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ORIGINAL DIARY HELD UNDER
P.M.B MANUSCRIPT NO. 8
AT
PACIFIC MANUSCRIPTS BUREAU
THE RESEARCH SCHOOL
OF PACIFIC STUDIES
THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
CANBERRA A.C.T.
DIARY FOR THE YEAR
1905
KEPT AT
HOG HARBOUR, ESPIRITU
NEW HEBRIDES
BY
MAURICE MYLES WITTS
RESEARCH AND PHOTO COPIES OBTAINED BY HIS GREAT GRANDSON
GRANT ADAM JONES
TRANSCRIBED
SAMANTHER ENFIELD AND BY HIS GRANDSON PAUL LESLEY JONES
WITH HELP ON THE FOLLOW UP NOTES BY HIS DAUGHTER
NANCY MABEL HASSALL
NOTES
Word/names that could not be deciphered are represented <?>
Words/names were spelling could be incorrect---- <example>
1 January 1905
New Year's morning! !! We are quite sure of it because the Almanac says so.
The old year, with
all its hopes and fears, joys and disappointments has passed forever. It has
given peace to the
new. Quite unreasonably, one somehow expects that the first morning of a New
Year will be
different, yet everything here is the same as yesterday; the sleeping sea,
the islands and the
mountains, everything in its place.
The air is thick and heavy and you think that more rain is to follow
yesterday's downpour but
suddenly the sun shoots flaming forth, the clouds disperse as though by magic
and the moisture
goes up from the ground in a mist.
Breakfast over, a bell rings and the "labour" file out to work for,
with the exception of half-day
Saturdays, Christmas, and of course Sundays, few holidays are allowed by the
struggling planter.
When he is quite established and his trees all bearing, he will be able to
indulge reasonably in the
luxury of seeing his native staff idle. Should one begin the New Year
in idleness, all sorts of
calamities may overtake one before its end (one becomes superstitious about
these things in time)
and so the "boys" go off to work.
2 January 1905
Neighbouring planter B paid us an early visit. Two of his recruits had
skipped during the night.
He naturally was not pleased about it and even went to the length of offering
some local natives
one pound for their (the runaways) scalps. These he duly received towards the
close of the day,
with the owners attached. He has an extraordinary flow of language at times
and, today, I think
he was at his best.
Addressing himself to the erring ones, he solemnly promised them that for the
rest of their term
of indenture - a mere matter of two years or so - they would work in chains
and that at night they
would be chained up to the nearest tree and get nothing but yam and water.
He'd "see to that", and
I believe he thought that he meant it at the time.
When he reached home with them he would probably give them a tin of meat and
some biscuit,
exact a promise (which would be fervently given) that they would never
attempt to run away
again and the matter would end.
3 January 1905
"Labour" planting corn, northside. Corn grows well here; so
favourable indeed is the soil and
climate to its growth that three crops may be taken off the same piece of
ground in the one year.
One method of planting corn is rough and ready. Half a dozen boys go out
armed with hoes while
a similar number follow behind dropping seed in the hole made by the hoers,
and covering lightly
with earth.
In this way, each pair of workers will plant about an acre of land per day,
the rows being four feet
apart and the sets about three feet from each other in the rows. Yet,
although corn grows readily
enough and although "labour" is cheap and land easily obtained, it
hardly pays for the trouble of
selling it - a freight up to Sydney 9d a bushel duty, entering Commonwealth
lOd a bushel,
commission etc say 2d, making it all 1/9 per bushel. Average market price 2/6
per bushel which
leaves the bloated planter about 3A per bag, with which to pay his labour and
to buy champagne
with.
4 January 1905
Planting corn. French ship "Nioble" passed northwards at noon. We
had a visitor this evening, a
Mr Malaprop. A discussion arose as to the best kind of medicine to set
children to rights. Some
barbarian suggested salts. Malaprop Esq dissented. He thought cascara would
be better, because
it was a mild purgatory. That statement being incontrovertible, the meeting
adjourned.
5 January 1905
Packing up and burning off timber on top of the hill - an interesting though
very necessary part of
a planters work.
The first operation of all is to cut the undergrowth, then the big timber is
fallen and cut into
lengths of from six to eight feet. This, with the leaves and smaller wood may
be left for three to
four months, at the end of which time, if the weather be favourable, a
running fire will clean up
all excepting the larger stuff This has to be packed up and burned - a hot
dirty job.
The cost of clearing, of course depends a great deal on the density of the
timber and the number
of hard
wood trees to be cut. Here, so far as we can judge, the approximate cost
per acre for the
different preparatory works is
scrubbing - 1-6, Felling and culling - 15-0 and Packing and burning
4-6.
6
January 1905
Continued
burning off Weather intensely hot. There was a notice in Sydney paper (of an ancient
date) that several Australian regiments have been
presented by Gov. General Northcote with
"colours".
My old regiment (the New South Wales Mounted Rifles - now known as the 2nd
Reg
Australian Light Horse) was included amongst
those honoured. I drink, in lime juice, to its long
life and prosperity and may it have more "lash" than
is good for it
.
7 January 1905
Finished burning off midday. During the afternoon went
out fishing. The method usually
employed here,
though not so "sportsmanlike" as line fishing, is certainly more decisive.
The
fisherman stands up at the bow of his boat, a
fire stick in one hand and a plug of dynamite in the
other.
When he sights a shoal of fish within throwing
distance, he hurls the dynamite at them. An
experienced "fisherman" regulates his fluse so that
the charge will explode almost the instant it
touches the water. Sometimes accidents happen and more
than fish are blown up.
(With apologies to Henry Lawson) - One day, two
"sports" (the long-fluse variety) were
wandering
along a beach looking for fish. The dog followed closely behind, unheeded.
Presently
a shoal of fish made its appearance close
in shore and the dynamite, which had been attached to a
stick, hurtled through the air.
The dog was delighted. He knew
exactly what to do. With a bark, he bounded into the water,
grabbed the stick and swam ashore to lay it at his
masters' feet as he had been taught to do; but
his
masters weren't waiting just then. "Spot" thought he could overtake them
and he probably
would have done but for an
unavoidable accident. The fuse burned out; the charge went off with
a bang and the dog lost its head completely.
It is said that the two
sportsman ran a considerable distance before they ventured to look
back.
8 January 1905
Read "Mark Twain" until noon. Went to church
afterwards to make up for it
9 January 1905
Lining out for coconuts - 55.5
trees to the acre. Opinions differ as to whether it pays better to
plant 26, 28 or 30 feet apart. 26 feet will give 64.4
trees to the acre; 28 55.5 and 30 48.4.
10
January 1905
Mr B gave
us a swarm of bees much to our delight. Everyone must have a swarm of
these
fearsome insects to be in the fashion - also
a swollen eye.
11 January 1905
Planting coconuts on top of
the hill. Hottest day experienced so far this season. On a hot day
there are cooler occupations than planting nuts with
the unbroken rays of the sun striking down
on the
nape of one's neck.
