Letters from the Western Pacific and Mashonaland 1878-1891. Edited with memoir by ... S. H. Romilly. Introduction by Lord Stanmore. With ... illustrations

Front matter

LETTERS FROM THE WESTERN PACIFIC AND MASHONALAND BY THE SAME AUTHOR. FROM MY VERANDAH IN NEW GUINEA. Sketches and Traditions by H. H. Romilly, C.M.G. With an Introduction by Andrew Lang, M.A. Demy 8vo. 1889. xxvi., 277 pages. Maps. Cloth, 7s. 6d. The Daily News says: "Since the immortal ' Euthen ' of Kinglake, we have met with very few books of travel so fresh, original, and brilliant." Pall Mall Gazette '. "Exceptional in containing so much valuable information in such readable form." Nearly out of print, and will not be reprinted. D. NUTT, 270-271 Strand. H. H. ROMILLY From a wash drawing by Leslie Ward, rSgi Frontispiece LETTERS FROM THE WESTERN PACIFIC AND MASHONALAND 1878—1891 BAr HUGH H. ROMILLY, C.M.G. DEPUTV COMMISSIONER FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC, AND SOMETIME ACTING COMMISSIONER OF NEW GUINEA EDITED WITH MEMOIR DY HIS BROTHER SAMUEL H. ROMILLY

Introduction

BY LORD STANMORE, G.C.M.G. WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON DAVID NUTT, 270-271 STRAND i393 CONTENTS. CHAI' PAGE introduction ix I. PERSONAL ......... I IT. ON THE WAY OUT 5 III. FIJI — FIRST IMPRESSIONS 13 IV. TONGA-TABU AND THE BAU MEETING .... 27 V. ROTUMAH AND WALLIS ISLAND 40 VI. THE MAGISTRATE 58 VII. THE PRIVATE SECRETARY 79 VIII. THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER 92 IX. ROTUMAH LEGENDS ....... I23 X. THE ISLANDS ........ I47 XI. THE ISLANDS REVISITED I77 XII. CROWN PROSECUTIONS 1 92 XIII. IN CHARGE AT NEW GUINEA 201 XIV. RESTORING THE LABOURERS 2l8 XV. CRUISING WITH SIR PETER SCRATCHLEY . . 248 XVI. BACK IN NEW GUINEA ....... 276 XVII. HOPE DEFERRED 299 XVIII. A PAPUAN FIRE HUNT 32 1 XIX. CONSUL IN THE NEW HEBRIDES 330 XX. MASHONALAND ........ ILLUSTRATIONS. PACK H. H. romilly Frontispiece MYSELF IN ROTUMAH l8 OUR SKY HOUSE 42 AVAR-DANCE IN ROTUMAH 44 ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE AT MAMFIRI ..... 47 " HANIS PAU !

" ETC. 51 "ALIPATI" AND HIS DAUGHTER 6l OUR HOUSE AT NOATAU 97 MOTUSA IN JANUARY ........ I05 A ROTUMAH AVARRIOR I [7 NOATAU LOOKING NORTH I30 NOATAU LOOKING SOUTH I39 PROCLAIMING THE QUEEN'S PROTECTORATE IN NEW GUINEA 202 TUPUSELEI FROM THE SHORE ....... 249 VILLAGE IN NEW GUINEA 287 BULLOCK AVAGGONS CROSSING A DRIFT (MASHONALAND). . 370 MEMEERS OF THE MASHONALAND EXPEDITION . . .

INTRODUCTION.

. Ix one of the first years of the present century, a tablet to the memory of a youth of twenty, who had died on duty in Ceylon, was placed on a wall of the Fort Church at Colombo, close to the Governor's seat in that building. A name, two dates, the number of a regiment, and the age of the poor lad are inscribed upon it. That is all. There seemed to me something intensely pathetic in this short story of a wholly forgotten life, and often as I saw it, it never failed to bring vividly before me that great army of young Englishmen, who have perished far from home, and obscurely, but whose unrecorded work has done so much to build up and to maintain our Indian and Colonial Empire. Of that army — for tropical service killed him, though he died in England — Hugh Eomilly was one, and though he had a marked and attractive personality, it is the typical rather than the in dividual character of the career which the letters and diaries contained in this volume depict, that gives to them, I think, their chief interest and b

INTRODUCTION.

