JOHN RENTON.—A ROMANCE OF THE SOUTH SEAS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4603, 21 December 1875, Page 5 (Supplement)

JOHN RENTON.—A ROMANCE OF THE SOUTH SEAS.

(From the Queenslander), VII. The hopes of ultimate release or rescue which Renton all along clung to were not entirely ba;ed on. vague expectations. Having had no means of marking the flight of time, his chronology is rather uncertain, but he believes it was when he had been about two years on the island that an incident occurred which served subsequently to keep his hopes alive, although, at the same time, it raised for the moment an acute feeling of disappointment. It appears that the master of a schooner trading with the Island of Isabelle heard from the natives there rumors of the existence of a white captive among the savages of Malayta. This worthy seaman at once bestirred himself about the matter, and induced some of the Isabelle natives to proceed to Malayta in a canoe and endeavor to bring the captive back with them. They arrived at the village where Renton and his unfortunate companions had first landed, and which, it may be mentioned, was inhabited by a tribe kindred to his actual detainers—in fact, by a colony from the village he was carried off to. They had, however, no success. The natives were afraid that they might be in some way injured, and Renton’s patron had no mind to relinquish him. On the return of the canoe to Isabelle, the captain was not to be discouraged. Possibly the accounts his envoys brought him only strengthened the evidence as to the existence of a white man. Anyhow, on leaving Isabelle he brought his ship over to Malayta, and layto opposite the village where his messengers had landed. There, the natives being peaceful at the time, he went ashore, and searched every but and every corner in the endeavor to come across some signs of the presence of a European. In this search he was utterly foiled, as the natives, suspecting his object, a&d fearful of reprisals in connection with the death of the man whom they had clubbed, had removed right away into the bush every article such as he was in search of which they possessed, amongst which were the fragments of the boat Renton and his companions had arrived in, and which had been broken up for the sake of the nails and ironwork. Still unconvinced, the sturdy skipper left in charge of one of the chiefs a letter for any white man who might be in durance on the island, and, that done, proceeded on his voyage. It wars not till two mouths had elapsed that Renton came to know anything about the pains which had been taken for his release. At the expiration of that time, the natives of the village where the captain had landed paid a visit to that where he was, and a chief of the name of Rhombo took from the bag, which every native carries slung under his arm, some English money, and the letter. As may readily be imagined, Renton was extremely excited at the sight of it, but all he could get was permission to look at—not to keep it. He read it over and over again, and the words sunk into his memory, never to be erased. It was directed “To a White Man,” and ran as follows ; Schooner Rose and Thistle. It has been reported to me that there have been white men on this island. I have searched all over, but can find no traces at all. It any white man should chance to get this, he should try and get across to Isabelle, where vessels frequently call. lu two months I shall return to Bucotta Island, ami if a white man could make his way there by that time, I will give him a passage to Sydney. I leave a pencilin this. [The' pencil was gone.] Capt. Macfaklane, If Captain Macfarlane, of the Sydney schooner Rose and Thistle, should chance to read this article, he will probably become one of the number of persons who, having done “good by stealth, blush to find it fame.” It is true that the first effect of the letter, received as it was after the time for his return had alro dy almost expired, was to make poor Renton almost wild with disappointment to think that rescue had been so near, so heartily attempted, and yet had failed. His patron, Cabough, absolutely refused to allow liim to go to Bucotta Island, and altogether his spirits were in great commotion for some time after. The permanent effect of the letter was, however, to encourage him to hope that ultimate release would yet be attained. If one captain could hear at Isabelle of bis existence, and that island was so much frequented by vessels, other captains would pro ably also come to icnow of bis existence, he reasoned, and would seek him out. Borne up by these hopes, Ids days would have passed over comfortably enough. In every respect, save license to leave, he was treated as one of the tribe where he lived, until at last vessels engaged in the infamous Seath Sea slave trade suddenly made their appearance at the island, and commenced a series of outrages which spread mourning and desolation through almost every village on the coast, and left the survivors frantic with rage and superstition. For years before this such vessels as had visited Isabelle had bean peaceful : traders, bartering heeds, axes, and such trifles for yams, cocoaunts, and other native commodities, and the savages had accustomed themselves to go out to such vessels in their canoes without fear or misgiving. When the demand for colored laborers in Fiji, and perhaps in Queensland, sprang up, of a sudden these peaceful traders were supplemented by vessels which were neither more nor less than slavers, who took advantage of the existing confidence felt by the natives to carry out their piratical outrages. In the course of two or three mouths five or six of these vessels made their appearance at the island. The natives as first went off to them as usual in their canoes, when the scoundrel whites smashed the frail barks by dashing heavy pieces of iron through their bottoms, careless whether—as frequently happened - some unfortunate wretch might be in the way, and have his limbs shattered by the missile." Sometimes the wretched victims would resist, in which case the rifle would bo used to shoot down the boldest, strongest, and most prominent, and (he rest would thou bo secured. By these practices the natives were swept off by hundreds in a very brief space. There was scarcely a village but had to mourn the loss of some of its people. The inhabitants were convulsed with grief, terror, and rage. Their fury was the greater on account of the ideas they held as to tho fate of the men who had been carried off by tho slavers.' Of any mode of life differing from their own, they wore iucapablo of forming aa idea. Ileulou