12 January 1905
Still planting (70 nuts
today). Holes are dug to a depth of about 2 feet and of the same width.
After a portion of the earth is replaced, the nut is
put in with, of course, the sprout upwards and
covered lightly over.
13
January 1905
Planting
coconuts. Seems to have been tremendously hot today; yet at 2 pm according
to the
Mission thermometer (which should be truthful) the
heat has only reached 90. Last year in
portions of
New South Wales the glass registered 121
but here the humidity is so great that there
would
be no living with a temperature so high.
14
January 1905
Rose
apples are "in" just now. When free of grubs, as they are this year, this
fruit is a treat indeed.
Of a beautiful rose pink,
size varying from a hen's egg to that of a turkey, luscious and well
flavoured, these apples are, in my humble opinion, the
finest of all our native fruits.
15
January 1905
Rain at
last. Seven long droughty days have we waited for it, days to be
remembered long; when
the fierce sun hung all day
in a sky of brass and the pale earth gasped and swooned beneath its
fiery rays; when the great grey sea rocked and swayed
like a lake of molten lava, and all nature
seemed
on the verge of some crisis. It has come - not the crisis - the rain; big
thumping drops of
it, bouncing and splashing over
the panting earth, filling tanks and pots and tins, then hurriedly
running away down the hillside in a maze of muddy
rivulets, as though afraid of being made use
of
It has been raining all day
without stopping; now at 8pm it has degenerated to a drizzle. Did
nothing but read today, and wish the rain would
stop.
16 January 1905
Had 11 and a half inches of
rain yesterday. The sky looks washed out today. Shelling corn - just
at a critical moment when the machine was in full
swing, "Simon the simple" who was handing
up cobs
from the floor tied himself into a knot by trying to take a short cut to
the receivers hand
by passing his own hand under
his leg. Then the fun began. Poor Simon!! It never struck him to
withdraw his arm. He shuffled and sidled and stretched
like a contortionist, all to no purpose.
Then he
seemed to lift his body out of the road of his hand and at length found
himself free,
although facing the opposite
direction.
17 January 1905
Shelling corn. In a dry shed,
its good work for wet weather.
21
January 1905
Julius
Petersen came with his cutter shortly before noon. Had lunch with us.
Broad shouldered
and sturdy, with fair hair, straw
coloured beard and blue eyes, Julius is a typical Scandinavian.
He has travelled about the world a deal and is very
interesting withal.
22 January 1905
Went out pigeon shooting this
afternoon. Did not get any birds, nor even a shot at them but
arrived at some important conclusions in connection
with this sport. To ensure success I am
convinced
that two boys are required - one to find the pigeons, the other to keep
them where they
are found. A game carrier, as a
rule, may be dispensed with.
My experience also leads me to the belief that this
wild pastime should not be indulged in by
persons
with weak hearts. The excitement of stalking a bird for two or three hours
at a time may
prove too much.
There are three varieties of
pigeon here - one very like the bronze-wing in Australia, though
perhaps smaller; a small blue one and a large blue
with red legs and beak. The latter makes a
good
meal when captured but he is extremely shy and generally keeps well out of
the range of
firearms. Besides pigeons, there are
three varieties of the dove family, pretty creatures all.
23 January 1905
Mail arrived per "Induna" in B P's new steamer on this
line. She is small, just under 700 tons -but
is
rather better appointed than the "Tambo" and is certainly a big
improvement on the "Hercules"
and the "Malekula".
Saw an interesting sight on the beach today - young turtles, just
hatched,
leaving their nest and taking to water. I
counted 170 but some (I don't know how many) had
reached the water before I saw them. Must have been
many over 200 all together. Many of these
of course
moved just to be the food for the fishes. It is said that the mother
turtle takes two only
of her big family under her
protection. She would certainly need to be like Argus with the
hundred eyes to "keep an eye" on the lot.
Shipped corn per "Induna".
Could not help wishing that it had been copra instead - copra is at
present 10/10 per ton; maize 2.
24 January 1905
That tired feeling in all its intensity today. I think
there can be no place in the world where one
feels
quite so limp as in Santo when the malarial microbes are beginning to
assert themselves.
25 January 1905
Planting corn. Heavy storm
worked up about 4 pm to end the tremendously hot day notice
with
regret that the grass is doing splendidly on
the ground recently, planted with coconuts. It is
simply marvellous the way grass and scrub grows here.
And to think of starving stock in
(horse-tralia)
Australia.
27 January 1905
Two of Mr B's recruits came up this morning for a few
trifles such as 200 sticks of trade tobacco;
a
pound of tea; half a dozen bars of soap; bottle of kerosene; one dozen
tins of preserves meats;
ditto fish; half a dozen
tins of butter; sugar, a little rice and some onions, also (to keep the
carriers from feeling too light hearted) any books and
magazines we could spare.
28 January 1905
Picnic, Noboisi's Passage,
afternoon. Everybody of any importance was there and, as we are all
more or less important, no one remained at home. These
picnics are pleasant enough - cool green
grass,
shady palms, ample and excellent provision for the inner man and fishing
afterwards. At
this passage may be seen growing on
a bare rock, detached from the shore, four coconuts, small
but apparently healthy. On the stone there is no
vestige of soil.
29 January 1905
Captured a swarm of bees for
Mrs Mackenzie (the Missionary's wife). This pest was introduced
some six months or so back by an enterprising planter,
and has already increased to an alarming
extent.
A party goes out picnicking.
The lunch is all ready, when a malignant messenger excitedly
whispers something to the head of the family who jumps
up and starts off running, calling on the
available
natives to follow at once.
We think the Bushmen have swooped down in his absence
and eaten his infant son, left at home
with the
nurse. After five hours the man returns, without the child (our hearts
drop) but with a
glitter of triumph in his
eye "I got them" is all he can say in his excited and breathless
state.
We, still thinking
of murdering barbarians ask if he had put them in irons, at which he
looks
surprised, but replies that "he had put them
in a box". "Many of them?" we ask. "Oh, yes!" comes
back the answer, "quite a strong swarm . Then we
understand. The saturnine messenger bought
the news
that the bees had swarmed.
On Sundays we invariably have a service at the Mission
Station. The "busy bee" Mission of
course has its own apiary - generally swarms on Sunday
as well as most other days during the
week, and
loves to flutter past the open doorways in countless millions, just in the
middle of a
service.
Our
good missionary, in his endeavour to do his duty, keeps one eye on the
duty of St Mark, and
the other on the vanishing
bees. Eventually he makes up his mind to "have at them" as soon as he
is finished, and so goes on with his chapter in a more
entertaining if less instructive manner
(Thursday -
Verily I say unto you (have they settled yet?) that ye shall (get a box
ready Daniel)
etc etc.)
On Monday, Mrs Mackenzie sends up a large and well
filled piece of comb. Next day you send a
larger
piece back with a note asking her to "please accept it PS excuse scribble
- stung on the
hand by a bee today" On
Wednesday, having more honey than you know what to do with, you
send a choice bit over to Mrs H who promptly denounces
your thoughtful little act as a "mean
trick" and-
hopes you will get stung getting the next pieces out. Which you do.
