{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71542/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71542","id":"gutenberg_71542","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71542","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography","Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907"],"text":"JOHN G. PATON.\n\n =An Autobiography.=\n\n _FIRST PART._\n\n\n\n\n NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION ILLUSTRATED.\n\n JOHN G. PATON,\n\n MISSIONARY TO THE NEW HEBRIDES.\n\n AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.\n\n EDITED BY HIS BROTHER.\n\n WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.\n\n Two vols. in box, 12mo, cloth, gilt top net $2.00.\n\n =Ministerial Commendation.=\n\n\u201cI have just laid down the most robust and the most fascinating piece of\nautobiography that I have met with in many a day.... John G. Paton was\nmade of the same stuff with Livingstone.\u201d\u2014_Theodore L. Cuyler, D.D._\n\n\u201cI consider it unsurpassed in missionary biography. In the whole course\nof my extensive reading on these topics, a more stimulating, inspiring,\nand every way first-class book has not fallen into my hands. Everybody\nought to read it.\u201d\u2014_Arthur T. Pierson, D.D._\n\n =Missionary Praise.=\n\n\u201cI have never read a romance that was half so thrilling.\u201d\u2014_Lucius C.\nSmith, Guanajuato, Mexico._\n\n\u201cI have never read a more inspiring biography.\u201d\u2014_Thomas C. Winn,\nYokohama, Japan._\n\n\u201cThe Lord\u2019s work will not go back while there are such men as he in the\nchurch.\u201d\u2014_James A. Heal, Sing Kong, Cheh Kiang, China._\n\n\u201cI think I have never had greater pleasure in reading any book.\u201d\u2014_R.\nThacksweil, Dehra, North India._\n\n =Press Notices.=\n\n\u201cPerhaps the most important addition for many years to the library of\nmissionary literature is the autobiography of John G. Paton.\u201d\u2014_The\nChristian Advocate._\n\n\u201cWe commend to all who would advance the cause of Foreign Missions this\nremarkable autobiography. It stands with such books as those Dr.\nLivingstone gave the world, and shows to men that the heroes of the\ncross are not merely to be sought in past ages.\u201d\u2014_The Christian\nIntelligencer._\n\n Fleming H. Revell Company,\n\n { NEW YORK, 30 Union Square, E.\n { CHICAGO, 148 & 150 Madison Street.\n\n[Illustration: John G. Paton.]\n\n\n\n\n JOHN G. PATON,\n MISSIONARY TO THE\n NEW HEBRIDES.\n\n\n =An Autobiography.=\n\n\n EDITED BY HIS BROTHER.\n\n\n _FIRST PART._\n\n\n =New Illustrated Edition.=\n\n\n FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n PUBLISHERS\n NEW YORK CHICAGO\n 30 UNION SQUARE, EAST. 148\u2013150 MADISON STREET.\n\n\n\n\n INTRODUCTORY NOTE.\n\n BY ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.D.\n\n\nLove is omnipotent. Wherever true passion for souls burns, there we may\nfind a new Mount of Transfiguration where the earthly takes on the\ncomplexion of the heavenly.\n\nThis book presents an example of the power of such love and holy\nenthusiasm, alike in one of the great cities of Scotland and in the\nisles of the sea.\n\nEven among the riches of missionary biography few such volumes as this\nare to be found, and the most apathetic reader will find himself\nfascinated by this charming romance of real life. It has been well said\nthat he who is not ready to preach the gospel everywhere and anywhere is\nfit to preach it nowhere. Should every candidate for the office of the\nministry be first tried in some such field as the wynds of Glasgow, it\nwould prove a training in its way more profitable than any discipline in\nthe class-room; and it might so shake the \u201cnapkin\u201d at the four corners\nas to disclose whether or not there were in it even one \u201ctalent\u201d for\nwinning souls.\n\nWe calmly affirm, after careful perusal, that this biography is not\nsurpassed, for stimulating, inspiring, and helpful narrative, by any\nexisting story of missionary heroism. Its peculiar value is twofold: it\nshows how the most neglected and degraded masses of our cities may be\nreached by Christian effort, and it illustrates the spirit of missions\non the wider field of south sea cannibalism. Our only regret is that\nthis story of missionary labor is not carried on to its successful\nissue. This volume leaves us eagerly expectant of what is promised as\nthe sequel.\n\nHe who doubts whether there is a supernatural factor in missions, should\ncarefully read this narrative. What but the power of God could turn the\ndemon of drink into a ministering angel, or the blasphemer into a\npraying saint, or out of the mouth of hell withdraw the half-devoured\nwretch who was desperately bent on suicide?\n\nLet those who sit quietly at home in their easy-chairs, or who make\nrousing addresses or write stirring articles on city evangelization and\nthe estrangement of the masses from the church, follow this heroic city\nmissionary as he dives into the depths of all this depravity and\ndegradation, and demonstrates what the love of souls and the gospel of\nlife can do to rescue those who are drowning in the abyss of perdition.\n\n\n\n\n PREFACE.\n\n\nThe Manuscript of this Volume, put together in a rough draft amid\nceaseless and exacting toils, was placed in my hands and left absolutely\nto my disposal by my beloved brother, the Missionary.\n\nIt has been to me a labour of perfect love to re-write and revise the\nsame, pruning here and expanding there, and preparing the whole for the\npress. In the incidents of personal experience, constituting the larger\npart of the book, the reader peruses in an almost unaltered form the\ngraphic and simple narrative as it came from my brother\u2019s pen. But, as\nmany sections have been re-cast and largely modified, especially in\nthose Chapters of whose events I was myself an eye-witness, or regarding\nwhich I had information at first hand from the parties concerned\ntherein,\u2014and as circumstances make it impossible to submit these in\ntheir present shape to my brother before publication,\u2014I must request the\nPublic to lay upon me, and not on him, all responsibility for the final\nshape in which the Autobiography appears.\n\nI publish it, because Something tells me there is a blessing in it.\n\n _January, 1889._ JAMES PATON.\n\n\n NOTE TO SECOND EDITION.\n\nThe Editor desires very gratefully to acknowledge his joy in receiving,\nnot only through Press Notices, but from Correspondents in every rank,\nmost ample confirmation of the assurance expressed by him in the last\nsentence of the Original Preface\u2014\u201cThere is a blessing in it.\u201d\n\nHe has been urging his Brother to complete, as soon as he possibly can,\nPart Second of the Autobiography; and he hopes that the call for this\nSecond Edition of Part First at so early a date will successfully\nenforce his appeal.\n\n_February, 1889._\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n _EARLIER DAYS._\n PAGE\n Introductory Note 3\n Kirkmahoe 4\n Torthorwald Village 5\n Our Villagers 6\n Nithsdale Scenes 7\n Our Cottage Home 9\n Our Forebears 12\n An Idyll of the Heart 16\n A Consecrated Father 19\n Accepted Vows 21\n Happy Sabbath Days 22\n Golden Autumn of Life 26\n\n CHAPTER II.\n _AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE._\n A Typical Scottish School 31\n An Unacknowledged Prize 32\n A Wayward Master 33\n Learning a Trade 33\n My Father\u2019s Prayers 34\n \u201cJehovah Jireh\u201d 34\n With Sappers and Miners 36\n The Harvest Field 38\n On the Road to Glasgow 39\n A Memorable Parting 40\n Before the Examiners 42\n Killing Work 43\n Deep Waters 44\n Maryhill School 45\n Rough School Scenes 46\n \u201cAut C\u00e6sar Aut Nullus\u201d 48\n My Wages 49\n\n CHAPTER III.\n _IN GLASGOW CITY MISSION._\n \u201cHe Leadeth Me\u201d 53\n A Degraded District 55\n The Gospel in a Hay-Loft 56\n New Mission Premises 58\n At Work for Jesus 59\n At War with Hell 62\n Sowing Gospel Seed 64\n Publicans on the War Path 65\n Marched to the Police Office 67\n Papists and Infidels 69\n An Infidel Saved 70\n An Infidel in Despair 71\n A Brand from the Burning 72\n A Saintly Child 75\n Papists in Arms 77\n Elder and Student 81\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n _FOREIGN MISSION CLAIMS._\n The Wail of the Heathen 85\n A Missionary Wanted 85\n Two Souls on the Altar 87\n Lions in the Path 89\n The Old Folks at Home 92\n Successors in Green Street Mission 95\n Old Green Street Hands 97\n A Father in God 97\n\n CHAPTER V.\n _THE NEW HEBRIDES._\n License and Ordination 101\n At Sea 102\n From Melbourne to Aneityum 102\n Settlement on Tanna 105\n Our Mission Stations 106\n Diplomatic Chiefs 107\n Painful First Impressions 108\n Bloody Scenes 109\n The Widow\u2019s Doom 111\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n _LIFE AND DEATH ON TANNA._\n Our Island Home 115\n Learning the Language 116\n A Religion of Fear 118\n With or Without a God 119\n Ideas of the Invisible 120\n Gods and Demons 121\n My Companion Missionary 122\n Pioneers in New Hebrides 123\n Missionaries of Aneityum 125\n The Lord\u2019s Arrowroot 126\n Unhealthy Sites 127\n The Great Bereavement 129\n Memorial Tributes 131\n Selwyn and Patteson at a Tanna Grave 133\n Her Last Letter 134\n Last Words 137\n Presentiment and Mystery 138\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n _MISSION LEAVES FROM TANNA._\n Tannese Natives 141\n \u201cTabooed\u201d 142\n Jehovah\u2019s Rain 143\n \u201cBig Hays\u201d 144\n War and Cannibalism 145\n The Lot of Woman 146\n Sacred Days 148\n Preaching in Villages 149\n Native Teachers 150\n The War Shell 151\n Deadly Superstitions 152\n A League of Blood 154\n Chiefs in Council 155\n Defence of Women 157\n A League of Peace 157\n Secret Disciples 159\n A Christo-Heathen Funeral 159\n Clever Thieves 160\n Ships of Fire 164\n H.M.S. _Cordelia_ 166\n Captain Vernon and Miaki 167\n The Captain and the Chiefs 168\n The _John Williams_ 169\n Evanescent Impressions 170\n A House on the Hill 171\n In Fever Grips 171\n \u201cNoble Old Abraham\u201d 172\n Critics in Easy Chairs 174\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n _MORE MISSION LEAVES FROM TANNA._\n The Blood-Fiend Unleashed 179\n In the Camp of the Enemy 180\n A Typical South Sea Trader 182\n Young Rarip\u2019s Death 183\n The Trader\u2019s Retribution 185\n Worship and War 186\n Saved from Strangling 187\n Wrath Restrained 188\n Under the Axe 191\n The Clubbing of Namuri 193\n A Native Saint and Martyr 195\n Bribes Refused 197\n Widows Rescued 197\n The Sinking of a Well 198\n Church-Building on Tanna 199\n Ancient Stone God 201\n Printing First Tannese Book 201\n A Christian Captain 203\n Levelled Muskets 204\n A French Refugee 205\n A Villainous Captain 208\n Like Master\u2014Like Men 209\n Wrecked on Purpose 212\n The Kanaka Traffic 213\n A Heathen Festival 215\n Sacrifices to Idols 218\n Heathen Dance and Sham Fight 219\n Six Native Teachers 221\n A Homeric Episode 222\n Victims for Cannibal Feast 223\n The Jaws of Death 224\n _Nahak_ or Sorcery 226\n Killing me by Nahak 227\n Nahak Defied 229\n Protected by Jehovah 230\n \u201cAlmost Persuaded\u201d 231\n Escorted to the Battle-Field 232\n Praying for Enemies 233\n Our Canoe on the Reef 233\n A Perilous Pilgrimage 236\n Rocks and Waters 237\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n _DEEPENING SHADOWS._\n Welcome Guests 243\n A Fiendish Deed 244\n The Plague of Measles 245\n A Heroic Soul 246\n Horrors of Epidemic 247\n A Memorable New Year 248\n A Missionary Attacked 249\n In the Valley of the Shadow 251\n Blow from an Adze 252\n A Missionary\u2019s Death 253\n Mrs. Johnston\u2019s Letter 255\n A Heavy Loss 256\n The Story of Kowia 256\n Kowia\u2019s Soliloquy 258\n The Passing of Kowia 259\n Mortality of Measles 261\n Fuel to the Fire 262\n Hurricanes 262\n A Spate of Blood and Terror 263\n Nowar Vacillates 265\n The Anger of the Gods 265\n Not Afraid to Die 266\n Martyrs of Erromanga 267\n Visit to the Gordons 268\n Their Martyrdom 269\n Vindication of the Gordons 270\n Gordon\u2019s Last Letter 272\n Plots of Murder 273\n Death by Nahak 275\n Nowar Halting Again 275\n Old Abraham\u2019s Prayer 277\n Miaki and the Mission House 278\n Satanic Influences 280\n Perplexity Deepening 280\n Bishop Selwyn\u2019s Testimony 281\n Rotten Tracts 283\n Captain and Mate of _Blue Bell_ 285\n My Precious Dog 287\n Fishing Nets and Kawases 288\n The Taro Plant 290\n The Kava Drink 290\n Katasian and the Club Scene 291\n The Yams 292\n Sunshine and Shadow 292\n Teachers Demoralized 293\n The Chief\u2019s Alphabet 294\n Our Evil Genius 295\n Ships of Fire Again 295\n Commodore Seymour\u2019s Visit 296\n Nouka and Queen \u2019Toria 297\n The Dog to his Vomit Again 298\n\n CHAPTER X.\n _FAREWELL SCENES._\n The War Fever 303\n Forced to the War Council 305\n A Truce Among the Chiefs 306\n Chiefs and People 308\n The Kiss of Judas 309\n The Death of Ian 309\n The Quivering Knife 310\n A War of Revenge 312\n In the Thick of the Battle 313\n Tender Mercies of the Wicked 315\n Escape for Life 316\n The Loss of All 317\n Under the Tomahawk 318\n Jehovah is Hearing 318\n The Host Turned Back 320\n The War Against Manuman 320\n Traps Laid 321\n House Broken Up 322\n War Against Our Friends 322\n A Treacherous Murderer 323\n On the Chestnut Tree 324\n Bargaining for Life 325\n Five Hours in a Canoe 328\n Kneeling on the Sands 329\n Faimungo\u2019s Farewell 330\n \u201cFollow! Follow!\u201d 331\n A Race for Life 332\n Ringed Round with Death 334\n Faint yet Pursuing 336\n Out of the Lion\u2019s Jaws 337\n Brothers in Distress 339\n Intervening Events 341\n A Cannibal\u2019s Taste 341\n Pillars of Cloud and Fire 342\n Passing by on the Other Side 344\n Kapuku and the Idol Gods 344\n A Devil Chief 344\n \u201cIn Perils Oft\u201d 345\n Through Fire and Water 345\n \u201cSail O! Sail O!\u201d 349\n \u201cLet Me Die\u201d 350\n In Perils on the Sea 351\n Tannese Visitors 352\n The Devil Chief Again 353\n Speckled and Spotted 354\n Their Desired Haven 355\n \u201cI am Left Alone\u201d 355\n My Earthly All 356\n Eternal Hope 356\n Australia to the Rescue 357\n For My Brethren\u2019s Sake 358\n A New Holy League 358\n The Uses of Adversity 359\n Arm-chair Critics Again 360\n Concluding Note 361\n Prospectus of Part Second 362\n\n APPENDIX.\n A. The Prayer of the Chiefs of Tanna 367\n B. Notes on the New Hebrides 371\n\n\n\n\n LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n PORTRAIT OF JOHN G. PATON _Frontispiece_.\n \u201cTHE MAN THAT KILLS MISSI MUST FIRST KILL ME\u201d _To face p._ 156\n NATIVES STEALING PROPERTY \u201e 160\n NATIVES RETURNING STOLEN PROPERTY \u201e 164\n \u201cTHERE THEY LAY ME ON COCOA-NUT LEAVES ON THE GROUND\u201d \u201e 172\n \u201cAT DAYBREAK I FOUND MY HOUSE SURROUNDED\u201d \u201e 188\n THE DANGEROUS LANDING THROUGH THE SURF \u201e 234\n \u201cSUDDENLY HE DREW A LARGE BUTCHER-LIKE KNIFE\u201d \u201e 310\n SPRINGING FORWARD HE CAUGHT THE CLUB \u201e 342\n\n MAP OF THE NEW HEBRIDES \u201e 100\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER I.\n _EARLIER DAYS._\n\n Introductory Note.\u2014Kirkmahoe.\u2014Torthorwald Village.\u2014Our\n Villagers.\u2014Nithsdale Scenes.\u2014Our Cottage Home.\u2014Our Forebears.\u2014An\n Idyll of the Heart.\u2014A Consecrated Father.\u2014Accepted Vows.\u2014Happy\n Sabbath Days.\u2014Golden Autumn of Life.\n\n\nWhat I write here is for the glory of God. For more than twenty years\nhave I been urged to record my story as a missionary of the Cross; but\nalways till now, in my sixty-fourth year, my heart has shrunk from the\ntask, as savouring too much of self. Latterly the conviction has been\nborne home to me that if there be much in my experience which the Church\nof God ought to know, it would be pride on my part, and not humility, to\nlet it die with me. I lift my pen, therefore, with that motive supreme\nin my heart; and, so far as memory and entries in my note-books and\nletters of my own and of other friends serve or help my sincere desire\nto be truthful and fair, the following chapters will present a faithful\npicture of the life through which the Lord has led me. If it bows any of\nmy readers under as deep and certain a confidence as mine, that in\n\u201cGod\u2019s hand our breath is, and His are all our ways,\u201d my task will not\nbe fruitless in the Great Day.\n\n\nOn the 24th May, 1824, I was born in a cottage on the farm of Braehead,\nin the parish of Kirkmahoe, near Dumfries, in the south of Scotland. My\nfather, James Paton, was a stocking manufacturer in a small way; and he\nand his young wife, Janet Jardine Rogerson, lived on terms of warm\npersonal friendship with the \u201cgentleman farmer,\u201d so they gave me his\nname, John _Gibson_; and the curly-haired child of the cottage was soon\nable to toddle across to the mansion, and became a great pet of the lady\nthere. More than once, in my many journeyings, have I met with one or\nanother, in some way connected with that family, and heard little\nincidents not needing to be repeated here, showing how beautiful and\ntender and altogether human was the relationship in those days betwixt\nthe landlord and the cottars on his estate. On my last visit to\nScotland, sixty years after, I drove to Braehead in company with my\nyoungest brother James and my cousin David,\u2014the latter born the same\nweek as I, and the former nearly twenty years my junior; and we found no\ncottage, nor trace of a cottage, but amused ourselves by supposing that\nwe could discover by the rising of the grassy mound, the outline where\nthe foundations once had been! Of ten thousand homes in Scotland, once\nsweet and beautiful, each a little possible Paradise in its own\nwell-cultivated plot, this is true to-day; and where are the healthy,\nhappy peasant boys and girls that such homes bred and reared? They are\nsweltering and struggling for existence in our towns and cities. I am\ntold that this must be\u2014that it is all the result of economic laws; but I\nconfess to a deepening conviction that it need not be, and that the loss\nto the nation as a whole is vital, if not irreparable.\n\nWhile yet a mere child, five years or so of age, my parents took me to a\nnew home in the ancient village of Torthorwald, about four and a quarter\nmiles north from Dumfries, on the road to Lockerbie. At that time, about\n1830, Torthorwald was a busy and thriving village, and comparatively\npopulous, with its cottars and crofters, large farmers and small\nfarmers, weavers and shoemakers, cloggers and coopers, blacksmiths and\ntailors. Fifty-five years later, when I last visited the scenes of my\nyouth, the village proper was literally extinct, except for five\nthatched cottages where the lingering patriarchs were permitted to die\nslowly away,\u2014when they too would be swept into the large farms, and\ntheir garden plots ploughed over, like sixty or seventy others that had\nbeen obliterated! Of course the Village Smithy still survives, but its\nsparks are few and fading,\u2014the great cultivators patronizing rather the\ntowns. The Meal Mill still grinds away,\u2014but nothing like what it did\nwhen every villager bought or cultivated his few acres of corn, and\nevery crofter and farmer in the parish sent all his grist to the mill.\nThe Grocer\u2019s Shop still recalls the well-known name of Robert Henderson;\nbut so few are the mouths now to be fed, that his warm-hearted wife and\nuniversal favourite, the very heroine of our village life, \u201cJean Grier,\u201d\nis retiring from it in disgust, and leaving it to her son-in-law,\ndeclaring that \u201cthese Tory landlords and their big farms hae driven our\nfolks a\u2019 awa\u2019, and spoiled the Schule and the Shop, the Kirk and the\nMill.\u201d And verily the School is robbed of its children, and the Parish\nChurch of its worshippers, when five families only are reared where\ntwenty once flourished! Political economy may curse me, if it will; but\nI heard with grim satisfaction that this system of large farming, which\nextinguishes our village homes, and sends our peasantry to rear their\nchildren in lanes and alleys, in attics and cellars of populous towns,\nwas proving ruinous at length to the landlords and factors, who had in\nmany cases cruelly forced it on an unwilling people for mere selfish\ngain.\n\nThe Villagers of my early days\u2014the agricultural servants, or occasional\nlabourers, the tradesmen, the small farmers\u2014were, generally speaking, a\nvery industrious and thoroughly independent race of people. Hard workers\nthey had to be, else they would starve; yet they were keen debaters on\nall affairs both in Church and State, and sometimes in the \u201csmiddy\u201d or\nthe \u201ckiln,\u201d sometimes in a happy knot on the \u201cvillage green,\u201d or on the\nroad to the \u201ckirk\u201d or the \u201cmarket,\u201d the questions that were tearing the\nmighty world beyond were fought over again by secluded peasants with\namazing passion and bright intelligence.\n\nFrom the Bank Hill, close above our village, and accessible in a walk of\nfifteen minutes, a view opens to the eye which, despite several easily\nunderstood prejudices of mine that may discount any opinion that I\noffer, still appears to me well worth seeing amongst all the beauties of\nScotland. At your feet lay a thriving village, every cottage sitting in\nits own plot of garden, and sending up its blue cloud of \u201cpeat reek,\u201d\nwhich never somehow seemed to pollute the blessed air; and after all has\nbeen said or sung, a beautifully situated village of healthy and happy\nhomes for God\u2019s children is surely the finest feature in every\nlandscape! There nestled the Manse amongst its ancient trees, sometimes\nwisely, sometimes foolishly tenanted, but still the \u201cman\u2019s house,\u201d the\nman of God\u2019s house, when such can be found for it. There, close by, the\nParish School, where rich and poor met together on equal terms, as God\u2019s\nchildren; and we learned that brains and character make the only\naristocracy worth mentioning. Yonder, amid its graves, that date back on\ncrumbling stone five hundred years, stands the Village Church; and\nthere, on its little natural hill, at the end of the village, rises the\nold tower of Torthorwald, frowning over all the far-sweeping valley of\nthe Nith, and telling of days of blood and Border foray. It was one of\nthe many castles of the Kirkpatricks, and its enormous and imperishable\nwalls seem worthy of him who wrote the legend of his family in the blood\nof the Red Comyn, stabbed in the Greyfriars Church of Dumfries, when he\nsmote an extra blow to that of Bruce, and cried, \u201cI mak\u2019 siccar.\u201d\nBeyond, betwixt you and the Nith, crawls the slow-creeping Lochar\ntowards the Solway, through miles and miles of moss and heather,\u2014the\nnearest realization that I ever beheld of a \u201cstagnant stream.\u201d Looking\nfrom the Bank Hill on a summer day, Dumfries with its spires shone so\nconspicuous that you could have believed it not more than two miles\naway; the splendid sweeping vale through which Nith rolls to Solway, lay\nall before the naked eye, beautiful with village spires, mansion houses,\nand white shining farms; the Galloway hills, gloomy and far-tumbling,\nbounded the forward view, while to the left rose Criffel, cloud-capped\nand majestic; then the white sands of Solway, with tides swifter than\nhorsemen; and finally the eye rested joyfully upon the hills of\nCumberland, and noticed with glee the blue curling smoke from its\nvillages on the southern Solway shores. Four miles behind you lie the\nruins of the Castle of the Bruce, within the domains of his own Royal\nBurgh of Lochmaben; a few miles in front, the still beautiful and\namazing remains of Caerlaverock Castle, famous in many a Border story;\nall around you, scattered throughout the dale of Nith, memories or ruins\nof other baronial \u201ckeeps,\u201d rich in suggestion to the peasant fancy!\nTraditions lost nothing in bulk, or in graphic force, as they were\nretold for the thousandth time by village patriarchs around the kindly\npeat fire, with the younger rustics gaping round. A high spirit of\npatriotism, and a certain glorious delight in daring enterprises, was\npart of our common heritage.\n\nThere, amid this wholesome and breezy village life, our dear parents\nfound their home for the long period of forty years. There were born to\nthem eight additional children, making in all a family of five sons and\nsix daughters. Theirs was the first of the thatched cottages on the\nleft, past the \u201cmiller\u2019s house,\u201d going up the \u201cvillage gate,\u201d with a\nsmall garden in front of it, and a large garden across the road; and it\nis one of the few still lingering to show to a new generation what the\nhomes of their fathers were. The architect who planned it had no ideas\nof art, but a fine eye for durability! It consists at present of three,\nbut originally of four, pairs of \u201coak couples\u201d (Scottic\u00e9 _kipples_),\nplanted like solid trees in the ground at equal intervals, and gently\nsloped inwards till they meet or are \u201ccoupled\u201d at the ridge, this\ncoupling being managed not by rusty iron, but by great solid pins of\noak. A roof of oaken wattles was laid across these, till within eleven\nor twelve feet of the ground, and from the ground upwards a stone wall\nwas raised, as perpendicular as was found practicable, towards these\noverhanging wattles, this wall being roughly \u201cpointed\u201d with sand and\nclay and lime. Now into and upon the roof was woven and intertwisted a\ncovering of thatch, that defied all winds and weathers, and that made\nthe cottage marvellously cozy,\u2014being renewed year by year, and never\nallowed to remain in disrepair at any season. But the beauty of the\nconstruction was and is its durability, or rather the permanence of its\noaken ribs! There they stand, after probably not less than four\ncenturies, japanned with \u201cpeat reek\u201d till they are literally shining, so\nhard that no ordinary nail can be driven into them, and perfectly\ncapable for service for four centuries more on the same conditions. The\nwalls are quite modern, having all been rebuilt in my father\u2019s time,\nexcept only the few great foundation boulders, piled around the oaken\ncouples; and parts of the roofing also may plead guilty to having found\nits way thither only in recent days; but the architect\u2019s one idea\nsurvives, baffling time and change\u2014the ribs and rafters of oak.\n\nOur home consisted of a \u201cbut\u201d and a \u201cben\u201d and a \u201cmid room,\u201d or chamber,\ncalled the \u201ccloset.\u201d The one end was my mother\u2019s domain, and served all\nthe purposes of dining-room and kitchen and parlour, besides containing\ntwo large wooden erections, called by our Scotch peasantry \u201cbox-beds\u201d;\nnot holes in the wall, as in cities, but grand, big, airy beds, adorned\nwith many-coloured counterpanes, and hung with natty curtains, showing\nthe skill of the mistress of the house. The other end was my father\u2019s\nworkshop, filled with five or six \u201cstocking frames,\u201d whirring with the\nconstant action of five or six pairs of busy hands and feet, and\nproducing right genuine hosiery for the merchants at Hawick and\nDumfries. The \u201ccloset\u201d was a very small apartment betwixt the other two,\nhaving room only for a bed, a little table, and a chair, with a\ndiminutive window shedding diminutive light on the scene. This was the\nSanctuary of that cottage home. Thither daily, and oftentimes a day,\ngenerally after each meal, we saw our father retire, and \u201cshut to the\ndoor\u201d; and we children got to understand by a sort of spiritual instinct\n(for the thing was too sacred to be talked about) that prayers were\nbeing poured out there for us, as of old by the High Priest within the\nveil in the Most Holy Place. We occasionally heard the pathetic echoes\nof a trembling voice pleading as if for life, and we learned to slip out\nand in past that door on tiptoe, not to disturb the holy colloquy. The\noutside world might not know, but we knew, whence came that happy light\nas of a new-born smile that always was dawning on my father\u2019s face: it\nwas a reflection from the Divine Presence, in the consciousness of which\nhe lived. Never, in temple or cathedral, on mountain or in glen, can I\nhope to feel that the Lord God is more near, more visibly walking and\ntalking with men, than under that humble cottage roof of thatch and\noaken wattles. Though everything else in religion were by some\nunthinkable catastrophe to be swept out of memory, or blotted from my\nunderstanding, my soul would wander back to those early scenes, and shut\nitself up once again in that Sanctuary Closet, and, hearing still the\nechoes of those cries to God, would hurl back all doubt with the\nvictorious appeal, \u201cHe walked with God, why may not I?\u201d\n\nA few notes had better here be given as to our \u201cForebears,\u201d the kind of\nstock from which my father and mother sprang. My father\u2019s mother, Janet\nMurray, claimed to be descended from a Galloway family that fought and\nsuffered for Christ\u2019s Crown and Covenant in Scotland\u2019s \u201ckilling time,\u201d\nand was herself a woman of a pronouncedly religious development. Her\nhusband, our grandfather, William Paton, had passed through a roving and\nromantic career, before he settled down to a douce deacon of the weavers\nof Dumfries, like his father before him.\n\nForced by a press-gang to serve on board a British man-of-war, he was\ntaken prisoner by the French, and thereafter placed under Paul Jones,\nthe pirate of the seas, and bore to his dying day the mark of a slash\nfrom the captain\u2019s sword across his shoulder for some slight disrespect\nor offence. Determining with two others to escape, the three were hotly\npursued by Paul Jones\u2019s men. One, who could swim but little, was shot,\nand had to be cut adrift by the other two, who in the darkness swam into\na cave and managed to evade for two nights and a day the rage of their\npursuers. My grandfather, being young and gentle and yellow-haired,\npersuaded some kind heart to rig him out in female attire, and in this\ncostume escaped the attentions of the press-gang more than once; till,\nafter many hardships, he bargained with the captain of a coal sloop to\nstow him away amongst his black diamonds, and thus, in due time, he\nfound his way home to Dumfries, where he tackled bravely and wisely the\nduties of husband, father, and citizen for the remainder of his days.\nThe smack of the sea about the stories of his youth gave zest to the\ntalks round their quiet fireside, and that, again, was seasoned by the\nwarm evangelical spirit of his Covenanting wife, her lips \u201cdropping\ngrace.\u201d\n\nOf their children, two reproduced the disposition of their father, and\ntwo that of their mother. William took to the soldier\u2019s career, and died\nin Spain; May, the only daughter, gave her heart and hand to John Wood,\na jolly and gallant Englishman, who fought at Waterloo, and lived to see\nhis hundredth birthday. John and James, the latter being my father, both\nlearned the stocking manufacturing business of their fathers, and both\nfollowed their mother\u2019s piety and became from their early teens very\npronounced and consistent disciples of the Lord.\n\nOn the other side, my mother, Janet Rogerson, had for parents a father\nand mother of the Annandale stock. William Rogerson, her father, was one\nof many brothers, all men of uncommon strength and great force of\ncharacter, quite worthy of the Border rievers of an earlier day. Indeed,\nit was in some such way that he secured his wife, though the dear old\nlady in after-days was chary about telling the story. She was a girl of\ngood position, the ward of two unscrupulous uncles who had charge of her\nsmall estate, near Langholm; and while attending some boarding school\nshe fell devotedly in love with the tall, fair-haired, gallant young\nblacksmith, William Rogerson. Her guardians, doubtless very properly,\nobjected to the \u201cconnection\u201d; but our young Lochinvar, with his six or\nseven stalwart brothers and other trusty \u201clads,\u201d all mounted, and with\nsome ready tool in case of need, went boldly and claimed his bride, and\nshe, willingly mounting at his side, was borne off in the light of open\nday, joyously married, and took possession of her \u201cbut and ben,\u201d as the\nmistress of the blacksmith\u2019s abode.\n\nThe uncles had it out with him, however, in another way. While he was\nenjoying his honeymoon, and careless of mere mundane affairs, they\nmanaged to dispose of all the property of their ward, and make good\ntheir escape with the proceeds to the New World. Having heard a rumour\nof some such sale, our young blacksmith on horseback just reached the\nscene in time to see the last article\u2014a Family Bible\u2014put up for auction.\nThis he claimed, or purchased, or seized, in name of the heiress\u2014but\nthat was all that she ever inherited. It was used devoutly by her till\nher dying day, and was adorned with the record of her own marriage and\nof the birth of a large and happy family, whom by-and-by God gave to\nher.\n\nJanet Jardine bowed her neck to the self-chosen yoke, with the light of\na supreme affection in her heart, and showed in her gentler ways, her\nlove of books, her fine accomplishments with the needle and her general\nair of ladyhood, that her lot had once been cast in easier, but not\nnecessarily happier, ways. Her blacksmith lover proved not unworthy of\nhis lady bride, and in her old days found a quiet and modest home, the\nfruit of years of toil and hopeful thrift, their own little property, in\nwhich they rested and waited a happy end. Amongst those who at last wept\nby her grave stood, amidst many sons and daughters, her son the Rev.\nJames J. Rogerson, clergyman of the Church of England, who, for many\nyears thereafter, and till quite recently, was spared to occupy a\ndistinguished position at ancient Shrewsbury, and has left behind him\nthere an honoured and beloved name.\n\nOne thing else, beautiful in its pathos, I must record of that dear old\nlady. Her son, Walter, had gone forth from her, in prosecution of his\ncalling, had corresponded with her from various counties in England, and\nthen had suddenly disappeared; and no sign came to her, whether he was\ndead or alive. The mother-heart in her clung to the hope of his return;\nevery night she prayed for that happy event, and before closing the\ndoor, threw it wide open, and peered into the darkness with a cry, \u201cCome\nhame, my boy Walter, your mither wearies sair;\u201d and every morning, at\nearly break of day, for a period of more than twenty years, she toddled\nup from her cottage door, at Johnsfield, Lockerbie, to a little round\nhill, called the \u201cCorbie Dykes,\u201d and, gazing with tear-filled eyes\ntowards the south for the form of her returning boy, prayed the Lord God\nto keep him safe and restore him to her yet again. Always, as I think\nupon that scene, my heart finds consolation in reflecting that if not\nhere, then for certain _there_, such deathless longing love will be\nrewarded, and, rushing into long-delayed embrace, will exclaim, \u201cWas\nlost and is found.\u201d\n\nFrom such a home came our mother, Janet Jardine Rogerson, a\nbright-hearted, high-spirited, patient-toiling, and altogether heroic\nlittle woman; who, for about forty-three years, made and kept such a\nwholesome, independent, God-fearing, and self-reliant life for her\nfamily of five sons and six daughters, as constrains me, when I look\nback on it now, in the light of all I have since seen and known of\nothers far differently situated, almost to worship her memory. She had\ngone with her high spirits and breezy disposition to gladden, as their\ncompanion, the quiet abode of some grand or great-grand-uncle and aunt,\nfamiliarly named in all that Dalswinton neighbourhood, \u201cOld Adam and\nEve.\u201d Their house was on the outskirts of the moor, and life for the\nyoung girl there had not probably too much excitement. But one thing had\narrested her attention. She had noticed that a young stocking maker from\nthe \u201cBrig End,\u201d James Paton, the son of William and Janet there, was in\nthe habit of stealing alone into the quiet wood, book in hand, day after\nday, at certain hours, as if for private study and meditation. It was a\nvery excusable curiosity that led the young bright heart of the girl to\nwatch him devoutly reading and hear him reverently reciting (though she\nknew not then, it was Ralph Erskine\u2019s \u201cGospel Sonnets,\u201d which he could\nsay by heart sixty years afterwards, as he lay on his bed of death); and\nfinally that curiosity awed itself into a holy respect, when she saw him\nlay aside his broad Scotch bonnet, kneel down under the sheltering wings\nof some tree, and pour out all his soul in daily prayers to God. As yet\nthey had never spoken. What spirit moved her, let lovers tell\u2014was it all\ndevotion, or was it a touch of unconscious love kindling in her towards\nthe yellow-haired and thoughtful youth? Or was there a stroke of\nmischief, of that teasing, which so often opens up the door to the most\nserious step in all our lives? Anyhow, one day she slipped in quietly,\nstole away his bonnet, and hung it on a branch near by, while his trance\nof devotion made him oblivious of all around; then, from a safe retreat\nshe watched and enjoyed his perplexity in seeking for and finding it! A\nsecond day this was repeated; but his manifest disturbance of mind, and\nhis long pondering with the bonnet in hand, as if almost alarmed, seemed\nto touch another chord in her heart\u2014that chord of pity which is so often\nthe prelude of love, that finer pity that grieves to wound anything\nnobler or tenderer than ourselves. Next day, when he came to his\naccustomed place of prayer, a little card was pinned against the tree\njust where he knelt, and on it these words:\u2014\n\n\u201cShe who stole away your bonnet is ashamed of what she did; she has a\ngreat respect for you, and asks you to pray for her, that she may become\nas good a Christian as you.\u201d\n\nStaring long at that writing, he forgot Ralph Erskine for one day;\ntaking down the card, and wondering who the writer could be, he was\nabusing himself for his stupidity in not suspecting that some one had\ndiscovered his retreat, and removed his bonnet, instead of wondering\nwhether angels had been there during his prayer,\u2014when, suddenly raising\nhis eyes, he saw in front of old Adam\u2019s cottage, through a lane amongst\nthe trees, the passing of another kind of angel, swinging a milk-pail in\nher hand and merrily singing some snatch of old Scottish song. He knew,\nin that moment, by a Divine instinct, as infallible as any voice that\never came to seer of old, that she was the angel visitor that had stolen\nin upon his retreat\u2014that bright-faced, clever-witted niece of old Adam\nand Eve, to whom he had never yet spoken, but whose praises he had often\nheard said and sung\u2014\u201cWee Jen.\u201d I am afraid he did pray \u201cfor her,\u201d in\nmore senses than one, that afternoon; at any rate, more than a Scotch\nbonnet was very effectually stolen; a good heart and true was there\nbestowed, and the trust was never regretted on either side, and never\nbetrayed.\n\nOften and often, in the genial and beautiful hours of the autumntide of\ntheir long life, have I heard my dear father tease \u201cJen\u201d about her\nmaidenly intentions in the stealing of that bonnet; and often with quick\nmother wit have heard her happy retort, that had his motives for coming\nto that retreat been altogether and exclusively pious, he would probably\nhave found his way to the other side of the wood, but that men who\nprowled about the Garden of Eden ran the risk of meeting some day with a\ndaughter of Eve!\n\nSomewhere in or about his seventeenth year, my father passed through a\ncrisis of religious experience, and from that day he openly and very\ndecidedly followed the Lord Jesus. His parents had belonged to one of\nthe older branches of what now we call the United Presbyterian Church;\nbut my father, having made an independent study of the Scotch Worthies,\nthe Cloud of Witnesses, the Testimonies, and the Confession of Faith,\nresolved to cast in his lot with the oldest of all the Scotch Churches,\nthe Reformed Presbyterian, as most nearly representing the Covenanters\nand the attainments of both the first and second Reformations in\nScotland. This choice he deliberately made, and sincerely and\nintelligently adhered to; and was able at all times to give strong and\nclear reasons from Bible and from history for the principles he upheld.\nStill his sympathies and votes always went with the more progressive\nparty in that ancient Church. He held it to be right that Cameronians,\nlike other citizens, should exercise the municipal and political\nfranchise, and he adhered to the \u201cMajority Synod,\u201d which has since been\nincorporated with the Free Church of Scotland. While glorying in the\nPsalms, he rejoiced to sing other hymns and spiritual songs (thanks to\nRalph Erskine\u2019s \u201cSonnets,\u201d perhaps, for that!) from his earliest days,\nat least everywhere except in the ordinary Public Worship; and long\nbefore he died, though he still held the Psalms to be supreme, he had\nlearned to hear with glowing delight vast congregations singing the\nhymns of modern days, had learned joyfully to join in these songs of\nZion, and was heard often to confess his belief that God had greatly\nowned and blessed the ministry of song in the service of the Gospel.\n\nBesides his independent choice of a Church for himself, there was one\nother mark and fruit of his early religious decision, which looks even\nfairer through all these years. Family Worship had heretofore been held\nonly on Sabbath day in his father\u2019s house; but the young Christian,\nentering into conference with his sympathising mother, managed to get\nthe household persuaded that there ought to be daily morning and evening\nprayer and reading of the Bible and holy singing. This the more readily,\nas he himself agreed to take part regularly in the same and so relieve\nthe old warrior of what might have proved for him too arduous spiritual\ntoils. And so began in his seventeenth year that blessed custom of\nFamily Prayer, morning and evening, which my father practised probably\nwithout one single omission till he lay on his deathbed, seventy-seven\nyears of age; when, even to the last day of his life, a portion of\nScripture was read, and his voice was heard softly joining in the Psalm,\nand his lips breathed the morning and evening Prayer,\u2014falling in sweet\nbenediction on the heads of all his children, far away many of them over\nall the earth, but all meeting him there at the Throne of Grace. None of\nus can remember that any day ever passed unhallowed thus; no hurry for\nmarket, no rush to business, no arrival of friends or guests, no trouble\nor sorrow, no joy or excitement, ever prevented at least our kneeling\naround the family altar, while the High Priest led our prayers to God,\nand offered himself and his children there. And blessed to others, as\nwell as to ourselves, was the light of such example! I have heard that,\nin long after years, the worst woman in the village of Torthorwald, then\nleading an immoral life, but since changed by the grace of God, was\nknown to declare, that the only thing that kept her from despair and\nfrom the hell of the suicide, was when in the dark winter nights she\ncrept close up underneath my father\u2019s window, and heard him pleading in\nfamily worship that God would convert \u201cthe sinner from the error of\nwicked ways and polish him as a jewel for the Redeemer\u2019s crown.\u201d \u201cI\nfelt,\u201d said she, \u201cthat I was a burden on that good man\u2019s heart, and I\nknew that God would not disappoint _him_. That thought kept me out of\nHell, and at last led me to the only Saviour.\u201d\n\nMy father had a strong desire to be a minister of the Gospel; but when\nhe finally saw that God\u2019s will had marked out for him another lot, he\nreconciled himself by entering with his own soul into this solemn\nvow,\u2014that if God gave him sons, he would consecrate them unreservedly to\nthe ministry of Christ, if the Lord saw fit to accept the offering, and\nopen up their way. It may be enough here to say that he lived to see\nthree of us entering upon and not unblessed in the Holy Office;\u2014myself,\nthe eldest born; my brother Walter, several years my junior; and my\nbrother James, the youngest of eleven, the Benjamin of the flock.\n\nOur place of worship was the Reformed Presbyterian Church at Dumfries,\nunder the ministry, during most of these days, of Rev. John McDiarmid\u2014a\ngenuine, solemn, lovable Covenanter, who cherished towards my father a\nwarm respect, that deepened into apostolic affection when the yellow\nhair turned snow-white and both of them grew patriarchal in their years.\nThe minister, indeed, was translated to a Glasgow charge; but that\nrather exalted than suspended their mutual love. Dumfries was four miles\nfully from our Torthorwald home; but the tradition is that during all\nthese forty years my father was only thrice prevented from attending the\nworship of God\u2014once by snow so deep that he was baffled and had to\nreturn; once by ice on the road, so dangerous that he was forced to\ncrawl back up the Roucan Brae on his hands and knees, after having\ndescended it so far with many falls; and once by the terrible outbreak\nof cholera at Dumfries. All intercourse betwixt the town and the\nsurrounding villages was publicly prohibited; and the farmers and\nvillagers, suspecting that no cholera would make my father stay at home\non Sabbath, sent a deputation to my mother on the Saturday evening, and\nurged her to restrain his devotions for once! That, however, was\nneedless; as, where the life of others was at stake, his very devotion\ncame to their aid. Each of us, from very early days, considered it no\npenalty, but a great joy, to go with our father to the church; the four\nmiles were a treat to our young spirits, the company by the way was a\nfresh incitement, and occasionally some of the wonders of city-life\nrewarded our eager eyes. A few other pious men and women of the best\nevangelical type, went from the same parish to one or other favourite\nminister at Dumfries,\u2014the parish church during all those years being\nrather miserably served; and when these God-fearing peasants\n\u201cforgathered\u201d in the way to or from the House of God, we youngsters had\nsometimes rare glimpses of what Christian talk may be and ought to be.\nThey went to the church, full of beautiful expectancy of spirit\u2014their\nsouls were on the outlook for God; they returned from the church, ready\nand even anxious to exchange ideas as to what they had heard and\nreceived of the things of life. I have to bear my testimony that\nreligion was presented to us with a great deal of intellectual\nfreshness, and that it did not repel us but kindled our spiritual\ninterest. The talks which we heard were, however, genuine; not the\nmake-believe of religious conversation, but the sincere outcome of their\nown personalities. That, perhaps, makes all the difference betwixt talk\nthat attracts and talk that drives away.\n\nWe had, too, special Bible Readings on the Lord\u2019s Day evening,\u2014mother\nand children and visitors reading in turns, with fresh and interesting\nquestion, answer, and exposition, all tending to impress us with the\ninfinite grace of a God of love and mercy in the great gift of His dear\nSon Jesus, our Saviour. The Shorter Catechism was gone through\nregularly, each answering the question asked, till the whole had been\nexplained, and its foundation in Scripture shown by the proof-texts\nadduced. It has been an amazing thing to me, occasionally to meet with\nmen who blamed this \u201ccatechizing\u201d for giving them a distaste to\nreligion; every one in all our circle thinks and feels exactly the\nopposite. It laid the solid rock-foundations of our religious life.\nAfter years have given to these questions and their answers a deeper or\na modified meaning, but none of us have ever once even dreamed of\nwishing that we had been otherwise trained. Of course, if the parents\nare not devout, sincere, and affectionate,\u2014if the whole affair on both\nsides is taskwork, or worse, hypocritical and false,\u2014results must be\nvery different indeed! Oh, I can remember those happy Sabbath evenings;\nno blinds drawn, and shutters up, to keep out the sun from us, as some\nscandalously affirm; but a holy, happy, entirely human day, for a\nChristian father, mother, and children to spend. How my father would\nparade across and across our flag-floor, telling over the substance of\nthe day\u2019s sermons to our dear mother, who, because of the great distance\nand because of her many living \u201cencumbrances,\u201d got very seldom indeed to\nthe church, but gladly embraced every chance, when there was prospect or\npromise of a \u201clift\u201d either way from some friendly gig! How he would\nentice us to help him to recall some idea or other, rewarding us when we\ngot the length of \u201ctaking notes\u201d and reading them over on our return;\nhow he would turn the talk ever so naturally to some Bible story, or\nsome martyr reminiscence, or some happy allusion to the \u201cPilgrim\u2019s\nProgress\u201d! And then it was quite a contest, which of us would get\nreading aloud, while all the rest listened, and father added here and\nthere a happy thought, or illustration, or anecdote. Others must write\nand say what they will, and as they feel; but so must I. There were\neleven of us brought up in a home like that; and never one of the\neleven, boy or girl, man or woman, has been heard, or ever will be\nheard, saying that Sabbath was dull or wearisome for us, or suggesting\nthat we have heard of or seen any way more likely than that for making\nthe Day of the Lord bright and blessed alike for parents and for\nchildren. But God help the homes where these things are done by force\nand not by love! The very discipline through which our father passed us\nwas a kind of religion in itself. If anything really serious required to\nbe punished, he retired first to his closet for prayer, and we boys got\nto understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that\nwas the severest part of the punishment for me to bear! I could have\ndefied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a\nmessage from God. We loved him all the more, when we saw how much it\ncost him to punish us; and, in truth, he had never very much of that\nkind of work to do upon any one of all the eleven\u2014we were ruled by love\nfar more than by fear.\n\nAs I must, however, leave the story of my father\u2019s life\u2014much more\nworthy, in many ways, of being written than my own\u2014I may here mention\nthat his long and upright life made him a great favourite in all\nreligious circles far and near within the neighbourhood, that at\nsick-beds and at funerals he was constantly sent for and much\nappreciated, and that this appreciation greatly increased, instead of\ndiminishing, when years whitened his long, flowing locks and gave him an\napostolic beauty; till finally, for the last twelve years or so of his\nlife, he became by appointment a sort of Rural Missionary for the four\ncontiguous parishes, and spent his autumn in literally sowing the good\nseed of the Kingdom as a Colporteur of the Tract and Book Society. His\nsuccess in this work, for a rural locality, was beyond all belief.\nWithin a radius of five miles, he was known in every home, welcomed by\nthe children, respected by the servants, longed for eagerly by the sick\nand aged. He gloried in showing off the beautiful Bibles and other\nprecious books, which he sold in amazing numbers. He sang sweet Psalms\nbeside the sick, and prayed like the voice of God at their dying beds.\nHe went cheerily from farm to farm, from cot to cot; and when he wearied\non the moorland roads, he refreshed his soul by reciting aloud one of\nRalph Erskine\u2019s \u201cSonnets,\u201d or crooning to the birds one of David\u2019s\nPsalms. His happy partner, \u201cWee Jen,\u201d died in 1865, and he himself in\n1868, having reached his seventy-seventh year,\u2014an altogether beautiful\nand noble episode of human existence having been enacted, amid the\nhumblest surroundings of a Scottish peasant\u2019s home, through the\ninfluence of their united love by the grace of God; and in this world,\nor in any world, all their children will rise up at mention of their\nnames and call them blessed!\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER II.\n _AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE._\n\n A Typical Scottish School.\u2014A School Prize.\u2014A Wayward Master.\u2014Learning\n a Trade.\u2014My Father\u2019s Prayers.\u2014Jehovah Jireh.\u2014With Sappers and\n Miners.\u2014Harvest Field.\u2014On the Road to Glasgow.\u2014A Memorable\n Parting.\u2014Before the Examiners.\u2014Killing Work.\u2014Deep Waters.\u2014Maryhill\n School.\u2014Rough School Scenes.\u2014Aut C\u00e6sar, Aut Nullus.\u2014My Wages.\n\n\nIn my boyhood Torthorwald had one of the grand old typical Parish\nSchools of Scotland, where the rich and the poor met together in perfect\nequality, where Bible and Catechism were taught as zealously as grammar\nand geography, and where capable lads from the humblest of cottages were\nprepared in Latin and Mathematics and Greek to go straight from their\nvillage class to the University bench. Besides, at that time, an\naccomplished pedagogue of the name of Smith, a learned man of more than\nlocal fame, had added a Boarding House to the ordinary School, and had\nattracted some of the better class gentlemen and farmers\u2019 sons from the\nsurrounding county, so that Torthorwald, under his _r\u00e9gime_, reached the\nzenith of its educational fame. In this School I was initiated into the\nmystery of letters, and all my brothers and sisters after me, though\nsome of them under other masters than mine;\u2014my youngest brother James,\ntrained there under a master named Lithgow, going direct from the\nVillage School to the University of Glasgow in his fourteenth year!\n\nMy teacher punished severely\u2014rather, I should say, savagely\u2014especially\nfor lessons badly prepared. Yet, that he was in some respects kindly and\ntender-hearted, I had the best of reasons to know. Seeing me not so\n\u201cbraw\u201d as the well-to-do fellows of my year, and taking a warm interest\nin me as a pupil, he, concluding probably that new suits were not so\neasily got in my home as in some of the rest, planned a happy and\nkind-hearted surprise\u2014a sort of unacknowledged school prize. One\nevening, when my father was \u201ctaking the books,\u201d and pouring out his\nheart in family worship, the door of our house gently opened on the\nlatch, and gently closed again. After prayer, on rushing to the door, I\nfound a parcel containing a new suit of warm and excellent\nclothes,\u2014seeing which my mother said that \u201cGod had sent them to me, and\nI should thankfully receive them as from His hand, whoever might have\nbrought them.\u201d Appearing in them at school next morning, the teacher\ncheerily saluted and complimented me on my \u201cbraws.\u201d I innocently told\nhim how they came and what my mother said; and he laughingly replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cJohn, whenever you need anything after this, just tell your father to\n\u2018tak\u2019 the Book,\u2019 and God will send it in answer to prayer!\u201d\n\nYears passed by before I came to know, what the reader has already\nguessed, that the good-hearted schoolmaster\u2019s hand lifted the latch that\nevening during my father\u2019s prayer.\n\nAll his influence, however, was marred by occasional bursts of fierce\nand ungovernable temper, amounting to savagery. His favouritism, too,\nwas sometimes disheartening,\u2014as when I won a Latin prize for an exercise\nby the verdict of the second master, yet it was withheld from me, and\nprizes were bestowed without merit on other and especially wealthier\nboys; so at least I imagined, and it cooled my ambition to excel.\nFavouritism might be borne, but not mere brutality when passion mastered\nhim. Once, after having flogged me unjustly, on my return only at my\nmother\u2019s entreaty, he ran at me again, kicked me, and I fled in pain and\nterror from his presence, rushing home. When his passion subsided, he\ncame to my parents, apologized, and pled with me to return; but all in\nvain,\u2014nothing would induce me to resume my studies there. Undoubtedly at\nthat time I had a great thirst for education, and a retentive memory,\nwhich made all lessons comparatively easy; and, as no other school was\nwithin my reach, it was a great loss that my heart shrank from this\nteacher.\n\nThough under twelve years of age, I started to learn my father\u2019s trade\nin which I made surprising progress. We wrought from six in the morning\ntill ten at night, with an hour at dinner-time and half an hour at\nbreakfast and again at supper. These spare moments every day I devoutly\nspent on my books, chiefly in the rudiments of Latin and Greek; for I\nhad given my soul to God, and was resolved to aim at being a missionary\nof the Cross, or a minister of the Gospel. Yet I gladly testify that\nwhat I learned of the stocking frame was not thrown away; the facility\nof using tools, and of watching and keeping the machinery in order, came\nto be of great value to me in the Foreign Mission field.\n\nHow much my father\u2019s prayers at this time impressed me I can never\nexplain, nor could any stranger understand. When, on his knees and all\nof us kneeling around him in Family Worship, he poured out his whole\nsoul with tears for the conversion of the heathen world to the service\nof Jesus, and for every personal and domestic need, we all felt as if in\nthe presence of the living Saviour, and learned to know and love Him as\nour Divine Friend. As we rose from our knees, I used to look at the\nlight on my father\u2019s face, and wish I were like him in spirit,\u2014hoping\nthat, in answer to his prayers, I might be privileged and prepared to\ncarry the blessed Gospel to some portion of the heathen world.\n\nOne incident of this time I must record here, because of the lasting\nimpression made upon my religious life. Our family, like all others of\npeasant rank in the land, were plunged into deep distress, and felt the\npinch severely, through the failure of the potato, the badness of other\ncrops, and the ransom-price of food. Our father had gone off with work\nto Hawick, and would return next evening with money and supplies; but\nmeantime the meal barrel ran empty, and our dear mother, too proud and\ntoo sensitive to let any one know, or to ask aid from any quarter,\ncoaxed us all to rest, assuring us that she had told God everything, and\nthat He would send us plenty in the morning. Next day, with the carrier\nfrom Lockerbie came a present from her father, who, knowing nothing of\nher circumstances or of this special trial, had been moved of God to\nsend at that particular nick of time a love-offering to his daughter,\nsuch as they still send to each other in those kindly Scottish shires\u2014a\nbag of new potatoes, a stone of the first ground meal or flour, or the\nearliest homemade cheese of the season\u2014which largely supplied all our\nneed. My mother, seeing our surprise at such an answer to her prayers,\ntook us around her knees, thanked God for His goodness, and said to us,\u2014\n\n\u201cO my children, love your heavenly Father, tell Him in faith and prayer\nall your needs, and He will supply your wants so far as it shall be for\nyour good and His glory.\u201d\n\nPerhaps, amidst all their struggles in rearing a family of eleven, this\nwas the hardest time they ever had, and the only time they ever felt the\nactual pinch of hunger; for the little that they had was marvellously\nblessed of God, and was not less marvellously utilized by that noble\nmother of ours, whose high spirit, side by side with her humble and\ngracious piety, made us, under God, what we are to-day.\n\nI saved as much at my trade as enabled me to go six weeks to Dumfries\nAcademy; this awoke in me again the hunger for learning, and I resolved\nto give up that trade and turn to something that might be made helpful\nto the prosecution of my education. An engagement was secured with the\nsappers and miners, who were mapping and measuring the county of\nDumfries in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The office\nhours were from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m.; and though my walk from home was\nabove four miles every morning, and the same by return in the evening, I\nfound much spare time for private study, both on the way to and from my\nwork and also after hours. Instead of spending the mid-day hour with the\nrest, at football and other games, I stole away to a quiet spot on the\nbanks of the Nith, and there pored over my book, all alone. Our\nlieutenant, unknown to me, had observed this from his house on the other\nside of the stream, and after a time called me into his office and\ninquired what I was studying. I told him the whole truth as to my\nposition and my desires. After conferring with some of the other\nofficials there, he summoned me again, and in their presence promised me\npromotion in the service, and special training in Woolwich at the\nGovernment\u2019s expense, on condition that I would sign an engagement for\nseven years. Thanking him most gratefully for his kind offer, I agreed\nto bind myself for three years or four, but not for seven.\n\nExcitedly he said, \u201cWhy? Will you refuse an offer that many gentlemen\u2019s\nsons would be proud of?\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cMy life is given to another Master, so I cannot engage for\nseven years.\u201d\n\nHe asked sharply, \u201cTo whom?\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cTo the Lord Jesus, and I want to prepare as soon as possible\nfor His service in the proclaiming of the Gospel.\u201d\n\nIn great anger he sprang across the room, called the paymaster, and\nexclaimed, \u201cAccept my offer, or you are dismissed on the spot!\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cI am extremely sorry if you do so, but to bind myself for\nseven years would probably frustrate the purpose of my life; and though\nI am greatly obliged to you, I cannot make such an engagement.\u201d\n\nHis anger made him unwilling or unable to comprehend my difficulty; the\ndrawing instruments were delivered up, I received my pay, and departed\nwithout further parley. The men, both over me and beside me, were mostly\nRoman Catholics, and their talk was the most profane I had ever heard.\nFew of them spoke at any time without larding their language with oaths,\nand I was thankful to get away from hearing their shocking speech. But\nto me personally both officers and men had been extremely kind, for\nwhich, on leaving, I thanked them all very cordially, and they looked\nnot a little surprised,\u2014as if unused to such recognitions!\n\nHearing how I had been treated, and why, Mr. Maxwell, the Rector of\nDumfries Academy, offered to let me attend all classes there, free of\ncharge, so long as I cared to remain; but that, in lack of means of\nsupport, was for the time impossible, as I would not and could not be a\nburden on my dear father, but was determined rather to help him in\neducating the rest. I went therefore to what was known as the Lamb Fair\nat Lockerbie, and for the first time in my life took a \u201cfee\u201d for the\nharvest. On arriving at the field when shearing and mowing began, the\nfarmer asked me to bind a sheaf; when I had done so, he lifted it by the\nband, and it fell to pieces! Instead of disheartening me, however, he\ngave me a careful lesson how to bind, and the second that I bound did\nnot collapse when shaken, and the third he pitched across the field, and\non finding that it still remained firm, he cried to me cheerily,\u2014\n\n\u201cRight now, my lad; go ahead!\u201d\n\nIt was hard work for me at first, and my hands got very sore; but, being\nwilling and determined, I soon got into the way of it, and kept up with\nthe best of them. The harvesters, seeing I was not one of their own\nworkers, had an eager dispute as to what I was, some holding that I was\na painter, and some a tailor; but the more \u2019cute observers denied me the\nrank of tailor from the lack of \u201cjaggings\u201d on my thumb and finger, so I\nsuppose they credited me with the brush. The male harvesters were told\noff to sleep in a large hay-loft, the beds being arranged all along the\nside, like barracks. Many of the fellows were rough and boisterous, and\nI suppose my look showed that I hesitated in mingling with them, for the\nquick eye and kind heart of the farmer\u2019s wife prompted her to suggest\nthat I, being so much younger than the rest, might sleep with her son\nGeorge in the house,\u2014an offer, oh, how gratefully accepted! A beautiful\nnew steading had recently been built for them; and during certain days,\nor portions of days, while waiting for the grain to ripen or to dry, I\nplanned and laid out an ornamental garden in front of it, which gave\ngreat satisfaction\u2014a taste inherited from my mother, with her joy in\nflowers and garden plots. They gave me, on leaving, a handsome present,\nas well as my fee, for I had got on very pleasantly with them all. This\nexperience, too, came to be valuable to me, when, in long after days,\nand far other lands, Mission buildings had to be erected, and garden and\nfield cropped and cultivated without the aid of a single European hand.\n\nBefore going to my first harvesting, I had applied for a situation in\nGlasgow, apparently exactly suited for my case; but I had little or no\nhope of ever hearing of it further. An offer of \u00a350 per annum was made\nby the West Campbell Street Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, then\nunder the good and noble Dr. Bates, for a young man to act as district\nvisitor and tract distributor, especially amongst the absentees from the\nSabbath school; with the privilege of receiving one year\u2019s training at\nthe Free Church Normal Seminary, that he might qualify himself for\nteaching, and thereby push forward to the Holy Ministry. The candidates,\nalong with their application and certificates, were to send an essay on\nsome subject, of their own composition, and in their own handwriting. I\nsent in two long poems on the Covenanters, which must have exceedingly\namused them, as I had not learned to write decent prose! But, much to my\nsurprise, immediately on the close of the harvesting experience, a\nletter arrived, intimating that I, along with another young man, had\nbeen put upon the short leet, and that both were requested to appear in\nGlasgow on a given day and compete for the appointment. Two days\nthereafter I started out from my quiet country home on the road to\nGlasgow. Literally on the road, for from Torthorwald to Kilmarnock\u2014about\nforty miles\u2014had to be done on foot, and thence to Glasgow by rail.\nRailways in those days were as yet few, and coach travelling was far\nbeyond my purse. A small bundle, tied up in my pocket handkerchief,\ncontained my Bible and all my personal belongings. Thus was I launched\nupon the ocean of life. \u201cI know thy poverty, but thou art rich.\u201d\n\nMy dear father walked with me the first six miles of the way. His\ncounsels and tears and heavenly conversation on that parting journey are\nfresh in my heart as if it had been yesterday; and tears are on my\ncheeks as freely now as then, whenever memory steals me away to the\nscene. For the last half-mile or so we walked on together in almost\nunbroken silence,\u2014my father, as was often his custom, carrying hat in\nhand, while his long, flowing yellow hair (then yellow, but in later\nyears white as snow) streamed like a girl\u2019s down his shoulders. His lips\nkept moving in silent prayers for me, and his tears fell fast when our\neyes met each other in looks for which all speech was vain. We halted on\nreaching the appointed parting place; he grasped my hand firmly for a\nminute in silence, and then solemnly and affectionately said,\u2014\n\n\u201cGod bless you, my son! Your father\u2019s God prosper you, and keep you from\nall evil!