THE MELANESIAN MISSIOK.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1615, 6 September 1861, Page 3

THE MELANESIAN MISSIOK.

MURDER OF A MISSIONARY AND HIS "WIFE

AT ERROMANGA.

[From the Independent, August 30.]

There are many in Wellington who take a lively interest in the missions of ifche South Seas. The Melanesian Mission was a work to which Bishop Selwyn long devoted himself, and it is the mission to which the Episcopalians of New Zealand specially contribute, and over which a zealous clergyman of their .church (Pafrerson) was recently ordained

Bishop at Auckland. The Rev. John Inglis, formerly a Presbyterian Minister here, has also long, laboured in the New Hebrides group, and various sections of the Christian Church in Wellington have often ministered to his necessities — and still later, our Wesleyan friends have had their interest quickened by the departure to the Friendly Islands and return j here in ill health, of a valued member of their body, the Rev. Mr. Shaw. We have occasionally been able to acquaint those interested in the mission work with the progress which that work is making. Latterly it has been of a very cheering nature; but the intelligence just received is that of a sad and painful character which every now and then shows that the dark places of the earth are still full of the habitations of cruelty, and that men who occupy the foremost places in the mission field, still do so carrying their lives in their hands.

Erromanga, one of the New Hebrides group, is the well known Island on which the Rev. John Williams and Mr. Harris, of the London Missionary Society, were murdered on the first attempt to introduce Christian ty many years ago ; and it has now acquired a more lamentable fame by the murder of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon of the Nova Scotian Society. Since the day when " the young man whose name was Saul " encouraged the martydom .of Stephen, the Christian faith has regarded the blood of its martyrs as the seed of the Church. Ifc did so when Williams and Harris were treacherously tomahawked ; and that it did not do so in vain we know from the success which missionary effort has met with in -Erromanga of late years, and are again reminded of it by the fact that amongst those who mourned most at the grave of the Gordons, was the very man whose hand had laid Williams low. Sauls still become Pauls ; and the fact that they doso has supported the mission enterprise inmany a field where otherwise it would probably have been abandoned. Well is it for civilisation that men are found to occupy these posts of danger, and that when one falls a prey to the bitter fruits of heathenism another is found to step into his place. Where it not so, in how many fair spots, scattered throughout Melanesia, would terrorism reign whero perfect safety is enjoyed ; for "in those ports (to quote the Sydney JBeraid) where now hundreds of vessels yearly anchor, and find refreshment during their . voyages — which are now becoming centres of trade — from which knowledge, and civilisation are spreading over the Pacific — outrages of the most fearful description were once perpetrated by the inhabitants who, fifty years ago, where what the murderers of the Gordons are now."

{From the Sydney Herald). Erromanga, 7th June, 1801. To the Rev. Wm. Guthbertson, Sydney.

Rev. Sib — It is with feelings of deep melancholy that I now have to communicate to you the distressing intelligence of the massacre by the natives here of our worthy missionary and his wife, Mr. arid Mrs. Gordon.