1 February 1905
"Partridge and pheasant shooting ends" says the diary,
and man-shooting begins in the New
Hebrides at least. News
of the death, by shooting, of Warigon, a native chief to hand. This
gentleman is credited with the murder of at least one
Frenchman, at Requin Bay, some say two
and has been
to cause, either directly or indirectly, of a number of natives deaths.
3 February 1905
Tonight we were sitting on the Mission verandah. The silence of
the glorious night seems to hold
us in a spell, a
spell which no one seemed inclined to break. We just sat and smoked and
thought
out our own thoughts.
After an hour or so of this
sociable silence, we had risen to go when from the bay came a faint
cooee; something unusual at that hour of the night.
On going down to the beach we
could see a boat on the reef, near to the entrance of the passages
from Turtle Bay. Kinahan, weary and sick and
cramped, was lying in the bottom of the boat, half
covered with water, helpless and almost speechless. We
took him off at once to the Mission
where the
doctors examined him and found rheumatic fever to be the cause of the
trouble.
Kinahan, who looks
awfully bad this morning, has said that he would like to have his things
up
here; also his eight recruits. I volunteered to
take his boat back to Turtle Bay and get them. At
noon, we made a start. No canvas except the doctor's
little dinghy sail. That, however, was better
than
nothing. Reached the small island of Latharu shortly before dark, in a
downpour of rain.
Beastly wet night; no tent,
unless the little sail stretched across a pole could be called one. I
tried
to telescope myself into about four feet of
space, with rather poor result. However, I was able to
keep my head moderately dry but was glad enough to see
daylight come.
5 February 1905
Got away early, reaching
Turtle Bay about noon.
Found house in disorder. Pathetic evidence on
every
side of a lonely sick man, dependent on natives for help. Clothes and
letters and unopened
newspapers strewn all over the
floor. Plenty of preserved meat and fish but nothing that a sick
man would wish for and require most. Poor lad!
Gathered up what things I could, nailed up the doors
and, with the recruits aboard, started back
3.30
pm. The sea had risen and the little boat, heavily laden as she was, took
in water to an
alarming extent. Several times I
thought that we would be swamped but, with willing hands to
bail out water, it takes a lot to swamp a boat.
We had the four oars out and
all worked with a will but it was nearly 9 o'clock when we reached
Latharu. It was a fine night and although there was a
tent amongst Mr K's things, we had no need
of
it.
6 February 1905
Left Latharu just at dawn and,
the wind being fair, we were able to sail most of the way up.
Reached home at noon; only to find that poor Kinahan
had passed away.
Poor boy!
So far from kindred and from home. Of course the good doctor and his wife
and Theo
Thomas, my cousin and co-planter, had done
all that mortals could to help him, but it seemed so
pathetic and what a shock to his aged mother far away
in Belfast, looking forward, no doubt, to
hearing
from the wandering boy whom she will never more see in this life.
We buried him near the Mission house; and may his soul rest in peace.
7 February 1905
All hands busy putting up a new house for our "labour"
- some preparing the thatch (we use the
leaf of the
ivory nut for thatching) other getting bamboo for the rafters.
Long bamboo, by the way, make
good rafters. You just heat it over a fire when required and bend
over the ridge pole, saw off the ends at the eaves and
you've got it!
8 February 1905
Native women sewing up leaf
for thatch; that is, bending the leaf over strips of bamboo an inch
or so wide and pinning with pieces of the centre rib
of the leaf itself
These
women are adept in the art of thatch making "a la Santo", some of them
sewing up as many
as 50 six feet lengths in a
day.
9 February 1905
Completed recruits house. A
Foxl4 mansion in four days. Not so slow.
10
February 1905
Dr M and
Theo Thomas started for Turtle Bay per horse early this morning.
Not very
encouraging reports of the road. Some
natives say that they think it would be impossible for a
horse to go beyond Requin Bay. There are others again who,
with optimistic excess, would fire
one with the
impression that a broad level road ran the whole way, and that motor-cars
and
"bikes" are to be frequently met with. This
impression, however, I firmly refuse to believe. 6pm
-horses back. Proof that road is not according to the
reports of the optimists.
11
February 1905
Captured
a swarm of bees for Mrs M. A problem in simple proportion: if one swarm
produces 6
swarms in 5 months, how many swarms will
the 6 produce in a year? Answer 1296.
At the end of2 years, at the same rate, this one hive
will have sent out or caused to be sent out
1,679,616 swarms. In 3 years over 2 billion. Surely
something to be proud of A deal of rain has
fallen
throughout the day.
12 February 1905
Overlanders return from
Turtle Bay, very tired
and very dirty.
13 February 1905
Raining most abominably. Have
14 recruits and 24 local gentlemen working - working hard
-getting out of the rain.
14
February 1905
Rain
still continues, almost without intermission. Have had nearly five inches
since yesterday.
Not a record by any means but
still what one might call "damp" weather.
We have something like 1700 boxes of matches in the
house and had a job lighting the lamp for
tea
tonight. Mildew over everything - boots, leather-belts, leggings
everything.
15 February 1905
A dozen or so busy "ladies"
seeding in the corn were doing a good "loaf' this morning; doing it in
style too with a sentry out to watch the roadway in
front. But I came up the "starboard quarter"
and
landed suddenly in the midst to the evident surprise of the recumbent
group, some of whom,
doubtless, are going yet.
Had they been white ladies, they would certainly have
fainted under similar circumstances but
the damsels
of Santo have not learned the fascinating art of fainting yet and prefer
to run before
the wind when alarmed.
16 February 1905
Rain again accompanied by vivid lightning and crashing
peals of thunder by way of variety. This
is the
"wet" season and certainly we are not being allowed to forget it!!
17 February 1905
Some names of Santo women working - Kasal, Kaneen,
Kree, Krae, Kasso, Kali, Theopas - the
latter
really is not a name at all meaning merely the mother of Pas - a favourite
subterfuge when a
woman is too modest to tell you
her name - and most of them are that. Indian women have the
same custom, excepting with them it is generally the
wife of so- and-so.
18 February 1905
A great many of feminine names
start with the letter K; a fair percentage of the men's too for that
matter. As an instance, there is a gentleman working
today who rejoices in the name of Kanob.
His son, I
suppose, is Kanobbler and daughter, if he had one, is Kanoblas.
"Gulliver" came up today
looking wild and woolly as usual. All spent the evening at the mission.
19 February 1905
Earthquakes are common here. Today we had rather a
severe one. Cups and saucers rattled and
bottles
fell, and the house I thought would collapse every minute so violently did
it sway
backwards and forwards. The large 800
gallon water tank rocked so much that nearly half the
contents slopped out at the top.
20 February 1905
If it didn't rain much yesterday, it is making up for
it today! Sawing bamboo into ~ foot lengths or
according to joints for pots for starting cocoa plants
in. They are excellent for that purpose.
