The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Years with the Natives in the WesternPacific, by Felix SpeiserThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: Two Years with the Natives in the Western PacificAuthor: Felix SpeiserRelease Date: December 20, 2008 [EBook #27578]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO YEARS WITH THE NATIVES ***Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/Two Years with the Natives in the Western PacificSHORE IN GRACIOSA BAY.SHORE IN GRACIOSA BAY.Two Years with the Natives in the WesternPacificByDr. Felix SpeiserWith 40 illustrations from photographs and a mapMills & Boon, Limited 49 Rupert Street London, W.Published 1913PrefaceThis book is a collection of sketches written on lonely evenings during my voyage; some of them have been published in daily papers, andwere so kindly received by the public as to encourage me to issue them in book form. In order to retain the freshness of first impressions,the original form has been but slightly changed, and only so much ethnological detail has been added as will help to an understanding ofnative life. The book does not pretend to give a scientific description of the people of the New Hebrides; that will appear ...
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Years with the Natives in the Western
Pacific, by Felix Speiser
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific
Author: Felix Speiser
Release Date: December 20, 2008 [EBook #27578]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO YEARS WITH THE NATIVES ***
Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net/
Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific
SHORE IN GRACIOSA BAY.
SHORE IN GRACIOSA BAY.
Two Years with the Natives in the Western
PacificBy
Dr. Felix Speiser
With 40 illustrations from photographs and a mapMills & Boon, Limited 49 Rupert Street London, W.
Published 1913Preface
This book is a collection of sketches written on lonely evenings during my voyage; some of them have been published in daily papers, and
were so kindly received by the public as to encourage me to issue them in book form. In order to retain the freshness of first impressions,
the original form has been but slightly changed, and only so much ethnological detail has been added as will help to an understanding of
native life. The book does not pretend to give a scientific description of the people of the New Hebrides; that will appear later; it is meant
simply to transmit some of the indelible impressions the traveller was privileged to receive,—impressions both stern and sweet. The author
will be amply repaid if he succeeds in giving the reader some slight idea of the charm and the terrors of the islands. He will be proud if his
words can convey a vision of the incomparable beauty and peacefulness of the glittering lagoon, and of the sublimity of the virgin forest; if
the reader can divine the charm of the native when gay and friendly, and his ferocity when gloomy and hostile. I have set down some of
the joys and some of the hardships of an explorer’s life; and I received so many kindnesses from all the white colonists I met, that one
great object of my writing is to show my gratitude for their friendly help.
First of all, I would mention His Britannic Majesty’s Resident, Mr. Morton King, who followed my studies with the most sympathetic
interest, was my most hospitable host, and, I may venture to say, my friend. I would name Mr. Colonna, Résident de France, Judge
Alexander in Port Vila, and Captain Harrowell; in Santo, Rev. Father Bochu, the Messrs. Thomas, Mr. Fysh, Mr. Clapcott; in Malo, Mr.
M. Wells and Mr. Jacquier; in Vao, Rev. Father Jamond; in Malekula, Rev. F. Paton, Rev. Jaffrays, Mr. Bird and Mr. Fleming; in
Ambrym, Rev. Dr. J. J. Bowie, Mr. Stevens, Mr. Decent; in Pentecoste, Mr. Filmer; in Aoba, Mr. Albert and Rev. Grunling; in Tanna,
Rev. Macmillan and Dr. Nicholson; in Venua Lava, Mr. Choyer; in Nitendi, Mr. Matthews. I am also indebted to the Anglican
missionaries, especially Rev. H. N. Drummond, and to Captain Sinker of the steam yacht Southern Cross, to the supercargo and
captains of the steamers of Burns, Philp & Company. There are many more who assisted me in various ways, often at the expense of their
own comfort and interest, and not the least of the impressions I took home with me is, that nowhere can one find wider hospitality or
friendlier helpfulness than in these islands. This has helped me to forget so many things that do not impress the traveller favourably.
If this book should come under the notice of any of these kind friends, the author would be proud to think that they remember him as
pleasantly as he will recall all the friendship he received during his stay in the New Hebrides.
