James Chalmers of New Guinea. By Cuthbert Lennox. (A. Melrose.
2s. 61. net.)—James Chalmers, after going through some striking experiences in early manhood, offered himself for missionary work in his twenty-second year. A succession of accidents delayed the actual commencement of work, for it was not till May, 1867—nearly a year and a half after he first left England—that he settled down in his first sphere of action, Rarotonga. This island had been Christianised for half a-cen- tury, but its moral condition left much to be desired (though probably not so much as an average English town). Chalmers combated the evils which he saw rampant by persuasion, and even by force, sometimes spilling the contents of a cask which was to furnish the moans of a drunken orgy, and sometimes, if too late for this, intervening with effect in the free fight that followed. (He was a man of remarkable stature and strength.) But he had more important work than this to do. After ten years at Rarotonga he went to pioneer in New Uuiuea ; and here we have the story of a man as brave, and withal as broad-minded and prudent, as ever put his hand to the missionary plouge. We shall not attempt to abbreviate it; it must be read as it stands. No one who so reads it can doubt that Tarnati "—this was
James Chalmers's " native " name—may well be ranked with John Williams, Patteson, and Hannington.
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