The Life of John Williams Missionary to the South Seas · PDF fileCONTENTS. CHAPTER I. John Wi lliams, Childhood and Youth; His Conversion; Sunday School Work; Offers for Mission Service;

The Life Of

JOHN WILLIAMSMISSIONARY TO THE SOUTH SEAS

B eing m ainly an ab r idgem ent o f“ Mission

ary E nterpr ises in the South Sea Islands” b yJ ohn William s .

THE WORLD-WIDEMISSIONARY LIBRARY

The RevivaIist Press

C incinnati, Ohio

I9 | 5

P U BLISHERS’ NOTE .

I t has long been on our heart s to i s sue a s er :i e s o f b iograph ie s which by the attract ivenesso i

'

the ir appearance as wel l as by the thr i ll inginteres t of the ir narrat ion

,would

,to some ex

tent at l ea s t,provide a sub st i tute for the cheap

l i terature wh ich floods the land .

This volume represents but one of many"wh ich

,by the ‘

as s istance of a grac ious Prov1dence We expect to i s sue in the near future .

Every reader should have,i f he has not a lready

purchas ed them,Volumes one and two o f th i s

ser i es,re spect ively

,the Life of J uds on and the

Life of R ober tMoficm

‘

. This F i r s t S er i es wi l lbe composed of S ix volumes

,the firs t three o f

which are i s sued s imultan eous ly,the next

three to fol lowimmediately . W e be l i eve thatth i s venture in book pub l i sh ing wi l l meet withsuch a hearty response that we need have noapprehens ion as to a suffic i ent c i rculat ion tode fray the cons iderable financia l out lay .

Reader,wi l l you not as s i s t us in thi s good work

4 P U BLISH ER’

S NOTE.

and help us cir culate these books by the tenso f thousands everywhere ?

The next book in the ser i es,Volume four

will be an account of the Life and Laban ofCaptain A llen Gardiner who so bravely en

dured the per i l s of p ioneer mis s ionary work inboth Afr ica and South America, rece iv ing h i smartyr ’ s crown among the savages of Patagonia .

No commiss ions ar e offered,no di scounts

can be given,as the pr i ce i s so phenom inally

low . W e bel i eve,however

,that every heart

burn ing with mi ss ionary zea l and al ive to theimportance of awakening the Church to thesupreme necess i ty of miss ionary enterpr i s e ,cannot but real i z e the va lue o f putt ing thesebooks be fore the pub l i c . For fur ther in formation , see the last pages of th i s book or addres s

TH E REV IVALIST PRESS,

Cinc innat i,Oh io .

PREFATORY NOTE .

W e l ive in an age when the mis s ionary sp ir i tshould be

,more than in previous year s , arous

ing the church to increased act ion , for theevangel iz at ion of the nat ions

,which are yet

without the knowedge of th e Son of God .

Atmid the p leas for peace

,both at home and

abroad,th e dea fen ing roar o f battle i s st ifling

the p iteous wai l of dy ing mi l l ions , who cry :“Come over and help us .

”

I t i s hard to reconc i le th e sp i r i t of Jesuswho commiss ioned H i s church to “preach theGospe l to every creature

,

” with the sp ir i t ofindi fference and eas e exi st ing among many so

cal led Chr is t ian s of today .

I t i s wi th th e mot ive of awakening interest,

and giving ins truct ion on the subj ect of mi ss ions

,that th i s book has been prepared ; and a

hope that the interes t thus aroused wi l l resultin a larger v iew

'

o f condit ions in mi ss ion fieldsand a respon s e to the needs of the same .

The subj ect o f th i s vo lume i s a character o f

6» PREFATORY NOTE .

unusual interes t . H e presents a di spo s i t ion o fmarked gentleness

,ingenuity which no c i rcum

stances could baffi e,a resolute pers i s tence in the

face o f seeming fa i lure ; a keen dis cernment,and a m agnam ity of hear t that cou ld

“n ot be

confined within the l imi ts o f a s ingle ree f,

”

plac ing him among the front ranks of m i s s ionary heroes and martyr s .

H i s l i fe reveal s the pos s ib i l i t i es of a con se

crated soul,labour ing in comparat ive obs cur

ity ; h is succes s not fully apprec iated t i l l cutshort by the murderous hand of savagery .

The author i t i e s upon which th is n arrat ivei s based , are pr inc ipal ly ,

“The M i s s ionary Enter pr ises in the South S eas ,

” by M r . Wi l l iamsa book ful l of interes t and insp i rat ion ; the Rev .

James E l l i s’

biography,

“John W i l l i ams,the

Mia r tv r M i s s ionary of Polynes ia, and the h i sto r v o f mi s s ions and mis s ionary heroes in“

Light and Darknes s,

” by the Rev. J . E . God

bev and A . H . Godbey .

CONTENTS .

CHAPTER I .John Wi l l i ams

,Chi ldhood and Youth ; H i s

Convers ion ; Sunday S chool W ork ;O ffer s for M i s s ion S ervice ; Marr iage ;Voyage to the South S eas

CHAPTER II .

Polynes ia and I ts Inhabi tants ; The H awies ;

Learn ing the Language ; Bui lding aTabernacle ; Grief of an Old

CHAPTER II I .

Raiatea ; Voyage to New South W a les ; TheGospel in Rurutu

CHAPTER IV .

M i s s ion to A i tutak i ; Voyage o f Bourne andWi l l i am s ; Succes s at A i tutak i ; Intercours e with the People ; S earch for Rar otonga ; Narrat ive of P apeiha

’

s

CHAPTER V .

Rem arkable Incidents at Tahi t i ; U n su c

ces s fu l S earch of Rarotonga ; V i s i t toMangaia ; Inc idents There

8 CONTENTS .

CHAPTER VI .V i s i t to A t iu ; Conver s ion o f the K ing ;D i s covery of Mtauke ; Introduct ion o fChr is t ian ity into i t and M it i aro ; Regard to Sabbath Day by Nat ive Crew '

Search for Rarotonga .

CHAPTER VII .Rarotonga D i s covered ; P apeiha

’

s D evoted Conduct ; Remlarkable Incidentof a H eathen W oman ; Return Home ;Nat ive Speeches

CHAPTER VIII .M r . Bourne ’ s Voyage ; Tr ip to Rarotonga ;Idol s D estroyed ; Chapel Erected ; W r i ting on a Chip ; M r . Pitman ’ s NarrowEscape ; Sabbath at Rarotonga

CHAPTER IX .

M r s . Vt’

illiam s’ I l lne ss ; Reso lve to Bui ld

a Sh ip ; M es senger o f Peace Completed ;Voyage to A i tutaki ; Return with S ingular Cargo

CHAPTER X .

M r . Bu z zacott’

s Arr iva l ; Letter s Rece ivedfrom England ; Character and D eath ofTu ahine ; Voyage from Rarotonga toTahi t i

CONTENTS 9

CHAPTER X I .

P apeiha’

s Narrat ive ; Ludicrous Incidentw ith a Cat ; F i r s t Place of VVOr shipErected Complete Subvers ion of Idolatry in Rarotonga

CHAPTER "II.

M r . Platt ’ s Voyage ; M i s s ionary M eet ings ;Nat ive Speeches ; Interview o f Capta in

VValdegr av e ; Preparat ion for Voyage . 1 26

CHAPTER X I I I .

At iu ; Rel igious S ervice ; D evotednes s o fTeacher s ’ W ives ; W i l l i ams

’ NarrowEscape ; Mtauke and M i t i aro ; D readfulMassacre ; A i tutak i ; Nat ive Gi f t s .

CHAPTER X IV .

Savage I s land ; Appearance o f the Peopl e ;Reach Tongatabu ; Sabbath at Tonga ;M eet w ith Fau ea

CHAPTER XV .

H apiu I s lands ; Volcan i c I s land ; EscapedShipwreck ; Account of Nat ive TeacherChr is t i anity Introduced ; Idol s Hung .

CHAPTER XVI .Sai l for Navigator s I s land ; Reach Sar aii ;Nat ive s As toni shed at Europeans ; Tam afainga K i l led ; Intercours e with Na

1O CONTENTS .

tives ; Author’ s Narrow Es cape

CHAPTER XVII .Savage I sl and Left ; Ar r iva l at Rarotonga ;V i s i t to Arorangi ; Arr ival at Rurutu ;Arr ival at Tah it i ; M e ; TheW arr ior and

the D rop o f B lood .

CHAPTER XVII I .D i s tres s at Raiatia ; Tam atoa H i s Charac

ter and D eath ; Sai l for Rar otonga Ef

feet of a D i scour se ; The I s land D evastated.

CHAPTER X IX .

The Effect of the Hurr icane Upon theM inds o f th e Peop le ; More D i sa sters ;Voyage to Tahi t i ; De struct ion of theS t i l ls ; Return to Rarotonga

CHAPTER XX .

Ar r iva l at Manua F ind Some Raivav ian sOr o senga ; O fu ; The D es i re Everywhere Expressed for M i s s ionar ie s ; AChie f Prays upon D eck ; Runaway Sa i lors Bapt iz ing the People

CHAPTER XX I .Ar r iva l at Manona ; Joy at Mlatetau : ReachSava i i ; Sabbath S erv ice ; Intervi ew Be

tween Makea and Mal i etoa Makea’

s

Speech .

CONTENTS .

CHAPTER XX I I .V i s i t to Amoa ; A Beaut i ful S ettlement ; A

Com pany of Female Chr is t ian s ; TheirAppearance ; D i s agreement B etweenMatetau and Mal i etoa ; Sai l for Manona

CHAPTER XX I I I .Runaway Convicts

,&c .

, K indness of Engl i sh Capta ins ; Meet ing with the W idowof Puna ; H er Narrat ive ; Arr ival at Rar otonga Flour ish ing S tate of S choolsLetter of One of the Chi ldren

CHAPTER XXIV .

Rap id Progres s o f the Gospel; Extrao rdinary Preparation o f the People ; Var iousTempora l Advantages to M i s s ionaryLabours ; Commerc ia l Benefit s o f Miss ions ; M i s s ions commended

CHAPTER XXV .

Mr . W i l l iams ’ V i s i t to England ; Las t Labour s ; Martyrdom ; Later M i ss ionary

W ork .

I I

CHAPTER I .

J OHN WILLIAMS— CH ILDHOOD AND YOUTHH IS CONVERSION— SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKOFFERS FOR M ISSION SERVI CE— MARRIAGEVOYAGE To TH E SOUTH SEAS .

One evening a young man stood near thestreet corner in the Ci ty Road

,London . The

l ight from the lamps shone ful l upon h i s br ightyoung face and erect form . H e was only

e ighteen,and a lready gave promise of a man

of great s tr ength . I t was Sunday evening .

The be l l s were ch iming the hour o f service .

The sound fe l l upon h i s eat s unheeded . H e

was not in the hab i t o f going to church . Atth i s par t icu lar t ime

,he was wai t ing for some

compan ions,with whom he expected to spend

the even ing at the Tea Gardens in the northof London . They were expect ing to have aj o l ly t ime . This boy ’ s n ame was John W illiarn s .

John had a Chr i s t ian mother,but he had

forgotten her good teach ings . H e h imse l f has1 3

I4 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

s a id,I was at th i s t ime a very bad boy . I

did not regard the Holy Sabbath ; I o ftenmocked at the n ame of Chr i st and hi s r el igionand neglected my soul. I was a lover of pleasure and not a lover o f God .

” H e thoughtrel igion a sort of res traint for an act ive youngboy l ike himsel f

,but which might do for ‘so l

em n Old fo lks .

’ H i s a im was to have a good

t ime as far a s he could,but th i s a im did not

cause h im to n eglect h i s dut i es as a salesman .

H e watched with keen interes t the process inthe manufacture o f different art i cles ; and int ime he learned a great dea l about mechanica l

work . W e shal l see how useful a l l th i s provedto h im in h i s mis s ionary labors .

As he thus s tood wait ing,rather impat i ently

,

for i t was gett ing late,a lady came up to h im .

H e knew her at once,as th e wife of h i s employ

er . She reached out her hand,at th e same

t ime invi t ing h im to go with her to service

in W hi tefield Tabernac le nearby He told

her why he was wait ing there . M r s . Ton

kin,for that was the lady ’ s name

,cont inued to

urge her request . H e at las t y ielded and entered

the chapel with her . I t was the turn ing po int

in h i s l i fe.

LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 1 5

In speaking of that eventful evening,some

time later , John W i l l i ams said,“I remember

the door at wh ich I came into th e chapel . I

could go to the spot where I took my seat . I

recal l the sermon and the great power withwhich the W ord of God took hold upon myheart as I sat - there . M r . East

,the minister

,

took a mos t impress ive verse o f S cr ipture fora text : ‘What i s a man profi ted i f he shal l gainL"? who le wor ld and los e h is own sou l ? O r

what shal l a man give in exchange for hi ssoul ? ’ God at that t ime was pleased to touchmy heart

,so that I was glad to forsake al l

worldly companions and l ive for H im.

”

L i t t le did that fr iend imagine the resu lt ofher k ind effor t . What great th ings are Oftendone by acts o f kindness . I t shows what maybe done Io r God through h i s humb le fol lowers .

In Car l i s le ’ s words,H e was henceforth a

Chr i st ian man ; be l i eved in God, not on ly on

Sundays but on al l days,in a l l p laces and in

a l l cases .

Many years before John W i l l iams was

born,in the re ign of James I , of England,

two men kne l t by the roads ide near Whitney .

Thes e m en were brother s,James and John

6 LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

W i l l iams . The bi shop had turned them out Of

the i r chu rch . They could not under stand the

preaching,for the m en who served them cou ld

not speak thei r language . SO, because thesetwo brothers s tayed away from the services

,

they were put out o f the church . Once theb i shop wrote an account o f a v i s i t to some ofthe churches in h i s d i s tr i ct . H e said

,In some

I found,

'

ther e had not been a s ervice for fiveor s ix years . In

‘

o ther s the preacher ’ s s addles and beeh ives were stored . Yet becaus ethese two men f ai led to attend these churches

,

the b i shop became angry with them . Theb rother s decided to go to another town

,but

when they arr ived there they were not a l lowedto stay

“A s they were wander ing on the ir way,th ey

came to Whitney . They were fr i end les s,hun

gry -and without a home Knee l ing down bythe roads ide , they prayed and asked God togive them a s ign to l ead them on the ir way .

R i s ing from thei r knees,they threw a straw up

into the ai r The direction to which i t po intedin fall ing was the one they chose . At nightt ime they came to a l i tt l e vi l lage . They wentto a farm house and asked the farmer i f they

sleep in his b arn . The farm e r kep t

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many fr iends . W i th h is mother he went everySunday to a Chapel two miles away from the i rhome I t was nearly three mi les to the school.

Here he was taught wr iting and ar i thmet ic .

H i s mother,however

,was his ch i ef teacher , as

she certainly was hi s best Every day she

gathered her ch i ldren about her. to teach them

and to pray with themH e firs t went to work for M r . Tonkin

,an

iron’

worker,who kept a shop in London . H e

was to remain with h im seven years . H e wasnot given the hard wo rk but was to learnenough to manage a bus ines s of h i s own . Atth i s t im e h i s parents moved into London to . benear him . H e los t no chance of gett ing a goodknowledge

'

o f h is trade . W hi le not busy a t

work,he vis i ted the workshop and watched the

workmen ; and many times tr i ed someth ing newin metal working .

’

H e soon became very ski l ledin th i s work and art ic les needing extra care

,

in

making were brought to h im to bemade . He

found great pleasure in h i s work and was careIn ] that i t was don e neatly and wel l . H e wasso trusted and ski l led in h i s work that for a

long time the whole management was left tohim . Thi s gives th e story of h i s l i fe up to theSunday evening Of h i s conver s ion .

LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS . 19

Soon after coming into the church,John

\V illiam s began h i s work as Sunday - schoolteacher

,

‘

a v i s i tor to th e S ick and di str ibuter oftracts . H e c la imed one sou l as a re sul t of h i sear ly effort s . A c l ergyman dur ing the greatr ev ival in the t ime of W h itefield and W es leyused to s ay

,

‘I do ' loy e thos e one - eyed Ch r i st ians .

’ John W i l l i ams became one of these ,

with a loving earnes t l i fe for Chr i s t and hi ss ervice . H e fe l t h i s -lack of knowledge so hej o ined a soc iety fo r improvement which metevery Monday even ing . H ere they ta lkedover the mos t important th ings o f the day . Thecla s s was led by a Rev . W i lks , and i t was ' agreat help and bles s ing t o John W i l l iams atthis tim e. In th i s cla s s were a number - o f

Voung men who were prepar ing to go into them ini stry . M r . W i lks was very -much int-erested in m is s ions and every four weeks he helda spec ia l m is s ionary meet ing in the tabernacle .

I t was through thes e mi ss ionary meet ings thatMr . W i l l i ams was brought in touch with thework in the South Seas . A t one i tim e -Mr .

W i lks told of the need of m or e worker s and

cal l ed f o r vo lunteers At once, in his heart ,John W i l l i ams felt a response to th is p lea . A t

fir s t i t was hidden,then cher ished as a dis


tant pos s ib i l i ty,i t grew s tronger and stronger

unt i l he felt indeed that God wanted h im inth is work. H e talked with M r . W

'

i lks abouti t and was told to wr ite to the London M i ss ionary Society . H e sent h is appl icat ion tothem . H e was so anxious to go

,yet he

thought they might not take h im . They gladly accepted h im . A few months later nineyoung men were ordained as m i s s ionar i es . O fthese

,John W i l l iams and Rober t Moffat were

the youngest . D r . W augh, th e min ister,

spoke to each one earnes tly . To W i l l i ams ,he said

,

“Go my dear young brother and i fyour tongue cleaves to the roo f of your mouth ,

l e t i t be with tel l ing poor s inner s the love ofJesus ; and if your arms drop o ff at your shoulders , let i t be with knocking at men

’ s hearts,to

gain an entrance for H im there .

”

At first they thought to s end John W i l l i amsand Robert Mo ffat together but later dec idedthat Mo ffat Should go to Afr ica wh i le John\\7illiam s went to the South S ea s . But he didnot go alone

,h is young wi fe went wi th h im .

O f her we must give a l i ttl e account .Mary Channer , at th e t ime she firs t met M r .

l ived with her parents in London .

Her father , years be fore, had vi s i ted London

LI FE OF JOHN WILL IAMS . 2 1

and had heard the f am ous John H ayatt preachin the tabernacle H e was so del ighted thaton h is return home

,he gave a glowing report

of what he had heard . H i s w ife and daughterhad a great des i r e to hear the preacher Afew years later they came from D enston Ha l l

,

the country home,into London to l ive . Mary

became a member Of th e tabernac le,and

through M r . W i lks . al so became interested inmi s s ionary work H er prayer was that Shemight be sent to tel l the heathen of the love o fChr i st . That prayer was answered

,for she

afterwards because the wi fe of John W’

i l l i amsand i t was sa id o f her : “ In Chr i s t ian courage

,

she was equal to her fear l es s husband and inpat ience she surpas s ed him .

”

Two p ictures o f M r . and M r s . W i l l iams werep laced in the M i s s ionary Soc iety ’ s Museum in

London M r s . W i l l iams was a l i tt l e womanwith sparkl ing eyes and a sweet face . Youneed not wonder that M r . Wi l l i ams chose heras one worthy to help him in his work beyondth e seas .On th e 1 7th o f November 18 16, j us t a month

a fter th ei r marr iage,M r . W’ i l l i ams and h i s

young wife embarked in the Harr iet for Syd

ney,Austral ia .


A lmost immediate ly after go ing on boardthe sh ip

,M r . W i l l i ams bus i ed h imsel f in mak

ing the i r cab in as homel ike as might be . H ewrote to h i s s i s ter and cal l ed the sh ip h is hom e .

Once wh i le out on shore he was asked whatt ime i t was

,he rep l ied that he had le ft h i s

watch at home .”

Dur ing the voyage to the South S eas , M r .

W i l l iams examined every part Of the ves se l On

which he sailed. H e d id not know at thattime how help fu l that know ledge wou ld be toh im . H e exerc i sed h i s powers o f ob s ervat ionand memory wh ich were of great va lue to h imin later year s . They reached R io de Jane irowithout a storm or mishap . There two othermi ss ionar i es met them

,M r . and M rs . Thr el

keld . M r . W i l l iams was m u ch d istres sed at

the s ight o f the condi t ion of the peopl e ther e .

He saw s laves stand ing in booth s,for sale l ike

catt le . H e was so touched at the s ight that

he went home and wept . H e also found i t a

dangerous th ing to speak one'

s m ind in a heath

en land . A man became angry with h im for

speaking against Sl avery and would have

s truck h im had he not escaped . They went on

the i r j ourney and stopped at Sydney where


they took another sh ip . Just one year fromthe t ime they started from home

,they landed at

Tah i t i,an is land and miss ion stat ion .

CHAPTER I I .

POLYNES IA AND ITS INHAB ITANTS TH E HAWIEs

”- GETT I NO TH E LANGUAGE—MR . WIL

LIAMS BUILDS A TABERNACLE— TH E GRIEF OFAN OLD CH IEF.

L ike a l l other vis i tor s to th ese i s lands,M r .

W i l l iams greatly admired the i r natura l beaut ies ; but he was s t i l l more del ighted wi th thepeop le , who had so recently been s teeped inheathen i sm .

Polynes ia cons i s t s of many groups of i s lands ,together wi th a great number s cattered abouts ingly . Each group has a name . W e wi l ls tudy about the Fr i endly I s lands o f which Tah it i i s the largest . Some of th ese i s lands aregreat mounta ins r i s ing h igh above the sea .

Tahit i has a mounta in one thousand feet h igh .

Then again,other s are formed o f coral . These

i s lands are low and almost always smal l . Nowth i s i s a wonder ful kind of formation when wecons ider that the i s lands are bui lt up by l itt leanimal s cal l ed coral . Around thes e i s landswe find what i s cal led a barr ier ree f with an

24



open ing at one s ide where ships can pas s in andout . I t i s ca l led a barr ier because i t breaksthe s torms from the ocean The nat ives l iketo bui ld the i r homes on the ins ide o f the r eef .Thi s reef i s covered with palms and dense vegetation and somet imes i t i s s evera l m i leswide . The water about the i s land i s usual lycalm on account of the protect ion Of the reef .There are no large an ima l s on the i s lands . It

was supposed rat s were brought to the i s landsby pas s ing sh ips . In some p laces

,

’

the rat swere so bad that the mis s io

'

nar 1es had to have

someon e to k eep them Off of the tab le dur ing

meal s very much l ike we have to keep o f f the

fli es There are many snakes and also b i rds

o f beaut i fu l co lor s on the i s lands ~ Theplants

furni sh ing food are the bread fru i t tree,cocoa

nut palm, banana, taro and yarn s . There ar e

s evera l kinds o f breadfru i t which r ipen at di ffer ent seasons and th e nat ives can l ive with

very l i ttl e work . O ther products are r ice,

millet , wheat, ginger, pepper and indigo . The

ground that in one year would yield th i rty

three pounds o f wheat or one hundred pounds

o f potatoes wi l l yi e ld four thousand pounds o fbananas . They have summer al l the t ime .


The peop le inhab it ing thes e i s lands ar e thoughtto have come from As i a . One c las s l iv ing on thefar easter ly i s lands

,have very long

,s tra ight

,

and very g los sy ha ir , with br igh t Copper colored skin . On the i s lands about F i j i to th e eas t

,

the peop le ar e large with b lack sk in and cr i spha i r . They are quick w ith a good m em o rv

and very anxious for know ledge . They areal so prec i s e in speech . They are a lways readyfor a laugh . They pr ide themse lves on the i rab i l i ty to do th ings and look at th e wh ite people as not be ing as quick as th emse lves

,al

though they think the wh i te peop le surpassthem in menta l ab i l i ty . I f anyone i s awkward in per forming some feat of phys ica l exer

c is e,they wi l l say

,H ow s tup id you are . You

must be an Engl i shman .

” Thei r weapons of

war are th e spear,club and s l ing

,and they are

very skilfull in u s ing these . I t i s sa id a ch i ef

cou ld stand at a d istance o f eighty feet and

hur l a spear through a r ing four inches in

diameter . The natives ar e very crue l and in

captur ing pr i s on ers O ften throw them into

great fire s and burn them.

The peop le ar e a l so fond o f amusement and

Spend a great dea l of t ime, when not in war , in


dancing and tatoOing. They a l so have a cu s

tom Of putt ing r ings in ‘ the i r nos es . A miss ionary te l l s u s that he sawa man with twentyr ings in hi s nose . They th ink a long ' nosevery ugly

,so the mother s in order to beaut i fy

the i r ch i ldren,fi

'

atte'

n the i r noses .

The people o f th i s i s land o‘

fifer ed human sac

r ifice to the ir ido l s which they thought veryenterta ining. After th ey had ki l led the i r v ict im

,they covered hi s body

’

with leaves and

tuft s o f red feathers and put i t into a basketand carr i ed i t to an a l tar and with fru i ts andflowers

,sometimes

~

with’

an anima l,Offered it

to thei r ido l . A f ter they thought the ido l hadenough to eat

,the body was e ither burned or

eaten by the natives . The las t human v ict im

was truly a martyr . They captured h im b e

cause lie had begun to pray . Coming into h i s

home , they struck h im with a heavy s t ick andhe spoke to them saying thes e h i s las t words

,

Fr i ends , I know you areabout to k ill me and

Offer me to your s avage gods . I t i s va in for

me to beg for my l i fe . You may ki l l my body

but you cannot hurt m y sou l for I have begun

to pray to Jesus .

Ano th er custom they had was the des tructio n

L IFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 29

of newborn ch i ldren . These were Often givenas s acr ifices to the i r ido l s . The deares t treasure o f the hear t was thought to be the most

p leas ing to the ido l .

One of the fi rs t th ings M r .W i l l i ams did a ftercoming on the i s land was to bui ld a sh ip . A

Short t ime be fore,some mi ss ionar i es had start

ed to bu i ld a sh ip,but a s i t was such a d ifficult

p i ece of work,they cou ld not fini sh i t . M r .

W i l l i ams went to work on i t, doing the ironwork upon i t and in ten days i t was ready to b e

l aunched . The nat ive s were anx ious to seethe ship sa i l and gathered in a great crowd onthe shore I t i s not on ly a proof that th ingshoped for are oft brought to pass by ventur ing ;but i t i s an examp le of uni ted force s l ike to thatof the anc i ent king who in every work that he

began in the service of house o f God did

i t wi th a l l h is hear t and prospered. Pomare

the king was asked to name i t . H e gave i t the

n ame, H awies .

” Th is was the fi rs t o f five

sh ip s M r . W’ i l l i ams bu i l t dur ing h i s miss ionary

work .

John W i l l i ams soon learned the language .

In ten month s,he was ab le to preach in the na

t ive language, som ething which wo u ld have


taken other s two or three year s . In s tead o fstudying a grammar

,M r . W i l l i ams went

among the peop le,talking to then ] and lif tem ng

‘

0 the i r convers at ions . In th i s way he soon

learned how to use the ir nat ive language .

M r . Wf illiam s a l so erected a sugar mi l l andencouraged the nat ive s to ra i s e cane . Theysoon had many p lantat ions . Soon after bu i lding

'

his house which was furn ished with tab les,

beds and chair s wh ich taught the nat ives thecomfort s o f the home

,M r . W i l l i ams bui lt a

large tabernacle for pub l i c wor sh ip . I t waslarge enough to ho ld severa l thousand people .

The nat ive s gazed in wonder on'

th i s bu i ld ing .

Noth ing struck them so much as the chandel i er s with cocoanuts for lamps .

A part of th i s tabernac le was s et Off from

the main room and was used as a courthouse .

The day after the church was dedicated,twen

ty- four hundred peopl e met in the courthouse

and a code o f laws based on the ten command

ments was prepared . The arr iva l o f s everal

hundred cop ies of the Gospe l s was of great goodat th is t ime and the nat ives in beginning a new

l i fe,encouraged one another to read . On e

day after the schoo l be l l had rung,a na t ive

LI FE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 3 1

Chr is t i an was s i tt ing idly at home . Anothernat ive asked h im why he was not at h i s le s sons .

H e answered that he had not been ab le to getbeyond ba

,ha

,and he wou ld not try again .

W i l l iams not only taught them to work,bu t

of the sp ir i tua l par t o f h i s work to which all

other e ffort s were only an aid,he sa id

,My

work i s my del ight . In i t , I des i r e to spendand be spent . I hope that I have no other des i re in my soul than to be a means of winn ingsou l s to Chr i s t . My anxiety i s that my tongueshal l ever be proc laim ing th i s sa lvat ion

,and

that my words and act ions m ay b e a lways po inting to the Cross .

” H i s l abor s were not w ithout saving resu l ts for many of th e nat ive s hecame intere sted . Some o f the i r ques t ions

were rather strange,but interes t ing

,showing

the act ion of the i r m ind in the l ight of new

truth . One man asked,

“Who were the

S cr ibes ?” H e wondered if they were the sec

r etar ies of the M i s s ionary Soc i ety . Another

found difficu lty in r espect to prayer and asked

i f he d id r ight to pray,O J ehovah, give thy

word in to my heart— al l thy word ; and cover i t

there that i t m av not b e forgotten by me .

”

The sp i r i t in wh ich W’ i l l i ams undertook his


work may be s een in a letter wh ich he senthome soon a fter h i s landing . H e said

,

“Mydearest parents , gr ieve not at my absence forI am engaged in the bes t o f s ervice s for thebest o f master s and upon the b es t of terms ; butrather rej o ice in having a ch i ld upon whom theLord has put th i s honor .

”

In h is new s tat ion, W i l l iams gained many

fr iends . H e had an aff ec tionate nature thatattracted a l l clas ses of peop le . There wasmuch need for love in h is hear t

,even to remain

among the nat ive s,and much more requi red to

work for th em for they were v ery degraded andindo lent . At one t ime he was greatly surpr ised when one o i h is nat ive companion s feel

ing hungry entered a house and without cer emony snatched away the food that a native was

eat ing. Thi s was cons idered good mannersamong them .

At the end of the fi rst year i t was found

that five hundred pounds had been ra i sed

by the natives for th e purpose o f “m ak

ing the W ord o f God grow,

” us ing thei r own

words The k ing and hi s wi fe prepared arrow root with thei r own hands as an O ffer ing

for th is purpo se.


CHAPTER II I .

RAIATEA— VOYAGE To NEW SOUTH WALES— TH E

I NTRODU CT I ON OF TH E GO SPEL IN RURUTU .

AFTER spending somet im e in Tah i t i,M r . VVil

l iams went wi th hi s wi fe to l ive on the beaut i fuli s land o f Raiatea. They were rece ived wi thgreat kindness . The natives made a feas t offive large p igs for M r . W i l l iams

,five for Mrs .

W i l l i ams and five for the i r baby boy, bes ide'

twenty crates'

o f yarns,cocoanuts,p lanta ins andbananas . They a lso gave them a large rol l ofcloth .

H i s firs t step her e was to draw"

the nat ive stogether . They lived in low One—roomed hut so f gras s or reeds . H e bu i lt for himsel f a neatcottage of several rooms . The nat ives s toodabout looking on with great interes t . Theframework was o f wood

,but the '

walls W i th in'

and without were p las tered with l ime obta inedby burning cora l .In front of the house

,M r . W i l l iams la id ou t

a pretty garden .

WILLIAMS ENGAGED IN HOUSEBUILDI NG .


I t was not long t i l l l i tt le cottages sprang upal l around

,and in a shor t t ime

,a town o f one

thousand extended for two mile s a long the

coast

M r . W i l l iams aimed to keep the nat ives busy .

He made a boat,fi tt ing the p lanks together and

tying them with nat ive cord,then Offer ing fifty

na i l s to anyonewho wou ld make a boat l ike i t .

A l l th i s work impressed the nat ives with thesuper ior i ty o f Chr ist1an 1ty. The nat ive s wereanxious to learn . Thei r language was put inwri t ing and schoo l s were bui l t in which hundreds of ch i ldren were taught . Young and

old al ike flocked about the mis s ionary ; andoften in the school were seen the aged warr iorand the l i tt l e ch i ld S i t t ing on the same benchspel l ing out thei r les sons together .

About th i s t ime M r . W i l l i ams rece ived thesad news of h i s mother ’ s death .

He fel t th i s gr i ef the more because h is fatherwas yet unsaved . He wrote an affectionateletter to him

,plead ing with him to give h i s

heart to Chr i st .

S even year s after,h is father ’ s las t words

were : “The father i s saved through h i s son ’ s

pleading .


Soon a fter th i s event M r . W i l l i am s and h i s

wi fe both became very i l l and i t was dec idedfor them to go

,e i ther to England or Austra l i a .

Of th i s voyage he gives the fo l lowing account :

In the latter end of the year 182 1,M rs .W il

l i am ’ s health be ing much impai red,and suffer

ing mysel f from the e ffect s o f a diseas e preva

l ent in the i s lands,i t was deemed des irab le to

ava i l ours e lves of an opportun ity,which was

then afforded,of v i s i t ing New South W a les .

De s i rous of making the affli ct ion subservi ent tothe one great obj ect to wh ich our l ives weredevoted

,we determined to take with us two na

t ive Chr i st i ans,and place them as teacher s in

the I s land Of A i tutak i .

The capta in o f the vess e l having kindly con .

sented to convey them,without expense e ither

to ours e lves or th e Society,we ment ioned the

c i rcumstance to th e members of the church,

who were del ighted with the propos i t ion,and

s el ected P apeiha and V ahapata ,two o f the i r

number,for the work . O f P apeiha mu ch wi ll

be said herea f ter,for he has been exceedingly

use ful,and to the present moment has preserv

ed an unsul l i ed reputat ion . These two breth

ren were s et apar t to the i r office in an inter es t

LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

ing serv ice,held on the day of our departure

from Raiatea . The minds of our peop le hadbeen awakened to the subj ect o f extend ing theknow ledge Of the Gospel , by a pecul iar ly in

ter esting c i rcumstance that had just before oc

curred . An Is land cal led Rurutu,about 3 50

mi les to th e south of Raiatea,was vis i ted by an

ep idem i c which appears to have been exceedingly fata l . As the nat ive s regard everysuch calam i ty to be the infl i ct ion of some angryde ity

,two ch i e fs of enterpr is ing sp i r i t deter

mined to bu i ld each a large canoe,and

,with as

many o f the ir p eop le a s could be conveyed, to

launch upon the mighty deep,committ ing them

se lves to the winds and the waves,in s earch o f

some happi er i s le . They fel t convinced,that

,i f

they remained,they would certa inly be “de

vou r ed by the gods,whose anger th ey had in

vain endeavoured to appeas e ; and that, should

they not succeed in reach ing any other land,

they cou ld but per i sh in the b i l lows of the ocean .

