The Reverend George Brown: His Bismarck Island Butterflies
Dec 12, 2015 8:57:58 GMT
wollastoni, deliasfanatic, and 6 more like this
Post by nomad on Dec 12, 2015 8:57:58 GMT
The Reverend George Brown: His Bismarck Island Butterflies.
While I was studying the Delias collection in the Hope Department of Entomology at Oxford, I came across two male specimens of Delias lytaea ( Godman and Salvin 1878) in poor condition. Delias lytaea is a rare butterfly that occurs in New Britain of the Bismarck Islands and it is rarely seen in collections. A recent collecting expedition to New Britain failed to locate any specimens of D. lytaea.
Examining the data labels on the Oxford specimens of D. lytaea, I found that they were caught by a G. Brown in New Britain. I began to wonder who G. Brown was, who had caught these obviously old Delias specimens . My investigation revealed a fascinating man who discovered a wealth of new butterflies and beetles in the then almost unknown Bismarck Islands. The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of Islands off the north-eastern coast of New Guinea. The two main large islands are New Britain and New Ireland. Both New Britain and New Ireland has coastal lowland rainforest and rugged mountain chains that are clothed in montane forest. Before I discuss the butterflies that the Reverend George Brown captured in the Bismarck Islands, I will give some brief details about the collector himself and his visit to that Archipelago.
Specimen of D. lytaea caught by George Brown in New Britain 1875 to 1876.
George Brown (1835-1917) was born in Barnard Castle in County Durham in Northern England. In 1855 he emigrated to New Zealand where he married. He was ordained and became a Methodist missionary in Samoa. In late 1875, the Reverend Brown left Samoa with the mission ship the ' John Wesley ', on a voyage to the Bismarck Islands. When the ship arrived in the Bismarck Islands, the Reverend Brown and company, found that the natives were fierce warriors and cannibals, who were in a constant state of warfare .
The mission ship first visited Port Hunter (now Balanawang harbour), Duke of York Island. The Duke of York Islands are situated in St George's Channel between the northern coast of New Britain and the south-west coast of New Ireland. A week after arriving at Port Hunter, the mission ship set sail for the Gazelle peninsula of eastern New Britain, making landfall at Blance Bay. From there Brown and others visited Nodup further along the New Britain coast and Matupit Island using the ship's steam launch. Such was the appearance of the war like natives and the obvious signs of cannibalism in the villages, the only members of the ship's party that were willing to stay in these islands were the Reverend Brown, his Fijian and Samoan native missionary teachers, a natural history collector, the young Australian James Cockerell and an old sailor called Jack, who would operate the steam launch. One of the naturalists who refused to stay, sold his photographic equipment to Reverend Brown, thus we have his photographic record of his sojourn in these Islands.
The Reverend George Brown in 1875.
Returning to the Duke of York Island, the Reverend Brown and his party built a mission house at Kinawanua above Port Hunter. The John Wesley sailed back to New Zealand in September 1875 and did not return to Port Hunter until a year later. Using the steam launch Brown and Cockerell visited the northern coast of New Britain and the western coast of New Ireland. The Reverend Brown was visiting villages to assess them, to see if they were suitable for his missionary teachers. Whenever he had the opportunity he would collect natural history specimens. During 1876, the Reverend Brown and his party left Kalil on the West Coast of New Ireland on an expedition to cross the island. Their arduous journey involved climbing over the central mountain range and making unpredictable first contact with tribesmen. Arriving at a village on the east coast they returned to Kalil by the same route. The Reverend Brown and Cockerell were able to make natural history collections along the way.
Reverend Brown sent his Bismarck Island insect specimens to the wealthy British collectors, Frederick Godman and Osbert Salvin, who then described any new species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. After the mission ship, the John Wesley returned, Brown and Cockerell accompanied it back to Australia and New Zealand.
There had been some dangerous times for Brown and his party not least on the Duke of York Island. The Reverend was fearless even when faced with perhaps a violent death and was without doubt a very brave man. The chief of one of the villages of Duke of York Island called Waruwarum, had attacked and nearly killed his favourite wife for talking to another man. The Reverend was able to rescue her at grave risk to himself and took the unfortunate badly injured women to his mission house. The angry chief arrived at the mission house with a large party armed with spears. The chief demanded that the Reverend Brown hand over his wife, as he wanted to kill her and give her body to his village allies for a feast , threatening to set fire to the mission hut . The Reverend refused to give into the chief's demands and the outcome looked bleak for the Reverend and his Fijians teachers . The Reverend Brown went outside to parley with the chief, after heated negotiation, he managed to save the life of the ill fated woman and probably also that of his and those of his teachers. The Reverend was able to pacify the chief by presenting him with a brand new steel axe.