\u201d\n\nUnable to say more, his lips kept moving in silent prayer; in tears we\nembraced, and parted. I ran off as fast as I could, and, when about to\nturn a corner in the road where he would lose sight of me, I looked back\nand saw him still standing with head uncovered where I had left him.\nWaving my hat in adieu, I was round the corner and out of sight in an\ninstant. But my heart was too full and sore to carry me further, so I\ndarted into the side of the road and wept for a time. Then, rising up\ncautiously, I climbed the dyke to see if he yet stood where I had left\nhim, and just at that moment I caught a glimpse of him climbing the dyke\nand looking out for me! He did not see me, and after he had gazed\neagerly in my direction for a while, he got down, turned his face\ntowards home, and began to return\u2014his head still uncovered, and his\nheart, I felt sure, still rising in prayers for me. I watched through\nblinding tears, till his form faded from my gaze; and then, hastening on\nmy way, vowed deeply and oft, by the help of God, to live and act so as\nnever to grieve or dishonour such a father and mother as He had given\nme. The appearance of my father, when we parted,\u2014his advice, prayers and\ntears,\u2014the road, the dyke, the climbing up on it and then walking away,\nhead uncovered, have often, often, all through life, risen vividly\nbefore my mind,\u2014and do so now while I am writing, as if it had been but\nan hour ago. In my earlier years particularly, when exposed to many\ntemptations, his parting form rose before me as that of a guardian\nAngel. It is no Pharisaism, but deep gratitude, which makes me here\ntestify that the memory of that scene not only helped, by God\u2019s grace,\nto keep me pure from the prevailing sins, but also stimulated me in all\nmy studies, that I might not fall short of his hopes, and in all my\nChristian duties, that I might faithfully follow his shining example.\n\nI reached Glasgow on the third day, having slept one night at Thornhill,\nand another at New Cumnock; and having needed, owing to the kindness of\nacquaintances upon whom I called by the way, to spend only three\nhalf-pence of my modest funds. Safely arrived, but weary, I secured a\nhumble room for my lodging, for which I had to pay one shilling and\nsixpence per week. Buoyant and full of hope and looking up to God for\nguidance, I appeared at the appointed hour before the examiners, as did\nalso the other candidate; and they, having carefully gone through their\nwork, asked us to retire. When recalled, they informed us that they had\ngreat difficulty in choosing, and suggested that the one of us might\nwithdraw in favour of the other, or that both might submit to a more\ntesting examination. Neither seemed inclined to give it up, both were\nwilling for a second examination, but the patrons made another\nsuggestion. They had only \u00a350 per annum to give; but if we would agree\nto divide it betwixt us, and go into one lodging, we might both be able\nto struggle through; they would pay our entrance fees at the Free Normal\nSeminary, and provide us with the books required; and perhaps they might\nbe able to add a little to the sum promised to each of us. By dividing\nthe mission work appointed, and each taking only the half, more time\nalso might be secured for our studies. Though the two candidates had\nnever seen each other before, we at once accepted this proposal, and got\non famously together, never having had a dispute on anything of common\ninterest throughout our whole career.\n\nAs our fellow-students at the Normal were all far advanced beyond us in\ntheir education, we found it killing work, and had to grind away\nincessantly, late and early. Both of us, before the year closed, broke\ndown in health, partly by hard study, but principally, perhaps, for lack\nof nourishing diet. A severe cough seized upon me; I began spitting\nblood, and a doctor ordered me at once home to the country and forbad\nall attempts at study. My heart sank; it was a dreadful disappointment,\nand to me a bitter trial. Soon after, my companion, though apparently\nmuch stronger than I, was similarly seized. He, however, never entirely\nrecovered, though for some years he taught in a humble school; and long\nago he fell asleep in Jesus, a devoted and honoured Christian man.\n\nI, on the other hand, after a short rest, nourished by the hill air of\nTorthorwald and by the new milk of our family cow, was ere long at work\nagain, and got an appointment to teach a small school at Girvan. There I\nreceived the greatest kindness from Rev. Matthew G. Easton of the\nReformed Presbyterian Church, now Dr. Easton of the Free Church, Darvel,\nand gradually but completely recovered my health.\n\nHaving saved \u00a310 by my teaching, I returned to Glasgow, and was enrolled\nas a student at the College; but before the session was finished my\nmoney was exhausted\u2014I had lent some to a poor student who failed to\nrepay me\u2014and only nine shillings remained in my purse. There was no one\nfrom whom to borrow, had I been willing; I had been disappointed in\nsecuring private tuition; and no course seemed open for me, except to\npay what little I owed, give up my College career, and seek for teaching\nor other work in the country. I wrote a letter to my father and mother,\ninforming them of my circumstances; that I was leaving Glasgow in quest\nof work, and that they would not hear from me again till I had found a\nsuitable situation. I told them that if otherwise unsuccessful, I should\nfall back on my own trade, though I shrank from that as not tending to\nadvance my education; but that they might rest assured I would do\nnothing to dishonour them or my Christian profession. Having read that\nletter over again through many tears, I said,\u2014I cannot send that, for it\nwill grieve my darling parents; and therefore, leaving it on the table,\nI locked my room door and ran out to find a place where I might sell my\nfew precious books, and hold on a few weeks longer. But, as I stood on\nthe opposite side and wondered whether these folks in a shop with the\nthree golden balls would care to have a poor student\u2019s books, and as I\nhesitated, knowing how much I needed them for my studies, conscience\nsmote me for doing a guilty thing; I imagined that the people were\nwatching me as if I were about to commit a theft, and I made off from\nthe scene at full speed, with a feeling of intense shame at having\ndreamed of such a thing! Passing through one short street into another,\nI marched on mechanically; but the Lord God of my father was guiding my\nsteps, all unknown to me.\n\nA certain notice in a window, into which I had probably never in my life\nlooked before, here caught my eye, to this effect\u2014\u201cTeacher wanted,\nMaryhill Free Church School; apply at the Manse.\u201d A coach or \u2019bus was\njust passing, when I turned round; I leapt into it, saw the minister,\narranged to undertake the school, returned to Glasgow, paid my\nlandlady\u2019s lodging score, tore up the letter to my parents and wrote\nanother full of cheer and hope, and early next morning entered the\nschool and began a tough and trying job. The minister warned me that the\nschool was a wreck, and had been broken up chiefly by coarse and bad\ncharacters from mills and coal-pits, who attended the evening classes.\nThey had abused several masters in succession; and, laying a thick and\nheavy cane on the desk, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cUse that freely, or you will never keep order here!\u201d\n\nI put it aside into the drawer of my desk, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cThat will be my last resource.\u201d\n\nThere were very few scholars for the first week\u2014about eighteen in the\nday school and twenty in the night school. The clerk of the mill, a good\nyoung fellow, came to the evening classes, avowedly to learn\nbook-keeping, but privately he said he had come to save me from personal\ninjury.\n\nThe following week, a young man and a young woman began to attend the\nnight school, who showed from the first moment that they were bent on\nmischief. By talking aloud, joking, telling stories, and laughing, they\nstopped the work of the school. On my repeated appeals for quiet and\norder, they became the more boisterous, and gave great merriment to a\nfew of the scholars present. I finally urged the young man, a tall,\npowerful fellow, to be quiet or at once to leave, declaring that at all\nhazards I must and would have perfect order; but he only mocked at me,\nand assumed a fighting attitude. Quietly locking the door and putting\nthe key in my pocket, I turned to my desk, armed myself with the cane,\nand dared any one at his peril to interfere betwixt us. It was a rough\nstruggle, he smashing at me clumsily with his fists, I with quick\nmovements evading and dealing him blow after blow with the heavy cane\nfor several rounds, till at length he crouched down at his desk,\nexhausted and beaten, and I ordered him to turn to his book, which he\ndid in sulky silence. Going to my desk, I addressed them and asked them\nto inform all who wished to come to the school, \u201cthat if they came for\neducation, everything would be heartily done that it was in my power to\ndo; but that any who wished for mischief had better stay away, as I was\ndetermined to conquer, not to be conquered, and to secure order and\nsilence, whatever it might cost. Further, I assured them that that cane\nwould not again be lifted by me, if kindness and forbearance on my part\ncould possibly gain the day, as I wished to rule by love and not by\nterror. But this young man knew he was in the wrong, and it was that\nwhich had made him weak against me, though every way stronger far than\nI. Yet I would be his friend and helper, if he was willing to be\nfriendly with me, the same as if this night had never been.\u201d\n\nA dead silence fell on the school; every one buried face diligently in\nbook; and the evening closed in uncommon quiet and order.\n\nNext morning, two of the bigger boys at the day school, instead of\ntaking their seats like the rest, got in under the gallery where coals\nand lumber were kept, and made a great noise as if dog and cat were\nworrying each other. Pleading with them only increased the uproar; so I\nlocked the doors, laid past the keys, and proceeded with the morning\u2019s\nwork. Half an hour before the mid-day rest, I began singing a hymn, and\nmarched the children round as if to leave; then the two young rascals\ncame out, and, walking in front, sang boisterously. Seizing the first by\nthe collar, I made him stagger into the middle of the floor, and\ndragging the other beside him, I raised my heavy cane and dared them to\nmove. Ordering the children to resume their seats, I appointed them a\njury to hear the case and to pass sentence. The two were found guilty,\nand awarded a severe lashing. I proposed, as this was their first\noffence, and as I only used the cane for a last resource, to forego all\npunishment, if they apologized and promised to be attentive and obedient\nin the future. They both heartily did so, and became my favourite\nscholars. Next evening I had little difficulty, as the worst characters\ndid not at once return, guessing that they had got a bit of lion in the\nnew dominie, that was more likely to subdue than to be subdued.\n\nOn the following day, the parents of some children, getting alarmed by\nthe rumours of these exploits, waited on me with the minister, and said\ntheir children were terrified to come. I said that no _child_ had been\nbeaten by me, but that I insisted upon order and obedience; I reminded\nthe minister that of my immediate predecessors three had suffered from\nthese rowdies in the evening class\u2014one actually going wrong in the mind\nover the worry, another losing his health and dying, and the third\nleaving in disgust; and finally I declared that I must either be master,\nat whatever cost, or leave the school. From that time perfect order was\nestablished, and the school flourished apace. During next week, many of\nthe worst characters returned to their class work in the evening; but\nthenceforward the behaviour of all towards me was admirable. The\nattendance grew, till the school became crowded, both during the day and\nat night. During the mid-day hour even, I had a large class of young\nwomen who came to improve themselves in writing and arithmetic.\nBy-and-by the cane became a forgotten implement; the sorrow and pain\nwhich I showed as to badly done lessons, or anything blameworthy, proved\nthe far more effectual penalty.\n\nThe School Committee had promised me at least ten shillings per week,\nand guaranteed to make up any deficit if the fees fell short of that\nsum; but if the income from fees exceeded that sum, all was to be mine.\nAffairs went on prosperously for a season; indeed, too much so for my\nselfish interest. The committee, regarding the arrangement with me as\nonly temporary, took advantage of the larger attendance and better\nrepute of the school, to secure the services of a master of the highest\ngrade. The parents of many of the children, resenting this, offered to\ntake and seat a hall if I would remain and carry on an opposition\nschool; but, besides regarding this as scarcely fair to the committee,\nhowever unhandsomely they had treated me, I knew too well that I had\nneither education nor experience to compete with an accomplished\nteacher, and so declined the proposal, though grateful for their kind\nappreciation. Their children, however, got up a testimonial and\nsubscription, in token of their gratitude and esteem, which was\npresented to me on the day before I left; and this I valued chiefly\nbecause the presentation was made by the young fellows who at first\nbehaved so badly, but were now my warm friends.\n\nOnce more I committed my future to the Lord God of my father, assured\nthat in my very heart I was willing and anxious to serve Him and to\nfollow the blessed Saviour, yet feeling keenly that intense darkness had\nonce again enclosed my path.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER III.\n _IN GLASGOW CITY MISSION._\n\n \u201cHe leadeth me.\u201d\u2014A Degraded District.\u2014The Gospel in a Hay-Loft.\u2014New\n Mission Premises.\u2014At Work for Jesus.\u2014At War with Hell.\u2014Sowing\n Gospel Seeds.\u2014Publicans on the War Path.\u2014Marched to the Police\n Office.\u2014Papists and Infidels.\u2014An Infidel Saved.\u2014An Infidel in\n Despair.\u2014A Brand from the Burning.\u2014A Saintly Child.\u2014Papists in\n Arms.\u2014Elder and Student.\n\n\nBefore undertaking the Maryhill school, I had applied to be taken on as\nan agent in the Glasgow City Mission; and the night before I had to\nleave Maryhill, I received a letter from Rev. Thomas Caie, the\nsuperintendent of the said Mission, saying that the directors had kept\ntheir eyes on me ever since my application, and requesting, as they\nunderstood I was leaving the school, that I would appear before them the\nnext morning, and have my qualifications for becoming a Missionary\nexamined into. Praising God, I went off at once, passed the examination\nsuccessfully, and was appointed to spend two hours that afternoon and\nthe following Monday in visitation with two of the directors, calling at\nevery house in a low district of the town, and conversing with all the\ncharacters encountered there on their eternal welfare. I had also to\npreach a \u201ctrial\u201d discourse in a Mission meeting, where a deputation of\ndirectors would be present, the following evening being Sunday; and on\nWednesday evening, they met again to hear their reports and to accept or\nreject me. All this had come upon me so unexpectedly, that I almost\nanticipated failure; but looking up for help I went through with it, and\non the fifth day after leaving the school they called me before a\nmeeting of directors, and informed me that I had passed my trials most\nsuccessfully, and that the reports were so favourable that they had\nunanimously resolved to receive me at once as one of their City\nMissionaries. It was further explained that one of their number, Matthew\nFairley, Esq., an elder in Dr. Symington\u2019s congregation, had guaranteed\nthe half of my salary for two years, the other half to be met by the\nresources of the Mission voluntarily contributed,\u2014the whole salary at\nthat time amounting to \u00a340 per annum. The district allocated to me was\none especially needful and trying, that had never been occupied, in and\naround the Green Street of Calton, and I was enjoined to enter upon my\nduties at once. After receiving many good and kind counsels from these\ngood and kind men, one of them in prayer very solemnly dedicated me and\nmy work to the Lord; and several of them were appointed to introduce me\nto my district, taking a day each by turns, and to assist me in making\narrangements for the on-carrying of the work. Deeply solemnized with the\nresponsibilities of my new office, I left that meeting praising God for\nall His undeserved mercies, and seeing most clearly His gracious hand in\nall the way by which He had led me, and the trials by which He had\nprepared me for the sphere of service. Man proposes\u2014God disposes.\n\nMost of these directors were men of God, adapted and qualified for this\nspecial work, and very helpful in counsel as they went with me from day\nto day, introducing me to my district, and seeing the character and\nposition of the people dwelling there. Looking back upon these Mission\nexperiences, I have ever felt that they were, to me and many others, a\ngood and profitable training of students for the office of the Ministry,\npreparing us to deal with men of every shade of thought and of\ncharacter, and try to lead them to the knowledge and service of the Lord\nJesus. I found the district a very degraded one. Many families said they\nhad never been visited by any minister; and many were lapsed professors\nof religion who had attended no church for ten, sixteen, or twenty\nyears, and said they had never been called upon by any minister, nor by\nany Christian visitor. In it were congregated many avowed infidels,\nRomanists, and drunkards,\u2014living together, and associated for evil, but\napparently without any effective counteracting influence. In many of its\ncloses and courts sin and vice walked about openly\u2014naked and _not_\nashamed.\n\nWe were expected to spend four hours daily in visiting from house to\nhouse, holding small prayer meetings amongst those visited, calling them\ntogether also in evening meetings, and trying by all means to do\nwhatever good was possible amongst them. The only place in the whole\ndistrict available for a Sabbath evening Evangelistic Service was a\nhay-loft, under which a cow-feeder kept a large number of cows, and\nwhich was reached by an outside rickety wooden stair. After nearly a\nyear\u2019s hard work, I had only six or seven non-church-goers, who had been\nled to attend regularly there, besides about the same number who met on\na week evening in the groundfloor of a house kindly granted for the\npurpose by a poor and industrious but ill-used Irishwoman. She supported\nher family by keeping a little shop, and selling coals. Her husband was\na powerful man\u2014a good worker, but a hard drinker, and, like too many\nothers addicted to intemperance, he abused and beat her, and pawned and\ndrank everything he could get hold of. She, amid many prayers and tears,\nbore everything patiently, and strove to bring up her only daughter in\nthe fear of God. We exerted, by God\u2019s blessing, a good influence upon\nhim through our meetings. He became a total abstainer, gave up his evil\nways, and attended church regularly with his wife. As his interest\nincreased, he tried to bring others also to the meeting, and urged them\nto become abstainers. His wife became a centre of help and of good\ninfluence in all the district, as she kindly invited all and welcomed\nthem to the meeting in her house, and my work grew every day more\nhopeful.\n\nSeeing, however, that one year\u2019s hard work showed such small results,\nthe directors proposed to remove me to another district, as in their\nestimation the non-church-goers in Green Street were unassailable by\nordinary means. I pleaded for six months\u2019 longer trial, as I had gained\nthe confidence of many of the poor people there, and had an invincible\nfaith that the good seed sown would soon bear blessed fruit. To this the\ndirectors kindly agreed. At our next meeting I informed those present\nthat, if we could not draw out more of the non-church-goers to attend\nthe services, I should be removed to another part of the city. Each one\nthere and then agreed to bring another to our next meeting. Both our\nmeetings at once doubled their attendance. My interest in them and their\ninterest in me now grew apace, and, for fear I might be taken away from\nthem, they made another effort, and again doubled our attendance.\nHenceforth meeting and class were both too large for any house that was\navailable for us in the whole of our district. We instituted a Bible\nClass, a Singing Class, a Communicants\u2019 Class, and a Total Abstinence\nSociety; and, in addition to the usual meetings, we opened two prayer\nmeetings specially for the Calton division of the Glasgow Police\u2014one at\na suitable hour for the men on day duty, and another for those on night\nduty. The men got up a Mutual Improvement Society and Singing Class also\namongst themselves, weekly, on another evening. My work now occupied\nevery evening in the week; and I had two meetings every Sabbath. By\nGod\u2019s blessing they all prospered, and gave evidence of such fruits as\nshowed that the Lord was working there for good by our humble\ninstrumentality.\n\nThe kind cow-feeder had to inform us\u2014and he did it with much genuine\nsorrow\u2014that at a given date he would require the hay-loft, which was our\nplace of meeting; and as no other suitable house or hall could be got,\nthe poor people and I feared the extinction of our work. On hearing this\nthe ostlers and other servants of Menzies, the coach-hirer, who had\nextensive premises near our place of meeting, of their own accord asked\nand obtained liberty to clear out a hay-loft of theirs that was seldom\nin use, and resolved, at their own expense, to erect an outside wooden\nstair for the convenience of the people. This becoming known, and being\nmuch talked of, caused great joy in the district, arrested general\nattention, and increased the interest of our work. But I saw that,\nhowever generous, it could be at the best only another temporary\narrangement, and that the premises might again at any moment be\nrequired. After prayer I therefore laid the whole case before my good\nand great-hearted friend, Thomas Binnie, Esq., Monteith Row, and he,\nafter inquiring into all the circumstances, secured a good site for a\nMission Hall in a piece of unoccupied ground near our old hay-loft, on\nwhich he proposed to build suitable premises at his own expense. At that\nvery time, however, a commodious block of buildings, that had been\nChurch, Schools, Manse, etc., came into the market. Mr. Binnie persuaded\nDr. Symington\u2019s congregation, Great Hamilton Street, in connection with\nwhich my Mission was carried on, to purchase the whole property for\nMission purposes. Its situation at the foot of Green Street gave it a\ncontrol of the whole district where my work lay; and so the Church was\ngiven to me in which to conduct all my meetings, while the other halls\nwere adapted as Schools for poor girls and boys, where they were\neducated by a proper master, and were largely supplied with books,\nclothing, and even food, by the ladies of the congregation. The\npurchasing and using of these buildings for an evangelistic and\neducational Mission became a blessing\u2014a very conspicuous blessing\u2014to\nthat district in the Calton of Glasgow; and the blessing still\nperpetuates itself, not only in the old premises, now used for an\nIndustrial School, but still more in the beautiful and spacious Mission\nHalls, erected immediately in front of the old, and consecrated to the\nwork of the Lord in that poor and crowded and clamant portion of the\ncity.\n\nAvailing myself of the increased facilities, my work was all\nre-organized. On Sabbath morning, at seven o\u2019clock, I had one of the\nmost deeply interesting and fruitful of all my Classes for the study of\nthe Bible. It was attended by from seventy to a hundred of the very\npoorest young women and grown-up lads of the whole district. They had\nnothing to put on except their ordinary work-day clothes,\u2014all without\nbonnets, some without shoes. Beautiful was it to mark how the poorest\nbegan to improve in personal appearance immediately after they came to\nour class; how they gradually got shoes and one bit of clothing after\nanother, to enable them to attend our other meetings, and then to go to\nchurch; and, above all, how eagerly they sought to bring others with\nthem, taking a deep personal interest in all the work of the Mission.\nLong after they themselves could appear in excellent dress, many of them\nstill continued to attend in their working clothes, and to bring other\nand poorer girls with them to that morning class, and thereby helped to\nimprove and elevate their companions.\n\nMy delight in that Bible Class was among the purest joys in all my life,\nand the results were amongst the most certain and precious of all my\nministry. Yet it was not made successful without unceasing pains and\nprayers. What would my younger brethren in the Ministry, or in the\nMission, think of starting out at six o\u2019clock every Sunday morning,\nrunning from street to street for an hour, knocking at the doors and\nrousing the careless, and thus getting together, and keeping together,\ntheir Bible Class? This was what I did at first; but, in course of time,\na band of voluntary visitors belonging to the class took charge of all\nthe irregulars, the indifferents, and the new-comers, and thereby not\nonly relieved and assisted me, but vastly increased their own personal\ninterest, and became warmly attached to each other.\n\nI had also a very large Bible Class\u2014a sort of Bible-reading\u2014on Monday\nnight, attended by all, of both sexes and of any age, who cared to come\nor had any interest in the work. Wednesday evening, again, was devoted\nto a Prayer Meeting for all, and the attendance often more than\nhalf-filled the Church. There I usually took up some book of Holy\nScripture, and read and lectured right through, practically expounding\nand applying it. On Thursday I held a Communicants\u2019 Class, intended for\nthe more careful instruction of all who wished to become full members of\nthe Church. Our constant text-book was \u201cPatterson on the Shorter\nCatechism,\u201d than which I have never seen a better compendium of the\ndoctrines of Holy Scripture. Each being thus trained for a season,\nreceived from me, if found worthy, a letter to the minister of any\nProtestant Church which he or she inclined to join. In this way great\nnumbers became active and useful communicants in the surrounding\ncongregations, and eight young lads of humble circumstances educated\nthemselves for the ministry of the Church,\u2014most of them getting their\nfirst lessons in Latin and Greek from my very poor stock of the same!\nFriday evening was occupied with a Singing Class, teaching Church music,\nand practising for our Sabbath meetings. On Saturday evening we held our\nTotal Abstinence meeting, at which the members themselves took a\nprincipal part, in readings, addresses, recitations, singing hymns, etc.\n\nGreat good resulted from this Total Abstinence work. Many adults took\nand kept the pledge, thereby greatly increasing the comfort and\nhappiness of their homes. Many were led to attend the church on the\nLord\u2019s Day, who had formerly spent it in rioting and drinking. But,\nabove all, it trained the young to fear the very name of intoxicating\ndrink, and to hate and keep far away from everything that led to\nintemperance. From observation, at an early age I became convinced that\nmere Temperance Societies were a failure, and that Total Abstinence, by\nthe grace of God, was the only sure preventive as well as remedy. What\nwas temperance in one man was drunkenness in another; and all the\ndrunkards came not from those who practised total abstinence, but from\nthose who practised or tried to practise temperance. I had seen\n_temperance_ men drinking wine in the presence of others who drank to\nexcess, and never could see how they felt clear of blame; and I had\nknown ministers and others, once strong temperance advocates, fall\nthrough their \u201cmoderation\u201d and become drunkards. Therefore it has all my\nlife appeared to me beyond dispute, in reference to intoxicants of every\nkind, that the only rational temperance is total abstinence from them as\nbeverages, and the use of them only as drugs, and then only with extreme\ncaution, as they are deceptive and deleterious poisons of the most\ndebasing and demoralizing kind. I found also, that when I tried to\nreclaim a drunkard, or caution any one as to intemperate habits, one of\nthe first questions was,\u2014\n\n\u201cAre you a pledged Abstainer yourself?\u201d\n\nBy being enabled to reply decidedly, \u201cYes, I am,\u201d the mouth of the\nobjector was closed; and that gave me a hundred-fold more influence with\nhim than if I had had to confess that I was only \u201ctemperate.\u201d For the\ngood of others, and for the increase of their personal influence as the\nservants of Christ, I would plead with every Minister and Missionary,\nevery office-bearer and Sabbath school teacher, every one who wishes to\nwork for the Lord Jesus in the family, the Church, and the world, to be\na Total Abstainer from all intoxicating drinks.\n\nI would add my testimony also against the use of tobacco, which injures\nand leads many astray, especially the very young, and which never can be\nrequired by any person in ordinary health. But I would not be understood\nto regard the evils that flow from it as deserving to be mentioned in\ncomparison with the unutterable woes and miseries of intemperance. To be\nprotected, however, from suspicion and from evil, all the followers of\nJesus should, in self-denial (how small!) and consecration to His\nservice, be pledged Abstainers from both of these selfish indulgences,\nwhich are certainly injurious to many, which are no ornament to any\ncharacter, and which can be no help in well-doing. Praise God for the\nmany who are now so pledged! Happy day for poor Humanity, when all the\nLord\u2019s people adopt this self-denying ordinance for the good of the\nrace!\n\nNot boastfully, but gratefully, let me record that my Classes and\nMeetings were now attended by such numbers that they were amongst the\nlargest and most successful that the City Mission had ever known; and by\nGod\u2019s blessing I was enabled to develop them into a regular, warmly\nattached, and intelligent Congregation. My work, however exacting, was\nfull of joy to me. From five to six hundred people were in usual weekly\nattendance; consisting exclusively of poor working persons, and largely\nof the humbler class of mill-workers. So soon as their circumstances\nimproved, they were constantly removing to more respectable and healthy\nlocalities, and got to be scattered over all the city. But wherever they\nwent, I visited them regularly to prevent their falling away, and held\nby them till I got them interested in some Church near where they had\ngone to live. On my return, many years after, from the Foreign Mission\nfield, there was scarcely a congregation in any part of the city where\nsome one did not warmly salute me with the cry, \u201cDon\u2019t you remember me?\u201d\nAnd then, after greetings, came the well-remembered name of one or other\nmember of my old Bible Class.\n\nSuch toils left me but small time for private studies. The City\nMissionary was required to spend four hours daily in his work; but often\nhad I to spend double that time, day after day, in order to overtake\nwhat was laid upon me. About eight or ten of my most devoted young men,\nand double that number of young women, whom I had trained to become\nvisitors and tract distributors, greatly strengthened my hands. Each of\nthe young men by himself, and the young women two by two, had charge of\na portion of a street, which was visited by them regularly twice every\nmonth. At a monthly meeting of all our Workers, reports were given in,\nchanges were noted, and all matters brought under notice were attended\nto. Besides, if any note or message were left at my lodging, or any case\nof sickness or want reported, it was looked after by me without delay.\nSeveral Christian gentlemen, mill-owners and other employers in the\nCalton, Mile-end, and Bridgeton of Glasgow, were so interested in my\nwork that they kindly offered to give employment to every deserving\nperson recommended by me, and that relieved much distress and greatly\nincreased my influence for good.\n\nAlmost the only enemies I had were the keepers of Public-Houses, whose\ntrade had been injured by my Total Abstinence Society. Besides the\nSaturday night meetings all the year round, we held, in summer evenings\nand on Saturday afternoons, Evangelistic and Total Abstinence services\nin the open air. We met in Thomson\u2019s Lane, a short, broad street, not\nopen for the traffic of conveyances, and admirably situated for our\npurposes. Our pulpit was formed by the top of an outside stair, leading\nto the second flat of a house in the middle of the lane. Prominent\nChristian workers took part with us in delivering addresses; an\nintimation through my classes usually secured good audiences; and the\nhearty singing of hymns by my Mission Choir gave zest and joy to the\nwhole proceedings. Of other so-called \u201cattractions\u201d we had none, and\nneeded none, save the sincere proclamation of the Good Tidings from God\nto men!\n\nOn one occasion, it becoming known that we had arranged for a special\nSaturday afternoon demonstration, a deputation of Publicans complained\nbeforehand to the Captain of the Police that our meetings were\ninterfering with their legitimate trade. He heard their complaints and\npromised to send officers to watch the meeting, prevent any disturbance,\nand take in charge all offenders, but declined to prohibit the meetings\ntill he received their reports. The Captain, a pious Wesleyan, who was\nin full sympathy with us and our work, informed me of the complaints\nmade and intimated that his men would be present, but I was just to\nconduct the meeting as usual, and he would guarantee that strict justice\nwould be done. The Publicans, having announced amongst their\nsympathisers that the Police were to break up and prevent our meeting\nand take the conductors in charge, a very large crowd assembled, both\nfriendly and unfriendly, for the Publicans and their hangers-on were\nthere \u201cto see the fun,\u201d and to help in baiting the Missionary.\nPunctually, I ascended the stone stair, accompanied by another\nMissionary who was also to deliver an address, and announced our opening\nhymn. As we sang, a company of Police appeared, and were quietly located\nhere and there among the crowd, the serjeant himself taking his post\nclose by the platform, whence the whole assembly could be scanned. Our\nenemies were jubilant, and signals were passed betwixt them and their\nfriends, as if the time had come to provoke a row. Before the hymn was\nfinished, Captain Baker himself, to the infinite surprise of friend and\nfoe alike, joined us on the platform, devoutly listened to all that was\nsaid, and waited till the close. The Publicans could not for very shame\nleave, while he was there at their suggestion and request, though they\nhad wit enough to perceive that his presence had frustrated all their\nsinister plans. They had to hear our addresses and prayers and hymns;\nthey had to listen to the intimation of our future meetings. When all\nhad quietly dispersed, the Captain warmly congratulated us on our large\nand well-conducted congregation, and hoped that great good would result\nfrom our efforts. This opposition, also, the Lord overruled to increase\nour influence, and to give point and publicity to our assaults upon the\nkingdom of Satan.\n\nThough disappointed thus, some of the Publicans resolved to have\nrevenge. On the following Saturday evening, when a large meeting was\nbeing addressed in our Green Street Church, which had to be entered by a\ngreat iron gateway, a spirit merchant ran his van in front of the gate,\nso that the people could not leave the Church without its removal.\nHearing this, I sent two of my young men to draw it aside and clear the\nway. The Publican, watching near by in league with two policemen,\npounced upon the young men whenever they seized the shafts, and gave\nthem in charge for removing his property. On hearing that the young men\nwere being marched to the Police Office, I ran after them and asked what\nwas their offence? They replied that they were prisoners for injuring\nthe spirit merchant\u2019s property; and the officers tartly informed me that\nif I further interfered I would be taken too. I replied, that as the\nyoung men only did what was necessary, and at my request, I would go\nwith them to the Office. The cry now went through the street, that the\nPublicans were sending the Missionary and his young men to the Police\nOffice, and a huge mob rushed together to rescue us; but I earnestly\nentreated them not to raise disturbance, but allow us quietly to pass\non. At the Office, it appeared as if the lieutenant on duty and the men\nunder him were all in sympathy with the Publicans. He took down in\nwriting all their allegations, but would not listen to us. At this stage\na handsomely dressed and dignified gentleman came forward and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat bail is required?\u201d\n\nA few sharp words passed; another, and apparently higher, officer\nentered, and took part in the colloquy. I could only hear the gentleman\nprotest, in authoritative tones, the policemen having been quietly asked\nsome questions,\u2014\n\n\u201cI know this whole case, I will expose it to the bottom; expect me here\nto stand by the Missionary and these young men on Monday morning.\u201d\n\nBefore I could collect my wits to thank him, and before I quite\nunderstood what was going on, he had disappeared; and the superior\nofficer turned to us and intimated in a very respectful manner that the\ncharge had been withdrawn, and that I and my friends were at liberty. I\nnever found out exactly who the gentleman was that befriended us; but\nfrom the manner in which he asserted himself and was listened to, I saw\nthat he was well known in official quarters. From that day our work\nprogressed without further open opposition, and many who had been slaves\nof intemperance were not only reformed, but became fervent workers in\nthe Total Abstinence cause.\n\nThough intemperance was the main cause of poverty, suffering, misery,\nand vice in that district of Glasgow, I had also considerable opposition\nfrom Romanists and Infidels, many of whom met in clubs, where they drank\ntogether and gloried in their wickedness and in leading other young men\nastray. Against these I prepared and delivered lectures, at the close of\nwhich discussion was allowed; but I fear they did little good. These men\nembraced the opportunity of airing their absurdities, or sowing the\nseeds of corruption in those whom otherwise they could never have\nreached, while their own hearts and minds were fast shut against all\nconviction or light.\n\nOne infidel Lecturer in the district became very ill. His wife called me\nin to visit him. I found him possessed of a circulating library of\ninfidel books, by which he sought to pervert unwary minds. Though he had\ntalked and lectured much against the Gospel, he did not at all really\nunderstand its message. He had read the Bible, but only to find food\nthere for ridicule. Now supposed to be dying, he confessed that his mind\nwas full of terror as to the Future. After several visits and frequent\nconversations and prayers, he became genuinely and deeply interested,\ndrank in God\u2019s message of salvation, and cried aloud with many tears for\npardon and peace. He bitterly lamented the evil he had done, and called\nin all the infidel literature that he had in circulation, with the\npurpose of destroying it. He began to speak solemnly to any of his old\ncompanions that came to see him, telling them what he had found in the\nLord Jesus. At his request I bought and brought to him a Bible, which he\nreceived with great joy, saying, \u201cThis is the book for me now;\u201d and\nadding, \u201cSince you were here last, I gathered together all my infidel\nbooks; my wife locked the door, till she and my daughter tore them to\npieces, and I struck the light that reduced the pile to ashes.\u201d\n\nAs long as he lived, this man was unwearied and unflinching in\ntestifying, to all that crossed his path, how much Jesus Christ had been\nto his heart and soul; and he died in the possession of a full and\nblessed hope.\n\nAnother Infidel, whose wife was a Roman Catholic, also became unwell,\nand gradually sank under great suffering and agony. His blasphemies\nagainst God were known and shuddered at by all the neighbours. His wife\npled with me to visit him. She refused, at my suggestion, to call her\nown priest, so I accompanied her at last. The man refused to hear one\nword about spiritual things, and foamed with rage. He even spat at me,\nwhen I mentioned the name of Jesus. \u201cThe natural man receiveth not the\nthings of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him!\u201d There\nis a wisdom which is at best earthly, and at worst \u201csensual and\ndevilish.\u201d His wife asked me to take care of the little money they had,\nas she would not entrust it to her own priest. I visited the poor man\ndaily, but his enmity to God and his sufferings together seemed to drive\nhim mad. His yells gathered crowds on the streets. He tore to pieces his\nvery bed-clothes, till they had to bind him on the iron bed where he\nlay, foaming and blaspheming. Towards the end I pled with him even then\nto look to the Lord Jesus, and asked if I might pray with him? With all\nhis remaining strength, he shouted at me,\u2014\n\n\u201cPray for me to the devil!\u201d\n\nReminding him how he had always denied that there was any devil, I\nsuggested that he must surely believe in one now, else he would scarcely\nmake such a request, even in mockery. In great rage he cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cYes, I believe there is a devil, and a God, and a just God, too; but I\nhave hated Him in life, and I hate Him in death!\u201d\n\nWith these awful words, he wriggled into Eternity; but his shocking\ndeath produced a very serious impression for good, especially amongst\nyoung men, in the district where his character was known.\n\nHow different was the case of that Doctor who also had been an\nunbeliever as well as a drunkard! Highly educated, skilful, and gifted\nabove most in his profession, he was taken into consultation for\nspecially dangerous cases, whenever they could find him tolerably sober.\nAfter one of his excessive \u201cbouts,\u201d he had a dreadful attack of\n_delirium tremens_. At one time, wife and watchers had a fierce struggle\nto dash from his lips a draught of prussic acid; at another, they\ndetected the silver-hafted lancet concealed in the band of his shirt, as\nhe lay down, to bleed himself to death. His aunt came and pled with me\nto visit him. My heart bled for his poor young wife and two beautiful\nlittle children. Visiting him twice daily, and sometimes even more\nfrequently, I found the way somehow into his heart, and he would do\nalmost anything for me and longed for my visits. When again the fit of\nself-destruction seized him, they sent for me; he held out his hand\neagerly, and grasping mine, said,\u2014\n\n\u201cPut all these people out of the room, remain you with me; I will be\nquiet, I will do everything you ask!\u201d\n\nI got them all to leave, but whispered to one in passing to \u201ckeep near\nthe door.\u201d\n\nAlone I sat beside him, my hand in his, and kept up a quiet conversation\nfor several hours. After we had talked of everything that I could think\nof, and it was now far into the morning, I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you had a Bible here, we might read a chapter, verse about.\u201d\n\nHe said dreamily, \u201cThere was once a Bible above yon press; if you can\nget up to it, you might find it there yet.\u201d\n\nGetting it, dusting it, and laying it on a small table which I drew near\nto the sofa on which we sat, we read there and then a chapter together.\nAfter this, I said, \u201cNow, shall we pray?\u201d\n\nHe replied heartily, \u201cYes.\u201d\n\nI having removed the little table, we kneeled down together at the sofa;\nand after a solemn pause, I whispered, \u201cYou pray first.\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cI curse, I cannot pray; would you have me curse God to His\nface?\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cYou promised to do all that I asked; you must pray, or try\nto pray, and let me hear that you cannot.\u201d\n\nHe said, \u201cI cannot curse God on my knees; let me stand, and I will curse\nHim; I cannot pray.\u201d\n\nI gently held him on his knees, saying, \u201cJust try to pray, and let me\nhear you cannot.\u201d\n\nInstantly he cried out, \u201cO Lord, Thou knowest I cannot pray,\u201d and was\ngoing to say something dreadful as he strove to rise up. But I just took\nthe words he had uttered as if they had been my own, and continued the\nprayer, pleading for him and his dear ones as we knelt there together,\ntill he showed that he was completely subdued and lying low at the feet\nof God. On rising from our knees he was manifestly greatly impressed,\nand I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, as I must be at College by daybreak and must return to my lodging\nfor my books and an hour\u2019s rest, will you do one thing more for me\nbefore I go?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d was his reply.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said I, \u201cit is long since you had a refreshing sleep; now, will\nyou lie down, and I will sit by you till you fall asleep?\u201d\n\nHe lay down, and was soon fast asleep. After commending him to the care\nand blessing of the Lord, I quietly slipped out, and his wife returned\nto watch by his side. When I came back later in the day, after my\nclasses were over, he, on hearing my foot and voice, came running to\nmeet me, and clasping me in his arms, cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cThank God, I can pray now! I rose this morning refreshed from sleep,\nand prayed with my wife and children for the first time in my life; and\nnow I shall do so every day, and serve God while I live, who hath dealt\nin so great mercy with me!\u201d\n\nAfter delightful conversation, he promised to go with me to Dr.\nSymington\u2019s church on Sabbath Day; there he took sittings beside me; at\nnext half-yearly communion he and his wife were received into\nmembership, and their children were baptized; and from that day till his\ndeath he led a devoted and most useful Christian life. Henceforth, as a\nmedical man he delighted to attend all poor and destitute cases which we\nbrought under his care; he ministered to them for Jesus\u2019 sake, and spoke\nto them of their blessed Saviour. When he came across cases that were\nhopeless, he sent for me to visit them too, being as anxious for their\nsouls as for their bodies. He died, years after this, of consumption,\npartly at least the fruit of early excesses; but he was serenely\nprepared for death, and happy in the assured hope of eternal blessedness\nwith Christ. He sleeps in Jesus; and I do believe that I shall meet him\nin Glory as a trophy of redeeming grace and love!\n\nIn my Mission district, I was the witness of many joyful departures to\nbe with Jesus,\u2014I do not like to name them \u201cdeaths\u201d at all. Even now, at\nthe distance of nearly forty years, many instances, especially amongst\nthe young men and women who attended my classes, rise up before my mind.\nThey left us, rejoicing in the bright assurance that nothing present or\nto come \u201ccould ever separate them or us from the love of God which is in\nChrist Jesus our Lord.\u201d Several of them, by their conversation even on\ntheir deathbed, were known to have done much good. Many examples might\nbe given; but I can find room for only one. John Sim, a dear little boy,\nwas carried away by consumption. His childish heart seemed to be filled\nwith joy about seeing Jesus. His simple prattle, mingled with deep\nquestionings, arrested not only his young companions, but pierced the\nhearts of some careless sinners who heard him, and greatly refreshed the\nfaith of God\u2019s dear people. It was the very pathos of song incarnated to\nhear the weak quaver of his dying voice sing out,\u2014\n\n \u201cI lay my sins on Jesus,\n The spotless Lamb of God.\u201d\n\nShortly before his decease he said to his parents, \u201cI am going soon to\nbe with Jesus; but I sometimes fear that I may not see you there.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy so, my child?\u201d said his weeping mother.\n\n\u201cBecause,\u201d he answered, \u201cif you were set upon going to heaven and seeing\nJesus there, you would pray about it, and sing about it; you would talk\nabout Jesus to others, and tell them of that happy meeting with Him in\nGlory. All this my dear Sabbath school teacher taught me, and she will\nmeet me there. Now why did not you, my father and mother, tell me all\nthese things about Jesus, if you are going to meet Him too?\u201d\n\nTheir tears fell fast over their dying child; and he little knew, in his\nunthinking eighth year, what a message from God had pierced their souls\nthrough his innocent words. One day an aunt from the country visited his\nmother, and their talk had run in channels for which the child no longer\nfelt any interest. On my sitting down beside him, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSit you down and talk with me about Jesus; I am tired hearing so much\ntalk about everything else but Jesus; I am going soon to be with Him.\nOh, do tell me everything you know or have ever heard about Jesus, the\nspotless Lamb of God!\u201d\n\nAt last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or freedom\nfrom pain\u2014for of that he had very little\u2014but, as he himself always put\nit, \u201cto see Jesus.\u201d And, after all, that was the wisdom of the heart,\nhowever he learned it. Eternal life, here or hereafter, is just the\nvision of Jesus.\n\nAmongst many of the Roman Catholics in my Mission district, also, I was\nvery kindly received, and allowed even to read the Scriptures and to\npray. At length, however, a young woman who professed to be converted by\nmy classes and meetings brought things to a crisis betwixt them and me.\nShe had renounced her former faith, was living in a Protestant family,\nand looked to me as her pastor and teacher. One night, a closed\ncarriage, with two men and women, was sent from a Nunnery in Clyde\nStreet, to take her and her little sister with them. She refused, and\ndeclined all authority on their part, declaring that she was now a\nProtestant by her own free choice. During this altercation, a message\nhad been sent for me. On arriving, I found the house filled with a noisy\ncrowd. Before them all, she appealed to me for protection from these her\nenemies. The Romanists, becoming enraged, jostled me into a corner of\nthe room, and there enclosed me. The two women pulled her out of bed by\nforce, for the girl had been sick, and began to dress her, but she\nfainted among their hands.\n\nI called out,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo not murder the poor girl! Get her water, quick, quick!\u201d and leaving\nmy hat on the table, I rushed through amongst them, as if in search of\nwater, and they let me pass. Knowing that the house had only one door, I\nquickly slipped the key from within, shut and locked the door outside,\nand with the key in my hand ran to the Police Office. Having secured two\nconstables to protect the girl and take the would-be captors into\ncustody, I returned, opened the door, and found, alas! that these\nconstables were themselves Roman Catholics, and at once set about\nfrustrating me and assisting their own friends. The poor sick girl was\nsupported by the arms into the carriage; the policemen cleared the way\nthrough the crowd; and before I could force my way through the\nobstructives in the house, the conveyance was already starting. I\nappealed and shouted to the crowds to protect the girl, and seize and\ntake the whole party to the Police Office. A gentleman in the crowd took\nmy part, and said to a big Highland policeman in the street,\u2014\n\n\u201cMac, I commit that conveyance and party to you on a criminal charge,\nbefore witnesses; you will suffer, if they escape.\u201d\n\nThe driver lashing at his horse to get away, Mac drew his baton and\nstruck, when the driver leapt down to the street on the opposite side,\nand threw the reins in the policeman\u2019s face. Thereupon our stalwart\nfriend at once mounted the box, and drove straight for the Police\nOffice. On arriving there, we discovered that only the women were inside\nwith the sick girl\u2014the men having escaped in the scuffle and the crush.\nWhat proved more disappointing was that the lieutenant on duty happened\nto be a Papist, who, after hearing our statement and conferring with the\nparties in the conveyance, returned, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cHer friends are taking her to a comfortable home; you have no right to\ninterfere, and I have let them go.\u201d He further refused to hear the\ngrounds of our complaint, and ordered the police to clear the Office.\n\nNext morning, a false and foolish account of the whole affair appeared\nin the Newspapers, condemnatory of the Mission and of myself; a meeting\nof the directors was summoned, and the Superintendent came to my lodging\nto take me before them. Having heard all, and questioned and\ncross-questioned me, they resolved to prosecute the abductors of the\ngirl. The Nunnery authorities confessed that the little sister was with\nthem, but denied that _she_ had been taken in there, or that they knew\nanything of her case. Though the girl was sought for carefully by the\nPolice, and by all the members of my class, for nearly a fortnight, no\ntrace of her or of the coachman or of any of the parties could be\ndiscovered; till one day from a cellar, through a grated window, she\ncalled to one of my class girls passing by, and begged her to run and\nlet me know that she was confined there. At once, the directors of the\nCity Mission were informed by me, and Police were sent to rescue her;\nbut on examining that house they found that she had been again removed.\nThe occupiers denied all knowledge of where she had gone, or who had\ntaken her away from their lodging. All other efforts failed to find her,\ntill she was left at the Poor House door, far gone in dropsy, and soon\nafter died in that last refuge of the destitute and forsaken.\n\nAnonymous letters were now sent, threatening my life; and I was publicly\ncursed from the altar by the priests in Abercromby Street Chapel. The\ndirectors of the Mission, fearing violence, advised me to leave Glasgow\nfor a short holiday, and even offered to arrange for my being taken for\nwork in Edinburgh for a year, that the fanatical passions of the Irish\nPapists might have time to subside. But I refused to leave my work. I\nwent on conducting it all as in the past. The worst thing that happened\nwas, that on rushing one day past a row of houses occupied exclusively\nby Papists, a stone thrown from one of them cut me severely above the\neye, and I fell stunned and bleeding. When I recovered and scrambled to\nmy feet, no person of course that could be suspected was to be seen! The\ndoctor having dressed the wound, it rapidly healed, and after a short\nconfinement I resumed my work and my studies without any further serious\nannoyance. Attempts were made more than once, in these Papist closes,\nand I believe by the Papists themselves, to pour pails of boiling water\non my head, over windows and down dark stairs, but in every case I\nmarvellously escaped; and as I would not turn coward, their malice tired\nitself out, and they ultimately left me entirely at peace. Is not this a\nfeature of the lower Irish, and especially Popish population? Let them\nsee that bullying makes you afraid, and they will brutally and cruelly\nmisuse you; but defy them fearlessly, or take them by the nose, and they\nwill crouch like whelps beneath your feet. Is there anything in their\nReligion that accounts for this? Is it not a system of alternating\ntyranny on the one part, and terror, abject terror, on the other?\n\nAbout this same time there was an election of elders for Dr. Symington\u2019s\ncongregation, and I was by an almost unanimous vote chosen for that\noffice. For years now I had been attached to them as City Missionary for\ntheir district, and many friends urged me to accept the eldership, as\nlikely to increase my usefulness, and give me varied experience for my\nfuture work. My dear father, also, himself an elder in the congregation\nat Dumfries, advised me similarly; and though very young, comparatively,\nfor such a post, I did accept the office, and continued to act as an\nelder and member of Dr. Symington\u2019s kirk session, till by-and-by I was\nordained as a Missionary to the New Hebrides, where the great lot of my\nlife had been cast by the Lord, as yet unknown to me.\n\nAll through my City Mission period, I was painfully carrying on my\nstudies, first at the University of Glasgow, and thereafter at the\nReformed Presbyterian Divinity Hall; and also medical classes at the\nAndersonian College. With the exception of one session, when failure of\nhealth broke me down, I struggled patiently on through ten years. The\nwork was hard and most exacting; and if I never attained the scholarship\nfor which I thirsted\u2014being but poorly grounded in my younger days\u2014I yet\nhad much of the blessed Master\u2019s presence in all my efforts, which many\nbetter scholars sorely lacked; and I was sustained by the lofty aim\nwhich burned all these years bright within my soul, namely,\u2014to be\nqualified as a preacher of the Gospel of Christ, to be owned and used by\nHim for the salvation of perishing men.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IV.\n _FOREIGN MISSION CLAIMS._\n\n The Wail of the Heathen.\u2014A Missionary Wanted.\u2014Two Souls on the\n Altar.\u2014Lions in the Path.\u2014The Old Folks at Home.\u2014Successors in\n Green Street Mission.\u2014Old Green Street Hands.\u2014A Father in God.\n\n\nHappy in my work as I felt, and successful by the blessing of God, yet I\ncontinually heard, and chiefly during my last years in the Divinity\nHall, the wail of the perishing Heathen in the South Seas; and I saw\nthat few were caring for them, while I well knew that many would be\nready to take up my work in Calton, and carry it forward perhaps with\nmore efficiency than myself. Without revealing the state of my mind to\nany person, this was the supreme subject of my daily meditation and\nprayer; and this also led me to enter upon those medical studies, in\nwhich I purposed taking the full course; but at the close of my third\nyear, an incident occurred, which led me at once to offer myself for the\nForeign Mission field.\n\nThe Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, in which I had been\nbrought up, had been advertising for another Missionary to join the Rev.\nJohn Inglis in his grand work in the New Hebrides. Dr. Bates, the\nexcellent convener of the Heathen Missions Committee, was deeply\ngrieved, because for two years their appeal had failed. At length, the\nSynod, after much prayer and consultation, felt the claims of the\nHeathen so urgently pressed upon them by the Lord\u2019s repeated calls, that\nthey resolved to cast lots, to discover whether God would thus select\nany Minister to be relieved from his home-charge, and designated as a\nMissionary to the South Seas. Each member of Synod, as I was informed,\nagreed to hand in, after solemn appeal to God, the names of the three\nbest qualified in his esteem for such a work, and he who had the clear\nmajority was to be loosed from his congregation, and to proceed to the\nMission field\u2014or the first and second highest, if two could be secured.\nHearing this debate, and feeling an intense interest in these most\nunusual proceedings, I remember yet the hushed solemnity of the prayer\nbefore the names were handed in. I remember the strained silence that\nheld the Assembly while the scrutinizers retired to examine the papers;\nand I remember how tears blinded my eyes when they returned to announce\nthat the result was so indecisive, that it was clear that the Lord had\nnot in that way provided a Missionary. The cause was once again solemnly\nlaid before God in prayer, and a cloud of sadness appeared to fall over\nall the Synod.\n\nThe Lord kept saying within me, \u201cSince none better qualified can be got,\nrise and offer yourself!\u201d Almost overpowering was the impulse to answer\naloud, \u201cHere am I, send me.\u201d But I was dreadfully afraid of mistaking my\nown emotions for the will of God. So I resolved to make it a subject of\nclose deliberation and prayer for a few days longer, and to look at the\nproposal from every possible aspect. Besides, I was keenly solicitous\nabout the effect upon the hundreds of young people and others, now\nattached to all my classes and meetings; and yet I felt a growing\nassurance that this was the call of God to His servant, and that He who\nwas willing to employ me in the work abroad, was both able and willing\nto provide for the on-carrying of my work at home. The wail and the\nclaims of the Heathen were constantly sounding in my ears. I saw them\nperishing for lack of the knowledge of the true God and His Son Jesus,\nwhile my Green Street people had the open Bible, and all the means of\ngrace within easy reach, which, if they rejected, they did so wilfully,\nand at their own peril. None seemed prepared for the Heathen field; many\nwere capable and ready for the Calton service. My medical studies, as\nwell as my literary and divinity training, had specially qualified me in\nsome ways for the Foreign field, and from every aspect at which I could\nlook the whole facts in the face, the voice within me sounded like a\nvoice from God.\n\nIt was under good Dr. Bates of West Campbell Street that I had begun my\ncareer in Glasgow\u2014receiving \u00a325 per annum for district visitation in\nconnection with his congregation, along with instruction under Mr.\nHislop and his staff in the Free Church Normal Seminary\u2014and oh, how Dr.\nBates did rejoice, and even weep for joy, when I called on him, and\noffered myself for the New Hebrides Mission! I returned to my lodging\nwith a lighter heart than I had for some time enjoyed, feeling that\nnothing so clears the vision, and lifts up the life, as a decision to\nmove forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord. I\nsaid to my fellow-student, who had chummed with me all through our\ncourse at college,\u2014\n\n\u201cI have been away signing my banishment\u201d (a rather trifling way of talk\nfor such an occasion). \u201cI have offered myself as a Missionary for the\nNew Hebrides.\u201d\n\nAfter a long and silent meditation, in which he seemed lost in\nfar-wandering thoughts, his answer was,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf they will accept of me, I also am resolved to go!\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cWill you write the convener to that effect, or let me do so?\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cYou may.\u201d\n\nA few minutes later his letter of offer was in the post office. Next\nmorning, Dr. Bates called upon us early, and after a long conversation,\ncommended us and our future work to the Lord God in fervent prayer.\n\nMy fellow-student, Mr. Joseph Copeland, had also for some time been a\nvery successful City Missionary in the Camlachie district, while\nattending along with me at the Divinity Hall. This leading of God,\nwhereby we both resolved at the same time to give ourselves to the\nForeign Mission field, was wholly unexpected by us, as we had never once\nspoken to each other about going abroad. At a meeting of the Heathen\nMissions Committee, held immediately thereafter, both were, after due\ndeliberation, formally accepted, on condition that we passed\nsuccessfully the usual examinations required of candidates for the\nMinistry. And for the next twelve months we were placed under the\nspecial committee for advice as to medical experience, acquaintance with\nthe rudiments of trades, and anything else which might be thought useful\nto us in the Foreign field.\n\nWhen it became known that I was preparing to go abroad as Missionary,\nnearly all were dead against the proposal, except Dr. Bates and my\nfellow-student. My dear father and mother, however, when I consulted\nthem, characteristically replied, \u201cthat they had long since given me\naway to the Lord, and in this matter also would leave me to God\u2019s\ndisposal.\u201d From other quarters we were besieged with the strongest\nopposition on all sides. Even Dr. Symington, one of my professors in\ndivinity, and the beloved Minister in connection with whose congregation\nI had wrought so long as a City Missionary, and in whose kirk session I\nhad for years sat as an elder, repeatedly urged me to remain at home. He\nargued, \u201cthat Green Street Church was doubtless the sphere for which God\nhad given me peculiar qualifications, and in which He had so largely\nblessed my labours; that if I left those now attending my classes and\nmeetings, they might be scattered, and many of them would probably fall\naway; that I was leaving certainty for uncertainty\u2014work in which God had\nmade me greatly useful, for work in which I might fail to be useful, and\nonly throw away my life amongst Cannibals.\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cthat my mind was finally resolved; that, though I loved my\nwork and my people, yet I felt that I could leave them to the care of\nJesus, who would soon provide them a better pastor than I; and that,\nwith regard to my life amongst the Cannibals, as I had only once to die,\nI was content to leave the time and place and means in the hand of God,\nwho had already marvellously preserved me when visiting cholera patients\nand the fever-stricken poor; on that score I had positively no further\nconcern, having left it all absolutely to the Lord, whom I sought to\nserve and honour, whether in life or by death.\u201d\n\nThe house connected with my Green Street Church, was now offered to me\nfor a Manse, and any reasonable salary that I cared to ask (as against\nthe promised \u00a3120 per annum for the far-off and dangerous New Hebrides),\non condition that I would remain at home. I cannot honestly say that\nsuch offers or opposing influences proved a heavy trial to me; they\nrather tended to confirm my determination that the path of duty was to\ngo abroad. Amongst many who sought to deter me, was one dear old\nChristian gentleman, whose crowning argument always was,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe Cannibals! you will be eaten by Cannibals!