Part 2: The Light Cometh
Excerpt from
The Diary of the Reverend John Williams,
1796-1859
November 20th, Wednesday
As myself, Mr Harris, and the teacher waited on the beach, it became apparent, through one of the natives’ gesticulation, that danger would befall any man who decided to pass the line that they had hastily drawn in the sand. The only word intelligible of their tongue to myself was ‘tabu’, meaning sacred, which they repeated many times. How curious, for these Papuans to speak nothing similar to those of the island just to their south, save for this one!
We made moves to entice the men watching us, offering some bolts of cloth, beads, and other small articles, which managed to persuade one of the natives to give us the gift of some cocoa-nuts, which we gratefully accepted in the sweltering heat of the Sun.
The gifts appeared to cause some form of argument between the natives, with one running off towards what appeared to be some form of primitive tower, made to survey the land of enemies and foreigners, no doubt [1]. After the passage of some twenty-odd minutes of attempted enticement to no avail, we made the decision to begin to leave. But this was interrupted by the blowing of a conch-shell, the custom of many of the natives in the South Seas to signify the start of ceremony. Myself and Mr Harris then made the decision to remain, in case someone important decided to come out. After this, a large party of what looked to be a chief and warriors, lead by one of the natives who had left the beach earlier. Me and the teacher, John the Samoan, called out to them ‘tatou tati au’[2], or we come in peace. Conversation was had between the men at this, but seemed to elicit no change in their response to us. They called out ‘Maymay kik. armai neivoe’[1], which had no meaning in any tongue that I or my companions knew. Nevertheless we stood firm, offering trinkets of fishing-hooks, looking-glass, and cloth and showing our empty palms to show our peaceful intent. I deemed it prudent to not give a knife, as that may have caused aggression towards us.
We then inquired as to whom their king was, their
ariki. We then told them we were men of Jesus Christ, that we meant them no harm. At the mention of the Good Lord’s name, they stirred. Their leader, who I assumed to be the chief of the nearby village, came towards us, repeating the word Jesu, which must have been the native’s approximation of Jesus. He then made the move to come towards us, and, in a most surprising move, spoke a few words of English. The chief said ‘Jesu
namtog [prevent]' and 'Stop'. In my years of work in enlightening the heathens of the South Seas, never had we been invited by the leader of a village of natives to spread the faith before the matter had even been brought up. I thanked the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the light they had shone into the dark hearts of the Papuans. I then told the chief that the teacher that had accompanied myself and Mr. Harris, John, would stay with them and help. My promise to the Lord had been accepted and helped by the divine. The mission would truly start here, in the New Hebrides. Before long, all the heathens of these many isles will become good Christians and cast away their sinful ways. But before we could make the motions to leave, the man who had led the chief and his party towards us was told to come with us. This must have been to learn our language. With the gifts of more fishing hooks and cloth, we left, accompanied by the native. Leaving the beach to much jubilation, myself and Mr. Harris rowed back to the
Camden.
[1] Actually a
nevsem tower, built because of a ceremony to honour the daughter of a chief’s passing.
[2] He luckily didn’t say ‘tatate tatau’, which would mean ‘stamp on your testicles’. If this had been said, needless to say, the meeting would not have gone so well.
[3] ”Who are you? Good white men?”
Erromango: A history by John Takie, Chapter 2-
The Story of Uven.
The first man to peacefully join the ship of an
itugo [foreign] group, whose name is known to history by his Christian name of Edward, but had the actual name of Uven, or Oven as he was nicknamed by the crew of the
Camden. He was in many ways an special to the history of Nelocompne. Not only did his decision to bring the chief of Waringi in Ralifatie [northern Erromango], Auyawi, to meet the mission lead by John Williams, bringing about a rare instant peaceful contact between Erromangans and foreigners, as well as marking the introduction of missionaries to both Erromango and the New Hebrides as a whole. His decision to board the
Camden, knowing well the dangers that he may have faced, with the many stories of the murders of Erromangans by the
Nehvo Natmah [white spirits], and yet still went aboard. The stories he told the men aboard the
Camden had a great effect on them all, not least Williams himself…
Edward, native of Erromanga, begs for Captain Morgan to end the murders of his people (Library of Sydney, Pacific Collection. Author unknown)
Excerpt from
The Diary of Captain Robert C. Morgan 1798-1862
November 20th
Through my spyglass I observed Messrs Williams and Harris, as well as the Samoan in their company, meet a large group of natives armed with clubs. My conscience was wracked between the duty as captain of the vessel to protect the men I must protect, and the instructions given to me by the Reverend before he departed to meet the natives of Dillon’s Bay. Ultimately, though the conversation between the groups seemed pained, no conflict arose. Amazingly- one of the natives followed Mr. Williams, and the two seemed to be in some sort of conversation. The Samoan has been left behind with the natives.
[written sometime later]
It has been reported to me that the native in company of Messrs Williams and Harris came of his own volition. The name given to me was Oven. Our very presence gave him much anguish, but he seemed greatly determined to remain. Through gesticulation, myself and the Reverend had introduced ourselves to him. Through his own manner of gesticulation, it was made apparent that the cause of his anguish was from the many sandalwood traders who visit Eromanga and the manner of brutality they obtained the goods. Oven gave us the name of sandalwood in his own tongue-
nay empen [neiempen]. He seemed a noble savage, determined to rid his home of the violence that had wracked it since the arrival of the Cook and Dillon. The power of the cross seemed to him to be the way…
...
Sorry that this took so long, i've had some assignments to focus on. As always, thoughts, ideas, or criticism is always welcome.
