Adventures in New Guinea James Chalmers

14
shore. We landed after breakfast, and walked through what must be in wet
weather a deep swamp, to the mission house on the hill. Gucheng, the
Loyalty islander, who is teacher here, looks a good determined fellow.
The people seem to live not far from the mission house, so did not take
long to assemble. There were about eighty at the service, including a
few Australians employed by one of the white men on the island to fish
for trepang. The Darnley islanders appear a much more interesting people
than the Australians. Many of those present at the service were clothed.
They sang very well indeed such hymns as "Come to Jesus," "Canaan, bright
Canaan," which, with some others, have been translated into their
language. Mr. McFarlane addressed them, through the teacher, and the
people seemed to attend to what was said.
Because of a strong head wind, we could not leave the next day, so Mr.
McFarlane and I returned to the shore. We found the children collected
in Gucheng's house, learning to write the letters on slates. There were
very few girls present--indeed, there are not many girls on the island,
so many have been destroyed by their fathers at birth. We strolled about
and visited the large cocoanut plantation belonging to the society. On
our return we found the teacher and a number of natives collected near
the beach. They had just buried a man who had died the night before--so
Christian burial has begun. Formerly, the body would have been hung up
and tapped, to allow the juices to run out, which would have been drunk
by the friends. We returned to the mission house for dinner. I was glad
to find so many boys living with Gucheng. They were bright, happy little
fellows, romping about, enjoying themselves.
We did not get away from Darnley Island till the morning of Wednesday,
the 10th. The navigation between Darnley and Murray Islands is
difficult, arising from various reefs and currents. Although only twentyseven
miles separate the two, it was Friday night before we anchored at