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Samoa Under the Sailing Gods

Chapter iv — Converting the Heathen

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Chapter iv
Converting the Heathen

I

"The Polynesian [affirmed Stevenson] falls easily into despondency: bereavement, disappointment, the fear of novel visitations, the decay or proscription of ancient pleasures, easily incline him to be sad; and sadness detaches him from life. The melancholy of the Hawaiian and the emptiness of his new life alike are striking; and the remark is yet more apposite to the Marquesas. In Samoa, on the other hand, perpetual song and dance, perpetual games, journeys, and pleasures, make an animated and smiling picture of the island life. And the Samoans are to-day the gayest and the best entertained inhabitants of our planet. The importance of this can scarcely be exaggerated. In a climate and upon a soil where a livelihood can be had for the stooping, entertainment is a prime necessity. It is otherwise with us, where life presents us with a daily problem, and there is a serious interest, and some of the heat of conflict, in the mere continuing to be. So, in certain atolls, where there is no great gaiety, but man must bestir himself with some vigour for his daily bread, public health and the population are maintained; but in the Lotus islands, with the decay of pleasures, life itself decays."

That this measure of gaiety and pleasures was maintained for Samoa, no thanks is due to the London Mission.1 It was owing entirely to the good sense and obstinacy of the islanders themselves; and owing also to the providential fact that no chief or chiefs—as at Tahiti—possessed an absolute authority through which a foreign will might be inflicted on the people, regardless of their susceptibilities. For that has been the unhappy fate of many of the little races of the Pacific.

In accordance with the promise made, six white missionaries of the London Missionary Society, with—but one exception—their wives, were landed at the Navigators in June 1836. Two page 52were stationed on Tutuila, one at Apia, one at Manono, and two on Savaii. It would be well, I think, to concentrate on the history of the mission at Pango-Pango, in Tutuila.

Of the splendid harbour, now an American naval fuelling-station, on whose shores that mission lay, Stevenson gave this description toward the end of the last century:

"The island at its highest point is nearly severed in two by the long elbowed harbour, about half a mile in width, cased in abrupt mountain-sides. The tongue of water sleeps here in perfect quiet, and laps around its continent with the flapping wavelets of a lake. The wind passes overhead; day and night, the scroll of trade-wind clouds is unrolled across the sky…. Below, meanwhile, the harbour lies unshaken, and laps idly on its margin; its colour is green like a forest pool, bright in the shallows, dark in the midst with the reflected sides of woody mountains…. Long ago, say the natives, the houses were continuous around the harbour; they are now shrunk into some half a dozen hamlets; and at night it is only here and there around the shores that a light twinkles."

The following was one of the results, at that particular spot, in 1840, of less than four years of missionary exertion among a lighthearted and impressionable, but fortunately resilient, people:

"The Sabbath which followed, March the 1st, was distinguished beyond any that had preceded it. From the commencement of the morning service the deepest solemnity appeared. During the first prayer there was much feeling, and as the discourse, which was from 1 Cor. i. 18, proceeded, the tide continued to swell higher and higher, and while the ordinance of the Lord's Supper was being observed, many were completely overcome. Ten or twelve sank down exhausted, and had to be carried out of the chapel in a state of complete prostration. The afternoon service was of a similar character. Many were overcome with the depth of their feelings, and, after the public services of the day were over, and the people had dispersed to their homes, the whole neighbourhood seemed to be in commotion. Nothing could be heard on all sides but the sounds of weeping and supplication. Very solemn and affecting it was to listen to these sounds, amid the darkness and stillness of the night, as I was going to and returning page 53from a ship which was at anchor in the harbour at the time, and on board of which I preached in the evening of that remarkable day…. Through the whole night the state of things just described continued to a greater or less degree."

