Description Rev John William McKenzie

Pango Efat

May 23rd 1874

My Dear Brother Sandie

I have just finished my tean and I am now going to write you a long lettr. I don't think you have written me very often since I left home. How I want you to write me a long lettr in answer to this one so that I may see your penmanship and also know how you are growing good as well as big and that you are very obedient to father and mother if I thought you were not it would not be much pleasure to me to write you or to hear from you.

But before lecturing you any more I must let you know we are getting along. Our home is at Erakor a village about three miles distant from this one.  I walked over and cam alone. Somtimes I take a boat and bring Amanda and Jessie

and that is very pleasant but when I am all alone it is not so pleasant. Well I am alone this evening and I have just finished my tea I told you. I dare say you would like to know I had for tea. Well I had bread and butter, tea, cheese and a roasted yam. Cheese is quite a treat for me. I don't have it very often. It only keeps for a short time in this climate, so we only get a small one and as we only received our supplies from Sydney about a fortnight ago, our cheese is quite good yet. Butter keeps for a long time, because we get it put up and preserved in small tins each tin contains two lbs. Now let me tell you about the roasted yam. The chief of this village brought it to me. His name is Lor. He is very kind to us and occasionally we

give him a present. The yam was a small one, only about nine or ten inches long and not quite as thick as my arm. I don't like the large ones. They are not so dry and they cannot roast them. On some of the Islands yams grow four or five feet long. — I must now tell you something about the natives. Although the natives of this village and Erakor are normally christian, yet they don't wear much clothing during the week excpet in the mornings when they are at school and on Sabbath day when they come to meeting and to Sabbath School they wear clothing, but it is very disgusting to see them going off to their plantations with no clothing on except a (nafon) piece of calico tied round the middle of their body. We are now beginning to tell them

that it is wrong for them to go that way and we are glad to see that some of them are beginning to wear clothes all the time. They sleep on the ground with nothing under them but the plaided leaf a coconut tree and a mat made from the leaf of the papyrus spread over them. Every evening the men drink the "cava". The women don't drink it, but when we came here some of them made it for the men. The cava bush is about the size of a currant bush and has very large leaves.  It is only the root that they use. They bite off a piece and chew away at it until their mouths get quite full and then they spit it out into a dish and when they get enough made they drain it to take out the wood and then drink it. Some of them drink about a pint of it and become quite drunk. 

I remain your affect. Brother, John