{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_17694/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_17694","id":"gutenberg_17694","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17694","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Category: Travel Writing","Missions -- New Guinea","New Guinea -- Description and travel"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1886 Religious Tract Society edition by David Price,\nemail ccx074@coventry.ac.uk\n\nTHE R. T. S. LIBRARY--ILLUSTRATED\n\n\n\n\n\nADVENTURES IN NEW GUINEA\nBY\nJAMES CHALMERS\nOF PORT MORESBY\n\n\nWITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS\n\nTHE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY\n56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD;\nAND 164, PICCADILLY\n1886.\n\nLONDON:\nPRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,\nSTAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.\n\n[Port Moresby: title.jpg]\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nPublic attention has been repeatedly and prominently directed to New\nGuinea during the last few months.  The name often appears in our\nnewspapers and missionary reports, and bids fair to take a somewhat\nprominent place in our blue-books.  Yet very few general readers possess\naccurate information about the island itself, about the work of English\nmissionaries there, or about the part New Guinea seems destined to play\nin Australian politics.  Hence a brief sketch indicating the present\nstate of knowledge on these points will be a fitting introduction to the\nnarratives of exploration, of adventure, and of Christian work contained\nin this volume.\n\nNew Guinea, if we may take Australia as a continent, is the largest\nisland in the world, being, roughly speaking, about 1400 miles long, and\n490 broad at its widest point.  Its northernmost coast nearly touches the\nequator, and its southernmost stretches down to 11 degrees south\nlatitude.  Little more than the fringe or coastline of the island has\nbeen at all carefully explored, but it is known to possess magnificent\nmountain ranges, vast stretches of beautiful scenery, much land that is\nfruitful, even under native cultivation, and mighty rivers that take\ntheir rise far inland.  Its savage inhabitants have aroused powerfully\nthe interest and sympathy alike of Christian Polynesians and English\nmissionaries, who, taking their lives in their hands, have, in not a few\ninstances, laid them down in the effort to win New Guinea for Christ.\n\nAt some remote period of the past, New Guinea, in all probability, formed\na part of Australia.  Torres Strait itself is only about sixty miles\nwide; the water is shallow; shoals and reefs abound, giving the sailor\nwho threads the intricate and dangerous navigation the impression that he\nis sailing over what was once solid earth.\n\nThe first European sailor who sighted the island was D'Abreu, in 1511;\nthe honour of being first to land belongs most probably to the Portuguese\nexplorer, Don Jorge De Meneses, in 1526, on his way from Malacca to the\nMoluccas.\n\nInto the somewhat intricate history of the connection of the Dutch with\nthe north-west coast of New Guinea we cannot here enter.  As suzerain\nnominally under the Sultan of Tidore, they claim possession of the\nwestern part of the island as far east as Lat. 141 degrees 47' E.  The\ntrade they carry on is said to be worth about 20,000_l_. a year.  Dutch\nmissionaries have for many years been stationed around the coast of\nGeelvink Bay.\n\nIn 1770, Captain Cook visited the south-west coast, and in 1775, an\nEnglish officer, Forrest by name, spent some months on the north-east\ncoast in search of spices.  In 1793, New Guinea was annexed by two of the\nEast India Company's commanders, and an island in Geelvink Bay, Manasvari\nby name, was for a time held by their troops.\n\nPartial surveys of the south coast were made in 1845 by Captain\nBlackwood, who discovered the Fly River; by Lieutenant Yule, in 1846, who\njourneyed east as far as the island to which he has given his name; and\nin 1848 by Captain Owen Stanley, who made a fairly accurate survey of the\nsouth-east coast.\n\nThe most important survey work along the coast of New Guinea was done in\n1873 by H.M. ship _Basilisk_, under the command of Captain Moresby.  He\ndiscovered the now-famous harbour, Port Moresby; he laid down the true\neastern coastline of the island, discovering the China Straits, and\nexploring the north-east coast as far west as Huon Gulf.\n\nIn many parts of the world Christian missionaries have been the first to\nget on friendly terms with the natives, and thus to pave the way for\ndeveloping the resources of a savage country and leading its inhabitants\nin the paths of progress and civilization.  Pre-eminently has this been\nthe case in South-eastern New Guinea.  White men had landed before them,\nit is true; but for the most part only to benefit themselves, and not\nunfrequently to murder the natives or to entrap them into slavery.\nChristianity has won great victories in Polynesia, but no part of the\nglobe has witnessed fouler crimes or more atrocious wickedness on the\npart of white men towards savage races.\n\nThe history of the work done by members of the London Missionary Society\nis already a long one.  As far back as 1871, the Revs. A. W. Murray and\nS. McFarlane sailed from Mare, one of the Loyalty Islands, with eight\nnative teachers, inhabitants of that group, with whom to begin the\ncampaign against sin, superstition, and savagery in New Guinea.  The\nfirst station occupied was Darnley Island, and Mr. Murray gives an\nincident that well illustrates the spirit in which these men, themselves\ntrophies of missionary success, entered upon their work.  Speaking about\nanother island, the natives, in the hope of intimidating the teachers,\nsaid, \"There are alligators there, and snakes, and centipedes.\"  \"Hold,\"\nsaid the teacher, \"are there men there?\"  \"Oh yes,\" was the reply, \"there\nare men; but they are such dreadful savages that it is no use your\nthinking of living among them.\"  \"That will do,\" replied the teacher.\n\"Wherever there are men, missionaries are bound to go.\"  Teachers were\nstationed at the islands of Tauan and Sabaii.  Later on, Yule Island and\nRedscar Bay were visited, and the missionaries returned to Lifu.\n\nIn 1872, Mr. Murray returned in the _John Williams_ with thirteen\nadditional teachers, and for the next two years superintended the mission\nfrom Cape York.  In 1874, he was joined by the Revs. S. McFarlane and W.\nG. Lawes--who have both ever since that time laboured hard and\nsuccessfully on behalf of the natives--and the steamer _Ellengowan_ was\nplaced at the service of the mission by the liberality of the late Miss\nBaxter, of Dundee.  The native teachers experienced many vicissitudes.\nSome died from inability to stand the climate, some were massacred by the\nmen they were striving to bless; but the gaps were filled up as speedily\nas possible, and the map recently issued (Jan. 1885) by the Directors of\nthe Society shows that on the south-eastern coast of New Guinea, from\nMotumotu to East Cape, no less than _thirty-two native teachers_, some of\nthem New Guinea converts, are now toiling in the service of the Gospel.\n\nIn 1877, the Rev. James Chalmers joined the mission, and it is hardly too\nmuch to say that his arrival formed an epoch in its history.  He is\nwonderfully equipped for the work to which he has, under God's\nProvidence, put his hand, and is the white man best known to all the\nnatives along the south coast.  From the first he has gone among them\nunarmed, and though not unfrequently in imminent peril, has been\nmarvellously preserved.  He has combined the qualities of missionary and\nexplorer in a very high degree, and while beloved as \"Tamate\" (Teacher)\nby the natives, has added enormously to the stock of our geographical\nknowledge of New Guinea, and to our accurate acquaintance with the ways\nof thinking, the habits, superstitions, and mode of life of the various\ntribes of natives.\n\nNotwithstanding various expensive expeditions for the exploration of New\nGuinea, he has travelled the farthest yet into the interior.  He has been\nas far as Lat. S. 9 degrees 2' and Long. E. 147 degrees 42.5'.  The\nfarthest point reached by Captain Armit was about Lat. S. 9 degrees 35'\nand Long. E. 147 degrees 38'.  Mr. Morrison merely reached a point on the\nGoldie River, when he was attacked and wounded by the natives.  This\ncompelled the party to return to Port Moresby.\n\nMr. Chalmers is still actively engaged in his work on the great island,\nand he has placed many of his journals and papers at the disposal of the\nReligious Tract Society, in the hope that their publication may increase\nthe general store of knowledge about New Guinea, and may also give true\nideas about the natives, the kind of Christian work that is being done in\ntheir midst, and the progress in it that is being made.\n\nThe prominence which New Guinea has assumed in the public mind lately is\ndue much more to political than to religious reasons.  England is a\nChristian nation, and there are numbers who rejoice in New Guinea as a\nsignal proof of the regenerating power of the Gospel of Christ.  Yet, to\nthe Christian man, it is somewhat humiliating to find how deeply the\npress of our country is stirred by the statement that Germany has annexed\nthe north coast of New Guinea, while it has hardly been touched by the\nthrilling story of the introduction of Christianity all along the south\ncoast.  The public mind is much exercised in discussing whether Her\nMajesty's Government should annex the whole rather than proclaim a\nprotectorate over a part; it hardly cares to remember the names of those\nwho have died in trying to make known to the fierce Papuans our common\nbrotherhood in Christ Jesus.  One can understand that this is natural;\nstill it will be an augury of good for the future of the English people,\nwhen, without losing any of their legitimate interest in public affairs,\nthey care more for the victories won by faith alone, over ignorance,\nvice, and barbarism, than for the victories won by the rifle and sword,\nhowever just the cause may be in which these weapons are used.\n\nFor years past the idea has been gaining force in the public mind, both\nin the colonies and at home, that ultimately England would annex New\nGuinea.  To any careful student of our history for the last century, it\nmay appear strange that we have not done so long before.  Our practice in\nthe past has been to annex first, and to find reasons for it afterwards.\nTo others, the very fact that even now the extremest step is only to\nproclaim a protectorate over a part, may appear to indicate that we are\nnot quite so sure as we have been that annexation is wholly a blessing\neither to us or to the land annexed.\n\nAs already noted, in 1873, Captain Moresby did good service by accurately\nlaying down the coastline of Eastern New Guinea.  In accomplishing this,\nhe discovered that there were several beautiful islands that had hitherto\nbeen considered part of the mainland.  It is best perhaps to give what\nfollowed in his own words:--\n\n   \"The importance of our discoveries led me to consider their bearing on\n   Imperial and Australian interests.  There lay the vast island of New\n   Guinea, dominating the shores of Northern Australia, separated at one\n   point by only twenty miles of coral reef from British possessions,\n   commanding the Torres Straits route, commanding the increasing pearl-\n   shell fisheries, and also the _beche-de-mer_ fishery.  It was also\n   improved by the richness and beauty, and the number of their fine\n   vegetable products--fine timber, the cocoanut, the sago palm, sugar-\n   cane, maize, jute, and various vegetable fibres, fruits and rich\n   grasses--and my conclusion, after weighing all the considerations\n   involved, was, that it was my duty to take formal possession of our\n   discoveries in the name of Her Majesty.  Such a course secured a\n   postponement of occupation by any Power till our Government could\n   consider its own interests, and whilst the acquisition of these\n   islands might commend itself, and my act result in annexation on the\n   one hand, it might be negatived on the other with easy simplicity, by\n   a neglect to confirm it.\"\n\nAccordingly, a cocoanut tree was transformed into a flagstaff, the\nBritish flag was run up, and duly saluted with cheers and volleys, and a\npicture of the proceeding adorns the captain's book as frontispiece.\n\nEver since that time events have tended in the direction of bringing New\nGuinea into closer relations with England.  On the one hand, there has\nbeen the conviction that if we do not annex it some other country will,\nand thus threaten Australia.  Then many Australians have looked upon New\nGuinea as a possible paradise for colonists, and have been eager to\nestablish themselves securely upon its soil.  The attempts in this\ndirection have produced little but disaster to all concerned.\n\nOn the other hand, missionaries feel that there is much to be said on the\nsame side.  Perhaps the opinion of no one man deserves more weight than\nthat of Mr. Chalmers.  We give his views, as he expressed them before the\nprotectorate was proclaimed.\n\n\"This question of the annexation of New Guinea is still creating a good\ndeal of interest, and although at present the Imperial Government,\nthrough Lord Derby, has given its decision against annexation, yet the\nwhole matter must, I have no doubt, be reconsidered, and the island be\neventually annexed.  It is to be hoped the country is not to become part\nof the Australian colonies--a labour land, and a land where loose money\nin the hands of a few capitalists is to enter in and make enormous\nfortunes, sacrificing the natives and everything else.  If the Imperial\nGovernment is afraid of the expense, I think that can easily be avoided.\nAnnex New Guinea, and save it from another power, who might harass our\nAustralian colonies; administer it for the natives, and the whole\nmachinery of government can be maintained by New Guinea, and allow a\nlarge overplus.  We have all the experience of the Dutch in Java; I say,\naccept and improve.\n\n\"It will be said that, as a nation, Britain has never tried to govern\ncommercially, or has not yet made money out of her governing; and why\nshould she now?  She does not want New Guinea.  Why should she go to the\nexpense of governing?  Her colonies may be unsafe with a country of\nsplendid harbours so near in the hands of a foreign power, and the people\nof that country need a strong, friendly, and just power over them, to\nsave them from themselves and from the white man--whose gods are gold and\nland, and to whom the black man is a nuisance to be got rid of as soon as\npossible.  Let Britain for these reasons annex, and from the day of\nannexation New Guinea will pay all her own expenses; the expenses of the\nfirst three years to be paid with compound interest at the end of that\nperiod.\n\n\"Let us begin by recognizing all native rights, and letting it be\ndistinctly understood that we govern for the native races, not the white\nmen, that we are determined to civilize and raise to a higher level of\nhumanity those whom we govern, that our aim will be to do all to defend\nthem and save them from extermination by just humanitarian laws--not the\nlaws of the British nation--but the laws suited for them.  It will not\ntake long for the natives to learn that not only are we great and\npowerful, but we are just and merciful, and we seek their good.\n\n\"That established, I would suggest appointing officers in every district,\nwhose duty it would be to govern through the native chief, and see that\nevery native attended to plantations.  A native planting tea, sugar,\ncoffee, maize, cinchona, etc., to be allowed a bounty, and when returns\narrived to be allowed so much per pound sterling.  All these things to be\nsuperintended by the said officer.\n\n\"Traders would soon swarm, but no one should be allowed to trade with\nnatives directly, but only through the Government.\n\n\"All unoccupied land to belong to the Government, and to be leased to\nthose wishing land.  No native should be allowed to part with land, and\nif desirous to sell, then only to the Government, who would allow him a\nreasonable price.  Every land transaction to be made through Government;\nno land to be sold, only leased.\n\n\"The land revenue will be immense, and after paying all expenses, will\nleave much for improvements and the education of the people.  Stringent\nlaws passed directly annexation takes place to prevent importation of\narms and spirits will be a true safeguard for the natives.\n\n\"As a nation, let Britain, in the zenith of her power and greatness,\nthink kindly of the native races, and now for once in her history rule\nthis great island for right and righteousness, in justice and mercy, and\nnot for self and pelf in unrighteousness, blood, and falsehood.  It is to\nbe hoped that future generations of New Guinea natives will not rise up\nto condemn her, as the New Zealanders have done, and to claim their\nancient rights with tears now unheeded.  I can see along the vista of the\nfuture, truth and righteousness in Britain's hands, and the inhabitants\nof New Guinea yet unborn blessing her for her rule; if otherwise, God\nhelp the British meanness, for they will rise to pronounce a curse on her\nfor ever!\"\n\nIn 1883, the Queensland Government _did_ formally annex their huge\nneighbour; but this act was subsequently repudiated by the Home\nGovernment.  Towards the end of 1884, it was decided to announce a formal\nprotectorate over a large portion of the southern shores of New Guinea.\n\n[Boevagi.  Chief of Port Moresby: 19.jpg]\n\nThe official ceremony took place on Nov. 6th, 1884, at Port Moresby.  Five\nships of war at once gave dignity to the proceeding by their presence,\nand astonished the natives by their salutes.  About fifty chiefs were\nbrought on board the Commodore's ship, the _Nelson_, by the Rev. W. G.\nLawes.  To Boevagi, the chief of the Port Moresby tribe, was entrusted\nthe responsibility of upholding the authority and dignity of England in\nthe island.  He was presented with an ebony stick, into the top of which\nhad been let a florin, with the Queen's head uppermost.  Mr. Lawes\nconveyed to Boevagi the meaning of the Commodore's words when he gave the\nstick.  \"I present you with this stick, which is to be an emblem of your\nauthority; and all the tribes who are represented by the chiefs here are\nto look to the holder of this stick.  Boevagi, this stick represents the\nQueen of England, and if at any time any of the people of these tribes\nhave any grievance or anything to say, they are, through the holder of\nthis stick, to make it known to the Queen's officers, in order that it\nmay be inquired into.\"\n\nThe formal protectorate was announced in the following terms:--\n\n\"To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting:--Whereas it has\nbecome essential for the lives and properties of the native inhabitants\nof New Guinea, and for the purpose of preventing the occupation of\nportions of that country by persons whose proceedings, unsanctioned by\nany lawful authority, might tend to injustice, strife, and bloodshed, and\nwho, under the pretence of legitimate trade and intercourse, might\nendanger the liberties and possess themselves of the lands of such native\ninhabitants, that a British protectorate should be established over a\ncertain portion of such country and the islands adjacent thereto; and\nwhereas Her Majesty, having taken into her gracious consideration the\nurgent necessity of her protection to such inhabitants, has directed me\nto proclaim such protection in a formal manner at this place,--now I,\nJames Elphinstone Erskine, Captain in the Royal Navy and Commodore of the\nAustralian Station, one of Her Majesty's naval aides-de-camp, do hereby,\nin the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty, declare and proclaim the\nestablishment of such protectorate over such portions of the coast and\nthe adjacent islands as is more particularly described in the schedule\nhereunto annexed; and I hereby proclaim and declare that no acquisition\nof land, whensoever or howsoever acquired, within the limits of the\nprotectorate hereby established will be recognized by Her Majesty; and I\ndo hereby, on behalf of Her Majesty, command and enjoin all persons whom\nit may concern to take notice of this proclamation.\n\n   \"SCHEDULE.\n\n   \"All that portion of the southern shores of New Guinea commencing from\n   the boundary of that portion of the country claimed by the Government\n   of the Netherlands on the 141st meridian of east longitude to East\n   Cape, with all the islands adjacent thereto south of East Cape to\n   Kosmann Island inclusive, together with the islands in the Goschen\n   Straits.\n\n   \"Given on board Her Majesty's ship _Nelson_, at the harbour of Port\n   Moresby, on the 6th day of November, 1884.\"\n\nThe die has thus been cast.  Already rumours that seem to have some\nfoundation are in the air that the protectorate is soon to become\nannexation.  It should be the aim of all to see that, by the force of\npublic opinion, the last portion of the heathen world that has come under\nEnglish protection shall have, as the years pass, many and solid reasons\nfor thanking God that He has so guided its destinies as to unite them to\nour great Empire.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.  EARLY EXPERIENCES.\n\n\nSomerset--Murray Island--Darnley Island--Boera--Moresby--Trip\ninland--Sunday at Port Moresby--Native funeral ceremonies--Tupuselei--Round\nHead--Native salutations--Kerepunu--Teste Island--Hoop-iron as an article\nof commerce--Two teachers landed--A tabooed place--Moresby and Basilisk\nIslands--South Cape--House building--Difficulties with the natives--An\nanxious moment--Thefts--Dancing and cooking--Visit to a native\nvillage--Native shot on the Mayri--Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers in\ndanger--Arrival of the _Ellengowan_.\n\nTowards the close of 1877, Mr. Chalmers and Mr. McFarlane visited New\nGuinea for the purpose of exploring the coast, landing native teachers at\nsuitable spots, and thus opening the way for future missionary effort.\nWhat follows is given in Mr. Chalmers's words:--\n\nWe left Sydney by the Dutch steamer _William M'Kinnon_, on September\n20th, 1877, for Somerset.  The sail inside the Barrier Reef is most\nenjoyable.  The numerous islands passed, and the varied coast scenery\nmake the voyage a very pleasant one--especially with such men as our\ncaptain and mates.  On Sunday, the 30th, we reached Somerset, where we\nwere met by the _Bertha_, with Mr. McFarlane on board of her.  Mr.\nMcFarlane was soon on board of the steamer to welcome us, and remained\nwith us till the evening.  There was very little of the Sabbath observed\nthat day--all was bustle and confusion.  Quite a number of the\npearl-shelling boats were at Somerset awaiting the arrival of the\nsteamer, and the masters of these boats were soon on and around the\nsteamer receiving their goods.\n\nOn Tuesday, October 2nd, we left Somerset in the _Bertha_, for Murray\nIsland, anchoring that night off Albany.  On Wednesday night, we anchored\noff a sandbank, and on Thursday, off a miserable-looking island, called\nVillage Island.  On Friday, we came to York Island, where we went ashore\nand saw only four natives--one man and three boys.  At eleven p.m. on\nSaturday, we anchored at Darnley Island.  This is a fine island, and more\nsuitable for vessels and landing goods than Murray, but supposed to be\nnot so healthy.  The island is about five hundred feet in height, in some\nparts thickly wooded, in others bare.  It was here the natives cut off a\nboat's crew about thirty years ago, for which they suffered--the captain\nlanding with part of his crew, well-armed, killing many and chasing them\nright round the island.  They never again attempted anything of the kind.\nAs a native of the island expressed himself on the subject:--\"White\nfellow, he too much make fright, man he all run away, no want see white\nfellow gun no more.\"  In 1871, the first teachers were landed here.\n\nThe Sunday morning was fine, and we resolved to spend a quiet forenoon on\nshore.  We landed after breakfast, and walked through what must be in wet\nweather a deep swamp, to the mission house on the hill.  Gucheng, the\nLoyalty islander, who is teacher here, looks a good determined fellow.\nThe people seem to live not far from the mission house, so did not take\nlong to assemble.  There were about eighty at the service, including a\nfew Australians employed by one of the white men on the island to fish\nfor trepang.  The Darnley islanders appear a much more interesting people\nthan the Australians.  Many of those present at the service were clothed.\nThey sang very well indeed such hymns as \"Come to Jesus,\" \"Canaan, bright\nCanaan,\" which, with some others, have been translated into their\nlanguage.  Mr. McFarlane addressed them, through the teacher, and the\npeople seemed to attend to what was said.\n\nBecause of a strong head wind, we could not leave the next day, so Mr.\nMcFarlane and I returned to the shore.  We found the children collected\nin Gucheng's house, learning to write the letters on slates.  There were\nvery few girls present--indeed, there are not many girls on the island,\nso many have been destroyed by their fathers at birth.  We strolled about\nand visited the large cocoanut plantation belonging to the society.  On\nour return we found the teacher and a number of natives collected near\nthe beach.  They had just buried a man who had died the night before--so\nChristian burial has begun.  Formerly, the body would have been hung up\nand tapped, to allow the juices to run out, which would have been drunk\nby the friends.  We returned to the mission house for dinner.  I was glad\nto find so many boys living with Gucheng.  They were bright, happy little\nfellows, romping about, enjoying themselves.\n\nWe did not get away from Darnley Island till the morning of Wednesday,\nthe 10th.  The navigation between Darnley and Murray Islands is\ndifficult, arising from various reefs and currents.  Although only twenty-\nseven miles separate the two, it was Friday night before we anchored at\nMurray Island.  We went ashore the same night.\n\nOn Saturday, we climbed to the highest point of the island, seven hundred\nfeet high.  There seems to be no lack of food, chiefly grown inland.  From\nthe long drought, the island presented in many places a parched look, and\nlacked that luxuriance of vegetation to which we had been so long\naccustomed on Rarotonga.\n\nAt the forenoon meeting on Sunday there were nearly two hundred present.\nMr. McFarlane preached.  A few had a little clothing on them; some seemed\nattentive, but the most seemed to consider the occasion a fit time for\nrelating the week's news, or of commenting on the strangers present.  The\nSabbath is observed by church attendance and a cessation from work.  There\nis not much thieving on the island; they are an indolent people.  The\nschool is well attended by old and young, and Josiah, the teacher, has\nquite a number of children living with him.  They sing very well.\n\nSeveral of the old men here wear wigs.  It seems when grey hairs appear\nthey are carefully pulled out; as time moves on they increase so fast\nthat they would require to shave the head often, so, to cover their\nshame, they take to wigs, which represent them as having long, flowing,\ncurly hair, as in youth.  Wigs would not astonish the Murray islanders,\nas Mr. Nott's did the Tahitians after his return from England.  They soon\nspread the news round the island that their missionary had had his head\nnewly thatched, and looked a young man again.\n\nOn Monday, the teachers' goods and mission supplies were put on board the\n_Bertha_.  On Tuesday afternoon, after everything was on board, a\nfarewell service was held with the teachers, and early on Wednesday\nmorning we left Murray Island for New Guinea.  On Friday, we made New\nGuinea, off Yule Island, and about sunset on October 21st we anchored\nabout five miles off Boera.  Near to the place where we anchored was a\nlow swampy ground covered with mangrove.  We could see Lealea, where\nthere has been so much sickness.  It presented the same low, swampy,\nunhealthy appearance.  Soon after we anchored a canoe came alongside with\nMr. Lawes and Piri on board.  Mr. Lawes did not seem so strong as I\nremembered him eleven years ago, yet he looked better than I had expected\nto see him.  He has suffered greatly from the climate.  Piri is a strong,\nhearty fellow; the climate seems to have had little effect on him.  They\nremained some time on board, when they went ashore in the vessel's\nboat--Piri taking the teachers and their wives ashore with him.  The wind\nwas ahead, and too strong for the canoe, so the men who came off in her\nwith Mr. Lawes and Piri remained on board the _Bertha_ till midnight,\nwhen the wind abated.  When the boat was leaving, they shouted to Mr.\nLawes to tell us not to be afraid, as they would not steal anything.  They\nremained quietly on board till two a.m.\n\nMr. McFarlane and I went ashore in the morning.  The country looked bare\nand not at all inviting.  This is now the most western mission station on\nNew Guinea proper.  Piri has a very comfortable house, with a plantation\nnear to it.  The chapel, built principally by himself and wife, is small,\nbut comfortable, and well suited for the climate.  The children meet in\nit for school.  The village has a very dirty, tumbledown appearance.\n\nThe widows of two teachers who died last year shortly after their arrival\nin the mission were living with Piri.  We took them on board, with their\nthings, to accompany us to the new mission.  I returned ashore with the\nboat to fetch away the remainder of the things and teachers who were\nashore, and when ready to return found the vessel too far off to fetch\nher, so, after pulling for some time, we up sail and away for Port\nMoresby.  Piri and his wife came with us in their large canoe.  We saw\nseveral dugongs on the way, which some esteem extra good food.  Tom, one\nof the Loyalty Island teachers, who was in the boat with us, expressed\ntheir edible qualities thus: \"You know, sir, pig, he good.\"  \"Yes, Tom,\nit is very good.\"  \"Ah, he no good; dugong, he much good.\"  It must be\ngood when a native pronounces it to be better than pork.\n\nWe arrived at Port Moresby about six o'clock.  I cannot say I was much\ncharmed with the place, it had such a burnt-up, barren appearance.  Close\nto the village is a mangrove swamp, and the whole bay is enclosed with\nhigh hills.  At the back of the mission premises, and close to them, is a\nlarge swampy place, which in wet weather is full of water.  There can be\nno doubt about Port Moresby being a very unhealthy place.  We went ashore\nfor breakfast next day, and in the afternoon visited the school; about\nforty children were present--an unusually large number.  Many of the\nchildren know the alphabet, and a few can spell words of two or three\nletters.  In walking through the village in the afternoon we saw the\nwomen making their crockery pots, preparing for the men's return from the\nGulf, the next north-west season, with large quantities of sago.  We\nvisited the graves of the teachers, which are kept in good order.  They\nare all enclosed by a good fence.  Within the same enclosure is one\nlittle grave that will bind New Guinea close to the hearts of Mr. and\nMrs. Lawes.  Over them all may be written--\"For Christ's sake.\"\n\nIn returning from the graves, we met a man in mourning, whose wife had\nbeen killed in a canoe by natives about Round Head.  