And again:

"Our first special service was held on Monday, June the 15th. One noticeable thing connected with it was the large number of men who were overcome by their feelings. They were sooner overcome, and in larger numbers, than the women; but the most remarkable thing of all was that Maunga, the proud, haughty Maunga, who had so recently acted such an outrageous part, was among the number of those who fell under the arrows of conviction. 'Saul was among the prophets.' He was carried out of the chapel in a state of complete prostration…. The good work continued to progress. In the Pango-Pango district external manifestations of feeling were becoming less violent, though at almost every service there were instances of persons being overcome, and all the time the work seemed to be deepening and extending. Over about two-thirds of the island there were marked indications of seriousness, if not of anxious concern, and these indications were not confined to the public services and the house of God, but were apparent at all times and under all circumstances. It seemed like one continued Sabbath, except that the people went about their accustomed employments. Everyone seemed instinctively to feel as if levity and trifling would be out of place, and that it became all to be in earnest, and do with their might what their hands found to do. Such was the state of things at the time referred to, that visitors from a neighbouring island told other intending visitors on their return home, that, if they went to Tutuila, they would hear about nothing but their souls from Tapu-Tapu to Tula—the Dan and Beersheba of the island."

The accounts quoted are from the pen of the Rev. A. W. Murray, who was in charge of the mission from 1836 onwards. And in addition a contemporary book entitled Missionary Life in Samoa, compiled from the writings of the Rev. G. A. Lundie, is filled from cover to cover with lengthened descriptions of the "shakings among the dry bones"—as the missionaries were pleasantly wont to term their workings upon the emotions of the Tutuilans.

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There are chapters of flummery of which the following is a sample:

"Monday night, June 8th.—An interesting Sabbath…. The effect of the May meeting seemed still to continue. Friday had been a solemn day. On Saturday, at a church meeting, Teana, a teacher's wife, a wretched scoffer, had been suspended. On Sunday the Holy Spirit was poured out in a drenching shower upon the waiting multitude. Ere the end of the afternoon service, the ranks of women were thinned. Weeping and fainting. Teana herself, who used to mock the broken-hearted, after a long resistance, was overcome by her emotion, and carried out. Mr. Murray conversed with her afterwards, and believes that the Spirit has begun his work. Groans of woe and tears of penitence were all around….

"Friday, June 12th.—Glorious things are truly taking place before our eyes…. On Friday the feeling was considerable. On Saturday the church meeting was very solemn, at the suspension of Teana. That night there was much prayer and praise. On Sunday a most plentiful shower—eighty-three persons were on that day deeply convinced of sin for the first time. Owing to the extraordinary nature of the circumstances, there was another meeting held on Monday afternoon. Then also the chapel was filled; at least one thousand people. The service was carried on as the people could bear it, with address, prayer, and praise, every now and then. There seemed a general burst of feeling all along. Sometimes the whole place was in a move with the carrying and the carried—the voice often quite drowned in the groans and cries of awakened sinners, and, at the close, the chapel seemed half empty. The two following days the meetings were continued…. The nights were passed by very many in almost incessant prayer and strong crying to God. Poor Teana, the proud, the passionate, the scoffer, was carried out every night! She spent two nights with Matthew's wife, a true Christian, on whom she had looked before with jealousy and disgust. She bowed before Mr. Murray's knees, and sobbed while she confessed her wickedness; and thanked him with all her heart for having suspended her from church membership, as this had led her to fear that all was not right with her."

This particular passage perhaps indicates better what was continuously going on:

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"Women were carried out by dozens, convulsed and struggling, so as to drive five or six men about like trees in the wind, who were exerting all their strength to hold and convey them away. I had heard of beating breasts and tearing hair before, but I have now seen and shall not soon forget it."

II

Mr. Murray himself gives an interesting glimpse of a physical side of missionary activity. Samoa, he says, was famed among the other islands of Polynesia as being a nation of atheists, as they had neither temples nor idols, and this was generally true. But there were a few exceptions, and one of these was found at Sailele, a village that he visited in company with another missionary. There they found a heathen temple. It was a small house made of wood of the breadfruit-tree, and thatched; merely about ten feet in length, and six in breadth, and so low that a man of middle height could not stand upright in it. The priest only was accustomed to enter—the worshippers remaining outside. Within were deposited three sacred stones: one called the immovable stone; another the enduring kingdom; and the third the stone fixed in the kingdom. Close by was a small coconut-grove. There had been originally but one tree; but as it belonged to the presiding deity it was sacred, so its fruit had been allowed to fall around it and remain on the ground, and in consequence there was now a grove, all of which was sacred.

