I have been induced to publish the following Journals at the request of some friends who have perused them, and think they will prove interesting to others. The Journal of the Rev. A. Brittain arrived too late for insertion in the ‘Island Voyage’ for this year, and I have been requested by the Rev. William Selwyn, the Secretary of the Melanesian Mission, to print it with my own. I do this with the greater pleasure, because his report will not only supply me with a good excuse for rushing into print, but will furnish others with a more full and complete account of the work of the Melanesian Mission in the New Hebrides.

The three islands herein spoken of are the Northernmost of the above-mentioned group—the New Hebrides—and form the Southern boundary of the Melanesian Mission work in the islands of the South-west Pacific Ocean.

Araga (or Pentecost) and Maewo (or Aurora) are long and mountainous islands running almost North and South, about forty miles each in length, and separated by a narrow channel three miles wide. Opa (or Leper’s Island) runs at right angles to these, a broad, massive, grand looking country, resembling in appearance a huge whale, the hump of which rises to a height of over 4000 feet.

Araga and Opa are thickly populated, but Maewo has a scattered and sparse population. Opa is about sixteen miles from Araga, but a channel of only five miles in width separates it from Maewo.

The languages and dispositions of these neighbouring lands are much more varied and dissimilar than would naturally be inferred from their close propinquity. And the majority of the people, too, seem to prefer an inland situation, all which serve to make the work of the Missionary the more arduous and difficult. On these islands every outward prospect is pleasing, and the inhabitants themselves not so far gone in vileness as to be incapable of improvement, as I hope the following pages will show. The work of the Melanesian Mission has been established in these islands a good many years now, with more or less success, and schools are in active operation as follows:—

At Araga—Wonor, on the Southern face of the island, and Lamoru and Qatvenua on the North.

At Maewo—Tanrig, Tasmouri, Tasmate, Mandurvat, Naruru, and Uta. All these stations are on the North of the island.

At Opa—Tavolavola, Lobaha, Walurigi, the most flourishing of which is that first mentioned.

With these few preliminary remarks and explanations I leave the following simple pages to tell their own story.

CHARLES BICE.