. X value. In them we see him, first, as a young adventurer, abandoning good social position and fair prospects at home to encounter a hard life, and ready to take advantage of any opening — no matter what — for making his own way in the world. We find him next as a Government servant, charged with all sorts of duties, some of them not unimport ant, though performed in one of the remotest corners of the earth. Then comes a bright moment of more independent position and of flattering hope, followed by a long period of isolation and virtual solitude, among men of inferior races and inferior men of his own race ; an experience which few, if any, undergo with entire impunity ; especially when such isolation is made more bitter by neglect and forgetfulness on the part of official superiors at home.

Lastly, we see him in quite another part of the world, at the head of a prospecting expedition in Africa. Such lives are not uncommon. They seem to be failures, and so, as regards the success and fame of the man himself, they are ; but it is to the mass of these seeming failures, to the labour of these lives to all appearance wasted, that Great Britain largely owes the place she holds in distant colonies and savage lands. Of course, the letters here printed must not be taken as at all a complete or even, in some respects, an accurate picture of the life which they describe.

INTRODUCTION.

. XI In writing to others, Romilly naturally dwelt chiefly on what was likely to amuse or interest his correspondents, and consequently gave special pro minence to what was odd and unusual. Moreover, he always employed strong colouring, maintaining that a dash of exaggeration was necessary to bring home actual facts to dull imaginations. Above all, these extracts cannot give, and do not profess to give, anything more than detached glimpses of the writer's environment. The fragmentary picture presented by them resembles that of a country partially seen through the rifts and openings in a mist ; a few particular points are very clearly perceived, but little idea is gained of what the landscape as a whole is like. It would be a vast mistake to conclude from a few hasty expressions, and a few exceptional cases, that, as a rule, missionaries are meddling and mis chievous, British colonists inhuman, officials at home negligent, or native officials useless.

Of Romilly himself I can say little that has not been said by his brother in the opening chapter. But as my testimony is that of a man bound to him by no ties of relationship or early association, I may be allowed to express my agreement in what is there written. He had a quick intelligence, great physical strength, and an easy temper, and he knew how both to obey and to command. These are among the qualities most needed in the administration of a

INTRODUCTION.

. rough country, and but for adverse circumstances he might have risen to high distinction. Our personal relations have left me none but agreeable recollections, and the very various duties at different times entrusted to him whilst a member of my staff were all performed in such a manner as to afford me entire satisfaction. In this, however, he was not singular, for no man has been more fortunate than I have been in those serving immediately under me. With hardly an exception, I have received from them assistance, not given only as to an official chief, but as to a personal friend — assistance which has established claims on my permanent gratitude and affection. At the close of a long official life, I may perhaps be allowed thus publicly to express my acknowledgments to those whose help has so greatly lightened its burdens. STANMORE. ASCOT, October 1893. H LETTERS FROM THE WESTERN PACIFIC.

Chapter I. Personal

It was the spirit of adventure which induced my brother Hugh Romilly to set forth in the summer of 1879, at the age of twenty-three, to seek his fortune in the Islands of the Pacific. Commercial pursuits, of which he had previously had a brief experience, naturally did not afford much attraction to one whose boyish ambition it had always been (as he has told us) to become a pirate. Accord ingly, when an opportunity offered itself of accom panying the Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon (now Lord Stanmore) in his capacity of Governor to the recently created colony of Fiji, with the attraction of probable adventures, and certain emancipa tion from the routine of office, it is not surprising that he eagerly jumped at the chance. As he has said in the Introduction to one of his books, " From my Verandah in New Guinea," his decision was the A result of a long conversation held with the late Lady Gordon at one of the last balls given in the London season of 1879, and within a few weeks he was already embarked with Sir Arthur and his staff, en route for the Western Pacific.