Every thing prepared,Anura and h i s par ty

launched the ir canoe,unfurled the i r s a i l s

,and

were soon out of s ight of the i r love ly but de

voted is land,and

,a s they supposed

,out of the

reach of the ir in fur iated de i t ies . They arr ived

LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 39

at the i s land o f Tubu ai ; and a fter having r e

cru ited the i r s tr ength and Sp i r i ts , determined

on returning to the i r nat ive i s le,hop ing that

the plague was stayed . They launched the irves s el s

,and committed th emse lves again to the

waves of th e ocean,l i t t le ant ic ipat ing the per i l s

that awa ited them . S carcely had they lost

s ight O f the mounta ins of Tubu a i , when theywere overtaken wi th a v iol ent s torm

,which

drove them out of thei r course . O f the crew

Of one o f the canoes th e greater p ar t per i shedat s ea . The ch ief

,Anura

,to whom the other

belonged,and hi s party

,were dr iven about

th ey knew not wh ither,and for three weeks

they traver sed the trackles s deep,dur ing wh ich

t ime they suffered exceedingly from the want of

food and water . At l ength,H e who holds the

winds in h i s fis ts,and the waters in the hol low

of h i s hands,to whos e merc i ful des igns the ele

ment s are sub servient,gu ided them to the SO

ciety I slands . They were dr iven on the coral

r eef wh ich surrounds the is land o f Maura,the

farthest west of the group . Had they not

reached th i s i s land they must have per i shed .

The hosp itab le attent ions of the inhab itants

o f th i s l i tt l e 1s l e soon res tored the strength o f

40 LIFE OF JOH N W I LLIAMS .

the exhausted voyagers,who related the dread

fu l ca lamit ie s wh ich had be fal len the i r countryand themselves The Mau ru an s in formedthem that they formerly worshipped the samede i t i e s

,and attr ibuted every ev i l that b efel them

to the anger o f the i r “ evi l sp i r i t s ; but thatnow they were wor sh ippers of Jehovah

,the

one l iv ing and true God ; giving them a deta i l edaccount o f the manner in which Chr i st ian i ty

had been introduced among themse lves,and

point ing to the demol i shed maraes and mut ilated idols in confirmat ion of the ir s tatements .

The as toni shed stranger s,on hear ing that

white men,who had come in sh ip s f rom a dis

tant country to br ing them good t idings,were

l iving at i s lands,th e summ lits o f whose m oun

ta ins were in s ight, determined to proceed there

immediately . A wester ly wind sett ing in,Auu

r a and h is fr iends again launched on the deep,

not to fly from the anger of thei r gods,but in

search o f thos e who could expla in more ful ly

to them the nature o f the astoni sh ing news they

had heard . Not be ing acquainted with the

coast of Porapora,they miss ed the entrance

,

and were dr iven to Raiatea . There the i r a ston ishm ent was again exc ited ; the M i s s ion


42 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

r ectly a lthough they were previous ly ignorantof the format ion o f a letter

,or a figure .

Auu ra expres sed to us very frequent ly hi sanxious des ire to revis i t h i s own i s land,to carry to h is relatives and countrymen the knowledge he had Obtained of the true God and h i s

Son Jesus Chr i s t ; expres s ing,at the same t ime ,

in the most aff ect ionate manner,h i s fears

,that

on hi s return he Should find very few of h i s

r elat ives and fr iends a l ive, as

“ the ev i l Sp ir i t

was devour ing the peop le so fas t when he fl ed

from the i s land .

A vess e l,be longing to our kind and l ibera l

fr iend,A . B irni e

, E sq ,touched at Raiatea, on

her way to England,wh ither she was conv ey

ing the very fir s t cargo o f nat ive produce that

was sh ipped from that part o f th e world . I t

was a cargo of cocoa- nut Oil,subscr ibed by the

converted nat ive s in a id of the funds Of the

London M i s s ionary Soc iety .

~H i s late Maj es ty

K ing George lV .,upon be ing inform ed o f the

ci rcumstance,grac ious ly commanded that the

duty Should be rem itted,which enhanced the

value of the property £400 . The total amount,

there fore,contr ibuted to th e funds of the SO

ciety,by th i s produce , was £ 1800 .


W e in formed the capta in of our w ish to havethe ch ie f and peop le conveyed to the ir owni s land ; and, with a readines s wh ich did h imhonour , he offered to take them ; and as we wereanxious to know what reception was given tothe teachers

,and to open a communicat ion wi th

th i s,to us

,unknown i s land

,we a lso s ent a boat

of our own with a n at ive crew,to br ing back

inte l l igence . W e named the kind offer o f thecapta in to Auu ra and h i s w i fe

,who were de

l ighted with the prospec t o f returning ; but heobj ected to going to the i r “ land of darknes swithout a l igh t in h i s hand ;

” by which hemeant

,un les s accompan ied by some person to

in s truct h im and h i s peop le in the truths o f theGospe l . W e as s emb led the members o f ourcongregat ion

,mentioned Auu ra

’

s des i re,and

inqui red who among them wou ld go as teachers to the heathen of Rurutu . Two o f ourdeacons

,who were amongs t our bes t men

,came

forward,and

,we hope

,with the sp i r i t

,as we l l

as in the language of the p rophet,sa id

,

“H erewe are ; s end us .After an absence of l i t t le more than a month

we had the p lea sure of s ee ing the boat return,

laden with the troph i es o f vi ctory,the gods of

th e heathen taken in th i s b loodles s war , and

POLYNESIAN IDOLS .


won by the power of th e Pr ince of Peace . Onreading the letter s we rece ived and see ing withour own eye s the rej ected idol s

,we fe lt a meas

ure o f that sacred j oy which the angel s of Godwi l l exper ience when they shout

,

“The kingdoms o f th i s world are become the kingdomsof our God and hi s Chr i s t .”

A meet ing was held in our large chape l,

"

tocommun icate the del ight ful intel l igence to ourpeop le

,and to return thanks to God for the

succes s by wh ich he had grac ious ly crownedour fir s t e ffor t to extend the knowledge of h i sname .

The chapel was l ighted up with ten chandel i e rs

,m ade of wood neatly turned ; cocoa - nu t

shel ls were sub st i tuted for lamps . The middlechandel i er held e ighteen l ights

,twe lve in the

lower c i rc le,and s ix in the upper ; the oth er s

held ten and twe lve each . W hen l ighted up ,

they pres ented to th e natives a most b r i l l i antappearance and cal led for th expres s ions o f as

tonishm ent and de l igh t . In the cour se of theevening the rej ected ido l s were pub l ic ly exh ibited from the pulp i t . One in part icu lar , Aa,

thenat iona l god o f Rurutu , exc i ted cons iderableinteres t ; for , in addit ion to h i s be ing bedeckedwith l i tt le gods outs ide

,a door was di s covered


at hi s back ; on open ing wh ich ,he was found to

be ful l of sma l l gods ; and no les s than twentyfour were taken out

,on e after another

,and

exh ib i ted to pub l i c v i ew . H e i s s a id to b e theancestor by whom the i r i s land was peop led

,and

who after death was deified .

Tamatoa,the k ing

,on thi s occas ion

,ad

dress ed the meet ing ; and, perhaps , a finer i l lustration o f the s im il i tude o f the knowledge o fthe Lord cover ing the earth as the water s coverthe channels of the great deep

,wi l l not readi ly

be found,than was used by th i s Chr i s t ian ch ief

Let us,said he

,

“cont inue to give our o i land arrow- roo t to God

,that the b l ind may see

,

and the deaf hear . Let us not be weary in th i swork . W’

e behold the grea t deep : i t i s full ofs ea ; i t i s rough and rugged underneath ; butthe water makes a pla in

,smooth surface

,so that

noth ing of i t s ruggednes s i s s een . Our landswere rugged and rough with abominab le andwicked pract ices : but the good word o f Godhas made them smooth . Many other countr i e sare now rough and rugged with wickednes sand wicked customs . The word of God alonecan make thes e rough places smooth . Let us al lb e di l igent in th i s good work

,t i l l the rugged

world i s made smooth by the word o f God,as

the water s cover the ruggedness of the greatdeep . Let us , above al l , be concerned to have


our own hearts washed in Jesus ’ blood ; thenGod wil l become our fr iend

,and Jesus our

brother .

Bythe remarkab l e succe s s that had attendedthe introduct ion of th e Gospe l to Rurutu

,our

own minds,as wel l a s those o f our people

,were

power ful ly awakened to the great importanceo f extending the benefi ts and bles s ings of theGospe l ; and under the exc ited and del ightfulfee l ings thus produced

,we

,with our na

t ive teachers,took an a ffect ionate leave o f

our people,and be loved co l leagues

,M r . and

M r s . Threlke ld . On the arr iva l of the ves selat A i tutaki

,we were very soon surrounded by

canoes ; the nat ives were exceedingly noi sy,and

presented in the i r persons and manner s al l thewi ld features of savage l i fe . Some ' weretatooed from head to foot ; some were paintedmost fantast ica l ly with p ipe - c lay and yel lowand red ochre ; o thers were smeared al l overwith charcoa l

,d anc ing

,shout ing

,and exhib i t

ing the most frant ic ges ture s . W e invi ted thechie f Tam atoa on board the ves s e l . On myintroduc ing the teachers to h im

,he asked m e

i f they wou ld accompany h im to the shore . I

rep l i ed in the affi rmat ive,and proposed that

they should rema in with h im . H e s e ized them

48 L IFE OF JOH N W ILLIAMS .

with de l ight, and sa luted them most heartily byrubb ing noses , which sa lutat ion he cont inuedfor some t ime . On the ch ief ’ s promis ing m e

that he would treat the teacher s W Ith kindne s s,

and aff ord them with protect ion,taking with

them the i r l i t t le s tore,they got into his large

canoe,and the nat ives padd led Off to the land

,

apparent ly great ly de l ighted with thei r tr eas

u r e. W e had with us our on ly ch i ld,a fine b oy

about four year s of age . H e was th e firs t European ch i ld they had seen, and attracted muchno t ice, every nat ive w ish ing to rub nose s withthe l i ttl e fe l low . They expressed the i r sorrowthat so young and love ly a ch i ld shou ld be expo sed to the danger s o f the wide- spreadingbois terous o cean,

”and begged hard that I

wou ld gi ve h im to them . I -

asked them whatthey wou ld do with h im ; for I fear ed theywerecann iba l s . The chief rep l ied, that they wou ldtake the greates t care of h im ,

and make h imking. As

,however

,nei ther h i s mother nor

mysel f were am bi t ious o f roya l honours forour dear boy

,we decl ined the i r offer The

peop le becoming clamorous in thei r demandsfor the ch i ld

,and a good deal of whisp er ing go

ing on among them,

- with s ign ificant gestur es,

firs t looking at the ch i ld,then ‘Over the s ide o f


CHAPTER IV .

M ISSION To AITUTAKI— VOYAGE OF MESSRS .

BOURNE AND TH E WILLIAMS— SUCCESS ATAITUTAKI— OUR INTERCOURSE WITH TH E

PEOPLE— SEARCH FOR RAROTONOA— P AFEI

HA ’S NARRATIvE.

Having der ived much advantage from a fewmonths ’ re s idence in New South W ales , we r eturned

,with recru i ted vigour , to our de l igh t ful

labours,after an absence of about e ight months

and were cordial ly we lcomed by our beloved

brethren and peop le .

In Apr i l , 1822 ,we rece ived l etter s from P a

peiha and V ahapata,stat ing the dangers to

wh ich they had been exposed,and the part ia l

succes s that had attended the ir efforts,and r e

ques t ing that two more labourers might b es ent to as s i s t them . The vessel which hadbrought these had touched at A i tutaki on herway from the Soc iety I s lands to NewSouth W ales , by which we had sentbooks

,pr esents

,and letter s . W i th these

0

LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS . 5 1

Faao r i,a nat ive of Raiatea

,was sent on shore .

The idolaters crowded around him,s e iz ed h im

led h im before the marae,and del ivered h im

formal ly up to th e ir gods . Faao r i,looking up

at an immense idol,s truck i t

,and said to th e

idolater s,

“Wh y do you not burn th i s ev i l sp i r i t ,and th i s marae ? They are Satan ’ s : why do yousuffer them to remain ? Wh at you ar e now r e

garding i s all dece i t .” The idolater s repl i ed,

“W’e are a l l ignorant ; we have been kept in

darkne s s by S atan a long t ime,and we do no t

know the truth .

”Faao r i answered

,

“Thi s i sthe truth that your teacher s have b rough t you ;rece ive i t

,and be saved .

” Upon hear ing wh ich,

th ey sa id to h im,

“When you return ,tel l Vim

'

a

nzn,"M r . W

’

i lhams,"i f he wi l l vi s i t us , we wil l

burn our idol s,destroy our maraes

,and rece ive

the word of the true God .

” Together w ithth i s communicat ion

,we rece ived the very im

portant in format ion,that there were s everal

nat ives at A i tutaki,from an adj acent i s land

,

cal led Rarotonga,who had embraced the Gos

pel,and were very anxiou s to return to the i r

own i s land,with teachers to instruct th e i r coun

trym en in the same b le ss ed truth s . These c ircum stan ces appeared to us provident ia l openings for the introduct ion of the Gospe l into the


whole group o f i s lands,respect ing s everal o f

which I rece ived informat ion when I firs t vi sited A i tutaki . The in format ion thus Obta inedwas

, that Rarotonga was a large and beaut i fuli s land, with a popu lat ion so great , that i t wasdivided into nine - and—twenty d is tr icts . Thi stradit iona l informat ion

,as to the exi s tence of

the is land,was now confirmed beyond the poss i

bility of a doubt , as there were several peop le atA i tutaki from the very i s land

,anx i ous ly wa it

ing an opportun i ty to return home,to make

known to the i r de luded fr iends and countrymen the wonder fu l t id ings Of which they werein pos ses s ion .

After consu ltat ion and prayer with my es

teemed co l l eagues,M es s r s . Thr elkeld and

Bourne,i t wa s determined that M r . Bourne

and myse l f shou ld embrace the firs t opportun ityo f proceeding to the i s land o f A i tutaki by h i ring a vess el for the purpose ; that we shou ld alsOtake a number of native M i s s ionar i e s with us ,s earch for Rarotonga

,and attempt to introduce

the Gospel into every i s land o f the H ervey

group . And l i tt l e as we th ink of i t now,i t was

a great undertaking at that t ime , when nothing accurately was known o f the i s lands orthei r inhab itants .

L IFE OF JOHN WILL IAMS . 53

Four M i s s ionar i e s,with thei r wives

, wereselected from our church at Raiatea

,and two

from Tahaa . These were s et apar t for the irwork by a so lemn serv i c e on th e evening preced ing our departure . Our peop le took so l ively an interes t in the undertak ing,

that,by the ir

w i l l ing contr ibutions , th ey comp lete ly equippedthe M i s s i onar ies for the voyage

,and for the i r

s tat ions,without any expense to the Soc iety ,

except the h i r e o f the vesse l .A fter about five days ’ p lea sant sa i l

,we

reached A i tutak i . A numb er o f canoes crowded around us

,fi l led w ith men

, every one Of

whom was anx i ous to get on board our ship .

We had,however

,determined not to a l low any

canoes a longs ide, unti l we had seen e i ther thech ief or one o f the teachers ; for , had the na

t iy es been ho st i le , they cou ld eas i ly have cap

tu r ed our sma l l vess e l . We rece ived ‘

a gratefu l sa lutat ion from every canoe that approached u s . Some o f the nat ive s cr i ed out,

“Go'

odi s the word o f God : i t is now we l l with A i tu

tak i"The good word ha s taken root at A i tutaki"” F inding

,however ,

‘

that we did not t epose ent i re confidence in the ir assert ions , Somehe ld up the i r hat s , others thei r spel l ing-boOks

‘

,

to conv ince us of the truth o f what they'

stated.


As we approached the s ett lement,we behe ld

,

from the ves se l,a flag- staff Wi th a wh ite flag

flyIng, which sa t isfied us that th e teacher s wereal ive . A t length the chief ’ s canoe came a longs ide, when we learned from Tebati

,one o f the

firs t who embraced the Gospe l,that themarae s

were burned ; that the idol s which had escapedthe genera l conflagrat ion were in the pos sess ion of th e teacher s ; that the profes s ion ofChr i s t i an ity was genera l

,so much so

,tha t not

a s ingle ido later remained ; and that a largechape l was erected

,near ly 200 f eet in length

,

plas tered,and awai t ing my arr iva l to open it .

Th is news was as de l ightful as i t was unex

pected. When the teacher s came on board,

they not only confirmed al l that had been toldus

,but added

,that the Sabbath was regarded

as a sacred day,no work o f any kind be ing

done ; that a l l the peop le, men, women , andchi ldren

,attended D ivine s ervice ; and that

fami ly prayer was very genera l throughout thei s land . A t hear ing th i s good news , j oy beamedin every countenance

,and grat i tude glowed in

every heart . W e hastened to the shore to beeyewitnes s es of what had been e ffected . Thenat ive s crowded around the boat

,and having to

drag i t a cons iderable d i s tance,they amused


and del ighted u s ; for instead of the uns ight lyges t i culat ions and la sc ivious songs with whichI was greeted on my firs t vi s i t

,some were now

spel l ing long words,and other s were repeat ing

port ions o f th e catech ism ,or a prayer ; another

asking a ble s s ing on h i s food ; and other s s inging a vers e o f a hymn ; indeed ,

every one ap

pear ed anxious to show what progres s he hadmade in the new rel igion .

Shortly afte r land ing,we convened a mee t

ing of the ch i efs and peopl e , at which we expres s ed our j oy at hear ing and see ing that th eyhad demol i shed the i r maraes

,embraced the

Gospe l o f Chr i s t,and erected so fine and large

a hous e for th e worsh ip of the one l iving andtrue God . We al so informed them

,that we

had brought two more teacher s,who

,with the i r

wives,would res ide with them

,and to whom

they must Show kindnes s . W e further int imated

,that

,if agreeab le

,we would open the

chapel on th e fol lowing morn ing,when they

mus t lay as ide the i r heatheni sh ornaments,

wash themselves cl ean,and clothe themselves

decently ; to wh ich thy consented . W e askedthem i f they had any rep ly to make . They saidno , but wished that we would cont inue to talkwith them

,for th ey were de l ighted to hear us .

56 LIFE OF J OHN WILLIAMS .

After th i s interv i ew,we went to see the chapel .

I t was a fine bu i ld ing,from 180 to 200 feet in

length , and almost th irty feet wide,wattled

and p las tered,and bui l t a fter the mode l o f our

chape l at Raitaea . The pulp i t was rather s ingular

,al ike in i t s s i z e

,cons truct ion

,and ap

pearance, be ing about two yards square, madeof watt l ing

,and plas tered with ' the same ma

ter ials as the wal ls of the chapel . I g azed uponthe bui lding with wonder and del ight . W e thenwent to the teacher ’ s house

,and found i t to be ta

neat,we l l -bui l t cottage

,plastered and d ivided

Into five rooms . W e commended them s incerely for the di l igence they had evinced, and forthe good example they had thus set to the people . Posts

,for hous es on a S imi lar p lan

,were

col lected in every part of the set tlement ; manydwell ings were already erected

,and others

were in progres s . Bedsteads had been made,

and hung with wh ite nat ive c loth,in imi tat ion

of those of the ir teachers . L i t t l e d id I expectto see so much accompl i shed in so short a

'

t ime .

E ighteen months ago they were th e -wildes t

people I had ever witness ed ; now they had he

come mi ld and doc i le,di l igent and kind .

Next day,whi le in the midst of an interest ing

conversat ion,our attent ion was arres ted by a



with the greates t decorum,and attending

,with

gl i s ten ing eyes and open mouth ,to the wonder

fu l s tory,that “God so loved the wor ld

,as to

give h i s only begotten Son . Many o f them,

however,were dress ed very neatly ; and I could

not he lp contrast ing the i r appearance with thatwh ich they presented on our firs t vi s i t . At thatt ime

,also

,they were cons tantly ki l l ing

,and

even eat ing each other,for they were cannibal s ;

but now they were al l,with one accord

,bend

ing thei r knees together in the worship of theGod o f Peace and Love .

The grand father of the young king expressed a wish to accompany us to Raiatea ; and asi t would a fford h im an Opportun i ty o f witnessing th e benefic ia l effects o f the Gospe l in theSociety I s lands

,and be a sou r ce ‘

o f much grat ifi cation to our own people

,we thought i t des ira

ble to accede to h i s r equest .The natives of Rarotonga al so were des i red

to prepare themselve s for the i r voyage . TheA i tutakians endeavoured to di s suade us fromgoing to Rarotonga

,by as sur ing us that th e

Rarotongans were a mos t feroc ious people,that

they were horr id cann ibals,and were exceed

ingly treach erous ; and they feared , i f we weredetermined to go

,we should lose our l ives .


After much consultat ion on the subj ect,we

determined,at a l l events

,to go in search of

Rarotonga,concluding that the work must have

a commencement ; that i t would,at al l t imes

,be

attended with danger ; that nat ive s of th e i sland had been provident ia lly thrown in ourway : that we had com e for the purpos e of attempting to introduce the Gospe l among them ;

and that,therefore

,after taking every pr ecau

t ion wh ich prudence suggested for our ownsa fety

,we would commit our selve s to the pro

tection o f H im in whose work we were en

gaged . W e concluded, a lso, to take P apeihawith us

,as he would be o f great s ervice in our

intercours e with the peop le .

W e traver sed the ocean for severa l days insearch for Rarotonga

, bu t without succes s .Dur ing th is t ime I rece ived from P apeiha aninteres t ing deta i l of the dangers to wh ich theteachers had been exposed

,the labours in

which they had been engaged,and the c ircum

stances by which the peop le Of A i tutaki hadbeen induced to abandon ido latry. I t wou ld oecupy too much space to n arrate more than afew part icu lar s . On landing

,they were led to

the maraes,and given up formal ly to the gods :

the poor deluded people l i t t l e imagin ing that , in


a few shor t months,by the instrumental i ty of

the very per sons they were thus ded icat ing tothem “ the i r gods would be fami shed out of theland . Subsequently, war had thr ice brokenout

,and al l the i r property had been s to len f rom

them . But when I asked P apeiha i f they werenot di scouraged by thes e frequent war s“NO

,

” he rep l i ed,

“we knew that a l l was in thehand of God ; and we be l i eved that he wouldmake i t a means of overthrowing idolatry in thei s land .

CHAPTER V

REMARKABLE IN C IDENTS AT TAH IT I— U NSU C ~

CESSFU L SEARCH FOR RAROTONGA— GO TO

MANGAIA— I N C IDENTS THERE .

The progres s o f Chr i st ian ity appear s to havebeen gradua l

,the converts at t imes suffer ing

much from the rage o f the i r heathen countrymen

,unti l the month O f D ecember

,1822

,rather

more than a year a fter my firs t v i s i t ; when twoc i rcumstance s contr ibuted to the utter overthrow o f idolatry in the i s land of A i tutak i . Thefirs t was the arr iva l Of th e ves se l from Raiatea

,

which we had promised to s end. The teacher shad to ld the peop le that a sh ip wou ld come toinqu ire a fter the i r we l fare

,and to b r ing them

present s and in format ion from the i r fr iends .

Thi s was be l i eved by a few ; but the greaterpar t ca l led them “Two logs of dr i ft -woodwashed on Shore by the waves o f the ocean ;and sa id that no sh ip would ever come to in

qu ire after them . H er a r r ival , however , s et

the matter at r es t ; and as the capta in showed61


kindnes s to th e ch ie fs,and made s evera l of

them presents o f axes,and other use ful th ings

,

th en oppos i t ion to the teacher s was not a l i t t lesubdued .

W hen Pomare,the king of Tah i t i

,firs t de

term ined to embrace Chr i s t ian ity,and attempt

the introduct ion o f i t among h i s peop le,before

taking any decided s teps he convened a numberof power fu l and influenti a l ch iefs

,and s tated

h i s wishe s to them . Very many made s trongObj ect ion s to th e proposed innovat ion ; bu tTenan ia and h i s wife

,who were re ign ing ch ie f s

o f a ne ighbor ing is land,cordial ly approved o f

the k ing ’ s p ropos i t ion,s tat ing that they them

se lves had almost come to a determ inat ion toburn the i r god . Thi s fee l ing had been inducedby the death of a be loved and only daughter

,

who was to inher i t th e ti tles and estate s ; and,as might be expected

,was the Obj ect in which

the ir affect ions centered,and on whom the i r

hopes were p laced . She was a fine gi r l,about

fi fteen or s ixteen year s of age ; and when shewas unexpected ly taken '

ill,every pr i es t of note ,

far and near,was app l i ed to

,and every god

prop it iated with the mos t cos tly o ffer ings whichi t was in th e power o f th i s mighty ch i e f tocomm and. S t i l l the di s ease increas ed

,and the


chi ld died ; and as thi s happened only a shortt ime be for e Pomare made h i s important propo

SItIon ,Tenan ia and h i s w ife were then prepar

ed to enter most cordial ly into the king’ swi shes ; for they were b itter ly enraged aga ins tthe gods they had in vain endeavoured to con

ci l i ate .

A s at Tah it i,so at A i tutaki

,the downfal l of

idolatry was acce lerated by ord inary occurr ences

,in wh ich

,however

,a D iv ine agency was

too consp icuous to e scape observat ion . SO genera l and powerful was the impress ion on theminds o f the peop le of A i tutaki

,by the ci rcum

stances I have narrated,that on the S abbath

day a fter the death o f the ch ief ’ s daughter,the

peop le of s evera l dis tr ict s came,cas t the ir idols

at the feet o f the teachers,and pr o fs sed them

selves wor sh ipper s of Jehovah Dur ing theweek the res t fo l lowed ; so that by the nextSabbath

,not a pro fes sed ido later r emained in

the whole i s land . On the th i rd Sabbath in D ecem b er

,j ust about fifteen month s after the

teacher s landed on the i r shores,they had the

del ight ful sat i s fact ion of see ing the who le ofthe inhab itants conveyed to worsh ip the onel iv ing and true God . Having no house whichwould conta in so great a number of peop le

,

64 LIFE OF JOH N W ILLIAMS .

they ass emb led under the shade o f a grove ofBarr ingtonia and mape, chestnut trees , whoseinterwoven leaves and th ick fo l iage were a t intervals penetrated by the rays o f th e sun

,while

the coo l ing breez e from the ocean swept soft lyamong the branches .At the conclus ion o f the s erv ices of th i s

memor ab le day,P apeiha requested the people

to attend a genera l meet ing which was to behe ld on the fo l lowing morn ing,

when subj ect sOf importance wou ld be brought be fore them .

At the appointed hour , th e who le of the inhabitants of the i sland assemb led

,and after hav ing

spoken to them of the immense labour they . for

mer ly bes towed in the erect ion o f the i r maraes ,and in the worsh ip of the i r fa ls e gods , he exho r ted them to let th ei r “ s trength

,devotednes s ,

and s tead fastnes s in the service o f the true

God,far exceed .

” H e then made the two following propos i t ions z— fi r st

,

“That a l l the maraes in the is land shou ld be burned, and that a l lthe remain ing ido ls shou ld be brought to h im ,

in o rder that he might forward them to us atRaiatea,

that we,with our peop le, might a lso

rej o ice in the tr iumph s of the word . Thesecond propos i t ion was

,That they Shou ld

commence immedi ate ly bui lding a house in



and our boat went towards them ; on per ceiving which , they padd led away as fas t as i t wasin the ir power

,leaped on shore

,s e iz ed the i r

spears,and placed themselve s in an att i tude of

defence . The boat again r eturned without accompl i sh ing the obj ect o f our w ishes Thenat ives came o ff a th i rd t ime

,when we s ent our

boat aga in towards them,and by the exhib i t ion

o f kn ive s and mother—Of—pear l Oyster shel l s,

they were induced to al low themselves to b ebrought to the vesse l . A fter we had so farsucceeded

,we found equal d ifficulty in gett ing

any one of them to ascend the ship,although

we presented to them the ch iefs from A i tutak i,

and the peop le o f Rarotonga,who used al l the i r

e loquence to convince them that there wasnothing to fear

,for that ours was “a sh ip o f

God A fter much persuas ion,one man ven

tu r ed on board ; and the other , as soon as heperce ived that the canoe was un loosed from theboat

,paddled o ff in great gl ee

,and appeared

determined not aga in to p lace h imsel f in somuch j eopardy

,by approaching the ves sel . The

man who had ventured on board was muchagitated ; and every muscle in h i s Herculean

frame appeared in motion . H e inquir ed par

ticularly the ves s el’ s name , say ing, that i t was


the s econd they had seen ; Tute "Capta inCook ’ s", being the fir s t . Be ing near the landing—place

,we p roposed tha t he should aecom

pany the teacher s to the shore ; and apparent lydel ighted wi th the propos i t ion

,with hasty

s teps he descended the ship ’ s s ide into h i s canoe,

un der a pretence o f throwing out the water ;but finding h im s e l f once more safely s eated inhi s own l i tt l e b ark

,he unt i ed the rope and

paddled away as i f for h i s l i fe,not staying even

to gaz e upon the dangers he had escaped . Thusour hopes were aga in blas ted .

W’

e l e ft the i s land wi th fee l ings o f deep r e

gret,but reso lved to embrace the fir s t oppo r tu

mi ty o f sending two s ingle men,who

,We had

every reason to hope,wou ld suffer no other

inconvenience than the loss of then proper ty .

CHAPTER VI .

VIS IT TO AT IU— CONVERS ION OF TH E KINGTH E DI SCOVERY OF MAUKE— INTRODU TION OF

CHRI ST IAN ITY INTO IT AND M IT IARO— RE

CARD TO TH E SABBATH -DAY BY A NAT IVE

CREW— CC AGAIN IN SEARCH OF RAROTONGA .

ON leaving Mangaia, we steered for At iu ,

TO th is i s land, our brother M i s s ionary, M r .

Or sm ond,had sent two teacher s

,some two or

thr ee months before our arr iva l . W e foundthem in a. mos t p i t i ab le cond it ion, having beens tr ipped by the nat ives of every art ic le of proparty, suffer ing exceedingly from hunger

,and

much di sheartened by the i r want Of succes s .

W e had not been long near the i s land, whenwe perceived a large double canoe approachingus

,in the center Of which,

on an elevated s tage ,was s eated the pr inc ipal ch i ef . H i s person wastal l and s lender , and h is aspect commanding .

H e was c lothed in a wh ite sh i rt, having a pieceo f Indian pr int gir t around h i s lo ins ; h is long

and beaut i fu l black ha ir hung graceful ly over

68


hi s shou lders,or waved in the pass ing breeze,

as,with th e motion o f hi s body

,he kept t ime

to the rower s . We gave him a heartywelcom e

on board . Our fr i end from A i tutak i was s o

fu l l o f z ea l for the convers ion o f h i s brotherChie fta in

,that

,as soon a s he reached the ‘deck ;

he ' l ed h im away from us,and commenced his

work by informing him that the maraes o f

A i tutaki were demol i shed,the great idols

burnt,and the smaller one s were on board the

sh ip,to b e conveyed to zRaiatea

,th e i sland from

which the teachers came who had ins tructedh im To this he added

,that a large White

house made o f taka tzm u,burnt or roas ted

s tone,had been erected

,and dedicated to the

worship of Jehovah,who was the on ly true

God . All our Offer ings to our fa ls e gods,”

cont inued th is now Chr i s t ian ch ie f, hi s counteIzance gleaming with an imat ion a s he spok e

,

“ cannot procure u ‘

s pardon ; but God has gIven

h i s Son Jesus Chr i st to die for us , and throughH im mercy i s bestowed . I am come

,sa id he

to advi se you to rece ive the good word: Ourgods were one former ly, mine ar e now a ll

abandoned,many o f them destroyed ; let us

both worship one God aga in,but let i t b e the

true God. In confirmat ion Of his s tatements ,


he led the astoni shed Chie fta in into the hold ofthe ves sel, and exh ib i ted to h i s v i ew the ir oncedreaded

,and

,as they imagined

,power ful gods

,

which were lying there in degradat ion . Bysome c i r cumstance

,which I do not now r ec

'

OI

l ect,th i s ch i e f was induced to r emain on board

dur ing the n ight,and the followm g day be ing

Sabbath,he attended worsh ip . In the cours e

of my addres s,I read and commented upon

what i s s a id b v Dav id and I s aiah in referenceto ido ls . The mind of Roma - tane was powerful ly impress ed by thes e v iv id representat ionso f th e fol ly of idolatry

,espec ia l ly by the words

,

“with part thero f he roasteth roast,and i s sat

isfied ; and the re s idue thereof he maketh agod

,and worsh ippeth i t

,and prayeth unto It

and sa i th,D e l iver me

,for thou art my god.

Noth ing cou ld be better cal culated to make animpres s ion on the m ind o f an intel l igent SouthS ea i s lander than thes e in imitable verses ofinsp i red truth ; indeed, the effect i s l ikely to befar greater than that produced on the m Ind ofan Engl i sh reader . The

‘

nat ives have twowords not very much unl ike

,but express ive of

oppos i te ideas,

—4n aa and naa,the nzlaa mean

ing sacred,and naa the very rever se of sacred .

A l l that perta ins to the gods i s the super lat ive


of nzaa ; and al l that perta ins to food,and the

cooking o f food, th e super lat ive of naa . Theidea now

,for the fir st t ime

,darted w ith ir re

s istible force,into the mind of Roma—tane ; and

he perce ived at once th e exces s ive fol ly o fmaking a god and cooking food from on e andthe same tree ; thu s un i t ing two oppos i te extremes

,the m aa and the naa . The astoni shed

chief appeared for some t ime lost in wonder .

A t l ength he ret i red and spent the whole of then ight in conversation with the teacher s andch i efs from A i tutak i about the won derfultruths he had heard

,frequently r i s ing up

,and

stamping with a ston i shment that he shouldhave been deluded SO long

,and expres s ing hi s

determinat ion n ever aga in to worsh ip h i s idolgods . “Eyes

,i t i s t rue

,

” said he,

“ they have,

but wood cannot s ee ; ear s they have, but woodcannot hear .

”

Very ear ly the fo l lowing day,the teacher s

came to us with th i s pleas ing intel l igence ; andin a subsequent conver sat ion with the ch ie f

,he

expres sed to us h is ful l determinat ion to demolish h i s maraes

,to burn h is idol s

,and to

commence immed iately erect ing a hous e for the

worsh ip o f Jehovah .

