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Fiji and the Fijians 1835-1856

Chapter XVI — the efficacy of power

page 261

Chapter XVI
the efficacy of power

The same truth is revealed by a study of the last phase of the war between Mbau and Rewa from the announcement of Thakombau's public profession of Christianity in April 1854 to the battle of Kamba in April 1855.

It is clear from their first report that Cross and Cargill expected a rapid conversion of the Heathen to Christianity by means of preaching the Gospel of Christ. They were quickly disillusioned. There are still many people in Great Britain and Australia who think that the natives of Fiji were induced to abandon Heathenism in the first instance by the preaching and teaching of the missionaries. They are labouring under a delusion. There is not one instance in the records of the missionaries themselves from 1835 to 1856 of a Fijian native having turned his back on Heathenism from a conviction of the saving power of the Gospel of Christ.

By the year 1856 there were four thousand church members, and thirty thousand attendants at worship. It may be assumed that the church members had been influenced more or less by the gospel teaching and were on the way to a recognition of its ethical and spiritual quality; but the people who merely attended worship were for the most part converts not to the Christian religion but to the belief that the white man's God conferred great benefits on His followers and was much to be dreaded: that He could do them more good and more harm than their own gods. In page 262other words it was power by which they were influenced; not religious idealism. It was only after they had been "converted" in this way, and had become associated with the church that the missionaries were able to lead them on to a higher and nobler conception of religion. Even after they had become closely associated with the church it was almost impossible to keep them from backsliding whenever it became apparent that the old gods were reasserting their power; as, for example, in time of war when the fortune of battle had gone against the Christians.

It was a blow to the missionaries to find that the preaching of the Gospel of Christ was so ineffective in the early days, and they were loath to admit it; but their adoption of extraneous aids is conclusive proof of its failure to attract or impress the Heathen in the first instance. What the Heathen natives wanted to know was-what personal and material gain would be derived from embracing Christianity? For the teaching of Divines on the merits of the Gospel they cared not at all. Nobody has put this more clearly or emphatically than Thomas Williams himself. In a letter which he wrote to the London Committee on 19 February 1853 he tells of an experience that he had with some fishermen of Mbua Bay:

The other week they set their nets without offering to their gods and returned without a turtle. They then propitiated their gods, and went again to sea and returned with a turtle. This they did four or five days in succession, and this they deemed decisive of the power of their gods I urged the supreme right of Jehovah before the head fisherman and the priests two nights ago. They were much excited and the chief said "our gods give us turtle; but we do not know that Jiova gives us anything" Next day the lotu fishermen set their nets, took three turtle, and quickly presented them to the Christian chief who at once sent two of them to his heathen brother. The arguments of all the divines in the world would not convince or silence the heathen so effectually as will the above little fact.

When Thomas Williams wrote these illuminating words he had been in Fiji 12½ years; and for a great part of that time he had been studying carefully the mind of the native page 263as it was expressed in his customs, institutions and beliefs. This is his estimate of the relative importance of power and spiritual idealism on the mind of a Fijian native. He did well to draw attention to it with all the emphasis he uses in the last sentence. It was profoundly true; just as it is profoundly false to say that the natives of Fiji were "converted" to Christianity in the first instance by the merits of the Gospel of Christ.

They were attracted to Christianity as we have seen by evidences of the power of the missionary's and the white man's God—the superiority of the white man's goods: his implements of husbandry, weapons of warfare, ships, clothing, books, printing-presses and the like. The God Who could give His children such good things must be a great and powerful God. Then came Dr Lyth with his medicine relieving men and women of their pain and saving people from death where their own doctors failed: it was a great God who could so cure the ills of the body. But their own gods sent them the rain to make the yams grow, and gave them turtle when they went to the reef. Had Jehovah the power to confer such great favours as these on His followers? They did not know: the evidence was not clear. But most of all would Jehovah give them victories over their enemies in war? They had no reason to believe that He would; for the missionaries said that He hated all war, and that His followers must have nothing to do with it even at the bidding of their chiefs. How could they expect help against their adversaries from such a God as Jehovah?