He and his friends\nhad resolved to retaliate, but through the influence of the teachers they\ndid not do so.  The teachers from the villages to the east of Port\nMoresby came in this afternoon, looking well and hearty.  Some of them\nhave suffered a good deal from fever and ague, but are now becoming\nacclimatized.  The natives of the various villages are not now afraid of\none another, but accompany their teachers from place to place.  Men,\nwomen, and children smoke, and will do anything for tobacco.  The best\npresent you can give them is tobacco; it is the one thing for which they\nbeg.\n\nAs it was decided that the vessel should not leave before Tuesday of the\nnext week, Mr. McFarlane and I took a trip inland.  I was anxious to see\nfor myself if anything could be done for the natives living in the\nmountains.  Mr. Goldie, a naturalist, with his party, was about ten miles\ninland.  He himself had been at Port Moresby for some days, and, on\nhearing of our plans, he joined us, and we proceeded first to his camp.\nWe left Port Moresby about half-past five on Thursday morning, and\ncrossed the low ground at the back of the mission house.  We ascended the\nhill which runs all along the coast in this district at a part about\nthree hundred feet high, and then descended into a great plain.  At\npresent the plain is dry and hard, from the long drought, and very little\nof anything green is to be seen.  There are a few small gum-trees, and\ngreat herds of wallabies were jumping about.  The greater part of this\nplain is under water in the wet seasons.  We walked about ten miles in an\neast-north-east direction, keeping the Astrolabe Range to our right, when\nwe came to the camp, close by a large river--the Laroki.  Being afraid of\nalligators, we preferred having water poured over us to bathing in the\nriver.\n\nOur party was a tolerably large one--Ruatoka (the Port Moresby teacher),\nsome Port Moresby natives, and four Loyalty Island teachers, on their way\nto East Cape.  We did not see a strange native all the way.  We had our\nhammocks made fast in the bush by the river side, and rested until three\np.m., when we started for another part of the river about seven miles\noff, in a south-east direction.  Mr. Goldie also shifted his camp.  After\nsunset we reached the point where the river was to be crossed, and there\nwe meant to remain for the night.\n\nWe had a bath, then supper, and evening prayers; after which we slung our\nhammocks to the trees, in which we rested well.  It was a strangely weird-\nlooking sight, and the noises were of a strange kind--wallabies leaping\npast, and strange birds overhead.  Mr. Goldie's Mare men joined with\ntheir countrymen, the teachers, in singing some of Sankey's hymns in\nEnglish.  Soon sleep came, and all seemed quiet.\n\nAt three a.m. of the 26th we struck camp, and after morning prayers we\nbegan to cross the river, which was not over four feet in the deepest\npart.  It was here Mr. Lawes crossed when he first visited the inland\ntribes; so now, led by Ruatoka, we were on his track.  The moon was often\nhidden by dark clouds, so we had some difficulty in keeping to the path.\nWe pressed on, as we were anxious to get to a deserted village which Mr.\nGoldie knew to breakfast.  We reached the village about six, and after we\nhad partaken of breakfast we set off for the mountains.  When we had gone\nabout four miles the road became more uneven.  Wallabies were not to be\nseen, and soon we were in a valley close by the river, which we followed\nfor a long way, and then began to ascend.  We climbed it under a burning\nsun, Ruatoka calling out, _Tepiake_, _tepiake_, _tepiake_ (Friends,\nfriends, friends).  Armed natives soon appeared on the ridge, shouting,\n_Misi Lao_, _Misi Lao_.  Ruatoka called back, _Misi Lao_ (Mr. Lawes), and\nall was right--spears were put away and they came to meet us, escorting\nus to a sort of reception-room, where we all squatted, glad to get in the\nshade from the sun.  We were now about 1100 feet above the sea level.  We\nwere surprised to see their houses built on the highest tree-tops they\ncould find on the top of the ridge.  One of the teachers remarked, \"Queer\nfellows these; not only do they live on the mountain tops, but they must\nselect the highest trees they can find for their houses.\"  We were very\nsoon friends; they seemed at ease, some smoking tobacco, others chewing\nbetel-nuts.  I changed my shirt, and when those near me saw my white skin\nthey raised a shout that soon brought the others round.  Bartering soon\nbegan--taro, sugar-cane, sweet yams, and water were got in exchange for\ntobacco, beads, and cloth.\n\nAfter resting about two hours, we proceeded to the next village, five\nmiles further along the ridge.  Some of our party were too tired to\naccompany us; they remained where we expected to camp for the night.\nAfter walking some miles, we came unexpectedly on some natives.  As soon\nas they saw us they rushed for their spears, and seemed determined to\ndispute our way.  By a number of signs--touching our chins with our right\nhands, etc.--they understood we were not foes, so they soon became\nfriendly.  They had their faces blackened with soot, plumbago, and gum,\nand then sprinkled over with white; their mouths and teeth were in a\nterrible mess from chewing the betel-nut.  On our leaving them, they\nshouted on to the next village.  An old man lay outside on the platform\nof the next house we came to; he looked terribly frightened as we\napproached him, but as, instead of injuring him, we gave him a present,\nhe soon rallied, and got us water to drink.  By-and-by a few gathered\nround.  We understood them to say the most of the people were away on the\nplains hunting for wallabies.  One young woman had a net over her\nshoulders and covering her breasts, as a token of mourning--an\nimprovement on their ordinary attire, which is simply a short grass\npetticoat--the men _nil_.\n\nAfter a short stay, we returned to where we thought of camping for the\nnight, but for want of water we went on to the village we had visited in\nthe forenoon.  We slung our hammocks in the reception room, had supper,\nand turned in for the night.  It felt bleak and cold, and the narrowness\nof the ridge made us careful, even in our sleep, lest we should fall out\nand over.  On coming across the highest peak in the afternoon, we had a\nmagnificent view of Mount Owen Stanley, with his two peaks rising far\naway above the other mountains by which he is surrounded.  It must have\nbeen about thirty miles off, and, I should think, impossible to reach\nfrom where we were.  We were entirely surrounded by mountains: mountains\nnorth, east, south, and west--above us and below us.  I question if it\nwill ever be a country worth settling in.\n\nWe were anxious to spend the Sabbath at Port Moresby, so, leaving the\nmost of our party, who were too tired to come with us, to rest till\nMonday, Mr. McFarlane, Ruatoka, and I set off on our return very early on\nSaturday morning, and had strangely difficult work in getting down the\nmountain side and along the river.  Fireflies danced all round in\nhundreds, and we awakened many strange birds before their time, which\ngave forth a note or two, only to sleep again.  Before daylight, we were\nat Mr. Goldie's camp, where we had breakfast, and hurried on for the\nriver.  We rested a short time there, and then away over plains to Port\nMoresby, which we reached about midday, tired indeed and very footsore.\nOh, that shoemakers had only to wear the boots they send to missionaries!\n\nEarly on Sunday morning, a great many natives went out with their spears,\nnets, and dogs, to hunt wallabies.  A goodly number attended the forenoon\nservice, when Mr. Lawes preached.  A good many strangers were present\nfrom an inland village on the Astrolabe side.  There is not yet much\nobservance of the Sabbath.  Poi, one of the chief men of the place, is\nvery friendly: he kept quite a party of his inland friends from hunting,\nand brought them to the services.  Mr. Lawes preached again in the\nafternoon.  As we went to church in the afternoon the hunters were\nreturning: they had evidently had a successful day's hunting.  During the\nday a canoe came in from Hula, laden with old cocoanuts, which were\ntraded for pottery.\n\nIn the evening, an old sorceress died, and great was the wailing over her\nbody.  She was buried on the Monday morning, just opposite the house in\nwhich she had lived.  A grave was dug two feet deep, and spread over with\nmats, on which the corpse was laid.  Her husband lay on the body, in the\ngrave, for some time, and, after some talking to the departed spirit, got\nup, and lay down by the side of the grave, covered with a mat.  About\nmidday, the grave was covered over with the earth, and friends sat on it\nweeping.  The relatives of the dead put on mourning by blackening their\nbodies all over, and besmearing them with ashes.\n\nOn the 31st, the _Bertha_ left for Kerepunu.  As I was anxious to see all\nthe mission stations along the coast between Port Moresby and Kerepunu, I\nremained, to accompany Mr. Lawes in the small schooner _Mayri_.  We left\non the following day, and sailed down the coast inside the reef.  We\narrived at Tupuselei about midday.  There were two teachers here, and Mr.\nLawes having decided to remove one, we got him on board, and sailed for\nKaili.  The villages of Tupuselei and Kaili are quite in the sea.  I fear\nthey are very unhealthy--mangroves and low swampy ground abound.  The\nAstrolabe Range is not far from the shore we were sailing along all day.\nThere is a fine bold coast line, with many bays.\n\nIn the early morning, our small vessel of only seven tons was crowded\nwith natives.  We left the vessel about nine a.m. for a walk inland,\naccompanied by a number of natives, who all went to their houses for\ntheir arms before they would leave their village.  They have no faith\nwhatever in one another.  We passed through a large swamp covered with\nmangroves--then into a dense tropical bush, passing through an extensive\ngrove of sago palms and good-sized mango trees.  The mangoes were\nsmall--about the size of a plum--and very sweet.  At some distance inland\nI took up a peculiar-looking seed; one of the natives, thinking I was\ngoing to eat it, very earnestly urged me to throw it away, and with signs\ngave me to understand that if I ate it I should swell out to an enormous\nsize, and die.\n\nWe walked about seven miles through bush, and then began the ascent of\none of the spurs of the Astrolabe.  On nearing the inland village for\nwhich we were bound, the natives became somewhat afraid, and the leader\nstopped, and, turning to Mr. Lawes, asked him if he would indeed not kill\nany of the people.  He was assured all was right, and then he moved on a\nfew paces, to stop again, and re-inquire if all was right.  When\nreassured, we all went on, not a word spoken by any one, and so in\nsilence we entered the village.  When we were observed, spears began\nrattling in the houses; but our party shouted, _Maino_, _maino_ (Peace,\npeace), _Misi Lao_, _Misi Lao_.  The women escaped through the trap-doors\nin the floors of their houses, and away down the side of the hill into\nthe bush.  We reached the chief's house, and there remained.\n\nThe people soon regained confidence, and came round us, wondering greatly\nat the first white men they had ever seen in their village.  The women\nreturned from their flight, and began to cook food, which, when ready,\nthey brought to us, and of which we all heartily partook.  We gave them\npresents, and they would not suffer us to depart till they had brought us\na return present of uncooked food.  They are a fine, healthy-looking\npeople, lighter than those on the coast.  Many were in deep mourning, and\nfrightfully besmeared.  There are a number of villages close by, on the\nvarious ridges.  We returned by a different way, following the bed of\nwhat must be in the rainy season a large river.  The banks were in many\nplaces from eight to nine feet high.\n\nOn the following morning, November 3rd, we weighed anchor and set sail,\npassing Kapakapa, a double village in the sea.  The houses are large and\nwell built.  There are numerous villages on the hills at the back of it,\nand not too far away to be visited.  We anchored off Round Head, which\ndoes not, as represented on the charts, rise boldly from the sea.  There\nis a plain between two and three miles broad between the sea and the hill\ncalled Round Head.  There are many villages on the hills along this part\nof the coast.  We anchored close to the shore.  A number of natives were\non the beach, but could not be induced to visit us on board.  We went\nashore to them after dinner.  They knew Mr. Lawes by name only, and\nbecame more easy when he assured them that he was really and truly _Misi\nLao_.  They professed friendship by calling out, _Maino_, _maino_,\ncatching hold of their noses, and pointing to their stomachs.  After a\nlittle time, two ventured to accompany Mr. Lawes on board, and received\npresents.  I remained ashore astonishing others by striking matches, and\nshowing off my arms and chest.  The women were so frightened that they\nall kept at a respectful distance.  These are the natives from an inland\nvillage that killed a Port Moresby native about the beginning of the\nyear.  When those who accompanied Mr. Lawes on board the _Mayri_ returned\nto the shore, they were instantly surrounded by their friends, who seized\nthe presents and made off.  They had received fish, biscuit, and taro.\nThe taro and fish were smelt all over, and carefully examined before\neaten.  The biscuit was wrapped up again in the paper.\n\nOn Sunday, the 4th, we were beating down through innumerable reefs, and\nat eight p.m. we anchored about three miles from Hula.  The following\nmorning we went up to the village, the _Mayri_ anchoring close by the\nhouses.  The country about here looks fine and green, a very striking\ncontrast to that around Port Moresby.  The further east we get from Port\nMoresby, the finer the country looks.  The people are also superior--finer-\nmade men and women, and really pretty boys and girls--more, altogether,\nlike our eastern South Sea Islanders.  The married women spoil their\nlooks by keeping their heads shaved.  They seem fond of their children:\nmen and women nurse them.  They were busy preparing their large canoes to\nvisit Port Moresby, on the return of the Port Moresby canoes from the\nwest with sago.\n\nAbout three in the afternoon, an old woman made her appearance at the\ndoor of the mission house, bawling out, \"Well, what liars these Hula\npeople are; some of them were inland this morning, and the chief asked\nthem if _Misi Lao_ had come, and they said no.\"  The chief, who saw the\nvessel from the hill top where his village is, thought it strange the\nvessel should be there without _Misi Lao_, so sent this woman to learn\nthe truth.  She received a present for herself and the chief, and went\naway quite happy.\n\nNext morning, November 6th, we left Hula with a fair wind, and were\nanchored close to Kerepunu by nine o'clock.  The _Bertha_ was anchored\nfully two miles off.  Kerepunu is a magnificent place, and its people are\nvery fine-looking.  It is one large town of seven districts, with fine\nhouses, all arranged in streets, crotons and other plants growing about,\nand cockatoos perching in front of nearly every house.  One part of the\npopulation plant, another fish, and the planters buy the fish with their\nproduce.  Men, women, and children are all workers; they go to their\nplantations in the morning and return to their homes in the evening, only\nsick ones remaining at home; thus accounting for the number of scrofulous\npeople we saw going about when we first landed.  They have a rule, to\nwhich they strictly adhere all the year round, of working for two days\nand resting the third.\n\nThe _Bertha_ arrived here on Friday evening.  Mrs. Chalmers was at the\nforenoon service on the Sunday, and found there a large congregation.  The\nservice was held on the platform of one of the largest houses.  Anedered\npreached, a number sitting on the platform, others in the house, others\non the ground all round, and many at the doors of their own houses, where\nthey could hear all that was said.\n\nMr. Lawes decided to remain at Kerepunu to revise for the press a small\nbook Anedered has been preparing, and to follow us to Teste Island in the\n_Ellengowan_.  We left Kerepunu on the morning of November 8th, the\n_Mayri_ leaving at the same time, to sail down inside the surf.  We went\nright out to sea, so as to beat down, had fine weather, and were off\nTeste Island by the 16th.  After dinner we took the boat, and with the\ncaptain went in on the east side of the island through the reef, to sound\nand find anchorage.\n\nWhen we reached the lagoon, a catamaran with three natives on it came off\nto us.  We asked for Koitan, the chief, which at once gave them\nconfidence in us, so that they came alongside, one getting into the boat.\nHe expressed his friendship to us in the usual way, viz. by touching his\nnose and stomach, and, being very much excited, seized hold of Mr.\nMcFarlane and rubbed noses with him, doing the same to me.  He received a\npresent of a piece of hoop-iron and some red braid, which greatly pleased\nhim.  We found the water was deep enough over the reef for the vessel,\nand good anchorage inside.  We went on to the village, to see about the\nsupply of water.\n\nThe people were very friendly, and crowded round us.  We were led up to a\nplatform in front of one of their large houses, and there seated and\nregaled with cocoanuts.  The natives here are much darker than are those\nat Kerepunu; most of them suffer from a very offensive-looking skin\ndisease, which causes the skin to peel off in scales.  In their\nconversation with one another I recognized several Polynesian words.  The\nwater is obtained by digging in the sand, and is very brackish.\n\nWe came to anchor next morning, and soon were surrounded with canoes, and\nour deck swarmed with natives trading their curios, yams, cocoanuts, and\nfish for beads and hoop-iron.  Many were swearing friendship, and\nexchanging names with us, in hopes of getting hoop-iron.  There is as\ngreat a demand for hoop-iron here as for tobacco at Port Moresby.  They\ntold us they disliked fighting, but delighted in the dance, betel-nut,\nand sleep.  The majority have jet black teeth, which they consider very\nbeautiful, and all have their noses and ears pierced, with various sorts\nof nose and ear rings, chiefly made from shell, inserted.  A crown piece\ncould easily be put through the lobe of their ears.\n\nWe went ashore in the afternoon.  There are three villages, all close to\none another.  Their houses are built on poles, and are shaped like a\ncanoe turned bottom upwards, others like one in the water.  They ornament\ntheir houses on the outside with cocoanuts and shells.  The nabobs of the\nplace had skulls on the posts of their houses, which they said belonged\nto the enemies they had killed and eaten.  One skull was very much\nfractured; they told us it was done with a stone axe, and showed us how\nthey used these weapons.\n\nWe tried to explain to them that no one was to come to the vessel the\nnext day, as it was a sacred day.  In the early morning, some canoes came\noff to trade, but we sent them ashore; a few more followed about\nbreakfast-time, which were also sent ashore.  In the afternoon, our old\nfriend of the preceding day came off, with his wife and two sons.  He\ncalled out that he did not wish to come on board, but that he had brought\nsome cooked food.  We accepted his present, and he remained with his\nfamily in his canoe alongside the vessel for some time, and then went\nquietly ashore.  We had three services on board, one in the forenoon in\nLifuan, in the afternoon in Rarotongan, and in the evening in English.\n\nAs Teste Island is about twenty miles from the mainland, with a dead beat\nto it, I decided to seek for a position more accessible to New Guinea,\nand as I had not a teacher to spare for this little island, Mr. McFarlane\ndecided to leave two of the Loyalty Island teachers here.  It is fertile,\nand appears healthy, is two and a half miles long, and half a mile broad.\nA ridge of hills runs right through its centre from east-north-east to\nwest-south-west.  The natives have some fine plantations on the north\nside, and on the south and east sides they have yam plantations to the\nvery tops of the hills.  There are plantations and fruit-trees all round\nthe island.\n\nOn Monday, I accompanied Mr. McFarlane when he went ashore to make\narrangements to land his teachers and secure a house for them.  The\npeople seemed pleased that some of our party would remain with them.  Mr.\nMcFarlane at once chose a house on a point of land a good way from our\nlanding-place, and at the end of the most distant village.  The owner was\nwilling to give up the house until the teachers could build one for\nthemselves, so it was at once taken and paid for.  We came along to our\nold friend's place near the landing, when we were told that the house\ntaken was a very bad one.  In the first place, the position was\nunhealthy; in the second, that was the point where their enemies from\nBasilaki (Moresby Island) always landed when they came to fight, and the\npeople could not protect the teachers if so far off when their foes came.\nAll agreed in this, and a fine new house which had never been occupied\nwas offered and taken, the same price being paid for it as for the other\none.  This house is close to the landing-place, and in the midst of the\npeople.  The owner of the first house offered to return the things, but\nwe thought it would not be ruinous to let him keep them, their English\nvalue being about ten shillings.\n\nWe passed a tabooed place, or rather would have done so had we not been\nforced to take a circuitous path to the bush.  None of the natives spoke\nas we passed the place, nor till we were clear of it; they made signs\nalso to us to be silent.  A woman had died there lately, and the friends\nwere still mourning.  There had been no dancing in the settlement since\nthe death, nor would there be any for some days to come.\n\nI think women are more respected here than they are in some other heathen\nlands.  They seem to keep fast hold of their own possessions.  A man\nstole an ornament belonging to his wife, and sold it for hoop-iron on\nboard the _Bertha_.  When he went ashore he was met on the beach by his\nspouse, who had in the meantime missed her trinket; she assailed him with\ntongue, stick, and stone, and demanded the hoop-iron.\n\nThe teachers were landed in the afternoon, and were well received.  The\nnatives all promised to care for them, and treat them kindly.  There are\nabout two hundred and fifty natives on the island.  No _Ellengowan_\nappearing, we determined to leave this on Wednesday, the 21st, and to\nproceed to Moresby Island.  Next morning we left, but, owing to light\nwinds, we did not anchor in Hoop-Iron Bay, off Moresby Island, till the\nmorning of the 22nd.  The anchorage here is in an open roadstead.  It is\na very fine island--the vegetation from the water's edge right up to the\nmountain tops.  Plantations are to be seen all round.  The people live in\nsmall detached companies, and are not so pleasant and friendly-looking a\npeople as are the Teste islanders.  This is the great Basilaki, and the\nnatives are apparently the deadly foes of all the islanders round.  Before\nwe anchored, we were surrounded by catamarans (three small logs lashed\ntogether) and canoes--spears in them all.\n\nMr. McFarlane decided, as soon as we came to the island, that he would\nnot land his teachers here; and I did not consider it a suitable place as\na head station for New Guinea.  We left Moresby Island at six a.m. on the\n23rd inst., and beat through Fortescue Straits, between Moresby and\nBasilisk Islands.  The scenery was grand--everything looked so fresh and\ngreen, very different from the deathlike appearance of Port Moresby and\nvicinity.  The four teachers were close behind us, in their large whale-\nboat, with part of their things.  On getting out of the Straits, we saw\nEast Cape; but, as there was no anchorage there, we made for Killerton\nIsland, about ten miles from the Cape.  The wind being very light, it was\neight p.m. before we anchored: the boat got up an hour after us.  There\nwas apparently great excitement ashore; lights were moving about in all\ndirections, but none came to us.  In the morning, a catamaran with two\nboys ventured alongside of us; they got a present, and went away\nshouting.  Soon we were surrounded with catamarans and canoes, with three\nor four natives in each.  They had no spears with them, nor did they kill\na dog on our quarter-deck, as they did on that of the _Basilisk_.  They\nappeared quite friendly, and free from shyness.  They brought their\ncurios to barter for beads, red cloth, and the much-valued hoop-iron.  The\nwhole country looked productive and beautiful.  After breakfast, we went\nashore, and were led through swampy ground to see the water.  On our\nreturn to the shore, we went in search of a position for the mission\nsettlement, but could not get one far enough away from the swamp, so we\ntook the boat and sailed a mile or two nearer the Cape, where we found an\nexcellent position near a river.  Mr. McFarlane obtained a fine new house\nfor the teachers, in which they are to remain till they get a house\nbuilt.  We took all the teachers' goods ashore, which the natives helped\nto carry to the house.  One man, who considered himself well dressed,\nkept near us all day.  He had a pair of trousers, minus a leg: he\nfastened the body of the trousers round his head, and let the leg fall\ngracefully down his back.\n\nOn the following morning, two large canoes--twenty paddles in each--came\nin from somewhere about Milne Bay.  They remained for some time near the\nshore, getting all the news they could about us from the shore-folk; then\nthe leader amongst them stood up and caught his nose, and pointed to his\nstomach--we doing the same.  The large canoes went ashore, and the chief\ncame off to us in a small one.  We gave him a present, which greatly\npleased him.  After breakfast, we went ashore to hold a service with the\nteachers.  We met under a large tree, near their house.  About six\nhundred natives were about us, and all round outside of the crowd were\nmen armed with spears and clubs.  Mr. McFarlane preached.  When the first\nhymn was being sung, a number of women and children got up and ran into\nthe bush.  The service was short; at its close we sat down and sang\nhymns, which seemed to amuse them greatly.  The painted and armed men\nwere not at all pleasant-looking fellows.\n\nAt two in the morning (Monday), we weighed anchor and returned to Moresby\nIsland.  The wind was very light, and we had to anchor at the entrance to\nFortescue Straits.  Next morning, we sailed through the Straits, and, on\ncoming out on the opposite side, we were glad to see the _Bertha_ beating\nabout there.  By noon we were on board the _Bertha_, and off for South\nCape, the _Mayri_ going to Teste Island with a letter, telling the\ncaptain of the _Ellengowan_ to follow us, and also to see if the teachers\nwere all right.\n\nBy evening we were well up to South Cape.  The captain did not care to\nget too near that night, and stood away till morning.  About ten next\nmorning I accompanied the captain in the boat, to sound and look for\nanchorage, which we found in twenty-two fathoms, near South-West Point.\nBy half-past fire that evening we anchored.  The excitement ashore was\ngreat, and before the anchor was really down we were surrounded by\ncanoes.  As a people, they are small and puny, and much darker than the\nEastern Polynesians.  They were greatly excited over Pi's baby, a fine\nplump little fellow, seven months old, who, beside them, seemed a white\nchild.  Indeed, all they saw greatly astonished them.  Canoes came off to\nus very early in the morning.  About half-past seven, when we were ready\nto go ashore, there arose great consternation amongst the natives.  Three\nlarge war canoes, with conch-shells blowing, appeared off the mainland\nand paddled across the Mayri Straits.  Soon a large war canoe appeared\nnear the vessel.  A great many small canoes from various parts of the\nmainland were ordered off by those on whose side we were anchored.  They\nhad to leave.  On their departure a great shout was raised by the\nvictorious party, and in a short time all returned quietly to their\nbartering.  It seemed that the Stacy Islanders wished to keep all the\nbartering to themselves.  They did not wish the rest to obtain hoop-iron\nor any other foreign wealth.  They are at feud with one party on the\nmainland, and I suppose in their late contests have been victorious, for\nthey told us with great exultation that they had lately killed and eaten\nten of their enemies from the mainland.\n\nAbout nine, we went ashore near the anchorage.  I crossed the island to\nthe village, but did not feel satisfied as to the position.  One of our\nguides to the village wore, as an armlet, the jawbone of a man from the\nmainland he had killed and eaten; others strutted about with human bones\ndangling from their hair, and about their necks.  It is only the village\nTepauri on the mainland with which they are unfriendly.  We returned to\nthe boat, and sailed along the coast.  On turning a cape, we came to a\npretty village, on a well-wooded point.  The people were friendly, and\nled us to see the water, of which there is a good supply.  This is the\nspot for which we have been in search as a station for beginning work.  We\ncan go anywhere from here, and are surrounded by villages.  The mainland\nis not more than a gunshot across.  God has led us.  We made arrangements\nfor a house for the teachers; then returned to the vessel.\n\nIn the afternoon, I landed the teachers, their wives, and part of their\ngoods--the people helping to carry the stuff to the house.  The house in\nwhich the teachers are to reside till our own is finished is the largest\nin the place, but they can only get the use of one end of it--the owner,\nwho considers himself the chief man of the place, requiring the other end\nfor himself and family.  The partition between the two ends is only two\nfeet high.  Skulls, shells, and cocoanuts are hung all about the house;\nthe skulls are those of the enemies he and his people have eaten.  Inside\nthe house, hung up on the wall, is a very large collection of human\nbones, bones of animals and of fish.\n\nI selected a spot for our house on the point of land nearest the\nmainland.  It is a large sand hill, and well wooded at the back.  We have\na good piece of land, with bread-fruit and other fruit trees on it, which\nI hope soon to have cleared and planted with food, for the benefit of the\nteachers who may be here awaiting their stations, as well as for the\nteacher for the place.  The frontage is the Straits, with the mainland\nright opposite.  There is a fine anchorage close to the house for vessels\nof any size.\n\nEarly next morning there was great excitement ashore.  The large war\ncanoe came off, with drums beating and men dancing.  They came alongside\nthe _Bertha_, and presented us with a small pig and food.  Then the men\ncame on board and danced.  The captain gave them a return present.  Mr.\nMcFarlane and I went ashore immediately after breakfast, and found that\nthe teachers had been kindly treated.  We gave some natives a few axes,\nwho at once set off to cut wood for the house, and before we returned to\nthe vessel in the evening two posts were up.  As the _Bertha's_ time was\nup, and the season for the trade winds closing, everything was done to\nget on with the house.  