He started with no official position of any sort, and no very definite prospect beyond that of looking about him in the young colony, on the Micawber principle of some thing turning up. But though no definite prospects were held out, he yet started under good auspices. No young man embarking upon a new and adven turous career, could have had a more excellent counsellor and friend than Romilly had in Sir Arthur Gordon. Though it is well known that Sir Arthur's views as to the right method of dealing with native races differed widely from those held by the majority of the white settlers, no one could inspire those who knew him with greater confidence and devotion than he did ; no one could be a better friend than he was to any one upon whom he could rely, and when his confidence was once given to a man, he would stick to him through thick and thin.

This was the case with Hugh Romilly. As will be seen from his letters, an opportunity was soon put in his way of trying him to see what sort of stuff he was made of, and it is not too much to say that he made the most of his opportunity. The result was, that before he had been in the colony six months an official position as stipendiary magistrate for an important district was given him, and from PERSONAL. 3 that moment his future career was practically ensured. Sir Arthur Gordon had given him his trial, bestowed his confidence upon him as a result of the trial, and was ever afterwards ready to befriend him, and assist him with his advice and experience. How highly Romilly prized Sir Arthur's confidence appears throughout his letters. He had the highest respect and sincerest devotion for his chief, and was a thorough believer and follower in his policy in all matters relating to dealings between whites and blacks.

These views of his, and especially the active part he took in helping to enforce them, caused him to come in for a good share of official unpopularity with the white settlers. The Queensland Press was especially bitter against him at one time, much to his amusement, his nature being such as to make him utterly indifferent to such attacks, as all those who knew him will admit. This unpopularity however was entirely confined to the Press and those who knew him only in his official character. To those who knew him in private life, there was no more delightful companion. His inexhaustible fund of good humour, and his congenial knack of adapting himself to whatever society he might be thrown among, endeared him to all alike. He made new friends wherever he went, and he never lost an old one. It was no doubt in great measure owing to this happy power of being able to enter so thoroughly into the interests and occupations of others, that he was able to ingratiate himself with the natives with whom so much of his time was spent.

Savages, like children, seem to have an instinct of their own which enables them to recognise a friend and sympathiser when they see him, and Hugh Romilly was always devoted to children and they to him. Some part of his work — such as the infliction of punishment on savage tribes for outrages committed on white men — was most distasteful to him, knowing as he did that in nine cases out often it was the white man who was originally to blame. The hardships he underwent in the form of frequent illness from exposure to poisonous climate, want of proper food, and — worst of all to one so suited to society as he was — complete isolation for months at a time from all civilized life or news of the outer world, were severe enough to have damped the ardour and spirits of most men. He bore it all cheerfully and patiently however, and it is seldom that any note of complaint is heard in his letters.

His good spirits, combined with patient endurance, remained with him to the very end, when in July 1892, at the early age of thirty-six he finally succumbed to one of the many attacks of malarial fever from which after his long residence in New Guinea he never was entirely free.

Chapter II. On The Way Out

S.S. " City of Sydney," Honolulu, August u, 1879. I fist) that by writing from here I shall save a fortnight or perhaps three weeks. We are having a pleasant enough voyage so far as weather goes, but this ship is simply beastly. To begin with, we are tremendously crowded — three in every cabin. Then the enormous number of different smells on board is almost unbearable. We go down to the saloon for meals with very good appetites, which immediately disappear on account of the horrible smell of shut up Chinamen. Then my cabin, besides having the ordinary smell of bilge water, is next to the butcher's shop, which is always in a filthy condition, and my two stable companions,* even in this hot weather, do not consider it worth while to take any clothes off, but turn in " all standing." They have now done this for a week, and will probably pursue the same con- * It may be as well to mention that these "companions" did not belong to Sir Arthur Gordon's party. — Ed. duct till we get to Sydney.

