How Trader Murdoch's

R. W. Robson Recalls the Fantastic Royal House of Abemama

Grandson Became King

One day, late in 1941, I was on a mission schooner, John Williams , in the Gilbert Islands. She had mail and supplies for Abemama. The Nor’west was blowing hard, so she could not enter the lagoon. A boat was launched, to land on the eastern (or non-lagoon) or lee side. I went with the boat.

[THE boat capsized in a bad surf. l I was dragged ashore by the native crew.

I had remembered that Stevenson ice lived there. It also was the land of G. M. Murdoch, famous ader, who had been “prime inister” to the King of Kuria and aemama. I remembered that Mur »ch had had a beautiful half ,ste daughter, Agnes, who was lucated in America. I had heard at she was still on Abemama. mce the call.

Everyone was in a hurry. I had minutes before the boat returned the ship.

In those 90 minutes, I discovered lere Agnes was living; “induced” reluctant Micronesian to loan me s bicycle; cycled a mile to the lage, where lived old Agnes and i Captain Jimmy Smith; got a >ry from each of them; photo iphed the dramatis personae ; d got back to the beach to find e cycle-owner turning hand rings, and the schooner tootling idly for the boat. [ was reminded of the incident ely, when I found, in a learned irnal, a description of the fnasty of Abemama”. There I covered how and why Agnes’ i became the King of Abemama.

Sack, first, to George Murdoch. was a gangling, consumptive )ttish youth of 20 when, between 0 and 1880, he deserted a sailing p in the Gilberts, and became a mber of the entourage of the ;orious Timbinoka, who then was 1 reigning king of the islands of ria and Abemama.

40 Wives, 20 Concubines

linoka —as he is more commonly iwn was described by a his ian, writing in the Journal of the ynesian Society in 1947, as “the st infamous of all the Uea tigs) ”. glimpsed the remains of his lace” in Abemama. It had been huge structure —it must have n, to accommodate Binoka’s 40 es and 20 concubines.

Tie historian referred to says ioka employed a human rooster, ise job was to perch on a ridge e and crow loudly each dawn, awaken the household.

Whenever this creature spied a female of beauty upon the path ways, he uttered fowl-like noises, “whereupon the Uea would summon the girl and she, upon threat of death, would subject herself to public sexual intercourse with the human rooster. Stories such as these” (adds our solemn historian) “and the fact that the Uea slept upon a pillow stuffed with the pubic hair of virgins, indicate the Uea’s sexual mania”. Which is putting it mildly.

That will suffice to indicate the kind of monster whose rule de populated Abemama and whom Murdoch served as a sort of general manager for many years.

Much later, when Murdoch was a respected District Officer, and RLS was living on the island, Stevenson tried to persuade Murdoch to give him details of the reign of Binoka, of which some extraordinary stories were current. Murdoch refused: so Stevenson described him in one of his books, Travels in the South Seas ,

as “a rat-faced Scotsman with a secretive disposition”.

Murdoch married, legally, a Gil bertese woman, and they had a daughter, Agnes. He sent her to (Continued on page 95)

Captain “Jimmy” Smith, well known trader in the Line Islands and Polynesia in the early days of this century. His daughter married the “king” of Abemama. He died some years ago. Photo was taken on Abemama in 1941.

h Francisco for education and, len she returned, she was de ibed as very pretty, clever and r acious. But there was no suitable ite for her in or around emama.

Ran into Trouble Meanwhile, the Kuria-Abemama nasty had run into trouble, linoka, despite all his matri nial activity, failed to father a i; and so he decided that Bauro, ! eldest son of his brother Timon, ►uld be heir to the kingship. But non had married a commoner, n public ceremonies, Binoka had feet of Bauro cut, so that his omon blood might run out of body; and he compelled the >les to smear this common blood their heads, so they would ac iwledge that they were of lower tus than Bauro. linoka died; Bauro reigned ;fly, and died without issue, 'ortunately, Bauro’s sister, Rita, I married a noble, and it was ided that their son Tokatake ried enough nobility to qualify the throne.

Je are now close to the end of century. Part-Europeans were 1 in high esteem in those ons then. Agnes Murdoch was :e-less. George Murdoch liked