Mr. McFarlane worked well.  Two men from the\n_Bertha_, and two from the _Mayri_ joined with the four teachers in the\nwork, and by Tuesday the framework was nearly up.  We landed our things\nthat day, and immediately after breakfast on Wednesday, December 5th, we\nwent ashore to reside; and about ten a.m. the _Bertha_ left.  On the\nTuesday, Mr. McFarlane and I visited several villages on the mainland:\nthree in a deep bay, which must be very unhealthy, from the many swamps\nand high mountains around.  The people appeared friendly, and got very\nexcited over the presents we gave them.\n\nWe got an old foretopsail from the captain, which we rigged up as a tent,\nin which the teachers slept, we occupying their quarters.  We enjoyed a\ngood night's rest.  In early morning the house was surrounded with\nnatives, many of whom were armed.  They must wonder at our staying here:\nthey consider our goods to consist entirely of hoop-iron, axes, knives,\nand arrowroot.  About eleven a.m. the war canoes were launched on the\nopposite side of the water.  The excitement here was then great.  I met a\nlad running with painted skulls to the war canoe of the village.  Soon it\nwas decorated with skulls, shells, cocoanuts, and streamers, and\nlaunched.  Those on the opposite side came out into the deep bay; ours\nremained stationary till the afternoon, when about thirty men got into\nher, and away towards Farm Bay to trade their hoop-iron for sago.\n\nOn Sunday, we met for our usual public services under a large tree, and a\nnumber of natives attended, who of course could not make out what was\nsaid, as they were conducted in Rarotongan.  At our morning and evening\nprayers numbers are always about who seem to enjoy the singing.  We see\nquite a number of strangers every day--some from Brumer Island, Tissot,\nTeste, China Straits, Catamaran Bay, Farm Bay, and other places.  Those\nfrom Vakavaka--a place over by China Straits--are lighter and\nbetter-looking than those here.  The women there do not seem to tattoo\nthemselves.  Here they tattoo themselves all over their faces and bodies,\nand make themselves look very ugly.  I have not seen one large man or\nwoman amongst them all.\n\nWe had much difficulty in getting a sufficient supply of plaited cocoanut\nleaves for the walls and roof of our house.  By the 14th, we had the\nwalls and roof finished, when all our party moved into it.  We had a\ncurtain of unbleached calico put up between the teachers' end and ours,\nand curtains for doors and windows, but were glad to get into it in that\nunfinished state: the weather was breaking, and we felt anxious about the\nteachers sleeping in the tent when it rained, and we had no privacy at\nall where we were, and were tired of squatting on the ground, for we\ncould not get a chair in our part of the house; indeed, the flooring was\nof such a construction that the legs of a chair or table would have soon\ngone through it.  On the 13th, we were busy getting the wood we had cut\nfor the flooring of our house into the sea to be rafted along; got ten\nlarge pieces into the water by breakfast-time.\n\nAfter breakfast, Mrs. Chalmers and I were at the new house, with the\ncaptain of the _Mayri_, when we heard a noise like quarrelling.  On\nlooking out, I saw the natives very excited, and many of them running\nwith spears and clubs towards the house where Mrs. Chalmers, about five\nminutes before, had left the teachers rising from breakfast.  I hastened\nover, and pushed my way amongst the natives till I got to the front,\nwhen, to my horror, I was right in front of a gun aimed by one of the\n_Mayri's_ crew (who had been helping us with the house) at a young man\nbrandishing a spear.  The aim was perfect: had the gun been fired--as it\nwould have been had I not arrived in time--the native would have been\nshot dead.  I pushed the native aside, and ordered the gun to be put\ndown, and turned to the natives, shouting, _Besi_, _besi_! (Enough,\nenough!).  Some of them returned their spears and clubs, but others\nremained threatening.  I spoke to our party against using firearms, and\nthen I caught the youth who was flourishing his spear, and with\ndifficulty got it from him.  Poor fellow, he cried with rage, yet he did\nme no harm.  I clapped him, and got him to go away.  All day he sat under\na tree, which we had frequently to pass, but he would have nothing to say\nto us.  It seems a knife had been stolen, and he being the only one about\nthe house when it was missed, was accused of taking it.  One of the\nteachers was winding line, and he caught the young fellow by the arm to\ninquire about the knife.  The lad thought he was going to be tied up with\nthe line; he struggled, got free, and raised the alarm.\n\nOnly the night before I had to warn the teachers against using firearms\nto alarm or threaten the natives.  An axe was stolen; every place about\nwas searched for it, and for some time without its being found.  At last,\na native found it buried in the sand near where it was last used.  It had\nevidently been hidden there till a favourable opportunity should occur of\ntaking it away.  During the search, the owner of the axe (one of the\nteachers) ran off for his gun, and came rushing over with it.  I ordered\nhim to take it back, and in the evening told them it was only in New\nGuinea that guns were used by missionaries.  It was not so in any other\nmission I knew of, and if we could not live amongst the natives without\narms, we had better remain at home; and if I saw arms used again by them\nfor anything, except birds, or the like, I should have the whole of them\nthrown into the sea.\n\nIn the afternoon of the 14th, I went over to the house in which we had\nbeen staying, to stir up the teachers to get the things over more\nquickly; Mrs. Chalmers remaining at the new house to look after the\nthings there, as, without doors or flooring, everything was exposed.  I\nwent to the seaside to call to the captain of the _Mayri_ to send us the\nboat ashore, when, on looking towards my left, I saw twenty armed natives\nhurrying along.  Though painted, I recognized some of them as those who\nwere very friendly on board the _Bertha_, and spoke to them; but they\nhurried past, frowning and saying something I did not understand.  They\nwent straight on to the chief's house, and surrounded our party.  I\npassed through, and stood in front of them.  One very ugly-looking\ncustomer was brandishing his spear close by me.  It was an anxious\nmoment, and one in which I am sure many would have used firearms.  I\ncalled out to the teachers, \"Remain quiet.\"  Our chief sprung out on to\nthe platform in front of the house and harangued.  He was very excited.\nShortly he called to the teachers, in signs and words, to bring out their\nguns and fire.  They refused.  He then rushed into the house and seized a\ngun, and was making off with it, when one of the teachers caught hold of\nhim.  I, seeing the teacher with the chief, thought something was wrong,\nand went to them.  We quieted him, and did our best to explain to him\nthat we were no fighters, but men of peace.  The babel all round us was\nterrible.  By-and-by a request was made to me to give the chief from the\nother side a present, and get him away.  I said, \"No; had he come in\npeace, and as a chief, I would have given him a present, but I will not\ndo so now.\"  They retired to deliberate, and sent another request for a\npresent.  \"No; no presents to men in arms.  If the chief returns\nto-morrow unarmed, he will get a present.\"  It seems they are vexed with\nour living here instead of with them, because they find those here are\ngetting what they consider very rich by our living with them.  When quiet\nwas restored, we returned to the carrying of our things.  When we came to\nthe last few things, our chief objected to their removal until he got a\nfarewell present.  He had been paid for the use of the house before any\nof us entered it; but we gave him another present, and so finished the\nbusiness.\n\nOur large cross-cut saw was stolen during the hubbub.  It belonged to the\nteachers of East Cape.  It had only been lent to us, so we had to get it\nback.  The next morning the chief from the other side came to see me.  He\nreceived a present, and looked particularly sheepish when I tried to\nexplain to him that we did not like fighting.  All day I took care to\nshow that I was very displeased at the loss of the saw, and by the\nevening I was told that it had been taken by those on the other side; and\noffers of returning it were made, but I saw I was expected to buy it from\nthem.  I said, \"No; I will not buy what was stolen from me; the saw must\nbe returned, and I will give an axe to the one who goes for it, and\nfetches it to me.\"\n\nThe following day, Sunday, the 15th, we held the usual services under a\nlarge tree near the mission house; a great many strangers present; the\nlatter were very troublesome.  On Monday afternoon the saw was returned.\nThe _Mayri_ left us that day, to visit the teachers at East Cape.  The\npeople are getting quieter.  At present they are chiefly interested in\nthe sawing of the wood for the flooring of the house.  They work\nwillingly for a piece of hoop-iron and a few beads, but cannot do much\ncontinuously.  They seem to have no kind of worship, and their sports are\nfew.  The children swing, bathe, and sail small canoes.  The grown-up\npeople have their dance--a very poor sort of thing.  A band of youths,\nwith drums, stand close together, and in a most monotonous tone sing\nwhilst they beat the drums.  The dancers dance round the men once or\ntwice, and all stop to rest a bit.  I have been twice present when only\nthe women danced.  They bury their dead, and place houses over the\ngraves, which they fence round, planting crotons, bananas, etc., inside.\nThey do their cooking inside their houses.  It was very hot and\nuncomfortable when we were in the native house.  The master being a sort\nof chief, and having a large household, a great deal of cooking was\nrequired.  Three large fires were generally burning in their end of the\nhouse for the greater part of the day.  The heat and smoke from these\nfires were not nice.  Indeed, they generally had one or two burning all\nnight, to serve for blankets, I suppose.\n\n[Natives of South-Eastern New Guinea: 59.jpg]\n\nWe went on with our work about the place, getting on well with the\nnatives and with those from other parts.  We became so friendly with the\nnatives that I had hoped to go about with them in their canoes.  Several\nnatives from one of the settlements invited me to visit their place, and\nsaid if I went with them in their canoe they would return me.  I went\nwith them, and was well received by all the people at the settlement,\nwhere I spent some hours.  On the 21st of December, the _Mayri_ returned\nfrom East Cape, and reported that all were sick, but that the people were\nvery friendly and kind to teachers.  Anxious to keep the vessel employed,\nand to prepare the way for landing teachers, I resolved to visit a\nsettlement on the mainland at deadly feud with this people.  The people\nhere tried hard to dissuade me from going, telling me that, as I stayed\nwith them, my head would be cut off.  Seeing me determined to go, they\nbrought skulls, saying, mine would be like that, to adorn their enemies'\nwar canoe, or hang outside the chief's house.  Feeling sure that they did\nnot wish me to go because they were afraid the hoop-iron, the knives,\naxes, beads, and cloth might also be distributed on the other side, I\ntold them I must go; so they left me to my fate.\n\nI took the teacher with me that I hoped to leave there.  We were received\nvery kindly by the people.  They led us inland, to show us there was\nwater, and when we got back to the seaside they regaled us with sugar-\ncane and cocoanuts.  They then told us that they did not live at the\nvillage, but at the next, and merely came here for food.  We then got\ninto a canoe, and were paddled up to the other village, where a great\ncrowd assembled, and where we publicly gave the chiefs our presents.  They\ndanced with delight, and told the teacher not to be long until he came to\nreside with them.\n\nOn our return we thought our friends seemed disappointed.  We had\nsuffered no harm; however, as I had been unwell for some days, and felt\nworse on the day following my trip, they felt comforted, and assured me\nit was because of our visiting Tepauri.  We had several things stolen,\nand amongst other things a camp oven, which we miss much.  Yet these are\nthings which must be borne, and we can hope that some day their stealing\npropensities will change.  From a very unexpected source, and in a very\nunexpected manner, the whole prospects of this eastern mission seemed all\nat once to be upset.  I do not think I can do better than extract my\njournal for the next few days.\n\n_December_ 29_th_.--About twelve o'clock three lads from the _Mayri_ came\nashore to cut firewood.  One of them came to me, saying, \"I 'fraid, sir,\nour captain he too fast with natives.  One big fellow he come on board,\nand he sit down below.  Captain he tell him get up; he no get up.  Captain\nhe get sword, and he tell him, s'pose he no get up he cut head off; he\nget up, go ashore.  I fear he no all right.\"  They left me and went\ntowards the sawpit.  Some men were clearing at the back of my house, some\nwere putting up a cook-house, and the teachers were sawing wood.  On the\ncook-house being finished, I was paying the men, when, on hearing a great\nnoise, I rose up and saw those who were at the sawpit running away and\nleaping the fence, and heard firing as if from the vessel.  I rushed into\nthe house with my bag, and then out to see what it was.  I saw natives on\nboard the _Mayri_, and some in canoes; they were getting the hawser\nashore, and pulling up the anchor, no doubt to take the vessel.\nEverywhere natives were appearing, some armed, and others unarmed.  Two\nof the lads from the vessel, wishing to get on board, went to their boat,\nbut found the natives would not let it go.  I shouted to the natives\ndetaining it to let it go, which they did.  Had I not been near, they\nwould certainly have been fired upon by the two lads, who were armed with\nmuskets.  Before the boat got to the vessel I saw natives jump overboard,\nand soon the firing became brisker.  I rushed along the beach, calling\nupon the natives to get into the bush, and to those on board to cease\nfiring.  Firing ceased, and soon I heard great wailing at the chief's\nhouse, where I was pressed to go.  A man was shot through the leg and\narm.  On running through the village to the house, to get something for\nthe wounded man, I was stopped to see a young man bleeding profusely,\nshot through the left arm, the bullet entering the chest.  I got some\nmedicine and applied it to both.\n\nWhen I reached the house, I found Mrs. Chalmers the only calm person\nthere.  Natives were all around armed.  When at the chief's house with\nmedicine I was told there was still another, and he was on board.  They\nkept shouting \"Bocasi, Bocasi,\" the name of the man who was on board in\nthe morning.  I found a small canoe all over blood, and two natives\npaddled me off.  On getting alongside, I saw the captain sitting on deck,\nlooking very white, and blood all about him.  I asked, \"Is there still a\nman on board?\"  Answer: \"Yes.\"  \"Is he shot?\"  \"Yes.\"  \"Dead?\"  \"Yes.\"  He\nwas dead, and lying below.  I was afraid to remain long on board, and\nwould not risk landing with the body; nor would it do for the body to be\nlanded before me, as then I might be prevented from landing at all; so I\ngot into the canoe, in which one native was sitting.  The other was\ngetting the body to place in the canoe; but I said, \"Not in this one, but\na larger one.\"  So ashore I went, and hastened to the house.  I\nunderstood the captain to say that they attempted to take his life, and\nthis big man, armed with a large sugar-cane knife, was coming close up,\nand he shot him dead.  The captain's foot was frightfully cut.  He had a\nspear-head in his side, and several other wounds.\n\nThe principal people seemed friendly, and kept assuring us that all was\nright, we should not be harmed.  Great was the wailing when the body was\nlanded, and arms were up and down pretty frequently.  Canoes began to\ncrowd in from the regions around.  A man who has all along been very\nfriendly and kept close by us advised us strongly to leave during the\nnight, as, assuredly, when the war canoes from the different parts came\nin, we should be murdered.  Mrs. Chalmers decidedly opposed our leaving.\nGod would protect us.  The vessel was too small, and not provisioned, and\nto leave would be losing our position as well as endangering Teste and\nEast Cape.  We came here for Christ's work, and He would protect us.\n\nIn the dusk, one of the crew came ashore, saying that the captain was\nvery ill, and wanted to go off to Murray Island.  I could not go on\nboard, and leave them here.  We consented to the vessel's leaving, and I\ngave the lad some medicine for the captain, and asked him to send on\nshore all he could spare in the way of beads, etc.  I took all that was\nnecessary, and about half-past seven the vessel left.  We were told we\nshould have to pay something to smooth over the trouble, which we were\nquite willing to do.  Late at night we had things ready.  We had our\nevening prayers in Rarotongan, reading Psalm xlvi., and feeling that God\nwas truly our refuge.\n\nPeople were early about on the 30th.  We gave the things which were\nprepared, and they were accepted.  The people from the settlement to\nwhich the man belonged who was shot came to attack us, but the people\nhere ordered them back.  Many people came in from islands and mainland.  A\nnumber of so-called chiefs tell us no one will injure us, and that we can\ngo on with our work.  We thought it not well to have services out of\ndoors to-day, so held prayer-meetings in the house.\n\nGreat crowds came in from all round on the 31st, and many war canoes.  The\npeople were extremely impudent, jumping the fence, and taking no heed of\nwhat we said.  One of the chief men of the settlement to which the man\nwho was shot belongs returned from Vaare (Teste Island).  He seemed\nfriendly, and I gave him a present.\n\nI had an invitation to attend a cannibal feast at one of the settlements.\nSome said it would consist of two men and a child, others of five and a\nchild.\n\nThe people continued troublesome all day, and seemed to think we had\nnothing else to do than attend to their demands.\n\n_January_ 1_st_, 1878.--We were told we might be attacked.  There was a\ngreat wailing assembly at the other village.  A canoe from Tanosine, with\na great many ugly-looking men, passed, and our friends here seemed to\nfear they would attack us.  We thought everything settled, and that we\nshould have no more to pay.  The warp belonging to the _Mayri_ was\ncarried past to-day and offered for sale; but I would have nothing to do\nwith it.  We have tried the meek and quiet up till now, and they only\nbecome more impudent and threatening.\n\nHaving tried the peaceful and pleasant, we determined to show the natives\nthat we were not afraid, and resisted every demand, and insisted that\nthere should be no more leaping the fence.  On demands being made, I\nshouted, \"No more; wait, and when Beritama fighting canoe comes, then\nmake your demands.\"  They seemed afraid, and became less troublesome.\n\nIn the afternoon of January 2nd, the parties who have the hawser brought\nit to me; but I would have nothing to do with it.  I told them if\nPouairo, the settlement of the man who was shot, determines to attack us,\nlet them come, we, too, can fight.  One of the teachers fired off his gun\nat some distance from a bread-fruit tree, and the bullet went clean\nthrough a limb of it; it caused great exclamations, and crowds went to\nlook at it.\n\nThe hawser was returned and left outside.  We took no notice of it.  The\npeople were much quieter, and no demands were made.  The cannibal feast\nwas held.  Some of our friends appeared with pieces of human flesh\ndangling from their neck and arms.  The child was spared for a future\ntime, it being considered too small.  Amidst all the troubles Mrs.\nChalmers was the only one who kept calm and well.\n\nThe _Ellengowan_ arrived on January 20th.  The natives were beginning to\nthink no vessel would come; but when it arrived, they were frightened,\nand willing to forget the _Mayri_ affair.  A few days before she arrived\nsome of our friends warned us against going too far away from the house.\nAfter her arrival we were able to go about among the people again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.  A FEW TRIP INCIDENTS.\n\n\nStart eastwards from Heath Island--Naroopoo--Trading with Natives--Landing\nat Roux Island--Interview with the Chief--The Man with the club--Effect\nof a gunshot on the natives--Ellengowan Bay--Narrow Escape--The steam-\nwhistle useful--Attempt to go inland unsuccessful--Amazons--Women chief\ninstigators of quarrels--Toulon Island--The real \"Amazons' Land\"--How the\nreport arose--Cloudy Bay--Interview with the Chief--Sandbank Bay--A\nhurried time--Dufaure Island--Attack on Mr. Chalmers by Aroma\nnatives--Defended by some of the natives--Attack due to evil conduct of\nwhite men--Intentions of the natives--Heathen\ncustoms--Pigs--Planting--Trading--Sickness.\n\nThe _Ellengowan_ had been thoroughly refitted at Sydney; and in the\nspring of 1878, accompanied by my wife, I embarked on a cruise from east\nto west along the south coast of New Guinea.  The little steamer was\ncommanded by Captain Dudfield, and manned by an efficient native crew.\nCommunication was held with some two hundred villages, one hundred and\nfive were personally visited, and ninety for the first time by a white\nman.  Several bays, harbours, rivers, and islands were discovered and\nnamed; the country between Meikle and Orangerie Bays, together with that\nlying at the back of Kerepunu was explored, and the entire coast line\nfrom Keppel Point to McFarlane Harbour, traversed on foot.\n\nIn travelling through a new country, it is impossible not to have many\nexperiences that may interest those at home, although to the traveller\nthey may seem of little moment.  In May, 1878, I began my journeys on New\nGuinea, in parts hereto unknown, and amongst tribes supposed to be\nhostile.  I resolved, come what might, to travel unarmed, trusting to Him\nin whose work I was engaged, and feeling that no harm could come to me\nwhile in His care.\n\nOn leaving Heath Island, we really began on new and little-known seas and\ncountry, and we first anchored in a bay we called Inverary Bay.  On\nlanding, we were met by a few men, the others coming out with goods and\nchattels.  We steamed round by the Leocadie, through what forms a good\nharbour for small vessels, and over by the sandbanks in Catamaran Bay.  We\ncalled at Tanosina, to the east of the Leocadie, landing with caution, as\nthese people had been rather troublesome on our first arrival at South\nCape, and were very anxious to avenge the man shot on board the _Mayri_.\nThey did not receive us heartily, and seemed inclined to be impudent, so\nI thought it best, after giving one or two presents, to get quietly to\nthe boat and away.  I may here say that in after-times these people were\nvery friendly, and helped us much in our work.  We visited all round the\nbay, returning to South Cape.\n\nAfter getting a supply of water and fuel on board, we started again,\ngoing east round Rugged Head to Farm Bay, and well up to the head of the\nbay, anchoring opposite to Naroopoo.  I landed, and soon had an admiring\ncrowd round me.  I was dressed in white, with black leather boots.\nSitting on a verandah, some, more daring than others, would come up,\ntouch my shirt and trousers, bite their fingers, and run away.  Again and\nagain this was done by the bold ones, who always eyed my boots.  After\nconsultation, one old woman mustered courage, came up, touched my\ntrousers, and finally my boots.  She was trembling all over, but horror\nof horrors, to add to her fear, lifting my foot, I pulled my boot off;\nshe screamed and ran, some others setting out with her, and did not stop\nuntil quite out of sight.\n\nAfter visiting several villages, and finding that the bay was thickly\npopulated, I went on board.  The following morning many canoes came\nalongside, and on our getting up steam were much afraid.  It was evident\nthey wanted to show us that they had confidence in us, but it was\ndifficult with the steam up, the snorting and general commotion on board\nbeing so great.  We warned them on getting up anchor to clear off.  Why\nshould they?  There was no sail, nor were we going to move.  A commotion\naft, canoes with crews clearing away to a very safe distance.  One canoe\nhanging on is pulled under, a wild shout, a moment's silence, and then\nthere is a loud roar of laughter, when they see canoe and paddlers appear\nastern at some distance.  We rounded One Tree Point and could see no\nentrance to a bay, just a few miles beyond, but since explored and named\nLawes Bay.  Keeping on, we anchored outside of the Roux Islands, in a\nfine safe harbour.  Before leaving our friends at South Cape, they were\nboasting of having visited some place on the coast, where, on showing\ntheir large knives, the natives all left, they helping themselves to a\ngood many things.\n\nWe had some difficulty in getting a canoe to come alongside, and it was\nnot until we had fastened a piece of red cloth to a stick and floated it\nastern, that the first canoe would come near.  The natives approached,\npicked up the red cloth, and in showing them pieces of hoop-iron, they\ngradually came near enough to take hold of a piece, look well at it, and\nfinally decide to come alongside.  Once alongside we were soon\nfraternizing, and on seeing this other canoes came off, and trading for\ncurios began.  Asking the captain to keep on trading as long as possible,\nI hastened ashore, to see the chief of one of the villages.  As long as\ntrading canoes remain alongside, the parties landing are perfectly safe;\ncare should be taken to get away as soon as possible after the canoes\nleave the vessel.\n\nThe tide was far out when our boat touched the beach.  A crowd met us,\nand in every hand was a club or spear.  I went on to the bow, to spring\nashore, but was warned not to land.  I told them I had come to see the\nchief, had a present for him, and must see him.\n\n\"Give us your present, and we will give it to him, but you must not\nland.\"\n\n\"I am Tamate, from Suau, and have come as a friend to visit your old\nchief, and I must land.\"\n\nAn elderly woman came close up to the boat, saying, \"You must not land,\nbut I will take the present, or,\" pointing to a young man close by, \"he\nwill take it for his father,\" he being the chief's son.\n\n\"No; I must see the chief for myself; but the son I should also like to\nknow, and will give him a present too.\"\n\nSpringing ashore, followed by the mate, a fine, daring fellow, much\naccustomed to roughing it on the diggings, and not the least afraid of\nnatives, I walked up the long beach to the village, to the chief's house.\nThe old man was seated on the platform in front of the house, and did not\neven deign to rise to receive us.  I told him who I was, and the object\nof my coming.  He heard me through, and treated the whole as stale news.\nI placed my present on the platform in front of him, and waited for some\nword of satisfaction; but none escaped the stern old chieftain.  Presents\nof beads were handed to little children in arms, but indignantly\nreturned.  Loud laughing in the outskirts of crowd and little jostling.\n\n\"Gould,\" said I to the mate, \"I think we had better get away from here;\nkeep eyes all round, and let us make quietly to the beach.\"\n\nTo the chief I said, \"Friend, I am going; you stay.\"  Lifting his\neyebrows, he said, \"Go.\"\n\nWe were followed by the crowd, one man with a large round club walking\nbehind me, and uncomfortably near.  Had I that club in my hand, I should\nfeel a little more comfortable.  When on the beach we saw the canoes had\nleft the vessel, and were hurrying ashore; our boat was soon afloat,\nstill, we had some distance to go.  I must have that club, or I fear that\nclub will have me.  I had a large piece of hoop-iron, such as is highly\nprized by the natives, in my satchel; taking it, I wheeled quickly round,\npresented it to the savage, whose eyes were dazzled as with a bar of\ngold.  With my left hand I caught the club, and before he became\nconscious of what was done I was heading the procession, armed as a\nsavage, and a good deal more comfortable.  We got safely away.\n\nFrom Fyfe Bay we went round to Meikle Bay, where I visited all the\nvillages, and was well received.  Before landing I decided to walk\ninland, and see for myself if there was no arm of the sea running up at\nthe back.  The charts showed no such thing, but I felt sure, from the\nformation of the land and the manner of clouds hanging over it, that\nthere must be a lake or some large sheet of water, and that there must be\nconsiderable streams carrying off the water of the Lorne Range and Cloudy\nMountains, as no stream of any size came to the sea on the coast-side.  I\ngot the chief of the village at the head of the bay and a large following\nto show us the way.  We travelled for some miles through good country,\nand at last came out opposite a large sheet of water, stretching well up\ntowards Cloudy Mountain and away towards the head of Milne Bay.  Seeing\nthe Stirling Range, I was able to take a few positions.\n\nOur mate, who had his fowling-piece with him, saw a very pretty parrot on\na cocoanut tree.  He approached until close under--the natives, about\nforty in number, standing breathlessly round, and wondering what was\ngoing to happen.  Bang!  Down dropped the parrot; a wail, hands to ears,\na shout, and we were left alone with the chief, who happened to be\nstanding close by me.  Those natives only ceased running when they\nreached their homes.\n\nWe visited several villages, and at sundown returned.  In the dark we\ntravelled along the bed of a creek, passing small villages, whose\ninhabitants were terribly alarmed, but none more so than our chief.  Poor\nfellow, he _was_ frightened.  How nimbly he ascended his platform on our\narrival at his house, where his two wives were crying, but now rejoiced\nto see him in the body.  Long ago the escort had returned with a terrible\ntale, and they feared whether their husband could have lived through it\nall.  But he was now considered a veritable hero, to be sung in song and\nshouted in dance.  Friends gather round; he tells his tale; presents the\nbird; the wives examine it, then the crowd of relatives.  He afraid! oh\ndear no!  But he looked pale for a native, and no quantity of hoop-iron\nwould induce him to move from that platform and the side of those dear\nwives that night.  Enough for one day, one month, one year, so, \"Good-\nbye, Tamate; I shall be off in the morning to see you.\"  Arriving on\nboard late, we were welcome: they feared we had been spirited away.\n\nThe following day we got round to Ellengowan Bay.  After visiting all the\nvillages, I went right up to the head of the bay to see Silo and its\nchief.  The tide was very low, and after pulling the boat some distance\nthrough mud we left her in charge of the two rowers, the mate and I going\nto the village.  He had hoop-iron cut in seven-inch lengths in his\npockets.  The old chief received us graciously, and began giving me a\nlong story of what he wished to do in the way of pigs and food, if I\nwould only stay two days.  It was a sickly looking hole, and not being\nquite rid of fever, I hoped to get on board and away in an hour.  