\u201d\n\nAt last I replied, \u201cMr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your\nown prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by\nworms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and\nhonouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am\neaten by Cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my resurrection\nbody will arise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer.\u201d\n\nThe old gentleman, raising his hands in a deprecating attitude, left the\nroom exclaiming,\u2014\n\n\u201cAfter that I have nothing more to say!\u201d\n\nMy dear Green Street people grieved excessively at the thought of my\nleaving them, and daily pled with me to remain. Indeed, the opposition\nwas so strong from nearly all, and many of them warm Christian friends,\nthat I was sorely tempted to question whether I was carrying out the\nDivine will, or only some headstrong wish of my own. This also caused me\nmuch anxiety, and drove me close to God in prayer. But again every doubt\nwould vanish, when I clearly saw that all at home had free access to the\nBible and the means of grace, with Gospel light shining all around them,\nwhile the poor Heathen were perishing, without even the chance of\nknowing all God\u2019s love and mercy to men. Conscience said louder and\nclearer every day, \u201cLeave all these results with Jesus your Lord, who\nsaid, \u2018Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature,\nand lo! I am with you alway.\u2019\u201d These words kept ringing in my ears;\nthese were our marching orders.\n\nSome retorted upon me, \u201cThere are Heathen at home; let us seek and save,\nfirst of all, the lost ones perishing at our doors.\u201d This I felt to be\nmost true, and an appalling fact; but I unfailingly observed that those\nwho made this retort neglected these home Heathen themselves; and so the\nobjection, as from them, lost all its power. They would ungrudgingly\nspend more on a fashionable party at dinner or tea, on concert or ball\nor theatre, or on some ostentatious display, or worldly and selfish\nindulgence, ten times more, perhaps in a single day, than they would\ngive in a year, or in half a lifetime, for the conversion of the whole\nHeathen World, either at home or abroad. Objections from all such people\nmust, of course, always count for nothing among men to whom spiritual\nthings are realities. For these people themselves,\u2014I do, and always did,\nonly pity them, as God\u2019s stewards, making such a miserable use of time\nand money entrusted to their care.\n\nOn meeting with so many obstructing influences, I again laid the whole\nmatter before my dear parents, and their reply was to this\neffect:\u2014\u201cHeretofore we feared to bias you, but now we must tell you why\nwe praise God for the decision to which you have been led. Your father\u2019s\nheart was set upon being a Minister, but other claims forced him to give\nit up. When you were given to them, your father and mother laid you upon\nthe altar, their first-born, to be consecrated, if God saw fit, as a\nMissionary of the Cross; and it has been their constant prayer that you\nmight be prepared, qualified, and led to this very decision; and we pray\nwith all our heart that the Lord may accept your offering, long spare\nyou, and give you many souls from the Heathen World for your hire.\u201d From\nthat moment, every doubt as to my path of duty for ever vanished. I saw\nthe hand of God very visibly, not only preparing me for, but now leading\nme to, the Foreign Mission field.\n\nWell did I know that the sympathy and prayers of my dear parents were\nwarmly with me in all my studies and in all my Mission work; but for my\neducation they could, of course, give me no money help. All through, on\nthe contrary, it was my pride and joy to help them, being the eldest in\na family of eleven. First, I assisted them to purchase the family cow,\nwithout whose invaluable aid my ever-memorable mother never could have\nreared and fed her numerous flock; then, I paid for them the house-rent\nand the cow\u2019s grass on the Bank Hill, till some of the others grew up\nand relieved me by paying these in my stead; and finally, I helped to\npay the school-fees, to provide clothing\u2014in short I gave, and gladly,\nwhat could possibly be saved out of my City Mission salary of \u00a340,\nultimately advanced to \u00a345 per annum. Self-educated thus, and without\nthe help of one shilling from any other source, readers will easily\nimagine that I had many a staggering difficulty to overcome in my long\ncurriculum in Arts, Divinity, and Medicine; but God so guided me, and\nblessed all my little arrangements, that I never incurred one farthing\nof personal debt. There was, however, a heavy burden always pressing\nupon me, and crushing my spirit from the day I left my home, which had\nbeen thus incurred.\n\nThe late owner of the Dalswinton estate allowed, as a prize, the\ncottager who had the tidiest house and most beautiful flower-garden to\nsit rent free. For several years in succession, my old sea-faring\ngrandfather won this prize, partly by his own handy skill, partly by his\nwife\u2019s joy in flowers. Unfortunately no clearance-receipt had been asked\nor given for these rents\u2014the proprietor and his cottars treating each\nother as friends rather than as men of business. The new heir,\nunexpectedly succeeding, found himself in need of money, and threatened\nprosecution for such rents as arrears. The money had to be borrowed. A\nmoney-lending lawyer gave it at usurious interest, on condition of my\nfather also becoming responsible for interest and principal. This burden\nhung like a millstone around my grandfather\u2019s neck till the day of his\ndeath; and it then became suspended round my father\u2019s neck alone. The\nlawyer, on hearing of my giving up trade and entering upon study,\nthreatened to prosecute my father for the capital, unless my name were\ngiven along with his for security. Every shilling that I or any of us\ncould save, all through these ten years of my preparatory classes, went\nto pay off that interest and gradually to reduce the capital; and this\nburden we managed, amongst us, to extinguish just on the eve of my\ndeparture for the South Seas. Indeed, one of the purest joys connected\nwith that time was that I received my first Foreign Mission salary and\noutfit money in advance, and could send home a sum sufficient to wipe\nout the last penny of a claim by that money-lender or by any one else\nagainst my beloved parents, in connection with the noble struggle they\nhad made in rearing so large a family in thorough Scottish independence.\nAnd that joy was hallowed by the knowledge that my other brothers and\nsisters were now all willing and able to do what I had been doing\u2014for we\nstuck to each other and to the old folks like burs, and had all things\n\u201cin common,\u201d as a family in Christ\u2014and I knew that never again,\nhowsoever long they might be spared through a peaceful autumn of life,\nwould the dear old father and mother lack any joy or comfort that the\nwilling hands and loving hearts of all their children could singly or\nunitedly provide. For all this I did praise the Lord. It consoled me,\nbeyond description, in parting from them, probably for ever in this\nworld at least.\n\nThe Directors of Glasgow City Mission along with the Great Hamilton\nStreet congregation, had made every effort to find a suitable successor\nto me in my Green Street work, but in vain. Despairing of success, as no\ninexperienced worker could with any hope undertake it, Rev. Mr. Caie,\nthe superintendent, felt moved to appeal to my brother Walter,\u2014then in a\ngood business situation in the city, who had been of late closely\nassociated with me in all my undertakings,\u2014if he would not come to the\nrescue, devote himself to the Mission, and prepare for the Holy\nMinistry. My brother resigned a good position and excellent prospects in\nthe business world, set himself to carry forward the Green Street\nMission and did so with abundant energy and manifest blessing,\npersevered in his studies, despite a long-continued illness through\ninjury to his foot, and became an honoured Minister of the Gospel, in\nthe Reformed Presbyterian Church first of all, and now in the Free\nChurch of Scotland, at Chapelton, near Hamilton.\n\nOn my brother withdrawing from Green Street, God provided for the\ndistrict a devoted young Minister, admirably adapted for the work, Rev.\nJohn Edgar, M.A., who succeeded in drawing together such a body of\npeople that they hived off and built a new church in Landressy Street,\nwhich is now, by amalgamation, known as the Barrowfield Free Church of\nGlasgow. For that fruit too, while giving all praise to other devoted\nworkers, we bless God as we trace the history of our Green Street\nMission. Let him that soweth and him that reapeth rejoice unfeignedly\ntogether! The spirit of the old Green Street workers lives on too, as I\nhave already said, in the new premises erected close thereby; and in\nnone more conspicuously than in the son of my staunch patron and friend,\nanother Thomas Binnie, Esq., who in Foundry Boy meetings and otherwise\ndevotes the consecrated leisure of a busy and prosperous life to the\ndirect personal service of his Lord and Master. The blessing of Jehovah\nGod be ever upon that place, and upon all who there seek to win their\nfellows to the love and service of Jesus Christ!\n\nWhen I left Glasgow, many of the young men and women of my classes\nwould, if it had been possible, have gone with me, to live and die among\nthe Heathen. Though chiefly working girls and lads in trades and mills,\ntheir deep interest led them to unite their pence and sixpences and to\nbuy web after web of calico, print, and woollen stuffs, which they\nthemselves shaped and sewed into dresses for the women, and kilts and\npants for men, on the New Hebrides. This continued to be repeated year\nby year, long after I had left them; and to this day no box from Glasgow\ngoes to the New Hebrides Mission which does not contain article after\narticle from one or other of the old Green Street hands. I do certainly\nanticipate that, when they and I meet in Glory, those days in which we\nlearned the joy of Christian service in the Green Street Mission Halls\nwill form no unwelcome theme of holy and happy converse!\n\nThat able and devoted Minister of the Gospel, Dr. Bates, the Convener of\nthe Heathen Missions, had taken the deepest and most fatherly interest\nin all our preparations. But on the morning of our final examinations he\nwas confined to bed with sickness; yet could not be content without\nsending his daughter to wait in an adjoining room near the Presbytery\nHouse, to learn the result, and instantly to carry him word. When she,\nhurrying home, informed him that we both had passed successfully, and\nthat the day of our ordination as Missionaries to the New Hebrides had\nbeen appointed, the apostolic old man praised God for the glad tidings,\nand said his work was now done, and that he could depart in\npeace,\u2014having seen two devoted men set apart to preach the Gospel to\nthese dark and bloody Islands in answer to his prayers and tears for\nmany a day. Thereafter he rapidly sank, and soon fell asleep in Jesus.\nHe was from the first a very precious friend to me, one of the ablest\nMinisters our Church ever had, by far the warmest advocate of her\nForeign Missions, and altogether a most attractive, white-souled, and\nnoble specimen of an ambassador for Christ, beseeching men to be\nreconciled to God.\n\n[Illustration: _Stanford\u2019s Geog. Estab^t., London._]\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER V.\n _THE NEW HEBRIDES._\n\n License and Ordination.\u2014At Sea.\u2014From Melbourne to Aneityum.\u2014Settlement\n on Tanna.\u2014Our Mission Stations.\u2014Diplomatic Chiefs.\u2014Painful First\n Impressions.\u2014Bloody Scenes.\u2014The Widow\u2019s Doom.\n\n\nOn the first of December, 1857, the other Missionary-designate and I\nwere \u201clicensed\u201d as preachers of the Gospel. Thereafter we spent four\nmonths in visiting and addressing nearly every congregation and Sabbath\nschool in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, that the people\nmight see us and know us, and thereby take a personal interest in our\nwork. That idea was certainly excellent, and might well be adapted to\nthe larger Churches, by allocating one Missionary to each province or to\nso many presbyteries, sending him to address these, and training them to\nregard him as their Missionary and his work as theirs. On the 23rd\nMarch, 1858, in Dr. Symington\u2019s church, Glasgow, in presence of a mighty\ncrowd, and after a magnificent sermon on \u201cCome over and help us,\u201d we\nwere solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart as\nMissionaries to the New Hebrides. On the 16th April, 1858, we left the\nTail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the _Clutha_ for the\nForeign Mission field.\n\nOur voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously,\nunder Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did\neverything that was possible for our comfort. He himself led the singing\non board at worship, which was always charming to me, and was always\nregularly conducted\u2014on deck when the weather was fair, below when it was\nrough. I was also permitted to conduct Bible classes amongst the crew\nand amongst the passengers, at times and places approved of by the\nCaptain\u2014in which there was great joy. Nearly thirty years after, when I\nreturned the second time to Scotland, a gentleman of good position, and\nthe father of a large family in the West, saluted me warmly at the close\nof one of my meetings, and reminded me that he was my precentor in the\nBible class on board the _Clutha_! He was kind enough to say that he had\nnever forgotten the scene and the lessons there.\n\nArriving at Melbourne, we were welcomed by Rev. Mr. Moor, Mr. and Mrs.\nSamuel Wilson, and Mr. Wright, all Reformed Presbyterians from Geelong.\nMr. Wilson\u2019s two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under our care\nduring the voyage; and my young wife and I went with them for a few days\non a visit to Geelong, while Mr. Copeland remained on board the _Clutha_\nto look after our boxes and to watch for any opportunity of reaching our\ndestination on the Islands. He heard that an American ship, the _Francis\nP. Sage_, was sailing from Melbourne to Penang; and the Captain agreed\nto land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides, with our two boats and fifty\nboxes, for \u00a3100. We got on board on the 12th August, but such a gale\nblew that we did not sail till the 17th. On the _Clutha_ all was quiet,\nand good order prevailed; in the _F. P. Sage_ all was noise and\nprofanity. The Captain said he kept his second mate for the purpose of\nswearing at the men and knocking them about. The voyage was most\ndisagreeable to all of us, but fortunately it lasted only twelve days.\nOn the 29th we were close up to Aneityum; but the Captain refused to\nland us, even in his boats; some of us suspecting that his men were so\nbadly used, that had they got on shore they would never have returned to\nhim! In any case he had beforehand secured his \u00a3100.\n\nHe lay off the island till a trader\u2019s boat came off to see what we\nwanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the Missionaries\nthere. Early next morning, Monday, he came off to us in his boat,\naccompanied by Mr. Mathieson, a newly-arrived Missionary from Nova\nScotia; bringing also Captain Anderson in the small mission schooner,\nthe _John Knox_, and a large mission boat called the _Columbia_, well\nmanned with crews of able and willing Natives. Our fifty boxes were soon\non board the _John Knox_, the _Columbia_, and our own boats\u2014all being\nheavily loaded and built up, except those that had to be used in pulling\nthe others ashore. Dr. Geddie, Mr. Mathieson, Mrs. Paton, and I, were\nperched among the boxes on the _John Knox_, and had to hold on as best\nwe could. On sheering off from the _F. P. Sage_, one of her davits\ncaught and broke the mainmast of the little _John Knox_ by the deck, and\nI saved my wife from being crushed to death by its fall through managing\nto swing her instantaneously aside in an apparently impossible manner.\nIt did graze Mr. Mathieson, but he was not hurt. The _John Knox_,\nalready overloaded, was thus quite disabled; we were about ten miles at\nsea, and in imminent danger; but the Captain of the _F. P. Sage_\nheartlessly sailed away and left us to struggle with our fate.\n\nWe drifted steadily towards Tanna, an island of Cannibals, where our\ngoods would have been plundered and all of us cooked and eaten. Dr.\nGeddie\u2019s boat and mine had the _John Knox_ in tow; and Mr. Copeland,\nwith a crew of Natives, was struggling hard with his boat to pull the\n_Columbia_ and her load towards Aneityum. As God mercifully ordered it,\nthough we had a stiff trade wind to pull against, we had a comparatively\ncalm sea; yet we drifted still to leeward, till Dr. Inglis going round\nto the harbour in his boat, as he had heard of our arrival, saw us far\nat sea, and hastened to our rescue. All the boats now, with their\nwilling native crews, got fastened to our schooner, and to our great joy\nshe began to move ahead. After pulling for hours and hours, under the\nscorching rays of an almost tropical sun, we were all safely landed on\nshore at Aneityum about six o\u2019clock in the evening of August 30th, just\nfour months and fourteen days since we sailed from Greenock. We got a\nhearty welcome from the Missionaries\u2019 wives on the shore, Mrs. Geddie,\nMrs. Inglis, and Mrs. Mathieson, and from all our new friends, the\nChristian Natives of Aneityum; and the great danger in which both life\nand property had been placed at the close of our voyage, made us praise\nGod all the more, that He had brought us to this quiet resting-place,\naround which lay the Islands of the New Hebrides, to which our eager\nhearts had looked forward, and into which we entered now in the name of\nthe Lord.\n\nMr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I went round the island to Dr. Inglis\u2019s\nStation, where we were most cordially received and entertained by his\ndear lady, and by the Christian Natives there. As he was making several\nadditions to his house at that time, we received for the next few weeks\nour first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building, as\nwell as in higher matters. Soon after, a meeting was called to consult\nabout our settlement, and, by the advice and with the concurrence of\nall, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south\nside of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs. Paton and I at Port Resolution,\non the same island. At first it was agreed that Mr. Copeland should be\nplaced along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs. Mathieson\u2019s\nhealth, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least, Mr.\nCopeland should live at either Station, as might seem most suitable or\nmost requisite. Till the close of the sailing season, his time was spent\nchiefly in the _John Knox_, helping Captain Anderson in loading and\ndisloading the wood and house-building materials betwixt Aneityum and\nTanna; while I was occupied chiefly with the house-building and\npreparatory arrangements.\n\nDr. Inglis and a number of his most energetic Natives accompanied us to\nKwamera, Tanna. There we purchased a site for Mission House and Church,\nand laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable the\nerection of a dwelling for Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson. Thence we proceeded\nto Port Resolution, Tanna, and similarly purchased a site, and advanced,\nto a forward stage, the house which Mrs. Paton and I were to occupy on\nour settlement there. Lime, for plastering, had to be burned in kilns\nfrom the coral rocks; and thatch, for roofing with sugar-cane leaf, had\nto be prepared by the Natives at both stations before our return; for\nwhich, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon and was\nscrupulously paid. Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that both\nhouses were too near the shore, exposed to unwholesome miasma, and\nproductive of the dreaded fever and ague,\u2014the most virulent and\ninsidious enemy to all Europeans in those Southern Seas.\n\nAt both Stations, but especially at Port Resolution, we found the\nNatives in a very excited and unsettled state. Threatened wars kept them\nin constant terror\u2014war betwixt distant tribes, or adjoining villages, or\nnearest neighbours. The Chiefs, at both Stations, willingly sold sites\nfor houses, and appeared to desire Missionaries to live amongst them;\nbut perhaps it was with an eye to the axes, knives, fish-hooks,\nblankets, and clothing, which they got in payment, or hoped for in\nplunder, rather than from any thirst for the Gospel, as they were all\nsavages and cannibals. They warily declined to promise protection to the\nMission families and the Teachers; but they said they would not\nthemselves do them any harm, though they could not say what the Inland\npeople might do;\u2014not a bad specimen of diplomacy, leaving an open door\nfor any future emergency, and neither better nor worse than the methods\nby which the civilized European nations make and break their treaties in\npeace and in war! Such promises meant and were intended to mean nothing.\nThe Natives, both on Tanna, and on my second home at Aniwa, believed\nthat they had kept their promise, if they inflicted no injury with their\nown hands, even though they had hired others to do so. No Heathen there\ncould be trusted one step beyond what appeared to be his own\nself-interest for the nonce; and nothing conceivable was too base or\ncruel to be done, if only it served his turn. The depths of Satan,\noutlined in the first chapter of the Romans, were uncovered there before\nour eyes in the daily life of the people, without veil and without\nexcuse.\n\nMy first impressions drove me to the verge of utter dismay. On beholding\nthese Natives in their paint and nakedness and misery, my heart was as\nfull of horror as of pity. Had I given up my much-beloved work and my\ndear people in Glasgow, with so many delightful associations, to\nconsecrate my life to these degraded creatures? Was it possible to teach\nthem right and wrong, to Christianize, or even to civilize them? But\nthat was only a passing feeling! I soon got as deeply interested in\nthem, and in all that tended to advance them, and to lead them to the\nknowledge and love of Jesus, as ever I had been in my work at Glasgow.\nWe were surprised and delighted at the remarkable change produced on the\nnatives of Aneityum through the instrumentality of Drs. Geddie and\nInglis in so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful perseverance in\nthe use of similar means, to see the same work of God repeated on Tanna.\nBesides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs. Inglis and Mrs.\nGeddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the buoyant hope of\nbeing instruments in the hand of God to produce an equally beneficent\nchange amongst the savage women of Tanna. Mrs. Paton had been left with\nMrs. Inglis to learn all she could from her of Mission work on the\nIslands, till I returned with Dr. Inglis from the house-building\noperations on Tanna; during which period Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson were\nalso being instructed by Dr. and Mrs. Geddie. To the Tannese, Dr. Inglis\nand I were objects of curiosity and fear; they came crowding to gaze on\nour wooden and lime-plastered house, they chattered incessantly with\neach other, and left the scene day after day with undisguised and\nincreasing wonderment. Possibly they thought us rather mad than wise!\n\nParty after party of armed men, going and coming in a state of great\nexcitement, we were informed that war was on foot; but our Aneityumese\nTeachers were told to assure us that the Harbour people would only act\non the defensive, and that no one would molest us at our work. One day\ntwo hostile tribes met near our Station; high words arose, and old feuds\nwere revived. The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbour people, false\nto their promises, flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their\nenemies. The discharge of muskets in the adjoining bush, and the horrid\nyells of the savages, soon informed us that they were engaged in deadly\nfights. Excitement and terror were on every countenance; armed men\nrushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted\nhair,\u2014with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one cheek\nblack, the other red, others, the brow white, the chin blue\u2014in fact, any\ncolour and on any part,\u2014the more grotesque and savage looking, the\nhigher the art! Some of the women ran with their children to places of\nsafety; but even then we saw other girls and women, on the shore close\nby, chewing sugar-cane and chaffering and laughing, as if their fathers\nand brothers had been engaged in a country dance, instead of a bloody\nconflict. In the afternoon, as the sounds of the muskets and the yelling\nof the warriors came unpleasantly near to us, Dr. Inglis, leaning\nagainst a post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and why not the\nMission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and pray for these\npoor Heathen.\u201d\n\nWe retired to a native house, that had been temporarily granted to us\nfor rest, and there pled before God for them all. The noise and the\ndischarge of muskets gradually receded, as if the Inland people were\nretiring; and towards evening the people around us returned to their\nvillages. We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot\ndead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors from the\nfield of battle, and cooked and eaten that very night by the savages at\na boiling spring near the head of the bay, less than a mile from the\nspot where my house was being built. We had also a more graphic\nillustration of the surroundings into which we had come, through Dr.\nInglis\u2019s Aneityum boy, who accompanied us as cook. When our tea was\nwanted that evening, the boy could not be found. After a while of great\nanxiety on our part, he returned, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, this is a dark land. The people of this land do dark works. At\nthe boiling spring they have cooked and feasted upon the slain. They\nhave washed the blood into the stream; they have bathed there till all\nthe waters are red. I cannot get water to make your tea. What shall I\ndo?\u201d\n\nDr. Inglis told him that he must try for water elsewhere, till the rains\ncame and cleansed the polluted stream; and that, meanwhile, instead of\ntea, we would drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often done before.\nThe lad was quite relieved. It not a little astonished us, however, to\nsee that his mind regarded their killing and eating each other as a\nthing scarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible that they should\nspoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts the creatures\nof mere circumstances! I, if trained like him, would probably have felt\nlike him.\n\nNext evening, as we sat talking about the people and the dark scenes\naround us, the quiet of the night was broken by a wild wailing cry from\nthe villages around, long-continued and unearthly. We were informed that\none of the wounded men, carried home from the battle, had just died; and\nthat they had strangled his widow to death, that her spirit might\naccompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had\nbeen here. Now their dead bodies were laid side by side, ready to be\nburied in the sea. Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within\nearshot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene, every fresh incident,\nset more clearly before us the benighted condition and shocking\ncruelties of these heathen people, and we longed to be able to speak to\nthem of Jesus and the love of God. We eagerly tried to pick up every\nword of their language, that we might, in their own tongue, unfold to\nthem the knowledge of the true God and the salvation from all these sins\nthrough Jesus Christ.\n\nDr. Inglis and I, with the help of the Natives from Aneityum, having\naccomplished all that could be done for lack of lime and sawn wood to\nfinish the new Mission House on Tanna, made an agreement with the\nNatives for knives, calico, and axes, to burn lime and prepare other\nthings for our return. We then hastened back to Aneityum, that we might,\nif possible, get ready for settling on Tanna before the Rainy Season set\nin. That was rapidly approaching, and it brings with it discomfort and\nunhealth to Europeans throughout all these Pacific Isles.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VI.\n _LIFE AND DEATH ON TANNA._\n\n Our Island Home.\u2014Learning the Language.\u2014A Religion of Fear.\u2014With or\n Without a God.\u2014Ideas of the Invisible.\u2014Gods and Demons.\u2014My\n Companion Missionary.\u2014Pioneers in the New Hebrides.\u2014Missionaries\n of Aneityum.\u2014The Lord\u2019s Arrowroot.\u2014Unhealthy Sites.\u2014The Great\n Bereavement.\u2014Memorial Tributes.\u2014Selwyn and Patteson at a Tannese\n Grave.\u2014Her Last Letter.\u2014Last Words.\u2014Presentiment and Mystery.\n\n\nOur little missionary ship, the _John Knox_, having no accommodation for\nlady passengers, and little for anybody else, except the discomfort of\nlying on deck, we took advantage of a trader to convey us from Aneityum\nto Tanna. The captain kindly offered to take us and about thirty casks\nand boxes to Port Resolution for \u00a35, which we gladly accepted. After a\nfew hours\u2019 sailing we were all safely landed on Tanna on the 5th\nNovember, 1858. Dr. Geddie went for a fortnight to Umairarekar, on the\nsouth side of Tanna, to assist in the settlement of Mr. and Mrs.\nMathieson, and to help in making their house habitable and comfortable.\nMr. Copeland, Mrs. Paton, and I were left at Port Resolution, to finish\nthe building of our house there, and work our way into the goodwill of\nthe Natives as best we could. On landing there, we found the people to\nbe literally naked and painted savages; they were at least as destitute\nof clothing as Adam and Eve after the fall, when they sewed fig-leaves\nfor a girdle; and even more so, for the women wore only a tiny apron of\ngrass, in some cases shaped like a skirt or girdle, the men an\nindescribable affair, like a pouch or bag, and the children absolutely\nnothing whatever!\n\nAt first they came in crowds to look at us, and at everything we did or\nhad. We knew nothing of their language; we could not speak a single word\nto them, nor they to us. We looked at them, they at us; we smiled, and\nnodded, and made signs to each other; this was our first meeting and\nparting. One day I observed two men, the one lifting up one of our\narticles to the other, and saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cNunksi nari enu?\u201d\n\nI concluded that he was asking, \u201cWhat is this?\u201d Instantly, lifting a\npiece of wood, I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNunksi nari enu?\u201d\n\nThey smiled and spoke to each other. I understood them to be saying, \u201cHe\nhas got hold of our language now.\u201d Then they told me their name for the\nthing which I had pointed to. I found that they understood my question,\nWhat is this? or, What is that? and that I could now get from them the\nname of every visible or tangible thing around us! We carefully noted\ndown every name they gave us, spelling all phonetically, and also every\nstrange sound we heard from them; thereafter, by painstaking comparison\nof different circumstances, we tried to ascertain their meanings,\ntesting our own guess by again cross-questioning the Natives. One day I\nsaw two males approaching, when one, who was a stranger, pointed to me\nwith his finger, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSe nangin?\u201d\n\nConcluding that he was asking my name, I pointed to one of them with my\nfinger, and looking at the other, inquired,\u2014\n\n\u201cSe nangin?\u201d\n\nThey smiled, and gave me their names. We were now able to get the names\nof persons and things, and so our ears got familiarized with the\ndistinctive sounds of their language; and being always keenly on the\nalert, we made extraordinary progress in attempting bits of conversation\nand in reducing their speech for the first time to a written form\u2014for\nthe New Hebrideans had no literature, and not even the rudiments of an\nalphabet. I used to hire some of the more intelligent lads and men to\nsit and talk with us, and answer our questions about names and sounds;\nbut they so often deceived us, and we, doubtless, misunderstood them so\noften, that this course was not satisfactory, till after we had gained\nsome knowledge of their language and its construction, and they\nthemselves had become interested in helping us. Amongst our most\ninterested helpers, and most trustworthy, were two aged chiefs\u2014Nowar and\nNouka\u2014in many respects two of Nature\u2019s noblest gentlemen, kind at heart\nto all, and distinguished by a certain native dignity of bearing. But\nthey were both under the leadership of the war-chief Miaki, a kind of\ndevil-king over many villages and tribes. He and his brother were the\nrecognised leaders in all deeds of darkness; they gloried in\nbloodshedding, and in war, and in cannibalism; and they could always\ncommand a following of desperate men, who lived in or about their own\nvillage, and who were prepared to go anywhere and do anything at Miaki\u2019s\nwill.\n\nThe Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, which\nthey abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed. They were\ngiven up to countless superstitions, and firmly glued to their dark\nheathen practices. Their worship was entirely a service of fear, its aim\nbeing to propitiate this or that Evil Spirit, to prevent calamity or to\nsecure revenge. They deified their chiefs, like the Romans of old, so\nthat almost every village or tribe had its own sacred man, and some of\nthem had many. They exercised an extraordinary influence for evil, these\nvillage or tribal priests, and were believed to have the disposal of\nlife and death through their sacred ceremonies, not only in their own\ntribe, but over all the Islands. Sacred men and women, wizards and\nwitches, received presents regularly to influence the gods, and to\nremove sickness, or to cause it by the _Nahak_, _i.e._, incantation over\nremains of food, or the skin of fruit, such as banana, which the person\nhas eaten, on whom they wish to operate. They also worshipped the\nspirits of departed ancestors and heroes, through their material idols\nof wood and stone, but chiefly of stone. They feared these spirits and\nsought their aid; especially seeking to propitiate those who presided\nover war and peace, famine and plenty, health and sickness, destruction\nand prosperity, life and death. Their whole worship was one of slavish\nfear; and, so far as ever I could learn, they had no idea of a God of\nmercy or grace.\n\nLet me here give my testimony on a matter of some importance\u2014that among\nthese Islands, if anywhere, men might be found destitute of the faculty\nof worship, men absolutely without idols, if such men exist under the\nface of the sky. Everything seemed to favour such a discovery; but the\nNew Hebrides, on the contrary, are full of gods. The Natives, destitute\nof the knowledge of the true God, are ceaselessly groping after Him, if\nperchance they may find Him. Not finding Him, and not being able to live\nwithout some sort of god, they have made idols of almost everything;\ntrees and groves, rocks and stones, springs and streams, insects and\nother beasts, men and departed spirits, relics such as hair and finger\nnails, the heavenly bodies and the volcanoes; in fact, every being and\neverything within the range of vision or of knowledge has been appealed\nto by them as God,\u2014clearly proving that the instincts of Humanity,\nhowever degraded, prompt man to worship and lean upon some Being or\nPower outside himself, and greater than himself, in whom he lives and\nmoves and has his being, and without the knowledge of whom his soul\ncannot find its true rest or its eternal life. Imperfect acquaintance\nwith the language and customs of certain tribes may easily lead early\ndiscoverers to proclaim that they have no sense of worship and no idols,\nbecause nothing of the kind is visible on the surface; but there is a\nsort of freemasonry in Heathen Religions; they have mysterious customs\nand symbols, which none, even amongst themselves, understand, except the\npriests and sacred men. It pays these men to keep their devotees in the\ndark\u2014and how much more to deceive a passing inquirer! Nor need we hold\nup our hands in surprise at this; it pays also nearer home, to pretend\nand to perpetuate a mystery about beads and crucifixes, holy water and\nrelics\u2014a state of mind not so very far removed from that of the South\nSea islander, not disproving but rather strongly proving that, whether\nsavage or civilized, man must either know the true God, or must find an\nidol to put in His place.\n\nFurther, these very facts\u2014that they did worship, that they believed in\nspirits of ancestors and heroes, and that they cherished many legends\nregarding those whom they had never seen, and handed these down to their\nchildren\u2014and the fact that they had ideas about the invisible world and\nits inhabitants, made it not so hard as some might suppose to convey to\ntheir minds, once their language and modes of thought were understood,\nsome clear idea of Jehovah God as the great uncreated Spirit Father, who\nHimself created and sustains all that is. But it could not be done\noff-hand, or by a few airy lessons. The whole heart and soul and life\nhad to be put into the enterprise. The idea that man disobeyed God, and\nwas a fallen and sinful creature,\u2014the idea that God, as a Father, so\nloved man that He sent His only Son Jesus to this earth to seek and to\nsave him,\u2014the idea that this Jesus so lived and died and rose from the\ndead as to take away man\u2019s sin, and make it possible for men to return\nto God, and to be made into the very likeness of His Son Jesus,\u2014and the\nidea that this Jesus will at death receive to the mansions of Glory\nevery creature under heaven that loves and tries to follow Him,\u2014these\nideas had to be woven into their spiritual consciousness, had to become\nthe very warp and woof of their religion. But it could be done\u2014that we\nbelieved because they were men, not beasts; it had been done\u2014that we saw\nin the converts on Aneityum; and our hearts rose to the task with a\nquenchless hope!\n\nThe Tannese called Heaven by the name Aneai; and we afterwards\ndiscovered that this was the name of the highest and most beautifully\nsituated village on the island. Their best bit of Earth was to them the\nsymbol and type of Heaven; their Canaan, too, was a kind of prophecy of\nanother country, even a heavenly Canaan. The fact that they had an\nAneai, a promised land, opened their minds naturally to our idea of the\npromised land of the future, the Aneai of the Gospel hope and faith. The\nuniversal craving to know the greater and more powerful gods, and to\nhave them on their side, led them, whenever we could speak their\nlanguage, to listen eagerly to all our stories about the Jehovah God and\nHis Son Jesus, and all the mighty works recorded in the Bible. But when\nwe began to teach them that, in order to serve this Almighty and living\nJehovah God, they must cast aside all their idols and leave off every\nheathen custom and vice, they rose in anger and cruelty against us, they\npersecuted every one that was friendly to the Mission, and passed us\nthrough the dreadful experiences to be hereafter recorded. It was the\nold battle of History; light had attacked darkness in its very\nstronghold, and it almost seemed for a season that the light would be\nfinally eclipsed, and that God\u2019s Day would never dawn on Tanna!\n\nMy companion Missionary, Mr. Copeland, had to go to Aneityum and take\ncharge of Dr. Inglis\u2019s Station, during the absence of that distinguished\nMissionary and his devoted wife, while carrying through the press at\nhome the first complete Aneityumese New Testament. He succeeded\nadmirably in taking up and carrying forward all their work, and gave\nvital assistance in translating the Old Testament into the language of\nAneityum, for his was an exact and scholarly mind. After their return,\nhe similarly occupied the Station of Dr. Geddie on another part of the\nsame island, while he sought re-invigoration in Nova Scotia on a\nwell-merited furlough. Thereafter, he was placed on the island of\nFotuna; and there, with Mrs. Copeland, he laboured devotedly and\nzealously, till at last she died and his own health gave way to such an\nextent as compelled him to retire from the Mission field. He found\ncongenial employment in editing, with great acceptance, the Sydney\n_Presbyterian Witness_, and thereby still furthering the cause of the\nGospel and of Missions.\n\nA glance backwards over the story of the Gospel in the New Hebrides may\nhelp to bring my readers into touch with the events that are to follow.\nThe ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with the\nearliest efforts to introduce Christianity amongst this group of islands\nin the South Pacific Seas. John Williams and his young missionary\ncompanion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society,\nlanded on Erromanga on the 30th of November, 1839. Instantly, within a\nfew minutes of their touching land, both were clubbed to death; and the\nsavages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies. Thus were the New\nHebrides baptized with the blood of martyrs; and Christ thereby told the\nwhole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own. His\ncross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been\npoured forth in His name! The poor Heathen knew not that they had slain\ntheir best friends; but tears and prayers ascended for them from all\nChristian souls, wherever the story of the martyrdom on Erromanga was\nread or heard.\n\nAgain, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out\nMessrs. Turner and Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan. They placed\ntheir standard on this same island of Tanna, the nearest to Erromanga.\nIn less than seven months, however, their persecution by the savages\nbecame so dreadful, that we see them in a boat trying to escape by night\nwith bare life. Out on that dangerous sea they would certainly have been\nlost, but the Ever-Merciful drove them back to land, and sent next\nmorning a trading vessel, which, contrary to custom, called there and\njust in the nick of time. They, with all goods that could be rescued,\nwere got safely on board, and sailed for Samoa. Say not their plans and\nprayers were baffled; for God heard and abundantly blessed them there,\nbeyond all their dreams. Dr. Turner has been specially used of God for\neducating many native teachers and missionaries and in translating and\npublishing edition after edition of the Bible, besides giving them many\nother educational and religious books in their own language;\u2014blessed\nwork, in which, while I am writing these words, he and his gifted wife\nare still honourably and fruitfully engaged in the holy autumn of their\ndays.\n\nAfter these things, the London Missionary Society again and again placed\nSamoan native teachers on one or other island of the New Hebrides; but\ntheir unhealthiness, compared with their own happier Samoa or Rarotonga,\nso afflicted them with the dreaded ague and fever, besides what they\nendured from the inhospitable savages themselves, that no effective\nmission work had been accomplished there till at last the Presbyterian\nMissionaries were led to enter upon the scene. Christianity had no\nfoothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the memory and\nthe blood of the martyrs of Erromanga.\n\nThe Rev. John Geddie and his wife, from Nova Scotia, were landed on\nAneityum, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, in 1848; and\nthe Rev. John Inglis and his wife, from Scotland, were landed on the\nother side of the same island, in 1852. An agent for the London\nMissionary Society, the Rev. T. Powell, accompanied Dr. Geddie for about\na year, to advise as to his settlement and to assist in opening up the\nwork. Marvellous as it may seem, the Natives on Aneityum showed interest\nin the missionaries from the very first, and listened to their\nteachings; so that in a few years Dr. Inglis and Dr. Geddie saw about\n3,500 savages throwing away their idols, renouncing their heathen\ncustoms, and avowing themselves to be worshippers of the true Jehovah\nGod. Slowly, yet progressively, they unlearned their Heathenism; surely\nand hopefully they learned Christianity and civilization. In course of\ntime a simple form of family worship was introduced into and observed by\nevery household on the island; God\u2019s blessing was asked on every meal;\npeace and public order were secured; and property was perfectly safe\nunder the sanctifying and civilizing Gospel of Christ. And by-and-by\nthese Missionaries lived to see the whole Bible, which they and Mr.\nCopeland had so painfully translated, placed in the hands of the\nAneityumese by the aid of the British and Foreign Bible Society\u2014that\nnoblest handmaid of every Missionary enterprise. But how was this\naccomplished? As a boon of charity? Listen!\n\nThese poor Aneityumese, having glimpses of this Word of God, determined\nto have a Holy Bible in their own mother tongue, wherein before no book\nor page ever had been written in the history of their race. The\nconsecrated brain and hand of their Missionaries kept toiling day and\nnight in translating the book of God; and the willing hands and feet of\nthe Natives kept toiling through fifteen long but unwearying years,\nplanting and preparing arrowroot to pay the \u00a31,200 required to be laid\nout in the printing and publishing of the book. Year after year the\narrowroot, too sacred to be used for their daily food, was set apart as\nthe Lord\u2019s portion; the Missionaries sent it to Australia and Scotland,\nwhere it was sold by private friends, and the whole proceeds consecrated\nto this purpose. On the completion of the great undertaking by the Bible\nSociety, it was found that the Natives had earned as much as to pay\nevery penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to them,\npurchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years! Some of our\nfriends may think that the sum was large; but I know, from experience,\nthat if such a difficult job had been carried through the press and so\nbound by any other printing establishment, the expense would have been\ngreater far. One book of Scripture, printed by me in Melbourne for the\nAniwans, under the auspices of the Bible Society too, cost eight\nshillings per leaf, and that was the cheapest style; and this the\nAniwans also paid for by dedicating their arrowroot to God.\n\nLet those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on these things. Eight\nshillings for every leaf, or the labour and proceeds of fifteen years\nfor the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too\nmuch to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the\nMissionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and\nwhich had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming\nlove! They had felt, and we had observed, that in all lands and amongst\nall branches of the human family, the Holy Bible is, wheresoever\nreceived and obeyed, the power of God unto salvation; it had lifted them\nout of savagery, and set them at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Oh, that\nthe pleasure-seeking men and women of the world could only taste and\nfeel the real joy of those who know and love the true God\u2014a heritage\nwhich the world and all that pertains thereto cannot give to them, but\nwhich the poorest and humblest followers of Jesus inherit and enjoy!\n\nMy first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and\nNisbet, near the shore for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above\ntide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials and goods\nbeing landed, and close to the healthy breezes of the sea. Alas! we had\nto learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all untried Mission\nfields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and Ague, mine\nespecially; and much of this might have been escaped by building on the\nhigher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing trade winds. For all\nthis, however, no one was to blame; everything was done for the best,\naccording to the knowledge then possessed. Our house was sheltered\nbehind by an abrupt hill from three to four hundred feet high, which\ngave the site a feeling of cosiness. It was surrounded, and much shaded,\nby beautiful bread-fruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees; too\nlargely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze that\nwe sorely needed! There was a long swamp all round the head of the bay,\nand, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely\nraised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us.\nOnce, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to\nme,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tannaman sleeps so low\ndown as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep on\nthe high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and sleep\non the hill, and then you will have better health.\u201d\n\nI at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the earliest\npracticable moment; heavy though the undertaking would necessarily be,\nit seemed my only hope of being able to live on the island.\n\nMy dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson, and I were landed on Tanna on the\n5th November, 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy\nhopes. On the 12th February, 1859, she was confined of a son; for two\ndays or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our island-exile\nthrilled with joy! But the greatest of sorrows was treading hard upon\nthe heels of that joy! My darling\u2019s strength showed no signs of\nrallying. She had an attack of ague and fever, a few days before her\nconfinement; on the third day or so thereafter, it returned, and\nattacked her every second day with increasing severity for a fortnight.\nDiarrh\u0153a ensued, and symptoms of pneumonia, with slight delirium at\nintervals; and then in a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she died on\nthe 3rd March. To crown my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear\nbabyboy, whom we had named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was\ntaken from me after one week\u2019s sickness, on the 20th March. Let those\nwho have ever passed through any similar darkness as of midnight feel\nfor me; as for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my\nsorrows!\n\nI knew then, when too late, that our work had been entered on too near\nthe beginning of the Rainy Season. We were both, however, healthy and\nhearty; and I daily pushed on with the house, making things hourly more\ncomfortable, in the hope that long lives were before us both, to be\nspent for Jesus in seeking the salvation of the perishing Heathen. Oh,\nthe vain yet bitter regrets, that my dear wife had not been left on\nAneityum till after the unhealthy Rainy Season! But no one advised this\ncourse; and she, high-spirited, full of buoyant hope, and afraid of\nbeing left behind me, or of me being left without her on Tanna, refused\nto allow the thing to be suggested. In our mutual inexperience, and with\nour hearts aglow for the work of our lives, we incurred this risk which\nshould never have been incurred; and I only refer to the matter thus, in\nthe hope that others may take warning.\n\nStunned by that dreadful loss, in entering upon this field of labour to\nwhich the Lord had Himself so evidently led me, my reason seemed for a\ntime almost to give way. Ague and fever, too, laid a depressing and\nweakening hand upon me, continuously recurring, and reaching oftentimes\nthe very height of its worst burning stages. But I was never altogether\nforsaken. The ever-merciful Lord sustained me, to lay the precious dust\nof my beloved Ones in the same quiet grave, dug for them close by at the\nend of the house; in all of which last offices my own hands, despite\nbreaking heart, had to take the principal share! I built the grave round\nand round with coral blocks, and covered the top with beautiful white\ncoral, broken small as gravel; and that spot became my sacred and\nmuch-frequented shrine, during all the following months and years when I\nlaboured on for the salvation of these savage Islanders amidst\ndifficulties, dangers, and deaths. Whensoever Tanna turns to the Lord,\nand is won for Christ, men in after-days will find the memory of that\nspot still green,\u2014where with ceaseless prayers and tears I claimed that\nland for God in which I had \u201cburied my dead\u201d with faith and hope. But\nfor Jesus, and the fellowship He vouchsafed me there, I must have gone\nmad and died beside that lonely grave.\n\nThe organ of the Church to which we belonged, _The Reformed Presbyterian\nMagazine_, published the following words of condolence:\u2014\u201cIn regard to\nthe death of Mrs. Paton, one feeling of grief and regret will fill the\nhearts of all who knew her. To add a sentence to the singularly just and\ngraceful tribute Mr. Inglis pays to the memory of the deceased, would\nonly mar its pathos and effect. Such language, from one accustomed to\nweigh carefully every word he pens, bespeaks at once the rare\nexcellences of her that is gone, as well as the heavy loss our Mission\nand our Church have sustained in her death. Her parents, who gave her by\na double baptism to the Lord, have this consolation, that her death may\nexert a more elevating and sanctifying influence for good, than the\nlongest life of many ordinary Christians. Deep sympathy with Mr. Paton\nwill pervade the Church, in the sore trial with which he has been\nvisited.\u201d\n\nDr. Inglis, my brother Missionary on Aneityum, wrote to the same\nMagazine:\u2014\u201cI trust all those who shed tears of sorrow on account of her\nearly death will be enabled in the exercise of faith and resignation to\nsay, \u2018The Will of the Lord be done; the Lord gave and the Lord hath\ntaken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!\u2019 I need not say how deeply\nwe sympathise with her bereaved parents, as well as with her sorrowing\nhusband. By her death the Mission has sustained a heavy loss. We were\ngreatly pleased with Mrs. Paton, during the period of our short\nintercourse with her. Her mind, naturally vigorous, had been cultivated\nby a superior education. She was full of Missionary spirit, and took a\ndeep interest in the native women. This was seen further, when she went\nto Tanna, where, in less than three months, she had collected a class of\neight females, who came regularly to her to receive instruction. There\nwas about her a maturity of thought, a solidity of character, a\nloftiness of aim and purpose rarely found in one so young. Trained up in\nthe fear of the Lord from childhood, like another Mary she had evidently\nchosen that good part, which is never taken away from those possessed of\nit. When she left this island, she had to all human appearance a long\ncareer of usefulness and happiness on Earth before her, but the Lord has\nappointed otherwise. She has gone, as we trust, to her rest and her\nreward. The Lord has said to her, as He said to David, \u2018Thou didst well\nin that it was in thine heart to build a House for My Name.\u2019 Let us\nwatch and pray, for our Lord cometh as a thief in the night.\u201d\n\nThe Mission Synod at Tanna, on April 27th, 1859, passed the following\nresolution:\u2014\u201cThat this meeting deeply and sincerely sympathises with Mr.\nPaton in the heavy and trying bereavement with which the Lord has seen\nmeet to visit him in the death of his beloved wife and child; and the\nMissionaries record their sense of the loss this Mission has sustained,\nin the early, sudden, and unexpected death of Mrs. Paton. Her earnest\nChristian character, her devoted Missionary spirit, her excellent\neducation, her kind and obliging disposition, and the influence she was\nfast acquiring over the Natives excited expectations of great future\nusefulness. That they express their heart-felt sympathy with the parents\nand other relatives of the deceased; that they recommend Mr. Paton to\npay a visit to Aneityum for the benefit of his health; that they commend\nhim to the tender mercies of Him who was sent to comfort all who mourn;\nand that they regard this striking dispensation of God\u2019s providence as a\nloud call to themselves, to be more in earnest in attending to the state\nof their own souls, and more diligent in pressing the concerns of\nEternity on the minds of others.\u201d\n\nSoon after her death, the good Bishop Selwyn called at Port Resolution,\nTanna, in his Mission ship. He came on shore to visit me, accompanied by\nthe Rev. J. C. Patteson. They had met Mrs. Paton on Aneityum in the\nprevious year soon after our arrival, and, as she was then the picture\nof perfect health, they also felt her loss very keenly. Standing with me\nbeside the grave of mother and child, I weeping aloud on his one hand,\nand Patteson\u2014afterwards the Martyr Bishop of Nakupu\u2014sobbing silently on\nthe other, the godly Bishop Selwyn poured out his heart to God amidst\nsobs and tears, during which he laid his hands on my head, and invoked\nHeaven\u2019s richest consolations and blessings on me and my trying labours.\nThe virtue of that kind of Episcopal consecration I did and do most\nwarmly appreciate! They urged me by many appeals to take a trip with\nthem round the Islands, as my life was daily in great danger from the\nsavages; they generously offered to convey me direct to Aneityum, or\nwherever I wished to go, as I greatly needed rest and change. But, with\na heart full of gratitude to them, I yet resolved to remain, feeling\nthat I was at the post of duty where God had placed me; and besides,\nfearing that if I left once the natives would not let me land again on\nreturning to their island, I determined to hold on as long as possible,\nthough feeling very weak and suffering badly from ague.\n\nSorrow and love make me linger a little to quote these extracts, printed\nin the _Reformed Presbyterian Magazine_ for January, 1860, from Mrs.\nPaton\u2019s last letter to her friends at home. It is dated from Port\nResolution, Tanna, 28th December, 1858.\n\n \u201cMY DEAR FATHER, MOTHER, AND SISTERS,\u2014\n\n \u201cWhen I wrote last, we were just about to leave\n Aneityum for Tanna, the sphere of our future labours. One can have no\n idea of the dark and degraded state of these poor Heathen, unless\n really living amongst them. Still we trust that the cloud which has so\n long enveloped Tanna will soon be rolled away, and the light of the\n Sun of Righteousness irradiate this dark land. We have been here about\n two months, and so far the people among whom we live appear to be\n friendly. A numerous priesthood reside in the neighbourhood of the\n Volcano, from whom we anticipate much opposition, as they know that\n wherever the Missionary gains a footing among the people, their\n influence is lost. The Tannese are very avaricious. If one renders the\n least assistance, he demands a most exorbitant pay; indeed, we can\n hardly satisfy them. We have a number of male, but very few female\n visitors, the latter being just slaves to do all the work. The men\n disfigure their faces with red and black paint, and always carry\n spears and clubs. At first I was quite shocked with their appearance,\n but one soon becomes accustomed to such sights. They likewise possess\n powder and muskets,\u2014guns and tobacco being the chief objects of their\n ambition. Indeed, such is their degraded condition that, were not the\n power and grace of God all-sufficient, one might almost despair of\n ever making any impression on them. All the Natives are in a state of\n entire nudity, with this exception, that females wear short petticoats\n made of grass. Young girls are very fond of beads, and sometimes have\n their necks quite covered with them. They likewise bore holes in the\n ear, from which they suspend large rolls (circles) of tortoise shell.\n Two or three little girls come about me, whom I am teaching to sew and\n sing; but no great good can be accomplished till we master their\n language. We have picked up a good many words, and I trust, with the\n blessing of God, will soon be able to speak to them of things\n pertaining to their everlasting peace.\n\n \u201cPort Resolution is a most beautiful Bay. I have never seen such a\n lovely spot. Indeed, everything around delights the eye, and \u2018only man\n is vile.\u2019 Our house is at the head of the Bay, on the foundation of\n Dr. Turner\u2019s, from which he had to fly fifteen years ago. The sea, at\n full tide, comes within a few yards of the door. Mr. Copeland is\n staying with us now. During the Rainy Season, he is to be sometimes\n with us, and at other times with Mr. Mathieson, who is in delicate\n health. The thermometer averages from 80\u00b0 to 85\u00b0. The Rainy Season\n having now set in, it is not likely we will have any opportunity of\n sending or receiving letters for three or four months. I am wearying\n very much to hear from you. I can hardly realize that nine months have\n rolled away since I left bonnie Scotia! How many changes will take\n place before I again revisit it! Both my husband and I are in\n excellent health, and, though the heat feels oppressive, we like the\n climate very well. A Happy New Year to you all, and many happy\n returns! I am writing hurriedly, as a vessel has called, and leaves\n to-morrow morning. I expect to get all the news when you write, for my\n interest in and affection for home and home-folks have not in the\n least abated.\n\n \u201cNow I must conclude; with love to you all, and to all my old\n companions, believe me ever your loving daughter and sister,\n\n \u201cMARY ANN PATON.\u201d\n\nHer last words were,\u2014\n\n\u201cOh, that my dear mother were here! She is a good woman, my mother, a\njewel of a woman.\u201d\n\nThen, observing Mr. Copeland near by, she said,\u2014\n\n\u201cOh, Mr. Copeland, I did not know you were there! You must not think\nthat I regret coming here, and leaving my mother. If I had the same\nthing to do over again, I would do it with far more pleasure, yes, with\nall my heart. Oh, no! I do not regret leaving home and friends, though\nat the time I felt it keenly.\u201d\n\nSoon after this, looking up and putting her hand in mine, she said,\u2014\n\n\u201cJ. C. wrote to our Janet saying, that young Christians under their\nfirst impressions thought they could do anything or make any sacrifice\nfor Jesus, and he asked if she believed it, for he did not think they\ncould, when tested; but Janet wrote back that she believed they could,\nand (added she with great emphasis) _I believe it is true!_\u201d\n\nIn a moment, altogether unexpectedly, she fell asleep in Jesus, with\nthese words on her lips. \u201cNot lost, only gone before to be for ever with\nthe Lord,\u201d\u2014my heart keeps saying or singing to itself from that hour\ntill now.\n\nEver since the day of our happy marriage, a strange presentiment\npossessed my heart that I should lose her soon and suddenly. Perhaps I\nam not the first who has wrestled through such unworthy forebodings\u2014that\nthat which was so precious and blessed was about to be withdrawn! Our\nshort united life had been cloudless and happy; I felt her loss beyond\nall conception or description, in that dark land. It was verily\ndifficult to be resigned, left alone, and in sorrowful circumstances;\nbut feeling immovably assured that my God and Father was too wise and\nloving to err in anything that He does or permits, I looked up to the\nLord for help, and struggled on in His work. I do not pretend to see\nthrough the mystery of such visitations,\u2014wherein God calls away the\nyoung, the promising, and those sorely needed for His service here; but\nthis I do know and feel, that, in the light of such dispensations, it\nbecomes us all to love and serve our blessed Lord Jesus so that we may\nbe ready at His call for death and Eternity.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VII.\n _MISSION LEAVES FROM TANNA._\n\n Native Tannese.\u2014\u201cTabooed.\u201d\u2014Jehovah\u2019s Rain.\u2014\u201cBig Hays.\u201d\u2014War and\n Cannibalism.\u2014The Lot of Woman.\u2014Sacred Days.\u2014Preaching in\n Villages.\u2014Native Teachers.\u2014The War Shell.\u2014Deadly Superstitions.\u2014A\n League of Blood.\u2014Chiefs in Council.\u2014Defence of Women.\u2014A League of\n Peace.\u2014Secret Disciples.\u2014A Christo-Heathen Funeral.\u2014Clever\n Thieves.\u2014Ships of Fire.\u2014H.M.S. _Cordelia_.\u2014Captain\n Vernon and Miaki.\u2014The Captain and Our Chiefs.\u2014The _John\n Williams_.\u2014Impressions Evanescent.\u2014A House on the Hill.\u2014In Fever\n Grips.\u2014\u201cNoble Old Abraham.\u201d\u2014Critics in Easy Chairs.\n\n\nIn the first letter, sent jointly by Mr. Copeland and me from Tanna to\nthe Church at home, the following statements are found:\u2014\n\n\u201cWe found the Tannese to be painted Savages, enveloped in all the\nsuperstition and wickedness of Heathenism. All the men and children go\nin a state of nudity. The older women wear grass skirts, and the young\nwomen and girls, grass or leaf aprons like Eve in Eden. They are\nexceedingly ignorant, vicious, and bigoted, and almost void of natural\naffection. Instead of the inhabitants of Port Resolution being improved\nby coming in contact with white men, they are rendered much worse; for\nthey have learned all their vices, but none of their virtues,\u2014if such\nare possessed by the pioneer traders among such races! The sandal-wood\nTraders are as a class the most godless of men, whose cruelty and\nwickedness make us ashamed to own them as our countrymen. By them the\npoor, defenceless Natives are oppressed and robbed on every hand; and if\nthey offer the slightest resistance, they are ruthlessly silenced by the\nmusket or revolver. Few months here pass without some of them being so\nshot, and, instead of their murderers feeling ashamed, they boast of how\nthey despatch them. Such treatment keeps the Natives always burning\nunder a desire for revenge, so that it is a wonder any white man is\nallowed to come among them. Indeed, all Traders here are able to\nmaintain their position only by revolvers and rifles; but we hope a\nbetter state of affairs is at hand for Tanna.\u201d\n\nThe novelty of our being among them soon passed away, and they began to\nshow their avarice and deceitfulness in every possible way. The Chiefs\nunited and refused to give us the half of the small piece of land which\nhad been purchased, on which to build our Mission House, and when we\nattempted to fence in the part they had left to us, they \u201ctabooed\u201d it,\n_i.e._, threatened our Teachers and us with death if we proceeded\nfurther with the work. This they did by placing certain reeds stuck into\nthe ground here and there around our house, which our Aneityumese\nservants at once knew the meaning of, and warned us of our danger; so we\nleft off making the fence, that we might if possible evade all offence.