This mournful event took place on the 20th ult., about one o'clock in the afternoon, and I proceed to detail you the circumstances connected with it. On the [afternoon of the 20th I was in the act of writing'a note to Mr. Gordon, when I was startled by a native (David-uti), followed by others of the Mission boys, rushing across the river and shouting that the Bunkhill natives had killed tho " Missi," I immediately armed myself, and tho few foreign natives which I have, and started in pursuit of the murderers, but unsuccessfully. I found the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon lying on the ground horribly mangled, and I saw at a glance that anything in the shape of surgical assistance was out of the question, as, from the nature of ths wounds, death must have been instantaneous. I went and locked up the Mission-house, and set a guard of ten natives, well armed, to defend, the property. I then went and selected a spot for the grave : it is situated on the right bank of the river, near the spot where Williams was killed, and over shadowed by cocoanut and banana trees. In the morning 1 made two coffins, in which tho bodies were placed, and at two o'clock we carried them to the burying-place. There, at my request, a native named " Mana," who had been for some time at tho Samoan Institution, and who acted as a teacher under Mr. Govdon, conducted the services. A hymn having been sung, he gave an address, which, to judge from the effects visibly produced, must have been deeply felt ; and a prayer, having been offered up to Almighty God, tho bodies were consigned to the earth. It was deeply interesting for me to witness the emotion exhibited by a native standing next to me, who seemed to be utterly overcome by grief; yet this very man, in 1835), murdered another of God's labourers, John Williams. The tears and lamentations of all present at tho interment it was painful to witness. ~ From tho accounts which I havn gathered from the natives you may rely on the correctness of the following description of tho murderous attack. About noon of tho 20th May, a party of nine Bunkhill natives, of whom the chief Lova was the leader, called at the mission-house, and enquired for Mr. Gordon. They were informed that he was working a little further down the hill, at a house which ho was building as a winter residence. They went towards the place, but in passing through a grovo near the house, eight of the men concealed themselves, while the ninth, named Nuru-bu-leet, went further down to inveigle Mr. Gordon into the trap thus laid tor his destruction. Mr. Gordon had unfortunately sent all hi 3 boys away to gather grass for tho roof of the new house, and was unattended, when Nuru-bu-leet walked up to him, and asked for some calico for himself and the others of the party who, he said, were waiting at tho mission-house. Mr. Gordon took up a piece of board, and wrote on it with a piece of charcoal, " Give these men a yard of cotton each." This he gave to the savage, and told him to take it to Mrs. Gordon, who would give him what ho wanted. This, however, would not have suited the intentions of Naru-bu-leet. He told the missionary that Lova wishe.l particularly to see him, and to get sovno medicine for a sick man, and that he had, therefore, better go up to his own house.' Mr. Gordon, pointing to a plate containing some food which Mrs. Gordon had sent him, said, " I have not yet eaten, but never mind ! I can do ( so as well at the house." And wrapping up the plate in his handkerchief he started up the hill, followed by the native. On arriving at the ambush Narui bu-loet buried his tomahawk \n Mr. Gordon's spine. He immediately fell, uttering a loud cry.

