De Bougainville then came across them, and opened the way for the ubiquitous Captain Cook, who sighted, made charts of, and named the principal islands and headlands. The Spaniards, though the first to settle there, never laid claim to them, and they are now conjointly owned by Great Britain and France.
Owing to their proximity to Australia they have received more attention than the other islands, and the Commonwealth of Australia has shown {12} considerable interest in them and inaugurated an emigration scheme to endeavour to wrest from them some of their enormous mineral and vegetable wealth. The results of the past few years show great promise of future prosperity. In fact, in these islands, in particular, there are resources which will repay the labour and capital of any enterprising men, and, according to those who are most fitted to judge and advise, the New Hebrides is a veritable Eldorado. But, until the natives are more civilised and certain taxes are altered, men prefer to give them a wide berth and seek their fortunes in lands less dangerous.
Another trouble that has lately arisen, is that France, seeing the great possibilities in this new colony, has inaugurated a preferential tariff for French subjects. Had the same been done in England and Australia no bother would have arisen, but it was not, and, in order to compete successfully with the French traders, the English and Americans applied for naturalisation papers which were granted, and though the Englishmen by birth far exceed the Frenchmen, by naturalisation the French, if not now, will soon be in greater force.
This is a matter of vital importance, and should have the earnest attention of those who are interested in the welfare of British subjects in our Colonies.
CHAPTER II
New Guinea natives—Port Moresby and its two native villages—Huts on poles and trees—Native superstition and its result on two tribes.
There no islands in the new world which have been the scene of greater adventures, more daring exploits, and more exciting times than those in the South Seas. From the earliest days New Guinea, New Britain, Solomon Islands, and the New Hebrides have been inhabited by a race of savages, on whom neither the efforts of missionaries nor the oaths of traders have been able to make much impression. For years the white man has tried in vain to break the spirit of these cannibals; with fire and sword whole villages have been swept away, but neither by fear nor by kindness have the natives been weaned from their worst customs, and it will take many years and much education, and perhaps the complete extinction of the old generation, before they cease to be savages. For over sixty years {14} the missionaries have been working amongst them and have taught many to read, and sent them out amongst their brethren armed with Bibles and tracts in their native languages, but all this has been of little avail; every day we hear of massacres and risings, and missionaries and traders are pounced on and murdered, and there is no accounting for these outrages which make the problem more difficult to solve. For months or even years men may live on the friendliest terms with a tribe, and then suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the natives will rise up and slay them. The whim of a chief, an angry word, a bad bargain, a superstitious fear, any of these trivialities may be the cause of a rising, and may mean the death of dozens of innocent people.
But with all their disadvantages these islands have a fascination for the traveller that no others have, and when once the taste of the free and adventurous life of the South Seas has been acquired, there is always a longing to return to them which nothing will suppress. Neither stiff joints nor old age make one iota of difference, the yearning will not be satisfied by anything short of a speedy return.
OFF TO MARKET, BRITISH NEW GUINEA