but I already felt that the +testimony of nearly all white people that the "blacks" had "no idols and +no worship" was quickly crumbling away.</p> + +<p>On returning to Horsham, from a visit to a great camp of the blacks +at Wonwondah, and having purchased, in the presence of witnesses, +specimens of their idols from the Doctor or Sacred Man of these tribes, +I informed my dear friends, Rev. P. Simpson and his excellent lady, of +my exploits and possessions. He replied, "There is a black 'doctor' gone +round our house just now to see one of his people who is washing here +to-day. Let us go and test them, whether they know these objects."</p> + +<p>Carrying them in his hand, we went to them. The woman instantly on +perceiving them dropped what she was washing, and turned away in +instinctive terror. Mr. Simpson asked, "Have you ever before seen stones +like these?"</p> + +<p>The wily "doctor" replied, "Plenty on the plains, where I kick them +out of my way."</p> + +<p>Taking others out of my pocket, I said, "These make people sick and +well, don't they?"</p> + +<p>His rage overcame his duplicity, and he exclaimed, "What black fellow +give you these? If I know him I do for him!"</p> + +<p>The woman, looking the picture of terror, and pointing to one of the +objects, cried, "That fellow no good! he kill men. No good, no good! Me +too much afraid."</p> + +<p>Then, looking at me, she said, pointing with her finger, "That fellow +savvy (knows) too much! No white man see them. He no good."</p> + +<p>There was more in this scene and in all its surroundings, than in +many arguments; and Mr. Simpson thoroughly believed that these were +objects of idolatrous worship.</p> + +<p>And now let me relate the story of my visit to Nora, the converted +Aboriginal referred to above. Accompanied by Robert Hood, Esq., J. P., +Victoria, I found my way to the encampment near Hexham. She did not know +of our coming, nor see us till we stood at the door of her hut. She was +clean and tidily dressed, as were also her dear little children, and +appeared glad to see us. She had just been reading the <i>Presbyterian +Messenger</i>, and the Bible was lying at her elbow. I said, "Do you +read the <i>Messenger</i>?"</p> + +<p>She replied, "Yes; I like to know what is going on in the +Church."</p> + +<p>We found her to be a sensible and humble Christian woman, conversing +intelligently about religion and serving God devotedly. Next Sabbath she +brought her husband, her children, and six blacks to church, all +decently dressed, and they all listened most attentively.</p> + +<p>At our first meeting I said, "Nora, they tell me you are a Christian. +I want to ask you a few questions about the blacks; and I hope that as a +Christian you will speak the truth." Rather hurt at my language, she +raised her right hand, and replied, "I am a Christian. I fear and serve +the true God. I always speak the truth."</p> + +<p>Taking from my pocket the stone idols from the Islands, I inquired if +her people had or worshipped things like these. She replied, "The +'doctors' have them."</p> + +<p>"Have you a 'doctor' in your camp?" I asked. She said, "Yes, my uncle +is the Sacred Man; but he is now far away from this."</p> + +<p>"Has he the idols with him now?" I inquired. She answered, "No; they +are left in my care."</p> + +<p>I then said, "Could you let us see them?"</p> + +<p>She consulted certain representatives of the tribe who were at hand. +They rose, and removed to a distance. They had consented. Mr. Hood +assured me that no fault would be found with her, as she was the real, +or at least virtual head of the tribe. Out of a larger bag she then drew +two smaller bags, and opened them. They were filled with the very +objects which I had brought from the Islands. I asked her to consult the +men of her tribe whether they would agree to sell four or five of them +to me, that I might by them convince the white people that they had gods +of their own, and are, therefore, above the brutes of the field; the +money to be given to their Sacred Man on his return. This, also, after a +time was agreed to. I selected three of the objects, and paid the +stipulated price. And I have the recorded testimony of "Robert Hood, J. +P., Hexham, Victoria, 28th February, 1863," certifying on his honor all +that I am here affirming.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hood asked Nora how he had never heard of or seen these things +before, living so long amongst them, and blacks constantly coming and +going about his house. She replied, "Long ago white men laughed at black +fellows praying to their idols. Black fellows said, white men never see +them again! Suppose this white man not know all about them, he would not +now see them. No white men live now have seen what you have seen."</p> + +<p>Thus it has been demonstrated on the spot, and in presence of the +most reliable witnesses, that the Aborigines, before they saw the white +invaders, were not "brutes" incapable of knowing God, but human beings, +yearning after a God of some kind. Nor do I believe that any tribe of +men will ever be found, who, when their language and customs are rightly +interpreted, will not display their consciousness of the need of a God, +and that Divine capacity of holding fellowship with the Unseen Powers, +of which the brutes are without one faintest trace.</p> + +<p>Poor, dear, Christian-hearted Nora! The Christ-spirit shines forth +unmistakably through thee,—praying for and seeking to save husband +and children, enduring trials and miseries by the aid of communion with +thy Lord, weeping over the degradation of thy people, and seeking to +lift them up by telling them of the true God and of His love to Mankind +through Jesus Christ.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="51"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>BACK TO SCOTLAND.</h4></center> + +<p>EACH of my Australian Committees strongly urged my return to +Scotland, chiefly to secure, if possible, more Missionaries for the New +Hebrides. Dr. Inglis, just arrived from Britain, where he had the +Aneityumese New Testament carried through the press, also zealously +enforced this appeal.</p> + +<p>Constrained by what appeared to me the Voice of God, I sailed for +London in the <i>Kosciusko</i>, an Aberdeen clipper, on the 17th May, +1863. Captain Stuart made the voyage most enjoyable to all. The Rev. Mr. +Stafford, friend of the good Bishop Selwyn and tutor to his son, +conducted along with myself, alternately, an Anglican and a Presbyterian +Service. We passed through a memorable thunder-burst in rounding the +Cape. Our good ship was perilously struck by lightning. The men on deck +were thrown violently down. The copper in the bulwarks was twisted and +melted—a specimen of which the Captain gave me and I still retain. +When the ball of fire struck the ship, those of us sitting on chairs, +screwed to the floor around the cabin table, felt as if she were +plunging to the bottom. When she sprang aloft again, a military man and +a medical officer were thrown heavily into the back passage between the +cabins, the screws that held their seats having snapped asunder. I, in +grasping the table, got my leg severely bruised, being jammed betwixt +the seat and the table, and had to be carried to my berth. All the men +were attended to, and quickly recovered consciousness; and immediately +the good Captain, an elder of the Church, came to me, and said, "Lead us +in prayer, and let us thank the Lord for this most merciful deliverance; +the ship is not on fire, and no one is seriously injured!"</p> + +<p>Poor fellow! whether hastened on by this event I know not, but he +struggled for three weeks thereafter in a fever, and it took our united +care and love to pull him through. The Lord, however, restored him; and +we cast anchor safely in the East India Docks, at London, on 26th +August, 1863, having been three months and ten days at sea from port to +port.</p> + +<p>It was 5.30 P. M. when we cast anchor, and the gates closed at 6 +o'clock. My little box was ready on deck. The Custom House officers +kindly passed me, and I was immediately on my way to Euston Square. +Never before had I been within the Great City, and doubtless I could +have enjoyed its palaces and memorials. But the King's business +entrusted to me, "required haste," and I felt constrained to press +forward, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left.</p> + +<p>At nine o'clock that evening, I left for Scotland by train. Next +morning, about the same hour, I reported myself at the manse of the Rev. +John Kay, Castle Douglas, the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee +of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, to which I then belonged. We +arranged for a meeting of said Committee, at earliest practicable date, +that my scheme and plans might at once be laid before them.</p> + +<p>By the next train I was on my way to Dumfries, and thence by +conveyance to my dear old home at Torthorwald. There I had a Heavenly +Welcome from my saintly parents, yet not unmixed with many fast-falling +tears. Five brief years only had elapsed, since I went forth from their +Sanctuary, with my young bride; and now, alas! alas! that grave on Tanna +held mother and son locked in each other's embrace till the Resurrection +Day.</p> + +<p>Not less glowing, but more terribly agonizing, was my reception, a +few days thereafter, at Coldstream, when I first gazed on the bereaved +father and mother of my beloved; who, though godly people, were +conscious of a heart-break under that stroke, from which through their +remaining years they never fully rallied. They murmured not against the +Lord; but all the same, heart and flesh began to faint and fail, even as +our Divine Exemplar Himself fainted under the Cross, which yet He so +uncomplainingly bore.</p> + +<p>The Foreign Mission Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church met +in Edinburgh, and welcomed me kindly, nay, warmly. A full report of all +my doings for the past, and of all my plans and hopes, was laid before +them. They at once agreed to my visiting and addressing every +Congregation and Sabbath School in the Church. They opened to me their +Divinity Hall, that I might appeal to the Students. My Address there was +published and largely circulated, under the motto—"Come over and +help us." It was used of God to deepen vastly the interest in our +Mission.</p> + +<p>The Committee generously and enthusiastically did everything in their +power to help me. By their influence, the Church in 1864 conferred on me +the undesired and undeserved honor, the highest which they could +confer—the honor of being the Moderator of their Supreme Court. No +one can understand how much I shrank from all this; but, in hope of the +Lord's using it and me to promote His work amongst the Heathen, I +accepted the Chair, though, I fear, only to occupy it most unworthily, +for Tanna gave me little training for work like that!</p> + +<p>I have ever regarded it as a privilege and honor that I was born and +trained within the old covenanting Reformed Presbyterian Church of +Scotland. As a separate Communion, that Church was small amongst the +thousands of Israel; but the principles of Civil and Religious Liberty +for which her founders suffered and died are, at this moment, the heart +and soul of all that is best and divinest in the Constitution of our +British Empire. I am more proud that the blood of Martyrs is in my +veins, and their truths in my heart, than other men can be of noble +pedigree or royal names.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="52"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>TOUR THROUGH THE OLD COUNTRY.</h4></center> + +<p>My tour through Scotland brought me into contact with every Minister, +Congregation, and Sabbath School in the Church of my fathers. They were +never at any time a rich people, but they were always liberal. At this +time they contributed beyond all previous experience, both in money and +in boxes of useful articles for the Islanders.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, my visit to the far North, to our Congregations at +Wick and Stromness, had been arranged for the month of January; and +thereby a sore trial befell me in my pilgrimages. The roads were covered +with snow and ice. I reached Aberdeen and Wick by steamer from +Edinburgh, and had to find my way thence to Thurso. The inside seats on +the mail coach being all occupied, I had to take my place outside. The +cold was intense, and one of my feet got bitten by the frost. The storm +detained me nearly a week at Thurso, but feeling did not return to the +foot.</p> + +<p>We started, in a lull, by steamer for Stromness; but the storm burst +again, all were ordered below, and hatches and doors made fast. The +passengers were mostly very rough, the place was foul with whisky and +tobacco. I appealed to the Captain to let me crouch somewhere on deck +and hold on as best I could. He shouted, "I dare not! You'll be washed +overboard."</p> + +<p>On seeing my appealing look, he relented, directed his men to fasten +a tarpaulin over me, and lash it and me to the mast, and there I lay +till we reached Stromness. The sea broke heavily and dangerously over +the vessel. But the Captain, finding shelter for several hours under the +lee of a headland, saved both the ship and the passengers. When at last +we landed, my foot was so benumbed and painful that I could move a step +only with greatest agony. Two meetings, however, were in some kind of +way conducted; but the projected visit to Dingwall and other places had +to be renounced, the snow lying too deep for any conveyance to carry me, +and my foot crying aloud for treatment and skill.</p> + +<p>On returning Southwards I was confined for about two months, and +placed under the best medical advice. All feeling seemed gradually to +have departed from my foot; and amputation was seriously proposed both +in Edinburgh and in Glasgow. Having somehow managed to reach Liverpool, +my dear friend, the Rev. Dr. Graham, took me there to a Doctor who had +wrought many wonderful recoveries by galvanism. Time after time he +applied the battery, but I felt nothing. He declared that the power used +would "have killed six ordinary men," and that he had never seen any +part of the human body so dead to feeling on a live and healthy person. +Finally, he covered it all over with a dark plaster, and told me to +return in three days. But next day, the throbbing feeling of +insufferable coldness in the foot compelled me to return at once. After +my persistent appeals, he removed the plaster; and, to his great +astonishment, the whole of the frosted part adhered to it! Again, +dressing the remaining parts, he covered it with plaster as before, and +assured me that with care and rest it would now completely recover. By +the blessing of the Lord it did, though it was a bitter trial to me +amidst all these growing plans to be thus crippled by the way; and to +this day I am sometimes warned in over-walking that the part is capable +of many a painful twinge. And humbly I feel myself crooning over the +graphic words of the Greatest Missionary, "I bear about in my body the +marks of the Lord Jesus."</p> + +<p>On that tour, the Sabbath Schools joyfully adopted my scheme, and +became "Shareholders" in the Mission Ship. It was thereafter ably +developed by an elder of the Church. A <i>Dayspring</i> collecting box +found its way into almost every family; and the returns from Scotland +have yielded ever since about £250 per annum, as their proportion +for the expenses of the Children's Mission Ship to the New Hebrides. The +Church in Nova Scotia heartily accepted the same idea, and their Sabbath +School children have regularly contributed their £250 per annum +too. The Colonial children have contributed the rest, throughout all +these years, with unfailing interest. And whensoever the true and full +history of the South Sea Islands Mission is written for the edification +of the Universal Church, let it not be forgotten that the children of +Australasia, and Nova Scotia, and Scotland, did by their united pennies +keep the <i>Dayspring</i> floating in the New Hebrides; that the +Missionaries and their families were thereby supplied with the +necessaries of life, and that the Islanders were thus taught to clothe +themselves and to sit at the feet of Jesus. This was the Children's Holy +League, erewhile referred to; and one knows that on such a Union the +Divine Master smiles well pleased.</p> + +<p>The Lord also crowned this tour with another precious fruit of +blessing, though not all by any means due to my influence. Four new +Missionaries volunteered from Scotland, and three from Nova Scotia. By +their aid we not only re-claimed for Jesus the posts that had been +abandoned, but we took possession of other Islands in His most blessed +Name. But I did not wait and take them out with me. They had matters to +look into and to learn about, that would be infinitely helpful to them +in the Mission field. Especially, and far above everything else in +addition to their regular Clerical course, some Medical instruction was +an absolute prerequisite. Every Missionary was urged to obtain all +insight that was practicable at the Medical Mission Dispensary, and +otherwise, especially on lines known to be most requisite for these +Islands. For this, and similar objects, all that I raised over and above +what was required for the <i>Dayspring</i> was entrusted to the Foreign +Mission Committee, that the new Missionaries might be fully equipped, +and their outfit and traveling expenses be provided for without +burdening the Church at home. Her responsibilities were already large +enough for her resources. But she could give men, God's own greatest +gift, and His people elsewhere gave the money,—the Colonies and +the Home Country thus binding themselves to each other in this Holy +Mission of the Cross.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="53"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>MARRIAGE AND FAREWELL.</h4></center> + +<p>BUT I did not return alone. The dear Lord had brought to me one +prepared, all unknown to either of us, by special culture, by godly +training, by many gifts and accomplishments, and even by family +associations, to share my lot on the New Hebrides. Her brother had been +an honored Missionary in the Foreign field, and had fallen asleep while +the dew of youth was yet upon him; her sister was the wife of a devoted +Minister of our Church in Adelaide, both she and her husband being +zealous promoters of our work; and her father had left behind him a +fragrant memory through his many Christian works at Edinburgh, Kenneth, +and Alloa, besides being not unknown to fame as the author of those +still popular books, <i>Whitecross's Anecdotes</i>, illustrative of the +Shorter Catechism and of the Holy Scriptures. Ere I left Scotland in +1864, I was married to Margaret Whitecross, and God spares us to each +other still (1892); and the family which He has been pleased in His love +to grant unto us we have dedicated to His service, with the prayer and +hope that He may use every one of them in spreading the Gospel +throughout the Heathen World.</p> + +<p>Our marriage was celebrated at her sister's house in Edinburgh; and I +may be pardoned for recalling a little event which characterized the +occasion. My youngest brother, then tutor to a gentleman studying at the +University, stepped forth at the close of the ceremony and recited an +Epithalamium composed for the day. For many a month and year the +refrain, a play upon the Bride's name, kept singing itself through my +memory:—</p> + +<p>"Long may the <i>Whitecross</i> banner wave, <br>By the battle blasts +unriven; <br>Long may our Brother and Sister brave <br>Rejoice in the +light of Heaven."</p> + +<p>He describes the Bride as hearing a "Voice from the far Pacific +Seas"; and turning to us both, he sang of an Angel "beckoning us to the +Tanna-land," to gather a harvest of souls:—</p> + +<p>"The warfare is brief, the crown is bright, <br>The pledge is the +souls of men; <br>Go, may the Lord defend the Right, <br>And restore you +safe again!"</p> + +<p>But the verse which my dear wife thought most beautiful for a bridal +day, and which her memory cherishes still, was this:—</p> + +<p>"May the ruddy Joys, and the Graces fair, <br>Wait fondly around you +now; <br>Sweet angel Hopes and young Loves repair <br>To your home and +bless your vow!"</p> + +<p>My last scene in Scotland was kneeling at the family altar in the old +Sanctuary Cottage at Torthorwald, while my venerable father, with his +high-priestly locks of snow-white hair streaming over his shoulders, +commenced us once again to "the care and keeping of the Lord God of the +families of Israel." It was the last time that ever on this Earth those +accents of intercession, loaded with a pathos of deathless love, would +fall upon my ears. I knew to a certainty that when we rose from our +knees and said farewell, our eyes would never meet again till they were +flooded with the lights of the Resurrection Day. But he and my darling +mother gave us away once again with a free heart, not unpierced with the +sword of human anguish, to the service of our common Lord and to the +Salvation of the Heathen. And we went forth, praying that a double +portion of their spirit, along with their precious blessing, might rest +upon us in all the way that we had to go.</p> + +<p>Our beloved mother, always more self-restrained, and less +demonstrative in the presence of others, held back her heart till we +were fairly gone from the door; and then, as my dear brother afterward +informed me, she fell back into his arms with a great cry, as if all the +heart-strings had broken, and lay for long in a deathlike swoon. Oh, all +ye that read this page, think most tenderly of the cries of Nature, even +where Grace and Faith are in perfect triumph. Read, through scenes like +these, a fuller meaning into the words addressed to that blessed Mother, +whose Son was given for us all, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine +own soul also."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="54"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FIRST PEEP AT THE "DAYSPRING."</h4></center> + +<p>WE embarked at Liverpool for Australia in <i>The Crest o' the +Wave</i>, Captain Ellis; and, after what was then considered a fast +passage of ninety-five days, we landed at Sydney on 17th January, 1865. +Within an hour we had to grapple with a new and amazing perplexity. The +Captain of our <i>Dayspring</i> came to inform me that his ship had +arrived three days ago and now lay in the stream,—that she had +been to the Islands, and had settled the Gordons, M'Cullaghs, and +Morrisons on their several stations,—that she had left Halifax in +Nova Scotia fourteen months ago, and that now, on arriving at Sydney, he +could not get one penny of money, and that the crew were clamoring for +their pay, etc. etc. He continued, "Where shall I get money for current +expenses? No one will lend unless we mortgage the <i>Dayspring</i>. I +fear there is nothing before us but to sell her!" I gave him £50 +of my own to meet clamant demands, and besought him to secure me a day +or two of delay that something might be done.</p> + +<p>Having landed, and been heartily welcomed by dear Dr. and Mrs. Moon +and other friends, I went with a kind of trembling joy to have my first +look at the <i>Dayspring</i>, like a sailor getting a first peep at the +child born to him whilst far away on the sea. Some of the irritated +ship's company stopped us by the way, and threatened prosecution and all +sorts of annoyance. I could only urge again for a few days' patience. I +found her to be a beautiful two-masted Brigantine, with a deck-house +(added when she first arrived at Melbourne), and every way suitable for +our necessities,—a thing of beauty, a white-winged Angel set +a-floating by the pennies of the children to bear the Gospel to these +sin-darkened but sun-lit Southern Isles. To me she became a sort of +living thing, the impersonation of a living and throbbing love in the +heart of thousands of "shareholders"; and I said, with a deep, +indestructible faith,—"The Lord has provided—the Lord will +provide."</p> + +<p>Since she sailed, £1400 had been expended; for present +liabilities at least £700 more were instantly required: and, at +any rate, as large a sum to pay her way and meet expenses of next trip +to the Islands. Having laid our perplexing circumstances before our dear +Lord Jesus, having "spread out" all the details in His sympathetic +presence, pleading that the Ship itself and the new Missionaries were +all His own, not mine, I told Him that this money was needed to do His +own blessed work.</p> + +<p>On Friday morning, I consulted friends of the Mission, but no help +was visible. I tried to borrow, but found that the lender demanded 20 +per cent for interest, besides the title-deeds of the ship for security. +I applied for a loan from the agent of the London Missionary Society +(then agent for us too) on the credit of the Reformed Presbyterian +Church's Foreign Committee, but he could not give it without a written +order from Scotland. There were some who seemed rather to enjoy our +perplexity!</p> + +<p>Driven thus to the wall, I advertised for a meeting of Ministers and +other friends, next morning at eleven o'clock, to receive my report and +to consult <i>re</i> the <i>Dayspring</i>. I related my journeyings +since leaving them and the results, and then asked for advice about the +ship.</p> + +<p>"Sell her," said some, "and have done with it."—"What," said +others, "have the Sabbath Schools given you the <i>Dayspring</i> and can +you not support her yourselves?"</p> + +<p>I pointed out to them that the salary of each Missionary was then +only £120 per annum, that they gave their lives for the Heathen, +and that surely the Colonial Christians would undertake the up-keep of +the ship, which was necessary to the very existence of the Mission. I +appealed to them that, as my own Church in Scotland had now one +Missionary abroad for every six Ministers at home, and the small +Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia had actually three Missionaries now +on our Islands, it would be a blessed privilege for the Australian +Churches and Sabbath Schools to keep the <i>Dayspring</i> afloat, +without whose services the Missionaries could not live nor the Islanders +be evangelized.</p> + +<p>Being Saturday, the morning Services for Sabbath were all arranged +for, or advertised; but Dr. M'Gibbon offered me a meeting for the +evening, and Dr. Steel an afternoon Service at three o'clock, combined +with his Sabbath School. Rev. Mr. Patterson of Piermont, offered me a +Morning Service; but, as his was only a Mission Church, he could not +give me a collection. These openings I accepted, as from the Lord, +however much they fell short of what I desired.</p> + +<p>At the Morning Service I informed the congregation how we were +situated, and expressed the hope that under God and their devoted pastor +they would greatly prosper, and would yet be able to help in supporting +our Mission to their South Sea neighbors. Returning to the vestry, a +lady and gentleman waited to be introduced to me. They were from +Launceston, Tasmania.</p> + +<p>"I am," said he, "Captain and owner of that vessel lying at anchor +opposite the <i>Dayspring</i>. My wife and I, being too late to get on +shore to attend any Church in the city, heard this little Chapel bell +ringing, and followed, when we saw you going up the hill. We have so +enjoyed the Service. We do heartily sympathize with you. This check for +£50 will be a beginning to help you out of your difficulties."</p> + +<p>The reader knows how warmly I would thank them; and how in my own +heart I knew <i>Who</i> it was that made them arrive too late for +<i>their</i> plans, but not for <i>His</i>, and led them up that hill, +and opened their hearts. Jehovah-Jireh?</p> + +<p>At three o'clock, Dr. Steel's Church was filled with children and +others. I told them in my appeal what had happened in the Mission +Chapel, and how God had led Captain Frith and his wife, entire +strangers, to sound the first note of our deliverance. One man stood up +and said, "I will give £10." Another, "I will give £5." A +third, "I shall send you £20 to-morrow morning." Several others +followed their example, and the general collection was greatly +encouraging.</p> + +<p>In the evening I had a very large as well as sympathetic +congregation. I fully explained the difficulty about the +<i>Dayspring</i>, and told them what God had already done for us, +announcing an address to which contributions might be sent. Almost every +mail brought me the free-will offerings of God's people; and on +Wednesday, when the adjourned meeting was held, the sum had reached in +all £456. Believing that the Lord thus intervened at a vital +crisis in our Mission, I dwell on it to the praise of His blessed Name. +Trust in Him, obey Him, and He will not suffer you to be put to +shame.</p> + +<p>Clearing out from her sister ships, then in harbor, the <i>John +Williams</i> and the <i>John Wesley</i>, our little <i>Dayspring</i> +sailed for Tasmania. At Hobart we were visited by thousands of children +and parents, and afterwards at Launceston, who were proud to see their +own Ship, in which they were "shareholders" for Jesus. Daily, all over +the Colony, I preached in churches, and addressed public meetings, and +got collections, and gave out Collection Cards to be returned within two +weeks.</p> + +<p>We received many tokens of interest and sympathy. The steam tug was +granted to us free, and the harbor dues were remitted. Many presents +were also sent on board the <i>Dayspring</i>. Still, after meeting all +necessary outlays, the trip to Tasmania gave us only £227: 8: 11 +clear for the Mission fund.</p> + +<p>Sailing now for South Australia, we arrived at Adelaide. Many friends +there showed the deepest interest in our plans. Thousands of children +and parents came to visit their own Mission Ship by several special +trips. Daily and nightly I addressed meetings, and God's people were +moved greatly in the cause. After meeting ail expenses while in port, +there remained a sum of £634: 9: 2 for the up-keep of the vessel. +The Honorable George Fife Angus gave me £241—a dear friend +belonging to the Baptist Church. But there was still a deficit of +£400 before the <i>Dayspring</i> could sail free of debt, and my +heart was sore as I cried for it to the Lord.</p> + +<p>Leaving the ship to sail direct for Sydney, I took steamer to +Melbourne; but, on arriving there, sickness and anxiety laid me aside +for three days. Under great weakness, I crept along to my dear friends +at the Scotch College, Dr. and Mrs. Morrison, and Miss Fraser, and threw +myself on their advice.</p> + +<p>"Come along," said the Doctor cheerily, "and I'll introduce you to +Mr. Butchart and one or two friends in East Melbourne, and we'll see +what what can be done!"</p> + +<p>I gave all information, being led on in conversation by the Doctor, +and tried to interest them in our work, but no subscriptions were asked +or received. Ere I sailed for Sydney however, the whole deficiency was +sent to me. I received in all, on this tour, the sum of £1726: 9: +10. Our <i>Dayspring</i> once more sailed free, and our hearts +overflowed with gratitude to the Lord and to His stewards!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="55"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC.</h4></center> + +<p>We went down to the Islands with the <i>Dayspring</i> in 1865. The +full story of the years that had passed was laid before my Missionary +brethren at their Annual Synod. They resolved that permanent +arrangements must now be made for the vessel's support, and that I must +return to the Colonies and see these matured, to prevent any such crisis +as that through which we had recently passed. This, meantime, appeared +to all of them, the most clamant of all Missionary duties,—their +very lives, and the existence of the Mission itself, depending thereon. +The Lord seemed to leave me no alternative: and, with great reluctance, +my back was again turned away from the Islands.</p> + +<p>The <i>Dayspring</i>, doing duty among the Loyalty Islands, left me, +along with my dear wife, on Mare, there to await an opportunity of +getting to New Caledonia, and thence to Sydney. Detained there for some +time, we saw the noble work done by Messrs. Jones and Creagh, of the +London Missionary Society, all being cruelly undone by the tyranny and +Popery of the French. One day, in an inland walk, Mrs. Paton and I came +on a large Conventicle in the bush. They were teaching each other, and +reading the Scriptures which the Missionaries had translated into their +own language, and which the French had forbidden them to use. They cried +to God for deliverance from their oppressors! Missionaries were +prohibited from teaching the Gospel to the Natives without the +permission of France; their books were suppressed, and they themselves +placed under military guard on the Island of Lifu. Even when, by +Britain's protest, the Missionaries were allowed to resume their work, +the French language was alone to be used by them; and some, like Rev. J. +Jones (as far down as 1888), were marched on board a Man-of-war, at half +an hour's notice, and, without crime laid to their charge, forbidden +ever to return to the Islands. While, on the other hand, the French +Popish Missionaries were everywhere fostered and protected, presenting +to the Natives as many objects of idolatry as their own, and following, +as is the custom of the Romish Church in those Seas, in the wake of +every Protestant Mission, to pollute and to destroy.</p> + +<p>Being delayed also for two weeks on Noumea, we saw the state of +affairs under military rule. English Protestant residents, few in +number, appealed to me to conduct worship, but liberty could not be +obtained from the authorities, who hated everything English. Again a +number of Protestant parents, some French, others English and German, +applied to me to baptize their children at their own houses. To have +asked permission would have been to court refusal, and to falsify my +position. I laid the matter before the Lord, and baptized them all. +Within two days the Private Secretary of the Governor arrived with an +interpreter, and began to inquire of me, "Is it true that you have been +baptizing here?"</p> + +<p>I replied quite frankly, "It is."</p> + +<p>"We are sent to demand on whose authority?"</p> + +<p>"On the authority of my Great Master."</p> + +<p>"When did you get that authority?"</p> + +<p>"When I was licensed and ordained to preach the Gospel, I got that +authority from my Great Master."</p> + +<p>Here a spirited conversation followed betwixt the two in French, and +they politely bowed, and left me.</p> + +<p>Very shortly they returned, saying, "The Governor sends his +compliments, and he wishes the honor of a visit from you at Government +House at three o'clock, if convenient for you."</p> + +<p>I returned my greeting, and said that I would have pleasure in +waiting upon his Excellency at the appointed hour. I thought to myself +that I was in for it now, and I earnestly cried for Divine guidance.</p> + +<p>He saluted me graciously as "de great Missionary of de New Hebrides." +He conversed in a very friendly manner about the work there, and seemed +anxious to find any indication as to the English designs. I had to deal +very cautiously. He spoke chiefly through the interpreter; but, +sometimes dismissing him, he talked to me as good, if not better English +himself. He was eager to get my opinions as to how Britain got and +retained her power over the Natives. After a very prolonged interview, +we parted without a single reference to the baptisms or to religious +services!</p> + +<p>That evening the Secretary and interpreter waited upon us at our Inn, +saying, "The Governor will have pleasure in placing his yacht and crew +at your disposal to-morrow. Mrs. Paton and you can sail all around, and +visit the Convict Island, and the Government Gardens, where lunch will +be prepared for you."</p> + +<p>It was a great treat to us indeed. The crew were in prison garments, +but all so kind to us. By Convict labor all the public works seemed to +be carried on, and the Gardens were most beautiful. The carved work in +bone, ivory, cocoanuts, shells, etc., was indeed very wonderful. We +bought a few specimens, but the prices were beyond our purse. It was a +strange spectacle—these things of beauty and joy, and beside them +the chained gangs of fierce and savage Convicts, kept down only by +bullet and sword!</p> + +<p>Thanking the Governor for his exceeding kindness, I referred to their +Man-of-war about to go to Sydney, and offered to pay full passage money +if they would take me, instead of leaving me to wait for a "trader." He +at once granted my request, and arranged that we should be charged only +at the daily cost for the sailors. At his suggestion, however, I took a +number of things on board with me, and presented them to be used at the +cabin table. We were most generously treated—the Captain giving up +his own room to my wife and myself, as they had no special accommodation +for passengers.</p> + +<p>Noumea appeared to me at that time to be wholly given over to +drunkenness and vice, supported as a great Convict Settlement by the +Government of France, and showing every extreme of reckless, worldly +pleasure, and of cruel, slavish toil. When I saw it again, +three-and-twenty years thereafter, it showed no signs of progress for +the better. It there be a God of justice and of love, His blight cannot +but rest on a nation whose pathway is stained with corruption and +steeped in blood, as is undeniably the case with France in the Pacific +Isles.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="56"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE GOSPEL AND GUNPOWDER.</h4></center> + +<p>Arriving at Sydney, I was at once plunged into a whirlpool of +horrors. H. M. S. <i>Curaçoa</i> had just returned from her +official trip to the Islands, in which the Commodore, Sir William +Wisenian, had thought it his duty to inflict punishment on the Natives +for murder and robbery of Traders and others. On these Islands, as in +all similar cases, the Missionaries had acted as interpreters, and of +course always used their influence on the side of mercy, and in the +interests of peace. But Sydney, and indeed Australia and the Christian +World, were thrown into a ferment just a few days before our arrival, by +certain articles in a leading publication there, and by the pictorial +illustrations of the same. They were professedly from an officer on +board Her Majesty's ship, and the sensation was increased by their +apparent truthfulness and reality. Tanna was the scene of the first +event, and a series was to follow in succeeding numbers. The +<i>Curaçoa</i> was pictured lying at anchor off the shore having +the <i>Dayspring</i> astern. The Tannese warriors were being blown to +pieces by shot and shell, and lay in heaps on the bloody coast. And the +Missionaries were represented as safe in the lee of the Man-of-war, +directing the onslaught, and gloating over the carnage.</p> + +<p>Without a question being asked or a doubt suggested, without a voice +being raised in fierce denial that such men as these Missionaries were +known to be could be guilty of such conduct,—men who had jeoparded +their lives for years on end rather than hurt one hair on a Native's +head,—a cry of execration, loud and deep, and even savage, arose +from the Press, and was apparently joined in by the Church itself. The +common witticism about the "Gospel and Gunpowder" headed hundreds of +bitter and scoffing articles in the journals; and, as we afterwards +learned, the shocking news had been telegraphed to Britain and America, +losing nothing in force by the way, and, while filling friends of +Missions with dismay, was dished up day after day with every imaginable +enhancement of horror for the readers of the secular and infidel Press. +As I stepped ashore at Sydney I found myself probably the best-abused +man in all Australia, and the very name of the New Hebrides Mission +stinking in the nostrils of the people.</p> + +<p>The gage of battle had been thrown and fell at my feet. Without one +moment's delay I lifted it in the name of my Lord and of my maligned +brethren. That evening my reply was in the hands of the editor, denying +that such battles ever took place, retailing the actual facts of which I +had been myself an eyewitness, and intimating legal prosecution unless +the most ample and unequivocal withdrawal and apology were at once +published. The Newspaper printed my rejoinder, and made satisfactory +amends for having been imposed upon and deceived. I waited upon the +Commodore and appealed for his help in redressing this terrible injury +to our Mission. He informed me that he had already called his officers +to account, but that all denied any connection with the articles or the +picture. He had little doubt, all the same, that some one on board was +the prompter, who gloried in the evil that was being done to the cause +of Christ. He offered every possible assistance, by testimony or +otherwise, to place all the facts before the Christian public and to +vindicate our Missionaries.</p> + +<p>The outstanding facts are best presented in the following extract +from the official report of the Mission Synod:—</p> + +<p>"When the New Hebrides Missionaries were assembled at their annual +meeting on Aneityum, H. M. S. <i>Curaçoa</i>, Sir Win. Wiseman, +Bart., C. B., arrived in the harbor to investigate many grievances of +white men and trading vessels among the Islands. A petition having been +previously presented to the Governor in Sydney, as drawn out by the +Revs. Messrs. Geddie and Copeland, after the murder of Mr. and Mrs. +Gordon on Erromanga, requesting an investigation into the sad event, and +the removal of a Sandal-wood Trader, a British subject, who had incited +the Natives to it,—the Missionaries gave the Commodore a +memorandum on the loss of life and property that had been sustained by +the Mission on Tanna, Erromanga, and Efate. He requested the +Missionaries to supply him with interpreters, and requested the +<i>Dayspring</i> to accompany him with them. The request was at once +acceded to. Mr. Paton was appointed to act as interpreter for Tanna, Mr. +Gordon (brother of the martyr) for Erromanga, and Mr. Morrison for +Efate.</p> + +<p>"At each of these Islands, the Commodore summoned the principal +Chiefs near the harbors to appear before him, and explained to them that +his visit was to inquire into the complaints British subjects had made +against them, and to see if they had any against British subjects; and +when he had found out the truth he would punish those who had done the +wrong and protect those who had suffered wrong. The Queen did not send +him to compel them to become Christians, or to punish them for not +becoming Christians. She left them to do as they liked in this matter; +but she was very angry at them because they had encouraged her subjects +to live amongst them, sold them land, and promised to protect them, and +afterwards murdered some of them and attempted to murder others, and +stolen and destroyed their property; that the inhabitants of these +islands were talked of over the whole world for their treachery, +cruelty, and murders; and that the Queen would no longer allow them to +murder or injure her subjects, who were living peaceably among them +either as Missionaries or Traders. She would send a Ship of War every +year to inquire into their conduct, and if any white man injured any +Native they were to tell the Captain of the Man-of-war, and the white +man would be punished as fast as the black man."</p> + +<p>After spending much time, and using peaceably every means in his +power in trying to get the guilty parties on Tanna, and not succeeding, +he shelled two villages,—having the day before informed the +Natives that he would do so, and advising to have all women, children, +and sick removed, which in fact they did. Indeed nearly the whole of the +inhabitants, young and old, went to Nowar's land, where they were +instructed they would be safe, while they witnessed what a Man-of-war +could do in punishing murderers. But before the hour approached, a +foolish host of Tannese warriors had assembled on the beach, painted and +armed and determined to fight the Man-of-war! And the Chief of a village +on the other side of the bay was at that moment assembled with his men +on the high ground within our view, and dancing to a war song in +defiance.</p> + +<p>The Commodore caused a shell to strike the hill and explode with +terrific fury just underneath the dancers. The earth and the bush were +torn and thrown into the air above and around them; and next moment the +whole host were seen disappearing over the brow of the hill. Two shots +were sent over the heads of the warriors on the shore, with terrific +noise and uproar: in an instant, every man was making haste for Nowar's +land, the place of refuge. The Commodore then shelled the villages, and +destroyed their property. Beyond what I have here recorded, absolutely +nothing was done.</p> + +<p>We returned then for a moment to Sydney. The public excitement made +it impossible for me to open my lips in the promotion of our Mission. +The Rev. Drs. Dunmore, Lang and Steel, along with Professor Smith of the +University, waited on the Commodore, and got an independent version of +the facts. They then called a meeting on the affair by public +advertisement. Without being made acquainted with the results of their +investigations, I was called upon to give my own account of the +<i>Curaçoa's</i> visit and of the connection of the Missionaries +therewith. They then submitted the Commodore's statement, given by him +in writing. He exonerated the Missionaries from every shadow of blame +and from all responsibility. In the interests of mercy as well as +justice, and to save life, they had acted as his interpreters; and there +all that they had to do with the <i>Curaçoa</i> began and ended. +All this was published in the newspapers next day, along with the +speeches of the three deputies. The excitement began to subside. But the +poison had been lodged in many hearts, and the ejectment of it was a +slow and difficult process.</p> + +<p>Feeling absolutely conscious that I had only done my Christian duty, +I left all results in the hands of my Lord Jesus, and pressed forward in +His blessed work. But more than one dear personal friend had to be +sacrificed over this painful affair. A presbyterian Minister, and a +godly elder and his wife, all most excellent and well-beloved, at whose +houses I had been received as a brother, intimated to me that owing to +this case of the <i>Curaçoa</i> their friendship and mine must +entirely cease in this world. And it did cease; but my esteem never +changed. I had learned not to think unkindly of friends, even when they +manifestly misunderstood my actions. Nor would these things merit being +recorded here, were it not that they may be at once a beacon and a +guide. God's people are still belied. And the mob is still as ready as +ever to cry, "Crucify! Crucify!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="57"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A PLEA FOR TANNA.</h4></center> + +<p>EVERYTHING having been at length arranged for in the Colonies, in +connection with the Mission and <i>Dayspring</i>, as far as could +possibly be,—and I having been adopted by the Victorian Assembly +of 1866, as the first Missionary from the Presbyterian Church of +Australia to the New Hebrides,—we sailed for the Islands on the +8th August of that year. Besides my wife and child, the following +accompanied us to the field: Revs. Copeland, Cosh, and M'Nair, along +with their respective wives. On 20th August we reached Aneityum; and, +having landed some of our friends, we sailed Northwards, as far as +Efate, to let the new Missionaries see all the Islands open for +occupation, and to bring all our Missionaries back to the annual +meeting, where the permanent settlements would be finally agreed +upon.</p> + +<p>While staying at Aneityum, I learned with as deep emotion as man ever +felt for man, that noble old Abraham, the sharer of my Tannese trials, +had during the interval peacefully fallen asleep in Jesus. He left for +me his silver watch—one which I had myself sent to the dear soul +from Sydney, and which he greatly prized. In his dying hour he said, +"Give it to Missi, my own Missi Paton; and tell him that I go to Jesus, +where Time is dead."</p> + +<p>I learned also, and truly human-hearted readers will need no apology +for introducing this news in so grave a story—that my faithful dog +<i>Clutha</i>, entrusted to the care of a kindly Native to be kept for +my return, had, despite all coaxing, grown weary of heart amongst all +these dark faces, and fallen asleep too, truly not unworthy of a +grateful tear!</p> + +<p>At our annual Synod, after much prayerful deliberation and the +careful weighing of every vital circumstance, I was constrained by the +united voice of my brethren not to return to Tanna, but to settle on the +adjoining island of Aniwa (=A-neé-wa). It was even hoped that +thereby Tanna might eventually be the more surely reached and +evangelized.</p> + +<p>By the new Missionaries all the other old Stations were reoccupied +and some fresh Islands were entered upon in the name of Jesus. As we +moved about with our <i>Dayspring</i>, and planted the Missionaries here +and there, nothing could repress the wonder of Natives.</p> + +<p>"How is this?" they cried. "We slew or drove them all away! We +plundered their houses and robbed them. Had we been so treated, nothing +would have made us return. But they come back with a beautiful new ship, +and with more and more Missionaries. And is it to trade and to get +money, like the other white men? No! no! But to tell us of their Jehovah +God and of His Son Jesus. If their God makes them do all that, we may +well worship Him too."</p> + +<p>In this way, island after island was opened up to receive the +Missionary, and their Chiefs bound themselves to protect and cherish +him, before they knew anything whatever of the Gospel, beyond what they +saw in the disposition and character of its Preachers or heard rumored +regarding its fruits on other Islands. Imagine <i>Cannibals</i> found +thus prepared to welcome the Missionary, and to make not only his +property but his life comparatively safe. The Isles "wait" for +Christ.</p> + +<p>On our way to Aniwa, the <i>Dayspring</i> had to call at Tanna. By +stress of weather we lay several days in Port Resolution. And there many +memories were again revived—wounds that after five-and-twenty +years, when I now write, still bleed afresh! Nowar, the old Chief, +unstable but friendly, was determined to keep us there by force or by +fraud. The Captain told him that the council of the Missionaries had +forbidden him to land our boxes at Tanna.</p> + +<p>"Don't land them," said the wily Chief, "just throw them over; my men +and I will catch everything before it reaches the water, and carry them +all safely ashore!"</p> + +<p>The Captain said he durst not. "Then," persisted Nowar, "just point +them out to us; you will have no further trouble; we will manage +everything for Missi."</p> + +<p>They were in distress when he refused; and poor old Nowar tried +another tack. Suspecting that my clear wife was afraid of them, he got +us on shore to see his extensive plantations. Turning eagerly to her, he +said, leaving me to interpret, "Plenty of food! While I have a yam or a +banana, you shall not want."</p> + +<p>She answered, "I fear not any lack of food."</p> + +<p>Pointing to his warriors, he cried, "We are many! We are strong! We +can always protect you."</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid," she calmly replied.</p> + +<p>He then led us to that chestnut tree, in the branches of which I had +sat during a lonely and memorable night, when all hope had perished of +any earthly deliverance, and said to her with a manifest touch of +genuine emotion, "The God who protected Missi there will always protect +you."</p> + +<p>She told him that she had no fear of that kind, but explained to him +that we must for the present go to Aniwa, but would return to Tanna, if +the Lord opened up our way. Nowar, Arkurat, and the rest, seemed to be +genuinely grieved, and it touched my soul to the quick.</p> + +<p>A beautiful incident was the outcome, as we learned only in long +after years. There was at that time an Aniwan Chief on Tanna, visiting +friends. He was one of their great Sacred Men. He and his people had +been promised a passage home in the <i>Dayspring</i>, with their canoes +in tow. When old Nowar saw that he could not keep us with himself, he +went to this Aniwan Chief, and took the white shells, the insignia of +Chieftainship, from his own arm, and bound them on the Sacred Man, +saying, "By these you promise to protect my Missi and his wife and child +on Aniwa. Let no evil befall them; or, by this pledge, I and my people +will revenge it."</p> + +<p>In a future crisis, this probably saved our lives, as shall be +afterwards related. After all, a bit of the Christ-Spirit had found its +way into that old cannibal's soul! And the same Christ-Spirit in me +yearned more strongly still, and made it a positive pain to pass on to +another Island, and leave him in that dim-groping twilight of the +soul.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="58"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>OUR NEW HOME ON ANIWA.</h4></center> + +<p>ANIWA became my Mission Home in November, 1866; and for the next +fifteen years it was the heart and center of my personal labors in the +Heathen World. Since 1881, alas! my too frequent deputation pilgrimages +among Churches in Great Britain and in the Colonies have rendered my +visits to Aniwa but few and far between. God never guided me back to +Tanna; but others, my dear friends, have seen His Kingdom planted and +beginning to grow amongst that slowly relenting race. Aniwa was to be +the land wherein my past years of toil and patience and faith were to +see their fruits ripening at length. I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by +the grace of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour's feet.</p> + +<p>The Island of Aniwa is one of the smaller isles of the New Hebrides. +It measures scarcely seven miles by two, and is everywhere girt round +with a belt of coral reef. The sea breaks thereon heavily, with +thundering roar, and the white surf rolls in furious and far. But there +are days of calm, when all the sea is glass, and the spray on the reef +is only a fringe of silver.</p> + +<p>Aniwa, having no hills to attract and condense the clouds, suffers +badly for lack of genial rains; and the heavy rains of hurricane and +tempest seem to disappear as if by magic through the light soil and +porous rock. The moist atmosphere and the heavy dews, however keep the +Island covered with green, while large and fruitful trees draw wondrous +nourishment from their rocky beds.</p> + +<p>Aniwa has no harbor, or safe anchorage of any kind for ships; though, +in certain winds, they have been seen at anchor on the outer edge of the +reef, always a perilous haven! There is one rock in the coral belt, +through which a boat can safely run to shore; but the little wharf, +built there of the largest coral blocks that could be rolled together, +has been once and again swept clean off by the hurricane, leaving "not a +wrack behind."</p> + +<p>When we landed, the Natives received us kindly. They and the +Aneityumese Teachers led us to a temporary home, prepared for our abode. +It was a large Native Hut. Walls and roof consisted of sugar-cane leaf +and reeds, intertwisted on a strong wooden frame. It had neither doors +nor windows, but open spaces instead of these. The earthen floor alone +looked beautiful, covered thick with white coral broken small. It had +only one apartment; and that, meantime, had to serve also for Church and +School and Public Hall. We screened off a little portion, and behind +that screen planted our bed, and stored our valuables. All the natives +within reach assembled to watch us taking our food! A box at first +served for a chair, the lid of another box was our table, our cooking +was all done in the open air under a large tree, and we got along with +amazing comfort. But the house was under the shelter of a coral rock, +and we saw at a glance that at certain seasons it would prove a very +hotbed of fever and ague. We were, however, only too thankful to enter +it, till a better could be built, and on a breezier site.</p> + +<p>The Aniwans were not so violently dishonorable as the Tannese. But +they had the knack of asking in a rather menacing manner whatever they +coveted; and the tomahawk was sometimes swung to enforce an appeal. We +strove to get along quietly and kindly, in the hope that when we knew +their language, and could teach them the principles of Jesus, they would +be saved, and life and property would be secure. But the rumor of the +<i>Curaçoa's</i> visit and her punishment of murder and robbery +did more, by God's blessing, to protect us during those Heathen days +than all other influences combined. The savage cannibal was heard to +whisper to his bloodthirsty mates, "not to murder or to steal, for the +Man-of-war that punished Tanna would blow up their little island!"</p> + +<p>Sorrowful experience on Tanna had taught us to seek the site of our +Aniwan house on the highest ground, and away from the malarial +influences near the shore. There was one charming mound, covered with +trees, whose roots ran down into the crevices of coral, and from which +Tanna and Erromanga are clearly seen. But there the Natives for some +superstitious reason forbade us to build, and we were constrained to +take another rising ground somewhat nearer the shore. In the end, this +turned out to be the very best site on the island for us, central and +suitable every way. But we afterwards learned that perhaps superstition +also led them to sell us this site, in the malicious hope that it would +prove our ruin. The mounds on the top, which had to be cleared away, +contained the bones and refuse of their Cannibal feasts for ages. None +but their Sacred Men durst touch them; and the Natives watched us hewing +and digging, certain that their gods would strike us dead! That failing, +their thoughts may probably have been turned to reflect that after all +the Jehovah God was stronger than they.</p> + +<p>In leveling the site, and gently sloping the sides of the ground for +good drainage purposes, I had gathered together two large baskets of +human bones. I said to a Chief in Tannese, "How do these bones come to +be here?"</p> + +<p>And he replied, with a shrug worthy of a cynical Frenchman, "Ah, we +are not Tanna-men! We don't eat the bones!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="59"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>HOUSE-BUILDING FOR GOD.</h4></center> + +<p>THE site being now cleared, we questioned whether to build only a +temporary home, hoping to return to dear old Tanna as soon as possible, +or, though the labor would be vastly greater, a substantial +house—for the comfort of our successors, if not of ourselves. We +decided that, as this was work for God, we would make it the very best +we could. We planned two central rooms, sixteen feet by sixteen, with a +five feet wide lobby between, so that other rooms could be added when +required. About a quarter of a mile from the sea, and thirty-five feet +above its level, I laid the foundations of the house. Coral blocks +raised the wall about three feet high all round. Air passages carried +sweeping currents underneath each room, and greatly lessened the risk of +fever and ague. A wide trench was dug all round, and filled up as a +drain with broken coral. At back and front, the verandah stretched five +feet wide; and pantry, bath-room, and tool-house were partitioned off +under the verandah behind. The windows sent to me had hinges; I added +two feet to each, with wood from Mission-boxes, and made them French +door-windows, opening from each room to the verandah. And so we had, by +God's blessing, a healthy spot to live in, if not exactly a thing of +beauty!</p> + +<p>The Mission House, as ultimately finished, had six rooms, three on +each side of the lobby, and measured ninety feet in length, surrounded +by a verandah, one hundred feet by five, which kept everything shaded +and cool. Underneath two rooms a cellar was dug eight feet deep, and +shelved all round for a store. In more than one terrific hurricane that +cellar saved our lives,—all crushing into it when trees and houses +were being tossed like feathers on the wings of the wind. Altogether, +the house at Aniwa has proved one of the healthiest and most commodious +of any that have been planted by Christian hands on the New Hebrides. In +selecting site and in building "the good hand of our God was upon us for +good."</p> + +<p>I built also two small Orphanages, almost as inevitably necessary as +the Missionary's own house. They stood on a line with the front of my +own dwelling, one for girls, the other for boys, and we had them +constantly under our own eyes. The orphans were practically boarded at +the Mission premises, and adopted by the Missionaries. Their clothing +was a heavy drain upon our resources; and every odd and curious article +that came in any of the boxes or parcels was utilized. We trained these +young people for Jesus. And at this day many of the best of our Native +Teachers, and most devoted Christian helpers, are amongst those who +would probably have perished but for these Orphanages.</p> + +<p>Every day after dinner we set the bell a-ringing—intimating, +from, our first arrival on Aniwa, readiness to give advice or medicine +to all who were sick. We spoke to them, so soon as we had learned, a few +words about Jesus. The weak received a cup of tea and a piece of bread. +The demand was sometimes great, especially when epidemics befell them. +But some rather fled from us as the cause of their sickness, and sought +refuge from our presence in remotest corners, or rushed off at our +approach and concealed themselves in the bush. They were but children, +and full of superstition; and we had to win them by kindly patience, +never losing faith in them and hope for them, any more than the Lord did +with us!</p> + +<p>Our learning the language on Aniwa was marked by similar incidents to +those of Tanna related in a preceding chapter; though a few of them +could understand my Tannese, and that greatly helped me. One day a man, +after carefully examining some article, turned to his neighbor and said, +"Taha tinei?"</p> + +<p>I inferred that he was asking, "What is this?" Pointing to another +article, I repeated their words; they smiled at each other, and gave me +its name.</p> + +<p>On another occasion, a man said to his companion, looking toward me, +"Taha neigo?" Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed towards +him, and repeated the words, and they at once gave me their names.</p> + +<p>Readers would be surprised to discover how much you can readily learn +of any language, with these two short questions constantly on your lips, +and with people ready at every turn to answer—"What's this?" +"What's your name?" Every word was at once written down, spelled +phonetically and arranged in alphabetic order, and a note appended as to +the circumstances in which it was used. By frequent comparison of these +notes, and by careful daily and even hourly imitation of all their +sounds, we were able in a measure to understand each other before we had +gone far in the house-building operations, during which some of them +were constantly beside me.</p> + +<p>One incident of that time was very memorable, and God turned it to +good account for higher ends. I often tell it as "the miracle of the +speaking bit of wood"; and it has happened to other Missionaries exactly +as to myself. While working at the house, I required some nails and +tools. Lifting a piece of planed wood, I penciled a few words on it, and +requested our old Chief to carry it to Mrs. Paton, and she would send +what I wanted. In blank wonder, he innocently stared at me, and said, +"But what do you want?"</p> + +<p>I replied, "The wood will tell her." He looked rather angry, thinking +that I befooled him, and retorted, "Who ever heard of wood +speaking?"</p> + +<p>By hard pleading I succeeded in persuading him to go. He was amazed +to see her looking at the wood and then fetching the needed articles. He +brought back the bit of wood, and eagerly made signs for an explanation. +Chiefly in broken Tannese I read to him the words, and informed him that +in the same way God spoke to us through His Book. The will of God was +written there, and by and by, when he learned to read, he would hear God +speaking to him from its page, as Mrs. Paton heard me from the bit of +wood.</p> + +<p>A great desire was thus awakened in the poor man's soul to see the +very Word of God printed in his own language. He helped me to learn +words and master ideas with growing enthusiasm. And when my work of +translating portions of Holy Scripture began, his delight was unbounded +and his help invaluable. The miracle of a speaking page was not less +wonderful than that of speaking wood!</p> + +<p>One day, while building the house, an old Inland Chief and his three +sons came to see us. Everything was to them full of wonder. After +returning home one of the sons fell sick, and the father at once blamed +us and the Worship, declaring that if the lad died we all should be +murdered in revenge. By God's blessing, and by our careful nursing and +suitable medicine, he recovered and was spared. The old Chief +superstitiously wheeled round almost to another extreme. He became not +only friendly, but devoted to us. He attended the Sabbath Services, and +listened to the Aneityumese Teachers, and to my first attempts, partly +in Tannese, translated by the orator Taia or the Chief Namakei, and +explained in our hearing to the people in their mother tongue.</p> + +<p>But on the heels of this, another calamity overtook us. So soon as +two rooms of the Mission House were roofed in, I hired the stoutest of +the young men to carry our boxes thither. Two of them started off with a +heavy box suspended on a pole from shoulder to shoulder, their usual +custom. They were shortly after attacked with vomiting of blood; and one +of them, an Erromangan, actually died. The father of the other swore +that, if his son did not get better, every soul at the Mission House +should be slain in revenge. But God mercifully restored him.</p> + +<p>As the boat-landing was nearly three-quarters of a mile distant, and +such a calamity recurring would be not only sorrowful in itself but +perilous in the extreme for us all, I steeped my wits, and with such +crude materials as were at hand, I manufactured not only a hand-barrow, +but a wheel-barrow, for the pressing emergencies of the time. In due +course, I procured a more orthodox hand-cart from the Colonies, and +coaxed and bribed the Natives to assist me in making a road for it. +Perhaps the ghost of <i>Macadam</i> would shudder at the appearance of +that road, but it has proved immensely useful ever since.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="60"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A CITY OF GOD.</h4></center> + +<p>When, in the course of years, everything had been completed to our +taste, we lived practically in the midst of a beautiful +village,—the Church, the School, the Orphanage, the Smithy and +Joiner's Shop, the Printing Office, the Banana and Yam House, the Cook +House, etc.; all very humble indeed, but all standing sturdily up there +among the orange-trees, and preaching the Gospel of a higher +civilization and of a better life for Aniwa. The little road leading to +each door was laid with the white coral broken small. The fence around +all shone fresh and clean with new paint. Order and taste were seen to +be laws in the white man's New Life; and several of the Natives began +diligently to follow our example.</p> + +<p>Many and strange were the arts which I had to try to practise, such +as handling the adze, the mysteries of tenon and mortise, and other +feats of skill. If a Native wanted a fish-hook, or a piece of red calico +to bind his long whip-cord hair, he would carry me a block of coral or +fetch me a beam; but continuous daily toil seemed to him a mean +existence. The women were tempted, by calico and beads for pay, to +assist in preparing the sugar-cane leaf for thatch, gathering it in the +plantations, and tying it over reeds four or six feet long with strips +of bark of pandanus leaf, leaving a long fringe hanging over on one +side. How differently they acted when the Gospel began to touch their +hearts! They built their Church and their Schools then, by their own +free toil, rejoicing to labor without money or price; and they have ever +since kept them in good repair, for the service of the Lord, by their +voluntary offerings of wood and sugar-cane leaf and coral-lime.</p> + +<p>The roof was firmly tied on and nailed; thereon were laid the reeds, +fringed with sugar-cane leaf, row after row tied firmly to the wood; the +ridge was bound down by cocoanut leaves, dexterously plaited from side +to side and skewered to the ridge-pole with hard wooden pins; and over +all, a fresh storm-roof was laid on yearly for the hurricane months, +composed of folded cocoanut leaves, held down with planks of wood, and +bound to the frame-work below—which, however, had to be removed +again in April to save the sugar-cane leaf from rotting beneath it. +There you were snugly covered in, and your thatching good to last from +eight years to ten; that is, provided you were not caught in the sweep +of the hurricane, before which trees went flying like straws, huts +disappeared like autumn leaves, and your Mission House, if left standing +at all, was probably swept bare alike of roof and thatch at a single +stroke! Well for you at such times if you have a good barometer +indicating the approach of the storm; and better still, a large cellar +like ours, four-and-twenty feet by sixteen, built round with solid coral +blocks,—where goods may be stored, and whereinto also all your +household may creep for safety, while the tornado tosses your dwelling +about, and sets huge trees dancing around you! We had also to invent a +lime-kiln, and this proved one of the hardest nuts of all that had to be +cracked. The kind of coral required could be obtained only at one spot, +about three miles distant. Lying at anchor in my boat, the Natives dived +into the sea, broke off with hammer and crowbar piece after piece, and +brought it up to me, till I had my load. We then carried it ashore, and +spread it out in the sun to be blistered there for two weeks or so. +Having thus secured twenty or thirty boat-loads, and had it duly +conveyed round to the Mission Station, a huge pit was dug in the ground, +dry wood piled in below, and green wood above to the height of several +feet, and on the top of all the coral blocks were orderly laid. When +this pile had burned for seven or ten days, the coral had been reduced +to excellent lime, and the plasterwork made therefrom shone like +marble.</p> + +<p>On one of these trips the Natives performed an extraordinary feat. +The boat with full load was struck heavily by a wave, and the reef drove +a hole in her side. Quick as thought the crew were all in the sea, and, +to my amazement, bearing up the boat with their shoulder and one hand, +while swimming and guiding us ashore with the other! There on the land +we were hauled up, and four weary days were spent fetching and carrying +from the Mission Station every plank, tool, and nail, necessary for her +repair. Every boat for these seas ought to be built of cedar wood and +copper-fastened, which is by far the most economical in the end. And all +houses should be built of wood which is as full as possible of gum or +resin, since the large white ants devour not only other soft woods, but +even Colonial blue gum-trees, the hard cocoanut, and window sashes, +chairs, and tables!</p> + +<p>Glancing back on all these toils, I rejoice that such exhausting +demands are no longer made on our newly-arrived Missionaries. Houses, +all ready for being set up, are now brought down from the Colonies. Zinc +roofs and other improvements have been introduced. The Synod appoints a +deputation to accompany the young Missionary, and plant the house along +with himself at the Station committed to his care. Precious strength is +thus saved for higher uses; and not only property but life itself is +oftentimes preserved.</p> + +<p>I will close this chapter with an incident which, though it came to +our knowledge only years afterwards, closely bears upon our Settlement +on Aniwa. At first we had no idea why they so determinedly refused us +one site, and fixed us to another of their own choice. But after the old +Chief Namakei became a Christian, he one day addressed the Aniwan people +in our hearing to this effect:—</p> + +<p>"When Missi came we saw his boxes. We knew he had blankets and +calico, axes and knives, fish-hooks and all such things. We said, 'Don't +drive him off, else we will lose all these things. We will let him land. +But we will force him to live on the Sacred Plot. Our gods will kill +him, and we will divide all that he has amongst the men of Aniwa.' But +Missi built his house on our most sacred spot. He and his people lived +there, and the gods did not strike. He planted bananas there, and we +said, 'Now when they eat of these they will all drop down dead, as our +fathers assured us, if any one ate fruit from that ground, except only +our Sacred Men themselves.' These bananas ripened. They did eat them. We +kept watching for days and days, but no one died! Therefore what we say, +and what our fathers have said, is not true. Our gods cannot kill them. +Their Jehovah God is stronger than the gods of Aniwa."</p> + +<p>I enforced old Namakei's appeal, telling them that, though they knew +it not, it was the living and true and only God who had sent them every +blessing which they possessed, and had at last sent us to teach them how +to serve and love and please Him. In wonder and silence they listened, +while I tried to explain to them that Jesus, the Son of this God, had +lived and died and gone to the Father to save them, and that He was now +willing to take them by the hand and lead them through this life to +glory and immortality together with Himself.</p> + +<p>The old Chief led them in prayer—a strange, dark, groping +prayer, with streaks of Heathenism coloring every thought and sentence; +but still a heart-breaking prayer, as the cry of a soul once Cannibal, +but now being thrilled through and through with the first conscious +pulsations of the Christ-Spirit, throbbing into the words—"Father, +Father; our Father."</p> + +<p>When these poor creatures began to wear a bit of calico or a kilt, it +was an outward sign of a change, though yet far from civilization. And +when they began to look up and pray to One whom they called "Father, our +Father," though they might be far, very far, from the type of Christian +that dubs itself "respectable," my heart broke over them in tears of +joy; and nothing will ever persuade me that there was not a Divine Heart +in the Heavens rejoicing too.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="61"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE RELIGION OF REVENGE.</h4></center> + +<p>ON landing in November, 1866, we found the Natives of Aniwa, some +very shy and distrustful, and others forward and imperious. No clothing +was worn; but the wives and elder women had grass aprons or girdles like +our first parents in Eden. The old Chief interested himself in us and +our work; but the greater number showed a far deeper interest in the +axes, knives, fishhooks, strips of red calico, and blankets, received in +payment for work or for bananas. Even for payment they would scarcely +work at first, and they were most unreasonable, easily offended, and +started off in a moment at any imaginable slight.</p> + +<p>For instance, a Chief once came for medicine. I was so engaged that I +could not attend to him for a few minutes. So off he went, in a great +rage, threatening revenge, and muttering, "I must be attended to! I +won't wait on <i>him</i>." Such were the exactions of a naked +savage!</p> + +<p>Shortly before our arrival, an Aneityumese Teacher was sacrificed on +Aniwa. The circumstances are illustrative of what may be almost called +their worship of revenge. Many long years ago, a party of Aniwans had +gone to Aneityum on a friendly visit; but the Aneityumese, then all +savages, murdered and ate every man of them save one, who escaped into +the bush. Living on cocoanuts, he awaited a favorable wind, and, +launching his canoe by night, he arrived in safety. The bereaved +Aniwans, hearing his terrible story, were furious for revenge; but the +forty-five miles of sea between proving too hard an obstacle, they made +a deep cut in the earth and vowed to renew that cut from year to year +till the day of revenge came round. Thus the memory of the event was +kept alive for nearly eighty years.</p> + +<p>At length the people of Aneityum came to the knowledge of Jesus +Christ. They strongly yearned to spread their saving Gospel to the +Heathen Islands all around. Amid prayers and strong cryings to God they, +like the Church at Antioch, designated two of their leading men to go as +Native Teachers and evangelize Aniwa, viz. Navalak and Nemeyan; whilst +others went forth to Fotuna, Tanna, and Erromanga, as opportunity arose. +Namakei, the principal Chief of Aniwa, had promised to protect and be +kind to them. But as time went on, it was discovered that the Teachers +belonged to the Tribe on Aneityum, and one of them to the very land, +where long ago the Aniwans had been murdered. The Teachers had from the +first known their danger, but were eager to make known the Gospel to +Aniwa. It was resolved that they should die. But the Aniwans, having +promised to protect them, shrank from doing it themselves; so they hired +two Tanna-men and an Aniwan Chief, one of whose parents had belonged to +Tanna, to waylay and shoot the Teachers as they returned from their tour +of Evangelism among the villages on Sabbath afternoon. Their muskets did +not go off, but the murderers rushed upon them with clubs and left them +for dead.</p> + +<p>Nemeyan was dead, and entered that day amongst the noble army of the +Martyrs. Poor Navalak was still breathing, and the Chief Namakei carried +him to his village and kindly nursed him. He pleaded with the people +that the claims of revenge had been satisfied, and that Navalak should +be cherished and sent home,—the Christ-Spirit beginning to work in +that darkened soul! Navalak was restored to his people and is yet living +(1888)—a high class Chief on Aneityum, and an honor to the Church +of God, bearing on his body "the marks of the Lord Jesus." And often +since has he visited Aniwa, in later years, and praised the Lord amongst +the very people who once thirsted for his blood and left him by the +wayside as good as dead!</p> + +<p>For a time, Aniwa was left without any witness for Jesus,—the +London Missionary Society Teachers, having suffered dreadfully for lack +of food and from fever and ague, being also removed. But on a visit of a +Mission vessel, Namakei sent his orator Taia to Aneityum, to tell them +that now revenge was satisfied, the cut in the earth filled up, and a +cocoanut tree planted and flourishing where the blood of the Teachers +had been shed, and that no person from Aneityum would ever be injured by +Aniwans. Further, he was to plead for more Teachers, and to pledge his +Chiefs word that they would be kindly received and protected. They knew +not the Gospel, and had no desire for it; but they wanted friendly +intercourse with Aneityum, where trading vessels called, and whence they +might obtain mats, baskets, blankets, and iron tools. At length two +Aneityumese again volunteered to go, Kangaru and Nelmai, one from each +side of the Island, and were located by the Missionaries, along with +their families, on Aniwa, one with Namakei, and the other at the south +end, to lift up the Standard of a Christlike life among their Heathen +neighbors.</p> + +<p>Taia, who went on the Mission to Aneityum, was a great speaker and +also a very cunning man. He was the old Chief's appointed "Orator" on +all state occasions, being tall and stately in appearance, of great +bodily strength, and possessed of a winning manner. On the voyage to +Aneityum he was constantly smoking and making things disagreeable to all +around him. Being advised not to smoke while on board, he pleaded with +the Missionary just to let him take a whiff now and again till he +finished the tobacco he had in his pipe, and then he would lay it aside. +But, like the widow's meal, it lasted all the way to Aneityum, and never +appeared to get less—at which the innocent Taia expressed much +astonishment!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="62"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FIRST FRUITS ON ANIWA.</h4></center> + +<p>THE two Teachers and their wives on Aniwa were little better than +slaves when we landed there, toiling in the service of their masters and +living in constant fear of being murdered. Doubtless, however, the +mighty contrast presented by the life, character, and disposition of +these godly Teachers was the sowing of the seed that bore fruit in other +days,—though as yet no single Aniwan had begun to wear clothing +out of respect to Civilization, much less been brought to know and love +the Saviour.</p> + +<p>So soon as I could speak a little to them in their own language, we +began to visit regularly at their villages and to talk to them about +Jesus and His love. We tried also to get them to come to our Church +under the shade of the banyan tree. Nasi and some of the worst +characters would sit scowling not far off, or follow us with loaded +muskets. Using every precaution, we still held on doing our work; +sometimes giving fish-hooks or beads to the boys and girls, showing them +that our objects were kind and not selfish. And however our hearts +sometimes trembled in the presence of imminent death and sank within us, +we stood fearless in their presence, and left all results in the hands +of Jesus. Often have I had to run into the arms of some savage, when his +club was swung or his musket leveled at my head, and, praying to Jesus, +so clung round him that he could neither strike nor shoot me till his +wrath cooled down, and I managed to slip away. Often have I seized the +pointed barrel and directed it upwards, or, pleading with my assailant, +uncapped his musket in the struggle. At other times, nothing could be +said, nothing done, but stand still in silent prayer, asking God to +protect us or to prepare us for going home to His Glory. He fulfilled +His own promise—"I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."</p> + +<p>The first Aniwan that ever came to the knowledge and love of Jesus +was the old Chief Namakei. We came to live on his land, as it was near +our diminutive harbor; and, upon the whole, he and his people were the +most friendly, though his only brother, the Sacred Man of the tribe, on +two occasions tried to shoot me. Namakei came a good deal about us at +the Mission House, and helped us to acquire the language. He discovered +that we took tea evening and morning. When we gave him a cup and a piece +of bread, he liked it well, and gave a sip to all around him. At first +he came for the tea, perhaps, and disappeared suspiciously soon +thereafter; but his interest manifestly grew, till he showed great +delight in helping us in every possible way. Along with him and as his +associates came also the Chief Naswai and his wife Katua. These three +grew into the knowledge of the Saviour together. From being savage +Cannibals they rose before our eyes, under the influence of the Gospel, +into noble and beloved characters, and they and we loved each other +exceedingly.</p> + +<p>Namakei brought his little daughter, his only child, the Queen of her +race, called Litsi Soré (=Litsi the Great), and said, "I want to +leave my Litsi with you, I want you to train her for Jesus."</p> + +<p>She was a very intelligent child, learned things like any white girl, +and soon became quite a help to Mrs. Paton. On seeing his niece dressed, +and so smart-looking, the old Chief's only brother, the Sacred Man that +had attempted to shoot me, also brought his child, Litsi Sisi (=the +Little) to be trained like her cousin. The mothers of both were dead. +The children reported all they saw, and all we taught them, and so their +fathers became more deeply interested in our work, and the news of the +Gospel spread far and wide. Soon we had all the Orphans committed to us, +whose guardians were willing to part with them, and our Home become +literally the School of Christ—the boys growing up to help all my +plans, and the girls to help my wife and to be civilized and trained by +her, and many of them developing into devoted Teachers and +Evangelists.</p> + +<p>Our earlier Sabbath Services were sad affairs. Every man came +armed—indeed, every man slept with his weapons of war at his +side—and bow and arrow, spear and tomahawk, club and musket, were +always ready for action. On fair days we assembled under the banyan +tree, on rainy days in a Native hut partly built for the purpose. One or +two seemed to listen, but the most lay about on their backs or sides, +smoking, talking, sleeping! When we stopped the feast at the close, +which the Aneityumese Teacher had been forced to prepare before our +coming, and for which they were always ready, the audiences at first +went down to two or three; but these actually came to learn, and a +better tone began immediately to pervade the Service. We informed them +that it was for their good that we taught them, and that they would get +no "pay" for attending Church or School, and the greater number departed +in high dudgeon as very ill-used persons! Others of a more commercial +turn came offering to sell their "idols," and when we would not purchase +them, but urged them to give up and cast them away for love to Jesus, +they carried them off, saying they would have nothing to do with this +new Worship.</p> + +<p>Amidst our frequent trials and dangers in those earlier times on +Aniwa, our little Orphans often warned us privately and and saved our +lives from cruel plots. When, in baffled rage, our enemies demanded who +had revealed things to us, I always said, "It was a little bird from the +bush." So the dear children grew to have perfect confidence in us. They +knew we would not betray them; and they considered themselves the +guardians of our lives.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="63"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS.</h4></center> + +<p>WHAT a suggestive tradition of the Fall came to me in one of those +early days on Aniwa! Upon our leaving the hut and removing to our new +house, it was seized upon by Tupa for his sleeping-place, though still +continuing to be used by the Natives as club-house, court of law, etc. +One morning at daylight this Tupa came running to us in great +excitement, wielding his club furiously, and crying, "Missi, I have +killed the Tebil. I have killed Teapolo. He came to catch me last night. +I raised all the people, and we fought him round the house with our +clubs. At daybreak he came out and I killed him dead. We will have no +more bad conduct or trouble now. Teapolo is dead!"</p> + +<p>I said, "What nonsense; Teapolo is a spirit, and cannot be seen."</p> + +<p>But in mad excitement he persisted that he had killed him. And at +Mrs. Paton's advice, I went with the man, and he led me to a great +Sacred Rock of coral near our old hut, over which hung the dead body of +a huge and beautiful sea-serpent, and exclaimed, "There he lies! Truly I +killed him."</p> + +<p>I protested, "That is not the Devil; it is only the body of a +serpent."</p> + +<p>The man quickly answered, "Well? but it is all the game! He is +Teapolo. He makes us bad, and causes all our troubles."</p> + +<p>Following up this hint by many inquiries, then and afterwards, I +found that they clearly associated man's troubles and sufferings somehow +with the serpent. They worshiped the Serpent, as a spirit of evil, under +the name of Matshiktshiki; that is to say, they lived in abject terror +of his influence, and all their worship was directed towards +propitiating his rage against man.</p> + +<p>Their story of Creation, at least of the origin of their own Aniwa +and the adjacent Islands, is much more an outcome of the unaided Native +mind. They say that Matshiktshiki fished up these lands out of the sea. +And they show the deep print of his foot on the coral rocks, opposite +each island, whereon he stood as he strained and lifted them up above +the waters. He then threw his great fishing-line round Fotuna, +thirty-six miles distant, to draw it close to Aniwa and make them one +land; but, as he pulled, the line broke and he fell, where his mark may +still be seen upon the rock—so the Islands remain separated unto +this day.</p> + +<p>Matshiktshiki placed men and women on Aniwa. On the southern end of +the Island there was a beautiful spring and a freshwater river, with +rich land all around, for plantations. But the people would not do what +Matshiktshiki wanted them; so he got angry, and split off the richer +part of Aniwa, with the spring and river, and sailed with them across to +Aneityum, leaving them where Dr. Inglis has since built his beautiful +Mission Station. To this day, the river there is called "the water of +Aniwa" by the inhabitants of both islands; and it is the ambition of all +Aniwans to visit Aneityum and drink of that spring and river, as they +sigh to each other, "Alas, for the waters of Aniwa!"</p> + +<p>Their picture of the Flood is equally grotesque. Far back, when the +volcano now on Tanna was part of Aniwa, the rain fell and fell from day +to day, and the sea rose till it threatened to cover everything. All +were drowned except the few who climbed up on the volcano mountain. The +sea had already put out the volcano at the southern end of Aniwa; and +Matshiktshiki, who dwelt in the greater volcano, becoming afraid of the +extinction of his big fire too, split it off from Aniwa with all the +land on the southeastern side, and sailed it across to Tanna on the top +of the flood. There, by his mighty strength, he heaved the volcano to +the top of a high mountain in Tanna, where it remains to this day. For, +on the subsiding of the sea, he was unable to transfer his big fire to +Aniwa; and so it was reduced to a very small island, without a volcano, +and without a river, for the sins of the people long ago.</p> + +<p>Even where there are no snakes they apply the superstitions about the +serpent to a large, black, poisonous lizard called <i>Kekvau</i>. They +call it Teapolo, and women or children scream wildly at the sight of +one.</p> + +<p>One of the darkest and most hideous blots on Heathenism is the +practice of Infanticide. Only three cases came to our knowledge on +Aniwa; but we publicly denounced them at all hazards, and awoke not only +natural feeling, but the selfish interests of the community for the +protection of the children. These three were the last that died there by +parents' hands. A young husband, who had been jealous of his wife, +buried their male child alive as soon as born. An old Tanna woman, who +had no children living, having at last a fine healthy boy born to her, +threw him into the sea before any one could interfere to save. And a +savage, in anger with his wife, snatched her baby from her arms, hid +himself in the bush till night, and returned without the child, refusing +to give any explanation, except that he was dead and buried. Praise be +to God, these three murderers of their own children were by and by +touched with the story of Jesus, became members of the Church, and each +adopted little orphan children, towards whom they continued to show the +most tender affection and care.</p> + +<p>Wife-murder was also considered quite legitimate. In one of our +inland villages dwelt a young couple, happy in every respect except that +they had no children. The man, being a Heathen, resolved to take home +another wife, a widow with two children. This was naturally opposed by +his young wife. And, without the slightest warning, while she sat +plaiting a basket, he discharged a ball into her from his loaded musket. +It crashed through her arm and lodged in her side. Everything was done +that was in my power to save her life; but on the tenth day tetanus came +on, and she soon after passed away. The man appeared very attentive to +her all the time; but, being a Heathen, he insisted that she had no +right to oppose his wishes! He was not in any way punished or +disrespected by the people of his village, but went out and in amongst +them as usual, and took home the other woman as his wife a few weeks +thereafter. His second wife began to attend Church and School regularly +with her children; and at last he also came along with them, changing +very manifestly from his sullen and savage former self. They have a +large family; they are avowedly trying to train them all for the Lord +Jesus, and they take their places meekly at the Lord's Table.</p> + +<p>It would give a wonderful shock, I suppose, to many namby-pamby +Christians to whom the title "Mighty to Save" conveys no ideas of +reality, to be told that nine or ten converted murderers were partaking +with them the Holy Communion of Jesus! But the Lord who reads the heart, +and weighs every motive and circumstance, has perhaps much more reason +to be shocked by the presence of some of themselves. Penitence opens all +the heart of God—"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="64"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>NELWANG'S ELOPEMENT.</h4></center> + +<p>SOME most absurd and preposterous experiences were forced upon us by +the habits and notions of the people. Amongst these I recall very +vividly the story of Nelwang's elopement with his bride. I had begun, in +spare hours, to lay the foundation of two additional rooms for our +house, and felt rather uneasy to see a well-known savage hanging around +every day with his tomahawk, and eagerly watching me at work. He had +killed a man, before our arrival on Aniwa; and had also startled my wife +by suddenly appearing from amongst the boxes, and causing her to run for +life. On seeing him hovering so alarmingly near, tomahawk in hand, I +saluted him, "Nelwang, do you want to speak to me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, Missi," he replied; "if you will help me now, I will be your +friend forever."</p> + +<p>I answered, "I am your friend. That brought me here and keeps me +here."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he very earnestly, "but I want you to be strong as my +friend, and I will be strong for you!"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Well, how can I help you?"</p> + +<p>He quickly answered, "I want to get married, and I need your +help."</p> + +<p>I protested,—"Nelwang, you know that marriages here are all +made in infancy, by children being bought and betrothed to their future +husbands. How can I interfere? You don't want to bring evil on me and my +wife and child? It might cost us our lives."</p> + +<p>"No! no! Missi," earnestly retorted Nelwang. "No one hears of this, +or can hear. Only help me now. You tell me, if you were my +circumstances, how would you act?"</p> + +<p>"That's surely very simple," I answered. "Every man knows how to go +about that business, if he wants to be honest! Look out for your +intended, find out if she loves you and the rest will follow +naturally,—you will marry her."</p> + +<p>"Yes," argued Nelwang, "but just there my trouble comes in!"</p> + +<p>"Do you know the woman you would like to get?" I asked, wishing to +bring him to some closer issue.</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied he very frankly, "I want to marry Yakin, the Chiefs' +widow up at the inland village, and that will break no infant +betrothals."</p> + +<p>"But," I persevered, "do you know if she loves you or would take +you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," replied Nelwang; "one day I met her on the path and told her I +would like to have her for my wife. She took out her ear-rings and gave +them to me, and I know thereby that she loves me. I was one of her late +husband's men; and if she had loved any of them more than she loved me, +she would have given them to another. With the ear-rings she gave me her +heart."</p> + +<p>"Then why," I insisted, "don't you go and marry her?"</p> + +<p>"There," said Nelwang gravely, "begins my difficulty. In her village +there are thirty young men for whom there are no wives. Each of them +wants her, but no one has the courage to take her, for the other +nine-and-twenty will shoot him!"</p> + +<p>"And if you take her," I suggested, "the disappointed thirty will +shoot you!"</p> + +<p>"That's exactly what I see, Missi," continued Nelwang; "but I want +you just to think you are in my place, and tell me how you would carry +her off. You white men can always succeed. Missi, hear my plans, and +advise me."</p> + +<p>With as serious a face as I could command, I had to listen to +Nelwang, to enter into his love affair, and to make suggestions, with a +view to avoiding bloodshed and other miseries. The result of the +deliberations was that Nelwang was to secure the confidence of two +friends, his brother and the orator Taia, to place one at each end of +the coral rocks above the village as watchmen, to cut down with his +American tomahawk a passage through the fence at the back, and to carry +off his bride at dead of night into the seclusion and safety of the +bush! Nelwang's eyes flashed as he flourished his tomahawk about and +cried, "I see it now, Missi! I shall win her from them all. Yakin and I +will be strong for you all our days."</p> + +<p>Next morning Yakin's house was found deserted. They sent to all the +villages around, but no one had seen her. The hole in the fence behind +was then discovered, and the thirty whispered to each other that Yakin +had been wooed and won by some daring lover. Messengers were despatched +to all the villages, and Nelwang was found to have disappeared on the +same night as the widow, and neither could anywhere be found.</p> + +<p>The usual revenge was taken. The houses of the offenders burned, +their fences broken down, and all their property either destroyed or +distributed. Work was suspended, and the disappointed thirty solaced +themselves by feasting at Yakin's expense.</p> + +<p>Three weeks passed. The runaways were nowhere to be found. It was +generally believed that they had gone in a canoe to Tanna or Erromanga. +But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang +appeared at my side!</p> + +<p>"Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?"</p> + +<p>"I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on +cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy. I come now to +fulfil my promise: I will help you, and Yakin will help Missi Paton the +woman, and we shall be your friends. I have ground to be built upon and +fenced, whenever we dare; but we will come and live with you, till peace +is secured. Will you let us come to-morrow morning?"</p> + +<p>"All right!" I said. "Come to-morrow!" And, trembling with delight, +he disappeared into the bush.</p> + +<p>Thus strangely God provided us with wonderful assistance. Yakin soon +learnt to wash and dress and clean everything, and Nelwang served me +like a faithful disciple. They clung by us like our very shadow, partly +through fear of attack, partly from affection; but as each of them could +handle freely both musket and tomahawk, which, though laid aside, were +never far away, it was not every enemy that cared to try issues with +Nelwang and his bride. After a few weeks had thus passed by, and as both +of them were really showing an interest in things pertaining to Jesus +and His Gospel, I urged them strongly to appear publicly at the Church +on Sabbath, to show that they were determined to stand their ground +together as true husband and wife, and that the others must accept the +position and become reconciled. Delay now could gain no purpose, and I +wished the strife and uncertainty to be put to an end.</p> + +<p>Nelwang knew our customs. Every worshiper has to be seated, when our +Church bell ceases ringing. Aniwans would be ashamed to enter after the +Service had actually begun. As the bell ceased, Nelwang, knowing that he +would have a clear course, marched in, dressed in shirt and kilt, but +grasping very determinedly his tomahawk! He sat down as near to me as he +could conveniently get, trying hard to conceal his manifest agitation. +Silently smiling towards me, he then turned and looked eagerly at the +other door through which the women entered and left the Church, as if to +say, "Yakin is coming!" But his tomahawk was poised ominously on his +shoulder, and his courage gave him a defiant and almost impudent air. He +was evidently quite ready to sell his life at a high price, if any one +was prepared to risk the consequences.</p> + +<p>In a few seconds Yakin entered; and if Nelwang's bearing and +appearance were rather inconsistent with the feeling of +worship,—what on earth was I to do when the figure and costume of +Yakin began to reveal itself marching in? The first visible difference +betwixt a Heathen and a Christian is,—that the Christian wears +some clothing, the Heathen wears none. Yakin had determined to show the +extent of her Christianity by the amount of clothing she could carry +upon her person. Being a Chief's widow before she became Nelwang's +bride, she had some idea of state occasions, and appeared dressed in +every article of European apparel, mostly portions of male attire, that +she could beg or borrow from about the premises! Her bridal gown was a +man's drab-colored great-coat, put on above her Native grass skirts, and +sweeping down to her heels, buttoned tight. Over this she had hung on a +vest, and above that again, most amazing of all, she had superinduced a +pair of men's trousers, planting the body of them on her neck and +shoulders, and leaving her head and face looking out from between the +legs—a leg from either side streaming over her bosom arid dangling +down absurdly in front! Fastened to the one shoulder also there was a +red shirt, and to the other a striped shirt, waving about her like wings +as she sailed along. Around her head a red shirt had been twisted like a +turban, and her notions of art demanded that a sleeve thereof should +hang aloft over each of her ears! She seemed to be a moving monster +loaded with a mass of rags. The day was excessively hot, and the +perspiration poured over her face in streams. She, too, sat as near to +me as she could get on the women's side of the Church. Nelwang looked at +me and then at her, smiling quietly, as if to say, "You never saw, in +all your white world, a bride so grandly dressed!"</p> + +<p>I little thought what I was bringing on myself when I urged them to +come to Church. The sight of that poor creature sweltering before me +constrained me for once to make the service very short—perhaps the +shortest I ever conducted in all my life! The day ended in peace. The +two souls were extremely happy; and I praised God that what might have +been a scene of bloodshed had closed thus, even though it were in a kind +of wild grotesquerie!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="65"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE CHRIST-SPIRIT AT WORK.</h4></center> + +<p>THE progress of God's work was most conspicuous in, relation to wars +and revenges among the Natives. The two high Chiefs, Namakei and Naswai, +frequently declared, "We are the men of Christ now. We must not fight. +We must put down murders and crimes among our people."</p> + +<p>Two young fools, returning from Tanna with muskets, attempted twice +to shoot a man in sheer wantonness and display of malice. The Islanders +met, and informed them that if man or woman was injured by them, the +other men would load their muskets and shoot them dead in general +council. This was a mighty step towards public order, and I greatly +rejoiced before the Lord. His Spirit, like leaven, was at work!</p> + +<p>My constant custom was, in order to prevent war, to run right in +between the contending parties. My faith enabled me to grasp and realize +the promise, "Lo, I am with you always." In Jesus I felt invulnerable +and immortal, so long as I was doing His work. And I can truly say that +these were the moments when I felt my Saviour to be most truly and +sensibly present, inspiring and empowering me.</p> + +<p>Another scheme had an excellent educative and religious influence. I +tried to interest all the villages, and to treat all the Chiefs equally. +In our early days, after getting into my two-roomed house, I engaged the +Chief, or representative man of each district, to put up one or other at +the many outhouses required at the Station. One, along with his people, +built the cookhouse; another, the store; another, the banana and +yam-house; another, the washing-house; another, the boys and girls' +house; the houses for servants and teachers, the Schoolhouse, and the +large shed, a kind of shelter where Natives sat and talked when not at +work about the premises. Of course these all were at first only Native +huts, of larger or smaller dimensions. But they were all built by +contract for articles which they highly valued, such as axes, knives, +yards of prints and calico, strings of beads, blankets, etc. They served +our purpose for the time, and when another party, by contract also, had +fenced around our premises, the Mission Station was really a beautiful, +little, lively, and orderly village, and in itself no bad emblem of +Christian and civilized life. The payments, made to all irrespectively, +but only for work duly done and according to reasonable bargain, +distributed property and gifts amongst them on wholesome principles, and +encouraged a well-conditioned rivalry which had many happy effects.</p> + +<p>Heathenism made many desperate and some strange efforts to stamp out +our Cause on Aniwa, but the Lord held the helm. One old Chief, formerly +friendly, turned against us. He ostentatiously set himself to make a +canoe, working at it very openly and defiantly on Sabbaths. He, becoming +sick and dying, his brother started, on a Sabbath morning and in +contempt of the Worship, with an armed company to provoke our people to +war. They refused to fight; and one man, whom he struck with his club, +said, "I will leave my revenge to Jehovah."</p> + +<p>A few days thereafter, this brother also fell sick and suddenly died. +The Heathen party made much of these incidents, and some clamored for +our death in revenge, but most feared to murder us; so they withdrew and +lived apart from our friends, as far away as they could get. By and by, +however, they set fire to a large district belonging to our supporters +burning cocoanut and breadfruit trees and plantations. Still our people +refused to fight, and kept near to protect us. Then all the leading men +assembled to talk it over. Most were for peace, but some insisted upon +burning our house and driving us away or killing us, that they might be +left to live as they had hitherto done. At last a Sacred Man, a Chief +who had been on Tanna when the Curaçoa punished the murderers and +robbers, but protected the villages of the friendly Natives there, stood +up and spoke in our defense, and warned them what might happen; and +other three, who had been under my instruction on Tanna, declared +themselves to be the friends of Jehovah and of His Missionary. Finally, +the Sacred Man rose again, and showed them rows of beautiful white +shells strung round his left arm, saying—</p> + +<p>"Nowar, the great Chief at Port Resolution on Tanna, when he saw that +Missi and his wife could not be kept there, took me to his heart, and +pledged me by these, the shells of his office as Chief, taken from his +own arm and bound on mine, to protect them from all harm. He told me to +declare to the men of Aniwa that if the Missi be injured or slain, he +and his warriors will come from Tanna and take the full revenge in +blood." This turned the scale. The meeting closed in our favor.</p> + +<p>Close on the heels of this, another and a rather perplexing incident +befell us. A party of Heathens assembled and made a great display of +fishing on the Lord's Day, in contempt of the practice of the men on +Jehovah's side, threatening also to waylay the Teachers and myself in +our village circuits. A meeting was held by the Christian party, at the +close of the Sabbath Services. All who wished to serve Jehovah were to +come to my house next morning, unarmed, and accompany me on a visit to +our enemies, that we might talk and reason together with them. By +daybreak, the Chiefs and nearly eighty men assembled at the Mission +House, declaring that they were on Jehovah's side, and wished to go with +me. But, alas! they refused to lay down their arms, or leave them +behind; nor would they either refrain from going or suffer me to go +alone. Pledging them to peace, I was reluctantly placed at their head, +and we marched off to the village of the unfriendly party.</p> + +<p>The villagers were greatly alarmed. The Chief's two sons came forth +with every available man to meet us. That whole day was consumed in +talking and speechifying, sometimes chanting their replies—the +Natives are all inveterate talkers! To me the day was utterly wearisome; +but it had one redeeming feature,—their rage found vent in hours +of palaver, instead of blows and blood. It ended in peace. The Heathen +were amazed at the number of Jehovah's friends; and they pledged +themselves henceforth to leave the Worship alone, and that every one who +pleased might come to it unmolested. For this, worn out and weary, we +returned, praising the Lord.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="66"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE SINKING OF THE WELL.</h4></center> + +<p>BUT I must here record the story of the Sinking of the Well, which +broke the back of Heathenism on Aniwa. Being a flat coral island, with +no hills to attract the clouds, rain is scarce there as compared with +the adjoining mountainous islands; and even when it does fall heavily, +with tropical profusion, it disappears, as said before, through the +light soil and porous rock, and drains itself directly into the sea. The +rainy season is from December to April, and then the disease most +characteristic of all these regions is apt to prevail, viz., fever and +ague.</p> + +<p>At certain seasons, the Natives drink very unwholesome water; and, +indeed, the best water they had at any time for drinking purposes was +from the precious cocoanut, a kind of Apple of Paradise for all these +Southern Isles! They also cultivate the sugar-cane very extensively, and +in great variety; and they chew it, when we would fly to water for +thirst; so it is to them both food and drink. The black fellow carries +with him to the field, when he goes off for a day's work, four or five +sticks of sugar-cane, and puts in his time comfortably enough on these. +Besides, the sea being their universal bathing-place, in which they +swattle like fish, and little water, almost none, being required for +cooking purposes, and none whatever for washing clothes, the lack of +fresh-springing water was not the dreadful trial to them that it would +be to us. Yet they appreciate and rejoice in it immensely too; though +the water of the green cocoanut is refreshing, and in appearance, taste, +and color not unlike lemonade—one nut filling a tumbler; and +though when mothers die they feed the babies on it and on the soft white +pith, and they flourish on the same, yet the Natives themselves show +their delight in preferring, when they can get it, the water from the +well.</p> + +<p>Aniwa, having therefore no permanent supply of fresh water, in spring +or stream or lake, and my own household also suffering sadly for lack of +the same, I resolved by the help of God to sink a well near the Mission +Premises, hoping that a wisdom higher than my own would guide me to the +source of some blessed spring. Of the scientific conditions of such an +experiment I was comparatively ignorant; but I counted on having to dig +through earth and coral above thirty feet, and my constant fear was, +that owing to our environment, the water, if water I found, could only +be salt water after all my toils! Still I resolved to sink that shaft in +hope, and in faith that the Son of God would be glorified thereby.</p> + +<p>One morning I said to the old Chief and his fellow-Chief, both now +earnestly inquiring about the religion of Jehovah and of Jesus, "I am +going to sink a deep well down into the earth, to see if our God will +send us fresh water up from below."</p> + +<p>They looked at me with astonishment, and said in a tone of sympathy +approaching to pity, "O Missi! Wait till the rain comes down, and we +will save all we possibly can for you."</p> + +<p>I replied, "We may all die for lack of water. If no fresh water can +be got, we may be forced to leave you."</p> + +<p>The old Chief looked imploringly, and said "O Missi! you must not +leave us for that. Rain comes only from above. How could you expect our +Island to send up showers of rain from below?"</p> + +<p>I told him, "Fresh water does come up springing from the earth in my +Land at home, and I hope to see it here also."</p> + +<p>The old Chief grew more tender in his tones, and cried, "O Missi, +your head is going wrong; you are losing something, or you would not +talk wild like that! Don't let our people hear you talking about going +down into the earth for rain, or they will never listen to your word or +believe you again."</p> + +<p>But I started upon my hazardous job, selecting a spot near the +Mission Station and close to the public path, that my prospective well +might be useful to all. I began to dig, with pick and spade and bucket +at hand, an American axe for a hammer and crowbar, and a ladder for +service by and bye. The good old Chief now told off his men in relays to +watch me, lest I should attempt to take my own life, or do anything +outrageous, saying, "Poor Missi! That's the way with all who go mad. +There's no driving of a notion out of their heads. We must just watch +him now. He will find it harder to work with pick and spade than with +his pen, and when he's tired we'll persuade him to give it up."</p> + +<p>I did get exhausted sooner than I expected, toiling under that +tropical sun; but we never own before the Natives that we are beaten; so +I went into the house and filled my vest pocket with large, beautiful +English-made fish-hooks. These are very tempting to the young men as +compared with their own,—skilfully made though they be out of +shell, and serving their purposes wonderfully. Holding up a large hook, +I cried, "One of these to every man who fills and turns over three +buckets out of this hole!"</p> + +<p>A rush was made to get the first turn, and back again for another and +another. I kept those on one side who had got a turn, till all the rest +in order had a chance, and bucket after bucket was filled and emptied +rapidly. Still the shaft seemed to lower very slowly, while my +fish-hooks were disappearing very quickly. I was constantly there, and +took the heavy share of everything, and was thankful one evening to find +that we had cleared more than twelve feet deep,—when lo! next +morning, one side had rushed in, and our work was all undone.</p> + +<p>The old Chief and his best men now came around me more earnestly than +ever. He remonstrated with me very gravely. He assured me for the +fiftieth time that rain would never be seen coming up through the earth +on Aniwa!</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "had you been in that hole last night, you would have +been buried, and a Man-of-war would have come from Queen 'Toria to ask +for the Missi that lived here. We would have to say, 'He is down in that +hole.' The Captain would ask, 'Who killed him and put him down there?' +We would have to say, 'He went down there himself!' The Captain would +answer, 'Nonsense! Who ever heard of a white man going down into the +earth to bury himself? You killed him, you put him there; don't hide +your bad conduct with lies!' Then he would bring out his big guns and +shoot us, and destroy our Island in revenge. You are making your own +grave, Missi, and you will make ours too. Give up this mad freak, for no +rain will be found by going downwards on Aniwa. Besides, all your +fish-hooks cannot tempt my men again to enter that hole; they don't want +to be buried with you. Will you not give it up now?"</p> + +<p>I said all that I could to quiet his fears, explained to them that +this falling in had happened by my neglect of precautions, and finally +made known that by the help of my God, even without all other help, I +meant to persevere.