MALEKULA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21361, 15 June 1931, Page 8

MALEKULA

DREADFUL TRIBAL CUSTOMS ISLANDS OF THE VOLCANOES. Pastors W. G. Turner and A. G. Stewart arrived in Sydney early tlm month by the steamer Makambo from the New Hebrides, where they visited tribes who had, never come into touch with white men. On the island of Malekula the missionaries found that the customs of burying children alive and cannibalism were still practised. Mothers would unblushingly answer questions about the loss of their unwanted children. They* admitted that they had killed their children by burying them alive when they became a nuisance, and the missionaries could see that the women had no sense of wrongdoing. Similarly cannibalism, which was involved in the traditional rites of the tribes, was still practised, though it was confined to a few occasions when there was temporary freedom from surveillance by white men. ' Pastor Turner said that several of thb islands were dominated by active volcanoes which helped to darken the lives of the natives. On the island of Ambryn the mission station had'been engulfed nn a stream of lava, 12 miles long and a mile broad, two years ago. This volcano and one on the'island of Tanna belched forth showers of ashes. Every few minutes there were dull rumblings from the craters. Except for isolated posts the natives were untouched by civilisation. The men dressed only in a brightly-coloured garment woven from grasses, and the women had a further covering suspended from their shoulders. Among the . Nambus tribe’s of Malekula the women had two front teeth knocked from their jaws with stones when they were married. The ceremony was performed by elder women. Many times during the year the tribes met at dances, when as many as 700 pigs were slaughtered for a single feast. Eight dancing grounds were found on the island of Atchin, which is only four miles in length. Since the advent of the missionaries these practices were becoming rare. Pastor Turner is the president of the Australasian Union Conference of the Seventh Day Adventists. Pastor Stewart is vice-president. They stated that the natives appreciated the work of the missions. Several chiefs had been impressed and were doing all they could to assist the missionaries.