The Coral Island by Robert Michael Ballantyne (interesting books to read in english TXT) 📖

insects, have the power of attracting this lime to their

bodies; and with this material they build their little cells or

habitations. They choose the summit of a volcano, or the top of a

submarine mountain, as a foundation on which to build; for it is

found that they never work at any great depth below the surface.

On this they work; the polypes on the mountain top, of course,

reach the surface first, then those at the outer edges reach the

top sooner than the others between them and the centre, thus

forming the coral reef surrounding the lagoon of water and the

central island; after that the insects within the lagoon cease

working. When the surface of the water is reached, these myriads

of wonderful creatures die. Then birds visit the spot, and seeds

are thus conveyed thither, which take root, and spring up, and

flourish. Thus are commenced those coralline islets of which you

have seen so many in these seas. The reefs round the large islands

are formed in a similar manner. When we consider,” added the

missionary, “the smallness of the architects used by our heavenly

Father in order to form those lovely and innumerable islands, we

are filled with much of that feeling which induced the ancient king

to exclaim, ‘How manifold, O God, are thy works! in wisdom thou

hast made them all.’”

 

We all heartily agreed with the missionary in this sentiment, and

felt not a little gratified to find that the opinions which Jack

and I had been led to form from personal observation on our Coral

Island were thus to a great extent corroborated.

 

The missionary also gave us an account of the manner in which

Christianity had been introduced among them. He said: “When

missionaries were first sent here, three years ago, a small vessel

brought them; and the chief, who is now dead, promised to treat

well the two native teachers who were left with their wives on the

island. But scarcely had the boat which landed them returned to

the ship, than the natives began to maltreat their guests, taking

away all they possessed, and offering them further violence, so

that, when the boat was sent in haste to fetch them away, the

clothes of both men and women were torn nearly off their backs.

 

“Two years after this the vessel visited them again, and I, being

in her, volunteered to land alone, without any goods whatever;

begging that my wife might be brought to me the following year, -

that is, THIS year; and, as you see, she is with me. But the surf

was so high that the boat could not land me; so with nothing on but

my trousers and shirt, and with a few catechisms and a Bible,

besides some portions of the Scripture translated into the Mango

tongue, I sprang into the sea, and swam ashore on the crest of a

breaker. I was instantly dragged up the beach by the natives; who,

on finding I had nothing worth having upon me, let me alone. I

then made signs to my friends in the ship to leave me; which they

did. At fist the natives listened to me in silence, but laughed at

what I said while I preached the gospel of our blessed Saviour

Jesus Christ to them. Afterwards they treated me ill sometimes;

but I persevered, and continued to dwell among them, and dispute,

and exhort them to give up their sinful ways of life, burn their

idols, and come to Jesus.

 

“About a month after I landed, I heard that the chief was dead. He

was the father of the present chief, who is now a most consistent

member of the church. It is a custom here that, when a chief dies,

his wives are strangled and buried with him. Knowing this, I

hastened to his house to endeavour to prevent such cruelty if

possible. When I arrived, I found two of the wives had already

been killed, while another was in the act of being strangled. I

pleaded hard for her, but it was too late; she was already dead. I

then entreated the son to spare the fourth wife; and, after much

hesitation, my prayer was granted: but, in half an hour

afterwards, this poor woman repented of being unfaithful, as she

termed it, to her husband, and insisted on being strangled; which

was accordingly done.

 

“All this time the chief’s son was walking up and down before his

father’s house with a brow black as thunder. When he entered, I

went in with him, and found, to my surprise, that his father was

not dead! The old man was sitting on a mat in a corner, with an

expression of placid resignation on his face.

 

“‘Why,’ said I, ‘have you strangled your father’s wives before he

is dead?’

 

“To this the son replied, ‘He is dead. That is no longer my

father. He is as good as dead now. He is to be BURIED ALIVE.’

 

“I now remembered having heard that it is a custom among the Feejee

islanders, that when the reigning chief grows old or infirm, the

heir to the chieftainship has a right to depose his father; in

which case he is considered as dead, and is buried alive. The

young chief was now about to follow this custom, and, despite my

earnest entreaties and pleadings, the old chief was buried that day

before my eyes in the same grave with his four strangled wives!

Oh! my heart groaned when I saw this, and I prayed to God to open

the hearts of these poor creatures, as he had already opened mine,

and pour into them the light and the love of the gospel of Jesus.

My prayer was answered very soon. A week afterwards, the son, who

was now chief of the tribe, came to me, bearing his god on his

shoulders, and groaning beneath its weight. Flinging it down at my

feet, he desired me to burn it!