</p> + +<p>Steeping my poor brains over the problem, I became an extemporized +engineer. Two trees were searched for, with branches on opposite sides, +capable of sustaining a cross tree betwixt them. I sank them on each +side firmly into the ground, passed the beam across them over the center +of the shaft, fastened thereon a rude home-made pulley and block, passed +a rope over the wheel, and swung my largest bucket to the end of it. +Thus equipped, I began once more sinking away at the well, but at so +great an angle that the sides might not again fall in. Not a Native, +however, would enter that hole, and I had to pick and dig away till I +was utterly exhausted. But a Native Teacher, in whom I had confidence, +took charge above, managing to hire them with axes, knives, etc., to +seize the end of the rope and walk along the ground, pulling it till the +bucket rose to the surface, and then he himself swung it aside, emptied +it, and lowered it down again. I rang a little bell which I had with me, +when the bucket was loaded, and that was the signal for my brave helpers +to pull their rope. And thus I toiled on from day to day, my heart +almost sinking sometimes with the sinking of the well, till we reached a +depth of about thirty feet. And the phrase, "living water," "living +water," kept chiming through my soul like music from God, as I dug and +hammered away!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="67"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>RAIN FROM BELOW.</h4></center> + +<p>AT this depth the earth and coral began to be soaked with damp. I +felt that we were nearing water. My soul had a faith that God would open +a spring for us; but side by side with this faith was a strange terror +that the water would be salt. So perplexing and mixed are even the +highest experiences of the soul; the rose-flower of a perfect faith, set +round and round with prickly thorns. One evening I said to the old +Chief, "I think that Jehovah God will give us water to-morrow from that +hole!"</p> + +<p>The Chief said, "No, Missi; you will never see rain coming up from +the earth on this Island. We wonder what is to be the end of this mad +work of yours. We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop +through into the sea and the sharks will eat you! That will be the end +of it; death to you, and danger to us all."</p> + +<p>I still answered, "Come to-morrow. I hope and believe that Jehovah +God will send you the rain water up through the earth."</p> + +<p>At the moment I knew I was risking much, and probably incurring +sorrowful consequences, had no water been given; but I had faith that +the Lord was leading me on, and I knew that I sought His glory, not my +own.</p> + +<p>Next morning, I went down again at daybreak and sank a narrow hole in +the center about two feet deep. The perspiration broke over me with +uncontrollable excitement, and I trembled through every limb, when the +water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy though it was, I +eagerly tasted it, lapping it with my trembling hand, and then I almost +fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom as my heart burst up in praise +to the Lord. It was water! It was fresh water. It was living water from +Jehovah's well! True, it was a little brackish, but nothing to speak of; +and no spring in the desert, cooling the parched lips of a fevered +pilgrim, ever appeared more worthy of being called a Well of God than +did that water to me!</p> + +<p>The Chiefs had assembled with their men near by. They waited on in +eager expectancy. It was a rehearsal, in a small way, of the Israelites +coming round, while Moses struck the rock and called for water. By and +by, when I had praised the Lord, and my excitement was a little calmed, +the mud being also greatly settled, I filled a jug, which I had taken +down empty in the sight of them all, and ascending to the top called for +them to come and see the rain which Jehovah God had given us through the +well. They closed around me in haste, and gazed on it in superstitious +fear. The old Chief shook it to see if it would spill, and then touched +it to see if it felt like water. At last he tasted it, and rolling it in +his mouth with joy for a moment, he swallowed it, and shouted, "Rain! +Rain! Yes, it is Rain! But how did you get it?"</p> + +<p>I repeated, "Jehovah my God gave it out of His own Earth in answer to +our labors and prayers. Go and see it springing up for yourselves!"</p> + +<p>Now, though every man there could climb the highest tree as swiftly +and as fearlessly as a squirrel or an opossum, not one of them had +courage to walk to the side and gaze down into that well. To them this +was miraculous! But they were not without a resource that met the +emergency. They agreed to take firm hold of each other by the hand, to +place themselves in a long line, the foremost man to lean cautiously +forward, gaze into the well, and then pass to the rear, and so on till +all had seen "Jehovah's rain" far below. It was somewhat comical, yet +far more pathetic, to stand by and watch their faces, as man after man +peered down into the mystery, and then looked up at me in blank +bewilderment! When all had seen it with their own very eyes, and were +"weak with wonder," the old Chief exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Missi, wonderful, wonderful is the work of your Jehovah God! No god +of Aniwa ever helped us in this way. The world is turned upside down +since Jehovah came to Aniwa! But, Missi," continued he, after a pause +that looked liked silent worship, "will it always rain up through the +earth? or will it come and go like the rain from the clouds?"</p> + +<p>I told them that I believed it would always continue there for our +use, as a good gift from Jehovah.</p> + +<p>"Well, but, Missi," replied the Chief some glimmering of +self-interest beginning to strike his brain, "will you or your family +drink it all, or shall we also have some?"</p> + +<p>"You and all your people," I answered, "and all the people of the +Island, may come and drink and carry away as much of it as you wish. I +believe there will always be plenty for us all, and the more of it we +can use the fresher it will be. That is the way with many of our +Jehovah's best gifts to men, and for it and for all we praise His +Name!"</p> + +<p>"Then, Missi," said the Chief, "it will be our water, and we may all +use it as our very own."</p> + +<p>"Yes," I answered, "whenever you wish it, and as much as you need, +both here and at your own houses, as far as it can possibly be made to +go."</p> + +<p>The Chief looked at me eagerly, fully convinced at length that the +well contained a treasure, and exclaimed, "Missi, what can we do to help +you now?"</p> + +<p>I was thankful, indeed, to accept of the Chief's assistance, now +sorely needed, and I said, "You have seen it fall in once already. If it +falls again, it will conceal the rain from below which our God has given +us. In order to preserve it for us and for our children in all time, we +must build it round and round with great coral blocks from the bottom to +the very top. I will now clear it out, and prepare the foundation for +this wall of coral. Let every man and woman carry from the shore the +largest block they can bring. It is well worth all the toil thus to +preserve our great Jehovah's gift!"</p> + +<p>Scarcely were my words uttered, when they rushed to the shore, with +shoutings and songs of gladness; and soon every one was seen struggling +under the biggest block of coral with which he dared to tackle. They lay +like limestone rocks, broken up by the hurricanes, and rolled ashore in +the arms of mighty billows; and in an incredibly short time scores of +them were tumbled down for my use at the mouth of the well. Having +prepared a foundation, I made ready a sort of bag-basket, into which +every block was firmly tied and then let down to me by the +pulley—a Native Teacher, a faithful fellow, cautiously guiding it. +I received and placed each stone in its position, doing my poor best to +wedge them one against the other, building circularly, and cutting them +to the needed shape with my American ax. The wall is about three feet +thick, and the masonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself +decays. I wrought incessantly, for fear of any further collapse, till I +had it raised about twenty feet; and now, feeling secure, and my hands +being dreadfully cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, +and finish the building then. But the Chief advanced and said—</p> + +<p>"Missi, you have been strong to work. Your strength has fled. But +rest here beside us; and just point out where each block is to be laid. +We will lay them there, we will build them solidly behind like you. And +no man will sleep till it is done."</p> + +<p>With all their will and heart they started on the job; some carrying, +some cutting and squaring the blocks, till the wall rose like magic, and +a row of the hugest rocks laid round the top, bound all together, and +formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys, and all wished to have a hand +in building it, and it remains to this day, a solid wall of masonry, the +circle being thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at the top, and six +at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all, and fixed the +windlass and bucket, and there it stands as one of the greatest material +blessings which the Lord has given to Aniwa. It rises and falls with the +tide, though a third of a mile distant from the sea; and when, after +using it, we tasted the pure fresh water on board the <i>Dayspring</i>, +the latter seemed so insipid that I had to slip a little salt into my +tea along with the sugar before I could enjoy it! All visitors are taken +to see the well, as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of the +Native Church said to me, on a recent visit, "But for that water, during +the last two years of drought, we would have all been dead!"</p> + +<p>Very strangely, though the Natives themselves have since tried to +sink six or seven wells in the most likely places near their different +villages, they have either come to coral rock which they could not +pierce, or found only water that was salt. And they say amongst +themselves, "Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed and cried +to his God. We have learned to dig, but not how to pray, and therefore +Jehovah will not give us the rain, from below!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="68"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE OLD CHIEF'S SERMON.</h4></center> + +<p>THE well was now finished. The place was neatly fenced in. And the +old Chief said, "Missi, I think I could help you next Sabbath. Will you +let me preach a sermon on the well?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," I at once replied, "if you will try to bring all the people to +hear you."</p> + +<p>"Missi, I will try," he eagerly promised. The news spread like +wildfire that the Chief Namakei was to be Missionary on the next day for +the Worship, and the people, under great expectancy, urged each other to +come and hear what he had to say.</p> + +<p>Sabbath came round. Aniwa assembled in what was for that island a +great crowd. Namakei appeared dressed in shirt and kilt. He was so +excited, and flourished his tomahawk about at such a rate, that it was +rather lively work to be near him. I conducted short opening devotions, +and then called upon Namakei. He rose at once, with eye flashing wildly, +and his limbs twitching with emotion. He spoke to the following effect, +swinging his tomahawk to enforce every eloquent +gesticulation:—</p> + +<p>"Friends of Namakei, men and women and children of Aniwa, listen to +my words! Since Missi came here he has talked many strange things we +could not understand—things things all too wonderful; and we said +regarding many of them that they must be lies. White people might +believe such nonsense, but we said that the black fellow knew better +than to receive it. But of all his wonderful stories, we thought the +strangest was about sinking down through the earth to get rain! Then we +said to each other, The man's head is turned; he's gone mad. But the +Missi prayed on and wrought on, telling us that Jehovah God heard and +saw, and that his God would give him rain. Was he mad? Has he not got +the rain deep down in the earth? We mocked at him; but the water was +there all the same. We have laughed at other things which the Missi told +us, because we could not see them. But from this day I believe that all +he tells us about his Jehovah God is true. Some day our eyes will see +it. For to-day we have seen the rain from the earth."</p> + +<p>Then rising to a climax, first the one foot and then the other making +the broken coral on the floor fly behind like a war-horse pawing the +ground, he cried with great eloquence:—</p> + +<p>"My people, the people of Aniwa, the world is turned upside down +since the word of Jehovah came to this land! Who ever expected to see +rain coming up through the earth? It has always come from the clouds! +Wonderful is the work of this Jehovah God. No god of Aniwa ever answered +prayers as the Missi's God has done. Friends of Namakei, all the powers +of the world could not have forced us to believe that rain could be +given from the depths of the earth, if we had not seen it with our eyes, +felt it and tasted it as we here do. Now, by the help of Jehovah God the +Missi brought that invisible rain to view, which we never before heard +of or saw, and"—(beating his hand on his breast, he +exclaimed):—</p> + +<p>"Something here in my heart tells me that the Jehovah God does exist, +the Invisible One, whom we never heard of nor saw till the Missi brought +Him to our knowledge. The coral has been removed, the land has been +cleared away, and lo! the water rises. Invisible till this day, yet all +the same it was there, though our eyes were too weak. So I, your Chief, +do now firmly believe that when I die, when the bits of coral and the +heaps of dust are removed which now blind my old eyes, I shall then see +the Invisible Jehovah God with my soul, as Missi tells me, not less +surely than I have seen the rain from the earth below. From this day, my +people, I must worship the God who has opened for us the well, and who +fills us with rain from below. The gods of Aniwa cannot hear, cannot +help us, like the God of Missi. Henceforth I am a follower of Jehovah +God. Let every man that thinks with me go now and fetch the idols of +Aniwa, the gods which our fathers feared, and cast them down at Missi's +feet. Let us burn and bury and destroy these things of wood and stone, +and let us be taught by the Missi how to serve God who can hear, the +Jehovah who gave us the well, and who will give us every other blessing, +for He sent His Son Jesus to die for us and bring us to Heaven. This is +what the Missi has been telling us every day since he landed on Aniwa. +We laughed at him, but now we believe him. The Jehovah God has sent us +rain from the earth. Why should He not also send us His Son from Heaven? +Namakei stands up for Jehovah!"</p> + +<p>This address, and the Sinking of the Well, broke the back of +Heathenism on Aniwa. That very afternoon, the old Chief and several of +his people brought their idols and cast them down at my feet beside the +door of our house. Oh, the intense excitement of the weeks that +followed! Company after company came to the spot, loaded with their gods +of wood and stone, and piled them up in heaps, amid the tears and sobs +of some, and the shoutings of others, in which was heard the +oft-repeated word, "Jehovah! Jehovah!" What could be burned, we cast +into the flames; others we buried in pits twelve or fifteen feet deep; +and some few, more likely than the rest to feed or awaken superstition, +we sank far out into the deep sea. Let no Heathen eyes ever gaze on them +again!</p> + +<p>One of the very first steps in Christian discipline to which they +readily and almost unanimously took was the asking of God's blessing on +every meal and praising the great Jehovah for their daily bread. +Whosoever did not do so was regarded as a Heathen. (Query: how many +white Heathens are there?) The next step, and it was taken in a manner +as if by some common consent that was not less surprising than joyful, +was a form of Family Worship every morning and evening. Doubtless the +prayers were often very queer, and mixed up with many remaining +superstitions; but they were prayers to the great Jehovah, the +compassionate Father, the Invisible One—no longer to gods of +stone!</p> + +<p>Necessarily these were the conspicuous features of our life as +Christians in their midst—morning and evening Family Prayer, and +Grace at Meat; and hence, most naturally, their instinctive adoption and +imitation of the same as the first outward tokens of Christian +discipline. Every house in which there was not Prayer to God in the +family was known thereby to be Heathen. This was a direct and practical +evidence of the New Religion; and, so far as it goes (and that is very +far indeed, where there is any sincerity beneath it), the test was one +about which there could be no mistake on either side.</p> + +<p>A third conspicuous feature stood out distinctly and at +once,—the change as to the Lord's Day. Village after village +followed in this also the example of the Mission House. All ordinary +occupation ceased. Sabbath was spoken of as the Day for Jehovah. +Saturday came to be called "Cooking Day," referring to the extra +preparations for the coming day of rest and worship. They believed that +it was Jehovah's will to keep the first day holy. The reverse was a +distinctive mark of Heathenism.</p> + +<p>The first traces of a new Social Order began to rise visibly on the +delighted eye. The whole inhabitants, young and old, now attended +School,—three generations sometimes at the one copy or A B C book! +Thefts, quarrels, crimes, etc., were settled now, not by club law, but +by fine or bonds or lash, as agreed upon by the Chiefs and their people. +Everything was rapidly and surely becoming "New" under the influence of +the leaven of Jesus. Industry increased. Huts and plantations were safe. +Formerly every man, in traveling, carried with him all his valuables; +now they were secure, left at home.</p> + +<p>Even a brood of fowls or a litter of pigs would be carried in bags on +their person in Heathen days. Hence at Church we had sometimes lively +episodes, the chirruping of chicks, the squealing of piggies, and the +barking of puppies, one gaily responding to the other, as we sang, or +prayed, or preached the Gospel! Being glad to see the Natives there, +even with all their belongings, we carefully refrained from finding +fault; but the thread of devotion was sometimes apt to slip through +one's fingers, especially when the conflict of the owner to silence a +baby pig inspired the little wretch to drown everything in a +long-sustained and high-pitched scream.</p> + +<p>The natives, finding this state of matters troublesome to themselves +and disagreeable all round, called a General Assembly, unanimously +condemned dishonesty, agreed upon severe fines and punishments for every +act of theft, and covenanted to stand by each other in putting it down. +The chiefs, however found this a long and difficult task, but they held +at it under the inspiration of the gospel and prevailed. Even the trials +and difficulties with which they met were overruled by God, in assisting +them to form by the light of their own experience a simple code of +Social Laws, fitted to repress the crimes there prevailing, and to +encourage the virtues specially needing to be cultivated there. Heathen +Worship was gradually extinguished; and, though no one was compelled to +come to Church, every person on Aniwa, without exception, became ere +many years an avowed worshipper of Jehovah God. Again, <br><br>"O +Galilean, Thou hast conquered!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="69"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE FIRST BOOK AND THE NEW EYES.</h4></center> + +<p>THE printing of my first Aniwan book was a great event, not so much +for the toil and worry which it cost me, though that was enough to have +broken the heart of many a compositor, as rather for the joy it gave to +the old Chief Namakei.</p> + +<p>The break-up at Tanna had robbed me of my own neat little +printing-press. I had since obtained at Aneityum the remains of one from +Erromanga, that had belonged to the murdered Gordon. But the supply of +letters, in some cases, was so deficient that I could print only four +pages at a time; and, besides, bits of the press were wanting, and I had +first to manufacture substitutes from scraps of iron and wood. I +managed, however, to make it go, and by and by it did good service. By +it I printed our Aniwan Hymn-Book, a portion of Genesis in Aniwan, a +small book in Erromangan for the second Gordon, and some other little +things.</p> + +<p>The old Chief had eagerly helped me in translating and preparing this +first book. He had a great desire "to hear it speak," as he graphically +expressed it. It was made up chiefly of short passages from the +Scriptures that might help me to introduce them to the treasures of +Divine truth and love. Namakei came to me, morning after morning, +saying, "Missi, is it done? Can it speak?"</p> + +<p>At last I was able to answer, "Yes!"</p> + +<p>The old Chief eagerly responded, "Does it speak my words?"</p> + +<p>I said, "It does."</p> + +<p>With rising interest, Namakei exclaimed, "Make it speak to me, Missi! +Let me hear it speak."</p> + +<p>I read to him a part of the book, and the old man fairly shouted in +an ecstasy of joy, "It does speak! It speaks my own language, too! Oh, +give it to me!"</p> + +<p>He grasped it hurriedly, turned it all round every way, pressed it to +his bosom, and then, closing it with a look of great disappointment, +handed it back to me, saying, "Missi, I cannot make it speak! It will +never speak to me."</p> + +<p>"No," said I; "you don't know how to read it yet, how to make it +speak to you; but I will teach you to read, and then it will speak to +you as it does to me."</p> + +<p>"O Missi, dear Missi, show me how to make it speak!" persisted the +bewildered Chief. He was straining his eyes so, that I suspected they +were dim with age, and could not see the letters. I looked out for him a +pair of spectacles, and managed to fit him well. He was much afraid of +putting them on at first, manifestly in dread of some sort of sorcery. +At last, when they were properly placed, he saw the letters and +everything so clearly that he exclaimed in great excitement and +joy—</p> + +<p>"I see it all now! This is what you told us about Jesus. He opened +the eyes of a blind man. The word of Jesus has just come to Aniwa. He +has sent me these glass eyes. I have gotten back again the sight that I +had when a boy. O Missi, make the book speak to me now!"</p> + +<p>I walked out with him to the public Village Ground. There I drew A B +C in large characters upon the dust, showed him the same letters in the +book, and left him to compare them, and find out how many occurred on +the first page. Fixing these in his mind, he came running to me, and +said, "I have lifted up A B C. They are here in my head and I will hold +them fast. Give me other three."</p> + +<p>This was repeated time after time. He mastered the whole Alphabet, +and soon began to spell out the smaller words. Indeed, he came so often, +getting me to read it over and over, that before he himself could read +it freely, he had it word for word committed to memory. When strangers +passed him, or young people came around, he would get out the little +book, and say, "Come, and I will let you hear how the book speaks our +own Aniwan words. You say, it is hard to learn to read and make it +speak. But be strong to try! If an old man like me has done it, it ought +to be much easier for you."</p> + +<p>One day I heard him read to a company with wonderful fluency. Taking +the book, I asked him to show me how he had learned to read so quickly. +Immediately I perceived that he could recite the whole from memory! He +became our right-hand helper in the Conversion of Aniwa.</p> + +<p>Next after God's own Word, perhaps the power of Music was most +amazingly blessed in opening up our way. Amongst many other +illustrations, I may mention how Namakei's wife was won. The old lady +positively shuddered at coming near the Mission House, and dreaded being +taught anything. One day she was induced to draw near the door, and +fixing a hand on either post, and gazing inwards, she exclaimed, +"Awái, Missi! Kái, Missi!"—the Native cry for +unspeakable wonder. Mrs. Paton began to play on the harmonium, and sang +a simple hymn in the old woman's language. Manifestly charmed, she drew +nearer and nearer, and drank in the music, as it were, at every pore of +her being. At last she ran off, and we thought it was with fright, but +it was to call together all the women and girls from her village "to +hear the <i>bokis</i> sing!" (Having no <i>x</i>, the word <i>box</i> is +pronounced thus.) She returned with them all at her heels. They listened +with dancing eyes. And ever after the sound of a hymn, and the song of +the <i>bokis</i>, made them flock freely to class or meeting.</p> + +<p>Being myself as nearly as possible destitute of the power of singing, +all my work would have been impaired and sadly hindered, and the joyous +side of the Worship and Service of Jehovah could not have been presented +to the Natives, but for the gift bestowed by the Lord on my dear wife. +She led our songs of praise, both in the Family and in the Church, and +that was the first avenue by which the New Religion winged its way into +the heart of Cannibal and Savage.</p> + +<p>The old Chief was particularly eager that this same aged lady, his +wife Yauwaki, should be taught to read. But her sight was far gone. So, +one day, he brought her to me, saying, "Missi, can you give my wife also +a pair of new glass eyes like mine? She tries to learn, but she cannot +see the letters. She tries to sew, but she pricks her finger, and throws +away the needle, saying, 'The ways of the white people are not good!' If +she could get a pair of glass eyes, she would be in a new world like +Namakei." In my bundle I found a pair that suited her. She was in +positive terror about putting them on her face, but at last she cried +with delight, "Oh, my new eyes! my new eyes! I have the sight of a +little girl. Oh, my new eyes!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="70"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>A ROOF-TREE FOR JESUS.</h4></center> + +<p>AT first we moved about amongst the Natives from village to village, +acquired their language, and taught them everywhere,—by the +roadside, under the shade of a tree, or on the public Tillage Ground. +Our old Native Hut, when we removed to the Mission House formerly +referred to, was also used for all sorts of public meetings. Feeling by +and by, however, that the time had come to interest them in building a +new Church, and that it would be every way helpful, I laid the proposal +before them, carefully explaining that for this work no one would be +paid, that the Church was for all the Islanders and for the Worship +alone, and that every one must build purely for the love of Jesus.</p> + +<p>I told them that God would be pleased with such materials as they had +to give, that they must not begin till they had divided the work and +counted the cost, and that for my part I would do all that I could to +direct and help, and would supply the sinnet (= cocoanut fiber rope) +which I had brought from Aneityum, and the nails from Sydney.</p> + +<p>They held meeting after meeting throughout the Island. Chiefs made +long speeches; orators chanted their palavers; and warriors acted their +part by waving of club and tomahawk. An unprecedented friendliness +sprang up amongst them. They agreed to sink every quarrel, and unite in +building the first Church on Aniwa,—one Chief only holding back. +Women and children began to gather and prepare the sugar-cane leaf for +thatch. Men searched for and cut down suitable trees.</p> + +<p>The Church measured sixty-two feet by twenty-four. The wall was +twelve feet high. The studs were of hard ironwood, and were each by +tenon and mortise fastened into six ironwood trees forming the upper +wall plates. All were not only nailed, but strongly tied together by +sinnet-rope, so as to resist the hurricanes. The roof was supported by +four huge ironwood trees, and a fifth of equally hard wood, sunk about +eight feet into the ground, surrounded by building at the base, and +forming massive pillars. There were two doorways and eight window +spaces; the floor was laid with white coral, broken small, and covered +with cocoanut tree leaf-mats, on which the people sat. I had a small +platform, floored and surrounded with reeds; and Mrs. Paton had a seat +enclosing the harmonium, also made of reeds and in keeping. Great +harmony prevailed all the time, and no mishap marred the work. One +hearty fellow fell from the roof-tree to the ground, and was badly +stunned. But, jumping up, he shook himself, and saying—"I was +working for Jehovah! He has saved me from being hurt!"—he mounted +the roof again and went on cheerily with his work.</p> + +<p>But our pride in this New Church soon met with a dreadful blow. That +very season a terrific hurricane leveled it with the ground. After much +wailing, the principal Chief, in a public Assembly, said, "Let us not +weep, like boys over their broken bows and arrows! Let us be strong, and +build a yet stronger Church for Jehovah."</p> + +<p>By our counsel, ten days were spent first in repairing houses and +fences, and saving food from the plantations, many of which had been +swept into utter ruin. Then they assembled on the appointed day. A hymn +was sung. God's blessing was invoked, and all the work was dedicated +afresh to Him. Days were spent in taking the iron wood roof to pieces, +and saving everything that could be saved. The work was allocated +equally amongst the villages, and a wholesome emulation was created. One +Chief still held back. After a while, I visited him and personally +invited his help,—telling him that it was God's House, and for all +the people of Aniwa; and that if he and his people did not do their +part, the others would cast it in their teeth that they had no share in +the House of God. He yielded to my appeal, and entered vigorously upon +the work.</p> + +<p>One large tree was still needed to complete the couples, and could +nowhere be found. The work was at a standstill; for, though the size was +now reduced to fifty feet by twenty-two, the roof lowered by four feet, +and there was still plenty of smaller wood on Aniwa, the larger trees +were apparently exhausted. One morning, however, we were awakened at +early daybreak by the shouting and singing of a company of men, carrying +a great black tree to the Church, with this same Chief dancing before +them, leading the singing, and beating time with the flourish of his +tomahawk. Determined not to be beaten, though late in the field, he had +lifted the roof-tree out of his own house, as black as soot could make +it, and was carrying it to complete the couplings. The rest of the +builders shouted against this. All the other wood of the Church was +white and clean, and they would not have this black tree, conspicuous in +the very center of all. But I praised the old Chief for what he had +done, and hoped he and his people would come and worship Jehovah under +his own roof-tree. At this all were delighted! and the work went on +apace, with many songs and shoutings.</p> + +<p>Whenever the Church was roofed in, we met in it for Public Worship. +Coral was being got and burned, and preparations made for plastering the +walls. The Natives were sharp enough to notice that I was not putting up +the bell; and suspicions arose that I kept it back in order to take it +with me when I returned to Tanna. It was a beautiful Church bell, cast +and sent out by our dear friend, James Taylor, Esq., Birkenhead. The +Aniwans, therefore, gave me no rest till I agreed to have it hung on +their new Church. They found a large ironwood tree near the shore, cut a +road for half a mile through the bush, tied poles across it every few +feet, and with shouts lifted it bodily on their shoulders—six men +or so at each pole—and never set it down again till they reached +the Church; for as one party got exhausted, others were ready to rush in +and relieve them at every stage of the journey. The two old Chiefs, +flourishing their tomahawks, went capering in front of all the rest, and +led the song to which they marched, joyfully bearing their load. They +dug a deep hole, into which to sink it; I squared the top and screwed on +the bell; then we raised the tree by ropes, letting it sink into the +hole, and built it round eight feet deep with coral blocks and lime; and +there from its top swings and rings ever since the Church bell of +Aniwa.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="71"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>"KNOCK THE TEVIL OUT!"</h4></center> + +<p>ONE of the last attempts ever made on my life resulted, by God's +blessing, in great good to us all and to the work of the Lord. It was +when Nourai, one of Nasi's men, struck at me again and again with the +barrel of his musket; but I evaded the blows, till rescued by the +women—the men looking on stupefied. After he escaped into the bush +I assembled our people, and said, "If you do not now try to stop this +bad conduct, I shall leave Aniwa, and go to some island where my life +will be protected."</p> + +<p>Next morning at daybreak, about one hundred men arrived at my house, +and in answer to my query why they came armed they replied, "We are now +going to that village where the men of wicked conduct are gathered +together. We will find out why they sought your life, and we will rebuke +their Sacred Man for pretending to cause hurricanes and diseases. We +cannot go unarmed. We will not suffer you to go alone. We are your +friends and the friends of the Worship. And we are resolved to stand by +you, and you must go at our head to-day!"</p> + +<p>In great perplexity, yet believing that my presence might prevent +bloodshed, I allowed myself to be placed at their head. The old Chief +followed next, then a number of fiery young men; then all the rest, +single file, along the narrow path. At a sudden turn, as we neared their +village, Nourai, who had attacked me the Sabbath day before, and his +brother were seen lurking with their muskets; but our young men made a +rush in front, and they disappeared into the bush.</p> + +<p>We took possession of the Village Public Ground; and the Chief, the +Sacred Man, and others soon assembled. A most characteristic Native +Palaver followed. Speeches, endless speeches, were fired by them at each +other. My friends declared, in every conceivable form of language and of +graphic illustration, that they were resolved at any cost to defend me +and the Worship of Jehovah, and that they would as one man punish every +attempt to injure me or take my life. The orator, Taia, exclaimed, "You +think that Missi is here alone, and that you can do with him as you +please! No! We are now all Missi's men. We will fight for him and his +rather than see him injured. Every one that attacks him attacks us. That +is finished to-day!"</p> + +<p>In the general scolding, the Sacred Man had special attention for +pretending to cause hurricanes. One pointed out that he had himself a +stiff knee, and argued, "If he can make a hurricane, why can't he +restore the joint of his own knee? It is surely easier to do the one +than the other!"</p> + +<p>The Natives laughed heartily, and taunted him. Meantime he sat +looking down to the earth in sullen silence; and a ludicrous episode +ensued. His wife, a big, strong woman, scolded him roundly for the +trouble he had brought them all into; and then, getting indignant as +well as angry, she seized a huge cocoanut leaf out of the bush, and with +the butt end thereof began thrashing his shoulders vigorously as she +poured out the vials of her wrath in torrents of words, always winding +up with the cry, "I'll knock the Tevil out of him! He'll not try +hurricanes again!"</p> + +<p>The woman was a Malay, as all the Aniwans were. Had a Papuan woman on +Tanna or Erromanga dared such a thing, she would have been killed on the +spot. But even on Aniwa, the unwonted spectacle of a wife beating her +husband created uproarious amusement. At length I remonstrated, saying, +"You had better stop now! You don't want to kill him, do you? You seem +to have knocked 'the Tevil' pretty well out of him now! You see how he +receives it all in silence, and repents of all his bad talk and bad +conduct."</p> + +<p>They exacted from him a solemn promise as to the making of no more +diseases or hurricanes, and that he would live at peace with his +neighbors. The offending villagers at length presented a large quantity +of sugar-cane and food to us as a peace-offering; and we returned, +praising God that the whole day's scolding had ended in talk, not blood. +The result was every way most helpful. Our friends knew their strength +and took courage. Our enemies were disheartened and afraid. We saw the +balance growing heavier every day on the side of Jesus; and our souls +blessed the Lord.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="72"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE CONVERSION OF YOUWILI.</h4></center> + +<p>THESE events suggest to me another incident of those days, full at +once of trial and of joy. It pertains to the story of our young Chief +Youwili. From the first, and for long, he was most audacious and +troublesome. Observing that for several days no Natives had come near +the Mission House, I asked the old Chief if he knew why, and he +answered, "Youwili has <i>tabooed</i> the paths, and threatens death to +any one who breaks through it."</p> + +<p>I at once replied, "Then I conclude that you all agree with him, and +wish me to leave. We are here only to teach you and your people. If he +has power to prevent that we shall leave with the <i>Dayspring</i>."</p> + +<p>The old Chief called the people together, and they came to me, +saying, "Our anger is strong against Youwili. Go with us and break down +the <i>taboo</i>. We will assist and protect you."</p> + +<p>I went at their head and removed it. It consisted simply of reeds +stuck into the ground, with twigs and leaves and fiber tied to each in a +peculiar way, in a circle round the Mission House. The Natives had an +extraordinary dread of violating the taboo, and believed that it meant +death to the offender or to some one of his family. All present entered +into a bond to punish on the spot any man who attempted to replace the +<i>taboo</i> or to revenge its removal. Thus a mortal blow was publicly +struck at this most miserable superstition, which had caused bloodshed +and misery untold.</p> + +<p>One day, thereafter, I was engaged in clearing away the bush around +the Mission House, having purchased and paid for the land for the very +purpose of opening it up, when suddenly Youwili appeared and menacingly +forbade me to proceed. For the sake of peace I for the time desisted. +But he went straight to my fence, and with his tomahawk cut down the +portion in front of our house, also some bananas planted there—the +usual declaration of war, intimating that he only awaited his +opportunity similarly to cut down me and mine. We saw the old Chief and +his men planting themselves here and there to guard us, and the Natives +prowling about armed and excited. On calling them, they explained the +meaning of what Youwili had done, and that they were determined to +protect us. I said. "This must not continue. Are you to permit one young +fool to defy us all, and break up the Lord's work on Aniwa? If you +cannot righteously punish him, I will shut myself up in my house and +withdraw from all attempts to teach or help you, till the vessel comes, +and then I can leave the island."</p> + +<p>Now that they had begun really to love us, and to be anxious to learn +more, this was always my most powerful argument. We retired into the +Mission House. The people surrounded our doors and windows and pleaded +with us. After long silence, we replied, "You know our resolution. It is +for you now to decide. Either you must control that foolish young man, +or we must go!"</p> + +<p>Much speech-making, as usual, followed. The people resolved to seize +and punish Youwili; but he fled, and had hid himself in the bush. Coming +to me, the Chief said, "It is left to you to say what shall be Youwili's +punishment. Shall we kill him?"</p> + +<p>I replied firmly, "Certainly not! Only for murder can life be +lawfully taken away."</p> + +<p>"What then?" they continued. "Shall we burn his houses and destroy +his plantations?"</p> + +<p>I answered, "No."</p> + +<p>"Shall we bind him and beat him?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Shall we place him in a canoe, thrust him out to sea, and let him +drown or escape as he may?"</p> + +<p>"No! by no means."</p> + +<p>"Then, Missi," said they, "these are our ways of punishing. What +other punishment remains that Youwili cares for?"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Make him with his own hands, and alone, put up a new +fence, and restore all that he has destroyed; and make him promise +publicly that he will cease all evil conduct towards us. That will +satisfy me."</p> + +<p>This idea of punishment seemed to tickle them greatly. The Chiefs +reported our words to the Assembly; and the Natives laughed and cheered, +as if it were a capital joke! They cried aloud, "It is good! Obey the +word of the Missi."</p> + +<p>After considerable hunting, the young Chief was found. They brought +him to the Assembly and scolded him severely and told him their +sentence. He was surprised by the nature of the punishment, and cowed by +the determination of the people.</p> + +<p>"To-morrow," said he, "I will fully repair the fence. Never again +will I oppose the Missi. His word is good."</p> + +<p>By daybreak next morning Youwili was diligently repairing what he had +broken down, and before evening he had everything made right better than +it was before. While he toiled away, some fellows of his own rank +twitted him, saying, "Youwili, you found it easier to cut down Missi's +fence than to repair it again. You will not repeat that in a hurry!"</p> + +<p>But he heard all in silence. Others passed with averted heads, and he +knew they were laughing at him. He made everything tight and then left +without uttering a single word. My heart yearned after the poor fellow, +but I thought it better to let his own mind work away, on its new ideas +as to punishment and revenge, for a little longer by itself alone. I +instinctively felt that Youwili was beginning to turn, that the +Christ-Spirit had touched his darkly-groping soul. My doors were now +thrown open, and every good work went on as before. We resolved to leave +Youwili entirely to Jesus, setting apart a portion of our prayer every +day for the enlightenment and conversion of the young Chief, on whom all +other means had been exhausted apparently in vain.</p> + +<p>A considerable time elapsed. No sign came, and our prayers seemed to +fail. But one day, I was toiling between the shafts of a hand-cart, +assisted by two boys, drawing it along from the shore loaded with coral +blocks. Youwili came rushing from his house, three hundred yards or so +off the path, and said, "Missi, that is too hard for you. Let me be your +helper!"</p> + +<p>Without waiting for a reply, he ordered the two boys to seize one +rope, while he grasped the other, threw it over his shoulder and started +off, pulling with the strength of a horse. My heart rose in gratitude, +and I wept with joy as I followed him. I knew that that yoke was but a +symbol of the yoke of Christ, which Youwili with his change of heart was +beginning to carry! Truly there is only one way of regeneration, being +born again by the power of the Spirit of God, the new heart; but there +are many ways of conversation, of outwardly turning to the Lord, of +taking the actual first step that shows on whose side we are.</p> + +<p>Like those of old praying for the deliverance of Peter, and who could +not believe their ears and eyes when Peter knocked and walked in amongst +them, so we could scarcely believe our eyes and ears when Youwili became +a disciple of Jesus, though we had been praying for his conversion every +day. His once sullen countenance became literally bright with inner +light. His wife came immediately for a book and a dress saying, "Youwili +sent me. His opposition to the Worship is over now. I am to attend +Church and School. He is coming too. He wants to learn how to be strong, +like you, for Jehovah and for Jesus."</p> + +<p>Oh, Jesus! to Thee alone be all the glory. Thou hast the key to +unlock every heart that Thou hast created.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="73"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FIRST COMMUNION ON ANIWA.</h4></center> + +<p>AND this leads me to relate the story of our First Communion on +Aniwa. It was Sabbath, 24th October 1869; and surely the Angels of God +and the Church of the Redeemed in Glory were amongst the "great cloud of +witnesses" who eagerly "peered" down upon the scene,—when we sat +around the Lord's Table and partook the memorials of His body and blood +with those few souls rescued out of the Heathen World. My Communicants' +Class had occupied me now a considerable time. The conditions of +attendance at this early stage were explicit, and had to be made very +severe, and only twenty were admitted to the roll. At the final +examination only twelve gave evidence of understanding what they were +doing, and of having given their hearts to the service of the Lord +Jesus. At their own urgent desire, and after every care in examining and +instructing, they were solemnly dedicated in prayer to be baptized and +admitted to the Holy Table. On that Lord's Day, after the usual opening +Service, I gave a short and careful exposition of the Ten Commandments +and of the Way of Salvation according to the Gospel. The twelve +Candidates then stood up before all the inhabitants there assembled; +and, after a brief exhortation to them as Converts, I put to them the +two questions that follow, and each gave an affirmative reply, "Do you, +in accordance with your profession of the Christian Faith, and your +promises before God and the people, wish me now to baptize you?"</p> + +<p>And—"Will you live henceforth for Jesus only, hating all sin +and trying to love and serve your Saviour?"</p> + +<p>Then, beginning with the old Chief, the twelve came forward, and I +baptized them one by one according to the Presbyterian usage. Two of +them had also little children, and they were at the same time baptized, +and received as the lambs of the flock. Solemn prayer was then offered, +and in the name of the Holy Trinity the Church of Christ on Aniwa was +formally constituted. I addressed them on the words of the Holy +Institution—1 Corinthians xi. 23—and then, after the prayer +of Thanksgiving and Consecration, administered the Lord's Supper, the +first time since the Island of Aniwa was heaved out of its coral depths! +Mrs. M'nair, my wife, and myself, along with six Aneityumese Teachers, +communicated with the newly baptized twelve. And I think, if ever in all +my Earthly experience, on that day I might truly add the blessed +words—"Jesus in the midst."</p> + +<p>The whole Service occupied nearly three hours. The Islanders looked +on with a wonder whose unwonted silence was almost painful to bear. Many +were led to inquire carefully about everything they saw, so new and +strange. For the first time the Dorcas Street Sabbath School Teachers' +gift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use—a new +Communion Service of silver. They gave it in faith that we would require +it, and in such we received it. And now the day had come and gone! For +three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment +when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with +the blood of Cannibalism, but now stretched out to receive and partake +the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the +joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never +taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus +Himself.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of that Communion Day an open-air Prayer Meeting was +held under the shade of the great banyan tree in front of our Church. +Seven of the new Church members there led the people in prayer to Jesus, +a hymn being sung after each. My heart was so full of joy that I could +do little else but weep. Oh, I wonder, I wonder, when I see so many good +Ministers at home, crowding each other and treading on each other's +heels, whether they would not part with all their home privileges, and +go out to the Heathen World and reap a joy like this—"the joy of +the Lord."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="74"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER.</h4></center> + +<p>THE new Social Order, referred to already in its dim beginnings, rose +around us like a sweet-scented flower. I never interfered directly, +unless expressly called upon or appealed to. The two principal Chiefs +were impressed with the idea that there was but one law—the Will +of God; and one rule for them and their people as Christians—to +please the Lord Jesus. In every difficulty they consulted me. I +explained to them and read in their hearing the very words of Holy +Scripture, showing what appeared to me to be the will of God and what +would please the Saviour; and then sent them away to talk it over with +their people, and to apply these principles of the Word of God as wisely +as they could according to their circumstances. Our own part of the work +went on very joyfully, notwithstanding occasional trying and painful +incidents. Individual cases of greed and selfishness and vice brought us +many a bitter pang. But the Lord never lost patience with us, and we +durst not therefore lose patience with them! We trained the Teachers, we +translated and printed and expounded the Scriptures, we ministered to +the sick and dying; we dispensed medicines every day, we taught them the +use of tools, we advised them as to laws and penalties; and the New +Society grew and developed, and bore amidst all its imperfections some +traces of the fair Kingdom of God amongst men.</p> + +<p>Our life and work will reveal itself to the reader if I briefly +outline a Sabbath Day on Aniwa. Breakfast is partaken of immediately +after daylight. The Church bell then rings, and ere it stops every +worshiper is seated. The Natives are guided in starting by the sunrise, +and are forward from farthest corners at this early hour. The first +Service is over in about an hour; there is an interval of twenty +minutes; the bell is again rung, and the second Service begins. We +follow the ordinary Presbyterian ritual; but in every Service I call +upon an Elder or a Church Member to lead in one of the prayers, which +they do with great alacrity and with much benefit to all concerned.</p> + +<p>As the last worshiper leaves, at close of second Service, the bell is +sounded twice very deliberately, and that is the signal for the opening +of my Communicants' Class. I carefully expound the Church's Shorter +Catechism, and show how its teachings are built upon Holy Scripture, +applying each truth to the conscience and the life. This class is +conducted all the year round; and from it, step by step, our Church +Members are drawn as the Lord opens up their way, the most of them +attending two full years at least before being admitted to the Lord's +Table. This discipline accounts for the fact that so very few of our +baptized converts have ever fallen away—as few in proportion, I +verily believe, as in Churches at home. Meantime, many of the Church +members have been holding a prayer-meeting amongst themselves in the +adjoining School,—a thing started of their own free +accord,—in which they invoke God's blessing on all the work and +worship of the day.</p> + +<p>Having snatched a brief meal of tea, or a cold dinner cooked on +Saturday, the bell rings within an hour, and our Sabbath School +assembles,—in which the whole inhabitants, young and old, take +part, myself superintending and giving the address, as well as +questioning on the lesson, Mrs. Paton teaching a large class of adult +women, and the Elders and best readers instructing the ordinary classes +for about half-an-hour or so.</p> + +<p>About one o'clock the School is closed, and we then start off on our +village tours. An experienced Elder, with several Teachers, takes one +side of the Island this Sabbath, I with another company taking the other +side, and next Sabbath we reverse the order. A short Service is +conducted in the open air, or in Schoolrooms, at every village that can +be reached and on their return they report to me cases of sickness, or +any signs of progress in the work of the Lord. The whole Island is thus +steadily and methodically evangelized.</p> + +<p>As the sun is setting I am creeping home from my village tour; and +when darkness begins to approach, the canoe drum is beat at every +village, and the people assemble under the banyan tree for evening +village prayers. The Elder or Teacher presides. Five or six hymns are +joyously sung, and five or six short prayers offered between, and thus +the evening hour passes happily in the fellowship of God. On a calm +evening, after Christianity had fairly taken hold of the people, and +they loved to sing over and over again their favorite hymns, these +village prayer-meetings formed a most blessed close to every day, and +set the far-distant bush echoing with the praises of God.</p> + +<p>Nor is our week-day life less crowded or busy, though in different +ways. At gray dawn on Monday, and every morning, the <i>Tavaka</i> (= +the canoe drum) is struck in every village on Aniwa. The whole +inhabitants turn in to the early School, which lasts about an hour and a +half, and then the Natives are off to their plantations. Having partaken +of breakfast, I then spend my forenoon in translating or printing, or +visiting the sick, or whatever else is most urgent. About two o'clock +the Natives return from their work, bathe in the sea, and dine off +cocoanut, breadfruit, or anything else that comes handily in the way. At +three o'clock the bell rings, and the afternoon School for the Teachers +and the more advanced learners then occupy my wife and myself for about +an hour and a half. After this, the Natives spend their time in fishing +or lounging or preparing supper,—which is amongst them always +<i>the</i> meal of the day. Towards sundown the <i>Tavaka</i> sounds +again, and the day closes amid the echoes of village prayers from under +their several banyan trees.</p> + +<p>Thus day after day and week after week passed over us on Aniwa; and +much the same on all the Islands where the Missionary has found a home. +In many respects it is a simple and happy and beautiful life; and the +man whose heart is full of things that are dear to Jesus, feels no +desire to exchange it for the poor frivolities of what calls itself +"Society," which seems to find its life in pleasures that Christ cannot +be asked to share, and in which, therefore, Christians should have +neither lot nor part.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="75"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE ORPHANS AND THEIR BISCUITS.</h4></center> + +<p>THE habits of morning and evening Family Prayer and of Grace at Meat +took a very wonderful hold upon the people; and became, as I have shown +elsewhere, a distinctive badge of Christian versus Heathen. This was +strikingly manifested during a time of bitter scarcity that befell us. I +heard a father, for instance, at his hut door, with his family around +him, reverently blessing God for the food provided for them, and for all +His mercies in Christ Jesus. Drawing near and conversing with them, I +found that their meals consisted of fig leaves which they had gathered +and cooked—a poor enough dish, but hunger makes a healthy +appetite, and contentment is a grateful relish.</p> + +<p>During the same period of privation, my Orphans suffered badly also. +Once they came to me, saying, "Missi, we are very hungry."</p> + +<p>I replied, "So am I, dear children, and we have no more white food +till the <i>Dayspring</i> comes."</p> + +<p>They continued, "Missi, you have two beautiful fig-trees. Will you +let us take one feast of the young and tender leaves? We will not injure +branch or fruit."</p> + +<p>I answered, "Gladly, my children, take your fill!"</p> + +<p>In a twinkling each child was perched upon a branch; and they feasted +there happy as squirrels. Every night we prayed for the vessel, and in +the morning our Orphan boys rushed to the coral rocks and eagerly +scanned the sea for an answer. Day after day they returned with sad +faces, saying, "Missi, <i>Tavaka jimra</i>!" (= No vessel yet).</p> + +<p>But at gray dawn of a certain day we were awoke by the boys shouting +from the shore and running for the Mission House with the +cry,—"<i>Tavaka oa! Tavaka oa!</i>"(= The vessel, hurrah!)</p> + +<p>We arose at once, and the boy exclaimed, "Missi, she is not our own +vessel, but we think she carries her flag. She has three masts, and our +<i>Dayspring</i> only two!"</p> + +<p>I looked through my glass, and saw that they were discharging goods +into the vessel's boats; and the children, when I told them that boxes +and bags and casks were being sent on shore, shouted and danced with +delight. As the first boat-load was discharged, the Orphans surrounded +me, saying, "Missi, here is a cask that rattles like biscuits? Will you +let us take it to the Mission House?"</p> + +<p>I told them to do so if they could; and in a moment it was turned +into the path, and the boys had it flying before them, some tumbling and +hurting their knees, but up and at it again, and never pausing till it +rolled up at the door of our Storehouse. On returning I found them all +around it, and they said, "Missi, have you forgotten what you promised +us?"</p> + +<p>I said, "What did I promise you?"</p> + +<p>They looked very disappointed and whispered to each other, "Missi has +forgot!"</p> + +<p>"Forgot what?" inquired I.</p> + +<p>"Missi," they answered, "you promised that when the vessel came you +would give each of us a biscuit."</p> + +<p>"Oh," I replied, "I did not forget; I only wanted to see if you +remembered it?"</p> + +<p>They laughed, saying, "No fear of that, Missi! Will you soon open the +cask? We are dying for biscuits."</p> + +<p>At once I got hammer and tools, knocked off the hoops, took out the +end, and then gave girls and boys a biscuit each. To my surprise, they +all stood round, biscuit in hand, but not one beginning to eat.</p> + +<p>"What," I exclaimed, "you are dying for biscuits! Why don't you eat? +Are you expecting another?"</p> + +<p>One of the eldest said, "We will first thank God for sending us food, +and ask Him to bless it to us all."</p> + +<p>And this was done in their own simple and beautiful childlike way; +and then they did eat, and enjoyed their food as a gift from the +Heavenly Father's hand. (Is there any child reading this, or hearing it +read, who never thanks God or asks Him to bless daily bread? Then is +that child not a white Heathen?) We ourselves at the Mission House could +very heartily rejoice with the dear Orphans. For some weeks past our +European food had been all exhausted, except a little tea, and the +cocoanut had been our chief support. It was beginning to tell against +us. Our souls rose in gratitude to the Lord, who had sent us these fresh +provisions that we might love Him better and serve Him more.</p> + +<p>The children's sharp eyes had read correctly. It was not the +<i>Dayspring</i>. Our brave little ship, as I afterwards learned, had +gone to wreck on 6th January 1873; and this vessel was the +<i>Paragon</i>, chartered to bring down our supplies. Alas! the wreck +had gone by auction sale to a French slaving company, who cut a passage +through the coral reef, and had the vessel again floating in the +Bay,—elated at the prospect of employing our Mission Ship in the +blood-stained <i>Tanaka</i>-traffic (= a mere euphemism for South Sea +slavery)! Our souls sank in horror and concern. Many Natives would +unwittingly trust themselves to the <i>Dayspring</i> and revenge would +be taken on us, as was done on noble Bishop Patteson, when the deception +was found out. What could be done? Nothing but cry to God, which all the +friends of our Mission did day and night, not without tears, as we +thought of the possible degradation of our noble little ship. Listen! +The French Slavers, anchoring their prize in the Bay, and greatly +rejoicing, went ashore to celebrate the event. They drank and feasted +and reveled. But that night a mighty storm arose, the old +<i>Dayspring</i> dragged her anchor, and at daybreak she was seen again +on the reef, but this time with her back broken in two and for ever +unfit for service, either fair or foul. Oh, white winged Virgin, +daughter of the waves, better for thee, as for thy human sisters, to die +and pass away than to suffer pollution and live on in disgrace!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="76"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE FINGER-POSTS OF GOD.</h4></center> + +<p>I HAD often said that I would not again leave my beloved work on the +Islands unless compelled to do so either by the breakdown of health, or +by the loss of our Mission Ship and my services being required to assist +in providing another. Very strange, that in this one season both of +these events befell us! During the hurricanes, from January to April +1873, when the <i>Dayspring</i> was wrecked, we lost a darling child by +death, my dear wife had a protracted illness, and I was brought very low +with severe rheumatic fever. I was reduced so far that I could not +speak, and was reported as dying. The Captain of a vessel, having seen +me, called at Tanna, and spoke of me as in all probability dead by that +time. Our unfailing and ever-beloved friends and fellow-Missionaries, +Mr. and Mrs. Watt, at once started from Kwamera, in their open boat, and +rowed and sailed thirty miles to visit us. But a few days before they +arrived I had fallen into a long and sound sleep, out of which, when I +awoke, consciousness had again returned to me. I had got the turn; there +was no further relapse; but when I did regain a little strength, my +weakness was so great that I had to travel about on crutches for many a +day.</p> + +<p>In the circumstances of our baby Lena's death, every form of +heartrending tenderness seemed to meet. On Friday, 28th March, at 3 A.M. +she came from God, and seemed to both of us the Angel-child of all our +flock. Alas, on Saturday I was seized with sciatica, so dreadful and +agonizing, that I had to be borne to my bed, and could not stir a limb +any more than if my back had been broken. My dear wife struggled to +attend to the baby, with such help as Native girls could give; and I +directed the Teachers about the Services in Church next Sunday, the +first time as yet that I had been unable to appear and lead them. From +the beds where we lay, my wife and I could hear each other's voices, and +tried to console one another in our sorrowful and helpless state. On +Tuesday, 1st April, the child was bright and vigorous; but the mother's +strength had been overtaxed, and she fell back, fainting in her bed, +when helping to dress the baby. Next morning, to our dismay, there were +symptoms of wheezing and feverishness in the little darling. All due +measures were at once taken to check these; and Williag, an experienced +Native, now having charge, kept everything warm and cozy. Before tea, +when receiving a little food, Lena opened her dark blue eyes, and gazed +up peacefully and gladly in her mother's face. But, immediately after +tea, within less than an hour, when the nurse brought her and placed her +in the mother's arms, the Angel-Soul fled away. Poor Williag, seeing the +mother's pathetic look, and as if she herself had been guilty, fell on +her knees and cried,—"I knew it, Missi, I knew it! She gave two +big sighs, and went! Awai, Missi, Awai!" When the mother called to me +something about the child having "fainted," I was talking with Koris, +but my heart guessed the worst. Alas, all means were seen to be vain! I +could not rise, could not move, nor could the mother, but we prayed, in +each other's hearing, and in the hearing of our blessed Lord, and He did +not leave us without consolation. In such cases, the Heathen usually fly +away in terror, but our Teachers were faithful and obedient; and our +little boys, Bob and Fred, six and four respectively, followed all our +tearful directions. One of their small toy-boxes was readily given up to +make the baby's coffin. Yawaci brought calico, and dressed the precious +body at the mother's instructions. I then offered a prayer to the clear +Lord, whilst the mother clasped the coffin in her arms. The little +grave, dug by the Teachers in the Mission plot, was within earshot of +where we lay, and there Bob and Fred, kneeling in their snow-white +dresses, sang "There is a Happy Land," as their sister's dust was laid +in the Earth and in the arms of Jesus who is the Resurrection and the +Life. God only can ever know how our hearts were torn by the pathos of +that event, as we lay helpless, almost dying, and listened to our +children's trembling voices! Johna, the Teacher, then prayed; while the +Heathen, in groups of wonder, but holding far aloof, had many strange +ideas wakened in their puzzled brains. The mother and I gave ourselves +once more away to God, and to the Service of our dear Lord Jesus, as we +parted with our darling Lena; and when, by and by, we were raised up +again, and able to move about, often, often, did we find ourselves +meeting together at that precious grave.</p> + +<p>Being ordered to seek health by change and by higher medical aid, and +if possible in the cooler air of New Zealand, we took the first +opportunity and arrived at Sydney, anxious to start the new movement to +secure the <i>Paragon</i> there, and then to go on to the sister Colony. +Being scarcely able to walk without the crutches, we called privately a +preliminary meeting of friends for consultation and advice. The +conditions were laid before them and discussed. The Insurance Company +had paid £2000 on the first <i>Dayspring</i>. Of that sum +£1000 had been spent on chartering and maintaining the +<i>Paragon;</i> so that we required an additional £2000 to +purchase her, according to Dr. Steel's bargain with the owners, besides +a large sum for alterations and equipment for the Mission. The late Mr. +Learmouth looked across to Mr. Goodlet, and said, "If you'll join me, we +will at once secure this vessel for the Missionaries, that God's work +may not suffer from the wreck of the <i>Dayspring</i>."</p> + +<p>Those two servants of God, excellent Elders of the Presbyterian +Church, consulted together, and the vessel was purchased next day. How I +did praise God, and pray Him to bless them and theirs! The late Dr. +Fullarton, our dear friend, said to them, "But what guarantee do you ask +from the Missionaries for your money?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Learmouth's noble reply was, and the other heartily re-echoed +it—"God's work is our guarantee! From them we will ask none. What +guarantee have they to give us, except their faith in God? That +guarantee is ours already."</p> + +<p>I answered, "You take God and His work for your guarantee. Rest +assured that He will soon repay you, and you will lose nothing by this +noble service."</p> + +<p>Having secured St. Andrew's Church for a public meeting, I advertised +it in all the papers. Ministers, Sabbath School Teachers, and other +friends came in great numbers. The scheme was fairly launched, and +Collecting Cards largely distributed. Committees carried everything out +into detail, and all worked for the fund with great goodwill.</p> + +<p>I then sailed from Sydney to Victoria, and addressed the General +Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in session at Melbourne. The work +was easily set agoing there, and willing workers fully and rapidly +organized it through Congregations and Sabbath Schools. Under medical +advice, I next sailed for New Zealand in the S. S. <i>Hero</i>, Captain +Logan. Reaching Auckland, I was in time to address the General Assembly +of the Church there also. They gave me cordial welcome, and every +Congregation and Sabbath School might be visited as far as I possibly +could. The Ministers promoted the movement with hearty zeal. The Sabbath +Scholars took Collecting Cards for "shares" in the New Mission Ship. A +meeting was held every day, and three every Sabbath. Auckland, Nelson, +Wellington, Dunedin, and all towns and churches within reach of these +were rapidly visited; and I never had greater joy or heartiness in any +of my tours than in this happy intercourse with the Ministers and people +of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand.</p> + +<p>I arrived in Sydney about the end of March. My health was wonderfully +restored, and New Zealand had given me about £1700 for the new +ship. With the £1000 of insurance money, and about £700 from +New South Wales, and £400 from Victoria, besides the £500 +for her support also from. Victoria, we were able to pay back the +£3000 of purchase money, and about £800 for alterations and +repairs, as well as equip and provision her to sail for her next year's +work amongst the Islands free of debt. I said to our two good friends at +Sydney:</p> + +<p>"You took God and His work for your guarantee. He has soon relieved +you from all responsibility. You have suffered no loss, and you have had +the honor and privilege of serving your Lord. I envy you the joy you +must feel in so using your wealth, and I pray God's double blessing on +all your store."</p> + +<p>Our agent. Dr. Steel, had applied to the Home authorities for power +to change the vessel's name from <i>Paragon</i> to <i>Dayspring</i>, so +that the old associations might not be broken. This was cordially +granted. And so our second <i>Dayspring</i>, owing no man anything, +sailed on her annual trip to the New Hebrides, and we returned with her, +praising the Lord and reinvigorated alike in spirit and in body.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="77"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE GOSPEL IN LIVING CAPITALS.</h4></center> + +<p>IN Heathendom every true convert becomes at once a Missionary. The +changed life, shining out amid the surrounding darkness, is a Gospel in +largest Capitals which all can read. Our Islanders, especially, having +little to engage or otherwise distract attention, become intense and +devoted workers for the Lord Jesus, if once the Divine Passion for souls +stirs within them.</p> + +<p>A Heathen has been all his days groping after peace of soul in dark +superstition and degrading rites. You pour into his soul the light of +Revelation. He learns that God is love, that God sent His Son to die for +him, and that he is the heir of Life Eternal in and through Jesus +Christ. By the blessed enlightenment of the Spirit of the Lord he +believes all this. He passes into a third heaven of joy, and he burns to +tell every one of this Glad Tidings. Others see the change in his +disposition in his character in his whole life and actions; and amid +such surroundings, every Convert is a burning and a shining light. Even +whole populations are thus brought into the Outer Court of the Temple; +and Islands, still Heathen and Cannibal, are positively eager for the +Missionary to live amongst them, and would guard his life and property +now in complete security, where a very few years ago everything would +have been instantly sacrificed on touching their shores! They are not +Christianized, neither are they Civilized, but the light has been +kindled all round them, and though still only shining afar, they cannot +but rejoice in its beams.</p> + +<p>But even where the path is not so smooth, nor any welcome awaiting +them, Native Converts show amazing zeal. For instance, one of our +Chiefs, full of the Christ-kindled desire to seek and to save, sent a +message to an inland Chief, that he and four attendants would come on +Sabbath and tell them the Gospel of Jehovah God. The reply came back +sternly forbidding their Visit, and threatening with death any Christian +that approached their village. Our Chief sent in response a loving +message, telling them that Jehovah had taught the Christians to return +good for evil, and that they would come unarmed to tell them the story +of how the Son of God came into the world and died in order to bless and +save His enemies. The Heathen Chief sent back a stern and prompt reply +once more, "If you come, you will be killed."</p> + +<p>On Sabbath morning, the Christian Chief and his four companions were +met outside the village by the Heathen Chief, who implored and +threatened them once more. But the former said, "We come to you without +weapons of war! We come only to tell you about Jesus. We believe that He +will protect us to-day."</p> + +<p>As they steadily pressed forward towards the village, spears began to +be thrown at them. Some they evaded, being all except one most dexterous +warriors; and others they literally received with their bare hands, +striking them and turning them aside in an incredible manner. The +Heathen, apparently thunderstruck at these men thus approaching them +without weapons of war, and not even flinging back their own spears +which they had turned aside, desisted from mere surprise, after having +thrown what the old Chief called "a shower of spears." Our Christian +Chief called out, as he and his companions drew up in the midst of them +on the village Public Ground:</p> + +<p>"Jehovah thus protects us. He has given us all your spears! Once we +would have thrown them back at you and killed you. But now we come not +to fight, but to tell you about Jesus. He has changed our dark hearts. +He asks you now to lay down all these your other weapons of war, and to +hear what we can tell you about the love of God, our great Father, the +only living God."</p> + +<p>The Heathen were perfectly overawed. They manifestly looked upon +these Christians as protected by some Invisible One! They listened for +the first time to the story of the Gospel and of the Cross. We lived to +see that Chief and all his tribe sitting in the School of Christ. And +there is perhaps not an Island in these Southern Seas, amongst all those +won for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of Converts +cannot be recited by every Missionary to the honor of our poor Natives +and to the glory of their Saviour.</p> + +<p>Larger and harder tests were sometimes laid upon their new faith. +Once the war on Tanna drove about one hundred of them to seek refuge on +Aniwa. Not so many years before, their lives would never have been thus +intrusted to the inhabitants of another Cannibal Island. But the +Christ-Spirit was abroad upon Aniwa. The refugees were kindly cared for, +and in process of time were restored to their own lands, by our +Missionary ship the <i>Dayspring</i>. The Chiefs, however, and the +Elders of the Church laid the new laws before them very clearly and +decidedly. They would be helped and sheltered, but Aniwa was now under +law to Christ, and if any of the Tannese broke the public rules as to +moral conduct, or in any way disturbed the Worship of Jehovah, they +would at once be expelled from the Island and sent back to Tanna. In all +this, the Chief of the Tanna party, my old friend Nowar, strongly +supported our Christian Chiefs. The Tannese behaved well, and many of +them wore clothing and began to attend Church; and the heavy drain upon +the poor resources of Aniwa was borne with a noble and Christian spirit, +which greatly impressed the Tannese and commended the Gospel of +Christ.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="78"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE DEATH OF NAMAKEI.</h4></center> + +<p>IN claiming Aniwa for Christ, and winning it as a small jewel for His +crown, we had the experience which has ever marked God's path through +history,—He raised up around us and wonderfully endowed men to +carry forward His own blessed work. Among these must be specially +commemorated Namakei, the old Chief of Aniwa. Slowly, but very steadily, +the light broke in upon his soul, and he was ever very eager to +communicate to his people all that he learned. In Heathen days he was a +Cannibal and a great warrior; but from the first, as shown in the +preceding chapter he took a warm interest in us and our work,—a +little selfish, no doubt, at the beginning, but soon becoming purified, +as his eyes and heart were opened to the Gospel of Jesus.</p> + +<p>On the birth of a son to us on the Island, the old Chief was in +ecstasies. He claimed the child as his heir, his own son being dead, and +brought nearly the whole inhabitants in relays to see the <i>white</i> +Chief of Aniwa! He would have him called Namakei the Younger, an honor +which I fear we did not too highly appreciate. As the child grew, he +took his hand and walked about with him freely amongst the people, +learning to speak their language like a Native, and not only greatly +interesting them in himself, but even in us and in the work of the Lord. +This, too, was one of the bonds, however purely human, that drew them +all nearer and nearer to Jesus.</p> + +<p>It was this same child, who, in the moment of our greatest peril, +when the Mission House was once surrounded by savages who had resolved +to murder us, managed in some incredible way to escape, and appeared, to +our horror and amazement, dancing with glee amongst the armed warriors. +He threw his arms around the neck of one after another, and kissed them, +to their great surprise,—at last, he settled down like a bird upon +the ringleader's knee, and therefrom prattled to them all, while we from +within gazed on in speechless and helpless terror! He roundly scolded +them for being "Naughty! Naughty!" The frowning faces began to relax +into broad grins, another spirit came over them, and, one after another, +they rapidly slipt away. The Council of Death was broken up; and we had +a new illustration of the Lord's precious work,—"A little Child +shall lead them."</p> + +<p>The death of Namakei had in it many streaks of Christian romance. He +had heard about the Missionaries annually meeting on one or other of the +Islands, and consulting about the work of Jehovah. What ideas he had +formed of a Mission Synod one cannot easily imagine; but in his old age, +and when very frail, he formed an impassioned desire to attend our next +meeting on Aneityum, and see and hear all the Missionaries of Jesus +gathered together from the New Hebrides. Terrified that he would die +away from home, and that that might bring great reverses to the good +work on Aniwa, where he was truly beloved, I opposed his going with all +my might. But he and his relations and his people were all set upon it, +and I had at length to give way. His few booklets were then gathered +together, his meager wardrobe was made up, and a small Native basket +carried all his belongings. He assembled his people and took an +affectionate farewell, pleading with them to be "strong for Jesus," +whether they ever saw him again or not, and to be loyal and kind to +Missi. The people wailed aloud, and many wept bitterly. Those on board +the <i>Dayspring</i> were amazed to see how his people loved him. The +old Chief stood the voyage well. He went in and out to our meeting of +Synod, and was vastly pleased with the respect paid to him on Aneityum. +When he heard of the prosperity of the Lord's work, and how Island after +Island was learning to sing the praises of Jesus, his heart glowed, and +he said, "Missi, I am lifting up my head like a tree. I am growing tall +with joy!"</p> + +<p>On the fourth or fifth day, however, he sent for me out of the Synod, +and when I came to him, he said, eagerly, "Missi, I am near to die! I +have asked you to come and say farewell. Tell my daughter, my brother, +and my people to go on pleasing Jesus, and I will meet them again in the +fair World."</p> + +<p>I tried to encourage him, saying that God might raise him up again +and restore him to his people; but he faintly whispered, "O Missi, death +is already touching me! I feel my feet going away from under me. Help me +to lie down under the shade of that banyan tree."</p> + +<p>So saying, he seized my arm, we staggered near to the tree, and he +lay down under its cool shade. He whispered again, "I am going! O Missi, +let me hear your words raising up in prayer, and then my Soul will be +strong to go."</p> + +<p>Amidst many choking sobs, I tried to pray. At last he took my hand, +pressed it to his heart, and said in a stronger and clearer tone, "O my +Missi, my dear Missi, I go before you, but I will meet you again in the +Home of Jesus. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>That was the last effort of dissolving strength; he immediately +became unconscious, and fell asleep. My heart felt like to break over +him. He was my first Aniwan Convert—the first who ever on that +Island, of love and tears opened his heart to Jesus; and as he lay there +on the leaves and grass, my soul soared upward after his, and all the +harps of God seemed to thrill with song as Jesus presented to the Father +this trophy of redeeming love. He had been our true and devoted friend +and fellow-helper in the Gospel; and next morning all the members of our +Synod followed his remains to the grave. There we stood, the white +Missionaries of the Cross from far distant lands, mingling our tears +with Christian Natives of Aneityum, and letting them fall over one who +only a few years before was a blood-stained Cannibal, and whom now we +mourned as a brother, a saint, an Apostle amongst his people. Ye ask an +explanation? The Christ entered into his heart, and Namakei became a new +Creature. "Behold, I make all things new."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="79"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>CHRISTIANITY AND COCOANUTS.</h4></center> + +<p>NASWAI, the friend and companion of Namakei, was an inland Chief. He +had, as his followers, by far the largest number of men in any village +on Aniwa. He had certainly a dignified bearing, and his wife Katua was +quite a lady in look and manner as compared with all around her. She was +the first woman on the Island that adopted the clothes of civilization, +and she showed considerable instinctive taste in the way she dressed +herself in these. Her example was a kind of Gospel in its good influence +on all the women; she was a real companion to her husband, and went with +him almost everywhere.</p> + +<p>Naswai was younger and more intelligent than Namakei, and in +everything, except in translating the Scriptures, he was much more of a +fellow-helper in the work of the Lord. For many years it was Naswai's +special delight to carry my pulpit Bible from the Mission House to the +Church every Sabbath morning, and to see that everything was in perfect +order before the Service began. He was also the Teacher in his own +village School, as well as an Elder in the Church. His addresses were +wonderfully happy in graphic illustrations, and his prayers were fervid +and uplifting. Yet his people were the worst to manage on all the +Island, and the very last to embrace the Gospel.</p> + +<p>He died when we were in the Colonies on furlough in 1875; and his +wife Katua very shortly pre-deceased him. His last counsels to his +people made a great impression on them. They told us how he pleaded with +them to love and serve the Lord Jesus, and how he assured them with his +dying breath that he had been "a new creature" since he gave his heart +to Christ, and that he was perfectly happy in going to be with his +Saviour.</p> + +<p>I must here recall one memorable example of Naswai's power and skill +as a preacher. On one occasion the <i>Dayspring</i> brought a large +deputation from Fotuna to see for themselves the change which the Gospel +had produced on Aniwa. On Sabbath, after the Missionaries had conducted +the usual Public Worship, some of the leading Aniwans addressed the +Fotunese; and amongst others, Naswai spoke to the following effect: "Men +of Fotuna, you come to see what the Gospel has done for Aniwa. It is +Jehovah the living God that has made all this change. As Heathens, we +quarreled, killed, and ate each other. We had no peace and no joy in +heart or house, in villages or in lands; but we now live as brethren and +have happiness in all these things. When you go back to Fotuna, they +will ask you, 'What is Christianity?' And you will have to reply, 'It is +that which has changed the people of Aniwa.' But they will still say, +'What is it?' And you will answer, 'It is that which has given them +clothing and blankets, knives and axes, fish-hooks and many other useful +things; it is that which has led them to give up fighting, and to live +together as friends.' But they will ask you, 'What is it like?' And you +will have to tell them, alas, that you cannot explain it that you have +only seen its workings, not itself, and that no one can tell what +Christianity is but the man that loves Jesus, the Invisible Master, and +walks with Him and tries to please Him. Now, you people of Fotuna, you +think that if you don't dance and sing and pray to your gods, you will +have no crops. We once did so too, sacrificing and doing much +abomination to our gods for weeks before our planting season every year. +But we saw our Missi only praying to the Invisible Jehovah, and planting +his yams, and they grew fairer than ours. You are weak every year before +your hard work begins in the fields, with your wild and bad conduct to +please your gods. But we are strong for our work, for we pray to +Jehovah, and He gives quiet rest instead of wild dancing, and makes us +happy in our toils. Since we followed Missi's example, Jehovah has given +us large and beautiful crops, and we now know that He gives us all our +blessings."</p> + +<p>Turning to me, he exclaimed, "Missi, have you the large yam we +presented to you? Would you not think it well to send it back with these +men of Fotuna, to let their people see the yams which Jehovah grows for +us in answer to prayer? Jehovah is the only God who can grow yams like +that!"</p> + +<p>Then, after a pause, he proceeded, "When you go back to Fotuna, and +they ask you, 'What is Christianity?' you will be like an inland Chief +of Erromanga, who once came down and saw a great feast on the shore. +When he saw so much food and so many different kinds of it, he asked, +'What is this made of?' and was answered, 'Cocoanuts and yams.' 'And +this?' 'Cocoanuts and bananas.' 'And this?' 'Cocoanuts and taro.' 'And +this?' 'Cocoanuts and chestnuts,' etc. etc. The Chief was immensely +astonished at the host of dishes that could be prepared from the +cocoanuts. On returning, he carried home a great load of them to his +people, that they might see and taste the excellent food of the +shore-people. One day, all being assembled, he told them the wonders of +that feast; and, having roasted the cocoanuts, he took out the kernels, +all charred and spoiled, and distributed them, amongst his people. They +tasted the cocoanut, they began to chew it, and then spat it out, +crying, 'Our own food is better than that!' The Chief was confused, and +only got laughed at for all his trouble. Was the fault in the cocoanuts? +No; but they were spoiled in the cooking! So your attempts to explain +Christianity will only spoil it. Tell them that a man must live as a +Christian, before he can show others what Christianity is."</p> + +<p>On their return to Fotuna they exhibited Jehovah's yam, given in +answer to prayer and labor; they told what Christianity had done for +Aniwa; but did not fail to qualify all their accounts with the story of +the Erromangan Chief and the cocoanuts.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="80"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>NERWA'S BEAUTIFUL FAREWELL.</h4></center> + +<p>THE Chief of next importance on Aniwa was Nerwa, a keen debater, all +whose thoughts ran in the channels of logic. When I could speak a little +of their language I visited and preached at his village; but the moment +he discovered that the teaching about Jehovah was opposed to their +Heathen customs, he sternly forbade us. One day, during my address, he +blossomed out into a full-fledged and pronounced Agnostic (with as much +reason at his back as the European type!), and angrily interrupted +me:</p> + +<p>"It's all lies you come here to teach us, and you call it worship! +You say your Jehovah God dwells in Heaven. Who ever went up there to +hear Him or see Him? You talk of Jehovah as if you had visited His +Heaven. Why, you cannot climb even to the top of one of our cocoanut +trees, though we can and that with ease! In going up to the roof of your +own Mission House you require the help of a ladder to carry you. And +even if you could make your ladder higher than our highest cocoanut +tree, on what would you lean its top? And when you get to its top, you +can only climb down the other side and end where you began! The thing is +impossible. You never saw that God; you never heard Him speak; don't +come here with any of your white lies, or I'll send my spear through +you."</p> + +<p>He drove us from his village, and furiously threatened murder, if we +ever dared to return. But very shortly thereafter the Lord sent us a +little orphan girl from Nerwa's village. She was very clever, and could +soon both read and write, and told over all that we taught her. Her +visits home, or at least amongst the villagers where her home had been, +her changed appearance and her childish talk, produced a very deep +interest in us and in our work.</p> + +<p>An orphan boy next was sent from that village to be kept and trained +at the Mission House, and he too took back his little stories of how +kind and good to him were Missi the man and Missi the woman. By this +time Chief and people alike were taking a lively interest in all that +was transpiring. One day the Chief's wife, a quiet and gentle woman, +came to the Worship and said, "Nerwa's opposition dies fast. The story +of the Orphans did it! He has allowed me to attend the Church, and to +get the Christian's book."</p> + +<p>We gave her a book and a bit of clothing. She went home and told +everything. Woman after woman followed her from that same village, and +some of the men began to accompany them. The only thing in which they +showed a real interest was the children singing the little hymns which I +had translated into their own Aniwan tongue, and which my wife had +taught them to sing very sweetly and joyfully. Nerwa at last got so +interested that he came himself, and sat within earshot, and drank in +the joyful sound. In a short time he drew so near that he could hear the +preaching, and then began openly and regularly to attend the Church. His +keen reasoning faculty was constantly at work. He weighed and compared +everything he heard, and soon out-distanced nearly all of them in his +grasp of the ideas of the Gospel. He put on clothing, joined our School, +and professed himself a follower of the Lord Jesus. He eagerly set +himself, with all his power, to bring in a neighboring Chief and his +people, and constituted himself at once an energetic and very pronounced +helper to the Missionary.</p> + +<p>On the death of Naswai, Nerwa at once took his place in carrying my +Bible to the Church, and seeing that all the people were seated before +the stopping of the bell. I have seen him clasping the Bible like a +living thing to his breast, as if he would cry, "Oh, to have this +treasure in my own words of Aniwa!"</p> + +<p>When the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were at last printed in Aniwan, +he studied them incessantly, and soon could read them freely. He became +the Teacher in his own village School, and delighted in instructing +others. He was assisted by Ruwawa, whom he himself had drawn into the +circle of Gospel influence; and at our next election these two friends +were appointed Elders of the Church, and greatly sustained our hands in +every good work on Aniwa.</p> + +<p>After years of happy useful service, the time came for Nerwa to die. +He was then so greatly beloved that most of the inhabitants visited him +during his long illness. He read a bit of the Gospels in his own Aniwan, +and prayed with and for every visitor. He sang beautifully, and scarcely +allowed any one to leave his bedside without having a verse of one or +other of his favorite hymns, "Happy Land," and "Nearer, my God, to +Thee."</p> + +<p>On my last visit to Nerwa, his strength had gone very low, but he +drew me near his face, and whispered, "Missi, my Missi, I am glad to see +you. You see that group of young men? They came to sympathize with me; +but they have never once spoken the name of Jesus, though they have +spoken about everything else! They could not have weakened me so, if +they had spoken about Jesus! Read me the story of Jesus; pray for me to +Jesus. No! stop, let us call them, and let me speak with them before I +go."</p> + +<p>I called them all around him, and he strained his dying strength, and +said, "After I am gone, let there be no bad talk, no Heathen ways. Sing +Jehovah's songs, and pray to Jesus, and bury me as a Christian. Take +good care of my Missi, and help him all you can. I am dying happy and +going to be with Jesus, and it was Missi that showed me this way. And +who among you will take my place in the village School and in the +Church? Who amongst you all will stand up for Jesus?"</p> + +<p>Many were shedding tears, but there was no reply; after which the +dying Chief proceeded, "Now let my last work on Earth be this—We +will read a chapter of the Book, verse about, and then I will pray for +you all, and the Missi will pray for me, and God will let me go while +the song is still sounding in my heart!"</p> + +<p>At the close of this most touching exercise, we gathered the +Christians who were near by close around, and sang very softly in +Aniwan, "There is a Happy Land." As they sang, the old man grasped my +hand, and tried hard to speak, but in vain. His head fell to one side, +"the silver cord was loosed, and the golden bowl was broken."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="81"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>RUWAWA.</h4></center> + +<p>His great friend, Ruwawa the Chief, had waited by Nerwa like a +brother till within a few days of the latter's death, when he also was +smitten down apparently by the same disease. He was thought to be dying, +and he resigned himself calmly into the hands of Christ, One Sabbath +afternoon, sorely distressed for lack of air, he instructed his people +to carry him from the village to a rising ground on one of his +plantations. It was fallow; the fresh air would reach him; and all his +friends could sit around him. They extemporized a rest—two posts +stuck into the ground, slanting, sticks tied across them, then dried +banana leaves spread on these and also as a cushion on the +ground—and there sat Ruwawa, leaning back and breathing heavily. +After the Church Services, I visited him, and found half the people of +that side of the Island sitting round him, in silence, in the open air. +Ruwawa beckoned me, and I sat down before him. Though suffering sorely, +his eye and face had the look of ecstasy.</p> + +<p>"Missi," he said, "I could not breathe in my village; so I got them +to carry me here, where there is room for all. They are silent and they +weep, because they think I am dying. If it were God's will, I would like +to live and to help you in His work. I am in the hands of our dear Lord, +If he takes me, it is good; if He spares me, it is good! Pray, and tell +our Saviour all about it."</p> + +<p>I explained to the people that we would tell our Heavenly Father how +anxious we all were to see Ruwawa given back to us strong and well to +work for Jesus, and then leave all to His wise and holy disposal. I +prayed, and the place became a very Bochim. When I left him, Ruwawa +exclaimed, "Farewell, Missi; if I go first, I will welcome you to Glory; +if I am spared, I will work with you for Jesus; so all is well!"</p> + +<p>One of the young Christians followed me and said, "Missi, our hearts +are very sore! If Ruwawa dies, we have no Chief to take his place in the +Church, and it will be a heavy blow against Jehovah's Worship on +Aniwa."</p> + +<p>I answered, "Let us each tell our God and Father all that we feel and +all that we fear; and leave Ruwawa and our work in His holy hands."</p> + +<p>We did so with earnest and unceasing cry. And when all hope had died +out of every heart, the Lord began to answer us; the disease began to +relax its hold, and the beloved Chief was restored to health. As soon as +he was able, though still needing help, he found his way back to the +Church, and we all offered special thanksgiving to God. He indicated a +desire to say a few words; and although still very weak, spoke with +great pathos thus:</p> + +<p>"Dear Friends, God has given me back to you all. I rejoice thus to +come here and praise the great Father, who made us all, and who knows +how to make and keep us well. I want you all to work hard for Jesus, and +to lose no opportunity of trying to do good and so to please Him. In my +deep journey away near to the grave, it was the memory of what I had +done in love to Jesus that made my heart sing. I am not afraid of +pain,—my dear Lord Jesus suffered far more for me, and teaches me +how to bear it. I am not afraid of war or famine or death, or of the +present or of the future; my dear Lord Jesus died for me, and in dying I +shall live with him in Glory. I fear and love my dear Lord Jesus, +because He loved me and gave Himself for me."</p> + +<p>Then he raised his right hand, and cried in a soft, full-hearted +voice: "My own, my dear Lord Jesus!" and stood for a moment looking +joyfully upward, as if gazing into his Saviour's face. When he sat down, +there was a long hush, broken here and there by a smothered sob, and +Ruwawa's words produced an impression that is remembered to this +day.</p> + +<p>In 1888, when I visited the Islands, Ruwawa was still devoting +himself heart and soul to the work of the Lord on Aniwa. Assisted by +Koris, a Teacher from Aneityum, and visited annually by our ever dear +and faithful friends, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, from Tanna, the good Ruwawa +carried forward all the work of God on Aniwa, along with others, in our +absence as in our presence. The meetings, the Communicants' Class, the +Schools, and the Church Services are all regularly conducted and +faithfully attended. "Bless the Lord, O my soul!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="82"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>LITSI SORÉ AND MUNGAW.</h4></center> + +<p>LITSI, the only daughter of Namakei, had both in her own career and +in her connection with poor dear Mungaw, an almost unparalleled +experience. She was entrusted to us when very young, and became a +bright, clever, and attractive Christian girl. Many sought her hand, but +she disdainfully replied, "I am Queen of my own Island, and when I like +I will ask a husband in marriage, as your great Queen Victoria did!"</p> + +<p>Her first husband, however won, was undoubtedly the tallest and most +handsome man on Aniwa; but he was a giddy fool, and, on his early death, +she again returned to live with us at the Mission House. Her second +marriage had everything to commend it, but it resulted in indescribable +disaster. Mungaw, heir to a Chief, had been trained with us, and gave +every evidence of decided Christianity. They were married in the Church, +and lived in the greatest happiness. He was able and eloquent, and was +first chosen as a deacon, then as an Elder of the Church, and finally as +High Chief of one half of the Island. He showed the finest Christian +spirit under many trying circumstances. Once, when working at the lime +for the building of our Church, two bad men, armed with muskets, sought +his life for blowing the conch to assemble the workers. Hearing of the +quarrel, I rushed to the scene, and heard him saying, "Don't call me +coward, or think me afraid to die. If I died now, I would go to be with +Jesus. But I am no longer a Heathen; I am a Christian, and wish to treat +you as a Christian should."</p> + +<p>Two loaded muskets were leveled at him. I seized one in each of my +hands, and held their muzzles aloft in air, so that, if discharged, the +balls might pass over his head and mine; and thus I stood for some +minutes pleading with them.</p> + +<p>Others soon coming to the rescue, the men were disarmed; and, after +much talk, they professed themselves ashamed, and promised better +conduct for the future. Next day they sent a large present as a +peace-offering to me, but I refused to receive it till they should first +of all make peace with the young Chief. They sent a larger present to +him, praying him to receive it, and to forgive them. Mungaw brought a +still larger present in exchange, laid it down at their feet in the +Public Ground, shook hands with them graciously, and forgave them in +presence of all the people. His constant saying was, "I am a Christian, +and I must do the conduct of a Christian."</p> + +<p>In one of my furloughs to Australia I took the young Chief with me, +in the hope of interesting the Sabbath Schools and Congregations by his +eloquent addresses and noble personality. The late Dr. Cameron of +Melbourne, having heard him, as translated by me, publicly declared that +Mungaw's appearance and speech in his Church did more to show him the +grand results of the Gospel amongst the Heathen than all the Missionary +addresses he ever listened to or read.</p> + +<p>Our lodging was in St. Kilda. My dear wife was suddenly seized with a +dangerous illness on a visit to Taradale, and I was telegraphed for. +Finding that I must remain with her, I got Mungaw booked for Melbourne, +on the road for St. Kilda, in charge of a railway guard. Some white +wretches, in the guise of gentlemen, offered to see him to the St. Kilda +Station, assuring the guard that they were friends of mine, and +interested in our Mission. They took him, instead, to some den of infamy +in Melbourne. On refusing to drink with them, he said they threw him +down on a sofa, and poured drink or drugs into him till he was nearly +dead. Having taken all his money (he had only two or three pounds, made +up of little presents from various friends), they thrust him out to the +street, with only one penny in his pocket.</p> + +<p>On becoming conscious, he applied to a policeman, who either did not +understand or would not interfere. Hearing an engine whistle, he +followed the sound, and found his way to Spencer Street Station, where +he proffered his penny for a ticket, all in vain. At last a sailor took +pity on him, got him some food, and led him to the St. Kilda Station. +There he stood for a whole day, offering his penny for a ticket by every +train, only to meet with refusal after refusal, till he broke down, and +cried aloud in such English as desperation gave him:</p> + +<p>"If me savvy road, me go. Me no savvy road, and stop here me die. My +Missi Paton live at Kilda. Me want go Kilda. Me no money. Bad fellow +took all! Send me Kilda."</p> + +<p>Some gentle Samaritan gave him a ticket, and he reached our house at +St. Kilda at last. There for above three weeks the poor creature lay in +a sort of stupid doze. Food he could scarcely be induced to taste, and +he only rose now and again for a drink of water. When my wife was able +to be removed thither also, we found dear Mungaw dreadfully changed in +appearance and in conduct. Twice thereafter I took him with me on +Mission work; but, on medical advice, preparations were made for his +immediate return to the Islands. I intrusted him to the kind care of +Captain Logan, who undertook to see him safely on board the +<i>Dayspring</i>, then lying at Auckland. Mungaw was delighted, and we +hoped everything from his return to his own land and people. After some +little trouble, he was landed safely home on Aniwa. But his malady +developed dangerous and violent symptoms, characterized by long periods +of quiet and sleep, and then sudden paroxysms, in which he destroyed +property, burned houses, and was a terror to all.</p> + +<p>On our return he was greatly delighted; but he complained bitterly +that the white men "had spoiled his head," and that when it "burned hot" +he did all these bad things for which he was extremely sorry. He +deliberately attempted my life, and most cruelly abused his dear and +gentle wife; and then, when the frenzy was over, he wept and lamented +over it. Many a time he marched round and round our house with loaded +musket and spear and tomahawk, while we had to keep doors and windows +locked and barricaded; then the paroxysm passed off, and he slept, long +and deep, like a child. When he came to himself, he wept and said, "The +white men spoiled my head! I know not what I do. My head burns hot, and +I am driven."</p> + +<p>One day, in the Church, he leaped up during Worship with a loud +yelling war-cry, rushed off through the Imrai to his own house, set fire +to it, and danced around till everything he possessed was burned to +ashes. Nasi, a bad Tannese Chief living on Aniwa, had a quarrel with +Mungaw about a cask found at the shore, and threatened to shoot him. +Others encouraged him to do so, as Mungaw was growing every day more and +more destructive and violent. When any person became outrageous or +insane on Aniwa, as they had neither asylum nor prison, they first of +all held him fast and discharged a musket close to his ear; and then, if +the shock did not bring him back to his senses, they tied him up for two +days or so; and finally, if that did not restore him, they shot him +dead. Thus the plan of Nasi was favored by their own customs. One night, +after Family Worship—for amidst all his madness, when clear +moments came, he poured out his soul in faith and love to the +Lord—he said, "Litsi, I am melting! My head burns. Let us go out +and get cooled in the open air."</p> + +<p>She warned him not to go, as she heard voices whispering under the +verandah. He answered a little wildly, "I am not afraid to die. Life is +a curse and burden. The white men spoiled my head. If there is a hope of +dying, let me go quickly and die!"</p> + +<p>As he crossed the door, a ball crashed through him, and he fell dead. +We got the mother and her children away to the Mission House; and next +morning they buried the remains of poor Mungaw under the floor of his +own hut, and enclosed the whole place with a fence. It was a sorrowful +close to so noble a career. I shed many a tear that I ever took him to +Australia. What will God have to say to those white fiends who poisoned +and maddened poor dear Mungaw?</p> + +<p>After a while the good Queen Litsi was happily married again. She +became possessed with a great desire to go as a Missionary to the people +and tribe of Nasi, the very man who had murdered her husband. She used +to say, "Is there no Missionary to go and teach Nasi's people? I weep +and pray for them, that they too may come to know and love Jesus."</p> + +<p>I answered, "Litsi, if I had only wept and prayed for you, but stayed +at home in Scotland, would that have brought you to know and love Jesus +as you do?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," she replied.</p> + +<p>"Now then," I proceeded, "would it not please Jesus, and be a grand +and holy revenge, if you, the Christians of Aniwa, could carry the +Gospel to the very people whose Chief murdered Mungaw?"</p> + +<p>The idea took possession of her soul. She was never wearied talking +and praying over it. When at length a Missionary was got for Nasi's +people, Litsi and her new husband offered themselves as the head of a +band of six or eight Aniwan Christians and were engaged there to open up +the way and assist, as Teachers and Helpers, the Missionary and his +wife. There she and they have labored ever since. They are "strong" for +the Worship. Her son is being trained up by his cousin, an Elder of the +Church, to be "the good Chief of Aniwa"; so she calls him in her +prayers, as she cries on God to bless and watch over him, while she is +serving the Lord in at once serving the Mission family and ministering +to the Natives in that foreign field.</p> + +<p>Many years have now passed; and when lately I visited that part of +Tanna, Litsi ran to me, clasped my hand, kissed it with many sobs, and +cried, "O my father! God has blessed me to see you again. Is my mother, +your dear wife, well? And your children, my brothers and sisters? My +love to them all! Oh my heart clings to you!"</p> + +<p>We had sweet conversation, and then she said more calmly, "My days +here are hard. I might be happy and independent as Queen of my own +Aniwa. But the Heathen here are beginning to listen. The Missi sees them +coming nearer to Jesus. And oh, what a reward when we shall hear them +sing and pray to our dear Saviour! The hope of that makes me strong for +anything."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="83"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE CONVERSION OF NASI.</h4></center> + +<p>NASI, the Tanna-man, was a bad and dangerous character, though some +readers may condone his putting an end to Mungaw in the terrible +circumstances of our case. During a great illness that befell him, I +ministered to him regularly, but no kindness seemed to move him. When +about to leave Aniwa, I went specially to visit him. On parting I said, +"Nasi, are you happy? Have you ever been happy?"</p> + +<p>He answered gloomily, "No! Never."</p> + +<p>I said, "Would you like this dear little boy of yours to grow up like +yourself, and lead the life you have lived?"</p> + +<p>"No!" he replied warmly! "I certainly would not."</p> + +<p>"Then," I continued, "you must become a Christian, and give up all +your Heathen conduct, or he will just grow up to quarrel and fight and +murder as you have done; and, O Nasi, he will curse you through all +Eternity for leading him to such a life and to such a doom!"</p> + +<p>He was very much impressed, but made no response. After we had +sailed, a band of our young Native Christians held a consultation over +the case of Nasi. They said, "We know the burden and terror that Nasi +has been to our dear Missi. We know that he has murdered several persons +with his own hands, and has taken part in the murder of others. Let us +unite in daily prayer that the Lord would open his heart and change his +conduct, and teach him to love and follow what is good, and let us set +ourselves to win Nasi for Christ, just as Missi tried to win us."</p> + +<p>So they began to show him every possible kindness, and one after +another helped him in his daily tasks, embracing every opportunity of +pleading with him to yield to Jesus and take the new path of life. At +first he repelled them, and sullenly held aloof. But their prayers never +ceased, and their patient affection continued to grow. At last, after +long waiting, Nasi broke down, and cried to one of the Teachers, "I can +oppose your Jesus no longer. If He can make you treat me like that, I +yield myself to Him and to you. I want Him to change me too. I want a +heart like that of Jesus."</p> + +<p>He rubbed off the ugly thick-daubed paint from his face; he cut off +his long heathen hair; he went to the sea and bathed, washing himself +clean; and then he came to the Christians and dressed himself in a shirt +and a kilt. The next step was to get a book,—his was the +translation of the Gospel according to St. John. He eagerly listened to +every one that would read bits of it aloud to him, and his soul seemed +to drink in the new ideas at every pore. He attended the Church and the +School most regularly, and could in a very short time read the Gospel +for himself. The Elders of the Church took special pains in instructing +him, and after due preparation he was admitted to the Lord's +Table—my brother Missionary from Tanna baptizing and receiving +him. Imagine my joy on learning all this regarding one who had sullenly +resisted my appeals for many years, and how my soul praised the Lord who +is "Mighty to save!"</p> + +<p>During a recent visit to Aniwa, in 1886, God's almighty compassion +was further revealed to me, when I found that Nasi the murderer was now +a Scripture Reader, and able to comment in a wonderful and interesting +manner on what he read to the people! On arriving at the Island, after +my tour in Great Britain (1884-85), all the inhabitants of Aniwa seemed +to be assembled at the boat-landing to welcome me, except Nasi. He was +away fishing at a distance, and had been sent for, but had not yet +arrived. On the way to the Mission House, he came rushing to meet me. He +grasped my hand, and kissed it, and burst into tears. I said, "Nasi, do +I now at last meet you as a Christian?"</p> + +<p>He warmly answered, "Yes, Missi; I now worship and serve the only +Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Bless God, I am a Christian at last!"</p> + +<p>My soul went out with a silent cry, "Oh, that the men at home who +discuss and doubt about conversion, and the new heart, and the power of +Jesus to change and save, could but look on Nasi, and spell out the +simple lesson,—He that created us at first by His power can create +us anew by His love!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="84"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXIV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>THE APPEAL OF LAMU.</h4></center> + +<p>MY first Sabbath on Aniwa, after this tour in Great Britain and the +Colonies, gave me a blessed surprise. Before daybreak I lay awake +thinking of all my experiences on that Island, and wondering whether the +Church had fallen off in my four years' absence, when suddenly the voice +of song broke on my ears! It was scarcely full dawn, yet I jumped up and +called to a man that was passing, "Have I slept in? Is it already +Church-time? Or why are the people met so early?"</p> + +<p>He was one of their leaders, and gravely replied, "Missi, since you +left, we have found it very hard to live near to God! So the Chief and +the Teachers and a few others meet when daylight comes in every Sabbath +morning, and spend the first hour of every Lord's Day in prayer and +praise. They are met to pray for you now, that God may help you in your +preaching, and that all hearts may bear fruit to the glory of Jesus this +day."</p> + +<p>I returned to my room, and felt wonderfully "prepared" myself. It +would be an easy and a blessed thing to lead such a Congregation into +the presence of the Lord! They were there already.</p> + +<p>On that day every person on Aniwa seemed to be at Church, except the +bedridden and the sick. At the close of the Services, the Elders +informed me that they had kept up all the Meetings during my absence, +and had also conducted the Communicants' Class, and they presented to me +a considerable number of Candidates for membership. After careful +examination, I set apart nine boys and girls, about twelve or thirteen +years of age and advised them to wait for at least another year or so, +that their knowledge and habits might be matured. They had answered +every question, indeed, and were eager to be baptized and admitted; but +I feared for their youth, lest they should fall away and bring disgrace +on the Church. One of them with very, earnest eyes, looked at me and +said, "We have been taught that whosoever believeth is to be baptized. +We do most heartily believe in Jesus, and try to please Jesus."</p> + +<p>I answered, "Hold on for another year, and then our way will be +clear."</p> + +<p>But he persisted, "Some of us may not be living then; and you may not +be here. We long to be baptized by you, our own Missi, and to take our +place among the servants of Jesus."</p> + +<p>After much conversation I agreed to baptize them, and they agreed to +refrain from going to the Lord's Table for a year, that all the Church +might by that time have knowledge and proof of their consistent +Christian life, though so young in years. This discipline, I thought, +would be good for them; and the Lord might use it as a precedent for +guidance in future days.</p> + +<p>Of other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially +noteworthy. She was about twenty-five, and the Elders objected because +her marriage had not been according to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She +left us weeping deeply. I was writing late at night in the cool evening +air, as was my wont in that oppressive tropical clime, and a knock was +heard at my door. I called out, "<i>Akai era</i>?" (= Who is there?)</p> + +<p>A voice softly answered, "Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with +me!"</p> + +<p>This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Missi," she began, "I cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in +pain. Am I to be shut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lord's Table +committed murder. They repented, and have been saved. My heart is very +bad; yet I never did any of those crimes of Heathenism; and I know that +it is my joy to try and please my Saviour Jesus. How is it that I only +am to be shut out from Jesus?"