Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific OceanBice, C. (Charles)
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Journal of Residence in the New Hebrides, S.W. Pacific Ocean
Bice, C. (Charles)
Missions -- Vanuatu
This evening we have sung this chorus with grand effect, and high as I
was previously in popular estimation as a poet, I have gone still higher
now. What a little thing wins popularity, how little is a thing so
easily purchased worth the having! One other song goes very prettily and
smoothly to “Home sweet Home,” and is much appreciated. It is, as far as
I could adapt it, the reproduction of the English song into Maewo.
“Dream Faces” supplied me with another very pretty little song, which
runs very well, the theme of which is the “moonlight.” “Our Jack’s come
home to-night,” lent me the music of a fourth song, which is peculiarly
native in expression, and slightly more comic than the two above
mentioned.
The production of this last was received with such peals of laughter,
that for a time confusion and merriment took the place of composure and
perfect gravity. It would lose its charm and half its meaning if I were
to attempt to translate it into English. Here, however, is the Maewo:--
Ta disava qarik Isei ni tau na as?
Eh? Ro[¨n]o lolora va! Ki isei qa ni sawu?
Wa sagoro ta sagoro Ki gida, sem, ta lai ra[¨n]ai!
Ro[¨n]o lolora va! Toli sagoro rik!
Da! ta sagoro da! Ge riri betigag!
Ta sagoro tei rik Ga laia ra[¨n]ai sag!
Kare mawmaw, tei riki vak! Ge wosawosa limamu!
A wula marama! Tolina rik ka sem!
The “Dream Faces” song is as follows:-
Nan ligo asik suri marama, --I’ll make my song about the moonlight,
Tolina rik sem a wula marama, --Charming indeed is the light of the moon,
Osoos ti rasu mera na maran, --Darkness has flown, it is light as the day,
Non eteete ti lita soun na --His brightness chased the night far away.
qo[¨n].
Nan ligo asik suri marama, --I’ll make my song about the moonlight,
A[¨n]eisa tea le isi Tamada, --Some day I ween in our great Father’s land,
Ala na maran vagatewa tau, --There day unending for ever will be,
Qon tigai ala, moa marama, --Night is unknown there, light only endless.
The light called “marama,” is looked upon by natives as the perfection
of light, because it is, I suppose, unaccompanied by the burning heat of
the sun. I therefore use it as illustrating better the idea of heaven’s
light. Maran is the light of day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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