\nThey then divided the few bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees on the ground\namongst themselves, or demanded such payment for these trees as we did\nnot possess, and threatened revenge on us if the trees were injured by\nany person. They now became so unreasonable and offensive, and our\ndangers so increased, as to make our residence amongst them extremely\ntrying. At this time a vessel called; I bought from the Captain the\npayment they demanded; on receiving it, they lifted the Taboo, and for a\nlittle season appeared to be friendly again. This was the third payment\nthey had got for that site, and to yield was teaching them a cruel\nlesson; all this we felt and clearly saw, but they had by some means to\nbe conciliated, if possible, and our lives had to be saved, if that\ncould be done without dishonour to the Christian name.\n\nAfter these events, a few weeks of dry weather began to tell against the\ngrowth of their yams and bananas. The drought was instantly ascribed to\nus and our God. The Natives far and near were summoned to consider the\nmatter in public assembly. Next day, Nouka, the high chief, and Miaki,\nthe war-chief, his nephew, came to inform us, that two powerful Chiefs\nhad openly declared in that assembly that if the Harbour people did not\nat once kill us or compel us to leave the island, they would, unless the\nrain came plentifully in the meantime, summon all the Inland people and\nmurder both our Chiefs and us. The friendly Chiefs said,\u2014\n\n\u201cPray to your Jehovah God for rain, and do not go far beyond your door\nfor a time; we are all in greatest danger, and if war breaks out, we\nfear we cannot protect you.\u201d\n\nBut this friendliness was all pretence; they themselves, being sacred\nmen, professed to have the power of sending or withholding rain, and\ntried to fix the blame of their discomfiture on us. The rage of the poor\nignorant Heathen was thereby fed against us. The Ever-Merciful, however,\nagain interposed on our behalf. On the following Sabbath, just when we\nwere assembling for worship, rain began to fall, and in great abundance.\nThe whole inhabitants believed, apparently, that it was sent to save us\nin answer to our prayers; so they met again, and resolved to allow us to\nremain on Tanna. Alas! the continuous and heavy rains brought much\nsickness and fever in their train, and again their sacred men pointed to\nus as the cause. Hurricane winds also blew and injured their fruits and\nfruit trees,\u2014another opportunity for our enemies to lay the blame of\neverything upon the Missionaries and their Jehovah God! The trial and\nthe danger daily grew of living among a people so dreadfully benighted\nby superstition, and so easily swayed by prejudice and passion.\n\nOn Sabbath afternoon, the 6th of January, 1860, in a severe gale, we\nwere surprised to see a large Sydney vessel come to anchor in the\nHarbour at Port Resolution, right opposite our house. Though wind and\nsea were both dangerously high, the Captain and all hands, as we were\nafterwards informed, coolly went to sleep. Gradually, but quite\nperceptibly, the vessel was allowed to drift as if by deliberate\nintention, till she struck on the beach at the head of the Bay, and\nthere was soon broken up and became a total wreck. For this also the\nignorant Natives gave us credit, as for everything uncommon or\ndisagreeable on Tanna; but we were ever conscious that our Lord Jesus\nwas near us, and all trials that lead us to cling closer in fellowship\nwith our Saviour are really blessings in disguise. The Captain of that\nvessel, known to us only as \u201cBig Hays,\u201d and his wife, said to be the\nwife of a man in Sydney who had run away with him, and his like-minded\ncrew became by their shocking conduct a horrible curse to our poor\nIslanders, and greatly embittered the feeling against us. They were\narmed with deadly weapons, and did their wicked will amongst our\nNatives, who durst not attack so large a party of desperate and\nwell-armed men. But they were white people, and so were the\nMissionaries; to the savage mind that was enough, and revenge would be\ntaken upon the first white faces, however innocent, who came within\ntheir power.\n\nThe Natives of Tanna were well-nigh constantly at war amongst\nthemselves, every man doing that which was right in his own eyes, and\nalmost every quarrel ending in an appeal to arms. Besides many battles\nfar inland, one was fought closely around our house, and several were\nfought around the Harbour. In these conflicts, many men were bruised\nwith clubs and wounded with arrows, but few lives were lost, considering\nthe savage uproar and frenzy of the scene. In one case, of which we\nobtained certain information, seven men were killed in an engagement,\nand, according to Tannese custom, the warriors and their friends feasted\non them at the close of the fray, the widows of the slain being also\nstrangled to death, and similarly disposed of. Besides those who fell in\nwar, the Natives living in our quarter had killed and feasted on eight\npersons, usually in sacrificial rites.\n\nIt is said, that the habitual Cannibal\u2019s desire for human flesh becomes\nso horrible that he has been known to disinter and feast upon those\nrecently buried. Two cases of this revolting barbarism were reported as\nhaving occurred amongst the villagers living near us. On another\noccasion the great chief Nouka took seriously unwell, and his people\nsacrificed three women for his recovery! All such cruel and horrifying\npractices, however, they tried to conceal from us; and many must have\nperished in this way of whom we, though living at their doors, were\nnever permitted to hear.\n\nAmongst the Heathen, in the New Hebrides, and especially on Tanna,\n_woman_ is the down-trodden slave of man. She is kept working hard, and\nbears all the heavier burdens, while he walks by her side with musket,\nclub, or spear. If she offends him, he beats or abuses her at pleasure.\nA savage gave his poor wife a severe beating in front of our house and\njust before our eyes, while in vain we strove to prevent it. Such scenes\nwere so common that no one thought of interfering. Even if the woman\ndied in his hands, or immediately thereafter, neighbours took little\nnotice, if any at all. And their children were so little cared for, that\nmy constant wonder was how any of them survived at all! As soon as they\nare able to knock about, they are left practically to care for\nthemselves; hence the very small affection they show towards their\nparents, which results in the aged who are unable to work being\nneglected, starved to death, and sometimes even more directly and\nviolently destroyed.\n\nA Heathen boy\u2019s education consists in being taught to aim skilfully with\nthe bow, to throw the spear faultlessly at a mark, to wield powerfully\nthe club and tomahawk, and to shoot well with musket and revolver when\nthese can be obtained. He accompanies his father and brothers in all the\nwars and preparations for war, and is diligently initiated into all\ntheir cruelties and lusts, as the very prerequisite of his being\nregarded and acknowledged to be a _man_ and a warrior. The girls have,\nwith their mother and sisters, to toil and slave in the village\nplantations, to prepare all the materials for fencing these around, to\nbear every burden, and to be knocked about at will by the men and boys.\n\nOh, how sad and degraded is the position of Woman, where the teaching of\nChrist is unknown, or disregarded though known! It is the Christ of the\nBible, it is His Spirit entering into Humanity, that has lifted Woman,\nand made her the helpmate and the friend of Man, not his toy or his\nslave.\n\nTo the best of our observation, the Heathen, though vaguely following\nsome division of the week into seven days, spent the Sabbath on Tanna\nmuch the same as their other days were spent. Even when some were led to\ngive up manual labours on that day, they spent it, like too many\nChristians elsewhere, in visiting friends and in selfish pleasures, on\nfeasting and drinking. After we had been about one year on the island,\nwe had a morning Church Service, attended by about ten Chiefs and as\nmany women and children belonging to them; though, once the Service was\nover, they paid no more attention to the Lord\u2019s Day. On some of the more\nNorthern Islands of the group, the Heathen had a sacred day. Twice,\nsailing with the _Dayspring_, we cast anchor at an Island, but could not\nsee a single Native till next day, when one who could speak broken\nEnglish informed us that none of the people had been seen moving about\nbecause they were \u201ckeeping their Sunday.\u201d A number of the Tannese spoke\na little English, but they were the worst and most treacherous\ncharacters of all. They had imbibed the profane Trader\u2019s language and\nhis hatred of Missionaries and their work; and these, added to their own\nHeathen prejudices, made them the most troublesome and dangerous of men.\n\nAfter the Sabbath Morning Service we used to walk many miles, visiting\nall the villages within reach, even before we had got so much of their\nlanguage as to be able to speak freely to the people. Sometimes we made\na circuit amongst them, ten or twelve miles away and as many back again.\nWe tried to talk a little to all who were willing to listen; and we\nconducted the Worship of Jehovah, wherever we could find two or three\ndisposed to gather together and to sit or kneel beside us. It was to\nflesh and blood weary work, and in many ways disheartening\u2014no responsive\nfaces and hearts there to cheer us on and lift us up into fellowship\nwith the Lord! But it helped us to see the people, and to get acquainted\nwith the districts around; it also secured for us very considerable\naudiences, except when they were engaged in war.\n\nNo real progress could be made in imparting to them spiritual knowledge,\ntill we had attained some familiarity with their language. By finding\nout, as before recorded, the Tannese for \u201cWhat is this?\u201d and \u201cWhat is\nhis or her name?\u201d we got the names of things and people, and made\namazing progress towards mutual intelligence. We soon found out that\nthere were two distinct languages spoken in and around Port Resolution;\nbut we confined ourselves to that which was understood as far as the\nother Mission Station; and, by God\u2019s help and great diligence, we were\nable ere long to speak to them of sin and of salvation through Jesus\nChrist.\n\nTwelve Aneityumese Teachers were at this time living on Tanna, but they\nhad no Schools, and no Books in Tannese, for that language had never yet\nbeen reduced to forms that could be printed. The work of the Teachers,\nbesides telling to the people around all that they could regarding\nChrist and the Christian religion, found its highest value in presenting\nthrough their own spirit and character a nobler type of life than any\nthat Heathenism could show.\n\nWhen a Missionary arrives, the Teacher\u2019s first duty is to help him in\nhouse-building, fencing, and the many manual and other toils required in\norganizing the new Station, besides accompanying him on the inland\njourneys, assisting him in regard to the language as far as possible,\nand in general furthering the cause. But in altogether virgin soil like\nthat of Tanna, the Aneityumese Teacher, or one from any other island,\nhad the language to acquire first of all, not less than the European\nMissionary, and was therefore of little use except for manual labour,\nand that too had to be carried on by signs much more than by words. Not\nonly has every island its own tongue, differing widely from and\nunintelligible to all the others, but even the people on one side of an\nisland could not sometimes understand or converse with the people on the\nopposite side of the same. This rendered our work in the New Hebrides\nnot only exceptionally difficult, but its progressive movement\ndistressingly slow.\n\nWord had reached Tanna, that, in a quarrel with Sandal-wooders, the\nErromangans had murdered three white men and a number of Natives in\ntheir employment, in revenge for the white men\u2019s shamefully entreating\nand murdering the Erromangans. On Tanna all such news were reported and\ntalked over, when the Chiefs and their men of war met for their evening\nrepast\u2014an event that generally wound up with drinking _Kava_, which\nfirst produced intoxication like whisky and then stupefaction like a\ndose of laudanum. Excited by the rumours from Erromanga, they had drunk\nmore than usual, and lay about their Village Drinking-Hall in a helpless\nhost. Enemies from an inland tribe stealthily drew near, and discharged\ntheir muskets amongst them in the dark, killing one man, and so,\naccording to their custom, war was known to be declared.\n\nEarly next morning, Miaki, the war-chief, despatched his herald to sound\nthe Conch and summon the people to battle. He made the Harbour and all\nthe country resound with it for six miles around, and the savage hordes\ngathered to the call. Putting our trust in God, we quietly resolved to\nattend as usual to our work and await the result. Excitement and terror\ndrove the Natives hither and thither. One man close to us being nearly\nkilled, his friends assembled in great force, and with clubs and spears,\ntomahawks and muskets, drove the offending tribe more than a mile into\nthe bush. They, in turn, being reinforced, drove their enemies back\nagain to the beach. There, seated within hearing distance, they carried\non a grand sort of barbarous-Homeric scolding match, and exhausted their\nrage in javelins of reproach. A great relief seemed thereby to ensue,\nfor the rival Chiefs thereon approached our house and entreated me to\ndress their wounds! I did so, and appealed to them for peace, and got\ntheir promise to let that conflict come to an end. Alas, for the passing\ninfluence of such appeals,\u2014for I learned shortly after this, on my\nreturn from Aneityum, where I had gone for a fortnight to recruit from\nthe effects of an almost three months\u2019 continuance of recurring ague and\nfever, that eight of the Harbour people had been murdered near our house\nat Port Resolution. The Natives got into a dreadfully unsettled state,\neach one wondering in terror who would be the next to fall.\n\nAbout the time of my dear wife\u2019s death, our brother Missionary, Mr.\nMathieson, also became exceedingly unwell. His delicate frame fast gave\nway, and brought with it weakness of the mind as well; and he was\nremoved to Aneityum apparently in a dying condition. These sad\nvisitations had a bad effect on the Natives, owing to their wild\nsuperstitions about the cause of death and sickness. We had reason to\nfear that they would even interfere with the precious grave, over which\nwe kept careful watch for a season; but God mercifully restrained them.\nUnfortunately, however, one of my Aneityumese Teachers who had gone\nround to Mr. Mathieson\u2019s Station took ill and died there, and this\nrekindled all their prejudices. He, poor fellow, before death said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI will not again return to Port Resolution, or see my dear Missi; but\ntell him that I die happy, for I love Jesus much, and am going to\nJesus!\u201d\n\nHearing these things, the Natives insolently demanded me to tell them\nthe cause of this death, and of Mr. Mathieson\u2019s trouble, and of the\nother deaths. Other reasoning or explanation being to them useless, I\nturned the tables, and demanded them to tell me why all this trouble and\ndeath had overtaken us in their land, and whether they themselves were\nnot the cause of it all? Strange to say, this simple question turned the\nwhole current of their speculations. They held meeting after meeting to\ndiscuss it for several days, and returned the message,\u2014\n\n\u201cWe do not blame you, and you must not blame us for causing these\ntroubles and deaths; but we believe that a Bushman must have got hold of\nportion of something we had eaten, and must have thrown it to the great\nEvil Spirit in the volcano, thereby bringing all these troubles and\ncurses.\u201d\n\nAnother Chief vindicated himself and others thus:\u2014\u201cKarapanamun, the\nAuruman or great Evil Spirit of Tanna, whom we all fear and worship, is\ncausing these troubles; for he knows that if we become worshippers of\nyour Jehovah God, we cannot continue to fear him, or present him with\nthe best of everything, as our forefathers have always done; he is angry\nat you and at us all.\u201d\n\nThe fear of the deaths and troubles being ascribed to them silenced\ntheir talk against us for a season; but very little made them either\nfriends or foes, as the next event will too painfully show.\n\nNowhat, an old Chief of the highest rank from Aneityum, who spoke\nTannese and was much respected by the Natives all round the south side\nof Tanna, came on a visit to our island. After returning home, he became\nvery ill and died in a few days. The deluded Tannese, hearing of his\ndeath, ascribed it to me and the Worship, and resolved to burn our house\nand property, and either murder the whole Mission party, or compel us to\nleave the island. Nowhat\u2019s brother was sent from Aneityum to talk to the\nTannese and conciliate them, but unfortunately he could not speak the\nlanguage well; and the Aneityumese Teachers felt their lives to be at\nthis time in such danger that they durst not accompany him as\ninterpreters, while I on the other hand did not understand his language,\nnor he, mine. Within two days after landing, he had a severe attack of\nague and fever; and, though the vessel he came in remained eight days,\nhe was prostrated all the time, so that his well-intentioned visit did\nus much harm. The Tannese became furious. This was proof positive, that\nwe were the cause of all their sickness and death. Inland and all along\nthe weather side of the island, when far enough away from us, they said\nthat the Natives were enjoying excellent health. Meeting after meeting\nwas held; exciting speeches were delivered; and feasts were given, for\nwhich it was said that several women were sacrificed, cooked, and\neaten,\u2014such being the bonds by which they entered into covenant with\neach other for life or death.\n\nOn the morning of the following Sabbath, we heard what were said to be\nthe dying shrieks of two woman-sacrifices; but we went not near,\u2014we had\nno power to save them, and the savages only waited such a chance of\nsacrificing us too. Soon after, three women came running to the Mission\nHouse, and in tears implored us to try and protect them from being\nkilled by their husbands. Alas, we could only plead for them, the\nTannese and Aneityumese Teachers warning us that if we even pled we\nwould be instantly murdered, as the men were raging mad with the thirst\nof blood. At another time, eight inland girls came running to us and sat\nin front of our house all day, saying they were afraid to go home, as\nthe men were fighting with their women and killing them. At nightfall,\nhowever, the poor creatures withdrew, we knew not to what fate.\n\nThe inhabitants for miles around united in seeking our destruction, but\nGod put it into even savage hearts to save us. Old Nowar, the Chief\nunder whom we lived, and the Chief next under him, Arkurat, set\nthemselves to rescue us. Along with Manuman and Sirawia they opposed\nevery plan in the public assembly for taking our lives. Some of their\npeople also remained friendly to us, and by the help of our Aneityumese\nTeachers, warned us of danger and protected our lives. Determined not to\nbe baffled, a meeting of all our enemies on the island was summoned, and\nit was publicly resolved that a band of men be selected and enjoined to\nkill the whole of those friendly to the Mission, old Nowar among the\nrest, and not only to murder the Mission party, but also a Trader who\nhad lately landed to live there, that no one might be left to give\ninformation to the white men or bring punishment on the islanders.\nFrenzy of excitement prevailed, and the blood-fiend seemed to over-ride\nthe whole assembly; when, under an impulse that surely came from the\nLord of Pity, one great warrior Chief who had hitherto kept silent,\nrose, swung aloft a mighty club and smashing it earthwards, cried\naloud,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe man that kills Missi must first kill me,\u2014the men that kill the\nMission Teachers must first kill me and my people,\u2014for we shall stand by\nthem and defend them till death.\u201d\n\nInstantaneously, another Chief thundered in with the same declaration;\nand the great assembly broke up in dismay. All the more remarkable was\nthis deliverance, as these two Chiefs lived nearly four miles inland,\nand, as reputed disease makers and sacred men, were regarded as amongst\nour bitterest enemies. It had happened that, a brother of the former\nChief having been wounded in battle, I had dressed his wounds and he\nrecovered, for which perhaps he now favoured us. But I do not put very\nmuch value on that consideration; for too clearly did our dear Lord\nJesus interpose directly on our behalf that day. I and my defenceless\ncompany had spent it in anxious prayers and tears; and our hearts\noverflowed with gratitude to the Saviour who rescued us from the lions\u2019\njaws.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cTHE MAN THAT KILLS MISSI MUST FIRST KILL ME.\u201d]\n\nThe excitement did not at once subside, men continuing to club and beat\nthe women for the smallest offence. At every opportunity I denounced\ntheir conduct and rebuked them severely,\u2014especially one wretch, who beat\nhis wife just in front of our house as well as one of the women who\ntried to protect her. On the following day, he returned with an armed\nband, and threatened our lives; but I stood up in front of their\nweapons, and firmly condemned their conduct, telling that man\nparticularly that his conduct was bad and cowardly. At length his wrath\ngave way; he grounded his club in a penitent mood, and promised to\nrefrain from such evil ways.\n\nLeaving all consequences to the disposal of my Lord, I determined to\nmake an unflinching stand against wife-beating and widow-strangling,\nfeeling confident that even their natural conscience would be on my\nside. I accordingly pled with all who were in power to unite and put\ndown these shocking and disgraceful customs. At length, ten Chiefs\nentered into an agreement not to allow any more beating of wives or\nstrangling of widows, and to forbid all common labour on the Lord\u2019s Day;\nbut alas, except for purposes of war or other wickedness, the influence\nof the Chiefs on Tanna was comparatively small. One Chief boldly\ndeclared,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf we did not beat our women, they would never work; they would not\nfear and obey us; but when we have beaten, and killed, and feasted on\ntwo or three, the rest are all very quiet and good for a long time to\ncome!\u201d\n\nI tried to show him how cruel it was, besides that it made them unable\nfor work, and that kindness would have a much better effect; but he\npromptly assured me that Tannese women \u201ccould not understand kindness.\u201d\nFor the sake of teaching by example, my Aneityumese Teachers and I used\nto go a mile or two inland on the principal pathway, along with the\nTeachers\u2019 wives, and there, cutting and carrying home a heavy load of\nfirewood for myself and each of the men, while we gave only a small\nburden to each of the women. Meeting many Tanna men by the way, I used\nto explain to them that this was how Christians helped and treated their\nwives and sisters, and then they loved their husbands and were strong to\nwork at home; and that as men were made stronger, they were intended to\nbear the heavier burdens, and especially in all labours out of doors.\nOur habits and practices had thus as much to do as, perhaps more than,\nall our appeals, in leading them to glimpses of the life to which the\nLord Jesus was calling them.\n\nAnother war-burst, that caused immense consternation, passed over with\nonly two or three deaths; and I succeeded in obtaining the consent of\ntwenty Chiefs to fight no more except on the defensive,\u2014a covenant to\nwhich, for a considerable time, they strictly adhered, in the midst of\nfierce provocations. But to gain any such end, the masses of the people\nmust be educated to the point of desiring it. The few cannot, in such\ncircumstances, act up to it, without laying themselves open to be\ndown-trodden and swept away by the savages around.\n\nAbout this time, several men, afraid or ashamed by day, came to me\nregularly by night for conversation and instruction. Having seen the\ndoors of the Mission House made fast and the windows blinded so that\nthey could not be observed, they continued with me for many hours,\nasking all strange questions about the new Religion and its laws. I\nremember one Chief particularly, who came often, saying to me,\u2014\n\n\u201cI would be an Awfuaki man (_i.e._, a Christian) were it not that all\nthe rest would laugh at me; that I could not stand!\u201d\n\n\u201cAlmost persuaded\u201d:\u2014before you blame him, remember how many in Christian\nlands and amid greater privileges live and die without ever passing\nbeyond that stage.\n\nThe wife of one of those Chiefs died, and he resolved to imitate a\nChristian burial. Having purchased white calico from a Trader, he came\nto me for some tape which the Trader could not supply, and told me that\nhe was going to dress the body as he had seen my dear wife\u2019s dressed and\nlay her also in a similar grave. He declined my offer to attend the\nfuneral and to pray with them, as in that case many of the villagers\nwould not attend. He wanted all the people to be present, to see and to\nhear, as it was the first funeral of the kind ever celebrated among the\nTannese; and my friend Nowar the Chief had promised to conduct a Service\nand offer prayer to Jehovah before all the Heathen. It moved me to many\nstrange emotions, this Christian burial, conducted by a Heathen and in\nthe presence of Heathens, with an appeal to the true and living God by a\nman as yet darkly groping among idols and superstitions! Many were the\nwondering questions from time to time addressed to me. The idea of a\nresurrection from the dead was that which most keenly interested these\nNatives, and called forth all their powers of inquiry and argument. Thus\nthe waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we\nembraced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the\nlife and death of Jesus, in the strong hope that God would spare us yet\nto bring the benighted Heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation,\nand to love and serve the only Saviour.\n\n[Illustration: NATIVES STEALING PROPERTY.]\n\nConfessedly, however, it was uphill, weary, and trying work. For one\nthing, these Tannese were terribly dishonest; and when there was any\nspecial sickness, or excitement from any cause, their bad feeling\ntowards the Worship was displayed by the more insolent way in which they\ncarried off whatever they could seize. When I opposed them, the club or\ntomahawk, the musket or _kawas_ (_i.e._, killing stone), being instantly\nraised, intimated that my life would be taken, if I resisted them. Their\nskill in stealing on the sly was phenomenal! If an article fell, or was\nseen on the floor, a Tannaman would neatly cover it with his foot, while\nlooking you frankly in the face, and, having fixed it by his toes or by\nbending in his great toe like a thumb to hold it, would walk off with\nit, assuming the most innocent look in the world. In this way, a knife,\na pair of scissors, or any smaller article, would at once disappear.\nAnother fellow would deftly stick something out of sight amongst the\nwhip-cord plaits of his hair, another would conceal it underneath his\nnaked arm, while yet another would shamelessly lift what he coveted and\nopenly carry it away.\n\nWith most of them, however, the shame was not in the theft, but in doing\nit so clumsily that they were discovered! Once, after continuous rain\nand a hot damp atmosphere, when the sun shone out I put my bed-clothes\non a rope to dry. I stood at hand watching, as also the wives of two\nTeachers, for things were mysteriously disappearing almost under our\nvery eyes. Suddenly, Miaki, who with his war-companions had been\nwatching us unobserved, came rushing to me breathless and alone,\ncrying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, come in, quick, quick! I want to tell you something and to get\nyour advice!\u201d\n\nHe ran into my house, and I followed; but before he had got into his\nstory, we heard the two women crying out,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, missi, come quick! Miaki\u2019s men are stealing your sheets and\nblankets!\u201d\n\nI ran at once, but all were gone into the bush, and with them my sheets\nand blankets. Miaki for a moment looked abashed, as I charged him with\ndeceiving me just to give his men their opportunity. But he soon rose to\nthe occasion. He wrought himself into a towering rage at them,\nflourished his huge club and smashed the bushes all around, shouting to\nme,\u2014\n\n\u201cThus will I smash these fellows, and compel them to return your\nclothes.\u201d\n\nPerhaps he hoped to move me to intercede for his men, and to prevent\nbloodshed, as he knew that I always did, even to my own loss; but I\nresisted all his tricks, and urged him to return these articles at once\nif there were any honour or honesty in him or his men. Of course, he\nleft me but to share the plunder. He kept out of my way for a\nconsiderable time, which showed some small glimmering of conscience\nsomewhere; and when I tackled him on the subject, at our first meeting,\nhe declared he was unable to get the articles back, which of course\nshowed the lying spirit, amongst them everywhere applauded,\u2014for a lie\nthat succeeded, or seemed to succeed, was in their esteem a crowning\nvirtue.\n\nOne dark night, I heard them amongst my fowls. These I had purchased\nfrom them for knives and calico; and they now stole them all away, dead\nor alive. Had I interfered, they would have gloried in the chance to\nclub or shoot me in the dark, when no one could exactly say who had done\nthe deed. Several of the few goats, which I had for milk, were also\nkilled or driven away; indeed, all the injury that was possible was done\nto me, short of taking away my life, and that was now frequently\nattempted. Having no fires or fireplaces in my Mission House, such being\nnot required there,\u2014though sometimes a fire would have been invaluable\nfor drying our bed-clothes in the Rainy Season,\u2014we had a house near by\nin which all our food was cooked, and there, under lock and key we\nsecured all our cooking utensils, pots, dishes, etc. One night, that too\nwas broken into, and everything was stolen. In consternation, I appealed\nto the Chief, telling him what had been done. He also flew into a great\nrage, and vowed vengeance on the thieves, saying that he would compel\nthem to return everything. But, of course, nothing was returned; the\nthief could not be found! I, unable to live without something in which\nto boil water, at length offered a blanket to any one that would bring\nback my kettle. Miaki himself, after much professed difficulty, returned\nit _minus_ the lid\u2014that, he said, probably fishing for a higher bribe,\ncould not be got at any price, being at the other side of the island in\na tribe over which he had no control! In the circumstances, I was glad\nto get kettle _minus_ lid\u2014realizing how life itself may depend on so\nsmall a luxury!\n\nHaving no means of redress, and feeling ourselves entirely at their\nmercy, we strove quietly to bear all and to make as little of our trials\nas possible; indeed, we bore them all gladly for Jesus\u2019 sake. All\nthrough these sorrows, our assurance deepened rather than faded, that if\nGod only spared us to lead them to love and serve the same Lord Jesus,\nthey would soon learn to treat us as their friend and helper. That,\nhowever, did not do away with the hard facts of my life\u2014being now\nentirely alone amongst them, and opposed by their cruelty at every turn,\nand deceived by their unfailing lies.\n\nOne morning, the Tannese, rushing towards me in great excitement,\ncried,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, Missi, there is a God, or a ship on fire, or something of fear,\ncoming over the sea! We see no flames, but it smokes like a volcano. Is\nit a Spirit, God, or a ship on fire? What is it? what is it?\u201d\n\nOne party after another followed in quick succession, shouting the same\nquestions, in great alarm, to which I replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cI cannot go at once; I must dress first in my best clothes; it will\nlikely be one of Queen Victoria\u2019s Men-of-war, coming to ask of me if\nyour conduct is good or bad, if you are stealing my property, or\nthreatening my life, or how you are using me?\u201d\n\nThey pled with me to go and see it; but I made much fuss about dressing\nand getting ready to meet the great Chief on the vessel, and would not\ngo with them. The two principal Chiefs now came running and asked,\u2014\n\n[Illustration: NATIVES RETURNING STOLEN PROPERTY\u2014]\n\n\u201cMissi, will it be a ship of war?\u201d\n\nI called to them, \u201cI think it will; but I have no time to speak to you\nnow, I must get on my best clothes!\u201d\n\nThey said, \u201cMissi, only tell us, will he ask you if we have been\nstealing your things?\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cI expect he will.\u201d\n\nThey asked, \u201cAnd will you tell him?\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cI must tell him the truth; if he asks, I will tell him.\u201d\n\nThey then cried out, \u201cOh, Missi, tell him not! Everything shall be\nbrought back to you at once, and no one will be allowed again to steal\nfrom you.\u201d\n\nThen said I, \u201cBe quick! Everything must be returned before he comes.\nAway, away! and let me get ready to meet the great Chief on the\nMan-of-war.\u201d\n\nHitherto, no thief could ever be found, and no Chief had power to cause\nanything to be restored to me; but now, in an incredibly brief space of\ntime, one came running to the Mission House with a pot, another with a\npan, another with a blanket, others with knives, forks, plates, and all\nsorts of stolen property. The Chiefs called me to receive these things,\nbut I replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cLay them all down at the door, bring everything together quickly; I\nhave no time to speak with you!\u201d\n\nI delayed my toilet, enjoying mischievously the magical effect of an\napproaching vessel that might bring penalty to thieves. At last the\nChiefs, running in breathless haste, called out to me,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, Missi, do tell us, is the stolen property all here?\u201d\n\nOf course I could not tell, but, running out, I looked on the\npromiscuous heap of my belongings, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see the lid of the kettle there yet!\u201d\n\nOne Chief said, \u201cNo, Missi, for it is on the other side of the island;\nbut tell him not, I have sent for it, and it will be here to-morrow.\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cI am glad you have brought back so much; and now, if you\nthree Chiefs, Nauka, Miaki, and Nowar, do not run away when he comes, he\nwill not likely punish you; but, if you and your people run away, he\nwill ask me why you are afraid and I will be forced to tell him! Keep\nnear me and you are all safe; only there must be no more stealing from\nme.\u201d\n\nThey said, \u201cWe are in black fear, but we will keep near you, and our bad\nconduct to you is done.\u201d\n\nThe charm and joy of that morning are fresh to me still, when H.M.S.\n_Cordelia_, Captain Vernon, steamed into our lovely Harbour. The\nCommander, having heard rumour of my dangers on Tanna, kindly came on\nshore as soon as the ship cast anchor, with two boats, and a number of\nhis officers and men, so far armed. He was dressed in splendid uniform,\nbeing a tall and handsome man, and he and his attendants made a grand\nand imposing show. On seeing Captain Vernon\u2019s boat nearing the shore,\nand the men glittering in gold lace and arms, Miaki the Chief left my\nside on the beach and rushed towards his village. I concluded that he\nhad run for it through terror, but he had other and more civilized\nintentions in his heathen head! Having obtained, from some trader or\nvisitor in previous days, a soldier\u2019s old red coat, he had resolved to\nrise to the occasion and appear in his best before the Captain and his\nmen. As I was shaking hands with them and welcoming them to Tanna, Miaki\nreturned with the short red coat on, buttoned tightly round his\notherwise naked body; and, surmounted by his ugly painted face and long\nwhipcords of twisted hair, it completely spoiled any appearance that he\nmight otherwise have had of savage freedom, and made him look a dirty\nand insignificant creature.\n\nThe Captain was talking to me, his men stood in order near by,\u2014to my\neyes, oh how charming a glimpse of Home life!\u2014when Miaki marched up and\ntook his place most consequentially at my side. He felt himself the most\nimportant personage in the scene, and with an attempt at haughty dignity\nhe began to survey the visitors. All eyes were fixed on the impudent\nlittle man, and the Captain asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat sort of character is this?\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cThis is Miaki, our great war Chief;\u201d and whispered to the\nCaptain to be on his guard, as this man knew a little English, and might\nunderstand or misunderstand just enough to make it afterwards dangerous\nto me.\n\nThe Captain only muttered, \u201cThe contemptible creature!\u201d\n\nBut such words were far enough beyond Miaki\u2019s vocabulary, so he looked\non and grinned complacently.\n\nAt last he said, \u201cMissi, this great Chief whom Queen Victoria has sent\nto visit you in her Man-of-war, cannot go over the whole of this island\nso as to be seen by all our people; and I wish you to ask him if he will\nstand by a tree, and allow me to put a spear on the ground at his heel,\nand we will make a nick in it at the top of his head, and the spear will\nbe sent round the island to let all the people see how tall this great\nman is!\u201d\n\nThey were delighted at the good Captain agreeing to their simple\nrequest; and that spear was exhibited to thousands, as the vessel, her\nCommander, officers, and men, were afterwards talked of round and round\nthe island.\n\nCaptain Vernon was extremely kind, and offered to do anything in his\npower for me, thus left alone on the island amongst such savages; but,\nas my main difficulties were connected with my spiritual work amongst\nthem rousing up their cruel prejudices, I did not see how his kindness\ncould effectually interpose. At his suggestion, however, I sent a\ngeneral invitation to all the Chiefs within reach, to meet the Captain\nnext morning at my house. True to their instincts of suspicion and fear,\nthey despatched all their women and children to the beach on the\nopposite side of the island beyond reach of danger, and next morning my\nhouse was crowded with armed men, manifestly much afraid. Punctually at\nthe hour appointed, 10 a.m., the Captain came on shore; and soon\nthereafter twenty Chiefs were seated with him in my house. He very\nkindly spent about an hour, giving them wise counsels and warning them\nagainst outrages on strangers, all calculated to secure our safety and\nadvance the interests of our Mission work. He then invited all the\nChiefs to go on board and see his vessel. They were taken to see the\nArmoury, and the sight of the big guns running so easily on rails vastly\nastonished them. He then placed them round us on deck and showed them\ntwo shells discharged towards the Ocean, at which, as they burst and\nfell far off, splash\u2014splashing into the water, the terror of the Natives\nvisibly increased. But, when he sent a large ball crashing through a\ncocoa-nut grove, breaking the trees like straws and cutting its way\nclear and swift, they were quite dumb-foundered and pled to be again set\nsafely on shore. After receiving each some small gift, however, they\nwere reconciled to the situation, and returned immensely interested in\nall that they had seen. Doubtless many a wild romance was spun by these\nsavage heads, in trying to describe and hand down to others the wonders\nof the fire-god of the sea, and the Captain of the great white Queen.\nHow easily it all lends itself to the service of poetry and myth!\n\nAbout this time also, the London Missionary Society\u2019s ship, the _John\nWilliams_, visited me, having on board the Rev. Messrs. Turner, Inglis,\nBaker, and Macfarlan. They urged me to go with them on a three weeks\u2019\ntrip round the Islands, as I had lately suffered much from fever and\nague, and was greatly reduced by it. But a party of Bush natives had\nkilled one of our Harbour people the week before, and sadly bruised\nseveral others with their clubs, and I feared a general war of revenge\nif I left\u2014for my presence amongst them at least helped to keep the\npeace. I also was afraid that, if I left, they might not allow me to\nreturn to the island,\u2014so I declined once more the pleasure of\nmuch-needed change and rest. Further, as the _John Williams_ brought me\nthe wood for building a Church which I had bought on Aneityum, the\nTannese now plainly saw that, though their conduct had been very bad,\nand I had suffered much on their island, I had no intention of leaving\nthem or of giving up the work of Jehovah.\n\nToo much, perhaps, had I hoped for from the closely succeeding visits of\nthe good Bishop Selwyn, the gallant Captain Vernon, and the Mission ship\n_John Williams_. The impressions were undoubtedly good, but evanescent;\nand things soon went on as they had done before among our benighted\nTannese, led by Satan at his will, and impelled to the grossest deeds of\nheathen darkness. The change by Divine grace, however, we knew to be\npossible; and for this we laboured and prayed incessantly, fainting not,\nor if fainting, only to rise again and tackle every duty in the name of\nthe Lord who had placed us there.\n\nFever and ague had attacked me fourteen times severely with slighter\nrecurring attacks almost continuously after my first three months on the\nisland, and I now felt the necessity of taking the hint of the Tannese\nChief before referred to,\u2014\u201cSleep on the higher ground.\u201d Having also\nreceived medical counsel to the same effect, though indeed experience\nwas painfully sufficient testimony, I resolved to remove my house, and\nbegan to look about for a suitable site. There rose behind my present\nsite, a hill about three hundred feet high or rather more, surrounded on\nall sides by a valley, and swept by the breezes of the trade winds,\nbeing only separated from the Ocean by a narrow neck of land. On this I\nhad set my heart; there was room for a Mission House and a Church, for\nwhich indeed Nature seemed to have adapted it. I proceeded to buy up\nevery claim by the Natives to any portion of the hill, paying each\npublicly and in turn, so that there might be no trouble afterwards. I\nthen purchased from a Trader the deck planks of a shipwrecked vessel,\nwith which to construct a house of two apartments, a bedroom and a small\nstore-room adjoining it, to which I purposed to transfer and add the old\nhouse as soon as I was able.\n\nJust at this juncture, the fever smote me again more severely than ever;\nmy weakness after this attack was so great, that I felt as if I never\ncould rally again. With the help of my faithful Aneityumese Teacher,\nAbraham, and his wife, however, I made what appeared my last effort to\ncreep, I could not climb, up the hill to get a breath of wholesome air.\nWhen about two-thirds up the hill, I became so faint that I concluded I\nwas dying. Lying down on the ground, sloped against the root of a tree\nto keep me from rolling to the bottom, I took farewell of old Abraham,\nof my Mission work, and of everything around! In this weak state I lay,\nwatched over by my faithful companion, and fell into a quiet sleep. When\nconsciousness returned, I felt a little stronger, and a faint gleam of\nhope and life came back to my soul.\n\nAbraham and his devoted wife, Nafatu, lifted me and carried me to the\ntop of the hill. There they laid me on cocoa-nut leaves on the ground,\nand erected over me a shade or screen of the same; and there the two\nfaithful souls, inspired surely by something diviner even than mere\nhuman pity, gave me the cocoa-nut juice to drink and fed me with native\nfood and kept me living\u2014I know not for how long. Consciousness did,\nhowever, fully return. The trade wind refreshed me day by day. The\nTannese seemed to have given me up for dead; and providentially none of\nthem looked near us for many days. Amazingly my strength returned, and I\nbegan planning about my new house on the hill. Afraid again to sleep at\nthe old site, I slept under the tree, and sheltered by the cocoa-nut\nleaf screen, while preparing my new bedroom.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cTHERE THEY LAID ME ON COCOA-NUT LEAVES ON THE GROUND.\u201d]\n\nHere again, but for these faithful souls, the Aneityumese Teacher and\nhis wife, I must have been baffled, and would have died in the effort.\nThe planks of the wreck, and all other articles required they fetched\nand carried, and it taxed my utmost strength to get them in some way\nplanted together. But life depended on it. It was at length\naccomplished; and after that time I suffered comparatively little from\nanything like continuous attacks of fever and ague. That noble old soul,\nAbraham, stood by me as an angel of God in sickness and in danger; he\nwent at my side wherever I had to go; he helped me willingly to the last\ninch of strength in all that I had to do; and it was perfectly manifest\nthat he was doing all this not from mere human love, but for the sake of\nJesus. That man had been a Cannibal in his heathen days, but by the\ngrace of God there he stood verily a new creature in Christ Jesus. Any\ntrust, however sacred or valuable, could be absolutely reposed in him;\nand in trial or danger, I was often refreshed by that old Teacher\u2019s\nprayers, as I used to be by the prayers of my saintly father in my\nchildhood\u2019s home. No white man could have been a more valuable helper to\nme in my perilous circumstances, and no person, white or black, could\nhave shown more fearless and chivalrous devotion.\n\nWhen I have read or heard the shallow objections of irreligious\nscribblers and talkers, hinting that there was no reality in\nconversions, and that Mission effort was but waste, oh, how my heart has\nyearned to plant them just one week on Tanna, with the \u201cnatural\u201d man all\naround in the person of Cannibal and Heathen, and only the one\n\u201cspiritual\u201d man in the person of the converted Abraham, nursing them,\nfeeding them, saving them \u201cfor the love of Jesus,\u201d\u2014that I might just\nlearn how many hours it took to convince them that Christ in man was a\nreality after all! All the scepticism of Europe would hide its head in\nfoolish shame; and all its doubts would dissolve under one glance of the\nnew light that Jesus, and Jesus alone, pours from the converted\nCannibal\u2019s eye.\n\nPerhaps it may surprise some unsophisticated reader to learn, though\nothers who know more will be quite prepared for it, that this removal of\nour house, as also Mr. Mathieson\u2019s for a similar reason, was severely\ncriticised by the people who try to evangelize the world while sitting\nin easy chairs at home. Precious nonsense appeared, for instance, in the\n_Nova Scotian Church Magazine_, about my house being planted on the\nfighting ground of the Natives, and thereby courting and provoking\nhostilities. As matter of fact, the hill-top was too narrow to\naccommodate both the Church and my house, and had to be levelled out for\nthat purpose, and it was besides surrounded by a deep valley on three\nsides; but the arm-chair critics, unwilling to believe in the heathen\nhatred of the Gospel, had to invent some reason out of their own brains\nto account for my being so persecuted and plundered. In truth, we were\nlearning by suffering for the benefit of those who should follow us to\nthese Islands,\u2014that health could be found only on the higher levels,\nswept by the breath of the trade winds, and that fever and ague lay in\nwait near the shore, and especially on the leeward side. Even Mr. Inglis\nhad his house on Aneityum removed also to the higher ground; and no\nMissionary since has been located in the fever-beds by the swamp or\nshore. Life is God\u2019s great gift, to be preserved for Him, not thrown\naway.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER VIII.\n _MORE MISSION LEAVES FROM TANNA._\n\n The Blood-Fiend Unleashed.\u2014In the Camp of the Enemy.\u2014A Typical South\n Sea Trader.\u2014Young Rarip\u2019s Death.\u2014The Trader\u2019s Retribution.\u2014Worship\n and War.\u2014Saved from Strangling.\u2014Wrath Restrained.\u2014Under the\n Axe.\u2014The Clubbing of Namuri.\u2014Native Saint and Martyr.\u2014Bribes\n Refused.\u2014Widows Saved from Strangling.\u2014The Sinking of the\n Well.\u2014Church-Building on Tanna.\u2014Ancient Stone God.\u2014Printing First\n Tannese Book.\u2014A Christian Captain.\u2014Levelled Muskets.\u2014A French\n Refugee.\u2014A Villainous Captain.\u2014Like Master Like Men.\u2014Wrecked on\n Purpose.\u2014The Kanaka Traffic.\u2014A Heathen Festival.\u2014Sacrifices to\n Idols.\u2014Heathen Dances and Sham Fights.\u2014Six Native Teachers.\u2014A\n Homeric Episode.\u2014Victims for a Cannibal Feast.\u2014The Jaws of\n Death.\u2014Nahak or Sorcery.\u2014Killing Me by Nahak.\u2014Nahak\n Defied.\u2014Protected by Jehovah.\u2014Almost Persuaded.\u2014Escorted to the\n Battlefield.\u2014Praying for Enemies.\u2014Our Canoe on the Reef.\u2014A\n Perilous Pilgrimage.\u2014Rocks and Waters.\n\n\nThe Peace-party, my band of twenty Chiefs already spoken of, kept all\nthe tribes around the Harbour acting only on the defensive for a season.\nBut the Inland people murdered eight Chiefs from a distance who, after\npaying a friendly visit to the Harbour people, were returning to their\nhomes. At the same time, one of the Inland Chiefs, who had pled with his\npeople to give up war and live at peace with surrounding tribes, was\noverthrown and murdered by his own men, as also his brother and four\nwives and two children, and was supplanted by another leader more akin\nto their wishes and tastes. They proceeded, according to their custom of\ndeclaring war, to shoot one of the Harbour men and to break down their\nfences and plantations. So once again, the blood-fiend was\nunleashed,\u2014the young men of Tanna being as eager to get up a battle, as\nyoung men of the world at home seem eager to get up a concert or a ball.\n\nThe Harbour people advised me to remove a mile further away from these\nwarriors; but the Inland tribes sent me word not to desert my house,\nlest it might be burned and plundered, for that they themselves had no\nquarrel against me. Early next morning, I, accompanied by Abraham and\nanother Aneityumese, started off to visit the Bush party, and if\npossible avert the impending war, but without informing my Harbour\npeople. About four miles from our Station, we met the Chief of our\nfarthest inland friendly tribe with all his fighting men under arms.\nForcing me to disclose our errand, he reluctantly allowed us to pass.\nPraying to Jesus for guidance and protection, we pressed along the path\nthrough the thick bush four miles further still. My two attendants,\nsinking into silence, betrayed growing fear; and I, after trying to\ncheer them, had at their most earnest appeal to walk on also in silence,\nmy heart and theirs going up to Jesus in prayer. We passed many deserted\nvillages and plantations, but saw no living person. At last,\nunexpectedly, we stumbled upon the whole host assembled on the Village\nCommon at a great feast; and at sight of us every man rushed for his\nweapons of war. Keeping my Teachers close beside me, I walked straight\ninto the midst of them, unarmed of course, and cried as loud as I\npossibly could in their own tongue,\u2014\n\n\u201cMy love to all you men of Tanna! Fear not; I am your friend; I love you\nevery one, and am come to tell you about Jehovah God and good conduct\nsuch as pleases Him!\u201d\n\nAn old Chief thereon came and took me by the hand, and, after leading me\nabout among the people, said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSit down beside me here and talk with me; by-and-by the people will not\nbe afraid.\u201d\n\nA few ran off to the bush in terror. Others appeared to be beside\nthemselves with delight. They danced round us frantically, striking the\nground and beating a canoe with their clubs, while shouting to each\nother, \u201cMissi is come! Missi is come!\u201d The confusion grew every moment\nwilder, and there was a fiendish look about the whole scene. Men and\nboys rushed thronging around from every quarter, all painted in varied\nand savage devices, and some with their hair stuck full of fantastic\nfeathers. Women and children peered through the bush, and\ninstantaneously disappeared. Even in that anxious moment, it struck me\nthat they had many more children amongst them than the people around the\nshores, where women and children are destroyed by the cruelty and vices\nof \u201ccivilized\u201d visitors! After spending about an hour, conversing and\nanswering all questions, they apparently agreed to give up the war, and\nallowed me to conduct the Worship amongst them. They then made me a\npresent of cocoa-nuts and sugar-cane and two fowls, which my attendants\nreceived from them; and I, in return, presented a red shirt to the\nprincipal Chief, and distributed a quantity of fish-hooks and pieces of\nred calico amongst the rest. The leading men shook hands graciously, and\ninvited us often to come and see them, for after that visit they would\nharm no person connected with our Mission. Meantime, the Harbour people\nhaving learned where we had gone, had concluded that we would all be\nkilled and feasted upon. When we returned, with a present of food, and\ninformed them what we had heard and seen, their astonishment was beyond\nmeasure; it had never been so seen after this manner on Tanna! The peace\ncontinued for more than four weeks, an uncommonly prolonged truce. All\nhands were busy at work. Many yam plantations were completed, and all\nfences were got into excellent condition for a year.\n\nThe prejudices and persecutions of Heathens were a sore enough trial,\nbut sorer and more hopeless was the wicked and contaminating influence\nof, alas, my fellow-countrymen. One, for instance, a Captain Winchester,\nliving with a native woman at the head of the bay as a trader, a\ndissipated wretch, though a well-educated man, was angry forsooth at\nthis state of peace! Apparently there was not the usual demand for\nbarter for the fowls, pigs, etc., in which he traded. He developed at\nonce a wonderful interest in their affairs, presented all the Chiefs\naround with powder, caps, and balls, and lent among them a number of\nflash-muskets. He urged them not to be afraid of war, as he would supply\nany amount of ammunition. I remonstrated, but he flatly told me that\npeace did not suit his purposes! Incited and encouraged thus, these poor\nHeathen people were goaded into a most unjust war on neighbouring\ntribes. The Trader immediately demanded a high price for the weapons he\nhad lent; the price of powder, caps, and balls rose exorbitantly with\nevery fresh demand; his yards were crowded with poultry and pigs, which\nhe readily disposed of to passing vessels; and he might have amassed\ngreat sums of money but for his vile dissipations. Captain Winchester,\nnow glorying in the war, charged a large hog for a wine-glass full of\npowder, or three or four balls, or ten gun-caps; he was boastful of his\n\u201cgood luck\u201d in getting rid of all his old muskets and filling his yards\nwith pigs and fowls. Such is the infernal depth, when the misery and\nruin of many are thought to be more than atoned for by the wealth and\nprosperity of a few who trade in their doom!\n\nMiaki the war Chief had a young brother, Rarip by name, about eighteen\nyears of age. When this war began, he came to live with me at the\nMission House. After it had raged some time, Miaki forced him to join\nthe fighting men; but he escaped through the bush, and returned to me,\nsaying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, I hate this fighting; it is not good to kill men; I will live\nwith you!\u201d\n\nAgain the War Chief came, and forced my dear young Rarip to join the\nhosts. Of course, I could only plead; I could not prevent him. This\ntime, he placed him at his own side in the midst of his warriors. On\ncoming in sight of the enemy, and hearing their first yells as they\nrushed from the bush, a bullet pierced young Rarip\u2019s breast and he fell\ndead into the arms of Miaki. The body was carried home to his brother\u2019s\nvillage, with much wailing, and a messenger ran to tell me that Rarip\nwas dead. On hasting thither, I found him quite dead, and the centre of\na tragic ceremonial. Around him, some sitting, others lying on the\nground, were assembled all the women and girls, tearing their hair,\nwounding themselves with split bamboos and broken bottles, dashing\nthemselves headlong to the earth, painting all black their faces,\nbreasts, and arms, and wailing with loud lamentations! Men were also\nthere, knocking their heads against the trees, gashing their bodies with\nknives till they ran with streaks of blood, and indulging in every kind\nof savage symbol of grief and anguish. My heart broke to see them, and\nto think that they knew not to look to our dear Lord Jesus for\nconsolation.\n\nI returned to the Mission House, and brought a white sheet and some\ntape, in which the body of dear young Rarip was wrapped and prepared for\nthe grave. The Natives appeared to be gratified at this mark of respect;\nand all agreed that Rarip should have under my direction a Christian\nburial. The men prepared the grave in a spot selected near to his own\nhouse; I read the Word of God, and offered prayer to Jehovah, with a\npsalm of praise, amidst a scene of weeping and lamentation never to be\nforgotten; and the thought burned through my very soul\u2014oh, when, when\nwill the Tannese realize what I am now thinking and praying about, the\nlife and immortality brought to light through Jesus?\n\nAs the war still raged on, and many more were killed, vengeance\nthreatened the miserable Trader. Miaki attacked him thus,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou led us into this war. You deceived us, and we began it. Rarip is\ndead, and many others. Your life shall yet go for his.\u201d\n\nCaptain Winchester, heartless as a dog so long as pigs and fowls came to\nthe yard at whatever cost to others\u2019 lives, now trembled like a coward\nfor himself. He implored me to let him and his Mar\u00e8 wife sleep at my\nhouse for safety; but I refused to allow my Mission to be in any way\nidentified with his crimes. The Natives from other islands, whom he kept\nand wrought like slaves, he now armed with muskets for his defence; but,\nhaving no faith in them protecting or even warning him, he implored me\nto send one of my Teachers, to assist his wife in watching till he\nsnatched a few hours of sleep every day, and, if awake, he would sell\nhis life as dearly as he could by aid of musket and revolver. The\nTeachers were both afraid and disinclined to go; and I could not\nhonestly ask them to do so. His peril and terror became so real that by\nnight he slept in his boat anchored out in the centre of the bay, with\nhis arms beside him, and a crew ready to start off at the approach of\ndanger and lose everything; while by day he kept watch on shore, armed,\nand also ready to fly. Thus his miserable existence dragged on, keeping\nwatch alternatively with his wife, till a trading vessel called and\ncarried him off with all that he had rescued\u2014for which deliverance we\nwere unfeignedly thankful! The war, which he had wickedly instigated,\nlingered on for three months; and then, by a present given secretly to\ntwo leading Chiefs, I managed to bring it to a close. But feelings of\nrevenge for the slain, burned fiercely in many breasts; and young men\nhad old feuds handed on to them by the recital of their fathers\u2019 deeds\nof blood.\n\nAll through this war, I went to the fighting ground every Sabbath, and\nheld worship amongst our Harbour people. Hundreds assembled around me,\nand listened respectfully, but they refused to give up the war. One day,\nI determined to go through the bush that lay between and speak and pray\nwith the enemies also. Our Harbour folks opposed me, and one leading man\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, pray only for us, and your God will be strong to help us and we\nwill not be afraid! You must not pray with the enemy, lest He may help\nthem too.\u201d\n\nAfter this episode, I made it my duty always to visit both Camps, when I\nwent to the fighting ground, and to have worship with both,\u2014teaching\nthem that Jehovah my God was angry at all such scenes and would not\nfight for either, that He commanded them to live at peace.\n\nAbout this time, our Sabbath audiences at the Mission numbered forty or\nso. Nowar and three or four more, and only they, seemed to love and\nserve Jesus. They were, however, changeable and doubtful, though they\nexerted a good influence on their villages, and were generally friendly\nto us and to the Worship. Events sometimes for a season greatly\nincreased our usefulness. For instance, one of the Sacred Men when\nfishing on the coral reef was bitten by a poisonous fish. After great\nagony, he died, and his relatives were preparing to strangle his two\nwives that their spirits might accompany and serve him in the other\nworld. Usually such tragedies were completed before I ever heard of\nthem. On this occasion, I had called at the village that very day, and\nsucceeded in persuading them to bury him alone\u2014his wives being saved\nalive at my appeal. Thus the idea got to be talked of, and the horrible\ncustom was being undermined\u2014the strangling of widows!\n\nIn connection with such poisonings, I may mention that some of these\nfishes were deadly poisonous; others were unwholesome, and even\npoisonous, only at certain seasons; and still others were always\nnutritious and good. For our own part, we used fish sparingly and\ncautiously; and the doubtful ones we boiled with a piece of silver in\nthe water. If the silver became discoloured, we regarded the fish as\nunwholesome; if the silver remained pure, we could risk it.\n\nOne morning at daybreak I found my house surrounded by armed men, and a\nChief intimated that they had assembled to take my life. Seeing that I\nwas entirely in their hands, I knelt down and gave myself away body and\nsoul to the Lord Jesus, for what seemed the last time on earth. Rising,\nI went out to them, and began calmly talking about their unkind\ntreatment of me and contrasting it with all my conduct towards them. I\nalso plainly showed them what would be the sad consequences, if they\ncarried out their cruel purpose. At last some of the Chiefs, who had\nattended the Worship, rose and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cOur conduct has been bad; but now we will fight for you, and kill all\nthose who hate you.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cAT DAYBREAK I FOUND MY HOUSE SURROUNDED.\u201d]\n\nGrasping hold of their leader, I held him fast till he promised never to\nkill any one on my account, for Jesus taught us to love our enemies and\nalways to return good for evil! During this scene, many of the armed men\nslunk away into the bush, and those who remained entered into a bond to\nbe friendly and to protect us. But again their Public Assembly resolved\nthat we should be killed, because, as they said, they hated Jehovah and\nthe Worship; for it made them afraid to do as they had always done. If I\nwould give up visiting the villages, and praying and talking with them\nabout Jehovah, they intimated that they would like me to stay and trade\nwith them, as they liked the Traders but hated the Missionaries! I told\nthem that the hope of being able to teach them the Worship of Jehovah\nalone kept me living amongst them; that I was there, not for gain or\npleasure, but because I loved them, and pitied their estate, and sought\ntheir good continually by leading them to know and serve the only true\nGod. One of the Chiefs, who had lived in Sydney and spoke English,\nreplied for all the rest,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, our fathers loved and worshipped whom you call the Devil, the\nEvil Spirit; and we are determined to do the same, for we love the\nconduct of our fathers. Missi Turner came here and tried to break down\nour worship, but our fathers fought him and he left us. They fought also\nPeta, the Samoan Teacher, and he fled. They fought and killed some of\nthe Samoan Teachers placed on the other side of the Harbour, and their\ncompanions left. We killed the last foreigner that lived in Tanna before\nyou came here. We murdered the Aneityumese Teachers, and burned down\ntheir houses. After each of these acts, Tanna was good; we all lived\nlike our fathers, and sickness and death left us. Now, our people are\ndetermined to kill you, if you do not leave this island; for you are\nchanging our customs and destroying our worship, and we hate the Jehovah\nWorship.\u201d\n\nThen, surrounded by a number of men, who had spent some years in the\nColonies, he continued in a bitter strain to this effect,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe people of Sydney belong to your Britain; they know what is right\nand wrong as well as you; and we have ourselves seen them fishing,\nfeasting, cooking, working, and seeking pleasure on the Sabbath as on\nany other day. You say, we do not here need to cook any food on Sabbaths\nor to toil at our ovens, but you yourself cook, for you boil your kettle\non that day! We have seen the people do all the conduct at Sydney which\nyou call bad, but which we love. You are but one, they are many; they\nare right, and you must be wrong; you are teaching lies for Worship.\u201d\n\nAfter many such speeches, I answered all the questions of the people\nfully, and besides I cross-questioned my assailants on several subjects,\nregarding which they grossly contradicted each other, till the majority\nof voices cried out,\u2014\n\n\u201cThey are lying! Their words are crooked! Missi knows all the truth\nabout the people of Sydney!\u201d\n\nAlas, I had to admit that what they reported was too true regarding the\ngodless multitudes at home who made the Sabbath a day of pleasure, but\nnot regarding Jehovah\u2019s servants. By this time, they were willing to\nremain quiet, and allowed me to talk of spiritual things and of the\nblessings that the Sabbath and the Bible brought to all other lands, and\nto conduct in their presence and hearing the Worship of Jehovah.\n\nBut my enemies seldom slackened their hateful designs against my life,\nhowever calmed or baffled for the moment. Within a few days of the above\nevents, when Natives in large numbers were assembled at my house, a man\nfuriously rushed on me with his axe; but a Kaserumini Chief snatched a\nspade with which I had been working, and dexterously defended me from\ninstant death. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to\nthe Lord Jesus; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how attack might\nbe made; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the hand once nailed\non Calvary, and now swaying the sceptre of the Universe, calmness and\npeace and resignation abode in my soul.\n\nNext day, a wild Chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded\nmusket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand.\nI spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been\nthere, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would\nprotect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing\nprayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt\nimmortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes\nstrengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow;\nand they did tread swiftly upon each other\u2019s heels. Without that abiding\nconsciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour,\nnothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my\nreason and perishing miserably. His words, \u201cLo, I am with you alway,\neven unto the end of the world,\u201d became to me so real that it would not\nhave startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the\nscene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, \u201cI\ncan do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.\u201d It is the\nsober truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I\nhad my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed\nLord in those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being\nlevelled at my life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing \u201cHim\nwho is invisible!\u201d\n\nOne evening, I awoke three times to hear a Chief and his men trying to\nforce the door of my house. Though armed with muskets, they had some\nsense of doing wrong, and were wholesomely afraid of a little retriever\ndog which had often stood betwixt me and death. God restrained them\nagain; and next morning the report went all round the Harbour, that\nthose who tried to shoot me were \u201csmitten weak with fear,\u201d and that\nshooting would not do. A plan was therefore deliberately set on foot to\nfire the premises, and club us if we attempted to escape. But our\nAneityumese Teacher heard of it, and God helped us to frustrate their\ndesigns. When they knew that their plots were revealed to us, they\nseemed to lose faith in themselves, and cast about to circumvent us in\nsome more secret way. Their evil was overruled for good.\n\nNamuri, one of my Aneityumese Teachers, was placed at our nearest\nvillage. There he had built a house for himself and his wife, and there\nhe led amongst the Heathen a pure and humble Christian life. Almost\nevery morning, he came and reported on the state of affairs to me.\nWithout books or a school, he yet instructed the Natives in Divine\nthings, conducted the Worship, and taught them much by his good example.\nHis influence was increasing, when one morning a Sacred Man threw at him\nthe kawas, or killing stone, a deadly weapon, like a scythe stone in\nshape and thickness, usually round but sometimes angular, and from\neighteen to twenty inches long. They throw it from a great distance and\nwith fatal precision. The Teacher, with great agility, warded his head\nand received the deep cut from it in his left hand, reserving his right\nhand to guard against the club that was certain to follow swiftly. The\nPriest sprang upon him with his club and with savage yells. He evaded,\nyet also received, many blows; and, rushing out of their hands, actually\nreached the Mission House, bleeding, fainting, and pursued by howling\nmurderers. I had been anxiously expecting him, and hearing the noise I\nran out with all possible speed.\n\nOn seeing me, he sank down by a tree, and cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, Missi, quick! and escape for your life! They are coming to kill\nyou; they say, they must kill us all to-day, and they have begun with\nme; for they hate Jehovah and the Worship!\u201d\n\nI hastened to the good Teacher where he lay; I bound up, washed, and\ndressed his wounds; and God, by the mystery of His own working, kept the\ninfuriated Tannese watching at bay. Gradually they began to disappear\ninto the bush, and we conveyed the dear Teacher to the Mission House. In\nthree or four weeks, he so far recovered by careful nursing that he was\nable to walk about again. Some petitioned for him to return to the\nvillage; but I insisted, as a preliminary, that the Harbour Chiefs\nshould unitedly punish him who had abused the Teacher; and this to test\nthem, for he had only carried out their own wishes,\u2014Nowar excepted, and\nperhaps one or two others. They made a pretence of atoning by presenting\nthe Teacher with a pig and some yams as a peace-offering; but I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNo! such bad conduct must be punished, or we would leave their island\nby the first opportunity.\u201d\n\nNow that Sacred Man, a Chief too, had gone on fighting with other\ntribes, till his followers had all died or been slain; and, after three\nweeks\u2019 palaver, the other Chiefs seized him, tied him with a rope, and\nsent me word to come and see him punished, as they did not want us after\nall to leave the island. I had to go, for fear of more bloody work, and\nafter talk with them, followed by many fair promises, he was loosed.\n\nAll appearing friendly for some time, and willing to listen and learn,\nthe Teacher earnestly desired to return to his post. I pled with him to\nremain at the Mission House till we felt more assured, but he replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, when I see them thirsting for my blood, I just see myself when\nthe Missionary first came to my island. I desired to murder him, as they\nnow desire to kill me. Had he stayed away for such danger, I would have\nremained Heathen; but he came, and continued coming to teach us, till,\nby the grace of God, I was changed to what I am. Now the same God that\nchanged me to this, can change these poor Tannese to love and serve Him.\nI cannot stay away from them; but I will sleep at the Mission House, and\ndo all I can by day to bring them to Jesus.\u201d\n\nIt was not in me to keep such a man, under such motives, from what he\nfelt to be his post of duty. He returned to his village work, and for\nseveral weeks things appeared most encouraging. The inhabitants showed\ngrowing interest in us and our work, and less fear of the pretensions of\ntheir heathen Priest, which, alas! fed his jealousy and anger. One\nmorning during worship, when the good Teacher knelt in prayer, the same\nsavage Priest sprang upon him with his great club and left him for dead,\nwounded and bleeding and unconscious. The people fled and left him in\nhis blood, afraid of being mixed up with the murder. The Teacher,\nrecovering a little, crawled to the Mission House, and reached it about\nmid-day in a dying condition. On seeing him, I ran to meet him, but he\nfell near the Teacher\u2019s house, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, I am dying. They will kill you also. Escape for your life.\u201d\n\nTrying to console him, I sat down beside him, dressing his wounds and\nnursing him. He was quite resigned; he was looking up to Jesus, and\nrejoicing that he would soon be with Him in Glory. His pain and\nsuffering were great, but he bore all very quietly, as he said and kept\nsaying, \u201cFor the sake of Jesus! For Jesu\u2019s sake!\u201d He was constantly\npraying for his persecutors,\u2014\n\n\u201cO Lord Jesus, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. Oh,\ntake not away all Thy servants from Tanna! Take not away Thy Worship\nfrom this dark island! O God, bring all the Tannese to love and follow\nJesus!\u201d\n\nTo him, Jesus was all and in all; and there were no bands in his death.\nHe passed from us, in the assured hope of entering into the Glory of his\nLord. Humble though he may appear in the world\u2019s esteem, I knew that a\ngreat man had fallen there in the service of Christ, and that he would\ntake rank in the glorious Army of the Martyrs. I made for him a coffin,\nand dug his grave near the Mission House. With prayers, and many tears,\nwe consigned his remains to the dust in the certainty of a happy\nresurrection. Even one such convert was surely a triumphant reward for\nDr. and Mrs. Geddie, whom God had honoured in bringing him to Jesus. May\nthey have many like him for their crown of joy and rejoicing in the\ngreat day!\n\nImmediately after this, a number of Chiefs and followers called on me at\nthe Mission House, professing great friendliness, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMr. Turner gave our fathers great quantities of calico, axes, and\nknives, and they became his friends. If you would give the people some\njust now they would be pleased. They would stop fighting against the\nWorship.\u201d\n\nI retorted, \u201cHow was it then, if they were pleased, that they persecuted\nMessrs. Turner and Nisbet till they had to leave the island? Your\nconduct is deceitful and bad. I never will reward you for bad actions\nand for murder! No present will be given by me.\u201d\n\nThey withdrew sullenly, and seemed deeply disappointed and offended.\n\nOn one occasion, when a Chief had died, the Harbour people were all\nbeing assembled to strangle his widow. One of my Aneityumese Teachers,\nhearing of it, hastened to tell me. I ran to the village, and with much\npersuasion, saved her life. A few weeks thereafter she gave birth to a\nyoung chieftain, who prospered well. If our Harbour people told the\ntruth, the widows of all who fell in war were saved by our pleading.\nImmediately after the foregoing incident, a Sacred Man was dying, and a\ncrowd of people were assembled awaiting the event in order to strangle\nhis three wives. I spoke to them of the horrid wickedness of such\nconduct. I further reasoned with them, that God had made us male and\nfemale, the sexes so balanced, that for every man that had three or a\ndozen wives, as many men generally had none, and that this caused great\njealousy and quarrelling. I showed them further, that these widows being\nspared would make happy and useful wives for other kind and loving\nhusbands. After the Worship, I appealed to the Chief and he replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, it was a practice introduced to Tanna from the island of\nAneityum. It was not the custom of our fathers here to strangle widows.\nAnd, as the Aneityumese have given it up since they became worshippers\nof Jehovah, it is good that we now should give it up on Tanna too.\u201d\n\nThus these three widows were saved; and we had great hope in Christ that\nthe ghastly practice would soon disappear from Tanna.\n\nAn incident of this time created great wonder amongst the Natives;\nnamely, the Sinking of a Well. We had, heretofore, a boiling spring to\ndrink from, the water of which literally required in that climate days\nto cool down; we had also a stagnant pool at the lower end of a swamp in\nwhich the Natives habitually bathed, the only available fresh water\nbath! Beyond that, no drinking water could be had for six or seven\nmiles. I managed to sink a well, near the Mission House, and got about\ntwelve feet deep a good supply of excellent fresh water, though, strange\nto say, the surface of the well rose and fell regularly with every tide!\nThis became the universal supply for us and for the Natives all round\nthe Harbour and for miles inland. Hundreds of Natives from all parts of\nTanna flocked to examine this greatest wonder they had ever seen\u2014rain\nrising up out of the earth. I built it round with a kind of stone\nbrought in my boat from the other side of the bay; and for many years it\nwas the only fresh water supply for the Natives all around. Some years\nlater a native Chief sank a well about a mile nearer the entrance to the\nHarbour at his own village, and built it round with the bricks that I\nhad purchased for house-building; these he grabbed and thus\nappropriated! Many a vessel, calling at the Harbour, was glad to get her\ncasks refilled at my well, and all were apparently more friendly because\nof it; but the Sinking of this Well produced no such revolution as on\nAniwa,\u2014to be hereafter related.\n\nFor fully three months, all our available time, with all the native help\nwhich I could hire, was spent in erecting a building to serve for Church\nand School. It was fifty feet long, by twenty-one feet six inches broad.\nThe studs were three feet apart, and all fixed by tenon and mortise into\nupper and lower wall plates. The beautiful roof of iron, wood, and\nsugar-cane leaf, was supported by three massive pillars of wood, sunk\ndeeply into the ground. The roof extended about three feet over the wall\nplates, both to form a verandah and to carry the rain-drop free beyond\nthe walls. It was made of sugar-cane leaf and cocoa-nut leaves all\naround. The floor was laid with white coral, broken small, and covered\nwith cocoa-nut leaf mats, such as those on which the Natives sat.\nIndeed, it was as comfortable a House of Prayer as any man need wish for\nin the tropics, though having only open spaces for doors and windows! I\nbought the heavy wood for it on Aneityum\u2014price, fifty pairs of native\ntrousers; and these again were the gift of my Bible Class in Glasgow,\nall cut and sewed by their own hands. I gave also one hundred and thirty\nyards of cloth, along with other things, for other needful wood.\n\nMy Tannese people at first opposed the erection of a Church. They did\nnot wish Jehovah to secure a House on their island. On the opening day,\nonly five men, three women, and three children were present, besides our\nAneityumese Teachers. But after the morning service, on that day, I\nvisited ten villages, and had worship in each. The people were generally\nshy and unfriendly. They said that we were the cause of the prevailing\nsickness and fever. They had no idea of any sickness or death being\nnatural, but believed that all such events were caused by some one\n_nahaking_, _i.e._, bewitching them. Hence their incessant feuds; and\nmany were murdered in blind revenge.\n\nAs we were preparing a foundation for the Church, a huge and\nsingular-looking round stone was dug up, at sight of which the Tannese\nstood aghast. The eldest Chief said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, that stone was either brought there by Karapanamun (the Evil\nSpirit), or hid there by our great Chief who is dead. That is the Stone\nGod to which our forefathers offered human sacrifices; these holes held\nthe blood of the victim till drunk up by the Spirit. The Spirit of that\nstone eats up men and women and drinks their blood, as our fathers\ntaught us. We are in greatest fear!\u201d\n\nA Sacred Man claimed possession, and was exceedingly desirous to carry\nit off; but I managed to keep it, and did everything in my power to show\nthem the absurdity of these foolish notions. Idolatry had not, indeed,\nyet fallen throughout Tanna, but one cruel idol, at least, had to give\nway for the erection of God\u2019s House on that benighted land.\n\nAn ever-memorable event was the printing of my first book in Tannese.\nThomas Binnie, Esq., Glasgow, gave me a printing-press and a font of\ntype. Printing was one of the things I had never tried, but having now\nprepared a booklet in Tannese, I got my press into order, and began\nfingering the type. But book-printing turned out to be for me a much\nmore difficult affair than house-building had been. Yet by dogged\nperseverance I succeeded at last. My biggest difficulty was how to\narrange the pages properly! After many failures, I folded a piece of\npaper into the number of leaves wanted, cut the corners, folding them\nback, and numbering as they would be when correctly placed in the book;\nthen folding all back without cutting up the sheet, I found now by these\nnumbers how to arrange the pages in the frame or case for printing, as\nindicated on each side. And do you think me foolish, when I confess that\nI shouted in an ecstasy of joy when the first sheet came from the press\nall correct? It was about one o\u2019clock in the morning. I was the only\nwhite man then on the island, and all the Natives had been fast asleep\nfor hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like\na schoolboy round and round that printing-press; till I began to think,\nAm I losing my reason? Would it not be liker a Missionary to be upon my\nknees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever\nprinted in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me, that\nwas as true worship as ever was David\u2019s dancing before the Ark of his\nGod! Nor think that I did not, over that first sheet of God\u2019s Word ever\nprinted in the Tannese tongue, go upon my knees too, and then, and every\nday since, plead with the mighty Lord to carry the light and joy of His\nown Holy Bible into every dark heart and benighted home on Tanna! But\nthe Tannese had a superstitious dread of books, and especially of God\u2019s\nBook. I afterwards heard that Dr. Turner had printed a small primer in\nTannese, translated by the help of the Samoan Teachers; but this I never\nsaw till near the close of my work on Tanna. Dr. Geddie sent me a copy,\nbut it was more Samoan than Tannese, especially in its spelling, and I\ncould make little or nothing of it.\n\nShortly after this, I was greatly refreshed by the visit of an American\nwhaler, the _Camden Packet_, under Captain Allan. He, his chief officer,\nand many of his double company of seamen, were decided Christians\u2014a\ngreat contrast to most of the Traders that had called at Port\nResolution. The Captain cordially invited me on board to preach and\nconduct a religious service. That evening I enjoyed exceedingly\u2014wells in\nthe desert! The Captain introduced me, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cThis is my ship\u2019s company. My first officer and most of my men are real\nChristians, trying to love and serve Jesus Christ. We have been three\nyears out on this voyage, and are very happy with each other. You would\nnever hear or see worse on board of this vessel than you see now. And\nGod has given us gratifying success.\u201d\n\nHe afterwards told me that he had a very valuable cargo of sperm oil on\nboard, the vessel being nearly filled up with it. He was eager to leave\nsupplies, or do something for me, but I needed nothing that he could\ngive. His mate, on examining my boat, found a hole in her, and several\nplanks split and bulged in, as I had gone down on a reef with her when\nout on Mission work, and narrowly escaped drowning. Next morning, the\nCaptain, of his own accord, set his carpenter to repair the boat, and\nleft it as good as new. Not one farthing of recompense would any of them\ntake from me; their own Christian love rewarded them, in the\ncircumstances. I had been longing for a chance to send it to Sydney for\nrepairs, and felt deeply thankful for such unexpected and generous aid.\nThe Captain would not admit that the delay was any loss to him,\u2014his\nboats spending the day in purchasing cocoa-nuts and provisions from the\nNatives for his own ship. Oh, how the Christlike spirit knits together\nall true followers of Christ! What other earthly or human tie could have\nso bound that stranger to me? In the heart of Christ we met as brothers.\n\nDangers again darkened round me. One day, while toiling away at my\nhouse, the war Chief, his brother, and a large party of armed men\nsurrounded the plot where I was working. They all had muskets, besides\ntheir own native weapons. They watched me for some time in silence, and\nthen every man levelled a musket straight at my head. Escape was\nimpossible. Speech would only have increased my danger. My eyesight came\nand went for a few moments. I prayed to my Lord Jesus, either Himself to\nprotect me, or to take me home to His Glory. I tried to keep working on\nat my task, as if no one was near me. In that moment, as never before,\nthe words came to me,\u2014\u201cWhatsoever ye shall ask in My name, I will do\nit;\u201d and I knew that I was safe. Retiring a little from their first\nposition, no word having been spoken, they took up the same attitude\nsomewhat farther off, and seemed to be urging one another to fire the\nfirst shot. But my dear Lord restrained them once again, and they\nwithdrew, leaving me with a new cause for trusting Him with all that\nconcerned me for Time and Eternity. Perils seemed, however, to enclose\nme on every hand, and my life was frequently attempted. I had to move\nabout more cautiously than ever, some days scarcely daring to appear\noutside my Mission premises. For I have ever most firmly believed, and\ndo believe, that only when we use every lawful and possible means for\nthe preservation of our life, which is God\u2019s second greatest gift to man\n(His Son being the first), can we expect God to protect us, or have we\nthe right to plead His precious promises.\n\nThe vessel of one calling himself Prince de Jean Beuve, a French\nrefugee, who had become a naturalized American, visited Port Resolution.\nHe said, he had to escape from his own country for political offences.\nHis large and beautiful ship was fitted up and armed like a Man-of-war.\nShe was manned chiefly by slaves, whom he ruled with an iron hand. What\na contrast to Captain Allan\u2019s whaler! Yet he also was very sympathetic\nand kind to me. Having heard rumour of my trials and dangers, he came on\nshore, as soon as his ship cast anchor, with a body of armed men. He was\neffusively polite, with all a Frenchman\u2019s gush and gesticulation, and\noffered to do anything possible for me. He would take me to Aneityum or\nSydney or wherever I wished. The ship was his own; he was sailing\nchiefly for pleasure, and he had called at our Islands to see if\nsufficient trade could be opened up to justify his laying on a line of\nsteamers to call here in their transit. He urged me, I believe\nsincerely, to give him the pleasure of taking me and my belongings to\nsome place of safety. But I was restrained from leaving, through the\nfear that I would never be permitted to return, and that Christ\u2019s work\nwould suffer. In the still burning hope of being able to lead the\nTannese to love and serve Jesus, I declined with much gratitude his\ngenuine kindness. He looked truly sorry to leave me in the circumstances\nwherein I was placed. After two hours on shore, he returned to his ship\ntowards evening.\n\nKnowing that the Tannese were threatening to burn my former house, which\nI wished to remove to higher ground and add to the room I now occupied\non the hill, I took advantage of the presence of the Prince\u2019s vessel,\nand set my Aneityumese Teachers and some friendly Natives to prepare for\nthe task; but unfortunately, I forgot to send word to the Frenchman\nregarding my plans and aims. We removed the sugar-cane leaf thatch from\nthe roof of the house, and began burning it on cleared ground, so that I\nmight be able to save the heavy wood which could not be replaced on\nTanna. Our French friend, on seeing the flames rising up furiously, at\nonce loaded his heavy guns, and prepared his men for action. Under great\nexcitement, he came ashore with a large number of armed men, leaving the\nrest on board ready at a given signal to protect them with shot and\nshell. Leaving one half of those brought on shore to guard the boats, he\ncame running towards my house, followed by the other half, wet with\nperspiration, and crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cFer are dey? fer are dey? De scoundrels! I vill do for dem, and protect\nyou. I sall punish dem, de scoundrels!\u201d\n\nHe was so excited, he could scarcely compose himself to hear my\nexplanations, which, when understood, he laughed at heartily. He again\nurged me to leave in his vessel; he could not bear me to lead such a\nlife amongst savages. I explained to him my reasons for not leaving the\nisland, but these he seemed unable to understand. He put his men through\ndrill on shore, and left them under officers, ready for action at a\nmoment\u2019s warning, saying they would all be the better for a day on\nshore. He wished to take pot luck with me at our Mission House of one\nroom for all purposes! My humble dinner and tea must have been anything\nbut a treat for him, but he seemed to relish the deliverance for once\nfrom all the conventionalisms of the world. Before he left, he sent of\nhis own accord for all the Chiefs within reach, and warned them that if\nthey hurt me or took my life, he would return with his Man-of-war and\npunish them, by killing themselves and firing their villages; and that a\nBritish Man-of-war would also come and set their island on fire. They\npromised all possible good conduct, being undoubtedly put into great\nterror. The kind-hearted Frenchman left, with profuse expressions of\nadmiration for my courage and of pity for my lot. No doubt he thought me\na foolish dreamer of dreams.\n\nA miserable contrast befell us in the bad impression produced by the\nconduct of one of Captain T\u2014\u2014\u2019s vessels in the Sydney sandal-wood trade.\nWhale-boats had been sent out with Mr. Copeland and myself from Glasgow,\nas part of the necessary equipment of every Missionary on these Islands.\nMine being rather large and heavy, I had sold it to one of T\u2014\u2014\u2019s\ncaptains; but the other had also been left to my care. After having used\nmy boat for about twelve months\u2014the best boat in that trade only being\nexpected to last two years\u2014the Captain called on Mr. Copeland, and got a\nnote from him to me regarding the sale of his boat too. He declared,\nwhen calling on me, that Mr. Copeland had authorized him to get his boat\nfrom me in exchange for mine, which he had now been using for a year. I\nasked for the letter, and found it to be authority for me to sell his\nboat for cash only and at the same price as mine. Captain V\u2014\u2014 then raged\nat me and stormed, declaring that he would return my old boat, and take\nthe other in defiance of me. Swearing dreadfully, he made for his ship,\nand returned with a large party of men whom he had picked up amongst the\nIslands. Collecting also a company of Tannese, and offering them\ntobacco, he broke down the fence, burst into the boat-house, and began\nto draw out the boat. Here I reached the spot, and sternly opposed them.\nHe swore and foamed at me, and before the natives knocked and pulled me\nabout, even kicking at me, though I evaded his blows. Standing by, I\nsaid in Tannese,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou are helping that man to steal my boat; he is stealing it as you\nsee.\u201d\n\nOn hearing this, the Tannese ran away, and his own party alone could not\ndo it. In great wrath, he went off again to his vessel, and brought on\nshore as much tobacco as could be held in a large handkerchief tied by\nthe four corners; but even for that, our own Natives refused to help\nhim. He offered it then to a crowd of Inland savages, gathered at the\nhead of the bay, who, regardless of my remonstrances, launched the boat,\nhe raging at and all but striking me. Instead of returning, however, the\nother boat to the house, he merely set it adrift from his vessel, and it\nwas carried on to the reef, where it remained fast, and was knocked\nabout by the waves. After his vessel left, I, with much difficulty, got\nit off and brought it to the boat-house. Imagine, when such was their\ntyrannical treatment of a Missionary and a British fellow-subject, how\nthey would act towards these poor native Islanders.\n\nBy the earliest opportunity, I wrote all the facts of the case to his\nemployer, Captain T\u2014\u2014 of Sydney, but got not even a reply, while Captain\nV\u2014\u2014 continued in their trade, a scourge to these Islands, and a\ndishonour to his country and to humanity. Unfriendly Tannese now said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhen a white man from his own country can so pull and knock the\nMissionary about and steal his boat and chain without being punished for\nit, we also may do as we please!\u201d\n\nI hesitate not to record my conviction that that man\u2019s conduct had a\nvery bad effect, emboldening them in acts of dishonesty and in attempts\nupon my life till the Mission Station was ultimately broken up. After I\nhad to escape from Tanna, with bare life in my hand, one of the same\nCaptain\u2019s vessels called at Port Resolution and gave the Natives about\nthree pounds weight of useless tobacco, purchasable at Sydney for less\nthan one shilling per pound, to allow them to take away my boat, with\noars, sails, mast, and all other belongings. They also purchased all the\nplunder from my house. Both boats were so large and so strongly built,\nthat by adding a plank or two they turned them into small-decked\nschooners, admirably suited for the sandal-wood traffic round the\nshores, while larger vessels lay at safe anchorage to receive what they\ncollected. Once, when Dr. Inglis and I met in Sydney, we called on\nCaptain T\u2014\u2014 and stated the whole case, asking reasonable payment at\nleast for the boats. He admitted that the boats had been taken and were\nin his service, and agreed to pay us for the boats if we would repay the\nlarge sum invested therein by his Captains. Calling one of his clerks,\nhe instructed him to trace in the office record how much had been paid\nto the Tannese for the Missionary\u2019s boat.\n\nThe young man innocently returned the reply, \u201cThree pounds of tobacco.\u201d\n\nIn anger, he said, \u201cI understood that a larger value had been given!\u201d\n\nThe clerk assured him, \u201cThat is the only record.\u201d\n\nCaptain T\u2014\u2014, after discussing the worth of the boat as being about \u00a380,\nagreed to give us \u00a360, but in writing out the cheque, threw down the pen\nand shouted, \u201cI\u2019ll see you \u2014\u2014 first!\u201d\n\nOffering \u00a350, to which we agreed, he again resiled, and declared he\nwould not give a penny above \u00a330.\n\nWe appealed to him to regard this as a debt of honour, and to cease\nhaggling over the price, as he well knew how we had been wronged in the\nmatter.\n\nFinally we left him declaring, \u201cI am building similar boats just now at\n\u00a325 apiece; I will send you one of them, and you may either take that or\nwant!\u201d\n\nWe left, glad to get away on any terms from such a character; and,\nthough next year he did send one of his promised boats for me to\nAneityum, yet the conduct of his degraded servants engaged in the\nsandal-wood trade had a great share in the guilt of breaking up and\nruining our Mission. Thousands upon thousands were made by it yearly, so\nlong as it lasted; but it was a trade steeped in human blood and\nindescribable vice, nor could God\u2019s blessing rest on them and their\nill-gotten gains. Oh, how often did we pray at that time to be delivered\nfrom the hands of unreasonable and wicked men! Sandal-wood traders\nmurdered many of the Islanders when robbing them of their wood, and the\nIslanders murdered many of them and their servants in revenge. White\nmen, engaged in the trade, also shot dead and murdered each other in\nvicious and drunken quarrels, and not a few put end to their own lives.\nI have scarcely known one of them who did not come to ruin and poverty;\nthe money that came even to the shipowners was a conspicuous curse.\nFools there made a mock at sin, thinking that no one cared for these\npoor savages, but their sin did find them out, and God made good in\ntheir experience His own irrepealable law, \u201cThe wages of sin is death.\u201d\n\nShips, highly insured, were said to be sent into our Island trade to be\ndeliberately wrecked. One Sabbath evening, towards dark, the notorious\nCaptain H\u2014\u2014, in command of a large ship, allowed her to drift ashore and\nbe wrecked without any apparent effort to save her. Next morning, the\nwhole company were wading about in the water and pretending to have lost\neverything! The Captain, put in prison when he returned to Sydney for\nrunning away with another man\u2019s wife and property, imposed on Mr.\nCopeland and myself, getting all the biscuits, flour, and blankets we\ncould spare for his destitute and shipwrecked company. We discovered\nafterwards that she was lying on a beautiful bank of sand, only a few\nyards from the shore, and that everything contained in her could be\neasily rescued without danger to life or limb! What we parted with was\nalmost necessary for our life and health; of course he gave us an order\non Captain T\u2014\u2014 for everything, but not one farthing was ever repaid. At\nfirst he made a pretence of paying the Natives for food received; but\nafterwards, an armed band went inland night by night and robbed and\nplundered whatever came to hand. The Natives, seeing the food of their\nchildren ruthlessly stolen, were shot down without mercy when they dared\nto interfere; and the life of every white man was marked for speedy\nrevenge. Glad were we when a vessel called, and carried away these white\nheathen Savages.\n\nThe same Captain T\u2014\u2014 also began the shocking Kanaka labour-traffic to\nthe Colonies, after the sandal-wood trade was exhausted, which has since\ndestroyed so many thousands of the Natives in what was nothing less than\nColonial slavery, and has largely depopulated the Islands either\ndirectly or indirectly. And yet he wrote, and published in Sydney, a\npamphlet declaring that he and his sandal-wooders and Kanaka labour\ncollectors had done more to civilize the Islanders than all our Mission\nefforts combined. Civilize them, indeed! By spreading disease and vice,\nmisery and death amongst them, even at the best; at the worst, slaving\nmany of them till they perished at their toils, shooting down others\nunder one or other guilty pretence, and positively sweeping thousands\ninto an untimely grave. A common cry on their lips was,\u2014\n\n\u201cLet them perish and let the white men occupy these Isles.\u201d\n\nIt was such conduct as this, that made the Islanders suspect all\nforeigners and hate the white man and seek revenge in robbery and\nmurder. One Trader, for instance, a sandal-wooder and collector of\nKanakas, living at Port Resolution, abominably ill-used a party of\nNatives. They determined in revenge to plunder his store. The cellar was\nunderneath his house, and he himself slept above the trap-door by which\nalone it could be entered. Night and day he was guarded by armed men,\nNatives of adjoining islands, and all approaches to his premises were\nwatched by savage dogs that gave timely warning. He felt himself secure.\nBut the Tannese actually constructed a tunnel underground from the bush,\nthrough which they rolled away tobacco, ammunition, etc., and nearly\nemptied his cellar! My heart bled to see men so capable and clever thus\nbrutally abused and demoralized and swept away. By the Gospel, and the\ncivilization which it brings, they were capable of learning anything and\nbeing trained to a useful and even noble manhood. But all influence that\never I witnessed from these Traders was degrading, and dead against the\nwork of our Missions.\n\nThe Chief, Nowar Noukamara, usually known as Nowar, was my best and\nmost-to-be-trusted friend He was one of the nine or ten who were most\nfavourable to the Mission work, attending the Worship pretty regularly,\nconducting it also in their own houses and villages, and making\ngenerally a somewhat unstable profession of Christianity. One or more of\nthem often accompanied me on Sabbath, when going to conduct the Worship\nat inland villages, and sometimes they protected me from personal\ninjury. This Nowar influenced the Harbour Chiefs and their people for\neight or ten miles around to get up a great feast in favour of the\nWorship of Jehovah. All were personally and specially invited, and it\nwas the largest Assembly of any kind that I ever witnessed on the\nIslands.\n\nWhen all was ready, Nowar sent a party of Chiefs to escort me and my\nAneityumese Teachers to the feast. Fourteen Chiefs, in turn, made\nspeeches to the assembled multitude; the drift of all being, that war\nand fighting be given up on Tanna,\u2014that no more people be killed by\nnahak, for witchcraft and sorcery were lies,\u2014that Sacred Men no longer\nprofess to make wind and rain, famine and plenty, disease and\ndeath,\u2014that the dark heathen talk of Tanna should cease, that all here\npresent should adopt the Worship of Jehovah as taught to them by the\nMissionary and the Aneityumese,\u2014and that all the banished Tribes should\nbe invited to their own lands to live in peace! These strange speeches\ndid not draw forth a single opposing voice. Doubtless these men were in\nearnest, and had there been one master mind to rule and mould them,\ntheir regeneration had dawned. Though for the moment a feeling of\nfriendliness prevailed, the Tannese were unstable as water and easily\nswayed one way or the other. They are born talkers, and can and will\nspeechify on all occasions, but most of it means nothing, bears no\nfruit.\n\nAfter these speeches, a scene followed which gradually assumed shape as\nan idolatrous ceremonial and greatly horrified me. It was in connection\nwith the immense quantity of food that had been prepared for the feast,\nespecially pigs and fowls. A great heap had been piled up for each Tribe\nrepresented, and a handsome portion also set apart for the Missionary\nand his Teachers. The ceremony was this, as nearly as I could follow it.\nOne hundred or so of the leading men marched into the large cleared\nspace in the centre of the assembled multitudes, and stood there facing\neach other in equal lines, with a man at either end closing up the\npassage between. At the middle they stood eight or ten feet apart,\ngradually nearing till they almost met at either end. Amid tremendous\nsilence for a few moments all stood hushed; then every man kneeled on\nhis right knee, extended his right hand, and bent forward till his face\nnearly touched the ground. Thereon the man at the one end began\nmuttering something, his voice rising ever louder as he rose to his\nfeet, when it ended in a fearful yell as he stood erect. Next the two\nlong lines of men, all in a body, went through the same ceremonial,\nrising gradually to their feet, with mutterings deepening into a howl,\nand heightening into a yell as they stood erect. Finally, the man at the\nother end went through the same hideous forms. All this was thrice\ndeliberately repeated, each time with growing frenzy. And then, all\nstanding on their feet, they united as with one voice in what sounded\nlike music running mad up and down the scale, closing with a long,\ndeep-toned, hollow howl as of souls in pain. With smiles of joy, the men\nthen all shook hands with each other. Nowar and another Chief briefly\nspoke, and the food was then divided and exchanged, a principal man of\neach Tribe standing by to receive and watch his portion.\n\nAt this stage, Nowar and Nerwangi, as leaders, addressed the Teachers\nand the Missionary to this effect:\u2014\n\n\u201cThis feast is held to move all the Chiefs and People here to give up\nfighting, to become friends, and to worship your Jehovah God. We wish\nyou to remain, and to teach us all good conduct. As an evidence of our\nsincerity, and of our love, we have prepared this pile of food for you.\u201d\n\nIn reply, I addressed the whole multitude, saying how pleased I was with\ntheir speeches and with the resolutions and promises which they all had\nmade. I further urged them to stick fast by these, and that grand fruits\nwould arise to their island, to themselves and to their children.\n\nHaving finished a brief address, I then walked forward to the very\nmiddle of the circle, and laid down before them a bundle of stripes of\nred calico and pieces of white calico, a number of fish-hooks, knives,\netc. etc., requesting the two Chiefs to divide my offering of goodwill\namong the Tribes assembled, and also the pile of food presented to us,\nas a token of my love and friendship to them all.\n\nTheir insisting upon me taking their present of food, laid upon me an\nunpleasant and dangerous necessity of explaining my refusal. I again\nthanked them very warmly, and explained that, as they had in my presence\ngiven away all their food to an Idol God and asked his blessing on it as\na sacrifice, even to Karapanamun, the great Evil Spirit, my people and I\ndurst not and could not eat of it, for that would be to have fellowship\nwith their Idols and to dishonour Jehovah God. Christians could\nacknowledge only the one true and living God, and ask His blessing on\ntheir food, and offer it and themselves in thanksgiving unto Him, but\nunto no cruel or evil Spirit. Yet I explained to them how much I thanked\nthem, and how I loved them just as much as if we had eaten all their\ngifts, and how it would please us to see them all, along with my own\ngifts, divided amongst their Tribes.\n\nNot without some doubt, and under considerable trial, did I take this\napparently unfriendly attitude. But I feared to seem even to approve of\nany act of devil-worship, or to confirm them in it, being there to\ndiscourage all such scenes, and to lead them to acknowledge only the\ntrue God. I felt as if guilty and as if the hat were rising from my\nhead, when I heard them imprecating and appeasing their God, without\nbeing able to show them the God of Love and the better way into His\npresence through Jesus Christ. My opportunity to do so arose over the\nrefusal of the food offered unto Idols, and I told them of the claims of\nJehovah, the jealous God, who would not share His worship with any\nother. But all the time I felt this qualm,\u2014that it were better to eat\nfood with men who acknowledged some God and asked his blessing than with\nthose white Heathens at home, who asked the blessing of no God, nor\nthanked Him, in this worse than the dog which licks the hand that feeds\nit! Nowar and Nerwangi explained in great orations what I meant, and how\nI wished all to be divided amongst the assembled Tribes to show my love.\nWith this, all seemed highly satisfied.\n\nHeathen dances were now entered upon, their paint and feathers and\nornaments adding to the wildness of the scene. The men seemed to dance\nin an inside ring, and the women in an outside ring, at a considerable\ndistance from each other. Music was supplied by singing and clapping of\nhands. The order was perfect, and the figures highly intricate. But I\nhave never been able to associate dancing with things lovely and of good\nreport! After the dancing, all retired to the bush, and a kind of sham\nfight followed on the public cleared ground. A host of painted savages\nrushed in and took possession with songs and shoutings. From the bush,\non the opposite side, the chanting of women was heard in the distance,\nlouder and louder as they approached. Snatching from a burning fire\nflaming sticks, they rushed on the men with these, beating them and\nthrowing burning pieces of wood among them, till with deafening yells\namongst themselves and amidst shouts of laughter from the crowd, they\ndrove them from the space, and danced thereon and sang a song of\nvictory. The dancing and fighting, the naked painted figures, and the\nconstant yells and shoutings gave one a weird sensation, and suggested\nstrange ideas of Hell broken loose.\n\nThe final scene approached, when the men assisted their women to fill\nall the allotted food into baskets, to be carried home and eaten there;\nfor the different Tribes do not sit down together and eat together as we\nwould do; their coming together is for the purpose of exchanging and\ndividing the food presented. And now they broke into friendly confusion,\nand freely walked about mingling with each other; and a kind of savage\nrehearsal of Jonathan and David took place. They stripped themselves of\ntheir fantastic dresses, their handsomely woven and twisted grass\nskirts, leaf skirts, grass and leaf aprons; they gave away or exchanged\nall these, and their ornaments and bows and arrows, besides their less\nromantic calico and print dresses more recently acquired. The effusion\nand ceremonial of the gifts and exchanges seemed to betoken a loving\npeople; and so they were for the feast\u2014but that laid not aside a single\ndeadly feud, and streams of blood and cries of hate would soon efface\nall traces of this day.\n\nI had now six Stations, opened up and ministered to by Aneityumese\nTeachers, at the leading villages along the coast, and forming links in\na chain towards the other Mission Establishment on Tanna. And there were\nvillages prepared to receive as many more. These Teachers had all been\ncannibals once, yet, with one exception, they proved themselves to the\nbest of my judgment to be a band of faithful and devoted followers of\nChrist. Their names were Abraham, Kowari, Nomuri, Nerwa, Lazarus, and\nEoufati. I visited them periodically and frequently, encouraging and\nguiding them, as well as trying to interest the villagers in their\nteaching and work. But, whenever war broke out they had all to return to\nthe Mission House, and sleep there for safety by night, visiting their\nStations, if practicable, by the light of day. My poor dear Teachers,\ntoo, had to bear persecutions for Jesu\u2019s sake, as the following incident\nwill sorrowfully prove.\n\nA native woman, with some murderous purpose in her heart, pretended\ngreat friendship to the excellent wife of one of my fellow-labourers.\nShe was specially effusive in bringing to her dishes of food from time\nto time. Having thus gained confidence, she caught a little black fish\nof those parts, known to be deadly poisonous, and baked it up in a mess\nfor the unsuspecting Teacher\u2019s wife. On returning, she boasted of what\nshe had done, and thereon a friendly neighbour rushed off to warn the\nother, but arrived just to learn that the fatal meal had been taken.\nBeyond all reach of human skill, this unknown martyr for Christ died\nsoon after in great agony, and doubtless received her Master\u2019s reward.\n\nIn helping to open up new Stations, those dear native Teachers often\nbore the greatest hardships and indignities with a noble self-denial and\npositively wonderful patience. Nothing known to men under Heaven could\nhave produced their new character and disposition, except only the grace\nof God in Christ Jesus. Though still marred by many of the faults of\nHeathenism, they were at the roots of their being literally new\ncreatures, trying, according to their best light, to live for and to\nplease their new Master, Jesus Christ. This shone out very conspicuously\nin these two apostolic souls, Abraham and Kowari, as leaders among all\nthe devoted band.\n\nLet me recall another occasion, on which I prevented a war. Early one\nmorning, the savage yells of warring Tribes woke me from sleep. They had\nbroken into a quarrel about a woman, and were fiercely engaged with\ntheir clubs. According to my custom, I rushed in amongst them, and, not\nwithout much difficulty, was blessed in separating them before deadly\nwounds had been given or received. On this occasion, the Chiefs of both\nTribes, being very friendly to me, drove their people back from each\nother at my earnest appeals. Sitting down at length within earshot, they\nhad it out in a wild scolding match, a contest of lung and tongue.\nMeanwhile I rested on a canoe midway betwixt them, in the hope of\naverting a renewal of hostilities. By-and-by an old Sacred Man, a Chief\ncalled Sapa, with some touch of savage comedy in his breast, volunteered\nan episode which restored good humour to the scene. Leaping up, he came\ndancing and singing towards me, and there, to the amusement of all,\nre-enacted the quarrel, and mimicked rather cleverly my attempt at\nseparating the combatants. Smashing at the canoe with his club, he\nyelled and knocked down imaginary enemies; then, rushing first at one\nparty and then at the other, he represented me as appealing and\ngesticulating and pushing them afar from each other, till he became\nquite exhausted. Thereon he came and planted himself in great glee\nbeside me, and looked around as if to say,\u2014\u201cYou must laugh, for I have\nplayed.\u201d At this very juncture, a loud cry of \u201cSail O!\u201d broke upon our\nears, and all parties leapt to their feet, and prepared for a new\nsensation; for in those climes, everything\u2014war itself\u2014is a smaller\ninterest than a vessel from the Great Unknown World sailing into your\nHarbour.\n\nNot many days thereafter, a very horrible transaction occurred. Before\ndaybreak, I heard shot after shot quickly discharged in the Harbour. One\nof my Teachers came running, and cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, six or seven men have been shot dead this morning for a great\nfeast. It is to reconcile Tribes that have been at war, and to allow a\nbanished Tribe to return in peace.\u201d\n\nI learned that the leading men had in council agreed upon this\nsacrifice, but the name of each victim was kept a secret till the last\nmoment. The torture of suspense and uncertainty seemed to be borne by\nall as part of their appointed lot, nor did they prepare as if\nsuspecting any dread assault. Before daylight, the Sacred Men allocated\na murderer to the door of each house where a victim slept. A signal shot\nwas fired; all rushed to their doors, and the doomed ones were shot and\nclubbed to death as they attempted to escape. Their bodies were then\nborne to a sacred tree, and hung up there by the hands for a time, as an\noffering to the Gods. Being taken down, they were carried ceremoniously\nand laid out on the shore near my house, placed under a special guard.\n\nInformation had reached me that my Teachers and I were also destined\nvictims for this same feast, and sure enough we espied a band of armed\nmen, the killers, despatched towards our premises. Instantaneously I had\nthe Teachers and their wives and myself securely locked into the Mission\nHouse; and, cut off from all human hope, we set ourselves to pray to our\ndear Lord Jesus, either Himself to protect us or to take us to His\nglory. All through that morning and forenoon we heard them\ntramp-tramping round our house, whispering to each other, and hovering\nnear window and door. They knew that there were a double-barrelled\nfowling-piece and a revolver on the premises, though they never had seen\nme use them, and that may, under God, have held them back in dread. But\nsuch a thought did not enter our souls even in that awful time. I had\ngone to save, and not to destroy. It would be easier for me at any time\nto die than to kill one of them. Our safety lay in our appeal to that\nblessed Lord who had placed us there, and to whom all power had been\ngiven in Heaven and on Earth. He that was with us was more than all that\ncould be against us. This is strength; this is peace:\u2014to feel, in\nentering on every day, that all its duties and trials have been\ncommitted to the Lord Jesus,\u2014that, come what may, He will use us for His\nown glory and our real good!\n\nAll through that dreadful morning, and far into the afternoon, we thus\nabode together, feeling conscious that we were united to this dear Lord\nJesus, and we had sweet communion with Him, meditating on the wonders of\nHis person and the hopes and glories of His kingdom. Oh, that all my\nreaders may learn something of this in their own experience of the Lord!\nI can wish them nothing more precious. Towards sundown, constrained by\nthe Invisible One, they withdrew from our Mission House, and left us\nonce more in peace. They bore away the slain to be cooked, and\ndistributed amongst the Tribes, and eaten in their feast of\nreconciliation; a covenant sealed in blood, and soon, alas, to be buried\nin blood again! For many days thereafter, we had to take unusual care,\nand not unduly expose ourselves to danger; for dark characters were seen\nprowling about in the bush near at hand, and we knew that our life was\nthe prize. We took what care we could, and God the Lord did the rest, or\nrather He did all\u2014for His wisdom guided us, and His power baffled them.\n\nShortly thereafter, war was again declared by the Inland people\nattacking our Harbour people. It was an old quarrel; and the war was\nrenewed and continued, long after the cause thereof had passed away.\nGoing amongst them every day, I did my utmost to stop hostilities,\nsetting the evils of war before them, and pleading with the leading men\nto renounce it. Thereon arose a characteristic incident of Island and\nHeathen life. One day I held a Service in the village where morning\nafter morning their Tribes assembled, and declared that if they would\nbelieve in and follow the Jehovah God, He would deliver them from all\ntheir enemies and lead them into a happy life. There were present three\nSacred Men, Chiefs, of whom the whole population lived in\nterror,\u2014brothers or cousins, heroes of traditional feats, professors of\nsorcery, and claiming the power of life and death, health and sickness,\nrain and drought, according to their will. On hearing me, these three\nstood up and declared they did not believe in Jehovah, nor did they need\nHis help, for they had the power to kill my life by Nahak (_i.e._,\nsorcery or witchcraft), if only they could get possession of any piece\nof the fruit or food that I had eaten. This was an essential condition\nof their black art; hence the peel of a banana or an orange, and every\nbroken scrap of food, is gathered up by the Natives, lest it should fall\ninto the hands of the Sacred Men, and be used for Nahak. This\nsuperstition was the cause of most of the bloodshed and terror upon\nTanna; and being thus challenged, I asked God\u2019s help, and determined to\nstrike a blow against it. A woman was standing near with a bunch of\nnative fruit in her hand, like our plums, called quonquore. I asked her\nto be pleased to give me some; and she, holding out a bunch, said,\u2014\n\n\u201cTake freely what you will!\u201d\n\nCalling the attention of all the Assembly to what I was doing, I took\nthree fruits from the bunch, and taking a bite out of each, I gave them\none after another to the three Sacred Men, and deliberately said in the\nhearing of all,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou have seen me eat of this fruit, you have seen me give the remainder\nto your Sacred Men; they have said they can kill me by Nahak, but I\nchallenge them to do it if they can, without arrow or spear, club or\nmusket, for I deny that they have any power against me or against any\none by their Sorcery.\u201d\n\nThe challenge was accepted; the Natives looked terror-struck at the\nposition in which I was placed! The ceremony of Nahak was usually\nperformed in secret,\u2014the Tannese fleeing in dread, as Europeans would\nfrom the touch of the plague; but I lingered and eagerly watched their\nritual. As the three Chiefs arose, and drew near to one of the Sacred\nTrees, to begin their ceremonial, the Natives fled in terror, crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, away! Alas, Missi!\u201d\n\nBut I held on at my post of observation. Amidst wavings and\nincantations, they rolled up the pieces of the fruit from which I had\neaten, in certain leaves of this Sacred Tree into a shape like a waxen\ncandle; then they kindled a sacred fire near the root, and continued\ntheir mutterings, gradually burning a little more and a little more of\nthe candle-shaped things, wheeling them round their heads, blowing upon\nthem with their breaths, waving them in the air, and glancing wildly at\nme as if expecting my sudden destruction. Wondering whether after all\nthey did not believe their own lie, for they seemed to be in dead\nearnest, I, more eager than ever to break the chains of such vile\nsuperstition, urged them again and again, crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cBe quick! Stir up your Gods to help you! I am not killed yet; I am\nperfectly well!\u201d\n\nAt last they stood up and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWe must delay till we have called all our Sacred Men. We will kill\nMissi before his next Sabbath comes round. Let all watch, for he will\nsoon die and that without fail.\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cVery good! I challenge all your Priests to unite and kill me\nby Sorcery or Nahak. If on Sabbath next I come again to your village in\nhealth, you will all admit that your Gods have no power over me, and\nthat I am protected by the true and living Jehovah God!\u201d\n\nFor every day throughout the remainder of that week, the Conchs were\nsounded, and over that side of the island all their Sacred Men were at\nwork trying to kill me by their arts. Now and again messengers arrived\nfrom every quarter of the island, inquiring anxiously after my health,\nand wondering if I was not feeling sick, and great excitement prevailed\namongst the poor deluded idolaters.\n\nSabbath dawned upon me peacefully, and I went to that village in more\nthan my usual health and strength. Large numbers assembled, and when I\nappeared they looked at each other in terror, as if it could not really\nbe I, myself, still spared and well. Entering into the public ground, I\nsaluted them to this effect,\u2014\n\n\u201cMy love to you all, my friends! I have come again to talk to you about\nthe Jehovah God and His Worship.\u201d\n\nThe three Sacred Men, on being asked, admitted that they had tried to\nkill me by Nahak, but had failed; and on being questioned, why they had\nfailed, they gave the acute and subtle reply, that I also was myself a\nSacred Man, and that my God being the stronger had protected me from\ntheir Gods. Addressing the multitude, I answered thus,\u2014\n\n\u201cYea, truly; my Jehovah God is stronger than your Gods. He protected me,\nand helped me; for He is the only living and true God, the only God that\ncan hear or answer any prayer from the children of men. Your Gods cannot\nhear prayers, but my God can and will hear and answer you, if you will\ngive heart and life to Him, and love and serve Him only. This is my God,\nand He is also your friend if you will hear and follow His voice.\u201d\n\nHaving said this, I sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and\naddressed them,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome and sit down all around me, and I will talk to you about the love\nand mercy of my God, and teach you how to worship and please Him.\u201d\n\nTwo of the Sacred Men then sat down, and all the people gathered round\nand seated themselves very quietly. I tried to present to them ideas of\nsin, and of salvation through Jesus Christ, as revealed to us in the\nHoly Scriptures.\n\nThe third Sacred Man, the highest in rank, a man of great stature and\nuncommon strength, had meantime gone off for his warrior\u2019s spear, and\nreturned brandishing it in the air and poising it at me. I said to the\npeople,\u2014\n\n\u201cOf course he can kill me with his spear, but he undertook to kill me by\nNahak or Sorcery, and promised not to use against me any weapons of war;\nand if you let him kill me now, you will kill your friend, one who lives\namong you and only tries to do you good, as you all know so well. I know\nthat if you kill me thus, my God will be angry and will punish you.\u201d\n\nThereon I seated myself calmly in the midst of the crowd, while he\nleaped about in rage, scolding his brothers and all who were present for\nlistening to me. The other Sacred Men, however, took my side, and, as\nmany of the people also were friendly to me and stood closely packed\naround me, he did not throw his spear. To allay the tumult and obviate\nfurther bloodshed, I offered to leave with my Teachers at once, and, in\ndoing so, I ardently pled with them to live at peace. Though we got\nsafely home, that old Sacred Man seemed still to hunger after my blood.\nFor weeks thereafter, go where I would, he would suddenly appear on the\npath behind me, poising in his right hand that same Goliath spear. God\nonly kept it from being thrown, and I, using every lawful precaution,\nhad all the same to attend to my work, as if no enemy were there,\nleaving all other results in the hands of Jesus. This whole incident\ndid, doubtless, shake the prejudices of many as to Sorcery; but few even\nof converted Natives ever get entirely clear of the dread of Nahak.\n\nIf not truly converted, the two Priests were fast friends of mine from\nthat day, as also another leading man in the same district. They also\nreceived an Aneityumese Teacher to their village, protecting and showing\nkindness to him; one of the Sacred Men who could speak his language\nlived almost constantly with him, and some young people were allowed\ndaily to attend our School. These two and a number of others began to\nwear a kilt, and some a shirt also. Three of them especially, if not\nChristians, appeared to be not far from the Kingdom of God, and did all\nthat was in their power to protect and to assist me. A few began to pray\nto Jehovah in their houses, offering a kind of rude family worship, and\nbreathing out such prayers and desires as I had taught them for the\nknowledge of the true God and only Saviour. And these, as my companions,\naccompanied me from place to place when I visited their district.\n\nBut let us return to the war. Many Chiefs and villages were now involved\nin it; and a large part of the bush over the country between had been\nconsumed by fire, to prevent surprises. Yet, our Harbour people being\nassembled one night for consultation, a number of the Inland warriors\ncrept near unobserved and discharged a volley of muskets amongst them.\nSeveral were shot dead, and in the darkness and confusion the enemy got\nclear away. Revenge and self-preservation now united our people as one\nman, and every man assembled for action on the borders of the hostile\nTribes. I again visited them on the fighting ground. As I was seen\napproaching, the two old Priests, my friends, came to receive and escort\nme, protected by their clubs and muskets,\u2014the one blind of an eye lost\nin war marching before me, and the other behind me with poised spear and\nmighty club. Seating me in a central position, they assembled all the\nwarriors, except the watchmen, and these savage men listened attentively\nto my message, and bowed quietly during prayer. God only knows what may\nbe the fruit in some dark benighted soul! The whole host of them ceased\nfiring, till the two friendly Priests had again conveyed me safely\nbeyond the reach of danger.\n\nGoing among them frequently thus, they treated me with exceptional\nkindness, till one Sabbath I determined to go over and talk with the\nenemy also, in the hope of getting this sad war put an end to. Our\npeople were sternly opposed to this, not for fear of my safety, but lest\nI prayed for the enemy and my God might help them in the war. But my two\nfriends, the old Priests, persuaded them to let me go, and to cease\ntheir shooting till my return. They had an idea to buy, in this way, my\nintercession with Jehovah exclusively on their behalf; but I explained\nto them as on former occasions, that I was there for the good of all\nalike, that I loved them all and sought to lead them to give up war and\nbad conduct, for my God would hear and bless only those who feared and\nloved and obeyed Him. I had a long interview with the enemies also,\narguing against the evils of war, and urging them to give it up. They\nwere so far friendly; they allowed me to have worship amongst them, and\nI returned in safety before another musket was discharged on either\nside. The war still went on, though more languidly; but after a time the\nleaders entered into a kind of truce, and peace reigned for a season.\n\nThe other Mission Station, on the south-west side of Tanna, had to be\nvisited by me from time to time. Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, there, were\nboth in a weak state of health, having a tendency to consumption. On\nthis account they visited Aneityum several times. They were earnestly\ndevoted to their work, and were successful so far as health and the time\nallowed to them permitted. At this juncture, a message reached me that\nthey were without European food, and a request to send them a little\nflour if possible. The war made the journey overland impossible. A\nstrong wind and a high sea round the coast rendered it impracticable for\nmy boat to go. The danger to life from the enemy was so great, that I\ncould not hire a crew. I pled therefore with Nowar and Manuman, and a\nfew leading men to take one of their best canoes, and themselves to\naccompany me. I had a large flat-bottomed pot with a close-fitting lid,\nand that I pressed full of flour; and, tying the lid firmly down, I\nfastened it right in the centre of the canoe, and as far above\nwater-mark as possible. All else that was required we tied around our\nown persons. Sea and land being as they were, it was a perilous\nundertaking, which only dire necessity could have justified. They were\nall good swimmers, but as I could not swim the strongest man was placed\nbehind me, to seize me and swim ashore, if a crash came.\n\nCreeping round near the shore all the way, we had to keep just outside\nthe great breakers on the coral reef, and were all drenched through and\nthrough with the foam of an angry surf. We arrived, however, in safety\nwithin two miles of our destination, where lived the friends of my\ncanoe\u2019s company, but where a very dangerous sea was breaking on the\nreef. Here they all gave in, and protested that no further could they\ngo; and truly their toil all the way with the paddles had been severe. I\nappealed to them, that the canoe would for certain be smashed if they\ntried to get on shore, that the provisions would be lost, and some of us\nprobably drowned. But they turned to the shore, and remained for some\ntime thus, watching the sea. At last their Captain cried,\u2014\u201cMissi, hold\non! There\u2019s a smaller wave coming; we\u2019ll ride in now.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE DANGEROUS LANDING THROUGH THE SURF.]\n\nMy heart rose to the Lord in trembling prayer! The wave came rolling on;\nevery paddle with all their united strength struck into the sea; and\nnext moment our canoe was flying like a sea-gull on the crest of the\nwave towards the shore. Another instant, and the wave had broken on the\nreef with a mighty roar, and rushed passed us hissing in clouds of foam.\nMy company were next seen swimming wildly about in the sea, Manuman, the\none-eyed Sacred Man, alone holding on by the canoe, nearly full of\nwater, with me still clinging to the seat of it, and the very next wave\nlikely to devour us. In desperation, I sprang for the reef, and ran for\na man half-wading, half-swimming to reach us; and God so ordered it,\nthat just as the next wave broke against the silvery rock of coral, the\nman caught me and partly swam with me through its surf, partly carried\nme till I was set safely ashore. Praising God, I looked up and saw all\nthe others nearly as safe as myself, except Manuman, my friend, who was\nstill holding on by the canoe in the face of wind and sea, and bringing\nit with him. Others ran and swam to his help. The paddles were picked up\namid the surf. A powerful fellow came towards me with the pot of flour\non his head, uninjured by water. The Chief who held on by the canoe got\nseverely cut about the feet, and had been badly bruised and knocked\nabout; but all the rest escaped without further harm, and everything\nthat we had was saved. Amongst friends, at last, they resolved to await\na favourable wind and tide to return to their own homes. Singing in my\nheart unto God, I hired a man to carry the pot of flour, and soon\narrived at the Mission Station.\n\nSupplying the wants of our dear friends, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, whom we\nfound as well as could be expected, we had to prepare, after a few hours\nof rest, to return to our own Station by walking overland through the\nnight. I durst not remain longer away, lest my own house should be\nplundered and broken into. Though weak in health, my fellow-Missionaries\nwere both full of hope, and zealous in their work, and this somewhat\nstrange visit was a pleasant blink amidst our darkness. Before I had\ngone far on my return journey, the sun went down, and no Native could be\nhired to accompany me. They all told me that I would for certain be\nkilled by the way. But I knew that it would be quite dark before I\nreached the hostile districts, and that the Heathen are great cowards in\nthe dark and never leave their villages at night in the darkness, except\nin companies for fishing and such-like tasks. I skirted along the\nsea-shore as fast as I could, walking and running alternately; and, when\nI got within hearing of voices, I slunk back into the bush till they had\nsafely passed, and then groped my way back near the shore, that being my\nonly guide to find a path.