BASLE, April 1913.Contents
Chap. Page
Introduction 1
I. Nouméa and Port Vila 19
II. Maei, Tongoa, Epi and Malekula 28
III. The Segond Channel—Life on a Plantation 35
IV. Recruiting for Natives 53
V. Vao 85
VI. Port Olry and a “Sing-Sing” 109
VII. Santo 136
VIII. Santo (continued)—Pygmies 161
IX. Santo (continued)—Pigs 171
X. Climbing Santo Peak 179
XI. Ambrym 191
XII. Pentecoste 224
XIII. Aoba 241
XIV. Loloway—Malo—The Banks Islands 250
XV. Tanna 270
XVI. The Santa Cruz Islands 277List of Illustrations
Shore in Graciosa Bay Frontispiece
Facing page
Women From the Reef Islands in Carlisle Bay 3
Native Taro Field on Maevo 10
Man from Nitendi working the Loom 15
A Cannibal before his Hut on Tanna 22
Dancing Table near Port Sandwich 31
Old Man with Young Wife on Ambrym 40
Front of a Chief’s House on Venua Lava 47
Man from Nitendi 54
Cannibal from Big Nambas 61
Woman on Nitendi 70
Canoe on Ureparapara 77
Dancing-Ground on Vao, with Ancestor Houses 85
Dancing-Ground on Vao 93
Woman from Tanna 99
House Fences on Vao 106
Gamal near Port Olry 115
Group of Large and Small Drums near Port Sandwich 129
View along the Shore of a Coral Island 136
Interior of a Gamal on Venua Lava 147
Wild Mountain Scenery in the District of the Pygmies 163
Irrigated Taro Field on Santo 179
Dwelling of a Trader on Ambrym 191
View from Hospital—Dip Point 199
Women cooking on Ambrym 205
Fern Trees on Ambrym 218
Group of Drums and Statues on Malekula 227
Cooking-House on Aoba 241
Fire-Rubbing 244
Tattooing on Aoba 251
Dwelling-House on Gaua 255
Ancestor-House on Gaua 258
Drum Concert on Ureparapara 261
Interior of a Gamal on Gaua 264
Men from Tanna 270
Women from Tanna 272
Canoe from Nitendi 277
Man from Nitendi, Shooting 279
Man from Nitendi, with Pearl Shell Nose 284
Man from Tucopia 287
Map 291Two Years with the Natives in the Western PacificIntroduction
Late in the sixteenth century the Spaniards made several voyages in search of a continent in the southern part of the great Pacific Ocean.
Alvara Mendana de Neyra, starting in 1568 from the west coast of South America and following about the sixth degree southern latitude,
found the Solomon Islands, which he took for parts of the desired continent. In 1595 he undertook another voyage, keeping a more
southerly course, and discovered the Queen Charlotte Islands; the largest of these, Nitendi, he called Santa Cruz, and gave the fitting
name of Graciosa Bay to the lovely cove in which he anchored. He tried to found a colony here, but failed. Mendana died in Santa Cruz,
and his lieutenant, Pedro Vernandez de Quiros, led the expedition home. In Europe, Quiros succeeded in interesting the Spanish king,
Philip III., in the idea of another voyage, so that in 1603 he was able to set sail from Spain with three ships. Again he reached the Santa
Cruz Islands, and sailing southward from there he landed in 1606 on a larger island, which he took for the desired Australian continent and
called Tierra Australis del Espiritu Santo; the large bay he named San Iago and San Felipe, and his anchorage Vera Cruz. He stayed here
some months and founded the city of New Jerusalem at the mouth of the river Jordan in the curve of the bay. Quiros claims to have made
a few sailing trips thence, southward along the east coast of the island; if he had pushed on far enough these cruises might easily have
convinced him of the island-nature of the country. Perhaps he was aware of the truth; certainly the lovely descriptions he gave King Philip
of the beauties of the new territory are so exaggerated that one may be pardoned for thinking him quite capable of dignifying an island by
the name of continent.
The inevitable quarrels with the natives, and diseases and mutinies among his crew, forced him to abandon the colony and return home.
His lieutenant, Luis Vaez de Torres, separated from him, discovered and passed the Torres Straits, a feat of excellent seamanship. Quiros
returned to America. His high-flown descriptions of his discovery did not help him much, for the king simply ignored him, and his reports
were buried in the archives. Quiros died in poverty and bitterness, and the only traces of his travels are the names Espiritu Santo, Bay San
Iago and San Felipe, and Jordan, in use to this day.
No more explorers came to the islands till 1767, when a Frenchman, Carteret, touched at Santa Cruz, and 1768, when Bougainville
landed in the northern New Hebrides, leaving his name to the treacherous channel between Malekula and Santo.
WOMEN FROM THE REEF ISLANDS IN CARLISLE BAY, NITENDI.
WOMEN FROM THE REEF ISLANDS IN CARLISLE BAY, NITENDI.
But all these travellers were thrown into the shade by the immortal discoverer, James Cook, who, in the New Hebrides, as everywhere
else, combined into solid scientific material all that his predecessors had left in a state of patchwork. Cook’s first voyage made possible
the observation of the transit of Venus from one of the islands of the Pacific. His second cruise, in search of the Australian continent, led
him, coming from Tongoa, to the New Hebrides, of which he first sighted Maevo.
Assisted by two brilliant scientists, Reinhold and George Forster, Cook investigated the archipelago with admirable exactitude,
determined the position of the larger islands, made scientific collections of all sorts, and gave us the first reliable descriptions of the country
and its people, so that the material he gathered is of the greatest value even at the present day. The group had formerly been known as the
“Great Cyclades”; Cook gave it its present name of “New Hebrides.”
Incited by Cook’s surprising results the French Government sent La Pérouse to the islands, but he was shipwrecked in 1788 on
Vanikoro, the southern-most of the Santa Cruz group; remains of this wreck were found on Vanikoro a few years ago. In 1789 Bligh
sighted the Banks Islands, and in 1793 d’Entrecastaux, sent by Louis XVI. to the rescue of La Pérouse, saw the islands of Santa Cruz.
Since that time traffic with the islands became more frequent; among many travellers we may mention the French captain, Dumont
d’Urville, and the Englishmen, Belcher and Erskine, who, as well as Markham, have all l