Malekula.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 26 November 1891, Page 2

Malekula.

» Via Sydney it is reported that two Frenchmen have been atrociously murdered by Mallieolo natives, and great alarm has been caused. And that H.M.S. Dart has landed an armed force to protect the residents. The Mallieolo mentioned is intended for Malekula the second larfj^sfc island of the New Hebrides Group. Those who have read the Eev Mr Paton's life will readily understand what has occurred. He represents the natives of these islands as cannibals of a very pronounced type, and savages without any traces of civilization, except those connected with war. without a literature, and almost without a religion, except only the dread of evil spirits, the worship of ancestors, and the lowest forms of fetishisiin, trees, stones &c. They are partly Malay and partly Papuan, some with hair crisp and woolly, stuck full of feathers and shells, others with hair long and wavy, twisted into as many as 700 separate whipcords on a single head, and taking five years to finish the job ! Polygamy universally pervails. Infanticide is systematically practised ; and even the despatch of parents when they get old. Widows are put to death on almost every island to bear their husbands company into the spirit land. There is not an unmentionable vice which is not unblushingly practised on those islands wheresoever the Gospel has not dawned. We have heard of inter-tribal wars quite recently, but the attack on Europeans has necessitated the despatch of a man of- war. The traders bear but a poor character and the Rev Mr Paton gives an instance where one, a dissipated but well-educated man, urged the natives to war, supplying : them with arms, asserting openly tljat peace did not suit his purposes. Incited to war, the trader demanded high^rices for his weapons from the natives, and was only *atisfied when he had profitably disposed of all his stock. The Missionary's report from this island states that there is a population of 3000 ; and that 50 attend services and 20 school. He says the work goss on slowly, but we hope in spite of opposition and ups and downs, steadily. The jurisdiction over the New Hebrides is centered in the High Commissioner who is the Governor of Ffji, Sir -lohn Bates Thurston K.C.M.G.