AN ISLAND VENDETTA.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1755, 21 May 1913, Page 7

AN ISLAND VENDETTA.

LIFE IN THE NEW HEBRIDES. An. interesting, if somewhat gruesome, picture of tho condition of affairs in some parts of the New Hebrides was presented at tho Presbyterian Assembly of New, Soilt'h Wales last week by the Rev. Ficd. l'atou, who told of tho efforts made to stop a tribal vendetta on Malakula. About a thousand natives assembled for a festival, nnd pigs wero sacrificed. A minor chief, however, ran away with a big chief's,wife. There was much fighting between tho rival tribes, and tr.any children wero burned alive. One was rescued by a French trader after her grave had'been dug. Tho chief was urged to ston tho vendetta, but ho would not. His wife was eventually returned by tho other chief, and tho wronged monarch, promptly ordered his son to shoot her. This was done with a bow arrow. Somo of the natives took refuge in tho mission station, and ono night tho missionary caught a hostile islander with his gun pointing over the wall. Tho gun was taken, and tho native questioned. He excused himself by saying that ho suffered from insomnia. The missionary disbelieved him, because ho had crossed a mountain, swum a river, and walked ten miles, so must have started out hours before. Eventually another man was shot, and tho chiof agreed to stop tho vendetta.