“I cannot forbear drawing a contrast between the state of the inhabitants when I first visited them, and now in 1834. In 1823 I found them all heathens, in 1834 they were all professing Christians. At the former period I found them with idols and {198} Maraes; these in 1834 were destroyed, and in their stead there were three spacious and substantial places of Christian worship, in which congregations amounting to 6000 persons assembled every Sabbath day. I found them without a written language, and left them reading in their own tongue the wonderful works of God.”
And again he said—
“In reference to the island generally, it may be observed that the blessings conveyed to them by Christianity have not been simply of a spiritual character, but that civilisation and commerce have invariably followed in her train.”
Succeeding this noble man in the islands were men of fine characters, the Revs. William Gill, E. W. Krause, and Messrs. Pitman and Buzacott, and then in 1867 came the man whose sterling good qualities will never be forgotten—James Chalmers, or “Tamate,” the name by which he was always known by the natives.
“Tamate” was bred and born in Scotland, and it was there he grew muscular and learned to love open-air life. Quite as a youth he became enthusiastic to devote his life to missionary work in savage lands; but subsequent events, and probably his companions, who were young men keen on {199} mischief and adventure, helped to make him forget his early aspirations. In fact, in that splendid biography of his written by Cuthbert Lennox, it is stated that young Chalmers’ religious ideas went through a period of uncertainty, and it was not until 1859, when he was eighteen years of age, that he had occasion to remember his early vow.
It was during a great religious revival, which was bringing in thousands of converts in Scotland, that Chalmers was persuaded to attend one of the meetings. This meeting he himself said that he and his friends had previously determined to do all in their power to upset. The result of it was that the true James Chalmers was roused, and from that hour he never wavered in his determination to teach the gospel to savages.
For years he worked steadily away at his studies, and in 1861 he was appointed to a position in the Glasgow City Mission. His good work brought him recognition, and finally he applied to the London Missionary Society for a position as missionary. The application was accepted, and Chalmers then went into training and was ordained as a missionary in 1865. He sailed almost immediately afterwards in the missionary boat John Williams II. for Raratonga island. {200}
Prior to leaving England James Chalmers married, and to his wife he gives the credit of half the successes of his life. The passage out to the South Seas was a terrible one, as the following extract shows:—
Whilst still in the English Channel the vessel encountered a terrific storm, memorable as being that in which the London was lost. Three passengers were thrown out of their bunks, the pilot was knocked insensible, the compass binnacle was damaged, the whale-boat was carried away, and the seamen were constrained to ask the missionaries to pray for a change of wind. With difficulty the John Williams II. made the Portland Roads, and escaped the fate of some twenty-one vessels which foundered in the storm.
But this was only the beginning of the trials of that journey. Another storm met them in the Bay of Biscay, and a third one off the Cape of Good Hope, but they reached Adelaide eventually, and were there able to rest.