a short sketch of the missionary work in the south seas—concerning john williams, james chalmers, and others.
i can do no better than conclude this short sketch of the three most important groups of the south sea islands by touching on the work and lives of those brave fellows the missionaries, who have left all the comforts of their english homes—their best friends and everything else that was dear to them—to teach the gospel of their master and bring peace and happiness to these wild savages.
it is an easy thing to sneer at these “gospel punchers” as they are so often called “out west.” but in spite of all the little things against them, one cannot help asking: is it not through the work of the best of them that we are to-day able to go amongst these savages?
the most bigoted unbeliever if he thinks, and if he knows the sort of lives that many of these pioneers have led, must acknowledge their bravery, {194} even if he doubts their beneficial influence; but only the most ignorant could do that.
mercenary reasons have always been assigned to account for the presence of the missionary in savage lands and all over the world, and particularly in new zealand, one hears tales of the way the early missionaries piled up the gold. in australia the same stories are told, but there was little in these savage south sea islands to attract the seeker for gold at the time missionaries first began their work, for whatever they made would be at such a risk that it would not be worth their while.
in australia and new zealand, of course, there is a difference, in the latter place particularly, for there the maoris were owners of large tracts of valuable land, and, undoubtedly, one or two of the lukewarm missionaries were tempted and fell.
one story i was told by an old maori of a certain missionary is worth relating, as his acts rather upset the work of many honest men who were really trying to do good to these noble savages.
“your clergyman be all right,” said the old man, when i mentioned missionary work. “he teach us about god, but he too greedy. he want all the maori got.” {195}
“nonsense,” i said; “who told you that yarn?”
a smile went round the little crowd as the old man glanced at his friends. “mr. —— he told us to look to god and we looked, while we looked mr. —— took our land. then one day he come to us and he say, ‘god wants more land,’ and we gave him more land. then some time soon he came again and he say, ‘god wants cattle to put on the land.’ and we give him cattle. then he say, ‘god wants sheep.’ and we give him sheep. then long time after he come again and he say, ‘god want money to keep the cattle and the sheep.’ but we had no money and so we had no more god.”
it is acts like these, committed by a few of the black sheep, that have made the bushmen, the cattlemen, and the traders sneer at the missionary, and in their ignorance they have condemned the whole for a part.
the trader and the kidnapper of the south seas have for years fought tooth and nail against the missionaries, and it is they who have spread wild tales of the misconduct and strange practices of these noble men. they had an end in view, as they knew their worst foe was not the savage but the {196} missionary; it is the missionary who has been the means of stopping the ghastly trade in black men; it is the missionary again who has seen that the native was dealt with fairly; and these are the sins he has committed and can never be forgiven.
as early as 1796 the london missionary society, then the missionary society, undertook the work of sending men to these islands in the hope of winning their inhabitants to better lives. at that time the lives they were living were as bad, if not worse than those of savage beasts, and the publication of captain cook’s voyages in these islands aroused men of christian feeling, and was the means of the society sending out men to tahiti; most of whom eventually died of sickness or were butchered by the natives.
for years these men and others worked their hardest against fearful odds, and for ten years they made little or no progress. reports show that in 1813 one tahitian had become a christian. but this was the beginning, and during the next few years progress was as rapid as it had been slow before. eventually the king of the island acknowledged the christian belief, and set to work to destroy the heathen gods.
the artist’s guide, on malekula, new hebrides
the adjacent islands were next approached, and {197} the tahitian missionary society was formed with the avowed object of devoting all its energies to the conversion of the natives of these islands. amongst its teachers the society had a large body of natives, and it was not only assisted in this way but financially also by the very men who a few years before would have nothing to do with it.
then came one of the greatest of the great men to these islands; john williams, who was not only a splendid worker but a magnificent organiser. he soon had a boat fitted out in which he was able to visit the adjoining islands; finally confining his labours to new guinea and the new hebrides.
in 1823 williams discovered raratonga, an island in the hervey group, and he seems to have devoted more of his time to the natives of this island than any other. it was his island, “dear raratonga,” as he always called it. the population of it when he landed he estimated as about 7000, and in less than a dozen years he wrote of them in the following way:—
“i cannot forbear drawing a contrast between the state of the inhabitants when i first visited them, and now in 1834. in 1823 i found them all heathens, in 1834 they were all professing christians. at the former period i found them with idols and {198} maraes; these in 1834 were destroyed, and in their stead there were three spacious and substantial places of christian worship, in which congregations amounting to 6000 persons assembled every sabbath day. i found them without a written language, and left them reading in their own tongue the wonderful works of god.”
and again he said—
“in reference to the island generally, it may be observed that the blessings conveyed to them by christianity have not been simply of a spiritual character, but that civilisation and commerce have invariably followed in her train.”
succeeding this noble man in the islands were men of fine characters, the revs. william gill, e. w. krause, and messrs. pitman and buzacott, and then in 1867 came the man whose sterling good qualities will never be forgotten—james chalmers, or “tamate,” the name by which he was always known by the natives.