The mission house at Kinawanua, Duke of York Island, photograph from the Reverend George Brown collection.
In 1877, Brown returned with his wife to his mission above Port hunter. Brown had instilled Fijian christian teachers on the opposite coasts of New Britain and New Ireland. During 1878, word was bought to Reverend Brown that his newly arrived Fijian Reverend, two teachers and a helper had been murdered and eaten by the Tolai tribesmen at Blanche Bay on the opposite coast of New Britain. The Reverend was told that his teachers were killed for no other reason than to provide a feast for the village and to steal their few worldly goods. The Tolai chief had told his people that if the Reverend Brown would pay him a visit he would eat him too and made threats against all those at Kinawanua. The angry Reverend decided on a punitive action, he together with a few white traders, his Fijian and Samoan men would bring down the wrath of God on the responsible natives. The Tolai Village of the natives who carried out the murders was burnt by Brown's party and some of its inhabitants killed. When the news of this punitive action became known, it caused uproar in the Australian press. One reporter wrote
" If a missionary enterprise in such an island as this leads to wars of vengeance, which may readily develop into wars of extermination, the question may be raised whether it may not be better to withdraw the Mission from savages who show little appreciation of its benefits"
See
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1560483/Cannibal-tribe-apologises-for-eating-Methodists.html
The Reverend Brown was later exonerated by a court of enquiry. In his defence the Reverend Brown said that unless there was a reprisal against those who perpetrated in the murders, he would have put those of his small community at grave risk and those of his other Fijian missionary teachers that he had left in other villages. Later seriously ill with malaria and elephantiasis, the Reverend Brown returned to Sidney in 1878. Recovering, the Reverend Brown returned a year later to his mission at Kinawanua. Arriving he found that illness had swept through the village, his wife Lydia who had stayed behind was thin and weak from disease. Tragically, the Reverend found that his two youngest children had succumbed to the illness . The Reverend Brown later accompanied a British man of war to western New Britain and northern New Ireland. The Reverend left his mission at Kinawanua in 1880 for Sidney where his remaining five older children were living with friends. The Reverend Brown's missionary work also included visiting the Solomon Islands and New Guinea and its Islands.
New Britain Village Dance. From the Reverend George Brown collection.
The Reverend George Brown declined an offer by his friend Robert Louis Stevenson to write his biography, he instead wrote it himself: George Brown D.D. Pioneer missionary and explorer. See
archive.org/stream/georgebrownddpio00browiala#page/n5/mode/2up
Next . The Reverend George Brown: His Bismarck Island Butterflies Part Two. A look at the special butterflies that the Reverend collected.
While I was studying the Delias collection in the Hope Department of Entomology at Oxford, I came across two male specimens of Delias lytaea ( Godman and Salvin 1878) in poor condition. Delias lytaea is a rare butterfly that occurs in New Britain of the Bismarck Islands and it is rarely seen in collections. A recent collecting expedition to New Britain failed to locate any specimens of D. lytaea.
Examining the data labels on the Oxford specimens of D. lytaea, I found that they were caught by a G. Brown in New Britain. I began to wonder who G. Brown was, who had caught these obviously old Delias specimens . My investigation revealed a fascinating man who discovered a wealth of new butterflies and beetles in the then almost unknown Bismarck Islands. The Bismarck Archipelago is a group of Islands off the north-eastern coast of New Guinea. The two main large islands are New Britain and New Ireland. Both New Britain and New Ireland has coastal lowland rainforest and rugged mountain chains that are clothed in montane forest. Before I discuss the butterflies that the Reverend George Brown captured in the Bismarck Islands, I will give some brief details about the collector himself and his visit to that Archipelago.
Specimen of D. lytaea caught by George Brown in New Britain 1875 to 1876.
George Brown (1835-1917) was born in Barnard Castle in County Durham in Northern England. In 1855 he emigrated to New Zealand where he married. He was ordained and became a Methodist missionary in Samoa. In late 1875, the Reverend Brown left Samoa with the mission ship the ' John Wesley ', on a voyage to the Bismarck Islands. When the ship arrived in the Bismarck Islands, the Reverend Brown and company, found that the natives were fierce warriors and cannibals, who were in a constant state of warfare .
