New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-02-21
IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.
EXPERIENCES OF A MAN-HUNTER IN
POLYNESIA.

POLYNESIA
THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS. And the Queens;
land Labor Trade \ Record OF Voyages ana
Experiences In the Western PaSnc from Mariner arm
With numerous illustrations by the same fp'
XVI. 4iO. Swan. Sonnensche.n CO., LONDON
Macmillan q Co.
Captain Wawn is manifesty a strong partisan
Of a traffic which Is now thing Of the past in
Australasia. He for one-nainly because ne
made his living by it-saw no harm in carrying
the wild islanders from their homes 10 labor for
a term of years on the plantations of Queens
land. Apparently the majority Of his country
men thought otherwise. Though the term OF
labor was ostensibly a short one. ana though all
precautions supposed to be taken against
enforced labor and Kidnapping yet even through
Captain Wawn's spectacles we seem 10 get
plimnses of something like the old African slave
trade The argument of this book on the SUD-
ject might not unjusty be summed up in the
awkward excuse of the boy caught In mschei'
who declares that he was doing nothing but that
somebody else outrageousy wicked Ac-
cording 10 Captain Wawn. the English recruit
ers for the labor market were as a rule reasona-
BILE and moderate men. but the behavior OF the
French and Germans was a downright scandal
The native laborers had some hope of getting
back to their homes from Queensland. bat from
Somoa-never Looking little sharply at the
English branch of the traffic. Captain Wawn &C
knowedges that there were abuses. but az for
himself he was always upright one might go
the rounds doubtless Of the master mari
ners of the South Pacific and find that
they were all honest as the day
was long and as tender-hearted as children
by their own confession. Naturally the
author Of this book had little use for mission
aries He and all the rest of those engaged IN
the labor trade" as 1t was euphemlsucai!
called. found the ministers and teachers on the
islands a great obstacle when il came to getthS
the natives away from their homes. Though the
other side is vet to hear FROM he certainly seems
10 have case against certain individual mis-
sionaries whose zeal in good cause led them
too far But they can afford to ignore ms
charges since they have won and the Queens
land labor trade is legally dead. The authors
dedication is not merely statement OF the case
as he understands it: it is also literary cuIlos-
itv worthy of being associated with Famous
specimens of another age. ITO the sugar pant
ers of Queensland" writes Captain WdWn VINO
have spent the best years OF their hveS anu
millions Of money in developing an industry
which represents not less than 30 per cent OF 'he
total agricultural value Of that colony. AMI when
at one time babe fair to eclipse even the great
nastoral and mining industries in wealth ana
inheritance: TO those bold pioneers who nave
opened up the rich AGRICULTURAL districts along
the coast and have been the means OF setthhs
thousands of Europeans on the land. and who
have done more toward the practical civilzatlon
Of the cannbal and the savage than all the
well-intentioned but narrowminded enthusiasts
of the Southern Pacific; TO those good men ana
true who. after a quarter of a century OF hard
work and doubtful prosperity have been basely
betraved and unscrupuously sacrificed to the
greed OF the political place-hunter and the howl
ing ignorance which follows in his train-l deol-
cate this work with much sympathy ana re-
spect."
The manuscript which Captain Wawn intended
for the printer had some v.cissitudes. lie "ro'e
IN the form Of log" and the narrative was
interspersed with vast deal Of argument IN
tended to affect the public Judgment on the labor
question. which had become burning one De-
fore 1t vas outawed by the queens
land Government in 1891. No publisher
could be obtained for the work while the
Kanaka controversy. as 1t was Called
was raging. Public opinion in England and per-
hans everywhere else in the civilized world Is
too we'll determined in the matter of slavery to
look with favor on anything that resembles IT,.
Later he tried again. sending his papers ny the
Inflated steamship Quetta. BY the time lie had
rewritten the last work the labor controversy IN
the colony was at end The book IS printed
om,ts the details of the log" In which p-acti-
cal seaman takes delight, we'll as great part
of the controversial matter. But the "A'nainder
is in Captain Wawn's own words. 1t Is not al
all polished piece of literature; but every page
Of 1t reeks of the sea- and there is no match OF
ocean more pleasant TO read about than
the vast archipelago Of the Southwestern IA
cifc The port from which Captain Wawn sailed
Ma bnr Dil.r IN a
his successive voyages between the year 1915
when the labor traffic was most prosperous. and
1891 when the law put an end 10 it. gave him
an intimate acquaintance With Islands, iHets
atolls and waterways broad and narrow fr n
Papua on the west to the Iii group IN The east
and from the equator 70 90 degrees II sonrh l@ti
tude. He was no stranger to the Islands at th'
outset for he had already spent l"e Years ir
Samoa and Fiji sometimes aft Ut - d master
or mate, but usually ashore as trader. liz
had visited New-Calei mia, the Loyalty Islands
the New-Hebrides, Samoa, FIJI, the Caroline
Marshall and Gilbert groups, and knew enough
TO carry arms and to trust II natives word fo
nothing: for the islanders had bad practices
then of killing almost any person they could en-
trap merely for the purpose OF eating him. II
fact CAPTAIN Wawns Introduction to the Queens
land labor trade associated in his owl
mind with a calamity Of just this sort, in which
the master and nearly all the crew OF brig. tn
James Brine, pershed at the hands OF TIT
natives Of the Lord Howe Islands. The captain
Idea of savage character, says the author con
temptuously. appears to have been founded OF
the mistake that If you treat savage kindly
he will therefore behave we'll to you The un
fortunate skipper Is said to have gone to tn
length Of forbdding his men to carry firearms
AS the James Brine was not what was called
labor vessel. but was in quest Of trepang tn
marine slug, which when cured Is deemed
delicacy In China. and as no laborers for Queens
land had ever been recruited" in the Lore
Howe Islands. the massacre was not due to re
sentiment. II mention this says Captain Wawn
because all through my experience of the labo
trade 1T has been the fashion TO lay the blam
ON us for all South Sea Island Outrages'