21
February 1905
Started
to cut down the top corner of clearing. As an experiment, I am leaving it
just as it falls.
Hitherto I have always cut it up
into short lengths. When quite dry (if the sun ever comes out
again) a running fire may burn a lot of the smaller
stuff which would have to be cut up under the
old
system.
Had a dozen "boys"
at it. I find by measuring that they have done just an acre.
22 February 1905
On top again. 10 boys today. Tried to stop a falling
tree with my head - with only partial success.
Thought a planet had struck me at the time; then all
went black. I hardly like to say why I haven't
got
concussion of the brain at the present time but suppose if I had much
brain to "concuss" I
wouldn't have been just where
I was.
SS Tambo came in at
3 pm. Good mail. We forget aught else in the pleasure of reading our
papers and letters.
23
February 1905
(His
Birthday) - Amongst other letters received yesterday was one containing 28
pages - all
interesting too, that's the strange
part of it; a bright budget of humour, sense and sentiment. The
only other letter which compared with this one was one
from my mother. It contained 2 pages
-the other 26
being written between the lines.
Had a solitary Santo man working today - a feeble
hairy man of the woods. During the day 17
"friends"
came along, presumably to watch him work and to talk to him and to share
his biscuit at
midday. This is about the usual
thing. Nothing delights the native so much as watching his
comrade work. You can see him swelling visibly with a
reflected credit and cadged biscuits
25
February 1905
What
we've been having lately in the way of moisture has been mere
make-believe, compared
with today's deluge. It is
now midday and since daylight over 9 inches of rain have fallen. Still
going strong too. Poor old "Gulliver" and his two
recruits left Santo by the Tambo this afternoon.
After two years of toil he has had to abandon planting
and take to trading.
26 February 1905
By yesterday's mail sent away
two letters; one to the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the other to the
London Times. Subject: New Hebrides and the dangers of a possible French
annexation.
These letters
can do no harm and may do good; may at least start out on the war-path
someone
better able to deal with the subject than I
am.
27 February 1905
Barometer falling. Possibly a
hurricane coming. Rain continues to fall not in showers but in
sheets.
28
February 1905
Weather
still moist. February, perhaps the wettest month of the whole year, is
drawing to a close
in a
fittingly damp fashion.
Of
the 28 days comprising the month, 26 have been more or less wet. On one
day 1 ~ inches fell.
The
total for the month is just over 40 inches - three feet, six inches in
twenty-eight days.
Of
course it is good for the coconuts just planted out. Weeds and scrub seem
to thrive remarkably
well on it too.
1 March 1905
We were somewhat startled at about 6 am this morning
to notice a red glow in the East. First
thought -
bushfire! But as there is no land of any consequence in that direction
this side of
America, we knew we must be
mistaken. Presently a globe of fire drew itself as though from out
of the sea. Higher and higher rose the strange
phenomenon. Some thought it might be Neptune or
Posiedon or some of those gentry, some, a visitation,
and began to say their prayers. But the older
inhabitants told us it was neither one or other of
these undesirable things and that they
remembered
seeing it before. It was the sun
2 March
1905
Cutting line for
fence. Last hundred yards. Two knife accidents - Metlin and Nat - mere
scratches
both, but sufficient to make the smitten
ones fancy they're badly hurt. A native will cheerfully
gash his chest and arms with pieces of sharp bamboo
and broken bottles for the sake of fashion,
yet if
he happens to scratch himself with a knife whilst working, he turns as
white as a bit of
seaweed and would straightaway
faint if he knew how.
3 March 1905
Finished line for fence and
started scrubbing on top of the hill. This operation is made
exceedingly laborious by the quantity of "vrou", or
cottonwood, intertwined among the timber. It
twirls
and curls and winds about, sometimes describing a series of circles,
springs back and hits
you under the jaw when you
cut it and acts generally in a riotous manner throughout.
4 March 1905
Worked until midday. Spent the afternoon reading
newspapers and yarding fowls. The all¬
absorbing
topic in the papers at the present time is the "War in the East". By the
latest cables, we
learn that the non-notorious
Baltic Fleet is looking for trawlers in the Indian Ocean. It is also
crossing the Rocky Mountains just below London, and
Admiral Ohfustfan sky reports having won
a great
naval victory over the Hottentots there; losing one man only; by the
bursting of an
"assagai" - or something to that
effect.
6 March 1905
Continued the fence which, for
various reasons, has been left waiting for some days. Had 12 boys
working on it. Did about three chains and have 18 more
to do.
Cottonwood uprights are used for
the sides and are put in about 18 inches apart. As they strike
root and grow readily, they almost form a fence
themselves.
7 March 1905
Got 4 chains of the fence done
today. Scores of bush natives passed during the afternoon on route
to Lelak where Mr Noboisi is holding a "sing-sing" and
"danys" to celebrate his pig killing.
Rank here among the natives is obtained solely per
medium of pigs. A man desirous of rising a
rung on
the social ladder by dint of hard cadging and a little work perhaps,
gathers together a
certain number of hermaphrodite
pigs ("nara", in local
parlance).
The killing of
these gets for him the rank of "navok", a sort of lance corporal amongst
chiefs. For
the "vernara" degree, the aspirant for
chieftain honours is required to kill from 50-60 "Kol-kols"
(or barrows). The "vooriar" and "vooriar-ru" stages
are gained by killing a certain number of
boars
with tusks and, lastly, the much coveted and seldom reached "Wustair", the
field marshal of
all natives, to gain which a very
choice assortment of naras must be sacrificed. In this district
there is but one Wustair, a very old and feeble man, a
refugee at present from the wrath of a bush
tribe.
The exalted rank does not appear to be any protection
to the venerable owner; rather, perhaps, it
is an
inducement to ambitious head-hunters, as it would be considered a worthy
feat to bag a
chief so high in rank. "Uneasy is the
head that wears a crown", even though it be a crown of
pig-skin, and so the grey haired old warrior has
shifted in the very outskirts of civilisation to sleep
in peace and dream of bygone days.
The dance, or "danys",
eventuated last night and was, as the numerous reporters would say, a
great success. All the youth and beauty of the
district seem to have been present.
The ball-room, a patch of ground, 30 yards square,
carefully cleared of stumps and stones, was
well
lit up by a huge fire in the centre. A band, consisting of a dozen or so
stalwart natives, was
stationed at the southern end
of the clearing and, as far as I could learn, they remained there all
night singing and thumping on the ground with short
lengths of bamboo. There seems to be a
Signor Hazon
amongst them whose duty it was to conduct operations and, without
refreshments,
it must have been a cheerless job.
Merit in native dancers
consists not in the lightness of their feet and the brightness of their
conversation but in being able to prance about in the
vicinity of the blazing fire for an unlimited
space
of time.
Legs and arms and
eyebrows are scratched in the endeavour of each outdoing his neighbour
but
that is nothing to these hardened warriors so
long as they are being admired by lookers on.