And yet it was clear that Jehovah was in some sense a God of war; for did He not give to the white men those great ships with big guns and crowded with warriors armed with muskets. Those ships had shown their power at Lakemba, Vewa and Rewa. They could blow Levuka or even Mbau into the air while a man was smoking his cigar! page 264What if Jehovah made war upon them with these marines, muskets and big guns? How would they withstand Him? But Jehovah was opposed to war. The missionaries told them he was; and except to revenge the death of white men the big ships would not make war on the people. There was only one way of finding out whether Jehovah was more powerful than their own gods in war, and that was in the event of a war between Heathenism and Christianity when the native Christians would have to defend themselves against their assailants. For though war and preparation for war were tambu, even the missionaries had allowed that men might fight in the last resort, to save their own lives. Such a war had broken out at Mbua Bay and the Christians had suffered; but in the end Thakombau had used his influence for peace and the white man's fighting ship had come to say that the war must end. Against such power they could not hope to contend and the war must cease—for the time. But there had not yet been any decisive demonstration of Jehovah's power on the battlefield, and until there was the people and the chiefs could not be expected to abandon their own fighting gods. The risks were too great. The proofs of Jehovah's power were many and clear; but the most important of all was wanting. If only He could show His power in some decisive engagement and win a victory over the old gods the people would turn to Him in hundreds and thousands, and seek His favour and protection.

The test came at the battle of Kamba in April 1855, as it had come at Ono in 1841, between two native armies the one Christian the other Heathen, led respectively by Christian and Heathen chiefs. What the battle of 1841 was to Ono, the battle of Kamba was to Fiji—the decisive turning-point in the history of Christianity. It proved that Jehovah who had already shown His power in manufactures page 265and medicine, could also assert His superiority in the supreme test of battle. In the history of Christianity in Fiji no single event can compare in importance with the battle of Kamba.

The missionaries had adopted the policy of establishing their mission centres in the towns where the ruling chiefs lived. They did so because they believed that if only they could induce the king to embrace Christianity the people would follow. This was one of the reasons that induced William Cross to leave Lakemba for Viti Levu. Tuinayau had put him off with the excuse that he could not make a public profession of Christianity till his superior chief Tanoa of Mbau had done so. Cross went to see Tanoa. No doubt the conversion of a ruling chief would have had considerable influence over his subjects especially those who were indifferent to religion; but there were not many such in Fiji, and a study of the evidence given by the missionaries themselves shows that they very greatly over-estimated the powers of a Fijian chief in this respect. In his letter of 30 August 1844 John Hunt tells us that the chief of Nandy had been a professing Christian for two years; but scarcely any of his people followed his example until the priest who was ill and had lost two of his children placed himself under the care of a native teacher then resident at Nandy. The teacher gave him some pills which quickly cured him. The priest thereupon made a public profession of Christianity, and fifty of his people followed him. It is clear that at Nandy a lucky cure could make far more "converts" than the public profession of Christianity by the chief.

The truth is that any leading chief who embraced Christianity in Fiji at this time took upon himself great risks. His authority was based to some extent on his efficiency, especially in war; but more on his supposed descent from the gods whom the people propitiated and page 266feared. By severing his connexion with the old gods he cut the ground from under his feet, and struck a blow at the authority of every other chief in Fiji which they would not be slow to resent. The only missionary whom I can remember to have frankly acknowledged this was Thomas Jaggar who in one of his letters written at Rewa on 11 August 1841 says: "I fear that there will not be much done in Fiji until the chiefs of the land see the wisdom of relinquishing their false gods … but it is equally true that in order to become professedly Christian the chiefs must make sacrifices and overcome many obstacles." It was almost certain in some parts of Fiji, especially in the Leeward Islands, that any chief who made a public profession of Christianity would rally the forces of Heathenism against him, and put his life, as well as his authority, in peril. The history of that very remarkable man Ratu Elijah Varani of Vewa proves that; and at least one of the missionaries was fully aware of it. Writing on 27 August 1852 at Tiliva Thomas Williams says:

