Chapter II: Part 2

_Monday, 26th July._--I reckoned without my host last night when I rashly permitted Agnes and Kate to cook for me this week at their own request. They made a tremendous fuss about it, but the rice came to table uncooked, and in such a small quantity that my breakfast was spoilt and the coffee was anything but good. However they did their best and I dare say to-morrow they will do all right. They were both wonderfully good, and not only washed up for me but gave my premises a good sweep as well. Poor Agnes, she is hideously lame, but she pretends to the liveliness of a kitten. The fence around the school is rather high and I watched her endeavours to get over with her lameness and her petticoats. She managed better than I expected, but I stood by in readiness to lend her a helping hand in case she fell. She comes back fully impressed with a sense of her importance and dignity after so many years absence, and her friends made a great deal of her. To-day she is off with the other women on some excursion or other, and is fully convinced that she is as active as any of them. Before long no doubt she will fancy herself useful and engaging enough to be the life partner of Tilegi, and to be the faithful companion of his joys and sorrows. She is an intelligent girl, and her long training at Norfolk Island ought to make her useful here. She is perfectly charmed with her home, and she sees very plainly the beneficial results produced by Christianity. When she left, she herself was among the few baptized, now she comes back to the bosom of a Christian community with a good church and school, daily Morning and Evening Prayers, and perfect harmony and good will among all men. She will miss little at home now of what she has grown accustomed to at Norfolk Island, and it must be a pleasant realization to her. The girls, too, with whom she will have daily association are all Christians, and she will be spared the shock and repulsion of heathen women’s talk and actions. Her father has died in the interval, a truly godly man in his life, and a believer at the time of his death.

There is no face I miss here more than that of James, a true and faithful friend to me, and I firmly believe, too, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Arthur tells me his death was perfectly peaceful and happy, and he desired at the last to depart and be with Christ which was far better. His two children followed him, and the three lie side by side in the quiet and rest of the grave. A reputed mother, but one who is really an aunt, Amina, takes charge of Agnes until Tilegi or some one else claims her as a bride, for in spite of her deformity I suppose she will not eschew marriage herself, or be allowed to remain in single blessedness by her friends, for here young ladies are not over plentiful, and to judge by the appearance of some already married there is no accounting for taste among the men of the place. Elizabeth, the wife of James, has found solace in another partner, but she spoke of her former husband with a due amount of grief and tears, and said to me, pointing in the direction of his grave, “He lies asleep over there.”

Yet there are here those who are ‘widows indeed,’ and good old Dorcas is one such. This old lady well deserves her name, for she is full of alms deeds, and kindness to all, and I firmly believe is a true follower of Jesus Christ. She lives alone with a little grandchild in her own hut and trains up dutifully the child in the way she should go. Very seldom is old Dorcas away from her seat in church, and she exercises a benign and gentle influence over her own sex in the village. Anna, another good old widow, has died in my absence, and the loss of such is much felt. Among the younger women there is a perfect colony of children, and this is most thankworthy as being a proof that infanticide has been quite stamped out, and formerly it seemed to be a sort of religious duty here. Children were looked upon as being uncanny as well as a nuisance, and if the mother did not kill her offspring herself, she found plenty of aiders and abettors in the old midwives who attended her. The father seemed utterly impotent to prevent the evil. Now the fathers have turned head nurses and are abundantly proud of their children.

This morning after Prayers and school I walked down to the river side at Rarava, whither almost the entire population had preceded me, and where I lit upon a busy scene. It was a most resplendent day, but the overhanging branches of the wide spreading foliage lent a charm and grateful shade to the occasion. The men were engaged in digging the ‘taro’ roots, from their irrigated beds, and the women busy washing and preparing them for culinary purposes. The ladies here, present no exception to a proverbial excess in the use of the ‘unruly member’ as the especially noticeable characteristic of the gentler sex in more favoured parts of the world, and a Babel-like clatter of tongues formed a striking accompaniment to the quietness and order of the work in hand. The taro beds of course are mud, pure and simple, and the taro when dug is a very dirty vegetable, it is covered over besides with long tenacious feelers for roots, and these are picked off with the fingers in the most skilled and practised manner much after the fashion of plucking and preparing a bird for table. When the cleaning and plucking process is perfected, the long stalks are collected to a head and tied up in convenient bundles with one of their own parts in the most ingenious and knowing manner. Two bundles are then arranged on one long pole, and carried by one bearer on the shoulder, one bundle before and another behind their backs. The weight is considerable, but here the burden is borne by the men, the women carry the broad leaves and other concomitants of native cookery. Beyond the cackle there was very much merriment which all seemed in accord with the dancing sparkling waters of the clear flowing river. The prospect around was most beautiful and although not extensive the landscape was most bewitching, and the eye was never tired with seeing.

