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**List: Aneityum Ministry the Bible ( the
Bible )
ANEITEUM.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: n.d. Luke 1:1-14 unknown.] |
Aneityum Bible History (3)
**List: Aneityum Ministry
the Bible ( the Bible )
Aneityum...
ANEITEUM. "ANEITEUM is one of the languages belonging to the further Polynesian group, and is a branch of the
Papuan tongue. The island of Aneiteum, in which it is vernacular, is the most southward of the New
Hebrides, a chain of volcanic islands which stretch in the direction of north and south, through four
hundred miles of ocean, between the parallels of 14° and 21° south latitude. All the islands of the
New Hebrides chain are mountainous, and several of them contain active volcanoes. Their soil is in
general exuberantly fertile. They abound in sandal-wood, in which an extensive traffic is carried on
by the merchants of Sydney, for the supply of the Chinese market. The island of Aneiteum is the
most frequently visited of the number. The other islands of the chain are Tana, Erromango, Vaté
(or Sandwich Island), Api, Malicolo, and Espiritu Santo, the last mentioned being superior to any of
the others in magnitude. Aneiteum is thirty miles in circuit, and contains, according to a census taken
by the mies., 3,800 inhabitants.
The natives of the New Hebrides come under the designation of "Negrillos," used by ethnologists
to distinguish them from the Feejeeans and other members of the Polynesian-Negro family. But
though all the islanders of the New Hebrides group possess many features in common--amongst them
the black skin, crisp hair, and the practice of cannibalism--yet there are striking points of difference,
which closer investigation than they have hitherto received will probably develope more fully, between
the inhabitants of different members of the archipelago. The men of Vaté (or Sandwich Island) are
little inferior in stature, strength, and intelligence to the Feejeans, while those of Erromango, Tana,
and Aneiteum, although differing considerably from each other, appear to belong to a less robust and
less advanced people.The efforts made to diffuse a knowledge of the revealed Word among the benighted population
- -The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition) Samuel Bagster [Info only]
of Aneiteum are of recent date, and are due to the Christian enterprise of the Rev. J. Inglis, and the
Rev. J. Geddie, two mies. of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Scotland, who have been
stationed on the island since 1853. The first entire book of Scripture printed in Aneiteum was the
Gospel of St. Mark, an edition of which (3,000 copies) was printed at Sydney in 1854, the expense
being defrayed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. A small primer, containing a few pages of
Scripture extracts, was printed at the mission-press on the island during the following year. An edition
of 4,000 copies of the Gospel of St. Luke, in the language of Aneiteum, has since (1857) been printed
in London by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and forwarded to the island for distribution.
The efforts of Mr. Inglis and his coadjutors have been attended with the happiest results. Of
the total population of 3,800 (writes Mr. Inglis, in 1856), "2,400 have renounced idolatry and placed
themselves under Christian instruction. From 800 to 900 are reading the Gospel of St. Mark, having
previously mastered a small primer and catechism. A few of the natives have committed to memory
the whole of St. Mark's Gospel, and a greater number large portions of it. The number of natives
admitted to church membership is about ninety. The effects of Scripture truth upon the minds of the
natives are becoming daily more and more visible in the happy change of character and conduct
which is taking place over the whole island. Native teachers from this island have also been located
on the adjoining islands of Futuna and Tana.
"The superstitions, abominations, and cruelties of heathenism--as idolatry, war, cannibalism, stran-
gulation of widows, infanticide, feasting and lascivious dances--are either past or rapidly passing away;
and the peace, purity, and happiness of Christianity are fast occupying their place. For a considerable
time peace has been established, and a free intercourse opened up over the whole island--a state of
things unknown within the memory of man.
"The tone of moral feeling is fast rising among the Christian natives. Lying, stealing, quarrelling,
conjugal infidelity, and other immoralities, are no longer looked upon as mere venial offences. The Ten
Commandments are now recognised as the standard of right and wrong, and moral character is tested
by that holy and unerring rule of action."
Subsequently, we learn that both the translation and printing of other portions of Scripture into
Aneiteum are in progress. The two remaining Gospels, the Acts, and some other detached portions
(including the book of Jonah and part of Revelation) have been completed, and some progress made
with the Book of Genesis. The mission-press on the island is at work upon these as rapidly as its
limited capabilities will allow, and the mission, under God's blessing, is steadily advancing. A church
has been formed at each of the two principal stations on the island."ANEITEUM.--1860 S. Bagster [Info only: n.d. Luke 1:1-14 unknown.]
[Christian Helps Ministry (USA)] [Christian Home Bible Course]