Since Elijah who persecuted us in times past has preached the faith which once he destroyed many have been his enemies and bitter, more bitter than gall their hatred towards him They unceasingly seek his life, and some of the means used to accomplish their end would excite your surprise dared I put them on paper Against the influence of such a position on his mind the good chief opposes his faith in a covenant-keeping God. Yet, nevertheless, many are his hours of heaviness No man in the South Seas is more deserving or more needing the prayers of yourselves and of those pious persons who support missions than Ratu Ilaija Varani."

Elijah was murdered at Lovoni on Ovalau in the following year, 1853.1

Varani had been the bosom friend of Thakombau in his early life, and it appeared for a time that the king would have nothing further to do with him after his conversion. But later on they had a long and intimate conversation on board the Gambia in which Varani explained why, being a page 267Christian, he could no longer follow the king in his wars. In the presence of such sincerity Thakombau's magnanimity prevailed as usual, and his parting words were: "Very good, you stay at home and learn your book well."2 It was a reconciliation. The king followed his old friend's career with a watchful eye from that time right on to the hour of his death; and he, with his very much wider and heavier responsibilities knew quite well what would happen in the event of his own conversion to Christianity. The missionaries should by that time have known too; but, blinded by their religious enthusiasm they pressed him hard to lotu, and Joseph Waterhouse, late arrival in the archipelago, was highly indignant with him because of his caution.3 Thakombau did lotu on 30 April 1854, and what was the result? No more complete answer to this question is needed than that given by James Calvert in a long letter which he wrote to the Missionary Society in London on 3 June 1855. He describes how very quickly the storm-clouds gathered over Thakombau's head; how the war between Mbau and Rewa then took on the character of a religious war between the Heathens and the Christians, how new temples to the gods were built at Buretu and Nakelo, and how town after town including those near to Mbau transferred their allegiance from Thakombau the Christian king to Nggara-ni-nggio the Heathen; how the forces allied against the king—Nggara, Tui Levuka, the whites of Levuka and Mara—were closing in upon Tui Viti. Calvert says:

In October 1854 many Mbau towns joined Rewa The King of Rewa triumphed and was flushed with the prospect of speedily gaining his heart's desire-the destruction of Mbau and the killing and eating of Vunivalu,4 Tui Viti…The Vunivalu was not only hard-pressed by page 268his ammunition being short,5 places revolting, and rumours of an opposition party being in Mbau; but he was dispirited and severely afflicted, brought on in great measure by the things that had befallen him. I felt much for him. I feared that danger was at hand, mainly, I thought, through Koli-i-Visa Wang-ga head chief of the Bau fishermen who was holding intercourse with Mara the rebel chief who had joined the King of Rewa…. It was, indeed, a most critical time. I thought his safety might be in flight, and advised him to run away for a season; but he refused saying "I cannot do that. If evil comes I must die. But I think the Lord will deliver me: I am lotu. If I do anything (to my enemies to conciliate them) it will be disregarded. There is one thing that may be useful-Do you keep close intercourse with Koli."

Thakombau had publicly embraced Christianity in April 1854, and here we have a statement of the desperate condition to which he was driven seven months later, by one of the missionaries who had urged him in and out of season to lotu. What a reply is here to the contention that if the king lotued his subjects would surely follow! What a commentary on the advice tendered by the missionaries to the chief first to lotu, and then when he is in the toils to run away!

