Letters

Bully The Christian

Sir, —I could not agree more with 2 statement in the recent PIM view (Jan., p. 77) of “Captain illy Hayes, Blackbirder and gamist”, that: “Chine has done story a service by emphasising his nclusion that Bully Hayes was not bad as he has been painted”. From y knowledge of Kusaie and a study the period which Bully Hayes and mis Becke spent there when the ?onora was wrecked, I arrived at e same conclusion; for that period least, and that time in 1874 looms rge in any account of Bully’s rimes”.

I do not wish to go into this general bject here, but rather to clear up r the record what Bully Hayes tually did when he fled from Kusaie an open boat on the night of Sep mber 27, 1874. Clune, in line with riters generally, with one exception bich I shall come to presently, says at Bully headed northward that ght, stopped at islands in the [arshalls and the Carolines, was eked up by the whale ship Arctic, hich eventually landed him at Guam i February 28, 1875.

Bully did no such thing. He was ick in Kusaie on October 9, 12 days iter he left, and strangely—but very mveniently for Bully—only a few ours after the departure of the osario that morning. I suspect that ully had returned to Kusaie days efore, never dreaming that Com lander Dupuis with his 145 officers nd men would hang around Kusaie :>r 12 days after the bird they had ome to investigate had flown. On le remote southwestern coast of tusaie, practically uninhabited at that me, there were many places well :reened by the mangroves, some dth long navigable channels even at 3W tide, where Bully could have idden his boat. There he could have otten food from his followers at Jtwe as well as the information that tie Rosario was leaving on the aorning of October 9.

As soon as the Rosario left, Bully ppeared. Dupuis was gone, but Bully new that the Rev. Benjamin Snow /as still on hand to greet him. Even hough nothing very substantial had urned up during the investigation, ►now had plenty of reason for dis iking Bully. Three years before, for ixample, in a conversation with Snow n Kusaie, Bully told him that he lad just persuaded the King of

ingelap to enter into a written agree lent with him not to allow any mis ionaries to land at Pingelap for 10 ears. Bully said he did not want lem interfering with his trading in il there. As if that was not enough 3 raise Snow’s hackles, Bully went n to declare that he did not believe lere was a single Christian in all the D-called converts in the North and outh Seas.

Snow was a formidable adversary s whaling captains and crewmen had iscovered over the years. Bully hrewdly decided that the quickest /ay to disarm him was to return as penitent sinner, and he went into ction the moment he hit the beach.

Ie came ashore a praying man, with dramatic tale of running into terrible quails which he and his companion »nly survived because God answered lully’s prayers.

Bully was the answer to any mis ionary’s prayer. He prayed twice a lay, and at breakfast at Snow’s house le said grace. He even stopped wearing or at least had his men eport to Snow that he had. And vhen Captain Jos. Slocum arrived, Jully would not accept money for he load of bananas he provided. He isked for and got Slocum’s Bible, explaining that he had used his Bible >o much, he had worn it out.

He gulled Snow as thoroughly as le was to gull the Bishop, the Gov ernor and the whole establishment at Manila with a similar performance less ;han two years later. In both camps Bully’s deportment was flawless. He wore his Bible out in Congregationa list Kusaie, and in the streets of Catholic Manila he was at the head

of the religious procession carrying

the tallest candle.

Slocum described Bully as a “con vert” when he visited him at Utwe.

Hayes told him that the bones of the Leonora lay yonder, and that he wanted a new ship and was looking for some way to get to Samoa where he thought he could find one. In order to leave Kusaie his plan at that time was to borrow the king’s dug out which weighed 10 or 15 tons.

Bully said grace aboard Slocum’s ship, and while they were eating a note arrived from Snow which referred to Bully as “dear brother”.

Slocum’s account which appeared in the March 1906 issue of Outing has never been believed by writers who noticed it. He incorrectly gave the date as 1873 and none of the incidents he described appeared to be possible regarding Bully. Besides, everyone was sure that when Bully left Kusaie

fiat night in September, he was picked up by the Arctic and landed in Guam. But Slocum’s statements ring true. Bully was in Kusaie and he was on “dear brother” terms with Snow. In his note asking Bully to come (to settle a row between a white beachcomber and his native wife) to “my village”, Snow used this expression because he was staying at Lele and Bully was at Utwe 10 miles away.

Bully was still in Kusaie on Nov ember 6 when Snow wrote a report concerning the deposition of the Tokushaw, Nesalik 11, and the elec tion of his successor in the church on November 2, which was published in the Missionary Herald, Vol. 71, 1875. In it he stated, “Captain Hayes was present when the votes were taken”. Although it does not appear in the published part of his report, when they came out of the church, Snow confided to Bully that it had been a bloodless revolution and one in which he truly greatly rejoiced in.

Bully was also still there in December when the mission ship, the Morning Star, returned, probably to take Snow back to the Marshall Islands. A missionary aboard the ship in a letter, dated December 22, wrote that they “reached Strong’s Island (Kusaie) Friday night” and spent it ashore with Snow. They found the mission’s work prospering, and Bully “professedly a changed man, a pray ing man”.

When Bully subsequently got out of Kusaie is not known, but as soon as he did, he stopped what for him was rather bizarre behaviour. As Snow put it, as soon as he got to Ponape he cast off all pretence of piety.

Snow probably learned about this from his missionary colleagues stationed in Ponape.

James L. Lewis.

New York.

Information On Moresby

Sir, —I am doing research on life in Port Moresby in the twenties and thirties and wonder if any of your readers who lived there at the time might be able to help me.

I would like to hear from any one who could give me any informa tion on the events leading to the passage of the White Women’s Protection Ordinance, 1926, and on the two cases (one in 1930, the other in 1934) which caused such a sensa tion at the time.

Mrs. Amirah Inglis.

28 Nardoo Cres., O’Connor, A.C.T., 2601.