We gave our tomahawks, tobacco, and salt, and the
old man was truly delighted, saying, "I and my people will take you
wherever we may go with safety." He does not go to sea on the other
side, as Mr. Lawes supposed, and says it is impossible to cross over
unless we go up by Yule Island, and there he says it is dangerous,
because of the cannibals. In returning, I saw, for the first time in New
Guinea, a bush of the real South Sea Island _kava_ (_Piper methysticum_).
17_th_.--We have just had a service, and through Kena we have told the
natives the object of our coming and staying, that they might know of the
true God, and of Jesus Christ the Saviour. It was interesting to mark
the different expressions on their faces as they heard for the first time
of God--the God of love, and that as His servants we were here. When
told of the resurrection they looked at one another; some laughed, others
seemed serious. They were very particular in their inquiries as to the
name of the Great Spirit, and of His Son--forgetting, and returning to
hear it again.
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