Besides all this, the hencoops and boats full of rotting cabbages make a combination difficult to imagine. We have become tremendous grumblers. I have made an alteration in my plans on account of Sir Arthur expecting to stay some days at Samoa. That is to say, I am going to take the second packet from Sydney instead of the first. By doing this I shall avoid getting to Fiji before him, and he has asked me to Government House if I go by that boat, which he could not have done if I had gone on at once. I am also to take the boat from Sydney to Melbourne, as W. wants me to see Lord Normanby for him. I think it very likely that when I am actually there staying with Sir Arthur he will propose some appointment to me, though he has said nothing about it to me yet. There is really very little to write about.

Our party on board are chiefly fourthor fifth-rate Yankees ; there is no approach to a lady among them. The most lady-like of our party is a rope dancer going over for the Sydney Exhibition. They have started a newspaper on board which is occasion ally amusing. I am writing this on board, as we sha'n't have time to write at Honolulu. We o-et in there late at night, and leave before daybreak, so we sha'n't see the place much. The Pacific is certainly very beautiful, quite different to the Atlantic. We knock flights of flying fish out of every third or fourth wave with our bows. The colour ON THE WAY OUT. 7 of the water too and the sunsets are very remark able. I must leave oft' now, as it is almost impossible to write on account of the heavy rolling of this ship. We have just got into the N.E. trade wind, and half the passengers are having a second turn of sea-sickness Although we are now in the tropics, it is delightfully cool compared to America.

A sea-voyage is calculated to develop all one's animal qualities very much. We sleep all the after noon — in fact think of nothing but eating, drinking, sleeping, and smoking. We tried to read Fijian and succeeded pretty well on the Atlantic, but on the Pacific we find it impossible. Union Club, Sydney, September 5, 1879. My dear L., — I send this by the Admiralty bag, and it ought to reach you almost as soon as the pencil scrawl I sent by P. & O. last Tuesday. I told you I was going for a most interesting cruise* to some of the innumerable islands in the West Pacific, and also to New Guinea and New Britain. You may possibly know that these places are wholly unexplored, some of the islands never having been visited by white men. Our chief occupation will be inquiring into the numerous murders that are committed in these regions, *" N.B. — This cruise did not come off. — Ed. and, if possible, the arrest and summary disposal of the murderers.

Wilson (the Commodore), with whom I am staying, has just returned from a similar expedition. We want to get our cruise over before the hurricane season commences, as the navigation in these parts is most difficult, there being no reliable charts, and many reefs absolutely unknown. If the chiefs refuse, as they almost always do, to hand a murderer over to justice, a strong party of men are landed and their towns are destroyed. I am going, I suppose, as Sir Arthur's secretary. He (Commodore Wilson) has also discovered many new specimens of orchids, palms, and crotons, which he has sent to England. Sir Arthur is making an expedition to the island of Tonga ; I have therefore availed myself of numerous invitations, and go on to Fiji the end of this month, arriving there the first week in October.

We deposited Sir Arthur and six of his party at Pago Pago, one of the most beautiful tropical islands in these seas. Wagga Wagga, September 28, 1S79. My dear G., — I write from a little township no doubt well known to you, as the home of the oppressed nobleman known here as Sir Roo-er Tichborne and at home as the " Claimant." I ON THE WAY OUT. 9 have just finished a journey of 100 miles, from "Wodonga," in a coach of the country, the most uncomfortable vehicle which was ever invented. The coach, which was called the " Lily," was re-christened by us "The Sudden Jerk," a most appropriate name. The only other passenger be sides myself was a Yankee, armed to the teeth on account of the Kelly gang of Bush Rangers, who had what they call here " stuck up " one of the coaches on this road, shot the driver, and robbed the mails and passengers.

I was on the box-seat, and agreed with the coachman that it was a grand opportunity for a practical joke on the Yankee inside. He, the coachman, who rejoiced in the name of " Jacky Tommy Smith," said he knew a short cut through the bush which saved five miles, but necessitated pulling down the fence of an Irish selecter, who was a most determined man according to Jacky Tommy, and always resented the intrusion with much bad language and an American axe. The plan was that the coachman was to pull down the fence while I held the horses, and when the selecter made his appearance was to exclaim " Here's Kelly ! " It all turned out precisely as we had planned it, for while we were demolishing the fence the Irishman rushed up, with much language which I will spare you a repetition of, and brandishing his American axe before the leaders' noses.