On our arr ival at Mitiar o the king sent for


the res ident chi ef of the i s land,to whom he

stated that the Obj ect o f h i s v is i t was to exhorthim and the peop le to burn the maraes

,aban '

don the 'wo r ship o f the i r gods , and p lace themselves under the instruct ion of a teacher whomwe were about to l eave wi th them

,and who

would teach them the word and worship of thetrue God

,Jehovah . H e wished

,moreover, that

the house they were erect ing for h im se lf shou ldbe converted into a house of prayer,under, thedirect ion of th e teacher . The peop le l i s tenedwith as ton ishment

,and inqu i r ed if the gods

would not be a l l enraged,and strangle them .

“NO,rep l i ed th e king

,

“ i t i s out o f the powerof the wood

,that we have adorned and cal led

a god,

-to k i l l u s.

“But,

” sa id one,“must we

burn or Great Ears .

* “Y es

,

”r e

p l i ed the k ing,commit h im and al l the ev i l

sp i r i t s to the flames .” H e then reques ted themto behave wi th kindnes s to Taua

,the teacher

,

and give attent ion , to hi s instruct ions . Theyasked the king if he wou ld not come to thece lebrat ion o f the great fes t iva l which he hadordered them to prepare . He rep l i ed

,that he

should come,but that i t wou ld be on d ifferent

bus ines s “ I sha l l come,

” sa id the ch ie f,

“to*The n ame o f a god of which the k ing h im s el f was the pr iest.



After the aston i shment produ ced by the king ’ saddres s had subs ided a l i t tle

,the nat ives r e

p l ied,that a s he as sured them that it was a

“good word and brought s alvat ion,

theywould r ece ive i t

,and place themselves under

the ins truct ion o f the teacher . The king theninvited the pr inc ipa l ch ie f Tar ar o and hi s w ifeto attend family worsh ip that even ing

,to

which they consented .

The work at A t iu was equal ly rap id .

M es sr s . Tyerm an and B ennett were the nextvi s i tor s to that i s land ; and the fir s t intel l igencethey rece ived on approach ing i t

,was

,that the

whole populat ion had renounced the i r idol s,

and had bu i l t a large chapel . This great workhad been accel erated by the arr ival o f a boato f mine

,wh ich had been sent to Tah it i , to com

m un icate the pain ful intel l igence o f th e deathof Mr s . Threlkeld

,the wi fe of my excel lent

coad jutor . She ar r ived in safety at Tahi t i , buton her return to Raiatea

,lo st her way ; we

therefore concluded that she had sunk, and thatthe crew had per i shed at sea . But in th i s wewere m is taken ; for , after having been dr ivenabout the ocean for s ix weeks

,dur ing wh ich

t ime they suff ered exceedingly from hungerand th ir st

,they reached A t iu . H ere

,by the


attent ion o f the i r brethren the teacher s,and

the hosp ita l i ty o f Roma—tane,they soon r e

gained both flesh and strength . S everal ofthem imm ed iate ly uni ted wi th the teacher s inpreach ing the Gospel

,and instruct ing the peo

ple : the e ffect o f which was,that the remaining

half o f the populat ion,t i l l then unconverted

,

bel i eved,and cas t away the i r idols .

“Now weknow

,

” sa id many,

“tha t th i s re l ig ion i s true ;for these peop le co uld not have come here todece ive us ; they were dr iven by the waveso f the ocean

,and

,behold

,they have their

books w ith them ; and the God to whom theyprayed has pre served them . H ere

,again

,we

have another str ik ing indicat ion of an Overrul ing Providence

,and are shown how dis

t res s ing events are Often made subservient toGod ’ s des igns of mercy : “H i s ways are pas tfinding out .” The crew in th i s boat wou ld

,in

a l l probab i l i ty have per i shed,had i t not been

for a l i tt l e pot of r ice,which a fr i end had s ent

to M rs . W’ i l l i ams . They had exhausted a l l

the i r food,and every drop of water long ago

had been drunk ; when they d ivided out ther ice

,and ate i t

,a grain at a t ime

,moistening

the ir mouths,by dipping the fibrous husk o f

the cocoa - nut in o il, and thoroughly m asticat


ing it . They spent thei r t ime in reading theS cr iptures

,s inging hymns

,and praying to God

to pres erve them from. per i sh ing by famine,or

be ing drowned in the ocean . SO great was theregard they paid to 'the Sabbath that the indiv idua l who had charge of th e boat in formedme

,that on one occas ion

,a large fi sh cont inued

near them for a cons iderable t ime,which they

could eas i ly have caught ; but , although near lyfamished

,they held a consultat ion whether i t

was r ight for them to take i t,and determ m ed

“that they would not catch lish on a Sabbath

day .

” God grac ious ly heard the i r p rayer s ;conducted them to At iu ; rendered them use ful

ther e,and a fterwards r estored them to the i r

relat ive s and fr iends . I ment ion th i s c i r cum

stance to show the tendernes s of the i r con

sc i ences,and not as approving of the ignorance

in which i t or iginated . Had they known the

meaning of th e Sav iour ’ s words,I wil l hav

mercy , and no t s acr ifice,

” they would of cour se

have taken the fish .

W e had st i l l one more i s land to seek ; and ,

finding Roma—tane exceedingly intel l igent,we

inqui red of h im i f he had ever heard of Raro

tonga .

“Oh , yes he rep l i ed,

“ i t i s only a


day and a night ’ s s a i l from At iu we know theway there .

"

W hen we had accomp l i shed a l l we cou ld atAt iu

,a large doub le canoe came Off for our

intere st ing gues t,to whom we presented an

axe or two,to cut down trees for pos ts for the

“house o f God ,

” with some other us e fu l art ic le s . H e then took an aff ect ionate farewel l o fus

,seated h imsel f upon h i s e levated stage

,beat

t ime to the rowers,and hastened on shore to

carry the important purposes o f h i s mind intoexecut ion —not

,as he came on board

,a b ig

o ted ido late r,but a convert to the truth .

CHAPTER V II.

RAROTONGA DISCOVERED— PLEASING AND DIs

TRESS ING I NC IDENTS THERE— P AP EIH A’

S'

DE

VOTED CONDUCT— CONVERSAT ION BETWEEN A

NAT IVE SAILOR AND TH E KING— REMAR KABLEIN C IDENT OF A HEATHEN WOMAN— RETURNHOME— NAT IVE SPEECHES

, ETC .

AFTER leav ing At iu,we were baffled and

perp lexed for severa l days by contrary winds .Our provi s ions were near ly expended

,and our

pat i ence al l but exhausted,when

,ear ly in th e

morning of the day on which we disco veredthe i s land

,the captain came to me

,and said

,

“W e must,S i r

,give up the s earch

,or we shall

a l l be s tarved .

” I repl i ed,that we would con

t inne our cours e t i l l e ight o ’c lock,and if we did

not succeed by that t ime,we would return

home . Thi s was an hour of great anxiety ;hope and fear agitated my mind . I had senta nat ive to the top o f the mas t four t imes

,and

he was now ascending for the fifth ; and when

we were with in hal f an hour Of rel inqu ish ing

78


our O bj ect, the c louds which enveloped i t stower ing heights

,having been chased away by

the heat o f the ascending s un he re l i eved usfrom our anxiety

,by shout ing Teie

,teie

,tana

fenu a, nei"” H ere,here i s the land we have

been seeking"The trans i t ion of fee l ing wa s soinstantaneous and so great

,that

,a l though a

number of year s have intervened,I have not

forgotten the sensations wh ich that announcement occas ioned . The br ightened counte

nances,the j oyous express ions

,and the l ively

congratu lat ions of a l l on bo ard,Showed that

they Shared in the same emot ions ; nor did wefa i l to ra i s e our vo ices in gratefu l acknowledgem ents to H im who had grac ious ly “ led usby a r ight way .

”

On reach ing the i s land,the canoe we pur

chased at A i tutaki was sent on shore, with one

Of the nat ive s o f Rarotonga, V ahineino,and

P apeiha. M eeting with a most favourab le r e

ception ,a consu ltat ion was immediate ly he ld

with an immense ass emb lage Of’ the nat ives ,

under the shade o f a grove of Tem ann trees ;when the teacher s s tated the Obj ect o f ourv oyage

,informed the peop le of the renuncia

t ion o f ido latry at the var ious i s lands we had

v i s i ted, and added, that we had brought the ir


OWIIF

peop le ‘

from A i tutaki,Wi th Chr i st ian

teacher s,whom it was our wish to leave at

the ir i s land,to instruct them in the know ledge

of the tru e’

God,and the way of sa lvation , by

h i s Son Jesus Chri s t . A l l appeared del ighted,and theking determined to come on board, andconduc t them to the shore .

The king,whose name i s Makea

,i s a hand

some man,In the pr ime of l i fe , about SIx feet

h igh,and very s tout ; of nob le appearance, and

Of a tr uly comm anding aspect . He i s o f al ight comp lex ion ; hi s bo dy is most beaut i ful ly

tatooed,and was s l ight ly co loured with a prep

arat ion of turmer ic and ginger , which gave

i t a l ight orange t inge,and

,in

,

the est imation

o f the Rarotongans,added much to the beauty

o f his appearance.

Ear ly the fo l lowing morning the teachers,

with the i r wives, came Off to the ves se l ; and, toou r su rpr ise and deep regret, gave us an ac

count Of the terr ib le treatment the fema les had

experi enced dur ing the g reater par t o f th e

night exhib i t ing thei r tattered garments in

confirmation of the ir ta le of woe . I t appears

that a powerful ch ie f, who had conquered thepr

’ncipal

‘

partOf the i s land,had cOm e with a



the i r in strumenta l i ty the incorrupt ib le seed of:the W ord might b e scattered throughout i tsnumerous popu lat ion .

Perhap s the fo l lowing most remarkab le c i rcum stance m ay have contr ibuted in no sma l ldegree to induce the people speedi ly toem brace the truth — A heathen

”

wom an had,

by some means or other,been conveyed from

the i s land of Tah it i to Rarotonga,and on her

arr iva l sh e informed the Rarotongans of al lthe wonder s she had seen ; stat ing that theywere not the on ly peop le in the wor ld ; thatthere were others ent i r ely white

,whom they

cal led Cookees : that Capta in Cook had beento her i s land ; and that, subs equently to h i sv i s i t

,the servants o f Jehovah

,and Jesus Chr is t

,

the white man ’ s God,had come and were st i l l

res id ing ther e ; that at her i s land they hadceased to use s tone axe s for hewing the i r trees

,

for thos e servants o f Jehovah,and other s

,had

brought sharp th ings,which they ca l led opahi,

with which they cou ld cut them down with thegreates t fac i l i ty ; that they had al so ceased touse human bones as too ls for making canoesand bui lding houses

,for the same peop le had

brought them sharp hard th ings , with whichthey cou ld eff ect the i r work wi th far greater


eas e ; that the ir ch i ldren did not n ow cry andscream whi le they had the i r ha i r cu t as theyformer ly did

,when i t was per formed with

shark ’ s teeth,fo r th e Co okees had brought

them br ight th ings,which were so sharp that

the operat ion a fforded them p leasure ratherthan pain ; and that they had no need now togo down to the water to look at themselves

,

because these wonder ful peop le had broughtthem smal l sh in ing th ings

,which they could

carry about with them,and in wh ich they could

see themse lves as pla inly as they cou ld see eachother . These

,with a var i ety of other “

m ea tn

he,

” or very s trange things,which this heathen

female told the a stoni shed inhab i tants of th i ss ec luded garden of the ocean

,exci ted so much

interes t,that the k ing

,Makea

,ca l led one o f

h is ch i ldren “Tehovah "Jehovah", and an

other “Teeteetry,

”"Jesus Chr i s t". An uncleof the king

,whom we hope i s at thi s t ime a

truly good man,erected an altar to Jehovah

and Jesus Chr i s t,and to i t persons affli cted

wi th al l manner of di seases were brought tobe healed ; and so great was the reputat ionwh ich th i s marae obta ined

,that the power o f

Jehovah and Jesus Chr i s t became great in thees t imat ion o f the peop le .

84 LIFE OF JOH N W I LLIAMS .

W i th gratefu l heart s we n ow turned ourfaces homewards ; where , a f ter e ight or tendays ’ sa i l

,we arr ived in s a fety . And as other

warr iors fee l a pr ide in disp laying troph ies ofth e victor ie s they win ,

we hung the rej ectedido ls of A i tutaki to the yard - arm /s and otherparts o f the ves se l

,entered the harbour in tr i

umph,sa i l ed down to the s ett lement

,and

dropped anchor amidst the shouts and con

gratu lat1on s of our p eopl e .

On the fol lowing Fr iday even ing the idol swere suspended about the chape l

,the chande

l i er s Of which were l ighted up as before .

S ervice was commenced by s inging,in the na

t ive, l anguage,the Jub i lee Hymn

,

“Faaoz‘o Wt

,

”

“B low ye the trumpet,blow

,

”e tc. Having

given a br ief outl ine o f the voyage,the ch iefs

from A i tutaki were introduced to the as sembly ; when several addresses were del ivered bythe natives

,Of which the two fo l lowing are

spec imens

This,dear fr iends

,s a id Tu ahine, i s no t

the firs t day o f m y j oy . These T ar iza {710 wereseen through the tel e scope

,while hanging

to th e yard—arms of the vess el,as she entered

the harbour . Behold,we now see them hang

ing here . There are some th ings we term the

LIFE OF JOHN W I LLIAMS . 85

poison of the sea ; these idol s hanging herewere the po ison Of the land, fo r both body and

sou l were po isoned by them . But let us rej o icethe i r re ign i s over ; W e did not th ink that theywould have been Obta1n ed so soon .

’

A second arose and sa id :“W e have been praying that God wou ld ex

ert h i s power,and cause h is wo1 d to grow. that

i11s good kingdom might come ; and now,be

hold,every man with h i s Own eyes , 11 ay see

the effect s of that power . These ido's haveno t been obta ined by spears clo tted wi th hum anblood

,as formerly ; no guns , no club s, n o other

weapon but the powerfu l Gospe l of ou r LordJesus Chr i s t . Former ly al l was thei r s

,pigs

,

fish,food

,men

,women

,and chidr en and now

,

behold them suspended in contempt before us .Thi s i s not the commencement of our joy W e

saw the idol s hanging abou t t 16 vess e l . and

gladn es s sprang in our heart s . They cal ledour ship the sh ip of God

,and truly i t was so ,

for i t carr i ed the Gosp el to di stant lands , andbrought back the trop hies of its victory . Doesp ra is e grow in every heart ? IS JJoy felt by al l ?Then let u s not on ly rej oi ce that devi l s are subJ ect to us bu t a l so that our na 1 . cs are W 1 n

t enin the book Of l i fe .

CHAPTER V il1.

MR . BOURNE ’S VOYAGE— ACCOMPAN IED BY MR .

AND MRS . P ITMAN,WITH MRS . WILLIAMS

AND FAM ILY,TH E AUTHOR SAILS FOR RARO

TONGA— I D o L S DELIVERED U P— C H A P E LERECTED —WRIT I NG ON A CH IP ; THE WONDERIT E"C ITED— MR . P ITMAN

’

s NARROW ESCAPEBOOKS PREPARED IN TH E LANGUAGE— A

SABBATH AT RAROTONGA .

TIIE H ervey group was next v i s i ted by my

es teemed co l l eague,M r . Bourne

,who was

much d e l ighted with the great progres s thathad been made at a l l the i s lands . H e openedsevera l place s of worsh ip

,and bapt iz ed a great

number of the nat ives .Our fr iend

,the ch i ef of At iu

,had per formed

al l that he had promi sed ; and having com p letedthe chapel, he was emp loyed in erect ing forhimsel f a plas tered house

,seventy- th ree feet in

length,and th irty in breadth . Just be fore M r .

Bourne ’ s arr ival,the captain of an Engl i sh

Wha ler which had been at the i s land, l e f t the

86


fo l low ing wr itten te st im ony to the kind attent ion he had rece ived from the inhab i tants :

I vi s ited th i s i s land for the purpos e o f obta ining refreshments ; and although ,

in some

measure,prepared to expect c ivi l i ty

,the i r ex

ces s ive kindnes s exceeded my utmos t expectat ions . They appear a mi ld and inoffens ivepeople

,and have no war l ike instruments among

them . W e rema ined here on Sunday,and

never,in any country

,saw such attent ion pa id

to the Sabbath .

”

By a ves s e l that touched there some shor tt ime after

,I rece ived lett er s from P apeiha and

hi s col league,s tat ing that they enj oyed un in

ter r upted prosper i ty,and express ing a wish

that I would come and spend a few months

wi th them,as the work was "so heavy that they

cou ld not carry it .” I there fore determined to

embrace the fir s t opportuni ty of do ing so .

M r . and M rs . Pitman,who were at New

South W ales,on the ir way to the i s lands , when

the D eputat ion arr ived there,resolved

,upon

the advice and repres entat ions of thosegentl emen

,to sett le at Rarotonga . W i th th is inten

t ion , on thei r arr iva l at‘th e Soc iety I s lands

,

they came to re s ide with us at Raiatea,to ob—1

ta in a knowledge of the language,and wai t un


t i l a compan ion should arr ive from England ;the del icate health both o f M r . and M r s . Pit

man render ing it unadvi sable that they should

proceed ther e a lone . On be ing made ac

qu ainted with our determinat ion to t e

v i s i t Rarotonga,

they gladly'

embraced

the opportun ity of accompanying us .

A fter a tedious pas sage,we landed

,on

Sabbath,the oth of May

,1 827, amids t the

greates t concours e o f peop le I had seen s ince

we le ft England In doing so we were ex

posed to very cons iderab le danger,for

,there

be ing no proper harho r,we were obl iged to get

into the boat at a dis tance o f three mi les from

the shore . The wind was very bo i s terous,the

sea exceedingly rough,and our boat so old and

leaky, that M r s . W i l l iams was ob l iged to s i t in

the bottom,bal ing out the water . We landed

,

however,in safety

,amidst the congratulat ions

of the mu l t i tude,who had j us t l eft the chapel

after morn ing service,and who

,compared with

what they were when I fir s t vi s i ted them,were

c lothed,and in the i r r ight mind . A l l th e

females wore bonnets,and were dres sed in

white cloth,whil s t the men wore clothes and



veyed, as every person was des i rous of carrying some par t of our proper ty . One took thetea - kettle

,another th e frying pan ; some ob

tained a box,others a bed- pos t ; even the ch i ef

h imsel f fe lt honored in render ing as s i s tance,

and during the j ourney he ceased not to manifes t hi s admirat ion o f the devices p r inted uponthe art ic le s o f earthenware with which he wasintrusted

,and to exhib i t them to the crowd that

surrounded h im .

On our arr ival,we found that the teacher s

had very comfortable houses , one of which theymost cheerful ly gave up to us . A day or twoafterwards

,they requested us to take our s eat

outs ide the door ; and on doing so, we observeda large concourse o f people coming towards us

,

bear ing heavy burdens They walked in pro

ces s ion,and dropped at our feet fourteen im

mense ido ls,th e smalles t of which was about

five yards in length . Each of thes e was com

posed o f a p iece of aito,or i ron -wood

,about

four inches in diameter,carved with rude imi

tations o f the human head at one end,and with

an obscene figure at the other , wrapped round

wi th nat ive cloth,unti l i t became two or three

yards in c i rcumfe rence . Near the wood were


red leather s,and a s tr ing o f sma l l p ieces o f

pol i shed pear l she l ls,which were sa id to be

the m anaw,or soul o f th e god . Some of these

idol s were torn to p ieces b efore our eyes ; other s

were reserved to decorate the ra fter s of the

chape l we proposed to erect ; and one was kept

to be s ent to England,wh i ch i s now in the M i s

s ionary Museum . I t i s not,however

,so r e

spectable in appearance as when in i t s own

country ; for hi s B r itanni c Maj es ty’ s officers

,

fear ing les t the god should be made a veh icl e

for defrauding the king,very unceremon ious ly

took i t to p i eces ; and not be ing so we l l ski l l ed

in making gods a s in p rotecting the r evenue ,they have not made i t so handsome as when i t

was on obj ect of venerat ion to the de luded Ra

r otongan s . An ido l was placed upon the fore

part o f every fish ing canoe ; and when the na

t iy es were go ing on a fish ing excurs ion,pr ior

to sett ing o ff,they invar iab ly presented offer

ings to the god,and invoked him to grant them

success . Sure ly profes s ing Chr i s t ians may

learn a lesson from th i s pract ice . H ere we seepagans of the lowes t order implor ing the bles s

ing o ftheir gods upon the i r ordinary Occupa

t ions . Chr i st ian,go and do l ikewise"


On the fo l l owing Sabbath,a congregat ion of

about four thousand a s semb l ed ; but as thehouse was a temporary bui ld ing

,and would not

accommodate hal f the peopl e , they took their

seats outs ide . This induced us to determ ine to

erect immediately a place Of worsh ip . W i th

th i s vi ewthe ch iefs~

and peop lewere convened,

and arrangements made for comm enc ing the

bui ld ing ; and so great was the di l igence withwhich the peop le labored

,that although i l l sup

p l i ed with too ls,the houseWas thoroughly com

pleted in two month s I t was one hundred

and fifty fee t in length,and s ixty wide ; well

p las tered,and fitted up throughout with seat s .

In the erect ion of this‘

chapel, a'

c1r cum stance

occurredWhichwill give a s tr ik ing idea o f thefee l ings o f an untaught peop le, when ob ser vmgfor the fir st t ime th e effect s o f wr itten com

m un ication s . As I had come to the work one

morning without my square,I took up a chip

,

and with a p iece of charcoa l wrote upon it a

request that M rs . W i l l iam s wou ld send m e

'

that

art ic le . I ca l led a ch ie f,who was super intend

ing hi s port ion of th e work,and s a id to h im

,

“Fr i end,take th i s ; go to our house, and give

i t to M rs . W il liams . H e was a s ingular look


ing man,remarkab ly quick in h i s movement s

,

and had been a great warr ior ; but in one of thenumerous battles he had fought

,had lost an

eye,and giving me an inexpress ib le look with

the other,he sa id

,

“Take that"she wi l l ca l l mea foo l and scold me

,i f I carry a ch ip to her .”

“No,

” I rep l i ed,

“ sh e wi l l not ; take i t , and goimmediately ; I am in has te Perce iving meto be in earnes t

,he took i t

,and asked

,

“Whatmus t I say P” I repl i ed, Y ou have noth ing tosay

,th e chip w i l l say a l l I wish .

”W i th a look

INTELLIGENT CH IP .

o f astoni shment and contem p t,he he ld up the

p iece of wood,and sa id

,

“How can th i s speak ?

has th i s a mouth ?” I des ired h im to take i t imm ediate ly

,and no t s pend so much t ime in talk


ing about i t . On arr iving at the house,he gave

the ch ip to M r s . W i l l iams , who read i t, thr ewi t away

,and went to the tool—chest ; whither the

ch ief,resolving to see th e result of thi s m yste

r iou s proceeding,fol lowed her closely . On r e

ceiv ing the squar e from her,he said

,

“S tay,

daughter,how do you know that th i s i s what

M r . W i l l i ams wants ?” “Wh she rep l i ed“did you not br ing me a chip just now “Ye s

,

s a id the aston ished warr ior,but I did not hear

i t s ay anyth ing .

” “I f you did not,I did

,was

the rep ly ;“ for i t made known to me what he

wanted,and al l you have to do i s to r eturn with

i t a s quickly as poss ib le .

”V‘v

’

ith th i s the ch iefleaped out of the hous e ; and catching up themyster ious p iece o f wood

,he ran through the

s ett l ement Wi th th e ch ip in one hand and thesquare in the other ho ld ing them up as h ighas hi s arms would reach

,and shout ing as he

went,S ee the wisdom o f thes e Engl ish people ;

they can make ch ips talk,they can make ch ips

talk"” On giving me the square,he wished to

know how i t was pos s ib l e thus to conver s e withper sons at a di stance . I gav e him al l the explanat ion in my power but i t was a c ircumstance involved in so much mystery

,that he

actual ly t i ed a s tr ing to the chip,hung 1t round


his neck,and wore i t for some t ime . Dur ings everal fol lowing days , we frequently saw himsurrounded by a crowd

,who were l i s ten ing

with intens e interes tWh i le he narrated the wonder s which th i s chap had per formed .

Having put the s ett lement in order,and had

the chape l repai red,we devoted our energies to

the inst ruct ion o f the peop le . Their attendanceon the means o f grace

,and the anxiety they

evinced to under stand the truth s of the Gospel

,were tru ly encouraging. At the

'

conclu

s ion of every s ervi ce,both on Sabbath and oth

er evenings,a great number fo l lowed us hom e

,

took thei r s eats under the shade of the bananaand p lanta in trees

,by wh ich our habi tat io ns

were enci rc led,and spent an hour or mo re in

making inquir ie s respect ing the subj ects o f ouraddress .

Indeed,the manner in wh ich they spent the i r

Sabbaths was deeply inter es t ing . A t sunr i s ethey he ld a prayer—meet ing to imp lor e the D iv ine bles s ing on the engagements of the day .

Thi s they conducted ent i r ely themselves . Atnine o ’c lock the congregat ion ass emb led aga in ,

when the Mis s ionary'

per fo rm ed D ivine servicej ust as it i s conducted in England

,

—prayer b e

ing offered,the sacred S cr ip tures read

,and


hymn s sung in the i r own beautifu l language ;a fter wh ich a sermon i s preached to them .

Prior,however to the commencem ent o f ‘ the

serv ice,they met in cla s ses

,of ten or twelve

famil i e s each,and di s tr ibuted among them

se lves the re spect ive port ion s Of the sermonwh ich each indiv idua l should br ing away ; onesay ing

,

“M in e shal l b e the text,and al l that i s

sa id in immediate connect ion with i t another,

“I wi l l take care o f th e fir s t div i s ion and ath i rd

,I wi l l br ing home the part iculars under

that head .

” Thus the s ermon was apport ioned

be fore ‘i t was de l ivered .

*The n ativ es sing exce edingly well, and we hav e taughtthem mos t of our popular tun es . They gen erally tak e two,an d s ometimes thre e parts of a tun e .



be e ighteen hundred mi le s away,s ix months

absent, and among the mos t s avage people weare acquainted with ; and i f you shou ld loseyour l i f e in the attemp t, I shal l be left a w idowwith my father les s ch i ldren

,twenty thousand

mi les from my fr iends,and my home . Finding

her so dec idedly opposed to the undertaking,

I did not ment ion i t again,a lthough my mind

was s t i l l fixed upon the Obj ect . A few monthsa fter th i s

,sh e was laid upon a bed of affl i c t ion

her i l lnes s came on so rapidly and s everely,that

in a few hours she was in a s tate of in s en s i

b ility,and we greatly feared that i t wou ld

terminate fatal ly : the prospec t was tru ly di s

t res s ing .

God,however

,was p lea sed to hear our cr i es ;

and after a week or ten days,she was part ia l ly

res tored to hea lth . On enter ing her chamber,

one a fternoon,address ing me in affect ionate

terms,M r s . W i l l i ams said, that she had been

endeavour ing to discover the des ign of God ins ending this sudden and heavy affl i ct ion ; andher thoughts turned to the oppos i t ion by whichshe had induced m e to rel inquish , for a t ime ,my voyage to the Navigator s I s l ands ; and,fear ing that i f she any longer withheld her con

sent,God

,perhaps

,might remove her altogeth


er , she cont inued From thi s t ime your des i re has my ful l concurrence ; and when you go ,I shal l fol low you every day with my prayers

,

that God may preserve you from danger,crown

your attempt wi th succes s,and br ing you back

in sa fety .

” I was rather surpr i sed at the c i rcum stance

,not having ment ioned my wish for

months ; however , I looked upon i t a s the firs tindicat ion o f Providence favourable to my des ign

,and began immediate ly to devi se the

means by wh ich I might carry it into execut ion .

A fter some del iberat ion,I determined to at

tempt to bui ld a ves sel .

My firs t s tep was to make a pa i r of smith ’ sbel lows ; for i t i s wel l known that l i tt le can bedone towards the bui ld ing of a sh ip without aforge . W e had but four goats on the i s land

,

and one of thes e was giving a l i tt le mi lk,which

was too valuab le to be d ispensed wi th ; so thatthree on ly were ki l led ; and w ith the i r skins asa subst i tute for leather

,I succeeded

,a fter three

or four days ’ labour,in making a pai r of smith ’ s

bel lows .

Being without a saw,we sp l i t the trees in

hal f wi th wedges ; and then the nat ives adzedthem down with smal l hatchets

,which they

t i ed to a crooked p iece of wood as a handle,and

IOO LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

used as a subs t i tute for th e adze . W hen wewanted a bent or twi s ted plank

,having no ap

paratus for s teaming i t,we bent a pi ece of barn

boo to the shape requi r ed,s ent in to the woods

for a crooked tree,and by spl i tt ing thi s in hal f

we obta ined two planks su ited to our purpose .

Having but l i t t l e i ron,we bored large auger

holes through th e t imbers,and a l so the outer

and inner plank of the vesse l,and drove in

wooden p ins,termed trenai ls

,by which the

whole fabr i c was held firmly together . A s asubs t i tute for oakum

,we used what l i t tl e cocoa

nut husk we could obta in,and supp l i ed the de

fi ciency with dr ied b anana stumps , nat ive c loth ,

or other sub s tance which would answer thepurpose . For ropes we obta ined the bark o f thehibis cu s

,cons tructed a rope mach ine

,and pre

pared excel l ent cordage from that art icl e . Forsai l s we used the mats on which the nat ivess l eep and qu i lted them that they migh t be s trongenough to res i s t the wind . After making aturning- lathe

,we found that the atz‘o, or i ron

wood,answered remarkably wel l for the

sheaves of b locks . By these means th e wholewas complete in fifteen weeks ; when we launched a ves sel , about s ixty feet in l ength , and eighteen feet in breadth, and ca l led her , The Mes


102 LI FE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

one was qui te a treasure,as the rats were as

ton ishingly numerous , so much so indeed, thatwe never sat down to a mea l w i thout two ormore per sons to keep them Off the tab le . Vv

'

henknee l ing down at fami ly prayer they would runover us in a l l di rect ions ; and we found muchdiffi cu lty in keeping them out o f our beds . Onemorning

,on hear ing the s ervant s crea m,

wh i lemaking the bed, we ran into the room

,and

found that four o f thes e intruders,in s earch of

a snug p lace,had crept under my p i l low ' the".r

pa id,however

,for the i r teme r i ty with the ir

l ives . Our fr iends,M r . and M r s . Pitman

,ex

per ienced equalinconven ience from thes e trou

blesom e and di sgust ing l itt l e an imal s . Some o fthe trunks were covered with sk in

,on which the

rat s commenced very effectua l operat ions , asthey had done be fore upon m y unfortunate be llows ; and M rs . Pitman having one night neglected to put her shoes in a p lace o f safety ,

sought for them the fol lowing morning in vain :for thes e nocturna l rambler s

,being in search

of a supper,had devoured them : and a pai r of

shoes in th e South S eas i s no con tem ptib l e lo s s .

Thi s,however

,was a s er ious affai r for the i r

fratern ity ; for our fr i ends compla ined to the

author i t ie s of the staticn ,and a ecr ee of ex


terminat ion was is sued again s t the whole raceo f rats ; and after school , n .an , woman,

andch i ld armed themselves with a su itab le weapon

,

and commenced thei r di r eful operat ions . Bas

VENGEAN CE ON TH E RATS .

k ets were made o f cocoa—nut leav es , abou liv e

or s ix feet in length,in wh ich to depos i t the

bodies o f the s la in,and in abou t an hour

,no

les s than th ir ty Of thes e were fi l l ed . Notwith

s tanding th i s des truct ion,ther e did not appear

1 04 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

the s l ightes t dim inut ion . From th i s it wi l l beperce ived that cats were not the least valuab lean ima l that could be taken to the i s land . They .

however , did not dest roy so m an v rats as the

p igs , which were exceed ingly vor acious , and

did much toward s r idding the i s land o f the ihtolerab le nuisance B es ides hogs and cat s

,

Makea and those who accomp anied him obtained a cons iderable quanti ty of na tive c loth and

mats , wh ich are h igh ly esteem e d, and of cons iderable value at Raro tonga . A large supplyo f cocoa—nuts was a lso conveyed from A i tutak i

,

and th is was a valuable por t ion 0 1 our cargo °

fo r,a short t ime be f ore our fi r st vi s it

,a very

d i sa strous war had taken place,in wh ich the

k ing and his par ty were beaten and driven fora time to take refuge in a natu r al fr-r tr es s inth e mounta ins . The victors cut down and de ~

s troyed al l th e bread ii

Iu it and cocoa- nu t trees,

so that on the nor th , wes t, an d sou th s ides ofthe i s land

,which were conquered by the inhab i

tants o f the east,not an old cocoa - nut tree was

to be seen . Thi s supply,under thes e c ircum

stances,was consequently Of great value for

s eed . The king made a di str ibution o f h i s

spo i ls among hi s ch i efs and fr i ends ; al l were

therefore del ighted wi th the voyage .


CHAPTER X .

MR . BU ZACOTT’

S ARRIVAL— RECEIVE LETTERS

FROM ENGLAND, ETC — CHARACTER AND

DEATH OF TU AH INE— VOYAGE FROM RAROTONGA To TAH IT I .

SHORTLY after our r eturn from A i tutaki,we

were cheered by th e arr iva l o f M r . and M r s .

Bu zaco tt ; and as they were about to leave , theytook up the ir r es idence with us . By M r . Buzacott I rece ived m any letter s

,one of which was

from my be loved and venerab le pas tor,the

Rev . Matthew W’

i lks,and i t s inser t ion here

wi l l b e grat i fy ing to mysel f,and not le s s so to

th e numerous fr i ends who venerate h i smemory

MY DEAR,DEAR W I LLIAMS,

D ear to me as the app le of my eye, Ido love you . My heart leaps when I think ofyou ; I do pray for you— I pray that you maynever be weary in wel l do ing— I pray that youmay abound in every good work— I pray thatyou may be the l iv ing ep i s t le o f Chr i st , known

106


and read of a l l men— I praythat you may l ivelong

,and be use ful a l l your l i fe long ; and when

you and I are cal led to render an account,that

we may hear our Master say,

“Enter ye intothe j oy of your Lord .

” Then we wi l l answer,

“Ye s,Lord

,th rough thy infi inite m er cy.

News — O ld Tab . yet s tands where she didand

,for the most par t fi l l s a s she d id— many

die o ff and enter the i r res t . W e have had twovery great los ses— Mr . VYnson

,and my dear

brother Hyatt . I cannot be long,b e ing now

turned 80— and have th i s week been cupped .