This obscure village, it is remarked, must have been a place of note in olden times, as worshippers used to flock to it from all parts of the island: which might account for the obstinacy with which its people clung to heathenism. Mr. Murray's companion now hammered some chips from the stones, with the view of "convincing the heathen that they were worthless in a religious point of view." When next the pair visited the village they found that the stones had been buried that they might not again be desecrated "by profane hands." The village remained wholly heathen for many years. There was something touching, said Mr. Murray, in their burying their poor objects of religious worship. It looked as though they had some kind of affection, or, at least, veneration for them!

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III

It would be inaccurate to suggest that a condition precisely similar to that described in Tutuila obtained all over Samoa. We learn from Mr. Lundie, for instance, that "the work of grace" was neither so extensive nor so remarkable in Upolu as at his own island.

"There were not many who seemed to care much about greeting the missionaries, and the pleasing sound 'Talofa' was neither so frequently nor so fervently pronounced. Clothing is not yet so general, even many women having no dress but the ti leaves round the waist and reaching to the knee."

The occasion on which these observations were recorded was that of a visit to Apia for a general meeting of the missionaries. At this meeting (its only interest) Captain Croker, of H.M.S. Favourite, was in the chair. It was soon after this that the gallant captain was killed, at Tonga, while leading an assault upon the "heathen," with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other: the attack being a crusade against idolators—suggested to him, it is supposed, by King George of Tongatabu and the local missionaries. (King George of Tonga, I should explain, with the assistance, or perhaps I should say at the instigation of, missionaries, had established such a reign of terror in those islands that numbers of his subjects were now escaping to other groups, particularly Fiji, to live. This, of course, was prior to the temporary expulsion of the missions from Tonga.) Croker was buried on a height: a spot pointed out by himself to the missionaries when setting out for the attack.

Not only in Tonga were certain of the "heathen" found recalcitrant, but also in Samoa. Thus we find—

"Mr. Slatyer went to Pango-Pango on Monday to visit his wife, who still continues very poorly. When there, Mr. Murray and he made a tour through the eastern district, to try and bring the still remaining heathen over; but with very little immediate success. No one had any reply at all to make; they were forced to acknowledge that Christianity alone is right, page 57and they all wrong. They say they will all turn by and by, but cannot make up their minds to give up sin yet…. Mr. Slatyer enjoyed nature and his tour, but is much impressed with the stone-like indifference and unconcern of real heathens; and that, too, while assenting to the most solemn truths. One, when urged to turn, and told that hell was the alternative, said —"A pisi, pisi pea"—'If I fall, let me fall!' There is one chief, the 'Devil's priest,' at Tula, who has very great influence, and by his sullen stubbornness keeps many back."

Missionaries are chary of admitting that they sometimes enforce their tenets, when they may, by legislation. But this might be taken in evidence:

"Last Thursday, the discourse delivered by Taito was directed principally towards the chiefs to strengthen their hands in the administration of impartial justice. They had appointed a heavy fine to be paid by J——, as a punishment for adultery…. We went to one of the chiefs, and told him how wrong it is of the administrators of justice to pass the crime of the chief and punish the common man, etc. This he laid before the Fono (council). Its propriety was at once perceived, and the poor fellows were in a sad dilemma—all wishing to do right; but their reverence for their chief making them revolt from the idea of punishing him. After sermon on Friday, Mr. Murray gave a most spirited and fearless address, showing what was right, and urging to it. The effect was powerful; and no doubt Maunga will either separate from his unlawful wife, or lose the chiefship, and be driven from this society. Poor man! his is a difficult case. He seems anxious to do right; but loves this woman, and dislikes his married wife. Mr. Murray—as well as many natives—has talked with, and advised him. He takes all well, but cannot make up his mind."

By this time (soon after their establishment) the missions were beginning to yield of the material, as well as the spiritual. Mr. Murray, writing of the year 1843, has said:

"Our annual missionary meetings were held at Leone this year, on Wednesday, May 16th. We had a very large gathering, as we had not yet adopted the plan of having separate meetings in each district…. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. we were occupied page 58in receiving the contributions. Money was still a very scarce commodity in Samoa, but coco-nut oil and arrowroot were obtainable, and these were easily converted into money. I have no memoranda at hand from which I can give the amount contributed, but, from the time we were occupied in taking account of it, it must have been something very considerable."

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Framework (and Scaffolding) of a Samoan House

Framework (and Scaffolding) of a Samoan House

1 The London Missionary Society.