TANNA. 211 



the destruction of old meu, &c., and who observed Sunday 

 as a day of rest and prayer. Two chiefs, Nowar and 

 Manumai, together with their people continue to live in 

 peace, and to adhere to Christianity ; but most of the other 

 Christians have been slain by their unconverted fellow 

 islanders since that period. The mission had succeeded in 

 teaching a considerable number of them to read and write, 

 when it was compelled to fly. 



There are in Tanna at least two languages peculiar to the 

 country, each of which contains various dialects, some of 

 them materially differing from others. The natives living 

 on one coast cannot understand those who live on the other. 

 Their mode of counting by fives is by reckoning on their 

 fingers and toes ; but the names of the numerals differ very 

 much in one place from those in another ; for instance five 

 is called grirum in one spot, katilum in another, kulkulup in 

 a third. The dialects appear to be copious and harmonious, 

 and it is said that their pronouns have not only a dual but 

 also a trial number. 



The active volcano of Asur is situate four miles from 

 Port Eesolution; its eruptions, which, as I have already 

 remarked, occur every six or eight minutes, are more 

 violent in the months of January, February, and March 

 than in any other months of the year ; they are always 

 accompanied by a roar audible at a great distance, and 

 resembling the discharge of a battery of artillery. Besides 

 lava, the volcano throws up, to the height of 200 or 300 

 feet, blocks of stone, which generally fall into the crater ; 



p 2 