Naru-bu-leet gave hi in 'another stroke on the right side of the neck, which'almost severed the head from the body; and the others rushing from-fcjieir concealment, quickly cut their poor victim to pieces! While this tragedy was being enacted, another native, whose name was Ouben ran towards the mission-house, and Mrs. Gordon, who had been alarmed by the fiendish yells and laughter of the savages, had run out, and was standing near an out-house. She asked Ouben what all the noiso was about? He laughed and said, " Nothing ; it is only the boys amusing themselves." She said, " Where are the boys'?" and turned round. Ouben then, with the tomahawk, which he carried concealed behind his back, struck her a blow below , the shoulder-blade ; and, on her falling on a heap J of grass, lie nearly cut the head off, and otherwise mutilated her in various parts of the body. Such was the fate of two of God's most zealous sery ants. It is now four years since Mr. Gordon and his wife arrived here, viz., since 14th June, 1857, and during tlra time they have laboured hard among the rude and ferocious Erroraangans with little apparent success. Privations of the most distressing kind have been cheerfully and uncomplainingly borne, and the many attempts made against their live 3. although hitherto unsuccessful, have rendered their residence here continually full of anxiety and alarm. The cause of the murder lam informed, and from my own experience I am certain to he the case, is as follows : —Several months ago the measles, which had previously raged in Sydney, made its appearance in New Caledonia, and there, notwithstanding the exertions of the Governor and j the other officials, it rapidly made progress, and a serious mortality was the result. The infection. 1 was thence carried by the various trading vessels calling there to all the surrounding islands, and fearful were the ravages of the distemper amengs-t the natives. At Let'ou, Mara, Aniteum, Tana, Sandwich, Espirito Santo, and Frromanga thousands and thousands died — in fact some of these places have been nearly depopulated. Strange to gay a similar disease has never before made its appearance among the natives, and they at once attributed it to their connection with the white men, and called it the " white man's curse." The consequence of this idea, especially among themore savage tribes, was naturally a bitter hostility against foreigners, and singularly enough, against the only class who had had nothing to do with the introduction of the disease, but, on the contrary, who had tried all means in their power to avert the calamity— l mean the missionaries. At Aniteum, where the mortality was dreadful, the natives repeatedly threatened to take the life of Mr. and Mrs. Geddie, and they burnt down the two handsome churches there. At Tana matters were equally bad : repeated attacks were made on Mr. Paton and his property ; and I myself on one occasion, heard Miald, the chief at Port Besolution, threaten to take his life if he would not go away in the vessel which brought me there. He refused to go, and hitherto his life has been spared, but I much fear that unless he has left before the tidings of the Krromangan massacre reaches Tana, he will fall a victim. Here, however, the malady being so virulent as to threaten the extermination of the natives, and their characters being so savagely ferocious, the greatest animosity existed towards the whites; and notwithstanding that Mr. Gordon went daily from morning to night amongst the people, administering medicine, and striving to alleviate as far as lay in his power their misery, he became the object of. their extreme hatred. Nuivan, a chief, having been prostrated by the disease, when almost dying, sent for Mr. Gordon, who gave him some medicine. Nuivan died next day ; the tribe said that tho missionary had poisoned him, and it was resolved to kill all the whites. A plan was laid, and so ingeniously artful was the scheme that had it not been divulged by a friendly native, about ten minutes before tho time appointed for its execution, we would almost certainly have all perished. Of course, when the party came to carry their intentions into effect we were prepared, and they wont off disappointed. To add to their feelings of enmity towards Mr. Gordon, there was yet another reason, and to illustrate this I copy the following entry in his diary. Speaking of this singular disease which is strange and alarming to all, he writes : "It was preceeded by nearly an universal opposure that God would visit them in judgment, and warnod them most solemnly but a few days before they were attacked. The chiefs, who mantain that, to give up their idols is tho cessation of their rules, can hardly now persuade their people that this is not tho finger of Jehovah," " I warned them to flee from the wrath to" come, but they took not warning till too late.." From the disease following close on these warnings, tho natives believed that the missionary had prayed to God to send it on them ; and this belief readily accorded with the fixed ideas of witchcraft which obtain universally in this island. About two months ago he writes :— "lt seems that I was nearly shot two Sabbaths ago, near Bunkhill, as I was getting on my horse. Some circumstance prevented— perhaps the torrents of rain which fell, while I was engaged as Paul and Silas by the Macedonian river side. It is almost impossible for a missionary to fall into greater perils among such a people, for their belief in witchcraft is universal, and they seem to look upon me as their destroyer." About a fortnight before his death he preached at Bunk-hill, rebuking his hearers sharply for their idolatry and wickedness. This offended the tribe; they resolved on his murder; and how well they succeeded in their devilish designs the event has shown.

Amidst the gloom and grief which the tidings of this dreadful event will occasion to the relatives and friends of these martyrs, and indeed to all Christians who are interested in the cause of missions, it must be cheering to know that in all their troubles and anxieties Mr. Gordon and his wife steadfastly rested their trust on the Rock of Ages, and a t all times they submissively bent to His will. The last words in Mr. Gordon's diary aro: — "Thanks be to God for the measure of faith granted to us in these troublesome and perilous times." " Bless the Lord, oh, my soul ! who redeemeth thy life from destruction. 1 ' Umvearily they laboured in the cause of Christ, and now they have been called upon to receive the crown ef martyrdom, and to enjoy in His presence the fullness of reward.

We were highly delighted yesterday by a visit from Bishop Patterson, of Now Zealand. All the Mission Boys wept at the sight of him as they recalled his last visit here to their remembrance. We crossed over to the grave which has been enclosed by a fence by the boys. The Bishop read, with much fervour and feeling, the beauti. ful service of the English Church over the tomb, and immediately afterwards proceeded on his voyage to the Northern islands. He informed mo that the John Williams might be expected here daily, and I shall put Mr. Gordon's property on board of her. I have written you a long letter, but I am afraid it is rather unconnected and diffuse, as I have been so often interrupted, and I have been much hurried when writing it, so please excuse faults.