whom he felt he owed so much, in the way that might most effectively advance the interests of his cause. Being appointed to the office of a Christian teacher, he was thus employed for some time in Tutuila; and in 1841, in accordance with his own earnest desire, he made one of a party who were conveyed in the Camden to the New Hebrides and New Caledonian groups. He was placed at Resolution Bay, on the island of Tana, where teachers had been labouring for about two years before. Here he continued for perhaps two years, when he was removed to the neighbouring island of Anatom, where he continued till towards the close of 1847. He was too far advanced in life to be a really efficient teacher at the west, in as far as the direct impartation of instruction is concerned, the eastern Polynesians having great difficulty, even when they have youth and early advantages in their favour, in acquiring the languages spoken at the west. Hence, a man in Apolo's circumstances could not be expected to make much progress in learning these; but he maintained a blameless course amid the deeply trying and difficult circumstances in which he was placed, and did all in his power to promote the glory of the Redeemer, and the good of the benighted people among whom he laboured. On returning to his native land, his state of health, and time of life, were such as rendered it undesirable for him to continue a teacher; so he retired to his native isle, where he held an important situation in managing the little political affairs of the island till his death, which took place towards the close of last year, just before our return from the west. His conduct was decidedly and uniformly Christian to the last. He was a striking instance of the power of Divine grace, and to the honour of that grace I furnish you with this brief and imperfect notice. He was engaged in the last battle that was fought on this island, shortly before the introduction of the gospel; and I know not in how many other wars on this island and the Manua Group he had taken a part, before these lands, that sat in darkness, saw the great light. At Anatom and Tana he fought against his former master, and more than once his own life was placed in imminent danger, in his attempts to rescue widows and orphans from the murderous hands of the blind votaries of a cruel superstition; in one instance at least he succeeded in saving the life of a poor woman. How touching the contrast between the fierce heathen warrior, burning with revenge and thirsting for blood, and the subdued, benevolent, Christian evangelist, making it his business and risking his life to save! "Another of the departed who claims particular notice is Mauga, the principal chief of Pago-Pago. The removal of this worthy man was a loss to Pago-Pago and the whole district, which I fear will not soon be repaired. He was the son of the old chief Mauga, who received and protected us on our arrival in 1836. Upon the death of the old chief in 1838, he was succeeded by Manuma, an adopted son; this man soon proved himself unworthy of the honour that had been conferred upon him. His conduct was outrage. ously wicked. The people bore with him for two or three years, but at length things came to a crisis. Being found guilty of an act which was considered beyond endurance, the subordinate chiefs deprived him of his name and office, and conferred them upon the subject of this notice. Mauga was a mild and peaceable man, but had not at that time afforded decisive evidence of being under the influence of Christian principle. The death of his brother Pomare, which took place at Tana, appeared to produce a deep impression on his mind. Again and again he told me, with tears, that his great desire was to follow in his footsteps, and meet him in heaven. In the beginning of 1846, he was admitted to the church, and he maintained a decidedly consistent course till March, 1849, when his life was suddenly terminated by an illness of a few days' continuance. We had left PagoPago some months before he died. I visited him, however, during his illness, and was pleased to find him apparently resigned to the will of God, and resting on the sure foundation. Expressions of grateful submission, admonitions to his family and friends, mingled with prayer for himself and others, were the encouraging indications that his heart was right with God. He was exercised with many heavy trials during the latter years of his life. Among others, the loss of his wife and two children; these, I trust had been sanctified to him, and had contributed to make him meet for the inheritance of the saints in light. We felt his death much. He was one of our earliest, stanchest, and most faithful friends. He is not lost (I trust) but gone before.” In addition to the foregoing, we have much pleasure in introducing another extract from the same letter, as it exhibits, in a striking light, the beneficial influence sometimes exercised by the Christian Missionary in his casual intercourse with abandoned foreigners; a class of men who have for the most part been among the most active emissaries of Satan, in obstructing the progress of the Gospel in these Islands. "A cheering circumstance," proceeds Mr. Murray, "connected with the