A large\ncrowd gathered round, all under arms, very noisy, and certainly not\ngentle.  A slight scuffle took place, but was soon over.  The mate missed\nsome of his hoop-iron, caught one young man with a piece, and took it\nfrom him.  The crowd increased.  I told the chief I should prefer his\npeople unarmed, and not so noisy.  He spoke to them, some put down their\nclubs and spears; but they were hidden in the bush close by.  We bade the\nchief good-bye, but he expressed a great wish to see me in the boat.\nApparently with great carelessness, we made towards the beach, attended\nby a noisy crowd, all arms now picked up.  Remembering the difficulty we\nhad in landing, and knowing savages preferred killing out of their own\nvillages, hospitality having ended when friends left the precincts, I\ndetermined not to have that crowd near the boat.  I asked the chief to\nsend them back; but to him they would not listen, and still the noisy\ncrowd followed on.  I shouted to them to return, and not come troubling\nus, as we were getting into the boat.  No use; on they followed, and the\nboat they meant to visit.  I stood still, and not feeling particularly\ncheerful, I told them to go on, and go off to the vessel--that I should\nwait and return to the village.  Stamping my foot, as if in a towering\npassion, I told the chief, \"Go with all your people to the boat; as for\nme, I shall return.\"  It had the desired effect.  The people fled, and\nthe few who remained listened to the old man, and came no further.  We\ngot to the boat and away, glad to escape without any unpleasantness.\n\nEntering Orangerie Bay, we anchored off the village of Daunai, from which\nthe whole district takes its name.  When here, our Chinese cook lost his\nknife, and, spotting the thief, determined to have it; but our captain\nprevented him from jumping into one of the canoes, and so avoided\ntrouble.  There were over one hundred canoes round the vessel, and\naltogether over four hundred men.\n\nWe stopped all trading, and frightened the canoes away by blowing the\nsteam whistle--they were much afraid of it, and kept at a very respectful\ndistance.\n\nWe went up the long sheet of water we saw when we crossed Meikle Bay,\nfinding it in every way suited to its native name, Paroai, or piggish\nwater, and quite useless as a harbour for anything larger than an\nordinary boat.  I went ashore in one of the canoes, to be landed at\nBootu, and walk across to Milne Bay.  Before leaving the vessel I engaged\nwith the natives to take me right away to the head of the lagoon, and\nwhen I had seen Milne Bay, to return me to the vessel, when they would be\npaid for all their trouble.  So with our bags and a few eatables, we\nstarted; when about a mile away from the vessel, they headed the canoe\nmore in towards the right shore, and no amount of talk in calmness or\nwrath would get them to do otherwise.  We touched at a place not far from\na village we visited overland--some left us, and we were certainly now\ntoo weak to proceed.  We ran down to the village, where we landed with my\nbag, and away went my native canoe men.  Love or money would not move the\nvillagers, and they were exceedingly impudent, knowing well that we were\nquite in their hands.  My friend the mate, who insisted on accompanying\nme, agreed with me that things were rather out of the common with us, and\nthat a sharp eye, and quick ear, and quick action were of some\nimportance.  They at once went to get their clubs and spears, and begged\nand insisted on presents; but they were astonished, I doubt not, to find\ntheir begging of little avail.\n\n\"Go to the vessel, if you want presents.\"\n\n\"Why are you anchored so far off?\"\n\n\"Can't get nearer, and only wish you would show me the way in close to\nhere.\"\n\nPointing to a passage close in shore, I suggested they had better take us\noff, and we would try and get her round when the tide rose; but to this\nthey objected, and instead of becoming more friendly, it seemed to us\nthey were just going the other way; but that may have been merely as we\nthought, looking at them through coloured glasses, suspicion, and a\ncertain mixture of doubt if ever we should again see the vessel.  A few\nmen came running along the beach.  I met them, and hurriedly asked them\nto take us off when they would have hoop-iron and beads.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Quick! do not let them think!  Into the nearest canoe.\"\n\nAway in the distance those in the village were shouting and\ngesticulating.\n\n\"Come back!  Come back, at once.\"\n\n\"Oh no, my friends; pull, you must pull!\" and while they are discussing\nwe are paddling.  I tell them it would be dangerous to attempt going\nback.  On we go, beyond small islands in sight of vessel, and now they\ngive up speaking of returning.  We got off, and I paid the fellows well.\nAnxious to get in, we tried in many places at high tide to enter the\nshore channel, but all was useless.  For several miles we were sailing\ndeep in mud, unable to work the engine.  A canoe came near, and I told\nthem to inform those ashore that we could not get in.\n\nAt Port Glasgow, the people cleared out, bag and baggage, leaving us in\nquiet possession.  At Port Moresby, I had heard of a woman's land, a land\nwhere only women--perfect Amazons--lived and ruled.  These ladies were\nreported to be excellent tillers of the soil, splendid canoeists in\nsailing or paddling, and quite able to hold their own against attacks of\nthe sterner sex, who sometimes tried to invade their country.  At the\nEast End they knew nothing of this woman's land, and nowhere east of Hula\nhave I ever heard it spoken of.\n\nTo find so interesting a community was of great moment, and everywhere we\nwent we inquired, but only to be laughed at by the natives; sometimes\nasked by them, \"How do they continue to exist?\"  But that, too, puzzled\nus.  As no part of the coast from East Cape to Port Moresby would be left\nunvisited by us, we were certain to come across the Amazonian settlement,\nand when we did, it would be useful to keep a sharp look-out, as I have\nnoticed that the instigators of nearly all quarrels are the women.  I\nhave seen at South Cape, when the men were inclined to remain quiet, the\nwomen rush out, and, as if filled with devils, incite them.  Just after\nthe attack on the _Mayri_, and when I was going about the settlement\nattending to the wounded, I heard the women call loudly for vengeance,\nand, because the men would not at once heed them, throw their shields on\nthe ground and batter them with stones, then pull their hair, and tell\nthe men they were only poor weak cowards.\n\nWe heard that Mailiukolo (Toulon) canoes with women were more numerous,\nand some very large ones with women alone.  In the early morning we were\noff the island, and soon ready to land.  On crossing the reef we met two\ncanoes, one with men and one with women.  We signed to them to go to the\nvessel, whilst we pulled up to the large village on the north side.  As\nthe boat touched the fine hard sandy beach, a man, the only being in\nsight, ran down and stood in front.  I went forward to spring ashore, but\nhe said I must not.  Finding he knew the Daunai dialect, I said to him, I\nmust land; that I was a friend, and gave him my name, which he already\nknew from the east.  I gave him a strip of red cloth and stepped ashore,\nwhen he ran away into the bush.  At our first approach I could only see\nthis one man, but now I saw hundreds of grass petticoats on women\nstanding under the houses.  I could not see the upper parts of their\nbodies, only the petticoats and feet.  They were indeed quiet until I\nadvanced nearer, when one wild scream was given that would try stronger\nnerves than mine, and signs to keep away.  It required more\ninquisitiveness than I possessed to proceed.  I retired a few paces,\nwarning the boat's crew to keep a good look-out, and especially from the\nbush end of the village, where the man ran to.  I invited the dusky\ndamsels to come to me, if they objected to my visiting them; but no, I\nmust return whence I came; they had seen me, that was enough.\n\n\"No, my friends; we must meet, and you will have some presents.\"\n\nI held up beads and red cloth, but, strange to say, they seemed to have\nno effect on that curious crowd.  I never saw so many women together.  How\nwere we to meet? was now the question; to be baulked by them would never\ndo.  I threw on the beach a piece of red cloth and a few beads; walked\naway quite carelessly, and apparently not noticing what was taking place.\nA girl steals out from the crowd, stops, turns, eyes fixed on me;\nadvances, stops, crosses her hands, pressing her breast.  Poor thing! not\ncourage enough; so, lightning speed, back.  It is evident the old ladies\nobject to the younger ones attempting, and they are themselves too\nfrightened.  Another young damsel about nine or ten years old comes out,\nruns, halts, walks cat-like, lest the touch of her feet on the sand\nshould waken me from my reverie; another halt, holds her chest, lest the\nspirit should take its flight or the pattering heart jump right out.  I\nfear it was beyond the slight patter then, and had reached the stentorian\nthump of serious times.  On; a rush; well done!  She picks cloth and\nbeads up.\n\nI have gained my point, and will soon have the crowds--no need to wait so\nlong to have the baits picked up now, and, after a few more such\ntemptings, it is done.  I am besieged by the noisest crowd I have ever\nmet, and am truly glad to escape on board the boat.  We went to the\nvessel, and brought her round to the west side, where we anchored, and I\nagain landed.  Crowds met me on the beach, but no men.  I gave my beads\nindiscriminately, and soon there was a quarrel between the old ladies and\nyoung ones.  The latter were ordered off, and, because they would not go,\nI must go.  The old ladies insisted on my getting into the boat, and,\nbeing now assisted by the few men we met in the canoe, I thought it\nbetter to comply.  Long after we left the beach we heard those old\ncracked, crabbed voices anathematizing the younger members of that\ncommunity.  I suppose I was the first white mortal to land on that sacred\nshore, and I must have been to them a strange object indeed.\n\nI am fully convinced that this is the Woman's Land, and can easily\naccount for its being called so by stray canoes from the westward.\n\nAfter leaving the island, we steamed round to the westward of the small\nislands in Amazon Bay, where we intended to spend a quiet Sabbath after a\nhard week's work, and previous to beginning another.  After anchoring,\ncanoes with men and boys kept crossing from the mainland, and all day\nSunday it was the same.  They halted at the islands, and with the next\ntide went on to Toulon.  Landing on the Saturday evening to shoot\npigeons, we met several natives, and learned that their plantations were\non the mainland, and that they crossed to plant and fight, taking their\nboys with them.  Afterwards at Aroma, they told me they left their wives\nand daughters at home in charge of a few men, whilst the majority crossed\nto the main, and stayed away for some time, returning with food, to spend\na few days at home on the island.  During their absence, the women sail\nabout and trade, going as far as Dedele in Cloudy Bay, being one and the\nsame people.  Canoes from the westward might have called at Toulon when\nthe men were on the mainland fighting and planting, and seeing only\nwomen, would soon report a woman's land.  Many years ago an Elema canoe\nwas carried away there.  They were kindly treated by the Amazons, but at\nDedele on returning, were attacked and several killed; they naturally\nreported a woman's land too.\n\nThe following week we visited Dedele in Cloudy Bay, which had been\nvisited two years previously by Messrs. Lawes and McFarlane.  The village\nwas barricaded with high and thick mangrove sticks, with a narrow opening\nto the sea.  They objected to my landing, and formed a crescent in front\nof the boat.  I sprung ashore and asked for the chief.  I held out a\npiece of hoop-iron, and a rather short, well-built man, dressed with\nboar's tusks and other ornaments, stepped forward and took my present.  He\ntook me by the hand, and led me to the village, just allowing me to peep\nin at the opening.  I could see the women rushing out by an opening at\nthe other side; pigs, dogs, nets, and other valuables were being carried\noff; they were rushing off wildly away into the bush.  I was very anxious\nto get right in, and meant to before I went to the boat.  My beads were\nall done up in small parcels, so I could throw them about easily.  A poor\nold woman was sitting under the nearest house, bewailing her sad lot,\nwith an infant, the mother of which had very likely gone off to the bush\nto hide the valuables and to return for the child, or perhaps she was\nupstairs packing up.  I threw the poor old dame a packet of beads for\nherself and another for the child.  Spying another old lady close by on\nthe opposite side, I threw her one.  It had the desired effect; my\nfriend, the chief, who stood guard at the opening, now conceived the\n\"happy thought\" that something could be made out of me.\n\n\"Would you like to walk round and look at the village?\"\n\n\"Yes, I should.\"\n\n\"Come, then;\" and, giving me his hand, he led me, attended by an armed\ncrowd, to every house, on the verandahs of which I deposited a packet of\nbeads.  He was the chief, and was named Gidage.  When going round he\nsaid--\n\n\"You are no longer Tamate, you are Gidage.\"\n\n\"Right, my friend; you are no longer Gidage, you are Tamate.\"\n\nI gave him an extra present, and he gave me a return one, saying,\n\"Gidage, we are friends; stay, and I, Tamate, will kill you a pig.\"\n\n\"No, Tamate.  Gidage must go; but hopes to re-return, and will then eat\nTamate's pig.\"\n\n\"No, stay now; we are friends, and you must be fed!\"\n\n\"No, I cannot stay; but when I return, then pig-eating\"--not a very\npleasant employment when, other things can be had.\n\nPigs are very valuable animals here, and much thought of, and only true\nfriends can be regaled with them.  The women nurse the pig.  I have seen\na woman suckling a child at one breast and a small pig at the other; that\nwas at South Cape.  I have seen it also at Hula and Aroma.  Proceeding to\nthe beach, we parted, old and well-known friends.\n\n\"Gidage, must you go?\"\n\n\"Yes; I cannot now stay, Tamate.\"\n\n\"Go, Gidage; how many moons until you return?\"\n\n\"Tamate, I cannot say; but hope to return.\"\n\n\"_Kaione_ (good-bye), Tamate.\"\n\n\"_Kaione_, Gidage;\" and away he started, leaving Tamate on the beach,\nsurrounded by an interesting crowd of natives.\n\nIt was near here, a few years after, that a _beche-de-mer_ party of seven\nwere murdered; and on the opposite side of the bay two cedar-seekers were\nwaylaid, and lost their lives.  We went into Sandbank Bay, and I landed\nat the village of Domara.  What a scene it was!  The women rushed into\nthe long grass, and I was led, after a good deal of talk, up to the\nvillage--only to see, at the other end, grass petticoats disappearing,\nthe wearers hidden by the quantity of stuff they were carrying.  One poor\nwoman, heavily laden with treasures, had perched above all her child, and\naway she, too, was flying.  Never had white man landed there before, and\nwho knows what he may be up to?\n\nThe following incident illustrates the shocks a traveller must put up\nwith in New Guinea.\n\nIt was resting-day at a village, far away from the coast, and, spreading\nmy chart out on the middle of the floor in the small native house in\nwhich we were camping, several sitting round, I was tracing our journey\ndone, and the probable one to do, when strange drops were falling around,\na few on the chart.  They came from a bulky parcel overhead.  Jumping up\nquickly, I discovered that they were grandmother's remains being dried.\nOur chart was placed on the fire, and the owner was called lustily, who\nhurriedly entered and walked away with the parcel.  It was altogether a\nhurried time, and spoiled our dinner.  Feeling convinced that a suitable\nlocality for the settlement of teachers might be found in the\nneighbourhood of Orangerie Bay, I resolved on returning thither, and we\nanchored at Kuragori, on the east side of Dufaure Island, on April 25th,\n1879.  I went ashore, and found the people delighted to meet me.  The\nchief, Tutuaunei, seems a fine young fellow.  The people are\ngood-looking, clear-skinned, and very few suffering from skin disease.\nThey were quite at home with us, and a number accompanied me inland.  In\nstrong trade winds, the vessel could lie under the lee of the mainland\nopposite.  We got on board, and steamed round to the north side,\nanchoring off Bonabona.\n\nI went ashore, and was met on the beach by Meaudi, the chief.  He is the\nchief of four villages, some distance from one another, and all a good\nsize.  I visited all four.  They have good houses, and all looks clean.  I\nsaw no mangroves whatever, and no appearance of swamp.  The villages are\non the beach, and I believe in good healthy positions.  We walked from\nBonabona to Sigokoiro, followed by a large number of men, women, and\nchildren, who were much interested in my boots, clothes, and hat.  The\nchief lives in Gokora, and when on the platform in front of his fine\nlarge house I gave the present, and we exchanged names.  By adopting his\nname, it meant I was to visit all his very special friends, and give them\nalso presents.  I called an old woman sitting by to come to me.  Very\nhesitatingly she came, and stretched forth her arm to receive a present.\nI asked her to come nearer, which she did, when assured by the chief it\nwas all right, and I put her present of beads round her neck.  Then all\nthe people shouted, clapped their hands, and danced with delight.  After\nthat, all the old women were produced.  We were well known by report to\nthem, and so Tamate passed as a great _taubada_ (chief).\n\nDufaure is a fine island, quite equal to any I have seen in the South\nPacific--plantations on all sides, right up to the mountain tops.  They\nknow nothing of firearms, for, on inquiring if there were birds on the\nisland, they asked if I had a sling.  The people are a much finer race,\nand freer than any I have seen further east.  The two races seem to meet\nhere--that from the Kerepunu side, and that from the east.  We are\nanchored some distance from the shore in three fathoms, and further out\nit is shallower.  The opposite shore on mainland looks low and unhealthy.\n\nThere are ten villages on the island, five of which we have visited.\n\nAfter visiting the Keakaro and Aroma districts, our journeyings were\nnearly brought to a sudden termination.  When we got halfway between the\npoint next to McFarlane Harbour, and Mailu, where there is a boat\nentrance, we saw the boat, and waved to them to approach.  They came near\nto the surf, but not near enough for us to get on board.  The native of\nHula, from Maopa, got on board.  The Hula boy got on board early in the\nday, leaving us to go on alone.  I called out to them to proceed to the\nboat entrance at Mailu.  Great numbers of natives were with us; we saw,\nin the distance, numbers more sitting on the beach, and armed.  Some of\nthose following us were armed.  When within two miles of where the boat\nwas to await us, we came upon a crowd of men and women; the former\ncarried spears, clubs, or pieces of hard wood, used in opening cocoa\nnuts; the women had clubs.  Some time before this, I said to the teacher\nand Loyalty islander, \"Keep a good look-out; I fear there is mischief\nhere.\"  When we came upon the last group, I asked for a cocoanut in\nexchange for beads; the man was giving it to me, when a young man stepped\nforward and sent him back.  We hastened our steps, so as to get to the\nvillage, where the strangers from Mailukolo and Kapumari might help us.\nThe teacher heard them discussing as to the best place for the attack;\nand, not knowing that he knew what they said, he heard much that left no\ndoubt in our minds that murder was meant.  I carried a satchel, which had\nbeads and hoop-iron in it; they tried to get it.  I gave presents of\nbeads; some were indignantly returned.  I was in front, between two men\nwith clubs, who kept telling me I was a bad man.  I held their hands, and\nkept them so that they could not use their clubs.  The Loyalty islander\nhad a fowling-piece--thinking we might be away some days, and we might\nhave to shoot our dinners.  They tried hard to get him to fire it off,\nand twice tried to wrest it from him.  They know what guns are, and with\nreason.  They tried to trip us; they jostled us.  On we went.\n\nTwo men, when near the village, came close up behind me with large wooden\nclubs, which were taken from them by two women, who ran off to the\nvillage.  Things looked black, and each of us prayed in silence to Him\nwho rules over the heathen.  Soon a man came rushing along, seized the\nclub, and took it from the man on my left, and threw it in the sea.  He\ntried to do the same with the one on my right; but he was too light a\nman, and did not succeed.  An old woman, when at the point, came out and\nasked them what they meant, and followed us, talking to them all the way,\nso dividing their thoughts.  An old chief, whom we saw on our way up,\ncame hurriedly along to meet us, calling out, \"Mine is the peace!  What\nhave these foreigners done that you want to kill them?\"  He closed up to\nthe teacher, and took him by the hand.  Another chief walked close behind\nme.  They began to talk loudly amongst themselves.  Some were finding\nfault that we should have been allowed to get near the village, and\nothers that there was yet time.  The boat was anchored some distance off:\nwe got her nearer; and, when ready to move off to the boat, I opened my\nsatchel, gave hoop-iron to our friends the chiefs, and threw beads\namongst the crowd.  I shouted for Kapumari, and a sturdy young fellow\nfought his way through the crowd.  I gave him a piece of hoop-iron, and,\nwith our friendly chiefs, he forced the crowd back, calling on us to be\nquick, and follow.  So into the water we got, the chiefs calling, \"Go\nquick; go quick!\"  We got on board; our Chinamen got flustered, and very\nnearly let the boat drift broadside on the beach; we, with poles and\noars, got her round and off, sails set, and away for Kerepunu.  Before\nchanging clothes, we thanked God our Father for His protection and care\nover us.  We felt He alone did all; unsettled their thoughts as to who\nfirst, where, and when; and it was He who gave us friends.\n\nWhy should they want to kill us?  It was surely never for the small\nsatchel I carried.  I believe it was revenge.  Some years ago, a vessel\ncalled off Aroma; trading for food was done on board; thieving went on;\nfood was sold twice; revolvers and rifles were brought out; the natives\nwere fired on, several were wounded, and very likely some were killed.\nNatives on the beach were fired upon, and some were wounded who were\nhiding in the bush close by.  We land--the first foreigners to visit\nthem--and on us they will be revenged.  What a pity that the same\nforeigners who fire on the natives do not return the following week, and\nso receive their deserts!  The wretches steer clear of such parts.  I\nhave asked the teacher to find out, if possible, why Aroma wished to kill\nTamate and Taria.\n\nWhen in the boat, we asked the Hula boy why he left us and took to the\nboat.  He said he had heard some say we should be killed, and that we\nwould make a fine feast.  He did not tell us, because he had not an\nopportunity, and was afraid the people might hear him if he told, and so\nhe would be killed.\n\nA week later a chief from Maopa came with a Kerepunu chief to see me.  I\nrecognised him as the one who kept back the crowd the other day at Aroma,\nand opened the way for me to get into the water, and so into the boat.  He\nsays, from our landing in the morning they had determined to kill us, but\nthe suitable time did not arrive.  When we arrived at the place where the\nlarge canoes from Toulon and Daunai were lying, it was there arranged by\nthe Aroma people and those from the canoes that Aroma should kill us and\nhave all they could get, and those from the canoes should have the bodies\nto eat.  He says they kept putting it off, until, finally, it was to be\ndone when we were at the boat, then they would have boat and all; but he\nand two other chiefs arrived just in time.  He says it was not revenge,\nand, turning to the Kerepunu chief, he said, \"You know Aroma from of old,\nand how all strangers are killed.\"  I gave him a present, and told him\nthat I hoped to see him soon.\n\nThe inhabitants of the inland villages are probably the aborigines, who\nhave been driven back to the hills by the robuster race now occupying\ntheir plantations on the coast.  Their habits and customs are curious and\ninteresting.  They cook the heads of their slain enemies, to secure clean\nskulls to put on sacred places.\n\nThey have one great spirit--Palaku Bara, who dwells in the mountains.\nThey worship him unitedly in one place.  Each family has a sacred place,\nwhere they carry offerings to the spirits of deceased ancestors, whom\nthey terribly fear.  Sickness in the family, death, famine, scarcity of\nfish, etc.--these terrible spirits are at work and must be propitiated.\n\nPigs are never killed but in the one place, and then they are offered to\nthe spirit.  The blood is poured out there, and the carcase is then\ncarried back to the village, to be divided, cooked, and eaten.\n\nPigs' skulls are kept and hung up in the house.  Food for a feast, such\nas at house-building, is placed near the post where the skulls hang, and\na prayer is said.  When the centre-post is put up, the spirits have\nwallaby, fish, and bananas presented to them, and they are besought to\nkeep that house always full of food, and that it may not fall when the\nwind is strong.  The great spirit causes food to grow, and to him\npresentations of food are made.\n\nSpirits, when they leave the body, take a canoe, cross the lagoon, and\ndepart to the mountains, where they remain in perfect bliss; no work, and\nnothing to trouble them, with plenty of betel-nuts.  They dance all night\nlong, and rest all day.  When the natives begin planting, they first take\na bunch of bananas and sugar-cane, and go to the centre of the\nplantation, and call over the names of the dead belonging to their\nfamily, adding, \"There is your food, your bananas and sugar-cane; let our\nfood grow well, and let it be plentiful.  If it does not grow well and\nplentiful, you all will be full of shame, and so shall we.\"\n\nWhen they go on trading expeditions, they present their food to the\nspirits at the centre post of the house, and ask the spirits to go before\nthem and prepare the people, so that the trading may be prosperous.\n\nNo great work and no expedition is undertaken without offerings and\nprayer.\n\nWhen sickness is in the family, a pig is brought to the sacred place of\nthe great spirit, and killed.  The carcase is then taken to the sacred\nplace of the family, and the spirits are asked to accept it.  Sins are\nconfessed, such as bananas that are taken, or cocoanuts, and none have\nbeen presented, and leave not given to eat them.  \"There is a pig;\naccept, and remove the sickness.\"  Death follows, and the day of burial\narrives.  The friends all stand round the open grave, and the chief's\nsister or cousin calls out in a loud voice, \"You have been angry with us\nfor the bananas we have taken (or cocoanuts, as the case may be), and you\nhave, in your anger, taken this child.  Now let it suffice, and bury your\nanger.\"  The body is then placed in the grave, and covered over with\nearth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.  SKETCHES OF PAPUAN LIFE.\n\n\nJourney inland from Port Moresby--Evening with a chief--Savage life--Tree\nhouses--Uakinumu--Inland natives--Native habits of eating--Mountain\nscenery--Upland natives--Return to Uakinumu--Drinking out of a\nbamboo--Native conversation--Keninumu--Munikahila--Native\nspiritists--Habits and influence of these\nmen--Meroka--Kerianumu--Makapili--The Laroki Falls--Epakari--Return to\nPort Moresby.\n\nIn 1879, I made a long journey inland, in a north-easterly direction from\nPort Moresby.  I visited many native villages, and explored the\nmountainous country along the course of and between the Goldie and Laroki\nrivers.\n\nThe reader will get some notion of the country, the natives, and their\ncustoms, from the following extracts taken from a journal kept at that\ntime.\n\n_July_ 15_th_, 1879.--We left Port Moresby at half-past seven, reaching\nthe Laroki at half-past eleven.  We crossed in shallow water near to\nwhere the Goldie joins the Laroki.  We had eighteen carriers, four of\nthem women, who carried more than the men.  After resting awhile at the\nLaroki we went on about three miles farther to Moumiri, the first village\nof the Koiari tribe of Port Moresby.  On entering the village we took\nthem by surprise; the women shouted and the men rushed to their spears.\nWe called out, _Mai_, _mai_, _mai_ (Peace, peace, peace), and, on\nrecognizing who we were, they came running towards us with both hands\noutspread.  We met the chief's wife, and she led us up the hill, where\nthere are a number of good native houses.  It was shouted on before us\nthat foreigners and Ruatoka had arrived, and down the hill the youths\ncame rushing, shaking hands, shouting, and slapping themselves.  We were\nreceived by the chief under the house, and there we had to sit for a very\nlong time until his wife returned from the plantation with sugar-cane.\nOur carriers chewed large quantities of sugar-cane, got a few betel-nuts,\nand then set off on the return journey.  We are now thirteen miles north-\neast from Port Moresby, 360 feet above sea-level, the thermometer 84\ndegrees in shade.  The people are small, women not good-looking, and\nchildren ill-shaped.  The Goldie runs at the base of the hill; the\nnatives get water from it.  The houses are very similar to those inland\nfrom Kerepunu.  On the door hangs a bunch of nutshells, so that when the\ndoor is shut or opened they make a noise.  Should the occupants of the\nhouse be asleep, and their foes come, they would, on the door being\nopened, be woke up.  Spears and clubs are all handy.\n\n16_th_.--Ruatoka, Joe (an African), and I started at half-past ten for\nMunikahila, where we hope to get carriers, our Moumiri friends objecting\nto go.  The first village we came to we found deserted, and in one old\nhouse the skeleton of a child.  We crossed to another village, and coming\nsuddenly upon the few who were at home, they were terribly frightened;\none woman danced up and down the village, and shouted to the people in\nthe neighbouring villages to come at once.  We are 1170 feet above sea-\nlevel, at a village called Keninuma.  The people soon gathered round,\nsome with spears, clubs, and shields, others unarmed.  Feeling cold after\nthe climb, I signed to be allowed to go into a house to change clothing,\nand was given to understand that a very good place to do it was on the\nverandah in front of the house, and before the assembly.  When the chief,\nPoroko Butoa, arrived, we were assigned a small house; a man during the\nevening came rushing along with one piece of sugar-cane and calling out\nfor a tomahawk.  A tomahawk for a piece of sugar-cane would be throwing\nmoney to the winds.  We are E.N.E. from Moumiri.\n\n17_th_.--Rather cold during the night.  Five natives who slept in the\nhouse with us kept a fire burning all night.  A child sitting in front of\nthe house has a taro in one hand, a bamboo pipe in the other; takes a\nbite of the taro, then a draw from the charged pipe, and the mixture\nseems to be thoroughly relished.  