John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brotherPaton, John Gibson
Religion
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides, volume 2 (of 3) : $b An autobiography edited by his brother
Paton, John Gibson
Missionaries -- Vanuatu -- Biography; Paton, John Gibson, 1824-1907
Scarcely were my words repeated, when they rushed to the shore, with
shoutings and songs of gladness; and soon every one was seen struggling
under the biggest block of coral with which he dared to tackle. They
lay like limestone rocks, broken up by the hurricanes, and rolled
ashore in the arms of mighty billows; and in an incredibly short time
scores of them were tumbled down for my use at the mouth of the well.
Having prepared a foundation, I made ready a sort of box to which every
block was firmly tied and then let down to me by the pulley,—a Native
Teacher, a faithful fellow, cautiously guiding it. I received and
placed each stone in its position, doing my poor best to wedge them one
against the other, building circularly, and cutting them to the needed
shape with my American axe. The wall is about three feet thick, and
the masonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself decays. I
wrought incessantly, for fear of any further collapse, till I had it
raised about twenty feet; and now, feeling secure, and my hands being
dreadfully cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, and
finish the building then. But the Chief advanced and said,—
“Missi, you have been strong to work. Your strength has fled. But rest
here beside us; and just point out where each block is to be laid. We
will lay them there, we will build them solidly behind like you. And no
man will sleep till it is done.”
With all their will and heart they started on the job; some carrying,
some cutting and squaring the blocks, till the wall rose like magic,
and a row of the hugest rocks laid round the top bound all together,
and formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys, and all wished to have
a hand in building it, and it remains to this day, a solid wall of
masonry, the circle being thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at
the top, and six at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all,
and fixed the windlass and bucket, and there it stands as one of the
greatest material blessings which the Lord has given to Aniwa. It rises
and falls with the tide, though a third of a mile distant from the sea;
and when, after using it, we tasted the pure fresh water on board the
_Dayspring_, it seemed so insipid that I had to slip a little salt into
my tea along with the sugar before I could enjoy it! All visitors are
taken to see the well, as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of
the Church said to me lately,—
“But for that water, during the last two years of drought, we would all
have been dead!”
Very strangely, though the Natives themselves have since tried to sink
six or seven wells in the most likely places near their different
villages, they have either come to coral rock which they could not
pierce, or found only water that was salt. And they say amongst
themselves,—
“Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed and cried to his
God. We have learned to dig, but not how to pray, and therefore Jehovah
will not give us the rain from below!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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