was at first occasionally asked to describe the white man’s way of living, and used to enter into descriptions of great cities, horses and carriages, railways, factories, steamships, and so forth, but his auditors would scold him for telling lies, or relapse into contemptuous or apathetic indifference to his narrations. They «oukl not comprehend how such things could be. Their conceptions were that the whole human race lived under conditions little different from their own. The white man only presented himself to them as a nomadic race, eternally roving about over the sea in his big canoes. If the white man bad any island at all, they argued, it must be a very little one—much smaller than their magnificent Malayta —otherwise they would not require to leave it and come trading for yams and cocoanuts. They themselves traded for such things because they could not live without them, and they could come to no other conclusion except that the white man was governed by the same necessities. Their theory as to the disposal of their captured friends was that the white man, having been evidently a long time sailing about on the barren ocean—even if be did not continually live there—was under the necessity from time to time of obtaining fresh provisions, and when pressed by hunger swooped down on some island and snapped up as many inhabitants as he could, thus obtaining a stock of fresh meat ! The village where Benton resided, had, fortunately for him, been exceptionally favored in not losing a single man. Some of his people indeed had a narrow escape. One day a fore-and-aft schooner made its appearance off the village, but outside the reef. Benton chanced at the time to he on the mainland facing the village, but, perceiving the vessel, he left his companions and swam across to the village. He arrived too late, however. A number of natives had just returned in their canoe from a visit to the schooner. As soon as the vessel had appeared they had put off with a quantity of cocoanuts and tortoiseshell to trade, and had gone alongside the schooner, which had ranged close to the reef. Some pipes were handed to them, and every effort made to induce them to go on board or follow the vessel further out. The men were suspicious, however, and fancied that mischief was meant from the manner of the whites. Benton concluded that, once on board, the natives would have been overpowered and clapped under hatches, and that the only reason why the canoe was not swamped in the usual manner with iron was, that the men could easily have escaped by swimming among the reefs before they could be caught. Consequently the poor fellow on arriving at the village after his swim found the canoe's crew just returned highly excited with the 'danger they believed themselves to have escaped, and, under the circumstances, of course the idea of taking him off was scouted. Thus one chance of rescue, which would have shortened Benton’s detention very considerably, was lost not so much through the indisposition of the savages to part with him, as owing to the scoundrelism of people of his own race. That the natives had not been a’armed without reason, by the demeanor of the crew of the vessel, was sufficiently demonstrated before long by the arrival of tidings that the same vessel, on the same day, kidnapped four canoes full of men a short distance to the northward ? A short time after this a large vessel made its appearance at another island to the southward, but peopled by the same race, and in constant communication with the Malaytans. Two big canoes put off to trade with this vessel, and when they had got quite close to her were received with a volley of musketry, which killed, a young chief and another man. The rest of the natives jumped into the water, abandoning their canoes and their trade, and swam for their lives. The vessel, however, put out two boats and caught most of the unfortunate wretches, those who resisted to a troublesome degree being murdered in the water. Two men were, however, lucky enough to escape from their clutches as night was just falling. They were a frightful distance from land, but by swimming all night managed to reach the shore just before daylight. The body of the young chief drifted ashore, and the wrath and grief of his father, a powerful chief, knew no bounds. He thirsted for vengeance on the white men, and, failing other means of wreaking it, remembered that Benton was one of the detestable and treacherous race. He accordingly negotiated with Renton’s village for possession of him. It was well for Renton that he had chanced to be with the most powerful tribe on the island. Had such not been the case he would certainly either have been surrendered through fear or seized with violence. As it was, he bid fair to emulate the celebrity of the fair Helen, and become the cause of another great war. Knowing that threats or violence were alike futile whilst Kenton was protected by his tribe, the wily old chief appealed to their cupidity. He offered a great store of porpoise teeth and other native valuables for him, and he almost prevailed. A period of excruciating anxiety to Kenton, and for which he had to thank the crimes of his own countrymen, succeeded. The whole of his tribe were willing enough to surrender him iu exchange for the price offered, and iu order to preserve peace, with the solitary exception of his constant patron, the young chief Cabough, and some of the women folks. Cabough’s -wife would not hear of his being given up, and as a matter of course Cabcugh was strengthened in his reluctance by such concurrence. The commoner sort did not dream of resisting the wishes of their chief, and for the time the offer of the old chief was refused. Still the poor lad’s life was in constant peril. The old chief’s idea had acted as a sort of revelation all over the island. It struck the natives as the very thing suitable under the circumstances, and in every part a great price was put upon Renton’s head. For twelve months he carried his life iu his hand. Hejwaa never safe for a moment. Any bush might hide ian assassin eager to slay him, and his very qompaniocs might at any time resolve to get rid of him as a constant source of difficulty and a possible cause of war. As their superstitions had a huge share in keeping alive this desire for vengeance on the part of the natives, it being considered that one cause of the calamities which they had suffered at the hands of the white pirates was the di pleasure of their gods, who required to be propitiated by the immolation of one of