Feeling sure we should get carriers\nhere, we took no supplies with us, so are now eating the best we can get,\ndoing Banting to perfection.  A number of men have been sitting all day\nabout the house making spears, the jawbone and tusks of the wild boar\nbeing the only implements.\n\n18_th_.--Thermometer at sunrise 70 degrees.  A number of ugly painted and\nfeathered fellows came in this morning on their way to the village in the\nvalley.  The people here are much darker than the coast tribes, and their\nhair is woolly.  Joe said on arriving here, \"Hallo, these people same as\nmine, hair just the same.\"  They are scarcely so dark.  A few are bright-\ncoloured, but all have the woolly hair.  A goodly number suffer from\nsores on feet and other parts of body.  Their one want is a tomahawk.  The\npeople seem to live in families.  We had a good supper of taro and\ncockatoo, the latter rather tough.\n\n19_th_.--The carriers have not yet arrived.  In the evening a woman\nshouted and yelled; all rushed to their spears, and there was great\nrunning, snorting, and blowing at some imaginary enemy.  After the chief\ncame in, we lay about the fire for some time; then to our blankets.  I\nwas beginning to nod, when some women in a neighbouring house began\ngiggling and laughing.  Our friend wakened up and began talking.  I told\nhim to sleep; he answered, _Kuku mahuta_, (Smoke, then sleep).  He had\nhis smoke, and then began reciting.  I remember, as a youth, being told,\nwhen I could not sleep, to repeat a psalm or paraphrase, or count one\nhundred to myself, and I should soon drop off.  This fellow repeated\naloud and he must have been going over the mythologic lore of his family\nfor very many generations, and yet he did not sleep.  At last, a smoke,\nbeginning with a scream of _kuku_.  Now, surely sleep; but no, he changed\nto a low monotonous chant, so grating on the sleepy man's nervous system\nthat it would have driven many desperate.  At last, in the morning hours,\nthe notes became indistinct, long pauses were observed, and, finally, I\nfell asleep.\n\nThe women carry exceedingly heavy loads up these steep hills.  Yesterday\none woman had two large kits of taro, and a child of about two years on\nthe top of all.  Ruatoka shot eight blue pigeons and one bird of paradise\nto-day: the latter must be eaten with the best of all sauces--hunger.  The\nnatives pick up heads, legs, and entrails, turn them on the fire and eat\nthem.\n\n20_th_.--Yesterday evening, about six, the carriers came in with great\nshouting, and glad was I to see my lad and companion Maka then.  Great\nwas the joy at the division of salt and tobacco.  Before we came here the\nwomen and children slept in the bush at night, the men in the village.\nThey are at enmity with the natives on the flat across the ravine, and it\nseems that sometimes they get a night visit, and may lose a man.  For the\nlast two nights the women have been in the village, but every sound heard\ncauses a shout.  Last night, when just getting off, they came rushing up\nto our house, and calling on us to get up with our guns, as their enemies\nwere coming.  \"Only fire off one, and it will frighten them away.\"  We\ntold them to go and sleep, and not be afraid.\n\nThe state of fear of one another in which the savage lives is truly\npitiful; to him every stranger seeks his life, and so does every other\nsavage.  The falling of a dry leaf at night, the tread of a pig, or the\npassage of a bird all rouse him, and he trembles with fear.\n\nHow they relish salt!  The smallest grain is picked carefully up.\nFortunately we have a good deal of that commodity.  Never have I seen\nsalt-eating like this; only children eating sugar corresponds to it.\n\nHere as in all other parts of New Guinea--it is not the most powerful man\nwho fights and kills most, but little abominable sneaks, treacherous in\nthe extreme.  Since our arrival here we find the thermometer from 82  to\n84 degrees during the day, and as low as 68 degrees, more frequently 70\ndegrees, during the night.  By bearings we are only about twenty miles in\nstraight course from Port Moresby.\n\n[Tree houses: 101.jpg]\n\n21_st_.--The village is built on the ridge, the chief's house right on\nthe high end and looking east, our small house close by on the side of\nthe others, on each side, leaving a pathway in the centre.  At the very\nend of the ridge is a house on a very high tree, used as a look-out house\nand a refuge for women and children in case of attack.  There are quite a\nnumber of tree houses in the various villages on the ridges seen from\nhere.  The people are anxious to get Maka, a light-coloured and very fine-\nlooking native lad, married to one of their girls and settled down\namongst them.  I said to our African, \"They want Maka to marry one of\ntheir girls.\"  Joe, I suppose, felt slighted that he too had not an\noffer, and he replied, \"Well, sir, in Madagascar, a very big chief was\nreal anxious I marry his daughter; fine-looking girl; he make me chief,\nand give me plenty land; far cleaner people than them be.\"\n\nI find the people have the same sign of friendship as in the east end of\nNew Guinea--nose and stomach pointed to.  They speak of a land, Daui,\nwith which they are friendly, a very long way off.  Daunai, of Orangerie\nBay, is called Daui in some places.  To their tree houses they have\nladders with long vines on each side to assist ascent.  Our delay here\nwill help us to know the people.  I have just been showing them the\nlikenesses of two young friends, and the excitement has been great, men,\nwomen, and children crowding round, thumb in mouth, scratching and\nshaking heads, and leaping and screaming, coming again and again to have\na look.\n\n22_nd_.--A number of strangers slept, or rather made a noise all night in\nhouses close by, and amongst them a spiritist, whose hideous singing and\nchanting of revelations was enough to drive one frantic.  We tried to\nquiet him, but it was of no use--silenced he would not be.  A man sitting\nby us when having morning tea asked for some of the salt we were using.\nWe told him it was not salt, but sugar.  He insisted it was salt, and we\ngave him some on his taro.  He began eating, and the look of disgust on\nhis face was worth seeing; he rose up, went out, spat out what he had in\nhis mouth, and threw the remainder away.\n\n23_rd_.--Cannot get the natives to move; they say they are tired, and\nwill have to rest until to-morrow morning, and they are also afraid of\ntheir enemies.  The excitement is great, but what it all means is\ndifficult for us to say.  Noon: all have cleared out with spears, clubs,\nand shields, two men having been killed in a village near, and they have\ngone to get hold of the murderers if they can.  Dressed in their feathers\nand fighting gear, with faces streaked, they do certainly look ugly.\nAfter being some time gone, they returned, saying the enemy, who were\nfrom Eikiri, had gone off to the back mountains.\n\n28_th_.--Left this morning, and had to carry our things, no natives\naccompanying us.  When about four miles on, we met natives who willingly\ntook our bags and accompanied us to Uakinumu.  The travelling was not so\nbad--a good deal of descending and ascending.  Oriope, the old chief, was\ndelighted to see us.  His wives and children have gone with great burdens\nof betel-nuts and taro to trade at the seaside.  The old fellow goes with\nus.  We are now 1530 feet above sea-level, east-by-south from last\ncamp--Mount Owen Stanley due north.  Oriope is Mr. Lawes's great friend.\nHe used to live in Munikahila, but trouble through marrying a wife has\nsent him in here.  He seems greatly attached to Ruatoka.  He is a\nterrible talker, long-winded and deafening.\n\n29_th_.--We had a strange sort of a hut for sleeping-quarters on the top\nof a rock.  The house, being open all round, felt exceedingly cold when\nthe fire went down.  The people here seem much lighter than at the other\nplace, and the children have a more pleasant expression.  Basaltic rocks\nlie scattered about in every direction.  We had our flag flying, and the\nadmiration was great, the natives viewing it from underneath then from a\ndistance, and in each position noticing something new.  About half-past\neleven we left.  The old chief and four carriers went with us.  After\ncrossing the head of the Munikahila Creek we passed through fine thickly-\nwooded country, that may yet become a very extensive coffee country.\nAfter travelling for some hours, we camped 1800 feet above sea-level.  On\nthe way the carriers struck and were for going back, but we insisted on\ntheir going on a little further.  Strange formation of country all around\nhere.  This ridge seems alone in a large basin, one side of which is bare\nperpendicular rock.  There is a good quantity of cedar, but so difficult\nto get away that it would never pay to work.  We are north-east from\nUakinumu.\n\n30_th_.--We started late, continued our journey along the ridge, rising\ngradually to 2250 feet, and then along a fine level country for some\nmiles, when we began to descend.  Soon our old friend began shouting, and\nreceived an answer from a village a long way off.  Close by us was a very\nsteep descent, down which we went till we came under the shadow of a\ngreat rock, where we rested, and in about an hour up came ten natives\nunarmed, touched our chins, and we theirs, then all squatted to smoke.\nOne of them, some time ago, had been to the coast, and knew Rua; his joy\nat now seeing him in here was great.  A shot had been fired at a cockatoo\nbefore they heard the shouting, and they were much afraid.  When all\nseemed satisfied, and the crust of the news broken, I proposed a start,\nso up bundles, and away we went.  When having gone about two miles, there\nwas a halt in an open space, and we were given to understand we must camp\nthere.  I could not agree to it, \"We must go on to the village.\"  \"No,\nyou must stay here.\"\n\n\"We cannot; we must go on.\"\n\n\"If you go on you will be devoured by the _boroma badababa_ (great pig).\"\n\nI insisted upon going on; they called to those in the village, and on\nbeing answered we again went on for about half a mile, when every bundle\nwas put down and a halt called, and again we had to listen to the\nunintelligible story of the wild animal or animals that would destroy us.\nWe sat down and tried to get them to see as we did, that a house was\nnecessary for our comfort.  A thunderstorm was working up, and soon the\nrain would be down on us--let us be off for the village.  They had a long\nconfab with those in the village on the ridge, which, when ended, seemed\nfavourable; and so up the steep side of the ridge we went.  When halfway\nup they halted, and wanted us to camp under the shelter of a great rock.\nSeeing some young men with bundles rounding the rock, I joined myself to\nthem, and away we went, followed by the others to the village.  Under the\nfirst house in the village sat a man, with a large pig standing by him,\nwhich he was clapping and scratching, as if to keep it quiet; and as we\nwent along we saw great pigs under the houses.  Certainly they were\nsavage-looking pigs.  We were given an open house, and the rain was\ncoming on.  I was ascending, when it became necessary to spring from a\npig that was after me.  Is this Goldie's big beast the natives told him\nof?  This is a fine country.  We passed through large plantations of\nyams, taro, sugar-cane, and bananas.  During the evening we had crowds of\nmen and lads--no women or children--to see us.  Some are quite light\ncopper-coloured, others are very dark; nearly all are dressed with\ncassowary feathers; many with ruffs round their necks made from these\nfeathers.  There were none very tall, but all seem well-built men, with\ngood muscle.  They have the same calabashes and chunam sticks for betel-\nchewing as at Kerepunu.  Some chunam sticks made from cassowary bones are\nwell carved.  They are a very noisy lot; one would think they were trying\nto see who could speak the loudest.  They tell us it is impossible to\ncross to the other side, as further inland the ridge ends--and there is\nnothing but bare broken rook--inaccessible all round.  The majority of\nthe men are bearded and moustached, and have cassowary feathers like a\npad behind, on which they sit.  They dress with a string.  The demand for\nsalt is very great; grains are picked up, and friends are supplied with a\nfew grains from what they have got for taro.  The name of the place is\nKenagagara, 1810 feet above the sea-level, E.N.E. from Uakinumu.\n\n31_st_.--Great crowds of people keep going and coming.  We spent a\nmiserable night.  Our old chief, Oriope, had a conclave round the fire,\nand it took him all night to recount the doings of the _Naos_\n(foreigners), not forgetting the toilet.  At times he waxed eloquent, and\nthe whole gully rung again.  It was useless telling him to be quiet.  All\nmen and lads have the nose and ears pierced.  A number of women and\nchildren are about.  Some of the women are fine, tall, muscular, and\nclear-skinned, as light-coloured as Eastern Polynesians.  The children\nare lithe, blithe, and hearty--some very dark and some very light.  The\nwomen have brought large quantities of taro for salt.  Oriope is very\nsleepy, and I have every now and again to wake him up, so that to-night\nhe may sleep soundly, and not prevent our sleeping.\n\nMy name here is Oieva--that of the fine-looking old father of the\nvillage.  At present I am all alone the others being out after birds.  The\nnatives are very friendly.  They relish salt and ginger, which I have\ntried with them, and which they pronounce good.  Ruatoka and Maka have\nreturned; they shot a pig, which the natives who accompanied them cooked\nand divided, to be carried in.  The excitement is great over the\ndivision, and the whole assembly are shouting; those from the hunt\nrecounting the day's proceedings, acting the shooting of the pig, to the\nintense delight and amazement of the others.  They eat flesh nearly raw.\nA pig is put on the fire until the hair is well singed off; then division\nis made, then re-divided, and eaten.  They take a piece between the\nteeth, hold with one hand, and with a bamboo knife cut close to the\nmouth.  A bird is turned on the fire a few times, then cut up and eaten.\n\n_August_ 1_st_.--Left this morning to look for a track.  We passed\nthrough a fine large village about one mile from here, and were joined by\nsixty men, all armed with spears and clubs, and faces painted.  They\naccompanied us for about four miles, and then turned away to the south.\nWe continued on the ridge for some miles further, until we could see that\nall round were great inaccessible mountains with bare faces.  It begins\nwith the Astrolabe, extending west until Vetura is reached, and then away\neast by south until the centre of the range is reached.  In some places\nit has a perpendicular rock face of many hundred feet; in other places it\nis broken rock with bush growth, and only at very long distances can\ntracks be found, and even then it is difficult to get up.  We descended\nto the river, a large one, flowing west, through great rocks, often lost,\nsometimes only pools appearing here and there until, some distance down,\nand when eight hundred feet above sea-level, it comes out a fine and\nflowing river.  We had a good bath, and, of course, the inevitable\n_kuku_, and then skirted the side of the ridge, passing close by and\nunder great rocks and overhanging cliffs, and up a most extraordinary\nsteep path into splendid sugar-cane and taro plantations.  Weary, we sat\ndown and ate sugar-cane under the shade of a great rock.  This West\nIndian \"long breakfast\" goes well when thirsty and hungry.  The natives\nwho accompanied us, having caught a large rat and frog, turned them on\nthe fire and ate them.\n\nA truly wonderful country!  What terrible convulsions of nature there\nmust have been here ere these great boulders were displaced and rolled\nabout like mere pebbles!  The villages are so built that they are\naccessible only on two sides by very narrow tracks.  We saw no game of\nany kind, yet the cassowary must abound somewhere near, as every one of\nthe natives wears great head-dresses and neck-ruffs made from the\nfeathers.  Our highest ascent to-day was to 2360 feet above the\nsea-level; we call it Mount Bellamy; it stands out alone, and from it we\nsaw the Astrolabe, Vetura, and Munikahila.\n\n2_nd_.--We left this morning for a pig and cassowary hunt, but were\nunsuccessful.  We bagged four cockatoos, one green parrot, one brueros,\nand three pigeons.  Of my travelling in this land, to-day beats all; it\nwas along mere goat tracks, on the edge of frightful precipices, down\nprecipitous mountain-sides and up steep ridges, on hands and knees at\ntimes, hanging on to roots and vines, and glad when a tree offered a\nlittle rest and support.  I gave it up at last, hungry and weary, and let\nthe others proceed.  I stayed with a party of natives who were getting a\nkind of large almond with a very thick fleshy rind, the nut inside very\nhard, which they broke open with stones, filling their kits with the\nkernels.  They call the nut _okari_.  They fed me with sugar-cane, taro,\nand _okari_, and then got leaves for me to rest on.  They had all their\narms handy; I was, as I am always, unarmed, and felt thoroughly\ncomfortable with them.  Only once in New Guinea have I carried a weapon,\nand then we had spears thrown at us.  I consider a man safer without than\nwith arms.  The return \"home\" was frightfully steep and trying to wearied\nand hungry folks.\n\n3_rd_.--Youths busy with feathers of cockatoos got yesterday, making head-\ndresses.  They take the feather, strip it down, throw the quill away,\nfasten all the stripped feathers neatly together, dry in sun, then bind\nround their combs.  One youth is preparing a head-covering from the bark\nof the mulberry: he is making native cloth by chewing the bark, and no\nwonder he complains of his jaws being sore, for it is a long job.  I gave\nthe children presents of beads this morning, and some of the old\ngentlemen objected, saying they ought to have had them; but I did not\nunderstand them.  It is very convenient at times not to understand what\nis said--it is thoroughly native.  We have been asking them if they will\nreceive teachers, and they all say yes, and at once, for it means\ntomahawks, knives, and salt.  They say, \"To-morrow we'll all go and get\nthe two teachers at Munikahila and bring them here now.\"  We here are in\nexcellent health and spirits; a little disappointed at not being able to\ncross.  Certainly we have not lived on the best, and we have camped\nanywhere.  I like these mountaineers--free, independent, and kind.  When\nthey cook taro, if near, we get a hot taro to eat, and often they bring\nhot taro to the house.  They bring their presents of taro and sugar-cane\nand at once walk away.  They have very good houses, thatched with grass,\nsome with a verandah on two sides, and all built six feet and more from\nthe ground.  When we were away yesterday, a wild boar from the bush took\npossession of the village.  Often when the natives are in the bush they\nhave to seek refuge in climbing trees from the savage tuskers, especially\nif they have been speared, and are determined to fight.  Our flag is\nflying, to signify that it is \"resting day.\"\n\nThe natives very seldom bury their dead, leaving the body in a house set\napart for it, which they often visit.  When a number of deaths take\nplace, they leave the village and settle somewhere else not far off.\nThere is one grave here, near to our house, on which a tobacco plant is\ngrowing, a bamboo pipe, the property of the deceased, alongside, and a\nfew sticks on end with yams on top.  When they do bury, the body is\nplaced standing in the grave.\n\n4_th_.--We left Kenakagara this morning, accompanied by natives.  Our\nfriends soon left us, and we lost our way, and after some hours'\ntravelling found ourselves in a thick bush and surrounded by precipices.\nIt has been up hill and down dale with a vengeance, trying hard to get to\nthe south-west.  At last, wet through and thoroughly tired, we camped to\nhave breakfast, dinner, and supper in one.  We were ten hours on the\ntramp, and carrying our bags, so feel ready for a night's rest.\n\n5_th_.--We see where we are; but how to get out is the problem to be\nsolved.  Ruatoka has gone to look for a track.  We had a fine night, a\nroaring fire at our feet, and so enjoyed sleep.  Camping this way is\npreferable to living in native huts, far more comfortable and enjoyable;\nbut for our work it is better for us to be with the natives.  Uakinumu\nbears south-west-by-west from us now, and could be reached in a few\nhours, if only we could get down the precipice.  Rua has returned.  When\nsome distance off, he heard cooeying, and responded, when our old friend,\nwho had been looking for us in a great state of fear, shouted his name.\nRua told him to follow, and he did so, arriving at the camp soon after.\nHe was so excited he could not speak, but embraced us all round, and then\nsat down.\n\nAfter breakfast, we set off, each carrying a bundle.  The travelling was\ndifficult, until we arrived on the path leading to the creek and up to\nUakinumu.  When on the spur, the old man shouted for the youths to come\nand help us; they cooeyed back, and we hoped to see them in about an\nhour, or at the most two hours; after waiting and no one coming, we\ndescended, and when at the creek met a youth coming slowly along and\nsaying others were following.  I felt sure they delayed their coming to\nmeet us until we should be near the village, where they would take the\nbags and receive tobacco and salt; but they were sold; we trudged on, and\nwould not let them have a bag.  We took no notice of those we met, and to\ntheir solicitations asking to carry bags we turned a deaf ear.  The\nchief's eldest son came along and begged to have my bag.  No, on no\ncondition.  The poor old chief was in a sad state; but as we are likely\nto require their services some future day, it is necessary to teach them\nthat for work or service they will be paid, but for skulking, and hoping\nto get tobacco and salt, their hopes are futile.  We reached the village,\nand Oriope did all he possibly could to keep us.  No, on we will go; his\nsleepy boys may sleep on.  We gave him and his little grandchild who\naccompanied him presents, bade him good-bye, and away.\n\n6_th_.--Here, and in all the villages we have been, we have seen very few\nwomen and girls, and very few of the young men seem to be married.  Do\nthey kill the girls when born?\n\n7_th_.--Left this morning for a mountain close by, hoping to see the\nwindings of the Laroki from it.  We had to descend 1000 feet, and then\nascend 1800.  From the droppings about, I should say the cassowary and\npig abound in the gullies about this mountain.  We found on the top a\ndeserted village and five cocoanut-trees.  We could make nothing of the\nLaroki, because of thick bush on top.  We saw that the Munikahila creek\nflows west and south, until, due north of this, it turns sharp and flows\nnorth-by-east and falls into the Goldie.  We reached camp with thoroughly\nwhetted appetites, and enjoyed breakfast and dinner of pigeons and taro.\nWe call the mountain Mount Elsie.  It is north of Vetura, and west and\nsouth of Keninumu.  We have seen four new villages close to one another\nwhere a teacher could work well.  We have now five positions for\nteachers, and I hope before we have finished with this inland trip to\nhave thirty, giving four and five villages to each teacher.  In crossing\none of the spurs, a native and his son brought us bananas, and water in a\nbamboo.  It is difficult to drink out of a bamboo.  Place the open end to\nthe mouth, raise gradually, look out, here it comes--steady.  Ah, too\nmuch raised; it is a deluge streaming over you and nearly choking you.\nTry again--well, a little better, yet far from perfect.  Choking, are\nyou?  Never mind, practise, and you will soon be an expert--a native in\ndrinking, truly.  The natives have been having a feast.  They began with\nboiled bananas and finished with a large snake cooked in pots.  It was\ncut up and divided out amongst all--sixteen eggs were found in her, a\nlittle larger than a good-sized fowl's egg.  They seemed to relish it\nmuch, and the gravy was much thought of.  They say pig is nothing\ncompared to snake.  Ah, well, tastes differ.\n\n9_th_.--We had a few noisy strangers in the village, and they seemed to\nbe anxious that all they had to say should be heard in every house.  The\nconversation is kept up by the inmates of the various houses, and at\ntimes all are speaking and trying to drown one another.  A lull comes,\nand you fancy the turmoil is ended, and so roll on your side for a sleep;\nbut, alas, it was only drawing breath, the noise being perhaps worse than\nbefore.  Our chief and his wife had a quarrel over something or other\nlast evening.  Of course the woman had the best of it.  Strange, she said\nvery little, but that little seemed to be to the point.  Every now and\nagain he would shout, _Pirikava_! _pirikava_! _pirikava_!  (Dear me! dear\nme! dear me!), and then scream and rage.  The wife would then laugh at\nhim, which made him worse, screaming and dancing more than ever.  She\nwould then say something, which he would answer, and so quieted him down\na little.  All have gone hunting to-day--men, women, and children, pigs\nand dogs.  Before leaving, they told us if we saw any one sneaking about,\nwe were to be sure to shoot them; but if they came up openly to us, and\npointed to the nose and stomach, they were friends, and had come for salt\nand tobacco.  We get our water in canvas bags, and teachers or\nmissionaries coming inland will require a set of water-bags made from the\nvery best canvas.\n\n11_th_.--A number of natives have gone to Port Moresby, to help Rua and\nMaka with tomahawks, salt, &c.  After they left, we went to the bush, and\ncut down a number of trees for posts for a house.  The chief, Poroko, has\ngiven us land, at an elevation of 1260 feet; splendid view all round; and\nif not healthy, I know not where to go, unless it be to the top of Mount\nOwen Stanley.  There will be plenty of room for taro, sugar-cane, and\ncoffee plantations.  A woman often passes us with a frightful load of\ntaro and sugar-cane on her back, and on the top of all an infant in a net\nbasket.  She goes to the next house, swings the infant kit off first,\nplacing it on the ground, where the infant in it kicks and rolls, but\ncannot get out until the kits of taro and sugar-cane are safely housed.\n\n14_th_.--This morning, after an early breakfast, we started with the Port\nMoresby natives for Munikahila, they being anxious to secure a supply of\nbetel-nuts to return with.  Have promised our old friend Oriope of\nUakinumu, before we started on the Eikiri trip, that if he led us across\nand gave us bearers, all should have tomahawks, knives, etc.  He did not\ncarry out his part, and the bearers from him returned, leaving us inland.\nI was anxious to pay them for what they did, so we went on there with\ntomahawks, tobacco, and salt.  We were about two miles from the village,\nwhen we shouted, and were replied to, and soon four young fellows came\nrushing along, in a great state of perspiration and very excited, rubbing\nour chins and throwing their arms around us, highly delighted that we had\nreturned.  They were not going to serve us as they did the last time.  We\nreached the village, and were seated with strangers and surrounded by old\nfriends, when Oriope, who had been on his plantation, came along to where\nwe were, nearly breathless, and streaming with perspiration; he threw his\narms around me, embraced me, rubbing his dirty moist cheeks on mine,\nsitting down and not speaking for some time.  When he began, he said he\nwas afraid we were terribly offended, and would not return; but, having\nreturned to him, we must stay.  No, we cannot; we must return to Keninumu\nthat night.  Ah, he could manage it; he would have us tied, and so detain\nus.  Four coast natives who knew the Koiari language were with us.  We\ntold our old friend we wanted a large quantity of betel-nuts, and that he\nhad better set out at once for them.  Soon the women and lads were off.\nWe then removed to our old house on the rock, and there told him, through\nthe interpreter, what we had expected of him, and that he had not done\nit, but that having told him we should pay them, we had come now to do so\nfor the journey made.  We gave our tomahawks, tobacco, and salt, and the\nold man was truly delighted, saying, \"I and my people will take you\nwherever we may go with safety.\"  He does not go to sea on the other\nside, as Mr. Lawes supposed, and says it is impossible to cross over\nunless we go up by Yule Island, and there he says it is dangerous,\nbecause of the cannibals.  In returning, I saw, for the first time in New\nGuinea, a bush of the real South Sea Island _kava_ (_Piper methysticum_).\n\n17_th_.--We have just had a service, and through Kena we have told the\nnatives the object of our coming and staying, that they might know of the\ntrue God, and of Jesus Christ the Saviour.  It was interesting to mark\nthe different expressions on their faces as they heard for the first time\nof God--the God of love, and that as His servants we were here.  When\ntold of the resurrection they looked at one another; some laughed, others\nseemed serious.  They were very particular in their inquiries as to the\nname of the Great Spirit, and of His Son--forgetting, and returning to\nhear it again.\n\n18_th_.--Here we are at Uakinumu for another trip; but alas, alas! cannot\nget carriers.  The young men are all off wallaby-hunting, so we must\nstart.  This evening, a woman came in with several bamboos of grubs,\nwhich were cooked in the bamboos, then spread on leaves; some salt was\ndissolved in the mouth and squirted over all, and it was amusing to see\nthe gusto with which men, women, and children partook.  Oriope is very\npersistent in wanting a teacher.  He was greatly delighted when I gave\nhim a large knife; he examined it all over, then pressed it with tender\naffection to his bosom.  Fearing lest some friends who are with him at\npresent might ask it from him, he returned it to me, requesting me to\nkeep it until they left.\n\n20_th_.--Last night, after turning in, I heard a peculiar noise, as of\nsome one in great distress, then loud speaking in a falsetto voice, and\nknew then what was up--we had a spiritist in the village, and revelations\nwere now about to be made.  We were all named, and the places we were to\nvisit.  I felt somewhat anxious as to the revelation, for if it should be\nthe least doubtful as to our going, no native would stir with us.\nHowever, the revelation, on being interpreted to us by Kena, was all\nright; we were good men, and kind, and the villages would all willingly\nreceive us.  The spirit dilated at length on the good qualities of\nforeign tobacco and the badness of the native stuff, and wound up by\nasking for some foreign.  Oriope at once got up and gave from his own\nstock what was wanted.  These native spiritists are terrible nuisances;\nthey get whatever they ask, and the natives believing so thoroughly in\nthem, they have the power of upsetting all arrangements and causing\nserious trouble.  This morning, I found our spirit friend to be a man who\nsat in our house all day yesterday, a stranger from an inland village.  He\nhas quite a different look from the other natives--an anxious, melancholy\nexpression.  While at morning coffee, he came and sat down alongside of\nus all right, and we learned from him that the spirit of a deceased\nfriend comes into him, and then things are revealed, the spirit speaking\nthrough him.  