" Here's Kelly ! " shouted out the driver. " You don't say," said the Yankee, quietly covering him through the window with one pistol, while he held another in his left hand. "Is that raly so." The driver, however, seeing that the poor man was really in some danger of being shot, got between him and the Yankee, and said, " It's all right, sir ; we will get him alive and claim the Government reward ; " and then got on his box on the other side, and drove off at full gallop. The Yankee has told every one here that we lost the reward of through our cowardice. I have been enjoying myself very much in Australia — kangaroo and emu hunting, and shooting wild cattle and wild horses. I sent a box of furs home for you, but I should like you to give some to C. R. One day, out kangaroo hunting, we had to swim a creek which was flooded, and my horse, who was a very bad swimmer, very nearly succeeded in drowning me.

Coming home, I thought I would not give him a chance of doing so again, so I took all my clothes off, strapped them on the saddle, started the horse in, and proceeded to swim after him myself. As soon as he got to the other side he was so frightened at my appearance, or possibly shocked, that he started off home at full gallop with my clothes on his back. Of course the fellows with me started after him, and pretended to try and catch him, though I don't think they tried much, but anyway I had to walk a mile home in the costume of a Queensland gin — i.e., nothing at all. As it was a bachelor establishment I did not mind very much, but walked boldly up to the front door, ON THE WAY OUT. 11 where I found a neighbouring squatter on a visit, and his wife. Luckily she turned and fled, and I got safely into a dry suit of clothes.

After this little incident my host thought no further introduction necessary, and we both felt as if we had known each other for years. Galloping through thick bush here is very different to anything at home ; in fact, if you don't leave everything to your horse you must come to grief, as you are sure either to run into a tree or crab-hole. At first it was very nervous work, as it is almost impossible to prevent trying to guide your horse. If you do, however, your horse makes up his mind to go round a tree one way, and you are sure to try and go round the other. As a matter of course, my first day I ran my head into three or four gum-trees, and though the family head was too hard to mind very much, I found that it detracted somewhat from the pleasure of the sport. I went to a ball in Sydney while I was there, and found my partners very anxious to place me at my ease with them at once.

They had all got nick names, which they all told me at once. A certain Miss J. informed me that by her intimate friends she was called Fuz-buz, and that if I was pleased with her appearance and conversation, I was to consider myself at liberty to do so likewise. Fuz-buz and I are now great friends, but on her asking me if I also did not rejoice in any pseudonym, I told her the one I had been given when I first went to school, but even Fuz-buz's fair lips refused to address me by so unpoetical a name. The officers and crew of the Commodore's ship, Wolverene, were getting up " Pinafore " when I left, but which I was not in Sydney to see Lord Augustus Loftus is very civil to me, and I dined with him one night in Sydney.

Chapter III

FIJI— FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Romilly arrived in Fiji in October 1879. He was not long without being given some employment, for in November he was sent off in command of a party to the neighbouring island of Kandavu, to induce the natives to pay their taxes and attend to their cotton plantations. This expedition was successful, and is described, in the extract from his journal given in this chapter. Government House, Fiji, October 13, 1879. As you see, here I am at last, after a baddish pas sage in a small and dirty boat from Sydney. I am at present delighted with Fiji. Nasova, which by the way is the name of the Government House, is a most lovely place. Enormous bushes of crotons come down to the water's edge, with a background of cocoa-nut palms and bananas. However, I will not attempt to describe it, as it would be impossible.