These natives have great natural taste, which is displayed to a far greater degree in the arrangement and beautifying of their yam and taro gardens here, than in any other island I have seen.

The broad, handsome evergreen taro leaf spreads its verdure right and left, and all around, amid the friendship of the gay-leaved croton, the majestic dracæna, and the vari-coloured hibiscus, while here and there, to vary the prospect, the graceful cocoanut lends the beauty and elegance of its chastely spreading branches; all this beauty is thrown into relief by a back ground of the most marvellously beautiful bush, which shuts it in as with a natural fence, and leaves the only wish and feeling with the observer just to get for a moment a peep of what lies beyond. Breaks here and there however, in the background, revealed distant hills clad to their very summits with a richness and profusion of vegetation such as always abounds in these lovely islands where ‘every prospect pleases.’ I could select so many subjects for pictures here as almost to finish up all my dry plates, my only hope is that I may meet with some measure of success when by and bye I try my hand at photography. A header into the cool waters and a swim up and down stream was very refreshing. The boys enlivened the scene by their merriment and gambolling in the water, and altogether it was an occasion of much delight, and not the less so to me when I considered that all these people, almost without exception, had passed before through the healing waters of Holy Baptism. As possessing so much of the element, it is perhaps only natural that these people should love the water, and bathe a great deal more than their appearance would give one reason to suspect. The boys, and more especially, I think, the girls, are very fond of the water, and never seem tired of bathing when near the river-side. ‘Tanrig’ is distant about two miles from the river, and this distance, although inconvenient for many reasons, is very convenient for others, and especially because of the mosquitos which abound in the neighbourhood. Here some times they are bad enough, but by the water-side they are, I believe, unbearable. I know I find them troublesome enough there by day, and I don’t care to experience the worry and misery of them by night. They are called here ‘namu,’ and are said to be particularly troublesome at a certain period in the growth and maturity of the yam.

Any one who has not lived in a tropical country can have very little conception of the discomfort and worry of these little maddening tormentors. Yet there are others whose attacks produce more serious consequences, and an illustration was afforded this evening. “Kate Tevano” (Arthur’s wife) was coming across to my house, and when almost at my door she gave a scream of terror and retired at once back again. I rushed out to learn the cause, and found she had been bitten by a centipede in the toe. The blood was just oozing out, and there were the distinct marks of his two fangs. In about ten minutes she was in great agony, and in the course of the evening her foot swelled and the pain was most terrible, and she couldn’t bear anything near it. Poor child, I left her in floods of bitter tears before going to bed, and she expected to be in pain all night long. The natives have some antidote for it, and the women were applying that all the evening. I confess that I did not know myself what to do, except to bathe it with hot water. There was a great hunt for the venomous little reptile, but of course he had made himself scarce. How he got on her foot, and why he bit her, no one knows, but there are multitudes of the creatures here, and perhaps the mystery is that people are not more often bitten. They have scorpions too here whose bite is very venomous, but one doesn’t often hear of their biting. There is a very large ant here called the ‘gandee’ to which I have a great aversion, and its bite is very sharp. Snakes here are not venomous, but the people have an instinctive dread of them, but they do not trouble us much. There is a hideous creature which lives in the thatch of the houses, an ugly toad-like lizard, with large red prominent eyes, which has such a tenacity of grasp with its feet that it sometimes even sticks so tight to the person it attacks as to take away the very skin in its grasp. Indeed, to me there are many strange and uncanny creatures in these islands to which I give as wide a berth as possible. Even in putting on your clothes you may find that a scorpion or centipede have taken up their quarters, in your hat you may find another monster, while most likely your shoes will be the tenement of some hideous reptile. Use and experience cannot rid one of a shudder when one thinks what may be, and yet if one is always anticipating these evils one’s very life becomes a burden.

_Tuesday, 27th July._--I visited poor Kate this morning as soon as I got up, and found her still in considerable pain and her foot a good deal swollen. She had slept but little during the night, and was still very tearful. However, her friends assured her that the poisonous effects would soon pass away, and it proved true, for I saw her walking, or rather limping about during the course of the forenoon. I was anxious to see a centipede this morning, and by and bye a man came bringing one which he held tightly by head and tail. It was a pretty creature and not so black as some I have seen, the legs indeed were of an orange yellow colour. It tried very hard to riggle away, but the ruthless boys soon put an end to its existence. How many legs it actually has I did not stop to count, but I saw its nasty fangs and preferred keeping a respectable distance from them.