He says, when we were at Eikiri, a few weeks ago, he knew\nit, and told the people of his village of it.\n\nThe wallaby-hunters are to come in this afternoon with great supplies.\nWhen sitting round the fire with our old chief, we asked him if he knew\nof any tailed folks about inland.  \"Oh dear, yes.\"  And then he gave us a\nperfect and laughable description of what must be some creature of the\nmonkey tribe.  It climbs, laughs, and talks a peculiar language of its\nown; it scratches the head, slaps the thigh, and sits down to eat like a\nman.  I then said, \"But they are not really men?\"  \"Well, not exactly,\nbut very near it; they are hairy all over, and some are perfectly black.\"\nThe tail, according to his description, must be about a fathom long.  We\nare to see them, and must, he says, secure one or two, dead or alive.  Our\nspirit is out in his prognostications, the wallaby-hunters have not\nreturned, and we cannot leave to-morrow.\n\n21_st_.--Our spirit friend is quite out as yet, for here we are nursing\nPatience, and trying to make her a dear friend.  We are promised a start\nto-morrow.  In the evening, the hunters came in with large supplies of\nwallaby.  They report innumerable horses and foreigners as having gone to\nKupele; we suppose it to be Goldie's party.  From to-day's shooting, the\nold man got a green parrot, and devoured it raw.  Oriope dressed himself\nin his fighting gear, and went through a few antics; he looked a perfect\nfiend.  He is very proud of a stone club he possesses with a piece broken\noff; he says it was broken in felling a tremendous fellow in a\nneighbouring village.  He killed him.  \"What, stand before me!\"\n\n22_nd_.--I was eating a banana this morning, when I was told not to throw\nthe skin away, but hand it to them, which I did, when it was passed round\nand kissed by all with short ejaculations.  I asked what it meant, and\nwas told it was their manner of thanking the spirits for ripe bananas.  We\nstarted at eight a.m. with eight carriers and our old friend, and twenty\ninland natives returning home with wallaby; one poor woman had two large\nkits on her back, and an infant in another, hanging in front of her.  We\nwere seven hours on the tramp, along a good path, on which horses could\nget along well.  The most difficult ascent was shortly after we left\nUakinumu; but the path was good.  The last hour of travelling was in a\nthunderstorm, with a regular tropical pour of rain.  When we neared the\nvillage Marivaeanumu, the men came rushing out with their spears and\nshields, thinking it was an attacking party; but on seeing Maka, who was\njust behind the first native, and I following up, they shouted out,\n_Nao_, _nao_! (foreigners), and ran back with their spears.  The village\nis small, and the houses very dilapidated; it is 1800 feet above\nsea-level.  Maka was buying taro with salt, and having finished, some\nnatives noticed damp salt adhering to his hand; they seized the hand, and\nin turn licked it until quite clean.  Grains of salt falling were sought\nfor and picked up.  The shields here are the same as at Hood Bay,\nbeautifully made.  They are going to fight soon with another district,\nand are making great preparations in spears, clubs, and shields.\n\n23rd.--Our spiritist gave us a very short and indistinct seance last\nnight.  A man speared the other day in a wallaby hunt, near the Laroki,\nhe told us, was dead.  He seemed to be raving a great deal, and wound up\nthe first part with, _Nao kuku daure_ (Foreign tobacco is bad).\nContinuing to rave and disturb sleep, I told Oriope that, if that spirit\ndid not at once go back where it came from, I should certainly have to\nmake it; he reported what I said, and the spirit thought it advisable to\nleave.  We started this morning after a good breakfast, and had good\ntravelling across a fine level country E.S.E. for about four hours,\ncrossing several times the head of the Laroki: it is a magnificent\ncountry for horses.  In somewhat thick scrub, a youth met the first of\nour party, and was fraternizing very feelingly with them: I appeared, and\nhe took to his heels, and no calling of friends or foreigners could bring\nhim back.  We came suddenly upon a woman and two children, and, poor\nthings! they went into a terrible state; nothing would comfort them;\nbeads, tobacco, and salt lost their charm on them.  The family pig was\nwith them; it danced, grunted, advanced, retired, and finally made at me.\nIn the morning I took a piece of plaster from my heel, and threw it into\nthe fireplace; instant search was made for it by about a dozen natives;\nit was found, and handed back to me, they making signs that I should\nthrow it somewhere else.  Yesterday morning I unthinkingly put the loose\nhair from my comb into the fire, and great was the outcry.\n\nWe are now in Nameanumu, in the Sogeri district, and in a fine house\ntwelve feet from the ground.  We are about 1530 feet above sea-level.\nTeachers here need have no difficulty about food; there is a great\nabundance all round of taro, banana, sugar-cane, and bread-fruit.  A\nteacher with some \"go\" in him, and a good earnest wife to help him, would\ndo well here.  I am inclined to think an easier way here will be from\nMoumiri; but we have to travel with natives where they can take us with\nsafety to themselves.  Sitting round the fire a little while ago, our\nspirit friend having just left us, an old woman shouted out to Oriope to\nlook out, as the spirit was about to go through the thatch near to where\nhe was sitting.  Instant search was made, but nothing found.  She then\ncalled out from her verandah that it had gone, as Rua and Maka were doing\nsomething with their guns.  I may say the old woman was with us last\nnight, and heard my threat.  We have had the description here of some\nother animal that is in the Kupele and Moroka districts.  It is a\ndangerous one to go near, and several have lost their lives from it.\n\n24_th_.--Very heavy rain.  A number of people have come in from the\nvillages to have a look at us, so I have to go through the process of\nbaring arms and chest.  This forenoon they described an animal to us that\nI think must be the tiger--a long animal, with a long tail and large\npaws, treads lightly when seeing its prey, and then bounds upon it,\ntearing the bowels out first.  They say they are as long as the\nhouse--twelve feet.  We are not prepared to tackle such, customers.  Our\nhost is a quiet man, with a very pleasing expression of countenance.  I\nlike the people much, and pray God the day is near when they shall have\nthe Gospel preached unto them, and receive it, and know it to be the\npower of God unto salvation.  Evil spirits reign over them, and the\nutterance of every rascally spiritist is thoroughly believed.\n\nThey seem very much attached to their children, and in their own peculiar\nway, I dare say, love their wives.  Husband and wife meeting after a\nseparation is strange.  Some who returned with us had been away for a\nfortnight; their wives looked pleased when they saw them, so did the\nhusbands; not a word was spoken, only a look; clubs and spears were put\ndown, and the husbands went to where other men were sitting, the wives to\nlight fires and cook food; when cooked, the wife took it to the husband,\nwho ate a little, gave away some, and then went and sat by his wife.  I\nhave noticed that the wives are particularly happy when preparing this\nreturn food.  Oriope's wife, who accompanied us, is ill with a cold; I\nwished her to take a dose of chlorodyne, but she cried and hesitated\nmuch; the old man then took the cup and told her to look; he drank some\nof it, said it was not bad, and then pressed her to drink it off, which\nshe did.\n\n25_th_.--We left this morning at eight, and arrived at Orofedabe, in the\nFavele district, at one p.m.  The walking was good and steady, the first\nfew miles along the valley beneath a mountain in the Sogeri district,\nwhich we called Mount Nisbet, and the range near to Eikiri.  We crossed\nthe Laroki several times, and sat near its head; then ascended an easy\nridge of the Owen Stanley Range.  We travelled for about two hours along\nthis ridge, then descended, crossing two streams, which we suppose to be\nthe head streams of the Kemp Welch, flowing into Hood Bay.  There are six\nsmall villages on ridges close by, high mountains all round, and not far\noff the mountain on which the wild animal lives.  They tried to persuade\nus that this was Meroka, and there was no use our going further; but we\ncould not believe it, and I brought my compass out, and pointed to them\nwhere Eikiri, Sogeri, Kupele, and Hapele were, and told them where I\nexpected to find Meroka, which cannot be very far off.  When they saw I\nknew something of our position, they said we could not get to Meroka,\nbecause of rocks and wild beasts.  At the village we slept the last two\nnights they did all they could to detain us, because of the salt and\nbeads.  They were assisted by Oriope, who was anxious that all should go\nto his cousin and friends, with whom we were staying.  In a conversation\nthey had under the house, shortly after we arrived, I could hear\nsufficient to enable me to understand they would keep us there, and not\nlet other villages get salt and beads.  I got thoroughly vexed with the\nold man, and told him he could return home, and that unless we saw\nnumerous villages with plenty of people we should not again return here.\nHe turned right round, and told us we should see Favele and Meroka, and\nmany villages, only we must return to his cousin's; that was all right,\nwe certainly should return.  This morning, I told him to remain and take\ncare of his wife; that the people here would lead us and carry our\nthings.  He begged of me to leave some of the things to ensure our\nreturn, and I did so.  Some of the people here are very dark and others\nvery light.\n\n26_th_.--They tried hard to prevent our going to Meroka this morning,\nsaying we should be eaten by the _Jakoni_ (wild beast)--and how could\nthey return?  That would not do--go I must; so I got the things out, and\nasked some Meroka natives, who had come in, to pick them up and let us\nstart.  They refused, and joined in with our friends, saying we had\nbetter remain.  No; I must see Meroka, and until I saw it not a taro\nwould be bought nor a pile of salt given.  They all sat down, looking\ntrue savages.  After some time, I said, \"Meroka, or we return at once.\"  I\ngot my bag and went on to the path; they got up, and called to me to come\nback--they would go to Meroka, but leave the things, and return here to\nsleep.  No; I must have the things; I might want to sleep at Meroka.  That\nwas terrible, the salt would be finished, and there would be none for\nthem here.  Would I not consent to their taro being bought, and then they\nwould go with me?  No; Meroka first, and taro when we return.\n\nSeeing there was nothing for it--that go I would--they consented, and the\nMeroka folks picked up the things, and away we went.  It was a short walk\nacross the side of a ridge, down about 600 feet and up to 1500, and then\nalong another ridge.  We soon had crowds to see us, men, women, and\nchildren; and all were delighted, for we bought their taro.  The village\nwe stayed at was new, and they told us formerly they lived further in on\nthe mountain, but a man was eaten by the _Jakoni_, and they came down.  A\nnumber of natives were in mourning for the man eaten.  After some time,\nwe got up to ascend the ridge, to have a good view of the villages and\ndecide on our position.  They tried hard to prevent us, but we went on, a\nfew following to the next village.  They pretended great fear of the\n_Jakoni_, and at some places begged of us to tread lightly, and not to\nspeak.  It was all a ruse to get us back.  We went on, and up to the\nhighest village, where we had a splendid view.  We counted fourteen\nvillages on the ridges in the Meroka basin and on the other side of the\nriver we had crossed, and as many more known as Havele.  I believe it\nwould be much easier to get here from Eikiri than from Sogeri.  The\nnatives of Oriramamo, the highest village, told us they went from there\nto Eikiri in one day.\n\nThe people of Meroka are very mixed, some very dark, others very light.\nSome of the women had quite an Eastern Polynesian look; some of the\nchildren were well-formed, and really pretty.  A few men had\nlight-coloured whiskers; curly heads abounded, although a number had\nstraight hair.  They say they are not Koiari.  The Koiari comprises\nMunikahila, Eikiri, Sogeri, Taburi, Makapili Pakari; and Eikiri is N.W.\nfrom Oriramamo; Mount Bellamy is W.N.W.  A high round mountain, I have\nnamed Ben Cruachan, east; Mount Nisbet, W.S.W.  The high rock on the\neasterly side of Mount Nisbet is just over the house where we slept, and\nwill be known in future as the Clachan.  They say there are five kinds of\nwild animals on the mountains at the back, and but for these they could\neasily cross to Kupele.  The Jakoni, Gomina, and Agila are very large and\nfierce.  The Papara and Gadana are small, but fierce.  We were eating\nbiscuits, and they begged for a very small piece each, to keep as a charm\nto help them catch pigs.  Hairs from the beard are in great demand as\ncharms.  Having seen all we wanted, and not being able to persuade the\nnatives to accompany us up to the mountain to see the wild animals, I\ndecided to return to Orofedabe; so we returned to the village, gave the\ntaro we bought to the people, paid our attendants and for the house where\nour things were, and away we went.  Our friends were glad to see us, and\nrejoiced greatly when the taboo was taken off the salt, and taro was\nbought.  We are having rain and thunderstorms every afternoon.\n\n27_th_.--Maka poised a stick twelve feet long on his finger; the natives\ntried it and failed; again Maka did it, and all who were looking on came\nto the conclusion it was very easy for him to do, as a spirit held it for\nhim.  In each place we have been, when at prayers, all the natives are\nmost respectful, keeping perfect silence and bending their heads.  We had\na fine tramp back to-day, and a refreshing bath in the Laroki after it.\nWe have paid our carriers, and they are rejoicing greatly.  We were glad\nto find our old friend and his wife well, and the things we left just as\nwe hung them up.  They are very anxious to have teachers here.  We were\ntelling them that we could see no people, and they have gone and brought\nin great crowds, saying, \"No people! what are these?\"  I cut up tobacco\nand spread it out on a leaf in the centre of the crowd, and called out,\n\"For Sogeri.\"  One of their number was appointed by them, and he\ndistributed it, all sitting quietly round.  I got some salt in a paper,\nand did as with the tobacco.  All rose, and in order approached, took\nsome and retired, leaving the remainder, nearly half, for a very old man.\nThe beads I gave to the women, the men saying they ought to have had them\ntoo.  \"Come and live with us; there is no place like Sogeri--it is good,\nit is large, it is peaceful, and there is plenty of food.\"  So say the\nSogerians.  I was sitting on the ladder of the house, the crowd sitting\nround.  Rua was in the bush with his gun; he fired at a bird, and it was\namusing to see the simultaneous jerk of the crowd when they heard the\nshot.\n\n28_th_.--Last night, a chief, Biaiori, of Eribagu, slept in the house\nwith us, to be ready to lead us to his village and other villages about\nin the morning.  We started about half-past seven; but it was evident at\nthe start he had been talked over during the night in quiet whisperings,\nso as not to take us anywhere but his own village.  We walked about a\nmile and a half, and came to his village, in a fine dry position, much\npreferable to the one we had left--good houses, one house floored with\ncedar slabs, and having a fine verandah all round.  I wished to see a\nchief I had met yesterday, Jaroga, and was told he was at the next\nvillage, so we up with our bundles and away for about half a mile further\non, to a nice clean village.  I at once asked Jaroga to lead us to the\nplaces he named yesterday; he was quite willing, and began pointing in\nthe various directions, and naming the villages, but was soon silenced by\nsigns and words from others; he then said he could not go; so we left to\ngo to Epakari; a young man very much attached to Maka, and who has been\nwith us for ten days, having promised yesterday to lead us there.  We had\nto carry our bags--not a very agreeable job.  We had great excitement at\nleaving, our old chief insisting on our going back to Uakinumu; but we\nhad discarded him, and were determined to find our own way should Someri,\nMaka's friend, fail us.  I gave orders to keep a good look-out on Someri,\nwho was carrying a bundle, and he was given into Maka's care.  Our young\nfriend was very quiet, and tried skulking behind and moving on fast\nahead.  When crossing a ridge about three miles from the village, I was\nleading, when we heard Maka calling for Someri.  Rua at once returned,\nand found the bird had flown, leaving the bundle, but carrying with him\nthe camp tomahawk, which Maka had foolishly let him have to cut a stick\nwith.  It would be folly to return to get the tomahawk, so we kept south\nand west for some distance, when we came to a deserted village; then we\nturned west.  We crossed the Laroki several times before we came into the\nopen country; at our last crossing we met a company of natives, all\narmed, on watch for Makapili natives, who were expected to attack them.\nThey took our bundles, and led us to a small village, where we met some\nof our Marivaeanumu friends, who led us to their village and to our old\nhouse.  A young child called Maka was presented for presents, the father\ntelling Maka he called the child after him, because he was his friend\nwhen we were here last.  We have now the open country before us, and\nexpect no trouble in getting along.  The natives are all unsettled at\npresent, and every man we meet is armed.  I can see the country better to-\nday than when here last week.  Marivaeanumu is on a rise near the hills\nof Eikiri and north-north-west from Sogeri.  The latter district is in a\nvalley between the Owen Stanley Range and Mount Nisbet, to the south-west\nof it.  Eribagu would make a good station for the Sogeri district.  This\nplace would be a suitable station being at the head of the plain that\nreaches away to the Astrolabe on the one side, and up to Vetura and\nUakinumu on the other, stretching east by Mount Nisbet, and away east and\nsouth, by the country at the back of Mapakapa.  The Laroki rises in the\nOwen Stanley Range, and is the drain for the Sogeri district and all the\nplain; it is very circuitous, and near here very deep and slow, flowing\nwest.\n\n29_th_.--For nearly six hours we have been travelling with our bags, and\nI can honestly say I feel tired.  We are now at a new village--the houses\njust going up--on the top of the high green hill in front of Munikahila,\noverlooking the Kupa Moumiri valley.  The village is named Keninumu, and\nconsists of four houses at present, two on high trees and two on high\nrocks.  We have pitched our tent close by, and intend resting until\nMonday, when we hope to start for the plain--a very fine country, but no\nnatives.  This part of the plain is dry and barren, with stunted\ngum-trees.  A party met us when near the village, and a woman with a\nchild on her shoulder, I suppose seeing me look tired, insisted on my\ngiving her my bag.  I looked at the child, and wondered how she was going\nto manage, but that was soon arranged; she made the child sit on her left\nshoulder, holding her by the hair; then she took my bundle, and away she\nwent.  Some young men have come in from one of the districts we wish to\nvisit, and I hope to keep them until we leave; it will be a help and of\ngreat value as an introduction at this time of trouble.  We are 1440 feet\nabove sea-level.\n\nA fortnight ago there was a great wallaby hunt down at Moumiri, and\nnatives from all the districts round were present.  A native of\nMunikahila speared a man from Tabori, who died soon after, so now\nMakipili, Epakari, and Efari are said to have joined on with Tabori, and\nunitedly mean to attack Munikahila.  All the natives condemn the murder\nof the man, because of the time and place.\n\n31_st_.--Natives all excitement, expecting Munikahila to be attacked.\nEvery evening the men go armed to Munikahila, and the women, children,\ndogs, and pigs to the bush.  I am sorry our Keninumu friends should\nconsider it their duty to assist the murderers.  The natives of the\ndistrict to which the murdered man belonged are quietly biding their\ntime, hunting wallaby close by us.  The kind woman who assisted me the\nother day has a son by her first husband living at Keninumu, and for a\nlong time she has not seen him, he being afraid to come here.  She knows\nthat Maka was returning yesterday, and felt sure her son would accompany\nhim.  When some distance from here, Maka fired a shot, to let us know he\nwas coming, to which we responded, assuring him all was right.  On\nhearing the shot, the poor woman became quite excited, came and sat down\nby our fire, got up and got us firewood, sat down again, telling Kena to\nget the taro cooked for Maka, rose again and fetched more firewood, then\nsat down in front of the path, looking steadily and anxiously for the\ntravellers.  Poor body! they came in sight, but her son was not one of\nthem.  She seemed to feel it very much, rose, went to her house, and was\nnot seen again until this morning.  God grant the day is near when the\nsong the heavenly host sang, \"Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth\nand good will toward men,\" shall be known and enjoyed here!\n\n_September_ 1_st_.--We left this morning at seven o'clock and drew up at\nMakapili at four p.m., resting by the way.  For salt, tobacco, and beads,\nwe had help all the way.  What appears a fine level plain in the distance\nturns out to be a fine country, full of ridges and luxuriant valleys,\nabounding in every kind of native vegetable.  From the departure this\nmorning until our bringing-up we could have ridden horses at a fine\ncanter along the ridges from one to another.  This is the best country I\nhave yet seen in New Guinea, and the natives seem very kind and friendly.\nAt the Laroki we had to strip, and, just above small rapids, holding on\nby a long line fastened to poles on each side, we crossed over.  The\nnatives have the line to help them when the river is up.  We called at\nseveral villages on the ridges, passed others, some on large table-rocks.\nFancy a table-rock with twenty or thirty houses on it.  At Chokinumu, a\nvillage 1600 feet above the sea, S.E. from Marivaenumu seven miles, we\nalarmed the people so that they rushed away, leaving us the village.\nShortly a man came back, pretending to be very unconcerned, chewing betel-\nnut; we soon were friends, and he called out to the others, and they\nreturned.  We told him where we were going, and he said he and his wife\nwould accompany us, as we were the first foreigners who had ever been to\nhis village, and he would not leave us.  At other villages they also\ncleared out, screaming terribly.  Gimenumu, 1900 feet above sea-level,\nand two miles east from Chokinumu, will make a fine mission station--a\nlarge village, fine plantations, and plenty of water.  We crossed several\nstreams from the Astrolabe Range, all flowing into the Laroki.  The whole\ndrainage of the Astrolabe Range and of this country falls into the\nLaroki.  We are now in Vaiako, Makipili district, 2250 feet, in a really\nlovely spot.\n\nThere are a great many natives in this district.  About four miles from\nhere we passed a deserted village on a table-rock, at one time the home\nof this people; but the Sogeri natives came over and killed eleven of\nthem, and the others thought it time to settle somewhere else.  We have\nnow a splendid view of Mount Owen Stanley, due north of us, and rising\nfar away, clear and distinct above a thick mass of cloud.  Mount Bellamy\nstands alone, with a bare south-east side, and Mount Nisbet just across\nfrom here, behind which is Sogeri, so much dreaded by this people.  On\nall the ridges stretching away to the eastward from here behind Kapakapa\nare natives.  A woman, coming to have a look at us, spied our black dog,\nMisi Dake, and off she went, climbing a tree, kit and all, quicker than I\never saw a native climb before.  We met a fine old patriarch in a stream\nabout two miles from here, and the meeting with our friend from Chokinumu\nwas most affecting, touching chins and falling into one another's arms\nweeping.  He sat down beside me with grave dignity, and the woman from\nChokinumu sat in front of him, chanting and weeping.  We had strawberries\ncoming along, with little or none of the flavour of the home strawberry.\nThe raspberry bush is very abundant.\n\n2_nd_.--Just after sunrise we had a great crowd up at the tent to have a\npeep at us.  At eight o'clock, we started for the summit of the\nAstrolabe, to have a look at the sea.  It is very broken on the summit,\nand we had a good deal of ascending and descending before we got over\nKaili, to be disappointed in not seeing the sea, the fog hanging thick\nunder our feet.  We returned by a very circuitous path, passing several\nvillages built on rocks and trees.  On one large table-rock was a snug\nvillage, and to the east of the rock four large posts beautifully carved.\nOn feast days, the food is collected close to these, and a platform is\nfixed to the posts, on which dancing takes place.  We returned at three\np.m.  The old chief soon followed us up to the camp with a large present\nof food, and saying he hoped we would soon return.  I hope the same.\nAfter some delay, so that it might not appear as payment for the present,\nwe gave our present to the old chief; when he got the tomahawk, he wept\nfor joy, looked at his friends, then at us, pressed it to his bosom, and\nthen kissed it.  The chiefs name is Kunia.\n\n3_rd_.--We left Makipili this morning at eight o'clock, and came along\nleisurely, arriving at Chokinumu at half-past ten.  The chief and his\nwife who accompanied us pressed us to stay a night in their village, and,\nseeing it would displease them if we went on, we consented.  We had a\nthorough downpour of rain in the afternoon, after a very hot sun, the\nthunder rolling all round us.  The chief Lohiamalaka and his wife are\nexceedingly kind and attentive; they have kept close by us since we left\nhere on Monday.  I am sorry for the Makipili people; they are so afraid\nof Sogeri, that they have left their houses, and are living in the bush\nand under the shelter of rocks.  Sogeri, Makipili says, will listen to no\nconditions of peace.  Several overtures have been made, but all are\nuseless.  We were told at several places that if we ventured to Makipili\nwe should never return; but we have been there, were treated kindly, and\npressed to return.\n\n4_th_.--Using our blankets yesterday as a flag for our tent, they got so\nwet that it required a day to dry them, so we decided to remain here and\nvisit the Laroki Falls.  Ten days ago, we found from the natives that\nthey were near here.  The native name is _Round_.  We found the falls in\na deep gorge formed by the west end of Astrolabe and east end of Vetura\nRange.  On each side of the gorge the mountains run sharp down, in many\nplaces precipitous rocks.  The falls are E. from Port Moresby, E.S.E.\nfrom Moumili, and S.E. from Vetura proper.  They are grand, and well\nworth seeing.  I wish we had seen them from below.  For a long distance\nup there are small falls and rapids.  The water comes surging on, and\nthen takes a fearful leap of many hundred feet on to a ledge, and from\nthere to the boiling cauldron below.  The noise is deafening.  Where we\nstood, nearly level with the water, it was 1340 feet above sea-level, and\nI do not think that from there to the cauldron could be less than 900\nfeet.  I think it may be possible to get to them from the north side by\nMangara, and then we can rightly tell the height of the falls.\n\n5_th_.--Left Chokinumu this morning at eight, and had a pleasant walk for\nthree hours, ascending gradually the Astrolabe until we reached the\nsummit at the back of Tupuselei, 2300 feet high.  We were resting before\ndescending, when a native party appeared and approached us, somewhat\nscared.  They said on coming up they heard the noise as of chopping wood\n(we were marking trees).  They came on, and saw through the bush a white\nman, and at once went back; then, hearing as if natives were with him\nspeaking in Koiari, they returned and determined to meet.  They were much\npleased at receiving a present of salt.  We descended on the west side of\nthe Astrolabe; the descent, being steep and difficult, took us some time.\nIn the afternoon we arrived at Janara, near to Efari, at the back of\nPyramid Point, the Astrolabe bearing north.  Our friend Lohiamalaka, the\nchief of Geminumu Monito, and three youths are with us.  I have never met\na kinder and more friendly native than Lohiamalaka.  Janara is a good\nlarge district, and seems to have a number of natives.  The village we\nare in is 600 feet above sea-level.  Tupuselei is the nearest mission\nstation, and a teacher placed here or at Efari would have constant\ncommunication with that place.  I was the first to enter the village.\nThey had heard us cooeying to one another; so only saw one man, and he\ntried to look very unconcerned, with a bamboo pipe, trying to light it,\nbut too excited to succeed.  The women had shut themselves indoors with\nthe children, and the men had gone into the bush close by with their\nweapons.\n\n6_th_.--From Janara to Epakari there are several steep ridges to go up\nand down, and the last ascent is truly steep.  It took us three good\nsteady hours' walking and climbing to get to Karikatana, the first of six\nvillages in this district.  Dawes and Stone were at a village, I believe,\non a ridge nearer to Port Moresby.  The chief, Nikanivaipua, received us\ngraciously, and insisted on our taking his house.  We paid off our\nfriends, and they departed well pleased.  We received presents of cooked\nfood and smoked wallaby.  They were prepared for us, having been shouted\nto an hour before we arrived at the village by our friend Lohiamalaka.\nThe village looks to be in a fine healthy position, close to the west end\nof the Astrolabe, the high bluff bearing N.E.  They have plenty of all\nkinds of food.  We crossed from the Janara, a good-sized mountain torrent\nflowing S.W. to Bootless Inlet.  We are 700 feet high.  High bluff of\nAstrolabe, N.E.; Bootless Inlet, S.S.W.; peak of Astrolabe above Kaili,\nE.S.E.\n\n7_th_.--Our friend Lohiamalaka turned up again last evening; he did not\nlike leaving us.  This morning he really set off, promising to visit us\nat Port Moresby in October; that is, not this moon, nor the next, but the\none that follows.  I asked for a little ginger to eat, and they have\nbrought it me in bundles.  It is really good when green, with salt.  A\nlarge number of natives attended our service, and were truly orderly--not\na whisper, and during prayer every head bent.  On the Astrolabe, the\nother day, Lohiamalaka said he felt anxious for us in entering Janara.\nRua, through Kena, told him not to fear anything on our account, as the\nGreat Spirit was with us, and no harm could come near us.  Last evening,\nhe was telling the people here of his fears, and what Rua said, \"and how\ntrue it was the Great Spirit or something is with them.\"  At all the\nvillages Lohiamalaka repeated all he could remember of what he had been\ntold, and of our singing and praying.  