Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific OceanBice, C. (Charles)
History
Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific Ocean
Bice, C. (Charles)
Missions -- Vanuatu
After breakfast I had school with a very earnest Candidate for Baptism
who comes from Mandurvat, and wished for special instruction. I hope I
managed to explain to him any difficulties he has experienced in the
nature and meaning of the service. When he was dismissed I wended my way
with some of the boys to Ruosi, where I bathed and washed my clothes. I
do not know what it was, but when I got home I was quite exhausted, and
somehow I don’t feel as strong as I did at the beginning of the season.
We had very hearty Evensong, and a nice class with the Catechumens, who,
I think, are very much in earnest, especially the older men. There are
about twenty in this class, the last remnant of the heathen population.
With their Baptism, Tanrig will cease to have any remains of heathenism,
and in name at least will be able to call itself Christian. The usual
school was held, and the first two classes were engaged in solving the
mysteries of simple addition, one of the girls succeeding in doing a six
line sum without a fault. This same girl, Emily by name, is rather a
creditable production for this out of the world place. She reads well,
answers well, and writes well, besides being quite an adept at figures.
A couple of years at Norfolk Island would make a very useful woman of
her. There are seven others in her class who all are very fair scholars,
and take their turn at teaching.
_Wednesday, October 13th._--Very fine morning and very warm. After our
morning duties were over there was soon a dead silence over the village,
the people all going off to their several occupations in their gardens.
I busied myself, and got very hot over a little simple carpentering--but
oh! the tools, they were so blunt and so rusty. However, I managed to do
fairly well what I wanted to do, viz. to enlarge the Communion table,
and generally to give a more Churchy appearance to the East end of our
Church. I proposed to myself a bathe after my labours were over, but I
was too exhausted, and stayed at home in preference. However, the shades
of evening soon stole on, and my little cooks came to get my dinner,
which, frugal as it was, I enjoyed with the best of sauce--hunger. The
evening was calm and fine, and I sat outside my house and enjoyed myself
with a book. In the evening they came to tell me of the death of a poor
heathen woman who has lately come here, and has been for years past a
confirmed invalid. Poor thing! the women came back in the evening to
find her cold and stiff in death, without a soul near her to say a word
of comfort or to close her eyes in dying. She was buried in the
moonlight, and her memory consigned to oblivion with her body. Her sad
story afforded me a fitting text for the Catechumens afterwards, which I
trust was not unproductive of seasonable lessons and wholesome and
solemn warnings. Our singing school subsequently was very nice, after
which everyone seemed glad to turn in for the night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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