John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 1 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
Aniwans also paid for by dedicating their arrowroot to God.
Let those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on these things. Eight
shillings for every leaf, or the labour and proceeds of fifteen years
for the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too
much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the
Missionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and
which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming
love! They had felt, and we had observed, that in all lands and amongst
all branches of the human family, the Holy Bible is, wheresoever
received and obeyed, the power of God unto salvation; it had lifted them
out of savagery, and set them at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Oh, that
the pleasure-seeking men and women of the world could only taste and
feel the real joy of those who know and love the true God—a heritage
which the world and all that pertains thereto cannot give to them, but
which the poorest and humblest followers of Jesus inherit and enjoy!
My first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and
Nisbet, near the shore for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above
tide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials and goods
being landed, and close to the healthy breezes of the sea. Alas! we had
to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all untried Mission
fields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and Ague, mine
especially; and much of this might have been escaped by building on the
higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing trade winds. For all
this, however, no one was to blame; everything was done for the best,
according to the knowledge then possessed. Our house was sheltered
behind by an abrupt hill from three to four hundred feet high, which
gave the site a feeling of cosiness. It was surrounded, and much shaded,
by beautiful bread-fruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees; too
largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze that
we sorely needed! There was a long swamp all round the head of the bay,
and, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely
raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us.
Once, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to
me,—
“Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tannaman sleeps so low
down as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep on
the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and sleep
on the hill, and then you will have better health.”
I at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the earliest
practicable moment; heavy though the undertaking would necessarily be,
it seemed my only hope of being able to live on the island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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