Ben Hadden; or, Do Right Whatever Comes Of It

by William Henry Giles Kingston

  CHAPTER TEN.

  TELLS ABOUT MISSION WORK.

  Mr Martin had, as it may be remembered, promised to give Ben and hisson an account of the introduction of Christianity among the islands ofthe Pacific. One day, during a calm, when the ship floated idly on theocean, her sails scarcely even flapping against the masts, Tom, on goingbelow, declared that it was too hot to read or think or sleep, and thathe did not know what he should do with himself.

  "It is not too hot to prevent you from listening though, Master Tom,"said his father, who did not like to see any one idle from any excuse."Call Ben Hadden, and I'll tell you and him something which willinterest you, or ought to do so, at all events."

  Ben soon came, and the boatswain told him and Tom to sit down justoutside his cabin, where there was more air than inside.

  "Now listen, youngsters; I'm not going to throw my breath away onunwilling ears," he began.

  "I am listening, sir," said Ben.

  "So am I, father," said Tom, "but I can't promise to keep awake if theyarn is a long one."

  "Don't let me catch you with more than one eye shut at a time, or I'llbe down on you," answered the boatswain. "As I was saying, now listen.You've heard of Captain Cook, the great navigator, who sailed over andacross these seas in every direction, and found out many islands notbefore known to civilised men. His business was to try and discover newlands, and to do any good he could to the inhabitants, by leaving themseeds and plants and animals; but there was nothing in his directionsthat I know of about teaching them religion. There would not have beentime for him to do much, even if he had had any such instructions,unless he had carried out missionaries with him; but in those daysmissionaries to heathen lands were not so much as thought of in England.You have heard how Cook was killed by the savages of the SandwichIslands, who have now become the most civilised of all the people ofthese seas. The descriptions he and his companions gave of theislanders made some Christian people at home think that, if missionarieswere sent to them, they might be persuaded to become Christians. TheLondon Missionary Society had just been formed--that was as far back as1797. The first of their many noble enterprises was to send outtwenty-nine missionaries in the ship Duff, commanded by Captain Wilson.The greater number settled at Tahiti, where they were well received bythe natives; while others went to Tongatabu, and two of them attemptedto commence a mission at Saint Christina, one of the Marquesas. Thelatter mission was, however, soon afterwards abandoned, and has neversince been resumed; and unhappily, as the French have taken possessionof the group, there is not much probability of an English Protestantmission being established there, whatever the French Protestants may do.

  "At Tahiti many years passed before any fruits of the missionaries'labours were perceived, not indeed till 1813, when some praying nativeswere discovered, and a church was formed. From that time, however,Christianity spread rapidly, and the converted natives were eager to goforth themselves as missionaries, not only to neighbouring islands, suchas the Paumotre, the Austral, and Hervey groups, but to Raratonga andSamoa, and, still farther, to the New Hebrides, Loyalty Islands, and NewCaledonia and Penryn Islands.

  "The climate of those islands in the Western Pacific, near the equator,is nearly as hurtful to the constitutions of the inhabitants of theeastern part of that ocean as to Europeans, and very many nativemissionaries have fallen martyrs in the cause of the gospel. In someinstances the English missionaries were the first to land, andafterwards to employ native agency; in others, the natives were firstsent to a heathen island, and the more highly-educated white menfollowed, to complete the work commenced by their dark-skinned brethren.In many instances the missionaries had long to wait before they saw thefruit of their labours; in others, the natives at once gladly acceptedthe glorious tidings of salvation. In very few have missions beenultimately abandoned in consequence of the hostility of the natives inthe Eastern Pacific; the Marquesas is the chief exception. In theWestern Pacific the natives have been much more hostile to themissionaries. This has arisen in consequence of the treatment they haveoften received from the crews of whale-ships, and from sandal-woodtraders. These men have been known to carry off natives from oneisland, to make them cut sandal-wood on another inhabited by theirmortal foes, and after their task has been accomplished the traders haveleft the poor wretches there to be butchered, and often eaten, by theirenemies, to save themselves the trouble of taking them back and payingthem their stipulated reward.

  "The history of the establishment of Christianity on many of theseislands is very interesting. The way in which it was introduced intoRaratonga, the largest of the Hervey group, is so in particular. Somenatives of that island had been carried away in a whale-ship, and leftat Aitutaki. Among them was the niece of the principal chief of theisland. At Aitutaki, the great missionary Williams saw them, and,accompanied by them, after a long search, discovered their island. Thiswas in 1823. The unfriendly reception he met with from the savagenatives, however, made it impossible for him to remain. Had it notbeen, indeed, for the exertions of Tapaeru, the niece of the chief, whohad been carried away, the native teachers who went on shore would havebeen murdered. They returned on board; but Papehia, one of theirnumber, as the ship was about to sail away, volunteered to return.Tying a book containing a part of the Scriptures in a handkerchief onhis head, and clothed in a shirt and trousers only, this true servant ofChrist swam back, full of faith, to the rocks, on which stood several ofthe savages, brandishing their spears. His heart did not falter; heswam on bravely. He had true faith. He followed your rule, Ben; he wasdetermined to do right, whatever was to come of it. He knew that it wasright to carry the gospel to these poor savages; he would succeed, orperish in the attempt. Tapaeru from the first protected him, andobtained for him the support of her relations. This enabled him tospeak openly to the people, who soon became eager to listen to thewonderful things he had to narrate. Still, he had much opposition tocontend with. Tinomana, a powerful chief, was the first man ofinfluence to give up his idols.

