Part 12

_Wednesday, October 13th._--Very fine morning and very warm. After our morning duties were over there was soon a dead silence over the village, the people all going off to their several occupations in their gardens. I busied myself, and got very hot over a little simple carpentering--but oh! the tools, they were so blunt and so rusty. However, I managed to do fairly well what I wanted to do, viz. to enlarge the Communion table, and generally to give a more Churchy appearance to the East end of our Church. I proposed to myself a bathe after my labours were over, but I was too exhausted, and stayed at home in preference. However, the shades of evening soon stole on, and my little cooks came to get my dinner, which, frugal as it was, I enjoyed with the best of sauce--hunger. The evening was calm and fine, and I sat outside my house and enjoyed myself with a book. In the evening they came to tell me of the death of a poor heathen woman who has lately come here, and has been for years past a confirmed invalid. Poor thing! the women came back in the evening to find her cold and stiff in death, without a soul near her to say a word of comfort or to close her eyes in dying. She was buried in the moonlight, and her memory consigned to oblivion with her body. Her sad story afforded me a fitting text for the Catechumens afterwards, which I trust was not unproductive of seasonable lessons and wholesome and solemn warnings. Our singing school subsequently was very nice, after which everyone seemed glad to turn in for the night.

_Thursday, October 14th._--Fine bright morning, and a most beautiful day with a strong Trade wind blowing. After our morning duties I was left alone, the people being away almost at once to their gardens. They work very hard at this season, and the men do the heaviest part of the labour. At present they are engaged in fence making, usually here with bamboos, and very neatly they make them. It is very hot, fatiguing work for them in the broiling sun, but I suppose habit has so far become second nature with them, that they don’t seem to notice the heat or mind a little extra perspiration. The cool waters of the river always afford a grateful and refreshing anticipation when the work is once over.

I amused myself with making a Cross to surmount the Communion table, and give a little more of a sacred nature to the Chancel of the Church. With my poor tools and limited necessaries at my disposal I flattered myself that I had done fairly well, and I afterwards attempted a picture gallery on the walls of my house, which has attracted all the boys in the village this evening, and they have taken more interest in these pictures than ever I have seen them before display. The launching of a life boat, and the English Bishops have been the chief attractions, and everyone, I think, has counted over the Bishops dozens of times. There being no one here in the afternoon I went alone to the river and enjoyed a refreshing bath. This evening it is blowing heavily, but there is a good moon and it is fine overhead. Instruction to the Catechumens, and the evening school finished a nice day.

_Friday, October 15th._--After our morning duties here and breakfast I started with a party of four for Tasmouri. It had rained a little during the night, and the bush was still wet this morning. The sun, however, shone out in Tropical brilliancy, and travelling was very unpleasant. The hottest time is just after a shower, and to-day proved no exception to the native idea on the subject. I don’t know when I have felt so hot and disinclined for exertion. However, the journey had to be made, and on I went somewhat mechanically. We arrived in due course at a rippling brook which the natives call “Na Marou,” and here we refreshed ourselves with its cooling waters and quaffed away our thirst. We rested, too, awhile, and then shouldering our impedimenta on we trudged again. The dense bush afforded a grateful shade generally, but every now and then we came out into the open glade, and we felt by experience for how much we were indebted to the shelter from the sun’s rays. Our next resting place was “Qaruqatu,” and then we were in a very liquid condition, and could gladly have lain down and given up further exertion for the day, but we were not half-way to our destination yet, and when we had cooled a bit we moved on to the village, where we found the “Uta” natives awaiting our arrival. They had prepared food for us and procured a good supply of coconuts, and we stopped for some time with them. However, the day was hastening on to-night, and we were driven to move on when we would willingly have sat on in idleness and inactivity. We started again for “Vanua garaqa” where the school house is, and there I found my friend and teacher “Takele,” whom I was going to Baptize on Sunday, and with whom I was anxious to have some previous conversation. He is a good man, and a staunch, and “Uta” owes him a great deal for his steadfast and consistent upholding of the Truth, and his fearless and bold protestations against evil. He had also food and coconuts ready for us, and I am afraid I went to sleep for a while, as the boys were refreshing the inner man. However, we were not yet at our journey’s end, and shouldering our traps, on we went again.