O f a l l the morta l s that inher i t the kingdom Of

God I shal l b e th e most unworthy,and yet I

hope I shal l ar r ive safely .

Pray give my very k ind love to your brethren ; l ive together , co - operate

,make a common

cause in your exal ted labours . The Lord fi l lyour new chapel with truly Chr i s t ian worsh ippers

,and make i t one o f h i s r es t ing- places .

Grace,mercy

,and peace b e with you al l

,and

bel i eve me,in undi ss embled love

,to be your

once affect ionate pastor and patron,

M . W I LKS .

A t the s ame t ime I r ece ived communicat ionsf rom my own stat ion at Raiatea

,and was

gr ieved to find that my truly va luable deacon ,

Tu ahine,had been taken to h i s r es t . H e was

one of the two lads who began firs t to cal l uponthe name of th e Lord Jesus in Tah i ti .

108 LIFE OF JOH N WILL IAMS .

When the great work o f convers ion com

m enced at Tah i t i,one of the M i s s ionar i es

,on

go ing into“

th e bushes for meditat ion and s ecretprayer , there being no place for ret i rement inth e nat ive habi tat ions

,heard a sound

,which

on l i s ten ing attent ive ly he dis covered to be thevo ice Of prayer . I t was th e fir s t t ime that anyM i s s ionary ’ s h ear t had been gladdened bv

hear ing a nat ive of Tah it i us e the languageo f devotion . Posse s s ing an accurate acqua intance with hi s ow11 language, and by hi s longres idence with the M i s s ionar i e s

,having ob

tamed a cons iderab le amount o f scr iptura lknow ledge he was qua l ified to aff ord valuab leas

'

si s tance in trans lat ing the S cr iptures,which

he did,

firs t to M r . Nott,and afterwards to

mysel f . Frequently he has sat e igh t and tenhour s a day aiding me in th i s important work ;and to h im are we in a great meas ure indebtedfor th e correctness wi th wh ich we have beenenabled to give the oracl es of truth to the people . W hen I was absent from home he was le f tin charge o f the s tat ion ; and h i s addres s es ,which were most b eaut i ful spec imens of nat ivee loquence

,r esembl ing more the mildness of a

Barnabas than the thunder of a Boanerges .were exceedingly acceptab le to the peop le


LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 1 1 1

bonnets . They made a l so,for the ch iefs ’ wives

,

European garment s , and instructed them touse the n eedle

,with wh ich they were mu ch

de l ighted . Bes ide s th i s,they met

,almos t da i ly

,

the di fferent c lass es o f fema les,to impart to

them re l ig ious and other ins truct ion . By mys el f

,the men were taught var ious u seful art s

,

such a s to work at the forge,to erect better

houses,and to make art ic l es o f furni ture ; in

wh ich they have s ince far excel led the i r ne ighbour s . A t M r . Pitman ’s s ta t ion

,I constructed

a turning lathe,and the firs t th ing I turned

was the leg of a so fa, with which the ch i e f towhom i t be longed was so much del ighted thathe strung i t around h is neck

,and walked up

and down the sett lement,exh ib i t ing i t to the

admirat ion of th e a ston ished inhab i tants,many

Of whom excla imed,that i f they had pos ses s ed

it pr ior to the r enunc i at ion o f idolatry, i t wouldcertain ly have been an obj ec t of worsh ip

,and

have taken precedence of al l the i r other idols .

W e made a sugar -mi l l for them,and taught

them to bo i l sugar .A s the peop le, before our ar r iva l, had de

stroyed a l l the cocoa—nu t trees,from which they

might have procured Oil,having no other art i

cle of commerce,we enterta ined a p leas ing hope

1 12 LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

that the‘

man’

u

i

faCtur'

e o f cordage and rope,

from the hibiscu s bark,might become a valu

able subs t i tute . Wi th th i s view I constructeda rope mach ine, taught them the ar t of rop emaking,

and encouraged them to prepare agreat qu ant1ty,

Some of Wh ich Was s ent to NewSouth W ales , in the expectat ion Of finding amarket f or i t ; but we did not succeed accord ingto our an1t1c1pat10n s , and the Rarotangan s ares t i l l des t i tute of the means of exchange forEuropean comm odi t i es .

Both M r . Pitman and mys e l f were con stantin Ou r attendance at the schoo ls , but havingnobooks in the ir d ial ect, the nat ives Could makevery l itt le progres s ; and al hough they di l igenty attended the means o f grace

,there were

but few who gave ev idences of a change Of

hear t . Much know ledge,however , was 1m

parted,arid a f o undat ion laid on wh ich the two

exce l lent and devoted M i s s ionar i es ,Who occupythe se s tat ions

,have s 1nce been honoured to

ra i s e an el evated and sp i r i tua l super s tructure .

From M r . and M rs . Pr i tchard we receiveda cordia l welcome After i introducingMakea

to the M i s s ionar ies nd author i t i e s o f the

i sland, and recru 1t ing our s trength , in a f ewdays we departed for Raia tea , wher e we ar


1 14 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAM S .

W i th these , after about two mo nths’ res idence

with we sent h im home,where he arr ived

in safety,and was cordial ly welcomed by the

M i s s ionar i es and hi s peop le .

CHAPTER X I .

P AP EIH A’

S NARRAT IVE— ARRIVAL O . H IS COL

LEAGUE—i—TH E SUCCESS WH I CH ATTENDEDTHEIR EFFORTS— LUDI CROUS IN C IDENTSWITH A CAT— FIRST PLACE OF WORSH IPERECTED— TH E ENT IRE SU BvERSION OF IDOLATRY AT RAROTONGA .

DURING our stay at Rarotonga,I obta ined

a m inute and inter es t ing account from P a

peiha,Of the c i rcumstances wh ich occurred

from his fir s t land ing to the t ime of our arr ival,

a br i ef abs tract of wh ich I shal l present to thereader. On reach ing the shore

,he was con

ducted to the house o f Old Makea,the father

o f the present ch i e f Of that name . An im

mense crowd fol lowed h im,one o f whom was

saying,

“ I ’ l l have h i s hat ;”another

,

“I ’ l l haveh i s j acket ; a th i rd

,

“I ’ l l have h is sh i rt ; butthey did not carry the ir threats into execution :for th e chi ef cal l ed out

,

“Speak to us , O manthat we may know the bus ines s on wh ich youare come .

”P apeiha rep l ied, that he had come

1 1 5

1 16 LI FE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

to ins truct them in the know ledge o f the trueGod, and the way of eterna l sa lvat ion through

hi s Son Jesus Chr is t,in order that

,a s the in

hab itants o f Tahi t i,the Soc iety

,and other i s l

ands had done , th ey a l so might burn the idol sOf wood, of c loth ,

and of b irds ’ feathers wh ichthey had made and ca l l ed gods . Immediatelythere burst from th e mu l t i tude an exc lamat ion

of surp r is e and horror “What"burn thegods"what gods sha l l we then have

,and what

shal l we do without th e gods ?”

The teacher and h i s party commenced fami lyworsh ip morn ing and evening

,at wh ich many

person s attended ; and after the fir s t Sabbathday serv ices

,about twenty j o ined them

,among

whom was Dav ida,the e ldes t son Of th e pre sent

k ing,who has cont inued s ted fast, and i s now

render ing es sent ia l serv ice to th e m is s i on, assuper intendent o f M r . Bu zacott

’

s s chools , andleader o f the s inging . Frequent ly has P apeihashowed me the stone from which ,

over shad

owed by a grove Of banana tr ees , he del iveredh i s firs t addres s to the wonder ing inhabitants

o f Rarotonga .

Shortly after th i s,Tinom ana, the chie f of

Arorangi,a d is tr i ct about e ight mi les from

P apeiha’

s res idence,s ent for h im , and



W hen P apeiha had spread h i s mat, and laidh im s e l f down to re st

,Tinom ana brought h i s

,

and hav ing placed i t by h i s s ide,to ld h im that

he came to be taught to pray to Jehovah . D el ighted with the r eques t

,P apeiha commenced

a short prayer,wh ich the ch ief repeated a fter

him ; but overcome with fat igue, he dropped o ff

to s leep . H e had,however

,scarcely C los ed

h i s eyes,when the anxious chi e f awoke h im

,

s aying,

“I’

ve forgotten i t ; go over i t aga in .

”

A f te r caus ing him to repeat i t many t imes,once

more he fe l l as l eep,and again was awoke .

This was repeated frequently through thenight . In the morning P apeiha returnedhome

,and Tinom ana accompan ied h im part Of

the di s tance,rec it ing

,dur ing the j ourney

,the

prayer wh ich he had learned . On taking h i sleave

,he informed the teacher that he was

much del ighted with what he had heard ; andthat he would go home and th ink ser ious ly up

on the subj ect ; for , as i t was a matter of greatimportance

,i t was not wel l to b e in haste .

As P apeiha car r ied h is Testament with h im ,

i t f requently el ic i ted cur ious remarks . W h i lewalking about the s ett lement, the peop le wou ldsay

,

“There"ther e ’ s the god Of that man"whata s trange god it i s

,he car r i e s i t about with.him ,


but we leave ours at the marae . W hen theysaw him read ing

,they would say that he and

h i s God were ta lking together .

F ive months had e lapsed when P apeiha wascheered by the arr iva l Of h is as sociate Tibero .

They resolved,in the firs t in stance

,to vis i t

a l l the influent ial ch ie f s in the i s land,and ex

pla in to them the pr inc ip l e s Of Chr i s t ian truth,

po int ing out,n ot only the sp i r i tua l but the tem

pora l advantages which would accrue from therenunc i at ion Of i do latry . In carry ing the i rresolut ion into effect

,at some places they were

kind ly treated,but at other s they were r id icu led

,

and from one or two they narrowly escapedwith the i r l ive s .

A few days after they returned to thes tat ion

,a pr i es t came to the teacher s

,and ex

pres sed h i s determinat ion to burn h is idol,and

had brought h i s e ldes t son,a boy about ten

years of age, to p lace under the i r care, les t thegods

,i n the i r anger, should destroy h im .

Leaving the ch i ldwith the teacher s , he returnedhome

,and ear ly the next morning came, bend

ing under the we ight of the cumbrous god hewas br inging to be burned . A crowd fol lowed him

,cal l ing him a madman ; but he pers i s ted

in h i s determinat ion to embrace the word Of

120 LIFE OF J OHN WILLIAMS..

Jehovah ,and dec lared that he was unc oncerned,

about the re sults . g He then threwhis ido l atthe feet Of theteacher s

,

i

one’

o‘

f dwhom fetchedhis saw to cut i t up ; but as s oon as the peop leOb °

erved the saw appli ed to the head of the god,they a l l took fr ight and ran away . . Many eveno f the i r conver t s were seiz ed with the p anicand hid them s elves among th e bushes"QAftera short. t ime they returned ; and in the-

p resenceOf a n immense crowd

,

—_the fir st r ej ected idol Of

Rar otongat

was committed to the flames .

At th i s time a ludicrous c i rcumetnee occurred

,w hich ,wil l . illus trate the

,igno rance and.

super s t i t ion Of th e people . .A : fav0r ite. cat had

been taken on shore by one Of the teacher s.

’

wives on our fir st vi s i t ; and not lik ing his newcom pan ion s , .

T0m fled to th e mounta in s P us s ;in his perambulat ions , went to the dis tr i ct of :

the SATANEES ; and as the marae s tood in a"

ret ir ed spot,and 1was shaded by the rich fol iage

Of t rees o f . ancient growth,Tom

,p leased with

the Si tuat ion , and wish ing to b e found , in goodcompany

,took up hi s abode with the go ds ; and

not meet ing with any oppos i t ion fr om those.

with in the hou se he l i tt l e. expected any .f r om

thos e without . Some few days after , how

ever , the pr i e s t came, accompanied by a number .



geance. Some hours a fter,when a l l was quiet ,

Tom,be ing di s turbed in h i s r es idence with the

gods , determined unwise ly to renew h i s ac

quaintance with men ; and, in the dead of thenight

,he returned to th e house

,and crept be

neath a cover l et,under wh ich a who le fami ly

were lying,and there

‘

fel l as leep . Unfortunately,

h i s purr ing awoke the man under whosec loth he had craw led

,and who

,suppos ing that

some other “monster” had come to di s turbthem

,c losed the door—way

,awoke the peop le

o f th e house,and procured l ights to search for

the intruder . Poor Tom,fat igued w ith the two

previous engagements Of the day,l ay qui et ly

as leep,when the warr ior s

,with the i r c lubs and

spear s,attacked h im m os t va l i ant ly

,and

thought themse lves s ingu lar ly brave in putt ing

an end to th i s formidab le monster .

The king,Makea

,was among the las t Ch ief s

Of importance who renounced ido latry . TheOb j ect Of h is adorat ion was a goddes s

,the great

Rangatim ; and the ido later s man i fes ted determined Oppo s i t ion to the destruct ion o f th i s idoland the burning Of the i r marae . That

,how

ever was. affected by the party to whom it belonged ;

i

and thus the re ign o f ido latry,a lthough

very many sti l l r eta ined the ir idol s and super


stition s, was virtual ly terminated at Rarotonga .

The teacher s then recommended the erect iono f a p lace of worship

,wh ich being agreed to

the greater part of the inhab itants as semb ledmos t o f whom came to the work thoroughlyequipped for war . I t must be r ecol lected

,that

the inhabi tants Of the di fferent d i s tr i ct s Of thlSi s land were a lways in a s tate o f host i l i ty

,and

never,on any occas ion

,met unarmed ; that

t ime had not yet been suffic i ent for the pr inc ip l e s Of Chr i s t i an ity to produce mutua l confidence amongs t i t s profe s sors ; and that numbers were s t i l l heathens . The s i te s e lected forthe bu i lding wa s

,

th ick ly covered with trees ; andas there were but four or five axes in the i s land

,

the clear ing i t was a great work. All,how

ever,appeared anx ious to ass i s t

,and a lthough

the i r too l s were rude,some us ing large she l l s ,

and other s s tone axes,yet as the peop le were

numerou s,th e work was s oon effected

Thos e who s t i l l rema ined heathen were continually Offer ing provocat ion to the Chr is t ians ,who

,by not re sent ing thei r conduct, subj ected

them selves‘

to s t i l l greater annoyance, and one

Of them,whi le pas s ing through the ir di s tr ict to

h i s own,was most s everely b eaten , and had on e

o f h is ea r s torn near lyo ff . Thi s led to a con


CHAPTER X I I .

MR . P LATT’

s VOYAGE— TH E VIN CENNESAND TH ESERINGAPATAM ARRIVE AT RAIATEA— M IS

SIONARY MEET I NGS— NAT IVE SP EECH ES4 1N

TERV IEW WITH CAP TAIN WALDEGRAVE— P REPARATIONS FOR OUR VOYAGE.

TH E fir s t voyage which the M e s s enger o fPeace took afte r be ing thoroughly fitted out

,

was to convey M es sr s . Pri tchard and S impsonto the Marquesan I s lands ; the D i rec tors having determined to endeavour to rees tab l i sh th emi s s ion among the savage inhab itants o f thatgroup . Th i s voyage

,together with the t ime

con sumed in effect ing the nece ssary a l terat ion sin th e vess e l

,o ccup ied about twe lve months *

at the exp irat ion Of which,she sa i led for the

H ervey I s lands,and my esteemed brother M is

s ionary,M r . P latt, undertook to vi s i t them .

H e found a l l the mis s ions in a pleas ing state ,

a l though our dear fr iends a t Rarotonga hadendured some very s ever e tr i a l s .The important t ime had now . arr ived for

126


commencing the voyage on wh ich my mind hadbeen so long set

,and for which the M es senger

of Peace was bui lt . The Rev . T . East,and theRev. J . A . James of B irmingham

,had gener

ou sly responded to my cal l , and forwarded alarge supp ly Of i ron—mongery for the u nder taking . Every th ing appeared to f avour , nothingto im pede

,the des ign

,and my be loved fe l low

labourer,M r . Bar ff

,had consen ted to aecom

pany me . My own people al so en te red into mypropos i t ions with so much zeal . that, on the announcem ent Of my intent ions

,e ight me mber s O f

our church Offered the i r s ervice s for this enterpr i s e o f mercy .

A s the S er ingapatam arr ived a few days before our Annual M i s s ionary M eet ing in May

,

we enj oyed the company Of Capta in W a ldegrave and h is officer s dur ing the s ervices o f theday

,which commenced about ten O ’c lock

,and

continued,with s l ight intermi ss ions

,t i l l s ix .

A t about ha lf pas t two,or three O ’ c lock

,we

r e- as sembled in our chapel to conduct the bus ine s s of our auxi l i ary . Tamatoa

,the king

,took

the cha i r,and ca l l ed upon one o f the nat ive

Chr is t ians to give out a hymn,and implore the

D iv ine pres ence . H e se lected for the occas ionthe Jub i lee hym n

,

“B low ye the trumpet , blow ,

”

1 28 LI FE o r JOH N WILL IAM S .

which had been trans lated into the nat ive language . A fter th is

,the venerab le chairman

,

who h imself was formerly worshipped as agodopened the bus ines s in an interest ing speech .

The fol l‘

owing addres s was de l ivered by Fenu apeho , the

~

ch ief o f 'Tahaa. H e sa id

Pra is e to God we l l becom e s us : b u t let i tbe heart pra is e . A l l th e work we do for Godmust be heart work . . W e were dwe l ling former ly In a dark house

,among centipedes

and l izards,sp ider s and rats ; nor did We know

What evi l and desp i cab le th ings were around us .The lamp ‘ o i l ight

,the Word of God

,has b een

brought,and now we behold with di smay and

disgus t thes e abominab le th ings . But stop .

Some are ki l l ing each other th i s very day ,While

We are r eJOIcm g some are destroying thei rch i ldren

,While W e a i e Saving ours ; some are

burning them s elve s in’ th e fire

,W h i le we are

bathing in th e cool waters of the Gospe l . Whatshal l we do ? V Ve hav e

'

been told th i s day byour M i s s ionary that God works by

'

sending h isword and hi s s ervant s . To eff ect th i s

,property

must b e given . W e have i t ; we can give i t .Prayer to God i s another means : let us p 1 ayfervently . But our prayer wi l l condemn us i fWe cry

,

‘Send forth thy word and make i t grow,

and do not use the m eans . I sha l l s ay no morebut let us c leave to Jesus .


1 30 LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAM S .

as serted that th ey were mere parrots,repeat

ing only What I had taught them,and

,more

over , that th ey b e l i eved in Chr i s t ian ity solelybecause the M i s s ionar 1es had assured them o fi t s truth . O thers

,however

,m ain tam ed that

they were not defic i ent e i ther in good sens e o rscr iptura l knowledge . In order to dec ide thequest ion, ear ly the next m orn ing Captain W al

degrave,the Rev . M r . W atson the chaplain

,

and other gentl emen,cal l ed at my house . Aft

er a l i t t l e cons iderat ion,

I suggested that themore sat i s factory method o f forming a correctop in ion would be for them to favor us With

the i r comp any to tea, when I would introducetwelve or fifteen of our peop le

,Who

,I was as

sured,would feel happy in rep lying to any

ques t ions that might be proposed to them . Thepropos i t ion met With the ir approva l

,and

,a fter

tea,fifteen nat ives came into the room and took

the i r s eat s .

I then informed them that the gentlemenpresent were des irous of ascer ta ining the extent o f the i r knowledge upon some importanttopics

,and for th i s purpos e would propo s e to

them a few ques t ions . Capta in VValdegr ave

th en asked,

“Do you bel ieve that the B ible i sthe word of God

,and that Chr is t ian i ty i s o f

LIFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . I3 1

D iv ine or igin ? The nat ives were ratherstart led at th i s ques t ion

,having never enter

tained a doub t upon that po int . A t l ength onerepl i ed,

“Mos t certa inly we do . W e look at the

power with which i t has been attended in ef

fecting th e ent ir e overthrow o f idolatryamongst us

,and which

,we be l i eve

,no human

means could have induced us to abandon .

”The

same ques t ion be ing propos ed to a second,he

repl i ed,

“ I bel i ev e th e S cr iptures to b e of D iv ineor igin

,on account of the sys tem o f sa lvat ion

they reveal . W e had a rel igion be fore,trans

m itted to us by our ancestor s,Whom we con

s ider ed the wi ses t of men ; but how dark andb lack that system was

,compared with the

br ight scheme of sa lvat ion presented in theB ible . H ere we learn that we are s in ners ; thatGod gave h i s own ' Son Jesus Chr i s t to di e forus ; and that , through bel i ev ing,

the sa lvat ionhe pr ocured becomes our s . NOW,

what but theWi sdom of God could have dev 1sed such a system as th i s ?” The quest ion be ing repeated toan old pr i es t

,then a devoted Chr is t i an

,ins tead

o f replying at once,he held up hi s hands , and

rap idly moved th e j o ints of h i s wr i st s and fin

gers ; he then opened and shut h is mo uth , and

clos ed thes e s ingular act ions,by ra is ing h i s leg,


and moving i t in var ious di rect ions . Hav ingdone this , he sa id,

“S ee,I have h inges a l l over

me : i f the thought grows in my heart that I

Wish to handle any th ing,th e h inges in my

hands enab l e me to do so : i f I want to utteranyth ing, the h inges to my j aws enab le me tosay i t ; and i f I des i re to go anywhere

,here

are h inge s to my legs to enab le me to wa lk .

NOW,

” continued he,

“ I perce ive great Wi sdomin

' th e adaptat ion o f my body to the var iouswants of my mind ; and when I look into theB ib le

,and see there proofs o f Wisdom which

corre spond exactly With those Wh ich appear inmy frame

,I conclude that the Maker o f my

body i s the Author o f that book .

” Anotherrepl ied to the quest ion by saying

,I bel i eve

the B ib le to have come from God, becaus e i tcontains prophec ies wh ich have been exactly

fulfi l l ed .

Capta in W . then inquired, who the p rophets

vver e.

Native. Persons in spir ed’

Of God to forete l l

event s ages be fore they occur red .

”

Ca/n‘aiii

“Can you name any of th em ?

Native. Ye s— Samuel,Dav id, I sa iah , Dan

ie l,Jonah and many others .


1 34 LI FE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

chapter of the Gospe l of John we read,that the

sold ier s came and brake the legs of those whowere cruc ified with Jesus ; but when they cameto h im

,and saw that he was a lready dead

,they

brake not h i s legs ; for the S cr ipture sa i th,‘A

bone of him sha l l not be broken .

’

A fter thi s,ques t ion s were proposed upon the

leading doctr ines o f Chr i s t ian i ty,and when we

arr ived at the doctr ine of the resurrec t ion,

they were asked,

“W i th what body shal l we bera i s ed ?” In rep ly to th i s

,thos e beaut i fu l vers es

o f the 1 sth chapter Of the 1 st Ep i s t le to theCor inth ians were immediate ly quoted : “ I t i ssown in corruption ; i t i s ra ised in inco r rup

t ion,

”&c.

,

The Captain rej o ined,that what

they had sa id was very good ; but st i l l he w1shedthem to be a l i t t l e more expl ic i t

,and to give

him some idea of th e body With which we shouldar i se . This occas ioned cons iderab le consu ltat ion among them : but at length one exc laimed,“I have it . S t . John

,m his I st Ep is t le , the grd

chapter,says

,that ‘When he shal l appear

,we

sha l l b e l ike h im .

’ Our bodi es wi l l then be l ikeChr is t ’ s .

” The Capta in st i l l pres sed the quest ion when

,after a consul tat ion

,another nat ive

repl i ed,

“Bemg l ike Chr is t cannot mean be ing

l ike h is body when i t hung upon the cross,but i t

LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS . 1 3 5

must mean be ing l ike to h i s g lor ious body whenhe was tran sfigu red upon the mo unt .

” At theconclus ion o f these interrogations

,a copy of the

New Testament was pas sed round,and opened

ind iscr iminate ly ; when each was des i red toread a vers e

,and rep ly to quest ions on i ts im

port and connexion .

Th is intervi ew lasted upwards of threehour s ; and at the conc lus ion the gent lemen expres s ed themse lves h ighly grat ified ; and Capta in W . assured the nat ives , that i f he r eturnedin safety to England

,he should not fa i l to in

form his countrymen O f what he had seen andheard .

CHAPTER X I II.

AT IU— RELIG IOUS SERVICES THERE—DEVOTEDNEss OF TH E TEACHERS ’ WIVES— TH E AU

THOR ’S NARROW ESCAPE— MAUKE AND M IT IARO— A DREADFUL MASSACRE —RAROTONGA ’

AN EP IDEM Ic RACES— AITAKIi— I NTEREST ING ‘

IN C IDENTS— NAT IVE C ONDIT ION S .

LEAVING Mangaia,we proceeded to At iu

,,

which,afte r two days ’ p leasant sa i l

,we reach

ed in s a fety .

On our arr iva l,we were happy to m eet the

teacher s,with the pr inc ipa l ch iefs and peop le o f

the ne ighbour ing i s lands of Mauke and M i t i ar o . The Obj ect of the i r vi s i t to At iu was , firs tto attend the open ing of the large new chapel ;and

,s econdly

,to be present at the marr iage o f

Roma- tane,the k ing

,who was about to be

united to the daughter of the ch ief of Mauke .On the fol lowing day we opened the chapel ,

which would accommodate about 1 500 peop le .

My col league,M r . Bar ff

,preached from P s .

xcvi i,I,

“The Lord re igneth ; le t the earth r e

136


1 38 LIFE OF. JOH N W I LLIAMS .

the s ervice s o f the Sabbath . To obviate th i s,

they begged I would wr ite out some heads o fdi scourses for them ; at the same t ime informing me, that, for months pas t, while thei r husbands were fish ing they took the i r s lates

,and

having reca l led a text,f rom which they had

heard s ome of the M i ss ionar i es preach,they

endeavoured to retrace the ideas then advanced,

and to col lect paral le l pas sages of S cr ip ture,to

i l lustrate them . By thes e means they had generally a s late fu l l of someth ing for the i r husbands to work from on the ir r eturn .

In our examinat ion o f the s choo l ch i ldren,we were pa ined to find that only a few o f them

could read . Al l,however

,as wel l as the adults

,

had committed to memory,most correct ly

,a

long and instruct ive catech ism,wr itten by M r .

O rsmond,which conta i ned a comprehens ive

sys tem of d iv ini ty,expres sed in s tr iking and

beaut i ful language .

On my next vi s i t to th i s i s land my l i fe andlabour s had near ly terminated . On reach ingthe ree fs we perce ived that the s ea was notbreaking with i t s u sual viol ence

,and I there

fore determ aned to land in the boat . This wase ffected without much difficulty ; but on return ?

ing,befor e we could get a suffic ient di stance


from the shore , another b i l low rol led in andoverwhelm ed us

,and the boat with her crew

was dashed'upon the reef . Unfortunately,I fel l

toward the s ea,and was conveyed by the r ecoi l

o f the b i l low to a cons iderable d i stance fromthe shore

,where I was twi r led about in a wh i r l

pool,and sank to a great depth . Being so long

under water,I b egan to fear that I Should r i s e

no more . At length,however

,I aros e to the

sur face ; and finding there was t ime for me toreach the ree f before the next wave burs t uponit

,I swam in that di r ect ion . On perce iving

my Situat ion,two natives sprang into the s ea

,

and,as a cons iderab le t ime elaps ed before th e

next b i l low arr ived,I succeeded

,by the i r as

s istance,in escap ing i t s fury . The peop le were

standing upon the r ee f,weep ing b itter ly

,under

the apprehens ion that I was los t ; and on reaching the shore

,th ey gathered around me

,and

demonstrated the ir great j oy at my pres ervat ion

,by touch ing my clothes or ki s s ing my

hands . Thus,for the s ixth t im e , was I res cued

from -a watery grave"The reefs at th e water ’ s edge are overhang

ing and shelving,forming ho llows and caverns

underneath ; and the danger mos t to be dreadedi s that Of be ing forced

,by the vio lence of the

14O LIFE OF JOHN W ILLIAMS .

waves,into th ese submar ine chasms . From

such a s ituation escape i s imposs ib le .

On the day after our arr iva l a heavy ga leo f wind arose and our ship

,not be ing anchored

,

was dr iven out to s ea . W e had been lookingin vain for her return .

W e s et apart a port ion of every mo rn ing, and

reti red to the chapel for socia l prayer,to seek

d irect ion from above in our di s tr es s ing c i rcumstances ; and I can tru ly say that we foundthese s erv ice s seasons o f refresh ing from thepre sence of our God . A fter hav ing given up a l lhope o f aga in s ee ing our vesse l

,we held a con

sultation as to W hether we had better bui ld aboat

'

with what mater ia ls we cou ld Obtain onthe i s land

,and sai l to Rarotonga ; or remain

where we were . After much de l ib erat ion andprayer

,we concluded that

,as a pecu l i a r provi

dence had p laced us th ere,i t appeared to be the

path of duty to wai t pat ient ly t i l l God, in theexerc i s e of the same providence

,shou ld aff ord

us the means of removal ; and we determined toemploy ours e lves as fu l ly as poss ibl e for thebenefit of th e peop le

,as th i s would mater ia l ly

as s i s t in making us contented and happy in ourpainful s i tuat ion . For th i s purpos e M r . Armitage s e lected wood with which to make sp in


1 42 LIFE OF JOHN W ILL IAM S .

our dis tres s , hoi sted our sa i ls , took leave o f thekind but d isappointed peop le

,and pursued our

voyage .

On vi s i t ing th e two sma l l i s lands o f Maukeand M i t iaro

,we found the nat ives

,who pos

s es sed but few axes,were burn ing down trees

,

for t imber to erect chape l s . W hen the tree fel lthey burnt o ff the branches

,and then proceed

ed to burn the trunk into var ious lengths . Having with me a large supp ly o f i ronmongeryfurn i shed by my esteemed and valued fr i ends

,

the Rev . T . East,and Rev . J . A . James of B i r

m ingham ,I gave them some too l s

,encouraged

them to per severe with thei r work,and prom

ised to return and open the i r chapel s in s ix ore ight months . On my next vi s i t , I had the satis faction of s ee ing two wel l - bu i lt, sub stant ia lplace s o f worsh ip

,which had been erected with

the tool s,and the doors of which were swung

on the h inges that I had presented to them inthe name o f my kind B irmingham fr iends .The teacher

,Iaav i

,o f Mauke , with h i s wife ,

a s wel l a s Taua o f M i t i aro, have proved the i rworth by upwards o f twelve years ’ labor iousand devoted s ervice . The inhab itants of Maukeare now in a very prosperous s tate ; and in fewplaces are the advantages result ing from Chr i s


tian itymore apparent, for order , harmony, andhappines s preva i l— abundance and comfort areenj oyed .

When I last vi s i ted th i s i s land M rs .W i l l i amsand my fami ly were with me ; and as the natives had never s een a European female orch i ld , the ir presence exc ited cons iderab le inter est and crowds has tened to the beach to b idthem we lcome . The pas sage over the reef wasa formidab le undertaking for M rs . W i l l iamsbut c lasp ing Samue l with one arm

,and her in

fant in the other,she commit ted her self to the

sk i l l of the nat ives,and was conveyed in sa fety

over the r i s ing b i l low to the shore .

The is land of M i t iaro is very low, and the

so i l has,consequently

,so l i tt le depth , that the

M I SS ION HOUSE AT RAROTONGA .

I44 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

product ions are at t imes exceedingly scanty ;and the teacher

,Taua

,with h is large fami ly o f

nine or ten chi ldren,have occas ional ly suffered

s evere pr ivat ions .

Leaving M i t iaro, we sa i led for Rarotonga,where we arr ived, after a p leasant s a i l o f twodays

,and rece ived a cordia l welcome on the

beach from our esteemed fr iend and brother,

M r . Bu zacott,whose tear fu l eyes and down

cas t look,in t imated that they were in the fur

nace of affl i ct ion . Th is rece ived confirmat ionfrom the appearance of the peop le ; for insteadof be ing greeted by the smi les and shouts o fth e thousands who l ined the shore on our former v i s i t s

,only

’

a sma l l company of chi ldren,

and a few wa lking ske letons,who had exerted

the ir utmos t s trength to reach the landingp lace

,were to be s een . On inqu ir ing the cause

o f th i s,i t wa s with the deepes t sorrow we heard

that a mos t dread fu l and dead ly di s eas e wasraging among the peop le

,and sweep ing them

away as with a deluge ; that at M r . Bu zacott’

s

s tat ion about two hundred and fi fty persons hadbeen vict ims ; an equal o r greater number atArorangi ; and about a hundred at M r . Pit

m an ’s,where i ts ravages had but recent ly com

m enced. SO preva lent wa s th i s te rr ib le vis ita



es teemed fr i ends,M r . and M r s . Pitman

,at

Whose s tat ion the d i sease was then raging,and

whom we were truly thankfu l to find in a better s tate o f health than might have been ant ic ipated . The ir account, however , of the fearful ravages o f the diseas e wa s truly appal l ing ;and as we walked through the sett lement wefound many houses without an inmate ; al l hadbeen swept away . Those who

,by any poss ible

exert ion,cou ld get out o f the i r s i ckly dwel l ings

,

cam e to di sburden thei r di s tr es s,and once more

grasp my hand be fore they died ; and others ,too feeb le to wa lk

,were e ither led to the doors

to s ee us as we pass ed,or were carr ied by the i r

fr i ends on their’

m ats , that they might catcha part ing glance ere they c losed the ir eyes indeath . And whi le we cou ld have wished thatour shadow

,pas s ing by

,might have hea led

them,yet our pr incipal so l ic i tude was , that our

few words Of exhortat ion and sympathy mightbe b less ed to the survivor s , and be the meansof d irecting the dying to H im' who bore ourgr iefs and carr i ed our sorrows .

Taking an affect ionate leave of our belovedbrethren

,and the ir affl i cted peop le , we expres s

ed Ou r tenderes t sympathie s in the i r suffer ings ,and uni ted in fervent prayer ,

“that the Lord


would repent h im of the evi l,and say to the

angel that destroyed the people,"t is enough.

”

W e l e ft Rarotonga,which i s endeared to me by

so many pleas ing recol lect ions,and di rected

our cours e for the las t of the H ervey I s landgroup

,which was A i tutak i .

