THE MISSION BRIGANTINE DAYSPRING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 214, 19 January 1869, Page 3

THE MISSION BRIGANTINE DAYSPRING.

(From the Otago Daily Times, Jan. 15.) A few facts in connection with this vessel, now lying in our waters, and of the special work in which she is engaged, cannot fail to be interesting to the great body of our readers. During the past week, she has been an object of interest to Materfamilias as a whole, and to Paterfamilias in a less degree as part of a whole. Households have been stocked with curiosities in the shape of coral, shells, gourds, mats, and quaintly devised and dangerously barbed spears. Little boys have laid in a stock of wondrous bows, with their accompaniments of sharp arrows ; and we shall be lucky if no eyes are put out before many days have past. Little girls, following the promptings of their nature, have put away from them the dangerous playthings of the other sex, but have nevertheless found a vent for the spare cash entrusted to them for the occasion. Perhaps, now they have seen and wondered at the ingenuity of a nation of savages, they would like to know something about those savages and the means which are being taken by the adventurous men who have gone forth as the pioneers of Christianity and of civilisation to biing them within the pale of the Christian Church. The New Hebrides are a group of islands in ihe South Pacific Ocean, and they were discovered by Quiros in the year 1506. In 1773, Captain Cook surveyed the group, and he, considering them to be the most western islands in the Pacific, gave them the name of- the New Hebrides. They extend to a distance of 125 leagues, and the principal of them are St. Bartholomew, Isle of Lepers, Aurora Island, Whitsuntide Island, Mallicollo, Erromango, and Tanna. The area of the islands is estimated at 4200 square miles. Missionary enterprise first saw in the Hebrides a field for ita exertions in 1838, and the earliest missionaries r sailed from Nova Scotia in. that year. They met with a sad fate, the natives rising upon them shortly after their arrival, and killing them.' They were named Harris and Williams. The Rev Mr Inglis was an early worker in this field, and he continued here for many years. The work went on till 1857 without .any outbreak of the savage passions of the natives; but in that year there was another rise, and this time /the Rev Mr Gordon.and"hiß''wi_e were the victims. . The Dayspr.ipgVwas b'uilt in Nova Scotia/in 1863, under the personal supervision of her present

