Part 3 (1/2)
ON the first of Dece then in nate and I were ”licensed” as preachers of the Gospel Thereafter we spent four ation and Sabbath School in the Reforht see us and know us, and thereby take a personal interest in our work On the 23d March 1858, in Dr Syhty crowd, and after a nificent sermon on ”Come over and help us,” ere solemnly ordained as Ministers of the Gospel, and set apart as Missionaries to the New Hebrides On the 16th April of the same year, we left the Tail of the Bank at Greenock, and set sail in the _Clutha_ for the Foreign Mission field
Our voyage to Melbourne was rather tedious, but ended prosperously, under Captain Broadfoot, a kindly, brave-hearted Scot, who did everything that was possible for our co on board at Worshi+p, which was always charularly conducted--on deck when the weather was fair, belohen it was rough I was also perst both the crew and the passengers, at times and places approved of by the Captain--in which there was great joy
Arriving at Melbourne, elcomed by Rev Mr Moor, Mr and Mrs
Saht, all Refor
Mr Wilson's two children, Jessie and Donald, had been under our care during the voyage; andwife and I ith the, while Mr Copeland remained on board the _Clutha_ to look after our boxes and to watch for any opportunity of reaching our destination on the Islands He heard that an A froreed to land us on Aneityum, New Hebrides, with our two boats and fifty boxes, for 100 We got on board on the 12th August, but such a gale blew that we did not sail till the 17th On the _Clutha_ all was quiet, and good order prevailed; in the _F P Sage_ all was noise and profanity The Captain said he kept his secondthereeable to all of us, but fortunately it lasted only twelve days
On the 29th ere close up to Aneityum; but the Captain refused to land us, even in his boats; so that his ot on shore they would never have returned to him! In any case he had beforehand secured his 100
He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see anted, and by it we sent a note to Dr Geddie, one of the Missionaries there Early next horning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, accompanied by Mr Mathieson, a newly arrived Missionary fro also Captain Andersen in the se Mission boat called the _Colu Natives Our fifty boxes were soon on board the _John Knox_, the _Colu heavily loaded and built up, except those that had to be used in pulling the others ashore Dr Geddie, Mr Mathieson, Mrs Paton, and I were perched a the boxes on the _John Knox_, and had to hold on as best we could On sheering off froht and broke the mainmast of the little _John Knox_ by the deck; and I saved ing to swing her instantaneously aside in an apparently iraze Mr Mathieson, but he was not hurt The _John Knox_, already overloaded, was thus quite disabled; ere about ten er; but the captain of the _F P Sage_ heartlessly sailed away, and left us to struggle with our fate
We drifted steadily in the direction of Tanna, an island of cannibals, where our goods would have been plundered and all of us cooked and eaten Dr Geddie's boat, and mine had the _John Knox_ in tow; and Mr
Copeland, with a crew of Natives, was struggling hard with his boat to pull the _Columbia_ and her load towards Aneityuh we had a stiff trade wind to pull against, we had a comparatively cal round to the harbor in his boat, as he had heard of our arrival, saw us far at sea, and hastened to our rescue All the boats noith their willing Native crews, got fastened to our schooner, and to our great joy she began tofor hours and hours, under the scorching rays of a tropical sun, ere all safely landed on shore at Aneityuust, just four ot a hearty welcolis, and Mrs Mathieson, and from all our new friends the Christian Natives of Aneityuer in which both life and property had been placed at the close of our voyage, ht us to this quiet resting-place, around which lay the Islands of the New Hebrides, to which our eager hearts had looked forward, and into which we entered now in the name of the Lord
Mr Copeland, Mrs Paton, and I went round the island to Dr Inglis's Station, where ere most cordially received and entertained by his dear lady, and by the Christian Natives there As he wasseveral additions to his house at that time, we received for the next feeeks our first practical and valuable training in Mission house-building, as well as in higherwas called to consult about our settlement, and, by the advice and with the concurrence of all, Mr and Mrs Mathieson from Nova Scotia were located on the south side of Tanna, at Umairarekar, and Mrs Paton and I at Port Resolution, on the sareed that Mr Copeland should be placed along with us; but owing to the weakly state of Mrs Mathieson's health, it was afterwards resolved that, for a time at least, Mr
Copeland should live at either Station as seelis and a nuetic Natives accompanied us to Umairarekar Tanna There we purchased a site for Mission House and Church, and laid a stone foundation, and advanced as far as practicable the erection of a dwelling for Mr and Mrs Mathieson Thence we proceeded to Port Resolution, Tanna, and sie, the house which Mrs Paton and I were to occupy on our settle had to be burned in kilns froar-cane leaf, had to be prepared by the Natives at both Stations before our return; for which, as for all else, a price was duly agreed upon, and was scrupulously paid Unfortunately we learned, when too late, that both houses were too near the shore, exposed to unwholesoue,--the most virulent and insidious enemy to all Europeans in those Southern Seas
