Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-10-26
ARESTiLLCANNIBALS
SOLOMON ISLANDERS IN THE
PACIFIC.
JUST AS BAD AS THEY WE'RE
CENTURIES AGO.
An English Seaman's Story of How
One Ladlc Of Boiling Pitch Was the
Means Of Soaring Off Il Party of
Ugly and BloodthirSty Savages.

Great Britain recently established a
professionalism other words seized
the Solomon islands, Il group located
in the Pacific ocean and discovered by
Mendana in 1867. A writer in the
Pail Mail Budget-a man who in days
gone by sailed in a British trading YES
se1-has the following to say regarding
the Inhabitants and an experience he
had among them at one time: They
are the very kittle cattle to have to
do with now. A few years back they
We're even kittler. CannibaiS in the
| days of Mendana, they are Cannibals
yet. And even in the halcyon times of
I blackbirding, when wool money was
plentiful in the other groups, the fleet
gave the SOlOmonS lis wide berth as
possible, unless luck went very much
against them elsewhere. Roast re-
cruiter was a better dish even than the
proverbial missionary. And new sub
jects have tasted both.
/ We went down there two or three
times before good Bishop Patteson tried
to take them in hand. But we were
:
some tortoise-shell, cats eyes. sandal
wood, anything, in fact, that we could
get. bar themselves. The Queensland
/ planters had already had taste of
/ their quality. They simply sulked, re-
fused all food, and in due course died
So they really were not worth kid
mapping, even if it could be managed
with safety, which it could not. More
suspicious, watchful, and treacherouS
natives exist nowhere. Therefore we
wanted none of them. Since few
missionaries have gained a footing on
some of the islands they have improv-
ed enough to be recruited and learned
enough to work, and now there are
some very toIerable boys taken from
the SolomOns, under the new regime
on the plantations.
But, as l slid, we didn't call for
labor" merely to see what we could
do in fair trade And we lay off ISABEL
at anchor with our boarding MEETINGS
triced up, and every man Il revolver in
his belt, Il Snider handy, and a stand
Of pixies against the mainmaSt And
they came off in hundreds, the artful
beggars, waving their arms joyously
and standing up in their canoes to show
that they carried no weapons, think
I ing that we were as green as the rush
,, es that concealed the spears and clubs
in the bottom Of the canoes. And they
pulled round and round, and leered
languishingly up at us, as much us to
say, Good Lord! Here's supply OF
long PIC! How can we get at it!'
| Suddenly there was rush for the
open space left near the gangWay of
forty or fifty canoes. But the savages
were promptly met by bristling
clump of boarding pixies. Whereupon
they retired smiling widely, as if 1t
was the best joke in the world. Then
they all went off to a distance, and
presently one canoe came alongside
and her crew held up sheets of Shell,
cat's-eye stones wrapped in big leaves
and other curios. We let this lot on
i board and passed the canoe astern.
| They were perfectly naked. bar the
slightest apology for IL loin cloth. Their
color was very dark brown. and they
had great fizzled heads of hear, stained
ia dirty red. Moreover, they We're
| covered. most of them, with cuts and
wounds, many yet raw and gaping
There had probably been a question OF
home rule debated lately on the Is
land.
One fellow, evidently chief, draw
! ing a little parcel from the inner1nost
recesses of his wig presented it to the
! captain, ,eXclaiming ,airily, Sydney
! Goddamr' UndOing the packet the
skipper discovered a piece OF paper on
which was written, with date some
six years prev ious, This is to certify
that the bearer and his mates are the
most internal set of scoundrelS in the
| islands. Keep your weather eye lift
ing or they'll have you" The signature
was that of a well-knOwn trader,
master of Il schooner sailing out OF
Sydney The rest of the canoes had
i clustered around again on both sides
and in such numbers that the schooner
was the center of a yelling mass of
niggers This was unpleasant and as
our anchor was barely touching we
hove it off the bottom and set the fore
topsail The breeze was very light
But we left easier.
! Meanwhile, the niggerS, on deck,
! dozen or so in number. were swooplng
round One lot congregated about a
ring-bolt, while, hidden in their midst,
: two of them stopped down and pulled
with all their might at the iron ring,
| pulled and strained until something
/ had to give. But it wasn't the bolt.
! And then the rest scratched their wigs,
and yelled disappointedly. And pre-
| sently they scored. The carpenters
crosse saw was lying on the fore
| hatch A couple of the visitors sampled
/ it, and finding that it was loose and Of
good metal, each taking hold CT an end,
| sprang overheard. Diving with the
! eight-foot saw, they reappeared far
! beyond the boats, making a bee line
for shore.
Trade being brisk, the skipper knock
ed UP the carpenters rife, which was
leveled at the swimmers, and no further
notice was taken. Old shear-blade
were eagerly sought for, and brought
from fifteen to twenty pound weight
of shell. The happy possessOr of one
danced around joyfully, and evidently
could hardy be restrained from trying
| it then and there on his neighbor's body,
| dagger fashion. Everything was
handed over the gangway, where stood
! four men armed to the teeth Others.