we saw at a
glance that at certain seasons it would prove a very hotbed of fever and
ague. We were, however, only too thankful to enter it, till a better
could be built, and on a breezier site.

The Aniwans were not so violently dishonorable as the Tannese. But they
had the knack of asking in a rather menacing manner whatever they
coveted; and the tomahawk was sometimes swung to enforce an appeal. We
strove to get along quietly and kindly, in the hope that when we knew
their language, and could teach them the principles of Jesus, they would
be saved, and life and property would be secure. But the rumor of the
_Curacoa's_ visit and her punishment of murder and robbery did more, by
God's blessing, to protect us during those Heathen days than all other
influences combined. The savage cannibal was heard to whisper to his
bloodthirsty mates, "not to murder or to steal, for the Man-of-war that
punished Tanna would blow up their little island!"

Sorrowful experience on Tanna had taught us to seek the site of our
Aniwan house on the highest ground, and away from the malarial
influences near the shore. There was one charming mound, covered with
trees, whose roots ran down into the crevices of coral, and from which
Tanna and Erromanga are clearly seen. But there the Natives for some
superstitious reason forbade us to build, and we were constrained to
take another rising ground somewhat nearer the shore. In the end, this
turned out to be the very best site on the island for us, central and
suitable every way. But we afterwards learned that perhaps superstition
also led them to sell us this site, in the malicious hope that it would
prove our ruin. The mounds on the top, which had to be cleared away,
contained the bones and refuse of their Cannibal feasts for ages. None
but their Sacred Men durst touch them; and the Natives watched us hewing
and digging, certain that their gods would strike us dead! That failing,
their thoughts may probably have been turned to reflect that after all
the Jehovah God was stronger than they.

In leveling the site, and gently sloping the sides of the ground for
good drainage purposes, I had gathered together two large baskets of
human bones. I said to a Chief in Tannese, "How do these bones come to
be here?"

And he replied, with a shrug worthy of a cynical Frenchman, "Ah, we are
not Tanna-men! We don't eat the bones!"

CHAPTER LIX.
HOUSE-BUILDING FOR GOD.

THE site being now cleared, we qu