104
March 1931
T h e
K i n g ’ s ' : B u s i n e s s i
Transformations in Eastern Papua A Recen t Visit to th e Kwato Mission Founded by th e Rev. Charles W. Abel B y D elavan L. P ierson * ( New York, N. Y.)
their training in tribal taboos and native customs, in the arts of warfare, fishing, the making of canoes and carv ings for drums, and the fashioning of spears and other implements. In the old days their natural appetites were otherwise given free play. Immorality was general among the youth. A recognition of taboo and a fear of revenge to some extent protected marriage—except at feasts. A G reat C hange W rought by th e G ospel Our recent visit to Papua revealed the marvelous pos
rF ANY one today is tempted to doubt that God is working miracles as in the past, he should pay a visit to Eastern New Guinea (Papua) and see the remarkable work established forty years ago by the Rev. Charles W. Abel, then of the London Missionary Society. At that time, Eastern New Guinea was a land of savages—of warlike, degraded, unfriendly cannibals. They lived by warfare—raiding their enemies’ villages and carrying away captives on whom they feasted. Their feasts for the dead, or in cele
sibilities in these people and the remarkable changes that have been wrought in them by the gospel of Christ. Mr. and Mrs. Abel in their lifetime have been permitted to see former canni bals become earnest, intelligent Christians, while children and grandchildren of savage war riors have become messengers of the gospel to others. Simple Christian education and health ful recreation have been intro duced to displace old degrading heathen customs. New useful industries have been established, adapted to the country's needs, enabling the people to earn an honest living, to learn industri ous habits, and to obtain money and the products of their labor* so that they may help the poor and spread the gospel in other districts of Papua and in for eign lands. This progress, in the Kwato mission has been pos sible because Christ has had the preeminence in all departments of the work. There has been no cultural veneer applied to heathen hearts and customs. Spiritual aims and methods have
bration of v i c t o r i e s or the launching of a new war canoe, were . occasions for the letting down of all moral barriers and were accompanied by excesses and unbridled license. Of God these people knew
nothing. The heathen Papu ans today have only a vague idea of spirits, to be propitiated and of witch doctors or sorcerers to be appeased. Being sepa rated by natural barriers of land and water, and estranged by hostilities and taboos, the vari ous tribes spoke different lan guages and dialects. A journey of one hundred miles might bring contacts with a dozen dif ferent tongues. This made mis sionary work very difficult, and the suspicion and the hostile at titude of the savages toward all white men led to many trage dies, such, as the violent death of Rev. James Chalmers, the “Great Heart of New Guinea,” and his companion, Mr. Tomp kins, nearly thirty years ago. For eleven years, Mr. Abel was associated in the work with the fearless Chalmers, and with him he penetrated many districts never before visited b y ; Christian missionaries. The old Papuan home, built on piles under which pigs roamed, and having only one room for all members of the family, was dirty, unsanitary, and without opportunity for privacy. Today the heathen Papuans live in the same style and in dire poverty. Their chief occupations are canoe building, fishing, and primitive gardening; while their arts and crafts consist chiefly of building houses of bamboo, reed, and palm leaves, without the use of saw, hammer, or nails. They cut the wood with a rude axe or adz and bind the bamboo or small logs together with vine tendrils or native twine made of hemp. From the first, the children had no education—and they have none today, apart from Christianity—-except ♦Editor of The Missionary Review o f the World .
been kept foremost. Dependence has been and still is upon God—-through prayer, self-sacrificing service, and the dynamic of the Holy Spirit. What is ,the pit from which these Christian Papuans have been lifted? The worst conditions, including sav age warfare, cannibalism, and heathen orgies, have dis appeared from the coast towns through the establishment of British law and the influences of Christian missiona ries; but the remains of primitive heathenism are still ev ident in villages of the district. Among such a people, it was not easy to gain an en trance to preach the purifying gospel of Christ. Every force but one was in league against the early missionaries. Distrust and fear of the foreigner, heathen customs and superstitution^ vices of the natural man, the witch doctor and the tribal chiefs who wished to rule supreme, were all united to shut out the light. But God was with His
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