A nasty lizard such as I have before mentioned was shortly after discovered in the thatch of my house just over my head, and captured after an exciting hunt. One creeps when these creatures are brought so near one, and is thankful for daily protection from them.

To-day has been the occasion of an important event here, viz: the thatching of a gamal (men’s quarters). This, indeed, is one of the greatest events known here, and there has been much feasting and festivity. The men do the thatching, and neighbours and strangers from a distance come to assist. There must have been quite a hundred men at work to-day, and it was the part and duty of the women to prepare food for them, and judging by the quantity spread out to-night they must have been kept pretty busy at work.

The house was a large one, and it took most of the day to finish it. The roof when complete was most neat, and a perfect protection from heat and wet for many years to come. The thatch is made from the frond of the sago palm and very durable. Cocoanut fronds are sometimes used, but they do not make so neat a roof nor nearly so lasting.

These native houses, although seemingly such poor structures, take some time and skill in building, and are very fair habitations when finished. They are rather low according to our ideas of comfort, but the natives grow accustomed to a crouching posture within doors, and they say the low roof does not catch the wind so easily, nor is the interior so cold. This is a consideration for people with no clothing, and I know myself from experience how cool it sometimes is here. Indeed, this very year I have never passed a night without being covered with a blanket, and even then I have not quite kept the cold away. A native, however, generally sleeps near a fire, and the interior of their houses are very snug. After the work was done this evening there was a great brew of kava, a drink made from the root of the kava plant, but here called “Malowo,” and highly intoxicating. There is much ceremony in connection with the drinking of this beverage, which as far as I have seen, if taken in fair moderation, produces strong inebriation, but is not an excitant, nor does it leave any ill effects when once the narcotic effects pass off. Any one who drinks is supposed to do so fasting, in order, I believe, that the draught may have the more effect. One or two cups are enough to produce intoxication, but of course men will make beasts of themselves in the drinking of kava, as well as of any other strong drink. Here it is prepared from the green root, and grated up with a rough, round coral stone, then squeezed into cups made of the half of a cocoanut shell, strained and mixed with water, after which it is ready for imbibation. To look at it is like soap suds, and to the taste it is like what I should suppose that compound resembled, with an additional admixture of rhubarb and magnesia, with a suspicion of strong senna or black draught. Indeed I think it is about the nastiest potion conceivable, and no wonder the drinker takes an unconscionably long time in swallowing the compound, and when finished would almost rather he had never drunk it. I was very glad to see most of our own people at school and prayers, but I believe some have reserved the ‘nightcap’ till nearer bed-time. When the drowsiness is over I believe a craving for food results, and then the appetite is appeased even if it be in the middle of the night. Certainly, however, a man is never quarrelsome over his cups, but a drowsiness and torpor creep over the most quarrelsome and irrepressive after the draught. The mode of preparation similar to that practised here obtains in all the Northern New Hebrides, as far as I know, but at Mota and the Banks’ Islands generally, and in Fiji it is prepared by a process of mastication, and is not nearly so intoxicating in its effects. At Santa Cruz and in the Solomon Islands the use of the kava is unknown, but instead they chew the betel nut.

I had the old men for school to-night, and very interesting it was, old blind Sulu (Daniel) was among the number and paid the greatest attention, assenting in a marked fashion when anything especially pleased him. Poor fellow, he finds wonderful comfort in his religion, and is a most regular attendant at all services and at school. He gets about wonderfully in spite of his blindness, and does wonderful things for a man so totally blind. His patience and cheerfulness under his affliction are marvellous, and he seems to live in hopeful anticipation of the time when he shall see his Lord and Master face to face, Whom now he sees with the inward eyes of his spirit. He is the only blind man here, and I have never seen but one dumb man in these islands.

