Part 3 (2/2)
At first they ca we did or had We knew nothing of their language; we could not speak a single word to them, nor they to us We looked at thens to each other; this was our firstOne day I observed twoup one of our articles to the other, and saying, ”Nungsi nari enu?”
I concluded that he was asking, ”What is this?” Instantly, lifting a piece of wood, I said, ”Nungsi nari enu?”
They s, ”He has got hold of our language now” Then they toldwhich I had pointed to I found that they understood my question, What is this? or, What is that? and that I could now get fro around us! We carefully noted down every na all phonetically, and also every strange sound we heard fro comparison of different circu our own guess by again cross-questioning the Natives One day I sao er, pointed tothat he was askingat the other, inquired, ”Se nangin?”
They set the naot fae; and being always keenly on the alert, webits of conversation and in reducing their speech for the first time to a written form--for the New Hebrideans had no literature, and not even the rudient lads and men to sit and talk with us, and answer our questions about names and sounds; but they so often deceived us, and we, doubtless, misunderstood them so often, that this course was not satisfactory, till after we had gained soe and its construction, and they thest our ed chiefs--Nowa and Nouka--in entleuished by a certain native dignity of bearing
But they were both under the leadershi+p of the war-chief Miaki, a kind of devil-king over es and tribes
The Tannese had hosts of stone idols, charms, and sacred objects, which they abjectly feared, and in which they devoutly believed They were given up to countless superstitions, and firlued to their dark heathen practices Their worshi+p was entirely a service of fear, its ai to propitiate this or that Evil Spirit, to prevent calae They deified their chiefs, like the Roe or tribe had its own Sacred Man, and some of them had many They exercised an extraordinary influence for evil, these village or tribal priests, and were believed to have the disposal of life and death through their sacred ceremonies, not only in their own tribe, but over all the Islands Sacred ularly to influence the Gods, and to remove sickness, or to cause it by the _Nahak, i e_ incantation over remains of food, or the skin of fruit, such as banana, which the person has eaten on whom they wish to operate They also worshi+ped the spirits of departed ancestors and heroes, through their material idols of wood and stone, but chiefly of stone They feared these spirits and sought their aid; especially seeking to propitiate those who presided over war and peace, famine and plenty, health and sickness, destruction and prosperity, life and death Their whole worshi+p was one of slavish fear; and, so far as ever I could learn, they had no idea of a God of race
But these very facts--that they did worshi+p so, that they believed in spirits of ancestors and heroes, and that they cherishedthose whom they had never seen, and handed these down to their children--and the fact that they had ideas about the invisible world and its inhabitants, ht suppose to convey to their ht were understood, soreat uncreated Spirit Father, who Himself created and sustains all that is
It could not, however, be done offhand, or by a few airy lessons The whole heart and soul and life had to be put into the enterprise But it could be done--that we believed because they were men, not beasts; it had been done--thatin the converts on Aneityum; and our hearts rose to the task with quenchless hope!