Pago-Pago district, I must not omit to mention. Shortly after Mr. Powel's arrival, I accompanied him on a tour round the remoter parts of the district. As we approached one of the most distant villages we were accosted by a foreigner, who had been waiting our approach. I recognized him as one of the gang of abandoned men who had long infested the island. The manner in which he addressed us, and especially the request he was waiting to make, surprised and delighted us. He stated that he had been wishing very much to see us, to ask if we could furnish him with a Bible. He very much wished to obtain a Bible, as the one he had was incomplete, and he wished to read the entire Scriptures. We were of course led to inquire as to how his attention had been directed to the subject. He referred to a conversation I had had with him some eighteen or twenty months before, during which I had urged upon his attention the claims of religion, and strongly advised him to try and learn to read the Scriptures. At that time he knew little more than the letters of the alphabet. I had especially directed his attention to the third chapter of the Gospel of John. He had set to work in thorough earnest, and had not only learned to read, but had obtained a considerable acquaintance with the all-important truths of the Bible. The third chapter of John had especially engaged his attention and excited his interest. We gave him such counsel and assistance as he seemed to need, and left him with the promise that he should soon be furnished with a Bible. On asking the teachers about him, we found that a marked change had taken place in his character. This change had been observed from the time referred to above, when the conversation took place, which by the blessing of God led to his applying himself to the study of the Scriptures. He had regularly attended the native services, and his entire conduct had undergone a decided change. No time was lost in forwarding the wished-for Bible, and along with it was sent a copy of 'James's Anxious Enquirer,' in the hope that that little work would render him important aid in his endeavours to understand and apply the truths of the sacred volume. I have not again had an opportunity of conversing with him, but Mr. Powell, in whose district he lives, has exchanged several letters with him; and a good deal has been learned respecting him, all tending to encourage the hope that he is indeed a brand plucked out of the burning.' There are two of his former companions remaining in the district; these I fear are theinselves still 'dead in trespasses and sins. They entertain, however, no doubt that the man in question is a changed character. When his companions, one of whom lent him some aid in learning to read, and still occasionally assists him in making out hard words when they go to visit him now, he asks them to sit down and hear a chapter from the Bible. It is an interesting fact, that he has learned to write a little as well as to read, since his mind was aroused to attend to his spiritual concerns. The subject of this notice, by name William Gray, is an Englishman, and about fifty years of age. He has been on this island upwards of twenty years. After the introduction of the gospel he came under restraint, but before that he was outrageously wickednot a whit behind the heathen, among whom he chose to live. He was especially famous among the natives as a warrior. Fire-arms not being possessed by the natives before their intercourse with foreigners, it was thought a great matter, in carrying on their wars, to obtain the assistance of a foreigner who possessed a gun and could use it dexterously. "This was Gray's case, and on this account he was held in high esteem by his own party, and dreaded by the other. He appears to feel deeply on account of his past wickedness. During the conversation we had with him, the words 'God is love' were mentioned. He caught at these words, and responded with great apparent feeling, That He is, or I should not have been here to day.' "What encouragement does this case afford to the friends of Bible circulation! and how affectingly and forcibly does it admonish us to embrace every opportunity that offers of addressing a warning word to our perishing fellow-men!" SAMOA. MODERN CUSTOMS AND ANCIENT SUPERSTITIONS. THE Social and domestic manners of a people, and more especially their prevailing system of belief in relation to the invisible and spiritual world, have always exercised an extraordinary influence in the formation of national character. The Gospel of Christ is designed and admirably adapted to meet the moral condition of men of all countries and classes; and the rude Polynesian, the semi-civilized Hindoo, and the cultivated European, when made partakers of the common salvation, will readily recognise in each other those distinctive evidences of the new birth which have been wrought in them by the Spirit of grace and holiness; but it is not the province of the Gospel to root out those original peculiarities of character and temperament by which one nation is made to differ from another; and hence a South Sea Islander, for example, habituated from time immemorial to certain customs, associations, and modes of thinking, will, of