The
sight was altogether a novel and weird one. Upwards of 200 painted savages
stamping like so
many maniacs round a blazing fire,
the bush-orchestra thumping away with their bamboos and
the ladies sitting silently and darkly in the
background.
The night was a
glorious one, with its myriad of stars blazing above like so many lanterns
and the
cool soft breeze tempered the heat from the
fire and made the feathery fronds of the coconuts
wave gently like the plumes on some giant's cap. Ever
and anon a dark form would be seen
standing out in
silhouette against the trunks of the palm; a native going up to into the
supper
room for refreshment.
11 March 1905
Worked until noon; wrote letters afterwards - left off
work to carry bricks so to speak.
12
March 1905
Sunday.
Attended church service during the afternoon. Reminded me of a tale I once
heard - a
Scottish Minister, after speaking for an
hour and a half concluded by saying "Lo, brethren, what
more can I say?". "Sit doon, mon, you've said enough"
came the reply.
A week of
fencing and alfresco fresco lunching, of rain and heat and a little fever
thrown in free
of charge.
19 March 1905
Communion Sunday. The old lime church was filled to
overflowing. The heathen Bushmen had
heard that
wine was to be drunk and rolled up hoping maybe that some would be handed
round
their way. Men who had never entered the
"school" before sat on their haunches there at the back,
waiting to see the fun.
When the bread was being broken, a great earthquake
came rumbling along, gently rocking the
building
from side to side at first, but gradually gaining strength until the whole
earth seemed to
be heaving and swaying like a ship
at sea.
Quite a panic
ensued. The "school" people held their ground with pale faces and more or
less
gallantry; the heathen in their blindness made
a remarkably accurate line for the door but at this
juncture the rocking and swaying of the earth
subsided. The tremor had passed over.
19
March 1905
Besides
communion, there was a baptism of rather a large scale - over 20 natives
undergoing the
rather unusual experience of having
water put on their heads.
Biblical names were scattered lavishly around with the
water - the usual crop of "Daniel"s and
"Joseph"s,
"Abednego" 5 and "Saul"s.
Why the average native
has not so much chance of passing the "Golden Gate" with Saul for his
name as with "Sool", I cannot say, but it seems he
hasn't.
Saw one our boys
with a book the other day. He was apparently reading it very carefully
-though
it did happen to be upside-down. On
examination it proved to be "Caesar's Column Very ragged,
very dirty but intact. Asked him if it was a good
book. "No", he replied, "he no good fella here".
22 March 1905
One of the "firm" is boat painting today. That he is
doing something with paint might be guessed
from
sundry outward and visible signs. On approaching the house, you will first
notice that the
trunk of a mummy-apple shining out
in dazzling splendour. A little further on might be seen a
scarlet water melon, with a white one by its side.
Drops of paint will guide you to the kitchen, the
posts of which are a delicate pink. The pots are
variegated and even the kitchen cat has rose
coloured ears and a blue tip to its tail.
23 March 1905
The "Induna" is due in now, overdue in fact, and we
have been busy assigning diverse reasons for
her
non-appearance - anything from having been captured by the Baltic Fleet to
having gone
ashore in last Sunday's tidal wave.
24 March 1905
Though the tree-snakes here
are unusually small, ranging from 1 and a half feet to 3, occasionally
one sees a much larger specimen. Today we captured one
over 6 feet in length and large in girth.
The
"boys" were much afraid, saying that they would die if bitten by it but it
was really very
harmless.
25 March 1905
Went out fishing this afternoon. Succeeded in getting
a good haul of mullet.
26 March 1905
Same old Sunday. Same old
"school", same old sermon, same hard stool, same old Daniel "Lion's
Den", same old sing-song "Mona's Yen".
27 March 1905
After all the waiting and watching and wondering why
she didn't turn up, the "Induna" coolly
popped in
at 4pm, none the worse for her delay.
She had begun
looking for, and towing, the broken down "Tibarra" or something of that
kind.
Thomas is a passenger and means to stay. Fine
to see someone straight from the old place and to
hear all about the old people of far Monaro. He is
lately from Fiji too
and is able to tell me all
about my old friends and
erstwhile fellow toilers there.
It brings the busy life of the cane-fields back again
- the bump-bump and whirr of the mill, the
brazen
din of tom-toms in the lines by night. Like seeing the old place again
without the trouble
of going there.
30 March 1905
Doctor Mackenzie's engine came by the "Induna" and
they are busy putting it into the fine boat
built
for it by Mr M. The engine is a "Victor" 4 horsepower. Should sent the
"Goodhope" along at
5 or 6 knots at least. The cost
of running it on benzine is said to be ld per mile.
31 March 1905
Finished felling timber on the northern side of
Mission track. By
rough measurement, we find
that we have 12 acres
done at the cost of approx 5/- an acre. To this, of course, must be added
the
greater cost of packing and burning.
1 April
1905
All Fools Day!! We
took advantage of it. Went out fishing with dynamite. Saw a fine shoal
of
mullet and hurled a charge at them. The fluse
was old and the charge wouldn't go off We saw
another lot of fish and threw the charge again with
the same result. Came home fishless.
2 April
1905
On making
inquiries as to what would be the proper course to pursue in case of a
native
threatening to shoot you, we are
(unofficially) told by a man-o-war captain to "shoot the beggar".
At the same time, a printed regulation is being handed
round to inform us that on no account are
we to
shoot on a native unless the said native has already fired upon you.
In other words, by the
generosity of a thoughtful government, you are allowed, after the
heathen's
ounce of lead has entered your solar
plexus, to give him a valedictory souvenir in the shape of a
return ball, but not until then.
5 April 1905
T and I went up to Nemas early this morning riding. We
had one saddle only but I fixed up a sort
of pad
which served the purpose well. We found the old place very much overgrown
and had
quite a job to find the young fruit trees
of which we were in search but eventually came back with
6 oranges, 2 mandarins and 2 fig-trees - the latter
very poor specimens. Nat cut his toe nearly off
around 2 pm. Quite the usual thing - for Nat.
6 April 1905
Had toothache. Everyone offers advice to people with
toothache and it is interesting to note the
number
of infallible cures there are from "having it out" to "filling the mouth
with cold water and
sitting on a stone till the
water boils".
8 April 1905
Dr MacKenzie launched the
""Goodhope"" to give her engine a trial spin. All the natives
congregated about on the beach to see the fun.
For a while, the thing would
not go. But eventually the engineer got her going and made a very
satisfactory run to the Point and back. For mission
work (where the district is a large one) and for
the transport of copra, these engines would be very
useful and there is little doubt but that they
will
be extensively used throughout the group before many years.
10 April 1905
Mission people gathering arrowroot. This valuable
tuber is evidently indigenous to these islands
and
flourishes on the sandy soil near the sea beaches.
It is of excellent quality
and, when prepared, is sent to agents in Scotland for sale. There it
is
advertised as "Mission grown arrowroot" and, perhaps for
that reason, commands a high price
-9/-per lb being
often obtained.
