St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-09

anu eNllDlleu the greatest friendship
for him. Presents were exchanged, and
W was invited to attend a dance on
shore in in the evening in his honor.
Accordingly, at sunset he landed at the
village, accompanied by one of his Kan
aka crew, land was escorted to the chiefs
house. Here the kava-bowlS had been
set out, and every preparation made for
a big festival. In the meantime, two
canoe-loadS of warriors had been dis
patched to the steamer, and the crew,
consisting of two Kanakas and the
Chinaman cook. seized. W heard
the commOtion on board the boat and
ran out of the chiefs hut to see what it
was all about, but was followed by a
volley of arrows and fell mOrtally
wounded.
His companions were then brought
ashore and murdered, and great canni-
bal feast was held, which lasted several
days. When the mission steamer Ell
langowan arrived off the island some
days later, Tanue naturally supposed it
had come to avenge the murder. As
soon, then, as she had departed he and
his people, who numbered i'm all some
forty souls, evacuated the island, and,
landing On the mainland, made Off into
the interior. The iSlaud, it appears. is
only inhabited for few months during
the year, when the beche de mer fishing
is being carried on. Hence its deserted
state when visited by II. NJ. 5. COrmO-
| rant.
MEETING THE MURDERERS.
1t was twelve months after the date
of the above tragedy that the CONVERSE
ton with which this narrative opens
was held. l had in the meantime
crossed Australia, from Rockhampton
to Port Darwin. and was now on my
way back to Sydney in one of the small
men-of-war schOonerS which the English
| government keeps for doing police duty
| i'll the South seas. We had put into Port
MoreSby to communicate with the mis-
SiOnarieS stationed there. The men who
had attracted my attention were party
of fifteen tall, well-armed savages l had
met marching through the village on
! my way down to the beach. Their
curious head-gear and their lighter
colors showed that they were from a
distance, and l wondered on seeing
them whether l might not be able to
gain from them some some information
about the intetior of New Guinea. I'M
aglne, then, my surprise when my friend
Informed me that they hailed from
Booker Island. Here was chance to
gam further information of my old
chum's fate. Here possibly was a
| chance of arreSting some of the actors
in that dismal tragedy!
at once dispatched one of the mis-
sion interpreters after the men, and
told him to promise them good rewards
! If they would come and hold palaver
with the white men. He returned
in about couple of hours with
word that they were camped
about three miles from the set
Element, and would be glad to talk to
us if we would go out to them. My
| friend was against my going, but as
| Sured him that they would not attempt
| any treachery with the schooner lying
| i'll the harbor, and it was at last ar
ranged that l should go by myself with
two of the mission boys to interpret. A
| walk of about an hour through the JIM
gle brought ME to small stream, where
found the men camped and busy cook
with his hair done up in wonderful
| chignon, advanced to meet me
and informed me that his name
was Balava and that he was
the leader of the party. They
came from the north, he said, and were
on their way to visit powerful chief in
the mountains called Nijah. He then
asked if | belonged to the war ship he
had seen in the harbor, and on my in
terpreter explaining that l was only q
passenger on board, he seemed relieved.
L was then offered seat in their midst
and the conversation became general.
On my asking if any of them knew the
chief Ianue, they seemed embarrassed,
but at last Balava volunteered the in
formation that he was very bad man.
told Balava that | was aware of that
fact, and that he had killed white
chief, and that l wished for any infor-
nation he could give me on the subject.
BALAvA WAS TANUE.
Ralava told me that his people, though
belonging to the same tribe as Tanue,
did not go to the islands to fish, but re-
manned always on the mainland. He
had heard, he said, of the white chief
with the ''smOke boat" who had at
tackled the people at Booker island,
wanting to steal them and carry them
away; also, he had heard of the war
ships, which had destroyed the houses
and cut down the trees. | told
him that l knew the whole story
and that the white chief had not gone
to kidnap, but to trade peaeeably with
the people of Booker island, and that
they had murdered and eaten him. At
this there was considerable merriment,
and one of them volunteered the state
ment that white men are very good
food. [ asked if any of them had seen
any Of my friends things, and one of
them described a long knife which
knew to be the midshipman's dirk had
last seen hanging in VS. room at
Oxford. l asked him if he could pro-
i'll the mountains of Tanue's village. I
| noticed that at every allusion to Tanue
there was sort of suppressed laughter,
as though the very mention of his name
We're huge joke. At length the men
began to collect their bundles and pre-
pare to start again on their Journey.
told them that anything belonging to
the white face murdered at Booker
island would be readily redeemed by ME
at more than its value. and | begged
them to do their utmost to procure any
relies for me and forward them to the
mission stations on the coast.
They promised to do so, and then Bal
lava, coming up to me, took me by the
hand and said: ''Tanue, he very bad
man. Tanue, he eat your brother.
When l see Tanue l shall say have
seen the brother of the white chief YOU
have eaten" We said adieu, and started
back to the shore, but we had not gone
a couple of hundred yards before we
heard great shouting and the beating
ofspearS on the shields, which betokens
war in the South Seas. | instinctively
drew my revolver ard turned round
What sight met my gaze! The men |
had left so peaceably minute or two
before seemed transformed to maniacs.
They had formed circle round
Balava, and were dancing and brand
| iShing their spears, all the time crying
! out at the top of their voices: s'Balava,
he is Tanue, he is Tanue." l asked my
interpreter what the shouting meant.
| They told me. For second hesitated
as to whether l should rush forward and
lodge the contents in Tanue's breast.
| The two interpreters, however, seized
! hold of me and implored me to hasten
back to the shore, and / felt / had no
| right to risk their lives in addition to
| my own Had T jnterfarod If would