“tamate” was bred and born in scotland, and it was there he grew muscular and learned to love open-air life. quite as a youth he became enthusiastic to devote his life to missionary work in savage lands; but subsequent events, and probably his companions, who were young men keen on {199} mischief and adventure, helped to make him forget his early aspirations. in fact, in that splendid biography of his written by cuthbert lennox, it is stated that young chalmers’ religious ideas went through a period of uncertainty, and it was not until 1859, when he was eighteen years of age, that he had occasion to remember his early vow.
it was during a great religious revival, which was bringing in thousands of converts in scotland, that chalmers was persuaded to attend one of the meetings. this meeting he himself said that he and his friends had previously determined to do all in their power to upset. the result of it was that the true james chalmers was roused, and from that hour he never wavered in his determination to teach the gospel to savages.
for years he worked steadily away at his studies, and in 1861 he was appointed to a position in the glasgow city mission. his good work brought him recognition, and finally he applied to the london missionary society for a position as missionary. the application was accepted, and chalmers then went into training and was ordained as a missionary in 1865. he sailed almost immediately afterwards in the missionary boat john williams ii. for raratonga island. {200}
prior to leaving england james chalmers married, and to his wife he gives the credit of half the successes of his life. the passage out to the south seas was a terrible one, as the following extract shows:—
whilst still in the english channel the vessel encountered a terrific storm, memorable as being that in which the london was lost. three passengers were thrown out of their bunks, the pilot was knocked insensible, the compass binnacle was damaged, the whale-boat was carried away, and the seamen were constrained to ask the missionaries to pray for a change of wind. with difficulty the john williams ii. made the portland roads, and escaped the fate of some twenty-one vessels which foundered in the storm.
but this was only the beginning of the trials of that journey. another storm met them in the bay of biscay, and a third one off the cape of good hope, but they reached adelaide eventually, and were there able to rest.
on the 21st of august the missionary ship which was to carry them to the islands left sydney, and was in less than a fortnight high and dry on a reef, but she did not become a total wreck. she was taken back to sydney for repair, leaving there again on the 15th of november, to become a total wreck on the 8th of january; her passengers were landed, minus all their belongings, on an almost unknown {201} and uninhabited island. the notorious bully hayes, however, rescued them from this spot and took them to samoa. eventually james chalmers and his wife reached raratonga safely after a voyage extending over seventeen months—the passage now takes about six weeks.
“tamate’s” life in the south seas was a life of sheer hard work, but he always felt, and properly so, that he was making headway. at the beginning of his career at raratonga he set to work on the young men, as he thought in them lay the future hopes of the civilisation of the islands. when one knows the risks he ran in going back into the bush, where white men were so dreaded that they were often shot on sight, one cannot help feeling that a special providence was looking after him. he took no half measures and made few concessions, but went boldly to work at the start as he intended to go on to the end.
many of the natives had been in the habit of fancying that the missionaries were weak men, but in “tamate” they met one who was their equal in most things and could beat them at many.
as a sportsman and a man of pluck he immediately won their hearts, in fact every one who {202} came in contact with him speaks of him as a man before all else.
one missionary said at the court in sydney that, in his dealings with the natives, he remembered before all else that he was an englishman, then a man, and lastly a missionary; but in “tamate” every one recognised the man.
from raratonga chalmers worked diligently amongst all the adjacent islands, and when later he had his yacht he was able to extend his operations and win many of the worst savages to better ways, and by joining in with the other missionaries some splendid work was accomplished. throughout he saw the need of native teachers, and it was this branch of the work he set himself to push on, with the result that now there are native teachers and preachers in every island in the pacific.
the chief trouble with which he and other missionaries had to contend was the climate; the unhealthy districts they had to visit often laid them up for weeks at a time. finally tamate’s wife, after a long and distracting illness, died and left him broken-hearted, for through all his difficulties she had been his mainstay. she died at sea on the 25th of october 1900. her end was a very sad and disappointing one, as is shown by a letter chalmers {203} wrote to one of his friends at the time. “we had dreamt of a little rest together in a cottage out of london somewhere, before we crossed the flood. we shall dream no more, she waits on the other side, as she said ‘i shall be waiting for you all.’”
it was not long she had to wait either, for on the 7th of april of the following year james chalmers was massacred in the aird river district, a part of the islands where he was not well known. the following account of the massacre was written by the rev. a. e. hunt, who accompanied his excellency the lieutenant-governor of the colony on a punitive expedition. “the niue (chalmers’ yacht) anchored off risk point on the 7th of april, and a crowd of natives came off. as it was near sunset tamate gave them some presents, and made signs that they were to go away and the next day he would visit them ashore. at daylight the next morning a great crowd of natives came off and crowded the vessel in every part. they refused to leave, and in order to induce them to do so tamate gave bob, the captain, orders to give them presents. still they refused, and then tamate said he would go ashore with them, and he told tomkins (his right-hand man) to remain on board. the latter declined and went ashore with tamate, followed by {204} a large number of canoes. when they got ashore the whole party were massacred and their heads cut off. the boat was smashed up, and the clothing, etc., distributed. all the bodies were distributed and eaten.”
chalmers evidently felt that his end was coming, though it cannot be supposed he knew how it would come. a few weeks before his death he wrote to a friend: “time shortens, and i have much to do. how grand it would be to sit down in the midst of work and hear the master say, ‘your part is finished, come.’”
some time before chalmers’ death williams and many other missionaries were massacred; in fact it is in this way most of them have died, but their work will always remain as a memento. as robert louis stevenson said, when bunching the good and bad missionaries together:
“with all their gross blots, with all their deficiency of candour, honour, and of common sense, the missionaries are the best and most useful whites in the pacific.”