12 April 1905
One of the boys working at the
clearing informed me that a Santo native has a "language" with
him but not being conversant with the Santo tongue he
was at a loss to know what the man was
"languaging"
about but thought it had something to do with a pig (which, had he known
the Santo
native a little better, he might have
been sure of, for like Lorimer's successful merchant, Man
Santo talks pig, thinks pig and dreams pig).
13 April 1905
We are having exceptionally dry weather. This is the
sixth day of wind. While it is good weather
for
burning off, unfortunately all the stuff is too freshly cut to burn and
experience has proved
that it is a mistake to
attempt to burn off under 6 weeks to 2 months.
15
April 1905
Strange how
money travels. A naked savage came along this morning with a
Mauritius 1
cent
piece for which he wanted silver (he believed
that he held a half sovereign).
18
April 1905
Talking of
medicines, our local Malaprop remarked this afternoon that "aloin", in his
opinion,
was a milder purgatory than cascara.
Cascara, he contended, was becoming an obsolete medicine.
20 April 1905
I have been hearing a good deal about Scotchmen
lately. Who were the Scots? I've just found out
that they did not grow among the heather. No! The
Scots came from Ireland and it is said that
they came, originally, from Spain.
The other portion of
Scotland's
people - the Poets - hailed from the Orkney and Shetland Isles. So
McTavish is an Irishman!
21
April 1905
Good Friday
(well disguised). From early moon to dewy eve, great drenching showers
have been
sweeping in from the North East.
Everything is wet, even my lunch, which I took out as usual and
was dyed a pretty pink from the damp Bulletin cover in
which it was wrapped.
22
April 1905
Rained all
day.
23 April 1905
Easter Day. Fine again. Spent
the morning carrying beds and blankets, clothing and cushions out
into the sun to air.
24
April 1905
I have
discovered a simple way of finding out on which day of the year Easter
will fall. First you
think of any number (quietly
if you can), multiply that by half the number of days in a month.
This will give you what is known as the "Golden
Number". Next, subtract 21 years from the age
of
your nearest neighbour, add the golden number and the result will be the
date of the month on
which Easter falls.
25 April 1905
SS Tambo came in and, after shipping our maize, went
on to Noguru. Two of our time-expired
recruits went
with the steamer. Sorry enough to lose them. They were a good pair and
good
natives are like diamond mines - hard to
find.
Some thoughtful person sent me a Bulletin
this mail. Of course I was pleased to get it but it
seemed to me that I had seen it somewhere before. On
looking again at the date it turned out to
be March
1902 - 3 years old.
26 April 1905
Took the big boat down to
Bridges for corn. As usual there was a good sea rolling onto that
beach. After landing the crew, two of us attempted to
put off to anchor the boat but just then a
big wave
swept in, caught us and upset the boat, hurling us headlong into the
foaming brine.
Struck my shoulder on the stern post
as I passed hurriedly out. The boat was fortunately
uninjured.
27
April 1905
SS Tambo
returned at an early hour this morning. I did not expect her until
tomorrow, therefore
had to shave and dress, write
two letters and run half a mile in a minute and a quarter, for the
majestic (?) Tambo, like time and tide, waits for no
man.
28 April 1905
Planting millet above the
road. I am using Italian seed this time as it is supposed to yield the
green-tinged hurl so much sought after by broom
manufacturers
29 April 1905
All hands went up to Thion
this morning for a day's duck-shooting. H-, having heard that his
runaway recruit was hiding in a native house on the
mountain at the back of Port Olry, decided to
go up
and get him. I volunteered to accompany him.
After two hours walk we reached the house in question
but Louis was "out". We then sent a
message,
written in charcoal on the bark of a tree, back to Port Olry, asking the
party not to wait
for us as we had decided to watch
for our gentleman all night. But that wily person, having seen
our boat come in from a lookout on the mountain, also
decided to spend the night out.
Had the night been fine we would have slept neath the
watching stars but about sun down it
began to rain
hard and we gladly accepted an invitation to sleep in the village at the
house of one
Tare.
Our host roasted some yam for us on a very smoky fire
but as we had no water to wash it down
with, our
jaws soon ceased work by mutual consent.
During the early part of the night we got a very
satis~ing glimpse of the native in his home. One
discovered sweet music - with a rusty Jews harp;
another busied himself like some great hunter
of
old, roasting over the fire the spoils of that day's chase - a fierce bird
little more than half the
size of a sparrow; others
sat smoking their short clay pipes over smoky little fires talking of
big
yams they'd seen and famous pigs that they had
owned.
One gentleman was especially entertaining.
He sat somewhat apart from the others and was
solemnly engaged picking fleas off a dog's back and
(of course you will not believe me but its
true
nonetheless) eating them with evident relish.
The house in which we slept was of the low long narrow
species common in these parts - the men
5 house.
Half a dozen bearded warriors slept at one end of the house, each on his
little bed of five
or six bamboos raised about an
inch off the ground. We curled up at the other end and fought
more or less strenuously with the dogs and pigs for
possession of our bit of ground.
Clearly the quadrupeds resented our intrusion. Before
morning we, also had good reason to
believe that we
really had jumped their claims.
30
April 1905
We waited
until about midday but the prodigal returned not. Then, thirsty and hungry
(we'd had
no water and only a little yam since noon
the previous day), we retreated to Port Olry where we
found Dr M waiting for us in his launch.
1 May 1905
Settled down quietly to work again after the
dissipation of yesterday and the day before.
2 May 1905
Cutting up first portion of
the top corner that portion fallen February 21, 10 weeks ago. Yet it is
not nearly dry enough to burn. The 10 men cutting got
through just an acre.
4 May 1905
Saw two strange fish this
morning; one a small fish of the star variety which emitted a fluid
very
like red ink; the other was a kind of eel or
snake collapsed, shrinking away to almost nothing.
When returned to the water however, it quickly assumed
normal dimensions.
What
powerful stuff is strychnine. I mixed some with oatmeal last night and put
it on the table
for rats. It didn't trouble them so
much, but it kept me awake most of the night.
Shortly after going to bed, I got up to see if the lid
of the biscuit tin close by was shut, thinking a
little of the mixture might have fallen in.
An hour after I thought of a
milk jug which wasn't properly covered and had visions of poisoned
rats swimming therein, so at last I had to get up and
shift it. Towards midnight a terrible thought
seized me - What if numerous hordes of poisoned rats
were to fall in the tank in search of water?
I thought of shifting the tank, but it contained 600
gallons of water so I decided to let it drop.
Daylight came at last and weary and worn I got up - to
find that the poison had not been touched.
10 May
1905
The Indian Mutiny
broke out on this day at Meerut 1857; the commencement of that
long series
of hideous massacres on the one side,
indomitable courage and wonderful endurance on the
other.
Roberts, in his
forty-one years in India, gives an instance of British pluck and
determination;
General Havelock's march to
Caronpore with heat by day ranging from 120 to 138 Fahrenheit.
