Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-12-05
CANN|BAtS
CONVERTED

. Oh GbCLl '','''''. NATIVES anu iO'i
( i mites.
| p 10 SIN Years ago the island was
the scene OF many CanRibal feast
and horrible rite, the Nella Lavellans
| bearing an uncnyiable reputation for
| IirrctnGss and tTeachery. They were
among the most notorious OF the head
| hunters Head-lunters, cannibailsm,
istrangulatiOm of widows; and other
| hideous customs are now things OF
the past A European may travel
! from end to end of the island with
out fear OF molestation, says the sgd
tnev Morning Herald OF November
Hath.
/ How has this wonderful change
come about? Not by Government
punitive expeditions, where frequent
! IL the innocent suffer more than the
guilty, but by the ceaseless toll and
| PERSEVERANCE OF an earnest young
/ Methodist missionary, with his whole
heart and soul in the work-the Rev.
iR. G. Nicholson, of Bendigo, Vic
toria. who was the first white man
to settle on the island six years ago.
He was two years there without ap-
parently making any impression what
ever Still, he plodded on cheerfully,
and at the end of four years had the
great joy of baptising his first con-
Ivert
There have been scores of converts
since All the people on Fella La
ivelIa are not ChristianiZed yet-far
from it-but the leaven is spreading,
and will, he confidently believes, per
meate the whole lump before very
1 long.
lWork for the Savaqes
! Mr.. and Mrs. Nicholson arrived in
| Sydney by the Mindini on Saturday.
| Mr.. Nicholson has had a bad attack
| of fever, and has come to Australia
\ to recuperate. He spoke very en-
Enthusiastically yesterday of his own
work, and of that being carried on
/ by the Rev J. F. Goldie at Rubiana.
! Ninety per cent of the natives of the
latter place, who had very bad
lcharacter till recently, had come I'M
lder mission influence. Mr.. Goldie
1 had established a very fine plantation,
and it was hoped by its means to
make the mission self-supporting. He
himself was also developing a planta-
| ton on Vella Lavella, to train young
linen to habits of industry. Now that
they had put down the once popular
amusement of head-hunting, it was
| necessary to provide some other oc-
cupation to save them from the bane
of idleness, that was so prolific of
evil everywhere. Hence they aimed
at establishing industries, and making
useful members of society of the ma
tives. Some Of the boys on the mis-
sion station. who had engaged in
many tead-hunting raid, were now
able sto read and write in their own
language, and were particularly smart
at arithmetic. The work at the out
set, had been of a very uphill char
acter." Il was not till four years
after he had been there that his first !
baptism took place. They were slow
to make church members of natives. /
They kept them under observation
for many months, and did not baptise
It'll real change in life was noted.
THE consequence was that the natives
on the mission station, who would
go out as missionaries themselves
among those who still lived in dark
ness, had been tested, and they would
have no misgivings as to their con- |
duct.
Girls Sold
According to native custom, the
girls are sold to the man with the
longest string of shell money. The
equivalents of the prices offered
ranging from about e3 to 95 in
English money. The girls were not
consulted in the matter by their par
ents at all, and if one was sold to a
man she did not care about, she took
the first opportunity of strangling
herself. That custom was still in
vogue. Another custom that they
had succeeded in stopping was the
IstrangulatiOn of a mans wives when
he died. If he had no wife, then
some useless, decrepit old woman
used to suffer the fate During the
first three months of Mr.. Nicholson's
residence on the island, IL cases of
strangulation occurred in the vicinity
of the mission station. Mr.. Nichol- |
son had, he said, collected all the old !
widows whom nobody wanted, and |
established a widows home, teaching
them sewing and domestic work, and
letting them spend the rest of their |
days amid cheerful surroundings in |
stead Of dragging out a miserable eX-
istence in the villages Mrs Mich +.
olson was also carrying on very en- !;
cOuraging work among the girls. They |
came to the station as dirty little |
creatures, covered with sores AS !
the result of constant scrubbing, (
nOurishing food, and healthy life, |
their skins soon became glossy, and |
their faces got a polish like mahOg- |
any. and they were always merry !
and bright. The transformation was /
astonishing. christianity had a won !
derful way of lighting up the faces of +
those whose hearts it touched.
Speaking of the industrial develop !
ment OF the SOlOmOns. he said that !
no group had made greater Roadway !
during the past few years. He /
thought that alien labor must sooner |
or later be introduced, though he did .
not recommend it. There were great
tracts of country lying idle. and that
seemed a pitV The labor DrObIpm .