The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-09-11

rice, flour, and salt beef their main
dependence. That was long before the
days of canned goods, and the flour,
! in barrels, would sometime be so cak-
ed with moisture that it must be cut
out with Ratchet. Ct am able to
testify. from personal experience, that
flour in such a condition is not par
ticularly palatable, as on our last
voyage almost our whole supply be-
came wet by accident, and SO one of
the familiar ship~noises of an evening
was that of the cooks Ratchet, as he
pounded up the next days supply of
1our.) What with mildew, and all
manner of things that creep and crawl,
much Of the foreign food was in the
condition of the leftover mama of
the children of Israel during their
desert wanderingS. In their work of
translating the Bible the missionaries
were greatly embarrassed by the pow
erty of the language Of a people ''shut
up on coral islands, without hill,
mountain, or river, without knowledge
of civilization, science or art 1t is
true that the activity and enterprise
of any people are limited and moulded
by their environment, and the Gilbert
and Marshall Islanders, with their
meager outlook, and lives lived on the
dead level in more than one sense,
were more indolent and quarrelsome,
and more degraded in their social
condition. than the people of the high
err islands.
The years from 1857 to '62 saw
many changes. with the death of some
of the workers, the return of others to
America, and the necessary changes
in the stations. There was talk of
abandoning Ponape and disseminating
the Morning Star" In later years,
when there We're long intervals with
no mission vessel, we, who were the
workers, could sympathize with Mr..
Shows rather vehement protest, MY
dear. Secretary, we must have some
thing to start with and to build up
with, or we shall go to the devil faster
and surer than we have, ever come
from him" These wartime days of
uncertainty passed, however, without
bringing what the missionaries dread
ed, and in 1867 the second star was
sent out under command of Mr.. Bling
ham, who was returning from rest
in the homeland, and who. having
placed the vessel in the hands of her
new captain, resumed his work on
Apaian. Two years later, this vessel
being wrecked on Kusaie, a third ship
was quickly built and dispatched to
take her place, and the Whitneys sail
ed in her for Ebon.
RESULTS OF MISSION.
In 1873, twenty-one years from the
coming of the first missionaries,
Micronesia showed 20 churches, with
over 1000 members, 10 native teachers
sent out from these churches, and an
offering to God of nearly $1,000. Dur
ing that year work was begun in the
Dortlock Islands, about 300 miles
southwest from Ponape, by Christian
This was as brave and
self-sacrffcing pioneering as much
more famous in missionary annals, for
these humble workers left with a
cheerful courage. what was luxury to
them, to face possible hostility and
certain scarcity of food, in order to
take the Bread of Life to needy
souls.
The next few years saw larger
changes in the mission force, the Lo-
gans, Rands, Taylors, and Peases COM
ing as reinforcements, and some of the
WORKOUT workers leaving the field. In
1879 the Star" made her first visit to
Ruk, leaving a native teacher. Ruk
Lagoon is the largest in Micronesia,
having a circumference of about rs
miles, and containing some twenty
high, fertile islands, the population be-
ing broken into many hostile tribes,
in the early days constantly at war.
These people seem TO be the lowest in
the social scale of most savage ap-
pearance, enhanced by liberal adorn-
ment of red and yellow paint upon
face and limbs. the hair long and worn
in a great pug adorned with grotesque
ornaments, while the lobe of the ear
is split and stretched until the rim Of
flesh is large enough to sustain sew
eral pounds of decorations in the way
of cocoanut and shell rings, beads, etc.
Add to this what we know as the
''Ruk YELL" a bloed-curdling screech
at which they are adopts and in which
they delight to indulge. and you will
have a fair picture of a Ruk savage.
I will only add here that in 1884 the
Logans went to Ruk. and worked
bravely amid more danger from the