Today in this tropical region,
the thermometer registered 86, yet people are afraid to venture to
these islands because of the heat!
Burning off on top of the
hill. Days hot and nights cool, colds prevalent.
Went out fishing during the
afternoon but got four small ones only, though we had the pleasure of
seeing a very large shoal of mullet, also a stingray.
The latter was a big fellow, about 4 feet
across
the back and from 8 to 10 feet long. The tail is very long and tapering
with knife like
spines, with which the fish when
angered can, and sometimes does, inflict a very serious wound.
In fact, people have been known to have a limb almost
severed by a slash from the tail of a
stingray.
16 May 1905
Marking out newly cleared ground for coconuts. Cut
track from the house to the beach; 900
yards. I
will make a road there, some day in the sweet bye and bye.
17 May 1905
Planted 50 coconuts in the top corner. I am learning
that it is not an easy thing to get coconuts in
line. You may get the first four exactly equidistant
and think that you have a safe base from
which to
work but if you haven't them exactly square as well as equidistant, you'll
find yourself a
long way out. We are planting 28
feet apart up here which gives 55 trees per acre as against 48.4
planted 30 feet apart.
19 May
1905
Raining very
heavily. On looking at the register, I find that we've had just over 60
inches since
January 1. Not so dusty!!
A double wedding celebrated in
the local church this afternoon when Abgeth and Warmaheth
were made man and wife and Erowul took unto himself
the widow of Lathos for better or worse.
Both
brides wore dresses for the occasion.
23 May
1905
Moderately fine
today with occasional showers. Merikon, Metin and Malihal down with
fever.
Three boys planting sweet potato balance
working on top. Have 7 acres ready for burning up
there as soon as weather permits.
24 May 1905
Doctor had a look at our boy Metin. Says he has a
touch of pleurisy and advises the application of
a
mustard plaster on the spot where the most pain is, that is just under the
right shoulder-blade.
Quite a simple and not at all
unpleasant matter putting mustard plaster on - others.
25 May 1905
"Induna" came in at 8 pm - a day or so before her
time. We learn with deep regret of the death of
no
less than three of our island people - Mrs F Paton of Pang Kumar, Mr
Wilson of Malo and Mrs
Paton of Melbourne.
26 May 1905
Saturday evening. Had tea over the way. Found Lady E
very entertaining. She told us she knew
all about
us before she came down from F's letters. "There's so very little to write
about, he
always said, you know" - at which our
modest smiles faded away.
27 May 1905
Ngas, the Mission curiosity,
passed away to another world early this morning. Ngas was never
known to work; his one occupation was following the
shade around from morning to evening on
fine days
and dodging the smoke of fires on wet ones.
As far as one could tell, there was nothing the matter
with him. He just seemed to find it too
much
trouble to live. So died, and may his soul find that rest, complete and
eternal, which his
body failed to find in this
world.
"Now all young men
take warning and harken to what I say, This poor man died in the
morning,
too tired to live the day".
29 May 1905
What's in a name? Saw in an old newspaper today where
one ploughman, a farmer, was
defendant in a breach
of promise case in which "Innocence Frost" was the plaintiff Injured
innocence!! Well of course the combination of names
were too strong and the poor man lost his
case.
History repeats itself and this is not the first time that a ploughman has
been bitten by a
frost
30 May 1906
Planting millet near the cornshed. We are planting it
here in much the same way as corn, though
instead
of being 3 feet apart in the line, the holes for millet are made about
half that distance.
Three grains are planted in
each hole.
31 May 1905
Fever hanging round today -
Sleeplessness is a very common result or rather symptom of malaria.
Last night I could do anything but sleep. In vain I
tried the usual remedies - pretending you are in
church and want to keep awake, taking an imaginary
walk around a thousand acre paddock etc.
At last I
bethought me of the advice of a wise man who believed that there was
nothing more
sleep inducing than the counting of
imaginary sheep. Accordingly I at once made the necessary
imaginary arrangements with Sir Samuel McCaughey (the
sheep "King" of New South Wales,
who owns sheep to
the extent of one and a quarter million) to count his flock for him.
Being
intelligent sheep, they ran through the
counting gate well and I had just arrived at the last pen
when I found that it was broad daylight and time to
get up.
1 June 1905
Lining out coconuts on the
side of the hill by the "echelon" method, which, planting 28 feet apart
gives 64.15 per acre as against 55.5 by squares. A
gain in every acre of 8.65 or 856 for every 100
acres.
2 June
1905
Had "Charley" -
surname "Curt Hose" putting two sticks "on line" this morning. After
much
screwing up of one eye and shifting about of
pegs, he at length announced that he had them
straight Some time ago I gave a Bushman
two cocoa plants to put in his garden, telling him to
be sure to put them in line. Some days after he came
down wearing a worried look to say that he
had
planted his two trees but couldn't get them straight like ours.
5 June 1905
Scripture sayeth on the seventh day thou shalt do no
measure of work. Is an argument "work"? If
not, it
is a very good imitation of the real thing. Today we argued about the
advantages of the
echelon method of planting
against the square and vice versa from 8 am until Sunday dinner
appeared.
We planted acres of nuts (on paper of course) to
demonstrate our various theories; scraps of
paper
at first then, as we warmed to out work, sheets of writing paper; then the
blotting pad,
finishing up on the table. I think we
decided that the echelon was the better system, but I am not
quite sure.
6 June
1905
Dysentery made its
appearance in our ranks today - "Lucy" being the favoured one.
7 June 1905
To illustrate the difficulty of looking after natives
when sick - Left Lucy in her husband's charge
with
strict injunctions to give her nothing to eat except what we told him. We
came back some
hours afterwards to find the patient
much worse. Asked Jimmie if he had given her anything to
eat. No! nothing - except just a few bananas - green -
and some yam.
The following
treatment for Dysentery is highly recommended: Give dose of castor oil
and
laudanum (15 to 20 drops) as a preliminary to
make the patient rest. Interdict food of any kind for
3 to 4 hours then give some laudanum in water. Twenty
minutes later give 20 to 30, even as high
as 60
gms, ipacac.
It may be
necessary to go on with ipacac twice a day for 3 or 4 days and is a good
idea to reduce
the dose by 5 gms daily. Be careflil
as to diet when the tongue is coated - indicating gastric
catarrh - small quantities of thin chicken soup may by
given; also white of egg and rice water.
When the
tongue is clean, give milk, diluted with barley water. Alcohol is
contra-indicated, but in
the case of collapse,
white wine is good.
Should
ipacac do no good, try sodium sulphate (salts) - half an oz for a start,
smaller doses to
follow. The purgative effect
should be obtained once or twice a day for two or three days at least.
Should these means prove
ineffectual, administer calomel in combination with opium and ipacac
every 5 or 6 hours.
12 June
1905
Marking out Sol's
ground with a view to purchase. This land joins us on the east and extends
to
the sea, a very necessary block to us.