From hence we expected to take two teacher sand the i r wives

,whom M r . Platt had left there

on hi s late voyage . As soon as the obj ect Ofour vis i t was communicated to the people

,thev

immediate ly ca l l ed a meet ing,wh ich they inv it

ed us to attend,when they presented a press ing

reques t,that one of the teachers

,with hi s wife

,

might be al lowed to rema in with them . Beingmuch di sconcerted at th e prospect of los ingthem

,I negat ived the request . The people ,

however,espec ia l ly the females

,who had

formed a s trong attachment to th e teacher ’ sw i fe

,were so clamorous and so importunate in

the ir entreat i es,that we found it imposs ibl e to

re fuse . Hundreds of thes e,att i red in thei r

bes t apparel,came in a body to implore m e not

to per s i s t in my determinat ion . They stated

that,as thei r former teacher ’ s wife was dead,

they would have no one to instruct them,and

then asked me if I had not one “ l i tt l e b i t Of compas s ion” for them

,and whether the m en only


had souls , that they a lone were to be cared for,and the women left ent i rely dest i tute of ateacher They pleaded so pathet i cal ly and soj us tly, that, after consul t ing with my esteemedcol league, we deemed i t advi sable to accede tothe i r request . T0 th i s conclu s 1on we the morereadi ly came

,from observing the immense ad

vantage the females had der ived from th i s devoted teacher dur ing the few m onths she hadres ided with them

,and the i r cont inued need of

her super intendence and instruct ion . As soonas the announcement was made

,j oy beamed in

the ir countenances ; th ey rushed forward to ki s sour hands

,and ran in al l di rections to comm u

n icate the de l ightfu l intel l igence .

During our stay our t ime was ful ly occupiedin examin ing the school ch i ldren

,expla in ing

difficu l t passages o f S cr ip ture,and supply ing

informat ion and advi ce upon subj ects of a civ i l ,j ud ic ial

,and rel igious character . For these

purposes we held numerous meet ings ; the firstof which was with the ch i ldren . There wereabout 400 present . W e found them exceeding

ly fluent in repeat ing the ir catech isms , andready in reply ing to our quest ions , but weregr i eved that so few o f them could read . W e

then proceeded to examine a clas s of men , s ixty



hear ing thi s,they expres sed the ir regret at not

having money,that they al so might enj oy the

pr iv i lege o f “helping in the good work o f cau sing the word o f God to grow .

” I rep l i ed,

“I fyou have no money

,you have som eth ing to buy

money with .

” Thi s idea was qui te new to

them,and they Wished to know at once what

they poss es sed which wou ld buy money . I sa id

to them,

“The p igs I brought to your i s land on

my firs t v is i t have mu l t ip l i ed so great ly,that

a l l of you have now an abundance ; and i f every

fami ly in the i s lan d were to s et apart a p ig,

‘

fo r

caus ing the word o f God to grow,

’ and, when

the ships come,s el l them for money

,instead

of cloth and axes,a va luable contr ibut ion might

be ra i s ed .

” The idea del ighted them exceed

ingly,and ear ly the next morn ing

,the squeak

ing of the p igs,which were rece iving a par tic

u lar mark in th e ear for th is purpose,was

heard from one end o f the sett l em ent to the

other . In the inter im a ship had been there,

the capta in of which had purchased the i r p igs,

and paid for them most honorably ; and now,to

my utter aston i shment,th e nat ive treasurer put

into my hands Io3l., part ly in b i l l s and part ly

in cash"This was the fi r s t money they ever


pos sess ed,and every farth ing o f i t was dedi

cated to the cause of Chr i s t"W e now took our departure, accom pained by

the teacher s,wi th thei r w ives and chi ldren

altogether th i rty per sons . The kind people ofA i tutaki loaded us with provi s ions ; and, a ftercommending each other to God in prayer

,we

took an affect ionate l eave of them , and ho is t ingour beaut iful flag

,whose dove and ol ive—branch

were emblemat ical both of our name and ob

j ect, we spread our sa i l s,and pursued our

cour se,watched by the interes ted mult i tude we

had left,unt i l we appeared as a speck in the

hor izon,and were lost in the dis tance .

CHAPTER X IV.

SAVAGE I SLAND— SAVAGE APP EARANCE OF TH E

PEOP LE— REACH ING TONGATABU .

In order to ga in as much in form at ion aspos s ib l e about the inhabi tants o f the groupwhich we were intending to vi s i t

,we de

term ined, instead of s teer ing dir ect for the

Nav igators I s lands,to proceed firs t to Ton

gatabu .

Having to pas s an i s land dis covered by Captain Cook

,which

,in cons equence o f the f e

r ociou s character of i ts inhab itants,he cal led

Savage Is land, we determined to touch there ,and leave with them the two A i tutakian teach

er s,to impart the know ledge of that Gospel by

which,s avage as they are , they wi l l ul t imate ly

be c ivi l iz ed and b les sed .

A fter a pleasant sai l o f five or Six days,we

reached the i s land in quest ion . Arr iving 0p

po s ite to a sandy beach ,and perce iv ing some

nat ives on shore,we waved a white flag

,which

1 52



peaceable Thi s ceremony having been performed, the nat ives launched some of the i rcanoes

,and advanced towards our ves se l

,but

evinced,by the ir caut ious movements

,and the

respect ful di s tance they kept,that they in

du lged the most fear ful apprehens ions . Anold ch i e fta in

,however

,was at length induced

to venture into the sh ip . On reaching the deckthe Old man was most frant i c in h i s gest i culat ions

,l eap ing about from place to place

,and

using the most voci ferous exclam at ions atevery thing he saw . A l l attempts at conversat ion with h im were ent i r ely usel es s

,a s we

could not persuade h im to s tand st i l l even fora s ingle s econd . Our nat ives attempted toclothe h im

,by fasten ing around h i s person a

p iece of nat ive c loth ; but, tear ing i t Off in arage

,he threw it upon deck

,and stamp ing upon

i t,exclaimed

,

“Am I a woman,that I should be

encumbered with that s tuff ?”

Reta ining the Old ch ief as a hostage , ourboat again approached the shore

,and our peo

ple were permitted to land . The i s landers gavethem some food

,and were fr iendly in thei r

intercours e,taking care

,however

,to have

the ir war weopons in readiness for a momentof exigency . A person apparently of some im

LI FE OF JOHN WILLIAMS . 1 55

portance now arr ived, and gave the teacher tounderstand that we had better take the vesselto another par t o f th e i s land . On thei r r eturnto the sh ip

,we gave our wi ld guest a present

,

which cons i sted of a hatchet,a kni f e

,a looking

glass,and a pai r o f s c i s sor s ; none of wh ich ,

however,did he appear to pr i z e

,not knowing

thei r use ; but j us t as he was leaving the ves s el ,he caught s ight o f a large mother - Of - pear l shel lwhich one o f our peop le was handl ing

,and

spr inging forward,he s eiz ed i t from h im

,and

appeared,from h is frantic express ions o f j oy .

to have obta ined an art ic l e of super lat ive value .

Thus laden,he was returned to the shore

,

where he rece ived the hearty congratu lat ionsof h i s w ife and peop le on hi s happy escapefrom a most per i lous s i tuat ion .

The teacher s from A i tutaki,with the i r

wives,were so much dis couraged and alarmed

at the prospect of s ett l ing among thes e wretchedly degraded i s l anders , that they requested usto a l low them to accompany thei r brethrenfrom; the Society I s lands , to whom they wouldact as ass i s tants

,and with whom they were

wi l l ing to labour at the Navigator s I s lands orany other stat ion . W e

,of course

,acceded to

thei r request,not

,however

,apprehending that


the i r l ives wou ld be in danger,though

,in al l

probab i l i ty, they would have been plundered o fevery th ing they pos sess ed .

On leaving Savage I s land,we s teered a di

rect cours e for Tongatabu ,which i s about 3 50

mi le s wes t ; a ful l s ight o f which we ga ined assoon as we passed Eua

,a mounta inous i s land

wh ich lay in our track . Enter ing the channelfrom the eas t

,between the mainland and a row

o f beaut i fu l i s let s wh ich stud and adorn thereef on the north

,we steered our devious and

dangerous way,amids t shoals and rocks

,with

out p i lot o r chart,unt i l we reached our dest ina

t ion,o ff the interes t ing M i s s ionary settlement ,

Nuku alofa, Where, in Ju ly, 1830,we dropped

our anchor . On reach ing the shore we r e

ceived a m o s t cord ia l welcome from our W es

l eyan brethren,M es s r s . Turner and Cros s

,

who,with thei r excel lent wives , kind ly invited

us to take up our abode with them dur ing ourstay . To thi s we readi ly agreed, and were del ighted with the opportun ity o f Observing theunt i r ing di l igence with wh ich they were pros

ecu ting the Obj ects of the ir mis s ion , and theencouraging prospects o f succes s which sustained and animated them in thei r labour s .

W e r ece ived information which induced


CHAPTER XV

AN ACCOUNT OF TH E I NTRODUCT ION OF

CHRI ST IAN ITY AT TH E H AP IA I SLANDS— TH E

I NTREP ID CONDUCT OF TH E CH IEF— IDOLSHUNG .

On the morn ing after our departure fromTongatabu ,

we saw two i s lands o f cons iderab lehe ight

,in the vic in i ty o f wh ich were s evera l o f

those detached ree fs,which render th i s par t of

the ocean exceedingly dangerous in th ick ands tormy weather .

As the introduct ion o f Chr i s t ian i ty to theH apia I s lands was attended with c ircumstances Of pecul iar intere st

,a br i ef not ice of

them may be acceptab le . The HAPAI group,o f

which Lefuga i s th e pr incipa l , i s a cluster o fbetween th i rty and forty sma l l coral l inei s lands

,e ighteen or twenty of which are in

hab ited,and subj ect to the author i ty Of one

pr inc ipa l ch ief,named Taitfaa/i a i t. W hen we

saw h im he was about th i rty years of age, O f

m ost nob le appearance and commanding as1 58


pect ; with a countenance express ive o f thesuper ior d i scernment

,great dec i s ion

,and un

daunted resolut ion,which

,in a very extra

ordinary degree,di s t ingu ished and adorned h i s

character . Having heard o f the progress andeffects of Chr i s t ian i ty at Tongatabu ,

he determ ined to v is i t that i s land

,and from h is

youth,we were told

,that th i s truly wonder ful

man had desp i sed the whole system of ido l worship . But when he vi s i ted Tongatabu ,

he r e

solved to abandon at once the gods of h i s forefathers

,and place h im‘

s e l f under Chr is t ian ins truct ion . H e therefore sol i c i ted M r . Thomasto accompany him to the Hapa i I s lands ; butas i t was thought des i rab le by h is br ethren thatthe ch i e f should give some proof of hi s s incer ity,

before M r . Thomas removed to so greata dis tance

,they agreed to send

,in the firs t in

s tance,a nat ive convert

,named Peter

,on the

condit ion,that should the ch ief remain sted

fas t,per form his promi ses

,and a fter a specified

t ime send a war—canoe to fetch M r . and M r s .

Thomas,theywould then accede to h is r equest .

Taufaahau returned to h i s domin ions,and

imm ed iately commenced the work o f destru ct ion upon the gods and the maraes . Havingeffected th i s at h i s own i s land

,he proceeded


through the group,exhort ing and persuading

the chiefs and inhab itants to fo l low h is examp le . H i s efforts were succes sful in al l thei s lands , with the except ion o f three or fourthe ch ie fs and people of which were exceedingly ind ignant at such impious innovat ions

,

and reso lved,i f poss ib le

,to counteract the ef

feets of h i s unprecedented conduct . For th ispurpos e

,they determined to celebrate a great

fest iva l,in honour of the gods whom the chie f

was then desecrat ing ; and accordingly sentthe i r fi shermen to catch turt le and other sacredfish . Tau faahau

,r esolving to anti c ipate and

neutra l i z e th i s movement,drove a large herd

of p igs into the sacred enclosure,converted a

most beaut i fu l l i t t l e temp le,which s tood in the

m iddle o f i t,into a s leep ing apartment for h i s

fema le s ervants,and suspended the gods by the

neck to the rafter s of the hous e in which theyhad been adored"The idolater s

,ignorant o f

his proceedings,came

,with great ceremony,

attended by the ir pr ie s ts to present the ir Offerings

,and found

,to th ei r a ston i shm ent , a num

ber of voracious p igs,r eady to devour any

th ing they had to Offer ; and the gods , di srobedo f the i r apparel

,hanging in degradation, l ike

so many com dem ned cr iminal s . They reti red



with the very str ing aroun d i ts neck by whichi t was hung ; and I pr iz e i t the more h ighly, because i t was one o f the troph ies o f the m oralconquests of the Gospel

,ach ieved by Chr is t ians

o f another denominat ion . I t shows us,that

God does not intend to conver t the wor ld byany one sect ion of h i s church ; but by whomsoever the Gospe l i s p reached in s imp l ic i ty andgodly s incer i ty

,the s tamp of h i s grac ious ap

probat ion wi l l be impress ed in the succes swh ich wi l l crown the ir labor ious and devotedefforts .

A f ter th is truly wonderful man had givensuch indub itabl e proofs of h is s incer i ty

,he

despatched a large war - canoe to Tonga,to fetch

the devoted M r . and M rs . Thomas ; who, committ ing themse lves to the gracious protect iono f H im by whose love they were constra ined

,

took an affect ionate leave of the i r b rethren,

s tepped on board the canoe,and cheer ful ly con

sented to dwel l alone,at a di s tance of 200 miles

from the i r brethren,and among a peop le j us t

emerging from barbar i sm‘

. I t i s to my minda most interes ting cons iderat ion

,that the M i s

s ionary who was to publ i sh to them the gladt idings of peace

,was conveyed in a vesse l

which had O ften been laden With sanguinary


warr iors , whom it had carr i ed to the deadlyconfl i ct .Shortly a fter M r . Thomas ’ arr ival

,F inau

,

having heard with deep regret that h i s relat iveTaufaahau had renounced the rel igion o f h i sfathers

,selected one of hi s largest and best

war - canoes,and sent i t by one of h i s pr ie sts

,a

a present,to induce h im to return to the wor

ship o f the gods,to which th i s noble—sp ir i ted

chief thus rep l i ed,

“Tel l F inau,that I thank

h im for h i s present . You may,however

,drag

i t up on the beach,and cu t i t up ; i t w i l l make

excel lent firewood by wh ich he int imated,

that however much he valued the canoe,he

cons idered it a s so much fuel,i f the pr ice by

wh ich it was to become h i s,was to be a r e

nunciation of the Gospel,and a return to the

worsh ip he desp i s ed . By such means,th is 1n

ter esting ch ie f ta in has ga ined,through the

bles s ing of God upon h is wi s e and resolute conduct

,a m o st

‘

com plete victory over the superstition s of h is peop le .

Polygamy prevai led to a great degree in thewhole of the Fr iendly I s lands : and in order toovercome the evi l

,and Show h is people a good

example,th i s m an of master mind put away al l

h i s wives,and remained s ingle for a cons ider


able t ime ; and when the des i red effect was produced

, he s e lected one to whom he was publ i c lymarr ied . H e has ma inta ined a mos t decidedand cons i s tent pro fes s ion o f Chri s t ian ity

,ever

s ince he embraced i t,and at th e present m o

ment i s one of the best and most effic i ent localp reacher s in the mi s s ion . But the last

,though

not th e leas t di sp lay of noblem indednes s andChr is t ian pr inc ip le

,was the c i rcum s tance o f

his emancipat ing al l hi s s l aves . Th is he did,

in consequence of having heard from the M i ss ionar ies that s lavery was incons is tent with

Chr is tianity. I have been the more minute inthese observat ions

,because I admir e the man ,

or rather,the grace of God in h im .



me that he was the man in whom the spir it o fthe gods dwelt ; that he was the ter ror of a l l theinhab itants ; and that, i f he forbade i t , the people un iversal ly would be a fra id to p lace themselve s under our 1n str uction . Thi s was ratherdi scouraging information ; we had, however ,no alternat ive but to proceed

,looking to God

a lone for gu idance,protect ion

,and succes s .

W e gl ided p leasant ly a long for some l i tt l et ime

,with a fa i r Wind ; but i t soon became ad

verse,and we encountered , for forty - e ight

hours,a most fur ious storm

,which rent our

sa i l s,and cr ipp led us exceedingly . An ih

flu enza also broke out amo ng our peop le, whichla id as ide near ly al l on board ; and i t was notunt i l the seventh day a ft er leaving Lefuga,

inthe month o f August

,1830,

that the cloudcapped mounta ins Of the beaut i ful i s lands o fSavai i

,which i s the larges t o f the Navigato rs

group, were descr ibed . As the wind st i l l blew

fu r 1ou sly,and al l our people were i l l, we de

term ined,i f poss ib le

,to find an anchorage , and

ran to th e leeward s ide o f the i s l and for thepurpose ; but cou ld not succeed . As soon, however

,as we neared the shore , a number of na

tives came Off to us in the i r canoes , of whom

Fau ea asked a var i ety of quest ions , to al l o f


wh ich he rece ived sat i s factory answers . Atl ength with a tremulous voi ce

,as i f a fra id to

hear the reply,he sa id

,

“And where i s Tamafainga

“Oh"” shouted the people,with

evident del ight , he is dead,he i s dead"H e

was ki l led only about ten Or twelve days ago"”Frant ic with j oy at th i s unexpected in

telligence, Fau ea l eaped about the vesse l , andran towards me

,shout ing

,

“U a niate le B evolo

,

na m ate le“The devi l i s dead

,the

devi l i s dead"” A s ton ished at th i s s ingular exc lamat ion

,I inqu ired what he meant ; when he

rep l i ed,

“The Obs tacle we dreaded i s removed :

Tam a fainga i s dead ; they have ki l l ed h im : thepeop le now wi l l al l r ece ive Chr i s t ian i ty .

” Onhear ing th i s we cou ld not be otherwi se thandeep ly affected with the seasonab le interpos it ion o f a grac ious providence : and we were en

cou r aged to hope that the t ime to favour thepeop le

,yea

,the s et t ime was come . And here

appears to m e the most remarkable feature inthi s providence . Had th i s indiv idua l been putto death a month or two pr ior to my arr ival ,t ime would have b een afforded for th e chie f sof the var ious di str icts and is lands to have met,and nominated a succes sor

,who

,from the na

ture of h is Office,would Of necess i ty have op


posed our des ign ; but as he had been ki l led on lya few days , the t ime had not been suffic i ent toconvene a meet ing

,and consequently there was

no person in pos ses s ion of that importan t Office .

F inding ourse lves s ixty or e ighty mi les toleeward of the res idence of Mali etoa

,the pr in

cipal ch i ef o f th e s ett lement which we intendedto make our head - quarter s

,we had to beat

aga ins t a very strong wind ; and on Sabbathday

,being thorough ly exhausted

,our people

a ll i l l,and our sa i l s much torn

,we determined

,

i f pos s ib le,to find an anchorage ; and , for that

purpose,sa i l ed into severa l bays

,but without

succes s . A t length we thought we had succeeded

,and dropped our anchor

,hop ing to en

j oy a qui et n ight,to res t ours e lves and our s ick

peop le,and after emp loy ing a day or two in

repa i r ing the damages which the ves sel hadsus ta ined in the ga le

,to prosecute our voyage .

As soon as the anchor was dropped,a number

o f nat ives came o ff to us,br inging with them

females,and art ic les for barter . Fau ea in

formed them that,as our s was e vaa lotit, a

praying sh ip,women wou ld not be rece ived ;

and that,as it was le as o sa, a sacred day, they

must br ing o ff food,and other ar t icl e s for sale ,

in the morning. Thi s was to them extra



very feet, whi le ours are l ike the dogs’ — and

then look at the i r axes,the i r s ci s sor s

,and

,

the i rother property

,how r ich they are ?” They al l

appeared to under stand and appreciate th i sreasoning

,and gazed on us with great interest

and surpr i s e . Some of them then began to examine the different parts o f our dress

,when

,

not meet ing with any repu l se,one pul led Off my

shoe . S tar t led at the appearance of the footwith the s tock ing on

,he whi spered to Fau ea ,

“What extraordinary people the papalangisare ; they have no toes as we have"

” “Oh"”

said our facet ious fr i end,

“did I not tel l youthat they had clothes upon the i r feet ? f eelthem

,and you wil l find that they have toes as

wel l a s ourse lves .

” On finding out th e secret,

he was exceedingly del ighted,and began chat

ter ing away to hi s countrymen about the won

der fu l di s covery he had made Al l o f themcame round us

,and in a mom ent the other shoe

was Off,and both my own feet

,and thos e o f

my excel lent brother underwent a thoroughexaminat ion .

After coming to an anchor,we had sent the

teacher s,the i r w ives and fami l i es

,with al l our

s ick people,on shore . The ch i e f of the bay r e

ceived them with kindness,and supp l ied them


with some food . A crowd,greater than that

which surrounded its,col lected about them

,and

the wi fe of Fau ea was equal ly di l igent with herhusband in de scr ib ing to the nat ive s the wonders she had seen

,and the va lue of the rel igion

now brought to thei r i s lands . W hen the foodwas spread out

,she s tood up hersel f

,and asked

a bles s ing in an audib le vo ice,in the presence

of the as sembled mult i tude . In the midst o f a l lth i s interes t ing work

,our vesse l dragged her

anchor,and we were

'

dr iven to sea , with aboutforty fathoms Of chain out

,so that we were

compel led,m to st re luctantly, to s end the boat

immediate ly and br ing our peop le Off again .

A fter s evera l hour s of hard labour,we suc

ceeded in hoi s t ing in both chain and anchor .

As the wind moderated dur ing the night, wemade cons iderabl e progres s

,and on Tuesday

morn ing we found ourse lves in the s tra i ts , b e"

tween two o f the larges t and most beaut i ful

i s lands we had yet behe ld .

By ten o ’ c lock we reached the sett lement ofSapapal i i

,where we intended to Comm ence our

labours,and to wh ich Fau ea belonged . In al l

our convers at ions with that individual,we were

impressed with h i s intel l igence,shrewdnes s

,

and good sense,but never more so than on the


morn ing we arr ived at the p lace o f our des t inat ion

,when he led us to a pr ivate par t o f the

ves s e l, and reques ted us to des ir e the teacher snot to commence thei r labours among his

countrymen by condemn ing thei r canoe races,

the ir dances,and other amu sements

,to which

they were much attached,le s t

,in the very on

s et,they should conce ive a di s l ike to the rel ig

ion which imposed such res tra ints .

“Tel lthem

,

” s a id he,

“to be di l igent in teaching thepeople

,to make them wis e

,

‘

and then thei rhearts wi l l b e a fraid

,and they themse lve s wi l l

put away that which i s evi l . Let the ‘W ord ’ preva i l

,and get a firm hold upon them

,and then

we may with safety adopt measures , which atfir s t would prove inj ur ious .

” Thus we wereconstrained to admire the goodness of God , inprovident ial ly br inging to us an individua lwhose character and connect ions so admirablyfitted h im to advance the Obj ects we had in

viewO-u r ves se l was soon surrounded by canoes

,

and the deck crowded with natives who wereso agi l e that they c l imbed

,l ike monkeys

,over

our boarding nett ings,although thes e were ten

feet in depth . A t length we welcomed on boardTamalelangi, son of the skies , the brother o f



cours e o f the day,which gave us rather an ex

alted i dea of the character o f the people . Tam alelangi, and h i s broth er, not knowing whowe were, had brought o ff some pigs, bananas ,and cocoa—nuts for sal e ; but, on see ing h is r elat ive Fau ea

,and on being informed of the kind

nes s he had rece ived f rom"us,and the Ob j ect of

our vis i t,he ordered the p igs

,with everyth ing

in h i s canoes,to be arranged on the deck

,and

then presenting them to us,s tated

,that had

they known us,they should not have brought

o ff anyth ing for sale ; and that in the morn ingthey would br ing a more abundant supp ly .

Every canoe around the ship fo l lowed h i s example .

Dur ing the night our vessel was dr i fted bythe current to a di stance from the sett lementso cons iderab le

,that in the morning we were

ent i r ely out o f s ight,and Mal i e toa cou ld not

,in

consequence,perform his promis e of fetch ing

us addit iona l supp l i e s . Suppos ing the di stance not above ten or twelve mi les ,and i t be ing a dead ca lm , we de

term ined to go on shore in our own boat . Butwe erred in our est imate ; and although we leftthe ves se l at b etween n ine and ten o ’c lock in the

morning,i t was pas t e ight in the evening when


we landed . Providenti a l ly,1t remained calm

unt i l we were w ith in two or three mi les 01'

theshore

,or we could not have reached it

,as al l

our crew were i l l . M r . Bar ff and mysel f werecompel led to tug at the oar dur ing severalhours ; bes ides wh ich ,

in the severe gale we hadencountered

,someth ing had fal len upon the

boat,and made her so leaky

,that i t was with

difficulty we could keep her above water . Being seen from the shore before sunset

,Ma l i e

toa despatched a canoe to our as s i s tance,which

conducted us to th e landing- place . An im

mense crowd had as sembled to w itness,I be

l i eve,the very firs t Engl i shmen who set foot

upon the ir shores . W hat an advantage i twould have been to the pagan abor igines ofevery country

,i f the firs t c ivi l i z ed be ings by

whom they were vis i ted had gone on the s ameerrand o f mercy

,and conveyed to them the

same bles s ings which i t was our Obj ect to impart to th i s interes t ing peop le"The scene which presented i t se l f on our land

ing was unique,and mo s t remarkab le . The na

tives had kindled a large fire to serve as a beacon

,and mu l t i tudes had supp l ied themselve s

with torches o f dry cocoa - nut and other leaves,

to conduct us to th e ch ief ’ s dwe l l ing . A pas

176 LIFE OF JOHN W ILL IAMS .

sage was opened for us through the den secrowd, who were kept in order by a sort o f nat ive po l ice, armed with spears and clubs , ands tat ioned there for the purpose ; and we werenot a l i tt le amused to witnes s the severe b lowswhich were occas iona l ly dea l t out : bythes e Offic i a ls upon the th ick cran ium s of thosewho transgres s ed the i r order s . In the meant ime

,some were bus i ly emp loyed in supp lying

th e fire,some in conveying var ious art icles

from the boat,other s in carrying them

to our lodgings,wh i l s t a crowd, anx ious to tes

tify the i r good fee l ing,as soon a s orders were

given,rushed into the water to hau l up the boat .

The ma j or i ty, however, had enough to do togaz e upon the wonder fu l stranger s

,and for

th i s purpos e they cl imbed the cocoa- nut andother trees

,upon the trunks and branches of

wh ich they were s een in clus ter s, by the red

glare of the fire and the torches , peeping withg l i s ten ing eyes and wonder ing look fromam ongst th e r ich dark fo l iage which surround

ed them .

In these c i rcum stances we proceeded to payour respects to Ma l i etoa . M r . Bar ff and mysel fhad each a guard o f honour , nor did we meetagain unti l we arr ived at the ch ief

’ s res idence .



and our s tay would be short,we begged to be

a l lowed,whi le we remained

,to re s ide with

them . On go ing from the house o f M al i etoato that a l lotted by h i s b rother for the r es idenceof the teachers

,we pas sed a danc ing—house

,in

wh ich a number of per formers were enterta ining a large company o f spectators .

On looking in,we observed two per sons

drumming on an ins trument formed of a matwound t ight around a framework of r eeds

,and

s ix young men,and two young women ,j um p

ing about with great v io lence,and making mo

t ions with thei r hands and feet in t ime withthe

‘

drumm er s , whi le other s contr ibuted to therude harmony by s inging a song in honour ofth e

”

arr iva l Of “the two great Engl i sh ch i efs .

”

W e s aw noth ing border ing upon indecency inthe

,

per formance, which , however , r equi red somuch exertion,

that the bodie s of both the malesand f ema l es were s tr eaming with persp i rat ion .

CHAPTER XVII .

COM PELLED BY CONTRARYW INDs To TURN FROMSAVAGE I SLAND— ARRIVAL AT RAROTONGAVISIT TO ARORANG I— BEAUTY OF TH E SETTLEMENT— ARRIVAL AT RURUTU— ARRIVAL ATTAHIT I— ME— TH E WARRIOR AND TH E DROP

OF BLOOD .

LEAVING the Samoa group,we directed our

cour se to Savage“ I s land,for the purpose o f

landing the two young men whom we had takenaway

,and who

,though now reconc i led. to us

,

were exceedingly anx ious to return . Very favou rable impres s ions had been made on oneo f them,

but the other res i s ted every effor t toins truct h im . Much to our di scomfor t

,we were

sO'

baffled by calms and l ight winds, that weWere a fortn ight in sa i l ing three hundredm i les"In consequence of th i s unexpected deltention ,

our prov i sions and water began to

run short,and having to per form a voyage of

e ighteen hundred mi les aga ins t the preva i l ing

wind,we were compel led to take advantage of a

180



reached Avarua about four o ’clock in the a fternoon

,where we came safely to anchor

,and on

landing were met by my excel lent brother,M

'

r .

Bu zacott,the king

,and a mult i tude o f people

,

who,with j oy beaming on the i r countenances

,

were wai t ing to welcome us to the i r shore s .On inqui r ing about that terr ib l e di s ea se whichwas raging with such aw ful fata l i ty when welas t V i s i ted them

,they repl i ed

,

“Oh,you carr i ed

i t away with you,for we b egan to recover im

mediate ly after your vi s i t,and Rarotonga i s

again Rarotonga and then they leaped aboutand shouted for j oy . I was truly glad to findthat th ey were bus i ly emp loyed in subdu ing theweeds

,and in res tor ing the ir i s land again to i t s

previous order Makea and the peop le generally were inexpres s ib ly del ighted at hear ingthat I had found Manu ka

,the i s land

,i t w i l l be

recol lected,from which

,according to the i r

tradit ion,came the great and mighty Kar ika

,

the progeni tor Of the present Makea fami ly .

W e spent two or th ree such happy days Wi thour brethren and the i r kind people,

’

that the

to i l s and danger s of our voyage were ent i relyforgotten . A few intere st ing inc idents a lsooccurred

,wh ich I shal l br i efly notice .

In pas smg from Avarua to Ngatangi i a , our


Old fr iend Bu teve, th e cr ipple, seated him iself

upon h is s tone - chai r by the way - s ide,and on

s ee ing us approach,he craw led upon h i s knees

into the middle of the path,and talked in l ively

terms o f the goodnes s of God in s t i l l ing theraging tempes t H e informed us

,that on one

occas ion,when an armed party were pas s ing

by,he crawled out

,and plac ing h imsel f in the i r

front,sa id to them

,

“Fr i ends,why do ye des i r e

war in the peaceful r e ign of Jesus the Son ofGod ? Had we not enough of that when wewere Satanees ? Return to your hab itat ions

,

and ceas e,by your turbulent sp i r i ts , to di s turb

the peace and comfort wh ich the Gospel has intr odu ced am ong us ” “ Instead of l i s tening tome

,

” sa id Bu teve, they cal led me names,and

brandished the ir spear s . I to ld th em that theymight spear me

,but that they could not spear

God,who could conquer them

‘when he pleased ;and thi s

,

” added the cr ipp le,

“he has now mosteffectual ly done . Our own wickednes s broughtthi s terr ib le j udgment upon us ; but hav ing re

pented o f our fol ly,God has heard our prayer s ,

rebuked the dis ease,and Rarotonga i s aga in

Rarotonga .

”

Having rece ived a pres s ing reques t fromP apeiha,

the teacher,and Tinom ana, the ch ie f ,


to v i s i t the i r s tat ion,a l though anxious to. r e

turn home,we fe l t that it wou ld be unkind not

to grat i fy them ,and certa in ly we were wel l

r epa id for the sacr ifice . The s ite o f th i s newlyformed settl ement was an extens ive p lot o f flatland

,s tretch ing from the s ea to the mounta ins .

The houses s tood severa l hundred yards fromthe beach

,and were protected from the glare of

the sea by the r ich fol iage o f rows o f largeBarr ing ton ia and other tr ees wh ich gi r t theshore . The settl ement was about a mi le inlength

,and per fect ly s tra ight

,with a wide road

down the midd le ; on e ither s ide o f wh ich wererows of the tu fted - top t i t ree

,whose del i cate

and beaut i fu l b los som s,hanging beneath thei r

p lume—cre sted tops,afforded an agreeab le

shade,and rendered the wa lk del ightfu l . The

cottages of th e nat ive s were bu i l t in regu larl ines

,about fifty yards f rom the border Of th i s

broad pathway,and about the same dis tance

f rom each other . . The chape l and schoo l - housestand in the centr e o f the s ett lement ; and bythe i r prominence

,both in s i z e and S ituat ion

,the

nat ive s wou ld appear to expres s the h igh va luethey attach to the means Of re l igious in stru ct ion . Every house has doors and Venet i anwindows

,which are pa inted part ly with lamp



e ight hour s"I t i s worthy of spec ia l notice, thatafter fa ir wind sprang up

,two hundred mile s

wes t of Savage Island, 'we sa i l ed,in th e short

space of fi fteen days,a di stance o f ab out seven

teen o r e ighteen hundred mi les to the eas tward

—an instance perhaps unparal lel ed in the hi story of trop ica l navigation . On arr iving atTahit i we were cordial ly we lcomed by ourb rethren

,who having heard o f numerous sh ip

wrecks s ince we sa i led,had entertained ser ious

apprehens ions on our account . Thei r fear s,

however,were now removed

,and they wer e de

l ighted to hear o f the succes s of our enterpr is e .

After having rem ained a S abbath with ourbeloved fr i ends

,M r . and M r s . S impson

,we

sai led for Huah ine,where M r s . W i l l i ams and

M r s . Platt were spending a few days wi th Mrs .

Bar ff,anxious ly wai t ing our arr ival . I t i s

superfluous to add,that i t was a happy meet ing .

Sa fe and happy ours e lves,our j oy was com

plete when we found our wives and fami l i e s inhealth

,and our s tat ions in prosper i ty . Thus

terminated th i s important voyage , the b les s edresults of which wi l l

,I bel i eve

,be as valuab le

as the soul,and as endur ing as eterni ty .

On arr iving at Raiatea,a scene not very dis

s imi lar to that I have j ust r e lated,came under


my immediate ob servat ion . In my own churchwas an Old b l ind warr ior

,cal led Me. H e had

been the terror of al l the inhab itants o f Raiatea,

and the neighbor ing i s lands ; but in the las t batt le wh ich was fought before Chr i s t ian ity wasembraced

,he rece ived a b low which destroyed

hi s s ight .

MR . WILLIAMS AND TH E BLIND WARRIOR .