_Wednesday, 28th July._--Our people had a great dance last night after school which they kept up with great spirit and vigour until an early hour this morning. The occasion was the thatching of the new gamal, and a great many took part, and never once intermitted their vigour from the start to the finish. The dance is called a “Sagoro,” but the chief part of it consists of singing with a clapping of hands and peculiar dancing in time. It is no easy work, and when I went to see them about the middle of the performance the perspiration was running down their bodies. Some of the songs are very pretty, but the movement of the dance is not particularly graceful or elegant. The women stand in a ring outside, and what is called “weluwelu.” This ‘weluing’ consists in keeping the feet close together and moving the knees from right to left besides joining in the chorus. Their shrill voices sound quite weird along with the deep tones of the males, but by no means discordant. Native songs have mostly an air sung by one voice, and a chorus joined in by all, and these Maewoese are noted for their songs. I did not attempt to go to sleep before the performance was over, and the consequence was a slight dilatoriness this morning, which as might be expected, was not only manifest in my case. However, after morning duties here I started with Arthur Huqe and Patrick for Mandurvat, passing through the pretty snug little village of Naruru on the way. Here we found a man by name ‘Tamaragai’ sitting with his pretty wife and child in the neat enclosure in front of his house. All the other denizens of the village according to the invariable custom which prevails here, had scattered to the four winds. After the dew is off the bushes here there is a general exodus from all the villages, and at noon it is useless to look for any one at home, for all are abroad. They are very industrious people and find perpetual occupation in their gardens or elsewhere from morning till evening. They say if they stay at home they do nothing but sleep, and a native has not many resources for occupying his time indoors. They have a great dread of the dew, for they say it engenders elephantiasis. Cases of this unpleasant disease are very prevalent here, and it looks very odd to see men and women with great swollen legs and feet and monster hands and arms. However, those afflicted with it do not seem to suffer so much pain as discomfort.

We reached our destination after a somewhat weary walk on account of the dampness of the roads after the heavy rain in the night. I found a nice new school, and the teachers awaiting my arrival. The population is small, but the people are well-intentioned and anxious for instruction as exhibited by their having built the school entirely themselves. The leading spirit there and his wife came to-day and asked for Baptism, and desired that they should at once be put under instruction for that sacred Rite. This was cheering, and I hope the example thus set will be largely followed. Food according to native custom had been prepared, and green cocoanuts, and we spent some considerable time with the kind hearted people. They have only an inferior teacher, but he is very zealous to do his best according to the amount of wisdom and knowledge he possesses. They have some sort of daily service and school, but it must of necessity be very elementary.

It is etiquette here for the host or someone appointed by him to see you off the premises, and this afternoon we were escorted some distance from the village by most of the male population, and when at what was looked upon as a respectable distance they stepped to one side, a sign that that was the last we should have of their society, and calling my name the host said, “Iya, go sage,” which is perhaps equal to “There, you go up,” to which I was supposed to respond calling his name, “Io, go toga,” “All right, you stop.” We then started for home. Arriving at Na Ruru the major part of the population were awaiting us, and Anthony the teacher with them, fear has driven him and his little flock to take refuge here, the third exodus they have made from their homes, and it is hoped that at last they will be safe from the ruthless incursions of the heathen bushmen. Poor fellow, he had begun to build a substantial new church, which was left with the other houses in their precipitate flight, but nothing daunted he has begun a third time to collect materials for another building. Had they continued however where they were, I doubt if they would have been molested. The only excuse for so doing would have been that they were friends of the villagers attacked by the bushmen. We sat for some time in conversation with the friendly people until the sinking sun warned us to be up and moving homewards. After prayers and singing, which we always have by an unvariable custom instead of school on Wednesday evenings, I received a request from some heathen strangers, twenty in number, that they might dance before me. I assented, and now at a late hour they are still at it, and going ahead with such vigour that I do not like to stop them. This dance is a piece of policy, for I am supposed to give them a handsome gratuity at the end, and the request to-night has been for tobacco. I am supposed also to be very liberal on these occasions, and certainly they have earned their wages. Their dance is very like that of the Tanrig people, but of course the songs are somewhat different, and to my taste not so pleasing. It is certainly curious that people living really in such close proximity should speak a dialect so utterly different that I can scarcely understand a word they say. I always assent to their dancing for it brings them here in large numbers, and for no ulterior purposes, and I like in every way to cultivate all friendly feeling between ourselves and our neighbours. Their powers of endurance are wonderful, there were many small boys among the dancers to-night, and the hands of my watch pointed to nearly 2 o’clock a.m. before they finished, and previously they must have walked some twelve or fifteen miles over very rugged country. It must be considered too that these dances are performed without any intermission, and carried through with great vigour to the very end. I believe they had contemplated going on till morning, but that would be too terrible. Now as I write this they are gone, and the place is as quiet as if I were alone the sole inhabitant. I am now quite ready for bed and have really been so for hours, but the din and noise would render sleep an impossibility. God grant that in time these heathen songs may be changed for Christian hymns.