Events in Fiji were now moving toward a great crisis which threatened to destroy Thakombau and the cause of Christianity itself. And how were Thakombau and Christianity extricated from such a perilous situation? By the use of armed force at the battle of Kamba under the direction of King George of Tonga who had arrived with thirty-nine canoes and two thousand fighting men just at the time when he was needed. No doubt the death of Nggara-ni-nggio on 26 January 1855 was a stroke of rare good fortune for the Christians and a blow to Heathenism. It was fortunate too that he had lost the power of speech some time before his death, and was, therefore, unable to lay upon his successor the obligation of carrying on the war against Mbau to a page 269finish. But after Nggara's death Mara, the rebel chief of Mbau, assumed the leadership, and threw himself into the war with great energy, backed by the whites of Levuka under David Whippy and the forces of Heathenism. The destruction of Thakombau was still their immediate aim, and soon there was a concentration of forces at Kamba, six miles away to the east of Mbau.

There the stage was set for a battle of the gods. New temples had been built, old ones restored. The priests under inspiration had given out that Kamba could not be taken, and that the Tongans under King George would be killed and eaten. There was a strong force concentrated in the town consisting of the rebels from Mbau, and twenty of the best warriors from each of the fighting towns allied with Rewa. Great stores of provisions were piled up. Mara boasted that Kamba could not be taken.

King George decided to lay his plans for a protracted siege. Before he left Mbau a great prayer meeting was held under the leadership of Thakombau. Sixteen prayed that God would lead them to victory, restrain them from doing wanton injury and direct all things for His glory and the benefit of Fiji. On 3 April the fleet arrived near Kamba and King George set about the building of a fence round the town to starve the rebels into submission. But the Fates had decreed another plan of attack. Shortly after the landing, while King George was away cutting down trees for the fences, a few Tongans were shot, clubbed and dragged away to be cooked and eaten. The sight aroused the indignation of the Tongan warriors to such a pitch that they burst through the restraints of discipline, rushed the small town leaving their wounded on the way, and soon after set it on fire. Thence they hurried on to the main town where six of their men were being prepared for the oven at the beating of the death-drum. A brisk fire from the page 270besieged failed to arrest their progress; soon a breach was made in the walls, and the Tongans poured through. Mara and a hundred of his men realizing the hopelessness of the situation, slipped away, and left the rest of his troops without a leader! Kamba was in the power of the Tongan army. About one hundred and eighty of Mara's men were killed, and the same number wounded; two hundred prisoners were taken and handed over to Thakombau. They were all spared, even Koroi Ravulo a rebel chief of Mbau. The Tongans had lost fourteen killed and less than twenty wounded.

It was a decisive victory for Jehovah. In that district—the most populous in Fiji—the old gods were immediately discredited: "the gods are liars or Kamba would not have fallen;" "the lotu is true or Kamba would not have been taken:" such was the language now used in the ranks of Mara's army. The result is described by Calvert in these words:

What a mighty change! The people were now lotuing in thousands, that which has hindered them being removed. The Vunivalu bears his newly-acquired position and relief in a most becoming and Christian way, and continues with unabated zeal to urge all to become Christians so that peace may be permanent, being established on the best and surest foundations; and that Feejee may be saved from its abominations and degradations, and raised by the glorious Gospel of the blessed God which is now likely to have free course and be glorified.

The last eleven words of this quotation should be carefully noted in view of another statement that James Calvert makes before he closes this long letter. He goes on to plead for more missionaries to cope with the demand that had so rapidly increased after the battle of Kamba and supports his request with this assertion: "We have through God's blessing brought Fiji to its present state and we are bound to meet the craving demands we have created." This is an extravagant claim which a study of the evidence fails to justify. It gives all the credit for the triumph of Christian- page break
Double Canoe and Mountain Refuge, Goro GoroFrom a drawing by Lieut, Shipley in 1848

Double Canoe and Mountain Refuge, Goro Goro
From a drawing by Lieut, Shipley in 1848

page 271 ity
in Fiji to the missionaries whose business it was to prove the ethical and spiritual superiority of their religion, and says nothing of the men outside the missions who by their words, deeds and trade or profession helped to convince the natives that the God of the white man was the God of Power. The triumph of Christianity in Fiji was due, in the last analysis, to the whole of the white man's civilization; but especially to those forces that conveyed an impression of irresistible power; and among these must be included the Tongan warriors too.