the detested race, it is probable that Renton would ultimately have fallen a victim bad not fate willed that the expiation would be made by others. About twelve months from the commencement of these troubles, a number of large canoes were seen approaching the village crowded with native-*, who were yelling and shouting iu i. most extraordinary manner. The villagers at once concluded that what had long been expected had at last come about, aud that they were going to be exposed to a regular attack in resentment of their continuing to shelter Benton. They were in a great state of confusion aud excitement. While the warriors. flew to arms, some discussed the propriety of averting the attack aud putting an end to the chance of its repetition at any future time by giving up Renton at once. It is difficult to say what determination they might have come to, but as the canoes approached it was perceived that although their crews were iu a great state of commotion, their object was not an attack. As they came close, Renton understood what had happened. The approaching natives were decked out iu white shirts and various articles of European clothing, and he at once inferred that some unlucky vessel had fallen into their hands. The visitors lauded amidst a tremendous uproar. Every one of them had some part of the epoilsof the ship. Some had wheels from the works of a clock suspended as ornaments from their ears, and. noses, aud among them were distributed sheets of paper, apparently part of a ship’s log or account books, fragments of chronometers and telescopes, oiockex-y, bits of' cabin fittings, the card of a compass, and a hundred heterogenous articles which showed that Renton’s surmise was only too true. A small vessel, which, from the description given, Renton imagines to have been some sort of yacht, as it had very low bulwarks, had made its appearance off the village where these natives belonged, and had anchored close to it, just outside the reef. The major part of its craw had gone ashore, and had been enticed by ths

natives, by signs indicating tbeir willingness to satisfy certain immoral desires of the whites, among the huts. Once fairly in their power, and separated from one another, the miserable victims were set oh and slaughtered with clubs and spears. Only three men remained on board the vessel, and the savages proceeded at once in their canoes to attack them. The unhappy men perceived, their object, and after a futile endeavor to weigh anchor, slipped the cable, and made sail. Unluckily, there was not sufficient wind to enable them to out-speed their pursuers, who swept the decks with showers of arrows. The man steering stood bv the helm with magnificent determination, but the bulwarks being too low to afford him any shelter, he was in a few minutes pierced by so many arrows that before he finally sunk dead on the deck he absolutely bristled with them. Of his companions one was killed, and the other, wounded in the arm with a poisoned - arrow, was captured alive. The vessel, being under no guidance, drifted on to the reef and became a wreck, being of course thoroughly looted by the exulting savages. It has always been thought that a wound from a poisoned arrow is inevitably fatal, but in the case of the survivor from the massacre an exception seems to have occurred. The natives used to ask lleiitou about this time whether hot water was a cure, as their captive used to pour warm water through the hole in kk arm made by the arrow, and did not die, at which they were much astonished. Kenton was naturally eager to go and see the prisoner, but could not obtain permission to do so, which proved a great misfortune to him, as not long after the massacre—about six months, In fact —a man-of-war arrived off the village where the wounded man was detained, bringing back some natives who had been kidnapped by Fiji slavers, and had been Impounded by her Majesty’s cruiser, who were there and then restored to their people. The prisoner was at the same time taken off, but it was Renton’s impression that he had become imbecile. We have an idea that Kenton learned something about this rescue from the people on board the - Bobtail Nag after his own release, but unluckily we are not fully informed on the point. At the same time, there is an impression in our mind that we read, a few years ago, of the rescue by one of her Majesty’s schooners of a man in a state of imbecility, who was the survivor of some catastrope on the islands. Anyhow, the man never having seen Renton, was presumably ignorant of his existence, and the natives held their tongues, so that it came about that the schooner sailed off with the one man, her officers never dreaming that within a few miles along the coast another poor fellow who had been over six years in the hands of the savages was sighing for relief. One good result, however, affected Renton from the cirucmstances just narrated. By the slaughter of the unlucky crew of the first vessel the vengeance of the natives was appeased, and by the return of their friends from bondage tbeir feelings with regard to white men in general were mollified. They began to see that there were good and bad -of that color, and Renton could once more breathe freely, and move about without risking his life. It will be perceived that vessels had commenced to visit Malayta with considerable frequency for the last year or so. In fact, that remote and obscure island had been as it were re-discovered, and it was not many months after the appearance of the man-of-war schooner that a Queensland labor vessel put in an appearance and recruted, from the village whereßentpn had just landed, some twenty men, amongst whom were acquaintances of his own. These went of their own free-will, but still, whether owing to difficulties in making themselves understood, or from a cautions reticence, not a hint was given of Renton’s existence. When some visitors from that village subsequently came to his, and he learnt from them the circumstances which had occurred, he was half frantic with disappointment, and impressed upon some of the visitors with whom he was on terms of intimate friendship his absorbing desire to get away, and assured them that valuable presents would be given them by any white man to whom they might give such information and assistance as would lead to his release. They were moved by his anxiety and by the prospect of reward, and promised faithfully that the very next vessel that might call would he apprised of his existence and whereabouts, and that they would come and let him know when any vessel did make its appearance.