The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-26
APLEA FOR THE CANNIBAL
TfEs y IN MERTCAN VINO mas
CEUJSED IN THE SOUTH SEIS.
The Solomon Islanders. Ho says. Arc simple.
Religious Folks who Eat white Men from
y Sense or ana Trenchery OF
Traders which they Seek 10 AyenEe.

The Solomon Hsinnders, He says. Arc simple,
ReiiEieus Folks who Eat white Men from
n Sense OF ~DutS-Cruelty and Trenchery OF
Traders which They Seek 20 hyenEe.
An American who is now In this country af-
TOR having spent thirty-three years Of his life
cruising and trading among the South Sea 1sl.
ands read with interest Of the expedition that
left San Francisco on Sept. 8 in search of gold
on the Solomon Islands.
1T is stated" he s id, that the members of
the expedition expect to remain on tho islands
three years and come back with more gold than
the luckiest miners OF the Klondike region.
That is tho golden side OF II. Truth is often
more strange than fiction, and the strange and
thrilling adventures OF Allan Quatermain and
his party in search of king.Solomon's mines, M
described by Rider IIaggard, read NJ n child's
fairy tale in comparison with those that will
face the expedition OF the Sophia Sunderland,
commanded by Capt. Mclean.
Gold l never heard Of in these islands. Tho
crude gold ornaments spoken OF rs worn by
the natives and exciting the cupidity of trad.
ers, were doubtless obtained during their term
of servitude in Queensland and various islands,
on plantations where a great number of Hin
dostan coolies are employed who make quite a
trade Of melting coin and converting it into
or course, those people are canni-
balls to-day as much rs over. There have been
many massacres of whites who have ventured
on these islands for scientific research. Per.
sons unacquainted with the facts think these
massacres are horrible and that the savagcs
should be exterminated. The first opinion /
fully concur in. but not In the latter. Retalia.
ton Is human nature, in black or white.
I'm 1858 what is known in the Southern and
Western Archipelago rs the labor traffic
was started, that is, in plain words, the kid
mapping or stealing Of natives from uncxplorcd
islands, as, for instance, the Union, Gilbert,
Ellice, Banks, Santa Cruz, New Hcbrides, and
Solomon groups and from Papua or New Guinea
and taking them to work on plantations in the
Fiji, Samoan, and Tahite Islands, and later TO
Queensland, North Australia. At first, as the
Hon. H. II. Romily states, when the white
man was n sort of rara avis, and where the in
tercoursc had been very slight, the natives
we're not afraid OF them. On the contrary. when
they heard that a white mans ship was within
reach, they would go miles to sec it, invite the
white men to pay them visits at their own
places, and escort them about, without having
any designs on their lives or skulls In nearly
all cases Of cannibalism, where whites have
been the victims. it has been brought about by
their own folly In wilfully ignoring and abus.
ing native prejudices and customs and through
deceit, treachery, and cruelty. Their vessels
recruiting laborers would heave to opposite a
native village. whereupon canoes would come
off with yanis, taro, :breadfruit. cocoanuts, &C.,
to trade. The natives were enticed on board,
presents were given them. and they were asked
II they would not like to go and see the white
mans country for one moon or maybe three
moons, They were made to understand this
by holding up three fingers and pointing to the
sky. Some would consent. These were placed
In the hold OF the vessel and the matches put
down on them, and the rest in the canoes were
ordered to come aboard or they would be shot.
Should any attempt to escape the vessel would
run down their canoes, and they would then
he picked up out OF the water and secured with
the others in the hold.
"A first mate OF one OF these vessels, dis
gusted with the brutal work. deserted and
afterward shipped on my vessel as mate, and
from him and other W sources |
learned c. these things. He said that the ship he
was on took out for ballast large round stones,
which were used to- heave into the canoes as
they came alongside, breaking large holes in
them and sinking them. Then the poor
wretches were seized and thrown into the hold.
The aged and young boys We're picked out and
thrown overheard. to swim ashore il they were
able and the sharks did not eat them. 1t was
often pleaded as an excuse that having no idea
of time as we count 1t, the natives could not
be made 10 understand what three years
sNg SNS'h Scu ~ a u lft Cal
ing OF three crops of yams, thirty months,
they would have understood: but, OF course.
no such explanation was given them. or the
traders plans would have been defeated. On
one OF these expeditions to the Gilbert Islands
the ship was represented to be Bishop Pattcr.
son 8 mission Vessel, called the Daysprins,
ana the supercargo donncd the Bishops robes.
mo uisuspicious natives were told that they
would he taken TO Norfolk Island, where n mis-.
sion station was established taught to read and
write, and hen returned to their own homes,
so that they could teach their people what had
been taught to them, About sixty we're oh.
Fiji. and sold. Later. when Isl shop Patterson
visited that place, he was cruelty murdered in
Fevsnge for The deceit p%racticod on their
Commodore G0odenough, who was a true rep
f iese tnn S, Of his II name me Ment down TO inquire
Killed. This struck horror and sorrow through
me length and breadth of the South seas,
and nlourned for.
As far back as 1886 the bark Santa Cruz.
sayagcs from tho New Hebridest ! IslSnd ise 30
hmsr,c them to work y the mines in South
course eastward, TO avoid strong currents n
and ~easterly winds, they took a course to catch
the southeast trade winds. Cholera had bro
SUNDAY Island. iat; 2ss south. S% t' w! 4 81
nall q dozen acres of land fit for cultivation,
and here they were left to die OF disease and
starvation; Doubtless none would have lived to
tell the tale had not n South Sea Island trader.
not q slave trader, with n heart in him, seeing
smoke and thinking they had been wrecked.
abandonment took the thirty that We're left Of
the $50 and carried them back to their own
islands, How long before this date slave trad
ing had been carried on l cannot sny. but
from 1886 to 1874 these islands were The
principal shaving grounds of tho Pacific.
since then the British Government has
Instituted a system of inspection and super.
Vision, and supercargocs are placed aboard all
labor trading vessels sailing under the british
flag. or. more properly speaking, labor agents.
II any readers are doubtful OF what | say, lot
T1heIMn read INC work by Hugh Hastings Romily, |
=. M. IT. ii; NJ. Deputy Commissioner for tia
western Pacific, late acting Commissioner for
New Guinea with whom l was personally nc.
quaintedl. entitled, From My Veranda,' i'm which
nc gives an account from the report Of the ROYAL
commission appointed by the Queensland Gov. |