A _ few years after my sett lement at RaiateaM e was brought under the influence o f th eGospel

,and when ou r church was formed

,he

was among the fir s t member s admitted . H i sd i l igence in attending the house of God was r e

m arkable, whither he was guided by some kindfr iend

,who wou ld take one end of h is s t i ck


whi le he held the other . The most respectab lefemales in th e s ett lement thought th i s no disgrace

,and I have frequently s een pr incipal

ch iefs,and the king h imsel f, l eading h im in th is

way to chape l . Al though bl ind,he attended

our adu lt school s at s ix O ’ c lock in the morning,

and by repeat ing and careful ly treasur ing upwhat kind fr i ends read to h im

,he obtained a

great fam i l i ar i ty w ith th e truth s of the N ewTestament . And here I may Obs erve

,that the

nat ives general ly are exceedingly kind to b l indand aged people

,in reading to them port ions

of S cr ip ture which th ey are des irous Of retaining

,and I do not know a more interes t ing scene

than i s pres ented at t imes in our adult schoo l s,

where you wi l l s ee a p ious female,surrounded

by three or four of her own sex decrep i twith age

,to whom sh e i s r eading and exp la in

ing some important pas sages in th e word o fGod -there you may Obs erve a pr inc ipa l ch iefor h i s w i fe engaged in the s ame way . In onep lace you wi l l find a l i t t le boy, in another an in

ter esting l i t t le g ir l , seated among Old warr ior s,

and either teach ing them the a lphabet,in str u c

t ing them in spel l ing, or reading over someport ions of S cr ip ture . On the fi rs t Sabbatha f ter my return I missed o ld M e ; and not r e



to the attent ion they rece ived . In rep ly to myques t ion, M e s tated that at t imes he sufferedmuch from hunger . I said

,

“How so ? Youhave your own plantat ions ; for

,al though

bl ind,he was d i l igent in the cult ivat ion o f

sweet potatoes and bananas . Ye s,

”he sa id

,

“but as soon as I was taken i l l,the people w ith

whom I l ived s e iz ed my ground,and I am at

t imes exceedingly in want .” I asked h im whyhe had n o t compla ined to the ch ief

,or to some

o f th e Chr ist ian brethren who vi s i ted him ; andh is a ffect ing rep ly was

,

“I feared le s t the peopleshould cal l me a t

'

aleb earer,and speak evi l o f

my rel igion,and I thought I would rather suf

fer hunger or death thangive them occa s ion to

do so .

” I then inquired what b rethren vi s i ted

h im in h i s affl i ct ion,to read and pray with him .

Naming s evera l,he added

,

“they do not come

so O ften as I could wi sh,yet I am n ot lone ly, for

I have frequent V i s i t s from God -God and I

were talk ing together when you came in .

“W e l l ” I s a id, and what wer e you talk ing

about ?” “I was praying to depart and be with

Chr i st,wh ich i s far b etter

,

” was h i s rep ly .

Having int imated that I thought h i s s i cknes s

would terminate in death,I wished h im to tel l


me what he thought o f h imse l f in the s ight ofGod, and what was the foundat ion o f h i s hope .

“Oh,

” he rep l i ed,

“I have been in great troubl eth i s m orning

,but I am happy now . I saw an

immense mounta in,with precip itous s ides

,up

wh ich I endeavoured to cl imb,but when I had

attained a cons iderable he ight,I los t my ho ld

and fel l to the bottom . Exhausted with per

plexity and fat igue, I went to a d is tance andSat down to weep

,and wh i le weep ing

,I saw a

drop of blood fa l l upon that mounta in,and in

a moment i t was dis solved W i sh ing to Obta in

hi s own ideas o f what had been pres ented to

h i s imaginat ion,I said

,

“This was cer ta inly a

s trange s ight,what cons truct ion do you put

upon i t ?” After express ing h i s surpr i s e that I

should b e at a los s for the interpretat ion,he

exclaimed,

“That mounta in was my s ins,and

the drop wh ich fel l upon it was one drop o f the

prec ious b lood o f Jesus,by which the mountain

of my gui lt mus t be melted away .

” I expres s ed

my sat i s fact ion at finding he had such an idea

of the magn itude of h i s gu i l t,and such exa lted

views o f the efficacy o f the Saviour ’ s b lood,and

that although the eyes of h i s body were b l ind,he could w ith the eye of his hear t

” s ee such a

192 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAM S .

glor ious s ight . H e then went on to s tate,that

the var ious s ermons he had heard were now hi scompanions in sol i tude

,and the source o f h i s

comfort in affli c t ion . On say ing,at the c lose

of the intervi ew,that I would go home and pr e

pare som e'

m edicine for h im,which might af

ford h im ease, he rep l i ed,“I wi l l dr ink it

,be

cause you say I must,but I sha l l not pray to be

restored to hea l th again,for my des ire i s to

depart and b e wi th Chr i s t,which i s far b etter

than to remain longer in thi s s infu l wor ld .

In my subsequent vi s i t s,I a lways found h im

happy and cheer fu l , longing to depart and bew ith Chr is t . Th is was constant ly the burdenof h is prayer . I was with him when he breathed h i s last . Dur ing th i s intervi ew, he quoted

m any prec ious pass ages of S cr ipture ; and having exc laimed with energy

,

“Oh death,where

i s thy s t ing"” hi s vo ice fal tered, h i s eyes b ecame fixed

,h is hands dropped, and h i s sp i r i t

departed to be with that S av iour , one drop ofwhose b lood had me lted away the mountain ofh i s gu i lt . Thus di ed poor old Me

,the bl ind

warr ior o f Raiatea . I ret i red from the Overwhelming and interes t ing scene, praying as Iwent that my end might be l ike hi s .



represented to h im that,by a desperate effort

he might depose the re ign ing fami ly,make

h imse l f chi ef o f a l l the Leeward I s lands,and

be as renowned as h is grandfather . Everyeffor t was made that k indnes s could suggest

,

or ingenui ty devis e,to induce h im and h i s fo l

lower s to des i s t from. the i r obs t inate andruinous cour s e

,but in va in ; and a co l l i s i on b e

tween the part ies appeared inev i tab le . Theanxiety and agitat ion occas ioned by these d i s

tre s s ing c ircumstances,so preyed upon the

mind o f our ch i e f,Tamatoa

,who was already

enfeeb led by age,that they acce lerated h is

death .

Tam atoa was constant in hi s attendance at

our adult . school; and ,at s ix o ’ c lock in the

morning,he always took h i s s eat on my r ight

hand,read h i s ver se in rotat ion with others of

the cla ss,and always evinced great pleasure

when h i s answers to my ques t ions upon i t af

forded me sat i s fact ion . A t the catechet ica l

exerci ses,the prayer—meet ings

,and the more

publ i c ordinances of God ’ s hou se,hi s s eat was

always occupied . H e certa inly del ighted in r e

ceiv ing Chr i st ian instruct ion,and invar iab ly

encouraged whatever was calcula ted to pro


mote the c ivi l and rel igious improvement o fh i s peop le .

I V i s i ted him frequently in h i s las t i l lness,

and found hi s V i ews of the way o f salvat ionc lear and dis t inct

,and h i s sp ir i t re st ing on

Chr is t a lone . Just befor e he exp ir ed,he ex

ho r ted hi s son,who was to succeed h im

,h is

daughter,and the chi e f s as s embled on the

niou rn fu l occa s ion,to b e firm in thei r attach

ment to the Gospel, to maintain th e Laws , andto b e kind to the ir Mis s ionary. Extending h i swithered arms to me he excla imed

,

“My dearfr iend

,how long we have laboured together

in th i s good cause ; noth ing has ever separatedus ; now death i s doing what nothing else ha sdone ; but

‘who shal l s eparate u s from the loveo f Chr i s t ? ’

Thus died Tamatoa,once th e ter ror o f h i s

subj ects,the murderer of h i s people

,a despoti c

tyrant,and a mos t b igoted idolater"

After consult ing with my brethren,I de

term ined,in company with M r . Bu zacOtt and

Makea,to vi s i t the ne ighbour ing is lands , be

fore we recommenced e i ther in revi s ion of thetranslat ions

,or the repa i r s o f the ves sel . Hav

ing performed thi s voyage , the part icular s o fwhich wi l l be found in the accounts a lready


given o f the i s lands of A i tutaki,M angaia

,

At iu, and Mauke, we prepared to haul the vesse l on shore, and commence the intended r e

pa ir s and a l terat ions,which wer e

,

’

to lengthenher s ix feet, and give her a new stern ; andafter having examined the harbours

,we se

lected Makea’

s s tat ion for the purpose .‘ As

we attended as s iduous ly to th i s work on onepart Of the day

,and to the trans lat ions dur ing

the rema inder,we proceeded rap id ly and suc

ces s fu lly for th e firs t for tn ight,when new

troub les arose . At a meet ing o f the ch i efs andpeop le

,whether convened by acc ident or de

s ign we cou ld not a scerta in,a propos i t ion was

m ade and carr ied to revive s evera l of the irheathen customs

,and immediately after , the

barbarous p ract i ce o f tatoo ing commenced ina l l d i r ect ions

,and numbers were seen parading

the settl ement,decorated in the heathen trap

p ings which they had abandoned for s everalyears . The effects o f thes e unwi se and unholymeasures were fe l t in the schoo ls

,from which

many of the promi s ing young peop le o f bothsexes were u nhapp i ly drawn as ide . A t M r .

Pitman ’ s s tat ion,two young chief s ,

~ who had

been par t icu lar ly use ful,and o f whom he en

ter tained pl eas ing hopes , pub l ic ly dec lared



could compose,in wh ich I endeavoured to con

vince the peop le that thei r pract ices were at

tended with pecul iar aggravat ions,and that

God wou ld not now,as in the days of the i r

ignorance,wink at such wickedness . A very

powerful impres s ion was produced,and early

the fol low ing morning a m eeting was con

vened,which M r . Pi tman and mysel f were in

v ited to attend ; when both Pa and Kainukudeclared that the r eviva l o f the evi l p ract i ce sd id not or iginate with them . The f ormer expres sed h i s abhor rence of the evi l

,hi s una

bated attachment both to h i s M i s s ionary andto Chr i s t ian ity

,and hi s gr ie f on account of the

manner in whi ch h i s son had acted towardsM r . Pitman . Tupe

,the j udge

,spoke next

,and

gave a most interes t ing account of h imsel f,

from the t ime at which he became a Chr i s t ian .

H e s tated,that he was one of the las t to r e

ceive the Gospel,and , had held out aga inst i t

longer than any other ch ief on the i s land,but

that from the mom ent he became convinced ofi ts truth

,he embraced it,f and had determ ined

to under stand i t s p r inc ip l es ; and, as far a s

poss ib l e,act up to i ts p recept s . H e further

Observed,that at an ear ly per iod after h i s con

vers ion,he was invested with an Office by the


nat ive M i s s ionar ie s,and s ince the establ ish

ment of law he had been s e lected by h i s brother ch ie fs as pr incipa l j udge ; but that havingendeavoured

,in the d i scharge of h i s publ i c

dut i es,fear le s s of consequences

,to act con

scien tiou sly and impart ia l ly,he had been

ma l igned and suspected,had suffered the

destruct ion o f h i s property,and twice had had

h i s house burnt down . H e concluded h i s pow

er fu l and pathet ic address by saying,that

wh i le he held the office o f j udge , noth ing Shoulddeter h im from an impart ia l d is charge o f i t s

dut i e s .

As M r . Pitman did not l ike to interfere,I

address ed the meet ing,after which we left

them to adop t the i r own measures . They thenpass ed a unanim ous re so lut ion

,to send a mes

sage to request Makea to proh ib i t the heathencustoms . A few days a fter th i s the ch ie f ’ s soncame

,and expres s ed to M r . Pitman hi s deep

sorrow at having been so led away,and h i s

compan ion in del inquency address ed to h im as ens ib le and pen itent i a l l et ter to the sameeffect . Thus

,at Ngatangi i a

,the torrent

wh ich threatened to inundate the i s land withwickednes s was stemmed . A t Arorangi

,the

p ious and excel lent ch ief, Tinom ana wou ld not


l i s ten for a moment to the proposa l to resu s

c i tate any rel i c of heatheni sm,and by h is de

c ided oppos i t ion he put a s top at once to a l lfur ther d i s turbance and perplexity . Makea

and h is party,however

,did not agree to the

reques t of Pa and h i s b roth er ch ie f s,and the

evi l - disposed p ersons at h i s s tat ion were a l lowed to fol low the i r own inc l inat ions .About a fortn ight a fter th i s

,God was p leas

ed to teach them terr ib l e th ings in r ighteousness

,by vi s i t ing the ir garden i s land with a

mos t fur ious and devastat ing hurr icane ; theeffects o f which were long fe l t

,and the r e

m em b rance Of i t w i l l b e transmitted to poster ity.



pres s ed, and that the Observance Of the lawsshould be str i ct ly en forced . One of the ch iefs

,

a good—mean ing but ignorant man,propos ed

that he and h is brother chi e fs should a l l b etr i ed, and sentenced to some puni shment, asan atonement for the s ins of th e peop le .

The effects of the s evere di spensat ion uponthe minds o f the nat ives general ly were va

r iou s . Some took di sgust,left the sett lement

,

and went to l ive at th e i r respect ive di str i ct s,

saying,that s ince th e introduct ion o f Chr i s

tian ity,they had been vis i ted with a greater

number of more di r efu l calamit ies than whenthey were heathens . They enum erated fivedi s t inct d is tr es s es that had come upon thems ince they renounced idolatry . The fir s t o fthese was the s evere s ickness that raged shortly after th e ar r ival of M r . Pitman and mysel f

,in 1827 The second was the dreadful

malady,which carr ied Off so many hundreds ,

in 1830. The h ighes t mountain was s et onfire in a thunder - storm

,and i t burnt so fu

r iou sly for nearly a fortn ight , that the a ffr ighted people thought the day of judgment was athand"thi s was the th i rd . The fourth was anextraordinary preval ence of caterp i l lar s

,and

of an insect of the m antis fami ly ; the former


devoured thei r taro,and the latter des troyed

the ir cocoa - nut trees : and now the crowningcatastrophe was

,the re lentle s s hurr i cane

,

which had swept over and devastated the i ri s land

,and thus comp leted thei r mi sery . Many

however,looked upon al l th ese vis i tat ions as

j udgments,and were subdued and humb led un

der them". An addres s,del ivered at the meet

ing o f wh ich I have spoken by a tru ly excellent Oldman

,wil l afford an i l lu strat ion of th i s .

As a foundat ion for h i s remarks , he s el ectedthat passage in the Gospel o f Luke ,

“W hosefan is in his hand

,

”&c .

,and

,referr ing to the

five ca lamit i e s,as means emp loyed by Jesus

Chr is t for the sp i r i tual b enefi t of a S infu l andobst inate people

,he sa id

,

“Had we been improved by the fir s t j udgment

,we might have

escaped the second . Had we been proper lyim pres sed by the second

,we might have es

caped the th i rd,and should have been spared

the fourth . But as al l the preceding judgments had fa i led

,in th e accompl ishm ent of the

des ired Obj ect,we are now V i s i t ed by a much

mo re s ignal d i splay of D ivine power . S t i l l

h i s fan is in h i s hand,and he has not exhaust

ed the means he poss es s es Of cl ean ing h is floor .

Let us then humb le ourselves,under th i s di s


p lay of h i s power,and not provoke h im st i l l

more by our obs t inacy .

” He then proceededto notice the manner in which the Lord hadmingled mercy with h is j udgments . “True

,

s a id th e good Old chiefta in,our food is al l de

s troyed,but our l ives are spared ; our houses

are al l b lown down,but our wives and ch i ldren

have escaped ; our large new chapel i s a heapo f ruins

,and for th i s I gr ieve most o f a l l

,yet

we have a God to worsh ip ; our school—house i swashed away

,yet our teachers are spared to

us and holding up a port ion of the N ew Testament

,he cont inuel

,we have s t i l l th i s p re

ciou s book to instruct us Th i s address produced a most salutary effect upon the people .

On the fol low ing Saturday,we were ca l l ed

to mourn over the los s o f our s eventh dearbabe . Our kind and beloved fr iends mingledthei r tender es t sympath ies in our affl i ct ion

,

and did ev ery th ing that the s inceres t affect ioncould sugges t to al l ev iate our di stres s .

On the following n ight,two m o re di sasters

he fe l us,which

,although o f a di fferent charac

ter,and not to be compared with those I have

enumerated,were st i l l r endered important by

th e c i rcumstances in wh ich we were placed . Ihad taken with me , f rom Raiatea ,

a cask of



I ant ic ipated, we were not ab le , f rom want o fprovi s ions , to proceed at once to the Navigators I s lands ; and as our fr i ends at Rarotongawere in neces s itous c i rcumstances

,we were

compel led in the fir s t p lace to vis it Tah it i . Ac

compani ed by M r . Bu zacott,we sai led for the

Soci ety I s lands,where our brethren gave us

a most hearty welcome . They had been verv

nxiou s on our account ; for , in addit ion to mylong absence and the ter r ib l e hurr i cane

,which

they al so had exper i enced,newspapers had

been rece ived from Sydney,s tat ing that por

t ions of a ves se l,which appeared by the de

scr ipt ion to answer to ours,had been seen float

ing about near the Navigators I s lands,which

had exc ited the i r s er ious apprehens ions forour safety . On arr iving at Tah it i

,we heard

such dis tress ing t idings of the s tate o f Raiatea as rendered i t des i rable that I should

,i f

pos s ib l e,spend a m onth there

,whi le M r . Buza

cott r emained at Tahit i,and employed h i s t ime

in as s i s t ing M r . Dar l ing to pr int for h im theEp i stles of S t . Peter , and in acquir ing a l i tt leknowledge of th e art .

On arr iving at Raiatea,I was per fect ly as

tounded at beholding the scenes O f drunken

nes s which preva i led in my former ly flour i sh


ing stat ion . There were scarcely a hundredpeople who had not di sgraced themse lves ; andpersons who had made a cons i s tent profes s iono f rel igion for year s had been drawn into thevortex . The son and succes sor of o ld Tamatoa was a very di s s ipated young man

,and when

he succeeded t o the government,ins tead of

fo l lowing hi s fath er ’s good example,he sanc

tioned the introduct ion o f ardent sp i r i ts . En

cou raged by h im ,and taking advantage Of my

absence,a trading capta in brought a small cask

on shore,and sold i t to the nat ives . This r e

v ived the i r dorm ant appet i te,and

,l ike pent—up

water s,the dispos i t ion burs t forth

,and

,with.

the impetuos i ty Of a res i s t le s s tor rent,carr i ed

the peop le be fore i t,so that they appeared mad

dened with the infatuat ion . I could s carce ly im

agine that they were the'

same per sons amongwhom I had l ived so long

,and of Whom I had

thought so h igh ly.

As the smal l cask which had been imported.

was suffic ient on ly to awaken the d es i re f o rmore

,they had actually prepared nearly twen

ty st i l l s , which were in act ive operat ion when.

I arr ived . A meeting was immediate ly cal led,which I was requested to attend, when resolut ions wer e p as sed that a l l “the s t i l ls shou ld


forthwi th be des troyed . A new judge wasnomin ated, the laws were r e—estab l i shed

,and

persons se lected to go round the i s land andcarry the re so lutions into effect . In some distr icts these met wi th cons iderab le oppos i t ion

,

but in others they succeeded wi thou t difficul ty .

The fo l lowing week they were despatchedagain

,when they destroyed severa l more ; but

in thei r las t j ourney they were accompaniedby the late exce l lent Ma ihara

,Of Huah ine

,the

favour i te daughter of our good o ld king,who

had come to Raiatea,with some respectab le

Officer s from her own is land,for the purpose

of complet ing the destruct ion of the st i l l s . Thi sthey happi ly accomp l i shed .

H avmg accomp l i shed at Raiatea the destruct ion of the s t i l ls

,and the r e- es tab l i shment Of

law and order, we prepared to depart for Rarotonga,

hav ing on board a Valuab le cargo,cons is t ing o f severa l barre l s of flour , wh ichwe very opportune ly procured f i om anAmerican sh ip

,and other prov i s ions for our n eces

s itou s fami l i es ; together wi th horse s , asse s ,and catt le . The two former exc i ted the um

bounded astoni shment Of th e natives ., L ike

the i r breth ren of"

the Tah i t i an i s lands,th ey

called them all pigs . The ho r se was e buaka


CHAPTER XX .

ARRIVAL AT MANUA —SALUTAT I ON OF TH E

PEOPLE— FIND SOME RA IVAIAN s— OROSENGA

AND OFU— TH E DESIRE EVERYWHERE ExPRESSED FOR M ISSIONAR IEs— A CH IEF PRAYSUPON TH E DECK— RUNAWAY SAILORS BAP

TIZING TH E PEOPLE .

ON OUR former Voyage, we vis i ted only twoo f the i s l ands

,Sava i i and Upo lu

,the largest in

the cluster,but the far thes t west . On thi s

,I

determined to touch at every i s land in thegroup ; and as we were sa i l ing from the east,I resolved to take them in rotat ion .

On the m orn ing of the 17th we descr i edland having run a dis tance o f near ly e ighthundred mi le s in five days

,without having had

occas ion to sh i ft our sa i l s s ince we b id adi eu

to our fr i ends at Rarotonga . Thus pleasant

i s i t , frequently,to sa i l wes tward

,wafted by

the trade winds of trop ical c l imes . The land

we saw proved to be the i s land of Manua,the

most easter ly o f the Samoa group,and about

2 10


two hundred and fi f ty mi le s from that on whichour M i s s ionar i es were re s id ing . On near ingthe shore

,a number of canoes approached us

,

in one of which some nat ives s tood up andshouted

,W e are Chr is t ians

,we are Chr i s

t ians ;* we are wa i t ing for a falan loti t, a rel igion—sh ip

,to br ing us some people whom they

cal l M i s s ionar ie s,to tel l us about Jesus Chr i st .

I s yours the sh ip we are wai t ing for Thi swas a del ight ful s alutat ion

,and showed that

the knowledge of the Gospe l had preceded us .A fine looking m annow sprang on board

,and

introduced h imsel f as a Chr i s t ian,or “Son of

the word . On learn ing that ours was “a r é

ligion—sh ip

,he expres sed himself h igh ly de

l ighted,and ordered h i s peop le to present us

with al l the cocoa - nuts and other food that wasin the canoe . H e then asked us for a M i s s ionary ; and upon be ing informed thatwehad on lyone

,and that he was intended for Mattetau ,

Of Man-0110,he mani fe sted deep regret

,and

begged that I would supply h im as soon as poss ib l e . W e gave h im a tr ifling pr esent

,and

some el ementar y books,s aid a few words of

encouragement,and bade h im adieu ; promis

ing to br ing him a M i s s ionary as soon as circum stances would permit .

The phras e they us ed was , literally, “ Son s Of the word .


Our boat now returned to the Ship,convey

ing a nat ive of th e i s land o f Ra ivavae, whichl i es about three hundred and fi fty mi les southof

‘

Tah it i .’

On exp ress ing my surpr i se at s eeing h im there

,a di stance Of abou t

'

two thousand mi les from hi s home he informed me thathe and hi s par ty were returning in a boat fromthe ne ighbour ing i s land of Tupuai, when theylost the ir way

,and were dr iven about at s ea

for near ly three months,dur ing which di str es s

ing per iod twenty of the i r number died .

-It

appeared from the i r s tatement that they haderected a chapel

,and s ince the i r ar r iva l had

been regular in thei r Observance of the ord inances o f the Chr i s t i an worship ; that Hurawas thei r teacher

,and that most of them could

read the e ight port ions o f the Tah it i an S cr iptures

,which they had care fully pres erved, a nd

highly valued .

Just as we were leaving Manua, a fine youngman stepped on board our Ves s el , and reques ted me to give h im a pass age to Tutui la , a largei s land about forty mi le s di s tant . H e statedthat he was a Chr i s t ian ,

and that he W i shedmuch to carry to th e peopl e o f h i s own is landthe good news of wh ich he was in posses s ion .

I,o f cour se

,readi ly acceded to h is r eques t .



This , the Old ch ie fta in said,was very good ,

and p leased h i s heart ; but a s he had no one toteach them

,how was he to know ? Having

made our v is i tor a tr ifl ing present,we directed

our cours e for Tu tu ila .

”

Ear ly the fol lowing morn ing we made Tutui la

,and were very soon surrounded by a v as t

num ber of canoes,some o f whi ch conta in ed

twen ty or th ir ty men . These appeared so exces s ively wild that we d id not suffer manyofthem to board us . Thi s

,however ; we cou ld

scarce ly prevent ; for a l though we were sa i ling s eVen or e ight mi les an hour

,they paddled

so fast,that they kept pace wi th us

,clung

'

to

the s ide of the ves sel,and were so expert, that ,notwithstanding our precautions

,they sprang

on board the sh ip . A canoe now came alongs ide with an Englishman; Who ca l led h ims e l fW i l l i am Gray

,and sa id that he had been at

Tutui la‘ about three years . As the nat ive s werevery clamorous for powder and m uskets

,we

inqu i red ‘

Of Gray whether they‘

wer e at wa r ,

and “ found that two powerful ch ie f s were expected shortly to engage in a severe Confl i ct .U

'pon a sking him whether the people of"

Tutu i la had heard o f our M i s s ionar ie s

,and had

become Chr is t ians , he in formed me that very

LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS. 2 1 5

many had renounced heathen ism at Sava i i andUpola but —that onlya few had done so at Tutu i la .

H aving obta ined al l the informat ion wecould from thi s individual

,we prosecuted our

voyage down the south coas t,the var i ed beau

t ie s o f which "s truck u s ' with su rpr ise and del ight as

'

we gl ided past them . At l ength wereached

”

a d i s trict cal l ed Leone,Where " the

young man whom we had brought from Manuares ided . On enter ing the mouth of the spacions and beau tiful

'

bay, we were boarded by a

per son who introduced himself as a“Son of the

word ” W e gave him a?

hearty welcome,and

learned,in r eply to our inqu ir ies,that in h is

di s tr ict about fi fty -persons had embraced Chr i stian ity,

had erected a place of wor sh ip,and

wer e'

anxiou sly»waiting my arr ival . ‘ Thi s in

format ion was unexpected a nd del ightf ul,and

I ' determ ined immediately to V i s it - the spot .Vv

’

ith th i s intent we lowered the l itt le bo at,and

approached the - shore . W hen about twentyyards from the beach as th e heathen presentedrather a f orm idable appearance , I des ired thenat ive crew to cease rowing

,and unite with me

in prayer,which was our usual pract ice when

expos ed to danger . The ch ie f , who stood in the

2 16 LIFE OF JOHN wi LL1AMS.

centr e o f the as sembled mu l t i tude,suppos ing

that we were a fra id to land,made the peop le

s it down under the grove o f breadfru it,cocoa

nut,and other trees which gir t the shore . He

then waded into th e water near ly up to hi sneck

,and took ho ld of the boat

,when

,addre s s

ing me in h i s nat ive tongue, he said,“Son ,

wil lyou not come on shore ? wil l you not landamongs t us ?”To th i s I rep l i ed

,I do not know

that I sha l l trus t mysel f . I have heard a sadaccount of you in th i s bay

,that you have taken

two boats,and that you are exceedingly say

age ; and perhaps when you get me into yourpos ses s ion you wi l l e i ther inj ure my person ordemand a ransom for my re lease .

” “Oh,

” heshouted

,

“we are not savage now ; we areChr is t ians .” “You Chr is t ians"” I sa id .

“Where did you hear of Chr i st iani ty ?” “Oh,

he excla imed,

“a great ch ief from the whiteman ’ s country

,named W i l l i ams

,came to Sa

va i i,about twenty moons ago

,and placed some

tarna- fai- lotn,

‘worker s of r el igion,

’ there,and

several o f our people who were there began,on

the ir r eturn,to instruct the i r f r i ends

,many of

whom have become sons Of the word . Therethey are ; don

’ t you see them ?” Looking inthe direct ion to wh ich he pointed

,I saw a



rus t ic p lace of worship,which would hold

about e ighty or a hundred people,peep ing

through the fol iage o f the bananas and breadfru it tr ees in wh ich i t was embowered . Ac

companied by my loquac ious fr i end,and two

o r .thr ee other s,I asked h im

,on reach ing the

house,who per formed service there on Sab

bath ? To th is h e instant ly rep l i ed,

“ I do ”

And who,inquired I

,

“has taught you,

Why,

” s a id he,

“did you not see a l i tt le canoeby the s ide of your boat

,when we carr i ed you

on shore j us t now ? That i s my canoe, in wh ichI go down to the teachers

,get some rel igion ,

which I br ing careful ly home,and give to the

peop le ; and when that i s gone, I take my canoeagain

,and fetch some more . And now you

are come,for whom we have been so long wait

ing,where ’ s our teacher ? Give m e a man ful l

o f rel igion,that I may not expose my l ife to

danger by go ing so long a dis tance to fetch i t .”

I was truly gr i eved at b e ing compel led to tel lh im that I had no M i s s ionary . On hear ingth i s he was affected almost to tear s

,and would

scarcely bel i eve me ; for he imagined that thevess el was ful l o f M i s s ionar i es

, and that Icou ld eas i ly supp ly the dem and .

On returning to the ship, . I found that Ma


kea and our peop le had been much enterta inedby nat ives from the adj o in ing val l ey

,who were

anxious ly wait ing to pre sent an earnest r e

quest that I would pay them a vi s it . As soonas I s tepped on board

,the ch ief s e i zed m e most

cord ial ly ; but es teeming me greater than h imself

,he only rubbed h is nose on my hand . H e

then as sured me,that he and near ly al l h i s peo

ple were Chr is t i ans ; that they had erected '

a

spac ious place of worsh ip,in imitat ion o f the

one bu i l t by the teachers at Sapapal i i,from

which p lace he had late ly come,and brought

the lotn ; and that he was dai ly engaged inteach ing h i s peopl e what he h imsel f had beentaught by the M i s s ionar i es . Upon my saying

,

that,from my knowledge o f the nat ive char

acter,I d id not place imp l ic i t confidence in al l

that I heard,he adopted a m os t effectual meth

od of convinc ing me o f the truth of h i s as sert ions for

,plac ing h i s hands be fore him in the

form of a book,rec i ted a chapter out of our

Tahi t ian pr imer,part ly in the Tah i t ian dial ect

and part ly in the Samoan ; a fter which he sa id,“Let us pray ; and kneel ing down upon ourl i tt l e quarter - deck

,he repeated the Lord ’ s

Prayer,in broken Tah i t ian . The art les s s im

plici ty and appar ent s incer i ty”

of thiS '

indiv idu al


p leas ed u s exceedingly . W e gave him somee lementary books

,made h im a tr ifl ing present

,

and promised, i f poss ible, to cal l and spend aday or two with h im on our return fromSavah.

On the fo l lowing day we reached Upolu,

when nat ives from var ious parts o f the i s landapproached us

,saying that they were “Sons

o f the word,

” and that they were wa i t ing forthe “rel igion- sh ip of M r . W i l l i ams to br ingthem M i s s ionar ie s .” Among the n umber We

perce ived two Engl i shmen . Upon be ing admited on board, and learn ing who I was , th inking

that i t wou ld afford me p leasure,they began

to descr ib e the i r exp lo i t s in turn ing peop le to

re l igion,as they termed i t . W i sh ing to Obta in

a l l the in format ion I cou ld from thes e men,

I inquired the number o f the ir converts,wh ich

they s tated to be between two and three hundred ; and hav ing asked how they eff ected thei rObj ect

,one o f them said

,

“Why, S i r , I goesabout and ta lks to the peop le, and te l l s ’ emthat ou r G od i s good ,

and the ir ’ s i s bad ; andwhen they l i s tens to me

,I makes ’ em re l igion .

and bapt iz es ’em .

” “Sure,

” I exc laimed, youbapt iz e them

,do you ? howdo you perform

that ?” ‘W hy, Sir ,” he answered,

“I takes


CHAPTER XX I .

ARRIVAL AT MANONA— JOY OF MATETAU

REACH SAV AIl— SABBATH SERVI CE THEREMAL IETOA

’

S ADDRESS— MALIETOA’

S REPLIESTo TH E AUTHOR

’ S QUEST IONS .

ON SATURDAY afternoon we reached M anona, and as we were pas s ing th i s li tt le -gardenis land, my colossa l fr i end, Matetau

,came Off

to us . After embrac ing me cordia l ly,and rub

bing noses qu i te as long as was agreeab le,he

sa id,

“VVher e

’

s my M i s s ionary ? I have not

forgotten your promi se .

” “NO more have I,

”

was my rej o inder ;“here he i s I then intro

du ced Te - ava and hi s wife,when he se iz ed

them with de l ight,saluted thei r noses with a

long and hearty rub,and excla imed

,lelei

,lelei,

lava,

“good,very good ; I am happy now .

”

Having stated to the chi ef that I was anxious

to reach the M i s s ionary s tat ion before dark ,

and that he must e ither accompany me and

return in a few days,or go on shore

,he sa id,

“ I must hasten back to tel l my people the good222


news,that you have come and brought the

promised M i s s ionary .

” Again rubb ing mynose

,he s tepped into hi s canoe

,and

,skimming

over the b i l lows,s a i led towards th e shore

,

shout ing as he approached it,that M r . W il

l iams had brought them the i r M i s s ion ary .

W e reached the s tat ion o f Ma l i etoa aboutfive o ’c lock

,when the teacher s and people man

ifested extravagant j oy at s ee ing us . A s thetwe lve months dur ing which we had promisedto return had e lapsed

,they had entertained

fear s lest they shou ld never s ee me again .

W hen I in formed them that my detent ion hadbeen occas ion ed by the hurr icane at Rarotonga

,

they stated that i t had extended to al l the Navigato r s I s lands , and had been most des truct ive

in i ts ravages .After the firs t express ion of j oy

,wh ich the

South S ea I s lander s invar iably Show by weeping

,had subs ided

,I des i r ed the teacher s to

inform me what had occurred dur ing the important per iod Of the i r res idence among thepeop le

,when I learned that Mal i etoa, h i s

brother the pr incipa l ch ie f s,and near ly al l the

inhab itants o f the i r s ett lement,had embraced

Chr i st i an i ty — that thei r chape l wou ld accom

m odate s ix or seven hundred peop le , and that


i t was always fu l l ; and that in the two largei s lands of Sava i i and Upo lu the Gospe l hadbeen introduced into more than th i r ty V i l l ages .

In addi t ion to thi s,they s tated that the great

body of the people were only wai t ing my arr ival to renounce the i r h eathen sys tem . Thiswas most del igh t ful informat ion

,and drew

forth tears of grat i tude to God,for having in

so short a t ime granted us such a r ich reward .

As the old king,Mal i etoa

,was from home

,

catch ing wood p igeons,a sport of which the

ch ie fs are extreme ly fond,a mes senger was

despatched to inform h im of our arr iva l . Atabout ha l f- pas t s ix O ’ c lock

,al l the M i s s ionar i es

left home to V i s i t numerous houses in the settlem ent, for th e purpos e o f conducting familyworship ; m any of the i r converts not havingacquir ed suffic i ent know ledge to officiate themse lves .

