rated Newspaper rumors she says: "Tanna bulks largely
in some minds, though it is only a small Island, a little larger than
Arran! We had noticed that our Civil War was telegraphed not only to the
Australian papers, but to San Francisco, and even to the _London
Standard_. We have been receiving letters of condolence from friends,
who think our lives in danger!" Now, mark what the presence of the
Gospel and the Missionary has brought about, as compared with former
days: "Personally, the said Civil War has not affected us in the
slightest. The Grays, who were in the center of the scene of action, and
who more than once had the bullets whizzing over and around their house,
were so assured of their complete safety that Mrs. Gray stayed there
bravely alone with their children, while Mr. Gray came up here to assist
at our Church building!"

But she does not pretend that all is Christlike: "The list of killed and
wounded has been unusually large for Tanna, while the atrocities
committed have been worse than we ever heard of before. Indignities were
offered to the dead of both sexes. And, in one case at least, a
mutilated woman was left unburied to be eaten by dogs,--and would have
been completely devoured, had not one of our Teachers come on the scene
next day, and, unaided, dug a grave and buried her." And then the writer
lets in the lurid light of the Nether Pit in this closing picture: "One
instance of the disgusting depravity of the people shocked me much. A
man, who even attends Service in the district where the above dreadful
affair took place, on seeing the poor mutilated form of the woman,
addressed it thus--'If only the Gospel had not reached my Village, how I
would have enjoyed a feast off you!' I cannot tell you how much this has
preyed upon my mind; or how glad I feel at realizing that Jesus is an
Almighty Saviour, and can save to the uttermost, else I would despair of
these People!"

This may be commended to the attention of those who still affect to
believe that the Cannibalism of my brother's book is overdrawn. That
half-civilized Tanna man, smacking his lips at the thought of what might
have been his but for the Gospel, outweighs all cavils, and is tenfold
stronger than arguments. Also let us ask all readers to ponder the dear
lady's parting shot at unsympathetic and disparaging critics: "Some have
said that the backwardness of the Gospel on Tanna is due to the want of
faith on the part of her Missionaries; bu