Polynesia

First Printing Press in Polynesia

IT was March, 1797, when the first printing press was landed from the “Duff” at Matavai, Tahiti, for the use of the Brethren sent out by the L.M.S. Its career was troubled, its fate was hard.

Here are the facts.

One only, of the company of 17, had learned the business, and he was one of the four ordained ministers. It is not known if he had had special training before setting out or if, previous to ordination, he had been a printer. Upon the shoulders of the unfortunate Thomas Lewis, aged 31, fell the burden.

The cases were landed and the Breth ren, in their simplicity, thought to have all soon under way. The language was soon to be mastered, and a Spelling Book distributed, the foundation of Cate chisms, Hymnals and Prayers, previous to the supreme aim, the distribution among the pagans of the Word of God.

But they soon found that the ac quirement of the language was very far from an easy task and that the reports of the captains of calling vessels were far from the truth. The printing press had to remain in its cases in the store room; the months passed by, and pro gress was exceeding slow.

Over a year had passed when they wrote Home, on August 26, 1798: “Our time has principally been engaged in labouring to acquire a knowledge of the language of the country, which we find all Europeans who ever visited Otaheite have utterly mistaken as to spelling, pronunciation, ease in learning and the barrenness of it. We have already joined some thousands of words and we be lieve some thousands yet remain.”

It was heart-breaking work, even to learn to speak it, much more so to re duce it to print. As a matter of fact, it was not until March, 1805 (eieht years’ toil) that they felt capable of deciding upon an alphabet of the language— though Henry Nott had won out as a speaker four years previously. They wrote Home in August, 1801, that he would address the natives for the first time in their own tongue “on the next Lord’s Day”.

But that printing press was handled, though not set up, just before that letter of August, 1798. They determined upon some division of their goods, and we read under date of June 2, 1798. “To-day we divided among us some of the most valuable books . . . the others were care fully packed up in a dry cask”; and here comes in that father of all Polyne sian Presses: “The printing and binding presses, with their anpurtenances and some printing paper, Brother Lewis will keep in his possession, if possible.” They do not state why it might not be pos sible. The man’s tragedy, to come, was not then even in the offing. It seems more likely to be the fear of burglary, for they were heavy sufferers by then, and had to set watch day and night to keep aught for themselves.

And, though the press was as useless to them as to the natives, save as iron, they would make a bid to save it. The very next day we read that they were busy “Pitting up a printer’s shop.”

Then fell the first blow. The printer left—was expelled from the Society— and, before another year was out, they laid his body in a grave not a stone’s throw from where his press stood.

Bereft of what they had so eagerly worked for, the printed word, they kept

bravely on, reducing the language to some printable order. Entry after entry is made, in their Journal, of their strug gle and hard travail.

Those men are full worthy of both record and praise. They had had no special training for such work. Apart from Jefferson, they were but poorly educated; for Lewis was dead, and Cover, with Eyre, had fled. They had all the difficult problems to solve by and for themselves. All through 1805-1806 they met twice a week, and stopped at noth ing to aid them. “We have paid a native for attending our meetings in order to ascertain the proper pronunciation of every word which we have (so far) writ ten down”; and they claimed that there was then a full 5,000 words in the Tahi tian vocabulary.

Then fell the second and final blow for that pioneer press. In December, 1808, Pomare and all the Brethren fled from the island; Matavai was deserted; the chapel and the missionary houses, the storeroom, the blacksmith’s shop, livestock of many kinds, the orange groves and vegetables, and the printing shop—there was not a soul on guard.

Down upon that tongue of land —to-day more generally known as Point Venus — the pagan hordes swept, and thoroughly wrecked the place, carrying off every thing they could lay their hands on, and, in chief, what most of all they coveted and prized, iron.

So was Finis written to the pioneer printing press of Polynesia. It had never functioned, and it was smashed to pieces for its precious metal. Printing had to wait for a brighter day.

MOOREA, lying hard by, claims right fully that it saw the first South Sea printing done. It came about in this way.

Eight full years had passed when, in February, 1817, a fresh contingent of the Brethren arrived from Sydney, among them William Ellis, later the author of “Polynesian Researches”, and for years the Foreign Secretary of the L.M.S. in London. He had had special training before leaving home as to both printing and book-binding and, along with him came a second press, with ample fount, paper and binding for a start. The press was installed at Afare aitu, Moorea, in March, 1817.

Operations commenced on June 10, 1817. We read: “Pomare arrived to wit ness the first composing for the printing press done in his dominions. He was asked if he would like to do the first himself. He answered ‘Yes.’ The com posing stick was then put into his hand and he was directed from whence to take the letters and how to place them until he had composed the alphabet at the beginning of the Taheitean Spelling Book. He appeared much pleased.”

That press was kept hard at work for many months, till a shortage came' of paper and of binding. Sydney supplied paper. Ellis, ever full of resource, called upon the natives of the island for goat, cat and dog skins, and showed them the craft of tanning, the result (“being but indifferent tanners”) not very good, but the binding was certainly strong. So the work went on—spelling books, cate chisms, scripture lessons issued by the thousand.

In 1818, Ellis—a born roamer—decided to follow his friend John Williams, to Raiatea, and with him went the print ing press. In 1819 two more printing presses were sent from Home. Before Pomare’s death in 1821, printing had ceased to be a novelty.—W. W. BOLTON.