312 TIII<] OBUISE OF THE 'GUBAQOA.' 



Sabbath services ' of the mission, and that not rigidly 

 insisted on. Indeed, such was the state of tranquillity that 

 Mr. Murray alluding to this period, or a little later, 

 ' discerned the earnests of success, the precursors of a 

 glorious day destined ere long to dawn on Eramanga.' 

 Soon after this occurred the murder of the Gordons. 

 Whether it was the act of a few natives stimulated by 

 their own fanatical excitement, or, as is supposed, by the 

 suggestions of foreigners, one thing is perfectly clear, that 

 there was nothing in the general attitude of the natives that 

 could suggest any apprehension of such a disaster. It is 

 indeed said that Mr. Gordon received an intimation of some 

 intended mischief; yet such was his feeling of security that he 

 had quitted the bay and built a cottage at some distance from 

 it, on an eminence about 1,000 feet above the level of the 

 sea. Close to it was a chapel with 'a fine bell, which echoed 

 from hill to hill.' He seems to have been an unsocial and 

 self-willed man, and it is the avowed opinion of his fellow 

 missionaries, that he owed his death to his having withdrawn 

 himself from the protection of his ftiends in the bay.-^ But 

 his separating himself from them is plain evidence that he 

 dreaded no enemies elsewhere. Better proof than this of 

 the peaceable disposition of the natives it is impossible to 

 desire. It must be observed too that when, soon after the 

 death of the Gordons, Messrs. Murray and Geddes visited 

 tlie island, they landed without any risk, and were well 

 received by the chiefs. Moreover they learnt that the 



1 Ibid. p. 423. 