</p> + +<p>I tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all +very eagerly. Then she looked up at me and said, "Missi, you and the +Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my love to Jesus +at the Lord's Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has received +me; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory +and present me to the Father."</p> + +<p>Her look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and +submit her appeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them +with convincing effect. She was baptized and admitted along with other +nine. And that Communion Day will be long remembered by many souls on +Aniwa.</p> + +<p>It has often struck me, when relating these events, to press this +question on the many young people, the highly privileged white brothers +and sisters of Lamu, Did you ever lose one hour of sleep or a single +meal in thinking of your Soul, your God, the claims of Jesus, and your +Eternal Destiny?</p> + +<p>And when I saw the diligence and fidelity of these poor Aniwan +Elders, teaching and ministering during all those years, my soul has +cried aloud to God, Oh, what could not the Church accomplish if the +educated and gifted Elders and others in Christian lands would set +themselves thus to work for Jesus, to teach the ignorant, to protect the +tempted, and to rescue the fallen!</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="85"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXV.</h3></center> +<center><h4>WANTED! A STEAM AUXILIARY.</h4></center> + +<p>IN December 1883 I brought a pressing and vital matter before the +General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. It pertained to +the New Hebrides Mission, to the vastly increased requirements of the +Missionaries and their families there, and to the fact that the +<i>Dayspring</i> was no longer capable of meeting the necessities of the +case,—thereby incurring loss of time, loss of property, and risk +and even loss of precious lives. The Missionaries on the spot had long +felt this, and had loudly and earnestly pled for a new and larger +Vessel, or a Vessel with Steam Auxiliary power, or some arrangement +whereby the work of God on these Islands might be overtaken, without +unnecessary exposure of life, and without the dreaded perils that accrue +to a small sailing Vessel such as the <i>Dayspring</i> alike from deadly +calms and from treacherous gales.</p> + +<p>The Victorian General Assembly, heartily at one with the +Missionaries, commissioned me to go home to Britain in 1884, making me +at the same time their Missionary delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian +Council at Belfast, and also their representative to the General +Assemblies of the several Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain and +Ireland. And they empowered and authorized me to lay our proposals about +a new Steam Auxiliary Mission Ship before all these Churches, and to ask +and receive from God's people whatever contributions they felt disposed +to give towards the sum of £6000, without which this great +undertaking could not be faced.</p> + +<p>A few days after my arrival I was called upon to appear before the +Supreme Court of the English Presbyterian Church, then assembled at +Liverpool. While a hymn was being sung, I took my seat in the pulpit +under great depression. But light broke around, when my dear friend and +fellow-student, Dr. Oswald Dykes, came up from the body of the Church, +shook me warmly by the hand, whispered a few encouraging words in my +ear, and, returned to his seat. God helped me to tell my story, and the +audience were manifestly interested.</p> + +<p>Next, by kind invitation, I visited and addressed the United +Presbyterian Synod of Scotland, assembled in Edinburgh. My reception +there was not only cordial,—it was enthusiastic. Though as a +Church they had no denominational interest in our Mission, the +Moderator, amidst the cheers of all the Ministers and Elders, +recommended that I should have free access to every Congregation and +Sabbath School which I found it possible to visit, and hoped that their +generous-hearted people would contribute freely to so needful and noble +a cause. My soul rose in praise; and I may here say, in passing, that +every Minister of that Church whom I wrote to or visited treated me in +the same spirit throughout all my tour.</p> + +<p>Having been invited by Mr. Dickson, an Elder of the Free Church, to +address a midday meeting of children in the Free Assembly Hall, I was +able by all appearances, greatly to interest and impress them. At the +close, my dear and noble friend, Principal Cairns, warmly welcomed and +cheered me, and that counted for much amid all anxieties; for I had +learned that very day, at headquarters, that the Free Church authorities +were resolved, in view of a difference of opinion betwixt the +<i>Dayspring</i> Board at Sydney and the Victorian Assembly as to the +new Steam Auxiliary, to hold themselves absolutely neutral.</p> + +<p>Having letters from Andrew Scott, Esq., Carrugal, my very dear friend +and helper in Australia, to Dr. J. Hood Wilson, Barclay Free Church, +Edinburgh, I resolved to deliver them that evening; and I prayed the +Lord to open up all my path, as I was thus thrown solely on Him for +guidance and bereft of the aid of man. Dr. Wilson and his lady, neither +of whom I had ever seen before, received me as kindly as if I had been +an old friend. He read my letters of introduction, conversed with me as +to plans and wishes (chiefly through Mrs. Wilson, for he was suffering +from sore throat) and then he said with great warmth and kindliness:</p> + +<p>"God has surely sent you here to-night! I feel myself unable to +preach to-morrow. Occupy my pulpit in the forenoon and address my +Sabbath School, and you shall have a collection for your Ship."</p> + +<p>Thereafter, I was with equal kindness received by Mr. Balfour, having +a letter of introduction from his brother, and he offered me his pulpit +for the evening of that day. I lay down blessing and praising Him, the +Angel of whose Presence was thus going before me and opening up my way. +That Lord's Day I had great blessing and joy; there was an extraordinary +response financially to my appeals and my proposal was thus fairly +launched in the Metropolis of our Scottish Church life. I remembered an +old saying, Difficulties are made only to be vanquished. And I thought +in my deeper soul,—Thus our God throws us back upon Himself; and +if these £6000 ever come to me, to the Lord God alone, and not to +man, shall be all the glory!</p> + +<p>On the Monday following, after a long conversation and every possible +explanation, Colonel Young, of the Free Church Foreign Missions +Committee, said, "We must have you to address the Assembly on the +evening devoted to Missions." Thus I had the pleasure and honor of +addressing that great Assembly; and though no notice was taken of my +proposals in any "finding" of the Court, yet many were thereby +interested deeply in our work, and requests now poured in upon me from +every quarter to occupy pulpits and receive collections for the new +Ship.</p> + +<p>At the meeting in the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, which +along with others, I was cordially invited to address, the good and +noble Lord Polwarth occupied the chair. That was the beginning of a +friendship in Christ which will last and deepen as long as we live. From +that night he took the warmest personal interest, not only by generously +contributing to my fund, but by organizing meetings at his own Mansion +House, and introducing me to a wide circle of influential friends.</p> + +<p>Nor, whilst the pen leads on my mind to recall these Border memories, +must I fail to record how John Scott Dudgeon, Esq., Longnewton, a +greatly esteemed Elder of the Church went from town to town in all that +region, and from Minister to Minister, arranging for me a series of +happy meetings. I shared also the hospitality of his beautiful home, and +added himself and his much-beloved wife to the precious roll of those +who are dear for the Gospel's sake and for their own. Her Majesty's +Commissioner to the General Assembly for the year was that distinguished +Christian as well as nobleman, the Earl of Aberdeen. He graciously +invited me to meet the Countess and himself at ancient Holyrood. After +dinner he withdrew himself for a lengthened time from the general +company, and entered into a close and interested conversation about our +Mission, and especially about the threatened annexation of the New +Hebrides by the French.</p> + +<p>There also I had the memorable pleasure of meeting, and for a long +while conversing with that truly noble and large-hearted lady, his +mother, the much-beloved Dowager-Countess well known for her life-long +devotion to so many schemes of Christian philanthropy. At her own home, +Alva House, she afterwards arranged meetings for me, as well as in Halls +and Churches in the immediately surrounding district; and her letters of +interest in the work, of sympathy, and of helpfulness, from time to time +received, were amongst the sustaining forces of my spiritual life.</p> + +<p>When one sees men and women of noble rank thus consecrating +themselves in humble and faithful service to Jesus, there dawns upon the +mind a glimpse of what the prophet means, and of what the world will be +like, when it can be said regarding the Church of God on +Earth,—"Kings have become thy nursing fathers, and their Queens +thy nursing mothers."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="86"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXVI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>MY CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND.</h4></center> + +<p>MY steps were next directed towards Ireland, immediately after the +Church meetings at Edinburgh; first to 'Derry, where the Presbyterian +Assembly was met in annual conclave, and thereafter to Belfast, where +the Pan-Presbyterian Council was shortly to sit. The eloquent fervor of +the Brethren at 'Derry was like a refreshing breeze to my spirit; I +never met Ministers anywhere, in all my travels, who seemed more +wholehearted in their devotion to the work which the Lord had given them +to do.</p> + +<p>I addressed the Assembly at 'Derry and also the Council at Belfast. +The memory of seeing all those great and learned and famous +men—for many of the leaders were eminently such—so deeply +interested in the work of God, and particularly in the Evangelizing of +the Heathen World and bringing thereto the knowledge of Jesus, was to +me, so long exiled from all such influences, one of the great +inspirations of my life. I listened with humble thankfulness, and +blessed the Lord who had brought me to sit at their feet.</p> + +<p>On the rising of the Council, I entered upon a tour of six weeks +among the Presbyterian Congregations and Sabbath Schools of Ireland. It +had often been said to me, after my addresses in the Assemblies and +elsewhere, "How do you ever expect to raise £6000? It can never be +accomplished, unless you call upon the rich individually, and get their +larger subscriptions. Our ordinary Church people have more than enough +to do with themselves. Trade is dull," etc.</p> + +<p>I explained to them, and also announced publicly, that in all similar +efforts I had never called on or solicited any one privately, and that I +would not do so now. I would make my appeal, but leave everything else +to be settled betwixt the individual conscience and the Saviour—I +gladly receiving whatsoever was given or sent, acknowledging it by +letter, and duly forwarding it to my own Church in Victoria. Again and +again did generous souls offer to go with me, introduce me, and give me +opportunity of soliciting subscriptions; but I steadily +refused—going, indeed, wherever an occasion was afforded me of +telling my story and setting forth the claims of the Missions, but +asking no one personally for anything, having fixed my soul in the +conviction that one part of the work was laid upon me, but that the +other lay betwixt the Master and His servants exclusively.</p> + +<p>"On what then do you really rely, looking at it from a business point +of view?" they would somewhat appealingly ask me.</p> + +<p>I answered, "I will tell my story; I will set forth the claims of the +Lord Jesus on the people; I will expect the surplus collection, or a +retiring collection, on Sabbath; I will ask the whole collection, less +expenses, at week-night meetings; I will issue Collecting Cards for +Sabbath Scholars; I will make known my Home-Address, to which everything +may be forwarded, either from Congregations or from private donors; and +I will go on, to my utmost strength, in the faith that the Lord will +send me the £6000 required. If He does not so send it, then I +shall expect He will send me grace to be reconciled to the +disappointment, and I shall go back to my work without the Ship."</p> + +<p>This, in substance, I had to repeat hundreds of times; and as often +had I to witness the half-pitying or incredulous smile with which it was +received, or to hear the blunt and emphatic retort, "You'll never +succeed! Money cannot be got in that unbusiness-like way."</p> + +<p>I generally added nothing further to such conversation; but a Voice, +deep, sweet, and clear, kept sounding through my soul—"The silver +and the gold are Mine."</p> + +<p>During the year 1884, as is well known, Ireland was the scene of many +commotions and of great distress. Yet at the end of my little tour +amongst the Presbyterian people of the North principally, though not +exclusively, a sum of more than £600 had been contributed to our +Mission Fund. And there was not, so far as my knowledge went, one single +large subscription; there were, of course, many bits of gold from those +well-to-do, but the ordinary collection was made up of the shillings and +pence of the masses of the people. Nor had I ever in all my travels a +warmer response, nor ever mingled with any Ministers more earnestly +devoted to their Congregations or more generally and deservedly +beloved.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="87"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXVII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>SCOTLAND'S FREE-WILL OFFERINGS.</h4></center> + +<p>RETURNING to Scotland, I settled down at my headquarters, the house +of my brother James in Glasgow; and thence began to open up the main +line of my operations, as the Lord day by day guided me. Having the aid +of no Committee, I cast myself on Minister after Minister and Church +after Church, calling here, writing there, and arranging for three +meetings every Sabbath, and one, if possible, every week-day, and +drawing-room meetings, wherever practicable, in the afternoons. My +correspondence grew to oppressive proportions, and kept me toiling at it +every spare moment from early morn till bedtime. Indeed, I never could +have overtaken it, had not my brother devoted many days and hours of +precious time, answering letters regarding arrangements issuing the +"Share" receipts for all moneys the moment they arrived, managing all my +transactions through the bank, and generally tackling and reducing the +heap of communications, and preventing me falling into hopeless +arrears.</p> + +<p>I printed, and circulated by post and otherwise, ten thousand copies +of a booklet, "Statement and Appeal,"—containing, besides my +Victorian Commission and my Glasgow address, a condensed epitome of the +results of the New Hebrides Mission and of the reasons for asking a new +Steam Auxiliary Ship. To this chiefly is due the fact, as well as to my +refusing to call for subscriptions, that the far greater portion of all +the money came to me by letter. On one day, though no doubt a little +exceptional, as many as seventy communications reached me by post; and +every one of these contained something for our fund-ranging from "a few +stamps," and "the widow's mite," through every variety of figure up to +the wealthy man's fifty or hundred pounds. I was particularly struck +with the number of times that I received £1, with such a note as, +"From a servant-girl that loves the Lord Jesus;" or "From a servant-girl +that prays for the conversion of the Heathen." Again and again I +received sums of five and ten shillings, with notes such as—"From +a working-man who loves his Bible;" or "From a working-man who prays for +God's blessing on you and work like yours every day in Family Worship." +I sometimes regret that the graphic, varied, and intensely interesting +notes and letters were not preserved; for by the close of my tour they +would have formed a wonderful volume of leaves from the human heart.</p> + +<p>I also addressed every Religious Convention to which I was invited, +or to which I could secure access. The Perth Conference was made +memorable to me by my receiving the first large subscription for our +Ship, and by my making the acquaintance of a beautiful type of Christian +merchant. At the close of the meeting, at which I had the privilege of +speaking, an American gentleman introduced himself to me. We at once +entered into each other's confidence, as brothers in the Lord's service. +I afterwards learned that he had made a competency for himself and his +family, though only in the prime of life; and he still carried on a +large and flourishing business—but why? to devote <i>the whole +profits</i>, year after year, to the direct service of God and His cause +among men? He gave me a cheque for the largest single contribution with +which the Lord had yet cheered me. God, who knows me, sees that I have +never coveted money for myself or my family; but I did envy that +Christian merchant the joy that he had in having money, and having the +heart to use it as a steward of the Lord Jesus!</p> + +<p>Thereafter I was invited to the annual Christian Conference at +Dundee. A most peculiar experience befell me there. Being asked to close +the forenoon meeting with prayer and the benediction, I offered prayer, +and then began, "May the love of God the Father—" but not another +word would come in English; everything was blank except the words in +Aniwan, for I had long begun to <i>think</i> in the Native tongue, and +after a dead pause, and a painful silence, I had to wind up with a +simple "Amen!" I sat down wet with perspiration. It might have been +wiser, as the Chairman afterwards suggested, to have given them the +blessing in Aniwan, but I feared to set them alaughing by so strange a +manifestation of the "tongues." Worst of all, it had been announced that +I was to address them in the afternoon; but who would come to hear a +Missionary that stuck in the benediction? The event had its semi-comical +aspect, but it sent me to my knees during the interval in a very fever +of prayerful anxiety. A vast audience assembled, and if the Lord ever +manifestly used me in interesting His people in Missions, it was +certainly then and there. As I sat down, a devoted Free Church Elder +from Glasgow handed me his card, with "I. O. U. £100." This was my +first donation of a hundred pounds, and my heart was greatly cheered. I +praised the Lord, and warmly thanked His servant. A Something kept +sounding these words in my ears, "My thoughts are not as your thoughts;" +and also, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee."</p> + +<p>During my address at that meeting three colored girls, not unlike our +Island girls, sat near the platform, and eagerly listened to me. At the +close, the youngest, apparently about twelve years of age, rose, +salaamed to me in Indian fashion, took four silver bangles from her arm, +and presented them to me, saying, "Padre, I want to take shares in your +Mission Ship by these bangles, for I have no money, and may the Lord +ever bless you!"</p> + +<p>I replied, "Thank you, my dear child; I will not take your bangles, +but Jesus will accept your offering, and bless and reward you all the +same."</p> + +<p>As she still held them up to me, saying, "Padre, do receive them from +me, and may God ever bless you!" a lady, who had been seated beside her, +came up to me, and said, "Please, do take them, or the dear girl will +break her heart. She has offered them up to Jesus for your Mission +Ship."</p> + +<p>I afterwards learned that the girls were orphans, whose parents died +in the famine; that the lady and her sister, daughters of a Missionary, +had adopted them to be trained as Zenana Missionaries, and that they +intended to return with them, and live and die to aid them in that +blessed work amongst the daughters of India. Oh, what a reward and joy +might many a lady who reads this page easily reap for herself in Time +and Eternity by a similar simple yet far-reaching service! Take action +when and where God points the way; wait for no one's guidance.</p> + +<p>The most amazing variety characterize the gifts and the givers. One +donor sent me an anonymous note to this effect, "I have been curtailing +my expenses. The first £5 saved I enclose that you may invest it +for me in the Bank of Jesus. I am sure He gives the best interest, and +the most certain returns."</p> + +<p>In Glasgow a lady called at my brother's house, saying, "Is the +Missionary at home? Can I see him alone? If not, I will call again." +Being asked into my room, she declined to be seated, but said, "I heard +you tell the story of your Mission in the City Hall, and I have been +praying for you ever since. I have called to give you my mite, but not +my name. God bless you. We shall meet in Heaven!" She handed me an +envelope, and was off almost before I could thank her. It was £49 +in bank-notes.</p> + +<p>Another dear Christian friend carne to see me, and at the close of a +delightful conversation, said: "I have been thinking much about you +since I heard you in the Clark Hall, Paisley. I have come to give a +little bit of dirty paper for your Ship. God sent it to me, and I return +it to God through you with great pleasure." I thanked her warmly, +thinking it a pound, or five at the most; on opening it, after she was +gone, it turned out to be £100. I felt bowed down in humble +thankfulness, and pressed forward in the service of the Lord.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="88"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXVIII.</h3></center> +<center><h4>ENGLAND'S OPEN BOOK.</h4></center> + +<p>THE time now arrived for my attempting something amongst the +Presbyterians of England. But my heart sank within me; I was a stranger +to all except Dr. Dykes, and the New Hebrides Mission had no special +claims on them. Casting myself upon the Lord, I wrote to all the +Presbyterian Ministers in and around London, enclosing my "Statement and +Appeal," and asking a Service, with a retiring collection, or the +surplus above the usual collection, on behalf of our Mission Ship. All +declined, except two. I learned afterwards that the London Presbytery +had resolved that no claim beyond their own Church was to be admitted +into any of its pulpits for a period of months, under some special +financial emergency. My dear friend, Dr. J. Hood Wilson, kindly wrote +also to a number of them, on my behalf, but with a similar result; +though at last other two Services were arranged for with a collection, +and one without. Being required at London, in any case, in connection +with the threatened Annexation of the New Hebrides by the French, I +resolved to take these five Services by the way, and immediately return +to Scotland, where engagements and opportunities were now pressed upon +me, far more than I could overtake. But the Lord Himself opened before +me a larger door, and more effectual, than any that I had tried in vain +to open up for myself.</p> + +<p>The Churches to which I had access did nobly indeed, and the +Ministers treated me as a very brother. Dr. Dykes most affectionately +supported my Appeal, and made himself recipient of donations that might +be sent for our Mission Ship. Dr. Donald Fraser, and Messrs. Taylor and +Mathieson, with their Congregations, generously contributed to the Fund. +And so did the Mission Church in Drury Lane—the excellent and +consecrated Rev. W. B. Alexander, the pastor thereof, and his wife, +becoming my devoted personal friends and continuing to remember in their +work-parties ever since the needs of the Natives on the New Hebrides. +Others also, whom I cannot wait to specify, showed a warm interest in us +and in our department of the Lord's work. But my heart had been +foolishly set upon adding a large sum to the fund for the Mission Ship, +and when only about £150 came from all the Churches in London to +which I could get access, no doubt I was sensible of cherishing a little +guilty disappointment. That was very unworthy in me, considering all my +previous experiences; and God deserved to be trusted by me far +differently, as the sequel will immediately show.</p> + +<p>That widely-known and deeply-beloved servant of God, Mr. J. E. +Mathieson, of the Mildmay Conference Hall, had invited me to address one +of their annual meetings on behalf of Foreign Missions, and also to be +his guest while the Conference lasted. Thereby I met and heard many +godly and noble disciples of the Lord, whom I could not otherwise have +reached though every Church I had asked in London had been freely opened +to me. These devout and faithful and generous people, belonging to every +branch of the Church of Christ, and drawn from every rank and class in +society, from the humblest to the highest, were certainly amongst the +most open-hearted and the most responsive of all whom I ever had the +privilege to address. One felt there, in a higher degree than almost +anywhere else, that every soul was on fire with love to Jesus and with +genuine devotion to His Cause in every corner of the Earth. There it was +a privilege and a gladness to speak; and though no collection was asked, +or could be expected, my heart was uplifted and strengthened by these +happy meetings, and by all that Heavenly intercourse.</p> + +<p>But see how the Lord leads us by a way we know not! Next morning +after my address, a gentleman who had heard me, the Hon. Ion +Keith-Falconer, handed me a cheque from his father-in-law for +£300, by far the largest single donation at that time towards our +Mission Ship; and immediately thereafter I received from one of the +Mildmay lady Missionaries £50, from a venerable friend of the +founder £20, from "Friends at Mildmay" £30; and through my +dear friend and brother, Mr. Mathieson, many other donations were in due +course forwarded to me.</p> + +<p>My introduction, however, to the Conference at Mildmay did far more +for me than even this; it opened up a series of drawing-room meetings in +and around London, where I told the story of our Mission and preached, +the Gospel to many in the higher walks of life, and received most +liberal support for the Mission Ship. It also brought me invitations +from many quarters of England, to Churches, to Halls, and to County +Houses and Mansions.</p> + +<p>Lord Radstock got up a special meeting, inviting by private card a +large number of his most influential friends; and there I met for the +first time one whom I have since learned to regard as a very precious +personal friend. Rev. Sholto D. C. Douglas, clergyman, of the Church of +England, who then, and afterwards at Douglas-Support in Scotland, not +only most liberally supported our fund, but took me by the hand as a +brother, and promoted my work by every means in his power.</p> + +<p>The Earl and Countess of Tankerville also invited me to Chillingham +Castle, and gave me an opportunity of addressing a great assembly there, +then gathered together from all parts of the County. The British and +Foreign Bible Society received me in a special meeting of the Directors; +and I was able to tell them how all we, the Missionaries of these +Islands whose language had never before been reduced to writing, looked +to them, and leant upon them, and prayed for them and their +work—without whom our Native Bibles never could have been +published. After the meeting the Chairman gave me £5, and one of +the Directors a check for £25 for our Mission Ship.</p> + +<p>I was also invited to Leicester, and made the acquaintanceship of a +godly and gifted servant of the Lord Jesus, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, B. A. +(now of London), whose books and booklets on the higher aspects of the +Christian Life are read by tens of thousands, and have been fruitful of +blessing. There I addressed great meetings of devoted workers in the +Lord's vineyard; and the dear friend who was my host on that occasion, a +Christian merchant, has since contributed £10 per annum for the +support of a Native Teacher on the New Hebrides.</p> + +<p>It was my privilege also to visit and address the Müller +Orphanages at Bristol, and to see that saintly man of faith and prayer +moving about as a wise and loving father amongst the hundreds, even +thousands, that look to him for their daily bread and for the bread of +Life Eternal. At the close of my address, the venerable founder thanked +me warmly and said, "Here are £50, which God has sent to me for +your Mission." I replied saying, "Dear friend, how can I take it? I +would rather give you £500 for your Orphans if I could, for I am +sure you need it all!"</p> + +<p>He replied, with sweetness and great dignity, "God provides for His +own Orphans. This money cannot be used for them. I must send it after +you by letter. It is the Lord's gift."</p> + +<p>Often, as I have looked at the doings of men and Churches, and tried +to bring all to the test as if in Christ's very presence, it has +appeared to me that such work as Müller's and Barnardo's, and that +of my own fellow-countryman, William Quarrier, must be peculiarly dear +to the heart of our blessed Lord. And were He to visit this world again, +and seek a place where His very Spirit had most fully wrought itself out +into deeds, I fear that many of our so-called Churches would deserve to +be passed by, and that His holy, tender, helpful, divinely-human love +would find its most perfect reflex in these Orphan Homes. Still and +forever, amidst all changes of creed and of climate, this, this is "pure +and undefiled Religion" before God and the Father!</p> + +<p>But in this connection I must not omit to mention that the noble and +world-famous servant of God, the Minister of the Tabernacle, invited me +to a garden-party at his home, and asked me to address his students and +other Christian workers. When I arrived I found a goodly company +assembled under the shade of lovely trees, and felt the touch of that +genial humor, so mighty a gift when sanctified, which has so often given +wings to C. H. Spurgeon's words, when he saluted me as "The King of the +Cannibals!" On my leaving, Mrs. Spurgeon presented me with her husband's +<i>Treasury of David</i>, and also "£5 from the Lord's +cows"—which I afterwards learned was part of the profits from +certain cows kept by the good lady, and that everything produced thereby +was dedicated to the work of the Lord. I praised God that He had +privileged me to meet this extraordinarily endowed man, to whom the +whole Christian World had been so specially indebted, and who had +consecrated all his gifts and opportunities to the proclamation of the +pure and precious Gospel.</p> + +<p>Of all my London associations, however, the deepest and the most +imperishable is that which weaves itself around the Honorable Ion +Keith-Falconer, who has already passed to what may truly be called a +Martyr's crown. At that time I met him at his father-in-law's house at +Trent; and on another occasion spent a whole day with him at the house +of his noble mother, the Countess-Dowager of Kintore. His soul was then +full of his projected Mission to the Arabs, being himself one of the +most distinguished Orientalists of the day; and as we talked together, +and exchanged experiences, I felt that never before had I visibly marked +the fire of God, the holy passion to seek and to save the lost, burning +more steadily or brightly on the altar of any human heart. The heroic +founding of the Mission at Aden is already one of the precious annals of +the Church of Christ. His young and devoted wife survives, to mourn +indeed, but also to cherish his noble memory; and, with the aid of +others, and the banner of the Free Church of Scotland, to see the +"Keith-Falconer Mission" rising up amidst the darkness of blood-stained +Africa, as at once a harbor of refuge for the slave, and a beacon-light +to those who are without God and without hope The servant does his day's +work, and passes on through the gates of sleep to the Happy Dawn; but +the Divine Master lives and works and reigns, and by our death, as +surely as by our life, His holy purposes shall be fulfilled.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="89"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER LXXXIX.</h3></center> +<center><h4>FAREWELL SCENES.</h4></center> + +<p>ON returning to Scotland, every day was crowded with engagements for +the weeks that remained, and almost every mail brought me contributions +from all conceivable corners of the land. My heart was set upon taking +out two or three Missionaries with me to claim more and still more of +the Islands for Christ; and with that view I had addressed Divinity +Students at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Again and again, by +conversation and correspondence, consecrated young men were just on the +point of volunteering; but again and again the larger and better known +fields of labor turned the scale, and they finally decided for China or +Africa or India. Deeply disappointed at this, and thinking that God +directed us to look to our own Australia alone for Missionaries for the +New Hebrides, I resolved to return, and took steps towards securing a +passage by the Orient Line to Melbourne. But just then two able and +devoted students, Messrs. Morton and Leggatt, offered themselves as +Missionaries for our Islands; and shortly thereafter a third, Mr. +Landells, also an excellent man; and all, being on the eve of their +License as preachers, were approved of, accepted, and set to special +preparations for the Mission field, particularly in acquiring practical +medical knowledge.</p> + +<p>On this turn of affairs I managed to have my passage delayed for six +weeks, and resolved to cast myself on the Lord that He might enable me +in that time to raise at least £500, in order to furnish the +necessary outfit and equipment for three new Mission Stations, and to +pay the passage money of the Missionaries and their wives, that there +might be no difficulty on this score amongst the Foreign Mission +Committees on the other side. And then the idea came forcibly, and for a +little unmanned me, that it was wrong in me to speak of these limits as +to time and money in my prayers to God. But I reflected, again, how it +was for the Lord's own glory alone in the salvation of the Heathen, and +for no personal aims of mine; and so I fell back on His promise, +"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name," and believingly asked it in His +Name, and for His praise and service alone. I think it due to my Lord, +and for the encouragement of all His servants, that I should briefly +outline what occurred in answer to these prayers.</p> + +<p>Having gone to the center of one of the great shipbuilding districts +of Scotland, and held a series of meetings, and raised a sum of about +£55 only after nine services and many Sabbath School collecting +cards, my heart was beginning to sink, as I did not think my health +would stand another six weeks of incessant strain; when, at the close of +my last meeting in a Free Church, an Elder and his wife entered the +vestry and said, "We are deeply interested in you and in all your work +and plans. You say that you have asked £500 more. We gave you the +first £100 at the Dundee Conference; and it is a joy to us to give +you this £100 too, towards the making up of your final sum. We +pray that you may speedily realize your wish, and that God's richest +blessing may ever rest upon your head."</p> + +<p>Another week passed by, and at the close of it a lady called upon me, +and, after delightful conversation about the Mission, said, "How near +are you to the sum required?" I explained to her what is recorded above, +and she continued, "I gave you one little piece of paper at the +beginning of your efforts. I have prayed for you every day since. God +has prospered me, and this is one of the happiest moments of my life, +when I am now able to give you another little bit of paper."</p> + +<p>So saying, she put into my hand £100. I protested, "You are +surely too generous. Can you afford a second £100?"</p> + +<p>She replied to this effect, and very joyfully, as one who had genuine +gladness in the deed, "My Lord has been very kind to me, in my business. +My wants are simple, and are safe in His hands. I wait not till death +forces me, but give back whatever I am able to the Lord now, and hope to +live to see much blessing thereby through you in the conversion of the +Heathen."</p> + +<p>My last week had come, and I was in the midst of preparations for +departure, when amongst the letters delivered to me was one to this +effect:</p> + +<p>"Restitution money which never now can be returned to its owner. +Since my Conversion I have labored hard to save it. I now make my only +possible amends by returning it to God through you. Pray for me and +mine, and may God bless you in your work!" I rather startled my brother +and his wife at our breakfast table by shouting out in unwontedly +excited tones,—"Hallelujah! The Lord has done it! Hallelujah!" But +my tones softened down into intense reverence, and my words broke at +last into tears, when I found that this, the second largest subscription +ever received by me (£1000, by one friend, have since been given +to the "John G. Paton Mission Fund"), came from a converted tradesman +who had consecrated his all to the Lord Jesus, and whose whole leisure +was now centered upon seeking to bless and save those of his own rank +and class, amongst whom he had spent his early and unconverted days. +Jesus said unto him, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great +things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on +thee."</p> + +<p>Bidding farewell to dear old Glasgow, so closely intertwined with all +my earlier and later experiences, I started for London, accompanied by +my brother James. We were sitting at breakfast at Mrs. Mathieson's +table, Mildmay, when a telegram was put into my hands announcing a +"thank-offering" from Lord and Lady Polwarth, received since our +departure from Glasgow. The Lord had now literally exceeded my prayers. +With other gifts, repeated again by friends at Mildmay, the special fund +for outfit and traveling expenses for new Missionaries had risen above +the £500, and now approached £650.</p> + +<p>In a Farewell Meeting at Mildmay the Lord's servants, being assembled +in great numbers from all quarters of London, dedicated me and my work +very solemnly to God, amid songs of praise and many prayers and touching +"last words." And when at length Mr. Mathieson, intimating that I must +go, as another company of Christian workers were elsewhere waiting also +to say Good-by, suggested that the whole audience should stand up, and, +instead of hand-shaking, quietly breathe their benedictory Farewell as I +passed from the platform down through their great Hall, a perfect flood +of emotion overwhelmed me. I never felt a humbler man, nor more anxious +to hide my head in the dust, than when all these noble, gifted, and +beloved followers of Jesus Christ, and consecrated workers in His +service, stood up and with one heart said, "God speed" and "God bless +you," as I passed on through the Hall. To one who had striven and +suffered less, or who less appreciated how little we can do for others +compared with what Jesus had done for us, this scene might have +ministered to spiritual pride; but long ere I reached the door of that +Hall, my soul was already prostrated at the feet of my Lord in sorrow +and in shame that I had done so little for Him, and I bowed my head and +could have gladly bowed my knees to cry, "Not unto us; Lord, not unto +us!"</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="90"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XC.</h3></center> +<center><h4>WELCOME TO VICTORIA AND ANIWA.</h4></center> + +<p>ON the 28th October, 1885, I sailed for Melbourne, and in due course +safely arrived there by the goodness of God. The Church and people of my +own beloved Victoria gave me a right joyful welcome, and in public +assembly presented me with a testimonial, which I shrank from receiving, +but which all the same was the highly-prized expression of their +confidence and esteem.</p> + +<p>During my absence at the Islands, to which I immediately proceeded, +they unanimously elected me Moderator of their Supreme Court, and called +me back to fill that highest Chair of honor in the Presbyterian Church. +God is my witness how very little any or all of these things in +themselves ever have been coveted by me; but how, when they have come in +my way, I have embraced them with a single desire thereby to promote the +Church's interest in that Cause to which my whole life and all my +opportunities are consecrated—the Conversion of the Heathen +World.</p> + +<p>My Mission to Britain was to raise £6000, in order to enable +the Australian Churches to provide a Steam Auxiliary Mission Ship, for +the enlarged and constantly enlarging requirements of the New Hebrides. +I spent exactly eighteen months at home; and when I returned, I was +enabled to hand over to the Church that had commissioned and authorized +me no less a sum than £9000. And all this had been forwarded to +me, as the freewill offerings of the Lord's stewards, in the manner +illustrated by the preceding pages. "Behold! What God hath wrought!"</p> + +<p>Of this sum £6000 are set apart to build or acquire the new +Mission Ship. The remainder is added to what we call our Number II. +Fund, for the maintenance and equipment of additional Missionaries. It +has been the dream of my life to see one Missionary at least, with +trained Native Teachers, planted on every Island of the New Hebrides, +and then I could lie down and whisper gladly, "Lord, now lettest Thou +Thy servant depart in peace!"</p> + +<p>As to the new Mission Ship, unexpected delay has arisen. There are +differences of opinion about the best way of carrying out the proposal. +There must be an understanding betwixt New South Wales and Victoria and +the other Colonies, as to the additional annual expenditure. And the +perplexity as to the wisest course has deepened, since the Colonial +Government began to run Mail Ships regularly from Australia to Fiji, +willing on certain terms of subsidy, to call at one or other harbor in +the New Hebrides. Meantime, let all friends who are interested in us and +our work understand—that the money so generously intrusted to me +has been safely handed over to my own Victorian Church, and is deposited +at good interest in the bank, to be spent at their discretion in due +time, when all details are settled, and, as nearly as possible in the +altered circumstances, exclusively for the purposes for which it was +asked and bestowed.</p> + +<p>To me personally, this delay is confessedly a keen and deep +disappointment. But the special work laid upon me has, however, been +accomplished. The Colonial Churches have now all the responsibility of +the further steps. In this, as in many a harder trouble of my checkered +life, I calmly roll all my burden upon the Lord. I await with quietness +and confidence His wise disposal of events. His hand is on the helm; and +whither He steers us, all shall be well.</p> + +<p>But let me not close this chapter, till I have struck another and a +Diviner note. I have been to the Islands again, since my return from +Britain. The whole inhabitants of Aniwa were there to welcome me, and my +procession to the old Mission House was more like the triumphal march of +a Conqueror than that of a humble Missionary. Everything was kept in +beautiful and perfect order. Every Service of the Church, as previously +described in this book, was fully sustained by the Native Teachers, the +Elders, and the occasional visit, once or twice a year, of an ordained +Missionary from one of the other Islands. Aniwa, like Aneityum, is a +Christian land. Jesus has taken possession, never again to quit those +shores. G<small>LORY, GLORY TO </small>H<small>IS</small> +B<small>LESSED</small> N<small>AME</small>!</p> + +<br><hr><br> + +<p>My Home has since been at Melbourne. My life-work now (1892), and +probably during the remainder of my active days, will be to visit and +address the Congregations and Sabbath Schools of the Presbyterian +Churches of Australasia, telling them, as in this book, the story of my +experiences, and inspiring the Christian people of these Colonies to +support the New Hebrides Mission, and to claim all these Islands for the +Lord Jesus Christ.</p> + +<br><hr><br> + +<p>Reader, in your life, as in mine, one last Chapter still awaits us. +By His grace, who has sustained me from childhood till now, I would work +out that Chapter, and live through these closing scenes. With this book +still open before you, I implore you to go alone before your blessed +Saviour, and pledge yourself so to live, and so to die, in the service +and fellowship of the Lord Jesus, that you and I, who have companied +with each other through these pages, may meet again and renew our happy +intercourse in our F<small>ATHER'S</small> H<small>OUSE</small>.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="91"></a> +<center><h3>CHAPTER XCI.</h3></center> +<center><h4>GOOD NEWS FROM TANNA, 1891.</h4></center> +<center><h4>(By the Editor.)</h4></center> + +<p>WHILST this page of manuscript passes through my hands, there is laid +before me a brilliant letter from Mrs. Watt of Tanna, which, I am sure, +she will pardon me for utilizing thus. It is written from Port +Resolution, in the closing days of 1891. Its main theme is the building +of the S<small>COTCH</small> C<small>HURCH</small>, in the very heart of +the district where my brother's years of anguish and toil were endured. +Friends in Scotland gave Mr. and Mrs. Watt the money wherewith to +purchase materials, and St. Paul's Parish Church, Glasgow, provided the +Bell. But let us hear how she paints the scene, and unveils to us the +Island life,—alike Pagan and Christian.</p> + +<p>When they returned from Scotland and found their way to Kwamera, +after galling delays among the Islands, one of their first duties was +the making of "the annual contribution of arrow-root," the proceeds "to +go to line the roof of the Kwamera Church,—the Church itself +having been built in the same way," that is, by the sacred arrow-root! +Then they went round to Port Resolution for the erection of the +S<small>COTCH</small> C<small>HURCH</small>,—"A Memorial of +Workers and Work on Tanna." She tells how they "improvized a derrick by +lashing together the masts of the two boats, and, with the aid of these +and blocks and tackle, got the principals into their proper position. +And though carpenters or builders may laugh at it," she adds, "we heaved +a sigh of relief when the last one was secured." Listen to this: "Mr. +Gray (neighbor Missionary) and Mr. Watt were the only skilled workmen. +The others were all inexperienced, being Natives. We had them all +divided into two relays, and they came turn about, each alternate day; +and I can assure you there are no Natives in the Group, or indeed in any +land, who would have come more faithfully, or worked more heartily, than +these much-abused Tannese! The work went on every day, Sabbaths +excepted, from 6 A.M. till 6 P.M., for forty days. On ten of these days +Mr. Gray gave very valuable assistance; in truth, I do not see how we +could have done without him. Day by day the women prepared food; the +boys pulled drinking cocoanuts; and every one worked willingly, while +crowds came and gazed on in wonder as the edifice arose." And if there +be any shallow arm-chair critic of Missions ready to sneer at such +toils, let him first digest what this devoted lady Missionary says: +"Church Building may not be considered by some as Mission work; yet we +believe this Church erection has been the means of much good to this +people. We have had better attendances, both on week-days and on +Sabbaths, than ever before. And we managed to keep up the daily morning +and evening meetings during all the building time,—as, after the +devotional part was over, the builders went out, but the rest remained +for lessons." What more blessed than thus to work and pray! To teach +their hands to work, and their hearts to sing praises to the Lord!</p> + +<p>Now let us pass on, and look in upon them at the opening and +dedication of this S<small>COTCH</small> C<small>HURCH ON +</small>T<small>ANKA</small> to the Lord God. "On a fixed day, Wednesday +28th October, exactly twelvemonths to a day from our leaving Liverpool, +Natives from far and near assembled for the occasion. Mr. and Mrs. Gray, +with their two children, a Mr. Voullaire, a German who has come to Tanna +as a Trader, and our neighbor Mr. Bramwell, joined us. So that, when we +all met for the Opening Services, we were a somewhat mixed company, +speaking a medley of languages,—English, Scotch, German, Fijian, +Aneityumese, Aniwan, and at least two of the Tannese languages! The +building was well filled; but the bigger crowd was gathered outside; for +our Heathen onlookers were afraid to enter the sacred edifice. The +Service was beautiful. All seemed very happy. After it, there was an +exchange of gifts, we giving fifty fathoms of prints and calicoes, some +handkerchiefs, two pots full of cooked rice, a pile of raw yams and +taro, and two pieces of salt beef. Our neighbor gave some print, some +tins of luncheon beef, and some uncooked rice. The Natives gave two +cooked pigs, and native puddings <i>ad libitum</i>. These things being +divided to the satisfaction of all, we had speeches, when doubtless some +good impressions were made. On the Sabbath following we had a good +attendance, Mr. Gray addressing the people. On the Sabbath following +that we made our first money collection on Tanna." I again ask to my +readers to listen, and to lay to heart what the lady Missionary tells us +of these once cruel and cannibal souls. "We asked the people to give it +as a thank-offering for the remarkable exemption from accident during +the building of the Church though at times the work was rather +dangerous. The collection was £3: 5s. We were much pleased with +the hearty way the people responded to this, the first call to give a +free gift to the Lord. One man, whose whole purse was 17s., gave 1s. +himself, and gave 1s. to each of his three sons, so that they too might +have something to give. Knowing how meanly the Tannese treated the +Spirits whom they worshiped in Heathenism,—giving them the +scraggiest fish, the poorest bananas, and the smallest yams,—we +rejoiced in this Christian liberality!!"</p> + +<p>Referring to exaggerated Newspaper rumors she says: "Tanna bulks +largely in some minds, though it is only a small Island, a little larger +than Arran! We had noticed that our Civil War was telegraphed not only +to the Australian papers, but to San Francisco, and even to the +<i>London Standard</i>. We have been receiving letters of condolence +from friends, who think our lives in danger!" Now, mark what the +presence of the Gospel and the Missionary has brought about, as compared +with former days: "Personally, the said Civil War has not affected us in +the slightest. The Grays, who were in the center of the scene of action, +and who more than once had the bullets whizzing over and around their +house, were so assured of their complete safety that Mrs. Gray stayed +there bravely alone with their children, while Mr. Gray came up here to +assist at our Church building!"</p> + +<p>But she does not pretend that all is Christlike: "The list of killed +and wounded has been unusually large for Tanna, while the atrocities +committed have been worse than we ever heard of before. Indignities were +offered to the dead of both sexes. And, in one case at least, a +mutilated woman was left unburied to be eaten by dogs,—and would +have been completely devoured, had not one of our Teachers come on the +scene next day, and, unaided, dug a grave and buried her." And then the +writer lets in the lurid light of the Nether Pit in this closing +picture: "One instance of the disgusting depravity of the people shocked +me much. A man, who even attends Service in the district where the above +dreadful affair took place, on seeing the poor mutilated form of the +woman, addressed it thus—'If only the Gospel had not reached my +Village, how I would have enjoyed a feast off you!' I cannot tell you +how much this has preyed upon my mind; or how glad I feel at realizing +that Jesus is an Almighty Saviour, and can save to the uttermost, else I +would despair of these People!"</p> + +<p>This may be commended to the attention of those who still affect to +believe that the Cannibalism of my brother's book is overdrawn. That +half-civilized Tanna man, smacking his lips at the thought of what might +have been his but for the Gospel, outweighs all cavils, and is tenfold +stronger than arguments. Also let us ask all readers to ponder the dear +lady's parting shot at unsympathetic and disparaging critics: "Some have +said that the backwardness of the Gospel on Tanna is due to the want of +faith on the part of her Missionaries; but I agree with our +fellow-laborer, Mr. Gray, who declares that it is only gigantic Faith +that could have toiled so many years amongst such a People!" Dear sister +in the Lord, courageous, much-enduring, free of all mock-modesty, +conscious of thy Cross, I thank thee for that word—it is the right +one—"Gigantic faith!"</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 28025-h.txt or 28025-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/2/28025">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/0/2/28025</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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Paton, by James Paton + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Story of John G. Paton + Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals + + +Author: James Paton + + + +Release Date: February 8, 2009 [eBook #28025] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON*** + + +E-text prepared by Carl D. DuBois + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustration. + See 28025-h.htm or 28025-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/2/28025/28025-h/28025-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/8/0/2/28025/28025-h.zip) + + + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON + +Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals + +by + +REV. JAMES PATON, B.A. + +Illustrated + + + + + + + +A. L. Burt Company,Publishers, New York + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +EVER since the story of my brother's life first appeared (January 1889) +it has been constantly pressed upon me that a YOUNG FOLKS' EDITION would +be highly prized. The Autobiography has therefore been re-cast and +illustrated, in the hope and prayer that the Lord will use it to inspire +the Boys and Girls of Christendom with a wholehearted enthusiasm for the +Conversion of the Heathen World to Jesus Christ. + +A few fresh incidents have been introduced; the whole contents have been +rearranged to suit a new class of readers; and the service of a gifted +Artist has been employed, to make the book every way attractive to the +young. For _full_ details as to the Missionary's work and life, the +COMPLETE EDITION must still of course be referred to. + +JAMES PATON. +GLASGOW, _Sept,_ 1892. + +CONTENTS. +CHAP. + + 1. Our Cottage Home + 2. Our Forebears + 3. Consecrated Parents + 4. School Days + 5. Leaving the Old Home + 6. Early Struggles + 7. A City Missionary + 8. Glasgow Experiences + 9. A Foreign Missionary +10. To the New Hebrides +11. First Impressions of Heathendom +12. Breaking Ground on Tanna +13. Pioneers in the New Hebrides +14. The Great Bereavement +15. At Home with Cannibals +16. Superstitions and Cruelties +17. Streaks of Dawn amidst Deeds of Darkness +18. The Visit of H.M.S. "Cordelia" +19. "Noble Old Abraham" +20. A Typical South Sea Trader +21. Under Axe and Musket +22. A Native Saint and Martyr +23. Building and Printing for God +24. Heathen Dance and Sham Fight +25. Cannibals at Work +26. The Defying of Nahak +27. A Perilous Pilgrimage +28. The Plague of Measles +29. Attacked with Clubs +30. Kowia +31. The Martyrdom of the Gordons +32. Shadows Deepening on Tanna +33. The Visit of the Commodore +34. The War Chiefs in Council +35. Under Knife and Tomahawk +36. The Beginning of the End +37. Five Hours in a Canoe +38. A Race for Life +39. Faint yet Pursuing +40. Waiting at Kwamera +41. The Last Awful Night +42. "Sail O! Sail O!" +43. Farewell to Tanna +44. The Floating of the "Dayspring" +45. A Shipping Company for Jesus +46. Australian Incidents +47. Amongst Squatters and Diggers +48. John Gilpin in the Bush +49. The Aborigines of Australia +50. Nora +51. Back to Scotland +52. Tour through the Old Country +53. Marriage and Farewell +54. First Peep at the "Dayspring" +55. The French in the Pacific +56. The Gospel and Gunpowder +57. A Plea for Tanna +58. Our New Home on Aniwa +59. House-Building for God +60. A City of God +61. The Religion of Revenge +62. First Fruits on Aniwa +63. Traditions and Customs +64. Nelwang's Elopement +65. The Christ-Spirit at Work +66. The Sinking of the Well +67. Rain from Below +68. The Old Chief's Sermon +69. The First Book and the New Eyes +70. A Roof-Tree for Jesus +71. "Knock the Tevil out!" +72. The Conversion of Youwili +73. First Communion on Aniwa +74. The New Social Order +75. The Orphans and their Biscuits +76. The Finger-Posts of God +77. The Gospel in Living Capitals +78. The Death of Namakei +79. Christianity and Cocoa-Nuts +80. Nerwa's Beautiful Farewell +81. Ruwawa +82. Litsi +83. The Conversion of Nasi +84. The Appeal of Lamu +85. Wanted! A Steam Auxiliary +86. My Campaign in Ireland +87. Scotland's Free-will Offerings +88. England's Open Door +89. Farewell Scenes +90. Welcome to Victoria and Aniwa +91. Good News from Tanna, 1891 + + + +THE STORY OF JOHN G. PATON. + + + +CHAPTER I. +OUR COTTAGE HOME. + +MY early days were all spent in the beautiful county of Dumfries, which +Scotch folks call the Queen of the South. There, in a small cottage, on +the farm of Braehead, in the parish of Kirkmahoe, I was born on the 24th +May, 1824. My father, James Paton, was a stocking manufacturer in a +small way; and he and his young wife, Janet Jardine Rogerson, lived on +terms of warm personal friendship with the "gentleman farmer," so they +gave me his son's name, John _Gibson_; and the curly-haired child of the +cottage was soon able to toddle across to the mansion, and became a +great pet of the lady there. On my visit to Scotland in 1884 I drove out +to Braehead; but we found no cottage, nor trace of a cottage, and amused +ourselves by supposing that we could discover by the rising of the +grassy mound, the outline where the foundations once had been! + +While yet a mere child, five years or so of age, my parents took me to a +new home in the ancient village of Torthorwald, about four and a quarter +miles from Dumfries, on the road to Lockerbie. At that time, say 1830, +Torthorwald was a busy and thriving village, and comparatively populous, +with its cottars and crofters, large farmers and small farmers, weavers +and shoemakers, doggers and coopers, blacksmiths and tailors. Fifty-five +years later, when I visited the scenes of my youth, the village proper +was extinct, except for five thatched cottages where the lingering +patriarchs were permitted to die slowly away,--soon they too would be +swept into the large farms, and their garden plots plowed over, like +sixty or seventy others that had been blotted out! + +From the Bank Hill, close above our village, and accessible in a walk of +fifteen minutes, a view opens to the eye which, despite several easily +understood prejudices of mine that may discount any opinion that I +offer, still appears to me well worth seeing amongst all the beauties of +Scotland. At your feet lay a thriving village, every cottage sitting in +its own plot of garden, and sending up its blue cloud of "peat reek," +which never somehow seemed to pollute the blessed air; and after all has +been said or sung, a beautifully situated village of healthy and happy +homes for God's children is surely the finest feature in every +landscape! Looking from the Bank Hill on a summer day, Dumfries with its +spires shone so conspicuous that you could have believed it not more +than two miles away; the splendid sweeping vale through which Nith rolls +to Solway, lay all before the naked eye, beautiful with village spires, +mansion houses, and white shining farms; the Galloway hills, gloomy and +far-tumbling, bounded the forward view, while to the left rose Criffel, +cloud-capped and majestic; then the white sands of Solway, with tides +swifter than horsemen; and finally the eye rested joyfully upon the +hills of Cumberland, and noticed with glee the blue curling smoke from +its villages on the southern Solway shores. + +There, amid this wholesome and breezy village life, our dear parents +found their home for the long period of forty years. There too were born +to them eight additional children, making in all a family of five sons +and six daughters. Theirs was the first of the thatched cottages on the +left, past the "miller's house," going up the "village gate," with a +small garden in front of it, and a large garden across the road; and it +is one of the few still lingering to show to a new generation what the +homes of their fathers were. The architect who planned that cottage had +no ideas of art, but a fine eye for durability! It consists at present +of three, but originally of four, pairs of "oak couples" (Scottice +_kipples_) planted like solid trees in the ground at equal intervals, +and gently sloped inwards till they meet or are "coupled" at the ridge, +this coupling being managed not by rusty iron, but by great solid pins +of oak. A roof of oaken wattles was laid across these, till within +eleven or twelve feet of the ground, and from the ground upwards a stone +wall was raised, as perpendicular as was found practicable, towards +these overhang-wattles, this wall being roughly "pointed" with sand and +clay and lime. Now into and upon the roof was woven and intertwisted a +covering of thatch, that defied all winds and weathers, and that made +the cottage marvelously cozy,--being renewed year by year, and never +allowed to remain in disrepair at any season. But the beauty of the +construction was and is its durability, or rather the permanence of its +oaken ribs! There they stand, after probably not less than four +centuries, japanned with "peat reek" till they are literally shining, so +hard that no ordinary nail can be driven into them, and perfectly +capable of service for four centuries more on the same conditions. The +walls are quite modern, having all been rebuilt in my father's time, +except only the few great foundation boulders, piled around the oaken +couples; and parts of the roofing also may plead guilty to having found +its way thither only in recent days; but the architect's one idea +survives, baffling time and change--the ribs and rafters of oak. + +Our home consisted of a "but" and a "ben" and a "mid room," or chamber, +called the "closet." The one end was my mother's domain, and served all +the purposes of dining-room and kitchen and parlor, besides containing +two large wooden erections, called by our Scotch peasantry "box beds"; +not holes in the wall, as in cities, but grand, big, airy beds, adorned +with many-colored counterpanes, and hung with natty curtains, showing +the skill of the mistress of the house. The other end was my father's +workshop, filled with five or six "stocking-frames," whirring with the +constant action of five or six pairs of busy hands and feet, and +producing right genuine hosiery for the merchants at Hawick and +Dumfries. The "closet" was a very small apartment betwixt the other two, +having room only for a bed, a little table and a chair, with a +diminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. This was the +Sanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day, +generally after each meal, we saw our father retire, and "shut to the +door"; and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct +(for the thing was too sacred to be talked about) that prayers were +being poured out there for us, as of old by the High Priest within the +veil in the Most Holy Place. We occasionally heard the pathetic echoes +of a trembling voice pleading as if for life, and we learned to slip out +and in past that door on tiptoe, not to disturb the holy colloquy. The +outside world might not know, but we knew, whence came that happy light +as of a new-born smile that always was dawning on my father's face: it +was a reflection from the Divine Presence, in the consciousness of which +he lived. Never, in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I +hope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and +talking with men, than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and +oaken wattles. Though everything else in religion were by some +unthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, or blotted from my +understanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut +itself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the +echoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the +victorious appeal, "He walked with God, why may not I?" + + + +CHAPTER II. +OUR FOREBEARS. + +A FEW notes had better here be given as to our "Forebears," the kind of +stock from which my father and mother sprang. My father's mother, Janet +Murray, claimed to be descended from a Galloway family that fought and +suffered for Christ's Crown and Covenant in Scotland's "killing time," +and was herself a woman of a pronouncedly religious development. Her +husband, our grandfather, William Paton, had passed through a roving and +romantic career, before he settled down to be a douce deacon of the +weavers of Dumfries, like his father before him. + +Forced by a press-gang to serve on board a British man-of-war, he was +taken prisoner by the French, and thereafter placed under Paul Jones, +the pirate of the seas, and bore to his dying day the mark of a slash +from the captain's sword across his shoulder for some slight disrespect +or offense. Determining with two others to escape, the three were hotly +pursued by Paul Jones's men. One, who could swim but little, was shot, +and had to be cut adrift by the other two, who in the darkness swam into +a cave and managed to evade for two nights and a day the rage of their +pursuers. My grandfather, being young and gentle and yellow-haired, +persuaded some kind heart to rig him out in female attire, and in this +costume escaped the attentions of the press-gang more than once; till, +after many hardships, he bargained with the captain of a coal sloop to +stow him away amongst his black diamonds; and thus, in due time, he +found his way home to Dumfries, where he tackled bravely and wisely the +duties of husband, father, and citizen for the remainder of his days. +The smack of the sea about the stories of his youth gave zest to the +talks round their quiet fireside, and that, again, was seasoned by the +warm Evangelical spirit of his Covenanting wife, her lips "dropping +grace." + +On the other side, my mother, Janet Rogerson, had for parents a father +and mother of the Annandale stock. William Rogerson, her father, was one +of many brothers, all men of uncommon strength and great force of +character, quite worthy of the Border Rievers of an earlier day. Indeed, +it was in some such way that he secured his wife, though the dear old +lady in after days was chary about telling the story. She was a girl of +good position, the ward of two unscrupulous uncles who had charge of her +small estate, near Langholm; and while attending some boarding school +she fell devotedly in love with the tall, fair-haired, gallant young +blacksmith, William Rogerson. Her guardians, doubtless very properly, +objected to the "connection"; but our young Lochinvar, with his six or +seven stalwart brothers and other trusty "lads," all mounted, and with +some ready tools in case of need, went boldly and claimed his bride, and +she, willingly mounting at his side, was borne off in the light of open +day, joyously married, and took possession of her "but and ben," as the +mistress of the blacksmith's castle. + +Janet Jardine bowed her neck to the self-chosen yoke, with the light of +a supreme affection in her heart, and showed in her gentler ways, her +love of books, her fine accomplishments with the needle, and her general +air of ladyhood, that her lot had once been cast in easier, but not +necessarily happier, ways. Her blacksmith lover proved not unworthy of +his lady bride, and in old age found for her a quiet and modest home, +the fruit of years of toil and hopeful thrift, their own little +property, in which they rested and waited a happy end. Amongst those who +at last wept by her grave stood, amidst many sons and daughters, her son +the Rev. James J. Rogerson, clergyman of the Church of England, who, for +many years thereafter, and till quite recently, was spared to occupy a +distinguished position at ancient Shrewsbury and has left behind him +there an honored and beloved name. + +From such a home came our mother, Janet Jardine Rogerson, a +bright-hearted, high-spirited, patient-toiling, and altogether heroic +little woman; who, for about forty-three years, made and kept such a +wholesome, independent, God-fearing, and self-reliant life for her +family of five sons and six daughters, as constrains me, when I look +back on it now, in the light of all I have since seen and known of +others far differently situated, almost to worship her memory. She had +gone with her high spirits and breezy disposition to gladden as their +companion, the quiet abode of some grand or great-grand-uncle and aunt, +familiarly named in all that Dalswinton neighborhood, "Old Adam and +Eve." Their house was on the outskirts of the moor, and life for the +young girl there had not probably too much excitement. But one thing had +arrested her attention. She had noticed that a young stocking-maker from +the "Brig End," James Paton, the son of William and Janet there, was in +the habit of stealing alone into the quiet wood, book in hand, day after +day, at certain hours, as if for private study and meditation. It was a +very excusable curiosity that led the young bright heart of the girl to +watch him devoutly reading and hear him reverently reciting (though she +knew not then, it was Ralph Erskine's _Gospel Sonnets_, which he could +say by heart sixty years afterwards, as he lay on his bed of death); and +finally that curiosity awed itself into a holy respect, when she saw him +lay aside his broad Scotch bonnet, kneel down under the sheltering wings +of some tree, and pour out all his soul in daily prayers to God. As yet +they had never spoken. What spirit moved her, let lovers tell--was it +all devotion, or was it a touch of unconscious love kindling in her +towards the yellow-haired and thoughtful youth? Or was there a stroke of +mischief, of that teasing, which so often opens up the door to the most +serious step in all our lives? Anyhow, one day she slipped in quietly, +stole away his bonnet, and hung it on a branch near by, while his trance +of devotion made him oblivious of all around; then, from a safe retreat, +she watched and enjoyed his perplexity in seeking for and finding it! A +second day this was repeated; but his manifest disturbance of mind, and +his long pondering with the bonnet in hand, as if almost alarmed, seemed +to touch another chord in her heart--that chord of pity which is so +often the prelude of love, that finer pity that grieves to wound +anything nobler or tenderer than ourselves. Next day, when he came to +his accustomed place of prayer, a little card was pinned against the +tree just where he knelt, and on it these words: "She who stole away +your bonnet is ashamed of what she did; she has a great respect for you, +and asks you to pray for her, that she may become as good a Christian as +you." + +Staring long at that writing, he forgot Ralph Erskine for one day! +Taking down the card, and wondering who the writer could be, he was +abusing himself for his stupidity in not suspecting that some one had +discovered his retreat and removed his bonnet, instead of wondering +whether angels had been there during his prayer,--when, suddenly raising +his eyes, he saw in front of old Adam's cottage, though a lane amongst +the trees, the passing of another kind of angel, swinging a milk-pail in +her hand and merrily singing some snatch of old Scottish song. He knew, +in that moment, by a Divine instinct, as infallible as any voice that +ever came to seer of old, that she was the angel visitor that had stolen +in upon his retreat--that bright-faced, clever-witted niece of old Adam +and Eve, to whom he had never yet spoken, but whose praises he had often +heard said and sung--"Wee Jen." I am afraid he did pray "for her," in +more senses than one, that afternoon; at any rate, more than a Scotch +bonnet was very effectually stolen; a good heart and true was there +virtually bestowed, and the trust was never regretted on either side, +and never betrayed. + +Often and often, in the genial and beautiful hours of the autumntide of +their long life, have I heard my dear father tease "Jen" about her +maidenly intentions in the stealing of that bonnet; and often have heard +her quick mother-wit in the happy retort, that had his motives for +coming to that retreat been altogether and exclusively pious, he would +probably have found his way to the other side of the wood, but that men +who prowled about the Garden of Eden ran the risk of meeting some day +with a daughter of Eve! + + + +CHAPTER III. +CONSECRATED PARENTS. + +SOMEWHERE in or about his seventeenth year, my father passed through a +crisis of religious experience; and from that day he openly and very +decidedly followed the Lord Jesus. His parents had belonged to one of +the older branches of what is now called the United Presbyterian Church; +but my father, having made an independent study of the Scotch Worthies, +the Cloud of Witnesses, the Testimonies, and the Confession of Faith, +resolved to cast in his lot with the oldest of all the Scotch Churches, +the Reformed Presbyterian, as most nearly representing the Covenanters +and the attainments of both the first and second Reformations in +Scotland. This choice he deliberately made, and sincerely and +intelligently adhered to; and was able at all times to give strong and +clear reasons from Bible and from history for the principles he upheld. + +Besides this, there was one other mark and fruit of his early religious +decision, which looks even fairer through all these years. Family +Worship had heretofore been held only on Sabbath Day in his father's +house; but the young Christian, entering into conference with his +sympathizing mother, managed to get the household persuaded that there +ought to be daily morning and evening prayer and reading of the Bible +and holy singing. This the more readily, as he himself agreed to take +part regularly in the same, and so relieve the old warrior of what might +have proved for him too arduous spiritual toils! And so began in his +seventeenth year that blessed custom of Family Prayer, morning and +evening, which my father practised probably without one single avoidable +omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven years of age; when +ever to the last day of his life, a portion of Scripture was read, and +his voice was heard softly joining in the Psalm, and his lips breathed +the morning and evening Prayer,--falling in sweet benediction on the +heads of all his children, far away many of them over all the earth, but +all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace. + +Our place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Dumfries, +under the ministry, during most of these days, of Rev. John McDermid--a +genuine, solemn, lovable Covenanter, who cherished towards my father a +warm respect, that deepened into apostolic affection when the yellow +hair turned snow-white and both of them grew patriarchal in their years. +The Minister, indeed, was translated to a Glasgow charge; but that +rather exalted than suspended their mutual love. Dumfries was four miles +fully from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during all +these forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the +worship of God--once by snow, so deep that he was baffled and had to +return; once by ice on the road, so dangerous that he was forced to +crawl back up the Roucan Brae on his hands and knees, after having +descended it so far with many falls; and once by the terrible outbreak +of cholera at Dumfries. + +Each of us, from very early days, considered it no penalty, but a great +joy, to go with our father to the church; the four miles were a treat to +our young spirits, the company by the way was a fresh incitement, and +occasionally some of the wonders of city-life rewarded our eager eyes. A +few other pious men and women, of the best Evangelical type, went from +the same parish to one or other favorite Minister at Dumfries; and when +these God-fearing peasants "forgathered" in the way to or from the House +of God, we youngsters had sometimes rare glimpses of what Christian talk +may be and ought to be. + +We had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord's Day evening,--mother +and children and visitors reading in turns, with fresh and interesting +question, answer, and exposition, all tending to impress us with the +infinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the great gift of His dear +Son Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was gone through +regularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been +explained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts +adduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to meet with +men who blamed this "catechizing" for giving them a distaste to +religion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the +opposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life. +After-years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or +a modified meaning, but none of us has ever once even dreamed of wishing +that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents are not +devout, sincere, and affectionate,--if the whole affair on both sides is +taskwork, or worse, hypocritical and false,--results must be very +different indeed! + +Oh, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings; no blinds down, and +shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some scandalously affirm; +but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a Christian father, mother +and children to spend. Others must write and say what they will, and as +they feel; but so must I. There were eleven of us brought up in a home +like that; and never one of the eleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has +been heard, or ever will be heard, saying that Sabbath was dull and +wearisome for us, or suggesting that we have heard of or seen any way +more likely than that for making the Day of the Lord bright and blessed +alike for parents and for children. But God help the homes where these +things are done by force and not by love! + +As I must, however, leave the story of my father's life--much more +worthy, in many ways, of being written than my own--I may here mention +that his long and upright life made him a great favorite in all +religious circles far and near within the neighborhood, that at +sick-beds and at funerals he was constantly sent for and much +appreciated, and that this appreciation greatly increased, instead of +diminishing, when years whitened his long, flowing locks, and gave him +an apostolic beauty; till finally, for the last twelve years or so of +his life, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the +four nearest parishes, and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good +seed of the Kingdom as a Colporteur of the Tract and Book Society of +Scotland. His success in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all +belief. Within a radius of five miles he was known in every home, +welcomed by the children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly +by the sick and aged. He gloried in showing off the beautiful Bibles and +other precious books, which he sold in amazing numbers. He sang sweet +Psalms beside the sick, and prayed like the voice of God at their dying +beds. He went cheerily from farm to farm, from cot to cot; and when he +wearied on the moorland roads, he refreshed his soul by reciting aloud +one of Ralph Erskine's "Sonnets," or crooning to the birds one of +David's Psalms. His happy partner, our beloved mother, died in 1865, and +he himself in 1868, having reached his seventy-seventh year, an +altogether beautiful and noble episode of human existence having been +enacted, amid the humblest surroundings of a Scottish peasant's home, +through the influence of their united love by the grace of God; and in +this world, or in any world, all their children will rise up at mention +of their names and call them blessed! + + + +CHAPTER IV. +SCHOOL DAYS. + +IN my boyhood, Torthorwald had one of the grand old typical Parish +Schools of Scotland; where the rich and the poor met together in perfect +equality; where Bible and Catechism were taught as zealously as grammar +and geography; and where capable lads from the humblest of cottages were +prepared in Latin and Mathematics and Greek to go straight from their +Village class to the University bench. Besides, at that time, an +accomplished pedagogue of the name of Smith, a learned man of more than +local fame, had added a Boarding House to the ordinary School, and had +attracted some of the better class gentlemen and farmers' sons from the +surrounding country; so that Torthorwald, under his _regime_, reached +the zenith of its educational fame. In this School I was initiated into +the mystery of letters, and all my brothers and sisters after me, though +some of them under other masters than mine. My teacher punished +severely--rather, I should say, savagely--especially for lessons badly +prepared. Yet, that he was in some respects kindly and tender-hearted, I +had the best of reasons to know. + +When still under twelve years of age, I started to learn my father's +trade, in which I made surprising progress. We wrought from six in the +morning till ten at night, with an hour at dinner-time and half an hour +at breakfast and again at supper. These spare moments every day I +devoutly spent on my books, chiefly in the rudiments of Latin and Greek; +for I had given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a +Missionary of the Cross, or a Minister of the Gospel. Yet I gladly +testify that what I learned of the stocking frame was not thrown away; +the facility of using tools, and of watching and keeping the machinery +in order, came to be of great value to me in the Foreign Mission field. + +One incident of this time I must record here, because of the lasting +impression made upon my religious life. Our family, like all others of +peasant rank in the land, were plunged into deep distress, and felt the +pinch severely, through the failure of the potato, the badness of other +crops, and the ransom-price of food. Our father had gone off with work +to Hawick, and would return next evening with money and supplies; but +meantime the meal barrel ran low, and our dear mother, too proud and too +sensitive to let any one know, or to ask aid from any quarter, coaxed us +all to rest, assuring us that she had told God everything, and that He +would send us plenty in the morning. Next day, with the carrier from +Lockerbie came a present from her father, who, knowing nothing of her +circumstances or of this special trial, had been moved of God to send at +that particular nick of time a love-offering to his daughter, such as +they still send to each other in those kindly Scottish shires--a bag of +new potatoes, a stone of the first ground meal or flour, or the earliest +homemade cheese of the season--which largely supplied all our need. My +mother, seeing our surprise at such an answer to her prayers, took us +around her knees, thanked God for His goodness, and said to us: + +"O my children, love your Heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer +all your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for +your good and His glory." + +Perhaps, amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, this +was the hardest time they ever had, and the only time they ever felt the +actual pinch of hunger; for the little that they had was marvelously +blessed of God, and was not less marvelously utilized by that noble +mother of ours, whose high spirit, side by side with her humble and +gracious piety, made us, under God, what we are to-day. + +I saved as much at my trade as enabled me to go for six weeks to +Dumfries Academy; this awoke in me again the hunger for learning, and I +resolved to give up that trade and turn to something that might be made +helpful to the prosecution of my education. An engagement was secured +with the Sappers and Miners, who were mapping and measuring the county +of Dumfries in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The +office hours were from 9 A. M. till 4 P. M.; and though my walk from +home was above four miles every morning, and the same by return in the +evening, I found much spare time for private study, both on the way to +and from my work and also after hours. Instead of spending the mid-day +hour with the rest, at football and other games, I stole away to a quiet +spot on the banks of the Nith, and there pored over my book, all alone. +Our lieutenant, unknown to me, had observed this from his house on the +other side of the stream, and after a time called me into his office and +inquired what I was studying. I told him the whole truth as to my +position and my desires. After conferring with some of the other +officials there, he summoned me again, and in their presence promised me +promotion in the service, and special training in Woolwich at the +Government's expense, on condition that I would sign an engagement for +seven years. Thanking him most gratefully for his kind offer, I agreed +to bind myself for three years or four, but not for seven. + +Excitedly he said, "Why? Will you refuse an offer that many gentlemen's +sons would be proud of?" + +I said, "My life is given to another Master, so I cannot engage for +seven years." He asked sharply, "To whom?" I replied, "To the Lord +Jesus; and I want to prepare as soon as possible for His service in the +proclaiming of the Gospel." + +In great anger he sprang across the room, called the paymaster and +exclaimed, "Accept my offer, or you are dismissed on the spot!" + +I answered, "I am extremely sorry if you do so, but to bind myself for +seven years would probably frustrate the purpose of my life; and though +I am greatly obliged to you, I cannot make such an engagement." + +His anger made him unwilling or unable to comprehend my difficulty; the +drawing instruments were delivered up, I received my pay, and departed, +without further parley. Hearing how I had been treated, and why, Mr. +Maxwell, the Rector of Dumfries Academy, offered to let me attend all +classes there, free of charge so long as I cared to remain; but that, in +lack of means of support, was for the time impossible, as I would not +and could not be a burden on my dear father, but was determined rather +to help him in educating the rest. I went therefore to what was known as +the Lamb Fair at Lockerbie, and for the first time in my life took a +"fee" for the harvest. On arriving at the field when shearing and mowing +began, the farmer asked me to bind a sheaf; when I had done so, he +seized it by the band, and it fell to pieces! Instead of disheartening +me, however, he gave me a careful lesson how to bind; and the second +that I bound did not collapse when shaken, and the third he pitched +across the field, and on finding that it still remained firm, he cried +to me cheerily: + +"Right now, my lad; go ahead!" + +It was hard work for me at first, and my hands got very sore; but, being +willing and determined, I soon got into the way of it, and kept up with +the best of them. The male harvesters were told off to sleep in a large +hayloft, the beds being arranged all along the side, like barracks. Many +of the fellows were rough and boisterous; and I suppose my look showed +that I hesitated in mingling with them, for the quick eye and kind heart +of the farmer's wife prompted her to suggest that I, being so much +younger than the rest, might sleep with her son George in the house--an +offer, oh, how gratefully accepted! A beautiful new steading had +recently been built for them; and during certain days, or portions of +days, while waiting for the grain to ripen or to dry, I planned and laid +out an ornamental garden in front of it, which gave great +satisfaction--a taste inherited from my mother, with her joy in flowers +and garden plots. They gave me, on leaving, a handsome present, as well +as my fee, for I had got on very pleasantly with them all. This +experience, too, came to be valuable to me, when, in long-after days, +and far other lands, Mission buildings had to be erected, and garden and +field cropped and cultivated without the aid of a single European hand. + + + +CHAPTER V. +LEAVING THE OLD HOME. + +BEFORE going to my first harvesting, I had applied for a situation in +Glasgow, apparently exactly suited for my case; but I had little or no +hope of ever hearing of it further. An offer of L50 per annum was made +by the West Campbell Street Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, then +under the good and noble Dr. Bates, for a young man to act as district +visitor and tract distributor, especially amongst the absentees from the +Sabbath School; with the privilege of receiving one year's training at +the Free Church Normal Seminary, that he might qualify himself for +teaching, and thereby push forward to the Holy Ministry. The candidates, +along with their application and certificates, were to send an essay on +some subject, of their own composition, and in their own handwriting. I +sent in two long poems on the Covenanters, which must have exceedingly +amused them, as I had not learned to write even decent prose. But, much +to my surprise, immediately on the close of the harvesting experience, a +letter arrived, intimating that I, along with another young man, had +been put upon the short leet, and that both were requested to appear in +Glasgow on a given day and compete for the appointment. + +Two days thereafter I started out from my quiet country home on the road +to Glasgow. Literally "on the road," for from Torthorwald to +Kilmarnock--about forty miles--had to be done on foot, and thence to +Glasgow by rail. Railways in those days were as yet few, and +coach-travelling was far beyond my purse. A small bundle contained my +Bible and all my personal belongings. Thus was I launched upon the ocean +of life. I thought on One who says, "I know thy poverty, but thou art +rich." + +My dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His +counsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are +fresh in my heart as if it had been but yesterday; and tears are on my +cheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the +scene. For the last half mile or so we walked on together in almost +unbroken silence,--my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in +hand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later +years white as snow) streamed like a girl's down his shoulders. His lips +kept moving in silent prayers for me; and his tears fell fast when our +eyes met each other in looks of which all speech was vain! We halted on +reaching the appointed parting-place; he grasped my hand firmly for a +minute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said: + +"God bless you, my son! Your father's God prosper you, and keep you from +all evil!" + +Unable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we +embraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could; and, when about to +turn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back +and saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left +him--gazing after me. Waving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and +out of sight in an instant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry +me farther, so I darted into the side of the road and wept for a time. +Then, rising up cautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood +where I had left him; and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him +climbing the dyke and looking out for me! He did not see me, and after +he had gazed eagerly in my direction for a while he got down, set his +face towards home, and began to return--his head still uncovered, and +his heart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched +through blinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, +hastening on my way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live +and act so as never to grieve or dishonor such a father and mother as He +had given me. The appearance of my father, when we parted,--his advice, +prayers, and tears--the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then +walking away, head uncovered--have often, often, all through life, risen +vividly before my mind, and do so now while I am writing, as if it had +been but an hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to +many temptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian +angel. + + + +CHAPTER VI. +EARLY STRUGGLES. + +I REACHED Glasgow on the third day, having slept one night at Thornhill, +and another at New Cumnock; and having needed, owing to the kindness of +acquaintances upon whom I called by the way, to spend only three +halfpence of my modest funds. Safely arrived, but weary, I secured a +humble room for my lodging, for which I had to pay one shilling and +sixpence per week. Buoyant and full of hope and looking up to God for +guidance, I appeared at the appointed hour before the examiners, as did +also the other candidate; and they having carefully gone through their +work, asked us to retire. When recalled, they informed us that they had +great difficulty in choosing, and suggested that the one of us might +withdraw in favor of the other, or that both might submit to a more +testing examination. Neither seemed inclined to give it up, both were +willing for a second examination; but the patrons made another +suggestion. They had only L50 per annum to give; but if we would agree +to divide it betwixt us, and go into one lodging, we might both be able +to struggle through, they would pay our entrance fees at the Free Normal +Seminary, and provide us with the books required; and perhaps they might +be able to add a little to the sum promised to each of us. By dividing +the mission work appointed, and each taking only the half, more time +also might be secured for our studies. Though the two candidates had +never seen each other before, we at once accepted this proposal, and got +on famously together, never having had a dispute on anything of common +interest throughout our whole career. + +As our fellow-students at the Normal were all far advanced beyond us in +their education, we found it killing work, and had to grind away +incessantly, late and early. Both of us, before the year closed, broke +down in health; partly by hard study, but principally, perhaps, for lack +of nourishing diet. A severe cough seized upon me; I began spitting +blood, and a doctor ordered me at once home to the country and forbade +all attempts at study. My heart sank; it was a dreadful disappointment, +and to me a bitter trial. Soon after, my companion, though apparently +much stronger than I, was similarly seized. He, however, never entirely +recovered, though for some years he taught in a humble school; and long +ago he fell asleep in Jesus, a devoted and honored Christian man. + +I, on the other hand, after a short rest, nourished by the hill air of +Torthorwald and by the new milk of our family cow, was ere long at work +again. Renting a house, I began to teach a small school at Girvan, and +gradually but completely recovered my health. + +Having saved L10 by my teaching, I returned to Glasgow, and was enrolled +as a student at the College; but before the session was finished my +money was exhausted--I had lent some to a poor student, who failed to +repay me--and only nine shillings remained in my purse. There was no one +from whom to borrow, had I been willing; I had been disappointed in +attempting to secure private tuition; and no course seemed open for me, +except to pay what little I owed, give up my College career, and seek +for teaching or other work in the country. I wrote a letter to my father +and mother, informing them of my circumstances; that I was leaving +Glasgow in quest of work, and that they would, not hear from me again +till I had found a suitable situation. I told them that if otherwise +unsuccessful, I should fall back on my own trade, though I shrank from +that as not tending to advance my education; but that they might rest +assured I would do nothing to dishonor them or my own Christian +profession. Having read that letter over again through many tears, I +said,--I cannot send that, for it will grieve my darling parents; and +therefore, leaving it on the table, I locked my room door and ran out to +find a place where I might sell my precious books, and hold on a few +weeks longer. But, as I stood on the opposite side and wondered whether +these folks in a shop with the three golden balls would care to have a +poor student's books, and as I hesitated, knowing how much I needed them +for my studies, conscience smote me as if for doing a guilty thing; I +imagined that the people were watching me like one about to commit a +theft; and I made off from the scene at full speed, with a feeling of +intense shame at having dreamed of such a thing! Passing through one +short street into another, I marched on mechanically; but the Lord God +of my father was guiding my steps, all unknown to me. + +A certain notice in a window, into which I had probably never in my life +looked before, here caught my eye, to this effect--"Teacher wanted, +Maryhill Free Church school; apply at the Manse." A coach or bus was +just passing, when I turned round; I leapt into it, saw the Minister, +arranged to undertake the School, returned to Glasgow, paid my +landlady's lodging score, tore up that letter to my parents and wrote +another full of cheer and hope; and early next morning entered the +School and began a tough and trying job. The Minister warned me that the +School was a wreck, and had been broken up chiefly by coarse and bad +characters from mills and coal-pits, who attended the evening classes. +They had abused several masters in succession; and, laying a thick and +heavy cane on the desk, he said: + +"Use that freely, or you will never keep order here!" + +I put it aside into the drawer of my desk, saying, "That will be my last +resource." + +There were very few scholars for the first week--about eighteen in the +Day School and twenty in the Night School. The clerk of the mill, a good +young fellow, came to the evening classes, avowedly to learn +book-keeping, but privately he said he had come to save me from personal +injury. + +The following week, a young man and a young woman began to attend the +Night School, who showed from the first moment that they were bent on +mischief. On my repeated appeals for quiet and order, they became the +more boisterous, and gave great merriment to a few of the scholars +present. I finally urged the young man, a tall, powerful fellow, to be +quiet or at once to leave, declaring that at all hazards I must and +would have perfect order; but he only mocked at me, and assumed a +fighting attitude. Quietly locking the door and putting the key in my +pocket, I turned to my desk, armed myself with the cane, and dared any +one at his peril to interfere betwixt us. It was a rough struggle--he +smashing at me clumsily with his fists, I with quick movements evading +and dealing him blow after blow with the heavy cane for several +rounds--till at length he crouched down at his desk, exhausted and +beaten, and I ordered him to turn to his book, which he did in sulky +silence. Going to my desk, I addressed them and asked them to inform all +who wished to come to the School,--That if they came for education, +everything would be heartily done that it was in my power to do; but +that any who wished for mischief had better stay away, as I was +determined to conquer, not to be conquered, and to secure order and +silence, whatever it might cost. Further, I assured them that that cane +would not again be lifted by me, if kindness and forbearance on my part +could possibly gain the day, as I wished to rule by love and not by +terror. But this young man knew he was in the wrong, and it was that +which had made him weak against me, though every way stronger far than +I. Yet I would be his friend and helper, if he was willing to be +friendly with me, the same as if this night had never been. At these +words a dead silence fell on the School: every one buried face +diligently in book; and the evening closed in uncommon quiet and order. + +The attendance grew, till the School became crowded, both during the day +and at night. During the mid-day hour even, I had a large class of young +women who came to improve themselves in writing and arithmetic. By and +by the cane became a forgotten implement; the sorrow and pain which I +showed as to badly-done lessons, or anything blameworthy, proved the far +more effectual penalty. + +The School Committee had promised me at least ten shillings per week, +and guaranteed to make up any deficit if the fees fell short of that +sum; but if the income from fees exceeded that sum, all was to be mine. +Affairs went on prosperously for a season; indeed, too much so for my +selfish interest. The Committee took advantage of the large attendance +and better repute of the School, to secure the services of a master of +the highest grade. The parents of many of the children offered to take +and seat a hall, if I would remain, but I knew too well that I had +neither education nor experience to compete with an accomplished +teacher. Their children, however, got up a testimonial and subscription, +which was presented to me on the day before I left and this I valued +chiefly because the presentation was made by the young fellows who at +first behaved so badly, but were now my devoted friends. + +Once more I committed my future to the Lord God of my father, assured +that in my very heart I was willing and anxious to serve Him and to +follow the blessed Saviour, yet feeling keenly that intense darkness had +again enclosed my path. + + + +CHAPTER VII. +A CITY MISSIONARY. + +BEFORE undertaking the Maryhill School, I had applied to be taken on as +an agent in the Glasgow City Mission; and the night before I had to +leave Maryhill, I received a letter from Rev. Thomas Caie, the +superintendent of the said Mission, saying that the directors had kept +their eyes on me ever since my application, and requesting, as they +understood I was leaving the School, that I would appear before them the +next morning, and have my qualifications for becoming a Missionary +examined into. Praising God, I went off at once, passed the examination +successfully, and was appointed to spend two hours that afternoon and +the following Monday in visitation with two of the directors, calling at +every house in a low district of the town, and conversing with all the +characters encountered there as to their eternal welfare. I had also to +preach a "trial" discourse in a Mission meeting, where a deputation of +directors would be present, the following evening being Sunday; and on +Wednesday evening they met again to hear their report and to accept or +reject me. + +All this had come upon me so unexpectedly, that I almost anticipated +failure; but looking up for help I went through with it, and on the +fifth day after leaving the School they called me before a meeting of +directors, and informed me that I had passed my trials most +successfully, and that the reports were so favorable that they had +unanimously resolved to receive me at once as one of their City +Missionaries. Deeply solemnized with the responsibilities of my new +office, I left that meeting praising God for all His undeserved mercies, +and seeing most clearly His gracious hand in all the way by which He had +led me, and the trials by which He had prepared me for this sphere of +service. Man proposes--God disposes. + +I found the district a very degraded one. Many families said they had +never been visited by any Minister; and many were lapsed professors of +religion who had attended no church for ten, sixteen, or twenty years, +and said they had never been called upon by any Christian visitor. In it +were congregated many avowed infidels, Romanists, and drunkards,--living +together, and associated for evil, but apparently without any effective +counteracting influence. In many of its closes and courts sin and vice +walked about openly--naked and not ashamed. + +After nearly a year's hard work, I had only six or seven +non-church-goers, who had been led to attend regularly there, besides +about the same number who met on a week evening in the ground-floor of a +house kindly granted for the purpose by a poor and industrious but +ill-used Irishwoman. She supported her family by keeping a little shop, +and selling coals. Her husband was a powerful man--a good worker, but a +hard drinker; and, like too many others addicted to intemperance, he +abused and beat her, and pawned and drank everything he could get hold +of. She, amid many prayers and tears, bore everything patiently, and +strove to bring up her only daughter in the fear of God. We exerted, by +God's blessing, a good influence upon him through our meetings. He +became a Total Abstainer, gave up his evil ways, and attended Church +regularly with his wife. As his interest increased, he tried to bring +others also to the meetings, and urged them to become Abstainers. His +wife became a center of help and of good influence in all the district, +as she kindly invited all and welcomed them to the meeting in her house, +and my work grew every day more hopeful. + +By and by Meetings and Classes were both too large for any house that +was available for us in the whole of our district. We instituted a Bible +Class, a Singing Class, a Communicants' Class, and a Total Abstinence +Society; and, in addition to the usual meetings, we opened two +prayer-meetings specially for the Calton division of the Glasgow +Police--one at a suitable hour for the men on day duty, and another for +those on night duty. The men got up a Mutual Improvement Society and +Singing Class also amongst themselves, weekly, on another evening. My +work now occupied every evening in the week; and I had two meetings +every Sabbath. By God's blessing they all prospered, and gave evidence +of such fruits as showed that the Lord was working there for good by our +humble instrumentality. + +The kind cowfeeder had to inform us--and he did it with much genuine +sorrow--that at a given date he would require the hay-loft, which was +our place of meeting; and as no other suitable house or hall could be +got, the poor people and I feared the extinction of our work. At that +very time however, a commodious block of buildings, that had been +Church, Schools, Manse, etc., came into the market. My great-hearted +friend, the late Thomas Binnie, persuaded Dr. Symingrton's congregation, +Great Hamilton Street, in connection with which my Mission was carried +on, to purchase the whole property. Its situation at the foot of Green +Street gave it a control of the district where my work lay; and so the +Church was given to me in which to conduct all my meetings, while the +other Halls were adapted as Schools for poor girls and boys, where they +were educated by a proper master, and were largely supplied with books, +clothing, and sometimes even food, by the ladies of the congregation. + +Availing myself of the increased facilities, my work was all +reorganized. On Sabbath morning, at seven o'clock, I had one of the most +deeply interesting and fruitful of all my Classes for the study of the +Bible. It was attended by from seventy to a hundred of the very poorest +young women and grown-up lads of the whole district. They had nothing to +put on except their ordinary work-day clothes,--all without bonnets, +some without shoes. Beautiful was it to mark how the poorest began to +improve in personal appearance immediately after they came to our Class; +how they gradually got shoes and one bit of clothing after another, to +enable them to attend our other Meetings, and then to go to Church; and, +above all, how eagerly they sought to bring others with them, taking a +deep personal interest in all the work of the Mission. Long after they +themselves could appear in excellent dress, many of them still continued +to attend in their working clothes, and to bring other and poorer girls +with them to that Morning Class, and thereby helped to improve and +elevate their companions. My delight in that Bible Class was among the +purest joys in all my life, and the results were amongst the most +certain and precious of all my Ministry. + +I had also a very large Bible Class--a sort of Bible-Reading--on Monday +night, attended by all, of both sexes and of any age, who cared to come +or had any interest in the Mission. Wednesday evening, again, was +devoted to a prayer-meeting for all; and the attendance often more than +half-filled the Church. There I usually took up some book of Holy +Scripture and read and lectured right through, practically expounding +and applying it. On Thursday I held a Communicants' Class, intended for +the more careful instruction of all who wished to become full members of +the Church. Our constant text-book was _Paterson on the Shorter +Catechism_ (Nelson and Sons), than which I have never seen a better +compendium of the doctrines of Holy Scripture. Each being thus trained +for a season, received from me, if found worthy, a letter to the +Minister of any Protestant Church which he or she felt inclined to join. +In this way great numbers became active and useful communicants in the +surrounding congregations; and eight young lads of humble circumstances +educated themselves for the Ministry of the Church--most of them getting +their first lessons in Latin and Greek from my very poor stock of the +same! Friday evening was occupied with a Singing Class, teaching Church +music, and practising for our Sabbath meetings. On Saturday evening we +held our Total Abstinence meeting, at which the members themselves took +a principal part, in readings, addresses, recitations, singing hymns, +etc. + +Great good resulted from this Total Abstinence work. Many adults took +and kept the pledge, thereby greatly increasing the comfort and +happiness of their homes. Many were led to attend the Church on the +Lord's Day, who had formerly spent it in rioting and drinking. But, +above all, it trained the young to fear the very name of intoxicating +drink, and to hate and keep far away from everything that led to +intemperance. + +I would add my testimony also against the use of tobacco, which injures +and leads many astray, especially lads and young men, and which never +can be required by any person in ordinary health. But I would not be +understood to regard the evils that flow from it as deserving to be +mentioned in comparison with the unutterable woes and miseries of +intemperance. + +To be protected, however, from suspicion and from evil, all the +followers of our Lord Jesus should in self-denial (how small!) and in +consecration to His service, be pledged Abstainers from both of these +selfish indulgences, which are certainly injurious to many, which are no +ornament to any character, and which can be no help in well-doing. +Praise God for the many who are now so pledged! + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +GLASGOW EXPERIENCES. + +ON one occasion, it becoming known that we had arranged for a special +Saturday afternoon Temperance demonstration, a deputation of Publicans +complained beforehand to the Captain of the Police--that our meetings +were interfering with their legitimate trade. The Captain, a pious +Wesleyan, who was in full sympathy with us and our work, informed me of +the complaints made, and intimated that his men would be present; but I +was just to conduct the meeting as usual, and he would guarantee that +strict justice would be done. The Publicans having announced amongst +their sympathizers that the Police were to break up and prevent our +meeting and take the conductors in charge, a very large crowd assembled, +both friendly and unfriendly, for the Publicans and their hangers-on +were there "to see the fun," and to help in "baiting" the Missionary. +Punctually, I ascended the stone stair, accompanied by another +Missionary who was also to deliver an address, and announced our opening +hymn. As we sang, a company of Police appeared, and were quietly located +here and there among the crowd, the sergeant himself taking his post +close by the platform, whence the whole assembly could be scanned. Our +enemies were jubilant, and signals were passed betwixt them and their +friends, as if the time had come to provoke a row. Before the hymn was +finished, Captain Baker himself, to the infinite surprise of friend and +foe alike, joined us on the platform, devoutly listened to all that was +said, and waited till the close. The Publicans could not for very shame +leave, while he was there at their suggestion and request, though they +had wit enough to perceive that his presence had frustrated all their +sinister plans. They had to hear our addresses and prayers and hymns; +they had to listen to the intimation of our future meetings. When all +had quietly dispersed, the Captain warmly congratulated us on our large +and well-conducted congregation, and hoped that great good would result +from our efforts. This opposition also the Lord overruled to increase +our influence, and to give point and publicity to our assaults upon the +kingdom of Satan. + +Though Intemperance was the main cause of poverty, suffering, misery, +and vice in that district of Glasgow, I had also considerable opposition +from Romanists and Infidels, many of whom met in clubs, where they drank +together, and gloried in their wickedness and in leading other young men +astray. + +An Infidel, whose wife was a Roman Catholic, became unwell, and +gradually sank under great suffering and agony. His blasphemies against +God were known and shuddered at by all the neighbors. His wife pled with +me to visit him. She refused, at my suggestion, to call her own priest, +so I accompanied her at last. The man refused to hear one word about +spiritual things, and foamed with rage. He even spat at me, I mentioned +the name of Jesus. "The natural receiveth not the things of the Spirit +of God; for they are foolishness unto him!" There is a "wisdom" which is +at best earthly, and _at worst_ "sensual and devilish." I visited the +poor man daily, but his enmity to God and his sufferings together seemed +to drive him mad. Towards the end I pleaded with him even then to look +to the Lord Jesus, and asked if I might pray with him? With all his +remaining strength he shouted at me, "Pray for me to the devil!" + +Reminding him how he had always denied that there was any devil, I +suggested that he must surely believe in one now, else he would scarcely +make such a request, even in mockery. In great rage he cried, "Tes, I +believe there is a devil, and a God, and a just God too; but I have +hated Him in life, and I hate Him in death!" With these awful words he +wriggled into Eternity; but his shocking death produced a very serious +impression for good, especially amongst young men, in the district where +his character was known. + +How different was the case of that Doctor who also had been an +unbeliever as well as a drunkard! Highly educated, skilful, and gifted +above most in his profession, he was taken into consultation for +specially dangerous cases, whenever they could find him tolerably sober. +After one of his excessive "bouts" he had a dreadful attack of _delirium +tremens_. At one time wife and watchers had a fierce struggle to dash +from his lips a draught of prussic acid; at another, they detected the +silver-hafted lancet concealed in the band of his shirt, as he lay down, +to bleed himself to death. His aunt came and pleaded with me to visit +him. My heart bled for his poor young wife and two beautiful little +children. Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes even more frequently, +I found the way somehow into his heart, and he would do almost anything +for me and longed for my visits. When again the fit of self-destruction +seized him, they sent for me; he held out his hand eagerly, and grasping +mine said, "Put all these people out of the room, remain you with me; I +will be quiet, I will do everything you ask!" + +I got them all to leave, but whispered to one in passing to "keep near +the door." + +Alone I sat beside him, my hand in his, and kept up a quiet conversation +for several hours. After we had talked of everything that I could think +of, and it was now far into the morning, I said, "If you had a Bible +here, we might read a chapter, verse about." + +He said dreamily, "There was once a Bible above yon press; if you can +get up to it, you might find it there yet." + +Getting it, dusting it, and laying it on a small table which I drew near +to the sofa on which we sat, we read there and then a chapter together. +After this I said; "Now, shall we pray?" + +He replied heartily, "Yes." + +I having removed the little table, we kneeled down together at the sofa; +and after a solemn pause I whispered, "You pray first." + +He replied, "I curse, I cannot pray; would you have me curse God to His +face?" + +I answered, "You promised to do all that I asked; you must pray, or try +to pray, and let me hear that you cannot." + +He said, "I cannot curse God on my knees; let me stand, and I will curse +Him; I cannot pray." + +I gently held him on his knees, saying, "Just try to pray, and let me +hear you cannot." + +Instantly he cried out, "O Lord, Thou knowest I cannot pray," and was +going to say something dreadful as he strove to rise up. But I took up +gently the words he had uttered as if they had been my own and continued +the prayer, pleading for him and his dear ones as we knelt there +together, till he showed that he was completely subdued and lying low at +the feet of God. On rising from our knees he was manifestly greatly +impressed, and I said, "Now, as I must be at College by daybreak and +must return to my lodging for my books and an hour's rest, will do you +one thing more for me before I go?" + +"Yes," was his reply. + +"Then," said I, "it is long since you had a refreshing sleep: now, will +you lie down, and I will sit by you till you fall asleep?" + +He lay down, and was soon fast asleep. After commending him to the care +and blessing of the Lord, I quietly slipped out, and his wife returned +to watch by his side. When I came back later in the day, after my +Classes were over, he, on hearing my foot and voice, came to meet me, +and clasping me in his arms, cried, "Thank God, I can pray now! I rose +this morning refreshed from sleep, and prayed with my wife and children +for the first time in my life; and now I shall do so every day, and +serve God while I live, who hath dealt in so great mercy with me!" + +After delightful conversation, he promised to go with me to Dr. +Symington's church on Sabbath Day; there he took sittings beside me; at +next half-yearly Communion he and his wife were received into +membership, and their children were baptized; and from that day till his +death he led a devoted and most useful Christian life. He now sleeps in +Jesus; and I do believe I shall meet him in Glory as a trophy of +redeeming grace and love! + +In my Mission district I was the witness of many joyful departures to be +with Jesus,--I do not like to name them "deaths" at all. They left us +rejoicing in the bright assurance that nothing present or to come "could +ever separate them or us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus +our Lord." Many examples might be given; but I can find room for only +one. John Sim, a dear little boy, was carried away by consumption. His +child-heart seemed to be filled with joy about seeing Jesus. His simple +prattle, mingled with deep questionings, arrested not only his young +companions, but pierced the hearts of some careless sinners who heard +him, and greatly refreshed the faith of God's dear people. It was the +very pathos of song incarnated to hear the weak quaver of his dying +voice sing out-- + +"I lay my sins on Jesus, The spotless Lamb of God." + +Shortly before his decease he said to his parents, "I am going soon to +be with Jesus; but I sometimes fear that I may not see you there." + +"Why so, my child?" said his weeping mother. + +"Because," he answered, "if you were set upon going to Heaven and seeing +Jesus there, you would pray about it, and sing about it; you would talk +about Jesus to others, and tell them of that happy meeting with Him in +Glory. All this my dear Sabbath School teacher taught me, and she will +meet me there. Now why did not you, my father and mother, tell me all +these things about Jesus, if you are going to meet Him too?" Their tears +fell fast over their dying child; and he little knew, in his unthinking +eighth year, what a message from God had pierced their souls through his +innocent words. + +One day an aunt from the country visited his mother, and their talk had +run in channels for which the child no longer felt any interest. On my +sitting down beside him, he said, "Sit you down and talk with me about +Jesus; I am tired hearing so much talk about everything else but Jesus; +I am going soon to be with Him. Oh, do tell me everything you know or +have ever heard about Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God!" + +At last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or freedom +from pain--for of that he had very little--but, as he himself always put +it, "to see Jesus." And, after all, that was the wisdom of the heart, +however he learned it. Eternal life, here or hereafter, is just the +vision of Jesus. + + + +CHAPTER IX. +A FOREIGN MISSIONARY. + +HAPPY in my work as I felt through these ten years, and successful by +the blessing of God, yet I continually heard, and chiefly during my last +years in the Divinity Hall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the +South Seas; and I saw that few were caring for them, while I well knew +that many would be ready to take up my work in Calton, and carry it +forward perhaps with more efficiency than myself. Without revealing the +state of my mind to any person, this was the supreme subject of my daily +meditation and prayer; and this also led me to enter upon those medical +studies, in which I purposed taking the full course; but at the close of +my third year, an incident occurred, which led me at once to offer +myself for the Foreign Mission field. + +The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which I had been +brought up, had been advertising for another Missionary to join the Rev. +John Inglis in his grand work on the New Hebrides. Dr. Bates, the +excellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee, was deeply +grieved, because for two years their appeal had failed. At length, the +Synod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the claims of the +Heathen so gently pressed upon them by the Lord's repeated calls, that +they resolved to cast lots, to discover whether God would thus select +any Minister to be relieved from his home-charge, and designated as a +Missionary to the South Seas. Each member of Synod, as I was informed, +agreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to God, the names of the three +best qualified in his esteem for such a work, and he who had the clear +majority was to be loosed from his congregation, and to proceed to the +Mission field--or the first and second highest, if two could be secured. +Hearing this debate, and feeling an intense interest in these most +unusual proceedings, I remember yet the hushed solemnity of the prayer +before the names were handed in. I remember the strained silence that +held the Assembly while the scrutineers retired to examine the papers; +and I remember how tears blinded my eyes when they returned to announce +that the result was so indecisive, that it was clear that the Lord had +not in that way provided a Missionary. The cause was once again solemnly +laid before God in prayer, and a cloud of sadness appeared to fall over +all the Synod. + +The Lord kept saying within me, "Since none better qualified can be got, +rise and offer yourself!" Almost overpowering was the impulse to answer +aloud, "Here am I, send me." But I was dreadfully afraid of mistaking my +mere human emotions for the will of God. So I resolved to make it a +subject of close deliberation and prayer for a few days longer, and to +look at the proposal from every possible aspect. Besides, I was keenly +solicitous about the effect upon the hundreds of young people and +others, now attached to all my Classes and Meetings; and yet I felt a +growing assurance that this was the call of God to His servant, and that +He who was willing to employ me in the work abroad, was both able and +willing to provide for the on-carrying of my work at home. My medical +studies, as well as my literary and divinity training, had specially +qualified me in some ways for the Foreign field, and from every aspect +at which I could look the whole facts in the face, the voice within me +sounded like a voice from God. + +It was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had begun my +career in Glasgow--receiving L25 per annum for district visitation in +connection with his Congregation, along with instruction under Mr. +Hislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal Seminary--and oh, how Dr. +Bates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, when I called on him, and +offered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I returned to my lodging +with a lighter heart than I had for sometime enjoyed, feeling that +nothing so clears the vision, and lifts up the life, as a decision to +move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord. I +said to my fellow-student, Joseph Copeland, who had chummed with me all +through our course at college, "I have been away signing my banishment" +(a rather trifling way of talk for such an occasion). "I have offered +myself as a Missionary for the New Hebrides." + +After a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in +far-wandering thoughts, his answer was, "If they will accept of me, I am +also resolved to go!" + +I said, "Will you write the Convener to that effect, or let me do so?" + +He replied, "You may." + +A few minutes later his letter of offer was in the post-office. Next +morning Dr. Bates called upon us, early, and after a long conversation, +commended us and our future work to the Lord God in fervent prayer. At a +meeting of the Foreign Missions Committee, held immediately thereafter, +both were, after due deliberation, formally accepted, on condition that +we passed successfully the usual examinations required of candidates for +the Ministry. And for the next twelve months we were placed under a +special committee for advice as to medical experience, acquaintance with +the rudiments of trades, and anything else which might be thought useful +to us in the Foreign field. + +When it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as Missionary, +nearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr. Bates and my +fellows-student. My dear father and mother, however, when I consulted +them, characteristically replied, "that they had long since given me +away to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave me to God's +disposal." From other quarters we were besieged with the strongest +opposition on all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my professors in +divinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation +I had wrought so long as a City Missionary, and in whose Kirk Session I +had for years sat as an Elder, repeatedly urged me to remain at home. + +To his arguments I replied, "that my mind was finally resolved; that, +though I loved my work and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them +to the care of Jesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than +I; and that, with regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only +once to die, I was content to leave the time and place and means in the +hand of God who had already marvelously preserved me when visiting +cholera patients and the fever-stricken poor; on that score I had +positively no further concern, having left it all absolutely to the +Lord, whom I sought to serve and honor, whether in life or by death." + +The house connected with my Green Street Church was now offered to me +for a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared to ask (as against +the promised L120 per annum for the far-off and dangerous New Hebrides), +on condition that I would remain at home. I cannot honestly say that +such offers or opposing influences proved a heavy trial to me; they +rather tended to confirm my determination that the path of duty was to +go abroad. + +Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old Christian +gentleman, whose crowning argument always was, "The cannibals! you will +be eaten by cannibals!" At last I replied, "Mr. Dickson, you are +advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the +grave, there to be eaten by worms, I confess to you, that if I can but +live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no +difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the +Great Day my resurrection body will arise as fair as yours in the +likeness of our risen Redeemer." + +The old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left the +room exclaiming, "After that I have nothing more to say!" + +My dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of my +leaving them, and daily pleaded with me to remain. Indeed, the +opposition was so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm +Christian friends, that I was sorely tempted to question whether I was +carrying out the Divine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own. +But conscience said louder and clearer every day, "Leave all these +results with Jesus your Lord, who said, 'Go ye into all the world, +preach the Gospel to every creature, and lo! I am with you alway.'" +These words kept ringing in my ears; these were our _marching orders_. + +Some retorted upon me, "There are Heathen at home; let us seek and save, +first of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors." This I felt to be +most true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those +who made this retort neglected these Home Heathen themselves; and so the +objection, as from them, lost all its power. + +On meeting, however, with so many obstructing influences, I again laid +the whole matter before my dear parents, and their reply was to this +effect:--"Heretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why +we praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your father's +heart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims forced him to give +it up! When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon +the altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a +Missionary of the Cross; and it has been their constant prayer that you +might be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision; and we pray +with all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare +you, and give you many souls from the Heathen World for your hire." From +that moment, every doubt as to my path of duty forever vanished. I saw +the hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading +me to, the Foreign Mission field. + +Well did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were +warmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for my +education they could of course, give me no money help. All through, on +the contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest in +a family of eleven; though I here most gladly and gratefully record that +all my brothers and sisters, as they grew up and began to earn a living, +took their full share in this same blessed privilege. For we stuck to +each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all things "in +common," as a family in Christ--and I knew that never again, howsoever +long they might be spared through the peaceful autumn of life, would the +dear old father and mother lack any joy or comfort that the willing +hands and loving hearts of all their children could singly or unitedly +provide. For all this I did praise the Lord! It consoled me beyond +description, in parting from them, probably forever, in this world at +least. + + + +CHAPTER X. +TO THE NEW HEBRIDES. + +ON the first of December 1857--being then in my thirty-third year--the +other Missionary-designate and I were "licensed" as preachers of the +Gospel. Thereafter we spent four months in visiting and addressing +nearly every Congregation and Sabbath School in the Reformed +Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the people might see us and know +us, and thereby take a personal interest in our work. On the 23d March +1858, in Dr. Symington's church, Glasgow, in presence of a mighty crowd, +and after a magnificent sermon on "Come over and help us," we were +solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart as +Missionaries to the New Hebrides. On the 16th April of the same year, we +left the Tail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the _Clutha_ for +the Foreign Mission field. + +Our voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously, +under Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did +everything that was possible for our comfort. He himself led the singing +on board at Worship, which was always charming to me, and was always +regularly conducted--on deck when the weather was fair, below when it +was rough. I was also permitted to conduct Bible Classes amongst both +the crew and the passengers, at times and places approved of by the +Captain--in which there was great joy. + +Arriving at Melbourne, we were welcomed by Rev. Mr. Moor, Mr. and Mrs. +Samuel Wilson, and Mr. Wright, all Reformed Presbyterians from Geelong. +Mr. Wilson's two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under our care +during the voyage; and my young wife and I went with them for a few days +on a visit to Geelong, while Mr. Copeland remained on board the _Clutha_ +to look after our boxes and to watch for any opportunity of reaching our +destination on the Islands. He heard that an American ship, the _Frances +P. Sage_, was sailing from Melbourne to Penang; and the Captain agreed +to land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides, with our two boats and fifty +boxes, for L100. We got on board on the 12th August, but such a gale +blew that we did not sail till the 17th. On the _Clutha_ all was quiet, +and good order prevailed; in the _F. P. Sage_ all was noise and +profanity. The Captain said he kept his second mate for the purpose of +swearing at the men and knocking them about. The voyage was most +disagreeable to all of us, but fortunately it lasted only twelve days. +On the 29th we were close up to Aneityum; but the Captain refused to +land us, even in his boats; some of us suspecting that his men were so +badly used that had they got on shore they would never have returned to +him! In any case he had beforehand secured his L100. + +He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see what we +wanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the Missionaries +there. Early next horning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, accompanied +by Mr. Mathieson, a newly arrived Missionary from Nova Scotia; bringing +also Captain Andersen in the small Mission schooner, the _John Knox_, +and a large Mission boat called the _Columbia_, well manned with crews +of able and willing Natives. Our fifty boxes were soon on board the +_John Knox_, the _Columbia_, and our own boats--all being heavily loaded +and built up, except those that had to be used in pulling the others +ashore. Dr. Geddie, Mr. Mathieson, Mrs. Paton, and I were perched among +the boxes on the _John Knox_, and had to hold on as best we could. On +sheering off from the _F. P. Sage_, one of her davits caught and broke +the mainmast of the little _John Knox_ by the deck; and I saved my wife +from being crushed to death by its fall, through managing to swing her +instantaneously aside in an apparently impossible manner. It did graze +Mr. Mathieson, but he was not hurt. The _John Knox_, already overloaded, +was thus quite disabled; we were about ten miles at sea, and in imminent +danger; but the captain of the _F. P. Sage_ heartlessly sailed away, and +left us to struggle with our fate. + +We drifted steadily in the direction of Tanna, an island of cannibals, +where our goods would have been plundered and all of us cooked and +eaten. Dr. Geddie's boat, and mine had the _John Knox_ in tow; and Mr. +Copeland, with a crew of Natives, was struggling hard with his boat to +pull the _Columbia_ and her load towards Aneityum. As God mercifully +ordered it, though we had a stiff trade wind to pull against, we had a +comparatively calm sea; yet we drifted still to leeward, till Dr. Inglis +going round to the harbor in his boat, as he had heard of our arrival, +saw us far at sea, and hastened to our rescue. All the boats now, with +their willing Native crews, got fastened to our schooner, and to our +great joy she began to move ahead. After pulling for hours and hours, +under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, we were all safely landed on +shore at Aneityum, about six o'clock in the evening of 30th August, just +four months and fourteen days since we sailed from Greenock. We got a +hearty welcome from the Missionaries' wives, Mrs. Geddie, Mrs. Inglis, +and Mrs. Mathieson, and from all our new friends the Christian Natives +of Aneityum; and the great danger in which both life and property had +been placed at the close of our voyage, made us praise God all the more +that He had brought us to this quiet resting-place, around which lay the +Islands of the New Hebrides, to which our eager hearts had looked +forward, and into which we entered now in the name of the Lord. + +Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I went round the island to Dr. Inglis's +Station, where we were most cordially received and entertained by his +dear lady, and by the Christian Natives there. As he was making several +additions to his house at that time, we received for the next few weeks +our first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building, as +well as in higher matters. Soon after, a meeting was called to consult +about our settlement, and, by the advice and with the concurrence of +all, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south +side of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs. Paton and I at Port Resolution, +on the same island. At first it was agreed that Mr. Copeland should be +placed along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs. Mathieson's +health, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least, Mr. +Copeland should live at either Station as seem most suitable or most +requisite. + +Dr. Inglis and a number of his most energetic Natives accompanied us to +Umairarekar Tanna. There we purchased a site for Mission House and +Church, and laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable +the erection of a dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. Thence we +proceeded to Port Resolution, Tanna, and similarly purchased a site, and +advanced, to a forward stage, the house which Mrs. Paton and I were to +occupy on our settlement there. Lime for plastering had to be burned in +kilns from the coral rocks; and thatch, for roofing with sugar-cane +leaf, had to be prepared by the Natives at both Stations before our +return; for which, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon, and +was scrupulously paid. Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that +both houses were too near the shore, exposed to unwholesome miasma, and +productive of the dreaded fever and ague,--the most virulent and +insidious enemy to all Europeans in those Southern Seas. + + + +CHAPTER XI. +FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HEATHENDOM. + +MY first impressions drove me, I must confess, to the verge of utter +dismay. On beholding these Natives in their paint and nakedness and +misery, my heart was as full of horror as of pity. Had I given up my +much-beloved work and my dear people in Glasgow, with so many delightful +associations, to consecrate my life to these degraded creatures? Was it +possible to teach them right and wrong, to Christianize, or even to +civilize them? But that was only a passing feeling; I soon got as deeply +interested in them, and in all that tended to advance them, and to lead +them to the knowledge and love of Jesus, as ever I had been in my work +at Glasgow. We were surprised and delighted at the remarkable change +produced on the Natives of Aneityum through the instrumentality of Drs. +Geddie and Inglis in so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful +perseverance in the use of similar means, to see the same work of God +repeated on Tanna. Besides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs. +Inglis and Mrs. Geddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the +buoyant hope of being instruments in the hand of God to produce an +equally beneficent change amongst the savage women of Tanna. Mrs. Paton +had been left with Mrs. Inglis to learn all she could from her of +Mission work on the Islands, till I returned with Dr. Inglis from the +house-building operations on Tanna; during which period Mr. and Mrs. +Mathieson were also being instructed by Dr. and Mrs. Geddie. + +To the Tannese, Dr. Inglis and I were objects of curiosity and fear; +they came crowding to gaze on our wooden and lime-plastered house; they +chattered incessantly with each other, and left the scene day after day +with undisguised and increasing wonderment. Possibly they thought us +rather mad than wise! + +Party after party of armed men going and coming in a state of great +excitement, we were informed that war was on foot; but our Aneityumese +Teachers were told to assure us that the Harbor people would only act on +the defensive, and that no one would molest us at our work. One day two +hostile tribes met near our Station; high words arose, and old feuds +were revived. The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbor people, false +to their promises, flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their +enemies. The discharge of muskets in the adjoining bush, and the horrid +yells of the savages, soon informed us that they were engaged in deadly +fights. Excitement and terror were on every countenance; armed men +rushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted +hair,--with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one cheek +black, the other red, others, the brow white, the chin blue--in fact, +any color and on any part,--the more grotesque and savage-looking, the +higher the art! Some of the women ran with their children to places of +safety; but even then we saw other girls and women, on the shore close +by, chewing sugar-cane and chaffering and laughing, as if their fathers +and brothers had been engaged in a country dance, instead of a bloody +conflict. + +In the afternoon, as the sounds of the muskets and the yelling of the +warriors came unpleasantly near to us, Dr. Inglis, leaning against a +post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and said, "The +walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and why not the +Mission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and pray for these +poor Heathen." + +We retired to a Native house that had been temporarily granted to us for +rest, and there pled before God for them all. The noise and the +discharge of muskets gradually receded, as if the Inland people were +retiring; and towards evening the people around us returned to their +villages. We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot +dead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors from the +field of battle, and cooked and eaten that very night at a boiling +spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the spot where my +house was being built. We had also a more graphic illustration of the +surroundings into which we had come, through Dr. Inglis's Aneityum boy, +who accompanied us as cook. When our tea was wanted next morning, the +boy could not be found. After a while of great anxiety on our part, he +returned, saying, "Missi, this is a dark land. The people of this land +do dark works. At the boiling spring they have cooked and feasted upon +the slain. They have washed the blood into the water; they have bathed +there, polluting everything. I cannot get pure water to make your tea. +What shall I do?" + +Dr. Inglis told him that he must try for water elsewhere, till the rains +came and cleansed away the pollution; and that meanwhile, instead of +tea, we would drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often done before. +The lad was quite relieved. It not a little astonished us, however, to +see that his mind regarded their killing and eating each other as a +thing scarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible that they should +spoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts the creatures +of mere circumstances! I, if trained like him, would probably have felt +like him. + +Next evening, as we sat talking about the people, and the dark scenes +around us, the quiet of the night was broken by a wild wailing cry from +the villages around, long-continued and unearthly. We were informed that +one of the wounded men, carried home from the battle, had just died; and +that they had strangled his widow to death, that her spirit might +accompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had +been here. Now their dead bodies were laid side by side, ready to be +buried in the sea. Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within +ear-shot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene, every fresh +incident, set more clearly before us the benighted condition and +shocking cruelties of these Heathen people, and we longed to be able to +speak to them of Jesus and the love of God. We eagerly tried to pick up +every word of their language, that we might, in their own tongue, unfold +to them the knowledge of the true God and of salvation from all these +sins through Jesus Christ. + + + +CHAPTER XII. +BREAKING GROUND ON TANNA. + +OUR small Missionary schooner, the _John Knox_, having no accommodation +for lady passengers, and little for anybody else except the discomfort +of lying on deck, we took advantage of a trader to convey us from +Aneityum to Tanna. The Captain kindly offered to take us and about +thirty casks and boxes to Port Resolution for L5, which we gladly +accepted. After a few hours' sailing we were all safely landed on Tanna +on the 5th November, 1858. Dr. Geddie went for a fortnight to +Umairarekar, now known as Kwamera, on the south side of Tanna, to assist +in the settlement of Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, and to help in making their +house habitable and comfortable. Mr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I were +left at Port Resolution, to finish the building of our house there, and +work our way into the good will of the Natives as best we could. + +On landing, we found the people to be literally naked and painted +Savages; they were at least as destitute of clothing as Adam and Eve +after the fall, when they sewed fig-leaves for a girdle, and even more +so, for the women wore only a tiny apron of grass, in some cases shaped +like a skirt or girdle, the men an indescribable affair like a pouch or +bag, and the children absolutely nothing whatever. + +At first they came in crowds to look at us, and at everything we did or +had. We knew nothing of their language; we could not speak a single word +to them, nor they to us. We looked at them, they at us; we smiled and +nodded, and made signs to each other; this was our first meeting and +parting. One day I observed two men, the one lifting up one of our +articles to the other, and saying, "Nungsi nari enu?" + +I concluded that he was asking, "What is this?" Instantly, lifting a +piece of wood, I said, "Nungsi nari enu?" + +They smiled and spoke to each other. I understood them to be saying, "He +has got hold of our language now." Then they told me their name for the +thing which I had pointed to. I found that they understood my question, +What is this? or, What is that? and that I could now get from them the +name of every visible or tangible thing around us! We carefully noted +down every name they gave us, spelling all phonetically, and also every +strange sound we heard from them; thereafter, by painstaking comparison +of different circumstances, we tried to ascertain their meanings, +testing our own guess by again cross-questioning the Natives. One day I +saw two men approaching, when one, who was a stranger, pointed to me +with his finger, and said, "Se nangin?" + +Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed! to one of them with my +finger, and looking at the other, inquired, "Se nangin?" + +They smiled, and gave me their names. We were now able to get the names +of persons and things, and so our ears got familiarized with the +distinctive sounds of their language; and being always keenly on the +alert, we made extraordinary progress in attempting bits of conversation +and in reducing their speech for the first time to a written form--for +the New Hebrideans had no literature, and not even the rudiments of an +alphabet. I used to hire some of the more intelligent lads and men to +sit and talk with us, and answer our questions about names and sounds; +but they so often deceived us, and we, doubtless, misunderstood them so +often, that this course was not satisfactory, till after we had gained +some knowledge of their language and its construction, and they +themselves had become interested in helping us. Amongst our most +interesting helpers, and most trustworthy, were two aged chiefs--Nowa +and Nouka--in many respects two of Nature's noblest gentlemen, kind at +heart to all, and distinguished by a certain native dignity of bearing. +But they were both under the leadership of the war-chief Miaki, a kind +of devil-king over many villages and tribes. + +The Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, which +they abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed. They were +given up to countless superstitions, and firmly glued to their dark +heathen practices. Their worship was entirely a service of fear, its aim +being to propitiate this or that Evil Spirit, to prevent calamity or to +secure revenge. They deified their chiefs, like the Romans of old, so +that almost every village or tribe had its own Sacred Man, and some of +them had many. They exercised an extraordinary influence for evil, these +village or tribal priests, and were believed to have the disposal of +life and death through their sacred ceremonies, not only in their own +tribe, but over all the Islands. Sacred men and women, wizards and +witches, received presents regularly to influence the gods, and to +remove sickness, or to cause it by the _Nahak, i. e._ incantation over +remains of food, or the skin of fruit, such as banana, which the person +has eaten on whom they wish to operate. They also worshiped the spirits +of departed ancestors and heroes, through their material idols of wood +and stone, but chiefly of stone. They feared these spirits and sought +their aid; especially seeking to propitiate those who presided over war +and peace, famine and plenty, health and sickness, destruction and +prosperity, life and death. Their whole worship was one of slavish fear; +and, so far as ever I could learn, they had no idea of a God of mercy or +grace. + +But these very facts--that they did worship something, that they +believed in spirits of ancestors and heroes, and that they cherished +many legends regarding those whom they had never seen, and handed these +down to their children--and the fact that they had ideas about the +invisible world and its inhabitants, made it not so hard as some might +suppose to convey to their minds, once their language and modes of +thought were understood, some clear ideal of Jehovah God as the great +uncreated Spirit Father, who Himself created and sustains all that is. +It could not, however, be done offhand, or by a few airy lessons. The +whole heart and soul and life had to be put into the enterprise. But it +could be done--that we believed because they were men, not beasts; it +had been done--that we saw in the converts on Aneityum; and our hearts +rose to the task with quenchless hope! + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +PIONEERS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES. + +A GLANCE backwards over the story of the Gospel in the New Hebrides may +help to bring my readers into touch with the events that are to follow. +The ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with the +earliest efforts to introduce Christianity amongst this group of islands +in the South Pacific Seas. John Williams and his young Missionary +companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, +landed on Erromanga on the 30th of November 1839. Alas, within a few +minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death; and the +savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies. Thus were the New +Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs; and Christ thereby told the +whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own. His +cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been +poured forth in His name! The poor Heathen knew not that they had slain +their best friends; but tears and prayers ascended for them from all +Christian souls, wherever the story of the martyrdom on Erromanga was +read or heard. + +Again, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out +Messrs. Turner and Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan. They placed +their standard on our chosen island of Tanna, the nearest to Erromanga. +In less than seven months, however, their persecution by the savages +became so dreadful, that we see them in a boat trying to escape by night +with bare life. Out on that dangerous sea they would certainly have been +lost, but the Ever-Merciful drove them back to land, and sent next +morning a whaling vessel, which, contrary to custom, called there, and +just in the nick of time. They, with all goods that could be rescued, +were got safely on board, and sailed for Samoa. Say not their plans and +prayers were baffled; for God heard and abundantly blessed them there, +beyond all their dreams. + +After these things, the London Missionary Society again and again placed +Samoan Native Teachers on one or other island of the New Hebrides; but +their unhealthiness, compared with the more wholesome Samoa or +Rarotonga, so afflicted them with the dreaded ague and fever, besides +what they endured from the inhospitable savages themselves, that no +effective Mission work had been accomplished there till at last the +Presbyterian Missionaries were led to enter upon the scene. Christianity +had no foothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the +memory and the blood of the Martyrs of Erromanga. + +The Rev. John Geddie and his wife, from Nova Scotia, were landed on +Aneityum, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, in 1848; and +the Rev. John Inglis and his wife, from Scotland, were landed on the +other side of the same island, in 1852. An agent for the London +Missionary Society, the Rev. T. Powell, accompanied Dr. Geddie for about +a year, to advise as to his settlement and to assist in opening up the +work. Marvelous as it may seem, the Natives on Aneityum, showed interest +in the Missionaries from the very first, and listened to their +teachings; so that in a few years Dr. Inglis and Dr. Geddie saw about +3500 savages throwing away their idols, renouncing their Heathen +customs, and avowing themselves to be worshipers of the true Jehovah +God. Slowly, yet progressively, they unlearned their Heathenism; surely +and hopefully they learned Christianity and civilization. When these +Missionaries "came to this Island, there were no Christians there; when +they left it, there were no Heathens." + +Further, these poor Aneityumese, having glimpses of the Word of God, +determined to have a Holy Bible in their own mother tongue, wherein +before no book or page ever had been written in the history of their +race. The consecrated brain and hand of their Missionaries kept toiling +day and night in translating the book of God; and the willing hands and +feet of the Natives kept toiling through fifteen long but unwearying +years, planting and preparing arrowroot to pay the L1200 required to be +laid out in the printing and publishing of the book. Year after year the +arrowroot, too sacred to be used for their daily food, was set apart as +the Lord's portion; the Missionaries sent it to Australia and Scotland, +where it was sold by private friends, and the whole proceeds consecrated +to this purpose. On the completion of the great undertaking by the Bible +Society, it was found that the Natives had earned as much as to pay +every penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to them, +purchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years! + +Let those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on those things. Eight +shillings for every leaf, or the labor and proceeds of fifteen years for +the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too +much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the +Missionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and +which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming +love! + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +THE GREAT BEREAVEMENT. + +MY first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and +Nisbet, near the shore, for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above +tide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials as goods +being landed, and, as we imagined, close to the healthy breezes of the +sea. Alas! we had to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all +untried Mission fields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and +Ague, mine especially; and much of this might have been escaped by +building on the higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing +trade-winds. For all this, however, no one was to blame; everything was +done for the best, according to the knowledge then possessed. Our house +was sheltered behind by an abrupt hill about two hundred feet high, +which gave the site a feeling of coziness. It was surrounded and much +shaded, by beautiful breadfruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees; +too largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze +that we sorely needed! There was a long swamp at the head of the bay, +and, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely +raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us. +Once, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to +me, "Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tanna man sleeps so +low down as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep +on the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and +sleep on the hill, and then you will have better health." + +I at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the earliest +practicable moment; heavy though the undertaking would necessarily be, +it seemed our only hope of being able to live on the island. Alas, for +one of us, it was already too late! + +My dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson, landed with me on Tanna on the 5th +November 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy +hopes. On the 12th February 1859 God sent to us our first-born son; for +two days or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our +island-exile thrilled with joy! But the greatest of sorrows was treading +hard upon the heels of that joy! My darling's strength showed no signs +of rallying. She had an attack of ague and fever a few days before; on +the third day or so thereafter, it returned, and attacked her every +second day with increasing severity for a fortnight. Diarrhea ensued, +and symptoms of pneumonia, with slight delirium at intervals; and then +in a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she died on the 3d March. To crown +my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear baby-boy, whom we had +named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one +week's sickness, on the 20th March. Let those who have ever passed +through any similar darkness as of midnight feel for me; as for all +others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows! + +I knew then, when too late, that our work had been entered on too near +the beginning of the rainy season. We were both, however, healthy and +hearty; and I daily pushed on with the house, making things hourly more +comfortable, in the hope that long lives were before us both, to be +spent for Jesus in seeking the salvation of the perishing Heathen. In +our mutual inexperience, and with our hearts aglow for the work of our +lives, we incurred this risk which should never have been incurred; and +I only refer to the matter thus, in the hope that others may take +warning. + +Stunned by that dreadful loss, in entering upon this field of labor to +which the Lord had Himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a +time almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and +weakening hand upon me, continuously recurring, and reaching oftentimes +the very height of its worst burning stages. But I was never altogether +forsaken. The ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust +of my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the +end of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite +breaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round +and round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white +coral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and +much-frequented shrine, during all the following months and years when I +labored on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst +difficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord, +and is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that +spot still green,--where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that +land for God in which I had "buried my dead" with faith and hope. But +for Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have gone +mad and died beside that lonely grave! + +Dr. Inglis, my brother Missionary on Aneityum, wrote to the Reformed +Presbyterian Magazine:--"I trust all those who shed tears of sorrow on +account of her early death will be enabled in the exercise of faith and +resignation to say, 'The Will of the Lord be done; the Lord gave and the +Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord!' I need not say +how deeply we sympathize with her bereaved parents, as well as with her +sorrowing husband. By her death the Mission has sustained a heavy loss. +We were greatly pleased with Mrs. Paton during the period of our short +intercourse with her. Her mind, naturally vigorous, had been cultivated +by a superior education. She was full of Missionary spirit, and took a +deep interest in the Native women. This was seen further, when she went +to Tanna, where, in less than three months, she had collected a class of +eight females, who came regularly to her to receive instruction. There +was about her a maturity of thought, a solidity of character, a +loftiness of aim and purpose, rarely found in one so young. Trained up +in the fear of the Lord from childhood, like another Mary she had +evidently chosen that good part, which is never taken away from those +possessed of it. When she left this island, she had to all human +appearance a long career of usefulness and happiness on Earth before +her, but the Lord has appointed otherwise. She has gone, as we trust, to +her rest and her reward. The Lord has said to her as He said to David, +'Thou didst well in that it was in thine heart to build a House for My +Name.' Let us watch and pray, for our Lord cometh as a thief in the +night." + +Soon after her death, the good Bishop Selwyn called at Port Resolution, +Tanna, in his Mission Ship. He came on shore to visit me, accompanied by +the Rev. J. O. Patteson. They had met Mrs. Paton on Aneityum in the +previous year soon after our arrival, and, as she was then the picture +of perfect health, they also felt her loss very keenly. Standing with me +beside the grave of mother and child, I weeping aloud on his one hand, +and Patteson--afterward the Martyr Bishop of Kakupu--sobbing silently on +the other, the godly Bishop Selwyn poured out his heart to God amidst +sobs and tears, during which he laid his hands on my head, and invoked +Heaven's richest consolations and blessings on me and my trying labors. + +Sorrow and love constrain me to linger over her last words. She cried, +"Oh, that my dear mother were here! She is a good woman, my mother, a +jewel of a woman." + +Then, observing Mr. Copeland near by, she said, "Oh, Mr. Copeland, I did +not know you were there! You must not think that I regret coming here, +and leaving my mother. If I had the same thing to do over again, I would +do it with far more pleasure, yes, with all my heart. Oh no! I do not +regret leaving home and friends, though at the time I felt it keenly." + +Soon after this, looking up and putting her hand in mine, she said-- + +"J. C. wrote to our Janet saying, that young Christians under their +first impressions thought they could do anything or make any sacrifice +for Jesus, and he asked if she believed it, for he did not think they +could, when tested; but Janet wrote back that she believed they could, +and (added she with great emphasis) _I believe it is true!_" + +In a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she fell asleep in Jesus, with +these words on her lips. "Not lost, only gone before to be forever with +the Lord"--my heart keeps saying or singing to itself from that hour +till now. + +It was very difficult to be resigned, left alone, and in sorrowful +circumstance; but feeling immovably assured that my God and Father was +too wise and loving to err in anything that He does or permits, I looked +up to the Lord for help, and struggled on in His work. I do not pretend +to see through the mystery of such visitations,--wherein God calls away +the young, the promising, and those sorely needed for His service here; +but this I do know and feel, that, in the light of such dispensations, +it becomes us all to love and serve our blessed Lord Jesus so that we +may be ready at His call for death and Eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XV. +AT HOME WITH CANNIBALS. + +IN the first letter, sent jointly by Mr. Copeland and myself from Tanna +to the Church at home, the following statements occur:-- + +"We found the Tannese to be painted Savages, enveloped in all the +superstition and wickedness of Heathenism. All the men and children go +in a state of nudity. The older women wear grass skirts, and the young +women and girls, grass or leaf aprons like Eve in Eden. They are +exceedingly ignorant, vicious, and bigoted, and almost void of natural +affection. Instead of the inhabitants of Port Resolution being improved +by coming in contact with white men they are rendered much worse; for +they have learned all their vices but none of their virtues,--if such +are possessed by the pioneer traders among such races! The Sandal-wood +Traders are as a class the most godless of men, whose cruelty and +wickedness make us ashamed to own them as our countrymen. By them the +poor defenseless Natives are oppressed and robbed on every hand; and if +they offer the slightest resistance, they are ruthlessly silenced by the +musket or revolver. Few months here pass without some of them being so +shot, and, instead of their murderers feeling ashamed, they boast of how +they despatch them. Such treatment keeps the Natives always burning +under a desire for revenge, so that it is a wonder any white man is +allowed to come among them. Indeed, all Traders here are able to +maintain their position only by revolvers and rifles; but we hope a +better state of affairs is at hand for Tanna." + +The novelty of our being among them soon passed away, and they began to +show their avarice and deceitfulness in every possible way. The Chiefs +united and refused to give us the half of the small piece of land which +had been purchased, on which to build our Mission House, and when we +attempted to fence in the part they had left to us, they "tabooed" it, +_i. e._ threatened our Teachers and us with death if we proceeded +further with the work. This they did by placing certain reeds stuck into +the ground here and there around our house, which our Aneityumese +servants at once knew the meaning of, and warned us of our danger; so we +left off making the fence, that we might if possible evade all offense. +They then divided the few breadfruit and cocoa-nut trees on the ground +amongst themselves, or demanded such payment for these trees as we did +not possess, and threatened revenge on us if the trees were injured by +any person. They now became so unreasonable and offensive, and our +dangers so increased, as to make our residence amongst them extremely +trying. At this time a vessel called; I bought from the Captain the +things for payment which they demanded; on receiving it, they lifted the +Taboo, and for a little season appeared to be friendly again. This was +the third payment they had got for that site, and to yield was teaching +them a cruel lesson; all this we felt and clearly saw, but they had by +some means to be conciliated, if possible, and our lives had to be +saved, if that could be done without dishonor to the Christian name. + +After these events, a few weeks of dry weather began to tell against the +growth of their yams and bananas. The drought was instantly ascribed to +us and our God. The Natives far and near were summoned to consider the +matter in public assembly. Next day, Nouka, the high chief, and Miaki, +the war-chief, his nephew, came to inform us that two powerful Chiefs +had openly declared in that assembly that if the Harbor people did not +at once kill us or compel us to leave the island they would, unless the +rain came plentifully in the meantime, summon all the Inland people and +murder both our Chiefs and us. The friendly Chiefs said, "Pray to your +Jehovah God for rain, and do not go far beyond your door for a time; we +are all in greatest danger, and if war breaks out we fear we cannot +protect you." + +But this friendliness was all pretense; they themselves, being Sacred +Men, professed to have the power of sending or withholding rain, and +tried to fix the blame of their discomfiture on us. The rage of the poor +ignorant Heathen was thereby fed against us. The Ever-Merciful, however, +again interposed on our behalf. On the following Sabbath, just when we +were assembling for worship, rain began to fall, and in great abundance. +The whole inhabitants believed, apparently, that it was sent to save us +in answer to our prayers; so they met again, and resolved to allow us to +remain on Tanna. Alas! on the other hand, the continuous and heavy rains +brought much sickness and fever in their train, and again their Sacred +Men pointed to us as the cause. Hurricane winds also blew and injured +their fruits and fruit-trees,--another opportunity for our enemies to +lay the blame of everything upon the Missionaries and their Jehovah God! +The trial and the danger daily grew, of living among a people so +dreadfully benighted by superstition, and so easily swayed by prejudice +and passion. + +The Natives of Tanna were well-nigh constantly at war amongst +themselves, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, and +almost every quarrel ending in an appeal to arms. Besides many battles +far inland, one was fought beside our houses and several around the +Harbor. In these conflicts many men were bruised with clubs and wounded +with arrows, but few lives were lost, considering the savage uproar and +frenzy of the scene. In one case, of which we obtained certain +information, seven men were killed in an engagement; and, according to +Tannese custom, the warriors and their friends feasted on them at the +close of the fray, the widows of the slain being also strangled to +death, and similarly disposed of. Besides those who fell in war, the +Natives living in our quarter had killed and feasted on eight persons, +usually, in sacrificial rites. + +It is said that the habitual Cannibal's desire for human flesh becomes +so horrible that he has been known to disinter and feast upon those +recently buried. Two cases of this revolting barbarism were reported as +having occurred amongst the villagers living near us. On another +occasion the great chief Nouka took seriously unwell, and his people +sacrificed three women for his recovery! All such cruel and horrifying +practises, however, they tried to conceal from us; and many must have +perished in this way of whom we, though living at their doors, were +never permitted to hear. + +Amongst the Heathen, in the New Hebrides, and especially on Tanna, +_woman_ is the down-trodden slave of man. She is kept working hard, and +bears all the heavier burdens, while he walks by her side with musket, +club, or spear. If she offends him, he beats or abuses her at pleasure. +A savage gave his poor wife a severe beating in front of our house and +just before our eyes, while in vain we strove to prevent it. Such scenes +were so common that no one thought of interfering. Even if the woman +died in his hands, or immediately thereafter, neighbors, took little +notice, if any at all. And their children were so little cared for, that +my constant wonder was how any of them survived at all! As soon as they +are able to knock about, they are left practically to care for +themselves; hence the very small affection they show towards their +parents, which results in the aged who are unable to work being +neglected, starved to death, and sometimes even more directly and +violently destroyed. + +A Heathen boy's education consists in being taught to aim skilfully with +the bow, throw the spear faultlessly at a mark, to wield powerfully the +club and tomahawk, and to shoot well with musket and revolver when these +can be obtained. He accompanies his father and brothers in all the wars +and preparations for war, and is diligently initiated into all their +cruelties and lusts, as the very prerequisite of his being regarded and +acknowledged to be a man and a warrior. The girls have, with their +mother and sisters, to toil and slave in the village plantations, to +prepare all the materials for fencing these around, to bear every +burden, and to be knocked about at will by the men and boys. + +Oh, how sad and degraded is the position of Woman where the teaching of +Christ is unknown, or disregarded though known! It is the Christ of the +Bible, it is His Spirit entering into humanity, that has lifted Woman, +and made her the helpmate and the friend of Man, not his toy or his +slave. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +SUPERSTITIONS AND CRUELTIES. + +ABOUT the time of my dear wife's death, our brother Missionary, Mr. +Mathieson, also became exceedingly unwell. His delicate frame fast gave +way, and brought with it weakness of the mind as well; and he was +removed to Aneityum apparently in a dying condition. These sad +visitations had a bad effect on the natives, owing to their wild +superstitions about the cause of death and sickness. We had reason to +fear that they would even interfere with the precious grave, over which +we kept careful watch for a season; but God mercifully restrained them. +Unfortunately, however, one of my Aneityumese Teachers who had gone +round to Mr. Mathieson's Station took ill and died there, and this +rekindled all their prejudices. He, poor fellow, before death said, "I +shall not again return to Port Resolution, or see my dear Missi; but +tell him that I die happy, for I love Jesus much, and I am going to +Jesus!" + +Hearing these things, the natives insolently demanded me to tell them +the cause of his death, and of Mr. Mathieson's trouble, and of the other +deaths. Other reasoning or explanation being to them useless, I turned +the tables, and demanded them to tell me why all this trouble and death +had overtaken us in their land, and whether they themselves were not the +cause of it all? Strange to say, this simple question turned the whole +current of their speculations. They held meeting after meeting to +discuss it for several days, and returned the message, "We do not blame +you, and you must not blame us, for causing these troubles and deaths; +but we believe that a Bushman must have got hold of a portion of +something we had eaten, and must have thrown it to the great Evil Spirit +in the volcano, thereby bringing all these troubles and curses." + +Another Chief vindicated himself and others thus:--"Karapanamun, the +Aurumanu or great Evil Spirit of Tanna, whom we all fear and worship, is +causing these troubles; for he knows that if we become worshipers of +your Jehovah God, we cannot continue to fear him, or present him with +the best of everything, as our forefathers have always done; he is angry +at you and at us all." + +The fear of the deaths and troubles being ascribed to them silenced +their talk against us for a season; but very little made them either +friends or foes, as the next event will too painfully show. + +Nowhat, an old Chief of the highest rank from Aneityum, who spoke +Tannese and was much respected by the natives all round the south side +of Tanna, came on a visit to our island. After returning home, he became +very ill and died in a few days. The deluded Tannese, hearing of his +death, ascribed it to me and the Worship, and resolved to burn our house +and property, and either murder the whole Mission party, or compel us to +leave the island. Nowhat's brother was sent from Aneityum to talk to the +Tannese and conciliate them, but unfortunately he could not speak the +language well; and the Aneityumese Teachers felt their lives to be at +this time in such danger that they durst not accompany him as +interpreters, while I, on the other hand, did not understand his +language, nor he, mine. Within two days after landing, he had a severe +attack of ague and fever; and, though the vessel he came in remained +eight days, he was prostrated all the time, so that his well-intentioned +visit did us much harm. The Tannese became furious. This was proof +positive that we were the cause of all their sickness and death! Inland +and all along the weather side of the island, when far enough away from +us, they said that the natives were enjoying excellent health. Meeting +after meeting was held; exciting speeches were delivered; and feasts +were given, for which it was said that several women were sacrificed, +cooked and eaten,--such being the bonds by which they entered into +covenant with each other for life or death. + +The inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, but +God put it into even savage hearts to save us. Old Nowar, the Chief +under whom we lived, and the Chief next under him, Arkurat, set +themselves to rescue us. Along with Manuman and Sirawia they opposed +every plan in the public assembly for taking our lives. Some of their +people also remained friendly to us, and by the help of our Aneityumese +Teachers, warned us of danger and protected our lives. Determined not to +be baffled, a meeting of all our enemies on the island was summoned, and +it was publicly resolved that a band of men be selected and enjoined to +kill the whole of those friendly to the Mission, old Nowar among the +rest, and not only to murder the Mission party, but also a trader who +had lately landed to live there, that no one might be left to give +information to the white men or bring punishment on the Islanders. +Frenzy of excitement prevailed, and the blood-fiend seemed to override +the whole assembly; when, under an impulse that surely came from the +Lord of Pity, one great warrior Chief who had hitherto kept silent, +rose, swung aloft a mighty club, and smashing it earthwards, cried +aloud, "The man that kills Missi must first kill me,--the men that kill +the Mission Teachers must first kill me and my people,--for we shall +stand by them and defend them till death." + +Instantaneously, another Chief thundered in with the same declaration; +and the great assembly broke up in dismay. All the more remarkable was +this deliverance, as these two Chiefs lived nearly four miles inland, +and, as reputed disease makers and Sacred Men, were regarded as amongst +our bitterest enemies. It had happened that, a brother of the former +Chief having been wounded in battle, I had dressed his wounds and he +recovered, for which perhaps he now favored us. But I do not put very +much value on that consideration; for too clearly did our dear Lord +Jesus interpose directly on our behalf that day. I and my defenseless +company had spent it in anxious prayers and tears; and our hearts +overflowed with gratitude to the Saviour who rescued us from the lions' +jaws. + +Leaving all consequences to the disposal of my Lord, I determined to +make an unflinching stand against wife-beating and widow-strangling, +feeling confident that even their natural conscience would be on my +side, I accordingly pled with all who were in power to unite and put +down these shocking and disgraceful customs. At length ten Chiefs +entered into an agreement not to allow any more beating of wives or +strangling of widows, and to forbid all common labor on the Lord's day; +but alas, except for purposes of war or other wickedness, the influence +of the Chiefs on Tanna was comparatively small. One Chief boldly +declared, "If we did not beat our women, they would never work; they +would not fear and obey us; but when we have beaten, and killed, and +feasted on two or three, the rest are all very quiet and good for a long +time to come!" + +I tried to show him how cruel it was, besides that it made them unable +for work, and that kindness would have a much better effect; but he +promptly assured me that Tannese women "could not understand kindness." +For the sake of teaching by example, my Aneityumese Teachers and I used +to go a mile or two inland on the principal pathway, along with the +Teachers' wives, and there cutting and carrying home a heavy load of +firewood for myself and each of the men, while we gave only a small +burden to each of the women. Meeting many Tanna-men by the way, I used +to explain to them that this was how Christians helped and treated their +wives and sisters, and then they loved their husbands and were strong to +work at home; and that as men were made stronger, they were intended to +bear the heavier burdens, and especially in all labors out of doors. Our +habits and practises had thus as much to do as, perhaps more than, all +our appeals, in leading them to glimpses of the life to which the Lord +Jesus was calling them. + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +STREAKS OF DAWN AMIDST DEEDS OF DARKNESS. + +ANOTHER war-burst, that caused immense consternation, passed over with +only two or three deaths; and I succeeded in obtaining the consent of +twenty Chiefs to fight no more except on the defensive,--a covenant to +which, for a considerable time, they strictly adhered, in the midst of +fierce provocations. But to gain any such end, the masses of the people +must be educated to the point of desiring it. The few cannot, in such +circumstances, act up to it, without laying themselves open to be +downtrodden and swept away by the savages around. + +About this time, several men, afraid or ashamed by day, came to me +regularly by night for conversation and instruction. Having seen the +doors of the Mission House made fast and the windows blinded so that +they could not be observed, they continued with me for many hours, +asking all strange questions about the new Religion and its laws. I +remember one Chief particularly, who came often, saying to me, "I would +be an Awfuaki man (_i. e._ a Christian) were it not that all the rest +would laugh at me; that I could not stand!" + +"Almost persuaded"--before you blame him, remember how many in Christian +lands and amid greater privileges live and die without ever passing +beyond that stage. + +The wife of one of those Chiefs died, and he resolved to imitate a +Christian burial. Having purchased white calico from a Trader, he came +to me for some tape which the Trader could not supply, and told me that +he was going to dress the body as he had seen my dear wife's dressed, +and lay her also in a similar grave. He declined my offer to attend the +funeral and to pray with them, as in that case many of the villagers +would not attend. He wanted all the people to be present, to see and to +hear, as it was the first funeral of the kind ever celebrated among the +Tannese; and my friend Nowar the Chief had promised to conduct a Service +and offer prayer to Jehovah before all the Heathen. It moved me to many +strange emotions, this Christian burial, conducted by a Heathen and in +the presence of Heathens, with an appeal to the true and living God by a +man as yet darkly groping among idols and superstitions. Many were the +wondering questions from time to time addressed to me. The idea of a +resurrection from the dead was that which most keenly interested these +Natives, and called forth all their powers of inquiry and argument. Thus +the waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we +embraced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the +life and death of Jesus, in the strong hope that God would spare us yet +to bring the benighted Heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation, +and to love and serve the only Saviour. + +Confessedly, however, it was uphill, weary, and trying work. For one +thing, these Tannese were terribly dishonest; and when there was any +special sickness, or excitement from any cause, their bad feeling +towards the Worship was displayed by the more insolent way in which they +carried off whatever they could seize. When I opposed them, the club or +tomahawk, the musket or _kawas_ (_i. e._ killing-stone), being instantly +raised, intimated that my life would be taken, if I resisted. Their +skill in stealing on the sly was phenomenal! If an article fell, or was +seen on the floor, a Tanna-man would neatly cover it with his foot, +while looking you frankly in the face, and, having fixed it by his toes +or by bending in his great toe like a thumb to hold it, would walk off +with it, assuming the most innocent look in the world. In this way, a +knife, a pair of scissors or any smaller article, would at once +disappear. Another fellow would deftly stick something out of sight +amongst the whipcord plaits of his hair, another would conceal it +underneath his naked arm, while yet another would shamelessly lift what +he coveted and openly carry it away. + +With most of them, however, the shame was not in the theft, but in doing +it so clumsily that they were discovered! Once, after continuous rain +and a hot damp atmosphere, when the sun shone out I put my bedclothes on +a rope to dry. I stood at hand watching, as also the wives of two +Teachers, for things were mysteriously disappearing almost under our +very eyes. Suddenly, Miaki, who with his war-companions had been +watching us unobserved, came rushing to me breathless and alone, crying, +"Missi, come in, quick, quick! I want to tell you something and to get +your advice!" + +He ran into my house, and I followed; but before he had got into his +story, we heard the two women crying out, "Missi, Missi, come quick! +Miaki's men are Stealing your sheets and blankets!" + +I ran at once, but all were gone into the bush, and them my sheets and +blankets. Miaki for a moment looked abashed, as I charged him with +deceiving me just to give his men their opportunity. But he soon rose to +the occasion. He wrought himself into a towering rage at them, +flourished his huge club and smashed the bushes all around, shouting to +me, "Thus will I smash these fellows, and compel them to return your +clothes." + +One dark night, I heard them amongst my fowls. These I had purchased +from them for knives and calico; and they now stole them all away, dead +or alive. Had I interfered, they would have gloried in the chance to +club or shoot me in the dark, when no one could exactly say who had done +the deed. Several of the few goats, which I had for milk, were also +killed or driven away; indeed, all the injury that was possible was done +to me, short of taking away my life, and that was now frequently +attempted. Having no fires or fireplaces in my Mission House, such being +not required there,--though sometimes a fire would have been invaluable +for drying our bedclothes in the rainy season,--we had a house near by +in which all our food was cooked, and there, under lock and key, we +secured all our cooking utensils, pots, dishes, etc. One night that too +was broken into, and everything was stolen. In consternation, I appealed +to the Chief, telling him what had been done. He also flew into a great +rage, and vowed vengeance on the thieves, saying that he would compel +them to return everything. But, of course, nothing was returned; the +thief could not be found! I, unable to live without something in which +to boil water, at length offered a blanket to any one that would bring +back my kettle. Miaki himself, after much professed difficulty, returned +it _minus_ the lid,--that, he said, probably fishing for a higher bribe, +could not be got at any price, being at the other side of the island in +a tribe over which he had no control! In the circumstances, I was glad +to get kettle _minus_ lid--realizing how life itself may depend on so +small a luxury! + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +THE VISIT OF H. M. S. "CORDELIA." + +ONE morning, the Tannese, rushing towards me in great excitement, cried, +"Missi, Missi, there is a God, or a ship on fire, or something of fear, +coming over the sea! We see no flames, but it smokes like a volcano. Is +it a Spirit, a God, or a ship on fire? What is it? what is it?" + +One party after another followed in quick succession, shouting the same +questions in great alarm, to which I replied, "I cannot go at once; I +must dress first in my best clothes; it will likely be one of Queen +Victoria's Men-of-war, coming to ask of me if your conduct is good or +bad, if you are stealing my property, or threatening my life, or how you +are using me?" + +They pled with me to go and see it; but I made much fuss about dressing, +and getting ready to meet the great Chief on the vessel, and would not +go with them. The two principal Chiefs now came running and asked, +"Missi, will it be a ship of war?" + +I called to them, "I think it will; but I have no time to speak to you +now, I must get on my best clothes!" + +They said, "Missi, only tell us, will he ask you if we have been +stealing your things?" + +I answered, "I expect he will." + +They asked, "And will you tell him?" + +I said, "I must tell him the truth; if he asks, I will tell him." + +They then cried out, "Oh, Missi, tell him not! Everything shall be +brought back to you at once, and no one will be allowed again to steal +from you." + +Then said I, "Be quick! Everything must be returned before he comes. +Away, away! and let me get ready to meet the great Chief on the +Man-of-war." + +Hitherto, no thief could ever be found, and no Chief had power to cause +anything to be restored to me; but now, in an incredibly brief space of +time, one came running to the Mission House with a pot, another with a +pan, another with a blanket, others with knives, forks, plates, and all +sorts of stolen property. The Chiefs called me to receive these things, +but I replied, "Lay them all down at the door, bring everything together +quickly; I have no time to speak with you!" + +I delayed my toilet, enjoying mischievously the magical effect of an +approaching vessel that might bring penalty to thieves. At last the +Chiefs, running in breathless haste, called out to me, "Missi, Missi, do +tell us, is the stolen property all here?" + +Of course I could not tell, but, running out, I looked on the +promiscuous heap of my belongings, and said, "I don't see the lid of the +kettle there yet!" + +One Chief said, "No, Missi, for it is on the other side of the island; +but tell him not, I have sent for it, and it will be here to-morrow." + +I answered, "I am glad you have brought back so much; and now, if you +three Chiefs, Nauka, Miaki, and Nowar, do not run away when he comes, he +will not likely punish you; but, if you and your people run away, he +will ask me why you are afraid, and I will be forced to tell him! Keep +near me and you are all safe; only there must be no more stealing from +me." + +They said, "We are in black fear, but we will keep near you, and our bad +conduct to you is done." + +The charm and joy of that morning are fresh to me still, when H. M. S. +_Cordelia_, Captain Vernon, steamed into our lovely Harbor. The +Commander, having heard rumor of my dangers on Tanna, kindly came on +shore as soon as the ship cast anchor, with two boats, and a number of +his officers and men, so far armed. He was dressed in splendid uniform, +being a tall and handsome man, and he and his attendants made a grand +and imposing show. On seeing Captain Vernon's boat nearing the shore, +and the men glittering in gold lace and arms, Miaki the Chief left my +side on the beach and rushed towards his village. I concluded that he +had run for it through terror, but he had other and more civilized +intentions in his Heathen head! Having obtained, from some trader or +visitor in previous days, a soldier's old red coat, he had resolved to +rise to the occasion and appear in his best before the Captain and his +men. As I was shaking hands with them and welcoming them to Tanna, Miaki +returned with the short red coat on, buttoned tightly round his +otherwise naked body; and, surmounted by his ugly painted face and long +whipcords of twisted hair, it completely spoiled any appearance that he +might otherwise have had of savage freedom, and made him look a dirty +and insignificant creature. + +The Captain was talking to me, his men stood in order near by--to my +eyes, oh how charming a glimpse of Home life!--when Miaki marched up and +took his place most consequentially at my side. He felt himself the most +important personage in the scene, and with an attempt at haughty dignity +he began to survey the visitors. All eyes were fixed on the impudent +little man, and the Captain asked, "What sort of a character is this?" + +I replied, "This is Miaki, our great war Chief?"; and whispered to the +Captain to be on his guard, as this man knew a little English, and might +understand or misunderstand just enough to make it afterwards dangerous +to me. + +The Captain only muttered, "The contemptible creature!" But such words +were far enough beyond Miaki's vocabulary, so he looked on and grinned +complacently. + +At last he said, "Missi, this great Chief whom Queen Victoria has sent +to visit you in her Man-of-war, cannot go over the whole of this island +so as to be seen by all our people; and I wish you to ask him if he will +stand by a tree, and allow me to put a spear on the ground at his heel, +and we will make a nick in it at the top of his head, and the spear will +be sent round the island to let all the people see how tall this great +man is!" They were delighted at the good Captain agreeing to their +simple request; and that spear was exhibited to thousands, as the +vessel, her Commander, officers, and men, were afterwards talked of +round and round the island. + +Captain Vernon was extremely kind, and offered to do anything in his +power for me, thus left alone on the island amongst such savages; but, +as my main difficulties were connected with my spiritual work amongst +them, rousing up their cruel prejudices, I did not see his kindness +could effectually interpose. At his suggestion, however, I sent a +general invitation to all the Chiefs within reach, to meet the Captain +next morning at my house. True to their instincts of suspicion and fear, +they despatched all their women and and children to the beach on the +opposite side of the island, beyond reach of danger, and next morning my +house was crowded with armed men, manifestly much afraid. Punctually at +the hour appointed, 10 A.M., the Captain came on shore; and soon +thereafter twenty Chiefs were seated with him in my house. He very +kindly spent about an hour, giving them wise counsels and warning them +against outrages on strangers, all calculated to secure our safety and +advance the interests of our Mission work. He then invited all the +Chiefs to go on board and see his vessel. They were taken to see the +Armory, and the sight of the big guns running so easily on rails vastly +astonished them. He then placed them round us on deck and showed them +two shells discharged towards the ocean, at which, as they burst and +fell far off, splash--splashing into the water, the terror of the +Natives visibly increased. But, when he sent a large ball crashing +through a cocoanut grove, breaking the trees like straws and cutting its +way clear and swift, they were quite dumfounded and pled to be again set +safely on shore. After receiving each some small gift, however, they +were reconciled to the situation, and returned immensely interested in +all that they had seen. Doubtless many a wild romance was spun by these +savage heads, in trying to describe and hand down to others the wonders +of the fire-god of the sea, and the Captain of the great white Queen. +How easily it all lends itself to the service of poetry and myth! + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +"NOBLE OLD ABRAHAM." + +FEVER and ague had now attacked me fourteen times severely, with +slighter recurring attacks almost continuously after my first three +months on the island, and I now felt the necessity of taking the hint of +the Tannese Chief before referred to--"Sleep on the higher ground." +Having also received medical counsel to the same effect, though indeed +experience was painfully sufficient testimony, I resolved to remove my +house, and began to look about for a suitable site. There rose behind my +present site, a hill about two hundred feet high, surrounded on all +sides by a valley, and swept by the breezes of the trade-winds, being +only separated from the ocean by a narrow neck of land. On this I had +set my heart; there was room for a Mission House and a Church, for which +indeed Nature seemed to have adapted it. I proceeded to buy up every +claim by the Natives to any portion of the hill, paying each publicly +and in turn, so that there might be no trouble afterwards. I then +purchased from a Trader the deck planks of a shipwrecked vessel, with +which to construct a house of two apartments, a bedroom and a small +store-room adjoining it, to which I purposed to transfer and add the old +house as soon as I was able. + +Just at this juncture, the fever smote me again more severely than ever; +my weakness after this attack was so great, that I felt as if I never +could rally again. With the help of my faithful Aneityumese Teacher, +Abraham, and his wife, however, I made what appeared my last effort to +creep--I could not climb--up the hill to get a breath of wholesome air. +When about two-thirds up the hill, I became so faint that I concluded I +was dying. Lying down on the ground, sloped against the root of a tree +to keep me from rolling to the bottom, I took farewell of old Abraham, +of my Mission work, and of everything around! In this weak state I lay, +watched over by my faithful companion, and fell into a quiet sleep. When +consciousness returned, I felt a little stronger, and a faint gleam of +hope and life came back to my soul. + +Abraham and his devoted wife Nafatu lifted me and carried me to the top +of the hill. There they laid me on cocoanut leaves on the ground, and +erected over me a shade or screen of the same; and there the two +faithful souls, inspired surely by something diviner even than mere +human pity, gave me the cocoanut juice to drink and fed me with native +food and kept me living--I know not for how long. Consciousness did, +however, fully return. The trade-wind refreshed me day by day. The +Tannese seemed to have given me up for dead; and providentially none of +them looked near us for many days. Amazingly my strength returned, and I +began planning about my new house on the hill. Afraid again to sleep at +the old site, I slept under the tree, and sheltered by the cocoanut leaf +screen, while preparing my new bedroom. + +Here again, but for these faithful souls, the Aneityumese Teacher and +his wife, I must have been baffled, and would have died in the effort. +The planks of the wreck, and all other articles required, they fetched +and carried; and it taxed my utmost strength to get them in some way +planted together. But life depended on it. It was at length +accomplished; and after that time I suffered comparatively little from +anything like continuous attacks of fever and ague. That noble old soul, +Abraham, stood by me as an angel of God in sickness and in danger; he +went at my side wherever I had to go; he helped me willingly to the last +inch of strength in all that I had to do; and it was perfectly manifest +that he was doing all this not from mere human love, but for the sake of +Jesus. That man had been a Cannibal in his Heathen days, but by the +grace of God there he stood verily a new creature in Christ Jesus. Any +trust, however sacred or valuable, could be absolutely reposed in him; +and in trial or danger I was often refreshed by that old Teacher's +prayers, as I used to be by the prayers of my saintly father in my +childhood's home. No white man could have been more valuable helper to +me in my perilous circumstances; and no person, white or black, could +have shown more fearless and chivalrous devotion. + +When I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious +scribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in +conversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has +yearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the "natural" man all +around in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one +"spiritual" man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them, +feeding them, saving them "for the love of Jesus"--that I might just +learn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a +reality after all! All the skepticism of Europe would hide its head in +foolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the +new light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted +Cannibal's eye. + + + +CHAPTER XX. +A TYPICAL SOUTH SEA TRADER. + +THE prejudices and persecutions of Heathens were a sore enough trial, +but sorer and more hopeless was the wicked and contaminating influence +of, alas, my fellow-countrymen. One, for instance, a Captain Winchester, +living with a native woman at the head of the bay as a Trader, a +dissipated wretch, though a well-educated man, was angry forsooth at +this state of peace! Apparently there was not the usual demand for +barter for the fowls, pigs, etc., in which he traded. He developed at +once a wonderful interest in their affairs, presented all the Chiefs +around with powder, caps, and balls, and lent among them a number of +flash-muskets. He urged them not to be afraid of war, as he would supply +any amount of ammunition. I remonstrated, but he flatly told me that +peace did not suit his purposes. Incited and encouraged thus, these poor +Heathen people were goaded into a most unjust war on neighboring tribes. +The Trader immediately demanded a high price for the weapons he had +lent; the price of powder, caps, and balls rose exorbitantly with every +fresh demand; his yards were crowded with poultry and pigs, which he +readily disposed of to passing vessels; and he might have amassed great +sums of money but for his vile dissipations. Captain Winchester, now +glorying in the war, charged a large hog for a wine-glass full of +powder, or three or four balls, or ten gun-caps; he was boastful of his +"good luck" in getting rid of all his old muskets and filling his yards +with pigs and fowls. Such is the infernal depth to which we can sink, +when the misery and the ruin of many are thought to be more than atoned +for by the wealth and prosperity of a few who trade in their doom! + +Miaki the war Chief had a young brother, Rarip by name, about eighteen +years of age. When this war began he came to live with me at the Mission +House. After it had raged some time, Miaki forced him to join the +fighting men; but he escaped through the bush, and returned to me, +saying, "Missi, I hate this fighting; it is not good to kill men; I will +live with you!" + +Again the war Chief came, and forced my dear young Rarip to join the +hosts. Of course, I could only plead; I could not prevent him. This +time, he placed him at his own side in the midst of his warriors. On +coming in sight of the enemy, and hearing their first yells as they +rushed from the bush, a bullet pierced young Rarip's breast, and he fell +dead into the arms of Miaki. The body was carried home to his brother's +village, with much wailing, and a messenger ran to tell me that Rarip +was dead. On hasting thither, I found him quite dead, and the center of +a tragic ceremonial. Around him, some sitting, others lying on the +ground, were assembled all the women and girls, tearing their hair, +wounding themselves with split bamboos and broken bottles, dashing +themselves headlong to the earth, painting all black their faces, +breasts, and arms, and wailing with loud lamentations! Men were also +there, knocking their heads against the trees, gashing their bodies with +knives till they ran with streaks of blood, and indulging in every kind +of savage symbol of grief and anguish. My heart broke to see them, and +to think that they knew not to look to our dear Lord Jesus for +consolation. + +I returned to the Mission House, and brought a white sheet and some +tape, in which the body of dear young Rarip was wrapped and prepared for +the grave. The Natives appeared to be gratified at this mark of respect; +and all agreed that Rarip should have, under my direction, a Christian +burial. The men prepared the grave in a spot selected near to his own +house; I read the Word of God, and offered prayer to Jehovah, with a +psalm of praise, amidst a scene of weeping and lamentation never to be +forgotten; and the thought burned through my very soul--oh, when, when +will the Tannese realize what I am now thinking and praying about, the +life and immortality brought to light through Jesus? + +As the war still raged on, and many more were killed, vengeance +threatened the miserable Trader. Miaki attacked him thus, "You led us +into this war. You deceived us, and we began it. Rarip is dead, and many +others. Your life shall yet go for his." + +Captain Winchester, heartless as a dog so long as pigs and fowls came to +the yard at whatever cost to others' lives, now trembled like a coward +for himself. He implored me to let him and his Mare wife sleep at my +house for safety; but I refused to allow my Mission to be in any way +identified with his crimes. The Natives from other islands, whom he kept +and wrought like slaves, he now armed with muskets for his defence; but, +having no faith in their protecting or even warning him, he implored me +to send one of my Teachers, to assist his wife in watching till he +snatched a few hours of sleep every day, and, if awake, he would sell +his life as dearly as he could by aid of musket and revolver. The +Teachers were both afraid and disinclined to go; and I could not +honestly ask them to do so. His peril and terror became so real that by +night he slept in his boat anchored out in the center of the bay, with +his arms beside him, and a crew ready to start off at the approach of +danger and lose everything; while by day he kept watch on shore, armed, +and also ready to fly. Thus his miserable existence dragged on, keeping +watch alternatively with his wife, till a trading vessel called and +carried him off with all that he had rescued--for which deliverance we +were unfeignedly thankful! The war, which he had wickedly instigated, +lingered on for three months; and then, by a present given secretly to +two leading Chiefs, I managed to bring it to a close. But feelings of +revenge for the slain burned fiercely in many breasts; and young men had +old feuds handed on to them by the recital of their fathers' deeds of +blood. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +UNDER AX AND MUSKET. + +ABOUT this time, our Sabbath audiences at the Mission numbered forty or +so. Nowar and three or four more, and only they, seemed to love and +serve Jesus. They were, however, changeable and doubtful, though they +exerted a good influence on their villages, and were generally friendly +to us and to the Worship. + +One morning at daybreak I found my house surrounded by armed men, and a +Chief intimated that they had assembled to take my life. Seeing that I +was entirely in their hands, I knelt down and gave myself away body and +soul to the Lord Jesus, for what seemed the last time on earth. Rising, +I went out to them, and began calmly talking about their unkind +treatment of me and contrasting it with all my conduct towards them. I +also plainly showed them what would be the sad consequences, if they +carried out their cruel purpose. At last some of the chiefs, who had +attended the Worship, rose and said, "Our conduct has been bad; but now +we will fight for you, and kill all those who hate you." + +Grasping hold of their leader, I held him fast till he promised never to +kill any one on my account, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies and +always to return good for evil! During this scene, many of the armed +slunk away into the bush, and those who remained entered into a bond to +be friendly and to protect us. But again their Public Assembly resolved +that we should be killed, because, as they said, they hated Jehovah and +the Worship; for it made them afraid to do as they had always done. If I +would give up visiting the villages, and praying and talking with them +about Jehovah, they intimated that they would like me to stay and trade +with them, as they liked the Traders but hated the Missionaries! I told +them that the hope of being able to teach them the Worship of Jehovah +alone kept me living amongst them; that I was there, not for gain or +pleasure, but because I loved them, and pitied their estate, and sought +their good continually by leading them to know and serve the only true +God. + +But my enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my life, +however calmed or baffled for the moment. Within a few days of the above +events, when Natives in large numbers were assembled at my house, a man +furiously rushed on me with his ax; but a Kaserumini Chief snatched a +spade with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from +instant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to +the Lord Jesus; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how attack might +be made; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the Hand once nailed +on Calvary, and now swaying the scepter of the Universe, calmness and +peace and resignation abode in my soul. + +Next day, a wild Chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded +musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand. +I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been +there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would +protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing +prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt +immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes +strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow; +and they did tread swiftly upon each other's heels. Without that abiding +consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour, +nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my +reason and perishing miserably. His words, "Lo, I am with you alway, +even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not +have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the +scene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, "I +can do all things through Christ which strengthened me." It is the sober +truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I had my +nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed Lord in +those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being leveled at my +life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing "Him who is +invisible!" One evening, I awoke three times to hear a Chief and his men +trying to force the door of my house. Though armed with muskets, they +had some sense of doing wrong, and were wholesomely afraid of a little +retriever dog which had often stood betwixt me and death. God restrained +them again; and next morning the report went all round the Harbor that +those who tried to shoot me were "smitten weak with fear," and that +shooting would not do. A plan was therefore deliberately set on foot to +fire the premises, and club us if we attempted to escape. But our +Aneityumese Teacher heard of it, and God helped us to frustrate their +designs. When they knew their plots were revealed to us, they seemed to +lose faith in themselves, and cast about to circumvent us in some more +secret way, Their evil was overruled for good. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +A NATIVE SAINT AND MARTYR. + +NAMUEI, one of my Aneityumese Teachers, was placed at our nearest +village. There he had built a house for himself and his wife, and there +he led amongst the Heathen a pure and humble Christian life. Almost +every morning he came and reported on the state of affairs to me. +Without books or a school, he yet instructed the Natives in Divine +things, conducted the worship, and taught them much by his good example. +His influence was increasing, when one morning a Sacred Man threw at him +the _kawas_ or killing-stone, a deadly weapon like a scythe stone in +shape and thickness, usually round but sometimes angular, and from +eighteen to twenty inches long. They throw it from a great distance and +with fatal precision. The Teacher, with great agility, warded his head +and received the deep cut from it in his left hand, reserving his right +hand to guard against the club that was certain to follow swiftly. The +Priest sprang upon him with his club and with savage yells. He evaded, +yet also received, many blows; and, rushing out of their hands, actually +reached the Mission House, bleeding, fainting, and pursued by howling +murderers. I had been anxiously expecting him, and hearing the noise I +ran out with all possible speed. + +On seeing me, he sank down by a tree, and cried, "Missi, Missi, quick! +and escape for your life! They are coming to kill you; they say they +must kill us all to-day, and they have begun with me; for they hate +Jehovah and the Worship!" + +I hastened to the good Teacher where he lay; I bound up, washed, and +dressed his wounds; and God, by the mystery of His own working, kept the +infuriated Tannese watching at bay. Gradually they began to disappear +into the bush, and we conveyed the dear Teacher to the Mission House. In +three or four weeks, he so far recovered by careful nursing that he was +able to walk about again. Some petitioned for him to return to the +village; but I insisted, as a preliminary, that the Harbor Chiefs should +unitedly punish him who had abused the Teacher; and this to test them, +for he had only carried out their own wishes,--Nowar excepted, and +perhaps one or two others. They made a pretense of atoning by presenting +the Teacher with a pig and some yams as a peace-offering; but I said, +"No! Such bad conduct must be punished, or we would leave their island +by the first opportunity." + +Now that Sacred Man, a Chief too, had gone on fighting with other +tribes, till his followers had all died or been slain; and, after three +weeks' palaver, the other Chiefs seized him, tied him with a rope, and +sent me word to come and see him punished, as they did not want us after +all to leave the island. I had to go, for fear of more bloody work, and +after talk with them, followed by many fair promises, he was loosed. + +All appearing friendly for some time, and willing to listen and learn, +the Teacher earnestly desired to return to his post. I pled with him to +remain at the Mission House till we felt more assured, but he replied, +"Missi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when +the Missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder him, as they +now desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have +remained Heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till, +by the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now the same God that +changed me to this can change these poor Tannese to love and serve Him. +I cannot stay away from them; but I will sleep at the Mission House, and +do all I can by day to bring them to Jesus." + +It was not in me to keep such a man, under such motives, from what he +felt to be his post of duty. He returned to his village work, and for +several weeks things appeared most encouraging. The inhabitants showed +growing interest in us and our work, and less fear of the pretensions of +their Heathen Priest, which, alas! fed his jealousy and anger. One +morning during worship, when the good Teacher knelt in prayer, the same +savage Priest sprang upon him with his great club and left him for dead, +wounded and bleeding and unconscious. The people fled and left him in +his blood, afraid of being mixed up with the murder. The Teacher, +recovering a little, crawled to the Mission House, and reached it about +midday in a dying condition. On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he +fell near the Teacher's house, saying, "Missi, I am dying! They will +kill you also. Escape for your life." + +Trying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and +nursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and +rejoicing that he would soon be with Him in Glory. His pain and +suffering were great but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept +saying, "For the sake of Jesus! For Jesu's sake!" He was constantly +praying for his persecutors, "O Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know +not what they are doing. Oh, take not away all Thy servants from Tanna! +Take not away Thy Worship from this dark island! O God, bring all the +Tannese to love and follow Jesus!" + +To him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his death. +He passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory of his +Lord. Humble though he may appear in the world's esteem, I knew that a +great man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would +take rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a coffin, +and dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many tears, +we consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy +resurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for +the Missionaries, whom God had honored in bringing him to Jesus. May +they have many like Namuri for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the +great day! + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +BUILDING AND PRINTING FOR GOD. + +FOR fully three months, all our available time, with all the native help +which I could hire, was spent in erecting a building to serve for Church +and School. It was fifty feet long, by twenty-one feet six inches broad. +The studs were three feet apart, and all fixed by tenon and mortise into +upper and lower wall plates. The beautiful roof of iron-wood and +sugar-cane leaf was supported by three massive pillars of wood, sunk +deeply into the ground. The roof extended about three feet over the wall +plates, both to form a verandah and to carry the raindrops free beyond +the walls. It was made of sugar-cane leaf and cocoanut leaves all +around. The floor was laid with white coral, broken small, and covered +with cocoanut leaf mats, such as those on which the Natives sat. Indeed, +it was as comfortable a House of Prayer as any man need wish for in the +tropics, though having only open spaces for doors and windows! I bought +the heavy wood for it on Aneityum--price, fifty pairs of trousers for +Natives; and these again were the gift of my Bible Class in Glasgow, all +cut and sewed by their own hands. I gave also one hundred and thirty +yards of cloth, along with other things, for other needful wood. + +As we were preparing a foundation for the Church, a huge and +singular-looking round stone was dug up, at sight of which the Tannese +stood aghast. The eldest Chief said, "Missi, that stone was either +brought there by Karapanamun (the Evil Spirit), or hid there by our +great Chief who is dead. That is the Stone God to which our forefathers +offered human sacrifices; these holes held the blood of the victim till +drunk up by the Spirit. The Spirit of that stone eats up men and women +and drinks their blood, as our fathers taught us. We are in greatest +fear!" + +A Sacred Man claimed possession, and was exceedingly desirous to carry +it off; but I managed to keep it, and did everything in my power to show +them the absurdity of these foolish notions. Idolatry had not indeed yet +fallen throughout Tanna; but one cruel idol, at least, had to give way +for the erection of God's House on that benighted land. + +An ever-memorable event was the printing of my first book in Tannese. +Thomas Binnie, Jun., Glasgow, gave me a printing-press and a font of +type. Printing was one of the things I had never tried, but having now +prepared a booklet in Tannese, I got my printing press into order, and +began fingering the type. But book-printing turned out to be for me a +much more difficult affair than house-building had been. Yet by dogged +perseverance I succeeded at last. My biggest difficulty was how to +arrange the pages properly! After many failures, I folded a piece of +paper into the number of leaves wanted, cut the corners, folding them +back, and numbering as they would be when correctly placed in the book; +then folding all back without cutting up the sheet, I found now by these +numbers how to arrange the pages in the frame or case for printing, as +indicated on each side. And do you think me foolish, when I confess that +I shouted in an ecstasy of joy when the first sheet came from the press +all correct? It was about one o'clock in the morning. I was the only +white man then on the island, and all the Natives had been fast asleep +for hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like +a schoolboy round and round that printing-press; till I began to think, +Am I losing my reason? Would it not be like a Missionary to be upon my +knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever +printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me--that +was as true worship as ever was David's dancing before the Ark of his +God! Nor think that I did not, over that first sheet of God's Word ever +printed in the Tannese tongue, go upon my knees too, and then, and every +day since, plead with the mighty Lord to carry the light and joy of His +own Holy Bible into every dark heart and benighted home on Tanna! + +Yet dangers darkened round me. One day, while toiling away at my house, +the war Chief and his brother, and a large party of armed men, +surrounded the plot where I was working. They all had muskets, besides +their own native weapons. They watched me for some time in silence, and +then every man leveled a musket straight at my head. Escape was +impossible. Speech would only have increased my danger. My eyesight came +and went for a few moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either Himself to +protect me or to take me home to His Glory. I tried to keep working on +at my task, as if no one was near me. In that moment, as never before, +the words came to me--"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will do +it;" and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little from their first +position, no word having been spoken, they took up the same attitude +somewhat farther off, and seemed to be urging one another to fire the +first shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, and they +withdrew, leaving me with a new reason for trusting Him with all that +concerned me for Time and Eternity. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +HEATHEN DANCE AND SHAM FIGHT. + +THE Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and +most-to-be-trusted friend. He influenced the Harbor Chiefs and their +people for eight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favor of +the Worship of Jehovah. All were personally and specially invited, and +it was the largest Assembly of any kind that I ever witnessed on the +Islands. + +When all was ready, Nowar sent a party of Chiefs to escort me and my +Aneityumese Teachers to the feast. Fourteen Chiefs, in turn, made +speeches to the assembled multitude; the drift of all being, that war +and fighting be given up on Tanna,--that no more people be killed by +Nahak, for witchcraft and sorcery were lies,--that Sacred Men no longer +profess to make wind and rain, famine and plenty, disease and +death,--that the dark Heathen talk of Tanna should cease,--that all here +present should adopt the Worship of Jehovah as taught to them by the +Missionary and the Aneityumese,--and that all the banished Tribes should +be invited to their own lands to live in peace! These strange speeches +did not draw forth a single opposing voice. The Tannese are born +talkers, and can and will speechify on all occasions; but most of it +means nothing, bears no fruit. + +After these speeches, a scene followed which gradually assumed shape as +an idolatrous ceremonial and greatly horrified me. It was in connection +with the immense quantity of food that had been prepared for the feast, +especially pigs and fowls. A great heap had been piled up for each Tribe +represented, and a handsome portion also set apart for the Missionary +and his Teachers. The ceremony was this, as nearly as I could follow it. +One hundred or so of the leading men marched into the large clear space +in the center of the assembled multitudes, and stood there facing each +other in equal lines, with a man at either end closing up the passage +between. At the middle they stood eight or ten feet apart, gradually +nearing till they almost met at either end. Amid tremendous silence for +a few moments, all stood hushed; then every man kneeled on his right +knee, extended his right hand, and bent forward till his face nearly +touched the ground. Thereon the man at the one end began muttering +something, his voice rising ever louder as he rose to his feet, when it +ended in a fearful yell as he stood erect. Next the two long lines of +men, all in a body, went through the same ceremonial, rising gradually +to their feet, with mutterings deepening into a howl, and heightening +into a yell stood erect. Finally, the man at the other end went through +the same hideous forms. All this was thrice deliberately repeated, each +time with growing frenzy. And then, all standing on their feet, they +united as with one voice in what sounded like music running mad up and +down the scale--closing with a long, deep-toned, hollow howl as of souls +in pain. With smiles of joy, the men then all shook hands with each +other. Nowar and another Chief briefly spoke; and the food was then +divided and exchanged, a principal man of each Tribe standing by to +receive and watch his portion. + +At this stage, Nowar and Nerwangi, as leaders, addressed the Teachers +and the Missionary to this effect; "This feast is held to move all the +Chiefs and People here to give up fighting, to become friends, and to +worship your Jehovah God. We wish you to remain, and to teach us all +good conduct. As an evidence of our sincerity, and of our love, we have +prepared this pile of food for you." + +In reply, I addressed the whole multitude, saying how pleased I was with +their speeches and with the resolutions and promises which they all had +made. I further urged them to stick fast by these, and that grand fruits +would arise to their island, to themselves, and to their children. + +Having finished a brief address, I then walked forward to the very +middle of the circle, and laid down before them a bundle of stripes of +red calico and pieces of white calico, a number of fish-hooks, knives, +etc., etc., requesting the two Chiefs to divide my offering of goodwill +among the Tribes assembled, and also the pile of food presented to us, +as a token of my love and friendship to them all. + +Not without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this +apparently unfriendly attitude of refusing to take their food. But I +feared to seem even to approve of any act of devil-worship, or to +confirm them in it, being there to discourage all such scenes, and to +lead them to acknowledge only the true God. Yet all the time I felt this +qualm,--that it might have been better to eat food with men who +acknowledged some God and asked his blessing, than with those white +Heathens at home, who asked the blessing of no God, nor thanked Him--in +this worse than the dog which licks the hand that feeds it! Nowar and +Nerwangi explained in great orations what I meant, and how I wished all +to be divided amongst the assembled Tribes to show my love. With this, +all seemed highly satisfied. + +Heathen dances were now entered upon, their paint and feathers and +ornaments adding to the wildness of the scene. The men seemed to dance +in an inside ring, and the women in an outside ring, at a considerable +distance from each other. Music was supplied by singing and clapping of +hands. The order was perfect, and the figures highly intricate. But I +have never been able to associate dancing with things lovely and of good +report! After the dancing, all retired to the bush; and a kind of sham +fight then followed on the public cleared ground. A host of painted +savages rushed in and took possession with songs and shoutings. From the +bush, on the opposite side, the chanting of women was heard in the +distance, louder and louder as they approached. Snatching from a burning +fire flaming sticks, they rushed on the men with these, beating them and +throwing burning pieces of wood among them, till with deafening yells +amongst themselves and amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, they +drove them from the space, and danced thereon and sang a song of +victory. The dancing and fighting, the naked painted figures, and the +constant yells and shoutings gave one a weird sensation, and suggested +strange ideas of Hell broken loose. + +The final scene approached, when the men assisted their women to fill +all the allotted food into baskets to be carried home and eaten there; +for the different Tribes do not sit down together and eat together as we +would do; their coming together is for the purpose of exchanging and +dividing the food presented. And now they broke into friendly confusion, +and freely walked about mingling with each other; and a kind of savage +rehearsal of Jonathan and David took place. They stripped themselves of +their fantastic dresses, their handsomely woven and twisted grass +skirts, leaf skirts, grass and leaf aprons; they gave away or exchanged +all these, and their ornaments and bows and arrows, besides their less +romantic calico and print dresses more recently acquired. The effusion +and ceremonial of the gifts and exchanges seem to betoken a loving +people; and so they were for the feast--but that laid not aside a single +deadly feud, and streams of blood and cries of hate would soon efface +all traces of this day. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +CANNIBALS AT WORK. + +EARLY one morning, the savage yells of warring Tribes woke me from +sleep. They had broken into a quarrel about a woman, and were fiercely +engaged with their clubs. According to my custom, I rushed in amongst +them, and, not without much difficulty, was blessed in separating them +before deadly wounds had been given or received. On this occasion, the +Chiefs of both Tribes, being very friendly to me, drove their people +back from each other at my earnest appeals. Sitting down at length +within earshot, they had it out in a wild scolding match, a contest of +lung and tongue. Meanwhile I rested on a canoe midway betwixt them, in +the hope of averting a renewal of hostilities. By and by an old Sacred +Man, a Chief, called Sapa, with some touch of savage comedy in his +breast, volunteered an episode which restored good humor to the scene. +Leaping up, he came dancing and singing towards me, and there, to the +amusement of all, reenacted the quarrel, and mimicked rather cleverly my +attempt at separating the combatants. Smashing at the canoe with his +club, he yelled and knocked down imaginary enemies; then, rushing first +at one party and then at the other, he represented me as appealing and +gesticulating and pushing them afar from each other, till he became +quite exhausted. Thereon he came and planted himself in great glee +beside me, and looked around as if to say, "You must laugh, for I have +played." At this very juncture, a loud cry of "Sail O" broke upon our +ears, and all parties leapt to their feet, and prepared for a new +sensation; for in those climes, everything--war itself--is a smaller +interest than a vessel from the Great Unknown Beyond sailing into your +Harbor. + +Not many days thereafter, a very horrible transaction occurred. Before +daybreak, I heard shot after shot quickly discharged in the Harbor. One +of my Teachers came running, and cried, "Missi, six or seven men have +been shot dead this morning for a great feast. It is to reconcile Tribes +that have been at war, and to allow a banished Tribe to return in +peace." + +I learned that the leading men had in council agreed upon this +sacrifice, but the name of each victim was kept a secret till the last +moment. The torture of suspense and uncertainty seemed to be borne by +all as part of their appointed lot; nor did they prepare as if +suspecting any dread assault. Before daylight, the Sacred Men allocated +a murderer to the door of each house where a victim slept. A signal shot +was fired; all rushed to their doors, and the doomed ones were shot and +clubbed to death, as they attempted to escape. Their bodies were then +borne to a sacred tree, and hung up there by the hands for a time as an +offering to the gods. Being taken down, they were carried ceremoniously +and laid out on the shore near my house, placed under a special guard. + +Information had reached me that my Teachers and I were also destined +victims for this same feast; and sure enough we espied a band of armed +men, the killers, despatched towards our premises. Instantaneously I had +the Teachers and their wives and myself securely locked into the Mission +House; and, cut off from all human hope, we set ourselves to pray to our +dear Lord Jesus, either Himself to protect us or to take us to His +glory. All through that morning and forenoon we heard them +tramp-tramping round our house, whispering to each other, and hovering +near window and door. They knew that there were a double-barreled +fowling-piece and a revolver on the premises, though they never had seen +me use them, and that may, under God, have held them back in dread. But +the thought of using them did not enter our souls even in that awful +time. I had gone to save, and not to destroy. It would be easier for me +at any time to die, than to kill one of them. Our safety lay in our +appeal to that blessed Lord who had placed us there, and to whom all +power had been given in Heaven and on Earth. He that was with us was +more than all that could be against us. This is strength;--this is +peace:--to feel, in entering on every day, that all its duties and +trials have been committed to the Lord Jesus,--that, come what may, He +will use us for His glory and our own real good! + +All through that dreadful morning, and far into the afternoon, we thus +abode together, feeling conscious that we were united to this dear Lord +Jesus; and we had sweet communion with Him, meditating on the wonders of +His person and the hopes and glories of His kingdom. Oh, that all my +readers may learn something of this in their own experience of the Lord! +I can wish them nothing more precious. Towards sundown, constrained by +the Invisible One, they withdrew from our Mission House, and left us +once more in peace. They bore away the slain to be cooked, and +distributed amongst the Tribes, and eaten in their feast of +reconciliation; a covenant sealed in blood, and soon, alas, to be buried +in blood again! For many days thereafter we had to take unusual care, +and not unduly expose ourselves to danger; for dark characters were seen +prowling about in the bush near at hand, and we knew that our life was +the prize. We took what care we could, and God the Lord did the rest; or +rather He did all--for His wisdom guided us, and His power baffled them. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +THE DEFYING OF NAHAK. + +SHORTLY thereafter war was again declared, by the Inland people +attacking our Harbor people. It was an old quarrel; and the war was +renewed and continued, long after the cause thereof had passed away. +Going amongst them every day, I did my utmost to stop hostilities, +setting the evils of war before them, and pleading with the leading men +to renounce it. Thereon arose a characteristic incident of Island and +Heathen life. One day I held a Service in the village where morning +after morning their Tribes assembled, and declared that if they would +believe in and follow the Jehovah God, He would deliver them from all +their enemies and lead them into a happy life. There were present three +Sacred Men, Chiefs, of whom the whole population lived in +terror--brothers or cousins, heroes of traditional feats, professors of +sorcery, and claiming the power of life and death, health and sickness, +rain and drought, according to their will. On hearing me, these three +stood up and declared they did not believe in Jehovah, nor did they need +His help; for they had the power to kill my life by Nahak (_i.e._ +sorcery or witchcraft), if only they could get possession of any piece +of the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an essential condition +of their black art; hence the peel of a banana or an orange, and every +broken scrap of food, is gathered up by the Natives, lest it should fall +into the hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for Nahak. This +superstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and terror upon +Tanna; and being thus challenged, I asked God's help, and determined to +strike a blow against it. + +A woman was standing near with a bunch of native fruit in her hand, like +our plums, called quonquore. I asked her to be pleased to give me some; +and she, holding out a bunch, said, "Take freely what you will!" + +Calling the attention of all the Assembly to what I was doing, I took +three fruits from the bunch, and taking a bite out of each, I gave them +one after another to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said in the +hearing of all, "You have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen me +give the remainder to your Sacred Men; they have said they can kill me +by Nahak, but I challenge them to do it if they can, without arrow or +spear, club or musket; for I deny that they have any power against me, +or against any one, by their Sorcery." + +The challenge was accepted; the Natives looked terror-struck at the +position in which I was placed! The ceremony of Nahak was usually +performed in secret,--the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans would +from the touch of the plague; but I lingered and eagerly watched their +ritual. As the three Chiefs arose, and drew near to one of the Sacred +Trees, to begin their ceremonial, the Natives fled in terror, crying, +"Missi, Iawe? Alas, Missi!" + +But I held on at my post of observation. Amidst wavings and +incantations, they rolled up the pieces of the fruit from which I had +eaten, in certain leaves of this Sacred Tree, into a shape like a waxen +candle; then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and continued +their mutterings, gradually burning a little more and a little more of +the candle-shaped things, wheeling them round their heads, blowing upon +them with their breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly at +me as if expecting my sudden destruction. Wondering whether after all +they did not believe their own lie, for they seemed to be in dead +earnest, I, more eager than ever to break the chains of such vile +superstition, urged them again and again, crying, "Be quick! Stir up +your gods to help you! I am not killed yet; I am perfectly well!" + +At last they stood up and said, "We must delay till we have called all +our Sacred Men. We will kill Missi before his next Sabbath comes round. +Let all watch, for he will soon die and that without fail." + +I replied, "Very good! I challenge all your Priests to unite and kill me +by Sorcery or Nahak. If on Sabbath next I come again to your village in +health, you will all admit that your gods have no power over me, and +that I am protected by the true and living Jehovah God!" + +Every day throughout the remainder of that week the Conchs were sounded; +and over that side of the island all their Sacred Men were at work +trying to kill me by their arts. Now and again messengers arrived from +every quarter of the island, inquiring anxiously after my health, and +wondering if I was not feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed +amongst the poor deluded idolaters. + +Sabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to that village in more +than my usual health and strength. Large numbers assembled, and when I +appeared they looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really +be I myself still spared and well. Entering into the public ground, I +saluted them to this effect, "My love to you all, my friends! I have +come again to talk to you about the Jehovah God and His Worship." + +The three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted that they had tried to +kill me by Nahak, but had failed; and on being questioned, why they had +failed; they gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself a +Sacred Man, and that my God being the stronger had protected me from +their gods. Addressing the multitude, I answered thus, "Yea, truly; my +Jehovah God is stronger than your gods. He protected me, and helped me; +for He is the only living and true God, the only God that can hear or +answer any prayer from the children of men. Your gods cannot hear +prayer, but my God can and will hear and answer you, if you will give +heart and life to Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God, and +He is also your friend if you will hear and follow His voice." + +Having said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and +addressed them, "Come and sit down all around me, and I will talk to you +about the love and mercy of my God, and teach you how to worship and +please Him." + +Two of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the people gathered round +and seated themselves very quietly. I tried to present to them ideas of +sin, and of salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in the +Holy Scriptures. + +The third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man of great stature and +uncommon strength, had meantime gone off for his warrior's spear, and +returned brandishing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the +people, "Of course he can kill me with his spear, but he undertook to +kill me by Nahak or Sorcery, and promised not to use against me any +weapons of war; and if you let him kill me now, you will kill your +friend, one who lives among you and only tries to do you good, as you +all know so well. I know that if you kill me thus, my God will be angry +and will punish you." + +Thereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the crowd, while he +leaped about in rage, scolding his brothers and all who were present for +listening to me. The other Sacred Men, however, took my side, and, as +many of the people also were friendly to me and stood closely packed +around me, he did not throw his spear. To allay the tumult and obviate +further bloodshed, I offered to leave with my Teachers at once, and, in +doing so, I ardently pled with them to live at peace. Though we got +safely home, that old Sacred Man seemed still to hunger after my blood. +For weeks thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly appear on the +path behind me, poising in his right hand that same Goliath spear. God +only kept it from being thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution, +had all the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were there, +leaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. This whole incident +did, doubtless, shake the prejudices of many as to Sorcery; but few even +of converted Natives ever get entirely clear of the dread of Nahak. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +A PERILOUS PILGRIMAGE. + +THE other Mission Station, on the southwest side of Tanna, had to be +visited by me from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, there, were +both in a weak state of health, having a tendency to consumption. On +this account they visited Aneityum several times. They were earnestly +devoted to their work, and were successful as far as health and the time +allowed to them permitted. At this juncture, a message reached me that +they were without European food, and a request to send them a little +flour if possible. The war made the journey overland impossible. A +strong wind and a high sea round the coast rendered it impracticable for +my boat to go. The danger to life from the enemy was so great that I +could not hire a crew. I pled therefore with Nowar and Manuman, and a +few leading men, to take one of their best canoes, and themselves to +accompany me. I had a large flat-bottomed pot with a close fitting lid, +and that I pressed full of flour; and, tying the lid firmly down, I +fastened it right in the center of the canoe, and as far above +water-mark as possible. All else that was required we tied around our +own persons. Sea and land being as they were, it was a perilous +undertaking, which only dire necessity could have justified. They were +all swimmers, but as I could not swim, the strongest man was placed +behind me, to seize me and swim ashore, if a crash came. + +Creeping round near the shore all the way, we had to keep just outside +the great breakers on the coral reef, and were all drenched through and +through with the foam of an angry surf. We arrived, however, in safety +within two miles of our destination, where lived the friends of my +canoe's company, but where a very dangerous sea was breaking on the +reef. Here they all gave in, and protested that no further could they +go; and truly their toil all the way with the paddles had been severe. I +appealed to them, that the canoe would for certain be smashed if they +tried to get on shore, that the provisions would be lost, and some of us +probably drowned. But they turned to the shore, and remained for some +time thus, watching the sea. At last their Captain cried, "Missi, hold +on! There's a smaller wave coming; we'll ride in now." + +My heart rose to the Lord in trembling prayer! The wave came rolling on; +every paddle with all their united strength struck into the sea; and +next moment our canoe was flying like a sea-gull on the crest of the +wave towards the shore. Another instant, and the wave had broken on the +reef with a mighty roar, and rushed passed us hissing in clouds of foam. +My company were next seen swimming wildly about in the sea, Manuman the +one-eyed Sacred Man alone holding on by the canoe, nearly full of water, +with me still clinging to the seat of it, and the very next wave likely +to devour us. In desperation, I sprang for the reef, and ran for a man +half-wading, half-swimming to reach us; and God so ordered it, that just +as the next wave broke against the silvery rock of coral, the man caught +me and partly swam with me through its surf, partly carried me till I +was set safely ashore. Praising God, I looked up and saw all the others +as safe as myself, except Manuman, my friend, who was still holding on +by the canoe in the face of wind and sea, and bringing it with him. +Others ran and swam to his help. The paddles were picked up amid the +surf. A powerful fellow came towards me with the pot of flour on his +head, uninjured by water! The Chief who held on by the canoe got +severely cut about the feet, and had been badly bruised and knocked +about; but all the rest escaped without further harm, and everything +that we had was saved. Amongst friends at last, they resolved to await a +favorable wind and tide to return to their own homes. Singing in my +heart unto God, I hired a man to carry the pot of flour, and soon +arrived at the Mission Station. + +Supplying the wants of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, whom we +found as well as could be expected, we had to prepare, after a few hours +of rest, to return to our own Station by walking overland through the +night. I durst not remain longer away, lest my own house should be +plundered and broken into. Though weak in health, my fellow-Missionaries +were both full of hope, and zealous in their work, and this somewhat +strange visit was a pleasant blink amidst our darkness. Before I had +gone far on my return journey, the sun went down, and no Native could be +hired to accompany me. They all told me that I would for certain be +killed by the way. But I knew that it would be quite dark before I +reached the hostile districts, and that the Heathen are great cowards in +the dark and never leave their villages at night in the darkness, except +in companies for fishing and suchlike tasks. I skirted along the +sea-shore as fast as I could, walking and running alternately; and, when +I got within hearing of voices, I slunk back into the bush till they had +safely passed, and then groped my way back near the shore, that being my +only guide to find a path. + +Having made half the journey, I came to a dangerous path, almost +perpendicular, up a great rock round the base of which the sea roared +deep. With my heart lifted up to Jesus, I succeeded in climbing it, +cautiously grasping roots, and resting by bushes, till I safely reached +the top. There, to avoid a village, I had to keep crawling slowly along +the brush near the sea, on the top of that great ledge of rock--a feat I +could never have accomplished even in daylight without the excitement; +but I felt that I was supported and guided in all that life-or-death +journey by my dear Lord Jesus. I had to leave the shore, and follow up +the bank of a very deep ravine to a place shallow enough for one to +cross, and then through the bush away for the shore again. By holding +too much to the right, I missed the point where I had intended to reach +it. Small fires were now visible through the bush; I heard the voices of +the people talking in one of our most Heathen villages. + +Quietly drawing back, I now knew where I was, and easily found my way +towards the shore; but on reaching the Great Rock, I could not in the +darkness find the path down again. I groped about till I was tired. I +feared that I might stumble over and be killed; or, if I delayed till +daylight, that the savages would kill me. I knew that one part of the +rock was steep-sloping, with little growth or none thereon, and I +searched about to find it, resolved to commend myself to Jesus and slide +down thereby, that I might again reach the shore and escape for my life. +Thinking I had found this spot, I hurled down several stones and +listened for their splash that I might judge whether it would be safe. +But the distance was too far for me to hear or judge. At high tide the +sea there was deep; but at low tide I could wade out of it and be safe. +The darkness made it impossible for me to see anything. I let go my +umbrella, shoving it down with considerable force, but neither did it +send me back any news. + +Feeling sure, however, that this was the place I sought, and knowing +that to await the daylight would be certain death, I prayed to my Lord +Jesus for help and protection, and resolved to let myself go. First, I +fastened all my clothes as tightly as I could, so as not to catch on +anything; then I lay down at the top on my back, feet foremost, holding +my head downwards on my breast to keep it from striking on the rock; +then, after one cry to my Saviour, having let myself down as far as +possible by a branch, I at last let go, throwing my arms forward and +trying to keep my feet well up. A giddy swirl, as if flying through the +air, took possession of me; a few moments seemed an age; I rushed +quickly down, and felt no obstruction till my feet struck into the sea +below. Adoring and praising my dear Lord Jesus, who had ordered it so, I +regained my feet; it was low tide, I had received no injury, I recovered +my umbrella, and, wading through, I found the shore path easier and +lighter than the bush had been. The vary darkness was my safety, +preventing the Natives from rambling about. I saw no person to speak to, +till I reached a village quite near to my own house, fifteen or twenty +miles from where I had started; I here left the sea path and promised +some young men a gift of fish-hooks to guide me the nearest way through +the bush to my Mission Station, which they gladly and heartily did. I +ran a narrow risk in approaching them; they thought me an enemy, and I +arrested their muskets only by a loud cry-- + +"I am Missi! Don't shoot; my love to you, my friends!" + +Praising God for His preserving care, I reached home, and had a long +refreshing sleep. The natives, on hearing next day how I had come all +the way in the dark exclaimed-- + +"Surely any of us would have been killed! Your Jehovah God alone thus +protects you and brings you safely home." + +With all my heart, I said, "Yes! and He will be your protector and +helper too, if only you will obey and trust in Him." + +Certainly that night put my faith to the test. Had it not been the +assurance that I was engaged in His service, and that in every path of +duty He would carry me through or dispose of me therein for His glory I +could never have undertaken either journey. St. Paul's words are true +to-day and forever--"I can do all things through Christ which +strengthened me." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +THE PLAGUE OF MEASLES. + +ABOUT this time I had a never-to-be-forgotten illustration of the +infernal spirit that possessed some of the Traders towards these poor +Natives. One morning, three or four vessels entered our Harbor and cast +anchor in Port Resolution. The captains called on me, and one of them, +with manifest delight, exclaimed, "We know how to bring down your proud +Tannese now! We'll humble them before you!" + +I answered, "Surely you don't mean to attack and destroy these poor +people?" + +He replied, not abashed but rejoicing, "We have sent the measles to +humble them! That kills them by the score! Four young men have been +landed at different ports, ill with measles, and these will soon thin +their ranks." + +Shocked above measure, I protested solemnly and denounced their conduct +and spirit; but my remonstrances only called forth the shameless +declaration, "Our watchword is,--Sweep these creatures away and let +white men occupy the soil!" + +Their malice was further illustrated thus: they induced Kapuku, a young +Chief, to go off to one of their vessels, promising him a present. He +was the friend and chief supporter of Mr. Mathieson and of his work. +Having got him on board, they confined him in the hold amongst natives +lying ill with measles. They gave him no food for about four-and-twenty +hours; and then, without the promised present, they put him ashore far +from his own home. Though weak and excited, he scrambled back to his +tribe in great exhaustion and terror. He informed the Missionary that +they had put him down amongst sick people, red and hot with fever, and +that he feared their sickness was upon him. I am ashamed to say that +these Sandal-wood and other Traders were our own degraded countrymen; +and that they deliberately gloried in thus destroying the poor Heathen. +A more fiendish spirit could scarcely be imagined; but most of them were +horrible drunkards, and their traffic of every kind amongst these +islands was, generally speaking, steeped in human blood. + +The measles, thus introduced, became amongst our islanders the most +deadly plague. It spread fearfully, and was accompanied by sore throat +and diarrhea. In some villages, man, woman, and child were stricken, and +none could give food or water to the rest. The misery, suffering, and +terror were unexampled, the living being afraid sometimes even to bury +the dead. Thirteen of my own Mission party died of this disease; and, so +terror-stricken were the few who survived, that when the little Mission +schooner _John Knox_ returned to Tanna, they all packed up and left for +their own Aneityum, except my own dear old Abraham. + +At first, thinking that all were on the wing, he also had packed his +chattels, and was standing beside the others ready to leave with them. I +drew near to him, and said, "Abraham, they are all going; are you also +going to leave me here alone on Tanna, to fight the battles of the +Lord?" + +He asked, "Missi, will you remain?" + +I replied, "Yes; but Abraham, the danger to life is now so great that I +dare not plead with you to remain, for we may both be slain. Still, I +cannot leave the Lord's work now." + +The noble old Chief looked at the box and his bundles, and, musingly, +said, "Missi, our danger is very great now." + +I answered, "Yes; I once thought you would not leave me alone to it; +but, as the vessel is going to your own land, I cannot ask you to remain +and face it with me!" + +He again said, "Missi, would you like me to remain alone with you, +seeing my wife is dead and in her grave here?" + +I replied, "Yes, I would like you to remain; but, considering the +circumstances in which we will be left alone, I cannot plead with you to +do so." + +He answered, "Then, Missi, I remain with you of my own free choice, and +with all my heart. We will live and die together in the work of the +Lord. I will never leave you while you are spared on Tanna." + +So saying, and with a light that gave the fore-gleam of a Martyr's glory +to his dark face, he shouldered his box and bundles back to his own +house; and thereafter, Abraham was my dear companion and constant +friend, and my fellow-sufferer in all that remains still to be related +of our Mission life on Tanna. + +Before this plague of measles was brought amongst us I had sailed round +in the _John Knox_ to Black Beach on the opposite side of Tanna, and +prepared the way for settling Teachers. And they were placed soon after +by Mr. Copeland and myself with encouraging hopes of success, and with +the prospect of erecting there a Station for Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, the +newly arrived Missionaries from Nova Scotia. But this dreadful imported +epidemic blasted all our dreams. They devoted themselves from the very +first, and assisted me in every way to alleviate the dread sufferings of +the Natives. We carried medicine, food, and even water, to the +surrounding villages every day, few of themselves being able to render +us much assistance. Nearly all who took our medicine and followed +instructions as to food, etc., recovered; but vast numbers of them would +listen to no counsels, and rushed into experiments which made the attack +fatal all around. When the trouble was at its height, for instance, they +would plunge into the sea, and seek relief; they found it an almost +instant death. Others would dig a hole into the earth, the length of the +body and about two feet deep; therein they laid themselves down, the +cold earth feeling agreeable to their fevered skins; and when the earth +around them grew heated, they got friends to dig a few inches deeper, +again and again, seeking a cooler and cooler couch. In this ghastly +effort many of them died, literally in their own graves, and were buried +where they lay! It need not be surprising, though we did everything in +our power to relieve and save them, that the natives associated us with +the white men who had so dreadfully afflicted them, and that their blind +thirst for revenge did not draw fine distinctions between the Traders +and the Missionaries. Both were whites--that was enough. + +Before leaving this terrible plague of measles, I may record my belief +that it swept away, with accompanying sore throat and diarrhea, a third +of the entire population of Tanna; nay? in certain localities more than +a third perished. The living declared themselves unable to bury the +dead, and great want and suffering ensued. The Teacher and his wife and +child, placed by us at Black Beach, were also taken away; and his +companion, the other Teacher there, embraced the first opportunity to +leave along with his wife for his own island, else his life would have +been taken in revenge. Yet, from all accounts afterwards received, I do +not think the measles were more fatal on Tanna than on the other Islands +of the group. They appear to have carried off even a larger proportion +on Aniwa--the future scene of many sorrows but of greater triumphs. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. +ATTACKED WITH CLUBS. + +THE 1st January 1861 was a New Year's Day ever to be remembered. Mr. and +Mrs. Johnston, Abraham, and I, had spent nearly the whole time in a kind +of solemn yet happy festival. Anew in a holy covenant before God, we +unitedly consecrated our lives and our all to the Lord Jesus, giving +ourselves away to His blessed service for the conversion of the Heathen +on the New Hebrides. After evening Family Worship, Mr. and Mrs. Johnston +left my room to go to their own house, only some ten feet distant; but +he returned to inform me that there were two men at the window, armed +with huge clubs, and having black painted faces. Going out to them and +asking them, what they wanted, they replied, "Medicine for a sick boy." + +With difficulty I persuaded them to come in and get it. At once, it +flashed upon me, from their agitation and their disguise of paint, that +they had come to murder us. Mr. Johnston had also accompanied us into +the house. Keeping my eye constantly fixed on them, I prepared the +medicine and offered it. They refused to receive it, and each man +grasped his killing-stone. I faced them firmly and said, "You see that +Mr. Johnston is now leaving, and you too must leave this room for +to-night. To-morrow, you can bring the boy or come for the medicine." + +Seizing their clubs, as if for action, they showed unwillingness to +withdraw, but I walked deliberately forward and made as if to push them +out, when both turned and began to leave. + +Mr. Johnston had gone in front of them and was safely out. But he bent +down to lift a little kitten that had escaped at the open door; and at +that moment one of the savages, jerking in behind, aimed a blow with his +huge club, in avoiding which Mr. Johnston fell with a scream to the +ground. Both men sprang towards him, but our two faithful dogs +ferociously leapt in their faces and saved his life. Rushing out, but +not fully aware of what had occurred, I saw Mr. Johnston trying to raise +himself, and heard him cry, "Take care these men have tried to kill me, +and they will kill you!" + +Facing them sternly I demanded, "What is it that you want? He does not +understand your language. What do you want? Speak with me." + +Both men, thereon, raised their great clubs and made to strike me; but +quick as lightning these two dogs sprang at their faces and baffled +their blows. One dog was badly bruised, and the ground received the +other blow that would have launched me into Eternity. The best dog was a +little cross-bred retriever with terrier blood in him, splendid for +warning us of approaching dangers, and which had already been the means +of saving my life several times. Seeing how matters stood, I now hounded +both dogs furiously upon them, and the two savages fled. I shouted after +them, "Remember, Jehovah God sees you and will punish you for trying to +murder His servants!" + +In their flight, a large body of men, who had come eight or ten miles to +assist in the murder and plunder, came slipping here and there from the +bush and joined them, fleeing too. Verily, "the wicked flee, when no man +pursueth." David's experience and assurance came home to us, that +evening, as very real:--"God is our refuge and our strength...therefore +we will not fear." + +I, now accustomed to such scenes on Tanna, retired to rest and slept +soundly; but my dear fellow-laborer, as I afterwards learned, could not +sleep for one moment. His pallor and excitement continued next day, +indeed for several days; and after that, though he was naturally lively +and cheerful, I never saw him smile again. + +For that morning, 1st January 1861, the following entry was found in his +Journal: "To-day, with a heavy heart and a feeling of dread, I know not +why, I set out on my accustomed wanderings amongst the sick. I hastened +back to get the Teacher and carry Mr. Paton to the scene of distress. I +carried a bucket of water in one hand and medicine in the other; and so +we spent a portion of this day endeavoring to alleviate their +sufferings, and our work had a happy effect also on the minds of +others." In another entry, on 22d December, he wrote: "Measles are +making fearful havoc amongst the poor Tannese. As we pass through the +villages, mournful scenes meet the eye; young and old prostrated on the +ground, showing all these painful symptoms which accompany loathsome and +malignant diseases. In some villages few are left able to prepare food, +or to carry drink to the suffering and dying. How pitiful to see the +sufferers destitute of every comfort, attention, and remedy that would +ameliorate their suffering or remove their disease! As I think of the +tender manner in which we are nursed in sickness, the many remedies +employed to give relief, with the comforts and attention bestowed upon +us, my heart sickens, and I say, Oh my ingratitude and the ingratitude +of Christian people!" + +Having, as above recorded, consecrated our lives anew to God on the +first day of January, I was, up till the 16th of the month, accompanied +by Mr. Johnston and sometimes also by Mrs. Johnston on my rounds in the +villages amongst the sick, and they greatly helped me. But by an unhappy +accident I was laid aside when most sorely needed. When adzing a tree +for housebuilding I observed that Mahanan, the war Chief's brother, had +been keeping too near me, and that he carried a tomahawk in his hand; +and, in trying both to do my work and to keep an eye on him, I struck my +ankle severely with the adze. He moved off quickly, saying, "I did not +do that," but doubtless rejoicing at what had happened. The bone was +badly hurt, and several of the blood-vessels cut. Dressing it as well as +I could, and keeping it constantly soaked in cold water, I had to +exercise the greatest care. In this condition, amidst great sufferings, +I was sometimes carried to the villages to administer medicine to the +sick, and to plead and pray with the dying. + +On such occasions, in this mode of transit even, the conversations that +I had with dear Mr. Johnston were most solemn and greatly refreshing. He +had, however, scarcely ever slept since the 1st of January, and during +the night of the 16th he sent for my bottle of laudanum. Being severely +attacked with ague and fever, I could not go to him, but sent the +bottle, specifying the proper quantity for a dose, but that he quite +understood already. He took a dose for himself, and gave one also to his +wife, as she too suffered from sleeplessness. This he repeated three +nights in succession, and both of them obtained a long, sound and +refreshing sleep. He came to my bedside, where I lay in the ague-fever, +and said with great animation, amongst other things, "I have had such a +blessed sleep, and feel so refreshed! What kindness in God to provide +such remedies for suffering man!" + +At midday his dear wife came to me crying, "Mr. Johnston has fallen +asleep, so deep that I cannot awake him." + +My fever had reached the worst stage, but I struggled to my feet got to +his bedside, and found him in a state of coma, with his teeth fixed in +tetanus. With great difficulty we succeeded in slightly rousing him; +with a knife, spoon, and pieces of wood, we forced his teeth open, so as +to administer an emetic with good effects, and also other needful +medicines. For twelve hours, we had to keep him awake by repeated cold +dashes in the face, by ammonia, and by vigorously moving him about. He +then began to speak freely; and next day he rose and walked about a +little. For the two following days, he was sometimes better and +sometimes worse; but we managed to keep him up till the morning of the +21st, when he again fell into a state of coma, from which we failed to +rouse him. At two o'clock in the afternoon he fell asleep--another +Martyr for the testimony of Jesus in those dark and trying Isles, +leaving his young wife in indescribable sorrow, which she strove to bear +with Christian resignation. Having made his coffin and dug his grave, we +two alone at sunset laid him to rest beside my own dear wife and child, +close by the Mission House. + + + +CHAPTER XXX. +KOWIA. + +ANOTHER tragedy followed, with, however, much of the light of Heaven +amid its blackness, in the story of Kowia, a Tannese Chief of the +highest rank. Going to Aneityum in youth, he had there become a true +Christian. He married an Aneityumese Christian woman, with whom he lived +very happily and had two beautiful children. Some time before the +measles reached our island he returned to live with me as a Teacher and +to help forward our work on Tanna. He proved himself to be a decided +Christian; he was a real Chief amongst them, dignified in his whole +conduct, and every way a valuable helper to me. Everything was tried by +his own people to induce him to leave me and to renounce the Worship, +offering him every honor and bribe in their power. Failing these, they +threatened to take away all his lands, and to deprive him of +Chieftainship, but he answered "Take all! I shall still stand by Missi +and the Worship of Jehovah." + +From threats they passed to galling insults, all which he bore patiently +for Jesu's sake. But one day a party of his people came and sold some +fowls, and an impudent fellow lifted them after they had been bought and +offered to sell them again to me. Kowia shouted, "Don't purchase these, +Missi; I have just bought them for you, and paid for them!" + +Thereon the fellow began to mock at him. Kowia, gazing round on all +present, and then on me, rose like a lion awaking out of sleep, and with +flashing eyes exclaimed, "Missi, they think that because I am now a +Christian I have become a coward! a woman! to bear every abuse and +insult they can heap upon me. But I will show them for once that I am no +coward, that I am still their Chief, and that Christianity does not take +away but gives us courage and nerve." + +Springing at one man, he wrenched in a moment the mighty club from his +hands, and swinging it in air above his head like a toy, he cried, "Come +any of you, come all against your Chief! My Jehovah God makes my heart +and arms strong. He will help me in this battle as He helps me in other +things, for He inspires me to show you that Christians are no cowards, +though they are men of peace. Come on, and you will yet know that I am +Kowia your Chief." + +All fled as he approached them; and he cried, "Where are the cowards +now?" and handed back to the warrior his club. After this they left him +at peace. + +He lived at the Mission House, with his wife and children, and was a +great help and comfort to Abraham and myself. He was allowed to go more +freely and fearlessly amongst the people than any of the rest of our +Mission staff. The ague and fever on me at Mr. Johnston's death so +increased and reduced me to such weakness that I had become insensible, +while Abraham and Kowia alone attended to me. On returning to +consciousness I heard as in a dream Kowia lamenting over me, and +pleading that I might recover, so as to hear and speak with him before +he died. Opening my eyes and looking at him, I heard him say, "Missi, +all our Aneityumese are sick. Missi Johnson is dead. You are very sick, +and I am weak and dying. Alas, when I too am dead, who will climb the +trees and get you a cocoanut to drink? And who will bathe your lips and +brow?" + +Here he broke down into deep and long weeping, and then resumed, "Missi, +the Tanna-men hate us all on account of the Worship of Jehovah; and I +now fear He is going to take away all His servants from this land, and +leave my people to the Evil One and his service!" + +I was too weak to speak, so he went on, bursting into a soliloquy of +prayer: "O Lord Jesus, Missi Johnston is dead; Thou hast taken him away +from this land. Missi Johnston the woman and Missi Paton are very ill; I +am sick, and Thy servants the Aneityumese are all sick and dying. O +Lord, our Father in Heaven, art Thou going to take away all Thy +servants, and Thy Worship from this dark land? What meanest Thou to do, +O Lord? The Tannese hate Thee and Thy Worship and Thy servants; but +surely, O Lord, Thou canst not forsake Tanna and leave our people to die +in the darkness! Oh, make the hearts of this people soft to Thy Word and +sweet to Thy Worship; teach them to fear and love Jesus; and oh, restore +and spare Missi, dear Missi Paton, that Tanna may be saved!" + +Touched to the very fountains of my life by such prayers, from a man +once a Cannibal, I began under the breath of God's blessing to revive. + +A few days thereafter, Kowia came again to me, and rousing me out of +sleep, cried, "Missi, I am very weak; I am dying. I come to bid you +farewell, and go away to die. I am nearing death now, and I will soon +see Jesus." + +I spoke what words of consolation and cheer I could muster, but he +answered, "Missi, since you became ill my dear wife and children are +dead and buried. Most of our Aneityumese are dead, and I am dying. If I +remain on the hill, and die here at the Mission House, there are none +left to help Abraham to carry me down to the grave where my wife and +children are laid. I wish to lie beside them, that we may rise together +in the Great Day when Jesus comes. I am happy, looking unto Jesus! One +thing only deeply grieves me now; I fear God is taking us all away from +Tanna, and will leave my poor people dark and benighted as before, for +they hate Jesus and the Worship of Jehovah. O Missi, pray for them, and +pray for me once more before I go!" + +He knelt down at my side, and we prayed for each other and for Tanna. I +then urged him to remain at the Mission House, but he replied, "O Missi, +you do not know how near to death I am! I am just going, and will soon +be with Jesus, and see my wife and children now. While a little strength +is left, I will lean on Abraham's arm, and go down to the graves of my +dear ones and fall asleep there, and Abraham will dig a quiet bed and +lay me beside them. Farewell, Missi, I am very near death now; we will +meet again in Jesus and with Jesus!" + +With many tears he dragged himself away; and my heart-strings seemed all +tied round that noble simple soul, and felt like breaking one by one as +he left me there on my bed of fever all alone. Abraham sustained him, +tottering to the place of graves; there he lay down, and immediately +gave up the ghost and slept in Jesus; and there the faithful Abraham +buried him beside his wife and children. Thus died a man who had been a +cannibal Chief, but by the grace of God and the love of Jesus, changed, +transfigured into a character of light and beauty. I lost, in losing +him, one of my best friends and most courageous helpers; but I knew that +day, and I know now, that there is one soul at least from Tanna to sing +the glories of Jesus in Heaven--and, oh, the rapture when I meet him +there! + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. +MARTYRDOM OF THE GORDONS. + +MAY 1861 brought with it a sorrowful and tragic event, which fell as the +very shadow of doom across our path; I mean the martyrdom of the Gordons +on Erromanga. Rev. G. N. Gordon was a native of Prince Edward Island, +Nova Scotia, and was born in 1822. He was educated at the Free Church +College, Halifax, and placed as Missionary on Erromanga in June 1857. +Much troubled and opposed by the Sandal-wooders, he had yet acquired the +language and was making progress by inroads on Heathenism. A +considerable number of young men and women embraced the Christian Faith, +lived at the Mission House, and devotedly helped him and his excellent +wife in all their work. But the hurricanes and the measles, already +referred to, caused great mortality in Erromanga also; and the degraded +Traders, who had introduced the plague, in order to save themselves from +revenge, stimulated the superstitions of the Heathen, and charged the +Missionaries there too with causing sickness and all other calamities. +The Sandal-wooders hated him for fearlessly denouncing and exposing +their hideous atrocities. + +When Mr. Copeland and I placed the Native Teachers at Black Beach, +Tanna, we ran across to Erromanga in the _John Knox,_ taking a harmonium +to Mrs. Gordon, just come by their order from Sydney. When it was opened +out at the Mission House, and Mrs. Gordon began playing on it and +singing sweet hymns, the native women were in ecstasies. They at once +proposed to go off to the bush and cut each a burden of long grass, to +thatch the printing-office which Mr. Gordon was building in order to +print the Scriptures in their own tongue, if only Mrs. Gordon would play +to them at night and teach them to sing God's praises. They joyfully did +so, and then spent a happy evening singing those hymns. Next day being +Sabbath, we had a delightful season there, about thirty attending Church +and listening eagerly. The young men and women living at the Mission +House were being trained to become Teachers; they were reading a small +book in their own language, telling them the story of Joseph; and the +work every way seemed most hopeful. The Mission House had been removed a +mile or so up a hill, partly for Mrs. Gordon's health, and partly to +escape the annoying and contaminating influence of the Sandal-wooders on +the Christian Natives. + +On the 20th May 1861 he was still working at the roofing of the +printing-office, and had sent his lads to bring each a load of the long +grass to finish the thatching. Meantime a party of Erromangans from a +district called Bunk-Hill, under a Chief named Lovu, had been watching +him. They had been to the Mission House inquiring and they had seen him +send away his Christian lads. They then hid in the bush and sent two of +their men to the Missionary to ask for calico. On a piece of wood he +wrote a note to Mrs. Gordon to give them two yards each. They asked him +to go with them to the Mission House, as they needed medicine for a sick +boy, and Lovu their Chief wanted to see him. He tied up in a napkin a +meal of food, which had been brought to him but not eaten, and started +to go with them. He requested the native Narubulet to go on before with +his companion, but they insisted upon his going in front. In crossing a +streamlet, which I visited shortly afterwards, his foot slipped. A blow +was aimed at him with a tomahawk, which he caught; the other man struck, +but his weapon was also caught. One of the tomahawks was then wrenched +out of his grasp. Next moment a blow on the spine laid the dear +Missionary low, and a second on the neck almost severed the head from +the body. The other Natives then rushed from their ambush, and began +dancing round him with frantic shoutings. Mrs. Gordon hearing the noise, +came out and stood in front of the Mission House, looking in the +direction of her husband's working place, and wondering what had +happened. Ouben, one of the party, who had run towards the Station the +moment that Mr. Gordon fell, now approached her. A merciful clump of +trees had hid from her eyes all that had occurred, and she said to +Ouben, "What's the cause of that noise?" + +He replied, "Oh, nothing! only the boys amusing themselves!" + +Saying, "Where are the boys?" she turned round. Ouben slipped stealthily +behind her, sank his tomahawk into her back, and with another blow +almost severed her head! + +Such was the fate of those two devoted servants of the Lord; loving in +their lives, and in their deaths not divided--their spirits, wearing the +crown of martyrdom, entered Glory together to be welcomed by Williams +and Harris, whose blood was shed near the same now hallowed spot for the +name and cause of Jesus. They had labored four years on Erromanga, +amidst trials and dangers manifold, and had not been without tokens of +blessing in the Lord's work. Never more earnest or devoted Missionaries +lived and died in the Heathen field. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. +SHADOWS DEEPENING ON TANNA. + +IMMEDIATELY thereafter, a Sandal-wood Trader brought in his boat a party +of Erromangans by night to Tanna. They assembled our Harbor Chiefs and +people, and urged them to kill us and Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson and the +Teachers, or allow them to do so, as they had killed Mr. and Mrs. +Gordon. Then they proposed to go to Aneityum and kill the Missionaries +there, as the Aneityumese Natives had burned their Church, and thus they +would sweep away the Worship and the servants of Jehovah from all the +New Hebrides. Our Chiefs, however, refused, restrained by the Merciful +One, and the Erromangans returned to their own island in a sulky mood. + +Notwithstanding this refusal, as if they wished to reserve the murder +and plunder for themselves, our Mission House was next day thronged with +armed men, some from Inland, others from Mr. Mathieson's Station. They +loudly praised the Erromangans! The leader said again and again in my +hearing, "The men of Erromanga killed Missi Williams long ago. We killed +the Rarotongan and Samoan Teachers. We fought Missi Turner and Missi +Nisbet, and drove them from our island. We killed the Aneityumese +Teachers on Aniwa, and one of Missi Paton's Teachers too. We killed +several white men, and no Man-of-war punished us. Let us talk over this, +about killing Missi Paton and the Aneityumese, till we see if any +Man-of-war comes to punish the Erromangans. If not, let us unite, let us +kill these Missionaries, let us drive the Worship of Jehovah from our +land!" + +An Inland Chief said or rather shouted in my hearing, "My love to the +Erromangans! They are strong and brave men, the Erromangans. They have +killed their Missi and his wife, while we only talk about it. They have +destroyed the Worship and driven away Jehovah!" + +I stood amongst them and protested, "God will yet punish the Erromangans +for such wicked deeds. God has heard all your bad talk, and will punish +it in His own time and way." + +But they shouted me down, amidst great excitement, with the cry, "Our +love to the Erromangans! Our love to the Erromangans!" + +After I left them, Abraham heard them say, "Miaki is lazy. Let us meet +in every village, and talk with each other. Let us all agree to kill +Missi and the Aneityumese for the first of our Chiefs that dies." + +The night after the visit of the Erromangan boat, and the sad news of +Mr. and Mrs. Gordon's death, the Tannese met on their village +dancing-grounds and held high festival in praise of the Erromangans. Our +best friend, old Nowar the Chief, who had worn shirt and kilt for some +time and had come regularly to the Worship, relapsed once more; he +painted his face, threw off his clothing, resumed his bow and arrows and +his tomahawk, of which he boasted that it had killed very many men and +at least one woman! On my shaming him for professing to worship Jehovah +and yet uniting with the Heathen in rejoicing over the murder of His +servants on Erromanga, he replied to this effect, "Truly, Missi, they +have done well. If the people of Erromanga are severely punished for +this by the Man-of-war, we will all hear of it; and our people will then +fear to kill you and the other Missionaries, so as to destroy the +Worship of Jehovah. Now, they say, the Erromangans killed Missi Williams +and the Samoan, Rarotongan, and Aneityumese Teachers, besides other +white men, and no Man-of-war has punished either them or us. If they are +not punished for what has been done on Erromanga, nothing else can keep +them here from killing you and me and all who worship at the Mission +House!" + +I answered, "Nowar, let us all be strong to love and serve Jehovah +Jesus. If it be for our good and His glory, He will protect us; if not, +He will take us to be with Himself. We will not be killed by their bad +talk. Besides, what avails it to us, when dead and gone, if even a +Man-of-war should come and punish our murderers?" + +He shrugged his shoulders, answering, "Missi, by and by you will see. +Mind, I tell you the truth. I know our Tannese people. How is it that +Jehovah did not protect the Gordons and the Erromangan worshipers? If +the Erromangans are not punished, neither will our Tannese be punished, +though they murder all Jehovah's people!" + +I felt for Nowar's struggling faith, just trembling on the verge of +Cannibalism yet, and knowing so little of the true Jehovah. + +Groups of Natives assembled suspiciously near us and sat whispering +together. They urged old Abraham to return to Aneityum by the very first +opportunity, as our lives were certain to be taken, but he replied, "I +will not leave Missi." + +Abraham and I were thrown much into each other's company, and he stood +by me in every danger. We conducted Family Prayers alternately; and that +evening he said during the prayer in Tannese, in which language alone we +understood each other:-- + +"O Lord, our Heavenly Father, they have murdered Thy servants on +Erromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now +they want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and +make their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are +permitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of +Thy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for +sinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to Heaven--that +good place where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon the woman and all +thy dear servants now are singing Thy praise and seeing Thy face. Our +Lord, our hearts are pained just now, and we weep over the death of Thy +dear servants; but make our hearts good and strong for Thy cause, and +take thou away all our fears. Make us two and all Thy servants strong +for Thee and for Thy Worship; and if they kill us two, let us die +together in Thy good work, like Thy servants Missi Gordon the man and +Missi Gordon the woman." + +In this manner his great simple soul poured itself out to God; and my +heart melted within me as it had never done under any prayer poured from +the lips of cultured Christian men! + +Under the strain of these events, Miaki came to our house, and attacked +me in hearing of his men to this effect, "You and the Worship are the +cause of all the sickness and death now taking place on Tanna! The +Erromanga men killed Missi Gordon the man and also the woman, and they +are all well long ago. The Worship is killing us all; and the Inland +people will kill us for keeping you and the Worship here; for we love +the conduct of Tanna, but we hate the Worship. We must kill you and it, +and we shall all be well again." + +I tried to reason firmly and kindly with them, showing them that their +own conduct was destroying them, and that our presence and the Worship +could only be a blessing to them in every way, if only they would accept +of it and give up their evil ways. I referred to a poor girl, whom Miaka +and his men had stolen and abused--that they knew such conduct to be +bad, and that God would certainly punish them for it. + +He replied, "Such is the conduct of Tanna. Our fathers loved and +followed it, we love and follow it, and if the Worship condemns it, we +will kill you and destroy the Worship." + +I said, "The Word of the Holy God condemns all bad conduct, and I must +obey my God in trying to lead you to give it up, and to love and serve +His Son Jesus our Saviour. If I refuse to obey my God, He will punish +me." + +He declared that his heart was good, that his conduct was good, but that +he hated the teaching of the Worship. He had a party of men staying with +him from the other side of the island, and he sent back a present of +four large fat hogs to their Chiefs, with a message as to the killing of +the Mathiesons. If that were done, his hands would be strengthened in +dealing with us. + +To know what was best to be done, in such trying circumstances, was an +abiding perplexity. To have left altogether, when so surrounded by +perils and enemies, at first seemed the wisest course, and was the +repeated advice of many friends. But again, I had acquired the language, +and had gained a considerable Influence amongst the Natives, and there +were a number warmly attached both to himself and to the Worship. To +have left would have been to lose all, which to me was heartrending; +therefore, risking all with Jesus, I held on while the hope of being +spared longer had not absolutely and entirely vanished. + +The following quotation from a letter of the late A. Clark, Esq., J. P., +Auckland, New Zealand, will show what Bishop Selwyn thought of my +standing fast on Tanna at the post of duty, and he knew what he was +writing about. These are the words:--"'Talk of bravery! talk of heroism! +The man who leads a forlorn hope is a coward in comparison with him, +who, on Tanna, thus alone, without a sustaining look or cheering word +from one of his own race, regards it as his duty to hold on in the face +of such dangers. We read of the soldier, found after the lapse of ages +among the ruins of Herculaneum, who stood firm at his post amid the +fiery rain destroying all around him, thus manifesting the rigidity of +the discipline among those armies of Ancient Rome which conquered the +World. Mr. Paton was subjected to no such iron law. He might with honor, +when offered to him, have sought a temporary asylum in Auckland, where +he would have been heartily received. But he was moved by higher +considerations. He chose to remain, and God knows whether at this moment +he is in the land of the living!' When the Bishop told us that he +declined leaving Tanna by H. M. S. _Pelorus,_ he added, 'And I like him +all the better for so doing!'" + +For my part I feel quite confident that, in like circumstances, that +noble Bishop of God would have done the same. I, born in the bosom of +the Scottish Covenant descended from those who suffered persecution for +Christ's honor, would have been unworthy of them and of my Lord had I +deserted my post for danger only. Yet not to me, but to the Lord who +sustained me, be all the praise and the glory. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. +THE VISIT OF THE COMMODORE. + +AT that time, though my life was daily attempted, a dear lad, named +Katasian, was coming six miles regularly to the Worship and to receive +frequent instruction. One day, when engaged in teaching him, I caught a +man stealing the blind from my window. On trying to prevent him, he +aimed his great club at me, but I seized the heavy end of it with both +my hands as it swung past my head, and held on with all my might. What a +prayer went up from me to God at that dread moment! The man, astonished +and abashed at my kind words and appeal, slunk away and left me in +peace. God never took away from me the consciousness that it was still +right for me to be kind and forgiving, and to hope that I might lead +them to love and imitate Jesus. + +For some time, Nouka and his wife and daughter--a handsome girl, his +only child--and Miaki's principal wife and her two sons, and nine Chiefs +attended Worship regularly at the Mission House, on Sabbaths and on the +afternoon of every Wednesday. In ail, about sixty persons somewhat +regularly waited on our ministrations at this time; and amidst all +perils I was encouraged, and my heart was full of hope. Yet one evening +when feeling more consoled and hopeful than ever before, a musket was +discharged at my very door, and I was constrained to realize that we +were in the midst of death. Father, our times are in Thy hand! + +In my Mission School, I offered as a prize a red shirt for the first +Chief who knew the whole Alphabet without a mistake. It was won by an +Inikahi Chief, who was once a terror to the whole community. Afterwards, +when trying to teach the A B C to others, he proceeded in something like +this graphic style: "A is a man's legs with the body cut off; B is like +two eyes; C is a three-quarters moon; D is like one eye; E is a man with +one club under his feet and another over his head; F is a man with a +large club and a smaller one," etc., etc.; L was like a man's foot; Q +was the talk of the dove, etc. Then he would say, "Remember these +things; you will soon get hold of the letters and be able to read. I +have taught my little child, who can scarcely walk, the names of them +all. They are not hard to hold, but soft and easy. You will soon learn +to read the book, if you try it with all your heart!" + +But Miaki was still our evil genius, and every incident seemed to be +used by him for one settled purpose of hate. A Kaserumini Chief, for +instance, and seven men took away a young girl in a canoe to Aniwa, to +be sold to friends there for tobacco leaf, which the Aniwans cultivated +extensively. They also prepared to take revenge there for a child's +death, killed in their belief by the sorcery of an Aniwan. When within +sight of the shore, the canoes were upset and all were said to have been +devoured by sharks, excepting only one canoe out of six. This one +returned to Tanna and reported that there were two white Traders living +on Aniwa, that they had plenty of ammunition and tobacco, but that they +would not come to Tanna as long as a Missionary lived there. Under this +fresh incitement, a party of Miaki's men came to my house, praising the +Erromangans for the murder of their Missionaries and threatening me. + +Even the friendly Nowar said, "Miaki will make a great wind and sink any +Man-of-war that comes here. We will take the Man-of-war and kill all +that are on board. If you and Abraham do not leave us we will kill you +both, for we must have the Traders and the powder." + +Just as they were assuming a threatening attitude, other Natives came +running with the cry, "Missi, the _John Knox_ is coming into the Harbor, +and two great ships of fire, Men-of war, behind her, coming very fast!" + +I retorted upon Nowar and the hostile company, "Now is your time! Make +all possible haste! Let Miaki raise his great wind now; get all your men +ready; I will tell them that you mean to fight, and you will find them +always ready!" + +Miaki's men fled away in unconcealed terror; but Nowar came to me and +said "Missi, I know that my talk is all lies, but if I speak the truth, +they will kill me!" + +I answered, "Trust in Jehovah, the same God who sent these vessels now, +to protect us from being murdered." But Nowar always wavered. + +And now from all parts of the island those who were most friendly +flocked to us. They were clamorous to have Miaki and some others of our +enemies punished by the Man-of-war in presence of the Natives; and then +they would be strong to speak in our defense and to lead the Tannese to +worship Jehovah. + +Commodore Seymour, Captain Hume, and Dr. Geddie came on shore. After +inquiring into everything, the Commodore urged me to leave at once, and +very kindly offered to remove me to Aneityum, or Auckland, or any place +of safety that I preferred. Again, however, I hesitated to leave my dear +benighted Tannese, knowing that both Stations would be instantly broken +up, that all the influence gained would be thrown away, that the Church +would lose all that had been expended, and above all, that those +friendly to us would be left to persecution and destruction. For a long +time I had seldom taken off my clothes at night, needing to be +constantly on the alert to start at a moment's notice; yet, while hope +burned within my soul I could not withdraw, so I resolved to risk all +with my dear Lord Jesus, and remained at my post. At my request, +however, they met and talked with all the leaders who could be assembled +at the Mission House. The Natives declared frankly that they liked me, +but did not like the Worship. The Commodore reminded them that they had +invited me to land among them, and had pledged their word more than once +to protect me; he argued with them that as they had no fault to find +with me, but only with the Worship, which could do them only good, they +must bind themselves to protect my life. Miaki and others promised, and +gave him their hand to do so. Lathella, an Aneityumese Chief, who was +with Dr. Geddie, interpreted for him and them, Dr. Geddie explaining +fully to Lathella in Aneityumese what the Commodore said in English, and +Lathella explaining all to the Tannese in their own tongue. + +At last old Mouka spoke out for all and said, "Captain Paddan and all +the Traders tell us that the Worship causes all our sickness and death. +They will not trade with us, nor sell us tobacco, pipes, powder, balls, +caps, and muskets, till we kill our Missi like the Erromangans, but +after that they will send a Trader to live among us and give us plenty +of all these things. We love Missi. But when the Traders tell us that +the Worship makes us sick, and when they bribe us with tobacco and +powder to kill him or drive him away, some believe them and our hearts +do bad conduct to Missi. Let Missi remain here, and we will try to do +good conduct to Missi; but you must tell Queen 'Toria of her people's +bad treatment of us, and that she must prevent her Traders from killing +us with their measles, and from telling us lies to make us do bad +conduct to Missi! If they come to us and talk as before, our hearts are +very dark and may again lead us to bad conduct to Missi." + +After this little parley, the Commodore invited us all on board, along +with the Chiefs. They saw about three hundred brave marines ranked up on +deck, and heard a great cannon discharged. For all such efforts to +impress them and open their eyes, I felt profoundly grateful; but too +clearly I knew and saw that only the grace of God could lastingly change +them! They were soon back to their old arguments, and were heard saying +to one another, "If no punishment is inflicted on the Erromangans for +murdering the Missi there, we fear the bad conduct of the Tannese will +continue." + +No punishment was inflicted at Erromanga, and the Tannese were soon as +bold and wicked as ever. For instance, while the Man-of-war lay in the +Harbor, Nowar kept himself closely concealed; but no sooner had she +sailed than the cowardly fellow came out, laughing at the others, and +protesting that he was under no promise and was free to act as he +pleased! Yet in the hour of danger he generally proved to be our friend; +such was his vacillating character. Nor was Miaki very seriously +impressed. Mr. Mathieson shortly thereafter sent his boat round to me, +being again short of European food. On his crew leaving her to deliver +their message to me, some of Miaki's men at once jumped into the boat +and started off round the island in search of kava. I went to Miaki, to +ask that the boat might be brought back soon, but on seeing me he ran +for his club and aimed to strike me. I managed to seize it, and to hold +on, pleading with God and talking with Miaki, till by interference of +some friendly Natives his wrath was assuaged a little. Returning home, I +sent food overland to keep the Mathiesons going till the boat returned, +which she did in about eight days. Thus light and shadow pursued each +other, the light brightening for a moment, but upon the whole the +shadows deepening. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. +THE WAR CHIEFS IN COUNCIL. + +A TIME of great excitement amongst the Natives now prevailed. War, war, +nothing but war was spoken of! Preparations for war were being made in +all the villages far and near. Fear sat on every face, and armed bands +kept watching each other, as if uncertain where the war was to begin or +by whom. All work was suspended, and that war spirit was let loose which +rouses the worst passions of human nature. Again we found ourselves the +center of conflict, one party set for killing us or driving us away; the +other wishing to retain us, while all old bitter grievances were also +dragged into their speeches. + +Miaki and Nouka said, "If you will keep Missi and his Worship, take him +with you to your own land, for we will not have him to live at the +Harbor." + +Ian, the great Inland Chief, rose in wrath and said, "On whose lands +does the Missi live, yours or ours? Who fight against the Worship and +all good, who are the thieves and murderers, who tell the lies, you or +we? We wish peace, but you will have war. We like Missi and the Worship, +but you hate them and say, 'Take him to your own land!' It is our land +on which he now lives; it is his own land which he bought from you, but +which our fathers sold Missi Turner long ago. The land was not yours to +sell; it was really ours. Your fathers stole it from us long ago by war; +but we would not have asked it back, had you not asked us to take Missi +away. Now we will defend him on it, and he will teach us and our people +in our own land!" So meeting after meeting broke into fiery speech, and +separated with many threats. + +To the next great meeting I was invited, but did not go, contenting +myself with a message pleading that they should live at peace and on no +account go to war with each other. But Ian himself came for me. I said, +"Ian, I have told you my whole heart. Go not to that meeting. I will +rather leave the island or die, than see you going to war about me!" + +He answered, "Missi, come with me, come now!" + +I replied, "Ian, you are surely not taking me away to kill me? If you +are, my God will punish it." + +His only reply was, "Follow me, follow me quickly." + +I felt constrained to go. He strode on before me till we reached the +great village of his ancestors. His followers, armed largely with +muskets as well as native weapons, filled one half the Village Square or +dancing-ground. Miaki, Nouka, and their whole party sat in manifest +terror upon the other half. Marching into the center, he stood with me +by his side, and proudly looking round, exclaimed, "Missi, these are my +men and your friends! We are met to defend you and the Worship." Then +pointing across to the other side, he cried aloud, "These are your +enemies and ours! The enemies of the Worship, the disturbers of the +peace on Tanna! Missi, say the word, and the muskets of my men will +sweep all opposition away, and the Worship will spread and we will all +be strong for it on Tanna. We will not shoot without your leave; but if +you refuse they will kill you and persecute us and our children, and +banish Jehovah's Worship from our land." + +I said, "I love all of you alike. I am here to teach you how to turn +away from all wickedness, to worship and serve Jehovah, and to live in +peace. How can I approve of any person being killed for me or for the +Worship? My God would be angry at me and punish me, if I did!" + +He replied, "Then, Missi, you will be murdered and the Worship +destroyed." + +I then stood forth in the middle before them all and cried, "You may +shoot or murder me, but I am your best friend. I am not afraid to die. +You will only send me the sooner to my Jehovah God, whom I love and +serve, and to my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, who died for me and for you, +and who sent me here to tell you all His love. If you will only love and +serve Him and give up your bad conduct, you will be happy. But if you +kill me, His messenger, rest assured that He will in His own time and +way punish you. This is my word to you all; my love to you all!" + +So saying, I turned to leave; and Ian strode suddenly away and stood at +the head of his men, crying, "Missi, they will kill you! they will kill +us, and you will be to blame!" + +Miaki and Nouka, full of deceit, now cried out, "Missi's word is good! +Let us all obey it. Let us all worship." + +An old man, Sirawia, one of Ian's under-chiefs, then said, "Miaki and +Nouka say that the land on which Missi lives was theirs; though they +sold it to him and he has paid them for it, they all know that it was +ours, and is yet ours by right; but if they let Missi live on it in +peace, we will all live at peace, and worship Jehovah. And if not, we +will surely claim it again." + +Miaki and his party hereon went off to their plantations, and brought a +large present of food to Ian and his men as a peace-offering. This they +accepted; and the next day Ian and his men brought Miaki a return +present and said, "You know that Missi lives on our land? Take our +present, be friends, and let him live quietly and teach us all. +Yesterday you said his word was good; obey it now, else we will punish +you and defend the Missi." + +Miaki accepted the token, and gave good promises for the future. Ian +then came to the hill-top near our house, by which passed the public +path, and cried aloud in the hearing of all, "Abraham, tell Missi that +you and he now live on our land. This path is the march betwixt Miaki +and us. We have this day bought back the land of our fathers by a great +price to prevent war. Take of our breadfruits and also of our cocoanuts +what you require, for you are our friends and living on our land, and we +will protect you and the Worship!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. +UNDER KNIFE AND TOMAHAWK. + +CHAFED at the upsetting of all their plans and full of revenge, Nouka +and Miaki and their allies declared publicly that they were now going to +kill Ian by sorcery, _i. e._ by Nahak, more feared by the poor Tannese +than the field of battle. Strange to say. Ian became sick shortly after +the Sacred Men had made the declaration about their Nahak-sorcery. I +attended him, and for a time he recovered, and appeared very grateful. +But he soon fell sick again. I sent him and the Chief next under him a +blanket each; I also gave shirts and calico to a number of his leading +men. They wore them and seemed grateful and pleased. Ian, however, +gradually sank and got worse. He had every symptom of being poisoned, a +thing easily accomplished, as they know and use many deadly poisons. His +sufferings were very great, which prevented me from ascribing his +collapse to mere superstitious terror. I did all that could be done; but +all thought him dying, and of course by sorcery. His people were angry +at me for not consenting before to their shooting of Miaki; and Miaki's +people were now rejoicing that Ian was being killed by Nahak. + +One night, his brother and a party came for me to go and see Ian, but I +declined to go till the morning for fear of the fever and ague. On +reaching his village, I saw many people about, and feared that I had +been led into a snare; but I at once entered into his house to talk and +pray with him, as he appeared to be dying. After prayer, I discovered +that I was left alone with him, and that all the people had retired from +the village; and I knew that, according to their custom, this meant +mischief. Ian said, "Come near me, and sit by my bedside to talk with +me, Missi." + +I did so, and while speaking to him he lay as if lost in a swoon of +silent meditation. Suddenly he drew from the sugar-cane leaf thatch +close to his bed a large butcher-like knife, and instantly feeling the +edge of it with his other hand, he pointed it to within a few inches of +my heart and held it quivering there, all atremble with excitement. I +durst neither move nor speak, except that my heart kept praying to the +Lord to spare me, or if my time was come to take me home to Glory with +Himself. There passed a few moments of awful suspense. My sight went and +came. Not a word had been spoken, except to Jesus; and then Ian wheeled +the knife around, thrust it into the sugar-cane leaf, and cried to me, +"Go, go quickly!" + +Next moment I was on the road. Not a living soul was to be seen about +the village. I understood then that it had been agreed that Ian was to +kill me, and that they had all withdrawn so as not to witness it, that +when the Man-of-war came to inquire about me, Ian would be dead, and no +punishment could overtake the murderer. I walked quietly till quite free +of the village, lest some hid in their houses might observe me. +Thereafter, fearing that they, finding I had escaped, might overtake and +murder me, I ran for my life a weary four miles till I reached the +Mission House, faint yet praising God for such a deliverance. Poor Ian +died soon after, and his people strangled one of his wives and hanged +another, and took out the three bodies together in a canoe and sank them +in the sea. + +Miaki was jubilant over having killed his enemy by Nahak; but the Inland +people now assembled in thousands to help Sirawia and his brother to +avenge that death on Miaki, Nouka, and Karewick. These, on the other +hand, boasted that they would kill all their enemies by Nahak-sorcery, +and would call up a hurricane to destroy their houses, fruit-trees, and +plantations. Immediately after Miaki's threat about bringing a storm, +one of their great hurricanes actually smote that side of the island and +laid everything waste. His enemies were greatly enraged, and many of the +injured people united with them in demanding revenge on Miaki. Hitherto +I had done everything in my power to prevent war, but now it seemed +inevitable, and both parties sent word that if Abraham and I kept to the +Mission House no one would harm us. We had little faith in any of their +promises, but there was no alternative for us. + +On the following Saturday, 18th January 1862, the war began. Musket +after musket was discharged quite near us, and the bush all around rang +with the yell of their war-cry, which if once heard will never be +forgotten. It came nearer and nearer, for Miaki fled, and his people +took shelter behind and around our house. We were placed in the heart of +danger, and the balls flew thick all around us. In the afternoon Ian's +brother and his party retired, and Miaki quickly sent messengers and +presents to the Inikahimini and Kaserumini districts, to assemble all +their people and help him "to fight Missi and the Tannese who were +friends of the Worship." He said, "Let us cook his body and Abraham's, +and distribute them to every village on this side of the island!" + +Yet all the while Miaki assured me that he had sent a friendly message. +The war went on, and poor Nowar the Chief protected us, till he had a +spear broken into his right knee. The enemy would have carried him off +to feast on his body; but his young men, shouting wildly his name and +battle-cry, rushed in with great impetuosity and carried their wounded +Chief home in triumph. The Inland people now discharged muskets at my +house and beat against the walls with their clubs. They smashed in the +door and window of our storeroom, broke open boxes and casks, tore my +books to pieces and scattered them about, and carried off everything for +which they cared, including my boat, mast, oars, and sails. They broke +into Abraham's house and plundered it; after which they made a rush at +the bedroom, into which we were locked, firing muskets, yelling, and +trying to break it in. A Chief, professing to be sorry for us, called me +to the window, but on seeing me he sent a tomahawk through it crying, +"Come on, let us kill him now!" + +I replied, "My Jehovah God will punish you; a Man-of-war will come and +punish you, if you kill Abraham, his wife, or me." + +He retorted, "It's all lies about a Man-of-war! They did not punish the +Erromangans. They are afraid of us. Come on, let us kill them!" + +He raised his tomahawk and aimed to strike my forehead, many muskets +were uplifted as if to shoot, so I raised a revolver in my right hand +and pointed it at them. The Rev. Joseph Copeland had left it with me on +a former visit. I did not wish it, but he insisted upon leaving it, +saying that the very knowledge that I had such a weapon might save my +life. Truly, on this occasion it did so. Though it was harmless they +fell back quickly. My immediate assailant dropped to the ground, crying, +"Missi has got a short musket! He will shoot you all!" + +After lying flat on the ground for a little, they all got up and ran to +the nearest bush, where they continued yelling about and showing their +muskets. Towards nightfall they left, loaded with the plunder of the +store and of Abraham's house. So God once more graciously protected us +from falling into their cruel hands. + +In the evening, after they left, I went to Miaki and Nouka. Miaki, with +a sneer, said, "Missi, where was Jehovah to-day? There was no Jehovah +to-day to protect you. It's all lies about Jehovah. They will come and +kill you, and Abraham, and his wife, and cut your bodies into pieces to +be cooked and eaten in every village upon Tanna." + +I said, "Surely, when you had planned all this, and brought them to kill +us and steal all our property, Jehovah did protect us, or we would not +have been here!" + +He replied, "There was no Jehovah to-day! We have no fear of any +Man-of-war. They dare not punish us. They durst not punish the +Erromangans for murdering the Gordons. They will talk to us and say we +must not do so again, and give us a present. That is all. We fear +nothing. The talk of all Tanna is that we will kill you and seize all +your property tomorrow." + +I warned him that the punishment of a Man-of-war can only reach the body +and the land, but that Jehovah's punishment reached both body and soul +in Time and in Eternity. + +He replied, "Who fears Jehovah? He was not here to protect you to-day!" + +"Yes," I said, "my Jehovah God is here now. He hears all we say, sees +all we do, and will punish the wicked and protect His own people." + +After this, a number of the people sat down around me, and I prayed with +them. But I left with a very heavy heart, feeling that Miaki was +evidently bent on our destruction. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. +THE BEGINNING OF THE END. + +I SENT Abraham to consult Nowar, who had defended us till disabled by a +spear in the right knee. He sent a canoe by Abraham, advising me to take +some of my goods in it to his house by night, and he would try to +protect them and us. The risk was so great we could only take a very +little. Enemies were on every hand to cut off our flight, and Miaki, the +worst of all, whose village had to be passed in going to Nowar's. In the +darkness of the Mission House, we durst not light a candle for fear of +some one seeing and shooting us. Not one of Nowar's men durst come to +help us. But in the end it made no difference, for Nowar and his men +kept what was taken there, as their portion of the plunder. Abraham, his +wife, and I waited anxiously for the morning light. Miaki, the false and +cruel, came to assure us that the Heathen would not return that day. +Yet, as daylight came in, Miaki himself stood and blew a great conch not +far from our house. I ran out to see why this trumpet-shell had been +blown, and found it was the signal for a great company of howling armed +savages to rush down the hill on the other side of the bay and make +straight for the Mission House. We had not a moment to lose. To have +remained would have been certain death to us all, and also to Matthew, a +Teacher just arrived from Mr. Mathieson's Station. Though I am by +conviction a strong Calvinist, I am no Fatalist. I held on while one +gleam of hope remained. Escape for life was now the only path of duty. I +called the Teachers, locked the door, and made quickly for Nowar's +village. There was not a moment left to carry anything with us. In the +issue, Abraham and his wife and I lost all our earthly goods, and all +our clothing except what we had on. My Bible, the few translations which +I had made into Tannese, and a light pair of blankets I carried with me. + +We durst not choose the usual path along the beach, for there our +enemies would have quickly overtaken us. We entered the bush in the hope +of getting away unobserved. But a cousin of Miaki, evidently secreted to +watch us, sprang from behind a breadfruit tree, and swinging his +tomahawk, aimed it at my brow with a fiendish look. Avoiding it I turned +upon him and said in a firm bold voice, "If you dare to strike me, my +Jehovah God will punish you. He is here to defend me now!" + +The man, trembling, looked all round as if to see the God who was my +defender, and the tomahawk gradually lowered at his side. With my eye +fixed upon him, I gradually moved backwards in the track of the +Teachers, and God mercifully restrained him from following me. + +On reaching Nowar's village unobserved, we found the people +terror-stricken, crying, rushing about in despair at such a host of +armed savages approaching. I urged them to ply their axes, cut down +trees, and blockade the path. For a little they wrought vigorously at +this; but when, so far as eye could reach, they saw the shore covered +with armed men rushing on towards their village, they were overwhelmed +with fear, they threw away their axes and weapons of war, they cast +themselves headlong on the ground, and they knocked themselves against +the trees as if to court death before it came. They cried, "Missi, it's +of no use! We will all be killed and eaten to-day! See what a host are +coming against us." + +Mothers snatched up little children and ran to hide in the bush. Others +waded as far as they could into the sea with them, holding their heads +above the water. The whole village collapsed in a condition of +indescribable terror. Nowar, lame with his wounded knee, got a canoe +turned upside-down and sat upon it where he could see the whole +approaching multitude. He said, "Missi, sit down beside me, and pray to +our Jehovah God, for if He does not send deliverance now, we are all +dead men. They will kill us all on your account, and that quickly. Pray, +and I will watch!" + +They had gone to the Mission House and broken in the door, and finding +that we had escaped, they rushed on to Nowar's village. For, as they +began to plunder the bedroom, Nouka said, "Leave everything. Missi will +come back for his valuable things at night, and then we will get them +and him also!" + +So he nailed up the door, and they all marched for Nowar's. We prayed as +one can only pray when in the jaws of death and on the brink of +Eternity. We felt that God was near, and omnipotent to do what seemed +best in His sight. When the savages were about three hundred yards off, +at the foot of a hill leading up to the village, Nowar touched my knee, +saying. "Missi, Jehovah is hearing! They are all standing still." + +Had they come on they would have met with no opposition, for the people +were scattered in terror. On gazing shorewards, and round the Harbor, as +far as we could see, was a dense host of warriors, but all were standing +still, and apparently absolute silence prevailed. We saw a messenger or +herald running along the approaching multitude, delivering some tidings +as he passed, and then disappearing in the bush. To our amazement, the +host began to turn, and slowly marched back in great silence, and +entered the remote bush at the head of the Harbor. Nowar and his people +were in ecstasies, crying out, "Jehovah has heard Missi's prayer! +Jehovah has protected us and turned them away back." + +About midday, Nouka and Miaki sent their cousin Jonas, who had always +been friendly to me, to say that I might return to my house in safety, +as they were now carrying the war inland. Jonas had spent some years on +Samoa, and been much with Traders in Sydney, and spoke English well; but +we felt they were deceiving us. Next night, Abraham ventured to creep +near the Mission House, to test whether we might return, and save some +valuable things, and get a change of clothing. The house appeared to +stand as when they nailed up the door. But a large party of Miaki's +allies at once enclosed Abraham, and, after asking many questions about +me, they let him go since I was not there. Had I gone there they would +certainly that night have killed me. Again, at midnight Abraham and his +wife and Matthew went to the Mission House, and found Nouka, Miaki, and +Karewick near by, concealed in the bush among the reeds. Once more they +enclosed them, thinking I was there too, but Nouka, finding that I was +not, cried out, "Don't kill them just now! Wait till Missi comes." + +Hearing this, Matthew slipped into the bush and escaped. Abraham's wife +waded into the sea, and they allowed her to get away. Abraham was +allowed to go to the Mission House, but he too crept into the bush, and +after an anxious waiting they all came back to me in safety. We now gave +up all hope of recovering anything from the house. + +Towards morning, when Miaki and his men saw that I was not coming back +to deliver myself into their hands, they broke up my house and stole all +they could carry away. They tore my books, and scattered them about. +They took away the type of my printing-press, to be made into bullets +for their muskets. For similar uses they melted down the zinc lining of +my boxes, and everything else that could be melted. What they could not +take away, they destroyed. + +As the night advanced, Nowar declared that I must leave his village +before morning, else he and his people would be killed for protecting +me. He advised me, as the sea was good, to try for Mr. Mathieson's +Station; but he objected to my taking away any of my property--he would +soon follow with it himself! But how to sail? Miaki had stolen my boat, +mast, sails, and oars, as also an excellent canoe made for me and paid +for by me on Aneityum; and he had threatened to shoot any person that +assisted me to launch either the one or the other. The danger still +increasing, Nowar said, "You cannot remain longer in my house! My son +will guide you to the large chestnut tree in my plantation in the bush. +Climb up into it, and remain there till the moon rises." + +Being entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends, I, +though perplexed, felt it best to obey. I climbed into the tree, and was +left there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all before me +as if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of +muskets, and the yells of the savages. Yet I sat there among the +branches, as safe in the arms of Jesus. Never, in all my sorrows, did my +Lord draw nearer to me, and speak more soothingly in my soul, than when +the moonlight flickered among these chestnut leaves, and the night air +played on my throbbing brow, as I told all my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet +not alone! If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge to spend many +nights alone in such a tree, to feel again my Saviour's spiritual +presence, to enjoy His consoling fellowship. If thus thrown back upon +your own soul, alone, all, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in +the very embrace of death itself, have you a Friend that will not fail +you then? + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. +FIVE HOURS IN A CANOE. + +GLADLY would I have lingered there for one night of comparative peace! +But Nowar sent his son to call me down from the tree, and to guide me to +the shore where he himself was, as it was now time to take to sea in the +canoe. Pleading for my Lord's continuing presence, I had to obey. My +life and the lives of my Aneityumese now hung upon a very slender +thread; the risk was almost equally great from our friends so-called, or +from our enemies. Had I been a stranger to Jesus and to prayer, my +reason would verily have given way, but my comfort and joy sprang out of +these words, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; lo, I am with +you alway!" Pleading these promises, I followed my guide. We reached the +beach, just inside the Harbor, at a beautiful white sandy bay on Nowar's +ground, from which our canoe was to start. A good number of the Natives +had assembled there to see us off. Arkurat, having got a large roll of +calico for the loan of his canoe, hid it away, and then refused the +canoe, saying that if he had to escape with his family he would require +it. He demanded an ax, a sail for his canoe, and a pair of blankets. As +Koris had the ax and another had the quilt, I gave the quilt to him for +a sail, and the ax and blankets for the canoe, in fact, these few relics +of our earthly all at Nowar's were coveted by the savages and endangered +our lives, and it was as well to get rid of them altogether. He cruelly +proposed a small canoe for two; but I had hired the canoe for five, and +insisted upon getting it, as he had been well paid for it. As he only +laughed and mocked us, I prepared to start and travel overland to Mr. +Mathieson's Station. He then said, "My wrath is over! You may take it +and go." + +We launched it, but now he refused to let us go till daylight. He had +always been one of my best friends, but now appeared bent on a quarrel, +so I had to exercise much patience with him and them. Having launched +it, he said I had hired the canoe but not the paddles. I protested, +"Surely you know we hired the paddles too. What could we do without +paddles?" + +But Arkurat lay down and pretended to have fallen asleep, snoring on the +sand, and could not be awaked. I appealed to Nowar, who only said, "That +is his conduct, Missi, our conduct!" + +I replied, "As he has got the blankets which I saved to keep me from +ague and fever, and I have nothing left now but the clothes I have on, +surely you will give me paddles." + +Nowar gave me one. Returning to the village, friends gave me one each +till I got other three. Now Arkurat started up, and refused to let us +go. A Chief and one of his men, who lived on the other side of the +island near to where we were going, and who was hired by me to go with +us and help in paddling the canoe, drew back also and refused to go. +Again I offered to leave the canoe, and walk overland if possible, when +Faimungo, the Chief who had refused to go with us, came forward and +said, "Missi, they are all deceiving you! The sea is so rough, you +cannot go by it; and if you should get round the weather point, Miaki +has men appointed to shoot you as you pass the Black Rocks, while by +land all the paths are guarded by armed men. I tell you the truth, +having heard all their talk. Miaki and Karewick say they hate the +Worship, and will kill you. They killed your goats, and stole all your +property yesterday. Farewell!" + +The Teachers, the boy, and I now resolved to enter the canoe and attempt +it, as the only gleam of hope left to us. My party of five embarked in +our frail canoe; Abraham first, I next, Matthew after me, the boy at the +steering paddle, and Abraham's wife sitting in the bottom, where she +might hold on while it continued to float. For a mile or more we got +away nicely under the lee of the island, but when we turned to go south +for Mr. Mathieson's Station, we met the full force of wind and sea, +every wave breaking over and almost swamping our canoe. The Native lad +at the helm paddle stood up crying, "Missi, this is the conduct of the +sea! It swallows up all who seek its help." + +I answered, "We do not seek help from it, but from Jehovah Jesus." + +Our danger became very great, as the sea broke over and lashed around +us. My faithful Aneityumese, overcome with terror, threw down their +paddles, and Abraham said, "Missi, we are all drowned now! We are food +for the sharks. We might as well be eaten by the Tannese as by fishes; +but God will give us life with Jesus in heaven!" + +I seized the paddle nearest me; I ordered Abraham to seize another +within his reach; I enjoined Matthew to bail the canoe for life, and the +lad to keep firm in his seat, and I cried, "Stand to your post, and let +us return! Abraham, where is now your faith in Jesus? Remember, He is +Ruler on sea as on land. Abraham, pray and ply your paddle! Keep up +stroke for stroke with me, as our lives depend on it. Our God can +protect us. Matthew, bail with all your might. Don't look round on the +sea and fear. Let us pray to God and ply our paddles, and He will save +us yet!" + +Dear old Abraham said, "Thank you for that, Missi. I will be strong. I +pray to God and ply my paddle. God will save us!" + +With much labor, and amid deadly perils, we got the canoe turned; and +after four hours of a terrible struggle, we succeeded, towards daylight +as the tide turned, in again reaching smooth water. With God's blessing +we at last reached the shore, exactly where we had left it five hours +ago! + +Now drenched and weary, with the skin of our hands sticking to the +paddles, we left the canoe on the reef and waded ashore. Many Natives +were there, and looked sullen and disappointed at our return. Katasian, +the lad who had been with us, instantly fled for his own land; and the +Natives reported that he was murdered soon after. Utterly exhausted, I +lay down on the sand and immediately fell into a deep sleep. By and by I +felt someone pulling from under my head the native bag in which I +carried my Bible and the Tannese translations--the all that had been +saved by me from the wreck! Grasping the bag, I sprang to my feet, and +the man ran away. My Teachers had also a hedging knife, a useless +revolver, and a fowling-piece, the sight of which, though they had been +under the salt water for hours, God used to restrain the savages. +Calling my Aneityumese near, we now, in united prayer and kneeling on +the sands, committed each other unto the Lord God, being prepared for +the last and worst. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. +A RACE FOR LIFE. + +As I sat meditating on the issues, Faimungo, the friendly Inland Chief, +again appeared to warn us of our danger, now very greatly increased by +our being driven back from the sea. All Nowar's men had fled, and were +hid in the bush and in rocks along the shore; while Miaki was holding a +meeting not half a mile away, and preparing to fall upon us. Faimungo +said, "Farewell, Missi, I am going home. I don't wish to see the work +and the murders of this morning." + +He was Nowar's son-in-law. He had always been truthful and kindly with +me. His home was about half-way across the island, on the road that we +wanted to go, and under sudden impulse I said, "Faimungo, will you let +us follow you? Will you show us the path? When the Mission Ship arrives, +I will give you three good axes, blankets, knives, fish-hooks, and many +things you prize." + +The late hurricanes had so destroyed and altered the paths, that only +Natives who knew them well could follow them. He trembled much and said, +"Missi, you will be killed. Miaki and Karewick will shoot you. I dare +not let you follow. I have only about twenty men, and your following +might endanger us all." + +I urged him to leave at once, and we would follow of our own accord. I +would not ask him to protect us; but if he betrayed us and helped the +enemy to kill us, I assured him that our God would punish him. If he +spared us, he would be rewarded well; and if we were killed against his +wishes, God would not be angry at him. He said, "Seven men are with me +now, and thirteen are to follow. I will not now send for them. They are +with Miaki and Nouka. I will go; but if you follow, you will be killed +on the way. You may follow me as far as you can." + +Off he started to Nowar's, and got a large load of my stolen property, +blankets, sheets, etc., which had fallen to his lot. He called his seven +men, who had also shared in the plunder, and, to avoid Miaki's men, they +ran away under a large cocoanut grove skirting the shore, calling, "Be +quick! Follow and keep as near to us as you can." + +Though Nowar had got a box of my rice and appropriated many things from +the plunder of the Mission House besides the goods entrusted to his +care, and got two of my goats killed and cooked for himself and his +people, yet now he would not give a particle of food to my starving +Aneityumese or myself, but hurried us off, saying, "I will eat all your +rice and keep all that has been left with me, in payment for my lame +knee and for my people fighting for you!" + +My three Aneityumese and I started after Faimungo and his men. We could +place no confidence in any of them; but, feeling that we were in the +Lord's hands, it appeared to be our only hope of escaping instant death. +We got away unobserved by the enemies. We met several small parties of +friends in the Harbor, apparently glad to see us trying to get away. But +about four miles on our way, we met a large party of Miaki's men, all +armed, and watching as outposts. Some were for shooting us, but others +hesitated. Every musket was, however, raised and leveled at me. Faimungo +poised his great spear and said, "No, you shall not kill Missi to-day. +He is with me." Having made this flourish, he strode off after his own +men, and my Aneityumese followed, leaving me face to face with a ring of +leveled muskets. + +Sirawia, who was in command of this party, and who once, like Nowar, had +been my friend, said to me, Judas like, "My love to you, Missi." But he +also shouted after Faimungo, "Your conduct is bad in taking the Missi +away; leave him to us to be killed!" I then turned upon him, saying, +"Sirawia, I love you all. You must know that I sought only your good. I +gave you medicine and food when you and your people were sick and dying +under measles; I gave you the very clothing you wear. Am I not your +friend? Have we not often drunk tea and eaten together in my house? Can +you stand there and see your friend shot? If you do, my God will punish +you severely." + +He then whispered something to his company which I did not hear; and, +though their muskets were still raised, I saw in their eyes that he had +restrained them. I therefore began gradually to move backwards, still +keeping my eyes fixed on them, till the bush hid them from my view, +whereon I turned and ran after my party, and God kept the enemy from +following. We trusted in Jehovah Jesus, and pressed on in flight. + +A second hostile party encountered us, and with great difficulty we also +got away from them. Soon thereafter a friendly company crossed our path. +We learned from them that the enemies had slaughtered other two of +Manuman's men, and burned several villages with fire. Another party of +the enemy encountered us, and were eager for our lives. But this time +Faimungo withstood them firmly, his men encircled us, and he said, "I am +not afraid now, Missi; I am feeling stronger near my own land!