After leaving Uta there is a very steep descent, really down the face of the cliff, Tasmouri being on the other side of the island to windward. The road, however, is good, if somewhat precipitous, and my poor long shins ached again before I got to the bottom. Yet we did get to the bottom, and there we found a most lovely natural bathing place, the delight and comfort of which we were not long in testing. One can imagine how refreshing it must inevitably be to get off one’s dripping garments, and get under a cool and delicious shower-bath. I felt much more “fit” when I got on my walking garments again and prepared for another advance towards Tasmouri, which I must say has never seemed so far and the journey towards it so fatiguing. We found Samuel and the Tasmouri people waiting from the village, and of course had food and drink in readiness for us. It was very cool and nice there, and being now near our destination we were not in a great hurry to move. Tasmouri, however, was reached towards evening, but oh! how hot the place is! a change of raiment scarcely mended matters, and I was soon almost as liquid as before. My evening meal made matters worse, and didn’t I long for a little grateful coolness? However, that seems an unknown quantity, and I gave up the idea of discovering it more here than anywhere else. Evensong followed in due course, and afterwards I had the Catechumen class for a short instruction. When these duties were over I was fit for bed, and this is the reason of the shortness and scantiness of my account of this day.

_Saturday, October 16th._--At Tasmouri. Most beautiful morning, but oh! so hot. Within doors it was absolutely unbearable, and I was glad when the people proposed to go to the seaside. The place selected was “Ro[¨n]onawo,” and there it was bearably cool. A “Guardian” supplied me with companionship, and it proved to be so pleasant there that we spent most of the day, the boys bathing, fishing, and generally enjoying life, and I reading and seeking new names for the Baptismal Candidates. The heat again in the evening when we came home was very oppressive, and so great had it been in the house during the day that my candle I found all melted and doubled down in the candlestick.

My dinner did not mend matters, but rather made the heat the hotter. I could not get cool for the life of me, and I had to grin and bear the discomfort. I do not know a much hotter place than Tasmouri and trust I never may, the wonder is how people live there at all. The fact I suppose is that the natives live very little within doors except at night, but during the day are engaged in their gardens, or otherwise enjoying the free and easy life to which they are the heirs by nature. It was intensely hot at Evensong, and oh! how one sighed for relief! An interesting Class with the Catechumens finished a pleasant day, on the whole, in spite of the heat. While we were at Evensong, and even while praying for her, one of the Christian young women, by name “Nesta,” was given a happy issue out of all her afflictions. She has been lying in a state ‘twixt life and death for more than two months, and died this evening. She was one of the first baptized here, and a nice, clever girl she was, and a great favourite. The people asked me to bury her to-night, and I consented. About midnight the grave was finished, and I went with the people to the graveside. A weird, but picturesque scene it was, the moon in full splendour high up in the heavens, the blazing native torches casting a lurid glare upon the quiet figure of the dead, resting in her final bed and wrapped in native mats, the husband seemingly heart-broken, wailing beside the open grave, the women sobbing all around, myself with a lantern and vested in a surplice at the head of the grave, and the people all subdued and solemn around. I read the Burial Service, and when I came to “earth to earth,” “ashes to ashes,” “dust to dust,” Samuel threw on the earth according to custom, and at the end of the service we sang a funeral hymn, which sounded very solemn in the strange stillness of the night. I gave an address to the people, and words never seem to me more appropriate, and apposite than on this occasion. When I had finished my part of the service I came away, and left the grave diggers to their unenviable duty.

_Sunday, October 17th._--Most glorious morning and meltingly hot. We had school before breakfast, and I took a class of adult women. I was quite surprised at their readiness in the Church Catechism, which they said by heart from beginning to end. The Collect also they had got by heart and read with great facility. With the proficiency of the school generally I was amply satisfied, and teaching has evidently not been thrown away on the majority of the scholars. After breakfast we had Prayers, and the discomfort of the heat was not lessened by the hateful buzz and presence of the blue bottles. The service was hearty and comforting, however, and I asked the Catechumens to stay afterwards.

With them I had a nice class, and was satisfied that they were in earnest. One man who has two wives, and has long held out against Baptism, has now given in and put away one of his wives. It is a peculiarly hard case, as he has children by both, and the women have both lived with him for a great number of years. Both offered to go, and gave him his free choice as to the one he chose to retain and which to banish. He chose the elder of the two, his first wife, and the other consequently left, but I could not help being sorry for them all, and at the earnest supplication of the divorced wife I admitted her and her young child to Holy Baptism. It was no inconsiderable pang to the husband to relinquish his second wife, and I could see that the sacrifice both he and she were making had cost them a great deal of suffering, but the rule is hard and fast, and I could not go beyond our invariable practice to admit a man with one wife only to the Rites of our Holy Church.

In the evening I Baptized seventeen people of all sizes, ages, and sexes, and Tasmouri now lays claim to the proud title of being the first entirely Christian village in Maewo. It has not now a single heathen member, and I thank God and take courage from the success which His Word has had here through His Grace, and to Him alone be the honour and glory.

