Bad as the natives were to him they did not butcher him, and some months after a vacancy was found at Tanna Island which Clark took. His stay there was very short, for within a month a bullet sent him to a better land.
Such were the lives of the majority of the traders a few years ago, but things are better now, though there is still room for improvement, and still plenty of opportunities for good men.
CHAPTER VIII
Natives who have had no chance; their villages without streets, and their curious huts—The tambu and canoe houses—An unlucky trader.
Wild and ferocious as the natives of the Solomon group are they possess some fine characteristics. Many of them far surpass the rough European, in those parts, in generosity and disposition.
The more you travel, the more you find that both men and beasts treat you in much the same way as you would treat them under similar conditions. There is undoubtedly a silent telegraphy which tells a savage or a wild beast, more plainly than it would a civilised human being, the attitude you are holding towards him, and he instinctively holds that same attitude towards you.
SOLOMON ISLAND VILLAGE, NEAR MARAU SOUND, NEW FLORIDA
The Solomon islanders have a name for being the most treacherous and bloodthirsty race in existence, but when one remembers the way they were treated by the first invaders of these islands, {85} the Spaniards and French, and afterwards by the whalers and the roughest traders that ever stepped aboard a schooner, it is really a wonder that they permit a white-faced man to pass within coo-ee of their islands.
From the earliest days they have learned to fear the white men, and, acknowledging their superior powers and weapons, they naturally resorted to treachery and cunning to outwit them. If they had known the white man only as a benefactor, their attitude towards him and their state of civilisation would have been very different from what it is now. The possibility is that they would have developed into as fine and intelligent a race as the Maoris.