cowrie shells and birds’ feathers. Breaking into their midst, Papeiha boldly
addressed them on their folly in devoting such large quantities of food to a log of
wood which they had carved and decorated and called a god. This challenge was
immediately accepted by one of the priests, who springing to his feet, protested
that their god was a real god, and a very powerful god, and that they were that
day celebrating a very sacred feast.
Papeiha replied that the day was at hand when their folly would be revealed to
them by the true GOD JEHOVAH, who would make their so-called gods “fuel for
the fire.” This strong declaration greatly perplexed the crowd, but they continued
to listen attentively while Papeiha commented on the love of GOD in giving HIS
SON to die for sinners. After he had ceased, the people asked him many
questions; among others,—“Where does your GOD live?” He answered, that
Heaven was His dwelling-place, but that both Heaven and Earth were filled with
the majesty of His presence. They rejoined, in their inability to conceive of an
Invisible but Omnipresent Deity;—“We cannot see Him, but ours are here before
our eyes, and, if the earth was full of your GOD, He would surely be big enough
to be seen.” “And,” said another, “why do we not run against Him?” To which
Papeiha ingeniously responded:—“That the earth was full of air, but we did not
run against it: that we were surrounded by light, but it did not impede our
progress.”
Five months later, a priest came to Papeiha and his associate missionary Tiberio,
announcing his resolve to burn his idols; and he brought with him his eldest son,
a boy of ten years old, to place under their care, lest the gods in their wrath
should destroy him. Evidently, in spite of his iconoclastic purpose, the priest still
cherished a belief in the power of his wooden deities. Leaving the child with the
two teachers, he returned home, and next day at early dawn returned, staggering
under the weight of his cumbrous idol. A crowd followed him, shouting at him
as a madman, and looking upon him as one pre-doomed to destruction by his
own folly; but he held fast to his resolve to embrace the word of JEHOVAH, and
declared that he had no fear of the issue. He threw his idol at the feet of the
teachers, one of whom fetched his saw to cut it up; but the crowd, as soon as
they saw the instrument applied to the head of the god, were stricken with panic
fear, and fled away. As no catastrophe occurred, they gradually returned
impelled by curiosity, which is sometimes stronger than fear; and in their
presence, amidst profound excitement, the first rejected idol of Rarotonga was
committed to the flames.
To convince the people of the absurdity of their apprehensions, the teachers, as