necessity, even after his conversion to the faith of Christ, appear under aspects very different from what the Christian inhabitant of another country would exhibit. In the following article, extracted from the Samoan Reporter, a semiannual publication issued by our Missionary brethren in that group, we are presented with a graphic account of the domestic habits and modes of living still prevailing among the people of Samoa; and also of the singular superstitions to which, in the days of their heathenism, they were addicted, but which, happily, have been superseded by a perfect and harmonious system of faith and morals, having God for its Author, and the eternal salvation of man for its object: ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE FOOD. "Breadfruit, taro, bananas, and cocoa-nuts form the staff of life in Samoa. Yams are cultivated, but chiefly as an article of barter. Sweet potatoes, Indian corn, melons, and pumpkins have been introduced, but are not much cared for amid the profusion of better food which generally obtains. Pine-apples, custard-apples, oranges, limes, citrons, figs, vines, and mulberries have also been intro. duced. Some apricot, loquot, and pomegranate plants have recently been added, and thrive. The lagoons and reefs furnish a large supply of fish and shell-fish, of which the natives are very fond; and occasionally all, but especially persons of rank, regale themselves on pigs, fowls, and turtle. Oxen have been introduced, and are being prized by the natives. "For about half the year, the Samoans have an abundant supply of food from the breadfruit trees. During the other half, they depend principally on their taro plantations, Bananas and cocoa-nuts are plentiful through. out the year. While the breadfruit is in season, every family lays up a quantity in a pit lined with banana and and covered in with stones. cocoa nut leaves, It soon ferments; but they keep it in that state for years, and the older it is they relish it all the more. They bake this in the form of little cakes, when the breadfruit is out of season, and especially when there is a scarcity of taro. The odour of these cakes is offensive in the extreme to an European; but a Samoan turns from a bit of English cheese with far more disgust than we do from his fermented breadfruit. "A crop of breadfruit is sometimes shaken off the trees by a gale, before it is ripe, and occasionally taro plantations are destroyed by drought and caterpillars; but the people have wild yams in the bush, preserved breadfruit, cocoa-nuts, and fish to fall back upon; so that there is rarely, if ever, anything like a serious famine. A scarcity of food occasioned by any of the causes just named, they were in the habit of tracing to the wrath of one of their gods, called Ole Sa (or, the Sacred One). The sun, storms, caterpillars, and all destructive insects were said to be his au ao, or, 'ministers of his, that do his pleasure,' who were commissioned to go forth and eat up the plantations of those with whom he was displeased. A Samoan, in describing the ravages of caterpillars, would have said of Le Sa: 'He spake, and caterpillars came, and that without number, and did eat up all the herbs in our land, and devoured the fruit of our ground.' In times of plenty, as well as of scarcity, they were in the habit of assembling with offerings of food, and poured out drink-offerings of ava to Le Sa, to propitiate his favour. CANNIBALISM. "It has been questioned whether this savage custom ever prevailed in Samoa. During some of their wars, a body was occasionally cooked; but they affirm that, in such a case, it was always some one of the enemy who had been notorious for provocation or cruelty, and that eating a part of his body was considered the climax of hatred and revenge, and was not occasioned by the mere relish for human flesh, such as obtains throughout the Fiji, New Hebrides, and New Caledonian groups. In more remote heathen times, however, they may have indulged this savage appetite. To speak of roasting him, is the very worst language that can be addressed to a Samoan. If applied to a chief of importance, he may raise war to avenge the insult. Sometimes a proud chief will get up and go out of the chapel in a rage, should a nutire teacher in his sermon speak of 'hell fire.' It is the custom, on the submission of one party to another, to bow down before their conquerors, each with a piece of fire-wood, and a bundle of leaves, such as are used in dressing a pig for the oven; as much as to say: 'Kill us and cook us, if you please.' Criminals, too, are sometimes bound hand to hand and foot to foot, slung on a pole put between the hands and feet, carried and laid down before the parties they have injured, like a pig about to be killed and cooked. So deeply humiliating is this act considered, that the culprit who consents to degrade himself so far, is almost sure to be forgiven. It is not improbable, therefore, that in some remote period of their history, the Samoans were more familiar with the savage custom to which we refer, than in more recent times. "COOKING. "The Samoans have the mode of cooking with hot stones, which has been often described as prevailing in the South Sea Islands. Fifty