The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-12-05
ROASTED
FOUR WESLEYAN TEACHERS
FEASTED UPON BY NEW
BRITAIN BARBAR.aNS.
From Fifty to Eighty Savages
Slain by the Aveng4ng Elk
petition.


Four Wesleyan m~ission4rie, have
been killed ana eaten bv natives OF
New Britain. The island OF New
Britain, situated u short distance east
Of New Guinea. has only recently been
occupied - a mission station. 1t l.
Inhabited by sava-e5 IT a type similar
to that Of some 81 the tribes OF New
Guinea, and OF a low degree OF bar
barism. 1t Il seldom visited b. traders
and, not having been before occupied
bv missionaries, was selected in $50
by the Wesleyans of Australia. partly
because i offered al entirely new field,
partly on ccOun Of its nearness TO
New Guinea, as M of the points ia
which. together with the n~eighborinL
groups Of New Ireland aud the Duke
of York Islands. they would establish
the stations OF "A new group of mis-
sions.
Sixty years agp the people Of these
Islands were regarded as savage and
cannibals. and the man who went
among them for any purpose literally
too his life in ms hands. In 1913
Samuel Leigh. 4 Wesleyan mlnl [ l.,
landed in Australia aud began 70
preach. as he had opportunity, to S l.
diers. penal ]convictS and natives, and
IL AAlA ~ III "a It'll
efforts without much encouragement:
for many years \ few Years later the
missionaries found their way to Tonga,
or the Friendly Islands. They found
the islanders more susceptible to Chris
tianiZing influences than the brutal
| aborigineS of Australia, and their mis-
sions began TO spread till they over
flowed into the FIJI Islands. Seldom
have the messengers of peace and
| civilization had to encounter tribes
which seemed to be more UNFIT sub
jectS for Outstanding and refining
influences than the fierce, man-eatlng
FijianS. Even as late as 1903, when
the present King now an exemplary
Christian and a voluntary vasSal OF
England was inaugurated. eighteen
victims were selected to grace the
royal feast and We're killed by having
their heads dashed against a large
stone, (Which is still there. telling its
sad tale Of the past, while Mr.. Cal
vert, the missionary, was speeding to
fort to prevent the murder. Mr.. Will
liam Owen, an Australian merchant,
however. told the chief that unless
the cooked human flesh was given up
for burial he would at once close all
business transactions with him. The
threat was effectuai. and eighty-four
cooked parts of mems bodies We're re-
covered and buried. Mr.. GervaSe
Smith, who visited the spot last Nav.
saw the stone on which the Victims,
heads were dashed, looked until he
sickened' into the oven in which hun
dreds, and probably thousands, Of
bodies, had been baked, traced the
outline of the bath in which the bodies
were washed before being cooked, and
inspected the tree on which the regis
ter of victims was kept, ''notched
from it's root to the highest branches,
every mark telling of murder and
cannibaiism The missionaries tri-
umphed and the result is now repre-
scented by the Australasian Methodist
Church, with , conferences and $1,000
members, of whom nearly 81 600 are
native Christians.
These Tongan and Fijian Christians.
generally supporting their own
churches n paying their minister's,
came to desire to do something for the
missionary enterprise. 1t was arranged
hat a new mission should be begun i'll
New Britain and the neighbOring
groups. Rev. George Brown, sailed
in 1915, accompanied by ten native
Fijian, Samoan and Tongan ministers
and teachers. The new enterprise
suffered from the sickness of its un>
acclImated members, SO that it soon
became necessary to send for rein
fOrcements, and there was no difficulty
in securing them. Other native agents
have zone since, SO that the total force
OF the IN SSiOn Is now ONE fifteen or
twenty workers. The work ~prospered
so that while they reported thirty
members at the close of 1876 they re-
turned ~slNty-four a year afterward.
At beginning Of this year a quarrel
arose among the islands between the
crew of a vessel and the natives. in
which a white was wounded. During
the lighting that ensued the natives
were driven away from their island.
In the latter part of January a trading
station was burned on New Britain by
some natives, and the suffering trader
reported that they had threatened tC
burn the house of Peni. a native
teacher, also, as they did not wanl
any one there who would not give
them tobacco and beads" House
burning seemed to be getting of fire.
quent occurrence at about this time
and Mr.. Brown expressed the feal
that it would be the usual thing fol
the natives to do when they got angry
with the traders or teachers anC
wished to injure them or drive then
away. Nevertheless, at this very time
one of the teachers had been far u
inland. Other bones and effects wer'
recovered in the neighborhood. Afte
this the expedition returned home will
not a single II of the party wounded
AN OUTBREAK OF CANNIBALIsH.
| On the 18th of February Mr.. Brow
: heard that there had been fighting
among the natives, and a chief name
: iorogood had got five bodies. whicI