The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-10-23
PLEA FOR CANNIBALS
VIEWS OF AN AMERICAN WHO HAS
CRUlSeD IN THE SOUTH SEAS.
He Says the solomon Islanders Were Sim
pie Folks Who Were Made Ferocious
by the Cruelties of Slave Traders-Eat
White Men TO Avenge Their Wrongs.


lin 1868 what is known in the southern
and western archipelago as the labor
traffic was started-that is, in plain words.
the kidnapping or stealing of natives from
UNEMPLOYED islands, as, for instance, the
Union, Gilbert, Ellice, Banks Santa Cruz,
New Hebrides and Solomon groups and
from Papua. or New Guinea, and taking
them TO work on plantations in the Fiji,
Samoan and Tahiti islands. and later 10
| Queensland, north Australia. AT first, as
the Hon. II. III. Romily states, when the
white man was a sort of rara avis and
where the Intercourse had been very slight,
the natives were not afraid of them On
the contrary, when they heard that white
man S ship was within reach they would
90 miles TO see il, 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 willfully ig-
noring and abusing native prejudices and
customs and through deceit, treacheTy and
cruelty Their vessels recruiting laborers
would heaye 10 opposite native village,
whereupon canoes would come off with
yams, taro, breadfruit, cocoanuts, etc., to
trade.
The natives were enticed on board,
presents were given them, and they were
asked if they would not like TO go and see
the white mans country for one moon or
may be three moons They were maze to
understand this by holding up three fingers
ana pointing TO the sky. Some would
consent These were placed Ii the hold of
the vessel and the matches put down on
them, and the rest in the canoes were or
dered TO come aboard or they would be
shot
A first mate of one of these vessels,
disguised with the brutal work, deserted
and afterward shipped on my vessel as
mate, ana from him and other trustworthy
sources learned of these things. He said
that the ship he was on took out for bal
last 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 were picked out and |
thrown overheard, to swim ashore if 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 it, the
natives could not be made to understand |
what three years meant. Had they been
told 1T was for the reaping of three crops
Oh yams, 30 months, they would have
but, OF course, no such ex-
PLANTATION was given them or the traders
plans would have been defeated. On one
Of these expeditions to the Gilbert islands
the shipwas represented to be Bishop Pat
Lerson's mission vessel, called the Day
spring, and the supercargo donned the
bishops robes The unsuspicious natives
we're told that they would be taken to Nor
ok island where mission station was
taught to read and write. and |
then returned TO their own homes, so that
hey could teach their people what had
been taught to them. About 60 were OBJ
aimed under these false pretenses carried
% Fiji and sold. Later, when Bishop Pat
erson visited that place, he was cruelty
murdered in revenge for the deceit prac-
iced on their brethren, nor did the sad
payment end here. Commodore Good
nough, who was true representative of
lis name, went down to inquire into the
murder of the bishop and was also killed
This struck horror and sorrow through |
he length and breadth of the south seas.
or there were never two men more beloved |
md mourned for
AS far back as 1856 the bark Santa
;ruz, sailing under Spanish colors took
90 OF these savages from the New Heb
ides islands to bring them to work in the |
mines in South America. Instead of beat {
ng up in direct course eastward, to avoid ,
trong currents and easterly Winds they q
ook course to catch the southeast trade |
Winds. Cholera had broken out among
he human cargo and to get rid of them 6
hey were landed on Raoul or Sunday is. ,
md, latitude 80 degrees % minutes south,
)ngitude III degrees As minutes west !.
his was only volcanic rock with per-
APPS half dozen acres of land fit for cul.
walton, and here they were left to die of
isease and starvation. Doubtless none
'ould have lived to tell the tale had not a |
outh sea island trader, not slave trader,
18th heart in him, seeing smoke and
linking they had been wrecked, hove to,
nd hearing their pitiful tale of abandon g
tent, took the 30 that were left of the $50
nd carried them back to their own islands.
ow long before this date slave trading c
ad been carried on / cannot say, but il
ON 1856 to 1874 these islands were the =
rincipal shaving grounds of the Pacific
Since then the British government has
lstituted system of inspection and su. Il
'rvision, and supercargoes are placed h
board all labor trading vessels sailing o.
'NSi VIC oli1lsH nag, OF, IllOTe properly |
'eaking, labor agents. If any readers are q
'ubtful of what l say, let them read the If
ork by Hugh Hastings Romily, G. M. g.. a
M. deputy commissioner for the west ;,
n Pacific, late acting commissioner for =
ew Guinea with whom l was personally e
quainted), entitled From My Veranda,' II
which he gives an account from the re- fr
rt of the royal commission appointed by :
@ Queensland government to inquire in
the manner of conducting the labor
nffic
" In all these massacres and feasts of hui =,
nm flesh we so frequently read of comes Y
e payment for the white man s cunning
ceit and brutality, and the saddest part
it is that the individually innocent usu-
~ suffer for the guilty. Forty years ago
CHI thing as hunting the skulls of the
palagi. or white man, was never heard W
1t is not, as many think, that they
efer the eating of white flesh 1 have :
zen been told by cannibals the reverse
is simply to avenge their wrongs So
wv York Sun