  "Another native teacher afterwards joined Papehia; and in two years anda half, under the superintendence of these two native teachers,--themselves born heathens, and brought up in the darkness of idolatry,till called into the marvellous light of the gospel,--the whole of thepopulation of that large island became professedly Christian. It washere that, soon after this, Mr Williams built his vessel, the Messengerof Peace, in which he sailed over so large a part of the Pacific. Thereare now numerous churches, schools, and a training college, from whichmany native missionaries have gone forth to preach the gospel in fardistant islands.

  "The conversion of the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands was stillmore extraordinary. From the time that Captain Cook was killed on theirshores, they had been looked on as among the most savage of the peopleof the Pacific. The Sandwich Islands, the largest of which is Hawaii,were ruled by a chief of great talent, who had made himself king of thewhole group, and was called Tamehameha the First. He had entreatedCaptain Vancouver, who visited his territories in 1793, to send himChristian missionaries. No attention, however, was paid to thisrequest. His son Rihoriho, who became king in 1820, seeing the utterfolly of the religion of his ancestors, without being even urged to doso by foreigners, of his own accord threw off the gods of his people,burnt the idols and their temples, and upset the priesthood, and thewhole system connected with it. In this extraordinary proceeding he wassupported by the high priest himself, who acknowledged, when appealedto, that the gods they had hitherto worshipped were of no power, andthat there was but one God in heaven, the same whom the white menworshipped.

  "It was at this juncture that a band of missionaries arrived from theUnited States, sent out by the American Board of Missions. They werecordially welcomed by the king, most of his chiefs, and the people.Schools were established, churches built, and in a few years the wholeof the people became nominally Christians, many of them really so; andcivilisation advanced with rapid strides. Among no people, probably,has
it made so much progress in so short a time. Still, I believe thatamong the Society Islands, at Raratonga, and other islands of the Herveygroup, true Christianity more extensively prevails.

  "The people of Savage Island, who were said to be among the fiercest andmost barbarous of the natives of Polynesia, were converted much in thesame way as those of Raratonga, and they are now simple-mindedChristians, earnest, quiet, and well-behaved.

  "In the large island of Tongatabu, and its adjacent islands, greatdisappointment was encountered by the first missionaries, who wereultimately driven away. In 1820, the Wesleyan Missionary Society sentmissionaries there, and by their means the king, George, and the wholepopulation have professed Christianity. The two societies together havelaboured in the beautiful islands of Samoa, to the north; and there alsoChristianity has been generally established.

  "Wonderful, also, is the change which has been brought about in a fewyears in Fiji, a large and beautiful group of islands lying to the westof Tonga. The inhabitants are nearly black, and a very fine andintelligent race of men; but they were even more addicted to cannibalismthan the New Zealanders, and their customs were of the most revoltingand cruel description. Thackombau, the greatest chief among them, wasalso a fierce cannibal. Fully aware of the character of the people, aband of Wesleyan missionaries landed on their shores, and by greatperseverance have succeeded in bringing over a large number of thepopulation to a knowledge of the truth, including the king himself andall his family; while the practice of cannibalism is almost, if notcompletely, extirpated.

  "The numerous groups of islands to the north of New Zealand are known asMelanesia. The Presbyterian and London Missionary Societies have for aconsiderable time been at work in some of these islands. It was on oneof them (Erromanga) that Williams met his death, and that Mr Murray andsome native missionaries were murdered, while many have died of fever.They have, however, not laboured in vain, and the inhabitants of morethan one island have abandoned idol-worship. To these groups, also, theChurch of England, established in New Zealand, has turned its attention,under the direction of the Bishop of New Zealand, who made severalvoyages among them. Bishop Pattison, with the title of Bishop ofMelanesia, has been especially appointed to superintend the work ofevangelisation connected with them. A vessel called the Southern Crossmakes a cruise twice a year among them. In the spring, she collectsyoung men from all the islands and carries them to New Zealand, wherethey receive instruction in a college established for that purpose. Asthey can no more stand the cold climate of New Zealand in the winterthan Europeans can stand the heat of their summer, in the autumn theSouthern Cross carries them back to their own islands, where theyinstruct their countrymen in the religious knowledge and the arts theyhave learned during their absence. The French have sent Roman Catholicmissionaries to several of these groups. They have taken possession ofTahiti; and have established colonies there, on the coast of New Guinea,and in the Marquesas. At Tahiti, the English Protestant missionarieswere for a time prohibited from preaching, and compelled to leave theisland. The greater number of the people, supported by the queen,remained firm to their Protestant principles; and at length a FrenchEvangelical Society sent out Protestant pastors, and the people have nowperfect religious liberty, though they remain subject to France.

  "Notwithstanding the large number of islands in which Christianity hasbeen firmly established, it is calculated that there are two hundred andfifty inhabited islands still sunk in the darkness of idolatry andsavageism, so that there remains a very large amount of work to be done.There, I have given you a short account of missionary work in thePacific. Another day I will get a chart, and show you the places I havespoken about. I will then tell you more respecting them. You will likeespecially to hear of Savage Island, or Niue, which I understand we areto visit, to inquire about some natives who, it is reported, have beencarried away by the Chilian slavers."

  Ben thanked Mr Martin very much for the information he had given himand Tom, and begged that he would give them a further account of SavageIsland, as he had kindly offered to do.