CHAPTER XIII
PIONEERS IN THE NEW HEBRIDES
A GLANCE backwards over the story of the Gospel in the New Hebridesmy readers into touch with the events that are to follow
The ever-famous names of Williams and Harris are associated with the earliest efforts to introduce Christianity aroup of islands in the South Pacific Seas John Willia Missionary companion Harris, under the auspices of the London Missionary Society, landed on Erroa on the 30th of Nove land, both were clubbed to death; and the savages proceeded to cook and feast upon their bodies Thus were the New Hebrides baptized with the blood of Martyrs; and Christ thereby told the whole Christian world that He claimed these Islands as His own His cross must yet be lifted up, where the blood of His saints has been poured forth in His name! The poor Heathen knew not that they had slain their best friends; but tears and prayers ascended for them from all Christian souls, wherever the story of the ain, therefore, in 1842, the London Missionary Society sent out Messrs Turner and Nisbet to pierce this kingdom of Satan They placed their standard on our chosen island of Tanna, the nearest to Erroa
In less than seven es beca to escape by night with bare life Out on that dangerous sea they would certainly have been lost, but the Ever-Merciful drove the vessel, which, contrary to custom, called there, and just in the nick of tiot safely on board, and sailed for Samoa Say not their plans and prayers were baffled; for God heard and abundantly blessed thes, the London Missionary Society again and again placed Samoan Native Teachers on one or other island of the New Hebrides; but their unhealthiness, coa, so afflicted theue and fever, besides what they endured froes themselves, that no effective Mission work had been accomplished there till at last the Presbyterian Missionaries were led to enter upon the scene Christianity had no foothold anywhere on the New Hebrides, unless it were in the a
The Rev John Geddie and his wife, from Nova Scotia, were landed on Aneityum, the most southerly island of the New Hebrides, in 1848; and the Rev John Inglis and his wife, from Scotland, were landed on the other side of the saent for the London Missionary Society, the Rev T Powell, accompanied Dr Geddie for about a year, to advise as to his settle up the work Marvelous as it may seem, the Natives on Aneityum, showed interest in the Missionaries fros; so that in a few years Dr Inglis and Dr Geddie saw about 3500 savages throwing away their idols, renouncing their Heathen custo themselves to be worshi+pers of the true Jehovah God Slowly, yet progressively, they unlearned their Heathenism; surely and hopefully they learned Christianity and civilization When these Missionaries ”came to this Island, there were no Christians there; when they left it, there were no Heathens”
Further, these poor Aneityulimpses of the Word of God, deterue, wherein before no book or page ever had been written in the history of their race The consecrated brain and hand of their Missionaries kept toiling day and night in translating the book of God; and the willing hands and feet of the Natives kept toiling through fifteen long but unwearying years, planting and preparing arrowroot to pay the 1200 required to be laid out in the printing and publishi+ng of the book Year after year the arrowroot, too sacred to be used for their daily food, was set apart as the Lord's portion; the Missionaries sent it to Australia and Scotland, where it was sold by private friends, and the whole proceeds consecrated to this purpose On the co by the Bible Society, it was found that the Natives had earned as much as to pay every penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to them, purchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years!
Let those who lightly estees for every leaf, or the labor and proceeds of fifteen years for the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to therace of God in Christ, and which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redee love!
CHAPTER XIV
THE GREAT BEREAVEMENT
MY first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and Nisbet, near the shore, for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above tide-oods being landed, and, as we iined, close to the healthy breezes of the sea Alas! we had to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all untried Mission fields The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and Ague, ht have been escaped by building on the higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshi+ng trade-winds For all this, however, no one was to bla to the knowledge then possessed Our house was sheltered behind by an abrupt hill about two hundred feet high, which gave the site a feeling of coziness It was surrounded and e cocoa-nut trees; too largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut outswaround at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us
Once, after a sent Chief said to me, ”Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tanna man sleeps so lon as you do, in this daround, and the trade-wind keeps us well You o and sleep on the hill, and then you will have better health”
I at once resolved to reround, at the earliest practicablewould necessarily be, it see able to live on the island Alas, for one of us, it was already too late!
My dear young wife, Mary Ann Robson, landed with me on Tanna on the 5th November 1858, in excellent health and full of all tender and holy hopes On the 12th February 1859 God sent to us our first-born son; for two days or so both mother and child seemed to prosper, and our island-exile thrilled with joy! But the greatest of sorroas treading hard upon the heels of that joy! My darling's strength showed no signs of rallying She had an attack of ague and fever a few days before; on the third day or so thereafter, it returned, and attacked her every second day with increasing severity for a fortnight Diarrhea ensued, and syht deliriuether unexpectedly, she died on the 3d March To crown my sorrows, and complete my loneliness, the dear baby-boy, e had named after her father, Peter Robert Robson, was taken from me after one week's sickness, on the 20th March Let those who have ever passed through any siht feel for me; as for all others, it would be more than vain to try to paint my sorrows!
I knew then, when too late, that our work had been entered on too near the beginning of the rainy season We were both, however, healthy and hearty; and I daily pushed on with the house,lives were before us both, to be spent for Jesus in seeking the salvation of the perishi+ng Heathen In our low for the work of our lives, we incurred this risk which should never have been incurred; and I only refer to the