Every evening he would sit at the\ntent door and get us to sing for the benefit of a crowd of natives\noutside, who, having heard from himself of our musical powers, refused to\ngo to their homes at sunset, and insisted on remaining until after _noko_\n(singing).  When the Koiari visit the coast they go in for begging\nlargely, and they generally get what they ask, as the Motu people are\nvery much afraid of their spiritual power, they being thought to hold\npower over the sun, wind, and rain, and manufacturing or withholding the\nlatter at will.  When the Motu people hear that Koiarians are coming,\nthey hide their valuables.  All the young swells here have head-dresses\nof dogs' teeth, got from the seaside natives.  At Eikiri, they told us\nthey got theirs by killing and stealing.  We can truly say we are under\narms in this house--sixty-two spears overhead, four shields on walls, and\ntwo stone clubs keeping watch at the door.  A Makipili woman has been\ntelling Kena how she happens to be here.  Formerly her people and these\nwere at enmity.  Makipili sought peace, but had no pig.  She was selected\nto supply want of pig, and taken with food.  When she grew up, the old\nman (not her husband) insisted on her living with him.\n\n8_th_.--We had six hours' good walking, and are now encamped under the\nshade of Vetura.  The country from Epakari to here is very ridgy, and,\nafter leaving the ridges of Epakari, very barren.  Coming suddenly on a\nlarge party of men, women, and children returning from a dance, they were\nso frightened when we called out, _Naimo_! that they set off, kits,\nspears, and drums, and no fine words would bring them back.  We have\nseven natives with us; the old chief says he must see us safe to\nKeninumu.  We passed a fine village--Umiakurape--on a ridge west of\nKarikatana; the chiefs name is Vaniakoeta.  It would make a splendid\nstation.  The high ridge at the back of Epakari, along which we came, is\n1000 feet high, and from it we saw Fisherman's Island, Redscar Bay,\nBootless Inlet, and the whole coast east to Round Head.\n\n9_th_.--Arrived at Keninumu at half-past ten a.m.  Found all well.  The\nnatives are constantly on the look-out for the Tabori attack on\nMunikahila.  We hear the Munikahila natives have been stealing from\nGoldie.\n\n14_th_.--Since our return we have been house-building, but are getting on\nvery slowly.  I fear we are six weeks too late for the Kupele district,\nand shall have to leave it for another season.  It would be awkward to\nget in and not get back until the end of the wet season.  I find our\nfriend the chief, Poroko, has had two wives; one he killed lately.  She\nwas in the plantation, and some young fellows coming along, she sat down\nwith them to have a smoke and get the news; Poroko heard of it, and on\nher coming home in the evening he killed her.  A woman at Favelle said,\n\"Oh, the Koiari man thinks nothing of killing his wife.\"  The word for\n\"sneeze\" in Koiari is _akiso_.  When they are leaving for a journey or\ngoing for the night they call out _kiso_, and often from their houses\nthey shout their good-night to us, _kiso_.  There is a woman in deep\nmourning for her daughter.  She has hanging round her neck all the\nornaments once the property of the deceased, and along with them the\njawbone.  The headless body she visits occasionally, and rubs herself all\nover with the juice from it!\n\n18_th_.--We have a great crowd of natives in from Kupele, the nearest\ndistrict to Mount Owen Stanley.  They are the same race of people as at\nMeroka--some very dark, others very light-coloured.  Their weapons are\nthe same as the Koiari, as also is their dress.  Two men are in mourning,\nand are wearing netted vests.  The chief is rather a fine-looking fellow,\nand dressed profusely with cassowary feathers.  They all have a wisp of\ngrass bound tight at one end, and hanging from a girdle behind, to be\nused as a seat when they sit down.  It is a stretch of imagination to say\nit looks like a tail.  They are very anxious we should accompany them on\ntheir return, and say they will show us plenty of villages and people.\nYesterday we had great feasting in the villages on yams and taro.  To an\nEastern Polynesian it would be ridiculous to call it a feast, seeing\nthere was no pig.  In the evening we had a good deal of palavering with\nspears and shields, fighting an imaginary foe, and at times retreating.\nTheir movements are swift and graceful: advance, retreat, advance,\npursue, ward off to the right, to the left, shield up, down, aside,\nstruck on knee, a shout, all gone through, with the greatest alacrity,\nand I am not at all astonished at so few being killed or wounded in a\nfight.  They value shields that bear the marks of spears.\n\n19_th_.--Our old friend Oriope came in to-day, and handed us the\ntomahawk, stolen by the deserter on our last trip.  He says when he heard\nhow Someri had served us he sent at once to Sogeri, and got the tomahawk,\ntelling them it was very wrong to steal from such dear friends of his.\nOne of the Kupele natives stole a knife, but he had to give it up to the\nKeninumu friends, who returned it to us.  I should have liked to have\nstarted a station at Chokinumu, so as to try the climate of both sides of\nthe district this wet season.\n\n23_rd_.--We find it impossible to get the men to help us with the house\nwhilst so many of us are here, so we return to the port, hoping to get\ninto Chokinumu soon.  The people, seeing that we are really going, have\nbegged hard for Jakoba to be left, and they promise faithfully to assist\nhim in finishing the house.  Jakoba being anxious to remain with them, I\nconsented.\n\n24_th_.--Arrived at Moumiri about two p.m.  We heard there that Tabori\nand Makipili have been murdering.  A number of people from Marivaenumu\nwere here wallaby-hunting, and on returning were met; three women and two\nmen were killed.  They report here, also, that Kupele proper (a small\nvillage) no longer exists; the Koiari to the west of us having gone over\nand killed all but five, who have gone to another village.\n\n26_th_.--Returned to Port Moresby to-day, and found all well, and good\nnews from all the stations.  The services have gone on here in Rua's\nabsence with great success.  On two Sundays the chief Poi conducted the\nservices, addressing those present, and telling them he thought that now\nit was time for them all to receive the Gospel which had been so\nfaithfully taught them during these years; in prayer he remembered us who\nwere inland, and asked our Father in heaven to watch over us and bring us\nback safely, and to enlighten all of them at the seaside.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.  PEACE-MAKING.\n\n\nMr. Chalmers asked by the natives to go to Elema--Native\nfears--Difficulties at the start--Namoa--Delena--A Motumotu trading\ncanoe--Interview with Semese, chief of Lese--Christian natives--Friendly\nmeeting with a war canoe--Arrival at Motumotu--Friendly reception--Viewing\nMr. Chalmers's feet--Natives in full dress--Sunday open-air service--Sago\nas an article of commerce--Peace agreed upon--Return to Boera.\n\nWhen at Kabadi in 1880, the natives begged of me to endeavour to prevent\nthe Elema natives paying them another visit, as they were now living in\nthe bush near the hills.  All along the coast the people were much\nafraid, expecting a raid, and at last news came in from Maiva that\nMotumotu and Lese were making great preparations that they would visit\nMotu, kill Tamate and Ruatoka, then attack right and left.  Last year,\nwhen leaving, they said they would return and pay off accounts, kill the\nforeigners first, then all the natives they could get hold of.\n\nUnder these circumstances, I resolve to visit Motumotu, and beard the\nlion in his den.  I did not believe they would touch me, but I feared\nthey meant mischief to Kabadi and the coast villages.  No time could be\nlost, as we were in a bad month for rain and storms, and the coast line\nis long and bad.  The natives said it was too late, yet I resolved to try\nit.\n\nOn the 5th January, 1881, we opened the new church at Port Moresby, and\nbaptised the first three New Guinea converts.  The church was crowded,\nand all seemed interested.  I arranged for Piri and his wife to accompany\nme to the Gulf, they taking the whale-boat.  We cannot call at Kabadi on\nour way down, as we must hurry on, but our natives here were going to\nKabadi, and gladly took the news.\n\nOn January 10, the flag flying on the boat told all that we were to\nstart.  Our leader ran off to Kaili last night, but Huakonio, one of the\nthree baptised on the 5th, was willing to go.  Our boat's crew were\nconsidered fools, rushing into the arms of death.  Wives, children, and\nfriends were gathered round weeping.  The men said, \"Cannot you see that\nif Tamate lives we shall live, and if he is murdered we shall be\nmurdered?  It is all right; we are going with him, and you will see us\nback all right with sago and betel-nuts.\"  Huakonio told me in the boat\nthat every means imaginable but physical force were used to prevent their\naccompanying me; and he added, \"We know it is all right; the Spirit that\nhas watched over you in the past\" (naming the various journeys) \"will do\nso now; and if we return safe, won't the people be ashamed?\"\n\nWe left Port Moresby about nine a.m. with a light head wind; outside\nfound the current very strong, setting easterly.  We arrived at Boera at\nfour p.m., and found Piri and his wife ready to start at once.  Piri has\na Boera crew, and we increased ours here by two.  Here the natives did\nnot seem at all afraid, and many wished to accompany us.\n\nOn leaving Boera, it was a beautiful clear and moonlight night, and there\nwas a light land breeze.  Pulling brought us to Varivara Islands, in\nRedscar Bay, about two a.m., where we anchored until six when we tried to\nmake Cape Suckling.  As it was blowing hard from the north-west, we had\nto put into Manumanu.  The Motu traders did all they could to persuade us\nto give up Motumotu, and to visit Kabadi.  Both crews would gladly have\ngiven up; their friends told them to leave us, and return in the trading\ncanoes.  They came to me to say \"the bad weather has set in, the winds\nand rains are here, we cannot go on.\"\n\nI replied, \"Think, my children, of the disgrace.  We started to go to\nMotumotu, and at the first breath of contrary wind we put back.  It must\nnot be.  Let us try it a little longer, and if the wind increases we can\nput back, and not feel ashamed.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" they rejoined; \"we will go on with you.\"\n\nAt sunset we all got into our boats, and were ready for a start.  A\nfellow who has just returned from Kabadi thought to get over me by\nsaying, \"Tamate, Kabadi are looking daily for you, and they have a large\npresent ready; feathers in abundance and sago; your two boats cannot take\nhalf.\"\n\n\"I am going to Motumotu, and not all the feathers in Kabadi, nor all the\nsago they can prepare, will turn me now, until I have made a fair trial,\nand then, if driven back, I will visit Kabadi.\"\n\nI believe our crew had had a talk with that man before he came to me.\n\nIt was five o'clock on January 12th before we got to Namoa, near Cape\nSuckling.  Maiva canoes passed with wallaby from Namoa.  When ashore,\ncooking breakfast, Koloko and her husband, with uncles and aunts, and men\nand women from the village, came down.  The two former were going to\nMaiva, and the crowd followed to see them embark in one of the large\nMaiva canoes.  After the bamboo pipe had been passed all round, the\nembarkation took place, men and women weeping as if taking a final\nfarewell.\n\nWhen they had gone, we told the people we wished to sleep, and they left\nus undisturbed.  In the afternoon we came to Delena, where we had right\nhearty welcome.  They are truly glad we are going to Motumotu, as they\nfear an attack, and hope our visit will benefit them.  They feel sure\nMotumotu will receive us well, and seeing that I specially visit them,\nthey say it will be all right.  The crews feel encouraged, and are at\npresent ashore feasting on dugong, sago, and betel-nuts.  Some have been\noff for tobacco, and are now laughing at the folly of their friends.  The\nsorcerer is not in Delena; but even he would do nothing to prevent our\ngoing on.  We are all ready to start with a land breeze.  The crews have\nsent us word, \"When you wish to start, call out; you will see us gladly\nspring into the water.\"\n\nOn leaving Delena with a light breeze and pulling, we reached the Kaveri\nbeach near Cape Possession, about eight a.m.  When near Maiva, we met a\nMotumotu canoe.  At first they were afraid to come alongside of us, but\nafter a little talk we got near them, exchanged presents, and were soon\nfriends.  They seem glad we are going to their home; they say peace will\nbe arranged.  The Motumotu have said that if we only were to visit them,\nthey would gladly make peace.\n\nIt seems that they are very badly off for _uros_ (earthenware pots), and\nthe native tribes along the coast to the west of them are crying out and\nblaming them for the scarcity.  They are certainly blaming the right\nparty; but for Motumotu, the Pari, Vapukori, Port Moresby, Boliapata, and\nBoera trading canoes would all have been down the coast last season.  The\nprincipal man in the canoe, knowing that all, except our boatman, Bob\nSamoa, had friends at Motumotu, made friends with him, rubbing noses and\nhanding his lime gourd, which is to be shown on arrival, and his father\nand friends will receive Bob as his friends.  They go on to Lolo in quest\nof _uros_.\n\nWe landed to cook food.  On awaking from a sleep, I was astonished to\nfind a crowd of natives close by, and my friend the Kaveri chief, Arana,\nsitting near me.  Two boys, who were on the beach fishing, seeing us\nland, ran inland and reported, and he, with two of his wives carrying\nfood, followed by men and women from the villages, came down.  His two\nwives are now busy cooking, and he is trying to persuade me to call on\nour return and get his present of sago and food.  I could not promise,\nand he seemed disappointed.\n\nWe left the Kaveri beach and pulled round Cape Possession, passing close\nin by Oiapu.  A heavy sea was rolling in, and a canoe putting off to us\nwas swamped.  People running along the beach called on Piri and me by\nname to land and feast, but our crews were too frightened, and we went\non.  When off Jokea, men, women, and children all came on to the beach,\nand also by name begged of us to land.  We would have done so here, but\nthe sea was too high, breaking with great force on the fringing reef.\nSeveral canoes put off, but only one succeeded in reaching us.  They\nbegged of us to call on our return, and let them know the result of our\nvisit, and said we had better also visit Lese.  They think our visit will\nput all straight.  Motumotu, they say, is very undecided as to what to\ndo, but having heard that I was to visit them, put off the decision for\nsome time, saying, \"If he comes, it will be all right, and we shall have\npeace, but--\"  Well, they did not know.  They rub noses all round, and\nmake for the shore, we for the harbour at the mouth of Coombes River, but\na very heavy sea running in, we prefer anchoring outside at midnight.\n\nBy five a.m. up anchor, and away to Lese.  Two Naima canoes returning\nfrom Lolo, where they had been trying to get _uros_, passed close to us.\nThey also are glad of the likelihood of peace and _uros_.  At seven, we\ngot to Lese, and were met by an excited crowd, the majority armed.  We\nanchored a little out, and would allow no canoes alongside.  I called out\nfor Eeka, and a very old man walked into the sea, when I went ashore and\ntook him by the hand.  Piri and his wife followed, with part of the crew\nand the Boera and Port Moresby chiefs.  We were led to the village, the\ncrowd increasing as we went along.  Piri noticing an enclosed place, went\nin to see what it was, and called me to have a look.  I went in, but no\nwomen or youths followed.  Inside were two large houses, with rows of\nmasks and hats, the latter like small canoes, about ten feet long, made\nwith very light wood and native cloth.  On coming out I was seized by the\nhand by an elderly man, who, in a towering passion, drew me on.  All I\ncould make out was that somebody was a thief and a liar.  The Boera chief\nran up, and I asked him what was wrong.  \"Oh, this is your friend,\nSemese, the chief you gave the present to when you were last here, and he\nis angry with Eeka for taking you away.\"\n\n\"Tell Piri to come up quickly.\"\n\n\"Piri, go with Eeka as your friend; give him a present as such; it is all\nright.  I go with Semese.\"\n\nSoon squatting on the platform, wrath fled, and I had to wait to be fed.\n\n\"But, Semese, I want to press on to Motumotu and see them.  I am afraid\nof the weather coming on bad.\"\n\n\"Motumotu to-morrow, Lese to-day; you must have a pig.\"\n\n\"Leave the pig for another visit.\"\n\nAll was of no avail.  A fine pig was speared, brought and laid at my\nfeet.  Semese and the people were in the very best humour.  Eeka was\ndelighted with Piri, and the latter had a pig presented to him.  We gave\nour presents, and, feeling tired, I suggested to our friends that we had\nbetter take the pigs to the other side of the entrance, to Macey Lagoon.\nSemese is quite agreeable, now the peace is made, and it was arranged\nthat he and his party should visit me with sago at Port Moresby.  Both\npigs, ready for cooking, were carried into the boat, and the excited\ncrowd, this time all unarmed, were on the shore to see us off.  They\npromised not to molest Kabadi again, and that they considered our visit\nas peace with all the coast villages.\n\nMacey Lagoon would make a splendid harbour for small vessels, very large\nvessels not being able to cross the bar.  On the eastern side, a bank\nruns out for nearly a mile, on which the sea breaks; close in by western\nshore is a good passage.  The great work of the day was feasting and\nsleeping.  There were two Lese men with us, and they said that the\nMotumotu have been talking of war, not of peace; but now it may be\ndifferent.  To get into Motumotu in the morning, we had come to within\ntwo miles of the village, and we anchored off.  Notwithstanding some\nanxiety, soon all were asleep.  The natives were astonished at the\nbeautiful weather, and said they felt as if all would be right--the great\nand good Spirit who had led us so far and safely would not leave us now\nor on the morrow.  At every meal on board or ashore they asked a\nblessing, and our old friend Hula prayed with real earnest feelings.  He\nwas certainly in earnest to-night when he prayed for the Motumotuans, and\nthat our visit might be blessed to them.  I was charmed with his\nsimplicity, fervour, and expectancy.\n\nThis old man, a few weeks before, at the close of a meeting at Port\nMoresby, said, addressing _us_--\n\n\"Listen, you think we Motumotuans are not attending to your words; but\nyou are mistaken.  Before you came here, we were always fighting and were\na terror to all, east and west, but now it is different.  We are at peace\nall round; we go about unarmed, and sleep well at night.  Soon our\nfathers' ancient customs will be given up, and you will see us, old and\nyoung, coming to be taught the word of the great and good Spirit.\"\n\nI was aroused about two a.m. by shouting, and, looking over the gunwale,\nsaw a large double fighting canoe alongside of Piri's boat, in which all\nwere sound asleep.  On awaking, they were startled by the appearance.\nThey were asked by those on the bridge--\n\n\"Who are you?\"\n\n\"Tamate and Piri going to Motumotu.\"\n\nSoon all were friends, chewing betel-nut and smoking tobacco.  On each\ncanoe with paddles were over thirty men, and on the bridge adjoining the\ncanoes were armed men and a large supply of sago and betel-nuts.  They\nwere going to Lese to purchase _uros_.  They came alongside of our boat,\nreceived and gave presents, and then an order was given by one from the\nbridge, and away they went at full speed.  It was a pretty sight in the\nmoonlight to see the canoe move swiftly on, when nearly eight paddles as\none touched the water.  We rolled ourselves up again for another hour or\ntwo's sleep.\n\nAt sis a.m. we weighed anchor, and were off to Motumotu.  There was a\ngreat crowd on the beach; but it was all right, as boys and girls were to\nbe seen there, as noisy as the grown-up folks.  A chief rushed into the\nwater, and called on us to come.  \"Come, with peace from afar; come,\nfriends, and you will meet us as friends.\"  We went round and entered the\nriver in deep water, close to eastern bank near to the village.  Until we\nhad a talk, I would allow none but Piri's friend and my friends, Semese\nand Rahe, near the boats.  They had been told that we were going to fight\nif they visited us, and that all women and children were to be sent back\nto the Keiara, and the Keiari fighting men were to be in league with all\nthe foreigners about.  Then they heard that I had been murdered, and were\nterribly sorry; but now they saw I was alive, and had come a long way in\na \"moon\" in which neither they nor their forefathers had ever travelled.\nSo now they must make peace.\n\nI said, \"You must not again go near Kabadi, and all along the coast we\nmust have peace.\"\n\n\"It is right, we shall not again visit Kabadi.  Lealea feasted us with\npigs, and pressed us to attack Kabadi, to pay off an old attack on them.\nIt suited us, because Kabadi thought themselves strong; but now it is\npeace.\"\n\nI landed with them, and went up through the villages, then returning to\nthe boats we were told to remain there.  Shortly three pigs were brought,\nand our return presents of _uros_, etc., were carried off.  Bob's\ncalabash has brought him a host of friends.  Piri is with his friends at\none end of the village, and in the opposite I am to reside in my friend\nRahe's _dubu_.  Semese is his father, and a very old man.  The number of\nold men and old women and children is astonishing.  No enemy dare come\nnear their villages, and their houses have never been burnt down.  The\nBoera chief--a capital fellow to have--speaks this dialect very fluently.\nOur people at first were very much afraid, but soon settled down, and are\nnow roving about.\n\nSuddenly the war-horn was heard blowing--not the pig-horn, so often heard\non the coast.  I wondered what was up, but it turned out to be only the\nyouth training.  Two new double canoes came down the river with large\ncomplements of paddles, all young lads, gaily dressed.  A number of young\nmen, painted and extravagantly dressed, have been here; they lately\nkilled some Moveavans, and are hence greatly admired by old and young.\n\nI had to take off my boots and socks, and allow my feet to be admired,\nalso to show off my chest.  All shout with delight, and every new arrival\nmust have a look.  The sun was frightfully hot.  Some men were fishing on\nthe breakers; they had a long post, with a cross-bar, on which they\nstand, fixed in the sand, head covered with native cloth, and bow and\narrow ready.\n\nA number of people came in from Vailala.  They wish I would go down with\nthem, but it is too late to go so far in an open boat.  I have had\nanother meeting with the leading men, and I think all is now peace.  My\nfriend Rahe seems a great personage, with relatives innumerable.  He\nwants to know if I would like to be alone in the _dubu_; only say it, and\nall the men will leave.  I prefer them remaining, and I will make myself\ncomfortable on the front platform.\n\nIn the evening, men and women--I suppose _they_ would say \"elegantly\ndressed\"--bodies besmeared with red pigment, croton and _dracaena_\nleaves, and feathers of various birds fixed on head, arms, and legs,\nparaded the villages.  At present all move about armed, and in this\nestablishment bows, bent and unbent, and bundles of arrows are on all\nsides.\n\nRahe has just been to me to ask for boat medicine.\n\n\"What do you mean, Rahe?\"\n\n\"I want you to give me some of that medicine you use to make your boat\nsail.\"\n\n\"I use no medicine, only Motu strong arms.\"\n\n\"You could never have come along now without medicine.\"\n\n\"We use no medicine, and have come along well.\"\n\nI had a splendid night's rest.  My mosquito-net and blanket caused great\namusement.  My attendants are innumerable and attentive, and will allow\nno noise near.  Our service in the morning was very noisy--everybody\nanxious for quiet must needs tell his neighbour to be quiet.  Our old\nPort Moresby chief prayed in the Motumotu dialect.  The Boera chief\ntranslated for Piri and me.  They are very anxious to know of the\nresurrection and where Beritane spirits go after death.\n\nIn the afternoon we held service in the main street.  The singing\nattracted a very large and noisy crowd but when our old friend began to\npray it was as if a bomb-shell had exploded, men, women, and children\nrunning as for dear life to their homes.  Another hymn brought them back,\narmed and unarmed.  We had a long talk on peace, and they wished I would\ngo with them to Moveave, and make peace.  One division of these villages\nthey have simply wiped out.  I asked them to leave Moveave alone, and\nwhen a fit season comes I will ascend the river with them, and make\npeace.\n\nI have visited the party who last week killed several of the Moveavans,\nand they promised not to attack them again.  The Kaback jewellery is\nabout in abundance.\n\nSemese spoke nearly all the night through, exhorting all to peace, and\nthat now we had visited them they ought no more to go about exalting\nthemselves, fighting with their neighbours, and speaking evil of their\nfriends, the Motuans.  Rahe has brought his son, whom he has named\nTamate.  I have no doubt he will be an expensive honour.\n\nWe went up the William River to-day.  At mouth, on the west side, are two\nislands, viz., Iriho and Biaveveka.  Between the latter and the mainland\nis an entrance into Alice Meade Harbour.  The river is broad and deep.\nBoth banks are lined with sago palms.\n\nWhen a young man marries a young woman, the custom here is to pay nothing\nfor her; but for a widow something very great.  The people live chiefly\non sago.  Sago is cooked with shell-fish, boiled with bananas, roasted on\nstones, baked in the ashes, tied up in leaves, and many other ways.  We\nhave received large presents of sago, both boats bearing as much as is\nsafe to carry.  We leave in the morning.  At present a man is going\nthrough the streets in great wrath, having been to his plantation and\nmissed a bunch of bananas.  As he moves along he shouts out his loss, and\nchallenges the thief.\n\nWe had a gathering of old men until late into the night, and they closed\nwith a wail, chanted, with drums keeping time.  Hours before daylight\nSemese was up, waiting for me to turn out.\n\nWe had a fine run back to Yule, where, at sunset, we were met by a\nterrific gale of wind and a thunderstorm.  We had to put in close to the\nland, and for four hours sit it out in a deluge of rain.  It was soon\ninky dark, the lightning very vivid, and the thunder deafening.  Piri's\nboat anchored close alongside.  On the weather clearing up a little, we\ncrossed Hall Sound to Delena, where we were soon met by natives carrying\ntorches, and were led to their houses.  A change of clothing, and we were\nall as comfortable as possible.\n\nWe spent the hour of midnight with Kone and Levas, chiefs of Delena,\ntelling them of our visit to the west, and its success in establishing\npeace.  They were greatly delighted, and will do me the honour of\nvisiting me at Port Moresby, that is, will relieve me of some tomahawks.\nWith a light wind and a smooth sea, we had a pleasant run to Boera, where\nwe arrived at sunset.  There was great joy in the village at our arrival.\n\nWe reached Port Moresby on the 20th, and on March 6th we baptized Kohu\nand Rahela, the first two women of New Guinea converted to Christianity.\nMay they be kept as true ministering women for Christ!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.  THE KALO MASSACRE.\n\n\nTwelve teachers and their friends killed at Kalo in 1881--The warning--The\nmassacre--The fear for the teachers at Koma--Mr. Chalmers's views on the\nquestion--Voyage westwards in the _Mayri_--A Sunday at Delena--Visit of\nQueen Koloka--Threatened attack by Lolo natives--The fight--Peace--Miria's\nvillage--Bad character of the Motu natives--Visit to the chief of Motu\nLavao--Story of Dr. Thorngren's murder--Peace made with the village.\n\nOn the 7th of March, 1881, the natives of Kalo, a village at the head of\nHood Bay, near the mouth of the Kemp Welch River, massacred their\nteacher, Anederea, with his wife and two children; also Materua, teacher\nof Kerepunu, his wife and two children; Taria, teacher of Hula; Matatuhi,\nan inland teacher; and two Hula boys--in all, twelve persons.\n\nThe earliest news of the tragedy was given in the following letter from\nthe Rev. T. Beswick, dated Thursday Island, Torres Straits, March 24th:--\n\n   On Friday, the 4th inst., Taria, our Hula teacher, left Port Moresby\n   with Matatuhi, an inland teacher, the latter wishing to visit the Kalo\n   teacher for some native medicine.  Reaching Hula on the evening of the\n   4th, Taria heard a rumour that the Kalo people intended to kill their\n   teacher and his family.  Accordingly he went thither the following\n   day, along with Matatuhi, and requested the Kalo teacher and his\n   family to leave at once.  The teacher refused to place credence in the\n   rumour, and even questioned his chief and pretended friend, who\n   assured him that there was not the slightest grain of truth in the\n   rumour.\n\n   The Hula teacher returned, leaving Matatuhi behind.  On Monday, the\n   7th, Taria, along with five Hula boys, proceeded in a boat to Kalo and\n   Kerepunu, with the view of bringing the teachers and their families to\n   Hula, on account of the ill-health of some of the party.  He called at\n   Kalo on the way thither, and apprised the teacher of his intention to\n   call on the return journey.  At Kerepunu he took on board the teacher,\n   his wife and two children, and one native youth.  The party then\n   proceeded to Kalo.  During the interval of waiting there, the chief\n   and pretended friend of the Kalo teacher got into the boat for a chat.\n   On the arrival of Matatuhi and the Kalo teacher, along with his wife\n   and two children, the chief stepped out of the boat.  This was the pre-\n   arranged signal for attack to the crowds assembled on the bank.  At\n   the outset, the chief warned his followers not to injure the Hula and\n   Kerepunu boys; but such precaution did not prevent two of the former\n   being killed.  The other four boys escaped by swimming the river.  The\n   mission party were so cooped up in the boat, and spears flew so\n   thickly and fast, as to render resistance futile and escape\n   impossible.  Taria resisted for a time, but a fourth spear put an end\n   to his resistance.  The others were dispatched with little trouble.  A\n   single spear slew both mother and babe in the case of both women.  The\n   only bodies recovered were those of the Kerepunu teacher's wife and\n   her babe; the natives of Hula and Kerepunu severally interred the two\n   bodies.  The rest of the bodies became a prey to the alligators.  For\n   the two Hula boys who were slain speedy compensation was made by the\n   Kalo people.  The whale-boat, too, was recovered by the Hula natives.\n\n[A Hula girl: 167.jpg]\n\nThe above sad intelligence reached Port Moresby at early morn of the\n11th, just as the _Harriet_ was about to leave for Thursday Island, and\nthe _Mayri_ about to take me to Hula, whilst a party of foreigners were\nleaving for the East End.  