or sixty stones, about the size of an orange, heated by kindling a fire under them, form, with the hot ashes, an ordinary oven. The taro, breadfruit, or yams, are laid among the stones, a thick covering of breadfruit and banana leaves is laid over all, and in about * an hour all is well cooked. In the same oven they bake other things: such as fish, done up in leaves, and laid side by side with the taro, or other vegetables. Little bundles of taro leaves, too, mixed with the expressed juice of the cocoa-nut kernel, and some other dishes, of which cocoa-nut is generally the chief ingredient, are baked at the same time, and used as a relish, in the absence of animal food. Salt water is frequently mixed up with these dishes, which is the only form in which they use salt. They have no salt, and are not in the habit of preserving fish or pork, otherwise than by repeated cooking. In this way they keep pork for a week, and fish for three weeks or a month. However large, they cook the entire pig at once; then, using a piece of split bamboo as a carving knife, cut it up and divide it among the different branches of the family. The duties of cooking devolve on the men; and all, even chiefs of the highest rank, consider it no disgrace to assist in the cooking-house occasionally. 66 FORBIDDEN FOOD. "Some birds and fishes were sacred to particular deities, and certain parties abstained from eating them. A man, for example, would not eat a fish which was supposed to be under the protection and care of his household god; but, he would eat, without scruple, fish sacred to the gods of other families. The dog, and some kinds of fish and birds, were sacred to the greater deities--the dii majorum gentium of the Samoans; and of course all the people rigidly abstained from these things. For a man to kill and eat anything he considered to be under the special protection of his god, was supposed to be followed by his displeasure, in the sickness or death of himself or some member of the family. The same idea seems to have been a check on cannibalism, as there was a fear lest the god of the deceased would be avenged on those who might cook and eat the body. "The young cocoa-nut contains about a tumblerful of water, something resembling water sweetened with lump sugar, and very slightly acid. This is the ordinary beverage of the Samoans. A young cocoa-nut baked in the oven yields a pleasant hot draught, which is very grateful to an invalid. They have no fermented liquors; but they make an intoxicating draught from an infusion of the chewn root of the ava plant (piper methysticum). A bowl of this disgustingly prepared stuff is made and served out when a party of chiefs sit down to a meal. At their ordinary meals, few partake of it but the father or other senior members of the family. It is always taken before, and not after the meal. Among a formal party of chiefs, it is handed round in cocoa-nut-shell cups, with a good deal of ceremony. When a cup is filled, the name, or title rather, of the person for whom it is intended, is called out; the cupbearer takes it to him; he receives it, drinks it off, and returns the cup to be filled again, as the 'portion' of another chief. The most important chiefs have the first cups, and, following the order of rank, all have a draught. The liquor is much diluted; few drink to excess; and, upon the whole, the Samoans are, perhaps, among the most temperate ava drinkers in the South Seas. The old men consider that a little of it strengthens them and prolongs life; and often they have a cup the first thing in the morning. Foreign liquors have been introduced, but there is no demand for them yet among the natives; and long may they be preserved from the curse of drunkenness! "MEALS. "Like the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, the Samoans have a meal about eleven A.M., and their principal meal in the evening. At the evening meal, every family is assembled; and men, women, and children all eat together. They have no tables, but seat themselves cross-legged round the circular house on mats. Each has his portion laid down before him on a breadfruit leaf; and thus they partake, in primitive style, without knife, fork, or spoon. Should any strangers be present, due respect is shown to them, as of old, by laying before them 'a worthy portion.' After the meal, water to wash is handed round. "Formerly, the head of the family, in taking his cup of ava at the commencement of the evening meal, would pour out a little of it on the ground, as a drink-offering to the gods, and, all being silent, he would utter aloud the following prayer: "Here is ava for you, O gods! Look kindly towards this family: let it prosper and increase; and let us all be kept in health. Let our plantations be productive: let fruit grow; and may there be abundance of food for us, your creatures! "Here is ava for you, our war gods! Let there be a strong and numerous people for you in this land. "Here is ava for you, O sailing gods!* Do not come on shore at this place; but be pleased to depart along the ocean to some other land.' "It was also very common to pray with an offering of 'flaming fire,' just before the even "Gods supposed to come in Tongan canoes and foreign vessels. |