\n\nHaving made half the journey, I came to a dangerous path, almost\nperpendicular, up a great rock round the base of which the sea roared\ndeep. With my heart lifted up to Jesus, I succeeded in climbing it,\ncautiously grasping roots, and resting by bushes, till I reached safely\nto the top. There, to avoid a village, I had to keep crawling slowly\nalong the bush near the sea, on the top of that great ledge of rock; a\nfeat I could never have accomplished even in daylight without the\nexcitement, but I felt that I was supported and guided in all that life\nor death journey by my dear Lord Jesus. I had to leave the shore, and\nfollow up the bank of a very deep ravine to a place shallow enough for\none to cross, and then through the bush away for the shore again. By\nholding too much to the right, I missed the point where I intended to\nreach it. Small fires were now visible through the bush; I heard the\nvoices of the people talking in one of our most heathen villages.\n\nQuietly drawing back, I now knew where I was, and easily found my way\ntowards the shore; but on reaching the Great Rock, I could not in the\ndarkness find the path down again. I groped about till I was tired. I\nfeared that I might stumble over and be killed; or, if I delayed till\ndaylight, that the savages would kill me. I knew that one part of the\nrock was steep-sloping, with little growth or none thereon, and I\nsearched about to find it, resolved to commend myself to Jesus and slide\ndown thereby that I might again reach the shore and escape for my life.\nThinking I had found this spot, I hurled down several stones and\nlistened for their splash that I might judge whether it would be safe.\nBut the distance was too far for me to hear or judge. At high tide the\nsea there was deep; but at low tide I could wade out of it and be safe.\nThe darkness made it impossible for me to see anything. I let go my\numbrella, shoving it down with considerable force, but neither did it\nsend me back any news.\n\nFeeling sure, however, that this was the place I sought, and knowing\nthat to await the daylight would be certain death, I prayed to my Lord\nJesus for help and protection, and resolved to let myself go. First, I\nfastened all my clothes as tightly as I could, so as not to catch on\nanything; then I lay down at the top on my back, feet foremost, holding\nmy head downwards on my breast to keep it from striking on the rock;\nthen, after one cry to my Saviour, having let myself down as far as\npossible by a branch, I at last let go, throwing my arms forward and\ntrying to keep my feet well up. A giddy swirl, as if flying through the\nair, took possession of me; a few moments seemed an age; I rushed\nquickly down, and felt no obstruction till my feet struck into the sea\nbelow. Adoring and praising my dear Lord Jesus, who had ordered it so, I\nregained my feet; it was low tide, I had received no injury, I found my\numbrella, and, wading through, I found the shore path easier and lighter\nthan the bush had been. The very darkness was my safety, preventing the\nNatives from rambling about. I saw no person to speak to, till I reached\na village quite near to my own house, fifteen or twenty miles from where\nI had started; here I left the sea path and promised young men some\nfish-hooks to guide me the nearest way through the bush to my Mission\nStation, which they gladly and heartily did. I ran a narrow risk in\napproaching them; they thought me an enemy, and I arrested their muskets\nonly by a loud cry,\u2014\n\n\u201cI am Missi! Don\u2019t shoot; my love to you, my friends!\u201d\n\nPraising God for His preserving care, I reached home, and had a long\nrefreshing sleep. The Natives, on hearing next day how I had come all\nthe way in the dark, exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cSurely any of us would have been killed! Your Jehovah God alone thus\nprotects you and brings you safely home.\u201d\n\nWith all my heart, I said, \u201cYes! and He will be your protector and\nhelper too, if only you will obey and trust in Him.\u201d\n\nCertainly that night put my faith to the test. Had it not been the\nassurance that I was engaged in His service, and that in every path of\nduty He would carry me through or dispose of me therein for His glory, I\ncould never have undertaken either journey. St. Paul\u2019s words are true\nto-day and for ever,\u2014\u201cI can do all things through Christ which\nstrengtheneth me.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER IX.\n _DEEPENING SHADOWS._\n\n Welcome Guests.\u2014A Fiendish Deed.\u2014The Plague of Measles.\u2014A Heroic\n Soul.\u2014Horrors of Epidemic.\u2014A Memorable New Year.\u2014A Missionary\n Attacked.\u2014In the Valley of the Shadow.\u2014Blow from an Adze.\u2014A\n Missionary\u2019s Death.\u2014Mrs. Johnston\u2019s Letter.\u2014A Heavy Loss.\u2014The\n Story of Kowia.\u2014Kowia\u2019s Soliloquy.\u2014The Passing of Kowia.\u2014Mortality\n of Measles.\u2014Fuel to the Fire.\u2014Hurricanes.\u2014A Spate of Blood and\n Terror.\u2014Nowar Vacillates.\u2014The Anger of the Gods.\u2014Not Afraid to\n Die.\u2014Martyrs of Erromanga.\u2014Visit to the Gordons.\u2014Their\n Martyrdom.\u2014Vindication of the Gordons.\u2014Gordon\u2019s Last Letter.\u2014Plots\n of Murder.\u2014Death by Nahak.\u2014Nowar Halting Again.\u2014Old Abraham\u2019s\n Prayer.\u2014Miaki at the Mission House.\u2014Satanic Influences.\u2014Perplexity\n Deepening.\u2014Selwyn\u2019s Testimony.\u2014Rotten Tracts.\u2014Captain and Mate of\n _Blue Bell_.\u2014My Precious Dog.\u2014Fishing Nets and Kawases.\u2014The Taro\n Plant.\u2014The Kava Drink.\u2014Katasian and the Club Scene.\u2014The\n Yams.\u2014Sunshine and Shadow.\u2014The Teachers Demoralized.\u2014The Chief\u2019s\n Alphabet.\u2014Our Evil Genius.\u2014Ships of Fire Again.\u2014Commodore\n Seymour\u2019s Visit.\u2014Nouka and Queen \u2019Toria.\u2014The Dog to his Vomit\n Again.\n\n\nIn September, 1860, I had the very great pleasure of welcoming, as\nfellow-labourers to Tanna, the Rev. S. F. Johnston and his wife, two\nable and pious young Missionaries from Nova Scotia. Having visited the\nwhole group of the New Hebrides, they preferred to cast their lot on\nTanna. During the Rainy Season, and till they had acquired a little of\nthe language, and some preparation had been made of a Station for\nthemselves, I gladly received them as my guests. The company was very\nsweet to me! I gave them about fourteen Tannese words to be committed to\nmemory every day, and conversed with them, using the words already\nacquired; so that they made very rapid progress, and almost immediately\nwere of some service in the Mission work. No man could have desired\nbetter companions in the ministry of the Gospel.\n\nAbout this time I had a never-to-be-forgotten illustration of the\ninfernal spirit that possessed some of the Traders towards these poor\nNatives. One morning, three or four vessels entered our Harbour and cast\nanchor off Port Resolution. The Captains called on me; and one of them,\nwith manifest delight, exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cWe know how to bring down your proud Tannese now! We\u2019ll humble them\nbefore you!\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cSurely you don\u2019t mean to attack and destroy these poor\npeople?\u201d\n\nHe answered, not abashed but rejoicing, \u201cWe have sent the measles to\nhumble them! That kills them by the score! Four young men have been\nlanded at different ports, ill with measles, and these will soon thin\ntheir ranks.\u201d\n\nShocked above measure, I protested solemnly and denounced their conduct\nand spirit, but my remonstrances only called forth the shameless\ndeclaration,\u2014\n\n\u201cOur watchword is,\u2014Sweep these creatures away and let white men occupy\nthe soil!\u201d\n\nTheir malice was further illustrated thus: they induced Kepuku, a young\nChief, to go off to one of their vessels, promising him a present. He\nwas the friend and chief supporter of Mr. Mathieson and of his work.\nHaving got him on board, they confined him in the hold amongst Natives\nlying ill with measles. They gave him no food for about four-and-twenty\nhours; and then, without the promised present, they put him ashore far\nfrom his own home. Though weak and excited, he scrambled back to his\nTribe in great exhaustion and terror. He informed the Missionary that\nthey had put him down amongst sick people, red and hot with fever, and\nthat he feared their sickness was upon him. I am ashamed to say that\nthese Sandal-wood and other Traders were our own degraded countrymen;\nand that they deliberately gloried in thus destroying the poor Heathen.\nA more fiendish spirit could scarcely be imagined, but most of them were\nhorrible drunkards, and their traffic of every kind amongst these\nIslands was, generally speaking, steeped in human blood.\n\nThe measles, thus introduced, became amongst our islanders the most\ndeadly plague. It spread fearfully, and was accompanied by sore throat\nand diarrh\u0153a In some villages, man, woman, and child were stricken, and\nnone could give food or water to the rest. The misery, suffering, and\nterror were unexampled, the living being afraid sometimes even to bury\nthe dead. Thirteen of my own Mission party died of this disease; and, so\nterror-stricken were the few who survived, that when the little Mission\nschooner _John Knox_ returned to Tanna, they all packed up and returned\nto their own Aneityum, except my own dear old Abraham.\n\nAt first, thinking that all were on the wing, he also had packed his\nthings, and was standing beside the others ready to leave with them. I\ndrew near to him, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAbraham, they are all going; are you also going to leave me here alone\non Tanna, to fight the battles of the Lord?\u201d\n\nHe asked, \u201cMissi, will you remain?\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cYes; but, Abraham, the danger to life is now so great that I\ndare not plead with you to remain, for we may both be slain. Still, I\ncannot leave the Lord\u2019s work now.\u201d\n\nThe noble old Chief looked at the box and his bundles, and, musing,\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, our danger is very great now.\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cYes; I once thought you would not leave me alone to it;\nbut, as the vessel is going to your own land, I cannot ask you to remain\nand face it with me!\u201d\n\nHe again said, \u201cMissi, would you like me to remain alone with you,\nseeing my wife is dead and in her grave here?\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cYes, I would like you to remain; but, considering the\ncircumstances in which we will be left alone, I cannot plead with you to\ndo so.\u201d\n\nHe answered, \u201cThen, Missi, I remain with you of my own free choice, and\nwith all my heart. We will live and die together in the work of the\nLord. I will never leave you while you are spared on Tanna.\u201d\n\nSo saying, and with a light that gave the foregleam of a martyr\u2019s glory\nto his dark face, he shouldered his box and bundles back to his own\nhouse; and thereafter, Abraham was my dear companion and constant\nfriend, and my fellow-sufferer in all that remains still to be related\nof our Mission life on Tanna.\n\nBefore this plague of measles was brought amongst us, Mr. Johnston and I\nhad sailed round in the _John Knox_ to Black Beach on the opposite side\nof Tanna and prepared the way for settling Teachers there. And they were\nplaced soon after by Mr. Copeland and myself with encouraging hopes of\nsuccess, and with the prospect of erecting there a Station for Mr. and\nMrs. Johnston. But this dreadful imported epidemic blasted all our\ndreams. Mr. Johnston and his wife devoted themselves, from the very\nfirst, and assisted me in every way to alleviate the dread sufferings of\nthe Natives. We carried medicine, food, and even water, to the\nsurrounding villages every day, few of themselves being able to render\nus much assistance. Nearly all who took our medicine and followed\ninstructions as to food, etc., recovered; but vast numbers of them would\nlisten to no counsels, and rushed into experiments which made the attack\nfatal all around. When the trouble was at its height, for instance, they\nwould plunge into the sea, and seek relief; they found it in almost\ninstant death. Others would dig a hole into the earth, the length of the\nbody and about two feet deep; therein they laid themselves down, the\ncold earth feeling agreeable to their fevered skins; and when the earth\naround them grew heated, they got friends to dig a few inches deeper,\nagain and again, seeking a cooler and cooler couch. In this ghastly\neffort many of them died, literally in their own graves, and were buried\nwhere they lay! It need not be surprising, though we did everything in\nour power to relieve and save them, that the Natives associated us with\nthe white men who had so dreadfully afflicted them, and that their blind\nthirst for revenge did not draw fine distinctions between the Traders\nand the Missionaries. Both were whites\u2014that was enough.\n\nThe 1st January, 1861, was a New Year\u2019s Day ever to be remembered. Mr.\nand Mrs. Johnston, Abraham and I, had spent nearly the whole time in a\nkind of solemn yet happy festival. Anew in a holy covenant before God,\nwe unitedly consecrated our lives and our all to the Lord Jesus, giving\nourselves away to His blessed service for the conversion of the Heathen\non the New Hebrides. After evening family worship, Mr. and Mrs. Johnston\nleft my room to go to their own house, only some ten feet distant; but\nhe returned to inform me that there were two men at the window, armed\nwith huge clubs, and having black painted faces. Going out to them and\nasking them what they wanted, they replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cMedicine for a sick boy.\u201d\n\nWith difficulty, I persuaded them to come in and get it. At once, it\nflashed upon me, from their agitation and their disguise of paint, that\nthey had come to murder us. Mr. Johnston had also accompanied us into\nthe house. Keeping my eye constantly fixed on them, I prepared the\nmedicine and offered it. They refused to receive it, and each man\ngrasped his killing stone. I faced them firmly and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou see that Mr. Johnston is now leaving, and you too must leave this\nroom for to-night. To-morrow, you can bring the boy or come for the\nmedicine.\u201d\n\nSeizing their clubs, as if for action, they showed unwillingness to\nwithdraw, but I walked deliberately forward and made as if to push them\nout, when both turned and began to leave.\n\nMr. Johnston had gone in front of them and was safely out. But he bent\ndown to lift a little kitten that had escaped at the open door; and at\nthat moment one of the savages, jerking in behind, aimed a blow with his\nhuge club, in avoiding which Mr. Johnston fell with a scream to the\nground. Both men sprang towards him, but our two faithful dogs\nferociously leapt in their faces and saved his life. Rushing out, but\nnot fully aware of what had occurred, I saw Mr. Johnston trying to raise\nhimself, and heard him cry,\u2014\n\n\u201cTake care! these men have tried to kill me, and they will kill you!\u201d\n\nFacing them sternly I demanded,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat is it that you want? He does not understand your language. What do\nyou want? Speak with me.\u201d\n\nBoth men, thereon, raised their great clubs and made to strike me; but\nquick as lightning these two dogs sprang at their faces and baffled\ntheir blows. One dog was badly bruised, and the ground received the\nother blow that would have launched me into Eternity. The best dog was a\nlittle crossbred retriever, with terrier\u2019s blood in him, splendid for\nwarning of the approaching dangers, and which had already been the means\nof saving my life several times. Seeing how matters stood, I now hounded\nboth dogs furiously upon them and the two savages fled. I shouted after\nthem,\u2014\n\n\u201cRemember, Jehovah God sees you and will punish you for trying to murder\nHis servants!\u201d\n\nIn their flight, a large body of men, who had come eight or ten miles to\nassist in the murder and plunder, came slipping here and there from the\nbush and joined them fleeing too. Verily, \u201cthe wicked flee, when no man\npursueth.\u201d David\u2019s experience and assurance came home to us, that\nevening, as very real:\u2014\u201cGod is our refuge and our strength ... therefore\nwe will not fear.\u201d But, after the danger was all past, I had always a\nstrange feeling of fear, more perhaps from the thought that I had been\non the verge of Eternity and so near the great White Throne than from\nany slavish fear. During the crisis, I felt generally calm, and firm of\nsoul, standing erect and with my whole weight on the promise, \u201cLo! I am\nwith you alway.\u201d Precious promise! How often I adore Jesus for it, and\nrejoice in it! Blessed be His name.\n\nI, now accustomed to such scenes on Tanna, retired to rest and slept\nsoundly; but my dear fellow-labourer, as I afterwards learned, could not\nsleep for one moment. His pallor and excitement continued next day,\nindeed for several days; and after that, though he was naturally lively\nand cheerful, I never saw him smile again. He told me next morning,\u2014\n\n\u201cI can only keep saying to myself, Already on the verge of Eternity! How\nhave I spent my time? What good have I done? What zeal for souls have I\nshown? Scarcely entered on the work of my life, and so near death! O my\nfriend, I never realized what death means, till last night!\u201d So saying,\nhe covered his face with both hands, and left me to hide himself in his\nown room. For that morning, 1st January, 1861, the following entry was\nfound in his Journal:\u2014\u201cTo-day, with a heavy heart and a feeling of\ndread, I know not why, I set out on my accustomed wanderings amongst the\nsick. I hastened back to get the Teacher and carry Mr. Paton to the\nscene of distress. I carried a bucket of water in one hand and medicine\nin the other; and so we spent a portion of this day endeavouring to\nalleviate their sufferings, and our work had a happy effect also on the\nminds of others.\u201d In another entry, on 22nd December he wrote:\u2014\u201cMeasles\nare making fearful havoc amongst the poor Tannese. As we pass through\nthe villages, mournful scenes meet the eye; young and old prostrated on\nthe ground, showing all these painful symptoms which accompany loathsome\nand malignant diseases. In some villages few are left able to prepare\nfood, or to carry drink to the suffering and dying. How pitiful to see\nthe sufferers destitute of every comfort, attention, and remedy that\nwould ameliorate their suffering or remove their disease! As I think of\nthe tender manner in which we are nursed in sickness, the many remedies\nemployed to give relief, with the comforts and attention bestowed upon\nus, my heart sickens, and I say, Oh my ingratitude and the ingratitude\nof Christian people! How little we value our Christian birth, education,\nand privileges, etc.\u201d\n\nHaving, as above recorded, consecrated our lives anew to God on the\nfirst day of January, I was, up till the sixteenth of the month,\naccompanied by Mr. Johnston and sometimes also by Mrs. Johnston on my\nrounds in the villages amongst the sick, and they greatly helped me. But\nby an unhappy accident, I was laid aside when most sorely needed. When\nadzing a tree for house-building, I observed that Mahanan the war\nChief\u2019s brother had been keeping too near me and that he carried a\ntomahawk in his hand; and, in trying both to do my work and to keep an\neye on him, I struck my ankle severely with the adze. He moved off\nquickly, saying,\u2014\u201cI did not do that,\u201d but doubtless rejoicing at what\nhad happened. The bone was badly hurt, and several of the blood-vessels\ncut. Dressing it as well as I could, and keeping it constantly soaked in\ncold water, I had to exercise the greatest care. In this condition\namidst great sufferings, I was sometimes carried to the villages to\nadminister medicine to the sick, and to plead and pray with the dying.\n\nOn such occasions, in this mode of transit even, the conversations that\nI had with dear Mr. Johnston were most solemn and greatly refreshing. He\nhad, however, scarcely ever slept since the first of January, and during\nthe night of the sixteenth he sent for my bottle of laudanum. Being\nseverely attacked with ague and fever, I could not go to him, but sent\nthe bottle, specifying the proper quantity for a dose, but that he quite\nunderstood already. He took a dose for himself, and gave one also to his\nwife, as she too suffered from sleeplessness. This he repeated three\nnights in succession, and both of them obtained a long, sound, and\nrefreshing sleep. He came to my bedside, where I lay in the ague-fever,\nand said with great animation, amongst other things,\u2014\n\n\u201cI have had such a blessed sleep, and feel so refreshed! What kindness\nin God to provide such remedies for suffering man!\u201d\n\nAt mid-day his dear wife came to me crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMr. Johnston has fallen asleep, so deep that I cannot awake him.\u201d\n\nMy fever had reached the worst stage, but I struggled to my feet, got to\nhis bedside, and found him in a state of coma, with his teeth fixed in\ntetanus. With great difficulty we succeeded in slightly rousing him;\nwith a knife, spoon, and pieces of wood, we forced his teeth open, so as\nto administer an emetic with good effects, and also other needful\nmedicines. For twelve hours, we had to keep him awake by repeated cold\ndash in his face, by ammonia, and by vigorously moving him about. He\nthen began to speak freely; and next day he rose and walked about a\nlittle. For the two following days, he was sometimes better and\nsometimes worse; but we managed to keep him up till the morning of the\n21st, when he again fell into a state of coma from which we failed to\nrouse him. At two o\u2019clock in the afternoon, he fell asleep, another\nmartyr for the testimony of Jesus in those dark and trying Isles,\nleaving his young wife in indescribable sorrow, which she strove to bear\nwith Christian resignation. Having made his coffin and dug his grave, we\ntwo alone at sunset laid him to rest beside my own dear wife and child,\nclose by the Mission House.\n\nIn Mrs. Johnston\u2019s account, in a letter to friends regarding his death,\nshe says:\u2014\n\n\u201cNext morning, the 17th, he rose quite well. He slept well the night\nbefore from having taken a dose of laudanum. He also gave some to me, as\nI had been ill all the day, having slept little for two or three\nnights.... Two men helped Mr. Paton to his bedside, as I found him lying\nvery low in fever, yet he waited on Mr. Johnston affectionately. For\nsome time, while he was in Mr. Paton\u2019s hands, I could scarcely keep\nmyself up at all. We thought it was from the laudanum I had taken. I had\nto throw myself down every few minutes.... For some weeks after, I was\nalmost constantly bedfast. I ate little; still I felt no pain, but very\nstupid.... At times, we have services with the Natives. For a week past,\nwe have scarcely gone to bed without fears. One night, our house was\nsurrounded with crowds of armed men, ready at any moment to break in\nupon us for our lives. We have had to sit in the house for days past,\nwith the doors locked, to prevent any of the savages from entering; for\nevery party seems to be united against us now. The great sickness that\nprevails amongst them is the cause of this rage. They say, we made the\ndisease, and we must be killed for it; that they never died off in this\nway before the religion came amongst them, etc., etc.\u201d\n\nMrs. Johnston recovered gradually, returned by the first opportunity to\nAneityum, and for nearly three years taught the girls\u2019 School at Dr.\nGeddie\u2019s Station. Thereafter she was married to my dear friend the Rev.\nJoseph Copeland, and spent with him the remainder of her life on Fotuna,\nworking devotedly in the service of the Mission, seeking the salvation\nof the Heathen.\n\nThe death of Mr. Johnston was a heavy loss. From his landing on Tanna,\nhe appeared to enjoy excellent health, and was always very active,\nbright, and happy, till after that attack by the savages with their\nclubs on New Year\u2019s Day. From that night, he never again was the same.\nHe never admitted that he had got a blow, but I fear his nervous system\nmust have been unhinged by the shock and horror of the scene. He was\ngenuinely lamented by all who knew him. Our intercourse on Tanna was\nvery sweet, and I missed him exceedingly. Not lost to me, however; only\ngone before!\n\nAnother tragedy followed, with, however, much of the light of Heaven\namid its blackness, in the story of Kowia, a Tannese Chief of the\nhighest rank. Going to Aneityum in youth, he had there become a true\nChristian. He married an Aneityumese Christian woman, with whom he lived\nvery happily and had two beautiful children. Some time before the\nmeasles reached our island, he returned to live with me as a Teacher and\nto help forward our work on Tanna. He proved himself to be a decided\nChristian; he was a real Chief amongst them, dignified in his whole\nconduct, and every way a valuable helper to me. Everything was tried by\nhis own people to induce him to leave me and to renounce the Worship,\noffering him every honour and bribe in their power. Failing these, they\nthreatened to take away all his lands, and to deprive him of\nChieftainship, but he answered,\u2014\n\n\u201cTake all! I shall still stand by Missi and the Worship of Jehovah.\u201d\n\nFrom threats, they passed to galling insults, all which he bore\npatiently for Jesu\u2019s sake. But one day, a party of his people came and\nsold some fowls, and an impudent fellow lifted them after they had been\nbought and offered to sell them again to me. Kowia shouted,\u2014\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t purchase these, Missi; I have just bought them for you, and paid\nfor them!\u201d\n\nThereon the fellow began to mock at him. Kowia, gazing round on all\npresent and then on me, rose like a lion awaking out of sleep, and with\nflashing eyes exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, they think that because I am now a Christian I have become a\ncoward! a woman! to bear every abuse and insult they can heap upon me.\nBut I will show them for once that I am no coward, that I am still their\nChief, and that Christianity does not take away but gives us courage and\nnerve.\u201d\n\nSpringing at one man, he wrenched in a moment the mighty club from his\nhands, and swinging it in air above his head like a toy, he cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome any of you, come all against your Chief! My Jehovah God makes my\nheart and arms strong. He will help me in this battle as He helps me in\nother things, for He inspires me to show you that Christians are no\ncowards, though they are men of peace. Come on, and you will yet know\nthat I am Kowia your Chief.\u201d\n\nAll fled as he approached them; and he cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhere are the cowards now?\u201d and handed back to the warrior his club.\nAfter this they left him at peace.\n\nHe lived at the Mission House, with his wife and children, and was a\ngreat help and comfort to Abraham and myself. He was allowed to go more\nfreely and fearlessly amongst the people, than any of the rest of our\nMission staff. The ague and fever on me at Mr. Johnston\u2019s death, so\nincreased and reduced me to such weakness that I had become insensible,\nwhile Abraham and Kowia alone attended to me. On returning to\nconsciousness, I heard as in a dream Kowia lamenting over me, and\npleading that I might recover, so as to hear and speak with him before\nhe died. Opening my eyes and looking at him, I heard him say,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, all our Aneityumese are sick. Missi Johnston is dead. You are\nvery sick, and I am weak and dying. Alas, when I too am dead, who will\nclimb the trees and get you a cocoa-nut to drink? And who will bathe\nyour lips and brow?\u201d Here he broke down into deep and long weeping, and\nthen resumed,\u2014\u201cMissi, the Tanna men hate us all on account of the\nWorship of Jehovah; and I now fear He is going to take away all His\nservants from this land, and leave my people to the Evil One and his\nservice!\u201d I was too weak to speak, so he went on, bursting into a\nsoliloquy of prayer: \u201cO Lord Jesus, Missi Johnston is dead; Thou hast\ntaken him away from this land. Missi Johnston the woman and Missi Paton\nare very ill; I am sick, and Thy servants the Aneityumese are all sick\nand dying. O Lord, our Father in Heaven, art Thou going to take away all\nThy servants, and Thy Worship from this dark land? What meanest Thou to\ndo, O Lord? The Tannese hate Thee and Thy Worship and Thy servants, but\nsurely, O Lord, Thou canst not forsake Tanna and leave our people to die\nin the darkness! Oh, make the hearts of this people soft to Thy Word and\nsweet to Thy Worship; teach them to fear and love Jesus; and oh, restore\nand spare Missi, dear Missi Paton, that Tanna may be saved!\u201d\n\nTouched to the very fountains of my life by such prayers, from a man\nonce a Cannibal, I began under the breath of God\u2019s blessing to revive.\n\nA few days thereafter, Kowia came again to me, and rousing me out of\nsleep, cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, I am very weak; I am dying. I come to bid you farewell, and go\naway to die. I am nearing death now, and I will soon see Jesus.\u201d\n\nI spoke what words of consolation and cheer I could muster, but he\nanswered.\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, since you became ill my dear wife and children are dead and\nburied. Most of our Aneityumese are dead, and I am dying. If I remain on\nthe hill, and die here at the Mission House, there are none left to help\nAbraham to carry me down to the grave where my wife and children are\nlaid. I wish to lie beside them, that we may rise together in the Great\nDay when Jesus comes. I am happy, looking unto Jesus! One thing only\ndeeply grieves me now; I fear God is taking us all away from Tanna, and\nwill leave my poor people dark and benighted as before, for they hate\nJesus and the Worship of Jehovah. O Missi, pray for them, and pray for\nme once more before I go!\u201d\n\nHe knelt down at my side, and we prayed for each other and for Tanna. I\nthen urged him to remain at the Mission House, but he replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cO Missi, you do not know how near to death I am! I am just going, and\nwill soon be with Jesus, and see my wife and children now. While a\nlittle strength is left, I will lean on Abraham\u2019s arm, and go down to\nthe graves of my dear ones and fall asleep there, and Abraham will dig a\nquiet bed and lay me beside them. Farewell, Missi, I am very near death\nnow; we will meet again in Jesus and with Jesus!\u201d\n\nWith many tears he dragged himself away; and my heart-strings seemed all\ntied round that noble simple soul, and felt like breaking one by one as\nhe left me there on my bed of fever all alone. Abraham sustained him,\ntottering to the place of graves; there he lay down, and immediately\ngave up the ghost and slept in Jesus; and there the faithful Abraham\nburied him beside his wife and children. Thus died a man who had been a\ncannibal Chief, but by the grace of God and the love of Jesus changed,\ntransfigured into a character of light and beauty. What think ye of\nthis, ye scoffers at Missions? What think ye of this, ye sceptics as to\nthe reality of conversion? He died, as he had lived since Jesus came to\nhis heart; without a fear as to death, with an ever-brightening\nassurance as to salvation and glory through the blood of the Lamb of\nGod, that blood which had cleansed him from all his sins, and had\ndelivered him from their power. I lost, in losing him, one of my best\nfriends and most courageous helpers; but I knew, that day, and I know\nnow, that there is one soul at least from Tanna to sing the glories of\nJesus in Heaven\u2014and, oh, the rapture when I meet him there!\n\nBefore leaving this terrible plague of measles, I may record my belief\nthat it swept away, with the accompanying sore throat and diarrh\u0153a, a\nthird of the entire population of Tanna; nay, in certain localities more\nthan a third perished. The living declared themselves unable to bury the\ndead, and great want and suffering ensued. The Teacher and his wife and\nchild, placed by us at Black Beach, were also taken away; and his\ncompanion, the other Teacher there, embraced the first opportunity to\nleave along with his wife for his own island, else his life would have\nbeen taken in revenge. Yet, from all accounts afterwards received, I do\nnot think the measles were more fatal on Tanna than on the other Islands\nof the group. They appear to have carried off even a larger proportion\non Aniwa, the future scene of my many sorrows but of greater triumphs.\n\nA new incentive was added to the already cruel superstitions of the\nNatives. The Sandal-wooders, our degraded fellow-countrymen, in order to\ndivert attention from themselves, stirred the Natives with the wild\nfaith that the Missionaries and the Worship had brought all this\nsickness, and that our lives should be taken in revenge. Some Captains,\non calling with their ships, made a pretence of refusing to trade with\nthe Natives as long as I was permitted to live on the island. One Trader\noffered to come on shore and live amongst the Tannese, and supply them\nwith tobacco and powder, and caps and balls, on condition that the\nMissionary and Abraham were got out of the way! He knew that these were\ntheir greatest wants, and that they eagerly desired these things, but he\nrefused to make any sales to them, till we were murdered or driven away.\nThis was fuel to their savage hate, and drove them mad with revenge, and\nadded countless troubles to our lot.\n\nHurricane and tempest also fought against us at that time. On the 3rd,\nand again on the 10th March, 1861, we had severe and destructive storms.\nThey tore up and smashed bread-fruit, chestnut, cocoa-nut, and all kinds\nof fruit trees. The ground was strewn thick with half-ripe and wasted\nfruits. Yam plantations and bananas were riven to pieces, and fences and\nhouses lay piled in a common ruin. My Mission House was also greatly\ninjured; and the Church, on which I had spent many weeks of labour, was\nnearly levelled with the ground. Trees of forty years\u2019 growth were\nbroken like straws, or lifted by the roots and blown away. At the other\nStation, all Mr. Mathieson\u2019s premises except one bedroom were swept off\nin the breath of the hurricane. The sea rose alarmingly and its waves\nrolled far inland, causing terrible destruction. Had not the merciful\nLord left one bedroom at my Station and one at Mr. Mathieson\u2019s partly\nhabitable, I know not what in the circumstances we could have done. Men\nof fifty years declared that never such a tempest had shaken their\nIslands. Canoes were shivered on the coral rocks, and Villages were left\nwith nothing but ruins to mark where they had been. Though rain poured\nin torrents, I had to keep near my fallen house for hours and hours to\nprevent the Natives from carrying away everything I had in this world;\nand after the second storm, all my earthly belongings had to be secured\nin the one still-standing room.\n\nFollowing upon this came another spate of thirst for our blood, which\nwas increased in the following manner. Miaki the war Chief had an infant\nson, who had just died. They told us that four men were slain at the\nsame time, that their spirits might serve and accompany him in the other\nworld; and that our death also was again resolved upon. For four days\nthey surrounded our diminished premises. We locked ourselves all up in\nthat single bedroom, and armed savages kept prowling about to take our\nlives. What but the restraining pity of the Lord kept them from breaking\nin upon us? They killed our fowls. They cut down and destroyed all our\nremaining bananas. They broke down the fence around the plantation, and\ntried to burn it, but failed. They speared and killed some of the few\ngoats\u2014my sole supply of milk. We were helpless, and kept breathing out\nour souls in prayer; and God did preserve us, but, oh, what a trying\ntime!\n\nThe horror grew, when shortly thereafter we learned that our people near\nthe Harbour had killed four men and presented their bodies to certain\nChiefs who feasted on them; and that they in return had given large fat\nhogs to our people, one for each of ten bodies which our people had\nformerly presented to them. Within a few months, thirteen or fourteen\npersons, nearly all refugees or prisoners of war, were reported to us as\nkilled and feasted upon. We generally heard nothing of these murders\ntill all was over, but in any case, I would have been helpless against\ntheir bloodthirst, even had I exposed myself to their savage enmity.\nThey sent two dead bodies to our nearest village, where still we\nconducted Worship every Sabbath when we durst appear amongst them; but\nour people refused to receive them, saying, \u201cNow we know that it is\nwrong to kill and eat our fellow-creatures.\u201d A Chief from another\nvillage, being present, eagerly received them and carried them off to a\ngreat feast for which he was preparing.\n\nAt this juncture, our friendly Chief Nowar seemed to become afraid. His\nlife also had been threatened; and our life had been often attempted of\nlate. Society around was all in turmoil, and Nowar urged us all to leave\nand take refuge in Aneityum till these dangers blew past, and he himself\nwould accompany us. I refused, however, to leave. Indeed, there was no\nimmediate means of escape, except my boat,\u2014which would have been almost\nmadness in an open sea voyage of fifty miles, with only Nowar and the\nTeachers, all inexperienced hands. Nowar, being angry and afraid, took\nhis revenge by laying aside his shirt and kilt, returning to his heathen\nnakedness and paint, attending the meetings of the savages, and\nabsenting himself from the Sabbath Worship. But after about three weeks\nhe resumed the Christian garments, and, feeling that the danger had for\nthe time passed over, he returned to us as friendly as ever. Poor Nowar!\nif he only knew what thousands of Christians at home do every day just\nto save their skins; and then if he only knew how hardly these\nChristians can speak against Heathen converts!\n\nMy first baptism on Tanna was that of a Teacher\u2019s child. About fifty\npersons were present, and Miaki the war Chief was there also. Alas, that\nchild died in the plague of measles, and of course the Worship was\nblamed. Deaths, hurricanes all seemed to be turned against us. A\nthunderstorm came in the wake of the last hurricane. A man and a woman\nwere killed. Not far from my house, the hill was struck, a large mass\nwas dislodged from its shoulder and hurled into the valley below. This\nwas the manifest token to them that the Gods were angry and that we were\nthe cause! God\u2019s grace alone kept us from sinking, and the hope of yet\nseeing them delivered from their Heathenism, and brought to love and\nserve Jesus Christ. For that everything could be borne; and I knew that\nthis was the post of duty, for it was the Lord undoubtedly that placed\nme there.\n\nOne day, about this time, I heard an unusual bleating amongst my few\nremaining goats, as if they were being killed or tortured. I rushed to\nthe goathouse, and found myself instantly surrounded by a band of armed\nmen. The snare had caught me, their weapons were raised, and I expected\nnext instant to die. But God moved me to talk to them firmly and kindly;\nI warned them of their sin and its punishment; I showed them that only\nmy love and pity led me to remain there seeking their good, and that if\nthey killed me they killed their best friend. I further assured them\nthat I was not afraid to die, for at death my Saviour would take me to\nbe with Himself in Heaven, and to be far happier than I had ever been on\nEarth; and that my only desire to live was to make them all as happy, by\nteaching them to love and serve my Lord Jesus. I then lifted up my hands\nand eyes to the Heavens, and prayed aloud for Jesus to bless all my dear\nTannese, and either to protect me or to take me home to Glory as He saw\nto be for the best. One after another they slipped away from me, and\nJesus restrained them once again. Did ever mother run more quickly to\nprotect her crying child in danger\u2019s hour, than the Lord Jesus hastens\nto answer believing prayer, and send help to His servants in His own\ngood time and way, so far as it shall be for His glory and their good? A\nwoman may forget her child, yet will not I forget thee, saith the Lord.\nOh, that all my readers knew and felt this, as in those days and ever\nsince I have felt that His promise is a reality, and that He is with His\nservants to support and bless them even unto the end of the world!\n\nMay, 1861, brought with it a sorrowful and tragic event, which fell as\nthe very shadow of doom across our path; I mean the martyrdom of the\nGordons on Erromanga. Rev. G. N. Gordon was a native of Prince Edward\nIsland, Nova Scotia, and was born in 1822. He was educated at the Free\nChurch College, Halifax, and placed as Missionary on Erromanga, in June,\n1857. Much troubled and opposed by the Sandal-wooders, he had yet\nacquired the language and was making progress by inroads on Heathenism.\nA considerable number of young men and women embraced the Christian\nFaith, lived at the Mission House, and devotedly helped him and his\nexcellent wife in all their work. But the hurricanes and the measles,\nalready referred to, caused great mortality in Erromanga also; and the\ndegraded Traders, who had introduced the plague, in order to save\nthemselves from revenge, stimulated the superstitions of the Heathen,\nand charged the Missionaries with causing sickness and all other\ncalamities. The Sandal-wooders hated him for fearlessly denouncing and\nexposing their hideous atrocities.\n\nWhen Mr. Copeland and I placed the Native Teachers at Black Beach,\nTanna, we ran across to Erromanga in the _John Knox_, taking a harmonium\nto Mrs. Gordon, just come to their order from Sydney. When it was opened\nout at the Mission House, and Mrs. Gordon began playing on it and\nsinging sweet hymns, the native women were in ecstasies. They at once\nproposed to go off to the bush and cut each a burden of long grass, to\nthatch the printing-office which Mr. Gordon was building in order to\nprint the Scriptures in their own tongue, if only Mrs. Gordon would play\nto them at night and teach them to sing God\u2019s praises. They joyfully did\nso, and then spent a happy evening singing those hymns. Next day being\nSabbath, we had a delightful season there, about thirty attending Church\nand listening eagerly. The young men and women, living at the Mission\nHouse, were being trained to become Teachers. They were reading a small\nbook in their own language, telling them the story of Joseph; and the\nwork every way seemed most hopeful. The Mission House had been removed a\nmile or so up a hill, partly for Mrs. Gordon\u2019s health, and partly to\nescape the annoying and contaminating influence of the Sandal-wooders on\nhis Christian Natives.\n\nOn 20th May, 1861, he was still working at the roofing of the\nprinting-office, and had sent his lads to bring each a load of the long\ngrass to finish the thatching. Meantime, a party of Erromangans from a\ndistrict called Bunk-Hill, under a Chief named Lovu, had been watching\nhim. They had been to the Mission House inquiring, and they had seen him\nsend away his Christian lads. They then hid in the bush, and sent two of\ntheir men to the Missionary to ask for calico. On a piece of wood he\nwrote a note to Mrs. Gordon to give them two yards each. They asked him\nto go with them to the Mission House, as they needed medicine for a sick\nboy, and Lovu their Chief wanted to see him. He tied up in a napkin a\nmeal of food, which had been brought to him but not eaten, and started\nto go with them. He requested the native Narubulet to go on before, with\nhis companion; but they insisted upon his going in front. In crossing a\nstreamlet, which I visited shortly afterwards, his foot slipped. A blow\nwas aimed at him with a tomahawk which he caught; the other man struck,\nbut his weapon was also caught. One of the tomahawks was then wrenched\nout of his grasp. Next moment, a blow on the spine laid the dear\nMissionary low, and a second on the neck almost severed the head from\nthe body. The other Natives then rushed from their ambush, and slashed\nhim to pieces, and began dancing round him with frantic shoutings. Mrs.\nGordon, hearing the noise, came out and stood in front of the Mission\nHouse, looking in the direction of her husband\u2019s working place and\nwondering what had happened. Ouben, one of the party, who had run\ntowards the Station the moment that Mr. Gordon fell, now approached her.\nA merciful clump of trees had hid from her eyes all that had occurred,\nand she said to Ouben,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the cause of that noise?\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cOh, nothing! only the boys amusing themselves!\u201d\n\nSaying, \u201cWhere are the boys?\u201d she turned round.\n\nOuben slipped stealthily behind her, sank his tomahawk into her back,\nand with another blow almost severed her head!\n\nSuch was the fate of those two devoted servants of the Lord; loving in\ntheir lives, and in their deaths scarcely divided\u2014their spirits, in the\ncrown of martyrdom, entered Glory together, to be welcomed by Williams\nand Harris, whose blood was shed on the same dark isle for the name and\ncause of Jesus. They had laboured four years on Erromanga, amidst trials\nand dangers manifold, and had not been without tokens of blessing in the\nLord\u2019s work. Never more earnest and devoted Missionaries lived or died\nin the Heathen field. Other accounts, indeed, have been published, and\nanother was reported to me by Mr. Gordon\u2019s Christian lads; but the above\ncombines faithfully the principal facts in the story. One young\nChristian lad from a distance saw Mr. Gordon murdered; and a woman saw\nMrs. Gordon fall. The above facts are vouched for by a Mr. Milne, one of\nthe few respectable Sandal-wooders, who was there at the time, and\nhelped the Christian Natives to bury the remains, which he says were\npainfully mutilated.\n\nSome severe criticisms, of course, were written and published by those\nangelic creatures who judge all things from their own safe and easy\ndistance. Mr. Gordon\u2019s lack of prudence was sorely blamed, forsooth! One\nwould so like to see these people just for one week in such trying\ncircumstances. As my near fellow-labourer and dearest friend, I know\nwhat was the whole spirit of the man\u2019s life, his watchful care, his\nceaseless anxiety to do everything that in his judgment was for God\u2019s\nglory and the prosperity of the Mission, and my estimate of him and of\nhis action to the last fills me with supreme regard to his memory. The\nRev. Dr. Inglis of Aneityum, best qualified of all men living to form an\nopinion, wrote:\u2014\n\n\u201cMr. Gordon was a strong, bold, fearless, energetic, self-denying, and\nlaborious Missionary; eager, earnest, and unwearied in seeking the\nsalvation of the Heathen.... Even if Mr. Gordon was to blame for any\nimprudence, no blame of this kind could be attached to Mrs. Gordon. Hers\nwas a weak, gentle, loving spirit; quiet and uncomplaining, prudent,\nearnest, and devoted to Christ. She was esteemed and beloved by all who\nknew her.\u201d\n\nMy Amen follows, soft and deep, on all that he has written; and I add,\nMr. Gordon was doing what any faithful and devoted Missionary would in\nall probability for the Master\u2019s sake in similar circumstances have\ndone. Those who charge him with imprudence would, doubtless, grievously\nblame Stephen for bringing that stoning upon himself, which he could so\neasily have escaped!\n\nMr. Gordon, in his last letter to me, of date 15th February, 1861,\nsays:\u2014\n\n \u201cMY DEAR BROTHER,\u2014\n\n \u201cI have news of the best and of the worst character to\n communicate. A young man died in December, in the Lord, as we believe.\n We are still preserved in health at our work by the God of all grace,\n whose power alone could have preserved us in all our troubles, which\n have come upon us by the measles _per_ the _Blue Bell_. Ah, this is a\n season which we will not soon forget. Some settlements are nearly\n depopulated, and the principal Chiefs are nearly all dead! And oh, the\n indescribable fiendish hatred that exists against us! There is quite a\n famine here. The distress is awful, and the cry of mourning perpetual.\n A few on both sides of the Island who did not flee from the Worship of\n God are living, which is now greatly impressing some and exciting the\n enmity of others. I cannot now write of perils. We feel very anxious\n to hear from you. If you have to flee, Aneityum of course is the\n nearest and best place to which you can go. Confidence in us is being\n restored. Mana, a native Teacher, remains with us for safety from the\n fury of his enemies. I cannot visit as usual. The persecution cannot\n be much worse on Tanna. I hope the worst is past. Mrs. G. unites in\n love to you, and to Mr. and Mrs. Johnston. In great haste,\n\n \u201cI remain, dear Brother, Yours truly,\n \u201cG. N. GORDON.\u201d\n\nLet every reader, in view of this epistle, like a voice from the World\nUnseen, judge of the spirit of the man of God who penned it, and of the\ncauses that were even then at work and were bringing about his sorrowful\ndeath. Cruel superstition, measles, and the malignant influences of the\ngodless Traders,\u2014these on Erromanga, as elsewhere, were the forces at\nwork that brought hatred and murder in their train.\n\nImmediately thereafter, a Sandal-wood Trader brought in his boat a party\nof Erromangans by night to Tanna. They assembled our Harbour Chiefs and\npeople, and urged them to kill us and Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson and the\nTeachers, or allow them to do so, as they had killed Mr. and Mrs.\nGordon. Then they proposed to go to Aneityum and kill the Missionaries\nthere, as the Aneityumese Natives had burned their Church, and thus they\nwould sweep away the Worship and the servants of Jehovah from all the\nNew Hebrides. Our Chiefs, however, refused, restrained by the Merciful\nOne, and the Erromangans returned to their own island in a sulky mood.\nNotwithstanding this refusal, as if they wished to reserve the murder\nand plunder for themselves, our Mission House was next day thronged with\narmed men, some from Inland, others from Mr. Mathieson\u2019s Station. They\nloudly praised the Erromangans! The leaders said again and again in my\nhearing,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe men of Erromanga killed Missi Williams long ago. We killed the\nRarotongan and Samoan Teachers. We fought Missi Turner and Missi Nisbet,\nand drove them from our island. We killed the Aneityumese Teachers on\nAniwa, and one of Missi Paton\u2019s Teachers too. We killed several white\nmen, and no Man-of-war punished us. Let us talk over this, about killing\nMissi Paton and the Aneityumese, till we see if any Man-of-war comes to\npunish the Erromangans. If not, let us unite, let us kill these\nMissionaries, let us drive the worship of Jehovah from our land!\u201d\n\nAn Inland Chief said or rather shouted in my hearing,\u2014\n\n\u201cMy love to the Erromangans! They are strong and brave men, the\nErromangans. They have killed their Missi and his wife, while we only\ntalk about it. They have destroyed the Worship and driven away Jehovah!\u201d\n\nI stood amongst them and protested,\u2014\n\n\u201cGod will yet punish the Erromangans for such wicked deeds. God has\nheard all your bad talk, and will punish it in His own time and way.\u201d\n\nBut they shouted me down, amidst great excitement, with the cry,\u2014\n\n\u201cOur love to the Erromangans! Our love to the Erromangans!\u201d\n\nAfter I left them, Abraham heard them say,\u2014\n\n\u201cMiaki is lazy. Let us meet in every village, and talk with each other.\nLet us all agree to kill Missi and the Aneityumese for the first of our\nChiefs that dies.\u201d\n\nOn Tanna, as on Erromanga, the Natives have no idea of death coming to\nany one naturally, or sickness or any disease; everything comes by\nNahak, or sorcery. When one person grows sick or dies, they meet to talk\nover it and find out who has bewitched or killed him, and this ends in\nfixing upon some individual upon whom they take revenge, or whom they\nmurder outright. Thus many wars arise on Tanna, for the friends or the\ntribe of the murdered man generally seek a counter-revenge; and so the\nblood-fiend is let loose over all the island, and from island to island\nthroughout the whole of the New Hebrides.\n\nThe night after the visit of the Erromangan boat, and the sad news of\nMr. and Mrs. Gordon\u2019s death the Tannese met on their village\ndancing-grounds and held high festival in praise of the Erromangans. Our\nbest friend, old Nowar, the Chief, who had worn shirt and kilt for some\ntime and had come regularly to, the Worship, relapsed once more; he\npainted his face, threw off his clothing, resumed his bow and arrows,\nand his tomahawk, of which he boasted that it had killed very many men\nand at least one woman! On my shaming him for professing to worship\nJehovah and yet uniting with the Heathen in rejoicing over the murder of\nHis servants on Erromanga, he replied to this effect,\u2014\n\n\u201cTruly, Missi, they have done well. If the people of Erromanga are\nseverely punished for this by the Man-of-war, we will all hear of it;\nand our people will then fear to kill you and the other Missionaries, so\nas to destroy the Worship of Jehovah. Now, they say, the Erromangans\nkilled Missi Williams and the Samoan, Rarotongan, and Aneityumese\nTeachers, besides other white men, and no Man-of-war has punished either\nthem or us. If they are not punished for what has been done on\nErromanga, nothing else can keep them here from killing you and me and\nall who worship at the Mission House!\u201d\n\nI answered,\u2014\u201cNowar, let us all be strong to love and serve Jehovah\nJesus. If it be for our good and His glory, He will protect us; if not,\nHe will take us to be with Himself. We will not be killed by their bad\ntalk. Besides, what avails it to us, when dead and gone, if even a\nMan-of-war should come and punish our murderers?\u201d\n\nHe shrugged his shoulders, answering,\u2014\u201cMissi, by-and-by you will see.\nMind, I tell you the truth. I know our Tannese people. How is it that\nJehovah did not protect the Gordons and the Erromangan worshippers? If\nthe Erromangans are not punished, neither will our Tannese be punished,\nthough they murder all Jehovah\u2019s people!\u201d\n\nI felt for Nowar\u2019s struggling faith, just trembling on the verge of\ncannibalism yet, and knowing so little of the true Jehovah.\n\nGroups of Natives assembled suspiciously near us and sat whispering\ntogether. They urged old Abraham to return to Aneityum by the very first\nopportunity, as our lives were certain to be taken, but he replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cI will not leave Missi.\u201d\n\nAbraham and I were thrown much into each other\u2019s company, and he stood\nby me in every danger. We conducted family prayers alternately; and that\nevening he said during the prayer in Tannese, in which language alone we\nunderstood each other,\u2014\n\n\u201cO Lord, our Heavenly Father, they have murdered Thy servants on\nErromanga. They have banished the Aneityumese from dark Tanna. And now\nthey want to kill Missi Paton and me! Our great King, protect us, and\nmake their hearts soft and sweet to Thy Worship. Or, if they are\npermitted to kill us, do not Thou hate us, but wash us in the blood of\nThy dear Son Jesus Christ. He came down to Earth and shed His blood for\nsinners; through Him forgive us our sins and take us to Heaven\u2014that good\nplace where Missi Gordon the man and Missi Gordon the woman and all Thy\ndear servants now are singing Thy praise and seeing Thy face. Our Lord,\nour hearts are pained just now, and we weep over the death of Thy dear\nservants; but make our hearts good and strong for Thy cause, and take\nThou away all our fears. Make us two and all Thy servants strong for\nThee and for Thy Worship; and if they kill us two, let us die together\nin Thy good work, like Thy servants Missi Gordon the man and Missi\nGordon the woman.\u201d\n\nIn this manner his great simple soul poured itself out to God, and my\nheart melted within me as it had never done under any prayer poured from\nthe lips of cultured Christian men!\n\nUnder the strain of these events, Miaki came to our house, and attacked\nme in hearing of his men to this effect:\u2014\n\n\u201cYou and the Worship are the cause of all the sickness and death now\ntaking place on Tanna! The Erromanga men killed Missi Gordon the man and\nalso the woman, and they are all well long ago. The Worship is killing\nus all; and the Inland people will kill us for keeping you and the\nWorship here; for we love the conduct of Tanna, but we hate the Worship.\nWe must kill you and it, and we shall all be well again.\u201d\n\nI tried to reason firmly and kindly with them, showing them that their\nown conduct was destroying them, and that our presence and the Worship\ncould only be a blessing to them in every way, if only they would accept\nof it and give up their evil ways. I referred to a poor girl, whom Miaki\nand his men had stolen and abused, that they knew such conduct to be\nbad, and that God would certainly punish them for it.\n\nHe replied, \u201cSuch is the conduct of Tanna. Our fathers loved and\nfollowed it, we love and follow it, and if the Worship condemns it, we\nwill kill you and destroy the Worship.\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cThe Word of the Holy God condemns all bad conduct, and I must\nobey my God in trying to lead you to give it up, and to love and serve\nHis Son Jesus our Saviour. If I refuse to obey my God, He will punish\nme.\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cMissi, we like many wives to attend us and to do our work.\nThree of my wives are dead and three are yet alive. The Worship killed\nthem and my children. We hate it. It will kill us all.\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cMiaki, is it good for you to have so many wives, and many\nof your men to have none? Who waits on them? Who works for them? They\ncannot get a wife, and so, having to work for themselves, they are led\nto hate you and all the Chiefs who have more wives than one. You do not\nlove your wives, else you would not slave them and beat them as you do.\u201d\n\nBut he declared that his heart was good, that his conduct was good, and\nthat he hated the teaching of the Worship. He had a party of men staying\nwith him from the other side of the island, and he sent back a present\nof four large fat hogs to their Chiefs, with a message as to the killing\nof the Mathiesons. If that were done, his hands would be strengthened in\ndealing with us.\n\nSatan seemed to fill that man\u2019s heart. He incited his people to steal\neverything from us, and to annoy us in every conceivable way. They\nkilled one of my precious watch-dogs, and feasted upon it. So sad was\nthe condition of Tanna, that if a man were desperate enough in\nwickedness, if he killed a number of men and tyrannized over others, he\nwas dignified with the name and rank of a Chief. This was the secret of\nMiaki\u2019s influence, and of his being surrounded by the outlaws and\nrefugees, not only of his own but even other islands. It was all founded\nupon terror and upheld by cruelty. The Sacred Man, for instance, who\nmurdered my Teacher, and a young man who threw three spears at me, which\nby God\u2019s help I avoided, were both praised and honoured for their deeds.\nBut the moment they were laid aside by measles and unable to retaliate,\ntheir flatterers turned upon them and declared that they were punished\nfor their bad conduct against Jehovah and His servants and His Worship!\n\nTo know what was best to be done, in such trying circumstances, was an\nabiding perplexity. To have left altogether, when so surrounded by\nperils and enemies, at first seemed the wisest course, and was the\nrepeated advice of many friends. But again, I had acquired the language,\nand had gained a considerable influence amongst the Natives, and there\nwere a number warmly attached both to myself and to the Worship. To have\nleft would have been to lose all, which to me was heart-rending;\ntherefore, risking all with Jesus, I held on while the hope of being\nspared longer had not absolutely and entirely vanished. God only knows\nhow deep and genuine were my pity and affection for the poor Tannese,\nlabouring and longing to bring them from their dark idolatry and\nheathenism to love and serve and please Jesus Christ as their God and\nSaviour. True, some of the awfully wise people wrote, as in the case of\nMr. Gordon, much nonsense about us and the Tanna Mission. They knew, of\ncourse, that I was to blame, and they from safe distances could see that\nI was not in the path of duty!\n\nPerhaps, to people less omnisciently sure, the following quotation from\na letter of the late A. Clark, Esq., J.P., Auckland, New Zealand, will\nshow what Bishop Selwyn thought of my standing fast on Tanna at the post\nof duty, and he knew what he was writing about. He says,\u2014\n\n\u201cIn addition, Bishop Selwyn told us that he had seen the Commodore\n(Seymour), who told him that at Tanna the Natives were in a very\ninsulting and hostile state of mind; so much so that he felt it his duty\nto offer Mr. Paton a passage in his ship to Auckland or some other place\nof safety. He said, \u2018Talk of bravery! talk of heroism! The man who leads\na forlorn hope is a coward in comparison with him, who, on Tanna, thus\nalone, without a sustaining look or cheering word from one of his own\nrace, regards it as his duty to hold on in the face of such dangers. We\nread of the soldier, found after the lapse of ages among the ruins of\nHerculaneum, who stood firm at his post amid the fiery rain destroying\nall around him, thus manifesting the rigidity of the discipline amongst\nthose armies of ancient Rome which conquered the World. Mr. Paton was\nsubjected to no such iron law. He might, with honour, when offered to\nhim, have sought a temporary asylum in Auckland, where he would have\nbeen heartily received. But he was moved by higher considerations. He\nchose to remain, and God knows whether at this moment he is in the land\nof the living!\u2019 When the bishop told us that he declined leaving Tanna\nby H.M.S. _Pelorus_, he added, \u2018And I like him all the better for so\ndoing!\u2019\u201d\n\nFor my part I feel quite confident that, in like circumstances, that\nnoble Bishop of God would have done the same. I, born in the bosom of\nthe Scottish Covenant, descended from those who suffered persecution for\nChrist\u2019s honour, would have been unworthy of them and of my Lord had I\ndeserted my post for danger only. Yet not to me, but to the Lord who\nsustained me, be all the praise and the glory! On his next visit to\nthese Islands, the good Bishop brought a box of Mission goods to me in\nhis ship, besides \u00a390 for our work from Mr. Clark and friends in\nAuckland. His interest in us and our work was deep and genuine, and was\nunmarred on either side by any consciousness of ecclesiastical\ndistinctions. We were one in Christ, and, when next we meet again in the\nglory of our Lord, Bishop and Presbyter will be eternally one in that\nblessed fellowship.\n\nThe following incident illustrates the depth of native superstition. One\nmorning two Inland Chiefs came running to the Mission House, breathless,\nand covered with perspiration. One of them held up a handful of\nhalf-rotten tracts, crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, is this a part of God\u2019s Word, the sacred Book of Jehovah? or is\nit the work, the words, the book of man?\u201d\n\nI examined them and replied, \u201cThese are the work, the words, and the\nbook of man, not of Jehovah.\u201d\n\nHe questioned me again: \u201cMissi, are you certain that it is not the Word\nof Jehovah?\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cIt is only man\u2019s work and man\u2019s book.\u201d\n\nHe continued then, \u201cMissi, some years ago, Kaipai, a sacred Chief, and\ncertain Tannese, went on a visit to Aneityum, and Missi Geddie gave him\nthese books. On his return, when he showed them to the Tannese, the\npeople were all so afraid of them, for they thought they were the sacred\nBooks of Jehovah, that they met for consultation and agreed solemnly to\nbury them. Yesterday, some person in digging had disinterred them, and\nat once our Inland people said that our dead Chief had buried a part of\nJehovah\u2019s Word, which made Him angry, and that He had therefore caused\nthe Chiefs death and the plague of measles, etc. Therefore they were now\nassembled to kill the dead Chief\u2019s son and daughter in revenge! But,\nbefore that should be done, I persuaded them to send these books, to\ninquire of you if this be part of Jehovah\u2019s Book, and if the burying of\nit caused all these diseases and deaths.\u201d\n\nI assured him that these books never caused either sickness or death to\nany human being; and that none of us can cause sickness or death by\nsorcery; that burying these Tracts did not make Jehovah angry, nor cause\nevil to any creature. \u201cYou yourselves know,\u201d I said, \u201cthe very ships\nthat brought the measles and caused the deaths; and you killed some of\nthe young men who were landed sick with the disease.\u201d\n\nThe Inland Chief declared, \u201cMissi, I am quite satisfied; no person shall\nbe put to death over these books now.\u201d\n\nThey went off, but immediately returned, saying, \u201cMissi, have you any\nbooks like these to show to us? And will you show us the sacred Book of\nJehovah beside them?\u201d\n\nI showed them a Bible, and then a handful of Tracts with pictures like\nthose they had brought; and I offered them the Bible and specimens of\nthese Tracts, that they might show both to the people assembled. The\nTracts they received, but the Bible they refused to touch. They\nsatisfied the Inland people and prevented bloodshed; but oh, what a\ndepth of superstition to be raised out of! and how easily life might be\nsacrificed at every turn!\n\nOn another occasion I had the joy of saving the lives of Sandal-wood\nTraders, to whom neither I nor the Mission owed anything, except for\nChrist\u2019s sake. The _Blue Bell_ cast anchor in the Harbour on a beautiful\nmorning, and the Captain and Mate immediately came on shore. They had\nletters for me; but, on landing, they were instantly surrounded by the\nChiefs and people, who formed a ring about them on the beach and called\nfor me to come. The two white men stood in the midst, with many weapons\npointed at them, and death if they dared to move. They shouted to me,\u2014\n\n\u201cThis is one of the Vessels which brought the measles. You and they made\nthe sickness, and destroyed our people. Now, if you do not leave with\nthis vessel, we will kill you all.\u201d\n\nOf course, their intention was to frighten me on board just as I was,\nand leave my premises for plunder! I protested,\u2014\n\n\u201cI will not leave you; I cannot leave you in this way; and if you murder\nthese men or me, Jehovah will punish you. I am here for your good; and\nyou know how kind I have been to you all, in giving you medicine,\nknives, axes, blankets, and clothing. You also know well that I have\nnever done ill to one human being, but have constantly sought your good.