The Governor is most kind I am going with Arthur Gordon* to the island of Rotumah, which is going to cede itself to Great Britain. You Avill see it on the map to the north of the Fiji group, about latitude 120. At present there are no white settlers except missionaries, so I think I shall see some really savage life. Here in Levuka the natives are all civilised to a certain extent. Gordon asked particularly for me to be allowed to go with him. Of course I get no salary, but I think this a good thing, as it leaves me more free to accept anything that turns up in New Zealand. I think I may say that I have given up all idea of planting. There is a great scare at present among the planters on account of a coffee disease, which destroys the leaf, and which is supposed to have been intro duced from Ceylon.

It will do immense harm to the colony, and has frightened away a number of people who were coming here to plant. Sir Arthur is going to take me to Tonga about the end of the month. We go in the Emerald, and shall be there about three weeks, I believe. I don't think that Arthur Gordon and I will stav any length of time in Rotumah, for after he has set things going another Commissioner will be sent out. I am glad of this, as I should not like to spend any great portion of my life on a small island standing entirely by itself in the middle of the Pacific. * N.B. — Arthur J. L. Gordon, Esq., C.M.G., private secre tary to Sir Arthur Gordon. — Ed. Our cruise to New Guinea is put off till next year on account of the hurricane season, which has begun early this year. We are all going to the great annual meeting of chiefs at Mba u, and we expect to come back loaded with presents of mats and tappa.

I think it would amuse you living in this house. It is an enormous house, built of reeds with only a ground floor. Of course no one ever thinks of shutting his door. The consequence is that there is a constant stream of hens, chickens, guinea-fowl, and peacocks perambulating all the rooms. One old hen deposits an egg every morning in the exact centre of my floor. The most objectionable animals are cock roaches, which simply swarm. If anything in the way of clothes or boots is left out at night, you find it spoilt in the morning. Centipedes also abound, and are very poisonous. The Governor sets us the example of dressing entirely for coolness. Our evening dress consists simply of white ducks, a white shirt, and a sash, and it certainly is a great comfort not to have to wear either coat or waistcoat.

We had a great drinking of yangona or kava last night after dinner. There were a lot of big chiefs, and about a hundred natives. Of course it was prepared in the orthodox manner — that is to say, all the natives chewed a quid of yangona for about ten minutes in perfect silence, and then deposited it in the big bowl in the middle. While the master of the ceremonies, who is usually the youngest present, poured in water and strained it, all the rest sang a sort of eulogy. The cocoa-nut shell is then filled and handed to the Governor first, as the highest in rank, and while he is drinking a sort of chorus of hand clapping goes on expressing great admiration of his performance, and when the cup is empty every one gives a deep sigh of relief, as if he himself had just drunk a quart of beer at a draught.

When the cup was handed to me, though I expected to be horribly sick, I determined to drink it to the bottom, every one Avatching me with intense anxiety. I got through it as if I had done nothing but drink yangona all my life ; and when I had finished every one said "Ah ! Martha," which no doubt has a widely different meaning in Fijian to what it has in English. I cannot say that it is a good drink. It reminded me forcibly of the days when a dose of Dr. Gregory's stomachic powder was occasionally necessary. In fact, I could exist for the rest of my life without ever drinking yangona again. I imagine that I shall have to drink it often again, however, as it precedes every State ceremonial here. says that he prefers it chewed to grated, as it loses much of its flavour by the latter method. To me, the loss of any flavour it acquires by being chewed seems rather a recommendation than otherwise ; but as I am new to this sort of thing, my opinion cannot be worth much.

A remark of the Governor's steward, when he heard I had been drinking it, amused me Aery much. He said, " I can't think Iioav you gentle men can drink that beastly stuff. How would you like me to cheAv vou a rissole for breakfast ? " I thought there Avas much sense in what he said. We are constantly bathing here, quite indifferent to the SAA*arms of sharks. There is ahvays a lot of us together, so there is no real danger. My servant is an aAvful-looking ruffian, with an enormous head of yelloAV hair. He often looks at me as if he thought I should be a tender morsel. Beyond occasionally sending my dress clothes to the wash, and little mistakes of a like nature, he makes a very fair servant. The Governor's servants are most picturesque, as he encourages the big yelloAV heads, and dresses them in red and white sulus* and red cummerbunds.