Although Ma l i etoa was abs ent,I determined

to take up my res idence at h i s house,knowing

that i t would aff ord h im p leasure to find methere on h i s r eturn .

At about n ine o ’ c lock the next morn ing,I

went to the chapel,accompan ied by the teach

ers and Makea . I t was bu i l t in th e Tah i t ianstyles

,but thatched wi th the leaves of the sugar



M rs . Bu zacott j us t before our departure .

O'Il returning home,I inqu i r ed o f the teach

ers why they had not taught th e peop le to s ing,

when they in formed me that they began to doso

,but as the females sang the hymns at the i r

dances , they thought i t better to des i st . Oninqu iry

,we learned that th e teacher ’ s w ives

had a lso attempted to ins truct the Samoa temales in the manufacture o f white Tah i t iancloth

,o f wh ich they had made large quant i t i e s

for the ch iefs,but that the women were so idle

that they cou ld not b e induced to learn theart

,a l though the c loth was exceedingly ad

mired . W e a lso found that th ey had u n su c

ces s fully endeavoured to persuade them tocover the upper part o f the i r per son s

,o f wh ich

they were excess ive ly va in . Indeed,they were

continual ly entreat ing the teacher s ’ wives tolay as ide the i r European garments , and faas am od

,that i s

,adopt the Samoa fash ions , which

was to gi rd a shaggy m at around the loins ,loop the corner o f i t on the r ight s ide, anointthemselves pro fuse ly w ith scented Oil

,t inge

themselve s with turmer ic rouge,fas ten a row

of blue beads round the neck,and J aar iaria,

strut about and show themselves ; and they en

forced the i r wishes by as sur ing them ,that i f


they d id SO,al l would admire them .

At about one O ’ c lock,Mal i etoa arr ived . H e

was neatly dres sed in a white sh i r t and wai s tcoat and wore a beaut i ful ly wrought mat as asubs t i tute fo r trowsers . H e looked exceedingly wel l, and the contras t between h is ap

pear ance then and at our former intervi ew,

when he came direct from scenes o f war andbloodshed

,was v ery s tr ik ing . A fter the usual

salutat ion,he expres sed h is S incere pleasure in

again welcoming me to the shore s of Sava i i ,where they had been mos t anxiou s ly expecting me for s evera l month s .

In the afternoon I preached to a congregat ion of not le s s than a thousand persons

,and

found it a del ight fu l employment to tel l thewonder ful s tory of redeeming love to a multitude on whom the l ight o f the Gospel wasj ust beginn ing to dawn ; and earnestly did Ipray that soon “ they might be ab le

,with al l

sa ints,to comprehend the breadth

,and length

,

and depth,and he ight

,of that love which pas s

eth knowledge .

At the conclus ion Of the s ervice,one of the

teachers arose,and thus addres s ed the a ss em

bly : “Fr iends,for a long t ime we have been

subj ect to r id icule ; and some have even r epr e


s ented us as dece iver s,and endeavoured to

confirm the i r representations by saying,

‘Where i s M r . W i l l i ams ? he wi l l never return :i f h e comes aga in we wi l l bel i eve .

’ H ere,then

,

i s our min i ster,for whom you have been wait

ing : you can ask h im any ques t ions you please,

in confirmation of what we have to ld you .

Moreover,there i s an im po ster

i< who hastaught the peop le to keep Saturday a s the sa

cred day,and some of you have l i s tened to h i s

advice .

“H ere i s our min is ter from England,the

dwel l ing- p lace o f know ledge ; he and hi s brother M i s s ionar ies are the foun ta ins from whichits s treams have flowed th rough th ese i s lands .Ask h im

,now

,respect ing the po ints concern

ing which you have doubted . H e i s our root .”

In reply to th i s addres s,Ma l i e toa,

a fter ashor t interva l

,came forward

,and del ivered a

mos t s ens ib l e sp eech,th e subs tance of wh ich

was,that the M i s s ionar i e s shou ld not regard

what any ins ign ificant p er son might say, andthat he hoped al l su spi c ious fee l ing would sub

s i de ;“ for sur e ly

,

” he exc laimed,“they wi l l

*This in div idual was a n ativ e Of U p olu, an d had V is itedTahiti

,where he had ob tain e d a littl e k n owledge o f Chris

tian ity ; and b ein g an artful fellow,he had

,lik e the r u n

away sailors , tak en adv ar tage o f the gen ei al excitemen t,and had practi c ed much deceit up on the p eop le .


230 LI FE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

ten O ’ clock, a mess enger came to reques t ourattendance at a meet ing

,convened in the large

pub l ic bu i lding. On our arr iva l we found i tcomplete ly fi l l ed with in

,and surrounded by

a crowd who could not ga in adm i s s ion . Avacant space was preserved in the centr e forMakea and mysel f . Mal i etoa was seated op

po s ite to us , at a di stance o f s evera l yards,

when,a fter “exchanging salutations

,I told

him that I had come according to - m y prom

i s e,and that I was exceedingly del ighted to

find that he had fulfi l l ed al l h i s engagements ,and had

,with so m any Of h i s p eop le

,embraced

Chr ist ian ity . T0 th i s the Old ch iefta in made along and sens ib l e reply ; after wh ich ,

Makea

enterta ined and del ighted the people with anaccount of the introduct ion and effect s Of

Chr i st ian ity at Rarotonga . Now,

” he sa id ,

“we enj oy happ ines s , to which our ancestorswere s tranger s : our ferocious war s have ceased ; our houses are the abodes o f comfort ; wehave European property ; books in our ownlanguage ; our ch i ldren can read ; and, aboveal l

,we know the true God

,and th e way of sal

vat ion by h i s son Jesus Chr i s t . H e concluded

h i s im portant and most effect ive addres s , by

earnes tly exhort ing Mal ietoa and h i s brother


chi efs to grasp with a firm hold the word o fJehovah ;

“ for th i s alone,

” he added,

“can make

you a peaceable and happy peop le . I shouldhave d ied a savage had i t not b een for theGospel .”

Makea’

s address produced a most power fulimpress ion . H i s appearance convinced everyone

.

that he was a great ch ie f ; and his colour ,that he was one of the i r own people ; and inthe i r es t imat ion

,he was more sp lendidly at

t i red than any European they had everwhich they attr ibuted to hi s havm g become aworsh ipper o f Jehovah . In rep ly

,Mal i etoa

s tated hi s ful l conv ict ion of th e advantagewh ich would grow out of the good word .

“W e,he sa id

,

“should never have knowneach other

,but for that word .

” H e then declar ed h i s strong attachment to Chr i s t ian i ty

,

and h is determinat ion to hold i t W i th a firmgrasp

,as Makea had exhorted h im . Encou r

aged by th i s,I informed Mal i etoa and hi s peo

ple that the Chr i s t ians in England,with whom

I was connected,Were wi l l ing to send Engl i sh

M i s s ionar ies,i f they s incerely des ired to re

ceive them ; and I therefore wanted an exp l i c i tdec larat ion o f the i r wi shes

,as they had had

-*Mak ea wore his red surtout

,which Mr s . Bu zacott had

k in dly made and p resente d to him .


suffic i ent t ime to form an Opin ion of the sp ir i tand pr inc iple s o f Chr is t ian i ty . To th i s Mal i etoa ins tantly rep l i ed

,with most emphat i c em

ergy,

“W e are one ; we are on ly one ; we arethoroughly one in our determinat ion to beChr i s t ians .” Proceeding with my interrogator i es

,I sa id

,

“W hat is your wi sh ?” but,full

of h is subj ect,be fore I fini shed my quest ion

,

he repl i ed,

“Our wi sh i s that you'

should fetchyour fami ly

,and come and l ive and di e with us

,

to tel l us about Jehovah,and teach us how to

love Jesus Chr i s t .” I said,

“But I am only one,

and there are e ight i s lands in the group,and

the peop le are so num erous that the work i s toogreat for any ind iv idual ; and my propos i t ioni s

,that I r eturn immediate ly to my nat ive

country,and inform my brother Chr i s t ians of

your anxiety to be instructed .

” “W el l,”

r e

pl ied the ch i efta in,go

,go with speed ; obta in

al l the M i s s ionar i es you can,and come aga in

as soon as pos s ib le ; but we Shal l be dead, manyof us wi l l be dead

,be fore you return .

”There

was someth ing to my mind thr i l l ingly affect ingin the above expres s ion ; and cal lous indeedmust have been the individua l who cou ld witness such a scene

,and l i s ten to such sent i

ments,without emotion . I went on to s tate


234 LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS

h is sons to as s i s t the teacher s in erect ing thechapel . Thi s they completed a short t ime b efore the terminat ion o f the disastrous confl i ct .On Malietoa

’

s r eturn,the day was fixed for

open ing it ; but j us t be fore that, he cal led h isfami ly together

,m os t of whom had reached

manhood,and s tated

,that he was about to

fulfi l h i s p romis e to me,and become a worsh ip

per o f Jehovah . W i th one accord they repl i ed,that i f i t was good for h im

,i t was equal ly so

for them,and that they would fol low h i s ex

amp le . But to th i s he obj ected,and declared

that i f they did so,he should adhere to th e old

system .

“D O you know,

” he said,“ that the

gods wi l l be enraged with me for abandon ingthem

,and endeavour to destroy me ? and per

haps Jehovah may not have power to p rotect

me agains t the effect s of the i r anger"Mvpropos i t ion

,ther efore

,i s

,that I should try

the exper iment of becoming h i s worsh ipper ,and then

,i f he can protect me , you may fol low

my example ; but i f not , I only shal l fa l l a vict im to thei r vengeance— you wil l be sa fe .

”The

young men manife s ted great reluctance to

comply with th is reques t,and wi shed to know

how long a t ime he requ ired to make thi s s ingular exper iment . I-

I

e in formed them , that he


des i red a month or s ix weeks ; and a fter somedebate, they unwi l l ingly acqui esced in h i spropos i t ion . I t was , however , a t ime of genera l and intense exc i tement

,and messenger s

were frequently despatched to different par tso f the i s land

,to announce the tr ium phs of Jeho

vab ’ s power . A t the exp irat ion o f th e th irdweek

,however

,the pat ience of the young m en

was exhausted,and

,going to the ir father

,they

stated,that he had tr i ed h i s exper iment su ffi

ciently long ; that no evi l had befal len h im ,and

that there fore they would immediate ly fol lowh is example . H e gave h i s consent ; When notonly h i s r elat ives

,but near ly a l l h i s p eople

,

abandoned the i r heathen wor sh ip . Thi s ap

pear ed to me a most s ingular and interes t inginc ident .

One part Of the conduct of the teacher s ap

pear ed to me worthy of spec ia l comm endat ion .

They had invar iab ly refus ed to hold rel igiouss ervices in the large puplic bu i ld ings , ass igningas a reason

,the di sgust ing and in famous char

acter of the dances and amusements conductedthere . W ar had been O ften rumoured

,and

several t imes i t was on the eve o f b reaking out .On one of thes e occas ions

,the heathen , exas

perated at Tanga loa for inv i t ing a teacher to


res ide at h i s sett lement,th reatened to attack

h im i f he was not sent away . A s Tangaloar efused to do thi s they prepared for battl e ; butas soon as they saw that Mal ietoa had comewith a large party of h i s fol lowers to th e ass istance of hi s fr i ends

,they were int im idated

and withdrew . On another occas ion,some o f

the people of Manona threatened to put Mal i etoa to death . H e had gone over there to vi s i tsom e fr i ends

,when the ch i e f who reta ined

Tam a fainga’

s head,proposed to uni te wi th

him in exact ing a genera l tr ibute for i t . T0th i s

,however

,Mal i etoa obj ected

,saying

,that

he was a worshipper of Jehovah,and that

,with

h i s consent,no tr ibute should be pa id to the

head o f Tam afainga,nor a succes sor appo int

ed . Thi s exasperated the intere s ted party somuch

,that they agreed to as sas s inate him . H e

heard of th i s,and after spending a few days

with Matetau,returned home . The party ex

pected to be as sa i led immediately, and therefore sent the i r women

,chi ldren, and proper ty

to the i r fortres s , put themselve s in an att i tudeo f de fence

,and wai ted anxious ly dur ing s evera l

weeks for the anti c ipated attack . This , how

ever,Mal ietoa had no intent ion o f making ; but

had he not embraced the Chr i st ian rel igion



ful ly what was p laced before them . In thecours e o f conversat ion

,I found that a speci es

o f s erpent abounded in the Samoa I s lands ; andhaving expressed a wi sh to take a spec imenwith me to the Soc iety i s lander s

,who had never

s een one,the ladie s immediate ly ran out of the

house,and re turned about hal f an hour after

wards,each having a l ive Snake twined about

her neck . The manner s of these female s werep leas ing ; and, while I gaz ed upon thei r goodnatured countenances

,and l i s tened to the ir

cheerfu l convers at ion,I could not but r ej o ice in

the hope,that the per iodhad arr ived when they

would be ra i s ed from the state o f barbarousvas salage into wh ich s in and supers t i t ion hadsunk them . Dur ing the evening

,wh i l e con

vers ing with the king,and other per sons o f

di st inct ion,I made some al lus ion to the dread

ful hurr icane at Rarotonga,and found that

,at

the Samoa I s lands,i t had raged with great

fury,accompanied by a violent shock of an

earthquake ; four of which ,the teachers in

formed me,had been exper ienced within the

seventeen month s th ey had res ided there .

CHAPTER X"I I .VISIT To AMOA— A BEAUT I FUL SETTLEMENT

DI SAGREEMENT BETWEEN MATETAU AND MA

LIETOA— SAI L FOR MANONA .

TH E fo l lowing morn ing we le f t Sapapal i ifor Amoa

,a s tat ion about e ight mi les d i stant

,

at which the inhab itants had bui lt a chapel,

and were al l r ece iving Chr i s t ian in s truct ion .

In go ing th ither,we pas sed through a s ett le

ment cal led Safatulafai, which i s one of themost beaut i ful Of th e group

,and wh ich aston

ished and del ighted m e . W e cou ld more eas i lyhave imagined ourse lves in an Engl i sh park

,

than'

in a heathen vi l lage . A b road road ofhard sand ran through i t ; a spac ious bui ldingfor the ir pub l i c bus ines s and amusements occup ied the center ; and, at var ious d istances , there

were lawns o f b eaut i fu l green swa-

rd, whichwere appropr iated to club—fights, fenc ing,

Wres t l ing,and boxing matches . The pathway

Was overshadowed by the wide - spread ing

branches O f the tarnanne,and o ther gigant ic

24o LIFE OF JOHN W ILLIAMS .

tree s , whi le the neat houses of the inhab itantswere part i a l ly concealed by the fo l i age o f thebread- f ru i t trees and bananas

,among wh ich

they were embowered . This s ett lement waskep t in excel lent order, and had an air of respectability which could not have been lookedfor among a peop le

,In other respects

,so bar

barous . Before we reached Amoa,we passed

through two or three other sett lements,which

,

although large,wer e in fer ior to Safatulafai.

But what rendered thes e most interes t ing was,

that in o ne of t hem a chape l was fin ished,and

in a s econd the inhab i tants were prepar ing toerect another . After spending a sho r t t im ewith the chiefs

,and addres s ing to them a few

words of encouragement,we proceeded on

' ourj ourney

,and reached Amoa

,which we found

to be an extens ive sett lement, but infer ior inbeauty to that through which we had pas sed .

I t was governed,a s i s frequent ly the case, by

two chi efs o f near ly equa l rank . These wereact ive young m en

,and very z ea lous in the

cause they had espoused ; and we were grat ifiedto learn

,that the i r examp le had been fo l lowed

by a l l th e inhab i tants . After rece iving the

cordial welcome of chi efs and peop le,we went

to the chape l, and found it rather a rough edi



s ide,we perce ived that the pr incipa l woman

and her daughter had seated themse lves by thetwo ch iefs

,one o f Whom she requested to be

her spokesman . Through him she stated,that

they had heard o f my intent ion to come toAmoa ; but as th e Chr ist ians of her settlementwere only fema les

,they Cou ld not expect to

rece ive a v i s i t from s o g reat a ch ie f as mysel f,

and had there fore come to pay the i r r espectsto one from whom they had rece ived the wordof Jehovah . She then expres sed her regretthat the i r offer ing was so smal l

,and accoun ted

for i t by saying,that none of the i r husbands

had y‘

et’

becom e sons of the word ; but st i l lshe hoped that I would accept i t, as an express ion of grat itude for my having brought tothem the know ledge o f sa lvat ion . Thi s was anove l and inter es ting event

,and be fore rep ly

ing to her addres s,

I asked the teacher s whatthey knew about her and her fema le fr i ends .

“Oh ,

” s aid they,

“we know hen -wel l , her s ettlem ent i s five mi les away

,and somer t ime "ago

she came and res ided with us a month,

“ dur ingwhich she was exceedingly di l igent in her at

tendance on our instruct ions . She then re;

turned,col lected al l the women o f her di str ic t,

3 r d. so interested them by her stat ement s . that


very many have . been induced to fol low herexample, and renounce the i r heathen worsh ip .

From that t ime to the present,

” they added“she has been cons tant in her per iodica l vi s i t sfor a s soon as her l i tt le s tock o f know ledge i sexpended

,she returns

,and stays wi th us a few

days to obta in more,which she treasurer s up

,

and careful ly carr ie s back to her wait ing com

panions .

” The teacher s al so to ld us that shehad bu i l t a place of worsh ip

,in which

,when

nei ther of them could attend,th i s female ch ief

conducted D ivine service . After l i sten ing toth i s inte l l igence with surpr i s e and del igh t

,I

express ed to her the grat ificat ion I had der ivedfrom the interview

,and exhorted them al l to

be part icular ly ci rcumspect in the i r conduct,

that by the i r c has te conversat ion they m igh t

W in the i r husbands” to Chr is t . Having returned as handsome a pres ent as I cou ld make

,ou r

interv iew closed . The who le of the par ty pr e.sented a singu lar appearance ; fo r a l though

they had decorated thems elve s in the very bes ts tyle

,and looked exceeding ly handsome,in the

es t imate o f thems e lves and the ir countrymen,

we hoped that the i r ideas upon th i s subj ectwould soon be improved . The pr incipal Dersonage was ta l l and wel l propo r tionel. Her

LI FE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

dress cons i sted of a shaggy mat,dyed red

,

bound r ound her lo in s,which did not reach

be low her .knees . The upper part of her p erson was uncovered

,and anointed rather f reely

W i th sweet-sscented o i l,s l ight ly t inged . with

tu rm er ic'

rouge. Rows o f large b lue beads cleCo rated her neck,

and formed bracelets for her

arms . H er head was shorn very bare,with

the except ion of a s ingle tuft about the s iz e ofa crown - p iece over th e left temple . From th i shung a l itt l e lock o f hai r

,about s ix inches in

length,wh ich dangled careles s ly abo ut her

cheek . S evera l o f the party were the unm ar

r ied daughters of ch iefs . The costume of thes ediffered from that worn by the marr ied wom

en . W hi l e both part ies appeared equ aliy proudo f thei r blue bead necklaces and bracele ts ,wh ich they va lued as h igh as Engl i sh ladi e s do

the i r diam onds and pear ls , the unmarr i ed f emales wo r e

'

a white instead of a red m a t, had

di spensed with the o i l and turmer ic , and re

tained a r ich profus ion o f grace ful curl s onone s ide o f the ir head

,the other be ing shorn

qui te tbar eu Those of infer ior r ank conten tedthemselve s with a wreath o f flowers , a l i t t lerouge and o i l

,a b lue bead or two about the

neck,and a girdle o f fresh—gathered leaves .


246 LI FE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

he at firs t s trongly obj ected ; but , after descr ibing the sp i r i t of Chr i s t ian ity

,as contrasted

with that of heathen i sm,and stat ing that i t was

honourable in us and pleasm g to God to be thefirs t to s eek reconc i l iat ion

,he 1n stantly sa id ,

Then I ’ l l go,we ’ l l go tomorrow .

”

Th i s Im i

po r tant point being sett led,I pre

pared to ret i r e to res t ; but , although i t waspas t midnight

,and I was exces s ively fat igued

,

I was kept from recl in in g upon my w elcomemat

,by the conver sat ion of one of the mos t

intere s t ing and intel l igent young ch ief s w ithwhom I had yet had intercour se . H i s namewas Rir om aiava . He was near ly related toMali etoa

,and esteemed by the old chief tam so

high ly that he consulted h im upon every sub

j ect.

Of importance . H e had j us t returned

from a j ourney,and was impat iently wai t ing

my ar r lval. On enter ing the house , to my sur

pr i s e,h e saluted me in Engl i sh

,with “

H OW do

you do,S 1r ; how do you do P” he an

swered,me very wel l : me very glad to see

you ; me no see you lOng t ime ago ; me away

1n the bush making fight ; oh"plenty of the

fight,too much of the fight"M e hear that

white ch ief br ing the good word of Jehovah,

LIFE OF JOH N W ILLIAM s . 247

me want plenty to see you ; me heart say,

‘Howdo you do me heart cry to see you .

” H e further told me that he had become a Chr i st ian

,

and added,that h i s s incere des i r e was to know

and love the word o f God . Upon inqu ir ingwhether he had learned to read

,he rep l i ed

,

that he had been try ing for severa l months,

but that his heart was too much fool,

” and

that he had not yet succeeded . I encouragedh im to persevere

,and told h im that the knowl

edge o f reading was so valuabl e that no labourcould be too great in order to i t s acqui s i t ion .

H e a s sured me that he would pers evere,and

never be t i r ed unt i l h e had mastered i t . A f ter

th i s he asked me a var i ety of questions about

England,the usages of c iv i l iz ed soci ety

,the

p r inc ip l es o f Chr i st ian i ty,and numerous other

top ics,which convinced me that he was worthy

o f the es teem in which he was held,and of th e

reputat ion he had obta ined . Perce iv ing that I

was overcome with fat igue, he ret i r ed a fter

request ing me to take a meal at h i s house in

the morn ing,be for e I s a i led for Manona ; and

being so much intere s ted with h i s inte l l igent

conver sat ion,I accep ted hi s invitat ion . In the

cours e of the morning he gave me a fear ful ac


count of the crue l t i e s pract iced in the late war ;and having stated that very many o f the wornen

,ch i ldren

,and infirm people were burned

,he

excla imed,in a pathet i c manner ,

“Oh,my

countrymen,the Samoa man

,too much fool

,

plenty wicked ; you don’ t know . Samoan great

fool,he ki l l s the m an

,he fights the tree . Bread

frui t tree,cocoa—nut tree

,no fight us . Oh l the

Samoan too mu ch foo l,too much wicked . He

then ’ inqui red very affect ionately after M r s .

W i l l i ams and my fami ly ; and being in formedthat I had two sons

,cal l ed j ohn and Samuel

,

and that the age of the latter was about that

o f his own l i tt l e boy,he begged that he might

be al lowed to give him that nam,e ; _

to which I

consented . H e further entreated me to fetch

M r s . Milliam s,and res ide at Samoa

,as he

great ly des ir ed to be poto, "very wi se,"and

had never t i l l then met with one who cou ld

give h im al l the knowledge he des i red ; In

reference to M r s . W i l l iams and the ch i ldren,he asked i f “W i l l iams woman and W i l l i ams

boy” did not gr i eve very much at m y being so

very far away from them for so many m onth s

upon the sea ? “Yes,

” I rep l i ed,

“but M r s .

W i l l i am s i s as anxious as mysel f that the poor



cause of re l igion . I then proposed to leave

them for a short t ime to themselves,and hoped

they would be ab le to accomp l i sh the much des i red obj ect . In about an hour they came tome and sa id, W

’

e two have now but one heart,

”

and that in future they would uni te thei r influ ence to prevent war

,and extend rel igion .

I then gave the teacher and h i s w i fe in spec i a lcharge to Matetau

,who ordered hi s property

to be careful ly placed in h i s own canoe ; andwhen we had knelt upon the deck

,and com

mended them to God in prayer,they departed

for the shore .

A f ter landing Ma l i etoa and h i s party at the

M i s s ionary s tat ion,I proceeded to different

parts o f th e i s lands of Sava i i and Upo lu,in

s earch of a harbour where to anchor,refit

,and

procure water for our return voyage . Thi s

occup ied five or s ix days ; and wherever we

went we found the peop le anxious to be in

structed . Indeed,the appl icat ions to vi s i t d i f

f er ent s ett l ement s were so numerous that I

could have advantageous ly spent s ix month s

there instead of one . Every where they urged

the i r cla im by saying,Our chapel i s fin ished,

and al l we want i s a M i s s ionary .

” At length ,


by the guidance of the nat ives,we found a

very commodious harbour,and they informed

me of two other s . Thus,in one i s land we dis

covered three harbour s,a lthough it had been

reported by La Perouse,Kotz ebue

,and other s

,

that there was no sa fe anchorage in the wholegroup .

On arr iving o ff the harbour at Ap ia I wentin with the boat to examine i t ; and on findingi t Spacious

,conven ient

,and sa fe

,we made a

s igna l to the vess el to s tand in,which she did

,

and dropped anchor in about Six fathoms ofwater . The M es s enger o f Peace was very sooncrowded to exces s by nat ives ; but as Ma l i etoa

sent h i s s laa- fale, or orator, with me , S i lence

was commanded,when

,with great parade

,he

dec lared who I was and what I wanted . H e

then announced that Ma l i etoa had given me h i s

name,and that the respect due to h im must be

shown to me

Dur ing the few days I remained on the i s"land I took severa l long wa lks into the inter ior

o f the country,o f wh ich the fo l lowing br ie f

spec imen must suffice . After proceeding about

three mi les through an almost untrodden for

est . where s tate ly trees grew in wi ld luxu r i


ance,we reached an open space

,which proved

to be the s ite of a sma l l v i l lage . H ere therewas an extens ive gras s—plat

,inter spers ed with

numerous ha lf- grown breadfru it ‘tr ees,and

surrounded by the hous es o f the nat ives,with

regular interval s between them . Our appearance star tled the s equestered inhabi tants

,f or

‘

I was probably the firs t European they hadever s een . The ch i ef received m e

'

with muchrespect

,and ordered mats to be Spread upon

the grass l and refreshm ents to be brought . Ithen told h im my errand

,and inqui red wheth

er he had yet embraced Chr i st ian i ty. H e r e

pl ied that he had heard o f the 10m,and

,in

common with al l h i s countrymen,des ired in

struct ion ; but, having no teacher , he was very

ignorant . Having informed h im that one of

the teacher s would come shortly and res ide

for a t ime with P unipun iolu at Ap ia, he prom

ised to attend h i s ins truct ions . W e returned

by a ci r cu itous route,and observed that al

though exceedingly r ich,very l i tt le o f the land

was under cu l t ivat ion beyond that in the imme

diate vic in i ty of the sett lement . The ch ief r e

quested me to stay and witnes s the poula langz’

,

or “heavenly dance,” which he was prepar ing


CHAPTER XX I I I .

RUNAWAY CONVI CTS, ETC .

—TRAGI CAL OCCURREN CES— KINDNESS OF ENGLI SH CAPTAINSMEET WITH TH E W IDow OF PUNA— H ER NARRATIV E—" ARRIVAL AT RARATONoA— FLOURISH ING STATE AT TH E STAT I ON AND SCHOOLSTH E I NGENUITY OF THE CH ILDREN I N

P ROCU RTN G SLATES AND PEN C I LS— LETTER OFONE OF TH E CH ILDREN .

DURING my second vi s i t to the Navigators

I slands,many facts were communicated to m e

,

some of which I th ink it neces sary to not ice .

The fir s t i s,the number of runaway sai lor s

and other Europeans,who res ide among the

people,and do them incalculab le misch ief .

Many o f these were convi cts from New SouthW ales

,who had stolen smal l ves sel s

,and had

thus made thei r escape . The Mis s 1onar ies in

form ed m te,that

,subsequent to th e ir s ettl e

ment,a gang o f them came there in a fine

schooner,which

,a fter s tr ipping o ff her sai l s ,

and every art i cle of value,they s cuttled and

2 54


sunk a few hundred yards from the shone .

Some time be fore thi s,another gang. came

,

in a s tolen ves sel,to the Soc ie ty I s lands ; and,

although treated with the utmost kindness bythe chief

,Mahine

,they contr ived

,a fter plun

der ing h i s house o f al l hi s property,am ong

which was a blunderbuss and a smal l cask o fpowder

,to decamp at midn ight in M r . Bar ff

’

s

whale—boat . Shortly a fter they had l eft theShore

,the boat was mis sed

,and two other s

,

with nat ive crews,were imm edi ately despatch

ed in search of them . Unfor tunately,one of

these fe l l in with them ; when the unsusp ic iousnatives sa id

,

“Fr i ends,we have come to fetch

you back ; you must not s teal the M i s s ionary’

boat and the ch ie f ’ s proper ty . In reply theyrece ived the Contents o f a blunderbus s

,which

blew the head of one of them to p ieces . Twomore were ki l l ed by the same weapon

,and a

fourth s evere ly wounded . The on ly other person present was a l i t t le boy

,who jumped into

the s ea,and h id h imsel f beh in d the boat ; when

the wretches,suppos ing that they had com

pleted the work o f destruct ion, ho is ted the irsai l and departed . The boy then cl imbed intothe boat

,and

,as s i s ted by the wounded man ,

rowed to the shore . On my return from one


o f my voyages,I found s everal of these men

at Raiatea . They immediately came to me,and

represented themselves a s sh ipwrecked mar iners . In reply to my inquir i e s

,they sa id they

were wrecked in 73 degree s north ,and were

only thr ee weeks in reaching the Soc ie ty I slands . I rep l i ed immediate ly

,that their ' tale

was a fool i sh fabr i cat ion ; that I was convincedthey were convicts ; and that I shou ld wr i te bythe firs t oppor tun i ty to inform the Governor ofthe ir arr iva l . They left Raiatea the day after

,

or perhaps some o f our peop le would have beenmurdered

,as those o f Huah ine were . Sub se

quent ly,thes e ungratefu l wr etches reached the

Navigator s I s lands,where they entered

,with

savage de l ight,into the wars of the nat ives ;

and having fi r e—arms and powder, they madefear fu l havoc among them . However

,

“ven

geance suff ered them; not to l ive for the leader o f th i s murderous gang very soon fel l avict im to h is temer i ty . On one occas ion, s eeing a number o f the oppos i te party clusteredtogether

,he fired h i s blunderbuss

,heavi ly load

ed with bul let s,and ki l l ed nine upon the spot ,

besides wounding other s"The nat ives , however

,did not give h im time to reload h i s mur

der ou s weapon but rushed upon h im. and ki l led



er s wou ld convey h im on the ir shoulders,with

songs o f savage tr iumph,to h i s own res idence .

The party for whom he fought,'

was,however

conquered ; and he saved hi s l i fe by flee ing tothe mounta ins

,where he l ived three month s

upon roots,or whatever el s e he could obta in .

At length he came to M anona,and threw him

sel f upon the m ier cy o f the ch ie f s, who spare‘d

him upon the condit ion that he shou ld neveragain engage in thei r wars . But a few monthsafter th i s

,having rece ived authent ic in forma

t ion of h i s s ecret intr igues with the oppos ite

par ty,the ch i e f s held a consu ltat ion

,at which

it was determined to put him to death . One of

thei r num b er,a powerful young man

,was

charged with th i s commis s ion ; and, select ing

a few fa ithfu l fo l lowers,he proceeded

,at mid

n ight,to th e murderer ’ s hous e

,and

,by a s ingle

b low,s evered h i s head from hi s body . M r .

S tevens,surgeon o f the un for tunate O ldham

whaler,wh ich was taken at W al lace I s land,

was s i tt ing by hi s S ide at the t ime . From him

I rece ived mu ch informat ion . Provident ial ly,

th i s gentleman left the ves se l the day be fore the

crew were massacred . I conveyed him to Raro

tonga and Tah i t i,where

,by h i s medical sk i l l

,


he r endered es s ent ia l s erv ice to the m i s s ionfami l i es .

-When I was at Manona,I found the people

at one part of the i s land exceedingly shy,and

on landing,th e ch ief sent a mes sage

,request

ing me to come to‘

his r es idence. H e then s tated, that having ordered an Engl i shman to beki l led

,he feared that I shou ld be t

angry andavenge his death . After giving me a fu l l account of the character and pract ices of thi smons ter

,I to ld h im that the K ing of England

would not al low h i s subj ects,who conducted

themse lves wel l,to be injured with impunity

in any part of th e wor ld ; but that as th i s in

dividual had been such a murderer,they had

noth ing to fear,for the Government o f my

country would approve o f the ir conduct .

W hi le at the Navigators , I heard of two ves

s els having been taken at i s lands on which the

peopl e were st i l l heathen . In the one cas e al l

the c rew,and in the other the greater part o f

them,fel l vi ct ims to the exc ited feel ings of the

nat ives . In both instances,however , the Eng

l i sh were theaggres sor s . In the one,the ch i e f ’ s

son was threatened with death ,and in the oth

er,the drunken captain and crew were in the

26O LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

act of dragging the chief ’ s wi fe on board thei rship . A short t im e after th is di sas trous event

,

a man—o f -war v i s ited th e i s land,when s ixty

of the inhab i tants were ki l led . Surely if thenat ive s are to be so severe ly pun ished foravenging thei r inj ur i es

,some method ought to

be adopted to prevent our countrymen frominfl i ct ing them .

The nat ive M i s s ionar i es in formed me of aninteres t ing ev ent they had learned o f from Capta in Swain

,of the E l i zabeth whaler

,who not

only treated them with much respect,but told

the nat ives to pay great attent ion to the instr u ct ion of the teacher s . Hear ing that I was expected soon

,he left a l e tter for me

,in which

,a fter

s tat ing many th ings in commendat ion of the

teachers and peop le,he in formed me

,that

,in

addi t ion to h is own inc l inat ion to encourage

M i s s ionary labours,he had order s from hi s

owner,M r . S turges

,who belongs

,I bel i eved

,

to the Society o f Fr i ends,to vi s i t M i s s ionary

s tat ions for hi s suppl ies, and to afford M i s s ion

ar ies every ass i s tance in hi s power .

Wh i l e at the Navigators , I heard that th e

widow and fami ly of Puna,former ly our na

t ive M i s s ionary at Rurutu, were res iding at


262 L I FE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

that they may have been instrumenta l in imparting a knowledge of Chr i s t ian ity to the in

hab i tants . At length the boat was dr iven bya strong wind to another is land o f the samegroup

,cal l ed Rakaana

,which I Should suppos e

from the widow ’ s account to b e about twentyfive mil es from Manaiki

,and to belong to i t s

inhab i tants,who vi s i ted and l ived upon the

produce of each i s land alternately . H ere Puna ’ sparty landed

,

’ and s aw houses and canoes,but

no inhab itants .