\nI will not and cannot leave you thus.\u201d\n\nIn great wrath they cried, \u201cThen will we kill you and this Captain and\nMate.\u201d\n\nI kept reasoning with them against such conduct, standing firmly before\nthem and saying, \u201cIf you do kill me, Jehovah will punish you; the other\nmen in that vessel will punish you before they sail; and a Man-of-war\nwill come and burn your villages and canoes and fruit trees.\u201d\n\nI urged the two men to try and get into their boat as quickly as\npossible, in silence, while I kept arguing with the Natives. The letters\nwhich they had for me, the savages forbade me to take into my hands,\nlest thereby some other foreign disease should come to their island.\nMiaki exclaimed in great wrath that my medicine had killed them all; but\nI replied,\u2014\n\n\u201cMy medicine with God\u2019s blessing saved many lives. You know well that\nall who followed my rules recovered from the measles, except only one\nman, and are living still. Now, you seek to kill me for saving your\nlives and the lives of your people!\u201d\n\nI appealed to Yorian, another Chief, if the medicine had not saved his\nlife when he appeared to be dying, which he admitted to be the truth.\nThe men had now slipped into their boat and were preparing to leave.\nMiaki shouted,\u2014\n\n\u201cLet them go! Don\u2019t kill them to-day.\u201d Then he called to the Captain,\n\u201cCome on shore and trade with us to-morrow.\u201d\n\nNext day they foolishly came on shore and began to trade. Natives\nsurrounded the boat with clubs and tomahawks. But Miaki\u2019s heart failed\nhim when about to strike; and he called out,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi said that, if we kill them, a Man-of-war will come and take\nrevenge on us.\u201d\n\nIn the altercation that followed, the men thrust the boat into deep\nwater and forced it out of the grasp of the savages; but they caught the\nCaptain\u2019s large Newfoundland dog and kept it prisoner. As a compensation\nfor this disappointment, Miaki urged that my life and Abraham\u2019s be at\nonce taken, but again Nowar\u2019s firm opposition and God\u2019s goodness rescued\nus from the jaws of the lion. The _Blue Bell_ left next morning, and the\ndog remained behind, as no one from the vessel would venture ashore.\n\nRevenge for the murder of the four men killed to accompany Miaki\u2019s\nchild, threatened to originate another war; but the Chiefs for eight\nmiles around met, and, after much speechifying, agreed that as they were\nall weak for war, owing to the measles and the want of food through the\nhurricanes, they should delay it till they all grew stronger. Nowar was,\nhowever, greatly excited, and informed me that Miaki had urged the\npeople of an inland district to shoot Nowar and Abraham and me, and he\npled with us again to take him and flee to Aneityum,\u2014impossible except\nby canoe, and perhaps impossible even so. That night and the following\nnight they tried to break into my house. On one occasion my valuable dog\nwas let out, and cleared them away. Next night I shouted at them from\ninside, when they thought me asleep, and they decamped again. Indeed,\nour continuous danger caused me now oftentimes to sleep with my clothes\non, that I might start at a moment\u2019s warning. My faithful dog would give\na sharp bark and awake me. At other times, she would leap up and pull at\nthe clothes till I awoke, and then she turned her head quietly and\nindicated by a wondrous instinct where the danger lay. God made them\nfear this precious creature, and often used her in saving our lives.\nSoon after this six Inland Chiefs came to see me. We had a long talk on\nthe evils of war, and the blessings of the Worship of Jehovah. I gave\neach a knife and a fork and a tin plate, and they promised to oppose the\nwar which Miaki was forcing on. A man came also with a severe gash in\nhis hand, which a fish had given him; I dressed it, and he went away\nvery grateful and spread everywhere the news of healing, a kind of\nGospel which he and they could most readily appreciate.\n\nAnother incident made them well-disposed for a season; namely, the use\nof a fishing-net. Seeing that the Natives had so little food\u2014there\nbeing, in fact, a famine after the hurricane\u2014I engaged an inland Tribe\nto make a net forty feet long and very broad. Strange to say, the Inland\npeople who live far from the sea make the best fishing materials, which\nagain they sell to the Harbour people for the axes, knives, blankets,\nand other articles obtained from calling vessels. They also make the\nkilling-stones, and trade with them amongst the shore people all round\nthe island. This _kawas_ or killing-stone is made of blue whinstone,\neighteen to twenty-four inches long, an inch and a half across,\nperfectly straight, and hewn as round and neat as any English tradesman\ncould have done it, exactly like a large scythe stone, such as they use\non the harvest fields in Scotland. The kawas seems to be peculiar to\nTanna, at least I have not seen it on any other island. The Natives,\nwith pieces of very hard heavy wood of the same size and shape, are\ntaught to throw it from infancy at a given mark; in warfare, it is\nthrown first; where it strikes it stuns or kills, and then they spring\nforward with their large double-handed heavy club. Every man and boy\ncarries his killing-stone and other weapons, even when moving about\npeaceably in his own village, war being, in fact, the only regular\noccupation for men!\n\nWell, these same Inland people, the sort of artisans of the island,\nbeing mostly the women and the girls, manufactured for me this huge\nfishing-net. The cord was twisted from the fibre made out of the bark of\ntheir own trees, and prepared with immense toil and care; and not\nwithout touches of skill and taste, when woven and knotted and\nintertwined. This net I secured, and lent about three days each to every\nvillage all round the Harbour and near it. One night I saw them carrying\nhome a large hog, which they had got from an Inland Chief for a portion\nof the fish which they had taken. I thought it right to cause them to\nreturn the net to the Mission House every Saturday evening, that they\nmight not be tempted to use it on Sabbath. It was a great help to them,\nand the Harbour yielded them much wholesome food in lieu of what the\nhurricane had destroyed.\n\nWhen, about this time, the _John Knox_ came to anchor in the bay, a\nNative was caught in the act of stealing from her. Angry at being\ndiscovered, he and his friends came to shoot me, pretending that it was\nbecause the _John Knox_ knew they were in want of food and had not\nbrought them a load of Taro from Aneityum. Taro is a plant of the genus\n_Arum_, the _\u00c6sculentum_, or _Colocasia \u00c6sculenta_, well known all\nthrough Polynesia. The Natives spread it in a very simple way. Cutting\noff the leaves, with a very little of the old bulb still attached, they\nfix these in the ground, and have the new Taro about a year after that.\nIt is of several kinds and of a great variety of colours\u2014white, yellow,\nblue, etc. It grows best in ground irrigated by streams of pure water,\nor in shallow, swampy ground, over which the water runs. The dry-ground\nTaro is small and inferior, compared to the water-grown roots.\nNutritious and pleasant, not unlike the texture of cheese when laid in\nslices on the table, in size and appearance like a Swedish turnip, it\ncan be either boiled or baked. Hurricanes may destroy all other native\nfood, but the Taro lies uninjured below the water; hence on islands,\nwhere it will grow, it forms one of the most permanent and valuable of\nall their crops.\n\nOur people also demanded that the _John Knox_ should bring them kava and\ntobacco. Kava is the plant, _Piper Methysticum_, from which they make a\nhighly intoxicating drink. The girls and boys first chew it, and spit\nthe juice into a basin; there it is mixed with water, and then strained\nthrough a fibrous cloth-like texture, which they get from the top of the\ncocoa-nut trees, where it surrounds the young nuts, and drops off with\nthem when they are ripe. This they freely drink; it does not make them\nviolent, but stupefies them and induces sleep like opium. A portion is\nalways poured out to their Gods; and the dregs in every mouth after\ndrinking are always spit out with the exclamation, \u201cThat\u2019s for you,\nKumesam!\u201d It is sometimes offered and partaken of with very great\nceremony; but its general use is as a soporific by the men, regularly\nafter the evening meal. Women and children are not allowed to drink it.\nMany men have been attacked and murdered at night, when lying enfeebled\nand enfolded by kava. That, indeed, is their common mode of taking\nrevenge and of declaring war. These angry men, who came to me about the\n_John Knox_, tried to smash in my window and kill my faithful dog; but I\nreasoned firmly and kindly with them, and they at last withdrew.\n\nAt that time, though my life was daily attempted, a dear lad, named\nKatasian, was coming six miles regularly to the Worship and to receive\nfrequent instruction. One day, when engaged in teaching him, I caught a\nman stealing the blind from my window. On trying to prevent him, he\naimed his great club at me, but I seized the heavy end of it with both\nmy hands as it swung past my head, and held on with all my might. What a\nprayer went up from me to God at that dread moment! The man, astonished\nand abashed at my kind words and appeal, slunk away and left me in\npeace.\n\nI had planted a few Yams, of the genus _Dioscoria_; a most valuable\narticle of food, nearly as precious as potatoes were to the poor in\nIreland, and used very much in the same way. Years after, when I went to\nMelbourne, I took one from Aniwa, by no means the largest, weighing\nseventy-two pounds, and another, forty-two. The things, however, that I\nplanted on Tanna the Natives stole and carried away, making themselves\nextremely troublesome. But God never took away from me the consciousness\nthat it was still right for me to be kind and forgiving, and to hope\nthat I might lead them to love and imitate Jesus.\n\nFor a season thereafter, the friendly feeling grew on every side. The\nNatives prepared, for payment, an excellent foundation for a new Church,\nby levelling down the hill near to my Mission House. Any number of men\noffered to work for calico, knives, axes, etc. All the fences were\nrenewed, and the Mission premises began to look nice once more, at\nleast, in my eyes. My work became encouraging, and I had many\nopportunities of talking with them about the Worship and Jehovah. This\nstate of matters displeased Miaki and his men; and one day, having been\nengaged thus, I rushed back only in time to extinguish a fire which they\nhad kindled under the verandah and close to the door of my house. Our\nwatch had to be unrelaxing. A cousin of Miaki\u2019s, for instance, sold me a\nfish as good for food which he knew to be poisonous, but Nowar saw in\ntime and warned me of its deadly character. Miaki then threatened to\nshoot any of the Inland people who came to work or to receive\ninstruction, yet larger numbers came than before, but they came fully\narmed! Nouka, the high Chief of the Harbour, Miaki\u2019s uncle, came and sat\nbeside us often, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMiaki breaks my heart! He deceives Missi. He hates the Worship of\nJehovah.\u201d\n\nFor some time, Nouka and his wife and daughter\u2014a handsome girl, his only\nchild\u2014and Miaki\u2019s principal wife and her two sons, and nine Chiefs\nattended Worship regularly at the Mission House, on Sabbaths and on the\nafternoon of every Wednesday. In all, about sixty persons somewhat\nregularly waited on our ministrations at this time; and amidst all\nperils I was encouraged, and my heart was full of hope. Yet one evening,\nwhen feeling more consoled and hopeful than ever before, a musket was\ndischarged at my very door, and I was constrained to realize that we\nwere in the midst of death. Father, our times are in Thy hand.\n\nAs my work became more encouraging, I urgently applied to the\nMissionaries on Aneityum for more Teachers, but none could be found\nwilling to return to Tanna. The plague of measles had almost demoralized\nthem. Even on Aneityum, where they had medicine and would follow the\nMissionaries\u2019 advice, no fewer than eleven hundred had been cut off; and\nthe mortality was very much greater on such islands as Tanna, Aniwa,\netc., where they were still Heathen, and either had not or would not\nfollow medical counsels. Of my Teachers and their wives ten were swept\naway in the epidemic, and the few that were left were so disheartened\nthat they escaped to their own land at the first opportunity, as before\nrecorded, excepting only dear old faithful Abraham. But I need not\nwonder; smaller perils deter God\u2019s people at home from many a call of\nduty.\n\nIn my Mission School, I offered as a prize a red shirt for the first\nChief who knew the whole Alphabet without a mistake. It was won by an\nInakaki Chief, who was once a terror to the whole community. Afterwards,\nwhen trying to teach the A B C to others, he proceeded in something like\nthis graphic style:\u2014\n\n\u201cA is a man\u2019s legs with the body cut off; B is like two eyes; C is a\nthree-quarters moon; D is like one eye; E is a man with one club under\nhis feet and another over his head; F is a man with a large club and a\nsmaller one,\u201d etc., etc.; L was like a man\u2019s foot; Q was the talk of the\ndove, etc. Then he would say, \u201cRemember these things; you will soon get\nhold of the letters and be able to read. I have taught my little child,\nwho can scarcely walk, the names of them all. They are not hard to hold,\nbut soft and easy. You will soon learn to read the book, if you try it\nwith all your heart!\u201d\n\nBut Miaki was still our evil genius, and every incident seemed to be\nused by him for one settled purpose of hate. A Kaserumini Chief, for\ninstance, and seven men took away a young girl in a canoe to Aniwa, to\nbe sold to friends there for tobacco leaf, which the Aniwans cultivated\nextensively. They also prepared to take revenge there for a child\u2019s\ndeath, killed in their belief by the sorcery of an Aniwan. When within\nsight of the shore, the canoes were upset and all were said to have been\ndevoured by sharks, excepting only one canoe out of six. This one\nreturned to Tanna and reported that there were two white Traders living\non Aniwa, that they had plenty of ammunition and tobacco, but that they\nwould not come to Tanna as long as a Missionary lived there. Under this\nfresh incitement, a party of Miaki\u2019s men came to my house, praising the\nErromangans for the murder of their Missionaries and threatening me.\n\nEven the friendly Nowar said, \u201cMiaki will make a great wind and sink any\nMan-of-war that comes here. We will take the Man-of-war and kill all\nthat are on board. If you and Abraham do not leave us we will kill you\nboth, for we must have the Traders and the powder.\u201d\n\nJust as they were assuming a threatening attitude, other Natives came\nrunning with the cry, \u201cMissi, the _John Knox_ is coming into the\nHarbour, and two great ships of fire, Men-of-war behind her, coming very\nfast!\u201d\n\nI retorted upon Nowar and the hostile company, \u201cNow is your time! Make\nall possible haste! Let Miaki raise his great wind now; get all your men\nready; I will tell them that you mean to fight, and you will find them\nalways ready!\u201d\n\nMiaki\u2019s men fled away in unconcealed terror; but Nowar came to me and\nsaid, \u201cMissi, I know that my talk is all lies, but if I speak the truth,\nthey will kill me!\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cTrust in Jehovah, the same God who sent these vessels now,\nto protect us from being murdered.\u201d\n\nBut Nowar always wavered.\n\nAnd now from all parts of the island those who were most friendly\nflocked to us. They were clamorous to have Miaki and some others of our\nenemies punished by the Man-of-war in presence of the Natives; and then\nthey would be strong to speak in our defence and to lead the Tannese to\nworship Jehovah.\n\nCommodore Seymour, Captain Hume, and Dr. Geddie came on shore. After\ninquiring into everything, the Commodore urged me to leave at once, and\nvery kindly offered to remove me to Aneityum, or Auckland, or any place\nof safety that I preferred. Again, however, I hesitated to leave my dear\nbenighted Tannese, knowing that both Stations would be instantly broken\nup, that all the influence gained would be thrown away, that the Church\nwould lose all that had been expended, and above all, that those\nfriendly to us would be left to persecution and destruction. For a long\ntime I had seldom taken off my clothes at night, needing to be\nconstantly on the alert to start at a moment\u2019s notice; yet, while hope\nburned within my soul I could not withdraw, so I resolved to risk all\nwith my dear Lord Jesus, and remained at my post. At my request,\nhowever, they met and talked with all the leaders who could be assembled\nat the Mission House. The Natives declared frankly that they liked me\nbut did not like the Worship. The Commodore reminded them that they had\ninvited me to land among them, and had pledged their word more than once\nto protect me; he argued with them that as they had no fault to find\nwith me, but only with the Worship, which could do them only good, they\nmust bind themselves to protect my life. Miaki and others promised and\ngave him their hands to do so. Lathella, an Aneityumese Chief, who was\nwith Dr. Geddie, interpreted for him and them, Dr. Geddie explaining\nfully to Lathella in Aneityumese what the Commodore said in English, and\nLathella explaining all to the Tannese in their own tongue.\n\nAt last old Nouka spoke out for all and said, \u201cCaptain Paddan and all\nthe Traders tell us that the Worship causes all our sickness and death.\nThey will not trade with us, nor sell us tobacco, pipes, powder, balls,\ncaps, and muskets, till we kill our Missi like the Erromangans, but\nafter that they will send a Trader to live among us and give us plenty\nof all these things. We love Missi. But when the Traders tell us that\nthe Worship makes us sick, and when they bribe us with tobacco and\npowder to kill him or drive him away, some believe them and our hearts\ndo bad conduct to Missi. Let Missi remain here, and we will try to do\ngood conduct to Missi; but you must tell Queen \u2019Toria of her people\u2019s\nbad treatment of us, and that she must prevent her Traders from killing\nus with their measles, and from telling us lies to make us do bad\nconduct to Missi! If they come to us and talk as before, our hearts are\nvery dark and may again lead us to bad conduct to Missi.\u201d\n\nAfter this little parley, the Commodore invited us all on board, along\nwith the Chiefs. They saw about three hundred brave marines ranked up on\ndeck, and heard a great cannon discharged. For all such efforts to\nimpress them and open their eyes, I felt profoundly grateful; but too\nclearly I knew and saw that only the grace of God could lastingly change\nthem!\n\nThey were soon back to their old arguments, and were heard saying to one\nanother, \u201cIf no punishment is inflicted on the Erromangans for murdering\nthe Missi there, we fear the bad conduct of the Tannese will continue.\u201d\n\nNo punishment was inflicted at Erromanga, and the Tannese were soon as\nbold and wicked as ever. For instance, while the Man-of-war lay in the\nHarbour, Nowar kept himself closely concealed; but no sooner had she\nsailed than the cowardly fellow came out, laughing at the others, and\nprotesting that he was under no promise and was free to act as he\npleased! Yet in the hour of danger he generally proved to be our friend;\nsuch was his vacillating character. Nor was Miaki very seriously\nimpressed. Mr. Mathieson shortly thereafter sent his boat round to me,\nbeing again short of European food. On his crew leaving her to deliver\ntheir message to me, some of Miaki\u2019s men at once jumped into the boat\nand started off round the island in search of kava. I went to Miaki, to\nask that the boat might be brought back soon, but on seeing me he ran\nfor his club and aimed to strike me. I managed to seize it, and to hold\non, pleading with God and talking with Miaki, till by the interference\nof some friendly Natives his wrath was assuaged a little. Returning\nhome, I sent food overland to keep them going till the boat returned,\nwhich she did in about eight days. Thus light and shadow pursued each\nother, the light brightening for a moment, but upon the whole the\nshadows deepening.\n\n\n\n\n CHAPTER X.\n _FAREWELL SCENES._\n\n The War Fever.\u2014Forced to the War Council.\u2014A Truce among the\n Chiefs.\u2014Chiefs and People.\u2014The Kiss of Judas.\u2014The Death of\n Ian.\u2014The Quivering Knife.\u2014A War of Revenge.\u2014In the Thick of the\n Battle.\u2014Tender Mercies of the Wicked.\u2014Escape for Life.\u2014The Loss of\n All.\u2014Under the Tomahawk.\u2014Jehovah is Hearing.\u2014The Host Turned\n Back.\u2014The War against Manuman.\u2014Traps Laid.\u2014House Broken Up.\u2014War\n against our Friends.\u2014A Treacherous Murderer.\u2014On the Chestnut\n Tree.\u2014Bargaining for Life.\u2014Five Hours in a Canoe.\u2014Kneeling on the\n Sands.\u2014Faimungo\u2019s Farewell.\u2014\u201cFollow! Follow!\u201d\u2014A Race for\n Life.\u2014Ringed Round with Death.\u2014Faint yet Pursuing.\u2014Out of the\n Lion\u2019s Jaws.\u2014Brothers in Distress.\u2014Intervening Events.\u2014A\n Cannibal\u2019s Taste.\u2014Pillars of Cloud and of Fire.\u2014Passing by on the\n other Side.\u2014Kapuku and the Idol Gods.\u2014A Devil Chief.\u2014In Perils\n Oft.\u2014Through Fire and Water.\u2014\u201cSail O! Sail O!\u201d\u2014Let Me Die.\u2014In\n Perils on the Sea.\u2014Tannese Visitors.\u2014The Devil Chief of\n Tanna.\u2014Speckled and Spotted.\u2014Their Desired Haven.\u2014\u201cI am Left\n Alone.\u201d\u2014My Earthly All.\u2014Eternal Hope.\u2014Australia to the Rescue.\u2014For\n my Brethren\u2019s Sake.\u2014A New Holy League.\u2014The Uses of Adversity.\u2014The\n Arm-Chair Critics Again.\u2014Concluding Note.\u2014Prospectus of Part\n Second.\n\n\nA time of great excitement amongst the Natives now prevailed. War, war,\nnothing but war was spoken of! Preparations for war were being made in\nall the villages far and near. Fear sat on every face, and armed bands\nkept watching each other, as if uncertain where the war was to begin or\nby whom. All work was suspended, and that war spirit was let loose which\nrouses the worst passions of human nature. Again we found ourselves the\ncentre of conflict, one party set for killing us or driving us away; the\nother wishing to retain us, while all old bitter grievances were also\ndragged into their speeches.\n\nMiaki and Nouka said, \u201cIf you will keep Missi and his Worship, take him\nwith you to your own land, for we will not have him to live at the\nHarbour.\u201d\n\nIan, the great Inland Chief, rose in wrath and said, \u201cOn whose land does\nthe Missi live, yours or ours? Who fight against the Worship and all\ngood, who are the thieves and murderers, who tell the lies, you or we?\nWe wish peace, but you will have war. We like Missi and the Worship, but\nyou hate them and say, \u2018Take him to your own land!\u2019 It is our land on\nwhich he now lives; it is his own land which he bought from you, but\nwhich our fathers sold Missi Turner long ago. The land was not yours to\nsell; it was really ours. Your fathers stole it from us long ago by war;\nbut we would not have asked it back, had you not asked us to take Missi\naway. Now we will defend him on it, and he will teach us and our people\nin our own land!\u201d\n\nSo meeting after meeting broke into fiery speech, and separated with\nmany threats.\n\nTo the next great meeting I was invited, but did not go, contenting\nmyself with a message pleading that they should live at peace and on no\naccount go to war with each other. But Ian himself came for me.\n\nI said, \u201cIan, I have told you my whole heart. Go not to that meeting. I\nwill rather leave the island or die, than see you going to war about\nme!\u201d\n\nHe answered, \u201cMissi, come with me, come now!\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cIan, you are surely not taking me away to kill me? If you\nare, my God will punish it.\u201d\n\nHis only reply was, \u201cFollow me, follow me quickly.\u201d\n\nI felt constrained to go.\n\nHe strode on before me till we reached the great village of his\nancestors. His followers, armed largely with muskets as well as native\nweapons, filled one half the Village Square or dancing ground. Miaki,\nNouka, and their whole party sat in manifest terror upon the other half.\nMarching into the centre, he stood with me by his side, and proudly\nlooking round, exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, these are my men and your friends! We are met to defend you and\nthe Worship.\u201d Then pointing across to the other side, he cried aloud,\n\u201cThese are your enemies and ours! The enemies of the Worship, the\ndisturbers of the peace on Tanna! Missi, say the word, and the muskets\nof my men will sweep all opposition away, and the Worship will spread\nand we will all be strong for it on Tanna. We will not shoot without\nyour leave; but if you refuse they will kill you and persecute us and\nour children, and banish Jehovah\u2019s Worship from our land.\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cI love all of you alike. I am here to teach you how to turn\naway from all wickedness, to worship and serve Jehovah, and to live in\npeace. How can I approve of any person being killed for me or for the\nWorship? My God would be angry at me and punish me, if I did!\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cThen, Missi, you will be murdered and the Worship\ndestroyed.\u201d\n\nI then stood forth in the middle before them all and cried, \u201cYou may\nshoot or murder me, but I am your best friend. I am not afraid to die.\nYou will only send me the sooner to my Jehovah God, whom I love and\nserve, and to my dear Saviour Jesus Christ, who died for me and for you,\nand who sent me here to tell you all His love. If you will only love and\nserve Him and give up your bad conduct, you will be happy. But if you\nkill me, His messenger, rest assured that He will in His own time and\nway punish you. This is my word to you all; my love to you all!\u201d\n\nSo saying, I turned to leave; and Ian strode sullenly away and stood at\nthe head of his men, crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, they will kill you! they will kill us, and you will be to\nblame!\u201d\n\nMiaki and Nouka, full of deceit, now cried out,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi\u2019s word is good! Let us all obey it. Let us all worship.\u201d\n\nAn old man, Sirawia, one of Ian\u2019s under-chiefs, then said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMiaki and Nouka say that the land on which Missi lives was theirs;\nthough they sold it to him, and he has paid them for it, they all know\nthat it was ours, and is yet ours by right; but if they let Missi live\non it in peace, we will all live at peace, and worship Jehovah. And if\nnot, we will surely claim it again.\u201d\n\nMiaki and his party hereon went off to their plantations, and brought a\nlarge present of food to Ian and his men as a peace-offering. This they\naccepted; and the next day Ian and his men brought Miaki a return\npresent and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou know that Missi lives on our land? Take our present, be friends,\nand let him live quietly and teach us all. Yesterday you said his word\nwas good, obey it now, else we will punish you and defend the Missi.\u201d\n\nMiaki accepted the token, and gave good promises for the future. Ian\nthen came to the hill-top near our house, by which passed the public\npath, and cried aloud in the hearing of all,\u2014\n\n\u201cAbraham, tell Missi that you and he now live on our land. This path is\nthe march betwixt Miaki and us. We have this day bought back the land of\nour fathers by a great price to prevent war. Take of our bread-fruits\nand also of our cocoa-nuts what you require, for you are our friends and\nliving on our land, and we will protect you and the Worship!\u201d\n\nFor some time things moved on quietly after this. An inland war,\nhowever, had continued for months. As many as ten men, they said, were\nsometimes killed in one day and feasted on by the warriors. Thousands\nhad been thereby forced down from the mountains, and sought protection\nunder Ian and his people. All the people claiming connection with his\nTribe were called Naraimini; the people in the Volcano district were\ncalled the Kaserumini; and the Harbour Tribes were the Watarenmini; and\nso on all over the island. In such divisions, there might be from two to\ntwenty Chiefs and Villages under one leader, and these stood by each\nother for purposes defensive and offensive. Now Nouka and Miaki had been\nfrustrated in all their plans to get the Inland and the Harbour people\ninvolved in the war, as their own followers were opposed to it. In\nviolation of his promises, however, Nouka invited all the men who wished\nto go to the war to meet him one morning, and only one appeared! Nouka,\nin great wrath, marched off to the war himself, but, as no one followed,\nhe grew faint-hearted, and returned to his own village. On another\nmorning, Miaki summoned all his fighting men; but only his own brother\nand six lads could be induced to accompany him, and with these he\nstarted off. But the enemy, hearing of his coming, had killed two of his\nprincipal allies the night before, and Miaki, learning this, turned and\nfled to his own house, and was secretly laughed at by his tribe.\n\nNext day, Nouka came to me professing great friendship and pleading with\nme to accompany him and Miaki to talk with the Kaserumini, and persuade\nthem to give up the war. He was annoyed and disappointed when I refused\nto go. Nowar and others informed me, two days thereafter, that three\npersons had died in that district, that others were sick, and that the\nHeathen there had resolved to kill me in revenge as the cause of all. As\nNouka\u2019s wife was one of the victims, this scheme was concocted to entrap\nme. I was warned on no account to leave my house at night for a\nconsiderable time, but to keep it locked up and to let no one in after\ndark. The same two men from that district who had tried to kill Mr.\nJohnston and me, were again appointed and were watching for Abraham and\nme, lurking about in the evenings for that purpose. Again I saw how the\nLord had preserved me from Miaki and Nouka! Truly all are safe who are\nin God\u2019s keeping; and nothing can befall them, except for their real\ngood and the glory of their Lord.\n\nChafed at the upsetting of all their plans and full of revenge, Nouka\nand Miaki and their allies declared publicly that they were now going to\nkill Ian by sorcery, _i.e._, by Nahak, more feared by the poor Tannese\nthan the field of battle. Nothing but the grace of God and the\nenlightenment of His Spirit through the Scriptures, has ever raised\nthese Natives above that paralyzing superstition. But, thank God, there\nare now, while I write this (1887), about twelve thousand in the New\nHebrides who have been thus enlightened and lifted out of their terrors,\nfor the Gospel is still, as of old, the power of God unto salvation!\nStrange to say, Ian became sick shortly after the Sacred Men had made\nthe declaration about their Nahak-sorcery. I attended him, and for a\ntime he recovered, and appeared very grateful. But he soon fell sick\nagain. I sent him and the Chief next under him a blanket each; I also\ngave shirts and calico to a number of his leading men. They wore them\nand seemed grateful and pleased. Ian, however, gradually sank and got\nworse. He had every symptom of being poisoned, a thing easily\naccomplished, as they know and use many deadly poisons. His sufferings\nwere very great, which prevented me from ascribing his collapse to mere\nsuperstitious terror. I did all that could be done; but all thought him\ndying, and of course by sorcery. His people were angry at me for not\nconsenting before to their shooting of Miaki; and Miaki\u2019s people were\nnow rejoicing that Ian was being killed by Nahak.\n\nOne night, his brother and a party came for me to go and see Ian, but I\ndeclined to go till the morning for fear of the fever and ague. On\nreaching his village, I saw many people about, and feared that I had\nbeen led into a snare; but I at once entered into his house to talk and\npray with him, as he appeared to be dying. After prayer, I discovered\nthat I was left alone with him, and that all the people had retired from\nthe village; and I knew that, according to their custom, this meant\nmischief. Ian said,\u2014\n\n[Illustration: \u201cSUDDENLY HE DREW ... A LARGE BUTCHER-LIKE KNIFE.\u201d]\n\n\u201cCome near me, and sit by my bedside to talk with me, Missi.\u201d\n\nI did so, and while speaking to him he lay as if lost in a swoon of\nsilent meditation. Suddenly he drew from the sugar-cane leaf thatch\nclose to his bed, a large butcher-like knife, and instantly feeling the\nedge of it with his other hand, he pointed it to within a few inches of\nmy heart and held it quivering there, all a-tremble with excitement. I\ndurst neither move nor speak, except that my heart kept praying to the\nLord to spare me, or if my time was come to take me home to Glory with\nHimself. There passed a few moments of awful suspense. My sight went and\ncame. Not a word had been spoken, except to Jesus; and then Ian wheeled\nthe knife around, thrust it into the sugar-cane leaf, and cried to me,\u2014\n\n\u201cGo, go quickly!\u201d\n\nNext moment I was on the road. Not a living soul was to be seen about\nthe village. I understood then that it had been agreed that Ian was to\nkill me, and that they had all withdrawn so as not to witness it, so\nthat when the Man-of-war came to inquire about me Ian would be dead, and\nno punishment could overtake the murderer. I walked quietly till quite\nfree of the village, lest some hid in their houses might observe me.\nThereafter, fearing that they, finding I had escaped, might overtake and\nmurder me, I ran for my life a weary four miles till I reached the\nMission House, faint, yet praising God for such a deliverance. Poor Ian\ndied soon after, and his people strangled one of his wives and hanged\nanother, and took out the three bodies together in a canoe and sank them\nin the sea.\n\nMiaki was jubilant over having killed his enemy by Nahak; but the Inland\npeople now assembled in thousands to help Sirawia and his brother to\navenge that death on Miaki, Nouka and Karewick. These, on the other\nhand, boasted that they would kill all their enemies by Nahak-sorcery,\nand would call up a hurricane to destroy their houses, fruit trees, and\nplantations. Miaki and a number of his men also came to the Mission\nHouse; but, observing his sullen countenance, I asked kindly after his\nwife who was about to be confined, and gave a blanket, a piece of\ncalico, and a bit of soap as a present for the baby. He seemed greatly\npleased, whispered something to his men, and peaceably withdrew.\nImmediately after Miaki\u2019s threat about bringing a storm, one of their\ngreat hurricanes actually smote that side of the island and laid\neverything waste. His enemies were greatly enraged, and many of the\ninjured people united with them in demanding revenge on Miaki. Hitherto\nI had done everything in my power to prevent war, but now it seemed\ninevitable, and both parties sent word that if Abraham and I kept to the\nMission House no one would harm us. We had little faith in any of their\npromises, but there was no alternative for us.\n\nOn the following Saturday, 18th January, 1862, the war began. Musket\nafter musket was discharged quite near us, and the bush all round rang\nwith the yell of their war-cry, which if once heard will never be\nforgotten. It came nearer and nearer, for Miaki fled, and his people\ntook shelter behind and around our house. We were placed in the heart of\ndanger, and the balls flew thick all around us. In the afternoon Ian\u2019s\nbrother and his party retired, and Miaki quickly sent messengers and\npresents to the Inikahimini and Kaserumini districts, to assemble all\ntheir people and help him \u201cto fight Missi and the Tannese who were\nfriends of the Worship.\u201d He said,\u2014\n\n\u201cLet us cook his body and Abraham\u2019s, and distribute them to every\nvillage on this side of the island!\u201d\n\nYet all the while Miaki assured me that he had sent a friendly message.\nThe war went on, and poor Nowar the Chief protected us, till he had a\nspear broken into his right knee. The enemy would have carried him off\nto feast on his body; but his young men, shouting wildly his name and\nbattle-cry, rushed in with great impetuosity and carried their wounded\nChief home in triumph. The Inland people now discharged muskets at my\nhouse and beat against the walls with their clubs. They smashed in the\ndoor and window of our store-room, broke open boxes and casks, tore my\nbooks to pieces and scattered them about, and carried off everything for\nwhich they cared, including my boat, mast, oars, and sails. They broke\ninto Abraham\u2019s house and plundered it; after which they made a rush at\nthe bedroom, into which we were locked, firing muskets, yelling, and\ntrying to break it in. A Chief, professing to be sorry for us called me\nto the window, but on seeing me he sent a tomahawk through it, crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome on, let us kill him now!\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cMy Jehovah God will punish you; a Man-of-war will come and\npunish you, if you kill Abraham, his wife, or me.\u201d\n\nHe retorted, \u201cIt\u2019s all lies about a Man-of-war! They did not punish the\nErromangans. They are afraid of us. Come on, let us kill them!\u201d\n\nHe raised his tomahawk and aimed to strike my forehead, many muskets\nwere uplifted as if to shoot, so I raised a revolver in my right hand\nand pointed it at them. The Rev. Joseph Copeland had left it with me on\na former visit. I did not wish it, but he insisted upon leaving it,\nsaying that the very knowledge that I had such a weapon might save my\nlife. Truly, on this occasion it did so. Though it was harmless, they\nfell back quickly. My immediate assailant dropped to the ground,\ncrying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi has got a short musket! He will shoot you all!\u201d\n\nAfter lying flat on the ground for a little, they all got up and ran to\nthe nearest bush, where they continued yelling about and showing their\nmuskets. Towards nightfall they left, loaded with the plunder of the\nstore and of Abraham\u2019s house. So God once more graciously protected us\nfrom falling into their cruel hands.\n\nIn the evening, after they left, I went to Miaki and Nouka. They\nprofessed great sorrow at what had taken place, and pretended to have\ngiven them a present of food not to do us further injury. But Nowar\ninformed us that, on the contrary, they had hired them to return and\nkill us next morning and plunder everything on the Mission premises.\nMiaki, with a sneer, said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, where was Jehovah to-day? There was no Jehovah to-day to protect\nyou. It\u2019s all lies about Jehovah. They will come and kill you, and\nAbraham, and his wife, and cut your bodies into pieces to be cooked and\neaten in every village upon Tanna.\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cSurely, when you had planned all this, and brought them to kill\nus and steal all our property, Jehovah did protect us, or we would not\nhave been here!\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cThere was no Jehovah to-day! We have no fear of any\nMan-of-war. They dare not punish us. They durst not punish the\nErromangans for murdering the Gordons. They will talk to us and say we\nmust not do so again, and give us a present. That is all. We fear\nnothing. The talk of all Tanna is that we will kill you and seize all\nyour property to-morrow.\u201d\n\nI warned him that the punishment of a Man-of-war can only reach the body\nand the land, but that Jehovah\u2019s punishment reached both body and soul\nin Time and in Eternity.\n\nHe replied: \u201cWho fears Jehovah? He was not here to protect you to-day!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d I said, \u201cmy Jehovah God is here now. He hears all we say, sees\nall we do, and will punish the wicked and protect His own people.\u201d\n\nAfter this, a number of the people sat down around me, and I prayed with\nthem. But I left with a very heavy heart, feeling that Miaki was\nevidently bent on our destruction.\n\nI sent Abraham to consult Nowar, who had defended us till disabled by a\nspear in the right knee. He sent a canoe by Abraham, advising me to take\nsome of my goods in it to his house by night, and he would try to\nprotect them and us. The risk was so great, we could only take a very\nlittle. Enemies were on every hand to cut off our flight, and Miaki, the\nworst of all, whose village had to be passed in going to Nowar\u2019s. In the\ndarkness of the Mission House, we durst not light a candle for fear of\nsome one seeing and shooting us. Not one of Nowar\u2019s men durst come to\nhelp us. But in the end it made no difference, for Nowar and his men\nkept what was taken there as their portion of the plunder. Abraham, his\nwife, and I waited anxiously for the morning light. Miaki, the false and\ncruel, came to assure us that the Heathen would not return that day.\nYet, as daylight came in, Miaki himself stood and blew a great conch not\nfar from our house. I ran out to see why this trumpet-shell had been\nblown, and found it was the signal for a great company of howling armed\nsavages to rush down the hill on the other side of the bay and make\nstraight for the Mission House. We had not a moment to lose. To have\nremained would have been certain death to us all, and also to Matthew, a\nTeacher just arrived from Mr. Mathieson\u2019s Station. Though I am by\nconviction a strong Calvinist, I am no Fatalist. I held on while one\ngleam of hope remained. Escape for life was now the only path of duty. I\ncalled the Teachers, locked the door, and made quickly for Nowar\u2019s\nvillage. There was not a moment left to carry anything with us. In the\nissue, Abraham, his wife, and I lost all our earthly goods, and all our\nclothing except what we had on. My Bible, the few translations which I\nhad made into Tannese, and a light pair of blankets I carried with me.\n\nTo me the loss was bitter, but as God had so ordered it, I tried to bow\nwith resignation. All my deceased wife\u2019s costly outfit, her piano,\nsilver, cutlery, books, etc., with which her dear parents had provided\nher, besides all that I had in the world; also a box worth \u00a356, lately\narrived, full of men\u2019s clothing and medicine, the gift of my dear\nfriends, Samuel Wilson, Esq., and Mrs. Wilson, of Geelong. The\nSandal-wood Traders bought all the stolen property for tobacco, powder,\nballs, caps, and shot. One Trader gathered together a number of my books\nin a sadly torn and wasted condition and took them to Aneityum,\ndemanding \u00a310 from Dr. Geddie for his trouble. He had to pay him \u00a37\n10_s._, which I repaid to him on my second return to the Islands. This,\nby way of digression, only to show how white and black Heathenism meet\ntogether.\n\nLet us return to the morning of our flight. We could not take the usual\npath along the beach, for there our enemies would have quickly overtaken\nus. We entered the bush in the hope of getting away unobserved. But a\ncousin of Miaki, evidently secreted to watch us, sprang from behind a\nbread-fruit tree, and swinging his tomahawk, aimed it at my brow with a\nfiendish look. Avoiding it, I turned upon him and said in a firm bold\nvoice,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you dare to strike me, my Jehovah God will punish you. He is here to\ndefend me now!\u201d\n\nThe man, trembling, looked all round as if to see the God who was my\ndefender, and the tomahawk gradually lowered at his side. With my eye\nfixed upon him, I gradually moved backwards in the track of the\nTeachers, and God mercifully restrained him from following me.\n\nOn reaching Nowar\u2019s village unobserved, we found the people\nterror-stricken, crying, rushing about in despair at such a host of\narmed savages approaching. I urged them to ply their axes, cut down\ntrees, and blockade the path. For a little they wrought vigorously at\nthis; but when, so far as eye could reach, they saw the shore covered\nwith armed men rushing on towards their village, they were overwhelmed\nwith fear, they threw away their axes and weapons of war, they cast\nthemselves headlong on the ground, and they knocked themselves against\nthe trees as if to court death before it came. They cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, it\u2019s of no use! We will all be killed and eaten to-day! See what\na host are coming against us.\u201d\n\nMothers snatched up little children and ran to hide in the bush. Others\nwaded as far as they could into the sea with them, holding their heads\nabove the water. The whole village collapsed in a condition of\nindescribable terror. Nowar, lame with his wounded knee, got a canoe\nturned upside-down and sat upon it where he could see the whole\napproaching multitude. He said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, sit down beside me, and pray to our Jehovah God, for if He does\nnot send deliverance now, we are all dead men. They will kill us all on\nyour account, and that quickly. Pray, and I will watch!\u201d\n\nThey had gone to the Mission House and broken in the door, and finding\nthat we had escaped, they rushed on to Nowar\u2019s village. For, as they\nbegan to plunder the bedroom, Nouka said,\u2014\n\n\u201cLeave everything. Missi will come back for his valuable things at\nnight, and then we will get them and him also!\u201d\n\nSo he nailed up the door, and they all marched for Nowar\u2019s. We prayed as\none can only pray when in the jaws of death and on the brink of\nEternity. We felt that God was near, and omnipotent to do what seemed\nbest in His sight. When the savages were about three hundred yards off,\nat the foot of a hill leading up to the village, Nowar touched my knee,\nsaying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, Jehovah is hearing! They are all standing still.\u201d\n\nHad they come on they would have met with no opposition, for the people\nwere scattered in terror. On gazing shorewards, and round the Harbour,\nas far as we could see, was a dense host of warriors, but all were\nstanding still, and apparently absolute silence prevailed. We saw a\nmessenger or herald running along the approaching multitude, delivering\nsome tidings as he passed, and then disappearing in the bush. To our\namazement, the host began to turn, and slowly marched back in great\nsilence, and entered the remote bush at the head of the Harbour. Nowar\nand his people were in ecstasies, crying out,\u2014\n\n\u201cJehovah has heard Missi\u2019s prayer! Jehovah has protected us and turned\nthem away back.\u201d\n\nWe were on that day His trusting and defenceless children; would you\nnot, had you been one of our circle, have joined with us in praising the\nLord God for deliverance from the jaws of death? I know not why they\nturned back; but I have no doubt it was the doing of God to save our\nlives.\n\nWe learned that they all assembled in a cleared part of the bush and\nthere held a great wrangling palaver. Nouka and Miaki advised them first\nto fight Manuman and his people. They said,\u2014\n\n\u201cHis brother, the Sacred Man Kanini, killed Ian by Nahak. He is a friend\nof Missi and of the Worship. He also sent the hurricane to destroy us.\nThey have plenty of yams and pigs. Let us fight and plunder them, and\nwhen they are out of the way, we will be strong to destroy Missi and the\nWorship.\u201d\n\nOn this the whole mass went and attacked Manuman\u2019s first village, where\nthey murdered two of his men, two women, and two children. The\ninhabitants fled, and all the sick, the feeble, and the children who\nfell into their hands were reported to us to be murdered, cooked, and\neaten. Led on by Miaki, they plundered and burned seven villages.\n\nAbout mid-day, Nouka and Miaki sent their cousin Jonas, who had always\nbeen friendly to me, to say that I might return to my house in safety,\nas they were now carrying the war inland. Jonas had spent some years on\nSamoa, and been much with Traders in Sydney, and spoke English well; but\nwe felt they were deceiving us. That night, Abraham ventured to creep\nnear the Mission House, to test whether we might return, and save some\nvaluable things, and get a change of clothing. The house appeared to\nstand as when they nailed up the door. But a large party of Miaki\u2019s\nallies at once enclosed Abraham, and, after asking many questions about\nme, they let him go since I was not there. Had I gone there, they would\ncertainly that night have killed me. Again, at midnight, Abraham and his\nwife and Matthew went to the Mission House, and found Nouka, Miaki, and\nKarewick near by, concealed in the bush among the reeds. Once more they\nenclosed them, thinking I was there too, but Nouka, finding that I was\nnot, cried out,\u2014\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t kill them just now! Wait till Missi comes.\u201d\n\nHearing this, Matthew slipped into the bush and escaped. Abraham\u2019s wife\nwaded into the sea, and they allowed her to get away. Abraham was\nallowed to go to the Mission House, but he too crept into the bush, and\nafter an anxious waiting they all came back to me in safety. We now gave\nup all hope of recovering anything from the house.\n\nTowards morning, when Miaki and his men saw that I was not coming back\nto deliver myself into their hands, they broke up my house and stole all\nthey could carry away. They tore my books, and scattered them about.\nThey took away the type of my printing-press, to be made into bullets\nfor their muskets. For similar uses they melted down the zinc lining of\nmy boxes, and everything else that could be melted. What they could not\ntake away, they destroyed. I lay on the ground all night, concealed in\nan outhouse of Nowar\u2019s, but it was a sleepless and anxious night, not\nonly to me and my Aneityumese, but also to Nowar and his people.\n\nNext day, the attack was renewed by the three Chiefs on the district of\nmy dear friend Manuman. His people fled; the villages were burned; all\nwho came in their way were killed, and all food and property carried\naway. At night they returned to keep watch over Nowar and me. When\ndarkness was setting in, Miaki sent for me to go and speak with him, but\nNowar and the Aneityumese were all so opposed to it that I did not go.\nMessages were sent to Nowar, threatening to kill him and his people for\nprotecting me, and great excitement prevailed.\n\nAnother incident added horror to the memories of this day. A savage from\nErromanga, living with Nowar, had gone to the war that day. He got near\na village unobserved, climbed into a tree, and remained there watching.\nAfter mid-day, Kamkali, a true friend of mine, the Chief of his village,\ncame home wearied from the war, got his blanket, stealthily crept into a\nquiet place in the bush, rolled himself up, and lay down to sleep; for,\naccording to their custom, the leading warriors in times of conflict\nseldom sleep in their own houses, and seldom twice in the same place\neven in the bush, for fear of personal danger. The Erromangan, having\nwatched till he was sound asleep, crept to where he lay, raised his club\nand smashed in his skull. He told, when he came home, how the blood ran\nfrom nose, mouth, and ears, with a gurgling sound in his throat, and\nafter a few convulsive struggles all was over! And the people around\nNowar praised him for his deed. Cocoa-nuts were brought for him to\ndrink, and food was presented before him in large quantities, as to one\nwho had done something noble. For safety, he was put into the same house\nwhere I had to sit, and even Nowar honoured him. I watched for the\nworkings of a natural man\u2019s conscience under the guilt of murder. When\nleft alone, he shook every now and then with agitation, and started\nround with a terrified gaze. He looked the picture of a man who felt\nthat he had done to his neighbour what he would not have liked another\nto do to him. I wonder if that consciousness ever dies out, in the\nlowest and worst, that last voice of God in the soul?\n\nThat very night, Nowar declared that I must leave his village before\nmorning, else he and his people would be killed for protecting me. He\nadvised me, as the sea was good, to try for Mr. Mathieson\u2019s Station; but\nhe objected to my taking away any of my property\u2014he would soon follow\nwith it himself! But how to sail? Miaki had stolen my boat, mast, sails,\nand oars, as also an excellent canoe made for me and paid for by me on\nAneityum; and he had threatened to shoot any person that assisted me to\nlaunch either the one or the other. The danger, however, was so great\nthat Nowar said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou cannot remain longer in my house! My son will guide you to the\nlarge chestnut tree in my plantation in the bush. Climb up into it, and\nremain there till the moon rises.\u201d\n\nBeing entirely at the mercy of such doubtful and vacillating friends, I,\nthough perplexed, felt it best to obey. I climbed into the tree, and was\nleft there alone in the bush. The hours I spent there live all before me\nas if it were but of yesterday. I heard the frequent discharging of\nmuskets, and the yells of the savages. Yet I sat there among the\nbranches, as safe in the arms of Jesus! Never, in all my sorrows, did my\nLord draw nearer to me, and speak more soothingly in my soul, than when\nthe moonlight flickered among these chestnut leaves, and the night air\nplayed on my throbbing brow, as I told all my heart to Jesus. Alone, yet\nnot alone! If it be to glorify my God, I will not grudge to spend many\nnights alone in such a tree, to feel again my Saviour\u2019s spiritual\npresence, to enjoy His consoling fellowship. If thus thrown back upon\nyour own soul, alone, all, all alone, in the midnight, in the bush, in\nthe very embrace of death itself, have you a Friend that will not fail\nyou then?\n\nGladly would I have lingered there for one night of comparative peace!\nBut, about midnight, Nowar sent his son to call me down from the tree,\nand to guide me to the shore where he himself was, as it was now time to\ntake to sea in the canoe. Pleading for my Lord\u2019s continuing presence, I\nhad to obey. My life and the lives of my Aneityumese now hung upon a\nvery slender thread, and was almost equally at risk from our friends\nso-called, and from our enemies. Had I been a stranger to Jesus and to\nprayer, my reason would verily have given way, but my comfort and joy\nsprang up out of these: \u201cI will never leave thee, nor forsake thee; lo,\nI am with you alway!\u201d Pleading these promises, I followed my guide. We\nreached the beach, just inside the Harbour, at a beautiful white sandy\nbay on Nowar\u2019s ground, from which our canoe was to start. A good number\nof the Natives had assembled there to see us off. Arkurat, having got a\nlarge roll of calico from me for the loan of his canoe, hid it away, and\nthen refused the canoe, saying that if he had to escape with his family\nhe would require it. He demanded, for the loan of his canoe, an axe, a\nsail for his canoe, and a pair of blankets. As Karis had the axe and\nanother had the quilt, I gave the quilt to him for a sail, and the axe\nand blankets for the canoe. In fact, these few relics of our earthly all\nat Nowar\u2019s were coveted by the savages and endangered our lives, and it\nwas as well to get rid of them altogether. He cruelly proposed a small\ncanoe for two; but I had hired the canoe for five, and insisted upon\ngetting it, as he had been well paid for it. As he only laughed and\nmocked us, I prepared to start and travel overland to Mr. Mathieson\u2019s\nStation. He then said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMy wrath is over! You may take it and go.\u201d\n\nWe launched it, but now he refused to let us go till daylight. He had\nalways been one of my best friends, but now appeared bent on a quarrel,\nso I had to exercise much patience with him and them. Having launched\nit, he said I had hired the canoe but not the paddles. I protested,\u2014\n\n\u201cSurely you know we hired the paddles too. What could we do without\npaddles?\u201d\n\nBut Arkurat lay down and pretended to have fallen asleep, snoring on the\nsand, and could not be awaked. I appealed to Nowar, who only said\u2014\n\n\u201cThat is his conduct, Missi, our conduct!\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cAs he has got the blankets which I saved to keep me from\nague and fever, and I have nothing left now but the clothes I have on,\nsurely you will give me paddles.\u201d\n\nNowar gave me one. Returning to the village, friends gave me one each\ntill I got other three. Now Arkurat started up, and refused to let us\ngo. A Chief and one of his men, who lived on the other side of the\nisland near to where we were going, and who was hired by me to go with\nus and help in paddling the canoe, drew back also and refused to go.\nAgain I offered to leave the canoe, and walk overland if possible, when\nFaimungo, the Chief who had refused to go with us, came forward and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, they are all deceiving you! The sea is so rough, you cannot go\nby it; and if you should get round the weather point, Miaki has men\nappointed to shoot you as you pass the Black Rocks, while by land all\nthe paths are guarded by armed men. I tell you the truth, having heard\nall their talk. Miaki and Karewick say they hate the Worship, and will\nkill you. They killed your goats, and stole all your property yesterday.\nFarewell!\u201d\n\nThe Teachers, the boy, and I now resolved to enter the canoe and attempt\nit, as the only gleam of hope left to us. After Faimungo came, the man\nto whom the canoe belonged had withdrawn from us, it having transpired\nthat Miaki would not attack us that night, as other game had attracted\nhis savage eyes. My party of five now embarked in our frail canoe;\nAbraham first, I next, Matthew after me, the boy at the steering paddle,\nand Abraham\u2019s wife sitting in the bottom, where she might hold on while\nit continued to float. For a mile or more we got away nicely under the\nlee of the island, but when we turned to go south for Mr. Mathieson\u2019s\nStation, we met the full force of wind and sea, every wave breaking over\nand almost swamping our canoe. The Native lad at the helm paddle stood\nup crying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, this is the conduct of the sea! It swallows up all who seek its\nhelp.\u201d\n\nI answered, \u201cWe do not seek help from it but from Jehovah Jesus.\u201d\n\nOur danger became very great, as the sea broke over and lashed around\nus. My faithful Aneityumese, overcome with terror, threw down their\npaddles, and Abraham said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, we are all drowned now! We are food for the sharks. We might as\nwell be eaten by the Tannese as by fishes; but God will give us life\nwith Jesus in heaven!\u201d\n\nI seized the paddle nearest me; I ordered Abraham to seize another\nwithin his reach; I enjoined Matthew to bail the canoe for life, and the\nlad to keep firm in his seat, and I cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cStand to your post, and let us return! Abraham, where is now your faith\nin Jesus? Remember, He is Ruler on sea as on land. Abraham, pray and ply\nyour paddle! Keep up stroke for stroke with me, as our lives depend on\nit. Our God can protect us. Matthew, bail with all your might. Don\u2019t\nlook round on the sea and fear. Let us pray to God and ply our paddles,\nand He will save us yet!\u201d\n\nDear old Abraham said,\u2014\n\n\u201cThank you for that, Missi. I will be strong. I pray to God and ply my\npaddle. God will save us!\u201d\n\nWith much labour, and amid deadly perils, we got the canoe turned; and\nafter four hours of a terrible struggle, we succeeded, towards daylight\nas the tide turned, in again reaching smooth water. With God\u2019s blessing\nwe at last reached the shore, exactly where we had left it five hours\nago!\n\nNow drenched and weary, with the skin of our hands sticking to the\npaddles, we left the canoe on the reef and waded ashore. Many Natives\nwere there, and looked sullen and disappointed at our return. Katasian,\nthe lad who had been with us, instantly fled for his own land; and the\nNatives reported that he was murdered soon after. Utterly exhausted, I\nlay down on the sand and instantly fell into a deep sleep. By-and-by I\nfelt some one pulling from under my head the native bag in which I\ncarried my Bible and the Tannese translations\u2014the all that had been\nsaved by me from the wreck! Grasping the bag, I sprang to my feet, and\nthe man ran away. My Teachers had also a hedging knife, a useless\nrevolver, and a fowling-piece, the sight of which, though they had been\nunder the salt water for hours, God used to restrain the savages.\nCalling my Aneityumese near, we now in united prayer and kneeling on the\nsands committed each other unto the Lord God, being prepared for the\nlast and worst.\n\nAs I sat meditating on the issues, Faimungo, the friendly Inland Chief,\nagain appeared to warn us of our danger, now very greatly increased by\nour being driven back from the sea. All Nowar\u2019s men had fled, and were\nhid in the bush and in rocks along the shore; while Miaki was holding a\nmeeting not half a mile away, and preparing to fall upon us. Faimungo\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cFarewell, Missi, I am going home. I don\u2019t wish to see the work and the\nmurders of this morning.\u201d\n\nHe was Nowar\u2019s son-in-law. He had always been truthful and kindly with\nme. His home was about half-way across the island, on the road that we\nwanted to go, and under sudden impulse I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cFaimungo, will you let us follow you? Will you show us the path? When\nthe Mission Ship arrives, I will give you three good axes, blankets,\nknives, fish-hooks, and many things you prize.\u201d\n\nThe late hurricanes had so destroyed and altered the paths, that only\nNatives who knew them well could follow them. He trembled much and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, you will be killed. Miaki and Karewick will shoot you. I dare\nnot let you follow. I have only about twenty men, and your following\nmight endanger us all.\u201d\n\nI urged him to leave at once, and we would follow of our own accord. I\nwould not ask him to protect us; but if he betrayed us and helped the\nenemy to kill us, I assured him that our God would punish him. If he\nspared us, he would be rewarded well; and if killed against his wishes,\nGod would not be angry at him. He said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSeven men are with me now, and thirteen are to follow. I will not now\nsend for them. They are with Miaki and Nouka. I will go; but if you\nfollow, you will be killed on the way. You may follow me as far as you\ncan!\u201d\n\nOff he started to Nowar\u2019s, and got a large load of my stolen property,\nblankets, sheets, etc., which had fallen to his lot. He called his seven\nmen, who had also shared in the plunder, and, to avoid Miaki\u2019s men, they\nran away under a large cocoa-nut grove skirting the shore, calling,\u2014\n\n\u201cBe quick! Follow and keep as near to us as you can.\u201d\n\nThough Nowar had got a box of my rice and appropriated many things from\nthe plunder of the Mission House besides the goods entrusted to his\ncare, and got two of my goats killed and cooked for himself and his\npeople, yet now he would not give a particle of food to my starving\nAneityumese or myself, but hurried us off, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cI will eat all your rice and keep all that has been left with me in\npayment for my lame knee and for my people fighting for you!\u201d\n\nMy three Aneityumese and I started after Faimungo and his men. We could\nplace no confidence in any of them; but, feeling that we were in the\nLord\u2019s hands, it appeared to be our only hope of escaping instant death.\nWe got away unobserved by the enemies. We met several small parties of\nfriends in the Harbour, apparently glad to see us trying to get away.\nBut about four miles on our way, we met a large party of Miaki\u2019s men,\nall armed, and watching as outposts. Some were for shooting us, but\nothers hesitated. Every musket was, however, raised and levelled at me.\nFaimungo poised his great spear and said, \u201cNo, you shall not kill Missi\nto-day. He is with me.\u201d Having made this flourish, he strode off after\nhis own men, and my Aneityumese followed, leaving me face to face with a\nring of levelled muskets. Sirawia, who was in command of this party, and\nwho once like Nowar had been my friend, said to me, Judas like, \u201cMy love\nto you, Missi.\u201d But he also shouted after Faimungo, \u201cYour conduct is bad\nin taking the Missi away; leave him to us to be killed!\u201d\n\nI then turned upon him, saying, \u201cSirawia, I love you all. You must know\nthat I sought only your good. I gave you medicine and food when you and\nyour people were sick and dying under measles; I gave you the very\nclothing you wear. Am I not your friend? Have we not often drunk tea and\neaten together in my house? Can you stand there and see your friend\nshot? If you do, my God will punish you severely.\u201d\n\nHe then whispered something to his company which I did not hear; and,\nthough their muskets were still raised, I saw in their eyes that he had\nrestrained them. I therefore began gradually to move backwards, still\nkeeping my eyes fixed on them, till the bush hid them from my view,\nwhereon I turned and ran after my party, and God kept the enemy from\nfollowing. I would like to think that Sirawia only uttered the cruel\nwords which I heard as a blind to save his own life; for at this time he\nwas joined to Miaki\u2019s party, his own people having risen against him,\nand had to dissemble his friendly feelings towards me. Poor Sirawia!\nWell I knew that Miaki would only use him as a tool for selfish\ninterests, and sacrifice him at last. All this showed how dangers grew\naround our path. Still we trusted in Jehovah Jesus, and pressed on in\nflight. A second hostile party encountered us, and with great difficulty\nwe also got away from them. Soon thereafter a friendly company crossed\nour path. We learned from them that the enemies had slaughtered other\ntwo of Manuman\u2019s men, and burned several villages with fire. Another\nparty of the enemy encountered us, and were eager for our lives. But\nthis time Faimungo withstood them firmly, his men encircled us, and he\nsaid, \u201cI am not afraid now, Missi; I am feeling stronger near my own\nland!\u201d\n\nHurrying still onwards, we came to that village on their high ground\ncalled Aneai, _i.e._, Heaven. The sun was oppressively hot, the path\nalmost unshaded, and our whole party very exhausted, especially\nFaimungo, carrying his load of stolen goods. So here he sat down on the\nvillage dancing ground for a smoke, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, I am near my own land now. We can rest with safety.