_Thursday, 29th July._--My house has been thronged all day with heathen visitors, and I have tried to say something about our blessed religion. I hope they were duly impressed. They certainly gave me a warm invitation to visit them which I shall not be backward to accept, and moreover they promised to pick me out two or three boys to go to Norfolk Island. One man was most anxious to visit Norfolk Island, and I promised him that if he were so minded when the ship came back his wish should be gratified. I dare say I was quite safe in my promise, for no doubt he will cry off at the last. However, I hope I may get the boys. Everything was a matter of astonishment to these poor people, who have rarely if ever seen a white man, and a trumpet and pop gun which I gave a small boy produced the most unbounded delight. I wish my good friend Archdeacon Stock and Miss Kreeft had been here to see what unfeigned joy their kind gifts produced. A prettily dressed doll I brought with me, and which came too, I think, from Wellington, has been the seven day wonder during my visit. Yesterday one of the boys threw it down by accident, and the frail waxwork fell to pieces. There has been more lament over that lifeless toy than over half a dozen ordinary female human beings. Agnes, however, this morning disgorged a beautiful doll of her own, which she got from a Christmas tree, carefully wrapped in ample folds of calico, and the Bushmen I think will never lose the impression the revelation of its beauty produced upon them.

How true it is that little things please little minds, and what a boon it is that the adage is so true. To us, whom civilization and the natural fitness of things have raised so far above nature, it is a matter of a striking character to see these heathens on their travels. They are burdened with absolutely nothing except a club or bow and arrows in their hands. Their dress is but a slight remove from the original fig leaf of the garden of Eden, and they carry neither bedding nor food. They sleep anywhere and eat what they can get. Their endurance in the matter of food too is extraordinary, whether they eat or whether they eat not does not seem to affect them, and in this way they beat us all to fits on the march. These Bushmen tell me they prefer making a journey in rain for it is cooler, and the only change of raiment they need at the end is to dry nature’s clothing before a fire. They are a very hardy race, I suppose from being inured to hardship all their lives.

I missed poor blind Sulu from school to-day, and on enquiring for him was told that his pet pig, whose tusks are getting long and very sharp, importuned him beyond bearing, and that in kicking out to get rid of him the tusk ran into his foot and almost right through it. Poor old fellow, I am going by and bye to see what I can do to administer comfort to him.

Arthur too is very much out of sorts, and could not put in an appearance at school to-day. For some months he has suffered from lassitude and weakness, and has been troubled with nasty sores. Fortunately I have a bottle of Hop Bitters with me, the effect of which I am going to try with him. Fancy the popularity of this wonderful tonic when it even finds its way to these distant islands! I have known it used with very beneficial results, and I hope Arthur may improve under its influence and strengthening properties.

_Friday, July 30th._--A somewhat idle and prurient curiosity led me with some of our people to ‘Uta’ this morning to witness a sort of masked ball about which I had heard a great deal, and which was supposed to be something quite extraordinary. We started fairly early in the morning, and arrived at the place after a long, hot, and fatiguing walk. The ceremonies were not perfectly arranged when we got there, and we waited a long, weary time. It was mainly through my urging that they began when they did, and after all the affair was disappointing.

The initial performance was a song sung by four men to an accompaniment beaten on bamboos, but that was by no means impressive. The females during this performance advanced and squatted around the performers and poor things were almost roasted alive under the blazing rays of the midday sun. When the song was finished the maskers rushed out, 17 in number with very curious and savage-looking head pieces, and petticoats of long sago palm leaves reaching almost to the ground. They presented a very weird and uncanny appearance certainly as they danced forth and back and uttered their gruff “Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh.” I do not wonder at weak minded females and small children being very terrified of them. The head pieces were decided works of art, and very well made. Thirteen were almost entirely of the same make and pattern and are called “Rauwe,” three were again somewhat of a different shape and fashion called “Tamate,” and one very elongated and strangely devised mask also called a ‘Tamate’ completed the list. When the dancing was over which was called ‘Welu,’ the Rauwes rushed flying about all over the place, and the wiser course was to keep out of their way. In former days I believe they carried heavy sticks, or even clubs, and struck at anyone who failed to get out of their way. Boys and females were the chief objects of their attacks, and sometimes considerable injury resulted. Of course if any one retaliated and gave blow for blow, a skrimmage of perhaps serious and general nature resulted, and ended probably in lives being sacrificed.