After the Baptism, and at the end of Evensong, I gave an address, and was listened to with marked attention, and I pray God my words may not have been spoken in vain. It was indeed to me an occasion of rejoicing in the Spirit, and I do not think I shall soon forget the reality and heartiness of that service. As I sat here in my house afterwards, all the newly Baptized came to bid me good-night, and the woman and child who were going into new quarters were not among the last or the least grateful for the events of the evening, for their present loss will be their eternal gain, and to have Jesus as Friend and Husband must compensate any one, with a grain of mustard-seed faith in their hearts, for the loss of husband and earthly father. None the less I could not help feeling sorry for the pretty, gentle creature who will begin henceforth a new and different life--this, of course, humanly speaking. I was very tired when the day was over, and everyone seemed glad that resting time had come.

_Monday, October 18th._--Fine, indeed glorious day, but consequently very hot. According to standing custom here, I gave a whole holiday to the school and, we went for our usual picnic. The fatted pig was killed, and we all proceeded to Ro[¨n]onawo to prepare it for dinner. The women did the cooking, the men lending ready and very efficient aid in getting and cutting firewood, &c. A book gave me employment throughout the day, and there was a good deal to interest one going on. The scene was far from being unanimated and devoid of interest, and the day soon hastened on to its termination and natural darkness. The ovens were opened in due course, and disgorged their plentiful contents. After grace the food was distributed, and before long we were wending our way homewards.

After Evensong a request was brought me that the people might have a dance, and of course I consented. There was not a very numerous company of dancers, but they kept up their energy for an hour or two in a manner in which I should be very sorry to imitate them, and the result may be imagined in a place where the smallest movement throws you into a bath of perspiration. This evening appeared those mysterious things like seaworms. They only come about one night in the year, but the people not only know the very night of their appearance, but almost the very hour. When they are expecting them they get ready a peculiar kind of deep basket with a wide mouth, and long cane torches, and when these worms of the sea are observed, the people shovel them by handsful into their baskets, and great quantities are in this way taken. They are of course esteemed a great delicacy, and by cooking and re-cooking, they are kept for a very long time as an accompaniment to their different kinds of food. Their flavour is somewhat peculiar, but by no means disagreeable, and I can quite understand a native esteeming them a delicacy. Their wormy nature, I am afraid, gives me a false sentiment against their niceness. Considerable numbers were secured this evening, but the “haul” was said not to be a very successful one.

_Tuesday, October 19th._--This morning we were early astir and getting ready for our homeward journey. We had Prayers and school and then breakfast, after which we put our traps together and prepared to start. The boat was coming for me, so that our first journey was to Tasmate, and no joke at that, hot as it was. However, we got there finally, and before the boat. It was very warm walking, and I was very liquid again by the time Tasmate was reached. While we were there waiting for the boat a big steamer passed Southwards. She had not the appearance of a man-of-war, but was too large to be down this way for no purpose. She was steaming fast and well, but looked to be rather battered and dilapidated. She appeared to have come from Fiji or from somewhere in that direction. Later on we saw her again up the coast, whither perhaps she may have gone for water. Our row homewards was terrible--the heat was simply awful and pelted down upon us piteously without a breath of wind. However, we got to our boat cove eventually, and hauled up our boat, and then, as night was drawing nigh, we prepared to start at once for Tanrig. We had scarcely got off before we were caught in a heavy thunderstorm, and the rain came down in torrents. The roads, always bad, were now fearful, and having a good deal of water before us to wade through I had taken off my shoes and socks. My feet were very sore when I got to Ruosi, where, in spite of present dripping condition, we all bathed, and we got home like drowned rats, to find that very little rain had fallen here. After tea and Evensong I was ready for bed, being very tired and foot-sore.

_Wednesday, October 20th._--I was very glad of a good excuse for a thoroughly quiet day, and this was given me in a perfect downpour of rain, which continued without cessation until past midday, and I could not possibly get out. It cleared, however, in the evening, and I got out to church and to my Catechumen class, after which we had our usual secular singing. These Wednesday evenings are certainly looked forward to, but they do not satisfy me that much is taught by them. The people are very slow at picking up new things, and except occasionally are far from enthusiastic about the performance, yet I suppose they enjoy it or they would not attend in such numbers. I was perfectly inundated afterwards by people coming to wish me good-night. Shaking hands has become quite an institution here now, and you cannot meet or quit anyone except the process of hand grasping be gone through. However, it is a good step to the right direction and I give so much encouragement to it that my own arm runs the risk often of being wrung off.

_Thursday, October 21st._--Busy here all the morning, and having got very hot and tired with what I was doing, I came to get my towel to go for a bathe, when lo and behold, down came the rain in a perfect torrent, and I had to swallow my disappointment and stay at home. However, I started again at my picture gallery, and got a good deal done. I must try and finish it at some future time. It is a source of immense diversion to not a few, and some of the boys are never tired of coming to find out what the pictures mean. I was not very well all day, and after the Catechumen Class was very glad to retire for the night.