\u201d\n\nIn a few minutes, however, he started up, he and his men, in wild\nexcitement. Over a mountain, behind the village and above it, there came\nthe shoutings, and anon the tramp, tramp of a multitude making rapidly\ntowards us. Faimungo got up and planted his back against a tree. I stood\nbeside him, and the Aneityumese woman and the two men stood near me,\nwhile his men seemed prepared to flee. At full speed a large body of the\ntallest and most powerful men that I had seen on Tanna came rushing on\nand filled the dancing ground. They were all armed, and flushed with\ntheir success in war. A messenger had informed them of our escape,\nprobably from Miaki, and they had crossed the country to intercept us.\nFaimungo was much afraid, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, go on in that path, you and your Aneityumese; and I will follow\nwhen I have had a smoke and a talk with these men.\u201d\n\nI replied, \u201cNo, I will stand by your side till you go; and if I am\nkilled, it will be by your side. I will not leave you.\u201d\n\nHe implored us to go on, but that I knew would be certain death. They\nbegan urging one another to kill us, but I looked round them as calmly\nas possible, saying, \u201cMy Jehovah God will punish you here and hereafter,\nif you kill me or any of His servants.\u201d\n\nA killing-stone, thrown by one of the savages, grazed poor old Abraham\u2019s\ncheek, and the dear soul gave such a look at me, and then upwards, as if\nto say, \u201cMissi, I was nearly away to Jesus.\u201d A club was also raised to\nfollow the blow of the killing-stone, but God baffled the aim. They\nencircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to strike the\nfirst blow or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I\nsaw Him watching all the scene. My peace came back to me like a wave\nfrom God. I realized that I was immortal till my Master\u2019s work with me\nwas done. The assurance came to me, as if a voice out of Heaven had\nspoken, that not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail\nto strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating\nto be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing-stone the\nfingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in\nHeaven and on Earth. He rules all Nature, animate and inanimate, and\nrestrains even the savage of the South Seas. In that awful hour I saw\nHis own words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of\nHeaven: \u201cSeek, and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name,\nthat will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.\u201d I could\nunderstand how Stephen and John saw the glorified Saviour as they gazed\nup through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne! Yet I never\ncould say that on such occasions I was entirely without fear. Nay, I\nhave felt my reason reeling, my sight coming and going, and my knees\nsmiting together when thus brought close to a violent death, but mostly\nunder the solemn thought of being ushered into Eternity and appearing\nbefore God. Still, I was never left without hearing that promise in all\nits consoling and supporting power coming up through the darkness and\nthe anguish, \u201cLo, I am with you alway.\u201d And with Paul I could say, even\nin this dread moment and crisis of being, \u201cI am persuaded that neither\ndeath nor life ... nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us\nfrom the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d\n\nFaimungo and others now urged us to go on in the path. I said,\n\u201cFaimungo, why are we to leave you? My God heard your promise not to\nbetray me. He knows now what is in your heart and in mine. I will not\nleave you; and if I am to die, I will die by your side.\u201d\n\nHe replied, \u201cNow, I go on before; Missi, keep close to me.\u201d\n\nHis men had gone, and I persuaded my Aneityumese to follow them. At\nlast, with a bound, Faimungo started after them. I followed, keeping as\nnear him as I could, pleading with Jesus to protect me or to take me\nhome to Glory. The host of armed men also ran along on each side with\ntheir weapons ready; but leaving everything to Jesus, I ran on as if\nthey were my escort, or as if I saw them not. If any reader wonders how\nthey were restrained, much more would I, unless I believed that the same\nHand that restrained the lions from touching Daniel held back these\nsavages from hurting me! We came to a stream crossing our path. With a\nbound all my party cleared it, ran up the bank opposite, and disappeared\nin the bush. \u201cFaint yet pursuing,\u201d I also tried the leap, but I struck\nthe bank and slid back on my hands and knees towards the stream. At this\nmoment I heard a crash above my head amongst the branches of an\noverhanging tree, and I knew that a killing-stone had been thrown, and\nthat that branch had saved me. Praising my God, I scrambled up on the\nother side, and followed the track of my party into the bush. The\nsavages gazed after me for a little in silence, but no one crossed the\nstream; and I saw them separate into two, one portion returning to the\nvillage and another pressing inland. With what gratitude did I recognise\nthe Invisible One who brought their counsels to confusion!\n\nI found my party resting in the bush, and amazed to see me escaped alive\nfrom men who were thirsting for my blood. Faimungo and his men received\nme with demonstrations of joy, perhaps feeling a little ashamed of their\nown cowardice. He now ascended the mountain and kept away from the\ncommon path to avoid other Native bands. At every village enemies to the\nWorship were ready to shoot us. But I kept close to our guide, knowing\nthat the fear of shooting him would prevent their shooting at me, as he\nwas the most influential Chief in all that section of the island.\n\nOne party said, \u201cMiaki and Karewick said that Missi made the sickness\nand the hurricanes, and we ought to kill him.\u201d\n\nFaimungo replied, \u201cThey lie about Missi! It is our own bad conduct that\nmakes us sick.\u201d\n\nThey answered, \u201cWe don\u2019t know who makes the sickness; but our fathers\nhave taught us to kill all foreign men.\u201d\n\nFaimungo, clutching club and spear, exclaimed, standing betwixt them and\nus, \u201cYou won\u2019t kill Missi to-day!\u201d\n\nIn the flight we passed springs and streamlets, but though parched with\nsickening thirst, not one of us durst stoop down to drink, as we should\nhave been almost certainly killed in the act. Faimungo now sent his own\nmen home by a near path, and guided us himself till we were close upon\nthe shore. There, sitting down he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cMissi, I have now fulfilled my promise. I am so tired, I am so afraid,\nI dare not go farther. My love to you all. Now go on quickly! Three of\nmy men will go with you to the next rocks. Go quickly! Farewell.\u201d\n\nThese men went on a little, and then said, \u201cMissi, we dare not go!\nFaimungo is at war with the people of the next land. You must keep\nstraight along this path.\u201d\n\nSo they turned and ran back to their own village.\n\nTo us this district was especially perilous. Many years ago the\nAneityumese had joined in a war against the Tannese of this tribe, and\nthe thirst for revenge yet existed in their hearts, handed down from\nsire to son. Besides, Miaki had incited the people here to murder the\nTeachers and me if we attempted to escape this way. Most providentially\nthe men were absent on a war expedition, and we saw only three lads and\na great number of women and children, who ran off to the bush in terror.\nIn the evening the enraged savages of another district assaulted the\npeople of the shore villages for allowing us to pass, and, though\nsparing their lives, broke in pieces their weapons of war\u2014a very\ngrievous penalty. In the next district, as we hasted along the shore,\ntwo young men came running after us, poising their quivering spears. I\ntook the useless revolver out of my little native basket, and raising it\ncried,\u2014\n\n\u201cBeware! Lay down your spears at once on the sand, and carry my basket\nto the next landing at the black rocks.\u201d\n\nThey threw their spears on the sand, lifted the bag, and ran on before\nus to the rocks which formed the march betwixt them and their enemies.\nLaying it down, they said appealingly, \u201cMissi, let us return to our\nhome!\u201d And how they did run, fearing the pursuit of their foes.\n\nIn the next land we saw none. After that we saw crowds all along, some\nfriendly, others unfriendly, but they let us pass on, and with the\nblessing of Almighty God we drew near to Mr. Mathieson\u2019s Station in\nsafety. Here a man gave me a cocoa-nut for each of our party, which we\ngreatly required, having tasted nothing all that day, and very little\nfor several days before. We were so weak that only the struggle for life\nenabled us to keep our feet; yet my poor Aneityumese never complained\nand never halted, not even the woman. The danger and excitement kept us\nup in the race for life, and by the blessing of God we were now\napproaching the Mission House, praising God for His wonderful\ndeliverances.\n\nHearing of our coming, Mr. Mathieson came running to meet me. They had\nheard of my leaving my own Station, and they thought I was dead! They\nwere themselves both very weak; their only child had just been laid in\nthe grave, and they were in great grief and in greater peril. We praised\nthe Lord for permitting us to meet; we prayed for support, guidance, and\nprotection; and resolved now, in all events, to stand by each other till\nthe last.\n\nBefore I left the Harbour I wrote and left with Nowar letters to be\ngiven to the Captains of any vessels which called, for the first, and\nthe next, and the next, telling them of our great danger, that Mr.\nMathieson was almost without food, and that I would reward them\nhandsomely if they would call at the Station and remove any of us who\nmight be spared thence to Aneityum. Two or three vessels called, and, as\nI afterwards learned, got my letters; but, while buying my stolen\nproperty from the Natives for tobacco, powder, and balls, they took no\nfurther notice of my appeals, and sailed past Mr. Mathieson\u2019s straight\non to Aneityum. \u201cThe tender mercies of the wicked are cruel!\u201d\n\nLet me now cull the leading events from my Journal, that intervened\nbetwixt this date and the final break-up of the Mission on Tanna\u2014at\nleast for a season\u2014though, blessed be God! I have lived to see the light\nrekindled by my dear friends Mr. and Mrs. Watt, and shining more\nbrightly and hopefully than ever. The candle was quenched, but the\ncandle-stick was not removed!\n\nOn Wednesday, 22nd January, 1862, we heard that other three of Manuman\u2019s\npeople had been killed and a district burned with fire. Though this poor\nman was one of Nowar\u2019s chief friends, yet I heard him say before my\nflight, \u201cWhen so many children are being killed, why do they not send\none for food to me and my family? They are as tender and good as the\nyoung fowls!\u201d A remark like this lets you see deep into the heart of a\nCannibal, and he a sort of half-converted one, if I may use such an\nexpression; certainly not one of the worst type by any means.\n\nOn the 23rd January, Mr. Mathieson sent for Taura, Kati, and Kapuku, his\nthree principal Chiefs, to induce them to promise protection till a\nvessel called to take us away. They appeared friendly, and promised to\ndo their best. Alas! the promises of the Tannese Chiefs had too often\nproved to be vain.\n\nOn Friday, 24th January, report reached our Station that Miaki and his\nparty, hearing that a friendly Chief had concealed two of Manuman\u2019s\nyoung men, compelled him to produce them and club them to death before\ntheir eyes. Also, that they surrounded Manuman\u2019s party on a mountain,\nand hemmed them in there, dying of starvation and trying to survive on\nthe carcases of the dead and on bark and roots. Also, that Miaki had\nunited all the Chiefs, friends and foes alike, in a bond of blood, to\nkill every one pertaining to the whole Mission on Tanna. Jesus rules.\n\n[Illustration: SPRINGING FORWARD HE CAUGHT THE CLUB.]\n\nOn Sunday, the 26th January, thirty persons came to worship at the\nMission House. Thereafter, at great risk, we had Worship at three of the\nnearest and most friendly villages. Amidst all our perils and trials, we\npreached the Gospel to about one hundred and sixteen persons. It was\nverily a sowing time of tears; but, despite all that followed, who shall\nsay that it was vain! Twenty years have passed, and now when I am\nwriting this, there is a Church of God singing the praises of Jesus in\nthat very district of Tanna. On leaving the second village, a young lad\naffectionately took my hand to lead me to the next village; but a sulky,\ndown-browed savage, carrying a ponderous club, also insisted upon\naccompanying us. I led the way, guided by the lad. Mr. Mathieson got the\nman to go before him, while he himself followed, constantly watching.\nComing to a place where another path branched off from ours, I asked\nwhich path we took, and, on turning to the left as instructed by the\nlad, the savage getting close behind me, swung his huge club over his\nshoulder to strike me on the head. Mr. Mathieson, springing forward,\ncaught the club from behind with a great cry to me; and I, wheeling\ninstantly, had hold of the club also, and betwixt us we wrested it out\nof his hands. The poor creature, craven at heart however blood-thirsty,\nimplored us not to kill him. I raised the club threateningly, and caused\nhim to march in front of us till we reached the next village fence. In\nterror lest these Villagers should kill him, he gladly received back his\nclub, as well as the boy his bow and arrows, and they were lost in the\nbush in a moment. At the village from which this man and boy had come,\none savage brought his musket while we were conducting worship, and sat\nsullen and scowling at us all the time. Mocking questions were also\nshouted at us, such as\u2014\u201cWho made the rains, winds, and hurricanes? Who\ncaused all the disease? Who killed Mr. Mathieson\u2019s child?\u201d They sneered\nand scoffed at our answers, and in this Taura the Chief joined the rest.\nThey retorted that trading vessels had called at the Harbour, and that\nall my clothes and property had been sold for muskets, powder, caps, and\nballs, so that Miaki and his men had plenty of ammunition for fighting\npurposes now! After this, feeling that no one could be trusted, we\nceased visiting these villages, and refrained from exposing ourselves at\nany distance from the Mission House.\n\nOn the 27th, at daylight, a vessel was seen in the offing, as if to\ntantalize us. The Captain had been at the Harbour, and had received my\nletter from Nowar. I hoisted a flag to induce him to send or come on\nshore, but he sailed off for Aneityum, bearing the plunder of my poor\nMission House, purchased for ammunition and tobacco from the Natives. He\nleft the news at Aneityum that I had been driven from my Station some\ntime ago, and was believed to have been murdered.\n\nOn the 29th January, the young Chief Kapuku came and handed to Mr.\nMathieson his own and his father\u2019s war-gods and household idols. They\nconsisted chiefly of a basket of small and peculiar stones, much worn\nand shining with use. He said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhile many are trying to kill you and drive the worship of Jehovah from\nthis island, I give up my gods, and will send away all Heathen idols\nfrom my land.\u201d\n\nOn the 31st, we learned that a party of Miaki\u2019s men were going about Mr.\nMathieson\u2019s district inciting the people to kill us. Faimungo also came\nto inform us that Miaki was exerting all his artifice to get us and the\nWorship destroyed. Manuman even sent, from inland, Raki, his adopted\nson, to tell me of the fearful sufferings that he and his people were\nnow passing through, and that some were killed almost every day. Raki\u2019s\nwife was a Chief\u2019s daughter, who, when the war began, returned to her\nfather\u2019s care. The savages of Miaki went to her own father\u2019s house and\ncompelled him to give her up as an enemy. She was clubbed and feasted\non.\n\nOn Sabbath, 2nd February, thirty-two people attended the morning\nservice. I addressed them on the Deluge, its causes and lessons. I\nshowed them a doll, explaining that such carved and painted images could\nnot hear our prayers or help us in our need, that the living Jehovah God\nonly could hear and help. They were much interested, and after Worship\ncarefully examined the doll. Mr. Mathieson and I, committing ourselves\nto Jesus, went inland and conducted worship at seven villages, listened\nto by in all about one hundred people. Nearly all appeared friendly. The\npeople of one village had been incited to kill us on our return; but God\nguided us to return by another way, and so we escaped.\n\nDuring the day, on 3rd February, a company of Miaki\u2019s men came to the\nMission House, and forced Mrs. Mathieson to show them through the\npremises. Providentially, I had bolted myself that morning into a closet\nroom, and was engrossed with writing. They went through every room in\nthe house and did not see me, concluding I had gone inland. They\ndischarged a musket into our Teacher\u2019s house, but afterwards left\nquietly, greatly disappointed at not finding me. My heart still rose in\npraise to God for another such deliverance, neither by man nor of man\u2019s\nplanning!\n\nWorn out with long watching and many fatigues, I lay down that night\nearly, and fell into a deep sleep. About ten o\u2019clock the savages again\nsurrounded the Mission House. My faithful dog Clutha, clinging still to\nme amid the wreck of all else on Earth, sprang quietly upon me, pulled\nat my clothes, and awoke me, showing danger in her eye glancing on me\nthrough the shadows. I silently awoke Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson, who had\nalso fallen asleep. We committed ourselves in hushed prayer to God and\nwatched them, knowing that they could not see us. Immediately a glare of\nlight fell into the room! Men passed with flaming torches; and first\nthey set fire to the Church all round, and then to a reed fence\nconnecting the Church and the dwelling-house. In a few minutes the\nhouse, too, would be in flames, and armed savages waiting to kill us on\nattempting an escape! Taking my harmless revolver in the left hand and a\nlittle American tomahawk in the right, I pled with Mr. Mathieson to let\nme out and instantly again to lock the door on himself and wife. He very\nreluctantly did so, holding me back and saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cStop here and let us die together! You will never return!\u201d\n\nI said, \u201cBe quick! Leave that to God. In a few minutes our house will be\nin flames, and then nothing can save us.\u201d\n\nHe did let me out, and locked the door again quickly from the inside;\nand, while his wife and he prayed and watched for me from within, I ran\nto the burning reed fence, cut it from top to bottom, and tore it up and\nthrew it back into the flames, so that the fire could not by it be\ncarried to our dwelling-house. I saw on the ground shadows, as if\nsomething were falling around me, and started back. Seven or eight\nsavages had surrounded me, and raised their great clubs in air. I heard\na shout\u2014\u201cKill him! kill him!\u201d One savage tried to seize hold of me, but,\nleaping from his clutch, I drew the revolver from my pocket and levelled\nit as for use, my heart going up in prayer to my God. I said,\u2014\n\n\u201cDare to strike me, and my Jehovah God will punish you! He protects us,\nand will punish you for burning His Church, for hatred to His Worship\nand people, and for all your bad conduct. We love you all; and for doing\nyou good only you want to kill us. But our God is here now to protect us\nand to punish you.\u201d\n\nThey yelled in rage, and urged each other to strike the first blow, but\nthe Invisible One restrained them. I stood invulnerable beneath His\ninvisible shield, and succeeded in rolling back the tide of flame from\nour dwelling-house.\n\nAt this dread moment occurred an incident, which my readers may explain\nas they like, but which I trace directly to the interposition of my God.\nA rushing and roaring sound came from the South, like the noise of a\nmighty engine or of muttering thunder. Every head was instinctively\nturned in that direction, and they knew, from previous hard experience,\nthat it was one of their awful tornadoes of wind and rain. Now, mark,\nthe wind bore the flames away from our dwelling-house, and had it come\nin the opposite direction, no power on Earth could have saved us from\nbeing all consumed! It made the work of destroying the Church only that\nof a few minutes; but it brought with it a heavy and murky cloud, which\npoured out a perfect torrent of tropical rain. Now, mark again, the\nflames of the burning Church were thereby cut off from extending to and\nseizing upon the reeds and the bush; and, besides, it had become almost\nimpossible now to set fire to our dwelling-house. The stars in their\ncourses were fighting against Sisera! The mighty roaring of the wind,\nthe black cloud pouring down unceasing torrents, and the whole\nsurroundings, awed those savages into silence. Some began to withdraw\nfrom the scene, all lowered their weapons of war, and several,\nterror-struck, exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cThat is Jehovah\u2019s rain! Truly their Jehovah God is fighting for them\nand helping them. Let us away!\u201d\n\nA panic seized upon them; they threw away their remaining torches; in a\nfew moments they had all disappeared in the bush; and I was left alone,\npraising God for His marvellous works. \u201cO taste and see that God is\ngood! Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!\u201d\n\nReturning to the door of the Mission House, I cried,\u2014\n\n\u201cOpen and let me in. I am now all alone.\u201d\n\nMr. Mathieson let me in, and exclaimed,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf ever, in time of need, God sent help and protection to His servants\nin answer to prayer, He has done so to-night! Blessed be His holy name!\u201d\n\nIn fear and in joy we united our praises. Truly our Jesus has all power,\nnot less in the elements of Nature than in the savage hearts of the\nTannese. Precious Jesus! Does He not chide us, saying,\u2014\u201cHitherto ye have\nasked nothing in My Name. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be\nfull!\u201d? How much help, blessing, and joy we lose every day, because we\ndo not take all to Jesus as we ought! Often since have I wept over His\nlove and mercy in that deliverance, and prayed that every moment of my\nremaining life may be consecrated to the service of my precious Friend\nand Saviour!\n\nAll through the remainder of that night I lay wide awake keeping watch,\nmy noble little dog lying near me with ears alert. Early in the morning\nfriends came weeping around us. Our enemies were loudly rejoicing. It\nhad been finally resolved to kill us at once, to plunder our house and\nthen to burn it. The noise of the shouting was distinctly heard as they\nneared the Mission premises, and our weeping, friendly Natives looked\nterror-struck, and seemed anxious to flee for the bush. But just when\nthe excitement rose to the highest pitch, we heard, or dreamed that we\nheard, a cry higher still, \u201cSail O!\u201d We were by this time beginning to\ndistrust almost our very senses; but again and again that cry came\nrolling up from the shore, and was repeated from crowd to crowd all\nalong the beach, \u201cSail O! Sail O!\u201d The shouts of those approaching us\ngradually ceased, and the whole multitude seemed to have melted away\nfrom our view. I feared some cruel deception, and at first peered out\nvery cautiously to spy the land. But yonder in very truth a vessel had\nsailed into the bay. It was the _Blue Bell_, Captain Hastings. I set\nfire to the reeds on the side of the hill to attract his attention. I\nput a black shawl as a flag on one end of the Mission House and a white\nsheet on the other.\n\nThis was one of the vessels that had been to Port Resolution, and had\nsailed past to Aneityum some time ago. I afterwards saw the mate and\nsome of the men wearing my shirts, which they had bought from the\nTannese on their former visit. At the earnest request of Doctors Geddie\nand Inglis, Mr. Underwood, the owner, had sent Captain Hastings to Tanna\nto rescue us if yet alive. For this purpose he had brought twenty armed\nmen from Aneityum, who came on shore in two boats in charge of the mate,\nthe notorious Ross Lewin. He returned to the ship with a boat-load of\nMr. Mathieson\u2019s things, leaving ten of the Natives to help us to pack\nmore and carry them down to the beach, especially what the Missionary\nthought most valuable.\n\nThe two boats were now loaded and ready to start. It was about two\no\u2019clock in the afternoon, when a strange and painful trial befell us.\nPoor dear Mr. Mathieson, apparently unhinged, locked himself all alone\ninto what had been his study, telling Mrs. Mathieson and me to go, for\nhe had resolved to remain and die on Tanna. We tried to show him the\ninconsistency of praying to God to protect us or grant us means of\nescape, and then refuse to accept a rescue sent to us in our last\nextremity. We argued that it was surely better to live and work for\nJesus than to die as a self-made martyr, who, in God\u2019s sight, was guilty\nof self-murder. His wife wept aloud and pled with him, but all in vain!\nHe refused to leave or to unlock his door. I then said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is now getting dark. Your wife must go with the vessel, but I will\nnot leave you alone. I shall send a note explaining why I am forced to\nremain; and as it is certain that we shall be murdered whenever the\nvessel leaves, I tell you God will charge you with the guilt of our\nmurder.\u201d\n\nAt this he relented, unlocked the door, and accompanied us to the boats,\nin which we all immediately left.\n\nMeantime, having lost several hours, the vessel had drifted leeward;\ndarkness suddenly settled upon us, and when we were out at sea we lost\nsight of her and she of us. After drifting about for some hours in a\nheavy sea and unable to find her, those in charge of the boats came near\nfor consultation, and, if possible, to save the lives of all. We advised\nthat they should steer for Port Resolution by the flame of the Volcano\u2014a\nnever-failing light-house, seen fifty miles away\u2014and there await the\nvessel. The boats were to keep within hearing of each other by constant\ncalling; but this was soon lost to the ear, though on arriving in the\nbay we found they had got to anchor before us. There we sat in the boats\nand waited for the coming day. As the light appeared, we anchored as far\nout as possible, beyond the reach of musket shots; and there without\nwater or food we sat under a tropical sun till mid-day came, and still\nthere was no sign of the vessel. The mate at last put all the passengers\nand the poorest seamen into one boat and left her to swing at anchor;\nwhile, with a strong crew in the other, he started off in search of the\nvessel.\n\nIn the afternoon, Nowar and Miaki came off in a canoe to visit us. Nowar\nhad on a shirt, but Miaki was naked and frowning. He urged me to go and\nsee the Mission House, but as we had seen a body of men near it I\nrefused to go. Miaki declared that everything remained as I had left it,\nbut we knew that he lied. Old Abraham and a party had slipped on shore\nin a canoe, and had found the windows smashed and everything gone except\nmy books, which were scattered about and torn in pieces. The armed men\nthere wanted to kill the Aneityumese, but others said, \u201cNot till we get\nMissi killed too!\u201d They learned that Miaki had sold everything that he\ncould sell to the Traders. The mate and men of the _Blue Bell_ had on my\nvery clothes. They boasted that they had bought them for a few figs of\ntobacco and for powder, caps, and balls. But they would not return a\nsingle shirt to me, though I was without a change! We had all been\nwithout food in the boat since the morning before, so Nowar brought us\noff a cocoa-nut each, and two very small roasted yams for the ladies.\nThose, however, only seemed to make our thirst the more severe, and we\nspent a trying day in that boat under a burning sun. Miaki said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAs our fathers did not destroy Missi Turner\u2019s house, we will not\ndestroy yours.\u201d\n\nBut after a time, failing to persuade me to accompany him and fall into\na trap, he muttered,\u2014\n\n\u201cWe have taken everything your house contained, and would take you too\nif we could; for we hate the Worship, it causes all our diseases and\ndeaths; it goes against our customs, and it condemns the things we\ndelight in.\u201d\n\nNowar informed me that only a few nights before this, Miaki and his\nfollowers went inland to a village where last year they had killed ten\nmen. Having secretly placed a savage at the door of every house, at a\ngiven signal they yelled, and when the terrified inmates tried to escape\nthey killed almost every man, woman, and child. Some fled into the bush,\nothers rushed to the shore. A number of men got into a canoe to escape,\nbut hearing women and children crying after them they returned, and\ntaking those they could with them they killed the rest lest they should\nfall alive into Miaki\u2019s hands. These are surely \u201cthey who through fear\nof death are all their lifetime subject to bondage.\u201d The Chief and\nnearly his whole village were cut off in one night! Not an uncommon\nthing in those Islands, where war becomes chronic, and the thirst for\nblood becomes insatiable. The dark places of the Earth are \u201cfull of the\nhabitations of horrid cruelty.\u201d To have actually lived amongst the\nHeathen and seen their life gives a man a new appreciation of the power\nand blessings of the Gospel, even where its influence is only very\nimperfectly allowed to guide and restrain the passions of men. Oh, what\nwill it be when all men in all nations love and serve the glorious\nRedeemer!\n\nThis Miaki and his followers were a scourge and terror to the whole\nisland of Tanna. They intensely hated Nowar, because he would not join\nin their cruelties. Yet he and Manuman and Sirawia and Faimungo\ncontinued to survive long after war and death had swept all the others\naway. The first three lived to be very old men, and to the last they\nmade a profession of being Christians, though their knowledge was very\nlimited and their inconsistencies very grave and very numerous. Happy is\nit for us that we are not the judges, for souls either of the white or\nthe dark skin, as to how many and grievous things may be forgiven, and\nwhether there be or be not that spark of love, that grain of faith which\nthe Lord the Pitiful will graciously accept and increase![1]\n\nFootnote 1:\n\n See Appendix A. \u201cThe Prayer of the Tannese,\u201d etc.\n\nAbout five o\u2019clock in the evening the vessel hove in sight. Before dark\nwe were all safely on board, and were sailing for Aneityum. Though both\nMr. and Mrs. Mathieson had become very weak, they stood the voyage\nwonderfully. Next day we were all safely landed. We had offered Captain\nHastings \u00a320 to take us to Aneityum, but he declined any fare. However,\nwe divided it amongst the mate and crew, for they had every one shown\ngreat kindness to us on the voyage. After arriving on Aneityum, Mrs.\nMathieson gradually sank under consumption, and fell asleep in Jesus on\n11th March, 1862, in the full assurance of a glorious resurrection, and\nwas interred there. Mr. Mathieson, becoming more and more depressed\nafter her death, went over to Mr. Creagh\u2019s Station, on Mar\u00e9, and there\ndied on 14th June, 1862, still trusting in Jesus, and assured that he\nwould soon be with Him in Glory. Never more earnest or more faithful\nsouls entered the Mission field, but they both suffered from weakness\nand ill-health during all their time on Tanna, and had frequently to\nseek change by removal for a short period from the island. Their memory\nis very fragrant to me as fellow-labourers in the Gospel of Jesus.\n\nAfter their death, I was the only one left alive in all the New Hebrides\nMission north of Aneityum to tell the story of those pioneer years,\nduring which were sown the seeds of what is now fast becoming a glorious\nharvest. Twenty-five years ago, all these dear brethren and sisters who\nwere associated with me in the work of the Mission were called home to\nGlory, to cast their crowns at the feet of Jesus and enjoy the bliss of\nthe redeemed, while I am privileged still to toil and pray for the\nsalvation of the poor Islanders, and plead the cause of the Mission both\nin the Colonies and at home, in which work the Lord has graciously given\nme undreamt-of success. My constant desire and prayer are that I may be\nspared to see at least one Missionary on every island of the group, to\nunfold the riches of redeeming love and to lead the poor Islanders to\nJesus for salvation.\n\nWhat could be taken in three boats was saved out of the wreck of Mr.\nMathieson\u2019s property; but my earthly all perished, except the Bible and\nthe translations into Tannese. Along with the goods pertaining to the\nMission, the property which I had to leave behind would be undervalued\nat \u00a3600, besides the value of the Mission House, etc. Often since have I\nthought that the Lord stripped me thus bare of all these interests, that\nI might with undistracted mind devote my entire energy to the special\nwork soon to be carved out for me, and of which at this moment neither I\nnor any one had ever dreamed. At any rate, the loss of my little earthly\nall, though doubtless costing me several pangs, was not an abiding\nsorrow like that which sprang from the thought that the Lord\u2019s work was\nbroken up at both Stations, and that the Gospel was for the time driven\nfrom Tanna.\n\nIn the darkest moment, I never doubted that ultimately the victory\nthere, as elsewhere, would be on the side of Jesus, believing that the\nwhole Earth would yet be filled with the glory of the Lord. But I\nsometimes sorely feared that I might never live to see or hear of that\nhappy day! By the goodness of the Ever-merciful One I have lived to see\nand hear of a Gospel Church on Tanna, and to read about my dear\nfellow-Missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, celebrating the Holy Supper to a\nNative Congregation of Tannese, amid the very scenes and people where\nthe seeds of faith and hope were planted not only in tears, but tears of\nblood,\u2014\u201cin deaths oft.\u201d\n\nMy own intention was to remain on Aneityum, go on with my work of\ntranslating the Gospels, and watch the earliest opportunity, as God\nopened up my way, to return to Tanna. I had, however, got very weak and\nthin; my health was undoubtedly much shaken by the continued trials and\ndangers through which we had passed; and therefore, as Dr. and Mrs.\nInglis were at home carrying the New Testament through the press in the\nlanguage of Aneityum, and as Tanna was closed for a season, Dr. Geddie,\nthe Rev. Joseph Copeland, and Mr. Mathieson all urged me to go to\nAustralia by a vessel then in the Harbour and leaving in a few days. My\ncommission was to awaken an interest among the Presbyterian Churches of\nour Colonies in this New Hebrides Mission which lay at their doors, up\ntill this time sustained by Scotland and Nova Scotia alone. And further,\nand very specially, to raise money there, if possible, to purchase a new\nMission Ship for the work of God in the New Hebrides,\u2014a clamant\nnecessity, which would save all future Missionaries some of the more\nterrible of the privations and risks of which a few examples have in\nthese pages already been recorded.\n\nAfter much prayerful deliberation with my brethren and with my own heart\nbefore God, I somewhat reluctantly felt constrained to undertake the\ntask. If my story was to be the means of providing more Missionaries for\nthe Islands, and of providing a commodious Ship for the service of the\nMission alone, to keep open their communications with the outer world\nand with Christian influences, not to speak of carrying their provisions\nat fixed periods, or rescuing them when in troubles and perils from the\njaws of death, I was not unwilling to tell it again and again, if the\nLord would open up my path. God knows my heart, and any one who really\nknows me will easily admit, that no selfish or egotistical motive has\ninfluenced me in reciting through all the Australasian Colonies, New\nZealand, Scotland, and latterly in many parts of England and Ireland,\nthe incidents of my career and experience, first of all on Tanna, and\nthereafter for nearly twenty years\u2014as the Second Part of my biography\nwill relate\u2014on the neighbouring island of Aniwa; an island entirely\ngiven to me by the Lord, the whole population of which became Christian;\nand they and their race will be my crown of joy and rejoicing in the day\nof the Lord Jesus.\n\nWith regrets, and yet with unquenchable hope for these Islands, I\nembarked for Australia, having received the solemn promise of my\nbrethren, that in entering upon this great effort I was to be left\nabsolutely free of all control, and empowered to carry out the work as\nGod might seem to guide me, and open up my way. I had only spoken to one\nman in Sydney; all the doors to influence had therefore to be unlocked,\nand I had no helper, no leader, but the Spirit of my Lord. The Second\nPart of this Autobiography, should God spare me to write it, will record\nHis marvellous goodness in using my humble voice and pen and the story\nof my life for interesting thousands and tens of thousands in the work\nof Missions, and especially for binding together the children of the\nSabbath Schools of Australasia in a Holy League of help to the New\nHebrides, which has already borne precious fruit to His glory, and will\ncontinue to do so for ages to come.\n\nOftentimes, while passing through the perils and defeats of my first\nyears in the Mission field on Tanna, I wondered, and perhaps the reader\nhereof has wondered, why God permitted such things. But on looking back\nnow, I already clearly perceive, and the reader of my future pages will,\nI think, perceive, that the Lord was thereby preparing me for doing, and\nproviding me materials wherewith to accomplish the best work of all my\nlife\u2014the kindling of the heart of Australian Presbyterianism with a\nliving affection for these Islanders of their own Southern Seas\u2014the\nbinding of all their children into a happy league of shareholders, first\nin one Mission Ship, and finally in a larger and more commodious\nSteam-Auxiliary, and, last of all, in being the instrument under God of\nsending out Missionary after Missionary to the New Hebrides, to claim\nanother island and still another for Jesus. That work, and all that may\nspring from it in time and Eternity, never could have been accomplished\nby me, but for first the sufferings and then the story of my Tanna\nenterprise!\n\nSome unsophisticated souls who read these pages will be astonished to\nlearn, but others who know more of the heartless selfishness of human\ncreatures, will be quite prepared to hear, that my leaving Tanna was not\na little criticized, and a great deal of nonsense was written, even in\nChurch Magazines, about the breaking up of the Mission. All such\ncriticism came, of course, from men who were themselves destitute of\nsympathy, and who, probably, never endured one pang for Jesus in all\ntheir comfortable lives. Conscious that I had, to the last inch of life,\ntried to do my duty, I left all results in the hands of my only Lord,\nand all criticisms to His unerring judgment. Hard things also were\noccasionally spoken to my face. One dear friend, for instance, said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou should not have left. You should have stood at the post of duty\ntill you fell. It would have been to your honour, and better for the\ncause of the Mission, had you been killed at the post of duty like the\nGordons and others.\u201d\n\nI replied,\u2014\u201cI regard it as a greater honour to live and to work for\nJesus, than to be a self-made martyr. God knows that I did not refuse to\ndie; for I stood at the post of duty, amid difficulty and danger, till\nall hope had fled, till everything I had was lost, and till God, in\nanswer to prayer, sent a means of escape. I left with a clear\nconscience, knowing that in doing so I was following God\u2019s leading, and\nserving the Mission too. To have remained longer would have been to\nincur the guilt of self-murder in the sight of God.\u201d\n\nNever for one moment have I had occasion to regret the step then taken.\nThe Lord has so used me, during the five-and-twenty years that have\npassed over me since my farewell to Tanna, as to stamp the event with\nHis own most gracious approval. Oh, to see a Missionary, and Christian\nTeachers, planted on every island of the New Hebrides! For this I\nlabour, and wait, and pray. To help on the fulfilment thereof is the\nsacred work of my life, under God. When I see it accomplished, or in a\nfair way of being so, through the organization that will provide the\nmoney and call forth the men, I can lay down my head as peacefully and\ngratefully as ever warrior did, with the shout of victory in his\nears,\u2014\u201cLord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace!\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nFor the present, my pen is here laid aside. I shall wait to see what use\nthe Lord makes of Part First of my autobiography, before I prosecute the\ntheme. If the Christian public seems not to find in it the help and\nquickening that some friends think it likely to bestow on those who\nread, the remainder need not be written. Part Second, if called for,\nwill contain a record, in many respects, an utter contrast to all that\nhas gone before, and yet directly springing therefrom, as will be seen\nby all who look beneath the surface. I am penning these words in 1887,\nand five-and-twenty years lie betwixt this date and my farewell to\nTanna. These years, if ever published, will tell the story of my\nvisiting all the Colonial Churches, and collecting the purchase money of\nour white-winged Mission Ship, the _Dayspring_; my return to Scotland,\nvisiting all the home congregations in 1864, and securing several new\nMissionaries to follow me to the New Hebrides; my second marriage, and\nsettlement on Aniwa, with her whom the good Lord still spares to me, the\nmother of our happy family, and my God-given helpmeet in all the work of\nthe Gospel; the conversion of that whole island of Aniwa from idolatry,\nand the planting there of a Church and Congregation of Christ, from\nwhich have since gone forth many Native Evangelists and Teachers. Then\nthere will fall to be recorded my call from the Islands in recent years\nto revisit all the Colonial Presbyterian Congregations once again,\ntelling them the story of the Conversion of Aniwa\u2014the sinking of the\nwell, and other incidents, which turned an entire people from idols and\nfrom cannibalism to the service of the living and true God\u2014whereby the\nChurches, and especially the children, were led more and more to make\nthe New Hebrides their own very harvest field in the Heathen world. And\nfinally, I will have to tell how I was again sent home to Scotland in\n1884 to raise money for the purchase or building of a steam-auxiliary\nMission Ship, now urgently required in the interests of the Mission,\nboth because of the great increase in the number of the Missionaries and\nthe necessities of so many families; and also and chiefly to avert the\ndreadful disappointments and loss of time, and thereby sometimes of life\nitself, caused by the frequent becalming of our little _Dayspring_ in\nthese thickly-islanded seas. That part of the story will show the fruits\nof the education and perils and experiences of a lifetime, in the\nmarvellous impression produced by the simple and unadorned recital of\nthe story of Tanna and Aniwa, amongst the Christian people of Scotland,\nIreland, and England. Multitudes were blessed in almost every town where\na meeting was granted me. Three Missionaries devoted themselves to the\nNew Hebrides, and are already labouring there; while others consecrated\nthemselves to several of the great seats of Foreign Mission enterprise\nin Africa and Asia. I returned to my own Church of Victoria with a sum\nof nearly \u00a39,000, of which \u00a36,000 was for the new Missionary\nSteam-Auxiliary, and the remainder for the outfit and support of more\nMissionaries for the Islands; and that money I handed over to the\nAustralian Church, where it awaits, at interest in the bank, the\narrangements being made by all the Colonies to take each their due share\nin the future up-keep of the Ship. For this\u2014for everything\u2014for all,\npraise be to the Lord! I never asked one subscription, except in prayer\nand in my public appeals. The Lord sent in all freely to me through the\nhands of His people; to Him be all the glory. I went back to Aniwa, and\nfound the work of the Lord going forward there as if in a regularly\nsettled Congregation at home, fostered and guided by an occasional visit\nof my ever dear and genuine friends, Mr. and Mrs. Watt, from old\nstern-hearted but at last relenting Tanna. The Church of Victoria has\nagain summoned me to visit the Colonial Congregations, to tell the story\nof my Mission life, and to promote the interests of its now grand and\ngrowing Foreign Scheme. It is in the midst of such labours, while\naddressing at least one meeting every day, and three or four every\nSabbath day, that I have penned the preceding pages; and I leave them to\nspeak for themselves, without any attempt at ornament or style. The Lord\nwhom I serve in the Gospel knows my motive and my hope, and I very\ncalmly leave this book to His disposal, and the succeeding volume to His\nguidance, if such there shall ever be\u2014as the reader well knows I have\nhad to leave heavier and darker issues in the same blessed Hands. I\noffer every one, who has done me the favour to read or to listen, my\nkindly greeting. May you and I meet in the glory of Jesus, and continue\nour fellowship there! Good-bye.\n\n\n\n\n _APPENDIX._\n\n\n APPENDIX A.\n\n (_See p. 354._)\n\n THE PRAYER OF THE TANNESE, WHO LOVE THE WORD OF JEHOVAH, TO THE GREAT\n CHIEF OF SYDNEY.\n\n[_Written at the urgent request and dictation of the Missionary\u2019s\nfriends on Tanna to be presented to the Governor of New South Wales.\nLiterally translated by me, John G. Paton._]\n\nTo the Chief of Sydney, the servant of Queen Victoria of Britannia,\nsaying\u2014We great men of Tanna dwell in a dark land. Our people are very\ndark hearted. They know nothing good.\n\nMissi Paton the man, Missi Mathieson the man, and Missi Mathieson the\nwoman, have dwelt here four yams (= years) to teach us the worship of\nJehovah. Their conduct has been straight and very good; therefore we\nlove these three Missionaries, and the worship of Jehovah which they\nthree have taught us, the Tannese.\n\nAlas! a part, as it were, only three of our Chiefs, whose names are\nNauka, Miaki, and Karewick, besides Ringian, Enukarupi, Attica, and\nNamaka, they and their people hate the worship and all good conduct like\nthat which the Word of Jehovah teaches us and the people of all lands.\nThese men all belong to four Villages only. They have stolen all Missi\u2019s\nproperty; they have broken into his house. They have cut down his\nbananas. They have scolded and persecuted him; and they desire to kill\nMissi and to eat him, so that they may destroy the Worship of God from\nthe land of Tanna.\n\nWe hate exceedingly their bad conduct, and pray you, the Great Chief of\nSydney, to punish these dark Tannese, who have persecuted Missi, who\nhave deceived Missi, who have altogether deceived the Great Chief (=\nCommodore Seymour) and the Chief (= Captain Hume) of the men-of-war, and\nwho deceived the Chief and the Missionaries in the _John Williams_, who\nmurdered one of Missi Paton\u2019s Aneityum Teachers, who fought Missi Turner\nand Missi Nisbet, who killed Vasa and his Samoan people, who killed the\nforeigners, who have now fought and driven away our three Missionaries.\nTheir conduct has been exceedingly bad. They destroy the Kingdom of\nTanna, kill the people and eat them, and are guilty of bad conduct every\nday. Our hearts hate their bad conduct; we are pained by it.\n\nTherefore we earnestly pray you, the Chief of Sydney, to send quickly a\nman-of-war to punish them, and to revenge all their bad conduct towards\nMissi. Then truly we will rejoice; then it will be good and safe for the\nthree Missionaries to dwell here, and to teach us, men of the devil. Our\nhearts are very dark; we know nothing; we are just like pigs. Therefore\nit is good for Missi to teach us the Word and the Worship of Jehovah the\nGreat King. Long ago He was unknown here. Missi brought His knowledge to\nus.\n\nOur love to you, the Great Chief of Sydney, the servant of Queen\nVictoria, and we earnestly pray you to protect us, and to protect our\nMissionaries and the Worship of God in our land, the land of Tanna. We\nweep for our Missionaries. They three gave us medicine in our sickness,\nand clothing for our bodies; taught us what is good conduct, and taught\nus the way to Heaven. Of all these things long ago we had no knowledge\nwhatever; therefore we weep, and our hearts cling to these three, our\nMissionaries. If they three are not here, who will teach us the way to\nHeaven? Who will prevent our bad conduct? Who will protect us from the\nbad conduct of foreigners? And who will love us, and teach us all good\nthings?\n\nOh, compassionate us, Chief of Sydney! Hold fast these three, our\nMissionaries, and give them back to us, and we will love you and your\npeople. You and your people know the Word of Jehovah; you are going on\nthe path to Heaven; you all love the Word of Jehovah. Oh, look in mercy\non us, dark-hearted men, going to the bad land, to the great eternal\nfire, just like our fathers who are dead!\n\nMay Jehovah make your heart and the hearts of your people sweet towards\nus, to compassionate us, and to look in mercy on our dark land; and we\nwill pray Jehovah to make you good, and give you a rich reward.\n\nThe names of us, the Chiefs of Tanna, who worship towards Jehovah:\u2014\n\n Yarisi, x his mark.\n Ruawa, x his mark.\n Kapuka, x his mark.\n Taura, x his mark.\n Faimungo, x his mark.\n Manuman, x his mark.\n Nuara, x his mark.\n Nebusak, x his mark.\n Kaua, x his mark.\n Nowar, x his mark.\n\n\n APPENDIX B.\n NOTES ON THE NEW HEBRIDES\n\n _By the Editor._\n\nThe SOUTH SEAS\u2014so named by Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, who in 1513 first saw\nthe Ocean on the other side of Darien, and marched into it as far as he\ndurst, waving his sword, and taking possession of it in name of his\nmaster, the King of Spain.\n\nThe PACIFIC OCEAN\u2014so named by Ferdinand Magellan, who in 1521 sailed\nwestwards in his _Victory_ seven thousand miles, and found the sea\nexceptionally _peaceful_\u2014for that trip at least.\n\nThe NEW HEBRIDES\u2014so named by Captain Cook, who in 1773 first fully\nexplored and described the whole of the group. As far back, however, as\n1606, Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiros had landed on the largest and\nmost northerly island of the group. He at once fancied it to be the\ngreat _Southern_ Continent, deemed to be essential to balance the great\nContinents of the North, and eagerly looked for both by sailors and men\nof science. He named the bay, _Vera Cruz_,\u2014the river that flowed into\nit, _Jordan_,\u2014and the city which he founded there, _New Jerusalem_. The\nland itself he called by the preposterous designation of _Tierra\nAustralis del Espiritu Santo_. In 1768 a French explorer, Bougainville,\nsailed round _Santo_, discovering that it was but an island, and through\nthe _Straits_ that still bear his name; whereon, finding many islands\nall around, he re-baptized them _L\u2019Archipel des Grandes Cyclades_. But\nCook, being the first who sailed in and out amongst all the group, and\nput on record the most faithful descriptions and details, which to this\nhour remain generally authoritative, considered himself entitled to name\nthem the _New Hebrides_; and history since has been well pleased to\nadopt his views, seeing, doubtless, the geographical analogy betwixt the\nmultitudinous scattered isles and islets of the _old_ Hebrides and those\nof the _new_.\n\nFrom Santo in the north to Aneityum in the south, a distance of about\n400 miles, there are scattered over the Ocean thirty islands, twenty\nbeing well inhabited, and eleven of them being of considerable size,\nfrom Aneityum, which is forty miles in circumference, to Santo, which\nmeasures seventy miles by forty. The Islands lie 1,000 miles to the\nNorth of New Zealand, 1,400 miles North-East from Sydney, 400 miles West\nof Fiji, and 200 East of New Caledonia. The population is now estimated\nat 70,000; but, in the early days of Missions, before Traders and\nKanaka-collectors, and the new Epidemics of Civilization (!) had\ndecimated them, their numbers were certainly three times greater.\n\nThe general appearance of the Islands is that of a range of mountains\nbursting up out of the sea, clothed with forests, and severed from each\nother by deep valleys, through which the tides now flow. They are all\nvolcanic in origin, but the lava has poured itself out over a bed of\ncoral, and the mountains have reared themselves up on a coral base. The\nfires are still active on Tanna, Ambrym, and Polevi\u2014the volcano on Tanna\nbeing now, as in the days of Cook, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire\nby night, a far-shining light-house for the sailor, kindled by the\nfinger of God Himself. The climate is moist and humid, with a\nthermometer seldom below 60\u00b0 and seldom above 90\u00b0 in the shade; their\nwinter is called the Rainy Season, and their vegetation is tropical in\nits luxuriance.\n\nOn one Island may be found a hundred varieties of ferns alone. The\ndamara or kauri-pine, so prized in New Zealand, grows there, as also the\nbread-fruit tree, the banana, the papua-apple, the chestnut, and above\nall the cocoa-nut, which for refreshing drink competes with the vine of\nother lands, and for varied uses and services to man almost rivals the\nvery palmtree of Palestine. The sandal-wood, for its sacred odours and\nidol incense, has been almost swept entirely away,\u2014as much as \u00a370,000\nworth being carried off from Erromanga alone!\n\nAmong native foods, the yam and the taro hold the foremost place, not\ninferior to our finest potatoes; besides the banana, the sugar-cane, the\nbread-fruit, and the cocoa-nut, which flourish to perfection. Their\narrowroot is in some respects the finest in the world, and is kept only\nfor special uses as yet, but may develop into a great and valuable\nindustry, as Commerce opens up her markets and stretches out her hands.\nThe English cabbage has been introduced and grows well; also the\nplanting of cotton and of coffee.\n\nThe scarcity of animals is marvellous. The pig, the dog, and the rat are\ntheir only four-footed creatures; and some affirm that the rat is the\nalone indigenous quadruped in all the New Hebrides! Lizards and snakes\nabound, but are declared not to be poisonous. There are many small and\nbeautiful pigeons, also wild ducks and turkeys, besides multitudes of\nordinary fowls. Goats have now been largely introduced, as well as\nsheep, and various European animals. Fish, of course, swarm in millions\naround the shores, and a whaling station on Aneityum sent into the\nmarket \u00a32,000 worth of oil in a year.\n\nThe Natives are practically quite naked, till induced by the Missionary\nto \u201cwear a shirt\u201d\u2014the first sign of renouncing Heathenism and inclining\ntowards Christianity. They are Cannibals of a very pronounced type, and\nSavages without any traces of civilization, except those connected with\nwar(!),\u2014without a literature, and almost without a religion, except only\nthe dread of evil spirits, the worship of ancestors, and the lowest\nforms of fetishism, trees, stones, etc. They are partly Malay and partly\nPapuan,\u2014a mixture of Ham and of Shem,\u2014some with hair crisp and woolly,\nstuck full of feathers and shells, others with hair long and wavy,\ntwisted into as many as 700 separate whipcords on a single head, and\ntaking five years to finish the job! Their bows and arrows, tomahawks,\nclubs and spears, are sometimes elaborately carved and adorned; and they\ncan twist and weave grasses and fibres into wondrously beautiful mats,\nbags, and girdles. They make bracelets out of shells, sliced and carved\nin marvellous ways, as also ear-rings and nose-rings; and in many\nsimilar methods they show some savage sense of beauty.\n\nPolygamy, with all its accompanying cruelties and degradations,\nuniversally prevails. Infanticide is systematically practised; and even\nthe despatch of parents, when they grow old and helpless. Widows are put\nto death on almost every island to bear their husbands company into the\nspirit world. There is not an unmentionable vice hinted at in Romans i.\nwhich is not unblushingly practised on those Islands, wheresoever the\nGospel has not dawned.\n\n * * * * *\n\nFor the best published information on all these subjects, consult the\nwork by Dr. John Inglis: \u201cIN THE NEW HEBRIDES\u201d (Nelson & Sons,\n1887),\u2014Reminiscences of noble Missionary Service for three-and-thirty\nyears.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n A SELECTION FROM\n\n FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\u2019S\n\n CATALOGUE\n\n\n\n\n Important Missionary Publications.\n\n\n=AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHN G. PATON.= Missionary to the New Hebrides.\n Introductory note by Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. 2 vols., 12mo., portrait\n and map, in neat box, net $2.00.\n\n One of the most remarkable biographies of modern times.\n\n \u201cI have just laid down the most robust and the most fascinating\n piece of autobiography that I have met with in many a day.... It is\n the story of the wonderful work wrought by John G. Paton, the famous\n missionary to the New Hebrides; he was made of the same stuff with\n Livingstone.\u201d\u2014_T. L. Cuyler._\n\n \u201cIt stands with such books as those Dr. Livingstone gave the world,\n and shows to men that the heroes of the cross are not merely to be\n sought in past ages.\u201d\u2014_Christian Intelligencer._\n\n\n=THE LIFE OF JOHN KENNETH MACKENZIE.= Medical Missionary to China; with\n the story of the First Chinese Hospital by Mrs. Bryson, author of\n \u201cChild Life in Chinese Homes,\u201d etc. 12mo., cloth, 400 pages, price\n $1.50 with portrait in photogravure.\n\n \u201cThe story of a singularly beautiful life, sympathetically and ably\n written.... A really helpful, elevating book.\u201d\u2014_London Missionary\n Chronicle._\n\n \u201cThe volume records much that is fresh and interesting bearing on\n Chinese customs and manners as seen and vividly described by a\n missionary who had ample opportunities of studying them under most\n varied circumstances and conditions.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman._\n\n\n=THE GREATEST WORK IN THE WORLD.= The Evangelization of all Peoples in the\n Present Century. By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. 12mo., leatherette,\n gilt top. 35c.\n\n The subject itself is an inspiration, but this latest production of\n Dr. Pierson thrills with the life which the Master Himself has\n imparted to it. It will be a welcome addition to Missionary\n literature.\n\n\n=THE CRISIS OF MISSIONS.= By Rev. Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. Cloth, $1.25;\n paper, 35c.\n\n \u201cWe do not hesitate to say that this book is the most purposeful,\n earnest and intelligent review of the mission work and field which\n has ever been given to the Church.\u201d\u2014_Christian Statesman._\n\n\n=MEDICAL MISSIONS.= Their Place and Power. By John Lowe, F. R. C. S. E.,\n Secretary of the Edinburgh Medical Mission Society. 12mo., 308 pages,\n cloth, $1.50.\n\n \u201cThis book contains an exhaustive account of the benefits that may,\n and in point of fact do, accrue from the use of the medical art as a\n Christian agency. Mr. Lowe is eminently qualified to instruct us in\n this matter, having himself been so long engaged in the same\n field.\u201d\u2014_From Introduction by Sir William Muir._\n\n\n=ONCE HINDU: NOW CHRISTIAN.= The early life of Baba Padmanji. Translated\n from the Marathi. Edited by J. Murray Mitchell, M. A., LLD. 12mo., 155\n pages, with appendix. Cloth, 75c.\n\n \u201cA more instructive or more interesting narrative of a human soul,\n once held firmly in the grip of oriental superstition, idolatry and\n caste, gradually emerging into the light, liberty and peace of a\n regenerate child of God, does not often come to hand.\u201d\u2014_Missionary\n Herald._\n\n\n=AN INTENSE LIFE.= By George F. Herrick. A sketch of the life and work of\n Rev. Andrew T. Pratt, M.D., Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., in\n Turkey, 1852\u20131872. 16mo., cloth, 50c.\n\n\n=EVERY-DAY LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA=, or, the Story of Coopooswamey. An\n Autobiography. With fine engravings by E. Whymper. 12mo., cloth,\n $1.00.\n\n\n=THE CHILDREN OF INDIA=. Written for children by one of their friends.\n Illustrations and map. Small 4to., cloth, $1.25.\n\n \u201cThese are good books for the Sunday-School Library, and will help\n young people in missionary societies who desire to have an\n intelligent idea of the people in India whom they are sending their\n money and their missionaries to convert.\u201d\u2014_Missionary Herald._\n\n\n=HINDUISM, PAST AND PRESENT.= With an account of recent Hindu reformers,\n and a brief comparison between Hinduism and Christianity. By J. Murray\n Mitchell, M.A., LLD. 12mo., cloth, $1.60.\n\n \u201cA praiseworthy attempt to present a popular view of a vast and\n important subject.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review._\n\n\n=GOSPEL ETHNOLOGY.= With illustrations. By S. R. Paterson, F. G. S. 12mo.,\n cloth, $1.00.\n\n \u201cThe first attempt to treat this subject from a thorough-going\n scientific standpoint. A very powerful argument for the truth of\n Christianity.\u201d\u2014_English Churchman._\n\n \u201cA book to refer to for information not easily to be obtained\n otherwise.\u201d\u2014_Church Missionary Intelligencer._\n\n\n=NATIVE LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA.= Being sketches of the social and religious\n characteristics of the Hindus. By the Rev. Henry Rice. With many\n illustrations from native sketches. 12mo., cloth boards, $1.00.\n\n \u201cThose who have heard Mr. Rice\u2019s missionary addresses will be\n prepared to hear that this is a fascinating book.\u201d\u2014_Life and Work._\n\n\n=CHRISTIAN PROGRESS IN CHINA.= Gleanings from the writings and speaches of\n many workers. By Arnold Foster, B.A., London Missionary, Hankow. With\n map of China. 12mo., cloth, $1.00.\n\n\n=AMONG THE MONGOLS.= By Rev. James Gilmour, M.A., London Mission, Peking.\n Numerous engravings from photographs and native sketches. 12mo., gilt\n edges, cloth, $1.25.\n\n \u201cThe newness and value of the book consists solely in its Defoe\n quality, that when you have read it you know, and will never forget,\n all Mr. Gilmour knows and tells of how Mongols live.\u201d\u2014_Spectator._\n\n\n=EVERY-DAY LIFE IN CHINA=, or, Scenes along River and Road in the\n Celestial Empire. By Edwin J. Dukes. Illustrations from the author\u2019s\n sketches. 12mo., with embellished cover, $2.00.\n\n That China is a mysterious problem to all who interest themselves in\n its affairs is the only excuse for offering another book on the\n subject.\n\n\n\n\n \u2022 MISSIONARY PUBLICATIONS \u2022\n\n\n=REPORT OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE on the Protestant Missions of the\n World.= Held in London, June, 1888. Edited by the Rev. JAMES JOHNSTON,\n F. S. S., Secretary of the Conference. Two large 8vo. vols., 1200\n pages, $2.00 net per set.\n\n An important feature in this report, lack of which has prejudiced\n many against reports in general, is the special care taken by the\n Editor, who has succeeded in making the work an interesting and\n accurate reproduction of the most important accumulation of facts\n from the Mission Fields of the World, as given by the\n representatives of all the Evangelical Societies of Christendom.\n\n And another: The exceptionally complete and helpful indexing of the\n entire work in such a thorough manner as to make it of the greatest\n value as a Reference Encyclopedia on mission topics for years to\n come.\n\n\n=THE MISSIONARY YEAR BOOK FOR 1889\u201390.= Containing Historical and\n Statistical accounts of the Principle Protestant Missionary Societies\n in America, Great Britain and the Continent of Europe.\n\n The American edition, edited by Rev. J. T. GRACEY, D.D., of Buffalo,\n embraces about 450 pages, one-fourth being devoted to the work of\n American Societies, and will contain Maps of India, China, Japan,\n Burmah, and Siam; also a language Map of India and comparative\n diagrams illustrating areas, population and progress of Mission\n work. This compilation will be the best presentation of the work of\n the American Societies in Pagan Lands that has yet been given to the\n public. The book is strongly recommended by Rev. JAS. JOHNSTON,\n F.S.S., as a companion volume to the Report of the Century\n Conference on Missions. Cloth, 12mo. $1.25.\n\n\n=GARENGANZE: or, Seven Years\u2019 Pioneer Missionary Work in Central Africa.=\n By FRED. S. ARNOT, with introduction by Rev. A. T. PIERSON, D.D.\n Twenty Illustrations and an original Map.\n\n The author\u2019s two trips across Africa, entirely unarmed and\n unattended except by the local and constantly changing carriers, and\n in such marked contrast with many modern adventurers, strongly\n impress one to ask if another Livingstone has not appeared among us.\n Traversing where no white man had ever been seen before, and meeting\n kings and chiefs accustomed only to absolute power, he demanded and\n received attention in the name of his God. Cloth 8vo, 290 pages,\n $1.25.\n\n\n=IN THE FAR EAST: China Illustrated. Letters from Geraldine Guinness.=\n Edited by her sister, with Introduction by Rev. J. HUDSON TAYLOR. A\n characteristic Chinese cover. Cloth 4to, 224 pages, $1.50.\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n \u201cGood-Bye!\u201d\n Second Class.\n On the Way to China.\n Hong-Kong and Shanghai.\n First days in the Flowery Land.\n Opium Suicides amongst Women.\n Ten Days on a Chinese Canal.\n At Home in our Chinese \u201cHaddon Hall.\u201d\n By Wheelbarrow to Antong.\n Life on a Chinese Farm.\n A Visit to the \u201cShun\u201d City.\n Blessing\u2014and Need of Blessing\u2014In the Far East.\n\n Rev. C. H. SPURGEON, writes:\n\n \u201cI have greatly enjoyed \u2018In the Far East.\u2019 God blessing it, the book\n should send armies of believers to invade the Flowry Land.\u201d\n\n The author is to be congratulated for the taste and beauty with\n which these letters are now put into permanent form. A full page\n colored map of China enhances this admirable gift book.\n\n\n NEW YORK. :: Fleming H. Revell Company :: CHICAGO.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES\n\n\n 1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in\n spelling.\n 2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.\n 3. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.\n 4. Enclosed bold font in =equals=.\n 5. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript\n character, e.g. M^r.","title":"John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":94011}