' FROM ISLAND UNTO ISLAND: 333 



from a ' soul-enslaving superstition ' the sweet liberty of can- 

 nibalism. 



There are brilliant exceptions to the mission-haters ; and 

 one of these has inseparably woven his honourable record into 

 the tiny history of Eakahanga. He was true to the noble 

 traditions which ought to associate themselves with his name, 

 for it was that of English, and he was a merchant mariner of 

 Honolulu. In about 1860, he instituted a cocoa-nut oil 

 manufactory on one of the Fanning's Group, and, looking for 

 labour, he found these people and employed them. He sup- 

 plied them with useful articles, and taught them handicrafts, 

 for which they display extraordinary aptitude. He supplied 

 them with the seeds and cuttings of valuable plants and trees 

 adapted to their soil, notably tobacco and figs, which last have 

 grown to great perfection, and he was regarded as their great 

 benefactor. What became of Captain English I do not know. 

 I am told commercial misfortunes overtook him ; at any rate, 

 his connection with Eakahanga ceased. 



What his creed was I neither know nor trouble about, but I 

 am inclined to the opinion that, even if he possessed the 

 ability, Captain English never wrote ' smart ' articles against 

 the extension of Christian teaching. Perhaps he was not even 

 a ' scientist ' of this infallible age of progress but this I 

 know, he behaved kindly to the Eakahangans, and taught 

 them agriculture. 



Since the manufacture of copra superseded that of cocoa- 

 nut oil, these remote communities of Eakahanga and Manihiki 

 have refused to trade with the vessels that have visited them, 

 or, at any rate, this was the case a few years back, for the 

 following reasons. While the American whalers frequented 

 their neighbourhood they were in the habit of buying from 

 these islanders great quantities of cocoa-nuts for sea-stock. 



