A REMARKABLE TRADITION.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1649, 17 November 1873, Page 2

A REMARKABLE TRADITION.

The Rev. S. M'Farlane has written a book entitled "The Story of the lafu Mission." Lifu is one of the Loyally Group of Islands, and is situated about 60 miles from New Caledonia. The natives ; have several; which bear a striking resemblance to events which are related in the Bible:j^;flere;iß a specimen : — ■ " The natives have no idea of the origin of the first man ; they only know that his name was Walelimene ; that he had a wife and sons ; and thatihe lived in peace amidst plenty. At that time there was not- any. sickness or death, and it was not . necessary to work in plantations, because the food grew up spontaneously Jahd~ in abundance. It appears 'that the sons of old Walelimene had the power of changing themselves into birds, beasts^ and reptiles at pleasure. On one occasion the eldest son, in the form of a rafc, went on ah exploring expedition, boring his way through the earth till he came, to the residence of an old man,,the chief of the lower regions. This old chief lived upon yama,' of which there were not any at that time in Lifu. The Lifuan observed that the old; man kept the yams to himself , and offered him Other food ; he asked to taste the yams, but was told that they were if or^thVcnief alone, and that to take them would? cost him his life. 'The^son"''^^^^.^!^^. however,did not ! believe this [and wa|ching his oppbrtunityi picked up ; a' u yani, and made for the surface of the earth again. On his way <he tasted the .yarn and found it very gppd.. On his arrival home, he called ' one : of his brothers and told him aIL .His brother tasted the yam, and expressed his delight at the discovery of such excellent food. They r then .went to their father," Who, \sith ; r jtKe~;Whqteof the Jfamily, tasted, and^wer^ilf 'equally pleasea7ajt thenew discovery. j^fwaslßen arranged that allthe sons' should go in a body .and , s.teal ,a " quantity of r . yams from the eld .chief. r below and -plant, them on . Lifu, in order that they: mi^nt live on this, superior food. They did so, but were discovered before they icould ;get away. The old. chief was <arigry with them, and told them as -they had taken his yams, the; : would henceforth live upon, human flesh. /{ Death should reign on Lifu in order tosupply him with food. It was then that the Lifnans proposed^tojsupply the old chief with human flesh in exchange for his yams; and to this, day, somej^ of the oid men believe that there, are l^ more deaths, when, there is agdod^haryest the old chief requiring the i bodiesiof men in proportion ; to the of yams that they obtain. It wasvtlien; r ;lab6r commenced', _'or - begun ;;^lant;ng yams they found if h'ecessary to 5 culiiyaje every other article of food"; nothing would groWjSpontanißpusly as before but ' wesds. Thus yams, "their principle food, were~-ifttr6duced; f~ but "with" thehv^caine labor and death; ; ; It is; not unlikely that the fact, (according to the tradition) of ! the old chief living on human flesh may : have created a desire in them to taste this ! ■ food alBO.".-..-, „y ■ | /-:r/v;; > f '■ :■ /V v ■':••. ■ According to the beat authorities the coal ! production of the world ig about 200,000,000 ! of tons annually., Great Britain furnishes ' over 120000,000 'tons' "of Jhis L '.amqm3j',pr' considerably over one-half.' "ln the 3 United States, with all their vast coal-fields, only 4i;000,660 of tons are raisled for a population of 39,000,000, whilst ; the above large quantity of 120,000,000 are raised :in : Great Britain, which has only bhly 32,000,000 inhabitants. It is true that out of these 120,000,000 about- 12,000,000 are exported, and that in the United States' the supply of wood for ordinary fuel is almost'unlimited; f (For b&iiUivuaivoriof &timhU / £t%~pag(L) i