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"If I had any money to leave them, I should bequeath it to those who help the heathen here at home, and should let the innocent Feejee Islanders worship their idols a little longer in benighted peace," answered Christie, in her usual decided way. "That's my idee exactly; but it's uncommon hard to settle which of them that stays at home you'll trust your money to.
The London Missionary Society have a great many in the Tahiti group, and other islands in that quarter. Then the Wesleyans have the Feejee Islands all to themselves, and the Americans have many stations in other groups.
I use the word "persuaded" advisedly; for, like all the other Feejee chiefs, Tararo was a despot, and might have commanded obedience to his wishes; but he entered so readily into the spirit of the new faith, that he perceived at once the impropriety of using constraint in the propagation of it. He set the example, therefore; and that example was followed by almost every man of the tribe.
Those inhabiting the Feejee group are generally reported to be the worst in all respects. Those who inhabited Tahiti, on the other hand, were, at the time of Cook's visit, said to be comparatively amiable. At all events, the departure of the Endeavour called forth a strong display of tender feeling on the part of the natives of that island. In writing of this Cook says
Very soon her old humor broke out in merry little peals of laughter, as she turned me into a Japanese or Feejee Islander, by appropriate arrangements of my plentiful hair; or her old partiality asserted itself as she praised my flowing tresses and made me assume attitudes that were peculiar to the representation of Faith or Undine.
Browne and Max were armed with the "Feejee war-clubs," of the latter's manufacture: they were long, heavy bludgeons, of the wood of the casuarina, rather too ponderous to be wielded with one hand by a person of ordinary strength. Morton and I were provided with cutlasses, which we had preferred as being lighter and more convenient to carry.
"And ask him," said I, "who she is, for I am persuaded she is of a different race from the Feejeeans." On the mention of her name the chief frowned darkly, and seemed to speak with much anger. "You're right, Ralph," said Bill, when the chief had ceased to talk; "she's not a Feejee girl, but a Samoan.
"He says the other man called himself a messenger from God; but as he could not talk Feejee, they saw that he was a liar, because God knows every language; and so, having found him a liar, they fattened him with fish and cocoa-nuts, and ate him. As for you, they admit that you are a heavenly personage, and they mean to worship you."
Then I wondered in my mind whether it were possible for any missionary to tame him! Bloody Bill is communicative and sagacious Unpleasant prospects Retrospective meditations interrupted by volcanic agency The pirates negotiate with a Feejee chief Various etceteras that are calculated to surprise and horrify.
You may miss the island, too, in which case there is no other in that direction for a hundred miles or more; and if you lose your way and fall among other heathens, you know the law of Feejee a castaway who gains the shore is doomed to die. You must count the cost, my young friend." "I have counted it," replied Jack.
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