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Chalmers, James, 1841-1901

"Adventures in New Guinea"

" At home they
would say, why, they are being converted; see the speedy triumph! Alas!
they are but savages, pure and simple, rejoicing in the prospect of an
unlimited supply of tobacco, beads, and tomahawks.
Paura, a chief from Motu Lavao, is in. The people, it seems, told him,
being _helaka_ day, I could not meet him, and he did not come up hill. He
is rather a nice-looking fellow, with a mild, open countenance. Kone
told him to tell the Paitana natives, who murdered James and Thorngren,
that, if they wished peace and friendship, they must come in here and sue
for it; that I could not first go to them, as they were the offenders and
murderers.
Arrangements were at once made for erecting a wooden house at Delena,
measuring thirty-six feet by eighteen feet, material for which was easily
procurable. On the 30th of May, Queen Koloka, her husband, and a number
of men and women came in. The Prince Consort first came up, all over
smiles, followed in half an hour by his wife and maids. After formally
receiving her, I presented Mrs.


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