CHAPTER XI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF HEATHENDOM
MY first ie of utter dis these Natives in their paint and nakedness and iven up oith so htful associations, to consecrate raded creatures? Was it possible to teach the, to Christianize, or even to civilize theot as deeply interested in them, and in all that tended to advance thee and love of Jesus, as ever I had been in hted at the reh the instrulis in so short a time; and we hoped, by prayerful perseverance in the use of similar means, to see the same work of God repeated on Tanna Besides, the wonderful and blessed work done by Mrs
Inglis and Mrs Geddie, at their Stations, filled our wives with the buoyant hope of being instruments in the hand of God to produce an equally beneficent change ae wolis to learn all she could from her of Mission work on the Islands, till I returned with Dr Inglis fro which period Mr and Mrs
Mathieson were also being instructed by Dr and Mrs Geddie
To the Tannese, Dr Inglis and I were objects of curiosity and fear; they caaze on our wooden and lime-plastered house; they chattered incessantly with each other, and left the scene day after day with undisguised and increasing wonderht us ratherand coreat excitement, ere informed that as on foot; but our Aneityumese Teachers were told to assure us that the Harbor people would only act on the defensive, and that no one would molest us at our work One day two hostile tribes h words arose, and old feuds were revived The Inland people withdrew; but the Harbor people, false to their promises, flew to arms and rushed past us in pursuit of their ene bush, and the horrid yells of the savages, soon inforhts Excitement and terror were on every countenance; armed men rushed about in every direction, with feathers in their twisted hair,--with faces painted red, black, and white, and some, one cheek black, the other red, others, the brohite, the chin blue--in fact, any color and on any part,--the her the art! Some of the women ran with their children to places of safety; but even thenother girls and woar-cane and chaffering and laughing, as if their fathers and brothers had been engaged in a country dance, instead of a bloody conflict
In the afternoon, as the sounds of theof the warriors caainst a post for a little while in silent prayer, looked on us and said, ”The walls of Jerusalem were built in troublous times, and why not the Mission House on Tanna? But let us rest for this day, and pray for these poor Heathen”
We retired to a Native house that had been teranted to us for rest, and there pled before God for theradually receded, as if the Inland people were retiring; and towards evening the people around us returned to their villages We were afterwards informed that five or six men had been shot dead; that their bodies had been carried by the conquerors froht at a boiling spring near the head of the bay, less than abuilt We had also a s into which we had colis's Aneityum boy, who acco, the boy could not be found After a while of great anxiety on our part, he returned, saying, ”Missi, this is a dark land The people of this land do dark works At the boiling spring they have cooked and feasted upon the slain They have washed the blood into the water; they have bathed there, polluting everything I cannot get pure water to lis told him that he must try for water elsewhere, till the rains came and cleansed away the pollution; and that meanwhile, instead of tea, ould drink from the cocoa-nut, as they had often done before
The lad was quite relieved It not a little astonished us, however, to see that hisscarcely to be noticed, but that it was horrible that they should spoil the water! How much are even our deepest instincts the creatures of mere circumstances! I, if trained like hi, as we sat talking about the people, and the dark scenes around us, the quiet of the night was broken by a ailing cry fro-continued and unearthly We were informed that one of the wounded men, carried holed histo death, that her spirit ht accompany him to the other world, and be his servant there, as she had been here Now their dead bodies were laid side by side, ready to be buried in the sea Our hearts sank to think of all this happening within ear-shot, and that we knew it not! Every new scene, every fresh incident, setcruelties of these Heathen people, and we longed to be able to speak to theerly tried to pick up every word of their language, that we e of the true God and of salvation froh Jesus Christ
CHAPTER XII
BREAKING GROUND ON TANNA
OUR s no accoers, and little for anybody else except the discoe of a trader to convey us from Aneityum to Tanna The Captain kindly offered to take us and about thirty casks and boxes to Port Resolution for 5, which we gladly accepted After a few hours' sailing ere all safely landed on Tanna on the 5th Noveht to Umairarekar, non as Kwamera, on the south side of Tanna, to assist in the settle their house habitable and comfortable Mr Copeland, Mrs Paton, and I were left at Port Resolution, to finish the building of our house there, and work our way into the good will of the Natives as best we could
On landing, we found the people to be literally naked and painted Savages; they were at least as destitute of clothing as Adairdle, and even rass, in soirdle, the , and the children absolutely nothing whatever