commander, Captain Fraser. She is 115 tons register, and is fitted up specially for the_iccommodation of passengers. In her cabin she is berthed for ten missionaries and their wives, but she pan, if necessary, take -double the number. Her ' size renders her particu-larly-adapted for the trade in which she is engaged. The islands are-subject to'prolonged as well a's^'sudden calmsi and it is often- necessary'to resort to the boats in order to' tow the sbip' : {Jff shore, aldhg which a very strong current sets. At the worst of times, the Dayspring can be taken along at the rate of two knots an hour, a speed which ensures her safety. Owing to their being too large, the Wesleyans have lost two ships (bqth called the John Williams) on the adjacent . islands, and the one they are now sending out— the Samoa — has been built with a special view to avoid a similar calamity. The crew of tbe Dayspring consists of, besides the captain, a chief officer, a carpenter, six seamen (European and native), and a boy. The last has a history. He was taught on board the Victorian training ship, at the time she.was under the command of Lieut. Woods, a gentleman, who was most eminently adapted for the post he filled, and who was unfortunately deposed from his post through- a misunderstanding with the" Government of the colony. Lieut. Woods aimed at turning out sailors, and if Captain Fraser is to be believed; he has succeeded in one instance at least. The youngster's name is Thomas Irwin, and when taken from the training ship by Captain Fraser, he was coxswain of the captain's boat. He is described as a clean, smart lad, who was up to his work from the first day he went on board the vessel, and who was and is amenable to discipline, and prompt to answer the word of command. It is needless, after the Rev Mr Inglis's lucid explanation,, for us to enter into any statement of the manner, in which ways and means are raised for the Dayspring. The story has been told, and well told, already and does not need repetition. The harbours of the Hebrides are shallow bays, and are exposed to the west or hurricane, winds. It is therefore thought advisable by those who control the destinies of the vessel, the Synod of Aneitum, as it may be called, to send her away from the islands during the period which is known as the hurricane months. Her trips have, until this year, extended only to Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia. The latter colony was anxious that she should again visit those shores this year, but as an application was received from New Zealand simultaneously, and, as she had not yet been here it was thought best to send her down/ 1 Her object, as far as the mere business of her visit is concerned, is to purchase stores for the mission stations on the islands. These ber captain will purchase in the best market which offers in the towns he calls at. When he arrives at his destination, his first duty will be to collect the missionaries from the different islands, and to bring them to. Aneiteum, where a large number of the population have given up heathenism, and where the head-quarters of the Presbyterian Church have been established. There are six mission stations on the island now, at each of which there are two missionaries. Eleven out of the twelve are married. When they come to Pynod, the married men bring their families with them, and thus once, a year the first settlers in that distant land are assured of a re-union with their kidd. The: remainder of her time, the Dayspring cruises about the islands, seeing to the wants of the* different missions, and jealously watching the places at which new missions have been established. Of these, it is necessary to be particularly careful; and indeed in all the islands the missionaries have to live in daily anticipation of a visit from that dread messenger King Death. The more savage of the islanders have always shewn themselves jealous of the white man's progress. The safety of the minister has lain in the fact that if he were killed, the natives who had embraced our religion would be killed too. This being the case, the latter are ever on the watch, and if they hear that a scheme is on foot to destroy the minister, communicate the fact to him. On one occasion, the Christian natives turned out in a body and challenged their opponents, who were lying iu wait hard by, to a hand to hand encounter. The invitation was politely declined. Of course, many stories are rife of hair-breadth 'scapes from the hands of the savages. That ijreat Christian gentleman Bishop Selwyn is! the hero of many, and it is said that at one time he was chased, along with the Bishop of Newcastle, to a cave on one of the islands, and there beset. Eventually, however, he was rescued by a boat's crew from a passing trader, who gave the savages a volley and quickly sent them to the right about. The natives of the islands are described as a fine race of men, and instances of rarejoveliness^ amongst the women are not singular. With the contour of the Roman maiden, they combine the fire and voluptuousness of the Spanish. Of their women the men are very jealous. Instances are not unknown of white men who have visited the island and taken liberties wiih the fair ones, having been butchered in cold blood by revengeful lords. Their notions of right and wrong, however, are very crude. An American captain was killed by an enraged native for a breach of the Marriage Act, and the latter, on being brought to trial, coolly confessed that he ; had killed the captain, not to revenge his own wrongs, but because the murdered man had not estimated his better half at her proper monetary value. The natives live in huts of their own building, and for the most part cultivate their own lands, each man having about an acre under cultivation.. They are a lazy people, and don't work more than they arc really forced to. Six months in the year the bread fruit sustains the majority of them, andfor the remainder eight hours' work a week is enough. They grow yams, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables indigenous to a. tropical climate. .In their habits they are, as filthy as monkeys, and their curiosity is unbounded. When a missionary sets his' foot upon p. new island his house is instantly invaded by the

natives^ who peer into all the little petty minutias with wondrous quickness. Does he open a box r they are in clusters around him, anxious to get a view of its contents. From the first they regard ( the domicile as common property,' and sing in it to their hearts' content. ' He,- as a matter of coiirse, hai)' to bear all these things patieiitly. We haVe said that there • are six places ■ in- the -N6w Hebrides group On' whioh missldnarietf '^Bre stationed, -it "must not be supposed r f6ir a moment that these are the only places'^ which there is a field for ' exerti6h. There are, indeed, six other islands where missionaries would be received, could missionaries be had? What is wanted are the mejvr-there-ia the field operi for them] -T-he-jllebritfes Islands are described as beingriqh/in 'vegetation. They might export with /adyantege cocoanut oil, pork (for the natives , are great admirers of pigs), fruit, coffee, sugars, and cotton. The Sea Island c,ottpn ( is considered the best in the world, and it must one day become one of the staples of commerce. Meanwhile the ministers ofi the Gospel are plodding on steadily in the groove they have chosen, and working with a will in the vineyard appor;ioned to tbem. The result of their plodding, of their Work, and of their adventure, may not be for us to reap: But it will assuredly be reaped by those who come after us, and by those the name of the Daj spring, the pioneer of a new field of enterprise and industry, will long be remembered. "' ' ' ' f