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. +FAINT YET PURSUING. + +HURRYING still onwards, we came to that village on their high ground +called Aneai, _i. e._ Heaven. The sun was oppressively hot, the path +almost unshaded, and our whole party very exhausted, especially +Faimungo, carrying his load of stolen goods. So here he sat down on the +village dancing-ground for a smoke, saying, "Missi, I am near my own +land now. We can rest with safety." + +In a few minutes, however, he started up, he and his men, in wild +excitement. Over a mountain, behind the village and above it, there came +the shoutings, and anon the tramp, tramp of a multitude making rapidly +towards us. Faimungo got up and planted his back against a tree. I stood +beside him, and the Aneityumese woman and the two men stood near me, +while his men seemed prepared to flee. At full speed a large body of the +tallest and most powerful men that I had seen on Tanna came rushing on +and filled the dancing-ground. They were all armed, and flushed with +their success in war. A messenger had informed them of our escape, +probably from Miaki, and they had crossed the country to intercept us. + +Faimungo was much afraid, and said, "Missi, go on in that path, you and +your Aneityumese; and I will follow when I have had a smoke and a talk +with these men." + +I replied, "No, I will stand by your side till you go; and if I am +killed, it will be by your side, I will not leave you." + +He implored us to go on, but that I knew would be certain death. They +began urging one another to kill us, but I looked round them as calmly +as possible, saying, "My Jehovah God will punish you here and hereafter, +if you kill me or any of His servants." + +A killing-stone, thrown by one of the savages, grazed poor old Abraham's +cheek, and the dear soul gave such a look at me, and then upwards, as if +to say, "Missi, I was nearly away to Jesus." A club was also raised to +follow the blow of the killing-stone, but God baffled the aim. They +encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to strike the +first blow, or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; +I saw Him watching all the scene. In that awful hour I beheld His own +words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of Heaven: "Seek, +and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, +that the Father may be glorified in the Son." I could understand how +Stephen and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed up through +suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne! + +Yet I never could say that on such occasions I was entirely without +fear. Nay, I have felt my reason reeling, my sight coming and going, and +my knees smiting together when thus brought close to a violent death, +but mostly under the solemn thought of being ushered into Eternity and +appearing before God. Still, I was never left without hearing that +promise in all its consoling and supporting power coming up through the +darkness and the anguish, "Lo, I am with you alway;" And with Paul I +could say, even in this dread moment and crisis of being, "I am +persuaded that neither death nor life,.. nor any other creature, shall +be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our +Lord." + +Faimungo and others now urged us to go on in the path. I said, +"Faimungo, why are we to leave you? My God heard your promise not to +betray me. He knows now what is in your heart and in mine. I will not +leave you; and if I am to die, I will die by your side." + +He replied, "Now, I go on before; Missi, keep close to me." + +His men had gone, and I persuaded my Aneityumese to follow them. At +last, with a bound, Faimungo started after them. I followed, keeping as +near him as I could, pleading with Jesus to protect me or to take me +home to Glory. The host of armed men also ran along on each side with +their weapons ready; but leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if +they were my escort, or as if I saw them not. If any reader wonders how +they were restrained, much more would I, unless I believed that the same +Hand that restrained the lions from touching Daniel held back these +Savages from hurting me! We came to a stream crossing our path. With a +bound all my party cleared it, ran up the bank opposite, and disappeared +in the bush. "Faint yet pursuing," I also tried the leap, but I struck +the bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards the stream. At this +moment I heard a crash above my head amongst the branches of an +overhanging tree, and I knew that a _Kawas_ had been thrown, and that +that branch had saved me. Praising my God, I scrambled up on the other +side, and followed the track of my party into the bush. The savages +gazed after me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the stream; +and I saw them separate into two, one portion returning to the village +and another pressing inland. With what gratitude did I recognize the +Invisible One who brought their counsels to confusion. + +I found my party resting in the bush, and amazed to see me escaped alive +from men who were thirsting for my blood. Faimungo and his men received +me with demonstrations of joy, perhaps feeling a little ashamed of their +own cowardice. He now ascended the mountain and kept away from the +common path to avoid other Native bands. At every village enemies to the +Worship were ready to shoot us. But I kept close to our guide, knowing +that the fear of shooting him would prevent their shooting at me, as he +was the most influential Chief in all that section of the island. + +One party said, "Miaki and Karewick said that Missi made the sickness +and the hurricanes, and we ought to kill him." + +Faimungo replied, "They lie about Missi! It is our own bad conduct that +makes us sick." + +They answered, "We don't know who makes the sickness, but our fathers +have taught us to kill all Foreign men." + +Faimungo, clutching club and spear, exclaimed, standing betwixt them and +us, "You won't kill Missi to-day!" + +Faimungo now sent his own men home by a near path, and guided us himself +till we were close upon the shore. There sitting down, he said, "Missi, +I have now fulfilled my promise. I am so tired, I am so afraid, I dare +not go farther. My love to you all. Now go on quickly! Three of my men +will go with you to the next rocks. Go quickly! Farewell." + +These men went on a little, and then said, "Missi, we dare not go! +Faimungo is at war with the people of the next land. You must keep +straight along this path." So they turned and ran back to their own +village. + +To us this district was especially perilous. Many years ago the +Aneityumese had joined in a war against the Tannese of this tribe, and +the thirst for revenge yet existed in their hearts, handed down from +sire to son. Most providentially the men were absent on a war +expedition, and we saw only three lads and a great number of women and +children, who ran off to the bush in terror. In the evening the enraged +savages of another district assaulted the people of the shore villages +for allowing us to pass, and, though sparing their lives, broke in +pieces their weapons of war--a very grievous penalty. + +In the next district, as we hasted along the shore, two young men came +running after us, poising their quivering spears. I took the useless +revolver out of my little native basket, and raising it cried, "Beware! +Lay down your spears at once on the sand, and carry my basket to the +next landing at the Black Rocks." + +They threw their spears on the sand, lifted the bag, and ran on before +us to the rocks which formed the march betwixt them and their enemies. +Laying it down, they said appealingly, "Missi, let us return to our +home!" And how they did run, fearing the pursuit of their foes. + +In the next land we saw none. After that we saw crowds all along, some +friendly, others unfriendly, but they let us pass on, and with the +blessing of Almighty God we drew dear to Mr. Mathieson's Station in +safety. Here a man gave me a cocoanut for each of our party, which we +greatly required, having tasted nothing all that day, and very little +for several days before. We were so weak that only the struggle for life +enabled us to keep our feet; yet my poor Aneityumese never complained +and never halted, not even the woman. The danger and excitement kept us +up in the race for life; and by the blessing of God we were now +approaching the Mission House, praising God for His wonderful +deliverances. + +Hearing of our coming, Mr. Mathieson came running to meet me. They had +heard of our leaving my own Station, and they thought I was dead! They +were themselves both very weak; their only child had just been laid in +the grave, and they were in great grief and in greater peril. We praised +the Lord for permitting us to meet; we prayed for support, guidance, and +protection; and resolved now, in all events, to stand by each other till +the last. + + + +CHAPTER XL. +WAITING AT KWAMERA. + +BEFORE I left the Harbor I wrote and left with Nowar letters to be given +to the Captains of any vessels which called, for the first, and the +next, and the next, telling them of our great danger, that Mr. Mathieson +was almost without food, and that I would reward them handsomely if they +would call at the Station and remove any of us who might be spared +thence to Aneityum. Two or three vessels called, and, as I afterwards +learned, got my letters; but, while buying my stolen property from the +Natives for tobacco, powder, and balls, they took no further notice of +my appeals, and sailed past Mr. Mathieson's, straight on to Aneityum. +"The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel!" + +Let me now cull the leading events from my Journal, that intervened +betwixt this date and the break-up of the Mission on Tanna--at least for +a season--though, blessed be God! I have lived to see the light +rekindled by my dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Watt, and shining more +brightly and hopefully than ever. The candle was quenched, but the +candlestick was not removed! + +On the 23d January, 1862, Mr. Mathieson sent for Taura, Kati, and +Kapuku, his three principal Chiefs, to induce them to promise protection +till a vessel called to take us away. They appeared friendly, and +promised to do their best. Alas! the promises of the Tannese Chiefs had +too often proved to be vain. + +On Friday, 24th January, report reached our Station that Miaki and his +party, hearing that a friendly Chief had concealed two of Manuman's +young men, compelled him to produce them and club them to death before +their eyes. Also, that they surrounded Manuman's party on a mountain, +and hemmed them in there, dying of starvation, and trying to survive on +the carcasses of the dead and on bark and roots. Also, that Miaki had +united all the Chiefs, friends and foes alike, in a bond of blood, to +kill every one pertaining to the whole Mission on Tanna. Jesus reigns! + +On Sunday, the 26th January, thirty persons came to worship at the +Mission House. Thereafter, at great risk, we had Worship at three of the +nearest and most friendly villages. Amidst all our perils and trials we +preached the Gospel to about one hundred and sixteen persons. It was +verily a sowing time of tears; but, despite all that followed, who shall +say that it was vain! Twenty years have passed, and now when I am +writing this, there is a Church of God singing the praises of Jesus in +that very district of Tanna. On leaving the second village, a young lad +affectionately took my hand to lead me to the next village; but a sulky, +down-browed savage, carrying a ponderous club, also insisted upon +accompanying us. I led the way, guided by the lad. Mr. Mathieson got the +man to go before him, while he himself followed, constantly watching. +Coming to a place where another path branched off from ours, I asked +which path we took, and, on turning to the left as instructed by the +lad, the savage, getting close behind me, swung his huge club over his +shoulder to strike me on the head. Mr. Mathieson, springing forward, +caught the club from behind with a great cry to me; and I, wheeling +instantly, had hold of the club also, and betwixt us we wrested it out +of his hands. The poor creature, craven at heart however bloodthirsty, +implored us not to kill him. I raised the club threateningly, and caused +him to march in front of us till we reached the next village fence. In +terror lest these villagers should kill him, he gladly received back his +club, as well as the boy his bow and arrows, and they were lost in the +bush in a moment. + +At the village from which this man and boy had come, one savage brought +his musket while we were conducting Worship, and sat sullen and scowling +at us all the time. Mocking questions were also shouted at us, such as, +"Who made the rains, winds, and hurricanes? Who caused all the disease? +Who killed Missi Mathieson's child?" They sneered and scoffed at our +answers, and in this Taura the Chief joined the rest. + +On the 27th, at daylight, a vessel was seen in the offing, as if to +tantalize us. The Captain had been at the Harbor, and had received my +letter from Nowar. I hoisted a flag to induce him to send or come on +shore, but he sailed off for Aneityum, bearing the plunder of my poor +Mission House, purchased for ammunition and tobacco for the Natives. He +left the news at Aneityum that I had been driven from my Station some +time ago, and was believed to have been murdered. + +On the 29th of January, the young Chief Kapuku came and handed to Mr. +Mathieson his own and his father's war-gods and household idols. They +consisted chiefly of a basket of small and peculiar stones, much worn +and shining with use. He said, "While many are trying to kill you and +drive the Worship of Jehovah from this island, I give up my gods, and +will send away all Heathen idols from my land." + +On the 31st, we learned that a party of Miaki's men were going about Mr. +Mathieson's district inciting the people to kill us. Faimungo also came +to inform us that Maiki was exerting all his artifice to get us and the +Worship destroyed. Manuman even sent, from inland, Raki, his adopted +son, to tell me of the fearful sufferings that he and his people were +now passing through, and that some were killed almost every day. Raki's +wife was a Chief's daughter, who, when the war began, returned to her +father's care. The savages of Miaki went to her own father's house and +compelled him to give her up as an enemy. She was clubbed and feasted +on. + +On Sabbath, 2d February, thirty-two people attended the Morning Service. +I addressed them on the Deluge, its causes and lessons. I showed them a +doll, explaining that such carved and painted images could not hear our +prayers or help us in our need, that the living Jehovah God only could +hear and help. They were much interested, and after Worship carefully +examined the doll. Mr. Mathieson and I, committing ourselves to Jesus, +went inland and conducted Worship at seven villages, listened to by +about one hundred people in all. Nearly all appeared friendly. The +people of one village had been incited to kill us on our return; but God +guided us to return by another way, and so we escaped. + +During the day, on 3d February, a company of Miaki's men came to the +Mission House, and forced Mrs. Mathieson to show them through the +premises. Providentially, I had bolted myself that morning into a closet +room, and was engrossed with writing. They went through every room in +the house and did not see me, concluding I had gone inland. They +discharged a musket into our Teacher's house, but afterwards left +quietly, greatly disappointed at not finding me. My heart still rose in +praise to God for another such deliverance, neither by man nor of man's +planning! + + + +CHAPTER XLI. +THE LAST AWFUL NIGHT. + +WORN out with long watching and many fatigues, I lay down that night +early, and fell into a deep sleep. About ten o'clock the savages again +surrounded the Mission House. My faithful dog Clutha, clinging still to +me amid the wreck of all else on earth, sprang quietly upon me, pulled +at my clothes, and awoke me, showing danger in her eye glancing at me +through the shadows. I silently awoke Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, who had +also fallen asleep. We committed ourselves in hushed prayer to God and +watched them, knowing that they could not see us. Immediately a glare of +light fell into the room! Men passed with flaming torches; and first +they set fire to the Church all round, and then to a reed fence +connecting the Church and the dwelling-house. In a few minutes the +house, too, would be in flames, and armed savages waiting to kill us on +attempting an escape! + +Taking my harmless revolver in the left hand and a little American +tomahawk in the right, I pleaded with Mr. Mathieson to let me out and +instantly to again lock the door on himself and wife. He very +reluctantly did so, holding me back and saying, "Stop here and let us +die together! You will never return!" + +I said, "Be quick! Leave that to God. In a few minutes our house will be +in flames, and then nothing can save us." + +He did let me out, and locked the door again quickly from the inside; +and, while his wife and he prayed and watched for me from within, I ran +to the burning reed fence, cut it from top to bottom, and tore it up and +threw it back into the flames, so that the fire could not by it be +carried to our dwelling-house. I saw on the ground shadows, as if +something were falling around me, and started back. Seven or eight +savages had surrounded me, and raised their great clubs in air. I heard +a shout--"Kill him! Kill him!" One savage tried to seize hold of me, +but, leaping from his clutch, I drew the revolver from my pocket and +leveled it as for use, my heart going up in prayer to my God. I said, +"Dare to strike me, and my Jehovah God will punish you. He protects us, +and will punish you for burning His Church, for hatred to His Worship +and people, and for all your bad conduct. We love you all; and for doing +you good only, you want to kill us. But our God is here now to protect +us and to punish you." + +They yelled in rage, and urged each other to strike the first blow, but +the Invisible One restrained them. I stood invulnerable beneath His +invisible shield, and succeeded in rolling back the tide of flame from +our dwelling-house. + +At this dread moment occurred an incident, which my readers may explain +as they like, but which I trace directly to the interposition of my God. +A rushing and roaring sound came from the South, like the noise of a +mighty engine or of muttering thunder. Every head was instinctively +turned in that direction, and they knew, from previous hard experience, +that it was one of their awful tornadoes of wind and rain. Now, mark, +the wind bore the flames away from our dwelling-house; had it come in +the opposite direction, no power on earth could have saved us from being +all consumed! It made the work of destroying the Church only that of a +few minutes; but it brought with it a heavy and murky cloud, which +poured out a perfect torrent of tropical rain. Now, mark again, the +flames of the burning Church were thereby cut off from extending to and +seizing upon the reeds and the bush; and, besides, it had become almost +impossible now to set fire to our dwelling-house. The stars in their +courses were fighting against Sisera! + +The mighty roaring of the wind, the black cloud pouring down unceasing +torrents, and the whole surroundings, awed those savages into silence. +Some began to withdraw from the scene, all lowered their weapons of war, +and several, terror-struck, exclaimed, "That is Jehovah's rain! Truly +their Jehovah God is fighting for them and helping them. Let us away!" A +panic seized upon them; they threw away their remaining torches; in a +few moments they had all disappeared in the bush; and I was left alone, +praising God for His marvelous works. "O taste and see that God is good! +Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!" + +Returning to the door of the Mission House, I cried, "Open and let me +in. I am now all alone." + +Mr. Mathieson let me in, and exclaimed, "If ever, in time of need, God +sent help and protection to His servants in answer to prayer, He has +done so to-night! Blessed be His holy Name!" + +In fear and in joy we united our praises. Truly our Jesus has all power, +not less in the elements of Nature than in the savage hearts of the +Tannese. Precious Jesus! Often since have I wept over His love and mercy +in that deliverance, and prayed that every moment of my remaining life +may be consecrated to the service of my precious Friend and Saviour! + + + +CHAPTER XLII. +"SAIL O! SAIL O!" + +ALL through the remainder of that night I lay wide awake keeping watch, +my noble little dog lying near me with ears alert. Early in the morning +friends came weeping around us. Our enemies were loudly rejoicing. It +had been finally resolved to kill us at once, to plunder our house and +then to burn it. The noise of the shouting was distinctly heard as they +neared the Mission premises, and our weeping, friendly Natives looked +terror-struck, and seemed anxious to flee for the bush. But just when +the excitement rose to the highest pitch, we heard, or dreamed that we +heard, a cry higher still, "Sail O!" + +We were by this time beginning to distrust almost our very senses; but +again and again that cry came rolling up from the shore, and was +repeated from crowd to crowd all along the beach, "Sail O! Sail O!" + +The shouts of those approaching us gradually ceased, and the whole +multitude seemed to have melted away from our view. I feared some cruel +deception, and at first peered out very cautiously to spy the land. But +yonder in very truth a vessel came sailing into view. It was the _Blue +Bell_ Captain Hastings. I set fire to the reeds on the side of the hill +to attract his attention. I put a black shawl as a flag on one end of +the Mission House and a white sheet on the other. + +This was one of the vessels that had been to Port Resolution, and had +sailed past to Aneityum some time ago. I afterwards saw the mate and +some of the men wearing my shirts, which they had bought from the +Tannese on their former visit. At the earnest request of Messrs. Geddie +and Copeland, Mr. Underwood, the owner, had sent Captain Hastings to +Tanna to rescue us if yet alive. For this purpose he had brought twenty +armed men from Aneityum, who came on shore in two boats in charge of the +mate, the notorious Ross Lewin. He returned to the ship with a boat-load +of Mr. Mathieson's things, leaving ten of the Natives to help us to pack +more and carry them down to the beach, especially what the Missionary +thought most valuable. + +The two boats were now loaded and ready to start. It was about two +o'clock in the afternoon, when a strange and painful trial befell us. +Poor dear Mr. Mathieson, apparently unhinged, locked himself all alone +into what had been his study, telling Mrs. Mathieson and me to go, for +he had resolved to remain and die on Tanna. We tried to show him the +inconsistency of praying to God to protect us or grant us means of +escape, and then refuse to accept a rescue sent to us in our last +extremity. We argued that it was surely better to live and work for +Jesus than to die as a self-made martyr, who, in God's sight, was guilty +of self-murder. His wife wept aloud and pleaded with him, but all in +vain! He refused to leave or to unlock his door. I then said, "It is now +getting dark. Your wife must go with the vessel, but I will not leave +you alone. I shall send a note explaining why I am forced to remain; and +as it is certain that we shall be murdered whenever the vessel leaves, I +tell you God will charge you with the guilt of our murder." At this he +relented, unlocked the door, and accompanied us to the boats, in which +we all immediately left. + +Meantime, having lost several hours, the vessel had drifted leeward; +darkness suddenly settled upon us, and when we were out at sea we lost +sight of her and she of us. After tumbling about for some hours in a +heavy sea, and unable to find her, those in charge of the boats came +near for consultation, and, if possible, to save the lives of all. We +advised that they should steer for Port Resolution by the flame of the +volcano--a never failing lighthouse, seen fifty miles away--and there +await the vessel. The boats were to keep within hearing of each other by +constant calling; but this was soon lost to the ear, though on arriving +in the bay we found they had got to anchor before us. There we sat in +the boats and waited for the coming day. + +As the light appeared, we anchored as far out as possible, beyond the +reach of musket shots; and there without water or food we sat under a +tropical sun till midday came, and still there was no sign of the +vessel. The mate at last put all the passengers and the poorest seamen +into one boat and left her to swing at anchor, while, with a strong crew +in the other, he started off in search of the vessel. + +In the afternoon, Nowar and Miaki came off in a canoe to visit us. Nowar +had on a shirt, but Miaki was naked and frowning. He urged me to go and +see the Mission House, but as we had seen a body of men near it I +refused to go. Miaki declared that everything remained as I had left it, +but we knew that he lied. Old Abraham and a party had slipped on shore +in a canoe, and had found the windows smashed and everything gone except +my books, which were scattered about and torn in pieces. They learned +that Miaki had sold everything that he could sell to the Traders. The +mate and men of the _Blue Bell_ had on my very clothes. They boasted +that they had bought them for a few figs of tobacco and for powder, +caps, and balls. But they would not return a single shirt to me, though +I was without a change. We had all been without food since the morning +before, so Nowar brought us off a cocoanut each, and two very small +roasted yams for the ladies. Those, however, only seemed to make our +thirst the more severe, and we spent a trying day in that boat under a +burning sun. + +Nowar informed me that only a few nights before this, Miaki and his +followers went inland to a village where last year they had killed ten +men. Having secretly placed a savage at the door of every house, at a +given signal they yelled, and when the terrified inmates tried to +escape, they killed almost every man, woman, and child. Some fled into +the bush, others rushed to the shore. A number of men got into a canoe +to escape, but hearing women and children crying after them they +returned, and taking those they could with them, they killed the rest, +lest they should fall alive into Miaki's hands. These are surely "they +who through fear of death are all their lifetime subject to bondage." +The Chief and nearly his whole village were cut off in one night! The +dark places of the Earth are "full of the habitations of horrid +cruelty." To have actually lived amongst the Heathen and seen their life +gives a man a new appreciation of the power and blessings of the Gospel, +even where its influence is only very imperfectly allowed to guide and +restrain the passions of men. Oh, what it will be when all men in all +nations love and serve the glorious Redeemer! + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. +FAREWELL TO TANNA. + +ABOUT five o'clock in the evening the vessel hove in sight. Before dark +we were all on board, and were sailing for Aneityum. Though both Mr. and +Mrs. Mathieson had become very weak, they stood the voyage wonderfully. +Next day we were safely landed. We had offered Captain Hastings L20 to +take us to Aneityum, but he declined any fare. However, we divided it +amongst the mate and crew, for they had every one shown great kindness +to us on the voyage. + +After arriving on Aneityum, Mrs. Mathieson gradually sank under +consumption, and fell asleep in Jesus on 11th March, 1862, and was +interred there in the full assurance of a glorious resurrection. Mr. +Mathieson, becoming more and more depressed after her death, went over +to Mr. Creagh's Station, on Mare, and there died on 14th June, 1862, +still trusting in Jesus, and assured that he would soon be with Him in +Glory. + +After their death I was the only one left alive, in all the New Hebrides +Mission north of Aneityum, to tell the story of those pioneer years, +during which were sown the seeds of what is now fast becoming a glorious +harvest. Twenty-five years ago, all these dear brethren and sisters who +were associated with me in the work of the Mission were called home to +Glory, to cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus and enjoy the bliss of +the redeemed; while I am privileged still to toil and pray for the +salvation of the poor Islanders, and plead the cause of the Mission both +in the Colonies and at home, in which work the Lord has graciously given +me undreamt-of success. My constant desire and prayer are that I may be +spared to see at least one Missionary on every island of the group, or +trained Native Teachers under the superintendence of a Missionary, to +unfold the riches of redeeming love and to lead the poor Islanders to +Jesus for salvation. + +What could be taken in three boats was saved out of the wreck of Mr. +Mathieson's property; but my earthly all perished, except the Bible and +the translations into Tannese. Along with the goods pertaining to the +Mission, the property which I had to leave behind would be +under-estimated at L600, besides the value of the Mission House, etc. +Often since have I thought that the Lord stripped me thus bare of all +these interests that I might with undistracted mind devote my entire +energy to the special work soon to be carved out for me, and of which at +this moment neither I nor any one had ever dreamed. At any rate, the +loss of my little Earthly All, though doubtless costing me several +pangs, was not an abiding sorrow like that which sprang from the thought +that the Lord's work was now broken up at both Stations, and that the +Gospel was for the time driven from Tanna. + +In the darkest moment I never doubted that ultimately the victory there, +as elsewhere, would be on the side of Jesus, believing that the whole +Earth would yet be filled with the glory of the Lord. But I sometimes +sorely feared that I might never live to see or hear of that happy day! +By the goodness of the Ever-merciful One I have lived to see and hear of +a Gospel Church on Tanna, and to read about my dear fellow-Missionaries, +Mr. and Mrs. Watt, celebrating the Holy Supper to a Native Congregation +of Tannese, amid the very scenes and people where the seeds of faith and +hope were planted not only in tears, but tears of blood,--"in deaths +oft." + +My own intention was to remain on Aneityum, go on with my work of +translating the Gospels, and watch the earliest opportunity, as God +opened up my way, to return to Tanna, I had, however, got very weak and +thin; my health was undoubtedly much shaken by the continued trials and +dangers through which we had passed; and therefore, as Dr. and Mrs. +Inglis were at home carrying the New Testament through the press in the +language of Aneityum, and as Tanna was closed for a season--Dr. Geddie, +the Rev. Joseph Copeland, and Mr. Mathieson all urged me to go to +Australia by a vessel then in the Harbor and leaving in a few days. My +commission was to awaken an interest among the Presbyterian Churches of +our Colonies in this New Hebrides Mission which lay at their doors, up +till this time sustained by Scotland and Nova Scotia alone. And further, +and very specially, to raise money there, if possible, to purchase a new +Mission Ship for the work of God in the New Hebrides,--a clamant +necessity which would save all future Missionaries some of the more +terrible of the privations and risks of which a few examples have in +these pages already been recorded. + +With regrets, and yet with unquenchable hope for these Islands, I +embarked for Australia. But I had only spoken to one man in Sydney; all +the doors to influence had therefore to be unlocked; and I had no +helper, no leader, but the Spirit of my Lord. + +Oftentimes, while passing through the perils and defeats of my first +four years in the Mission field on Tanna, I wondered, and perhaps the +reader hereof has wondered, why God permitted such things. But on +looking back now, I already clearly perceive, and the reader of my +future pages will, I think, perceive, that the Lord was thereby +preparing me for doing, and providing me materials wherewith to +accomplish, the best work of all my life, namely, the kindling of the +heart of Australian Presbyterianism with a living affection for these +Islanders of their own Southern Seas--the binding of all their children +into a happy league of shareholders, first in one Mission Ship, and +finally in a larger and more commodious Steam-Auxiliary; and, last of +all, in being the instrument under God of sending out Missionary after +Missionary to the New Hebrides, to claim another island and still +another for Jesus. That work, and all that may spring from it in Time +and Eternity, never could have been accomplished by me, but for first +the sufferings and then the story of my Tanna days! + +Never for one moment have I had occasion to regret the step then taken. +The Lord has so used me, during the five-and-twenty years that have +passed over me since my farewell to Tanna, as to stamp the event with +His own most gracious approval. Oh, to see a Missionary, and Christian +Teachers, planted on every island of the New Hebrides! For this I labor, +and wait, and pray. To help on the fulfillment thereof is the sacred +work of my life, under God. When I see that accomplished, or in a fair +way of being so, through the organization that will provide the money +and call forth the men, I can lay down my head as peacefully and +gratefully as ever warrior did, with the shout of victory in his +ears--"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace!" + +(_For "Good News from Tanna," see Supplementary Chapter by the Editor,_ +p.393.) + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. +THE FLOATING OF THE "DAYSPRING." + +RESCUED from Tanna by the _Blue Bell_ in the Spring of 1869, I was +landed on Aneityum, leaving behind me all that I owned on Earth, save +the clothes upon my back, my precious Bible, and a few translations that +I had made from it into the Tannese language. The Missionaries on +Aneitymn united in urging me to go to Australia in the interests of our +Mission. A Mission Ship was sorely needed--was absolutely required--to +prevent the needless sacrifice of devoted lives. More Missionaries were +called for, and must somehow be brought into the field, unless the hope +of claiming these fair Islands for Jesus was to be forever abandoned. + +With unaffected reluctance, I at last felt constrained to undertake this +unwelcome but apparently inevitable task. It meant the leaving of my +dear Islanders for a season; but it embraced within it the hope of +returning to them again, with perhaps every power of blessing amongst +them tenfold increased. + +A _Sandal-wooder,_ then lying at Aneityum, was to sail in a few days +direct for Sydney. My passage was secured for L10. And, as if to make me +realize how bare the Lord had stripped me in my late trials, the first +thing that occupied me on board was the making with my own hands, from a +piece of cloth obtained on Aneityum, another shirt for the voyage, to +change with that which I wore--the only one that had been left to me. + +The Captain proved to be a profane and brutal fellow. And how my heart +bled for some poor Islanders whom he had on board! They knew not a word +of English, and no one in the vessel knew a sound of their language. +They were made to work, and to understand what was expected of them, +only by hard knocks and blows, being pushed and pulled hither and +thither. They were kept quite naked on the voyage up; but, when nearing +Sydney, each received two yards of calico to be twisted as a kilt around +his loins. A most pathetic spectacle it was to watch these poor +Natives,--when they had leisure to sit on deck,--gazing, gazing, +intently and imploringly, upon the face of the Sun! This they did every +day, and at all hours, and I wept much to look on them, and not be able +to tell them of the Son of God, the Light of the world, for I knew no +word of their language. Perhaps they were worshipers of the Sun; and +perhaps, amid all their misery, oh, _perhaps,_ some ray of truth from +the great Father of Lights may have streamed into those darkened souls! + +When we arrived at Sydney the Inspecting Officer of the Government, +coming on board, asked how these Islanders came to be there. The Captain +impudently replied that they were "passengers." No further question was +put. No other evidence was sought. Yet all who knew anything of our +South-Sea Island Traders were perfectly aware that the moral certainty +was that these Natives were there practically as Slaves. They would be +privately disposed of by the Captain to the-highest bidder; and that, +forsooth, is to be called the _Labor_ Traffic,--_Free_ Labor! I will, to +my dying breath, denounce and curse this _Kanaka_ traffic as the worst +of Slavery. + +As we came to anchorage, about midnight, in Sydney Harbor, I anxiously +paced the deck, gazing towards the gas-lighted city, and pleading with +God to open up my way, and give success in the work before me, on which +the salvation of thousands of the Heathen might depend. Still I saw them +perishing, still heard their wailing cry on the Islands behind me. At +the same time, I knew not a soul in that great city; though I had a note +of introduction to one person, which, as experience proved, I would have +been better without. + +That friend, however, did his best. He kindly called with me on a number +of Ministers and others. They heard my story, sympathized with me, shook +hands, and wished me success; but, strangely enough, something "very +special" prevented every one of them from giving me access to his pulpit +or Sabbath School. At length I felt so disappointed, so miserable, that +I wished I had been in my grave with my dear departed, and my brethren +on the Islands, who had fallen around me, in order that the work on +which so much now appeared to depend might have been entrusted to some +one better fitted to accomplish it. The heart seemed to keep repeating, +"All these things are against thee." + +Finding out at last the Rev. A. Buzacott, then retired, but formerly the +successful and honored representative of the London Missionary Society +on Rarotonga, considerable light was let in upon the mystery of my last +week's experiences. He informed me that the highly-esteemed friend, who +had kindly been introducing me all round, was at that moment immersed in +a keen Newspaper war with Presbyterians and Independents. This made it +painfully manifest that, in order to succeed, I must strike out a new +course for myself, and one clear from all local entanglement. + +Paying a fortnight in advance, I withdrew even from the lodging I had +taken, and turned to the Lord more absolutely for guidance. He brought +me into contact with good and generous-souled servants of His, the +open-hearted Mr. and Mrs. Foss. Though entire strangers, they kindly +invited me to be their guest while in Sydney, assuring me that I would +meet with many Ministers and other Christians at their house who could +help me in my work. God had opened the door; I entered with a grateful +heart; they will not miss their recompense. + +A letter and appeal had been already printed on behalf of our Mission. I +now re-cast and reprinted it, adding a postscript, and appending my own +name and address. This was widely circulated among Ministers and others +engaged in Christian work; and by this means, and by letters in the +newspapers, I did everything in my power to make our Mission known. But +one week had passed, and no response came. One Lord's Day had gone by, +and no pulpit had been opened to me. I was perplexed beyond measure how +to get access to Congregations and Sabbath Schools; though a something +deep in my soul assured me, that if once my lips were opened, the Word +of the Lord would not return void. + +On my second Sabbath in Sydney I wandered out with a great yearning at +heart to get telling my message to any soul that would listen. It was +the afternoon; and children were flocking into a Church that I passed. I +followed them--that yearning growing stronger every moment. My God so +ordered it that I was guided thus to the Chalmers Presbyterian Church. +The Minister, the Rev. Mr. M'Skimming, addressed the children. At the +close I went up and pleaded with him to allow me ten minutes to speak to +them. After a little hesitation, and having consulted together, they +gave me fifteen minutes. Becoming deeply interested, the good man +invited me to preach to his Congregation in the evening. This was duly +intimated in the Sabbath School; and thus my little boat was at last +launched--surely by the hand of the dear Lord, with the help of His +little children. + + + +CHAPTER XLV. +A SHIPPING COMPANY FOR JESUS. + +THE kindly minister of Chalmers church, now very deeply interested, +offered to spend the next day in introducing me to his clerical +brethren. For his sake, I was most cordially received by them all, but +especially by Dr. Dunmore Lang, who greatly helped me; and now access +was granted me to almost every church and Sabbath School, both +Presbyterian and Independent. In Sabbath Schools, I got a collection in +connection with my address, and distributed, with the sanction of +superintendents, collecting cards amongst the children, to be returned +through the Teachers within a specified date. In congregations, I +received for the Mission the surplus over and above the ordinary +collection when I preached on Sabbaths, and the full collection at all +week-night meetings for which I could arrange. + +I now appealed to a few of the most friendly ministers to form +themselves into an honorary committee of advice; and, at my earnest +request, they got J. Goodlet, Esq., an excellent elder, to become +honorary treasurer, and to take charge of all funds raised for the +Mission ship. For the public knew nothing of me; but all knew my good +treasurer and these faithful ministers, and had confidence in the work. +They knew that every penny went direct to the Mission; and they saw that +my one object was to promote God's glory in the conversion of the +heathen. Our dear Lord Jesus thus opened up my way; and now I had +invitations from more schools and congregations than I knew how to +overtake--the response in money being also gratifying beyond almost all +expectation. + +It was now that I began a little plan of interesting the children, that +attracted them from the first, and has since had an amazing development. +I made them shareholders in the new Mission Ship--each child receiving a +printed form, in acknowledgment of the number of shares, at sixpence +each, of which he was the owner. Thousands of these shares were taken +out, were shown about amongst families, and were greatly prized. The +Ship was to be their very own! They were to be a great Shipping Company +for Jesus. In hundreds of homes these receipt-forms have been preserved; +and their owners, now in middle years, are training their children of +to-day to give their pennies to support the white-winged Angel of the +Seas, that bears the Gospel and the Missionary to the Heathen Isles. + +Let no one think me ungrateful to my good Treasurer and his wife, to Dr. +and Mrs. Moon, and to other dear friends who generously helped me, when +I trace step by step how the Lord Himself opened up my way. The Angel of +His Presence went before me, and wonderfully moved His people to +contribute in answer to my poor appeals. I had indeed to make all my own +arrangements and correspond regarding all engagements and details,--to +me, always a slow and laborious writer, a very burdensome task. But it +was all necessary in order to the fulfillment of the Lord's purposes; +and, to one who realizes that he is a fellow-laborer with Jesus, every +yoke that He lays on becomes easy and every burden light. + +Having done all that could at that time be accomplished in New South +Wales, and as rapidly as possible--my Committee gave me a Letter of +Commendation to Victoria. But there I had no difficulty. The Ministers +had heard of our work in Sydney. They received me most cordially, and at +my request formed themselves into a Committee of Advice. Our dear +friend, James M'Bain, Esq., now Sir James, became Honorary Treasurer. +All moneys from this Colony, raised by my pleading for the Ship, were +entrusted to him; and, ultimately, the acknowledging of every individual +sum cost much time and labor. Dr. Cairns, and many others now gone to +their rest, along with two or three honored Ministers yet living, formed +my Committee. The Lord richly reward them all in that Day! + +As in New South Wales, I made, chiefly by correspondence, all my own +engagements, and arranged for Churches and Sabbath Schools as best I +could. Few in the other Denominations of Victoria gave any help, but the +Presbyterians rose to our appeal as with one heart. God moved them by +one impulse; and Ministers, Superintendents, Teachers, and Children, +heartily embraced the scheme as their own. I addressed three or four +meetings every Sabbath, and one or more every week-day; and thus +traveled over the length and breadth of Victoria, Tasmania, and South +Australia. Wheresoever a few of the Lord's people could be gathered +together, thither I gladly went, and told the story of our Mission, +setting forth its needs and claims. + +The contributions and collections were nearly all in very small sums, I +recall only one exception,--a gift of L250 from the late Hon. G. F. +Angus, South Australia, whose heart the Lord had touched. Yet gently and +steadily the required money began to come pouring in; and my personal +outlays were reduced to a minimum by the hospitality of Christian +friends and their kindly conveying of me from place to place. For all +this I felt deeply grateful; it saved money for the Lord's work. + +The work was unceasingly prosecuted. Meetings were urged upon me now +from every quarter. Money flowed in so freely that, at the close of my +tour, the fund had risen to L5000, including special Donations of L300 +for the support of Native Teachers. Many Sabbath Schools, and many +ladies and gentlemen, had individually promised the sum of L5 yearly to +keep a Native Teacher on one or other of the New Hebrides Islands. This +happy custom prevails still, and is largely developed; the sum required +being now L6 per annum at least--for which you may have your own +personal representative toiling among the Heathen and telling them of +Jesus. + +Returning to Melbourne, the whole matter was laid before my Committee. I +reported how God had blessed the undertaking, and what sums were now in +the hands of the several Treasurers, indicating also larger hopes and +plans which had been put into my soul. Dear Dr. Cairns rose and said, +"Sir, it is of the Lord. This whole enterprise is of God, and not of us. +Go home, and He will give you more Missionaries for the Islands." + +Of the money which I had raised, L3000 were sent to Nova Scotia, to pay +for the building of our new Mission Ship, the _Dayspring._ The Church +which began the Mission on the New Hebrides was granted the honor of +building our new Mission Ship. The remainder was set apart to pay for +the outfit and passage of additional Missionaries for the field, and I +was commissioned to return home to Scotland in quest of them. Dr. Inglis +wrote, in vindication of this enterprise, to the friends whom he had +just left, "From first to last, Mr. Paton's mission here has been a +great success; and it has been followed up with such energy and +promptitude in Nova Scotia, both in regard to the Ship and the +Missionaries, that Mr. Paton's pledge to the Australian Churches has +been fully redeemed. The hand of the Lord has been very visible in the +whole movement from beginning to end, and we trust He has yet great +blessing in store for the long and deeply-degraded Islanders." + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. +AUSTRALIAN INCIDENTS. + +HERE let me turn aside from the current of Missionary toils, and record +a few wayside incidents that marked some of my wanderings to and fro in +connection with the Floating of the _Dayspring._ Traveling in the +Colonies in 1862-68 was vastly less developed than it is to-day; and a +few of my experiences then will, for many reasons, be not unwelcome to +most readers of this book. Besides, these incidents, one and all, will +be felt to have a vital connection with the main purpose of writing this +Autobiography, namely, to show that the Finger of God is as visible +still, to those who have eyes to see, as when the fire-cloud Pillar led +His People through the wilderness. + +Twenty-six years ago, the roads of Australia, except those in and around +the principal towns, were mere tracks over unfenced plains and hills, +and on many of them packhorses only could be used in slushy weather. +During long journeys through the bush the traveler could find his road +only by following the deep notches, gashed by friendly precursors into +the larger trees, and all pointing in one direction. If he lost his way, +he had to struggle back to the last indented tree, and try to interpret +more correctly its pilgrim notch. Experienced bush-travelers seldom miss +the path; yet many others, losing the track, have wandered round and +round till they sank and died. For then it was easy to walk thirty to +forty miles, and see neither a person nor a house. The more intelligent +do sometimes guide their steps by sun, moon, and stars, or by glimpses +of mountain peaks or natural features on the far and high horizon, or by +the needle of the compass; but the perils are not illusory, and +occasionally the most experienced have miscalculated and perished. + +An intelligent gentleman, a sheep farmer, who knew the country well, +once kindly volunteered to lift me in an out-of-the-way place, and drive +me to a meeting at his Station. Having a long spell before us, we +started at midday in a buggy drawn by a pair of splendid horses, in the +hope of reaching our destination before dusk. He turned into the usual +bush-track through the forests, saying, "I know this road well; and we +must drive steadily, as we have not a moment to lose." + +Our conversation became absorbingly interesting. After we had driven +about three hours, he remarked, "We must soon emerge into the open +plain." + +I doubtfully replied, "Surely we cannot have turned back! These trees +and bushes are wonderfully like those we passed at starting." + +He laughed, and made me feel rather vexed that I had spoken, when he +said, "I am too old a hand in the bush for that. I have gone this road +many a time before." + +But my courage immediately revived, for I got what appeared to me a +glint of the roof of the Inn beyond the bush, from which we had started +at noon, and I repeated, "I am certain we have wheeled, and are back at +the beginning of our journey; but there comes a Chinaman--let us wait +and inquire." + +My dear friend learned, to his utter amazement, that he had erred. The +bush-track was entered upon once more, and followed with painful care, +as he murmured, half to himself, "Well, this beats all reckoning! I +could have staked my life that this was impossible." + +Turning to me, he said, with manifest grief, "Our meeting is done for! +It will be midnight before we can arrive." + +The sun was beginning to set as we reached the thinly-timbered ground. +Ere dusk fell, he took his bearing with the greatest possible care. +Beyond the wood, a vast plain stretched before us, where neither fence +nor house was visible, far as the eye could reach. He drove steadily +towards a far-distant point, which was in the direction of his home. At +last we struck upon the wire fence that bounded his property. The horses +were now getting badly fagged; and, in order to save them a long +round-about drive, he lifted and laid low a portion of the fence, led +his horses cautiously over it, and, leaving it to be re-erected by a +servant next day, he started direct for the Station. That seemed a long +journey too; but it was for him familiar ground; and though amongst +great patriarchal trees here and there, and safely past dangerous +water-holes, we swung steadily on, reached his home in safety, and had a +joyous welcome. The household had by this time got into great excitement +over our non-appearance. The expected meeting had, of course, been +abandoned hours ago: and the people were all gone, wondering in their +hearts "whereto this would grow!" + +At that time, in the depth of winter, the roads were often wrought into +rivers of mire, and at many points almost impassable even for +well-appointed conveyances. In connection therewith, I had one very +perilous experience. I had to go from Clunes to a farm in the Learmouth +district. The dear old Minister there, Mr. Downes, went with me to every +place where a horse could be hired; but the owners positively +refused--they would sell, but they would not hire, for the conveyance +would be broken, and the horse would never return alive! Now, I was +advertised to preach at Learmouth, and must somehow get over the nine +miles that lay between. This would have been comparatively practicable, +were it not that I carried with me an indispensable bag of "curios," and +a heavy bundle of clubs, arrows, dresses, etc., from the Islands, +wherewith to illustrate my lectures and enforce my appeals. No one could +be hired to carry my luggage, nor could I get it sent after me by coach +on that particular way. Therefore, seeing no alternative opening up my +path, I committed myself once more to the Lord, as in harder trials +before, shouldered my bundle of clubs, lifted my heavy bag, and started +off on foot. They urged me fervently to desist; but I heard a voice +repeating, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." There came back to +me also the old adage that had in youthful difficulties, spurred me on, +"Where there's a will, there's a way." And I thought that with these two +in his heart, a Scotchman and a Christian would not be easily beaten. + +When I found the road wrought into mire, and dangerous, or impassable, I +climbed the fence, and waded along in the plowed fields--though they +were nearly as bad. My bundle was changed from shoulder to shoulder, and +my bag from hand to hand, till I became thoroughly tired of both. +Pressing on, however, I arrived at a wayside Public-house, where several +roads met, and there I inquired the way to Learmouth, and how far it +was. The innkeeper, pointing, answered-- + +"This is the road. If you are on horseback, it might be three to four +miles just now, as your horse is able to take it. If you are in a +conveyance, with a good horse, it might be six miles. And if you are +walking, it might be eight or ten miles, or even more." + +I said, "I am walking. How many English miles is it to Mr. Baird's +farm?" + +He laughingly replied, "You will find it a long way indeed this dark +night, considering the state of the road, fenced in on both sides so +that you cannot get off." + +I passed on, leaving my Job's comforter; but a surly watchdog got upon +my track, and I had much difficulty in keeping it from biting me. Its +attacks, renewed upon me again and again, had one good effect,--they +stirred up my spirits and made me hasten on. + +Having persevered along the Learmouth road, I next met a company of men +hastening on with a bundle of ropes. They were on their way to relieve a +poor bullock, which by this time had almost disappeared, sinking in the +mire on the public highway! They kindly pointed me to a light, visible +through the dusk. That was the farm at which I was to stay, and they +advised me to clear the fence, and make straight for that light, as the +way was good. + +With thankful heart, I did so. The light was soon lost to me, but I +walked steadily on in the direction thereof, to the best of my judgment. +Immediately I began to feel the ground all floating under me. Then at +every step I took, or tried to take, I sank deeper and deeper, till at +last I durst not move either backward or forward. I was floundering in a +deadly swamp. I called out again and again, and "coo-ee-d" with all my +strength, but there came no reply. It grew extremely dark, while I kept +praying to God for deliverance. About midnight, I heard two men +conversing, apparently at no very great distance. I began "coo-ee-ing" +again, but my strength was failing. Fortunately, the night was perfectly +calm. The conversation ceased for a while, but I kept on crying for +help. At length I heard one voice remark to the other, "Some one is in +the swamp." And then the question came, "Who's there?" + +I answered, "A stranger. Oh, do help me!" Again a voice came through the +darkness, "How did you get in there?" + +And I feebly replied, "I have lost my way." I heard the one say to the +other, "I will go and get him out, whoever he may be. We must not leave +him there; he'll be dead before the morning. As you pass by our door, +tell my wife that I'm helping some poor creature out of the swamp, and +will be home immediately." + +He kept calling to me, and I answering his call through the darkness, +till, not without peril, he managed to reach and aid me. Once I was +safely dragged out, he got my bag in his hand and slung my clubs on his +shoulder, and in a very short time landed me at the farm, dripping and +dirty and cold. Had God not sent that man to save me, I must have +perished there, as many others have similarly perished before. The +farmer's wife heartily welcomed me and kindly ministered to all my +needs. Though not yet gone to rest, they had given up all hope of seeing +me. I heard the kind servant say to his mistress, "I don't know where he +came from, or how far he has carried his bundles; but I got him stuck +fast in the swamp, and my shoulder is already sore from carrying his +clubs!" + +A cup of warm tea restored me. The Lord gave me a sound and blessed +sleep. I rose next morning wonderfully refreshed, though arms and +shoulders were rather sore with the burdens of yesterday. I conducted +three Services, and told the story of my Mission, not without comfort +and blessing; and with gratifying results in money. The people gave +liberally to the work. + +Thereafter, a Schoolmaster drove me a long distance across the country +to Violet Town, where for the night we had to stay at an Inn. We had a +taste of what Australian life really was, when the land was being broken +in. A company of wild and reckless men were carousing there at the time, +and our arrival was the signal for an outbreak of malicious mischief. A +powerful fellow, who turned out to be a young Medical, rushed upon me as +I left the conveyance, seized me by the throat, and shook me roughly, +shouting, "A parson! a parson! I will do for the parson!" + +Others with great difficulty relieved me from his grip, and dragged him +away, cursing as if at his mortal enemy. + +After tea, we got into the only bedroom in the house, available for two. +The Teacher and I locked ourselves in and barricaded the door, hearing +in the next room a large party of drunken men gambling and roaring over +their cards. By and by they quarreled and fought; they smashed in and +out of their room, and seemed to be murdering each other; every moment +we expected our door to come crashing in, as they were thrown or lurched +against it. Their very language made us tremble. One man in particular +seemed to be badly abused; he shouted that they were robbing him of his +money; and he groaned and cried for protection, all in vain. We spent a +sleepless and most miserable night. At four in the morning I arose, and +was glad to get away by the early coach. My friend also left in his own +conveyance, and reached his home in safety. At that period, it was not +only painful but dangerous for any decent traveler to stay at many of +these wayside Inns in the new and rough country. Every man lived and +acted just as he pleased, doing that which was right to his own eyes; +and Might was Right. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. +AMONGST SQUATTERS AND DIGGERS. + +AFTER this, I made a Mission tour, in a somewhat mixed and original +fashion, right across the Colony of Victoria, from Albury in New South +Wales to Mount Gambier in South Australia. I conducted Mission Services +almost every day, and three or more every Sabbath, besides visiting all +Sunday Schools that could be touched on the way. When I reached a +gold-digging or township, where I had been unable to get any one to +announce a meeting, the first thing I did on arriving was to secure some +Church or Hall, and, failing that, to fix on some suitable spot in the +open air. Then, I was always able to hire some one to go round with the +bell, and announce the meeting. Few will believe how large were the +audiences in this way gathered together, and how very substantial was +the help that thereby came to the Mission fund. + +Wheresover railway, steamboat, and coach were available, I always used +them; but failing these, I hired, or was obliged to friends of Missions +for driving me from place to place. On this tour, having reached a +certain place, from which my way lay for many miles across the country, +where there was no public conveyance, I walked to the nearest squatter's +Station and frankly informed the owner how I was situated; that I could +not hire, and that I would like to stay at his house all night, if he +would kindly send me on in the morning by any sort of trap to the next +Station on my list. He happened to be a good Christian and a +Presbyterian, and gave me a right cordial welcome. A meeting of his +servants was called, which I had the pleasure of addressing. Next +morning, he gave me L20, and sent me forward with his own conveyance, +telling me to retain it all day, if necessary. + +On reaching the next squatter's Station, I found the master also at +home, and said, "I am a Missionary from the South Sea Islands. I am +crossing Victoria to plead the cause of the Mission. I would like to +rest here for an hour or two. Could you kindly send me on to the next +Station by your conveyance? If not, I am to keep the last squatter's +buggy, until I reach it." + +Looking with a queer smile at me, he replied, "You propose a rather +novel condition on which to rest at my house! My horses are so employed +to-day, I fear that I may have difficulty in sending you on. But come +in; both you and your horses need rest; and my wife will be glad to see +you." + +I immediately discovered that the good lady came from Glasgow, from a +street in which I had lodged when a student at the Free Normal College. +I even knew some of her friends. All the places of her youthful +associations were equally familiar to me. We launched out into +deeply-interesting conversation, which finally led up, of course, to the +story of our Mission. + +The gentleman, by this time, had so far been won that he slipped out and +sent my conveyance and horses back to their owner, and ordered his own +to be ready to take me to the next Station, or, if need be, to the next +again. At parting, the lady said to her husband, "The Missionary has +asked no money, though he sees we have been deeply interested; yet +clearly that is the object of his tour. He is the first Missionary from +the Heathen that ever visited us here; and you must contribute something +to his Mission fund." + +I thanked her, explaining, "I never ask money directly from any person +for the Lord's work. My part is done when I have told my story and shown +the needs of the Heathen and the claims of Christ; but I gratefully +receive all that the Lord moves His people to give for the Mission." + +Her husband replied, rather sharply, "You know I don't keep money here." +To which she retorted with ready tact and with a resistless smile, "But +you keep a check-book; and your check is as good as gold! This is the +first donation we ever gave to such a cause, and let it be a good one." +He made it indeed handsome, and I went on my way, thanking them very +sincerely, and thanking God. + +At the next Station, the owner turned out to be a gruff Irishman, +forbidding and insolent. Stating my case to him as to the others, he +shouted at me, "Go on! I don't want to be troubled with the loikes o' +you here." + +I answered, "I am sorry if my coming troubles you; but I wish you every +blessing in Christ Jesus. Good-by!" + +As we drove off, he kept growling after us. On leaving his door, I heard +a lady calling to him from the window, "Don't let that Missionary go +away! Make haste and call him back. I want the children to see the idols +and the South Sea curios." + +At first he drowned her appeal in his own shoutings. But she must have +persisted effectually; for shortly we heard him "coo-ee-ing," and +stopped. When he came up to us, he explained, "That lady in my house +heard you speaking in Melbourne. The ladies and children are very +anxious to see your idols, dresses, and weapons. Will you please come +back?" + +We did so. I spent fifteen minutes or so, giving them information about +the Natives and our Mission. As I left, our boisterous friend handed me +a check for L5, and wished me great success. + +The next Station at which we arrived was one of the largest of all. It +happened to be a sort of payday, and men were assembled from all parts +of the "run," and were to remain there over night. The squatter and his +family were from home; but Mr. Todd, the overseer, being a good +Christian and a Scotchman, was glad to receive us, arranged to hold a +meeting that evening in the men's hut, and promised to set me forward on +my journey next day. The meeting was very enthusiastic; and they +subscribed L20 to the Mission--every man being determined to have so +many shares in the new Mission Ship. With earnest personal dealing, I +urged the claims of the Lord Jesus upon all who were present, seeking +the salvation of every hearer. I ever found even the rough digger, and +the lowest of the hands about far-away Stations, most attentive and +perfectly respectful. + +A lively and memorable extemporized meeting on this tour is associated +in memory with one of my dearest friends. The district was very remote. +He, the squatter, and his beloved wife were sterling Christians, and +have been ever since warmly devoted to me. On my arrival, he invited the +people from all the surrounding Stations, as well as his own numerous +servants, to hear the story of our Mission. Next day he volunteered to +drive me a long distance over the plains of St. Arnaud, his dear wife +accompanying us. At that time there were few fences in such districts in +Australia. The drive was long, but the day had been lovely, and the +fellowship was so sweet that it still shines a sunny spot in the fields +of memory. + +Having reached our destination about seven o'clock, he ordered tea at +the Inn for the whole party; and we sallied out meantime and took the +only Hall in the place, for an extemporized meeting to be held that +evening at eight o'clock. I then hired a man to go through the township +with a bell, announcing the same; while I myself went up one side of the +main street, and my friend up the other, inviting all who would listen +to us to attend the Mission meeting where South Sea Islands idols, +weapons, and dresses would be exhibited, and stories of the Natives +told. + +Running back for a hurried cup of tea, I then hasted to the Hall, and +found it crowded to excess with rough and boisterous diggers. The hour +struck as I was getting my articles arranged and spread out upon the +table, and they began shouting, "Where's the Missionary?"--"Another +hoax!"--indicating that they were not unwilling for a row. I learned +that, only a few nights ago, a so-called Professor had advertised a +lecture, lifted entrance money till the Hall was crowded, and then +quietly slipped off the scene. In our case, though there was no charge, +they seemed disposed to gratify themselves by some sort of promiscuous +revenge. + +Amidst the noisy chaff and rising uproar, I stepped up on the table, and +said, "Gentlemen, I am the Missionary. If you will now be silent, the +lecture will proceed. According to my usual custom, let us open the +meeting with prayer." + +The hush that fell was such a contrast to the preceding hubbub, that I +heard my heart throbbing aloud! Then they listened to me for an hour, in +perfect silence and with ever-increasing interest. At the close I +intimated that I asked no collection; but if, after what they had heard, +they would take a Collecting Card for the new Mission Ship, and send any +contributions to the Treasurer at Melbourne, I would praise God for +sending me amongst them. Many were heartily taken, and doubtless some +souls felt the "constraining love," who had till then been living +without God. + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. +JOHN GILPIN IN THE BUSH. + +THE crowning adventure of my tour in Australia came about in the +following manner. I was advertised to conduct Services at Narracoort on +Sabbath, and at a Station on the way on Saturday evening. But how to get +from Penola was a terrible perplexity. On Saturday morning, however, a +young lady offered me, out of gratitude for blessings received, the use +of her riding horse for the journey. "Garibaldi" was his name; and, +though bred for a race-horse, I was assured that if I kept him firmly in +hand, he would easily carry me over the two-and-twenty miles. He was to +be left at the journey's end, and the lady herself would fetch him back. +I shrank from the undertaking, knowing little of horses, and having +vague recollections of being dreadfully punished for more than a week +after my last and almost only ride. But every one in that country is +quite at ease on the back of a horse. They saw no risk; and, as there +appeared no other way of getting there to fulfil my engagements, I, for +my part, began to think that God had unexpectedly provided the means, +and that He would carry me safely through. + +I accepted the lady's kind offer, and started on my pilgrimage. A friend +showed me the road, and gave me ample directions. In the bush, I was to +keep my eye on the notches in the trees, and follow them. He agreed +kindly to bring my luggage to the Station, and leave it there for me by +and by. After I had walked very quietly for some distance, three +gentlemen on horseback overtook me. We entered into conversation. They +inquired how far I was going, and advised me to sit a little "freer" in +the saddle, as it would be so much easier for me. They seemed greatly +amused at my awkward riding! Dark clouds were now gathering ahead, and +the atmosphere prophesied a severe storm; therefore they urged that I +should ride a little faster, as they, for a considerable distance, could +guide me on the right way. I explained to them my plight through +inexperience, said that I could only creep on slowly with safety, and +bade them Good-by. As the sky was getting darker every minute, they +consented, wishing me a safe journey, and started off at a smart pace. + +I struggled to hold in my horse; but seizing the bit with his teeth, +laying back his ears, and stretching out his eager neck, he manifestly +felt that his honor was at stake; and in less time than I take to write +it, the three friends cleared a way for us, and he tore past them all at +an appalling speed. They tried for a time to keep within reach of us, +but that sound only put fire into his blood; and in an incredibly short +time I heard them not; nor, from the moment that he bore me swinging +past them, durst I turn my head by one inch to look for them again. In +vain I tried to hold him in; he tore on, with what appeared to me the +speed of the wind. Then the thunderstorm broke around us, with flash of +lightning and flood of rain, and at every fresh peal my "Garibaldi" +dashed more wildly onward. + +To me, it was a vast surprise to discover that I could sit more easily +on this wild flying thing than when at a canter or a trot. At every turn +I expected that he would dash himself and me against the great forest +trees; but instinct rather than my hand guided him miraculously. +Sometimes I had a glimpse of the road, but as for the "notches," I never +saw one of them; we passed them with lightning speed. Indeed, I durst +not lift my eyes for one moment from watching the horse's head and the +trees on our track. My high-crowned hat was now drenched, and battered +out of shape; for whenever we came to a rather clear space, I seized the +chance and gave it another knock down over my head. I was spattered and +covered with mud and mire. + +Crash, crash, went the thunder, and on, on, went "Garibaldi" through the +gloom of the forest, emerging at length upon a clearer ground with a +more visible pathway. Reaching the top of the slope, a large house stood +out far in front of us to the left; and the horse had apparently +determined to make straight for that, as if it were his home. He skirted +along the hill, and took the track as his own familiar ground, all my +effort to hold him in or guide him having no more effect than that of a +child. By this time, I suspect, I really had lost all power. "Garibaldi" +had been at that house, probably frequently before; he knew those +stables; and my fate seemed to be instant death against door or wall. + +Some members of the family, on the outlook for the Missionary, saw us +come tearing along as if mad or drunk; and now all rushed to the +veranda, expecting some dread catastrophe. A tall and stout young groom, +amazed at our wild career, throwing wide open the gate, seized the +bridle at great risk to himself, and ran full speed, yet holding back +with all his might, and shouting to me to do the same. We +succeeded--"Garibaldi" having probably attained his purpose--in bringing +him to a halt within a few paces of the door. Staring at me with open +mouth, the man exclaimed, "I have saved your life. What madness to ride +like that!" Thanking him, though I could scarcely by this time +articulate a word, I told him that the horse had run away, and that I +had lost all control. + +Truly I was in a sorry plight, drenched, covered with mud, and my hat +battered down over my eyes; little wonder they thought me drunk or mad! +Finally, as if to confirm every suspicion, and amuse them all,--for +master, mistress, governess, and children now looked on from the +veranda,--when I was helped off the horse, I could not stand on my feet! +My head still went rushing on in the race; I staggered, and down I +tumbled into the mud, feeling chagrin and mortification; yet there I had +to sit for some time, before I recovered myself, so as either to rise or +to speak a word. When I did get to my feet, I had to stand holding by +the veranda for some time, my head still rushing on in the race. At +length the master said, "Will you not come in?" + +I knew that he was treating me for a drunken man; and the giddiness was +so dreadful still, that my attempts at speech seemed more drunken than +even my gait. + +As soon as I could stand, I went into the house, and drew near to an +excellent fire in my dripping clothes. The squatter sat opposite me in +silence, reading the newspapers, and taking a look at me now and again +over his spectacles. By and by he remarked, "Wouldn't it be worth while +to change your clothes?" + +Speech was now returning to me. I replied, "Yes, but my bag is coming on +in the cart, and may not be here to-night." + +He began to relent. He took me into a room, and laid out for me a suit +of his own. I being then very slender, and he a big-framed farmer, my +new dress, though greatly adding to my comfort, enhanced the singularity +of my appearance! + +Returning to him, washed and dressed, I inquired if he had arranged for +a meeting? My tongue, I fear, was still unsteady, for the squatter +looked at me rather reproachfully, and said, "Do you really consider +yourself fit to appear before a meeting to-night?" + +I assured him he was quite wrong in his suspicions, that I was a +life-long Abstainer, and that my nerves had been so unhinged by the +terrible ride and runaway horse. He smiled rather suggestively, and said +we would see how I felt after tea. + +We went to the table. All that had occurred was now consummated by my +appearing in the lusty farmer's clothes; and the lady and other friends +had infinite difficulty in keeping their amusement within decent bounds. +I again took speech in hand, but I suspect my words had still the +thickness of the tippler's utterance, for they seemed not to carry much +conviction, "Dear friends, I quite understand your feelings; appearances +are so strangely against me. But I am not drunken, as ye suppose. I have +tasted no intoxicating drink, I am a life-long Total Abstainer!" + +This fairly broke down their reserve. They laughed aloud, looking at +each other and at me, as if to say, "Man, you're drunk at this very +moment." + +Before tea was over they appeared, however, to begin to entertain the +idea that I _might_ address the meeting; and so I was informed of the +arrangements that had been made. At the meeting, my incredulous friends +became very deeply interested. Manifestly their better thoughts were +gaining the ascendency. And they heaped thereafter every kindness upon +me, as if to make amends for harder suspicions. + +Next morning the master drove me about ten miles farther on to the +Church. A groom rode the racehorse, who took no scathe from his +thundering gallop of the day before. It left deeper traces upon me. I +got through the Services, however, and with good returns for the +Mission. Twice since, on my Mission tours, I have found myself at that +same memorable house; and on each occasion, a large company of friends +were regaled by the good lady there with very comical descriptions of my +first arrival at her door. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. +THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. + +DETAINED for nearly a week at Balmoral by the breakdown of the coach on +these dreadful roads, I telegraphed to Hamilton for a conveyance; and +the Superintendent of the Sunday School, dear Mr. Laidlaw, volunteered, +in order to reduce expenses, to spend one day of his precious time +coming for me, and another driving me down. While awaiting him, I came +into painful and memorable contact with the Aborigines of Australia. The +Publicans had organized a day of sports, horse-racing, and circus +exhibitions. Immense crowds assembled, and, amongst the rest, tribe +after tribe of the Aborigines from all the surrounding country. Despite +the law prohibiting the giving of strong drinks to these poor creatures, +foolish and unprincipled dealers supplied them with the same, and the +very blankets which the Government had given them were freely exchanged +for the fire-water which kindled them to madness. + +Next day was the Sabbath. The morning was hideous with the yells of the +fighting savages. They tore about on the Common in front of the Church, +leading gentlemen having tried in vain to quiet them, and their wild +voices without jarred upon the Morning Service. About two o'clock, I +tried to get into conversation with them. I appealed to them whether +they were not all tired and hungry? They replied that they had had no +food all that day; they had fought since the morning! I said, "I love +you, black fellows. I go Missionary black fellows far away. I love you, +want you rest, get food. Come all of you, rest, sit round me, and we +will talk, till the _Jins_ (=women) get ready tea. They boil water, and +I take tea with you, and then you will be strong!" + +By broken English and by many symbols, I won their ear. They produced +tea and _damper, i. e._ a rather forbidding-looking bread, without +yeast, baked on the coals. Their wives hasted to boil water. I kept +incessantly talking, to interest them, and told them how Jesus, God's +dear Son, came and died to make them happy, and how He grieved to see +them beating and fighting and killing each other. + +When the tea was ready we squatted on the green grass, their tins were +filled, the _damper_ was broken into lumps, and I asked the blessing of +God on the meal. To me it was unpleasant eating! Many of them looked +strong and healthy; but not a few were weak and dying creatures. The +strong, devouring all they could get, urged me to be done, and let them +finish their fighting, eager for the fray. But having gained their +confidence, I prayed with them, and thereafter said, "Now, before I +leave, I will ask of you to do one thing for my sake, which you can all +easily do." With one voice they replied, "Yes, we all do whatever you +say." + +I got their leaders to promise to me one by one. I then said, "Now you +have got your tea; and I ask every man and boy among you to lie down in +the bush and take a sleep, and your wives will sit by and watch over +your safety!" + +In glum silence, their war weapons still grasped in their hands, they +stood looking intently at me, doubting whether I could be in earnest. I +urged then, "You all promised to do what I asked. If you break your +promise, these white men will laugh at me, and say that black fellows +only lie and deceive. Let them see that you can be trusted. I wait here +till I see you all asleep." + +One said that his head was cut, and he must have revenge before he could +lie down. Others filed past showing their wounds, and declaring that it +was too bad to request them to go to sleep. I praised them as far as I +could, but urged them for once to be men and to keep their word. +Finally, they all agreed to lie down, I waiting till the last man had +disappeared; and being doubly exhausted with the debauch and the +fighting, they were soon all fast asleep. I prayed that the blessed +Sleep might lull their savage passions. + +Before daylight next morning, the Minister and I were hastening to the +scene to prevent further fighting; but as the sun was rising we saw the +last tribe of the distant Natives disappearing over the brow of a hill. +A small party belonging to the district alone remained. They shouted to +us, "Black fellows all gone! No more fight. You too much like black +fellow!" + +For three days afterwards I had still to linger there; and if their dogs +ran or barked at me, the women chased them with sticks and stones, and +protected me. One little touch of kindness and sympathy had unlocked +their darkened hearts. + +Who wonders that the _dark_ races melt away before the _whites?_ The +pioneers of Civilization _will_ carry with them this demon of strong +drink, the fruitful parent of every other vice. The black people drink, +and become unmanageable; and through the white man's own poison-gift, an +excuse is found for sweeping the poor creatures off the face of the +earth. Marsden's writings show how our Australian blacks are destroyed. +But I have myself been on the track of such butcheries again and again. +A Victorian lady told me the following incident. She heard a child's +pitiful cry in the bush. On tracing it, she found a little girl weeping +over her younger brother. She said, "The white men poisoned our father +and mother. They threaten to shoot me, so that I dare not go near them, +I am here, weeping over my brother till we die!" + +The compassionate lady promised to be a mother to the little sufferers, +and to protect them. They instantly clung to her, and have proved +themselves to be loving and dutiful ever since. + + + +CHAPTER L. +NORA. + +WHILE I was pondering over Kingsley's words,--about the blacks of +Australia being "poor brutes in human shape," and too low to take in the +Gospel,--the story of Nora, an Aboriginal Christian woman, whom I myself +actually visited and corresponded with, was brought under my notice, as +if to shatter to pieces everything that the famous preacher had +proclaimed. A dear friend told me how he had seen Nora encamped with the +blacks near Hexham in Victoria. Her husband had lost, through drink, +their once comfortable home at a Station where he was employed. The +change back to life in camp had broken her health, and she lay sick on +the ground within a miserable hut. The visitors found her reading a +Bible, and explaining to a number of her own poor people the wonders of +redeeming love. My friend, Roderick Urquhart, Esq., overcome by the +sight, said, "Nora, I am grieved to see you here, and deprived of every +comfort in your sickness." + +She answered, not without tears, "The change has indeed made me unwell; +but I am beginning to think that this too is far the best; it has at +last brought my poor husband to his senses, and I will grudge nothing if +God thereby brings him to the Saviour's feet!" + +She further explained that she had found wonderful joy in telling her +own people about the true God and His Son Jesus, and was quite assured +that the Lord in His own way would send her relief. The visitors who +accompanied Mr. Urquhart showed themselves to be greatly affected by the +true and pure Christian spirit of this poor Aboriginal, and on parting +she said, "Do not think that I like this miserable hut, or the food, or +the company: but I am and have been happy in trying to do good amongst +my people." + +For my part, let that dear Christlike soul look out on me from her +Aboriginal hut, and I will trample under foot all teachings or +theorizings that dare to say that she or her kind are but poor brutes, +as mere blasphemies against Human Nature! "I thank thee, O Father, Lord +of Heaven and Earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and +prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." + +It is easy to understand how even experienced travelers may be deluded +to believe that the Aborigines have no idols and no religion. One must +have lived amongst them or their kindred ere he can authoritatively +decide these questions. Before I left Melbourne, for instance, I had met +Nathaniel Pepper, a converted Aboriginal from Wimmera. I asked him if +his people had any "Doctors," _i. e._ Sacred Men or priests. He said +they had. I inquired if they had any objects of Worship, or any belief +in God? He said, "No! None whatever." + +But on taking from my pocket some four small stone idols, his expression +showed at once that he recognized them as objects of Worship. He had +seen the Sacred Men use them; but he refused to answer any more +questions. I resolved now, if possible, to secure some of their idols, +and set this whole problem once for all at rest. + +At Newstead, on another occasion, I persuaded a whole camp of the +Aborigines to come to my meeting. After the address, they waited to +examine the idols and stone gods which I had shown. Some of the young +men admitted that their "doctors" had things like these, which they and +the old people prayed to; but they added jauntily, "We young fellows +don't worship; we know too much for that!" No "doctors" were, however, +in that camp; so I could not meet with them; but I already felt that the +testimony of nearly all white people that the "blacks" had "no idols and +no worship" was quickly crumbling away. + +On returning to Horsham, from a visit to a great camp of the blacks at +Wonwondah, and having purchased, in the presence of witnesses, specimens +of their idols from the Doctor or Sacred Man of these tribes, I informed +my dear friends, Rev. P. Simpson and his excellent lady, of my exploits +and possessions. He replied, "There is a black 'doctor' gone round our +house just now to see one of his people who is washing here to-day. Let +us go and test them, whether they know these objects." + +Carrying them in his hand, we went to them. The woman instantly on +perceiving them dropped what she was washing, and turned away in +instinctive terror. Mr. Simpson asked, "Have you ever before seen stones +like these?" + +The wily "doctor" replied, "Plenty on the plains, where I kick them out +of my way." + +Taking others out of my pocket, I said, "These make people sick and +well, don't they?" + +His rage overcame his duplicity, and he exclaimed, "What black fellow +give you these? If I know him I do for him!" + +The woman, looking the picture of terror, and pointing to one of the +objects, cried, "That fellow no good! he kill men. No good, no good! Me +too much afraid." + +Then, looking at me, she said, pointing with her finger, "That fellow +savvy (knows) too much! No white man see them. He no good." + +There was more in this scene and in all its surroundings, than in many +arguments; and Mr. Simpson thoroughly believed that these were objects +of idolatrous worship. + +And now let me relate the story of my visit to Nora, the converted +Aboriginal referred to above. Accompanied by Robert Hood, Esq., J. P., +Victoria, I found my way to the encampment near Hexham. She did not know +of our coming, nor see us till we stood at the door of her hut. She was +clean and tidily dressed, as were also her dear little children, and +appeared glad to see us. She had just been reading the _Presbyterian +Messenger_, and the Bible was lying at her elbow. I said, "Do you read +the _Messenger_?" + +She replied, "Yes; I like to know what is going on in the Church." + +We found her to be a sensible and humble Christian woman, conversing +intelligently about religion and serving God devotedly. Next Sabbath she +brought her husband, her children, and six blacks to church, all +decently dressed, and they all listened most attentively. + +At our first meeting I said, "Nora, they tell me you are a Christian. I +want to ask you a few questions about the blacks; and I hope that as a +Christian you will speak the truth." Rather hurt at my language, she +raised her right hand, and replied, "I am a Christian. I fear and serve +the true God. I always speak the truth." + +Taking from my pocket the stone idols from the Islands, I inquired if +her people had or worshipped things like these. She replied, "The +'doctors' have them." + +"Have you a 'doctor' in your camp?" I asked. She said, "Yes, my uncle is +the Sacred Man; but he is now far away from this." + +"Has he the idols with him now?" I inquired. She answered, "No; they are +left in my care." + +I then said, "Could you let us see them?" + +She consulted certain representatives of the tribe who were at hand. +They rose, and removed to a distance. They had consented. Mr. Hood +assured me that no fault would be found with her, as she was the real, +or at least virtual head of the tribe. Out of a larger bag she then drew +two smaller bags, and opened them. They were filled with the very +objects which I had brought from the Islands. I asked her to consult the +men of her tribe whether they would agree to sell four or five of them +to me, that I might by them convince the white people that they had gods +of their own, and are, therefore, above the brutes of the field; the +money to be given to their Sacred Man on his return. This, also, after a +time was agreed to. I selected three of the objects, and paid the +stipulated price. And I have the recorded testimony of "Robert Hood, J. +P., Hexham, Victoria, 28th February, 1863," certifying on his honor all +that I am here affirming. + +Mr. Hood asked Nora how he had never heard of or seen these things +before, living so long amongst them, and blacks constantly coming and +going about his house. She replied, "Long ago white men laughed at black +fellows praying to their idols. Black fellows said, white men never see +them again! Suppose this white man not know all about them, he would not +now see them. No white men live now have seen what you have seen." + +Thus it has been demonstrated on the spot, and in presence of the most +reliable witnesses, that the Aborigines, before they saw the white +invaders, were not "brutes" incapable of knowing God, but human beings, +yearning after a God of some kind. Nor do I believe that any tribe of +men will ever be found, who, when their language and customs are rightly +interpreted, will not display their consciousness of the need of a God, +and that Divine capacity of holding fellowship with the Unseen Powers, +of which the brutes are without one faintest trace. + +Poor, dear, Christian-hearted Nora! The Christ-spirit shines forth +unmistakably through thee,--praying for and seeking to save husband and +children, enduring trials and miseries by the aid of communion with thy +Lord, weeping over the degradation of thy people, and seeking to lift +them up by telling them of the true God and of His love to Mankind +through Jesus Christ. + + + +CHAPTER LI. +BACK TO SCOTLAND. + +EACH of my Australian Committees strongly urged my return to Scotland, +chiefly to secure, if possible, more Missionaries for the New Hebrides. +Dr. Inglis, just arrived from Britain, where he had the Aneityumese New +Testament carried through the press, also zealously enforced this +appeal. + +Constrained by what appeared to me the Voice of God, I sailed for London +in the _Kosciusko_, an Aberdeen clipper, on the 17th May, 1863. Captain +Stuart made the voyage most enjoyable to all. The Rev. Mr. Stafford, +friend of the good Bishop Selwyn and tutor to his son, conducted along +with myself, alternately, an Anglican and a Presbyterian Service. We +passed through a memorable thunder-burst in rounding the Cape. Our good +ship was perilously struck by lightning. The men on deck were thrown +violently down. The copper in the bulwarks was twisted and melted--a +specimen of which the Captain gave me and I still retain. When the ball +of fire struck the ship, those of us sitting on chairs, screwed to the +floor around the cabin table, felt as if she were plunging to the +bottom. When she sprang aloft again, a military man and a medical +officer were thrown heavily into the back passage between the cabins, +the screws that held their seats having snapped asunder. I, in grasping +the table, got my leg severely bruised, being jammed betwixt the seat +and the table, and had to be carried to my berth. All the men were +attended to, and quickly recovered consciousness; and immediately the +good Captain, an elder of the Church, came to me, and said, "Lead us in +prayer, and let us thank the Lord for this most merciful deliverance; +the ship is not on fire, and no one is seriously injured!" + +Poor fellow! whether hastened on by this event I know not, but he +struggled for three weeks thereafter in a fever, and it took our united +care and love to pull him through. The Lord, however, restored him; and +we cast anchor safely in the East India Docks, at London, on 26th +August, 1863, having been three months and ten days at sea from port to +port. + +It was 5.30 P. M. when we cast anchor, and the gates closed at 6 +o'clock. My little box was ready on deck. The Custom House officers +kindly passed me, and I was immediately on my way to Euston Square. +Never before had I been within the Great City, and doubtless I could +have enjoyed its palaces and memorials. But the King's business +entrusted to me, "required haste," and I felt constrained to press +forward, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. + +At nine o'clock that evening, I left for Scotland by train. Next +morning, about the same hour, I reported myself at the manse of the Rev. +John Kay, Castle Douglas, the Convener of the Foreign Mission Committee +of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, to which I then belonged. We +arranged for a meeting of said Committee, at earliest practicable date, +that my scheme and plans might at once be laid before them. + +By the next train I was on my way to Dumfries, and thence by conveyance +to my dear old home at Torthorwald. There I had a Heavenly Welcome from +my saintly parents, yet not unmixed with many fast-falling tears. Five +brief years only had elapsed, since I went forth from their Sanctuary, +with my young bride; and now, alas! alas! that grave on Tanna held +mother and son locked in each other's embrace till the Resurrection Day. + +Not less glowing, but more terribly agonizing, was my reception, a few +days thereafter, at Coldstream, when I first gazed on the bereaved +father and mother of my beloved; who, though godly people, were +conscious of a heart-break under that stroke, from which through their +remaining years they never fully rallied. They murmured not against the +Lord; but all the same, heart and flesh began to faint and fail, even as +our Divine Exemplar Himself fainted under the Cross, which yet He so +uncomplainingly bore. + +The Foreign Mission Committee of the Reformed Presbyterian Church met in +Edinburgh, and welcomed me kindly, nay, warmly. A full report of all my +doings for the past, and of all my plans and hopes, was laid before +them. They at once agreed to my visiting and addressing every +Congregation and Sabbath School in the Church. They opened to me their +Divinity Hall, that I might appeal to the Students. My Address there was +published and largely circulated, under the motto--"Come over and help +us." It was used of God to deepen vastly the interest in our Mission. + +The Committee generously and enthusiastically did everything in their +power to help me. By their influence, the Church in 1864 conferred on me +the undesired and undeserved honor, the highest which they could +confer--the honor of being the Moderator of their Supreme Court. No one +can understand how much I shrank from all this; but, in hope of the +Lord's using it and me to promote His work amongst the Heathen, I +accepted the Chair, though, I fear, only to occupy it most unworthily, +for Tanna gave me little training for work like that! + +I have ever regarded it as a privilege and honor that I was born and +trained within the old covenanting Reformed Presbyterian Church of +Scotland. As a separate Communion, that Church was small amongst the +thousands of Israel; but the principles of Civil and Religious Liberty +for which her founders suffered and died are, at this moment, the heart +and soul of all that is best and divinest in the Constitution of our +British Empire. I am more proud that the blood of Martyrs is in my +veins, and their truths in my heart, than other men can be of noble +pedigree or royal names. + + + +CHAPTER LII. +TOUR THROUGH THE OLD COUNTRY. + +My tour through Scotland brought me into contact with every Minister, +Congregation, and Sabbath School in the Church of my fathers. They were +never at any time a rich people, but they were always liberal. At this +time they contributed beyond all previous experience, both in money and +in boxes of useful articles for the Islanders. + +Unfortunately, my visit to the far North, to our Congregations at Wick +and Stromness, had been arranged for the month of January; and thereby a +sore trial befell me in my pilgrimages. The roads were covered with snow +and ice. I reached Aberdeen and Wick by steamer from Edinburgh, and had +to find my way thence to Thurso. The inside seats on the mail coach +being all occupied, I had to take my place outside. The cold was +intense, and one of my feet got bitten by the frost. The storm detained +me nearly a week at Thurso, but feeling did not return to the foot. + +We started, in a lull, by steamer for Stromness; but the storm burst +again, all were ordered below, and hatches and doors made fast. The +passengers were mostly very rough, the place was foul with whisky and +tobacco. I appealed to the Captain to let me crouch somewhere on deck +and hold on as best I could. He shouted, "I dare not! You'll be washed +overboard." + +On seeing my appealing look, he relented, directed his men to fasten a +tarpaulin over me, and lash it and me to the mast, and there I lay till +we reached Stromness. The sea broke heavily and dangerously over the +vessel. But the Captain, finding shelter for several hours under the lee +of a headland, saved both the ship and the passengers. When at last we +landed, my foot was so benumbed and painful that I could move a step +only with greatest agony. Two meetings, however, were in some kind of +way conducted; but the projected visit to Dingwall and other places had +to be renounced, the snow lying too deep for any conveyance to carry me, +and my foot crying aloud for treatment and skill. + +On returning Southwards I was confined for about two months, and placed +under the best medical advice. All feeling seemed gradually to have +departed from my foot; and amputation was seriously proposed both in +Edinburgh and in Glasgow. Having somehow managed to reach Liverpool, my +dear friend, the Rev. Dr. Graham, took me there to a Doctor who had +wrought many wonderful recoveries by galvanism. Time after time he +applied the battery, but I felt nothing. He declared that the power used +would "have killed six ordinary men," and that he had never seen any +part of the human body so dead to feeling on a live and healthy person. +Finally, he covered it all over with a dark plaster, and told me to +return in three days. But next day, the throbbing feeling of +insufferable coldness in the foot compelled me to return at once. After +my persistent appeals, he removed the plaster; and, to his great +astonishment, the whole of the frosted part adhered to it! Again, +dressing the remaining parts, he covered it with plaster as before, and +assured me that with care and rest it would now completely recover. By +the blessing of the Lord it did, though it was a bitter trial to me +amidst all these growing plans to be thus crippled by the way; and to +this day I am sometimes warned in over-walking that the part is capable +of many a painful twinge. And humbly I feel myself crooning over the +graphic words of the Greatest Missionary, "I bear about in my body the +marks of the Lord Jesus." + +On that tour, the Sabbath Schools joyfully adopted my scheme, and became +"Shareholders" in the Mission Ship. It was thereafter ably developed by +an elder of the Church. A _Dayspring_ collecting box found its way into +almost every family; and the returns from Scotland have yielded ever +since about L250 per annum, as their proportion for the expenses of the +Children's Mission Ship to the New Hebrides. The Church in Nova Scotia +heartily accepted the same idea, and their Sabbath School children have +regularly contributed their L250 per annum too. The Colonial children +have contributed the rest, throughout all these years, with unfailing +interest. And whensoever the true and full history of the South Sea +Islands Mission is written for the edification of the Universal Church, +let it not be forgotten that the children of Australasia, and Nova +Scotia, and Scotland, did by their united pennies keep the _Dayspring_ +floating in the New Hebrides; that the Missionaries and their families +were thereby supplied with the necessaries of life, and that the +Islanders were thus taught to clothe themselves and to sit at the feet +of Jesus. This was the Children's Holy League, erewhile referred to; and +one knows that on such a Union the Divine Master smiles well pleased. + +The Lord also crowned this tour with another precious fruit of blessing, +though not all by any means due to my influence. Four new Missionaries +volunteered from Scotland, and three from Nova Scotia. By their aid we +not only re-claimed for Jesus the posts that had been abandoned, but we +took possession of other Islands in His most blessed Name. But I did not +wait and take them out with me. They had matters to look into and to +learn about, that would be infinitely helpful to them in the Mission +field. Especially, and far above everything else in addition to their +regular Clerical course, some Medical instruction was an absolute +prerequisite. Every Missionary was urged to obtain all insight that was +practicable at the Medical Mission Dispensary, and otherwise, especially +on lines known to be most requisite for these Islands. For this, and +similar objects, all that I raised over and above what was required for +the _Dayspring_ was entrusted to the Foreign Mission Committee, that the +new Missionaries might be fully equipped, and their outfit and traveling +expenses be provided for without burdening the Church at home. Her +responsibilities were already large enough for her resources. But she +could give men, God's own greatest gift, and His people elsewhere gave +the money,--the Colonies and the Home Country thus binding themselves to +each other in this Holy Mission of the Cross. + + + +CHAPTER LIII. +MARRIAGE AND FAREWELL. + +BUT I did not return alone. The dear Lord had brought to me one +prepared, all unknown to either of us, by special culture, by godly +training, by many gifts and accomplishments, and even by family +associations, to share my lot on the New Hebrides. Her brother had been +an honored Missionary in the Foreign field, and had fallen asleep while +the dew of youth was yet upon him; her sister was the wife of a devoted +Minister of our Church in Adelaide, both she and her husband being +zealous promoters of our work; and her father had left behind him a +fragrant memory through his many Christian works at Edinburgh, Kenneth, +and Alloa, besides being not unknown to fame as the author of those +still popular books, _Whitecross's Anecdotes_, illustrative of the +Shorter Catechism and of the Holy Scriptures. Ere I left Scotland in +1864, I was married to Margaret Whitecross, and God spares us to each +other still (1892); and the family which He has been pleased in His love +to grant unto us we have dedicated to His service, with the prayer and +hope that He may use every one of them in spreading the Gospel +throughout the Heathen World. + +Our marriage was celebrated at her sister's house in Edinburgh; and I +may be pardoned for recalling a little event which characterized the +occasion. My youngest brother, then tutor to a gentleman studying at the +University, stepped forth at the close of the ceremony and recited an +Epithalamium composed for the day. For many a month and year the +refrain, a play upon the Bride's name, kept singing itself through my +memory:-- + +"Long may the _Whitecross_ banner wave, +By the battle blasts unriven; +Long may our Brother and Sister brave +Rejoice in the light of Heaven." + +He describes the Bride as hearing a "Voice from the far Pacific Seas"; +and turning to us both, he sang of an Angel "beckoning us to the +Tanna-land," to gather a harvest of souls:-- + +"The warfare is brief, the crown is bright, +The pledge is the souls of men; +Go, may the Lord defend the Right, +And restore you safe again!" + +But the verse which my dear wife thought most beautiful for a bridal +day, and which her memory cherishes still, was this:-- + +"May the ruddy Joys, and the Graces fair, +Wait fondly around you now; +Sweet angel Hopes and young Loves repair +To your home and bless your vow!" + +My last scene in Scotland was kneeling at the family altar in the old +Sanctuary Cottage at Torthorwald, while my venerable father, with his +high-priestly locks of snow-white hair streaming over his shoulders, +commenced us once again to "the care and keeping of the Lord God of the +families of Israel." It was the last time that ever on this Earth those +accents of intercession, loaded with a pathos of deathless love, would +fall upon my ears. I knew to a certainty that when we rose from our +knees and said farewell, our eyes would never meet again till they were +flooded with the lights of the Resurrection Day. But he and my darling +mother gave us away once again with a free heart, not unpierced with the +sword of human anguish, to the service of our common Lord and to the +Salvation of the Heathen. And we went forth, praying that a double +portion of their spirit, along with their precious blessing, might rest +upon us in all the way that we had to go. + +Our beloved mother, always more self-restrained, and less demonstrative +in the presence of others, held back her heart till we were fairly gone +from the door; and then, as my dear brother afterward informed me, she +fell back into his arms with a great cry, as if all the heart-strings +had broken, and lay for long in a deathlike swoon. Oh, all ye that read +this page, think most tenderly of the cries of Nature, even where Grace +and Faith are in perfect triumph. Read, through scenes like these, a +fuller meaning into the words addressed to that blessed Mother, whose +Son was given for us all, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own +soul also." + + + +CHAPTER LIV. +FIRST PEEP AT THE "DAYSPRING." + +WE embarked at Liverpool for Australia in _The Crest o' the Wave_, +Captain Ellis; and, after what was then considered a fast passage of +ninety-five days, we landed at Sydney on 17th January, 1865. Within an +hour we had to grapple with a new and amazing perplexity. The Captain of +our _Dayspring_ came to inform me that his ship had arrived three days +ago and now lay in the stream,--that she had been to the Islands, and +had settled the Gordons, M'Cullaghs, and Morrisons on their several +stations,--that she had left Halifax in Nova Scotia fourteen months ago, +and that now, on arriving at Sydney, he could not get one penny of +money, and that the crew were clamoring for their pay, etc. etc. He +continued, "Where shall I get money for current expenses? No one will +lend unless we mortgage the _Dayspring_. I fear there is nothing before +us but to sell her!" I gave him L50 of my own to meet clamant demands, +and besought him to secure me a day or two of delay that something might +be done. + +Having landed, and been heartily welcomed by dear Dr. and Mrs. Moon and +other friends, I went with a kind of trembling joy to have my first look +at the _Dayspring_, like a sailor getting a first peep at the child born +to him whilst far away on the sea. Some of the irritated ship's company +stopped us by the way, and threatened prosecution and all sorts of +annoyance. I could only urge again for a few days' patience. I found her +to be a beautiful two-masted Brigantine, with a deck-house (added when +she first arrived at Melbourne), and every way suitable for our +necessities,--a thing of beauty, a white-winged Angel set a-floating by +the pennies of the children to bear the Gospel to these sin-darkened but +sun-lit Southern Isles. To me she became a sort of living thing, the +impersonation of a living and throbbing love in the heart of thousands +of "shareholders"; and I said, with a deep, indestructible faith,--"The +Lord has provided--the Lord will provide." + +Since she sailed, L1400 had been expended; for present liabilities at +least L700 more were instantly required: and, at any rate, as large a +sum to pay her way and meet expenses of next trip to the Islands. Having +laid our perplexing circumstances before our dear Lord Jesus, having +"spread out" all the details in His sympathetic presence, pleading that +the Ship itself and the new Missionaries were all His own, not mine, I +told Him that this money was needed to do His own blessed work. + +On Friday morning, I consulted friends of the Mission, but no help was +visible. I tried to borrow, but found that the lender demanded 20 per +cent for interest, besides the title-deeds of the ship for security. I +applied for a loan from the agent of the London Missionary Society (then +agent for us too) on the credit of the Reformed Presbyterian Church's +Foreign Committee, but he could not give it without a written order from +Scotland. There were some who seemed rather to enjoy our perplexity! + +Driven thus to the wall, I advertised for a meeting of Ministers and +other friends, next morning at eleven o'clock, to receive my report and +to consult _re_ the _Dayspring_. I related my journeyings since leaving +them and the results, and then asked for advice about the ship. + +"Sell her," said some, "and have done with it."--"What," said others, +"have the Sabbath Schools given you the _Dayspring_ and can you not +support her yourselves?" + +I pointed out to them that the salary of each Missionary was then only +L120 per annum, that they gave their lives for the Heathen, and that +surely the Colonial Christians would undertake the up-keep of the ship, +which was necessary to the very existence of the Mission. I appealed to +them that, as my own Church in Scotland had now one Missionary abroad +for every six Ministers at home, and the small Presbyterian Church of +Nova Scotia had actually three Missionaries now on our Islands, it would +be a blessed privilege for the Australian Churches and Sabbath Schools +to keep the _Dayspring_ afloat, without whose services the Missionaries +could not live nor the Islanders be evangelized. + +Being Saturday, the morning Services for Sabbath were all arranged for, +or advertised; but Dr. M'Gibbon offered me a meeting for the evening, +and Dr. Steel an afternoon Service at three o'clock, combined with his +Sabbath School. Rev. Mr. Patterson of Piermont, offered me a Morning +Service; but, as his was only a Mission Church, he could not give me a +collection. These openings I accepted, as from the Lord, however much +they fell short of what I desired. + +At the Morning Service I informed the congregation how we were situated, +and expressed the hope that under God and their devoted pastor they +would greatly prosper, and would yet be able to help in supporting our +Mission to their South Sea neighbors. Returning to the vestry, a lady +and gentleman waited to be introduced to me. They were from Launceston, +Tasmania. + +"I am," said he, "Captain and owner of that vessel lying at anchor +opposite the _Dayspring_. My wife and I, being too late to get on shore +to attend any Church in the city, heard this little Chapel bell ringing, +and followed, when we saw you going up the hill. We have so enjoyed the +Service. We do heartily sympathize with you. This check for L50 will be +a beginning to help you out of your difficulties." + +The reader knows how warmly I would thank them; and how in my own heart +I knew _Who_ it was that made them arrive too late for _their_ plans, +but not for _His_, and led them up that hill, and opened their hearts. +Jehovah-Jireh? + +At three o'clock, Dr. Steel's Church was filled with children and +others. I told them in my appeal what had happened in the Mission +Chapel, and how God had led Captain Frith and his wife, entire +strangers, to sound the first note of our deliverance. One man stood up +and said, "I will give L10." Another, "I will give L5." A third, "I +shall send you L20 to-morrow morning." Several others followed their +example, and the general collection was greatly encouraging. + +In the evening I had a very large as well as sympathetic congregation. I +fully explained the difficulty about the _Dayspring_, and told them what +God had already done for us, announcing an address to which +contributions might be sent. Almost every mail brought me the free-will +offerings of God's people; and on Wednesday, when the adjourned meeting +was held, the sum had reached in all L456. Believing that the Lord thus +intervened at a vital crisis in our Mission, I dwell on it to the praise +of His blessed Name. Trust in Him, obey Him, and He will not suffer you +to be put to shame. + +Clearing out from her sister ships, then in harbor, the _John Williams_ +and the _John Wesley_, our little _Dayspring_ sailed for Tasmania. At +Hobart we were visited by thousands of children and parents, and +afterwards at Launceston, who were proud to see their own Ship, in which +they were "shareholders" for Jesus. Daily, all over the Colony, I +preached in churches, and addressed public meetings, and got +collections, and gave out Collection Cards to be returned within two +weeks. + +We received many tokens of interest and sympathy. The steam tug was +granted to us free, and the harbor dues were remitted. Many presents +were also sent on board the _Dayspring_. Still, after meeting all +necessary outlays, the trip to Tasmania gave us only L227: 8: 11 clear +for the Mission fund. + +Sailing now for South Australia, we arrived at Adelaide. Many friends +there showed the deepest interest in our plans. Thousands of children +and parents came to visit their own Mission Ship by several special +trips. Daily and nightly I addressed meetings, and God's people were +moved greatly in the cause. After meeting ail expenses while in port, +there remained a sum of L634: 9: 2 for the up-keep of the vessel. The +Honorable George Fife Angus gave me L241--a dear friend belonging to the +Baptist Church. But there was still a deficit of L400 before the +_Dayspring_ could sail free of debt, and my heart was sore as I cried +for it to the Lord. + +Leaving the ship to sail direct for Sydney, I took steamer to Melbourne; +but, on arriving there, sickness and anxiety laid me aside for three +days. Under great weakness, I crept along to my dear friends at the +Scotch College, Dr. and Mrs. Morrison, and Miss Fraser, and threw myself +on their advice. + +"Come along," said the Doctor cheerily, "and I'll introduce you to Mr. +Butchart and one or two friends in East Melbourne, and we'll see what +what can be done!" + +I gave all information, being led on in conversation by the Doctor, and +tried to interest them in our work, but no subscriptions were asked or +received. Ere I sailed for Sydney however, the whole deficiency was sent +to me. I received in all, on this tour, the sum of L1726: 9: 10. Our +_Dayspring_ once more sailed free, and our hearts overflowed with +gratitude to the Lord and to His stewards! + + + +CHAPTER LV. +THE FRENCH IN THE PACIFIC. + +We went down to the Islands with the _Dayspring_ in 1865. The full story +of the years that had passed was laid before my Missionary brethren at +their Annual Synod. They resolved that permanent arrangements must now +be made for the vessel's support, and that I must return to the Colonies +and see these matured, to prevent any such crisis as that through which +we had recently passed. This, meantime, appeared to all of them, the +most clamant of all Missionary duties,--their very lives, and the +existence of the Mission itself, depending thereon. The Lord seemed to +leave me no alternative: and, with great reluctance, my back was again +turned away from the Islands. + +The _Dayspring_, doing duty among the Loyalty Islands, left me, along +with my dear wife, on Mare, there to await an opportunity of getting to +New Caledonia, and thence to Sydney. Detained there for some time, we +saw the noble work done by Messrs. Jones and Creagh, of the London +Missionary Society, all being cruelly undone by the tyranny and Popery +of the French. One day, in an inland walk, Mrs. Paton and I came on a +large Conventicle in the bush. They were teaching each other, and +reading the Scriptures which the Missionaries had translated into their +own language, and which the French had forbidden them to use. They cried +to God for deliverance from their oppressors! Missionaries were +prohibited from teaching the Gospel to the Natives without the +permission of France; their books were suppressed, and they themselves +placed under military guard on the Island of Lifu. Even when, by +Britain's protest, the Missionaries were allowed to resume their work, +the French language was alone to be used by them; and some, like Rev. J. +Jones (as far down as 1888), were marched on board a Man-of-war, at half +an hour's notice, and, without crime laid to their charge, forbidden +ever to return to the Islands. While, on the other hand, the French +Popish Missionaries were everywhere fostered and protected, presenting +to the Natives as many objects of idolatry as their own, and following, +as is the custom of the Romish Church in those Seas, in the wake of +every Protestant Mission, to pollute and to destroy. + +Being delayed also for two weeks on Noumea, we saw the state of affairs +under military rule. English Protestant residents, few in number, +appealed to me to conduct worship, but liberty could not be obtained +from the authorities, who hated everything English. Again a number of +Protestant parents, some French, others English and German, applied to +me to baptize their children at their own houses. To have asked +permission would have been to court refusal, and to falsify my position. +I laid the matter before the Lord, and baptized them all. Within two +days the Private Secretary of the Governor arrived with an interpreter, +and began to inquire of me, "Is it true that you have been baptizing +here?" + +I replied quite frankly, "It is." + +"We are sent to demand on whose authority?" + +"On the authority of my Great Master." + +"When did you get that authority?" + +"When I was licensed and ordained to preach the Gospel, I got that +authority from my Great Master." + +Here a spirited conversation followed betwixt the two in French, and +they politely bowed, and left me. + +Very shortly they returned, saying, "The Governor sends his compliments, +and he wishes the honor of a visit from you at Government House at three +o'clock, if convenient for you." + +I returned my greeting, and said that I would have pleasure in waiting +upon his Excellency at the appointed hour. I thought to myself that I +was in for it now, and I earnestly cried for Divine guidance. + +He saluted me graciously as "de great Missionary of de New Hebrides." He +conversed in a very friendly manner about the work there, and seemed +anxious to find any indication as to the English designs. I had to deal +very cautiously. He spoke chiefly through the interpreter; but, +sometimes dismissing him, he talked to me as good, if not better English +himself. He was eager to get my opinions as to how Britain got and +retained her power over the Natives. After a very prolonged interview, +we parted without a single reference to the baptisms or to religious +services! + +That evening the Secretary and interpreter waited upon us at our Inn, +saying, "The Governor will have pleasure in placing his yacht and crew +at your disposal to-morrow. Mrs. Paton and you can sail all around, and +visit the Convict Island, and the Government Gardens, where lunch will +be prepared for you." + +It was a great treat to us indeed. The crew were in prison garments, but +all so kind to us. By Convict labor all the public works seemed to be +carried on, and the Gardens were most beautiful. The carved work in +bone, ivory, cocoanuts, shells, etc., was indeed very wonderful. We +bought a few specimens, but the prices were beyond our purse. It was a +strange spectacle--these things of beauty and joy, and beside them the +chained gangs of fierce and savage Convicts, kept down only by bullet +and sword! + +Thanking the Governor for his exceeding kindness, I referred to their +Man-of-war about to go to Sydney, and offered to pay full passage money +if they would take me, instead of leaving me to wait for a "trader." He +at once granted my request, and arranged that we should be charged only +at the daily cost for the sailors. At his suggestion, however, I took a +number of things on board with me, and presented them to be used at the +cabin table. We were most generously treated--the Captain giving up his +own room to my wife and myself, as they had no special accommodation for +passengers. + +Noumea appeared to me at that time to be wholly given over to +drunkenness and vice, supported as a great Convict Settlement by the +Government of France, and showing every extreme of reckless, worldly +pleasure, and of cruel, slavish toil. When I saw it again, +three-and-twenty years thereafter, it showed no signs of progress for +the better. It there be a God of justice and of love, His blight cannot +but rest on a nation whose pathway is stained with corruption and +steeped in blood, as is undeniably the case with France in the Pacific +Isles. + + + +CHAPTER LVI. +THE GOSPEL AND GUNPOWDER. + +Arriving at Sydney, I was at once plunged into a whirlpool of horrors. +H. M. S. _Curacoa_ had just returned from her official trip to the +Islands, in which the Commodore, Sir William Wisenian, had thought it +his duty to inflict punishment on the Natives for murder and robbery of +Traders and others. On these Islands, as in all similar cases, the +Missionaries had acted as interpreters, and of course always used their +influence on the side of mercy, and in the interests of peace. But +Sydney, and indeed Australia and the Christian World, were thrown into a +ferment just a few days before our arrival, by certain articles in a +leading publication there, and by the pictorial illustrations of the +same. They were professedly from an officer on board Her Majesty's ship, +and the sensation was increased by their apparent truthfulness and +reality. Tanna was the scene of the first event, and a series was to +follow in succeeding numbers. The _Curacoa_ was pictured lying at anchor +off the shore having the _Dayspring_ astern. The Tannese warriors were +being blown to pieces by shot and shell, and lay in heaps on the bloody +coast. And the Missionaries were represented as safe in the lee of the +Man-of-war, directing the onslaught, and gloating over the carnage. + +Without a question being asked or a doubt suggested, without a voice +being raised in fierce denial that such men as these Missionaries were +known to be could be guilty of such conduct,--men who had jeoparded +their lives for years on end rather than hurt one hair on a Native's +head,--a cry of execration, loud and deep, and even savage, arose from +the Press, and was apparently joined in by the Church itself. The common +witticism about the "Gospel and Gunpowder" headed hundreds of bitter and +scoffing articles in the journals; and, as we afterwards learned, the +shocking news had been telegraphed to Britain and America, losing +nothing in force by the way, and, while filling friends of Missions with +dismay, was dished up day after day with every imaginable enhancement of +horror for the readers of the secular and infidel Press. As I stepped +ashore at Sydney I found myself probably the best-abused man in all +Australia, and the very name of the New Hebrides Mission stinking in the +nostrils of the people. + +The gage of battle had been thrown and fell at my feet. Without one +moment's delay I lifted it in the name of my Lord and of my maligned +brethren. That evening my reply was in the hands of the editor, denying +that such battles ever took place, retailing the actual facts of which I +had been myself an eyewitness, and intimating legal prosecution unless +the most ample and unequivocal withdrawal and apology were at once +published. The Newspaper printed my rejoinder, and made satisfactory +amends for having been imposed upon and deceived. I waited upon the +Commodore and appealed for his help in redressing this terrible injury +to our Mission. He informed me that he had already called his officers +to account, but that all denied any connection with the articles or the +picture. He had little doubt, all the same, that some one on board was +the prompter, who gloried in the evil that was being done to the cause +of Christ. He offered every possible assistance, by testimony or +otherwise, to place all the facts before the Christian public and to +vindicate our Missionaries. + +The outstanding facts are best presented in the following extract from +the official report of the Mission Synod:-- + +"When the New Hebrides Missionaries were assembled at their annual +meeting on Aneityum, H. M. S. _Curacoa_, Sir Win. Wiseman, Bart., C. B., +arrived in the harbor to investigate many grievances of white men and +trading vessels among the Islands. A petition having been previously +presented to the Governor in Sydney, as drawn out by the Revs. Messrs. +Geddie and Copeland, after the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon on +Erromanga, requesting an investigation into the sad event, and the +removal of a Sandal-wood Trader, a British subject, who had incited the +Natives to it,--the Missionaries gave the Commodore a memorandum on the +loss of life and property that had been sustained by the Mission on +Tanna, Erromanga, and Efate. He requested the Missionaries to supply him +with interpreters, and requested the _Dayspring_ to accompany him with +them. The request was at once acceded to. Mr. Paton was appointed to act +as interpreter for Tanna, Mr. Gordon (brother of the martyr) for +Erromanga, and Mr. Morrison for Efate. + +"At each of these Islands, the Commodore summoned the principal Chiefs +near the harbors to appear before him, and explained to them that his +visit was to inquire into the complaints British subjects had made +against them, and to see if they had any against British subjects; and +when he had found out the truth he would punish those who had done the +wrong and protect those who had suffered wrong. The Queen did not send +him to compel them to become Christians, or to punish them for not +becoming Christians. She left them to do as they liked in this matter; +but she was very angry at them because they had encouraged her subjects +to live amongst them, sold them land, and promised to protect them, and +afterwards murdered some of them and attempted to murder others, and +stolen and destroyed their property; that the inhabitants of these +islands were talked of over the whole world for their treachery, +cruelty, and murders; and that the Queen would no longer allow them to +murder or injure her subjects, who were living peaceably among them +either as Missionaries or Traders. She would send a Ship of War every +year to inquire into their conduct, and if any white man injured any +Native they were to tell the Captain of the Man-of-war, and the white +man would be punished as fast as the black man." + +After spending much time, and using peaceably every means in his power +in trying to get the guilty parties on Tanna, and not succeeding, he +shelled two villages,--having the day before informed the Natives that +he would do so, and advising to have all women, children, and sick +removed, which in fact they did. Indeed nearly the whole of the +inhabitants, young and old, went to Nowar's land, where they were +instructed they would be safe, while they witnessed what a Man-of-war +could do in punishing murderers. But before the hour approached, a +foolish host of Tannese warriors had assembled on the beach, painted and +armed and determined to fight the Man-of-war! And the Chief of a village +on the other side of the bay was at that moment assembled with his men +on the high ground within our view, and dancing to a war song in +defiance. + +The Commodore caused a shell to strike the hill and explode with +terrific fury just underneath the dancers. The earth and the bush were +torn and thrown into the air above and around them; and next moment the +whole host were seen disappearing over the brow of the hill. Two shots +were sent over the heads of the warriors on the shore, with terrific +noise and uproar: in an instant, every man was making haste for Nowar's +land, the place of refuge. The Commodore then shelled the villages, and +destroyed their property. Beyond what I have here recorded, absolutely +nothing was done. + +We returned then for a moment to Sydney. The public excitement made it +impossible for me to open my lips in the promotion of our Mission. The +Rev. Drs. Dunmore, Lang and Steel, along with Professor Smith of the +University, waited on the Commodore, and got an independent version of +the facts. They then called a meeting on the affair by public +advertisement. Without being made acquainted with the results of their +investigations, I was called upon to give my own account of the +_Curacoa's_ visit and of the connection of the Missionaries therewith. +They then submitted the Commodore's statement, given by him in writing. +He exonerated the Missionaries from every shadow of blame and from all +responsibility. In the interests of mercy as well as justice, and to +save life, they had acted as his interpreters; and there all that they +had to do with the _Curacoa_ began and ended. All this was published in +the newspapers next day, along with the speeches of the three deputies. +The excitement began to subside. But the poison had been lodged in many +hearts, and the ejectment of it was a slow and difficult process. + +Feeling absolutely conscious that I had only done my Christian duty, I +left all results in the hands of my Lord Jesus, and pressed forward in +His blessed work. But more than one dear personal friend had to be +sacrificed over this painful affair. A presbyterian Minister, and a +godly elder and his wife, all most excellent and well-beloved, at whose +houses I had been received as a brother, intimated to me that owing to +this case of the _Curacoa_ their friendship and mine must entirely cease +in this world. And it did cease; but my esteem never changed. I had +learned not to think unkindly of friends, even when they manifestly +misunderstood my actions. Nor would these things merit being recorded +here, were it not that they may be at once a beacon and a guide. God's +people are still belied. And the mob is still as ready as ever to cry, +"Crucify! Crucify!" + + + +CHAPTER LVII. +A PLEA FOR TANNA. + +EVERYTHING having been at length arranged for in the Colonies, in +connection with the Mission and _Dayspring_, as far as could possibly +be,--and I having been adopted by the Victorian Assembly of 1866, as the +first Missionary from the Presbyterian Church of Australia to the New +Hebrides,--we sailed for the Islands on the 8th August of that year. +Besides my wife and child, the following accompanied us to the field: +Revs. Copeland, Cosh, and M'Nair, along with their respective wives. On +20th August we reached Aneityum; and, having landed some of our friends, +we sailed Northwards, as far as Efate, to let the new Missionaries see +all the Islands open for occupation, and to bring all our Missionaries +back to the annual meeting, where the permanent settlements would be +finally agreed upon. + +While staying at Aneityum, I learned with as deep emotion as man ever +felt for man, that noble old Abraham, the sharer of my Tannese trials, +had during the interval peacefully fallen asleep in Jesus. He left for +me his silver watch--one which I had myself sent to the dear soul from +Sydney, and which he greatly prized. In his dying hour he said, "Give it +to Missi, my own Missi Paton; and tell him that I go to Jesus, where +Time is dead." + +I learned also, and truly human-hearted readers will need no apology for +introducing this news in so grave a story--that my faithful dog +_Clutha_, entrusted to the care of a kindly Native to be kept for my +return, had, despite all coaxing, grown weary of heart amongst all these +dark faces, and fallen asleep too, truly not unworthy of a grateful +tear! + +At our annual Synod, after much prayerful deliberation and the careful +weighing of every vital circumstance, I was constrained by the united +voice of my brethren not to return to Tanna, but to settle on the +adjoining island of Aniwa (=A-nee-wa). It was even hoped that thereby +Tanna might eventually be the more surely reached and evangelized. + +By the new Missionaries all the other old Stations were reoccupied and +some fresh Islands were entered upon in the name of Jesus. As we moved +about with our _Dayspring_, and planted the Missionaries here and there, +nothing could repress the wonder of Natives. + +"How is this?" they cried. "We slew or drove them all away! We plundered +their houses and robbed them. Had we been so treated, nothing would have +made us return. But they come back with a beautiful new ship, and with +more and more Missionaries. And is it to trade and to get money, like +the other white men? No! no! But to tell us of their Jehovah God and of +His Son Jesus. If their God makes them do all that, we may well worship +Him too." + +In this way, island after island was opened up to receive the +Missionary, and their Chiefs bound themselves to protect and cherish +him, before they knew anything whatever of the Gospel, beyond what they +saw in the disposition and character of its Preachers or heard rumored +regarding its fruits on other Islands. Imagine _Cannibals_ found thus +prepared to welcome the Missionary, and to make not only his property +but his life comparatively safe. The Isles "wait" for Christ. + +On our way to Aniwa, the _Dayspring_ had to call at Tanna. By stress of +weather we lay several days in Port Resolution. And there many memories +were again revived--wounds that after five-and-twenty years, when I now +write, still bleed afresh! Nowar, the old Chief, unstable but friendly, +was determined to keep us there by force or by fraud. The Captain told +him that the council of the Missionaries had forbidden him to land our +boxes at Tanna. + +"Don't land them," said the wily Chief, "just throw them over; my men +and I will catch everything before it reaches the water, and carry them +all safely ashore!" + +The Captain said he durst not. "Then," persisted Nowar, "just point them +out to us; you will have no further trouble; we will manage everything +for Missi." + +They were in distress when he refused; and poor old Nowar tried another +tack. Suspecting that my clear wife was afraid of them, he got us on +shore to see his extensive plantations. Turning eagerly to her, he said, +leaving me to interpret, "Plenty of food! While I have a yam or a +banana, you shall not want." + +She answered, "I fear not any lack of food." + +Pointing to his warriors, he cried, "We are many! We are strong! We can +always protect you." + +"I am not afraid," she calmly replied. + +He then led us to that chestnut tree, in the branches of which I had sat +during a lonely and memorable night, when all hope had perished of any +earthly deliverance, and said to her with a manifest touch of genuine +emotion, "The God who protected Missi there will always protect you." + +She told him that she had no fear of that kind, but explained to him +that we must for the present go to Aniwa, but would return to Tanna, if +the Lord opened up our way. Nowar, Arkurat, and the rest, seemed to be +genuinely grieved, and it touched my soul to the quick. + +A beautiful incident was the outcome, as we learned only in long after +years. There was at that time an Aniwan Chief on Tanna, visiting +friends. He was one of their great Sacred Men. He and his people had +been promised a passage home in the _Dayspring_, with their canoes in +tow. When old Nowar saw that he could not keep us with himself, he went +to this Aniwan Chief, and took the white shells, the insignia of +Chieftainship, from his own arm, and bound them on the Sacred Man, +saying, "By these you promise to protect my Missi and his wife and child +on Aniwa. Let no evil befall them; or, by this pledge, I and my people +will revenge it." + +In a future crisis, this probably saved our lives, as shall be +afterwards related. After all, a bit of the Christ-Spirit had found its +way into that old cannibal's soul! And the same Christ-Spirit in me +yearned more strongly still, and made it a positive pain to pass on to +another Island, and leave him in that dim-groping twilight of the soul. + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. +OUR NEW HOME ON ANIWA. + +ANIWA became my Mission Home in November, 1866; and for the next fifteen +years it was the heart and center of my personal labors in the Heathen +World. Since 1881, alas! my too frequent deputation pilgrimages among +Churches in Great Britain and in the Colonies have rendered my visits to +Aniwa but few and far between. God never guided me back to Tanna; but +others, my dear friends, have seen His Kingdom planted and beginning to +grow amongst that slowly relenting race. Aniwa was to be the land +wherein my past years of toil and patience and faith were to see their +fruits ripening at length. I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace +of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour's feet. + +The Island of Aniwa is one of the smaller isles of the New Hebrides. It +measures scarcely seven miles by two, and is everywhere girt round with +a belt of coral reef. The sea breaks thereon heavily, with thundering +roar, and the white surf rolls in furious and far. But there are days of +calm, when all the sea is glass, and the spray on the reef is only a +fringe of silver. + +Aniwa, having no hills to attract and condense the clouds, suffers badly +for lack of genial rains; and the heavy rains of hurricane and tempest +seem to disappear as if by magic through the light soil and porous rock. +The moist atmosphere and the heavy dews, however keep the Island covered +with green, while large and fruitful trees draw wondrous nourishment +from their rocky beds. + +Aniwa has no harbor, or safe anchorage of any kind for ships; though, in +certain winds, they have been seen at anchor on the outer edge of the +reef, always a perilous haven! There is one rock in the coral belt, +through which a boat can safely run to shore; but the little wharf, +built there of the largest coral blocks that could be rolled together, +has been once and again swept clean off by the hurricane, leaving "not a +wrack behind." + +When we landed, the Natives received us kindly. They and the Aneityumese +Teachers led us to a temporary home, prepared for our abode. It was a +large Native Hut. Walls and roof consisted of sugar-cane leaf and reeds, +intertwisted on a strong wooden frame. It had neither doors nor windows, +but open spaces instead of these. The earthen floor alone looked +beautiful, covered thick with white coral broken small. It had only one +apartment; and that, meantime, had to serve also for Church and School +and Public Hall. We screened off a little portion, and behind that +screen planted our bed, and stored our valuables. All the natives within +reach assembled to watch us taking our food! A box at first served for a +chair, the lid of another box was our table, our cooking was all done in +the open air under a large tree, and we got along with amazing comfort. +But the house was under the shelter of a coral rock, and we saw at a +glance that at certain seasons it would prove a very hotbed of fever and +ague. We were, however, only too thankful to enter it, till a better +could be built, and on a breezier site. + +The Aniwans were not so violently dishonorable as the Tannese. But they +had the knack of asking in a rather menacing manner whatever they +coveted; and the tomahawk was sometimes swung to enforce an appeal. We +strove to get along quietly and kindly, in the hope that when we knew +their language, and could teach them the principles of Jesus, they would +be saved, and life and property would be secure. But the rumor of the +_Curacoa's_ visit and her punishment of murder and robbery did more, by +God's blessing, to protect us during those Heathen days than all other +influences combined. The savage cannibal was heard to whisper to his +bloodthirsty mates, "not to murder or to steal, for the Man-of-war that +punished Tanna would blow up their little island!" + +Sorrowful experience on Tanna had taught us to seek the site of our +Aniwan house on the highest ground, and away from the malarial +influences near the shore. There was one charming mound, covered with +trees, whose roots ran down into the crevices of coral, and from which +Tanna and Erromanga are clearly seen. But there the Natives for some +superstitious reason forbade us to build, and we were constrained to +take another rising ground somewhat nearer the shore. In the end, this +turned out to be the very best site on the island for us, central and +suitable every way. But we afterwards learned that perhaps superstition +also led them to sell us this site, in the malicious hope that it would +prove our ruin. The mounds on the top, which had to be cleared away, +contained the bones and refuse of their Cannibal feasts for ages. None +but their Sacred Men durst touch them; and the Natives watched us hewing +and digging, certain that their gods would strike us dead! That failing, +their thoughts may probably have been turned to reflect that after all +the Jehovah God was stronger than they. + +In leveling the site, and gently sloping the sides of the ground for +good drainage purposes, I had gathered together two large baskets of +human bones. I said to a Chief in Tannese, "How do these bones come to +be here?" + +And he replied, with a shrug worthy of a cynical Frenchman, "Ah, we are +not Tanna-men! We don't eat the bones!" + + + +CHAPTER LIX. +HOUSE-BUILDING FOR GOD. + +THE site being now cleared, we questioned whether to build only a +temporary home, hoping to return to dear old Tanna as soon as possible, +or, though the labor would be vastly greater, a substantial house--for +the comfort of our successors, if not of ourselves. We decided that, as +this was work for God, we would make it the very best we could. We +planned two central rooms, sixteen feet by sixteen, with a five feet +wide lobby between, so that other rooms could be added when required. +About a quarter of a mile from the sea, and thirty-five feet above its +level, I laid the foundations of the house. Coral blocks raised the wall +about three feet high all round. Air passages carried sweeping currents +underneath each room, and greatly lessened the risk of fever and ague. A +wide trench was dug all round, and filled up as a drain with broken +coral. At back and front, the verandah stretched five feet wide; and +pantry, bath-room, and tool-house were partitioned off under the +verandah behind. The windows sent to me had hinges; I added two feet to +each, with wood from Mission-boxes, and made them French door-windows, +opening from each room to the verandah. And so we had, by God's +blessing, a healthy spot to live in, if not exactly a thing of beauty! + +The Mission House, as ultimately finished, had six rooms, three on each +side of the lobby, and measured ninety feet in length, surrounded by a +verandah, one hundred feet by five, which kept everything shaded and +cool. Underneath two rooms a cellar was dug eight feet deep, and shelved +all round for a store. In more than one terrific hurricane that cellar +saved our lives,--all crushing into it when trees and houses were being +tossed like feathers on the wings of the wind. Altogether, the house at +Aniwa has proved one of the healthiest and most commodious of any that +have been planted by Christian hands on the New Hebrides. In selecting +site and in building "the good hand of our God was upon us for good." + +I built also two small Orphanages, almost as inevitably necessary as the +Missionary's own house. They stood on a line with the front of my own +dwelling, one for girls, the other for boys, and we had them constantly +under our own eyes. The orphans were practically boarded at the Mission +premises, and adopted by the Missionaries. Their clothing was a heavy +drain upon our resources; and every odd and curious article that came in +any of the boxes or parcels was utilized. We trained these young people +for Jesus. And at this day many of the best of our Native Teachers, and +most devoted Christian helpers, are amongst those who would probably +have perished but for these Orphanages. + +Every day after dinner we set the bell a-ringing--intimating, from, our +first arrival on Aniwa, readiness to give advice or medicine to all who +were sick. We spoke to them, so soon as we had learned, a few words +about Jesus. The weak received a cup of tea and a piece of bread. The +demand was sometimes great, especially when epidemics befell them. But +some rather fled from us as the cause of their sickness, and sought +refuge from our presence in remotest corners, or rushed off at our +approach and concealed themselves in the bush. They were but children, +and full of superstition; and we had to win them by kindly patience, +never losing faith in them and hope for them, any more than the Lord did +with us! + +Our learning the language on Aniwa was marked by similar incidents to +those of Tanna related in a preceding chapter; though a few of them +could understand my Tannese, and that greatly helped me. One day a man, +after carefully examining some article, turned to his neighbor and said, +"Taha tinei?" + +I inferred that he was asking, "What is this?" Pointing to another +article, I repeated their words; they smiled at each other, and gave me +its name. + +On another occasion, a man said to his companion, looking toward me, +"Taha neigo?" Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed towards +him, and repeated the words, and they at once gave me their names. + +Readers would be surprised to discover how much you can readily learn of +any language, with these two short questions constantly on your lips, +and with people ready at every turn to answer--"What's this?" "What's +your name?" Every word was at once written down, spelled phonetically +and arranged in alphabetic order, and a note appended as to the +circumstances in which it was used. By frequent comparison of these +notes, and by careful daily and even hourly imitation of all their +sounds, we were able in a measure to understand each other before we had +gone far in the house-building operations, during which some of them +were constantly beside me. + +One incident of that time was very memorable, and God turned it to good +account for higher ends. I often tell it as "the miracle of the speaking +bit of wood"; and it has happened to other Missionaries exactly as to +myself. While working at the house, I required some nails and tools. +Lifting a piece of planed wood, I penciled a few words on it, and +requested our old Chief to carry it to Mrs. Paton, and she would send +what I wanted. In blank wonder, he innocently stared at me, and said, +"But what do you want?" + +I replied, "The wood will tell her." He looked rather angry, thinking +that I befooled him, and retorted, "Who ever heard of wood speaking?" + +By hard pleading I succeeded in persuading him to go. He was amazed to +see her looking at the wood and then fetching the needed articles. He +brought back the bit of wood, and eagerly made signs for an explanation. +Chiefly in broken Tannese I read to him the words, and informed him that +in the same way God spoke to us through His Book. The will of God was +written there, and by and by, when he learned to read, he would hear God +speaking to him from its page, as Mrs. Paton heard me from the bit of +wood. + +A great desire was thus awakened in the poor man's soul to see the very +Word of God printed in his own language. He helped me to learn words and +master ideas with growing enthusiasm. And when my work of translating +portions of Holy Scripture began, his delight was unbounded and his help +invaluable. The miracle of a speaking page was not less wonderful than +that of speaking wood! + +One day, while building the house, an old Inland Chief and his three +sons came to see us. Everything was to them full of wonder. After +returning home one of the sons fell sick, and the father at once blamed +us and the Worship, declaring that if the lad died we all should be +murdered in revenge. By God's blessing, and by our careful nursing and +suitable medicine, he recovered and was spared. The old Chief +superstitiously wheeled round almost to another extreme. He became not +only friendly, but devoted to us. He attended the Sabbath Services, and +listened to the Aneityumese Teachers, and to my first attempts, partly +in Tannese, translated by the orator Taia or the Chief Namakei, and +explained in our hearing to the people in their mother tongue. + +But on the heels of this, another calamity overtook us. So soon as two +rooms of the Mission House were roofed in, I hired the stoutest of the +young men to carry our boxes thither. Two of them started off with a +heavy box suspended on a pole from shoulder to shoulder, their usual +custom. They were shortly after attacked with vomiting of blood; and one +of them, an Erromangan, actually died. The father of the other swore +that, if his son did not get better, every soul at the Mission House +should be slain in revenge. But God mercifully restored him. + +As the boat-landing was nearly three-quarters of a mile distant, and +such a calamity recurring would be not only sorrowful in itself but +perilous in the extreme for us all, I steeped my wits, and with such +crude materials as were at hand, I manufactured not only a hand-barrow, +but a wheel-barrow, for the pressing emergencies of the time. In due +course, I procured a more orthodox hand-cart from the Colonies, and +coaxed and bribed the Natives to assist me in making a road for it. +Perhaps the ghost of _Macadam_ would shudder at the appearance of that +road, but it has proved immensely useful ever since. + + + +CHAPTER LX. +A CITY OF GOD. + +When, in the course of years, everything had been completed to our +taste, we lived practically in the midst of a beautiful village,--the +Church, the School, the Orphanage, the Smithy and Joiner's Shop, the +Printing Office, the Banana and Yam House, the Cook House, etc.; all +very humble indeed, but all standing sturdily up there among the +orange-trees, and preaching the Gospel of a higher civilization and of a +better life for Aniwa. The little road leading to each door was laid +with the white coral broken small. The fence around all shone fresh and +clean with new paint. Order and taste were seen to be laws in the white +man's New Life; and several of the Natives began diligently to follow +our example. + +Many and strange were the arts which I had to try to practise, such as +handling the adze, the mysteries of tenon and mortise, and other feats +of skill. If a Native wanted a fish-hook, or a piece of red calico to +bind his long whip-cord hair, he would carry me a block of coral or +fetch me a beam; but continuous daily toil seemed to him a mean +existence. The women were tempted, by calico and beads for pay, to +assist in preparing the sugar-cane leaf for thatch, gathering it in the +plantations, and tying it over reeds four or six feet long with strips +of bark of pandanus leaf, leaving a long fringe hanging over on one +side. How differently they acted when the Gospel began to touch their +hearts! They built their Church and their Schools then, by their own +free toil, rejoicing to labor without money or price; and they have ever +since kept them in good repair, for the service of the Lord, by their +voluntary offerings of wood and sugar-cane leaf and coral-lime. + +The roof was firmly tied on and nailed; thereon were laid the reeds, +fringed with sugar-cane leaf, row after row tied firmly to the wood; the +ridge was bound down by cocoanut leaves, dexterously plaited from side +to side and skewered to the ridge-pole with hard wooden pins; and over +all, a fresh storm-roof was laid on yearly for the hurricane months, +composed of folded cocoanut leaves, held down with planks of wood, and +bound to the frame-work below--which, however, had to be removed again +in April to save the sugar-cane leaf from rotting beneath it. There you +were snugly covered in, and your thatching good to last from eight years +to ten; that is, provided you were not caught in the sweep of the +hurricane, before which trees went flying like straws, huts disappeared +like autumn leaves, and your Mission House, if left standing at all, was +probably swept bare alike of roof and thatch at a single stroke! Well +for you at such times if you have a good barometer indicating the +approach of the storm; and better still, a large cellar like ours, +four-and-twenty feet by sixteen, built round with solid coral +blocks,--where goods may be stored, and whereinto also all your +household may creep for safety, while the tornado tosses your dwelling +about, and sets huge trees dancing around you! We had also to invent a +lime-kiln, and this proved one of the hardest nuts of all that had to be +cracked. The kind of coral required could be obtained only at one spot, +about three miles distant. Lying at anchor in my boat, the Natives dived +into the sea, broke off with hammer and crowbar piece after piece, and +brought it up to me, till I had my load. We then carried it ashore, and +spread it out in the sun to be blistered there for two weeks or so. +Having thus secured twenty or thirty boat-loads, and had it duly +conveyed round to the Mission Station, a huge pit was dug in the ground, +dry wood piled in below, and green wood above to the height of several +feet, and on the top of all the coral blocks were orderly laid. When +this pile had burned for seven or ten days, the coral had been reduced +to excellent lime, and the plasterwork made therefrom shone like marble. + +On one of these trips the Natives performed an extraordinary feat. The +boat with full load was struck heavily by a wave, and the reef drove a +hole in her side. Quick as thought the crew were all in the sea, and, to +my amazement, bearing up the boat with their shoulder and one hand, +while swimming and guiding us ashore with the other! There on the land +we were hauled up, and four weary days were spent fetching and carrying +from the Mission Station every plank, tool, and nail, necessary for her +repair. Every boat for these seas ought to be built of cedar wood and +copper-fastened, which is by far the most economical in the end. And all +houses should be built of wood which is as full as possible of gum or +resin, since the large white ants devour not only other soft woods, but +even Colonial blue gum-trees, the hard cocoanut, and window sashes, +chairs, and tables! + +Glancing back on all these toils, I rejoice that such exhausting demands +are no longer made on our newly-arrived Missionaries. Houses, all ready +for being set up, are now brought down from the Colonies. Zinc roofs and +other improvements have been introduced. The Synod appoints a deputation +to accompany the young Missionary, and plant the house along with +himself at the Station committed to his care. Precious strength is thus +saved for higher uses; and not only property but life itself is +oftentimes preserved. + +I will close this chapter with an incident which, though it came to our +knowledge only years afterwards, closely bears upon our Settlement on +Aniwa. At first we had no idea why they so determinedly refused us one +site, and fixed us to another of their own choice. But after the old +Chief Namakei became a Christian, he one day addressed the Aniwan people +in our hearing to this effect:-- + +"When Missi came we saw his boxes. We knew he had blankets and calico, +axes and knives, fish-hooks and all such things. We said, 'Don't drive +him off, else we will lose all these things. We will let him land. But +we will force him to live on the Sacred Plot. Our gods will kill him, +and we will divide all that he has amongst the men of Aniwa.' But Missi +built his house on our most sacred spot. He and his people lived there, +and the gods did not strike. He planted bananas there, and we said, 'Now +when they eat of these they will all drop down dead, as our fathers +assured us, if any one ate fruit from that ground, except only our +Sacred Men themselves.' These bananas ripened. They did eat them. We +kept watching for days and days, but no one died! Therefore what we say, +and what our fathers have said, is not true. Our gods cannot kill them. +Their Jehovah God is stronger than the gods of Aniwa." + +I enforced old Namakei's appeal, telling them that, though they knew it +not, it was the living and true and only God who had sent them every +blessing which they possessed, and had at last sent us to teach them how +to serve and love and please Him. In wonder and silence they listened, +while I tried to explain to them that Jesus, the Son of this God, had +lived and died and gone to the Father to save them, and that He was now +willing to take them by the hand and lead them through this life to +glory and immortality together with Himself. + +The old Chief led them in prayer--a strange, dark, groping prayer, with +streaks of Heathenism coloring every thought and sentence; but still a +heart-breaking prayer, as the cry of a soul once Cannibal, but now being +thrilled through and through with the first conscious pulsations of the +Christ-Spirit, throbbing into the words--"Father, Father; our Father." + +When these poor creatures began to wear a bit of calico or a kilt, it +was an outward sign of a change, though yet far from civilization. And +when they began to look up and pray to One whom they called "Father, our +Father," though they might be far, very far, from the type of Christian +that dubs itself "respectable," my heart broke over them in tears of +joy; and nothing will ever persuade me that there was not a Divine Heart +in the Heavens rejoicing too. + + + +CHAPTER LXI. +THE RELIGION OF REVENGE. + +ON landing in November, 1866, we found the Natives of Aniwa, some very +shy and distrustful, and others forward and imperious. No clothing was +worn; but the wives and elder women had grass aprons or girdles like our +first parents in Eden. The old Chief interested himself in us and our +work; but the greater number showed a far deeper interest in the axes, +knives, fishhooks, strips of red calico, and blankets, received in +payment for work or for bananas. Even for payment they would scarcely +work at first, and they were most unreasonable, easily offended, and +started off in a moment at any imaginable slight. + +For instance, a Chief once came for medicine. I was so engaged that I +could not attend to him for a few minutes. So off he went, in a great +rage, threatening revenge, and muttering, "I must be attended to! I +won't wait on _him_." Such were the exactions of a naked savage! + +Shortly before our arrival, an Aneityumese Teacher was sacrificed on +Aniwa. The circumstances are illustrative of what may be almost called +their worship of revenge. Many long years ago, a party of Aniwans had +gone to Aneityum on a friendly visit; but the Aneityumese, then all +savages, murdered and ate every man of them save one, who escaped into +the bush. Living on cocoanuts, he awaited a favorable wind, and, +launching his canoe by night, he arrived in safety. The bereaved +Aniwans, hearing his terrible story, were furious for revenge; but the +forty-five miles of sea between proving too hard an obstacle, they made +a deep cut in the earth and vowed to renew that cut from year to year +till the day of revenge came round. Thus the memory of the event was +kept alive for nearly eighty years. + +At length the people of Aneityum came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. +They strongly yearned to spread their saving Gospel to the Heathen +Islands all around. Amid prayers and strong cryings to God they, like +the Church at Antioch, designated two of their leading men to go as +Native Teachers and evangelize Aniwa, viz. Navalak and Nemeyan; whilst +others went forth to Fotuna, Tanna, and Erromanga, as opportunity arose. +Namakei, the principal Chief of Aniwa, had promised to protect and be +kind to them. But as time went on, it was discovered that the Teachers +belonged to the Tribe on Aneityum, and one of them to the very land, +where long ago the Aniwans had been murdered. The Teachers had from the +first known their danger, but were eager to make known the Gospel to +Aniwa. It was resolved that they should die. But the Aniwans, having +promised to protect them, shrank from doing it themselves; so they hired +two Tanna-men and an Aniwan Chief, one of whose parents had belonged to +Tanna, to waylay and shoot the Teachers as they returned from their tour +of Evangelism among the villages on Sabbath afternoon. Their muskets did +not go off, but the murderers rushed upon them with clubs and left them +for dead. + +Nemeyan was dead, and entered that day amongst the noble army of the +Martyrs. Poor Navalak was still breathing, and the Chief Namakei carried +him to his village and kindly nursed him. He pleaded with the people +that the claims of revenge had been satisfied, and that Navalak should +be cherished and sent home,--the Christ-Spirit beginning to work in that +darkened soul! Navalak was restored to his people and is yet living +(1888)--a high class Chief on Aneityum, and an honor to the Church of +God, bearing on his body "the marks of the Lord Jesus." And often since +has he visited Aniwa, in later years, and praised the Lord amongst the +very people who once thirsted for his blood and left him by the wayside +as good as dead! + +For a time, Aniwa was left without any witness for Jesus,--the London +Missionary Society Teachers, having suffered dreadfully for lack of food +and from fever and ague, being also removed. But on a visit of a Mission +vessel, Namakei sent his orator Taia to Aneityum, to tell them that now +revenge was satisfied, the cut in the earth filled up, and a cocoanut +tree planted and flourishing where the blood of the Teachers had been +shed, and that no person from Aneityum would ever be injured by Aniwans. +Further, he was to plead for more Teachers, and to pledge his Chiefs +word that they would be kindly received and protected. They knew not the +Gospel, and had no desire for it; but they wanted friendly intercourse +with Aneityum, where trading vessels called, and whence they might +obtain mats, baskets, blankets, and iron tools. At length two +Aneityumese again volunteered to go, Kangaru and Nelmai, one from each +side of the Island, and were located by the Missionaries, along with +their families, on Aniwa, one with Namakei, and the other at the south +end, to lift up the Standard of a Christlike life among their Heathen +neighbors. + +Taia, who went on the Mission to Aneityum, was a great speaker and also +a very cunning man. He was the old Chief's appointed "Orator" on all +state occasions, being tall and stately in appearance, of great bodily +strength, and possessed of a winning manner. On the voyage to Aneityum +he was constantly smoking and making things disagreeable to all around +him. Being advised not to smoke while on board, he pleaded with the +Missionary just to let him take a whiff now and again till he finished +the tobacco he had in his pipe, and then he would lay it aside. But, +like the widow's meal, it lasted all the way to Aneityum, and never +appeared to get less--at which the innocent Taia expressed much +astonishment! + + + +CHAPTER LXII. +FIRST FRUITS ON ANIWA. + +THE two Teachers and their wives on Aniwa were little better than slaves +when we landed there, toiling in the service of their masters and living +in constant fear of being murdered. Doubtless, however, the mighty +contrast presented by the life, character, and disposition of these +godly Teachers was the sowing of the seed that bore fruit in other +days,--though as yet no single Aniwan had begun to wear clothing out of +respect to Civilization, much less been brought to know and love the +Saviour. + +So soon as I could speak a little to them in their own language, we +began to visit regularly at their villages and to talk to them about +Jesus and His love. We tried also to get them to come to our Church +under the shade of the banyan tree. Nasi and some of the worst +characters would sit scowling not far off, or follow us with loaded +muskets. Using every precaution, we still held on doing our work; +sometimes giving fish-hooks or beads to the boys and girls, showing them +that our objects were kind and not selfish. And however our hearts +sometimes trembled in the presence of imminent death and sank within us, +we stood fearless in their presence, and left all results in the hands +of Jesus. Often have I had to run into the arms of some savage, when his +club was swung or his musket leveled at my head, and, praying to Jesus, +so clung round him that he could neither strike nor shoot me till his +wrath cooled down, and I managed to slip away. Often have I seized the +pointed barrel and directed it upwards, or, pleading with my assailant, +uncapped his musket in the struggle. At other times, nothing could be +said, nothing done, but stand still in silent prayer, asking God to +protect us or to prepare us for going home to His Glory. He fulfilled +His own promise--"I will not fail thee nor forsake thee." + +The first Aniwan that ever came to the knowledge and love of Jesus was +the old Chief Namakei. We came to live on his land, as it was near our +diminutive harbor; and, upon the whole, he and his people were the most +friendly, though his only brother, the Sacred Man of the tribe, on two +occasions tried to shoot me. Namakei came a good deal about us at the +Mission House, and helped us to acquire the language. He discovered that +we took tea evening and morning. When we gave him a cup and a piece of +bread, he liked it well, and gave a sip to all around him. At first he +came for the tea, perhaps, and disappeared suspiciously soon thereafter; +but his interest manifestly grew, till he showed great delight in +helping us in every possible way. Along with him and as his associates +came also the Chief Naswai and his wife Katua. These three grew into the +knowledge of the Saviour together. From being savage Cannibals they rose +before our eyes, under the influence of the Gospel, into noble and +beloved characters, and they and we loved each other exceedingly. + +Namakei brought his little daughter, his only child, the Queen of her +race, called Litsi Sore (=Litsi the Great), and said, "I want to leave +my Litsi with you, I want you to train her for Jesus." + +She was a very intelligent child, learned things like any white girl, +and soon became quite a help to Mrs. Paton. On seeing his niece dressed, +and so smart-looking, the old Chief's only brother, the Sacred Man that +had attempted to shoot me, also brought his child, Litsi Sisi (=the +Little) to be trained like her cousin. The mothers of both were dead. +The children reported all they saw, and all we taught them, and so their +fathers became more deeply interested in our work, and the news of the +Gospel spread far and wide. Soon we had all the Orphans committed to us, +whose guardians were willing to part with them, and our Home become +literally the School of Christ--the boys growing up to help all my +plans, and the girls to help my wife and to be civilized and trained by +her, and many of them developing into devoted Teachers and Evangelists. + +Our earlier Sabbath Services were sad affairs. Every man came +armed--indeed, every man slept with his weapons of war at his side--and +bow and arrow, spear and tomahawk, club and musket, were always ready +for action. On fair days we assembled under the banyan tree, on rainy +days in a Native hut partly built for the purpose. One or two seemed to +listen, but the most lay about on their backs or sides, smoking, +talking, sleeping! When we stopped the feast at the close, which the +Aneityumese Teacher had been forced to prepare before our coming, and +for which they were always ready, the audiences at first went down to +two or three; but these actually came to learn, and a better tone began +immediately to pervade the Service. We informed them that it was for +their good that we taught them, and that they would get no "pay" for +attending Church or School, and the greater number departed in high +dudgeon as very ill-used persons! Others of a more commercial turn came +offering to sell their "idols," and when we would not purchase them, but +urged them to give up and cast them away for love to Jesus, they carried +them off, saying they would have nothing to do with this new Worship. + +Amidst our frequent trials and dangers in those earlier times on Aniwa, +our little Orphans often warned us privately and and saved our lives +from cruel plots. When, in baffled rage, our enemies demanded who had +revealed things to us, I always said, "It was a little bird from the +bush." So the dear children grew to have perfect confidence in us. They +knew we would not betray them; and they considered themselves the +guardians of our lives. + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. +TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS. + +WHAT a suggestive tradition of the Fall came to me in one of those early +days on Aniwa! Upon our leaving the hut and removing to our new house, +it was seized upon by Tupa for his sleeping-place, though still +continuing to be used by the Natives as club-house, court of law, etc. +One morning at daylight this Tupa came running to us in great +excitement, wielding his club furiously, and crying, "Missi, I have +killed the Tebil. I have killed Teapolo. He came to catch me last night. +I raised all the people, and we fought him round the house with our +clubs. At daybreak he came out and I killed him dead. We will have no +more bad conduct or trouble now. Teapolo is dead!" + +I said, "What nonsense; Teapolo is a spirit, and cannot be seen." + +But in mad excitement he persisted that he had killed him. And at Mrs. +Paton's advice, I went with the man, and he led me to a great Sacred +Rock of coral near our old hut, over which hung the dead body of a huge +and beautiful sea-serpent, and exclaimed, "There he lies! Truly I killed +him." + +I protested, "That is not the Devil; it is only the body of a serpent." + +The man quickly answered, "Well? but it is all the game! He is Teapolo. +He makes us bad, and causes all our troubles." + +Following up this hint by many inquiries, then and afterwards, I found +that they clearly associated man's troubles and sufferings somehow with +the serpent. They worshiped the Serpent, as a spirit of evil, under the +name of Matshiktshiki; that is to say, they lived in abject terror of +his influence, and all their worship was directed towards propitiating +his rage against man. + +Their story of Creation, at least of the origin of their own Aniwa and +the adjacent Islands, is much more an outcome of the unaided Native +mind. They say that Matshiktshiki fished up these lands out of the sea. +And they show the deep print of his foot on the coral rocks, opposite +each island, whereon he stood as he strained and lifted them up above +the waters. He then threw his great fishing-line round Fotuna, +thirty-six miles distant, to draw it close to Aniwa and make them one +land; but, as he pulled, the line broke and he fell, where his mark may +still be seen upon the rock--so the Islands remain separated unto this +day. + +Matshiktshiki placed men and women on Aniwa. On the southern end of the +Island there was a beautiful spring and a freshwater river, with rich +land all around, for plantations. But the people would not do what +Matshiktshiki wanted them; so he got angry, and split off the richer +part of Aniwa, with the spring and river, and sailed with them across to +Aneityum, leaving them where Dr. Inglis has since built his beautiful +Mission Station. To this day, the river there is called "the water of +Aniwa" by the inhabitants of both islands; and it is the ambition of all +Aniwans to visit Aneityum and drink of that spring and river, as they +sigh to each other, "Alas, for the waters of Aniwa!" + +Their picture of the Flood is equally grotesque. Far back, when the +volcano now on Tanna was part of Aniwa, the rain fell and fell from day +to day, and the sea rose till it threatened to cover everything. All +were drowned except the few who climbed up on the volcano mountain. The +sea had already put out the volcano at the southern end of Aniwa; and +Matshiktshiki, who dwelt in the greater volcano, becoming afraid of the +extinction of his big fire too, split it off from Aniwa with all the +land on the southeastern side, and sailed it across to Tanna on the top +of the flood. There, by his mighty strength, he heaved the volcano to +the top of a high mountain in Tanna, where it remains to this day. For, +on the subsiding of the sea, he was unable to transfer his big fire to +Aniwa; and so it was reduced to a very small island, without a volcano, +and without a river, for the sins of the people long ago. + +Even where there are no snakes they apply the superstitions about the +serpent to a large, black, poisonous lizard called _Kekvau_. They call +it Teapolo, and women or children scream wildly at the sight of one. + +One of the darkest and most hideous blots on Heathenism is the practice +of Infanticide. Only three cases came to our knowledge on Aniwa; but we +publicly denounced them at all hazards, and awoke not only natural +feeling, but the selfish interests of the community for the protection +of the children. These three were the last that died there by parents' +hands. A young husband, who had been jealous of his wife, buried their +male child alive as soon as born. An old Tanna woman, who had no +children living, having at last a fine healthy boy born to her, threw +him into the sea before any one could interfere to save. And a savage, +in anger with his wife, snatched her baby from her arms, hid himself in +the bush till night, and returned without the child, refusing to give +any explanation, except that he was dead and buried. Praise be to God, +these three murderers of their own children were by and by touched with +the story of Jesus, became members of the Church, and each adopted +little orphan children, towards whom they continued to show the most +tender affection and care. + +Wife-murder was also considered quite legitimate. In one of our inland +villages dwelt a young couple, happy in every respect except that they +had no children. The man, being a Heathen, resolved to take home another +wife, a widow with two children. This was naturally opposed by his young +wife. And, without the slightest warning, while she sat plaiting a +basket, he discharged a ball into her from his loaded musket. It crashed +through her arm and lodged in her side. Everything was done that was in +my power to save her life; but on the tenth day tetanus came on, and she +soon after passed away. The man appeared very attentive to her all the +time; but, being a Heathen, he insisted that she had no right to oppose +his wishes! He was not in any way punished or disrespected by the people +of his village, but went out and in amongst them as usual, and took home +the other woman as his wife a few weeks thereafter. His second wife +began to attend Church and School regularly with her children; and at +last he also came along with them, changing very manifestly from his +sullen and savage former self. They have a large family; they are +avowedly trying to train them all for the Lord Jesus, and they take +their places meekly at the Lord's Table. + +It would give a wonderful shock, I suppose, to many namby-pamby +Christians to whom the title "Mighty to Save" conveys no ideas of +reality, to be told that nine or ten converted murderers were partaking +with them the Holy Communion of Jesus! But the Lord who reads the heart, +and weighs every motive and circumstance, has perhaps much more reason +to be shocked by the presence of some of themselves. Penitence opens all +the heart of God--"To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. +NELWANG'S ELOPEMENT. + +SOME most absurd and preposterous experiences were forced upon us by the +habits and notions of the people. Amongst these I recall very vividly +the story of Nelwang's elopement with his bride. I had begun, in spare +hours, to lay the foundation of two additional rooms for our house, and +felt rather uneasy to see a well-known savage hanging around every day +with his tomahawk, and eagerly watching me at work. He had killed a man, +before our arrival on Aniwa; and had also startled my wife by suddenly +appearing from amongst the boxes, and causing her to run for life. On +seeing him hovering so alarmingly near, tomahawk in hand, I saluted him, +"Nelwang, do you want to speak to me?" + +"Yes, Missi," he replied; "if you will help me now, I will be your +friend forever." + +I answered, "I am your friend. That brought me here and keeps me here." + +"Yes," said he very earnestly, "but I want you to be strong as my +friend, and I will be strong for you!" + +I replied, "Well, how can I help you?" + +He quickly answered, "I want to get married, and I need your help." + +I protested,--"Nelwang, you know that marriages here are all made in +infancy, by children being bought and betrothed to their future +husbands. How can I interfere? You don't want to bring evil on me and my +wife and child? It might cost us our lives." + +"No! no! Missi," earnestly retorted Nelwang. "No one hears of this, or +can hear. Only help me now. You tell me, if you were my circumstances, +how would you act?" + +"That's surely very simple," I answered. "Every man knows how to go +about that business, if he wants to be honest! Look out for your +intended, find out if she loves you and the rest will follow +naturally,--you will marry her." + +"Yes," argued Nelwang, "but just there my trouble comes in!" + +"Do you know the woman you would like to get?" I asked, wishing to bring +him to some closer issue. + +"Yes," replied he very frankly, "I want to marry Yakin, the Chiefs' +widow up at the inland village, and that will break no infant +betrothals." + +"But," I persevered, "do you know if she loves you or would take you?" + +"Yes," replied Nelwang; "one day I met her on the path and told her I +would like to have her for my wife. She took out her ear-rings and gave +them to me, and I know thereby that she loves me. I was one of her late +husband's men; and if she had loved any of them more than she loved me, +she would have given them to another. With the ear-rings she gave me her +heart." + +"Then why," I insisted, "don't you go and marry her?" + +"There," said Nelwang gravely, "begins my difficulty. In her village +there are thirty young men for whom there are no wives. Each of them +wants her, but no one has the courage to take her, for the other +nine-and-twenty will shoot him!" + +"And if you take her," I suggested, "the disappointed thirty will shoot +you!" + +"That's exactly what I see, Missi," continued Nelwang; "but I want you +just to think you are in my place, and tell me how you would carry her +off. You white men can always succeed. Missi, hear my plans, and advise +me." + +With as serious a face as I could command, I had to listen to Nelwang, +to enter into his love affair, and to make suggestions, with a view to +avoiding bloodshed and other miseries. The result of the deliberations +was that Nelwang was to secure the confidence of two friends, his +brother and the orator Taia, to place one at each end of the coral rocks +above the village as watchmen, to cut down with his American tomahawk a +passage through the fence at the back, and to carry off his bride at +dead of night into the seclusion and safety of the bush! Nelwang's eyes +flashed as he flourished his tomahawk about and cried, "I see it now, +Missi! I shall win her from them all. Yakin and I will be strong for you +all our days." + +Next morning Yakin's house was found deserted. They sent to all the +villages around, but no one had seen her. The hole in the fence behind +was then discovered, and the thirty whispered to each other that Yakin +had been wooed and won by some daring lover. Messengers were despatched +to all the villages, and Nelwang was found to have disappeared on the +same night as the widow, and neither could anywhere be found. + +The usual revenge was taken. The houses of the offenders burned, their +fences broken down, and all their property either destroyed or +distributed. Work was suspended, and the disappointed thirty solaced +themselves by feasting at Yakin's expense. + +Three weeks passed. The runaways were nowhere to be found. It was +generally believed that they had gone in a canoe to Tanna or Erromanga. +But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang +appeared at my side! + +"Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?" + +"I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on +cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy. I come now to +fulfil my promise: I will help you, and Yakin will help Missi Paton the +woman, and we shall be your friends. I have ground to be built upon and +fenced, whenever we dare; but we will come and live with you, till peace +is secured. Will you let us come to-morrow morning?" + +"All right!" I said. "Come to-morrow!" And, trembling with delight, he +disappeared into the bush. + +Thus strangely God provided us with wonderful assistance. Yakin soon +learnt to wash and dress and clean everything, and Nelwang served me +like a faithful disciple. They clung by us like our very shadow, partly +through fear of attack, partly from affection; but as each of them could +handle freely both musket and tomahawk, which, though laid aside, were +never far away, it was not every enemy that cared to try issues with +Nelwang and his bride. After a few weeks had thus passed by, and as both +of them were really showing an interest in things pertaining to Jesus +and His Gospel, I urged them strongly to appear publicly at the Church +on Sabbath, to show that they were determined to stand their ground +together as true husband and wife, and that the others must accept the +position and become reconciled. Delay now could gain no purpose, and I +wished the strife and uncertainty to be put to an end. + +Nelwang knew our customs. Every worshiper has to be seated, when our +Church bell ceases ringing. Aniwans would be ashamed to enter after the +Service had actually begun. As the bell ceased, Nelwang, knowing that he +would have a clear course, marched in, dressed in shirt and kilt, but +grasping very determinedly his tomahawk! He sat down as near to me as he +could conveniently get, trying hard to conceal his manifest agitation. +Silently smiling towards me, he then turned and looked eagerly at the +other door through which the women entered and left the Church, as if to +say, "Yakin is coming!" But his tomahawk was poised ominously on his +shoulder, and his courage gave him a defiant and almost impudent air. He +was evidently quite ready to sell his life at a high price, if any one +was prepared to risk the consequences. + +In a few seconds Yakin entered; and if Nelwang's bearing and appearance +were rather inconsistent with the feeling of worship,--what on earth was +I to do when the figure and costume of Yakin began to reveal itself +marching in? The first visible difference betwixt a Heathen and a +Christian is,--that the Christian wears some clothing, the Heathen wears +none. Yakin had determined to show the extent of her Christianity by the +amount of clothing she could carry upon her person. Being a Chief's +widow before she became Nelwang's bride, she had some idea of state +occasions, and appeared dressed in every article of European apparel, +mostly portions of male attire, that she could beg or borrow from about +the premises! Her bridal gown was a man's drab-colored great-coat, put +on above her Native grass skirts, and sweeping down to her heels, +buttoned tight. Over this she had hung on a vest, and above that again, +most amazing of all, she had superinduced a pair of men's trousers, +planting the body of them on her neck and shoulders, and leaving her +head and face looking out from between the legs--a leg from either side +streaming over her bosom arid dangling down absurdly in front! Fastened +to the one shoulder also there was a red shirt, and to the other a +striped shirt, waving about her like wings as she sailed along. Around +her head a red shirt had been twisted like a turban, and her notions of +art demanded that a sleeve thereof should hang aloft over each of her +ears! She seemed to be a moving monster loaded with a mass of rags. The +day was excessively hot, and the perspiration poured over her face in +streams. She, too, sat as near to me as she could get on the women's +side of the Church. Nelwang looked at me and then at her, smiling +quietly, as if to say, "You never saw, in all your white world, a bride +so grandly dressed!" + +I little thought what I was bringing on myself when I urged them to come +to Church. The sight of that poor creature sweltering before me +constrained me for once to make the service very short--perhaps the +shortest I ever conducted in all my life! The day ended in peace. The +two souls were extremely happy; and I praised God that what might have +been a scene of bloodshed had closed thus, even though it were in a kind +of wild grotesquerie! + + + +CHAPTER LXV. +THE CHRIST-SPIRIT AT WORK. + +THE progress of God's work was most conspicuous in, relation to wars and +revenges among the Natives. The two high Chiefs, Namakei and Naswai, +frequently declared, "We are the men of Christ now. We must not fight. +We must put down murders and crimes among our people." + +Two young fools, returning from Tanna with muskets, attempted twice to +shoot a man in sheer wantonness and display of malice. The Islanders +met, and informed them that if man or woman was injured by them, the +other men would load their muskets and shoot them dead in general +council. This was a mighty step towards public order, and I greatly +rejoiced before the Lord. His Spirit, like leaven, was at work! + +My constant custom was, in order to prevent war, to run right in between +the contending parties. My faith enabled me to grasp and realize the +promise, "Lo, I am with you always." In Jesus I felt invulnerable and +immortal, so long as I was doing His work. And I can truly say that +these were the moments when I felt my Saviour to be most truly and +sensibly present, inspiring and empowering me. + +Another scheme had an excellent educative and religious influence. I +tried to interest all the villages, and to treat all the Chiefs equally. +In our early days, after getting into my two-roomed house, I engaged the +Chief, or representative man of each district, to put up one or other at +the many outhouses required at the Station. One, along with his people, +built the cookhouse; another, the store; another, the banana and +yam-house; another, the washing-house; another, the boys and girls' +house; the houses for servants and teachers, the Schoolhouse, and the +large shed, a kind of shelter where Natives sat and talked when not at +work about the premises. Of course these all were at first only Native +huts, of larger or smaller dimensions. But they were all built by +contract for articles which they highly valued, such as axes, knives, +yards of prints and calico, strings of beads, blankets, etc. They served +our purpose for the time, and when another party, by contract also, had +fenced around our premises, the Mission Station was really a beautiful, +little, lively, and orderly village, and in itself no bad emblem of +Christian and civilized life. The payments, made to all irrespectively, +but only for work duly done and according to reasonable bargain, +distributed property and gifts amongst them on wholesome principles, and +encouraged a well-conditioned rivalry which had many happy effects. + +Heathenism made many desperate and some strange efforts to stamp out our +Cause on Aniwa, but the Lord held the helm. One old Chief, formerly +friendly, turned against us. He ostentatiously set himself to make a +canoe, working at it very openly and defiantly on Sabbaths. He, becoming +sick and dying, his brother started, on a Sabbath morning and in +contempt of the Worship, with an armed company to provoke our people to +war. They refused to fight; and one man, whom he struck with his club, +said, "I will leave my revenge to Jehovah." + +A few days thereafter, this brother also fell sick and suddenly died. +The Heathen party made much of these incidents, and some clamored for +our death in revenge, but most feared to murder us; so they withdrew and +lived apart from our friends, as far away as they could get. By and by, +however, they set fire to a large district belonging to our supporters +burning cocoanut and breadfruit trees and plantations. Still our people +refused to fight, and kept near to protect us. Then all the leading men +assembled to talk it over. Most were for peace, but some insisted upon +burning our house and driving us away or killing us, that they might be +left to live as they had hitherto done. At last a Sacred Man, a Chief +who had been on Tanna when the Curacoa punished the murderers and +robbers, but protected the villages of the friendly Natives there, stood +up and spoke in our defense, and warned them what might happen; and +other three, who had been under my instruction on Tanna, declared +themselves to be the friends of Jehovah and of His Missionary. Finally, +the Sacred Man rose again, and showed them rows of beautiful white +shells strung round his left arm, saying-- + +"Nowar, the great Chief at Port Resolution on Tanna, when he saw that +Missi and his wife could not be kept there, took me to his heart, and +pledged me by these, the shells of his office as Chief, taken from his +own arm and bound on mine, to protect them from all harm. He told me to +declare to the men of Aniwa that if the Missi be injured or slain, he +and his warriors will come from Tanna and take the full revenge in +blood." This turned the scale. The meeting closed in our favor. + +Close on the heels of this, another and a rather perplexing incident +befell us. A party of Heathens assembled and made a great display of +fishing on the Lord's Day, in contempt of the practice of the men on +Jehovah's side, threatening also to waylay the Teachers and myself in +our village circuits. A meeting was held by the Christian party, at the +close of the Sabbath Services. All who wished to serve Jehovah were to +come to my house next morning, unarmed, and accompany me on a visit to +our enemies, that we might talk and reason together with them. By +daybreak, the Chiefs and nearly eighty men assembled at the Mission +House, declaring that they were on Jehovah's side, and wished to go with +me. But, alas! they refused to lay down their arms, or leave them +behind; nor would they either refrain from going or suffer me to go +alone. Pledging them to peace, I was reluctantly placed at their head, +and we marched off to the village of the unfriendly party. + +The villagers were greatly alarmed. The Chief's two sons came forth with +every available man to meet us. That whole day was consumed in talking +and speechifying, sometimes chanting their replies--the Natives are all +inveterate talkers! To me the day was utterly wearisome; but it had one +redeeming feature,--their rage found vent in hours of palaver, instead +of blows and blood. It ended in peace. The Heathen were amazed at the +number of Jehovah's friends; and they pledged themselves henceforth to +leave the Worship alone, and that every one who pleased might come to it +unmolested. For this, worn out and weary, we returned, praising the +Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. +THE SINKING OF THE WELL. + +BUT I must here record the story of the Sinking of the Well, which broke +the back of Heathenism on Aniwa. Being a flat coral island, with no +hills to attract the clouds, rain is scarce there as compared with the +adjoining mountainous islands; and even when it does fall heavily, with +tropical profusion, it disappears, as said before, through the light +soil and porous rock, and drains itself directly into the sea. The rainy +season is from December to April, and then the disease most +characteristic of all these regions is apt to prevail, viz., fever and +ague. + +At certain seasons, the Natives drink very unwholesome water; and, +indeed, the best water they had at any time for drinking purposes was +from the precious cocoanut, a kind of Apple of Paradise for all these +Southern Isles! They also cultivate the sugar-cane very extensively, and +in great variety; and they chew it, when we would fly to water for +thirst; so it is to them both food and drink. The black fellow carries +with him to the field, when he goes off for a day's work, four or five +sticks of sugar-cane, and puts in his time comfortably enough on these. +Besides, the sea being their universal bathing-place, in which they +swattle like fish, and little water, almost none, being required for +cooking purposes, and none whatever for washing clothes, the lack of +fresh-springing water was not the dreadful trial to them that it would +be to us. Yet they appreciate and rejoice in it immensely too; though +the water of the green cocoanut is refreshing, and in appearance, taste, +and color not unlike lemonade--one nut filling a tumbler; and though +when mothers die they feed the babies on it and on the soft white pith, +and they flourish on the same, yet the Natives themselves show their +delight in preferring, when they can get it, the water from the well. + +Aniwa, having therefore no permanent supply of fresh water, in spring or +stream or lake, and my own household also suffering sadly for lack of +the same, I resolved by the help of God to sink a well near the Mission +Premises, hoping that a wisdom higher than my own would guide me to the +source of some blessed spring. Of the scientific conditions of such an +experiment I was comparatively ignorant; but I counted on having to dig +through earth and coral above thirty feet, and my constant fear was, +that owing to our environment, the water, if water I found, could only +be salt water after all my toils! Still I resolved to sink that shaft in +hope, and in faith that the Son of God would be glorified thereby. + +One morning I said to the old Chief and his fellow-Chief, both now +earnestly inquiring about the religion of Jehovah and of Jesus, "I am +going to sink a deep well down into the earth, to see if our God will +send us fresh water up from below." + +They looked at me with astonishment, and said in a tone of sympathy +approaching to pity, "O Missi! Wait till the rain comes down, and we +will save all we possibly can for you." + +I replied, "We may all die for lack of water. If no fresh water can be +got, we may be forced to leave you." + +The old Chief looked imploringly, and said "O Missi! you must not leave +us for that. Rain comes only from above. How could you expect our Island +to send up showers of rain from below?" + +I told him, "Fresh water does come up springing from the earth in my +Land at home, and I hope to see it here also." + +The old Chief grew more tender in his tones, and cried, "O Missi, your +head is going wrong; you are losing something, or you would not talk +wild like that! Don't let our people hear you talking about going down +into the earth for rain, or they will never listen to your word or +believe you again." + +But I started upon my hazardous job, selecting a spot near the Mission +Station and close to the public path, that my prospective well might be +useful to all. I began to dig, with pick and spade and bucket at hand, +an American axe for a hammer and crowbar, and a ladder for service by +and bye. The good old Chief now told off his men in relays to watch me, +lest I should attempt to take my own life, or do anything outrageous, +saying, "Poor Missi! That's the way with all who go mad. There's no +driving of a notion out of their heads. We must just watch him now. He +will find it harder to work with pick and spade than with his pen, and +when he's tired we'll persuade him to give it up." + +I did get exhausted sooner than I expected, toiling under that tropical +sun; but we never own before the Natives that we are beaten; so I went +into the house and filled my vest pocket with large, beautiful +English-made fish-hooks. These are very tempting to the young men as +compared with their own,--skilfully made though they be out of shell, +and serving their purposes wonderfully. Holding up a large hook, I +cried, "One of these to every man who fills and turns over three buckets +out of this hole!" + +A rush was made to get the first turn, and back again for another and +another. I kept those on one side who had got a turn, till all the rest +in order had a chance, and bucket after bucket was filled and emptied +rapidly. Still the shaft seemed to lower very slowly, while my +fish-hooks were disappearing very quickly. I was constantly there, and +took the heavy share of everything, and was thankful one evening to find +that we had cleared more than twelve feet deep,--when lo! next morning, +one side had rushed in, and our work was all undone. + +The old Chief and his best men now came around me more earnestly than +ever. He remonstrated with me very gravely. He assured me for the +fiftieth time that rain would never be seen coming up through the earth +on Aniwa! + +"Now," said he, "had you been in that hole last night, you would have +been buried, and a Man-of-war would have come from Queen 'Toria to ask +for the Missi that lived here. We would have to say, 'He is down in that +hole.' The Captain would ask, 'Who killed him and put him down there?' +We would have to say, 'He went down there himself!' The Captain would +answer, 'Nonsense! Who ever heard of a white man going down into the +earth to bury himself? You killed him, you put him there; don't hide +your bad conduct with lies!' Then he would bring out his big guns and +shoot us, and destroy our Island in revenge. You are making your own +grave, Missi, and you will make ours too. Give up this mad freak, for no +rain will be found by going downwards on Aniwa. Besides, all your +fish-hooks cannot tempt my men again to enter that hole; they don't want +to be buried with you. Will you not give it up now?" + +I said all that I could to quiet his fears, explained to them that this +falling in had happened by my neglect of precautions, and finally made +known that by the help of my God, even without all other help, I meant +to persevere. + +Steeping my poor brains over the problem, I became an extemporized +engineer. Two trees were searched for, with branches on opposite sides, +capable of sustaining a cross tree betwixt them. I sank them on each +side firmly into the ground, passed the beam across them over the center +of the shaft, fastened thereon a rude home-made pulley and block, passed +a rope over the wheel, and swung my largest bucket to the end of it. +Thus equipped, I began once more sinking away at the well, but at so +great an angle that the sides might not again fall in. Not a Native, +however, would enter that hole, and I had to pick and dig away till I +was utterly exhausted. But a Native Teacher, in whom I had confidence, +took charge above, managing to hire them with axes, knives, etc., to +seize the end of the rope and walk along the ground, pulling it till the +bucket rose to the surface, and then he himself swung it aside, emptied +it, and lowered it down again. I rang a little bell which I had with me, +when the bucket was loaded, and that was the signal for my brave helpers +to pull their rope. And thus I toiled on from day to day, my heart +almost sinking sometimes with the sinking of the well, till we reached a +depth of about thirty feet. And the phrase, "living water," "living +water," kept chiming through my soul like music from God, as I dug and +hammered away! + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. +RAIN FROM BELOW. + +AT this depth the earth and coral began to be soaked with damp. I felt +that we were nearing water. My soul had a faith that God would open a +spring for us; but side by side with this faith was a strange terror +that the water would be salt. So perplexing and mixed are even the +highest experiences of the soul; the rose-flower of a perfect faith, set +round and round with prickly thorns. One evening I said to the old +Chief, "I think that Jehovah God will give us water to-morrow from that +hole!" + +The Chief said, "No, Missi; you will never see rain coming up from the +earth on this Island. We wonder what is to be the end of this mad work +of yours. We expect daily, if you reach water, to see you drop through +into the sea and the sharks will eat you! That will be the end of it; +death to you, and danger to us all." + +I still answered, "Come to-morrow. I hope and believe that Jehovah God +will send you the rain water up through the earth." + +At the moment I knew I was risking much, and probably incurring +sorrowful consequences, had no water been given; but I had faith that +the Lord was leading me on, and I knew that I sought His glory, not my +own. + +Next morning, I went down again at daybreak and sank a narrow hole in +the center about two feet deep. The perspiration broke over me with +uncontrollable excitement, and I trembled through every limb, when the +water rushed up and began to fill the hole. Muddy though it was, I +eagerly tasted it, lapping it with my trembling hand, and then I almost +fell upon my knees in that muddy bottom as my heart burst up in praise +to the Lord. It was water! It was fresh water. It was living water from +Jehovah's well! True, it was a little brackish, but nothing to speak of; +and no spring in the desert, cooling the parched lips of a fevered +pilgrim, ever appeared more worthy of being called a Well of God than +did that water to me! + +The Chiefs had assembled with their men near by. They waited on in eager +expectancy. It was a rehearsal, in a small way, of the Israelites coming +round, while Moses struck the rock and called for water. By and by, when +I had praised the Lord, and my excitement was a little calmed, the mud +being also greatly settled, I filled a jug, which I had taken down empty +in the sight of them all, and ascending to the top called for them to +come and see the rain which Jehovah God had given us through the well. +They closed around me in haste, and gazed on it in superstitious fear. +The old Chief shook it to see if it would spill, and then touched it to +see if it felt like water. At last he tasted it, and rolling it in his +mouth with joy for a moment, he swallowed it, and shouted, "Rain! Rain! +Yes, it is Rain! But how did you get it?" + +I repeated, "Jehovah my God gave it out of His own Earth in answer to +our labors and prayers. Go and see it springing up for yourselves!" + +Now, though every man there could climb the highest tree as swiftly and +as fearlessly as a squirrel or an opossum, not one of them had courage +to walk to the side and gaze down into that well. To them this was +miraculous! But they were not without a resource that met the emergency. +They agreed to take firm hold of each other by the hand, to place +themselves in a long line, the foremost man to lean cautiously forward, +gaze into the well, and then pass to the rear, and so on till all had +seen "Jehovah's rain" far below. It was somewhat comical, yet far more +pathetic, to stand by and watch their faces, as man after man peered +down into the mystery, and then looked up at me in blank bewilderment! +When all had seen it with their own very eyes, and were "weak with +wonder," the old Chief exclaimed-- + +"Missi, wonderful, wonderful is the work of your Jehovah God! No god of +Aniwa ever helped us in this way. The world is turned upside down since +Jehovah came to Aniwa! But, Missi," continued he, after a pause that +looked liked silent worship, "will it always rain up through the earth? +or will it come and go like the rain from the clouds?" + +I told them that I believed it would always continue there for our use, +as a good gift from Jehovah. + +"Well, but, Missi," replied the Chief some glimmering of self-interest +beginning to strike his brain, "will you or your family drink it all, or +shall we also have some?" + +"You and all your people," I answered, "and all the people of the +Island, may come and drink and carry away as much of it as you wish. I +believe there will always be plenty for us all, and the more of it we +can use the fresher it will be. That is the way with many of our +Jehovah's best gifts to men, and for it and for all we praise His Name!" + +"Then, Missi," said the Chief, "it will be our water, and we may all use +it as our very own." + +"Yes," I answered, "whenever you wish it, and as much as you need, both +here and at your own houses, as far as it can possibly be made to go." + +The Chief looked at me eagerly, fully convinced at length that the well +contained a treasure, and exclaimed, "Missi, what can we do to help you +now?" + +I was thankful, indeed, to accept of the Chief's assistance, now sorely +needed, and I said, "You have seen it fall in once already. If it falls +again, it will conceal the rain from below which our God has given us. +In order to preserve it for us and for our children in all time, we must +build it round and round with great coral blocks from the bottom to the +very top. I will now clear it out, and prepare the foundation for this +wall of coral. Let every man and woman carry from the shore the largest +block they can bring. It is well worth all the toil thus to preserve our +great Jehovah's gift!" + +Scarcely were my words uttered, when they rushed to the shore, with +shoutings and songs of gladness; and soon every one was seen struggling +under the biggest block of coral with which he dared to tackle. They lay +like limestone rocks, broken up by the hurricanes, and rolled ashore in +the arms of mighty billows; and in an incredibly short time scores of +them were tumbled down for my use at the mouth of the well. Having +prepared a foundation, I made ready a sort of bag-basket, into which +every block was firmly tied and then let down to me by the pulley--a +Native Teacher, a faithful fellow, cautiously guiding it. I received and +placed each stone in its position, doing my poor best to wedge them one +against the other, building circularly, and cutting them to the needed +shape with my American ax. The wall is about three feet thick, and the +masonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself decays. I +wrought incessantly, for fear of any further collapse, till I had it +raised about twenty feet; and now, feeling secure, and my hands being +dreadfully cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, and +finish the building then. But the Chief advanced and said-- + +"Missi, you have been strong to work. Your strength has fled. But rest +here beside us; and just point out where each block is to be laid. We +will lay them there, we will build them solidly behind like you. And no +man will sleep till it is done." + +With all their will and heart they started on the job; some carrying, +some cutting and squaring the blocks, till the wall rose like magic, and +a row of the hugest rocks laid round the top, bound all together, and +formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys, and all wished to have a hand +in building it, and it remains to this day, a solid wall of masonry, the +circle being thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at the top, and six +at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all, and fixed the +windlass and bucket, and there it stands as one of the greatest material +blessings which the Lord has given to Aniwa. It rises and falls with the +tide, though a third of a mile distant from the sea; and when, after +using it, we tasted the pure fresh water on board the _Dayspring_, the +latter seemed so insipid that I had to slip a little salt into my tea +along with the sugar before I could enjoy it! All visitors are taken to +see the well, as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of the Native +Church said to me, on a recent visit, "But for that water, during the +last two years of drought, we would have all been dead!" + +Very strangely, though the Natives themselves have since tried to sink +six or seven wells in the most likely places near their different +villages, they have either come to coral rock which they could not +pierce, or found only water that was salt. And they say amongst +themselves, "Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed and cried +to his God. We have learned to dig, but not how to pray, and therefore +Jehovah will not give us the rain, from below!" + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. +THE OLD CHIEF'S SERMON. + +THE well was now finished. The place was neatly fenced in. And the old +Chief said, "Missi, I think I could help you next Sabbath. Will you let +me preach a sermon on the well?" + +"Yes," I at once replied, "if you will try to bring all the people to +hear you." + +"Missi, I will try," he eagerly promised. The news spread like wildfire +that the Chief Namakei was to be Missionary on the next day for the +Worship, and the people, under great expectancy, urged each other to +come and hear what he had to say. + +Sabbath came round. Aniwa assembled in what was for that island a great +crowd. Namakei appeared dressed in shirt and kilt. He was so excited, +and flourished his tomahawk about at such a rate, that it was rather +lively work to be near him. I conducted short opening devotions, and +then called upon Namakei. He rose at once, with eye flashing wildly, and +his limbs twitching with emotion. He spoke to the following effect, +swinging his tomahawk to enforce every eloquent gesticulation:-- + +"Friends of Namakei, men and women and children of Aniwa, listen to my +words! Since Missi came here he has talked many strange things we could +not understand--things things all too wonderful; and we said regarding +many of them that they must be lies. White people might believe such +nonsense, but we said that the black fellow knew better than to receive +it. But of all his wonderful stories, we thought the strangest was about +sinking down through the earth to get rain! Then we said to each other, +The man's head is turned; he's gone mad. But the Missi prayed on and +wrought on, telling us that Jehovah God heard and saw, and that his God +would give him rain. Was he mad? Has he not got the rain deep down in +the earth? We mocked at him; but the water was there all the same. We +have laughed at other things which the Missi told us, because we could +not see them. But from this day I believe that all he tells us about his +Jehovah God is true. Some day our eyes will see it. For to-day we have +seen the rain from the earth." + +Then rising to a climax, first the one foot and then the other making +the broken coral on the floor fly behind like a war-horse pawing the +ground, he cried with great eloquence:-- + +"My people, the people of Aniwa, the world is turned upside down since +the word of Jehovah came to this land! Who ever expected to see rain +coming up through the earth? It has always come from the clouds! +Wonderful is the work of this Jehovah God. No god of Aniwa ever answered +prayers as the Missi's God has done. Friends of Namakei, all the powers +of the world could not have forced us to believe that rain could be +given from the depths of the earth, if we had not seen it with our eyes, +felt it and tasted it as we here do. Now, by the help of Jehovah God the +Missi brought that invisible rain to view, which we never before heard +of or saw, and"--(beating his hand on his breast, he exclaimed):-- + +"Something here in my heart tells me that the Jehovah God does exist, +the Invisible One, whom we never heard of nor saw till the Missi brought +Him to our knowledge. The coral has been removed, the land has been +cleared away, and lo! the water rises. Invisible till this day, yet all +the same it was there, though our eyes were too weak. So I, your Chief, +do now firmly believe that when I die, when the bits of coral and the +heaps of dust are removed which now blind my old eyes, I shall then see +the Invisible Jehovah God with my soul, as Missi tells me, not less +surely than I have seen the rain from the earth below. From this day, my +people, I must worship the God who has opened for us the well, and who +fills us with rain from below. The gods of Aniwa cannot hear, cannot +help us, like the God of Missi. Henceforth I am a follower of Jehovah +God. Let every man that thinks with me go now and fetch the idols of +Aniwa, the gods which our fathers feared, and cast them down at Missi's +feet. Let us burn and bury and destroy these things of wood and stone, +and let us be taught by the Missi how to serve God who can hear, the +Jehovah who gave us the well, and who will give us every other blessing, +for He sent His Son Jesus to die for us and bring us to Heaven. This is +what the Missi has been telling us every day since he landed on Aniwa. +We laughed at him, but now we believe him. The Jehovah God has sent us +rain from the earth. Why should He not also send us His Son from Heaven? +Namakei stands up for Jehovah!" + +This address, and the Sinking of the Well, broke the back of Heathenism +on Aniwa. That very afternoon, the old Chief and several of his people +brought their idols and cast them down at my feet beside the door of our +house. Oh, the intense excitement of the weeks that followed! Company +after company came to the spot, loaded with their gods of wood and +stone, and piled them up in heaps, amid the tears and sobs of some, and +the shoutings of others, in which was heard the oft-repeated word, +"Jehovah! Jehovah!" What could be burned, we cast into the flames; +others we buried in pits twelve or fifteen feet deep; and some few, more +likely than the rest to feed or awaken superstition, we sank far out +into the deep sea. Let no Heathen eyes ever gaze on them again! + +One of the very first steps in Christian discipline to which they +readily and almost unanimously took was the asking of God's blessing on +every meal and praising the great Jehovah for their daily bread. +Whosoever did not do so was regarded as a Heathen. (Query: how many +white Heathens are there?) The next step, and it was taken in a manner +as if by some common consent that was not less surprising than joyful, +was a form of Family Worship every morning and evening. Doubtless the +prayers were often very queer, and mixed up with many remaining +superstitions; but they were prayers to the great Jehovah, the +compassionate Father, the Invisible One--no longer to gods of stone! + +Necessarily these were the conspicuous features of our life as +Christians in their midst--morning and evening Family Prayer, and Grace +at Meat; and hence, most naturally, their instinctive adoption and +imitation of the same as the first outward tokens of Christian +discipline. Every house in which there was not Prayer to God in the +family was known thereby to be Heathen. This was a direct and practical +evidence of the New Religion; and, so far as it goes (and that is very +far indeed, where there is any sincerity beneath it), the test was one +about which there could be no mistake on either side. + +A third conspicuous feature stood out distinctly and at once,--the +change as to the Lord's Day. Village after village followed in this also +the example of the Mission House. All ordinary occupation ceased. +Sabbath was spoken of as the Day for Jehovah. Saturday came to be called +"Cooking Day," referring to the extra preparations for the coming day of +rest and worship. They believed that it was Jehovah's will to keep the +first day holy. The reverse was a distinctive mark of Heathenism. + +The first traces of a new Social Order began to rise visibly on the +delighted eye. The whole inhabitants, young and old, now attended +School,--three generations sometimes at the one copy or A B C book! +Thefts, quarrels, crimes, etc., were settled now, not by club law, but +by fine or bonds or lash, as agreed upon by the Chiefs and their people. +Everything was rapidly and surely becoming "New" under the influence of +the leaven of Jesus. Industry increased. Huts and plantations were safe. +Formerly every man, in traveling, carried with him all his valuables; +now they were secure, left at home. + +Even a brood of fowls or a litter of pigs would be carried in bags on +their person in Heathen days. Hence at Church we had sometimes lively +episodes, the chirruping of chicks, the squealing of piggies, and the +barking of puppies, one gaily responding to the other, as we sang, or +prayed, or preached the Gospel! Being glad to see the Natives there, +even with all their belongings, we carefully refrained from finding +fault; but the thread of devotion was sometimes apt to slip through +one's fingers, especially when the conflict of the owner to silence a +baby pig inspired the little wretch to drown everything in a +long-sustained and high-pitched scream. + +The natives, finding this state of matters troublesome to themselves and +disagreeable all round, called a General Assembly, unanimously condemned +dishonesty, agreed upon severe fines and punishments for every act of +theft, and covenanted to stand by each other in putting it down. The +chiefs, however found this a long and difficult task, but they held at +it under the inspiration of the gospel and prevailed. Even the trials +and difficulties with which they met were overruled by God, in assisting +them to form by the light of their own experience a simple code of +Social Laws, fitted to repress the crimes there prevailing, and to +encourage the virtues specially needing to be cultivated there. Heathen +Worship was gradually extinguished; and, though no one was compelled to +come to Church, every person on Aniwa, without exception, became ere +many years an avowed worshipper of Jehovah God. Again, "O Galilean, Thou +hast conquered!" + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. +THE FIRST BOOK AND THE NEW EYES. + +THE printing of my first Aniwan book was a great event, not so much for +the toil and worry which it cost me, though that was enough to have +broken the heart of many a compositor, as rather for the joy it gave to +the old Chief Namakei. + +The break-up at Tanna had robbed me of my own neat little +printing-press. I had since obtained at Aneityum the remains of one from +Erromanga, that had belonged to the murdered Gordon. But the supply of +letters, in some cases, was so deficient that I could print only four +pages at a time; and, besides, bits of the press were wanting, and I had +first to manufacture substitutes from scraps of iron and wood. I +managed, however, to make it go, and by and by it did good service. By +it I printed our Aniwan Hymn-Book, a portion of Genesis in Aniwan, a +small book in Erromangan for the second Gordon, and some other little +things. + +The old Chief had eagerly helped me in translating and preparing this +first book. He had a great desire "to hear it speak," as he graphically +expressed it. It was made up chiefly of short passages from the +Scriptures that might help me to introduce them to the treasures of +Divine truth and love. Namakei came to me, morning after morning, +saying, "Missi, is it done? Can it speak?" + +At last I was able to answer, "Yes!" + +The old Chief eagerly responded, "Does it speak my words?" + +I said, "It does." + +With rising interest, Namakei exclaimed, "Make it speak to me, Missi! +Let me hear it speak." + +I read to him a part of the book, and the old man fairly shouted in an +ecstasy of joy, "It does speak! It speaks my own language, too! Oh, give +it to me!" + +He grasped it hurriedly, turned it all round every way, pressed it to +his bosom, and then, closing it with a look of great disappointment, +handed it back to me, saying, "Missi, I cannot make it speak! It will +never speak to me." + +"No," said I; "you don't know how to read it yet, how to make it speak +to you; but I will teach you to read, and then it will speak to you as +it does to me." + +"O Missi, dear Missi, show me how to make it speak!" persisted the +bewildered Chief. He was straining his eyes so, that I suspected they +were dim with age, and could not see the letters. I looked out for him a +pair of spectacles, and managed to fit him well. He was much afraid of +putting them on at first, manifestly in dread of some sort of sorcery. +At last, when they were properly placed, he saw the letters and +everything so clearly that he exclaimed in great excitement and joy-- + +"I see it all now! This is what you told us about Jesus. He opened the +eyes of a blind man. The word of Jesus has just come to Aniwa. He has +sent me these glass eyes. I have gotten back again the sight that I had +when a boy. O Missi, make the book speak to me now!" + +I walked out with him to the public Village Ground. There I drew A B C +in large characters upon the dust, showed him the same letters in the +book, and left him to compare them, and find out how many occurred on +the first page. Fixing these in his mind, he came running to me, and +said, "I have lifted up A B C. They are here in my head and I will hold +them fast. Give me other three." + +This was repeated time after time. He mastered the whole Alphabet, and +soon began to spell out the smaller words. Indeed, he came so often, +getting me to read it over and over, that before he himself could read +it freely, he had it word for word committed to memory. When strangers +passed him, or young people came around, he would get out the little +book, and say, "Come, and I will let you hear how the book speaks our +own Aniwan words. You say, it is hard to learn to read and make it +speak. But be strong to try! If an old man like me has done it, it ought +to be much easier for you." + +One day I heard him read to a company with wonderful fluency. Taking the +book, I asked him to show me how he had learned to read so quickly. +Immediately I perceived that he could recite the whole from memory! He +became our right-hand helper in the Conversion of Aniwa. + +Next after God's own Word, perhaps the power of Music was most amazingly +blessed in opening up our way. Amongst many other illustrations, I may +mention how Namakei's wife was won. The old lady positively shuddered at +coming near the Mission House, and dreaded being taught anything. One +day she was induced to draw near the door, and fixing a hand on either +post, and gazing inwards, she exclaimed, "Awai, Missi! Kai, Missi!"--the +Native cry for unspeakable wonder. Mrs. Paton began to play on the +harmonium, and sang a simple hymn in the old woman's language. +Manifestly charmed, she drew nearer and nearer, and drank in the music, +as it were, at every pore of her being. At last she ran off, and we +thought it was with fright, but it was to call together all the women +and girls from her village "to hear the _bokis_ sing!" (Having no _x_, +the word _box_ is pronounced thus.) She returned with them all at her +heels. They listened with dancing eyes. And ever after the sound of a +hymn, and the song of the _bokis_, made them flock freely to class or +meeting. + +Being myself as nearly as possible destitute of the power of singing, +all my work would have been impaired and sadly hindered, and the joyous +side of the Worship and Service of Jehovah could not have been presented +to the Natives, but for the gift bestowed by the Lord on my dear wife. +She led our songs of praise, both in the Family and in the Church, and +that was the first avenue by which the New Religion winged its way into +the heart of Cannibal and Savage. + +The old Chief was particularly eager that this same aged lady, his wife +Yauwaki, should be taught to read. But her sight was far gone. So, one +day, he brought her to me, saying, "Missi, can you give my wife also a +pair of new glass eyes like mine? She tries to learn, but she cannot see +the letters. She tries to sew, but she pricks her finger, and throws +away the needle, saying, 'The ways of the white people are not good!' If +she could get a pair of glass eyes, she would be in a new world like +Namakei." In my bundle I found a pair that suited her. She was in +positive terror about putting them on her face, but at last she cried +with delight, "Oh, my new eyes! my new eyes! I have the sight of a +little girl. Oh, my new eyes!" + + + +CHAPTER LXX. +A ROOF-TREE FOR JESUS. + +AT first we moved about amongst the Natives from village to village, +acquired their language, and taught them everywhere,--by the roadside, +under the shade of a tree, or on the public Tillage Ground. Our old +Native Hut, when we removed to the Mission House formerly referred to, +was also used for all sorts of public meetings. Feeling by and by, +however, that the time had come to interest them in building a new +Church, and that it would be every way helpful, I laid the proposal +before them, carefully explaining that for this work no one would be +paid, that the Church was for all the Islanders and for the Worship +alone, and that every one must build purely for the love of Jesus. + +I told them that God would be pleased with such materials as they had to +give, that they must not begin till they had divided the work and +counted the cost, and that for my part I would do all that I could to +direct and help, and would supply the sinnet (= cocoanut fiber rope) +which I had brought from Aneityum, and the nails from Sydney. + +They held meeting after meeting throughout the Island. Chiefs made long +speeches; orators chanted their palavers; and warriors acted their part +by waving of club and tomahawk. An unprecedented friendliness sprang up +amongst them. They agreed to sink every quarrel, and unite in building +the first Church on Aniwa,--one Chief only holding back. Women and +children began to gather and prepare the sugar-cane leaf for thatch. Men +searched for and cut down suitable trees. + +The Church measured sixty-two feet by twenty-four. The wall was twelve +feet high. The studs were of hard ironwood, and were each by tenon and +mortise fastened into six ironwood trees forming the upper wall plates. +All were not only nailed, but strongly tied together by sinnet-rope, so +as to resist the hurricanes. The roof was supported by four huge +ironwood trees, and a fifth of equally hard wood, sunk about eight feet +into the ground, surrounded by building at the base, and forming massive +pillars. There were two doorways and eight window spaces; the floor was +laid with white coral, broken small, and covered with cocoanut tree +leaf-mats, on which the people sat. I had a small platform, floored and +surrounded with reeds; and Mrs. Paton had a seat enclosing the +harmonium, also made of reeds and in keeping. Great harmony prevailed +all the time, and no mishap marred the work. One hearty fellow fell from +the roof-tree to the ground, and was badly stunned. But, jumping up, he +shook himself, and saying--"I was working for Jehovah! He has saved me +from being hurt!"--he mounted the roof again and went on cheerily with +his work. + +But our pride in this New Church soon met with a dreadful blow. That +very season a terrific hurricane leveled it with the ground. After much +wailing, the principal Chief, in a public Assembly, said, "Let us not +weep, like boys over their broken bows and arrows! Let us be strong, and +build a yet stronger Church for Jehovah." + +By our counsel, ten days were spent first in repairing houses and +fences, and saving food from the plantations, many of which had been +swept into utter ruin. Then they assembled on the appointed day. A hymn +was sung. God's blessing was invoked, and all the work was dedicated +afresh to Him. Days were spent in taking the iron wood roof to pieces, +and saving everything that could be saved. The work was allocated +equally amongst the villages, and a wholesome emulation was created. One +Chief still held back. After a while, I visited him and personally +invited his help,--telling him that it was God's House, and for all the +people of Aniwa; and that if he and his people did not do their part, +the others would cast it in their teeth that they had no share in the +House of God. He yielded to my appeal, and entered vigorously upon the +work. + +One large tree was still needed to complete the couples, and could +nowhere be found. The work was at a standstill; for, though the size was +now reduced to fifty feet by twenty-two, the roof lowered by four feet, +and there was still plenty of smaller wood on Aniwa, the larger trees +were apparently exhausted. One morning, however, we were awakened at +early daybreak by the shouting and singing of a company of men, carrying +a great black tree to the Church, with this same Chief dancing before +them, leading the singing, and beating time with the flourish of his +tomahawk. Determined not to be beaten, though late in the field, he had +lifted the roof-tree out of his own house, as black as soot could make +it, and was carrying it to complete the couplings. The rest of the +builders shouted against this. All the other wood of the Church was +white and clean, and they would not have this black tree, conspicuous in +the very center of all. But I praised the old Chief for what he had +done, and hoped he and his people would come and worship Jehovah under +his own roof-tree. At this all were delighted! and the work went on +apace, with many songs and shoutings. + +Whenever the Church was roofed in, we met in it for Public Worship. +Coral was being got and burned, and preparations made for plastering the +walls. The Natives were sharp enough to notice that I was not putting up +the bell; and suspicions arose that I kept it back in order to take it +with me when I returned to Tanna. It was a beautiful Church bell, cast +and sent out by our dear friend, James Taylor, Esq., Birkenhead. The +Aniwans, therefore, gave me no rest till I agreed to have it hung on +their new Church. They found a large ironwood tree near the shore, cut a +road for half a mile through the bush, tied poles across it every few +feet, and with shouts lifted it bodily on their shoulders--six men or so +at each pole--and never set it down again till they reached the Church; +for as one party got exhausted, others were ready to rush in and relieve +them at every stage of the journey. The two old Chiefs, flourishing +their tomahawks, went capering in front of all the rest, and led the +song to which they marched, joyfully bearing their load. They dug a deep +hole, into which to sink it; I squared the top and screwed on the bell; +then we raised the tree by ropes, letting it sink into the hole, and +built it round eight feet deep with coral blocks and lime; and there +from its top swings and rings ever since the Church bell of Aniwa. + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. +"KNOCK THE TEVIL OUT!" + +ONE of the last attempts ever made on my life resulted, by God's +blessing, in great good to us all and to the work of the Lord. It was +when Nourai, one of Nasi's men, struck at me again and again with the +barrel of his musket; but I evaded the blows, till rescued by the +women--the men looking on stupefied. After he escaped into the bush I +assembled our people, and said, "If you do not now try to stop this bad +conduct, I shall leave Aniwa, and go to some island where my life will +be protected." + +Next morning at daybreak, about one hundred men arrived at my house, and +in answer to my query why they came armed they replied, "We are now +going to that village where the men of wicked conduct are gathered +together. We will find out why they sought your life, and we will rebuke +their Sacred Man for pretending to cause hurricanes and diseases. We +cannot go unarmed. We will not suffer you to go alone. We are your +friends and the friends of the Worship. And we are resolved to stand by +you, and you must go at our head to-day!" + +In great perplexity, yet believing that my presence might prevent +bloodshed, I allowed myself to be placed at their head. The old Chief +followed next, then a number of fiery young men; then all the rest, +single file, along the narrow path. At a sudden turn, as we neared their +village, Nourai, who had attacked me the Sabbath day before, and his +brother were seen lurking with their muskets; but our young men made a +rush in front, and they disappeared into the bush. + +We took possession of the Village Public Ground; and the Chief, the +Sacred Man, and others soon assembled. A most characteristic Native +Palaver followed. Speeches, endless speeches, were fired by them at each +other. My friends declared, in every conceivable form of language and of +graphic illustration, that they were resolved at any cost to defend me +and the Worship of Jehovah, and that they would as one man punish every +attempt to injure me or take my life. The orator, Taia, exclaimed, "You +think that Missi is here alone, and that you can do with him as you +please! No! We are now all Missi's men. We will fight for him and his +rather than see him injured. Every one that attacks him attacks us. That +is finished to-day!" + +In the general scolding, the Sacred Man had special attention for +pretending to cause hurricanes. One pointed out that he had himself a +stiff knee, and argued, "If he can make a hurricane, why can't he +restore the joint of his own knee? It is surely easier to do the one +than the other!" + +The Natives laughed heartily, and taunted him. Meantime he sat looking +down to the earth in sullen silence; and a ludicrous episode ensued. His +wife, a big, strong woman, scolded him roundly for the trouble he had +brought them all into; and then, getting indignant as well as angry, she +seized a huge cocoanut leaf out of the bush, and with the butt end +thereof began thrashing his shoulders vigorously as she poured out the +vials of her wrath in torrents of words, always winding up with the cry, +"I'll knock the Tevil out of him! He'll not try hurricanes again!" + +The woman was a Malay, as all the Aniwans were. Had a Papuan woman on +Tanna or Erromanga dared such a thing, she would have been killed on the +spot. But even on Aniwa, the unwonted spectacle of a wife beating her +husband created uproarious amusement. At length I remonstrated, saying, +"You had better stop now! You don't want to kill him, do you? You seem +to have knocked 'the Tevil' pretty well out of him now! You see how he +receives it all in silence, and repents of all his bad talk and bad +conduct." + +They exacted from him a solemn promise as to the making of no more +diseases or hurricanes, and that he would live at peace with his +neighbors. The offending villagers at length presented a large quantity +of sugar-cane and food to us as a peace-offering; and we returned, +praising God that the whole day's scolding had ended in talk, not blood. +The result was every way most helpful. Our friends knew their strength +and took courage. Our enemies were disheartened and afraid. We saw the +balance growing heavier every day on the side of Jesus; and our souls +blessed the Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. +THE CONVERSION OF YOUWILI. + +THESE events suggest to me another incident of those days, full at once +of trial and of joy. It pertains to the story of our young Chief +Youwili. From the first, and for long, he was most audacious and +troublesome. Observing that for several days no Natives had come near +the Mission House, I asked the old Chief if he knew why, and he +answered, "Youwili has _tabooed_ the paths, and threatens death to any +one who breaks through it." + +I at once replied, "Then I conclude that you all agree with him, and +wish me to leave. We are here only to teach you and your people. If he +has power to prevent that we shall leave with the _Dayspring_." + +The old Chief called the people together, and they came to me, saying, +"Our anger is strong against Youwili. Go with us and break down the +_taboo_. We will assist and protect you." + +I went at their head and removed it. It consisted simply of reeds stuck +into the ground, with twigs and leaves and fiber tied to each in a +peculiar way, in a circle round the Mission House. The Natives had an +extraordinary dread of violating the taboo, and believed that it meant +death to the offender or to some one of his family. All present entered +into a bond to punish on the spot any man who attempted to replace the +_taboo_ or to revenge its removal. Thus a mortal blow was publicly +struck at this most miserable superstition, which had caused bloodshed +and misery untold. + +One day, thereafter, I was engaged in clearing away the bush around the +Mission House, having purchased and paid for the land for the very +purpose of opening it up, when suddenly Youwili appeared and menacingly +forbade me to proceed. For the sake of peace I for the time desisted. +But he went straight to my fence, and with his tomahawk cut down the +portion in front of our house, also some bananas planted there--the +usual declaration of war, intimating that he only awaited his +opportunity similarly to cut down me and mine. We saw the old Chief and +his men planting themselves here and there to guard us, and the Natives +prowling about armed and excited. On calling them, they explained the +meaning of what Youwili had done, and that they were determined to +protect us. I said. "This must not continue. Are you to permit one young +fool to defy us all, and break up the Lord's work on Aniwa? If you +cannot righteously punish him, I will shut myself up in my house and +withdraw from all attempts to teach or help you, till the vessel comes, +and then I can leave the island." + +Now that they had begun really to love us, and to be anxious to learn +more, this was always my most powerful argument. We retired into the +Mission House. The people surrounded our doors and windows and pleaded +with us. After long silence, we replied, "You know our resolution. It is +for you now to decide. Either you must control that foolish young man, +or we must go!" + +Much speech-making, as usual, followed. The people resolved to seize and +punish Youwili; but he fled, and had hid himself in the bush. Coming to +me, the Chief said, "It is left to you to say what shall be Youwili's +punishment. Shall we kill him?" + +I replied firmly, "Certainly not! Only for murder can life be lawfully +taken away." + +"What then?" they continued. "Shall we burn his houses and destroy his +plantations?" + +I answered, "No." + +"Shall we bind him and beat him?" + +"No." + +"Shall we place him in a canoe, thrust him out to sea, and let him drown +or escape as he may?" + +"No! by no means." + +"Then, Missi," said they, "these are our ways of punishing. What other +punishment remains that Youwili cares for?" + +I replied, "Make him with his own hands, and alone, put up a new fence, +and restore all that he has destroyed; and make him promise publicly +that he will cease all evil conduct towards us. That will satisfy me." + +This idea of punishment seemed to tickle them greatly. The Chiefs +reported our words to the Assembly; and the Natives laughed and cheered, +as if it were a capital joke! They cried aloud, "It is good! Obey the +word of the Missi." + +After considerable hunting, the young Chief was found. They brought him +to the Assembly and scolded him severely and told him their sentence. He +was surprised by the nature of the punishment, and cowed by the +determination of the people. + +"To-morrow," said he, "I will fully repair the fence. Never again will I +oppose the Missi. His word is good." + +By daybreak next morning Youwili was diligently repairing what he had +broken down, and before evening he had everything made right better than +it was before. While he toiled away, some fellows of his own rank +twitted him, saying, "Youwili, you found it easier to cut down Missi's +fence than to repair it again. You will not repeat that in a hurry!" + +But he heard all in silence. Others passed with averted heads, and he +knew they were laughing at him. He made everything tight and then left +without uttering a single word. My heart yearned after the poor fellow, +but I thought it better to let his own mind work away, on its new ideas +as to punishment and revenge, for a little longer by itself alone. I +instinctively felt that Youwili was beginning to turn, that the +Christ-Spirit had touched his darkly-groping soul. My doors were now +thrown open, and every good work went on as before. We resolved to leave +Youwili entirely to Jesus, setting apart a portion of our prayer every +day for the enlightenment and conversion of the young Chief, on whom all +other means had been exhausted apparently in vain. + +A considerable time elapsed. No sign came, and our prayers seemed to +fail. But one day, I was toiling between the shafts of a hand-cart, +assisted by two boys, drawing it along from the shore loaded with coral +blocks. Youwili came rushing from his house, three hundred yards or so +off the path, and said, "Missi, that is too hard for you. Let me be your +helper!" + +Without waiting for a reply, he ordered the two boys to seize one rope, +while he grasped the other, threw it over his shoulder and started off, +pulling with the strength of a horse. My heart rose in gratitude, and I +wept with joy as I followed him. I knew that that yoke was but a symbol +of the yoke of Christ, which Youwili with his change of heart was +beginning to carry! Truly there is only one way of regeneration, being +born again by the power of the Spirit of God, the new heart; but there +are many ways of conversation, of outwardly turning to the Lord, of +taking the actual first step that shows on whose side we are. + +Like those of old praying for the deliverance of Peter, and who could +not believe their ears and eyes when Peter knocked and walked in amongst +them, so we could scarcely believe our eyes and ears when Youwili became +a disciple of Jesus, though we had been praying for his conversion every +day. His once sullen countenance became literally bright with inner +light. His wife came immediately for a book and a dress saying, "Youwili +sent me. His opposition to the Worship is over now. I am to attend +Church and School. He is coming too. He wants to learn how to be strong, +like you, for Jehovah and for Jesus." + +Oh, Jesus! to Thee alone be all the glory. Thou hast the key to unlock +every heart that Thou hast created. + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. +FIRST COMMUNION ON ANIWA. + +AND this leads me to relate the story of our First Communion on Aniwa. +It was Sabbath, 24th October 1869; and surely the Angels of God and the +Church of the Redeemed in Glory were amongst the "great cloud of +witnesses" who eagerly "peered" down upon the scene,--when we sat around +the Lord's Table and partook the memorials of His body and blood with +those few souls rescued out of the Heathen World. My Communicants' Class +had occupied me now a considerable time. The conditions of attendance at +this early stage were explicit, and had to be made very severe, and only +twenty were admitted to the roll. At the final examination only twelve +gave evidence of understanding what they were doing, and of having given +their hearts to the service of the Lord Jesus. At their own urgent +desire, and after every care in examining and instructing, they were +solemnly dedicated in prayer to be baptized and admitted to the Holy +Table. On that Lord's Day, after the usual opening Service, I gave a +short and careful exposition of the Ten Commandments and of the Way of +Salvation according to the Gospel. The twelve Candidates then stood up +before all the inhabitants there assembled; and, after a brief +exhortation to them as Converts, I put to them the two questions that +follow, and each gave an affirmative reply, "Do you, in accordance with +your profession of the Christian Faith, and your promises before God and +the people, wish me now to baptize you?" + +And--"Will you live henceforth for Jesus only, hating all sin and trying +to love and serve your Saviour?" + +Then, beginning with the old Chief, the twelve came forward, and I +baptized them one by one according to the Presbyterian usage. Two of +them had also little children, and they were at the same time baptized, +and received as the lambs of the flock. Solemn prayer was then offered, +and in the name of the Holy Trinity the Church of Christ on Aniwa was +formally constituted. I addressed them on the words of the Holy +Institution--1 Corinthians xi. 23--and then, after the prayer of +Thanksgiving and Consecration, administered the Lord's Supper, the first +time since the Island of Aniwa was heaved out of its coral depths! Mrs. +M'nair, my wife, and myself, along with six Aneityumese Teachers, +communicated with the newly baptized twelve. And I think, if ever in all +my Earthly experience, on that day I might truly add the blessed +words--"Jesus in the midst." + +The whole Service occupied nearly three hours. The Islanders looked on +with a wonder whose unwonted silence was almost painful to bear. Many +were led to inquire carefully about everything they saw, so new and +strange. For the first time the Dorcas Street Sabbath School Teachers' +gift from South Melbourne Presbyterian Church was put to use--a new +Communion Service of silver. They gave it in faith that we would require +it, and in such we received it. And now the day had come and gone! For +three years we had toiled and prayed and taught for this. At the moment +when I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with +the blood of Cannibalism, but now stretched out to receive and partake +the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the +joy of Glory that well-nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never +taste a deeper bliss till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus Himself. + +On the afternoon of that Communion Day an open-air Prayer Meeting was +held under the shade of the great banyan tree in front of our Church. +Seven of the new Church members there led the people in prayer to Jesus, +a hymn being sung after each. My heart was so full of joy that I could +do little else but weep. Oh, I wonder, I wonder, when I see so many good +Ministers at home, crowding each other and treading on each other's +heels, whether they would not part with all their home privileges, and +go out to the Heathen World and reap a joy like this--"the joy of the +Lord." + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. +THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER. + +THE new Social Order, referred to already in its dim beginnings, rose +around us like a sweet-scented flower. I never interfered directly, +unless expressly called upon or appealed to. The two principal Chiefs +were impressed with the idea that there was but one law--the Will of +God; and one rule for them and their people as Christians--to please the +Lord Jesus. In every difficulty they consulted me. I explained to them +and read in their hearing the very words of Holy Scripture, showing what +appeared to me to be the will of God and what would please the Saviour; +and then sent them away to talk it over with their people, and to apply +these principles of the Word of God as wisely as they could according to +their circumstances. Our own part of the work went on very joyfully, +notwithstanding occasional trying and painful incidents. Individual +cases of greed and selfishness and vice brought us many a bitter pang. +But the Lord never lost patience with us, and we durst not therefore +lose patience with them! We trained the Teachers, we translated and +printed and expounded the Scriptures, we ministered to the sick and +dying; we dispensed medicines every day, we taught them the use of +tools, we advised them as to laws and penalties; and the New Society +grew and developed, and bore amidst all its imperfections some traces of +the fair Kingdom of God amongst men. + +Our life and work will reveal itself to the reader if I briefly outline +a Sabbath Day on Aniwa. Breakfast is partaken of immediately after +daylight. The Church bell then rings, and ere it stops every worshiper +is seated. The Natives are guided in starting by the sunrise, and are +forward from farthest corners at this early hour. The first Service is +over in about an hour; there is an interval of twenty minutes; the bell +is again rung, and the second Service begins. We follow the ordinary +Presbyterian ritual; but in every Service I call upon an Elder or a +Church Member to lead in one of the prayers, which they do with great +alacrity and with much benefit to all concerned. + +As the last worshiper leaves, at close of second Service, the bell is +sounded twice very deliberately, and that is the signal for the opening +of my Communicants' Class. I carefully expound the Church's Shorter +Catechism, and show how its teachings are built upon Holy Scripture, +applying each truth to the conscience and the life. This class is +conducted all the year round; and from it, step by step, our Church +Members are drawn as the Lord opens up their way, the most of them +attending two full years at least before being admitted to the Lord's +Table. This discipline accounts for the fact that so very few of our +baptized converts have ever fallen away--as few in proportion, I verily +believe, as in Churches at home. Meantime, many of the Church members +have been holding a prayer-meeting amongst themselves in the adjoining +School,--a thing started of their own free accord,--in which they invoke +God's blessing on all the work and worship of the day. + +Having snatched a brief meal of tea, or a cold dinner cooked on +Saturday, the bell rings within an hour, and our Sabbath School +assembles,--in which the whole inhabitants, young and old, take part, +myself superintending and giving the address, as well as questioning on +the lesson, Mrs. Paton teaching a large class of adult women, and the +Elders and best readers instructing the ordinary classes for about +half-an-hour or so. + +About one o'clock the School is closed, and we then start off on our +village tours. An experienced Elder, with several Teachers, takes one +side of the Island this Sabbath, I with another company taking the other +side, and next Sabbath we reverse the order. A short Service is +conducted in the open air, or in Schoolrooms, at every village that can +be reached and on their return they report to me cases of sickness, or +any signs of progress in the work of the Lord. The whole Island is thus +steadily and methodically evangelized. + +As the sun is setting I am creeping home from my village tour; and when +darkness begins to approach, the canoe drum is beat at every village, +and the people assemble under the banyan tree for evening village +prayers. The Elder or Teacher presides. Five or six hymns are joyously +sung, and five or six short prayers offered between, and thus the +evening hour passes happily in the fellowship of God. On a calm evening, +after Christianity had fairly taken hold of the people, and they loved +to sing over and over again their favorite hymns, these village +prayer-meetings formed a most blessed close to every day, and set the +far-distant bush echoing with the praises of God. + +Nor is our week-day life less crowded or busy, though in different ways. +At gray dawn on Monday, and every morning, the _Tavaka_ (= the canoe +drum) is struck in every village on Aniwa. The whole inhabitants turn in +to the early School, which lasts about an hour and a half, and then the +Natives are off to their plantations. Having partaken of breakfast, I +then spend my forenoon in translating or printing, or visiting the sick, +or whatever else is most urgent. About two o'clock the Natives return +from their work, bathe in the sea, and dine off cocoanut, breadfruit, or +anything else that comes handily in the way. At three o'clock the bell +rings, and the afternoon School for the Teachers and the more advanced +learners then occupy my wife and myself for about an hour and a half. +After this, the Natives spend their time in fishing or lounging or +preparing supper,--which is amongst them always _the_ meal of the day. +Towards sundown the _Tavaka_ sounds again, and the day closes amid the +echoes of village prayers from under their several banyan trees. + +Thus day after day and week after week passed over us on Aniwa; and much +the same on all the Islands where the Missionary has found a home. In +many respects it is a simple and happy and beautiful life; and the man +whose heart is full of things that are dear to Jesus, feels no desire to +exchange it for the poor frivolities of what calls itself "Society," +which seems to find its life in pleasures that Christ cannot be asked to +share, and in which, therefore, Christians should have neither lot nor +part. + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. +THE ORPHANS AND THEIR BISCUITS. + +THE habits of morning and evening Family Prayer and of Grace at Meat +took a very wonderful hold upon the people; and became, as I have shown +elsewhere, a distinctive badge of Christian versus Heathen. This was +strikingly manifested during a time of bitter scarcity that befell us. I +heard a father, for instance, at his hut door, with his family around +him, reverently blessing God for the food provided for them, and for all +His mercies in Christ Jesus. Drawing near and conversing with them, I +found that their meals consisted of fig leaves which they had gathered +and cooked--a poor enough dish, but hunger makes a healthy appetite, and +contentment is a grateful relish. + +During the same period of privation, my Orphans suffered badly also. +Once they came to me, saying, "Missi, we are very hungry." + +I replied, "So am I, dear children, and we have no more white food till +the _Dayspring_ comes." + +They continued, "Missi, you have two beautiful fig-trees. Will you let +us take one feast of the young and tender leaves? We will not injure +branch or fruit." + +I answered, "Gladly, my children, take your fill!" + +In a twinkling each child was perched upon a branch; and they feasted +there happy as squirrels. Every night we prayed for the vessel, and in +the morning our Orphan boys rushed to the coral rocks and eagerly +scanned the sea for an answer. Day after day they returned with sad +faces, saying, "Missi, _Tavaka jimra_!" (= No vessel yet). + +But at gray dawn of a certain day we were awoke by the boys shouting +from the shore and running for the Mission House with the cry,--"_Tavaka +oa! Tavaka oa!