13 June 1905
Completed purchase of land from Messrs Sol and
Nealdrum to our mutual satisfaction. As these
two
men owned the ground and wished to sell, we had no trouble.
Sometimes, however, it is not
so. A block of land is owned by say 10 men, 2 of whom wish to
sell and the land is offered by them to the
unsophisticated planter who starts out with the willing
ones to mark out. But before you have gone 10 yards
through the scrub, number 3, with his rifle
and
half a dozen dogs, strolls up behind and with a "what's the meaning of
this?!" kind of air,
seats himself on a mossy log
and a lengthy consultation takes place
Perhaps he
is won over and a fresh start is made, then numbers 4 and 5, carrying guns
and
accompanied by dogs, make their appearance.
Another halt and another "talk-talk". A few sticks
of tobacco change hands and the little cavalcade moves
slowly on. It is nearly a quarter of an
hour before
there is a growling of dogs, a parting of the bushes and number 6 makes
for a
tempting moss-covered stone to discuss
matters and to ascertain, if possible, what his share of the
transaction will come to.
After nearly an hour and another interchange of
tobacco, another start is made. By this time it is
nearly lunch - hour and, as were getting hungry, good
progress is being made and in less than an
hour
he'll have finished. But there is a cooee from the heart of the forest
somewhere. No one
answers but all the same it is
not long before an advance guard of dogs comes clattering through
the scrub, followed closely by three bearded faces and
3 Snider butts. The party is growing and
the supply
of mossy stones scarcely reaches demand. The discussion is gone all over
again. Each
one occupies himself with his own
particular type of work. Some draw patterns on the ground
with their big toes, some slice away at a stick with a
sharp knife as though it were a victim's head,
some
sharpen spears and hurl them at adjacent trees.
All talk in a high falsetto voice and all at one time.
It would seem as though the negotiation for
the
coveted piece of ground would end in smoke this time, our own smoke too,
at that.
But some sort of
conclusion is at length arrived at, the "boodle" mentally apportioned to
the
satisfaction of each, one jumps up suddenly and
proceeds with the line and all follow, till at last
we come out on the open beach, affix our mark on the
last tree and start for home, tea, biscuit
and
tinned meat. In the shade of a mummy apple" tree near the house we find
Landowner number
~0, a philosopher in his way,
waiting for the inevitable - and his share of the cash. A white
witness is procured; the landed proprietors put their
marks to the deed and slice of the root of evil
becomes theirs and another patch of soil ours
17 June 1905
Mr B came in with his cutter this evening and
afterwards had tea with us, regaling us with wild
and woolly tales of the New Hebrides ten years ago.
Some of these tales we have reason to
believe were
quite true.
"In the palmy
days of the trade" he said, "many and playful were the tricks played by
professional
recruiters. One gentleman (thank
goodness, not a Britisher) who had his recruiting license
cancelled, was suspected by a passing man-o-war of
having recruits aboard. As a matter of fact,
when
the warship bore down on him he had three of them, yet when they came
alongside, a
careful search revealed nothing more
than a very ordinary recruiting vessel with a very ordinary
crew, and her anchor down, but no recruits".
"An hour later, the anchor was
being pulled up and to it hung the recruits. The man of resources
had tied them, with the assistance of his crew, to the
anchor and lowered them out of sight as the
man-o-war approached. That man is alive in the Group
today and is, I believe, doing well".
Surely virtue
hath its reward.
"Picking
them up off the rocks" had been out of date for some time but it is not
long since the
unscrupulous professional recruiter
adopted another system of filling his ship, a system at once
humorous and lucrative.
"A
sing-sing was given on board the vessel and a dozen or so of the local
stalwarts invited to
participate. Plenty of grog of
course was allowed (not necessarily of the best quality) and when
the revelry was at its highest, the anchor was quietly
slipped, jib and stay-sail run out (the
mainsail
was already set to "keep it steady") and, favoured by a gentle
land-breeze, the ship
headed for the open sea.
When daylight came, the
revellers might or might not be able to bid adieu to the island home
which they would not see again for two or three years,
sometimes longer".
27 June 1905
Saw sandalwood in Santo for
the first time today. We don't know for certain that it is the
sandalwood of commerce but seeing that much of this
wood was got from Santo in the days gone
by, I
think it is likely to be of the right sort.
The wood is of a light colour outside, the centre
being dark. Leaf bright green, large and oval.
Flower, brilliant yellow with three divisions, each of
which is divided into two.
The peculiarity of the wood is its pungent
turpentine-like scent, very strong in young trees.
28 June 1905
On comparing the sandalwood got here with a piece
bought by Dr Mackenzie from Erromanga,
we notice a
difference. The latter is denser wood, higher in colour with a decidedly
better scent.
However, for anything we know to the
contrary, ours may be valuable wood. Talking of timber,
Santo has a wonderful variety. I cannot attempt to
describe them but the numbers are there all
right.
In a patch of less than an acre, near the beach, we
counted over forty different kinds, large leafed,
small leafed, light and dark, rough barked trees,
smooth barked trees, straight trees and crooked
trees, each and all festooned with vines and creepers
of every shape and description from the
fantastic
water-vice to the malignant wild rose, the lawyer vine or "wait a bit" of
the islands,
whose soft tendrils are yet so strong
and so well armed with hundreds of miniature fish-hooks
that they will hold the unwary traveller in a claw
like embrace until he has lost some of his
clothing, some of his skin and all of his temper.
Little of the timber is of any
value to the carpenter or cabinet maker. It is too soft. But there are
some notable exceptions. Teak, for instance, found
mostly near the coast, and called by the
natives
"not-tor" which means "forever"; tomana, sought after by ship builders;
and a tree
unknown to us with a flaky white bark,
said to be as long lasting as teak and so hard that it will
often turn the edge of a good axe.
On rocky points near the
coast, the hardy she-oak thrives. But perhaps the handsomest timber of
all is the rosewood with its fine pink colour and
white satiny stripes running through the grain.
Within the forest all is gloom and silence, broken
only by the occasional flight of a flock of
bright
hued parrots, the "coo-coo" of many doves and the reverberating "boom" of
large blue
pigeons. Ferns and moss, moss and ferns
everywhere - some delicate and rare, on fallen logs,
clambering up tree trunks, lightly resting on the tops
of coral stone, green and beautiful.
Of orchids half a dozen varieties may be found; I
don't know whether they are rare or not but I
know
they are wonderful and grand. Nearby the orchids may be seen the Loyia
enwreathing
whole trees with its beautiful clusters
of pure waxen flowers and delicate perfume.
Those who say that the birds of the tropics are
songless and the flowers scentless have never
heard
our forest thrush or seen our Loyia - tastes differ - and so I suppose do
our senses of
hearing and smell.
3 July 1905
Started to build a storeroom near the kitchen - a long
felt want. We've been suffering from
congestion of
the kitchen for some time and the new house will relieve the situation
somewhat. B
made a start for Oba at 6 am. Owing to
wind, or lack of wind, he appeared to have some
difficulty clearing the Point.
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