The news, of course, upset all arrangements,\nand, after the first moments of excitement were over, our next concern\nwas about the safety of the two Aroma teachers.  With as little delay as\npossible, but with groundless forebodings of coming evil, a large party\nof us left for Aroma.  About ten a.m. of the 14th, we reached there, and\nwhilst our three boats lay off a little, so as not to arouse suspicion, a\nteacher and myself went ashore.  With devout gratitude I heard that both\nteachers and natives were ignorant of the massacre.  In less than an hour\nthe two teachers and their families were safely ensconced in their whale-\nboat, taking along with them but a minimum of their property, according\nto the orders given.  By these means the chiefs and natives of Aroma were\nleft in utter ignorance as to the cause of our erratic movements, nor did\nthey seem to suspect anything.\n\nAt Kerepunu we experienced considerable noise and worry.  Here, too, we\njudged it prudent to remove very little belonging to the deceased\nteacher.  At Hula, my house had been entered, but the few things stolen\nwere mostly returned.  Here, too, we have left goods, until some definite\ncourse be decided upon.  Strange to say, at Hula, where we expected the\nleast trouble and danger, there we had the greatest; indeed, on one or\ntwo occasions, affairs assumed a rather serious aspect.  The main idea\npresent in the native mind was to take advantage of us in our weakness\nand sorrow.  After a very brief stay at Hula, we left there on the 15th,\nreaching Port Moresby the following day; and on the 17th I left for\nThursday Island.\n\nThe natives of Hood Bay attribute this massacre to the influence of\nKoapina, the Aroma chief, he having assured the Kalo people that\nforeigners might be massacred with impunity, citing as an illustration\nthe massacre at Aroma last July, and pointing out at the same time the\ngreat fame that had thereby accrued to his own people.  The Kalo people\nhave not been slow in acting upon his advice.  I visited Hula and\nKerepunu within six weeks of the massacre, and was so impressed with the\npeaceful bearing of the people in both places that I should have been\nglad to have re-occupied both stations immediately.\n\nI should have visited Kalo, but was afraid of compromising the mission,\nas it is possible the natives may be punished for the outrage.  I fear we\nare not altogether free from blame; the teachers are often very\nindiscreet in their dealings with the natives, and not over-careful in\nwhat they say; there has also, perhaps, sometimes been a niggard regard\nto expense on our part.  A very few pounds spent at a station like Kalo\nin the first years would, I believe, prevent much trouble, and probably\nmurder.  The Kalo natives felt that Hula and Kerepunu got the most\ntobacco and tomahawks, and that their share was small indeed.  Instead of\nour buying all the thatch required for the other stations--only\nobtainable at Kalo--we got the teachers, with their boys, to get it.  We\nmeant it well, to save expense.  My experience teaches me to throw all I\ncan in the way of natives not connected with our head station.  At this\nstation--Port Moresby--for the next few years the expenses will be\nconsiderable in buildings, laying out the land, and in presents to the\nconstant stream of visitors; but it will have a Christianizing and a\ncivilizing effect upon a large extent of country.\n\nOn the 24th of May, 1881, left Port Moresby in the _Mayri_, and, having\ntaken on board four natives at Boera, continued a westerly course,\nanchoring next day in Hall Sound, opposite Delena.  Early on the morning\nof May 26th, Kone and Lavao, our old friends, came off.  They say it is\nuseless going to Maiva, as we cannot land; but we can go and see for\nourselves, and they will accompany us.  I had to land to eat pigs,\n_i.e_., receive pigs and hand them over to my followers.  On landing,\nthey led me up the hill at the back of village, where I was astonished to\nfind a fine tract of land forming a splendid position for a house.  Kone\nat once offered me as much land as I wanted.  After thinking it over on\nboard, I decided on building.  I landed tents, and pitched them on the\nrise above the village.  My experience is that places quite exposed to\nsouth-east wind are _more_ unhealthy than swampy country.  On Rarotonga\nthere were more deaths on the windward side of the island than on the\nleeward.\n\nOn the Sunday after landing, we went down and had service in the village.\nKone interpreted into Lolo.  When telling the people we had no work for\nthem on Sunday, Kone said: \"Oh! we know, and we, too, are going to be\n_helaka_ (sacred) to-morrow.\"  I asked him, \"Come, Kone, how do you\nknow?\"  \"From Boera.\"  I met a lad repeating the Lord's Prayer in Motu,\nand found he had been taught by Piri.  The Motu tribe has already had\ngreat influence, and will have more and more every year.  I have an\ninteresting class of children, and hope, before we leave, they will know\ntheir letters well.\n\nWhat nonsense one could write of the reception here--such as \"Everybody\nat service this morning listened attentively; commented on address or\nconversation; children all come to school, so intelligent, and seemingly\nanxious to learn; and, altogether, prospects are bright.\"  At home they\nwould say, why, they are being converted; see the speedy triumph!  Alas!\nthey are but savages, pure and simple, rejoicing in the prospect of an\nunlimited supply of tobacco, beads, and tomahawks.\n\nPaura, a chief from Motu Lavao, is in.  The people, it seems, told him,\nbeing _helaka_ day, I could not meet him, and he did not come up hill.  He\nis rather a nice-looking fellow, with a mild, open countenance.  Kone\ntold him to tell the Paitana natives, who murdered James and Thorngren,\nthat, if they wished peace and friendship, they must come in here and sue\nfor it; that I could not first go to them, as they were the offenders and\nmurderers.\n\nArrangements were at once made for erecting a wooden house at Delena,\nmeasuring thirty-six feet by eighteen feet, material for which was easily\nprocurable.  On the 30th of May, Queen Koloka, her husband, and a number\nof men and women came in.  The Prince Consort first came up, all over\nsmiles, followed in half an hour by his wife and maids.  After formally\nreceiving her, I presented Mrs. Lawes's present.  I unloosed the parcel,\nand turned maid-of-honour in real waiting.  Her Majesty was chewing betel-\nnut, but that did not prevent my putting the dress on; first attempt all\nwrong, the front became the back, and the back the front.  At length I\nsucceeded, and, after fastening the dress, tied a pretty kerchief round\nthe royal neck.  There was great excitement, in every mouth a thumb, a\nfew moments of silence, and then every soul spoke and shouted.  It was\namusing to see her husband, uncles, maids, old men and women, young men\nand maidens, gather round the royal presence, wonder and admire, and then\nshout, _Oh misi haine O_! (Mrs. Lawes).  Ah, Koloka, I wonder how you are\ngoing to get out of that dress to-night; will you understand buttons,\nhooks, and eyes?\n\nDuring my stay at Delena, one of those warlike incursions by hostile\ntribes so common in New Guinea took place.  My presence and influence\nhappily brought about an early and satisfactory settlement of the\ndispute.  I extract the following from my journal:--\n\n_June_ 2_nd_.--Our friends seem troubled, and their house-building\nearnestness is somewhat abated.  I find they have heard that the Lolo\ntribe intend making a raid on them.  Is it on them, or on us?  Their\ngreat hope is that we shall use our guns, and so frighten the invaders.  I\ntell them that we cannot do this; that we are men of peace, and have no\nwish to frighten any one.  It seems Maiva is very disturbed; they are\nfighting all round, avenging Oa's death, and may soon be expected here.\nMaiva would not interfere with us, but Lolo I would not trust.\n\nWe shall have to keep a good look-out to-night.  Our friends seem very\ntroubled and excited.  I have given warning that any one coming near our\ncamp must call out my name and his or her own.  No one can come near\nwithout our knowing, as my terrier Flora is a splendid watch-dog.  This\nevening, some women passed camp, carrying their valuables to hide away in\nthe bush.  Bob asks, \"Suppose Lolo natives come to us, what we do?\"  \"Of\ncourse they will not come near to us unless they mean to attack, and then\nwe must defend ourselves.\"  The guns are ready.  It is not pleasant; but\nI fancy they will not molest us, so hope to sleep well, knowing we are\nwell cared for by Him who is never far off.  Through much trouble we get\nto be known, and the purpose for which we come is understood.\n\n[A Hula dandy: 175.jpg]\n\n3_rd_.--Last night I slept lightly, with Flora on watch, and Bob easily\naroused.  After midnight he kept watch.  We placed the lights beyond\ntents on each side, and so arranged that the light would strike on any\nnative nearing camp.  About two a.m.  Lavao's wife No. 2 came up with her\ngrandchild, goods, and chattels for safety.  The Loloans were coming.  All\nright; all ready.  Very loud, noisy talking in village.  At four, we\ncalled out for Kone, who came up telling us that we should be first\ndisposed of, then Delena.  I went to the village, and saw the old\nfriendly chief from Lavao.  I told him any Loloan coming over the brow of\nthe hill with weapons we should consider as coming to fight, and we were\nready.  At five, women and children crowded into camp, with all their\nbelongings, and asked for protection.  Certainly; we shall do what we can\nfor them.  Men are running all about, planting arms in convenient places\nin the bush.  We are told to keep a good look-out--and that we shall.  It\nis now daylight, so we do not care much.  The fight has begun in the\nvillage.  Some Loloans, running after Delena natives, rush uphill; we\nwarn them back, and they retire.  There is a loud shout for us to go to\nthe village and fight.  I leave Bob with guns and cartridges to keep\nwatch over camp.  I have more confidence in the skirmish unarmed, and\nhave no wish for the savages to think I have come to fight.  I shout out\n_Maino_, and soon there is a hush in the terrible storm.  I am allowed to\nwalk through the village, disarm one or two, and, on my return to our\nfriend Kone's end of the village, he whispers to me, \"There is Arua,\"\nunderstanding him to mean the chief, or _vata tauna_ (sorcerer).  I\nrecognize in him the man introduced to me on a former visit, and who in\nwrath cleared out from my presence.  Now might be his time to pay me out.\nI take his weapons from him, link him on to me, and walk him up the hill.\nI speak kindly to him, show him flag, and tell him we are _maino_, and\nwarn him that his people must on no account ascend the hill.  All right,\nhe will stop the fighting.  I sit down to write this, when again they\nrush up for me, saying Kone was to be killed.  Leaving Bob with arms in\ncharge, I go down to the village, and without my hat.  More canoes have\narrived.  What a crowd of painted fiends!  I get surrounded, and have no\nway of escape.  Sticks and spears rattle round.  I get a knock on the\nhead, and a piece of stick falls on my hand.  My old Lavao friend gets\nhold of me and walks me to outskirt.  Arua and Lauma of Lolo assure me\nthey will not ascend the hill, and we had better not interfere with them.\n\"Right, friend; but you must stop, and on no account injure my friend\nKone.\"  It would frighten them were we to go armed to the village; but\nthen we dare not stay here twenty-four hours after.  I can do more for\nthe natives unarmed.  I am glad I am able to mix with both parties; it\nshows they mean us no harm, and speaks well for the future.  No one was\nkilled, but several were severely wounded, and a few houses destroyed.\nThey have made peace at last, and I have had a meeting in the village\nwith all; the Loloans have promised to be quiet.  I told them we could\nnot stay if they were to be constantly threatening.  In the afternoon the\nchiefs came up, and I promised to visit them all.  My head aches a\nlittle.  Had I been killed, I alone should have been to blame, and not\nthe natives.  The Delena natives say: \"Well, Tamate, had you not been\nhere, many of us would have been killed, and the remainder gone to Naara,\nnever to return.\"  There is some pleasure in being of a little use even\nto savages.\n\nThe next Sunday we had a splendid service.  All the young fellows dressed\nfor it by painting their faces.  It was amusing and interesting to hear\nthem interpret all I said from Motuan into Loloan; and when I attempted\nto use a Lolo word, they corrected me if I wrongly pronounced or\nmisplaced it.  After service we had all the children and young men to\nschool.  A goodly number have got a pretty fair hold of letters.  Some\nwould beat native cloth, and Kone grew very angry, and, because they\nwould not listen to him, threatened to pull up his recently buried child.\nI sent word that he must on no account do that, and must say no more to\nthe men beating cloth; that by-and-by the people will become enlightened,\nand then they will understand the Sabbath.  Poor Kone's idea is that now\nand at once they should understand.\n\nOn June 6th, I once more left Delena to proceed to Maiva, and, although a\nheavy sea was running at the time, landed safely about eleven a.m. at\nMiria's village, on the Maiva coast.  I saw a number of people with\n_karevas_ (long fighting sticks), and wondered what was the matter.  I\nsaid to my old friend Rua, who met me on the beach, \"Are you going to\nfight?\"  \"No, no; it is all right now.\"  I gave him a large axe for\nMeauri and party to cut wood for a house at their village.  Meauri and a\nnumber of followers soon made their appearance: it seemed strange that\nthey should have come down so soon.  Miria, the chief, being away cutting\nwood, went to Meauri's village, passing through several seaside villages.\nWe selected a new position for the house, at the back of a large temple;\ngave them tobacco and red cloth, they promising gladly to have wood cut\nagainst my next return.  Sitting on the platform, Rua turned to me and\nasked, \"Tamate, who is your real Maiva friend?\"  Fancying there was\ntrouble, I replied, \"Oa Maoni, who sleeps in that house in death, was my\nfriend: Meauri, Rua, Paru, and Aua are now my friends.\"  \"I thought so,\nand Miria has no business to build a house for you.  Before we saw the\nboat we were down on the beach at Miria's village to begin a quarrel; we\nsaw you were coming, and we waited for you.\"  \"But I want a house on the\ncoast as well as inland; Miria's village is small and too exposed, and I\nmust look for another place.\"  \"That is all right; but this first.\"  \"Be\nit so.\"  After visiting three villages I had not seen before, and going\nthrough all the inland ones, I returned to Miria's village; he not having\nreturned, I went along to Ereere.  After dark, Miria came in.  He felt\nsorry when I told him I could not put a house up in his place, owing to\nits being exposed to south-east wind, and to there not being many people.\n\"But I have cut the wood.\"  \"I shall pay you for that, and the wood can\nremain for my return.\"  I gave him tobacco for the young men and a\npresent to himself, and all was right.\n\nA few mornings later, I found the natives sitting round rice; one said,\n\"Come, we are waiting for you to bless the food.\"  They have seen our\nboats' crews of Botu and Boera natives always asking a blessing.  I said\nto them, \"Cannot one of you ask a blessing?\"\n\n\"No; wait until we learn, and you will see.\"  A good story is told by the\ncaptain of the _Mayri_.  Oa their going to Aroma to relieve the teachers\nafter the Kalo massacre, in the early morning they were pulling along the\nreef, and just as the sun appeared over the mountains, one of the Motu\ncrew called on all to be quiet, rowers to lean on their oars, and then\nengaged in prayer, thanking God for watching over them during the night,\nand praying that He would care for them during the day, and that no\nunpleasantness might occur with the Aroma natives.  All along this coast,\nand right away down to Elema as far as Bald Head, the Motu tribe has a\nwonderful influence, and in a few years excellent pioneers may be had\nfrom it.  They must have been a terrible lot in the past.  I have heard\nmuch from themselves of piracy, murder, and robbery, and all along here\nthey tell terrible tales.  A Motu chief in one of our meetings, speaking\nof the past and the present, concluded by saying: \"Since the arrival of\nthe foreigners (teachers), we have changed and will continue to change.\"\n\nAn old chief, Aiio, from the Mekeo district, came in to see me, and\nbrought me as a present a splendid head-dress, which is hung up by Kone\nin front of the tent for all to see.  On giving him a present of salt, it\nwas pleasant to see the old fellow's expression of pleasure.  He is\nanxious I should go inland as soon as possible; I tell him I must wait\nfor tomahawks.\n\nAt seven o'clock on the morning of the 13th of June, I started to visit\nMadu, the chief of the Motu Lavao.  We went up from the bight, a large\nsaltwater creek, with dense mangrove on both banks,--a veritable bed of\nfever,--and anchoring our boats, we walked through the deserted village\nof Paitana and on for about a mile and a half to Motu Lavao.  The path\nleads along a narrow tract of good country, with dense swamps on both\nsides.  The village is large, with good houses kept nice and clean; but I\ncan conceive of no more unhealthy locality--swamp all around.  A number\nof people were down with fever, some in their houses, others lying\nexposed to the sun.  I asked them if they had no _vatavata_ (spirits)\nknocking around in their district, and did they not much trouble them.\n\"Oh, trouble us much, very much.\"  I told them I thought so, and the\nsooner they removed from that place the better--that they were right in\nthe centre of sickness and death.  They said, \"And what is to become of\nthe place of our forefathers, and the cocoanuts they planted?\"  \"Better\nleave them, or in a short time there will be none left to remember their\nforefathers, or eat their cocoanuts.\"  Madu was in the country, and we\nwaited his return.  He tried hard to get me to stay over-night, but it\nwas of no use.  He presented me with a pig and feathers, and we concluded\nfriendship by my giving a return present.  An old woman was presented to\nme, a great sorceress; but, not liking the sisterhood, I did not see my\nway clear to give her a present.  Such as she keep the natives in\nconstant fear, do what they like, and get what they like.  It is affirmed\nby all that the great Lolo sorcerer, Arua, keeps snakes in bamboos, and\nuses them for his nefarious purposes.  Late in the afternoon we left,\naccompanied by Madu and a number of youths carrying pig, cocoanuts, and\nsugar-cane.  When leaving, the chief said, \"Go, Tamate; we are friends.\"\n\nOn June 14th, I had a long conference with the old Paitana chief, Boutu,\nand his followers.  They looked very much excited and alarmed when I met\nthem, but that wore away during our conversation.  Boutu, his party, and\nother Lolo natives assured me that the attack on Dr. James and Mr.\nThorngren was unknown to all but those in the canoe.  The excuse was that\nthe day before they were trading on Yule Island one young man had\nfeathers for sale.  Dr. James and Waunaea told him to leave; they would\nnot take his feathers because he objected to the pearl shell produced.\nThis, they say, was the beginning.  He tried very hard to sell his\nfeathers, and, if possible, get a tomahawk.  Failing, he went home,\nquietly arranged a party, slept in the bush, and before daylight went off\nto the vessel.  On nearing the vessel, Dr. James called out--\"You must\nnot come alongside: you are coming to kill me.\"  They said, \"We are not\ngoing to kill you, but want to sell yams.\"  The yams were taken on board,\nand whilst Dr. James was counting the beads to pay for them he was struck\nwith a club, and afterwards speared, but not quite disabled, as he drew\nhis revolver and shot the man who attacked him.  Mr. Thorngren was struck\nat from aft, fell overboard, and was never again seen.  They say, when\nthe people in the village heard of it, they were very sorry, and that\never since they have been looked upon with anger, as they have been the\ncause of keeping the white man away with his tobacco, beads, and\ntomahawks.  I asked them, \"What now?\"  \"Let us make friends, and never\nagain have the like.\"  \"But your young men could do the same again\nwithout your knowing.\"  \"They know better than try it again; they are too\nmuch afraid; and they see that what was then done has greatly injured us\nas well as all the other villages.\"  I explained to them the object of\nour coming here, and that they must not think we are to buy everything\nthey bring, and must not be angry when we refuse to give what they\ndemand.  We do not come to steal their food or curios, and, if we do not\nwant them, they can carry all back; we are not traders.  After praying\nwith them, they said, \"Tamate, now let it be friendship; give up your\nintention of going to Mekeo (inland district), and come to-morrow, and we\nshall make friends and peace.\"  \"I shall go; but suppose the mother of\nthe young man who was shot begins wailing, what then?\"  \"She will\ndoubtless wail, but you need not fear; come, and you will see.\"  \"Then to-\nmorrow I shall go.\"\n\nNext morning, the _Mayri_ having arrived the evening before, I carried\ninto effect the intended visit.  The chief of Paitana and two followers,\nwith my friend Lauma, of Lolo, waited to accompany me.  After breakfast\nwe got into the boat, Lavao in charge.  We entered the same creek as for\nMotu Lavao, and when up it some distance turned up another to the right,\ntoo narrow to use oars.  When two miles up we anchored boat, then walked\nor waded for two miles through swamp and long grass.  When near the\nvillage we heard loud wailing, and Lavao, who was leading, thought it\nbetter we should wait for the old chief, who was some distance behind.  On\ncoming up they spoke in Lolo, then threw down his club, calling on one of\nhis followers to pick it up.  He went in front, and called on me to\nfollow close to him, the others coming after; and so we marched into the\nvillage and up on to his platform.  Then began speechifying, presenting\ncooked food, betel-nuts, pig, and feathers.  When all was finished I gave\nmy present, and said a few words in the Motu dialect.  The uncle of the\nman shot by Dr. James came on to the platform, caught me by the arm and\nshouted, _Maino_! (peace), saying that they, the chiefs, knew nothing of\nthe attack.  The murderers lived at the other end of the village; and\nthither, accompanied by a large party, I went.  They gave me a pig, and I\ngave them a return present.  The real murderer of Mr. Thorngren sat near\nme, dressed for the occasion, and four others who were in the canoe stood\nnear the platform.  The mother and two widows were in the house opposite,\nbut with good sense refrained from wailing.  I spoke to them of the\nmeanness and treachery of attacking as they attacked Dr. James and Mr.\nThorngren.  They say there were ten in the canoe--one was shot, three\nhave since died, and six remain.  They also say they feel they have done\nwrong, as they not only made the foreigners their enemies, but also all\nthe tribes around were angry with them.  \"What now, then?\"  \"Oh, _maino_\n(peace) it must be; we are friends, and so are all foreigners now.\"  \"I\nam not a trader, but have come to teach about the only one true God and\nHis love to us all in the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, to proclaim peace\nbetween man and man, and tribe and tribe.\"  What seemed to astonish them\nmost was my being alone and unarmed.  After some time, our old friend\ncame from the other end of the village and hurried us away.  It was time\nto leave them, so, giving a few parting presents, we picked up our goods\nand away to the boat.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.  EAST CAPE IN 1878 AND IN 1882\n\n\nOriginal state of the natives--War and cannibalism--How the mission work\nhas been carried on--A Sunday at East Cape in 1882--Twenty-one converts\nbaptized--A blight prospect.\n\nIn 1878, missionary work was begun at East Capes, and four years after\nthe establishment of that mission, on a review of the past, what\nevidences of progress were to be seen!  There were signs of light\nbreaking in upon the long dark night of heathenism.  Looking at the\ncondition of this people when the missionaries and teachers first landed,\nwhat did they find?  A people sunk in crime that to them has become a\ncustom and religion--a people in whom murder is the finest art, and who\nfrom their earliest years study it.  Disease, sickness, and death have\nall to be accounted for.  They know nothing of malaria, filth, or\ncontagion.  Hence they hold that an enemy causes these things, and\nfriends have to see that due punishment is made.  The large night firefly\nhelps to point in the direction of that enemy, or the spirits of departed\nones are called in through spiritists' influence to come and assist, and\nthe medium pronouncing a neighbouring tribe guilty, the time is near when\nthat tribe will be visited and cruel deeds done.  They know nothing of a\nGod of Love--only gods and spirits who are ever revengeful, and must be\nappeased; who fly about in the night and disturb the peace of homes.  It\nis gross darkness and cruelty, brother's hand raised against brother's.\nGreat is the chief who claims many skulls; and the youth, who may wear a\njawbone as an armlet is to be admired.\n\nWhen we first landed here, the natives lived only to fight, and the\nvictory was celebrated by a cannibal feast.  It is painfully significant\nto find that the only field in which New Guinea natives have shown much\nskill and ingenuity is in the manufacture of weapons.  One of these is\nknown as a Man-catcher, and was invented by the natives of Hood Bay, but\nall over the vast island this loop of rattan cane is the constant\ncompanion of head-hunters.  The peculiarity of the weapon is the deadly\nspike inserted in the handle.\n\nThe _modus operandi_ is as follows:--The loop is thrown over the unhappy\nwretch who is in retreat, and a vigorous pull from the brawny arm of the\nvengeful captor jerks the victim upon the spike, which (if the weapon be\ndeftly handled) penetrates the body at the base of the brain, or, if\nlower down, in the spine, in either case inflicting a death-wound.\n\nAll these things are changed, or in process of change.  For several years\nthere have been no cannibal ovens, no desire for skulls.  Tribes that\ncould not formerly meet but to fight, now meet as friends, and sit side\nby side in the same house worshipping the true God.  Men and women who,\non the arrival of the mission, sought the missionaries' lives, are only\nanxious now to do what they can to assist them, even to the washing of\ntheir feet.  How the change came about is simply by the use of the same\nmeans as those acted upon in many islands of the Pacific.  The first\nmissionaries landed not only to preach the Gospel of Divine love, but\nalso to live it, and to show to the savage a more excellent way than\ntheirs.  Learning the language, mixing freely with them, showing\nkindnesses, receiving the same, travelling with them, differing from\nthem, making friends, assisting them in their trading, and in every way\nmaking them feel that their good only was sought.  They thought at first\nthat we were compelled to leave our own land because of hunger!\n\nTeachers were placed amongst the people; many sickened and died.  There\nwas a time of great trial, but how changed is everything now!  Four years\npass on, and, in 1882, we visit them.  We left Port Moresby, and arrived\nat East Cape on a Sunday.  Morning service was finished, and, from the\nvessel, we saw a number of natives well dressed, standing near the\nmission house, waiting to receive us.  The teachers came off, and with\nthem several lads, neatly dressed.  After hearing from them of the work,\nand of how the people were observing the Sabbath, we landed, and were met\nby a quiet, orderly company of men, women, and boys, who welcomed us as\nreal friends.  The first to shake hands with us was a chief from the\nopposite side of the bay, who in early days gave us much trouble, and had\nto be well watched.  Now he was dressed, and his appearance much altered.\nIt was now possible to meet him and feel he was a friend.  We found Pi\nVaine very ill, and not likely to live long; yet she lived long enough to\nrejoice in the glorious success of the Gospel of Christ, and to see many\nof those for whom she laboured profess Christianity.  We were astonished,\nwhen we met in the afternoon, at the orderly service--the nice well-tuned\nsinging of hymns, translated by the teacher, and the attention, when he\nread a chapter in Mark's Gospel--translated by him from the Rarotongan\ninto the dialect of the place.  When he preached to them, all listened\nattentively, and seemed to be anxious not to forget a single word.  Two\nnatives prayed with great earnestness and solemnity.  After service all\nremained, and were catechised on the sermon, and then several present\nstood up and exhorted their friends to receive the Gospel.  Many\nstrangers were present, and they were exhorted to come as often as\npossible and hear the good news.  Then, again, others offered prayers.  We\nfound that numbers came in on the Saturday with food and cooking-pots,\nand remained until Monday morning.  They lived with the teachers, and\nattended all the services, beginning with a prayer-meeting on Saturday\nnight.\n\nDuring our stay of a few days, they all remained at the station, and we\nsaw much of them.  The teachers said there were twenty-one who professed\nfaith in Christ and had given up heathenism and desired baptism.  We\nvisited further on to the east, and we were a week away on our return to\nEast Cape, and after close examination of each candidate we decided to\nbaptize them on the following Tuesday.  The service was most interesting,\nand well attended by persons from various places.  At night we examined\nthe children and grown-up people who attend school, and were much pleased\nwith them.  A few can read in the Motu dialect; others know how to put\nletters together and form words.  We hope soon to have one or two books\nin their own dialect.  Of those baptized several are anxious to be\ninstructed, that they may be better fitted to do work for Christ amongst\ntheir own countrymen.  Already they hold services, and exhort in other\nvillages, and when travelling they do all the good they can to others.\n\nWe are in hopes soon to receive a number of young men and women at Port\nMoresby, and begin our Institution, to be called \"The New Guinea\nInstitution for Training Evangelists.\"  At present we shall proceed\nquickly, building native houses for students, and a class room to be\nbought in the colonies, towards which our true friends in North Adelaide\ncontribute largely.\n\nThe harvest ripens fast: where shall we look for labourers?  The Master\nhas said, \"Pray.\"  May they soon be sent!  The light is shining, the\ndarkness is breaking, and the thick clouds are moving, and the hidden\nones are being gathered in.  We have already plucked the first flowers;\nstern winter yields, and soon we shall have the full spring, the singing\nof birds, and the trees in full blossom.  Hasten it, O Lord, we plead!\n\nLONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND\nCHARING CROSS.","title":"Adventures in New Guinea","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45662}