_"(= The vessel, hurrah!) + +We arose at once, and the boy exclaimed, "Missi, she is not our own +vessel, but we think she carries her flag. She has three masts, and our +_Dayspring_ only two!" + +I looked through my glass, and saw that they were discharging goods into +the vessel's boats; and the children, when I told them that boxes and +bags and casks were being sent on shore, shouted and danced with +delight. As the first boat-load was discharged, the Orphans surrounded +me, saying, "Missi, here is a cask that rattles like biscuits? Will you +let us take it to the Mission House?" + +I told them to do so if they could; and in a moment it was turned into +the path, and the boys had it flying before them, some tumbling and +hurting their knees, but up and at it again, and never pausing till it +rolled up at the door of our Storehouse. On returning I found them all +around it, and they said, "Missi, have you forgotten what you promised +us?" + +I said, "What did I promise you?" + +They looked very disappointed and whispered to each other, "Missi has +forgot!" + +"Forgot what?" inquired I. + +"Missi," they answered, "you promised that when the vessel came you +would give each of us a biscuit." + +"Oh," I replied, "I did not forget; I only wanted to see if you +remembered it?" + +They laughed, saying, "No fear of that, Missi! Will you soon open the +cask? We are dying for biscuits." + +At once I got hammer and tools, knocked off the hoops, took out the end, +and then gave girls and boys a biscuit each. To my surprise, they all +stood round, biscuit in hand, but not one beginning to eat. + +"What," I exclaimed, "you are dying for biscuits! Why don't you eat? Are +you expecting another?" + +One of the eldest said, "We will first thank God for sending us food, +and ask Him to bless it to us all." + +And this was done in their own simple and beautiful childlike way; and +then they did eat, and enjoyed their food as a gift from the Heavenly +Father's hand. (Is there any child reading this, or hearing it read, who +never thanks God or asks Him to bless daily bread? Then is that child +not a white Heathen?) We ourselves at the Mission House could very +heartily rejoice with the dear Orphans. For some weeks past our European +food had been all exhausted, except a little tea, and the cocoanut had +been our chief support. It was beginning to tell against us. Our souls +rose in gratitude to the Lord, who had sent us these fresh provisions +that we might love Him better and serve Him more. + +The children's sharp eyes had read correctly. It was not the +_Dayspring_. Our brave little ship, as I afterwards learned, had gone to +wreck on 6th January 1873; and this vessel was the _Paragon_, chartered +to bring down our supplies. Alas! the wreck had gone by auction sale to +a French slaving company, who cut a passage through the coral reef, and +had the vessel again floating in the Bay,--elated at the prospect of +employing our Mission Ship in the blood-stained _Tanaka_-traffic (= a +mere euphemism for South Sea slavery)! Our souls sank in horror and +concern. Many Natives would unwittingly trust themselves to the +_Dayspring_ and revenge would be taken on us, as was done on noble +Bishop Patteson, when the deception was found out. What could be done? +Nothing but cry to God, which all the friends of our Mission did day and +night, not without tears, as we thought of the possible degradation of +our noble little ship. Listen! The French Slavers, anchoring their prize +in the Bay, and greatly rejoicing, went ashore to celebrate the event. +They drank and feasted and reveled. But that night a mighty storm arose, +the old _Dayspring_ dragged her anchor, and at daybreak she was seen +again on the reef, but this time with her back broken in two and for +ever unfit for service, either fair or foul. Oh, white winged Virgin, +daughter of the waves, better for thee, as for thy human sisters, to die +and pass away than to suffer pollution and live on in disgrace! + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. +THE FINGER-POSTS OF GOD. + +I HAD often said that I would not again leave my beloved work on the +Islands unless compelled to do so either by the breakdown of health, or +by the loss of our Mission Ship and my services being required to assist +in providing another. Very strange, that in this one season both of +these events befell us! During the hurricanes, from January to April +1873, when the _Dayspring_ was wrecked, we lost a darling child by +death, my dear wife had a protracted illness, and I was brought very low +with severe rheumatic fever. I was reduced so far that I could not +speak, and was reported as dying. The Captain of a vessel, having seen +me, called at Tanna, and spoke of me as in all probability dead by that +time. Our unfailing and ever-beloved friends and fellow-Missionaries, +Mr. and Mrs. Watt, at once started from Kwamera, in their open boat, and +rowed and sailed thirty miles to visit us. But a few days before they +arrived I had fallen into a long and sound sleep, out of which, when I +awoke, consciousness had again returned to me. I had got the turn; there +was no further relapse; but when I did regain a little strength, my +weakness was so great that I had to travel about on crutches for many a +day. + +In the circumstances of our baby Lena's death, every form of +heartrending tenderness seemed to meet. On Friday, 28th March, at 3 A.M. +she came from God, and seemed to both of us the Angel-child of all our +flock. Alas, on Saturday I was seized with sciatica, so dreadful and +agonizing, that I had to be borne to my bed, and could not stir a limb +any more than if my back had been broken. My dear wife struggled to +attend to the baby, with such help as Native girls could give; and I +directed the Teachers about the Services in Church next Sunday, the +first time as yet that I had been unable to appear and lead them. From +the beds where we lay, my wife and I could hear each other's voices, and +tried to console one another in our sorrowful and helpless state. On +Tuesday, 1st April, the child was bright and vigorous; but the mother's +strength had been overtaxed, and she fell back, fainting in her bed, +when helping to dress the baby. Next morning, to our dismay, there were +symptoms of wheezing and feverishness in the little darling. All due +measures were at once taken to check these; and Williag, an experienced +Native, now having charge, kept everything warm and cozy. Before tea, +when receiving a little food, Lena opened her dark blue eyes, and gazed +up peacefully and gladly in her mother's face. But, immediately after +tea, within less than an hour, when the nurse brought her and placed her +in the mother's arms, the Angel-Soul fled away. Poor Williag, seeing the +mother's pathetic look, and as if she herself had been guilty, fell on +her knees and cried,--"I knew it, Missi, I knew it! She gave two big +sighs, and went! Awai, Missi, Awai!" When the mother called to me +something about the child having "fainted," I was talking with Koris, +but my heart guessed the worst. Alas, all means were seen to be vain! I +could not rise, could not move, nor could the mother, but we prayed, in +each other's hearing, and in the hearing of our blessed Lord, and He did +not leave us without consolation. In such cases, the Heathen usually fly +away in terror, but our Teachers were faithful and obedient; and our +little boys, Bob and Fred, six and four respectively, followed all our +tearful directions. One of their small toy-boxes was readily given up to +make the baby's coffin. Yawaci brought calico, and dressed the precious +body at the mother's instructions. I then offered a prayer to the clear +Lord, whilst the mother clasped the coffin in her arms. The little +grave, dug by the Teachers in the Mission plot, was within earshot of +where we lay, and there Bob and Fred, kneeling in their snow-white +dresses, sang "There is a Happy Land," as their sister's dust was laid +in the Earth and in the arms of Jesus who is the Resurrection and the +Life. God only can ever know how our hearts were torn by the pathos of +that event, as we lay helpless, almost dying, and listened to our +children's trembling voices! Johna, the Teacher, then prayed; while the +Heathen, in groups of wonder, but holding far aloof, had many strange +ideas wakened in their puzzled brains. The mother and I gave ourselves +once more away to God, and to the Service of our dear Lord Jesus, as we +parted with our darling Lena; and when, by and by, we were raised up +again, and able to move about, often, often, did we find ourselves +meeting together at that precious grave. + +Being ordered to seek health by change and by higher medical aid, and if +possible in the cooler air of New Zealand, we took the first opportunity +and arrived at Sydney, anxious to start the new movement to secure the +_Paragon_ there, and then to go on to the sister Colony. Being scarcely +able to walk without the crutches, we called privately a preliminary +meeting of friends for consultation and advice. The conditions were laid +before them and discussed. The Insurance Company had paid L2000 on the +first _Dayspring_. Of that sum L1000 had been spent on chartering and +maintaining the _Paragon;_ so that we required an additional L2000 to +purchase her, according to Dr. Steel's bargain with the owners, besides +a large sum for alterations and equipment for the Mission. The late Mr. +Learmouth looked across to Mr. Goodlet, and said, "If you'll join me, we +will at once secure this vessel for the Missionaries, that God's work +may not suffer from the wreck of the _Dayspring_." + +Those two servants of God, excellent Elders of the Presbyterian Church, +consulted together, and the vessel was purchased next day. How I did +praise God, and pray Him to bless them and theirs! The late Dr. +Fullarton, our dear friend, said to them, "But what guarantee do you ask +from the Missionaries for your money?" + +Mr. Learmouth's noble reply was, and the other heartily re-echoed +it--"God's work is our guarantee! From them we will ask none. What +guarantee have they to give us, except their faith in God? That +guarantee is ours already." + +I answered, "You take God and His work for your guarantee. Rest assured +that He will soon repay you, and you will lose nothing by this noble +service." + +Having secured St. Andrew's Church for a public meeting, I advertised it +in all the papers. Ministers, Sabbath School Teachers, and other friends +came in great numbers. The scheme was fairly launched, and Collecting +Cards largely distributed. Committees carried everything out into +detail, and all worked for the fund with great goodwill. + +I then sailed from Sydney to Victoria, and addressed the General +Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in session at Melbourne. The work +was easily set agoing there, and willing workers fully and rapidly +organized it through Congregations and Sabbath Schools. Under medical +advice, I next sailed for New Zealand in the S. S. _Hero_, Captain +Logan. Reaching Auckland, I was in time to address the General Assembly +of the Church there also. They gave me cordial welcome, and every +Congregation and Sabbath School might be visited as far as I possibly +could. The Ministers promoted the movement with hearty zeal. The Sabbath +Scholars took Collecting Cards for "shares" in the New Mission Ship. A +meeting was held every day, and three every Sabbath. Auckland, Nelson, +Wellington, Dunedin, and all towns and churches within reach of these +were rapidly visited; and I never had greater joy or heartiness in any +of my tours than in this happy intercourse with the Ministers and people +of the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. + +I arrived in Sydney about the end of March. My health was wonderfully +restored, and New Zealand had given me about L1700 for the new ship. +With the L1000 of insurance money, and about L700 from New South Wales, +and L400 from Victoria, besides the L500 for her support also from. +Victoria, we were able to pay back the L3000 of purchase money, and +about L800 for alterations and repairs, as well as equip and provision +her to sail for her next year's work amongst the Islands free of debt. I +said to our two good friends at Sydney: + +"You took God and His work for your guarantee. He has soon relieved you +from all responsibility. You have suffered no loss, and you have had the +honor and privilege of serving your Lord. I envy you the joy you must +feel in so using your wealth, and I pray God's double blessing on all +your store." + +Our agent. Dr. Steel, had applied to the Home authorities for power to +change the vessel's name from _Paragon_ to _Dayspring_, so that the old +associations might not be broken. This was cordially granted. And so our +second _Dayspring_, owing no man anything, sailed on her annual trip to +the New Hebrides, and we returned with her, praising the Lord and +reinvigorated alike in spirit and in body. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. +THE GOSPEL IN LIVING CAPITALS. + +IN Heathendom every true convert becomes at once a Missionary. The +changed life, shining out amid the surrounding darkness, is a Gospel in +largest Capitals which all can read. Our Islanders, especially, having +little to engage or otherwise distract attention, become intense and +devoted workers for the Lord Jesus, if once the Divine Passion for souls +stirs within them. + +A Heathen has been all his days groping after peace of soul in dark +superstition and degrading rites. You pour into his soul the light of +Revelation. He learns that God is love, that God sent His Son to die for +him, and that he is the heir of Life Eternal in and through Jesus +Christ. By the blessed enlightenment of the Spirit of the Lord he +believes all this. He passes into a third heaven of joy, and he burns to +tell every one of this Glad Tidings. Others see the change in his +disposition in his character in his whole life and actions; and amid +such surroundings, every Convert is a burning and a shining light. Even +whole populations are thus brought into the Outer Court of the Temple; +and Islands, still Heathen and Cannibal, are positively eager for the +Missionary to live amongst them, and would guard his life and property +now in complete security, where a very few years ago everything would +have been instantly sacrificed on touching their shores! They are not +Christianized, neither are they Civilized, but the light has been +kindled all round them, and though still only shining afar, they cannot +but rejoice in its beams. + +But even where the path is not so smooth, nor any welcome awaiting them, +Native Converts show amazing zeal. For instance, one of our Chiefs, full +of the Christ-kindled desire to seek and to save, sent a message to an +inland Chief, that he and four attendants would come on Sabbath and tell +them the Gospel of Jehovah God. The reply came back sternly forbidding +their Visit, and threatening with death any Christian that approached +their village. Our Chief sent in response a loving message, telling them +that Jehovah had taught the Christians to return good for evil, and that +they would come unarmed to tell them the story of how the Son of God +came into the world and died in order to bless and save His enemies. The +Heathen Chief sent back a stern and prompt reply once more, "If you +come, you will be killed." + +On Sabbath morning, the Christian Chief and his four companions were met +outside the village by the Heathen Chief, who implored and threatened +them once more. But the former said, "We come to you without weapons of +war! We come only to tell you about Jesus. We believe that He will +protect us to-day." + +As they steadily pressed forward towards the village, spears began to be +thrown at them. Some they evaded, being all except one most dexterous +warriors; and others they literally received with their bare hands, +striking them and turning them aside in an incredible manner. The +Heathen, apparently thunderstruck at these men thus approaching them +without weapons of war, and not even flinging back their own spears +which they had turned aside, desisted from mere surprise, after having +thrown what the old Chief called "a shower of spears." Our Christian +Chief called out, as he and his companions drew up in the midst of them +on the village Public Ground: + +"Jehovah thus protects us. He has given us all your spears! Once we +would have thrown them back at you and killed you. But now we come not +to fight, but to tell you about Jesus. He has changed our dark hearts. +He asks you now to lay down all these your other weapons of war, and to +hear what we can tell you about the love of God, our great Father, the +only living God." + +The Heathen were perfectly overawed. They manifestly looked upon these +Christians as protected by some Invisible One! They listened for the +first time to the story of the Gospel and of the Cross. We lived to see +that Chief and all his tribe sitting in the School of Christ. And there +is perhaps not an Island in these Southern Seas, amongst all those won +for Christ, where similar acts of heroism on the part of Converts cannot +be recited by every Missionary to the honor of our poor Natives and to +the glory of their Saviour. + +Larger and harder tests were sometimes laid upon their new faith. Once +the war on Tanna drove about one hundred of them to seek refuge on +Aniwa. Not so many years before, their lives would never have been thus +intrusted to the inhabitants of another Cannibal Island. But the +Christ-Spirit was abroad upon Aniwa. The refugees were kindly cared for, +and in process of time were restored to their own lands, by our +Missionary ship the _Dayspring_. The Chiefs, however, and the Elders of +the Church laid the new laws before them very clearly and decidedly. +They would be helped and sheltered, but Aniwa was now under law to +Christ, and if any of the Tannese broke the public rules as to moral +conduct, or in any way disturbed the Worship of Jehovah, they would at +once be expelled from the Island and sent back to Tanna. In all this, +the Chief of the Tanna party, my old friend Nowar, strongly supported +our Christian Chiefs. The Tannese behaved well, and many of them wore +clothing and began to attend Church; and the heavy drain upon the poor +resources of Aniwa was borne with a noble and Christian spirit, which +greatly impressed the Tannese and commended the Gospel of Christ. + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII. +THE DEATH OF NAMAKEI. + +IN claiming Aniwa for Christ, and winning it as a small jewel for His +crown, we had the experience which has ever marked God's path through +history,--He raised up around us and wonderfully endowed men to carry +forward His own blessed work. Among these must be specially commemorated +Namakei, the old Chief of Aniwa. Slowly, but very steadily, the light +broke in upon his soul, and he was ever very eager to communicate to his +people all that he learned. In Heathen days he was a Cannibal and a +great warrior; but from the first, as shown in the preceding chapter he +took a warm interest in us and our work,--a little selfish, no doubt, at +the beginning, but soon becoming purified, as his eyes and heart were +opened to the Gospel of Jesus. + +On the birth of a son to us on the Island, the old Chief was in +ecstasies. He claimed the child as his heir, his own son being dead, and +brought nearly the whole inhabitants in relays to see the _white_ Chief +of Aniwa! He would have him called Namakei the Younger, an honor which I +fear we did not too highly appreciate. As the child grew, he took his +hand and walked about with him freely amongst the people, learning to +speak their language like a Native, and not only greatly interesting +them in himself, but even in us and in the work of the Lord. This, too, +was one of the bonds, however purely human, that drew them all nearer +and nearer to Jesus. + +It was this same child, who, in the moment of our greatest peril, when +the Mission House was once surrounded by savages who had resolved to +murder us, managed in some incredible way to escape, and appeared, to +our horror and amazement, dancing with glee amongst the armed warriors. +He threw his arms around the neck of one after another, and kissed them, +to their great surprise,--at last, he settled down like a bird upon the +ringleader's knee, and therefrom prattled to them all, while we from +within gazed on in speechless and helpless terror! He roundly scolded +them for being "Naughty! Naughty!" The frowning faces began to relax +into broad grins, another spirit came over them, and, one after another, +they rapidly slipt away. The Council of Death was broken up; and we had +a new illustration of the Lord's precious work,--"A little Child shall +lead them." + +The death of Namakei had in it many streaks of Christian romance. He had +heard about the Missionaries annually meeting on one or other of the +Islands, and consulting about the work of Jehovah. What ideas he had +formed of a Mission Synod one cannot easily imagine; but in his old age, +and when very frail, he formed an impassioned desire to attend our next +meeting on Aneityum, and see and hear all the Missionaries of Jesus +gathered together from the New Hebrides. Terrified that he would die +away from home, and that that might bring great reverses to the good +work on Aniwa, where he was truly beloved, I opposed his going with all +my might. But he and his relations and his people were all set upon it, +and I had at length to give way. His few booklets were then gathered +together, his meager wardrobe was made up, and a small Native basket +carried all his belongings. He assembled his people and took an +affectionate farewell, pleading with them to be "strong for Jesus," +whether they ever saw him again or not, and to be loyal and kind to +Missi. The people wailed aloud, and many wept bitterly. Those on board +the _Dayspring_ were amazed to see how his people loved him. The old +Chief stood the voyage well. He went in and out to our meeting of Synod, +and was vastly pleased with the respect paid to him on Aneityum. When he +heard of the prosperity of the Lord's work, and how Island after Island +was learning to sing the praises of Jesus, his heart glowed, and he +said, "Missi, I am lifting up my head like a tree. I am growing tall +with joy!" + +On the fourth or fifth day, however, he sent for me out of the Synod, +and when I came to him, he said, eagerly, "Missi, I am near to die! I +have asked you to come and say farewell. Tell my daughter, my brother, +and my people to go on pleasing Jesus, and I will meet them again in the +fair World." + +I tried to encourage him, saying that God might raise him up again and +restore him to his people; but he faintly whispered, "O Missi, death is +already touching me! I feel my feet going away from under me. Help me to +lie down under the shade of that banyan tree." + +So saying, he seized my arm, we staggered near to the tree, and he lay +down under its cool shade. He whispered again, "I am going! O Missi, let +me hear your words raising up in prayer, and then my Soul will be strong +to go." + +Amidst many choking sobs, I tried to pray. At last he took my hand, +pressed it to his heart, and said in a stronger and clearer tone, "O my +Missi, my dear Missi, I go before you, but I will meet you again in the +Home of Jesus. Farewell!" + +That was the last effort of dissolving strength; he immediately became +unconscious, and fell asleep. My heart felt like to break over him. He +was my first Aniwan Convert--the first who ever on that Island, of love +and tears opened his heart to Jesus; and as he lay there on the leaves +and grass, my soul soared upward after his, and all the harps of God +seemed to thrill with song as Jesus presented to the Father this trophy +of redeeming love. He had been our true and devoted friend and +fellow-helper in the Gospel; and next morning all the members of our +Synod followed his remains to the grave. There we stood, the white +Missionaries of the Cross from far distant lands, mingling our tears +with Christian Natives of Aneityum, and letting them fall over one who +only a few years before was a blood-stained Cannibal, and whom now we +mourned as a brother, a saint, an Apostle amongst his people. Ye ask an +explanation? The Christ entered into his heart, and Namakei became a new +Creature. "Behold, I make all things new." + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX. +CHRISTIANITY AND COCOANUTS. + +NASWAI, the friend and companion of Namakei, was an inland Chief. He +had, as his followers, by far the largest number of men in any village +on Aniwa. He had certainly a dignified bearing, and his wife Katua was +quite a lady in look and manner as compared with all around her. She was +the first woman on the Island that adopted the clothes of civilization, +and she showed considerable instinctive taste in the way she dressed +herself in these. Her example was a kind of Gospel in its good influence +on all the women; she was a real companion to her husband, and went with +him almost everywhere. + +Naswai was younger and more intelligent than Namakei, and in everything, +except in translating the Scriptures, he was much more of a +fellow-helper in the work of the Lord. For many years it was Naswai's +special delight to carry my pulpit Bible from the Mission House to the +Church every Sabbath morning, and to see that everything was in perfect +order before the Service began. He was also the Teacher in his own +village School, as well as an Elder in the Church. His addresses were +wonderfully happy in graphic illustrations, and his prayers were fervid +and uplifting. Yet his people were the worst to manage on all the +Island, and the very last to embrace the Gospel. + +He died when we were in the Colonies on furlough in 1875; and his wife +Katua very shortly pre-deceased him. His last counsels to his people +made a great impression on them. They told us how he pleaded with them +to love and serve the Lord Jesus, and how he assured them with his dying +breath that he had been "a new creature" since he gave his heart to +Christ, and that he was perfectly happy in going to be with his Saviour. + +I must here recall one memorable example of Naswai's power and skill as +a preacher. On one occasion the _Dayspring_ brought a large deputation +from Fotuna to see for themselves the change which the Gospel had +produced on Aniwa. On Sabbath, after the Missionaries had conducted the +usual Public Worship, some of the leading Aniwans addressed the +Fotunese; and amongst others, Naswai spoke to the following effect: "Men +of Fotuna, you come to see what the Gospel has done for Aniwa. It is +Jehovah the living God that has made all this change. As Heathens, we +quarreled, killed, and ate each other. We had no peace and no joy in +heart or house, in villages or in lands; but we now live as brethren and +have happiness in all these things. When you go back to Fotuna, they +will ask you, 'What is Christianity?' And you will have to reply, 'It is +that which has changed the people of Aniwa.' But they will still say, +'What is it?' And you will answer, 'It is that which has given them +clothing and blankets, knives and axes, fish-hooks and many other useful +things; it is that which has led them to give up fighting, and to live +together as friends.' But they will ask you, 'What is it like?' And you +will have to tell them, alas, that you cannot explain it that you have +only seen its workings, not itself, and that no one can tell what +Christianity is but the man that loves Jesus, the Invisible Master, and +walks with Him and tries to please Him. Now, you people of Fotuna, you +think that if you don't dance and sing and pray to your gods, you will +have no crops. We once did so too, sacrificing and doing much +abomination to our gods for weeks before our planting season every year. +But we saw our Missi only praying to the Invisible Jehovah, and planting +his yams, and they grew fairer than ours. You are weak every year before +your hard work begins in the fields, with your wild and bad conduct to +please your gods. But we are strong for our work, for we pray to +Jehovah, and He gives quiet rest instead of wild dancing, and makes us +happy in our toils. Since we followed Missi's example, Jehovah has given +us large and beautiful crops, and we now know that He gives us all our +blessings." + +Turning to me, he exclaimed, "Missi, have you the large yam we presented +to you? Would you not think it well to send it back with these men of +Fotuna, to let their people see the yams which Jehovah grows for us in +answer to prayer? Jehovah is the only God who can grow yams like that!" + +Then, after a pause, he proceeded, "When you go back to Fotuna, and they +ask you, 'What is Christianity?' you will be like an inland Chief of +Erromanga, who once came down and saw a great feast on the shore. When +he saw so much food and so many different kinds of it, he asked, 'What +is this made of?' and was answered, 'Cocoanuts and yams.' 'And this?' +'Cocoanuts and bananas.' 'And this?' 'Cocoanuts and taro.' 'And this?' +'Cocoanuts and chestnuts,' etc. etc. The Chief was immensely astonished +at the host of dishes that could be prepared from the cocoanuts. On +returning, he carried home a great load of them to his people, that they +might see and taste the excellent food of the shore-people. One day, all +being assembled, he told them the wonders of that feast; and, having +roasted the cocoanuts, he took out the kernels, all charred and spoiled, +and distributed them, amongst his people. They tasted the cocoanut, they +began to chew it, and then spat it out, crying, 'Our own food is better +than that!' The Chief was confused, and only got laughed at for all his +trouble. Was the fault in the cocoanuts? No; but they were spoiled in +the cooking! So your attempts to explain Christianity will only spoil +it. Tell them that a man must live as a Christian, before he can show +others what Christianity is." + +On their return to Fotuna they exhibited Jehovah's yam, given in answer +to prayer and labor; they told what Christianity had done for Aniwa; but +did not fail to qualify all their accounts with the story of the +Erromangan Chief and the cocoanuts. + + + +CHAPTER LXXX. +NERWA'S BEAUTIFUL FAREWELL. + +THE Chief of next importance on Aniwa was Nerwa, a keen debater, all +whose thoughts ran in the channels of logic. When I could speak a little +of their language I visited and preached at his village; but the moment +he discovered that the teaching about Jehovah was opposed to their +Heathen customs, he sternly forbade us. One day, during my address, he +blossomed out into a full-fledged and pronounced Agnostic (with as much +reason at his back as the European type!), and angrily interrupted me: + +"It's all lies you come here to teach us, and you call it worship! You +say your Jehovah God dwells in Heaven. Who ever went up there to hear +Him or see Him? You talk of Jehovah as if you had visited His Heaven. +Why, you cannot climb even to the top of one of our cocoanut trees, +though we can and that with ease! In going up to the roof of your own +Mission House you require the help of a ladder to carry you. And even if +you could make your ladder higher than our highest cocoanut tree, on +what would you lean its top? And when you get to its top, you can only +climb down the other side and end where you began! The thing is +impossible. You never saw that God; you never heard Him speak; don't +come here with any of your white lies, or I'll send my spear through +you." + +He drove us from his village, and furiously threatened murder, if we +ever dared to return. But very shortly thereafter the Lord sent us a +little orphan girl from Nerwa's village. She was very clever, and could +soon both read and write, and told over all that we taught her. Her +visits home, or at least amongst the villagers where her home had been, +her changed appearance and her childish talk, produced a very deep +interest in us and in our work. + +An orphan boy next was sent from that village to be kept and trained at +the Mission House, and he too took back his little stories of how kind +and good to him were Missi the man and Missi the woman. By this time +Chief and people alike were taking a lively interest in all that was +transpiring. One day the Chief's wife, a quiet and gentle woman, came to +the Worship and said, "Nerwa's opposition dies fast. The story of the +Orphans did it! He has allowed me to attend the Church, and to get the +Christian's book." + +We gave her a book and a bit of clothing. She went home and told +everything. Woman after woman followed her from that same village, and +some of the men began to accompany them. The only thing in which they +showed a real interest was the children singing the little hymns which I +had translated into their own Aniwan tongue, and which my wife had +taught them to sing very sweetly and joyfully. Nerwa at last got so +interested that he came himself, and sat within earshot, and drank in +the joyful sound. In a short time he drew so near that he could hear the +preaching, and then began openly and regularly to attend the Church. His +keen reasoning faculty was constantly at work. He weighed and compared +everything he heard, and soon out-distanced nearly all of them in his +grasp of the ideas of the Gospel. He put on clothing, joined our School, +and professed himself a follower of the Lord Jesus. He eagerly set +himself, with all his power, to bring in a neighboring Chief and his +people, and constituted himself at once an energetic and very pronounced +helper to the Missionary. + +On the death of Naswai, Nerwa at once took his place in carrying my +Bible to the Church, and seeing that all the people were seated before +the stopping of the bell. I have seen him clasping the Bible like a +living thing to his breast, as if he would cry, "Oh, to have this +treasure in my own words of Aniwa!" + +When the Gospels of Matthew and Mark were at last printed in Aniwan, he +studied them incessantly, and soon could read them freely. He became the +Teacher in his own village School, and delighted in instructing others. +He was assisted by Ruwawa, whom he himself had drawn into the circle of +Gospel influence; and at our next election these two friends were +appointed Elders of the Church, and greatly sustained our hands in every +good work on Aniwa. + +After years of happy useful service, the time came for Nerwa to die. He +was then so greatly beloved that most of the inhabitants visited him +during his long illness. He read a bit of the Gospels in his own Aniwan, +and prayed with and for every visitor. He sang beautifully, and scarcely +allowed any one to leave his bedside without having a verse of one or +other of his favorite hymns, "Happy Land," and "Nearer, my God, to +Thee." + +On my last visit to Nerwa, his strength had gone very low, but he drew +me near his face, and whispered, "Missi, my Missi, I am glad to see you. +You see that group of young men? They came to sympathize with me; but +they have never once spoken the name of Jesus, though they have spoken +about everything else! They could not have weakened me so, if they had +spoken about Jesus! Read me the story of Jesus; pray for me to Jesus. +No! stop, let us call them, and let me speak with them before I go." + +I called them all around him, and he strained his dying strength, and +said, "After I am gone, let there be no bad talk, no Heathen ways. Sing +Jehovah's songs, and pray to Jesus, and bury me as a Christian. Take +good care of my Missi, and help him all you can. I am dying happy and +going to be with Jesus, and it was Missi that showed me this way. And +who among you will take my place in the village School and in the +Church? Who amongst you all will stand up for Jesus?" + +Many were shedding tears, but there was no reply; after which the dying +Chief proceeded, "Now let my last work on Earth be this--We will read a +chapter of the Book, verse about, and then I will pray for you all, and +the Missi will pray for me, and God will let me go while the song is +still sounding in my heart!" + +At the close of this most touching exercise, we gathered the Christians +who were near by close around, and sang very softly in Aniwan, "There is +a Happy Land." As they sang, the old man grasped my hand, and tried hard +to speak, but in vain. His head fell to one side, "the silver cord was +loosed, and the golden bowl was broken." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI. +RUWAWA. + +His great friend, Ruwawa the Chief, had waited by Nerwa like a brother +till within a few days of the latter's death, when he also was smitten +down apparently by the same disease. He was thought to be dying, and he +resigned himself calmly into the hands of Christ, One Sabbath afternoon, +sorely distressed for lack of air, he instructed his people to carry him +from the village to a rising ground on one of his plantations. It was +fallow; the fresh air would reach him; and all his friends could sit +around him. They extemporized a rest--two posts stuck into the ground, +slanting, sticks tied across them, then dried banana leaves spread on +these and also as a cushion on the ground--and there sat Ruwawa, leaning +back and breathing heavily. After the Church Services, I visited him, +and found half the people of that side of the Island sitting round him, +in silence, in the open air. Ruwawa beckoned me, and I sat down before +him. Though suffering sorely, his eye and face had the look of ecstasy. + +"Missi," he said, "I could not breathe in my village; so I got them to +carry me here, where there is room for all. They are silent and they +weep, because they think I am dying. If it were God's will, I would like +to live and to help you in His work. I am in the hands of our dear Lord, +If he takes me, it is good; if He spares me, it is good! Pray, and tell +our Saviour all about it." + +I explained to the people that we would tell our Heavenly Father how +anxious we all were to see Ruwawa given back to us strong and well to +work for Jesus, and then leave all to His wise and holy disposal. I +prayed, and the place became a very Bochim. When I left him, Ruwawa +exclaimed, "Farewell, Missi; if I go first, I will welcome you to Glory; +if I am spared, I will work with you for Jesus; so all is well!" + +One of the young Christians followed me and said, "Missi, our hearts are +very sore! If Ruwawa dies, we have no Chief to take his place in the +Church, and it will be a heavy blow against Jehovah's Worship on Aniwa." + +I answered, "Let us each tell our God and Father all that we feel and +all that we fear; and leave Ruwawa and our work in His holy hands." + +We did so with earnest and unceasing cry. And when all hope had died out +of every heart, the Lord began to answer us; the disease began to relax +its hold, and the beloved Chief was restored to health. As soon as he +was able, though still needing help, he found his way back to the +Church, and we all offered special thanksgiving to God. He indicated a +desire to say a few words; and although still very weak, spoke with +great pathos thus: + +"Dear Friends, God has given me back to you all. I rejoice thus to come +here and praise the great Father, who made us all, and who knows how to +make and keep us well. I want you all to work hard for Jesus, and to +lose no opportunity of trying to do good and so to please Him. In my +deep journey away near to the grave, it was the memory of what I had +done in love to Jesus that made my heart sing. I am not afraid of +pain,--my dear Lord Jesus suffered far more for me, and teaches me how +to bear it. I am not afraid of war or famine or death, or of the present +or of the future; my dear Lord Jesus died for me, and in dying I shall +live with him in Glory. I fear and love my dear Lord Jesus, because He +loved me and gave Himself for me." + +Then he raised his right hand, and cried in a soft, full-hearted voice: +"My own, my dear Lord Jesus!" and stood for a moment looking joyfully +upward, as if gazing into his Saviour's face. When he sat down, there +was a long hush, broken here and there by a smothered sob, and Ruwawa's +words produced an impression that is remembered to this day. + +In 1888, when I visited the Islands, Ruwawa was still devoting himself +heart and soul to the work of the Lord on Aniwa. Assisted by Koris, a +Teacher from Aneityum, and visited annually by our ever dear and +faithful friends, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, from Tanna, the good Ruwawa carried +forward all the work of God on Aniwa, along with others, in our absence +as in our presence. The meetings, the Communicants' Class, the Schools, +and the Church Services are all regularly conducted and faithfully +attended. "Bless the Lord, O my soul!" + + + +CHAPTER LXXXII. +LITSI SORE AND MUNGAW. + +LITSI, the only daughter of Namakei, had both in her own career and in +her connection with poor dear Mungaw, an almost unparalleled experience. +She was entrusted to us when very young, and became a bright, clever, +and attractive Christian girl. Many sought her hand, but she +disdainfully replied, "I am Queen of my own Island, and when I like I +will ask a husband in marriage, as your great Queen Victoria did!" + +Her first husband, however won, was undoubtedly the tallest and most +handsome man on Aniwa; but he was a giddy fool, and, on his early death, +she again returned to live with us at the Mission House. Her second +marriage had everything to commend it, but it resulted in indescribable +disaster. Mungaw, heir to a Chief, had been trained with us, and gave +every evidence of decided Christianity. They were married in the Church, +and lived in the greatest happiness. He was able and eloquent, and was +first chosen as a deacon, then as an Elder of the Church, and finally as +High Chief of one half of the Island. He showed the finest Christian +spirit under many trying circumstances. Once, when working at the lime +for the building of our Church, two bad men, armed with muskets, sought +his life for blowing the conch to assemble the workers. Hearing of the +quarrel, I rushed to the scene, and heard him saying, "Don't call me +coward, or think me afraid to die. If I died now, I would go to be with +Jesus. But I am no longer a Heathen; I am a Christian, and wish to treat +you as a Christian should." + +Two loaded muskets were leveled at him. I seized one in each of my +hands, and held their muzzles aloft in air, so that, if discharged, the +balls might pass over his head and mine; and thus I stood for some +minutes pleading with them. + +Others soon coming to the rescue, the men were disarmed; and, after much +talk, they professed themselves ashamed, and promised better conduct for +the future. Next day they sent a large present as a peace-offering to +me, but I refused to receive it till they should first of all make peace +with the young Chief. They sent a larger present to him, praying him to +receive it, and to forgive them. Mungaw brought a still larger present +in exchange, laid it down at their feet in the Public Ground, shook +hands with them graciously, and forgave them in presence of all the +people. His constant saying was, "I am a Christian, and I must do the +conduct of a Christian." + +In one of my furloughs to Australia I took the young Chief with me, in +the hope of interesting the Sabbath Schools and Congregations by his +eloquent addresses and noble personality. The late Dr. Cameron of +Melbourne, having heard him, as translated by me, publicly declared that +Mungaw's appearance and speech in his Church did more to show him the +grand results of the Gospel amongst the Heathen than all the Missionary +addresses he ever listened to or read. + +Our lodging was in St. Kilda. My dear wife was suddenly seized with a +dangerous illness on a visit to Taradale, and I was telegraphed for. +Finding that I must remain with her, I got Mungaw booked for Melbourne, +on the road for St. Kilda, in charge of a railway guard. Some white +wretches, in the guise of gentlemen, offered to see him to the St. Kilda +Station, assuring the guard that they were friends of mine, and +interested in our Mission. They took him, instead, to some den of infamy +in Melbourne. On refusing to drink with them, he said they threw him +down on a sofa, and poured drink or drugs into him till he was nearly +dead. Having taken all his money (he had only two or three pounds, made +up of little presents from various friends), they thrust him out to the +street, with only one penny in his pocket. + +On becoming conscious, he applied to a policeman, who either did not +understand or would not interfere. Hearing an engine whistle, he +followed the sound, and found his way to Spencer Street Station, where +he proffered his penny for a ticket, all in vain. At last a sailor took +pity on him, got him some food, and led him to the St. Kilda Station. +There he stood for a whole day, offering his penny for a ticket by every +train, only to meet with refusal after refusal, till he broke down, and +cried aloud in such English as desperation gave him: + +"If me savvy road, me go. Me no savvy road, and stop here me die. My +Missi Paton live at Kilda. Me want go Kilda. Me no money. Bad fellow +took all! Send me Kilda." + +Some gentle Samaritan gave him a ticket, and he reached our house at St. +Kilda at last. There for above three weeks the poor creature lay in a +sort of stupid doze. Food he could scarcely be induced to taste, and he +only rose now and again for a drink of water. When my wife was able to +be removed thither also, we found dear Mungaw dreadfully changed in +appearance and in conduct. Twice thereafter I took him with me on +Mission work; but, on medical advice, preparations were made for his +immediate return to the Islands. I intrusted him to the kind care of +Captain Logan, who undertook to see him safely on board the _Dayspring_, +then lying at Auckland. Mungaw was delighted, and we hoped everything +from his return to his own land and people. After some little trouble, +he was landed safely home on Aniwa. But his malady developed dangerous +and violent symptoms, characterized by long periods of quiet and sleep, +and then sudden paroxysms, in which he destroyed property, burned +houses, and was a terror to all. + +On our return he was greatly delighted; but he complained bitterly that +the white men "had spoiled his head," and that when it "burned hot" he +did all these bad things for which he was extremely sorry. He +deliberately attempted my life, and most cruelly abused his dear and +gentle wife; and then, when the frenzy was over, he wept and lamented +over it. Many a time he marched round and round our house with loaded +musket and spear and tomahawk, while we had to keep doors and windows +locked and barricaded; then the paroxysm passed off, and he slept, long +and deep, like a child. When he came to himself, he wept and said, "The +white men spoiled my head! I know not what I do. My head burns hot, and +I am driven." + +One day, in the Church, he leaped up during Worship with a loud yelling +war-cry, rushed off through the Imrai to his own house, set fire to it, +and danced around till everything he possessed was burned to ashes. +Nasi, a bad Tannese Chief living on Aniwa, had a quarrel with Mungaw +about a cask found at the shore, and threatened to shoot him. Others +encouraged him to do so, as Mungaw was growing every day more and more +destructive and violent. When any person became outrageous or insane on +Aniwa, as they had neither asylum nor prison, they first of all held him +fast and discharged a musket close to his ear; and then, if the shock +did not bring him back to his senses, they tied him up for two days or +so; and finally, if that did not restore him, they shot him dead. Thus +the plan of Nasi was favored by their own customs. One night, after +Family Worship--for amidst all his madness, when clear moments came, he +poured out his soul in faith and love to the Lord--he said, "Litsi, I am +melting! My head burns. Let us go out and get cooled in the open air." + +She warned him not to go, as she heard voices whispering under the +verandah. He answered a little wildly, "I am not afraid to die. Life is +a curse and burden. The white men spoiled my head. If there is a hope of +dying, let me go quickly and die!" + +As he crossed the door, a ball crashed through him, and he fell dead. We +got the mother and her children away to the Mission House; and next +morning they buried the remains of poor Mungaw under the floor of his +own hut, and enclosed the whole place with a fence. It was a sorrowful +close to so noble a career. I shed many a tear that I ever took him to +Australia. What will God have to say to those white fiends who poisoned +and maddened poor dear Mungaw? + +After a while the good Queen Litsi was happily married again. She became +possessed with a great desire to go as a Missionary to the people and +tribe of Nasi, the very man who had murdered her husband. She used to +say, "Is there no Missionary to go and teach Nasi's people? I weep and +pray for them, that they too may come to know and love Jesus." + +I answered, "Litsi, if I had only wept and prayed for you, but stayed at +home in Scotland, would that have brought you to know and love Jesus as +you do?" + +"Certainly not," she replied. + +"Now then," I proceeded, "would it not please Jesus, and be a grand and +holy revenge, if you, the Christians of Aniwa, could carry the Gospel to +the very people whose Chief murdered Mungaw?" + +The idea took possession of her soul. She was never wearied talking and +praying over it. When at length a Missionary was got for Nasi's people, +Litsi and her new husband offered themselves as the head of a band of +six or eight Aniwan Christians and were engaged there to open up the way +and assist, as Teachers and Helpers, the Missionary and his wife. There +she and they have labored ever since. They are "strong" for the Worship. +Her son is being trained up by his cousin, an Elder of the Church, to be +"the good Chief of Aniwa"; so she calls him in her prayers, as she cries +on God to bless and watch over him, while she is serving the Lord in at +once serving the Mission family and ministering to the Natives in that +foreign field. + +Many years have now passed; and when lately I visited that part of +Tanna, Litsi ran to me, clasped my hand, kissed it with many sobs, and +cried, "O my father! God has blessed me to see you again. Is my mother, +your dear wife, well? And your children, my brothers and sisters? My +love to them all! Oh my heart clings to you!" + +We had sweet conversation, and then she said more calmly, "My days here +are hard. I might be happy and independent as Queen of my own Aniwa. But +the Heathen here are beginning to listen. The Missi sees them coming +nearer to Jesus. And oh, what a reward when we shall hear them sing and +pray to our dear Saviour! The hope of that makes me strong for +anything." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIII. +THE CONVERSION OF NASI. + +NASI, the Tanna-man, was a bad and dangerous character, though some +readers may condone his putting an end to Mungaw in the terrible +circumstances of our case. During a great illness that befell him, I +ministered to him regularly, but no kindness seemed to move him. When +about to leave Aniwa, I went specially to visit him. On parting I said, +"Nasi, are you happy? Have you ever been happy?" + +He answered gloomily, "No! Never." + +I said, "Would you like this dear little boy of yours to grow up like +yourself, and lead the life you have lived?" + +"No!" he replied warmly! "I certainly would not." + +"Then," I continued, "you must become a Christian, and give up all your +Heathen conduct, or he will just grow up to quarrel and fight and murder +as you have done; and, O Nasi, he will curse you through all Eternity +for leading him to such a life and to such a doom!" + +He was very much impressed, but made no response. After we had sailed, a +band of our young Native Christians held a consultation over the case of +Nasi. They said, "We know the burden and terror that Nasi has been to +our dear Missi. We know that he has murdered several persons with his +own hands, and has taken part in the murder of others. Let us unite in +daily prayer that the Lord would open his heart and change his conduct, +and teach him to love and follow what is good, and let us set ourselves +to win Nasi for Christ, just as Missi tried to win us." + +So they began to show him every possible kindness, and one after another +helped him in his daily tasks, embracing every opportunity of pleading +with him to yield to Jesus and take the new path of life. At first he +repelled them, and sullenly held aloof. But their prayers never ceased, +and their patient affection continued to grow. At last, after long +waiting, Nasi broke down, and cried to one of the Teachers, "I can +oppose your Jesus no longer. If He can make you treat me like that, I +yield myself to Him and to you. I want Him to change me too. I want a +heart like that of Jesus." + +He rubbed off the ugly thick-daubed paint from his face; he cut off his +long heathen hair; he went to the sea and bathed, washing himself clean; +and then he came to the Christians and dressed himself in a shirt and a +kilt. The next step was to get a book,--his was the translation of the +Gospel according to St. John. He eagerly listened to every one that +would read bits of it aloud to him, and his soul seemed to drink in the +new ideas at every pore. He attended the Church and the School most +regularly, and could in a very short time read the Gospel for himself. +The Elders of the Church took special pains in instructing him, and +after due preparation he was admitted to the Lord's Table--my brother +Missionary from Tanna baptizing and receiving him. Imagine my joy on +learning all this regarding one who had sullenly resisted my appeals for +many years, and how my soul praised the Lord who is "Mighty to save!" + +During a recent visit to Aniwa, in 1886, God's almighty compassion was +further revealed to me, when I found that Nasi the murderer was now a +Scripture Reader, and able to comment in a wonderful and interesting +manner on what he read to the people! On arriving at the Island, after +my tour in Great Britain (1884-85), all the inhabitants of Aniwa seemed +to be assembled at the boat-landing to welcome me, except Nasi. He was +away fishing at a distance, and had been sent for, but had not yet +arrived. On the way to the Mission House, he came rushing to meet me. He +grasped my hand, and kissed it, and burst into tears. I said, "Nasi, do +I now at last meet you as a Christian?" + +He warmly answered, "Yes, Missi; I now worship and serve the only Lord +and Saviour Jesus Christ. Bless God, I am a Christian at last!" + +My soul went out with a silent cry, "Oh, that the men at home who +discuss and doubt about conversion, and the new heart, and the power of +Jesus to change and save, could but look on Nasi, and spell out the +simple lesson,--He that created us at first by His power can create us +anew by His love!" + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIV. +THE APPEAL OF LAMU. + +MY first Sabbath on Aniwa, after this tour in Great Britain and the +Colonies, gave me a blessed surprise. Before daybreak I lay awake +thinking of all my experiences on that Island, and wondering whether the +Church had fallen off in my four years' absence, when suddenly the voice +of song broke on my ears! It was scarcely full dawn, yet I jumped up and +called to a man that was passing, "Have I slept in? Is it already +Church-time? Or why are the people met so early?" + +He was one of their leaders, and gravely replied, "Missi, since you +left, we have found it very hard to live near to God! So the Chief and +the Teachers and a few others meet when daylight comes in every Sabbath +morning, and spend the first hour of every Lord's Day in prayer and +praise. They are met to pray for you now, that God may help you in your +preaching, and that all hearts may bear fruit to the glory of Jesus this +day." + +I returned to my room, and felt wonderfully "prepared" myself. It would +be an easy and a blessed thing to lead such a Congregation into the +presence of the Lord! They were there already. + +On that day every person on Aniwa seemed to be at Church, except the +bedridden and the sick. At the close of the Services, the Elders +informed me that they had kept up all the Meetings during my absence, +and had also conducted the Communicants' Class, and they presented to me +a considerable number of Candidates for membership. After careful +examination, I set apart nine boys and girls, about twelve or thirteen +years of age and advised them to wait for at least another year or so, +that their knowledge and habits might be matured. They had answered +every question, indeed, and were eager to be baptized and admitted; but +I feared for their youth, lest they should fall away and bring disgrace +on the Church. One of them with very, earnest eyes, looked at me and +said, "We have been taught that whosoever believeth is to be baptized. +We do most heartily believe in Jesus, and try to please Jesus." + +I answered, "Hold on for another year, and then our way will be clear." + +But he persisted, "Some of us may not be living then; and you may not be +here. We long to be baptized by you, our own Missi, and to take our +place among the servants of Jesus." + +After much conversation I agreed to baptize them, and they agreed to +refrain from going to the Lord's Table for a year, that all the Church +might by that time have knowledge and proof of their consistent +Christian life, though so young in years. This discipline, I thought, +would be good for them; and the Lord might use it as a precedent for +guidance in future days. + +Of other ten adults at this time admitted, one was specially noteworthy. +She was about twenty-five, and the Elders objected because her marriage +had not been according to the Christian usage on Aniwa. She left us +weeping deeply. I was writing late at night in the cool evening air, as +was my wont in that oppressive tropical clime, and a knock was heard at +my door. I called out, "_Akai era_?" (= Who is there?) + +A voice softly answered, "Missi, it is Lamu. Oh, do speak with me!" + +This was the rejected candidate, and I at once opened the door. + +"Oh, Missi," she began, "I cannot sleep, I cannot eat; my soul is in +pain. Am I to be shut out from Jesus? Some of those at the Lord's Table +committed murder. They repented, and have been saved. My heart is very +bad; yet I never did any of those crimes of Heathenism; and I know that +it is my joy to try and please my Saviour Jesus. How is it that I only +am to be shut out from Jesus?" + +I tried all I could to guide and console her, and she listened to all +very eagerly. Then she looked up at me and said, "Missi, you and the +Elders may think it right to keep me back from showing my love to Jesus +at the Lord's Table; but I know here in my heart that Jesus has received +me; and if I were dying now, I know that Jesus would take me to Glory +and present me to the Father." + +Her look and manner thrilled me. I promised to see the Elders and submit +her appeal. But Lamu appeared and pled her own cause before them with +convincing effect. She was baptized and admitted along with other nine. +And that Communion Day will be long remembered by many souls on Aniwa. + +It has often struck me, when relating these events, to press this +question on the many young people, the highly privileged white brothers +and sisters of Lamu, Did you ever lose one hour of sleep or a single +meal in thinking of your Soul, your God, the claims of Jesus, and your +Eternal Destiny? + +And when I saw the diligence and fidelity of these poor Aniwan Elders, +teaching and ministering during all those years, my soul has cried aloud +to God, Oh, what could not the Church accomplish if the educated and +gifted Elders and others in Christian lands would set themselves thus to +work for Jesus, to teach the ignorant, to protect the tempted, and to +rescue the fallen! + + + +CHAPTER LXXXV. +WANTED! A STEAM AUXILIARY. + +IN December 1883 I brought a pressing and vital matter before the +General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria. It pertained to +the New Hebrides Mission, to the vastly increased requirements of the +Missionaries and their families there, and to the fact that the +_Dayspring_ was no longer capable of meeting the necessities of the +case,--thereby incurring loss of time, loss of property, and risk and +even loss of precious lives. The Missionaries on the spot had long felt +this, and had loudly and earnestly pled for a new and larger Vessel, or +a Vessel with Steam Auxiliary power, or some arrangement whereby the +work of God on these Islands might be overtaken, without unnecessary +exposure of life, and without the dreaded perils that accrue to a small +sailing Vessel such as the _Dayspring_ alike from deadly calms and from +treacherous gales. + +The Victorian General Assembly, heartily at one with the Missionaries, +commissioned me to go home to Britain in 1884, making me at the same +time their Missionary delegate to the Pan-Presbyterian Council at +Belfast, and also their representative to the General Assemblies of the +several Presbyterian Churches in Great Britain and Ireland. And they +empowered and authorized me to lay our proposals about a new Steam +Auxiliary Mission Ship before all these Churches, and to ask and receive +from God's people whatever contributions they felt disposed to give +towards the sum of L6000, without which this great undertaking could not +be faced. + +A few days after my arrival I was called upon to appear before the +Supreme Court of the English Presbyterian Church, then assembled at +Liverpool. While a hymn was being sung, I took my seat in the pulpit +under great depression. But light broke around, when my dear friend and +fellow-student, Dr. Oswald Dykes, came up from the body of the Church, +shook me warmly by the hand, whispered a few encouraging words in my +ear, and, returned to his seat. God helped me to tell my story, and the +audience were manifestly interested. + +Next, by kind invitation, I visited and addressed the United +Presbyterian Synod of Scotland, assembled in Edinburgh. My reception +there was not only cordial,--it was enthusiastic. Though as a Church +they had no denominational interest in our Mission, the Moderator, +amidst the cheers of all the Ministers and Elders, recommended that I +should have free access to every Congregation and Sabbath School which I +found it possible to visit, and hoped that their generous-hearted people +would contribute freely to so needful and noble a cause. My soul rose in +praise; and I may here say, in passing, that every Minister of that +Church whom I wrote to or visited treated me in the same spirit +throughout all my tour. + +Having been invited by Mr. Dickson, an Elder of the Free Church, to +address a midday meeting of children in the Free Assembly Hall, I was +able by all appearances, greatly to interest and impress them. At the +close, my dear and noble friend, Principal Cairns, warmly welcomed and +cheered me, and that counted for much amid all anxieties; for I had +learned that very day, at headquarters, that the Free Church authorities +were resolved, in view of a difference of opinion betwixt the +_Dayspring_ Board at Sydney and the Victorian Assembly as to the new +Steam Auxiliary, to hold themselves absolutely neutral. + +Having letters from Andrew Scott, Esq., Carrugal, my very dear friend +and helper in Australia, to Dr. J. Hood Wilson, Barclay Free Church, +Edinburgh, I resolved to deliver them that evening; and I prayed the +Lord to open up all my path, as I was thus thrown solely on Him for +guidance and bereft of the aid of man. Dr. Wilson and his lady, neither +of whom I had ever seen before, received me as kindly as if I had been +an old friend. He read my letters of introduction, conversed with me as +to plans and wishes (chiefly through Mrs. Wilson, for he was suffering +from sore throat) and then he said with great warmth and kindliness: + +"God has surely sent you here to-night! I feel myself unable to preach +to-morrow. Occupy my pulpit in the forenoon and address my Sabbath +School, and you shall have a collection for your Ship." + +Thereafter, I was with equal kindness received by Mr. Balfour, having a +letter of introduction from his brother, and he offered me his pulpit +for the evening of that day. I lay down blessing and praising Him, the +Angel of whose Presence was thus going before me and opening up my way. +That Lord's Day I had great blessing and joy; there was an extraordinary +response financially to my appeals and my proposal was thus fairly +launched in the Metropolis of our Scottish Church life. I remembered an +old saying, Difficulties are made only to be vanquished. And I thought +in my deeper soul,--Thus our God throws us back upon Himself; and if +these L6000 ever come to me, to the Lord God alone, and not to man, +shall be all the glory! + +On the Monday following, after a long conversation and every possible +explanation, Colonel Young, of the Free Church Foreign Missions +Committee, said, "We must have you to address the Assembly on the +evening devoted to Missions." Thus I had the pleasure and honor of +addressing that great Assembly; and though no notice was taken of my +proposals in any "finding" of the Court, yet many were thereby +interested deeply in our work, and requests now poured in upon me from +every quarter to occupy pulpits and receive collections for the new +Ship. + +At the meeting in the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland, which +along with others, I was cordially invited to address, the good and +noble Lord Polwarth occupied the chair. That was the beginning of a +friendship in Christ which will last and deepen as long as we live. From +that night he took the warmest personal interest, not only by generously +contributing to my fund, but by organizing meetings at his own Mansion +House, and introducing me to a wide circle of influential friends. + +Nor, whilst the pen leads on my mind to recall these Border memories, +must I fail to record how John Scott Dudgeon, Esq., Longnewton, a +greatly esteemed Elder of the Church went from town to town in all that +region, and from Minister to Minister, arranging for me a series of +happy meetings. I shared also the hospitality of his beautiful home, and +added himself and his much-beloved wife to the precious roll of those +who are dear for the Gospel's sake and for their own. Her Majesty's +Commissioner to the General Assembly for the year was that distinguished +Christian as well as nobleman, the Earl of Aberdeen. He graciously +invited me to meet the Countess and himself at ancient Holyrood. After +dinner he withdrew himself for a lengthened time from the general +company, and entered into a close and interested conversation about our +Mission, and especially about the threatened annexation of the New +Hebrides by the French. + +There also I had the memorable pleasure of meeting, and for a long while +conversing with that truly noble and large-hearted lady, his mother, the +much-beloved Dowager-Countess well known for her life-long devotion to +so many schemes of Christian philanthropy. At her own home, Alva House, +she afterwards arranged meetings for me, as well as in Halls and +Churches in the immediately surrounding district; and her letters of +interest in the work, of sympathy, and of helpfulness, from time to time +received, were amongst the sustaining forces of my spiritual life. + +When one sees men and women of noble rank thus consecrating themselves +in humble and faithful service to Jesus, there dawns upon the mind a +glimpse of what the prophet means, and of what the world will be like, +when it can be said regarding the Church of God on Earth,--"Kings have +become thy nursing fathers, and their Queens thy nursing mothers." + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVI. +MY CAMPAIGN IN IRELAND. + +MY steps were next directed towards Ireland, immediately after the +Church meetings at Edinburgh; first to 'Derry, where the Presbyterian +Assembly was met in annual conclave, and thereafter to Belfast, where +the Pan-Presbyterian Council was shortly to sit. The eloquent fervor of +the Brethren at 'Derry was like a refreshing breeze to my spirit; I +never met Ministers anywhere, in all my travels, who seemed more +wholehearted in their devotion to the work which the Lord had given them +to do. + +I addressed the Assembly at 'Derry and also the Council at Belfast. The +memory of seeing all those great and learned and famous men--for many of +the leaders were eminently such--so deeply interested in the work of +God, and particularly in the Evangelizing of the Heathen World and +bringing thereto the knowledge of Jesus, was to me, so long exiled from +all such influences, one of the great inspirations of my life. I +listened with humble thankfulness, and blessed the Lord who had brought +me to sit at their feet. + +On the rising of the Council, I entered upon a tour of six weeks among +the Presbyterian Congregations and Sabbath Schools of Ireland. It had +often been said to me, after my addresses in the Assemblies and +elsewhere, "How do you ever expect to raise L6000? It can never be +accomplished, unless you call upon the rich individually, and get their +larger subscriptions. Our ordinary Church people have more than enough +to do with themselves. Trade is dull," etc. + +I explained to them, and also announced publicly, that in all similar +efforts I had never called on or solicited any one privately, and that I +would not do so now. I would make my appeal, but leave everything else +to be settled betwixt the individual conscience and the Saviour--I +gladly receiving whatsoever was given or sent, acknowledging it by +letter, and duly forwarding it to my own Church in Victoria. Again and +again did generous souls offer to go with me, introduce me, and give me +opportunity of soliciting subscriptions; but I steadily refused--going, +indeed, wherever an occasion was afforded me of telling my story and +setting forth the claims of the Missions, but asking no one personally +for anything, having fixed my soul in the conviction that one part of +the work was laid upon me, but that the other lay betwixt the Master and +His servants exclusively. + +"On what then do you really rely, looking at it from a business point of +view?" they would somewhat appealingly ask me. + +I answered, "I will tell my story; I will set forth the claims of the +Lord Jesus on the people; I will expect the surplus collection, or a +retiring collection, on Sabbath; I will ask the whole collection, less +expenses, at week-night meetings; I will issue Collecting Cards for +Sabbath Scholars; I will make known my Home-Address, to which everything +may be forwarded, either from Congregations or from private donors; and +I will go on, to my utmost strength, in the faith that the Lord will +send me the L6000 required. If He does not so send it, then I shall +expect He will send me grace to be reconciled to the disappointment, and +I shall go back to my work without the Ship." + +This, in substance, I had to repeat hundreds of times; and as often had +I to witness the half-pitying or incredulous smile with which it was +received, or to hear the blunt and emphatic retort, "You'll never +succeed! Money cannot be got in that unbusiness-like way." + +I generally added nothing further to such conversation; but a Voice, +deep, sweet, and clear, kept sounding through my soul--"The silver and +the gold are Mine." + +During the year 1884, as is well known, Ireland was the scene of many +commotions and of great distress. Yet at the end of my little tour +amongst the Presbyterian people of the North principally, though not +exclusively, a sum of more than L600 had been contributed to our Mission +Fund. And there was not, so far as my knowledge went, one single large +subscription; there were, of course, many bits of gold from those +well-to-do, but the ordinary collection was made up of the shillings and +pence of the masses of the people. Nor had I ever in all my travels a +warmer response, nor ever mingled with any Ministers more earnestly +devoted to their Congregations or more generally and deservedly beloved. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVII. +SCOTLAND'S FREE-WILL OFFERINGS. + +RETURNING to Scotland, I settled down at my headquarters, the house of +my brother James in Glasgow; and thence began to open up the main line +of my operations, as the Lord day by day guided me. Having the aid of no +Committee, I cast myself on Minister after Minister and Church after +Church, calling here, writing there, and arranging for three meetings +every Sabbath, and one, if possible, every week-day, and drawing-room +meetings, wherever practicable, in the afternoons. My correspondence +grew to oppressive proportions, and kept me toiling at it every spare +moment from early morn till bedtime. Indeed, I never could have +overtaken it, had not my brother devoted many days and hours of precious +time, answering letters regarding arrangements issuing the "Share" +receipts for all moneys the moment they arrived, managing all my +transactions through the bank, and generally tackling and reducing the +heap of communications, and preventing me falling into hopeless arrears. + +I printed, and circulated by post and otherwise, ten thousand copies of +a booklet, "Statement and Appeal,"--containing, besides my Victorian +Commission and my Glasgow address, a condensed epitome of the results of +the New Hebrides Mission and of the reasons for asking a new Steam +Auxiliary Ship. To this chiefly is due the fact, as well as to my +refusing to call for subscriptions, that the far greater portion of all +the money came to me by letter. On one day, though no doubt a little +exceptional, as many as seventy communications reached me by post; and +every one of these contained something for our fund-ranging from "a few +stamps," and "the widow's mite," through every variety of figure up to +the wealthy man's fifty or hundred pounds. I was particularly struck +with the number of times that I received L1, with such a note as, "From +a servant-girl that loves the Lord Jesus;" or "From a servant-girl that +prays for the conversion of the Heathen." Again and again I received +sums of five and ten shillings, with notes such as--"From a working-man +who loves his Bible;" or "From a working-man who prays for God's +blessing on you and work like yours every day in Family Worship." I +sometimes regret that the graphic, varied, and intensely interesting +notes and letters were not preserved; for by the close of my tour they +would have formed a wonderful volume of leaves from the human heart. + +I also addressed every Religious Convention to which I was invited, or +to which I could secure access. The Perth Conference was made memorable +to me by my receiving the first large subscription for our Ship, and by +my making the acquaintance of a beautiful type of Christian merchant. At +the close of the meeting, at which I had the privilege of speaking, an +American gentleman introduced himself to me. We at once entered into +each other's confidence, as brothers in the Lord's service. I afterwards +learned that he had made a competency for himself and his family, though +only in the prime of life; and he still carried on a large and +flourishing business--but why? to devote _the whole profits_, year after +year, to the direct service of God and His cause among men? He gave me a +cheque for the largest single contribution with which the Lord had yet +cheered me. God, who knows me, sees that I have never coveted money for +myself or my family; but I did envy that Christian merchant the joy that +he had in having money, and having the heart to use it as a steward of +the Lord Jesus! + +Thereafter I was invited to the annual Christian Conference at Dundee. A +most peculiar experience befell me there. Being asked to close the +forenoon meeting with prayer and the benediction, I offered prayer, and +then began, "May the love of God the Father--" but not another word +would come in English; everything was blank except the words in Aniwan, +for I had long begun to _think_ in the Native tongue, and after a dead +pause, and a painful silence, I had to wind up with a simple "Amen!" I +sat down wet with perspiration. It might have been wiser, as the +Chairman afterwards suggested, to have given them the blessing in +Aniwan, but I feared to set them alaughing by so strange a manifestation +of the "tongues." Worst of all, it had been announced that I was to +address them in the afternoon; but who would come to hear a Missionary +that stuck in the benediction? The event had its semi-comical aspect, +but it sent me to my knees during the interval in a very fever of +prayerful anxiety. A vast audience assembled, and if the Lord ever +manifestly used me in interesting His people in Missions, it was +certainly then and there. As I sat down, a devoted Free Church Elder +from Glasgow handed me his card, with "I. O. U. L100." This was my first +donation of a hundred pounds, and my heart was greatly cheered. I +praised the Lord, and warmly thanked His servant. A Something kept +sounding these words in my ears, "My thoughts are not as your thoughts;" +and also, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee." + +During my address at that meeting three colored girls, not unlike our +Island girls, sat near the platform, and eagerly listened to me. At the +close, the youngest, apparently about twelve years of age, rose, +salaamed to me in Indian fashion, took four silver bangles from her arm, +and presented them to me, saying, "Padre, I want to take shares in your +Mission Ship by these bangles, for I have no money, and may the Lord +ever bless you!" + +I replied, "Thank you, my dear child; I will not take your bangles, but +Jesus will accept your offering, and bless and reward you all the same." + +As she still held them up to me, saying, "Padre, do receive them from +me, and may God ever bless you!" a lady, who had been seated beside her, +came up to me, and said, "Please, do take them, or the dear girl will +break her heart. She has offered them up to Jesus for your Mission +Ship." + +I afterwards learned that the girls were orphans, whose parents died in +the famine; that the lady and her sister, daughters of a Missionary, had +adopted them to be trained as Zenana Missionaries, and that they +intended to return with them, and live and die to aid them in that +blessed work amongst the daughters of India. Oh, what a reward and joy +might many a lady who reads this page easily reap for herself in Time +and Eternity by a similar simple yet far-reaching service! Take action +when and where God points the way; wait for no one's guidance. + +The most amazing variety characterize the gifts and the givers. One +donor sent me an anonymous note to this effect, "I have been curtailing +my expenses. The first L5 saved I enclose that you may invest it for me +in the Bank of Jesus. I am sure He gives the best interest, and the most +certain returns." + +In Glasgow a lady called at my brother's house, saying, "Is the +Missionary at home? Can I see him alone? If not, I will call again." +Being asked into my room, she declined to be seated, but said, "I heard +you tell the story of your Mission in the City Hall, and I have been +praying for you ever since. I have called to give you my mite, but not +my name. God bless you. We shall meet in Heaven!" She handed me an +envelope, and was off almost before I could thank her. It was L49 in +bank-notes. + +Another dear Christian friend carne to see me, and at the close of a +delightful conversation, said: "I have been thinking much about you +since I heard you in the Clark Hall, Paisley. I have come to give a +little bit of dirty paper for your Ship. God sent it to me, and I return +it to God through you with great pleasure." I thanked her warmly, +thinking it a pound, or five at the most; on opening it, after she was +gone, it turned out to be L100. I felt bowed down in humble +thankfulness, and pressed forward in the service of the Lord. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVIII. +ENGLAND'S OPEN BOOK. + +THE time now arrived for my attempting something amongst the +Presbyterians of England. But my heart sank within me; I was a stranger +to all except Dr. Dykes, and the New Hebrides Mission had no special +claims on them. Casting myself upon the Lord, I wrote to all the +Presbyterian Ministers in and around London, enclosing my "Statement and +Appeal," and asking a Service, with a retiring collection, or the +surplus above the usual collection, on behalf of our Mission Ship. All +declined, except two. I learned afterwards that the London Presbytery +had resolved that no claim beyond their own Church was to be admitted +into any of its pulpits for a period of months, under some special +financial emergency. My dear friend, Dr. J. Hood Wilson, kindly wrote +also to a number of them, on my behalf, but with a similar result; +though at last other two Services were arranged for with a collection, +and one without. Being required at London, in any case, in connection +with the threatened Annexation of the New Hebrides by the French, I +resolved to take these five Services by the way, and immediately return +to Scotland, where engagements and opportunities were now pressed upon +me, far more than I could overtake. But the Lord Himself opened before +me a larger door, and more effectual, than any that I had tried in vain +to open up for myself. + +The Churches to which I had access did nobly indeed, and the Ministers +treated me as a very brother. Dr. Dykes most affectionately supported my +Appeal, and made himself recipient of donations that might be sent for +our Mission Ship. Dr. Donald Fraser, and Messrs. Taylor and Mathieson, +with their Congregations, generously contributed to the Fund. And so did +the Mission Church in Drury Lane--the excellent and consecrated Rev. W. +B. Alexander, the pastor thereof, and his wife, becoming my devoted +personal friends and continuing to remember in their work-parties ever +since the needs of the Natives on the New Hebrides. Others also, whom I +cannot wait to specify, showed a warm interest in us and in our +department of the Lord's work. But my heart had been foolishly set upon +adding a large sum to the fund for the Mission Ship, and when only about +L150 came from all the Churches in London to which I could get access, +no doubt I was sensible of cherishing a little guilty disappointment. +That was very unworthy in me, considering all my previous experiences; +and God deserved to be trusted by me far differently, as the sequel will +immediately show. + +That widely-known and deeply-beloved servant of God, Mr. J. E. +Mathieson, of the Mildmay Conference Hall, had invited me to address one +of their annual meetings on behalf of Foreign Missions, and also to be +his guest while the Conference lasted. Thereby I met and heard many +godly and noble disciples of the Lord, whom I could not otherwise have +reached though every Church I had asked in London had been freely opened +to me. These devout and faithful and generous people, belonging to every +branch of the Church of Christ, and drawn from every rank and class in +society, from the humblest to the highest, were certainly amongst the +most open-hearted and the most responsive of all whom I ever had the +privilege to address. One felt there, in a higher degree than almost +anywhere else, that every soul was on fire with love to Jesus and with +genuine devotion to His Cause in every corner of the Earth. There it was +a privilege and a gladness to speak; and though no collection was asked, +or could be expected, my heart was uplifted and strengthened by these +happy meetings, and by all that Heavenly intercourse. + +But see how the Lord leads us by a way we know not! Next morning after +my address, a gentleman who had heard me, the Hon. Ion Keith-Falconer, +handed me a cheque from his father-in-law for L300, by far the largest +single donation at that time towards our Mission Ship; and immediately +thereafter I received from one of the Mildmay lady Missionaries L50, +from a venerable friend of the founder L20, from "Friends at Mildmay" +L30; and through my dear friend and brother, Mr. Mathieson, many other +donations were in due course forwarded to me. + +My introduction, however, to the Conference at Mildmay did far more for +me than even this; it opened up a series of drawing-room meetings in and +around London, where I told the story of our Mission and preached, the +Gospel to many in the higher walks of life, and received most liberal +support for the Mission Ship. It also brought me invitations from many +quarters of England, to Churches, to Halls, and to County Houses and +Mansions. + +Lord Radstock got up a special meeting, inviting by private card a large +number of his most influential friends; and there I met for the first +time one whom I have since learned to regard as a very precious personal +friend. Rev. Sholto D. C. Douglas, clergyman, of the Church of England, +who then, and afterwards at Douglas-Support in Scotland, not only most +liberally supported our fund, but took me by the hand as a brother, and +promoted my work by every means in his power. + +The Earl and Countess of Tankerville also invited me to Chillingham +Castle, and gave me an opportunity of addressing a great assembly there, +then gathered together from all parts of the County. The British and +Foreign Bible Society received me in a special meeting of the Directors; +and I was able to tell them how all we, the Missionaries of these +Islands whose language had never before been reduced to writing, looked +to them, and leant upon them, and prayed for them and their +work--without whom our Native Bibles never could have been published. +After the meeting the Chairman gave me L5, and one of the Directors a +check for L25 for our Mission Ship. + +I was also invited to Leicester, and made the acquaintanceship of a +godly and gifted servant of the Lord Jesus, the Rev. F. B. Meyer, B. A. +(now of London), whose books and booklets on the higher aspects of the +Christian Life are read by tens of thousands, and have been fruitful of +blessing. There I addressed great meetings of devoted workers in the +Lord's vineyard; and the dear friend who was my host on that occasion, a +Christian merchant, has since contributed L10 per annum for the support +of a Native Teacher on the New Hebrides. + +It was my privilege also to visit and address the Mueller Orphanages at +Bristol, and to see that saintly man of faith and prayer moving about as +a wise and loving father amongst the hundreds, even thousands, that look +to him for their daily bread and for the bread of Life Eternal. At the +close of my address, the venerable founder thanked me warmly and said, +"Here are L50, which God has sent to me for your Mission." I replied +saying, "Dear friend, how can I take it? I would rather give you L500 +for your Orphans if I could, for I am sure you need it all!" + +He replied, with sweetness and great dignity, "God provides for His own +Orphans. This money cannot be used for them. I must send it after you by +letter. It is the Lord's gift." + +Often, as I have looked at the doings of men and Churches, and tried to +bring all to the test as if in Christ's very presence, it has appeared +to me that such work as Mueller's and Barnardo's, and that of my own +fellow-countryman, William Quarrier, must be peculiarly dear to the +heart of our blessed Lord. And were He to visit this world again, and +seek a place where His very Spirit had most fully wrought itself out +into deeds, I fear that many of our so-called Churches would deserve to +be passed by, and that His holy, tender, helpful, divinely-human love +would find its most perfect reflex in these Orphan Homes. Still and +forever, amidst all changes of creed and of climate, this, this is "pure +and undefiled Religion" before God and the Father! + +But in this connection I must not omit to mention that the noble and +world-famous servant of God, the Minister of the Tabernacle, invited me +to a garden-party at his home, and asked me to address his students and +other Christian workers. When I arrived I found a goodly company +assembled under the shade of lovely trees, and felt the touch of that +genial humor, so mighty a gift when sanctified, which has so often given +wings to C. H. Spurgeon's words, when he saluted me as "The King of the +Cannibals!" On my leaving, Mrs. Spurgeon presented me with her husband's +_Treasury of David_, and also "L5 from the Lord's cows"--which I +afterwards learned was part of the profits from certain cows kept by the +good lady, and that everything produced thereby was dedicated to the +work of the Lord. I praised God that He had privileged me to meet this +extraordinarily endowed man, to whom the whole Christian World had been +so specially indebted, and who had consecrated all his gifts and +opportunities to the proclamation of the pure and precious Gospel. + +Of all my London associations, however, the deepest and the most +imperishable is that which weaves itself around the Honorable Ion +Keith-Falconer, who has already passed to what may truly be called a +Martyr's crown. At that time I met him at his father-in-law's house at +Trent; and on another occasion spent a whole day with him at the house +of his noble mother, the Countess-Dowager of Kintore. His soul was then +full of his projected Mission to the Arabs, being himself one of the +most distinguished Orientalists of the day; and as we talked together, +and exchanged experiences, I felt that never before had I visibly marked +the fire of God, the holy passion to seek and to save the lost, burning +more steadily or brightly on the altar of any human heart. The heroic +founding of the Mission at Aden is already one of the precious annals of +the Church of Christ. His young and devoted wife survives, to mourn +indeed, but also to cherish his noble memory; and, with the aid of +others, and the banner of the Free Church of Scotland, to see the +"Keith-Falconer Mission" rising up amidst the darkness of blood-stained +Africa, as at once a harbor of refuge for the slave, and a beacon-light +to those who are without God and without hope The servant does his day's +work, and passes on through the gates of sleep to the Happy Dawn; but +the Divine Master lives and works and reigns, and by our death, as +surely as by our life, His holy purposes shall be fulfilled. + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIX. +FAREWELL SCENES. + +ON returning to Scotland, every day was crowded with engagements for the +weeks that remained, and almost every mail brought me contributions from +all conceivable corners of the land. My heart was set upon taking out +two or three Missionaries with me to claim more and still more of the +Islands for Christ; and with that view I had addressed Divinity Students +at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Again and again, by conversation +and correspondence, consecrated young men were just on the point of +volunteering; but again and again the larger and better known fields of +labor turned the scale, and they finally decided for China or Africa or +India. Deeply disappointed at this, and thinking that God directed us to +look to our own Australia alone for Missionaries for the New Hebrides, I +resolved to return, and took steps towards securing a passage by the +Orient Line to Melbourne. But just then two able and devoted students, +Messrs. Morton and Leggatt, offered themselves as Missionaries for our +Islands; and shortly thereafter a third, Mr. Landells, also an excellent +man; and all, being on the eve of their License as preachers, were +approved of, accepted, and set to special preparations for the Mission +field, particularly in acquiring practical medical knowledge. + +On this turn of affairs I managed to have my passage delayed for six +weeks, and resolved to cast myself on the Lord that He might enable me +in that time to raise at least L500, in order to furnish the necessary +outfit and equipment for three new Mission Stations, and to pay the +passage money of the Missionaries and their wives, that there might be +no difficulty on this score amongst the Foreign Mission Committees on +the other side. And then the idea came forcibly, and for a little +unmanned me, that it was wrong in me to speak of these limits as to time +and money in my prayers to God. But I reflected, again, how it was for +the Lord's own glory alone in the salvation of the Heathen, and for no +personal aims of mine; and so I fell back on His promise, "Whatsoever ye +shall ask in My Name," and believingly asked it in His Name, and for His +praise and service alone. I think it due to my Lord, and for the +encouragement of all His servants, that I should briefly outline what +occurred in answer to these prayers. + +Having gone to the center of one of the great shipbuilding districts of +Scotland, and held a series of meetings, and raised a sum of about L55 +only after nine services and many Sabbath School collecting cards, my +heart was beginning to sink, as I did not think my health would stand +another six weeks of incessant strain; when, at the close of my last +meeting in a Free Church, an Elder and his wife entered the vestry and +said, "We are deeply interested in you and in all your work and plans. +You say that you have asked L500 more. We gave you the first L100 at the +Dundee Conference; and it is a joy to us to give you this L100 too, +towards the making up of your final sum. We pray that you may speedily +realize your wish, and that God's richest blessing may ever rest upon +your head." + +Another week passed by, and at the close of it a lady called upon me, +and, after delightful conversation about the Mission, said, "How near +are you to the sum required?" I explained to her what is recorded above, +and she continued, "I gave you one little piece of paper at the +beginning of your efforts. I have prayed for you every day since. God +has prospered me, and this is one of the happiest moments of my life, +when I am now able to give you another little bit of paper." + +So saying, she put into my hand L100. I protested, "You are surely too +generous. Can you afford a second L100?" + +She replied to this effect, and very joyfully, as one who had genuine +gladness in the deed, "My Lord has been very kind to me, in my business. +My wants are simple, and are safe in His hands. I wait not till death +forces me, but give back whatever I am able to the Lord now, and hope to +live to see much blessing thereby through you in the conversion of the +Heathen." + +My last week had come, and I was in the midst of preparations for +departure, when amongst the letters delivered to me was one to this +effect: + +"Restitution money which never now can be returned to its owner. Since +my Conversion I have labored hard to save it. I now make my only +possible amends by returning it to God through you. Pray for me and +mine, and may God bless you in your work!" I rather startled my brother +and his wife at our breakfast table by shouting out in unwontedly +excited tones,--"Hallelujah! The Lord has done it! Hallelujah!" But my +tones softened down into intense reverence, and my words broke at last +into tears, when I found that this, the second largest subscription ever +received by me (L1000, by one friend, have since been given to the "John +G. Paton Mission Fund"), came from a converted tradesman who had +consecrated his all to the Lord Jesus, and whose whole leisure was now +centered upon seeking to bless and save those of his own rank and class, +amongst whom he had spent his early and unconverted days. Jesus said +unto him, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the +Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee." + +Bidding farewell to dear old Glasgow, so closely intertwined with all my +earlier and later experiences, I started for London, accompanied by my +brother James. We were sitting at breakfast at Mrs. Mathieson's table, +Mildmay, when a telegram was put into my hands announcing a +"thank-offering" from Lord and Lady Polwarth, received since our +departure from Glasgow. The Lord had now literally exceeded my prayers. +With other gifts, repeated again by friends at Mildmay, the special fund +for outfit and traveling expenses for new Missionaries had risen above +the L500, and now approached L650. + +In a Farewell Meeting at Mildmay the Lord's servants, being assembled in +great numbers from all quarters of London, dedicated me and my work very +solemnly to God, amid songs of praise and many prayers and touching +"last words." And when at length Mr. Mathieson, intimating that I must +go, as another company of Christian workers were elsewhere waiting also +to say Good-by, suggested that the whole audience should stand up, and, +instead of hand-shaking, quietly breathe their benedictory Farewell as I +passed from the platform down through their great Hall, a perfect flood +of emotion overwhelmed me. I never felt a humbler man, nor more anxious +to hide my head in the dust, than when all these noble, gifted, and +beloved followers of Jesus Christ, and consecrated workers in His +service, stood up and with one heart said, "God speed" and "God bless +you," as I passed on through the Hall. To one who had striven and +suffered less, or who less appreciated how little we can do for others +compared with what Jesus had done for us, this scene might have +ministered to spiritual pride; but long ere I reached the door of that +Hall, my soul was already prostrated at the feet of my Lord in sorrow +and in shame that I had done so little for Him, and I bowed my head and +could have gladly bowed my knees to cry, "Not unto us; Lord, not unto +us!" + + + +CHAPTER XC. +WELCOME TO VICTORIA AND ANIWA. + +ON the 28th October, 1885, I sailed for Melbourne, and in due course +safely arrived there by the goodness of God. The Church and people of my +own beloved Victoria gave me a right joyful welcome, and in public +assembly presented me with a testimonial, which I shrank from receiving, +but which all the same was the highly-prized expression of their +confidence and esteem. + +During my absence at the Islands, to which I immediately proceeded, they +unanimously elected me Moderator of their Supreme Court, and called me +back to fill that highest Chair of honor in the Presbyterian Church. God +is my witness how very little any or all of these things in themselves +ever have been coveted by me; but how, when they have come in my way, I +have embraced them with a single desire thereby to promote the Church's +interest in that Cause to which my whole life and all my opportunities +are consecrated--the Conversion of the Heathen World. + +My Mission to Britain was to raise L6000, in order to enable the +Australian Churches to provide a Steam Auxiliary Mission Ship, for the +enlarged and constantly enlarging requirements of the New Hebrides. I +spent exactly eighteen months at home; and when I returned, I was +enabled to hand over to the Church that had commissioned and authorized +me no less a sum than L9000. And all this had been forwarded to me, as +the freewill offerings of the Lord's stewards, in the manner illustrated +by the preceding pages. "Behold! What God hath wrought!" + +Of this sum L6000 are set apart to build or acquire the new Mission +Ship. The remainder is added to what we call our Number II. Fund, for +the maintenance and equipment of additional Missionaries. It has been +the dream of my life to see one Missionary at least, with trained Native +Teachers, planted on every Island of the New Hebrides, and then I could +lie down and whisper gladly, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart +in peace!" + +As to the new Mission Ship, unexpected delay has arisen. There are +differences of opinion about the best way of carrying out the proposal. +There must be an understanding betwixt New South Wales and Victoria and +the other Colonies, as to the additional annual expenditure. And the +perplexity as to the wisest course has deepened, since the Colonial +Government began to run Mail Ships regularly from Australia to Fiji, +willing on certain terms of subsidy, to call at one or other harbor in +the New Hebrides. Meantime, let all friends who are interested in us and +our work understand--that the money so generously intrusted to me has +been safely handed over to my own Victorian Church, and is deposited at +good interest in the bank, to be spent at their discretion in due time, +when all details are settled, and, as nearly as possible in the altered +circumstances, exclusively for the purposes for which it was asked and +bestowed. + +To me personally, this delay is confessedly a keen and deep +disappointment. But the special work laid upon me has, however, been +accomplished. The Colonial Churches have now all the responsibility of +the further steps. In this, as in many a harder trouble of my checkered +life, I calmly roll all my burden upon the Lord. I await with quietness +and confidence His wise disposal of events. His hand is on the helm; and +whither He steers us, all shall be well. + +But let me not close this chapter, till I have struck another and a +Diviner note. I have been to the Islands again, since my return from +Britain. The whole inhabitants of Aniwa were there to welcome me, and my +procession to the old Mission House was more like the triumphal march of +a Conqueror than that of a humble Missionary. Everything was kept in +beautiful and perfect order. Every Service of the Church, as previously +described in this book, was fully sustained by the Native Teachers, the +Elders, and the occasional visit, once or twice a year, of an ordained +Missionary from one of the other Islands. Aniwa, like Aneityum, is a +Christian land. Jesus has taken possession, never again to quit those +shores. GLORY, GLORY TO HIS BLESSED NAME! + +My Home has since been at Melbourne. My life-work now (1892), and +probably during the remainder of my active days, will be to visit and +address the Congregations and Sabbath Schools of the Presbyterian +Churches of Australasia, telling them, as in this book, the story of my +experiences, and inspiring the Christian people of these Colonies to +support the New Hebrides Mission, and to claim all these Islands for the +Lord Jesus Christ. + +Reader, in your life, as in mine, one last Chapter still awaits us. By +His grace, who has sustained me from childhood till now, I would work +out that Chapter, and live through these closing scenes. With this book +still open before you, I implore you to go alone before your blessed +Saviour, and pledge yourself so to live, and so to die, in the service +and fellowship of the Lord Jesus, that you and I, who have companied +with each other through these pages, may meet again and renew our happy +intercourse in our FATHER'S HOUSE. + + + +CHAPTER XCI. +GOOD NEWS FROM TANNA, 1891. (By the Editor.) + +WHILST this page of manuscript passes through my hands, there is laid +before me a brilliant letter from Mrs. Watt of Tanna, which, I am sure, +she will pardon me for utilizing thus. It is written from Port +Resolution, in the closing days of 1891. Its main theme is the building +of the SCOTCH CHURCH, in the very heart of the district where my +brother's years of anguish and toil were endured. Friends in Scotland +gave Mr. and Mrs. Watt the money wherewith to purchase materials, and +St. Paul's Parish Church, Glasgow, provided the Bell. But let us hear +how she paints the scene, and unveils to us the Island life,--alike +Pagan and Christian. + +When they returned from Scotland and found their way to Kwamera, after +galling delays among the Islands, one of their first duties was the +making of "the annual contribution of arrow-root," the proceeds "to go +to line the roof of the Kwamera Church,--the Church itself having been +built in the same way," that is, by the sacred arrow-root! Then they +went round to Port Resolution for the erection of the SCOTCH CHURCH,--"A +Memorial of Workers and Work on Tanna." She tells how they "improvized a +derrick by lashing together the masts of the two boats, and, with the +aid of these and blocks and tackle, got the principals into their proper +position. And though carpenters or builders may laugh at it," she adds, +"we heaved a sigh of relief when the last one was secured." Listen to +this: "Mr. Gray (neighbor Missionary) and Mr. Watt were the only skilled +workmen. The others were all inexperienced, being Natives. We had them +all divided into two relays, and they came turn about, each alternate +day; and I can assure you there are no Natives in the Group, or indeed +in any land, who would have come more faithfully, or worked more +heartily, than these much-abused Tannese! The work went on every day, +Sabbaths excepted, from 6 A.M. till 6 P.M., for forty days. On ten of +these days Mr. Gray gave very valuable assistance; in truth, I do not +see how we could have done without him. Day by day the women prepared +food; the boys pulled drinking cocoanuts; and every one worked +willingly, while crowds came and gazed on in wonder as the edifice +arose." And if there be any shallow arm-chair critic of Missions ready +to sneer at such toils, let him first digest what this devoted lady +Missionary says: "Church Building may not be considered by some as +Mission work; yet we believe this Church erection has been the means of +much good to this people. We have had better attendances, both on +week-days and on Sabbaths, than ever before. And we managed to keep up +the daily morning and evening meetings during all the building +time,--as, after the devotional part was over, the builders went out, +but the rest remained for lessons." What more blessed than thus to work +and pray! To teach their hands to work, and their hearts to sing praises +to the Lord! + +Now let us pass on, and look in upon them at the opening and dedication +of this SCOTCH CHURCH ON TANKA to the Lord God. "On a fixed day, +Wednesday 28th October, exactly twelvemonths to a day from our leaving +Liverpool, Natives from far and near assembled for the occasion. Mr. and +Mrs. Gray, with their two children, a Mr. Voullaire, a German who has +come to Tanna as a Trader, and our neighbor Mr. Bramwell, joined us. So +that, when we all met for the Opening Services, we were a somewhat mixed +company, speaking a medley of languages,--English, Scotch, German, +Fijian, Aneityumese, Aniwan, and at least two of the Tannese languages! +The building was well filled; but the bigger crowd was gathered outside; +for our Heathen onlookers were afraid to enter the sacred edifice. The +Service was beautiful. All seemed very happy. After it, there was an +exchange of gifts, we giving fifty fathoms of prints and calicoes, some +handkerchiefs, two pots full of cooked rice, a pile of raw yams and +taro, and two pieces of salt beef. Our neighbor gave some print, some +tins of luncheon beef, and some uncooked rice. The Natives gave two +cooked pigs, and native puddings _ad libitum_. These things being +divided to the satisfaction of all, we had speeches, when doubtless some +good impressions were made. On the Sabbath following we had a good +attendance, Mr. Gray addressing the people. On the Sabbath following +that we made our first money collection on Tanna." I again ask to my +readers to listen, and to lay to heart what the lady Missionary tells us +of these once cruel and cannibal souls. "We asked the people to give it +as a thank-offering for the remarkable exemption from accident during +the building of the Church though at times the work was rather +dangerous. The collection was L3: 5s. We were much pleased with the +hearty way the people responded to this, the first call to give a free +gift to the Lord. One man, whose whole purse was 17s., gave 1s. himself, +and gave 1s. to each of his three sons, so that they too might have +something to give. Knowing how meanly the Tannese treated the Spirits +whom they worshiped in Heathenism,--giving them the scraggiest fish, the +poorest bananas, and the smallest yams,--we rejoiced in this Christian +liberality!!" + +Referring to exaggerated Newspaper rumors she says: "Tanna bulks largely +in some minds, though it is only a small Island, a little larger than +Arran! We had noticed that our Civil War was telegraphed not only to the +Australian papers, but to San Francisco, and even to the _London +Standard_. We have been receiving letters of condolence from friends, +who think our lives in danger!" Now, mark what the presence of the +Gospel and the Missionary has brought about, as compared with former +days: "Personally, the said Civil War has not affected us in the +slightest. The Grays, who were in the center of the scene of action, and +who more than once had the bullets whizzing over and around their house, +were so assured of their complete safety that Mrs. Gray stayed there +bravely alone with their children, while Mr. Gray came up here to assist +at our Church building!" + +But she does not pretend that all is Christlike: "The list of killed and +wounded has been unusually large for Tanna, while the atrocities +committed have been worse than we ever heard of before. Indignities were +offered to the dead of both sexes. And, in one case at least, a +mutilated woman was left unburied to be eaten by dogs,--and would have +been completely devoured, had not one of our Teachers come on the scene +next day, and, unaided, dug a grave and buried her." And then the writer +lets in the lurid light of the Nether Pit in this closing picture: "One +instance of the disgusting depravity of the people shocked me much. A +man, who even attends Service in the district where the above dreadful +affair took place, on seeing the poor mutilated form of the woman, +addressed it thus--'If only the Gospel had not reached my Village, how I +would have enjoyed a feast off you!' I cannot tell you how much this has +preyed upon my mind; or how glad I feel at realizing that Jesus is an +Almighty Saviour, and can save to the uttermost, else I would despair of +these People!" + +This may be commended to the attention of those who still affect to +believe that the Cannibalism of my brother's book is overdrawn. That +half-civilized Tanna man, smacking his lips at the thought of what might +have been his but for the Gospel, outweighs all cavils, and is tenfold +stronger than arguments. Also let us ask all readers to ponder the dear +lady's parting shot at unsympathetic and disparaging critics: "Some have +said that the backwardness of the Gospel on Tanna is due to the want of +faith on the part of her Missionaries; but I agree with our +fellow-laborer, Mr. Gray, who declares that it is only gigantic Faith +that could have toiled so many years amongst such a People!" Dear sister +in the Lord, courageous, much-enduring, free of all mock-modesty, +conscious of thy Cross, I thank thee for that word--it is the right +one--"Gigantic faith!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF JOHN G. 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