To-day these rough maskers carried clubs and long handled axes, and nothing was feared from them. The tamates were much more quiet and danced quietly about like so many kiwis (native New Zealand bird), and molested no one. They represent a higher grade in the social scale and their intentions are always pacific. For some days after the ceremony they are allowed to sail about the country and take what they please in the shape of food, &c. if it happens to come in their way, indeed I believe the people put it out for them and render every assistance to send them away full handed. The tamate mask has no eyehole, but the rauwe head piece has every facility for observation to facilitate its hilter skilter rush. The native idea of these things I believe is that if anyone dies who has not paid for these masks, he is haunted by them in the hereafter, at their places of departed spirits, “Banoi.” The tamates protect the disembodied spirits and conduct them safely to their final destination in Banoi. Moreover, I believe that those who die without propitiating these tamates and rauwes by gifts of pigs and mats are transformed into flying foxes, and adorn for ever the courts of an ill-fated Banoi. When the ‘welu’ was over, great cakes of cooked food were disgorged from their covering of leaves and distributed, the men behind a very curious screen called “Bugoro” distributing to men, and the women on one side of the village square distributing to women. The busy and animated scene was often disturbed by one or more of the rauwes rushing wildly about, and the women utterly regardless of food or hospitality, tore hilter skilter in screams of terror to some place of temporary security. It was now getting late, and as we had a journey before us and the performance was virtually over, except the kava drinking, we wished our friend good-bye and started for home, getting here in time for dinner, both by the time of day and by the condition of an appetite which had not been appeased since morning. On the whole I do not think the ceremony was at all worth the labour it cost to witness, and having seen it once, one would scarcely care to trouble about it a second time. However, it has its due effect upon the natives of both sexes, and it is looked upon by many as of paramount importance as regards both the present time and the future. To the newly initiated it gives certain social rights and privileges, but the strict observance with many is a thing of the past. It has only to do with the males, females may enjoy no special benefit from the practice except to assist as ornamental observers, and to bring beast burdens of food for distribution. What becomes of their poor souls hereafter is a matter for no anxiety or consideration, indeed I suppose the doubt is as to their possessing such things as souls at all, so that their final destination can only be a matter of supreme indifference and of the most insignificant importance. A hazy indefinite belief therefore these people have in some hereafter, and they endeavour to make some provision for it while they can, but they have no distinct form of religion, nor any images to which they offer worship. They have some kind of propitiatory sacrifice however of food and shell money, and whatever prayer they have is made to the spirits of their ancestors. Almost invariably a dying man calls to his father, and we have frequently noticed that when a sick person arrives at this stage of illness, his case is very bad indeed, if not hopeless. Yesterday as we were waiting at the entrance to the village, the people called my attention to a peculiar kind of red grass which had been chewed up, and the refuse strewn about all over the path, and they told me that this was done by the master of ceremonies to make the visitors take delight and interest in the festivities, and to raise the wish in the minds of the uninitiated to swell the ranks of those who had already taken the initiatory steps in social rank. Like all natives of course these people are utterly superstitious, and any little thing of a slightly extraordinary nature serves to determine or deter their mode of action. There is a certain class of persons among them who read these signs and comment upon them, just as the ancient oracles, and these persons are consulted in every matter of public or private interest. No one takes a journey or engages in any matter without recourse to this oracle, but as of old in case of failure, the matter is explained ambiguously. Superstition indeed creeps into almost every concern of daily life, and its effect upon one would be very wearying and irritating, except of course that superior mindedness ought to condescend and bear with such human frailties when one considers the education under which these poor folks have been brought up from generation to generation. Much, I think, of this weak mindedness is passing away under Christian regime, and more and more I suppose will it disappear as the day breaks and the shadows flee away.

_Saturday, July 31st._--A peculiarly cold night, so cold indeed that I could not sleep even under a blanket. The people all experienced the same cold, and they said it was because of the calmness of the night and the heavy dew. Had there been a fire near, I could readily have got up to sit over it. The nights here are generally cool, but last night was absolutely cold. What shall I do when I go to England? This morning however, it is supremely lovely, and the wind in the S.W. for a wonder, for the S.E. Trades usually blow nine months out of the twelve. This morning I tried a photograph, which I dare say will prove a failure, from the extra care I took to prevent all mistakes. I only attempted one, but I hope I shall gain courage and experience as I go on and be able to reproduce some of these lovely views here. Of course every view is shut in more or less by the density of the surrounding bush, but this village has a considerable clearing and a good long vista for a photograph. My first attempt was on the church with some natives in the foreground, but the view will miss a great deal in a picture, owing to the absence of the beautiful colouring. It seems the fashion now-a-days here to build houses, and large parties to-day were busy thatching two new ones. I went with Patrick, Arthur Huqe and some more of the boys to Ruosi where we had a delicious bathe in the river, washed our clothes, caught prawns which we cooked very ingeniously in a bamboo. The prawns are put into the bamboo with water, and then placed on the fire with the orifice slightly elevated. It soon starts boiling, and to prevent the bamboo (always a green one) burning through it is constantly turned round and round, and in a very short time the prawns come out cooked red, and ready for eating. Cooked in salt water they are very nice, and they are looked upon as an especial delicacy when eaten with cocoanut cream. It is perfectly surprising what a number of dishes these natives wot of, and how frequently they vary their menu. Here they are especially good cooks, and I like most of their dishes very much. They are all slightly indigestible, but that one somehow expects. In most Melanesian islands the yam is the staple article of diet, but here the taro has the preference, and is planted in larger quantities. The yam likes a dry situation, but the kind of taro in common use here flourishes in a damp soil, and this is prepared for it by a neat and skilful system of irrigation.

