er privileges live and die without ever passing
beyond that stage.

The wife of one of those Chiefs died, and he resolved to imitate a
Christian burial. Having purchased white calico from a Trader, he came
to me for some tape which the Trader could not supply, and told me that
he was going to dress the body as he had seen my dear wife's dressed,
and lay her also in a similar grave. He declined my offer to attend the
funeral and to pray with them, as in that case many of the villagers
would not attend. He wanted all the people to be present, to see and to
hear, as it was the first funeral of the kind ever celebrated among the
Tannese; and my friend Nowar the Chief had promised to conduct a Service
and offer prayer to Jehovah before all the Heathen. It moved me to many
strange emotions, this Christian burial, conducted by a Heathen and in
the presence of Heathens, with an appeal to the true and living God by a
man as yet darkly groping among idols and superstitions. Many were the
wondering questions from time to time addressed to me. The idea of a
resurrection from the dead was that which most keenly interested these
Natives, and called forth all their powers of inquiry and argument. Thus
the waves of hope and fear swept alternately across our lives; but we
embraced every possible opportunity of telling them the story of the
life and death of Jesus, in the strong hope that God would spare us yet
to bring the benighted Heathen to the knowledge of the true salvation,
and to love and serve the only Saviour.

Confessedly, however, it was uphill, weary, and trying work. For one
thing, these Tannese were terribly dishonest; and when there was any
special sickness, or excitement from any cause, their bad feeling
towards the Worship was displayed by the more insolent way in which they
carried off whatever they could seize. When I opposed them, the club or
tomahawk, the musket or _kawas_ (_i. e._ killing-stone), being instantly
raised, intimated that my life would be taken, if I resisted. Their
skill in stealing on the sly was phenomenal! If an article fell, or was
seen on the floor, a Tanna-man would neatly cover it with his foot,
while looking you frankly in the face, and, having fixed it by his toes
or by bending in his great toe like a thumb to hold it, would walk off
with it, assuming the most innocent look in the world. In this way, a
knife, a pair of scissors or any smaller article, would at once
disappear. Another fellow