” In the former there weremany preserved bodies

,with flowing black

ha ir,

”which looked as i f a l ive . The nat ives’

,

the widow in formed me,were s trong and r o

bust,and resemb led the inhabitants of the Pau

motas,who are a shade or two ‘ darker than

those o f th e Society I s lands . The canoes werev erv l arge , and bui l t ent i re ly o f the cocoa—nuttree . O f th i s group I rece ived informat ionfrom the A i tutakians som e t ime prev ious ly,

as

a canoe ful l o f peopl e had dr i fted,fi fty or s ixty

year s before,from thence to A i tutaki . The

cluster i s sa id to cons i s t of five i s lands,four of

which are named Manaik i,Kakaana

,Mauto

rea,and Paraka . I suppose them to be about

two days ’ sai l N . E . o f A i tutaki .Again putting to sea

,Puna and his party


were dr iven in var ious d irect ions for upwardso f two months

,when they reached Keppel ’ s

I s land,l at . I 5 degrees 16 s econds

,long . 1 74

degrees IO s econds,Iooo

'

m iles from Rurutu .

Her e the peop le wished to plunder th em,but

were prevented by Maatu,the king . They r e

mained at thi s i s land four months,dur ing which

t ime they kept the Sabbath,and observed all

the i r accus tomed rel igious s ervices . One person o f influence j o ined them

,and was des i rous

that thev Should res ide in h is d i s tr i ct,where

he promised to erect a p lace of wor sh ip ; butPuna was taken i l l

,and not expect ing to r e

cover,he was exceedingly anxious to be where

he could enj oy intercour se with a M i s s ionary ;and hear ing that some res ided at Tongatab u ,

about three hundred m i l e s d is tant, he againlaunched his l i tt l e Schooner . They were dr iven

,

however,by foul wind to Niu afou

,an i s land

about ninety mi les wes t o f that from whichthey star ted

,and here poor Puna died the day

after he landed . H e was a labor ious and valu able teacher . O f h i s p iety I enter ta in nodoubt

,H e and h i s col league

,however

,never

agreed,which gave fir ise to ser 1ous evi l s at Ru

rutu,and occas ioned me m o re anxiety than I

exper i enced in reference to any of our other


s tat ions . H e committed h is wi fe and family

to the chief o f the i s land,and spent h i s dying

moments in exhort ing h im to place h imse l f under Chr is t ian instruct ion . The day after hi sdeath the nat ives dragged the l i tt l e vess e l onshore

,and set her on fir e for the purpose of

obta in ing the i ron wi th which she was fastened ' and some runaway sai lor s broke open Puna s box

,and stole his property

,but they quar

r elled in d iv iding i t,when one o f them rece ived

a blow which terminated hi s l i fe . Puna ’ s peaceful death and part ing exhortat ions producedso powerful an impres s ion upon the Ch ief ’ smind

,that he determined to embrace a re l igion

wh ich imparted such b les s ednes s . But h i s

peop le were so exasperated at h i s renunciat ion o f idolatry

,that they entered into a con

spir acy,and put h im to death .

Hav ing taken the widow and fami ly onboard

,we made as di r ect a course as we could

for Rarotonga,when

,a f ter proceeding about

three hundred mile s,a s er ious disaster b efel

us . At midnight th e mate awoke me with thestartl ing announcement

,

“You must get up im

m‘

eidately,S i r ; the sh ip has sprung a leak, i s

half ful l of water,and i s s inking fast .” I ran

on deck instantly,and found

,to my cons terna



enabled to m ainta1n a coolnes s and tranqu i l i tydur ing the whole o f th i s exigency . The greater par t of the night was spent in an unsucces sful s earch for the leak ; and our perp lexi ty wasmuch increased by the wind becoming contraryand exceedingly v iolent . Aga inst th is we contended for s everal days

,pumping the whol e

t ime without intermi s s ion . At length wereached Vavau

,and hoping to di scover our

leak,we Worked our dev ious way for s evera l

hours,amidst a mu lt i tude o f smal l i s lands

,in

ques t of an anchorage,but did not find one un

t i l suns et . Early the fol lowing morning we

commenced a thorough search for the leakwithin and without ; but although the nat ivesdived under the keel

,and swam. al l around the

vessel,no fracture nor de fect could be discov

ered ; we there fore put to sea again ,and hav

ing to contend against a contrary wind, wewere fi v e days

,ins tead of twentyfour hour s ,

in reach ing Tonga . Very provident i a l ly, Ifound there Captain S . Henry ; and the daya fter our arr ival

,Capta in D eanes

,of the E l i z

ab eth,Engl i sh whaler

,came to anchor . A ided

by these two geneltm en with the ir crews andthe nat ive s

,we succeeded in heaving down the

ves sel,and after a clos e s crut iny, discovered


the cause o f our danger in a large auger holein the keel

,into wh ich the bolt had never been

dr iven . Thi s had been fi l l ed w ith mud andstones in the hurr icane at Rarotonga

,which

had kept the ves sel from leaking s ix months,

dur ing whi ch t ime,She had sa i led several thou

sand mi les . A s tone was very fortunate lywedged in the hol e

,or i t would have been im

poss ib le,in the est imat ion o f th e capta in and

carpenter,to have kept the ves se l f rom s ink

ing.

Vavau appeared a most dreary p lace . W e

saw noth ing,as we worked our winding way

,

but h igh,precip i tous

,and weather - beaten

rocks,which

,although bold

,were barren .

These were the undisturbed pos ses s ion of in

numerab le s ea- fowl and vamp ir e bats , whosescreams

,m ingl ing with the hol low roar o f the

sea,as i t ingulfed it se lf in th e numerous exca

vation s and caves wh ich had been s cooped outbythe b i l lows , were the only sounds wh ich di s

tu rb ed,whi le they appeared to enhance

,the aw

ful s t i l lnes s o f the place . On reach ing the M i s

s ionary s ett l em ent, you are agreeab ly surpr i sed to find a beaut i ful and fert i le p lain,

inhab

ited by human be ings , not one of whom ap

pear ed unt i l we were near th e anchorage .


In my . vi s i t to Tongatabu ,I was truly de

l ighted to find t hat the M i s s ionar i e s had r e

ceived a pr int ing pres s,and that i t was most

act ive ly engaged in prepar ing the word o f l i f efor the people . I t s invaluab le operat ions werecommenced in Apr i l

,183 1 , and by November ;

1 832 ,twenty

—nine thou s and one hu ndr ed cop ie sof smal l books

,conta in ing five m illions s even

hu ndr ed and s eventy—two thou s and pages , had

been struck o ff . Such facts furnish de l ightfulevidence of the unti r ing di l igence o f the M i ss ionar ies who supp l i ed the m atter , and of thepers everance of M r . W oon,

who had charge o fthe mighty engines . Indeed

,i f s ter l ing p iety

,

and entir e t devotednes s to th e cause o f Godamong the heathen

,can insure succes s

,our

W es leyan b rethren at the Fr iendly I s landswi l l have a di st ingui shed port ion .

After spending a fortn ight o f most p leas ingand profitable intercours e at th i s place

,our

vesse l be ing ready for s ea,we sai led for Raro

tonga,which we reached in safety

,in j anuary

1833 ,having been absent fifteen weeks .

The school s were,at th i s t ime

,in a pleas ing

state o f prosper i ty . In that o f P apeiha ,there

were about five hundred ch i ldren,1n M r . Buza

cott ’ s , s even hundred,and in M r . Pittm an ’ s ,


27o LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAMS .

a subs t i tute . Having formed the resolut ion,

they were observed one morning,on leaving

the s chool,runn ing in groups up the m Oun

ta ins,and Short ly after

,returning with flakes

of stones,which they had broken o ff from the

rocks . These they carr i ed to the sea beachand rubbed with sand and cora l unt i l they hadproduced a smooth surface . Thus far succes s

ful,they coloured the s tones with the purpl e

j u ice o f th e mounta in plaintain ,to give them

the appearance o f Engl i sh S lates . Some o f theboys completed the r esemblance by cutt ingthem square and framing them

,so that

,with

out close examinat ion,you could scarcely de

tect the difference . The next des ideratum wasa penc i l

,and for th i s they went into the sea

,

and procured a number of the echinus,or sea

egg,which i s armed with twenty or th ir ty

sp ines . These they burnt s l ightly to renderthem so ft

,that they might not scratch ; and

wi th these flakes of s tone for a s late , and thespine o f the sea—egg for a penc i l , they wroteexceedingly wel l : and hundreds o f them took

down the pr inc ipal port ion s of every di scour sethey heard .

CHAPTER XXIV.

RAPID P ROGRESS OF TH E GOSPEL— ExTRAoRDI

NARY P REPARAT ION OF THE P EOPLE - RAROTONGA —VARIOUS TEMPORAL ADVANTAGES OFM ISSIONARY LABOURS— C o N N E x 1 o N OFCHRI ST IAN ITY AND C IVI LIZAT ION— M ISSIONS

COMMENDED.

"When a M iss ionary i s cal l ed to sel ect a su itable p lace at which to commence h is wOrk ‘ of

mercy,i t i s e s sent ia l that he shou ld pos ses s

cor rect and extens ive inform at ion upon ' a va

r iety of top i cs : such a s , the character and habi t s o f the peop le ; the influence o f the chiefs ;the fee l ings of d ifferent part ie s ; the r e lat iveimportance of p laces

,&c.

'

Upon al l these,

“

inre ference to the Nav igators I s lands

,we were

to tal ly ignorant, unt i l we met wi th . Fau ea nat

Tongatabu ; who gave us correct and amp leinformat ion upon every po int ; In add it ion ‘

to

th i s,he conducted us to h i s relat ive

,Mal i etoa

,

whom otherwi se we should not have kn own ;and with the knowledge I have s ubsequently


obta ined, h i s s tat ion appears to me to havebeen the bes t adapted in the who le group forthe commen cement o f our labour s . The rap idi ty of the work i s another c i rcums tance of toogreat importance to be over looked . W hereverI went

,I was rece ived with the greate s t r e

spect,and a l l c las s es manifested a des i r e for

M i s s ionar i es . How di fferent were the c ircumstances o f the b rethren at Tah it i"what year so f to i l and anxiety they endured be fore th i sdes i r e was created ; and at New Zea land

,also,

to what pr ivat ions,labour s , and per i l s were

the devo ted M i s s ion ar i e s of th e Church M i ss ionary Soc iety cal led fo r near ly twenty years ,before any th ing l ike a genera l des i r e 'for in

struct ion was evinced by the inhab itants . Atthe Navigators

,on the contrary

,in les s than

twenty short months,chape ls were erected, and

the people anxious ly wai t ing for 1n str u ction .

Our Saviour has taught us to apprec iate theimportance o f th is state o f a peop le , under thebeaut i fu l s imi l i tude of a corn- fi eld

“white untothe harvest .” I wou ld by no means affirm that

many,or even that any of the Samoans had

exper ienced a change o f heart,ne ither do I

bel i eve,that

,in the maj or i ty o f th e peop le, the

des ire for M i s s ionar ies aros e fr om a know ledge



the tempes t- dr iven ocean for months with perfeet safety ; whereas , i f a breez e b low upon ourcanoes

,they are in an ins tant upset

,and we

sprawl ing in the sea . Thei r persons a lso arecovered from head to foot in beaut ifu l c lothes

,

while we wear noth ing but a gi rdle o f leaves .Their axes are so hard and sharp,that , withthem

,we can eas i ly fe l l our tr ees

,and do our

work, but with our s tone axes we m ust dub ,dub

,dub

,day after day

,before we can cu t

down a s ingle tree . Thei r kn ives,too

,what

va luab le th ings they are ; how quick ly they cutup our p igs

,com pared with our bamboo knives"

Now I conclude that the God who has given toh i s white wor sh ipper s these va luab le th ingsmust be wi ser than Ou r gods

,for th ey have not

given the l ike to us . W e a l l want these art ic les ; and my propos i t ion i s , that th e God whogave them shou ld b e our God . As th i s speechproduced a power fu l impress ion

,a sens ib le

pr ie st,a fter a short pause

,aros e and endeav

ou r ed to weaken i t by saying, that he hadnoth ing to advance agains t the lotu , whi chmight be good or bad

,but he wished them not

to be in has te .

“The peop le who havebroughtus th i s rel igion ,

he added,

m ay want ou r


i s the ca se, but i t may be so . My brother ha spra i sed the wi sdom of these white

Suppose, then,we were to v i s i t the i r country

,

and say that j ehovah was not the true Godand inv i t e them to cas t h im o ff

,and become

worshippers o f Tangaroa,of the Samoa Isl

ands,what r eply would they make p W ou ld

they not say,Don ’ t b e in has te ; let us know

someth ing more of Tangar oa,and the worship

he requ ires ? Now I wi sh the Samoans to ac tj us t a s these wise Engl ish people wou ld

,under

the same c i rcumstances ; and to know someth ing more about th i s new rel igion be fore theyabandon

w

that wh ich our ancestor s venerated .

But whatever might have been the i r mot ives,i t

i s certa in that th e new re l igion Was high lyesteemed by al l c las s e s ; that the des i re for M i ss iOnar i

’

es was intense ; that at m any stat1ons

the peop le had erected places o f worsh ip ; wereaccustomed to prepare the i r food on th e Satur

day,and to ass emble at s ix o’ clock on the Sab

bath morn ing,s i t in s i lence for an hou r

’

o r

more,and repeat th i s a second

,and even a

thi rd t ime,dur ing the day. Does the hi s tory

of the Church furn ish a more s tr ik ing or beaut i fu l fulfi lment of the prophetic dec larat ion ,

“The i s le s shal l wa i t for h i s law ?” So anxious ,


indeed,were the peop le fo r some one to con

duct their rel igious servi ces,

‘ that they madecol lect ions o f mats

,foods

,&c .

,which they gave

to runaway sai lors,some o f whom read por

t ions of the Engl ish S cr ip tures or prayer—book :

and others were vi le enough to s ing infamoussongs in the Engl i sh language

,and to assure

the poor people that th i s was the’

wo r ship ac

ceptable to God .

In reference a l so to Rarotonga,I cannot for

bear drawing a con trast between the s tate ofthe inhabi tants

,when I firs t vi s i ted them

,in

1823 , and that in wh i ch I le ft them ,m , 1834 .

In 1823 , I found them al l heathens ; in 1834,

they wer e al l profes s ing Chr i s tians . At the

former per iod,I found them with ido ls and

maraes thes e,in 1834,

were destroyed,and, in

the ir s tead,there were three spacious and sub

stantial p laces o f Chr i st ian wo r sh1p ,m which

congregations,amount ing to 5 1x thousand per

sons,as sembled every Sabbath—day . I found

them without a wr i tten language ; and leftthem reading in the ir own tongue the

“wonderful works o f God .

” I found them withouta knowledge of the Sabbath ; and When I le ftthem no manner o f work was done dur ing thatsacred day . Wh en I found them,

in 1823 , they


278 ,

LIFE OF JOHN W ILLIAMS .

rece ived letters from M es s rs . Buzacott and Pitman

,which inform me that the people are in a

s t i l l more pleasm g s tate than when I left them .

In re ference to the i s lands genera l ly,i t may

be ob served, that th e bles smgs conveyed tothem by Chr is t ian ity have not been s imp ly o fa Spir itual character ; but that c iv i l i z at ion and

commerce have invar iab ly fo l lowed in hertra in .

Catt le were le ft by Capta in Cook at Tahi t i,

but they per i shed ; and those from whi ch thei slands have been s tocked were conveyed bytheM i s s ionar i e s . When I V is i ted New South‘Nales

,H i s Excell ency S i r Thomas Brisbane

kindly gave me severa l . Some o f these ourinvaluable fr i end

,the Rev . S.Marsden

, ex

changed for other s of his bes t Yorksh ir e breed,

which have mu l t ip l ied exceedinglyat Raiateaand Rarotonga .

Several o f the vegetab le product ions wereintroduced by Capta in Cook and we have notonly

’

added many others,but conveyed those

l e f t by h im to i s lands Whi ch he did not V is i t"

Wheat Cannot b e grown in the i s lands . Engl i sh p otatoes w i l l not pr opa-

‘gate themse lves .

Cabbages do ‘

nOt seed,b tit we can pres erve

them by plant ing the sprouts . W e have tr i ed


many o f the Engl i sh fru it s,but without suc

cess . A so l i tary s trawberry once came to perfection

,and we div ided the prec ious morse l

into three port ions ; M r s . W i l l i ams, mysel f , andour son taking each a Share . S eeds o f theindigo p lant were furni shed us by Capta inLaws

,of H . M . Sloop Satel l i te

,and we doubt

not,but that th i s wi l l short ly become an art ic le

o f great commerc ia l importance . Coffee plantswere conveyed by the M i s s i onary sh ip H aweis

,

from Norfolk I s land,and are now growing

luxur iantly . S evera l o f the trees have bornefor some t ime pa s t

,and I firmly bel i eve that

,in

a few years,cargoes of coffee

,as wel l as o f

arrow—root,cocoa—nut oi l

,and sugar

,wil l be

shipped by our conver t s at the M i s s ionary stat ions in the South S ea I s lands . Ought not agreat and m ighty nation. l ike England

,with

thegener o sity which i s al l i ed to tr u eg r eatnes s ,to put forth her hand, and help her infant o ffspr ing

,who have been ra i sed from barbar i sm

,

and brought into nat iona l exi stence , by thebenevolent effort s of her own subj ects , e specially - as her own beloved sovere ign i s styledthe Protector o f the Polynes ian I s les ?

From these facts i t w i l l be apparent,that ,

while our best energies have been devoted to

28O LIFE OF JOH N WILLIAM S .

the ins truct ion of the people in the truth s of theChr i s t ian rel ig ion

,and Ou r chief sol ic i tude has

been to make them wise unto sa lvat ion,we

have,at the same time

,been anxious to impart

a knowledge of al l that was calculated to in

creas e the ir comfort s,and elevate the ir

character .

In the South S ea I s lands alone,many thou

sands of persons are at th is moment wear ingand us ing art icl es of European manu facture

,

by whom ,a few year s ago

,no such art i cle s had

been Seen : indeed,in the more advanced sta

t ions,there i s scarcely an ind ividua l who i s

not att i red in Engl i sh c loth ing,wh ich ha s ’been

obtained in exchange for native produce . Thuswe are benefi ted both in what we give and inwhat we rece ive From a barbarous peoplevery l i tt le can be obta ined

,and even that at the

greates t pos s ib l e hazard . W hen a ves se l enter s th e i r harbour s

,every precaution must be

employed . She i s enc irc led with nett ing halfway up the r igging

,her guns are loaded

,and

every person on board i s ob l iged to be on the

aler t,fear ing an attack

,and not knowing the

moment at which i t m ay be made .

Bes ides these dangers,the nat ives

,in a bar

b arous s tate,posses s not the knowledge requi



channe l s are opened for our commerce ; andthe fr iends o f our country are every wheremult ip l i ed .

An enterpr i s e,benefic ia l in

'

so many ways,

presents a univer sal c laim,and we hope the

day is fa st approach ing,when the merchant

wi l l not only consecrate the ga ins o f hi s merchandize to its promot ion

,but When he Shall

a l so add the faci l i t ie s wh ich commercia l intercourse affords to fur ther th e great des ign ;when the m an of s c i ence Shal l make h i s di scover ies subserve th i s god l ike work ; and whennot only the poor

,but the r ich and noble

,wil l

feel honoured in ident i fying them s elves W i thM i s s ionary operat ion s

,and in consecrat ing

the i r wealth,and even the i r s ons and the i r

daughter s , to th i s work . And Why Should notthe s on o f a nob leman asp i re to an office thatan angel i c sp ir i t would deem an honour ? WhyShould not such become act ive agents in anenterpr is e wh ich i s to regenerate and bles s ourworld ? They asp ir e after m ilita ry and naval

glory,but here they may obta in di s t inct ions

far higher than these z— here,instead of inflict

ing death in the acqu i s i t ion of the ir laurel s ,they would scatter l i fe and comfort and peaceto unborn mi l l ions . And i s there more glory


in sp reading mis ery than in convey ing mercy ?

I s i t more honourab le to carry the sword ofwar than the Gospe l o f peace ? IS i t a h igherdign ity to bear a commis s ion from an earth lysovere ign than from the King of kings ? Oh"that the minds of the noble youth o f our country could be d irected to thi s fie ld o f labour ando f love

,and that the so ldi er s of the cros s were

a s h igh in the es t imation of our nob i l i ty a sthos e who bear commis s ions from our king . I twi l l be a b les sed day for our wor ld

,when the

fir st nob leman ’ s son,influenced by a sp ir i t of

p iety,and con stained by the “ love o f Chr i st .”

shal l devote h imse l f to go among the heathen“ to turn them from darknes s to l ight ” Butwhether such forward i t or not

,the work wi l l

go on,en largement and de l iverance wi l l come

unti l th e chi ldren of men sha l l learn the an

thems of the b les sed above , and be made meetto unite with the sp ir i ts of the redeemed f romevery nation

,and peop le, and tongue, in cele

b rating the j ub i lee o f j esus Chr is t

CHAPTER XXV .

MR . VJ ILLIAM S VISITS ENGLAND— LAST LABOURSAND MARTYRDOM .

AFTER e ighteen years o f faith fu l labour inthese is lands M r . W i l l i ams returned to England . H i s Soj ourn there was by no means a

frui tles s per iod . H e went about st i r r ing upinterest in h is field o f labour

,and also attended

to thepr int ing o f the B ible and other books inthe language

~

o f hi s people . The M essengerof Peace had been sold before h i s return home .

H e l ater bought another ves se l , the Camden ,

which was thorough ly repa ired and made fitfor h i s work. A t h i s farewel l meet ing M r .

W i l l iams spoke of be ing ful ly aware of th edanger to wh ich he would be exposed on ac

count o f the savage nature o f those to whomhe was going

,but sett ing h i s thoughts against

these th ings,he repeated the words of the

Apost l e : None o f these things move me,ne ither count I my l i f e dear unto mysel f, sothat I may fini sh my cour se wi th j oy, and the


286 L IFE OF JOHN WILLIAMS .

pe l to th ese benighted p eop le,and leave the

event wi th God .

”

On the evening be fore h i s death,he to ld h i s

fe l low-pas sengers that the New H ebr ides pres ented so fine a field for mis s ionary work thathe had a lmost dec ided to br ing hi s fami ly and

l ive there . The next morning he in formed thesame fr i ends that he had pas sed a s leep les sn igh t

,the cons iderat ion o f the magn itude and

importance o f the work he had undertaken hadso weighed upon h im .

Soon a fter th is conver sat ion he entered theboat wh ich took him to the shore Which wassoon sta ined with h i s b lood ; Accompanied byCapta in Morgan

,M r . Har r i s

,Mr . Cunning

ham and four hands,they made for th e Sho re

in a boat .

The nat ive s were very shy . M r . W i l l iamsobs erved a number o f nat ive boys p lay ing On

the shore and though t th i s to be a Sign o f

peaceabl e intent ions . But Capta in Morgwas susp ic ious on account of the ab sence o f

th e native women,saying that he knew when

they were bent on mis ch ie f they s ent the women

out of the way . M r . W i l l iams landed and


fused to take i t . To win the i r confidence hedivided some cloth among them . M r . Harr i shad wa lked up the Shore fo l lowed by M r . Cunn ingham . S tooping to put some s tones intohi s pocket , M r . Cunningham was star t led by aye l l and the s ight ‘of M r . Harr i s rushing outof the bushes . H e shouted to M r . W i l l i ams torun for the boat

,and looking round he saw M r .

Harr i s fa l l,and a number o f nat ives beat ing

him wi th clubs .

M r . W i l l i am s ran down the beach with ‘ thesavages afte r h im ,

who soon beat h im downand thru s t him through with arrows . Thei rcompan ion s in the sh ip were he lp less

,even to

attempt to get poss es s ion of th e bodies .

Return ing to the sh ip theCapta in exclaimed :

W e have lo s t M r . W i l l i am s and M r . Har r i s .

They ar e dead . The nat ives have ki l led them .

”

What so rrow the inte l l igence of th i s tragedy

car r ied through the Ohr istian i s les of the P a

cific i t wou ld be difficu l t to descr ib e . In the

Soc iety,the H ervey, and the Samoan i s lands,

each man mourned as i f he had los t a father .

The pathet ic cr i es of the Samoan ch ie fs were,

“Our father,our fath er"H e has turned h i s

face from us"W e shal l never see h im more .



amo ng them which car r i ed o ff a great manyth e other s were compel led to leave ; many o f

the nat ive s were ki l led by them . I am not surethat M r . W i l l iams knew that th i s was the i sland where the sandal wood expedi t ion hadbeen ; but there i s no doubt h i s death , and that

o f M r . Harr i s, was in consequence of th e basetreatment the nat ive s had rece ived from th

fore igner s who forced the i r way upon thes eshores . M r . H ar r i s was a very intere st ingyoung man

,who had come out at h i s own ex

pense . I t was h i s intent ion to return to ‘England to marry

,then coming out aga in to labour

at th e Marque sa s .”

As an examp le o f the outrage s which haveexasperated the nat ives a lmost to the point Of

madnes s,we may re late th e fo l low ing inc ident .

Three ves se ls that were co l lect ing sandalwood

,anchored o ff one o f th e i s lands which

form the group that i s known as the New H eb

r ides . The wh ite m en plundered the nat ives,

and helped themse lves to the yams and frui twi thout offer ing any recompense whatever tothe t i l ler s of the so i l . Near ly three hun dredpigs were a lso s e iz ed

,and when the owner s

o f th ese animal s attempted to res i s t thi s act

o f spo l i at ion,they were Shot down withou t

LIFE OF j OH N WILLIAMS . 29 1

mercy . Not content wi th these h igh—handedproceed ings

,the robbers landed aga in

,and

chased the nat ive s into a large cave,in wh ich

th e helples s fugit ive s,hoping that they would

be safe,took refuge from thei r brutal foes .

Btit the sa i lor s pul led down the houses,and

pi led the dry thatch rafter s and other mater ia l sat th e mouth of the cavern

,and then s et fir

to the p i l e . The m i s erab le nat ives were o f

cours e su ffocated by the smoke.

I t i s scarcely to b e wondered at that su c":

deeds were repa id by s imi lar outrages ; indeedso ins ecure was l i fe

,that D r . Turner dec lares

that,to h i s own persona l knowledge

,no les s

than three hundred and twenty men,who had

been engaged in the sanda l wood trade, pe

ished i n les s than n ine year s .

Dur ing the year o f M r . W illiam s’

death,a

wha le sh ip sa i led a long the coast o f an i s la.

adj acent to Erromanga , and fired prom is cu

ou sly into the vi l lages asShe pas sed them . TWOmiss ionar ies were upon thi s i s land

,but they

were for tunately not k i l l ed by the nat ives in

r etal iat ion for the cruelty of the ir fe l low

countrymen .

In 1842, M rs . W i l l iams returned to Eng


land . When o ff Cape Horn,sh e wrote a far e

wel l to the I s le s o f the South ,from which the

fol lowing sentences are extracted

Farewel l,rol l ing ocean

,on whose bosom

we have been borne from is land to i s land,hon

ou r ed by carrying the glad t idings of the Gospel of Peace to the ben ighted inhab itants"Natives"you who have fe l t and known that

the Lord’

i s grac ious,farewe l l"May you b e

kept from returning to those evi l s wh ich you

profes s to have thrown away,and be faithfu

unto death,that you m ay rece ive a Crown

L ife"“Heathens"I weep for you

, Whi le I say‘Father forg ive them

,they know what they do ?

“My dear Ch i ldren,I trust I say farewell

only for a season ; i f spared, I hope to welcomeyou in the land of your fathers .

”

Her e ldes t son, j ohn,

and hi s wi fe,are the

ch i ldren addres s ed in the last paragraph ; theyrema ined at Samoa . In the year 1845 , M rs .

V‘f illiam s settl ed at I s l ington

,and became a

member of Union Chapel . For some vcar s .

s he worked ac t ively among the poor as a t i d e

di s tr ibutor and s ick V i s i tor . But in the wii .

ter of 1840-

50 the Symptoms of a d iseas e ap


294 LIFE OF j OH N WILLIAMS .

his’

peculiar Sphere o f miss ionary effort . H ewas mass ive rather than muscular , and strong,

without remarkable act iv ity ; h is statur e wassom ewhat above the middle S iz e, h is chest was

of unusua l bre adth ,the shou lders cons iderably;

rounded and broadly set . H i s a spect was a lit

t l e Singular ; indeed he was often taken for afore igner . There wa s someth ing s tr ikinglypecu l i ar in the aspect of M r . Wi l l i ams . Having been once s een

,he was ever aft er easily

recogn i sed,and you cou ld ins tant lypo int h im

out at a d is tance,among ten thousand m en

The head was very large,long

,and wanting in

that con ica l e levat ion,so genera l ly found as

sociated with extreme benevo lence,a qua l i ty

for which,notwith standing

,he was so r e

markab le The forehead was an Ob longsquare

,of no great breadth

,and ret i red con

s ider ably. The countenance a ltogether wasone o f uncommon ben ign ity : i t had al l thes eren ity o f the finest summer eve

,shaded wi th

a s l ight expre ss ion Of'

sadnes s . The“

eyesoft and lus trous : i t sparkled from beneath h i sdark b rows

,dis tinctly ‘bespeak ing. the benevo

l ence that glowed with in . All his feature swere rounded

,every feature evinced s imp l i c i ty

of character,tranqui l l i ty of heart and honesty


o f purpos e . The ent i re v i sage , in fact, was sodeeply Stamped with the impres s of good nature and good wi l l

,a s to insp ire every beho lder

with immediate confidence . H e hoped eve-ry~

th ing from labour under the guidance o f

heaven,without it— noth ing . Industry was the

usua l e lement he breathed in ; he cou ld not beidle

,neither cou ld he be in a bust le . H ad he

been escaping f rom a s ink ing ship or a burning house

,he wou ld have p roceeded W ith de

l iberat ion .

”

“M r . I'V illiam s , he adds,did no t know

that he was a gen ius,t i l l the peop le o f England

to ld h im ; and even then he was not quite c l earabout i t . H e be l i eved that what H E did waspract icab le by every one who wou ld bestow therequ i s ite e ffort .” One who knew him evenmore int imate ly"Rev . W . E l l i s", thus depict shi s character .

“H e was r ich ly invested withrare endowments for the h igh and holy enterpr i se ln which h i s l i fe was spent and sacr ifi ed.

Among the rare endowments which he sor ichly shared

,the most conspi cuous were those

that were most p ract i ca l . The love that all

hearts cher ished for h im i s the mo s t unequ ivoca l ev idence that benevolence and love wereamong the rul ing fee l ings o f hi s own bosom .


H i s ab i l i t ie s,natura l and acqu ired

,his wide

spreading range o f a im and act ion,hi s adm ir

able and uniform ident ificat ion of h imsel f withthe peop le

,blending in separably the ir advance

ment in everyth ing important and valuablew ith hi s own sat i s fact ion and happ iness

,and

h is subordinat ion o f al l atta inments,influ ence

and efforts,to th e extens ion of the Gospe l, and

the sp ir i tual benefits o f the people,combine to

render him one of the most honoured mes sengers of mercy that

'

the Church has sent forthor the heathen wor ld; has rece ived .

”

In the year 1857, a Nova S cot ian, with h i swife

,s ettl ed as mi s s ionar i es in the is land wh ich

had been sta ined by the b lood of j ohnW i l l i ams .

At firs t they were kindly rece ived,but

,when

the meas les had broken Ou t in the i s land,they

were sentenced to di e as having caused the ep idem ic . On the 20th of Mav 1861

,both hus

band and wi fe were brutal ly murdered by theenraged savages . W i th a hero i sm almos tapos to l ic

,M r . Gordon ’ s brother at once took

up h i s murdered brother ’ s work,and succeeded

in secur ing the aff ect ions o f those who hadrobbed h im of both brother and s is ter . But onthe 7th o f March ,

1872 ,he also received the


298 LIFE o r JOH N WILLIAMS .

wings . Such men are the cho ice st gift s o f

mediator ia l grace ; they are gospel s , and shouldbe to us reve lat ions as to wha t God can makeof a man and do with a m an who wi l l y i e ld toH i s D ivine influences and Grace . Above all

th ings,such a martyrdom lays a perpetual ob l i

gation upon Chr is t ians to cont inue the forwardmovement .

A M i s s ion s tat ion now stands where Mr .

W i l l i ams per i shed . I t is thus des cr ibed : M r .

Gordon has bui lt the cottage on the high land .

Close by the house he has erected a sma l lchapel

,which has a fine be l l wh ich echoes from

hi l l to h i l l and ca l ls the tr ibes to the i r l i tt l eZion . At th e foot of the h i l l on which thechapel s tands i s the stream into wh ich M r .

Harr i s fe l l,and the beach where M r . W i l l iams

r an into the sea . In land i s a grove o f cocoanuts

,underneath one o f which M r . W i l l iams ’

skul l was bur ied . H ere the r em a ins of themartyr s res t and form part o f that palm whichwaves i ts fol iage in every breeze , emb lemat i c

of the Chr i st ian hero ’ s tr iumph .

”

Must I be carr i ed to the skie sOn flowery beds of ease

other s fought to win the pr i ze,And sai led through bloody s eas .


Thy saint s in a l l th i s glor ious warShal l conquer

,though they die :

They see the tr iumph from afar,

By fa ith they br ing i t n igh .

When that i l lus tr ious day shal l r i s eAnd a l l thy armie s sh ine ,

In robes of victory through the sk ies ,The glory Shal l b e th ine .

”

TH E END .

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V ol. II. Life o f Rob ertMo ffat—Africa. .

V ol. III. J ohn William s -" P o lynes ia.

V o l. IV . A l len Gardiner-"S outh Am er ica.

V o l. V. J . Hudson Taylo r -China,

V ol. V I. Life o f Carey—India.

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“The nam e of Rob er t Mofi at deser v es a high place

on the hon or -r oll of m oder n m is sion ar ies . When

he wen t to Sou th Af r ica in 1817, he f ound tr ib es o f

ido later s and sav ages , con s tan tly at war with each

other and with the white m en,u tter ly ign or an t and

degr aded. When he lef t it in 1870,chu r ches had

b een cal led in to exis ten ce, a perm anen t b ody of na

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wanas,and the whole r egion had b een lar gely civ

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”

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The Life of John Williams Missionary to the South Seas · PDF fileCONTENTS. CHAPTER I. John Wi lliams, Childhood and Youth; His Conversion; Sunday School Work; Offers for Mission Service;