650 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



man's musket of infinite variety of pattern and age, from the 

 flint lock to the Tower V.R. Snider. Some of these guns 

 that have come into my hands are almost as old as the 

 century, some of them are neAvest patterns made specially 

 for our island traders to sell at a large profit, and that collapse 

 before the native dupe has finished proving the superiority of 

 his new and hard-earned treasure. In the old pre-musket 

 days there were well recognised war tactics ; now there is 

 but the one tactic of " pot-shooting." 



It is at least a careless way of speaking to say that a 

 Tanna man is never happy except when fighting. That is 

 just the time Avhen he is not happy. Rumour of war fills the 

 Tannese with unspeakable dread. The great wars are now 

 practically a thing of the past, and even the small wars are 

 diminishing. Mission influence is such that a missionary can 

 persuade his people to make peace. The Tannese themselves, 

 who really hate war, recognise the benefit of peace. 



We come now to the religion of " Man Tanna." One 

 might visit every conceivable place on Tanna and not see 

 stone or stock that he would take to be an idol. In or would 

 he see a temple of any kind nor hear a prayer. Are Tannese 

 then without a religion? No. The Athenians in Paul's day 

 were not more religious than our Tannese now. There is no 

 act of life that is not some way religious, from the birth to 

 the burial. But you must know Tannese in order to get an 

 idea of their religion. 



Tannese have nothing that can rightly be called idols. 

 They have stones that some call idols. But our idea of an 

 idol is definite. The so-called idol stones of the Tannese 

 contain spirits. It is these spirits,not the stones, that are served. 



But to get an idea of what a Tanna man's religion is we 

 must state the underlying principles of his faith. These are : — 



1. Belief in the immortality of the human soul. Death 

 ends a great deal, but it does not end all. The spirits of the 

 dead hold intercourse with their friends on earth. A man 

 makes a house in his plantation, large enough to shelter a cat, 

 puts food there broken small, and asks his departed father to 

 come and make the things in his plantation to grow well. A 

 person does not dread the spirit of his friend, but he does fear 

 the spirit of an enemy. 



2. Belief in Hades, called Ipwai. The entrance to it is in 

 the north end of Tanna in a cave. The spirits of the dead 

 go there, when is not certain. It is a sort of fairy land not 

 unlike this life. 



