CHAPTER IX.

THE AUSTRAL ISLANDS: SAVAGE ISLAND.

Rapa-Savage inhabitants-Visited by Mr Ellis-Their rapid conversion-Raivavai, or High Island-Christianity easily introduced-Tubuai-Reclaimed from idolatry-Rimatara-Emancipation of the women-Rurutu-Salutary effects of an epidemic Overthrow of idolatry-Savage Island-Ferocity of the inhabitants.

SAILING from New Zealand to Tahiti, towards the close of 1791, Vancouver discovered an island, called by the natives Rapa, the most southerly of the group named by Malte Brun the Austral Islands. It is probably about twenty miles in circumference, well wooded and watered, and enjoys a healthy and temperate climate. The mountains in the interior are singularly rugged and picturesque, having the appearance from the sea of a range of cylindrical columns. When first discovered, and for many years afterwards, the natives were unmitigated savages, and were estimated by Vancouver at about 1500. There is some reason to believe that in 1826 the population was not less than 2000; but three years later their numbers had been reduced by a fatal epidemic to not more than 500. Though idolaters, they do not appear to have offered human sacrifices to their gods; nor were their chiefs much addicted to wars among themselves. Their principal idol, Paparua, was formed of cocoa-nut husk, curiously braided, and shaped like a cylinder, smaller at

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the two ends than in the middle, and from two to three inches in length. Another idol, named Poere, was made of stone, from twelve to fifteen inches long, and was fixed in the ground. The favour of these and the other gods was usually propitiated by offerings of fish.

A European ship in 1815 being becalmed off this island, fifty of the natives sprang into the sea, and seizing hold of a hawser that happened to be trailing astern, endeavoured by swimming to drag the vessel ashore, at the same time shouting to their companions to come and help them. The noise they made attracted the attention of the crew; but it was with great difficulty the rope was drawn in, one of the sailors leaning over the stern and menacing the savages with a cutlass as they approached the ship.

Two years later, Rapa was visited by Mr Ellis, and at one time it seemed as if the islanders intended to take

forcible possession of the vessel. At first they were reluctant to go on board until a chief had set the example. They then swarmed up the sides, and attempted to steal whatever they could lay their hands upon. One gigantic ruffian seized a lad standing near the gangway, and tried to lift him from the deck. Failing in this, he caught the cabin boy, who was rescued by the sailors after a severe struggle. Another took up in his arms a fierce ship dog, cowed by the uproar; and when he found that it was chained to the kennel, he attempted to move that also. Baffled by the nails which secured it to the deck, he let go the dog and pounced upon a kitten, with which he sprang over the bulwark into the sea. It was then judged necessary to clear the deck of such dangerous guests, and in this work the dog co-operated not only by furiously barking, but by tearing the leg of an islander who passed within

his reach. Some of them had their fingers severely cut by ignorantly clutching the blades of the long clasp-knives with which the sailors threatened the most refractory and obstinate.

Nothing was gained, therefore, by this visit; nor was any further attempt made to humanise these savages until 1825, in which year a Tahitian cutter brought two of them to that island. Their first alarm being dispelled by the kindness they experienced, and their wonder excited by the evidences of an incipient civilisation that met them on all sides, they were easily induced to attend the schools and places of public worship, and even acquired a knowledge of the alphabet. After a short time they returned in the same cutter to Rapa, loaded with presents and accompanied by two Tahitians. The latter were so charmed with their reception, and gave such a favourable account of the people, that in the following year Mr Davies proceeded to Rapa in person, taking with him two Tahitian teachers and their wives, a schoolmaster, a mechanic, a supply of spelling-books and translations of the Scripture, and a quantity of tools, agricultural implements, seeds, and plants, together with the framework of a chapel, and doors and windows for the dwellings of the teachers.

On Sunday divine service was performed by Mr Davies, in presence of several of the natives, who conducted themselves with perfect propriety. The bulk of the population, however, clung for a while to their ancient superstitions, fearing lest their gods should take vengeance upon them if they forsook the religion of their forefathers. Three years later, however, four chapels had been erected in different parts of the island, and the people generally had opened their minds to the reception of Christianity,

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stimulated, it may be, by the material benefits that had accompanied its introduction into Tahiti.

Six degrees to the north-west of Rapa lies the island of Raivavai, discovered by Lieutenant Broughton in the Chatham just twenty days previous to Vancouver's discovery of the former. Raivavai, or High Island, is a mountainous mass about twenty miles in circumference, with a strip of lowland bordering the shore. The population was reduced by an epidemic in 1829 from 2000 to 800, who acknowledged their dependence upon Tahiti. The natives are described as more ready to receive the germs of civilisation than those of almost any other island in the South Seas. Neither human sacrifices nor infanticide were among their usages, and generally they seem to have been less cruelly disposed than their neighbours. Their temples were on a large scale, and contained sometimes as many as twenty stone idols of large size, carved with unusual skill. More thoughtful and less impulsive than the majority of the South Sea Islanders, they adopted Christianity in a calm and serious mood, and instead of committing their old temples to the flames, abandoned them in contempt to the destructive agencies of time and climate.

In 1819 they were visited by Pomare, and not only did homage to him as their sovereign, but repaired for instruction to a converted Tahitian whom he left among them as his representative. Two years later, a son of Mr Henry, one of the Duff missionaries, who was in command of a vessel belonging to Pomare II., touched at Raivavai on a Sunday, and was agreeably surprised to find that a place of worship of considerable dimensions had been erected, and that fully 700 persons attended divine service. "Each individual, on entering the church, kneeled down and

uttered a short prayer." "The very quiet, devout, and orderly manner in which they conducted themselves," adds Captain Henry, "not only in church, but during the Sabbath, excited my highest admiration." The work of regeneration had taken place about four months previously, when, with the exception of twenty-five individuals who adhered to idolatry, it was unanimously resolved at a public festival that Pomare should be requested to send them proper teachers, his representative being not only deficient in knowledge, but leading a life at variance with the pure morality inculcated in the religion he outwardly professed. By 1825 two large churches had been erected, one of which was capable of accommodating 1300 worshippers. A malignant fever, introduced four years later from a neighbouring island, made terrible havoc among the inhabitants. "During the first stages of the progress of the disease," writes Mr Ellis, "whole families, from attending the sick, were simultaneously attacked with the dreadful complaint, and often buried in one common grave." Twelve of the teachers perished, together with three-fourths of the entire population; but others soon replaced them, and the people steadily persevered in their search after truth.

This destructive epidemic was imported from Tubuai, a small island not above twelve miles in circumference, discovered by Captain Cook in 1777, and was the scene of the first settlement attempted by the mutineers of the Bounty. There is reason to believe that its earliest inhabitants came from Rimatara in the latter part of the last century, and were driven thither by adverse winds. When visited by Mr Ellis in 1817, the people were few in number, scantily clad, and ill supplied with live stock, being able