While we were sitting there at Ruosi one of the men told me a curious custom they have here. I knew him of old to be an habitual and heavy kava drinker, now he told me he never drank it and had not for months. It appears that persons who enjoy a certain rank can deny the use of this beverage to any one they like, and they place a sort of ‘tabu’ over the kava bowl, and this tabu is not taken off again until a pig or its equivalent is paid. A short time ago kava drinking became so general in the school as to impede the working of it, for teachers and scholars drank alike. The boys and young men therefore met together and laid mutual tabus upon each other, and for some time past very little kava has been drunk by those attending, and no one of those on whom the tabu was laid has chosen yet to take it off.

This same man told me another curious custom they have with respect to revenge. If a man has a grudge against another and he wishes to kill him, or if he wishes to kill someone as a set off against someone belonging to him having been killed, he refuses to wash his hands until such time as they can be washed with blood. He told me of three brothers, Bushmen, who swore to kill a man apiece, the two younger brothers have already performed their part of the contract, but the dirt is still thick on the hands of the eldest, and he still means murder when he can get the convenient opportunity. It does not matter much, I believe, who the victim is as long as he has not many friends to retaliate. Poor weak inoffensive mortals in this way often lose their lives, innocent sacrifices to heathen brutalism and bloodthirstiness. We came home in the cool of the most glorious evening, a strange contrast in its peace and loveliness to the rage and horror of savage brutalism. A quiet evening service and the song of melody seemed more in tune with the scene without, and I trust that the Peace of God which passeth all understanding may ever keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of His Son Jesus Christ.

I gave notice last Sunday of Holy Communion to-morrow, and this evening I held a Communicants’ class at which were present the two Arthurs and Patrick. Anthony and Samuel are too far away to be able to attend. I cannot but esteem it a high privilege and blessing to be enabled to receive and dispense the Bread of Life here in this once heathen village, and I pray that we may be strengthened and refreshed for our work, and show forth God’s praise not only with our lips but in our lives, and by giving up ourselves more fully to His service. May the time too be hastened when some of these good people may be permitted to partake of the visible tokens of redeeming love.

It is now late, and except for the singing of crickets, perfectly still, fit prelude, I trust, to a peaceful Sabbath.

_Sunday, August 1st._--Another peculiarly cold night, so cold indeed that I could not sleep although I had taken care to make proper preparations against it. How these poor ill clad, blanketless people fare I cannot make out, but no doubt they pile on the wood. It was most perfectly calm all through the night, and this morning there was a very heavy dew. The wind was blowing from some westerly quarter, and it has continued there with some strength all the day. We began our day very early with a Celebration of the Holy Communion. The two Arthurs, Patrick, and myself made up the quorum. It was a nice, quiet, refreshing time, and a fresh and green oasis in a somewhat arid, spiritual desert. I think, perhaps, it belongs to the native character and disposition to do without certain things which are to us essential, and the loss even of the Holy Communion is not so serious deprivation to them as to us. Native minds, I fancy, adapt themselves too readily to the existing condition of things, and because they live in the desert they must never even pine for the food and water which is not directly attainable. Unless the Holy things of our religion are kept before them in constant practice they are too wont to dispense with them, and be content with the dry husks such as their neighbours around feed upon. I shall therefore try to keep up the regular administration of the Holy Communion both for the present strengthening and refreshing of their souls, and for a continual remembrance that the reception of it is necessary to salvation. Easy native natures are too apt to float along with the popular stream, and to be content with dry, dull teaching and drier, duller services, and I sometimes long for the time when we shall have a more ornate church and appointments, and a more elaborate ritual. I firmly believe it would be helpful to the congregation. Now we are too content with such things as we have, and they are poor at the best.

