TAMING THE SAVAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20425, 29 November 1929, Page 10

TAMING THE SAVAGES.

OLD RITES IN SOLOMONS*

MISSION SISTER'S NARRATIVE.,

" One of the many savage customs that the influence of Christianity has abolished in the Solomon Islands . is the practice of burning infants if their mother dies at birth," said Sister Ethel McMillan, who arrived in Sydney on November 2, after several years' service as a Methodist missionary at Bambatana, in the Salomon Islands.

The • custom's origin was buried in antiquity, and even the natives were unable to explain -tvhy it was done. However, it was closely bound up with their tradition, and allied practices had' grown up around other life processes that were not understood by the natives. After the mother died, the child was killed, generally by cremation, and sometimes by burial. At the mission three children' out of eleven had been saved, by the iutluenca of the missionaries, from death under these tribal laws. Similar customs prevailed throughout the islands of the Pacific, or if the same law was not in force there would almost certainly be an allied custom based on a similar idea of life.

Sister McMillan said _ that Choiseul Island now had three mission stations.' Native customs that were' abhorrent had been abolished, but the influence of civilisation had not sapped, the native's pride in his tradition. Weapons and domestic utensils made by these men were among the finest in the Soufh Seas. The canoes were masterpieces; they were designed to allow the maximum speed, and were exquisitely carved • by hafid. Months of loving care % were spent over each one, and the carvings were often conventionalised figures that had. been handed down from the dawn of native tradition. Mother-of-pearl, inlays .vrfera often done with force and understanding. ; The only great adventure of Sister McMillan was when she started for a church service several miles away, with a party of girls in the car.oe. Not far from Bambatana the canoe overturned, precipitating the sister and liter companions into the water. They clung to a narrow ledge on the keel of the bo»t for hours before their .plight was noticed on the shore, and a canoe set out to rescue them. Since .then at least two boys had to be present in every ijanoe. Sister McMillan said that the islanders were originally among the most warlike in the world," but under the softening influence of Christianity they had- settled down in the ways of peace. There had been no fighting since 1921, and even then the fight was ended by the intervention of a native convert, • Amos Tozaka, who visited each of the hostila tribes in turn, and effected ' a reconciliation. Now it was a rare sight to see a native armed, when only a fevr years a£o every one of them went abou t armed to the teeth.