Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/152

128 "The Samoans have been divided into two great factions, and it has never been possible for them to come to an agreement that could be kept for any length of time. Their quarrels have been aided by the scoundrelly white men just mentioned, and our consul says that if all these bad fellows could be driven out there might be a chance for peace.

"It was these beach-combers that in the early days of the labors of the missionaries greatly hindered their work, and in several instances directly caused their deaths. As an illustration I may mention the death of the first three English missionaries who went to the Tonga Islands. There was an escaped English convict living there who persuaded the King that these men were wizards, and that an epidemic which was then raging had been caused by them. The King accordingly murdered the good men at the bidding of the scoundrel.

"When the first missionaries settled in Pango-Pango, in Samoa, some twelve or fifteen of these beach-combers were living there. These rascals were so bitterly opposed to the missionaries that they tried to drive them away, and failing in this laid a plot to poison them. The story is thus told by Rev. Mr. Murray in his book, 'Forty Years of Mission Work in Polynesia:'

"The Samoans are a handsome people," continued Frank in his journal, "of a deep bronze or copper color, and graceful figures. Some of them have adopted foreign garments; but a good proportion adhere to the native dress, which consists of fine mats or thick handsome tappa, made from the fibre of the mulberry or bread-fruit tree. Their tappa