After the Celebration we had school. We assembled first in the schoolhouse, sang a hymn and I said a Prayer, then divided into classes, I myself taking all the old men into the Church, and trying to explain the sense of the collect to them. I told them how God had prepared for them that love Him such good things as pass man’s understanding, and I asked them how we knew that. I told them that God had revealed these things to us by His Son Jesus Christ, and He had left His testimony with us in His Gospel, and the books which persons chosen by Him had written under the influence and direction of His Holy Spirit. Their religion was a matter of mere hearsay and conjecture, and had been handed on from mouth to mouth, and had grown as it came down after the manner of mere verbal testimony. There could be no doubt with us because we have the living testimony of Christ’s own words which never pass away. Their religion came from nowhere and no one knew of its beginning; of ours at all events we were sure. I told them too that in England and other countries, where arts and sciences were known and practised far beyond anything they could conceive of, there were things so marvellous that their understanding could not grasp even the faintest idea of them, and how much more marvellous, wonderful, and glorious must the things be which God has prepared for such as love Him. Why even here below we see great and wonderful and mysterious things which pass the understanding of the world’s wisest minds, and how much more wonderful still must the things be which are to be revealed hereafter, when the eye shall be purified to see, the ear to hear, and the senses to discern the beauty and true glory of them. And what does God, who thus prepares these blessed things for us, require of us? Why to love Him above all things. Each one of us had some darling idol, to which we offered the devotion of our hearts, but it must be torn down and removed if it comes before our love to God. And the end of this love was God Himself, and to dwell with Him for ever as inheritors of His gracious promises which exceed all that we can desire. The old fellows were very attentive, and interspersed running remarks, and when I had done I asked them to kneel down, and I said the Collect as a Prayer for them. Meanwhile the other teachers had school with their scholars in the schoolhouse. The first class of boys and girls had to say their Collect by heart, and after that they were questioned on its meaning. School was closed with Prayer and a Hymn, and then I was ready for breakfast, very dry, uncooked rice with sugar and cocoanut cream, and a cup of delicious Norfolk Island coffee. Morning Prayer followed in due course before the day got too hot, and after this everyone was busy with their Sunday meal for the afternoon. The day was as hot as the night was cold, but it was most glorious, and all nature seemed to be keeping its Sabbath. The evening was perfectly serene and peaceful, a fit termination to a quiet, restful day.

In the evening I had the teachers, and after that service at which I preached from the gospel of the day, “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees.” They were very attentive during my remarks, so I trust I was understood. I told them God did not want us merely to come to school and church but He wanted the devotion of the heart, it was not outward righteousness He wished for, but inward truth and honesty and straightness. The Pharisees were very good Churchgoers, but their heart was not right with God, &c., &c.

After Service we had singing which they always enjoy, and even now I hear their voices in the School house singing “There’s a friend for little children.” I had intended to have made an excursion to the neighbouring villages to-day but I could not manage the time, the day having gone so rapidly. Now it is very cool and betokens another cold night but Oh! how calm and peaceful!

_Monday, August 2nd._--Another peculiarly cold night ushered in a most glorious day. A very heavy dew lay all round, and until the sun was quite high in the heavens the cold was very perceptible, and a flannel coat was very agreeable. I took two photographs early and trust they are good, but it would be very hard to reproduce the original so lovely as it appeared in the morning light. The scene too was animated with the cheery voices of the people, the crowing of the cocks, the merry laughter of the boys, and even the squealing of the pigs as they followed their owners for their morning food, lent additional and characteristic charm to the occasion. All this one cannot photograph, but it is necessary to suppose all this to give an idea of the village as it is on these glorious mornings. Here we are several hundred feet above the sea level, and a good way inland so that a pleasant day breeze always fans the air, and keeps the place gratefully cool under cover of a roof, or in the shade. I believe one could live here quite comfortably all the year round, and for myself I never feel better than I do here. There is such a freedom too about life here that one can carry a light heart and a contented mind in a healthy body. To-day almost without exception the people are off to the beach to windward. At this time of year the tides are very low, and leave the reefs almost entirely uncovered. Fish and crabs and other sea oddities are therefore left exposed, and the first named are shot by the men in the pools, and the women collect the latter, which are looked upon as choice articles of diet. Just now I am left quite solitary, but I have just dismissed a bevy of ladies who came to see the present seven days wonder, my magnetic fish. They cannot fathom the mystery at all why when one point of the fishing rod as they call it, is presented to the fish they eagerly rush at it, and why when the other they rapidly retire. They solve the problem by saying it is a “Wui,” (spirit). And it must seem strange to them as all our belongings must being of an order of art, so far removed from their conceptions or achievements. A kerosene lamp to this day is a marvel to them, and the manipulation equally mysterious, why it should flare up when turned one way, and why it should die when turned the other. One old woman who has been very sick and up to-day for the first time, came with the crowd and greeted me in the most maternal manner, grasping my hand in both her own, and calling me “Baua,” an obsolete word now, but belonging to a district called “Loqala” which was utterly devastated years ago by enemies among whom were these very people of Tanrig. This old lady and her son Samuel, now my head teacher at Tasmouri, are the sole survivors I believe, and she retains the expression or appelation by which a grandmother greets her grandson.