200 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nesian neighbors, tlieir purity of descent. One of the difficulties of 

 communicating with the natives is due to the immense variety of lan- 

 guages, which renders it impossible to obtain the services of an inter- 

 preter likely to be of use in more than a single district. This diffi- 

 culty has seriously impeded the work of the missionaries of the Pres- 

 byterian Church who labor in the islands from Ambrym southward, 

 and of the Anglican Melanesian Mission, who have taken spiritual 

 charge of the northern islands, the Banks group, and the Solomons. 

 The necessity of confronting this difficulty has been advantageous to 

 linguistic science, for the Rev. Dr. Codrington, of the Anglican Mis- 

 sion, has recently published a learned work on "The Languages of 

 Melanesia." As a rule, white men and natives communicate with each 

 other by means of a very singular jargon, like the " pigeon English " 

 of China, known as " sandal-wood English," or the " btche de mer 

 lingo," designations which explain its origin. Bearing in mind who 

 the devisers of this dialect were, it is not surprising that a prominent 

 characteristic should be the frequent interpolation into a sentence of 

 exceptionally vigorous profanity. This the native linguist utters 

 without a suspicion of its being improper. A few phrases, without 

 the ingredient just mentioned, will convey an idea of what the jargon 

 is. " That fellow man he no good " = " That is a bad man." "That 

 fellow woman Mary belong a me " = " That woman is my wife." 

 " Big fellow yam he stop Tanna " = " Large yams grow in Tanna." 

 This " pigeon " is the universal mode of communication between white 

 men, except missionaries, and islanders throughout the southwestern 

 Pacific, and is used by both Englishmen and foreigners. I have even 

 heard the oath administered to Melanesian witnesses in a French 

 court of justice at Noumea in the following terms : "Me talkee true, 

 me no tell lie, me no gammon ; me," raising the right hand to the sky, 

 " swear." At many places even this imperfect method of conversing 

 is unknown ; but. so intelligent and such adepts in gesture-language 

 are the natives that they understand and make themselves understood 

 by a stranger much more thoroughly than the inexperienced would 

 expect. 



At the time of my visit there were, including the wives and chil- 

 dren of the missionaries, between eighty and a hundred white residents 

 in the group. There are probably now fully a hundred in all. Anei- 

 teum is completely Christian, and the natives are among the most de- 

 vout of believers. A more attentive congregation than that attending 

 the church at Port Inyang it would be impossible to meet with. The 

 members carry with them to worship small libraries of devotional 

 works, which require bags and baskets for their conveyance. On other 

 islands progress has been made — progress with which the missionaries 

 themselves are dissatisfied,' but which appears very surprising to a 

 stranger, who can discern the difficulties of the situation. As a rule, 

 a missionary establishment consists of the clergyman and his wife, and 