_Friday, October 22nd._--Was very sick all the morning, and went to Ruosi to try and drown my cares in the river, but was only partially successful. Came back appetiteless to an uninviting dinner, and did not feel equal to much during the evening.

_Saturday, October 23rd._--Very busy all day with preparations for to-morrow. Anthony came to make final arrangements about his Candidates. Determined to go to “Naruru” for the ceremony. Was not well all day, and everything seemed a business. Final class with Catechumens.

_Sunday, October 24th._--A very full but an exceptionally joyous day. We had school before breakfast, but that meal followed directly after. Then came Mattins. Then, followed by all the male population of Tanrig, I went to Naruru. The house there being very small I determined to have the Baptism out of doors. I would have gone to the river-side but it was too far. While Anthony and the others were getting ready the place and the Font, I said a few final words to the Candidates, who were already well prepared. Anthony’s wife was among the number, and a fine, intelligent young woman she is. There were nine Candidates in all, and the service was a very solemn and impressive one. It was the first time I had ever Baptized anyone in the open air, but a great deal of solemnity was not lost by it. The whole service went very nicely, and I hope the Candidates were fully alive to the importance and dignity of the occasion. When it was over I said a few words to the Congregation and Baptized, and soon after we hastened home, having another Baptism at Tanrig. During my absence A. P. Huqe had made a most chastely pretty Font, and brightened up the Church with flowers, &c., until it looked quite charming. The Baptism took place in the evening, and seeing that there were as many as twenty-eight Candidates it was not a short service. It passed off very nicely, and I think made a great impression. I preached afterwards, and told them that this would be my final Baptism for some time to come, and urged them all to remember their Baptismal vows and to try and live more and more up to them, by the grace of God. Tanrig is now a Christian village, and the number Baptized here is considerably over a hundred. There are suburbs, however, which are still lying in comparative heathen darkness, and these we shall now have time, please God, to attack. There is much rejoicing here to-day, and a fresh start has again been made. I have Baptized thirty-seven people to-day, and I thank God and take courage.

_Monday, October 25th._--General holiday, and great Christening Feast at Ruosi. All the world turned out from here, and we were joined by many from Naruru. Four large pigs were slaughtered, and a prodigious quantity of yams and taro prepared. It was a most lovely day, and the sunshine overhead seemed to have found its way into every heart, for there was the greatest harmony and good will manifest on all sides. Men and women shared the burden of the day alike, and the result in the evening was a most grand spread of perfectly cooked food, more than sufficient for all the great number present. All shared alike, and the females had great junks of pork as well as the men. Formerly the women ate very little animal food, but now Christianity has broken down the middle wall of partition, and taught them that all are One in Christ. We came home in the evening, and dinnerless I had to go to bed with an attack of ague which lasted me far on into the hours of midnight. I did not go to Prayers, and indeed I don’t know what happened. There was a dance, I believe, but I didn’t hear anything of it.

_Tuesday, October 26th._--Very weak and seedy all day--did not go out anywhere. However, I had lots of little things to do here at home, and I busied myself over them. Visitors from Uta came in the evening. The people told me they wanted to take away one of our women whose husband is just dead, but I refused and told them they had women enough already. They were very frightened I believe, and I don’t care, I trust they were, for I meant what I said. They are quite enough as they are to live and die in heathen darkness, while here the poor woman will have a chance at all events of hearing and living.

_Wednesday, October 27th._--Beautiful day, but I was not particularly well to enjoy it. I was up betimes though, and got through our morning duties before breakfast.

Perhaps this is not a wise plan, but it is more convenient and therefore I submit to it. You certainly get leisure and quiet afterwards, which one would fail to secure previously to Prayers and school. I like to give the people every opportunity of getting away early to their gardens, and therefore, perhaps, I sacrifice myself. Many people could not stand this going without breakfast so long, but it is a meal I was never very hearty at, and the want of which very strangely I feel the least.

Our “Bush” friends brought down some prints for sale this morning, and there has been a tremendous competition for them. There were six yards of Turkey red handkerchief stuff, which were finally bought by a young married lady, “Ann,” for a large pig. The Bushmen still go “clothesless,” and returned Labourers find a ready market here for their linen goods, which they bring home from Queensland or Fiji. Pigs are of much more value to them, for of course they still keep up the old native custom of purchasing rank by means of these animals, while here now they are only looked upon as so much meat. I have been long trying to get a proper hold on these people, but I cannot flatter myself that I have yet succeeded very far. They live a long distance off, and the road is very inaccessible, but I trust in time they may be reached from hence. They are very amiable and very friendly, but they are somewhat terrified at anything new. However, they come here very often, and I don’t think they go away unprofited.