 

“You may conceive how overjoyed I was at this. I sprang up and

embraced him, while I shed tears of joy. Then we made a fire, and

burned the god to ashes, amid an immense concourse of the people,

who seemed terrified at what was being done, and shrank back when

we burned the god, expecting some signal vengeance to be taken upon

us; but seeing that nothing happened, they changed their minds, and

thought that our God must be the true one after all. From that

time the mission prospered steadily, and now, while there is not a

single man in the tribe who has not burned his household gods, and

become a convert to Christianity, there are not a few, I hope, who

are true followers of the Lamb, having been plucked as brands from

the burning by Him who can save unto the uttermost. I will not

tell you more of our progress at this time, but you see,” he said,

waving his hand around him, “the village and the church did not

exist a year ago!”

 

We were indeed much interested in this account, and I could not

help again in my heart praying God to prosper those missionary

societies that send such inestimable blessings to these islands of

dark and bloody idolatry. The teacher also added that the other

tribes were very indignant at this one for having burned its gods,

and threatened to destroy it altogether, but they had done nothing

yet; “and if they should,” said the teacher, “the Lord is on our

side; of whom shall we be afraid?”

 

“Have the missionaries many stations in these seas?” inquired Jack.

 

“Oh, yes. The London Missionary Society have a great many in the

Tahiti group, and other islands in that quarter. Then the

Wesleyans have the Feejee Islands all to themselves, and the

Americans have many stations in other groups. But still, my

friend, there are hundreds of islands here the natives of which

have never heard of Jesus, or the good word of God, or the Holy

Spirit; and thousands are living and dying in the practice of those

terrible sins and bloody murders of which you have already heard.

I trust, my friends,” he added, looking earnestly into our faces,

“I trust that if you ever return to England, you will tell your

Christian friends that the horrors which they hear of in regard to

these islands are LITERALLY TRUE, and that when they have heard the

worst, the ‘HALF HAS NOT BEEN TOLD THEM;’ for there are perpetrated

here foul deeds of darkness of which man may not speak. You may

also tell them,” he said, looking around with a smile, while a tear

of gratitude trembled in his eye and rolled down his coal-black

cheek, - “tell them of the blessings that the gospel has wrought

HERE!”

 

We assured our friend that we would certainly not forget his

request. On returning towards the village, about noon, we remarked

on the beautiful whiteness of the cottages.

 

“That is owing to the lime with which they are plastered,” said the

teacher. “When the natives were converted, as I have described, I

set them to work to build cottages for themselves, and also this

handsome church which you see. When the framework and other parts

of the houses were up, I sent the people to fetch coral from the

sea. They brought immense quantities. Then I made them cut wood,

and, piling the coral above it, set it on fire.

 

“‘Look! look!’ cried the poor people, in amazement; ‘what wonderful

people the Christians are! He is roasting stones. We shall not

need taro or bread-fruit any more; we may eat stones!’

 

“But their surprise was still greater when the coral was reduced to

a fine soft white powder. They immediately set up a great shout,

and, mingling the lime with water, rubbed their faces and their

bodies all over with it, and ran through the village screaming with

delight. They were also much surprised at another thing they saw

me do. I wished to make some household furniture, and constructed

a turning-lathe to assist me. The first thing that I turned was

the leg of a sofa; which was no sooner finished than the chief

seized it with wonder and delight, and ran through the village

exhibiting it to the people, who looked upon it with great

admiration. The chief then, tying a string to it, hung it round

his neck as an ornament! He afterwards told me that if he had seen

it before he became a Christian he would have made it his god!”

 

As the teacher concluded this anecdote we reached his door. Saying

that he had business to attend to, he left us to amuse ourselves as

we best could.

 

“Now, lads,” said Jack, turning abruptly towards us, and buttoning

up his jacket as he spoke, “I’m off to see the battle. I’ve no

particular fondness for seein’ bloodshed, but I must find out the

nature o’ these fellows and see their customs with my own eyes, so

that I may be able to speak of it again, if need be,

authoritatively. It’s only six miles off, and we don’t run much

more risk than that of getting a rap with a stray stone or an over-shot arrow. Will you go?”

 

“To be sure we will,” said Peterkin.

 

“If they chance to see us we’ll cut and run for it,” added Jack.

 

“Dear me!” cried Peterkin, - “YOU run! thought you would scorn to

run from any one.”

 

“So I would, if it were my duty to fight,” returned Jack, coolly;

“but as I don’t want to fight, and don’t intend to fight, if they

offer to attack us I’ll run away like the veriest coward that ever

went by