There was not one of these early missionaries who did not denounce the Tongans who came to Fiji for their manner of living—especially for their fighting—and lay upon them the responsibility for the slow progress of Christianity in Fiji. But it was a Tongan force that James Calvert took with him to Mbua Bay to help the hard-pressed Christians to defend themselves in January 1851; and it was a Tongan force at Kamba under King George in April 1855 that saved Christianity itself from overthrow. This language is not too strong. Christianity in Tahiti had been overthrown in 1809 by the rebel Heathens, and the missionaries had been obliged to quit. Had it not been for the timely arrival of King George of Tonga with two thousand warriors it was quite possible, and even probable, that the Heathen would have killed Thakombau and driven his allies the missionaries out of Fiji. As it was the victory of Kamba cleared the way for the missionaries to go on with their proper work. But the plain fact must not be overlooked—Jehovah had to demonstrate His power before the great mass of the people would give their mind to the teaching of the missionaries.

It is for this reason that the work accomplished, nearly always in a peaceful way, by naval officers, French, American and British is so important, and chiefly British because of their numbers and the regularity of their visits after 1845. page 272They not only protected the missionaries in their lives and property, they also left a vivid impression on the minds of the chiefs that, behind the missionaries and all reputable British subjects, was a power that could reduce Mbau, Vewa, Levuka, Somosomo or Mbua to ruins in an hour. It was the knowledge of this that enabled the commanders of ships of war to settle disputes by negotiation, and extricate missionaries and their cause from perilous situations without firing a shot. They spoke with power, and the evidence of their power was patent to every chief who lived near the sea in Fiji, and they were the vast majority. Constituted as they were the Fijians could not help attributing all this power to the God of the white man. That was their way of thinking, and because it was their way the credit for the triumph of Christianity in those early days belongs as much (if not more) to the men who were the agents of power as to the missionaries with their Bible and plan of salvation.

It is far from my desire to belittle the work of the missionaries in Fiji from 1835 to 1856. Not one of the naval commanders who visited the archipelago did that; on the contrary they spoke of them and their work in the language of high commendation and profound respect. Their purity of heart, single mindedness of purpose and heroism reflected great credit on the Society that sent them, and on the nation to which they belonged. Moreover by their training of teachers, translation of the Scriptures and skilful use of medicine they laid the foundations of enduring progress in religion after the God of Power had done His work. But they have received far more credit for the triumph of Christianity than is their due, and it is not hard to understand why. They went to Fiji for that specific purpose, and their efforts were followed by a large section of the British and Australian public. Their reports were published in newspapers, and quoted in magazines. They got a great deal of page 273advertisement; the officers of the Navy very little. Reports published in newspapers, reviews and books written by mission enthusiasts have their value; but they may give a very inadequate impression of the forces that work silently and effectively in the background and attract hardly any public attention at all. The truth about the progress and triumph of Christianity in Fiji is not to be found in popular literature; but in the records that are stored in the archives, libraries and missionary societies in London, Sydney and elsewhere. In the light of this evidence the claim made by James Calvert for the missionaries cannot be sustained. Before the missionaries could do their own proper work effectively, and while they were doing it, the way had to be prepared and defended by men who commanded, and, if necessary, were ready to use, far greater power than that with which the missionaries were invested.

1 James Calvert gives an account of the murder and the immediate causes of it in Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii, pp 329-332 (1858 edition).

2 See John Watsford's letter dated 30 June 1845 (MMSM).

3 See Joseph Waterhouse's account of his conversation with Thakombau on this subject in his book The King and People of Fiji which he had the insolence to publish while Thakombau was striving for the unity of Fiji after the British government had declined his first offer of the sovereignty over the archipelago.

4 One of Thakombau's titles. It means root-of-war.

5 The whites of Levuka had seized the cargo of the ship going to Mbau with ammunition, and kept it for their own use against Thakombau.