The mission ship first visited Port Hunter (now Balanawang harbour), Duke of York Island. The Duke of York Islands are situated in St George's Channel between the northern coast of New Britain and the south-west coast of New Ireland. A week after arriving at Port Hunter, the mission ship set sail for the Gazelle peninsula of eastern New Britain, making landfall at Blance Bay. From there Brown and others visited Nodup further along the New Britain coast and Matupit Island using the ship's steam launch. Such was the appearance of the war like natives and the obvious signs of cannibalism in the villages, the only members of the ship's party that were willing to stay in these islands were the Reverend Brown, his Fijian and Samoan native missionary teachers, a natural history collector, the young Australian James Cockerell and an old sailor called Jack, who would operate the steam launch. One of the naturalists who refused to stay, sold his photographic equipment to Reverend Brown, thus we have his photographic record of his sojourn in these Islands.
The Reverend George Brown in 1875.
Returning to the Duke of York Island, the Reverend Brown and his party built a mission house at Kinawanua above Port Hunter. The John Wesley sailed back to New Zealand in September 1875 and did not return to Port Hunter until a year later. Using the steam launch Brown and Cockerell visited the northern coast of New Britain and the western coast of New Ireland. The Reverend Brown was visiting villages to assess them, to see if they were suitable for his missionary teachers. Whenever he had the opportunity he would collect natural history specimens. During 1876, the Reverend Brown and his party left Kalil on the West Coast of New Ireland on an expedition to cross the island. Their arduous journey involved climbing over the central mountain range and making unpredictable first contact with tribesmen. Arriving at a village on the east coast they returned to Kalil by the same route. The Reverend Brown and Cockerell were able to make natural history collections along the way.
Reverend Brown sent his Bismarck Island insect specimens to the wealthy British collectors, Frederick Godman and Osbert Salvin, who then described any new species in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. After the mission ship, the John Wesley returned, Brown and Cockerell accompanied it back to Australia and New Zealand.
There had been some dangerous times for Brown and his party not least on the Duke of York Island. The Reverend was fearless even when faced with perhaps a violent death and was without doubt a very brave man. The chief of one of the villages of Duke of York Island called Waruwarum, had attacked and nearly killed his favourite wife for talking to another man. The Reverend was able to rescue her at grave risk to himself and took the unfortunate badly injured women to his mission house. The angry chief arrived at the mission house with a large party armed with spears. The chief demanded that the Reverend Brown hand over his wife, as he wanted to kill her and give her body to his village allies for a feast , threatening to set fire to the mission hut . The Reverend refused to give into the chief's demands and the outcome looked bleak for the Reverend and his Fijians teachers . The Reverend Brown went outside to parley with the chief, after heated negotiation, he managed to save the life of the ill fated woman and probably also that of his and those of his teachers. The Reverend was able to pacify the chief by presenting him with a brand new steel axe.
The mission house at Kinawanua, Duke of York Island, photograph from the Reverend George Brown collection.
In 1877, Brown returned with his wife to his mission above Port hunter. Brown had instilled Fijian christian teachers on the opposite coasts of New Britain and New Ireland. During 1878, word was bought to Reverend Brown that his newly arrived Fijian Reverend, two teachers and a helper had been murdered and eaten by the Tolai tribesmen at Blanche Bay on the opposite coast of New Britain. The Reverend was told that his teachers were killed for no other reason than to provide a feast for the village and to steal their few worldly goods. The Tolai chief had told his people that if the Reverend Brown would pay him a visit he would eat him too and made threats against all those at Kinawanua. The angry Reverend decided on a punitive action, he together with a few white traders, his Fijian and Samoan men would bring down the wrath of God on the responsible natives. The Tolai Village of the natives who carried out the murders was burnt by Brown's party and some of its inhabitants killed. When the news of this punitive action became known, it caused uproar in the Australian press. One reporter wrote
" If a missionary enterprise in such an island as this leads to wars of vengeance, which may readily develop into wars of extermination, the question may be raised whether it may not be better to withdraw the Mission from savages who show little appreciation of its benefits"
See
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1560483/Cannibal-tribe-apologises-for-eating-Methodists.html
The Reverend Brown was later exonerated by a court of enquiry. In his defence the Reverend Brown said that unless there was a reprisal against those who perpetrated in the murders, he would have put those of his small community at grave risk and those of his other Fijian missionary teachers that he had left in other villages. Later seriously ill with malaria and elephantiasis, the Reverend Brown returned to Sidney in 1878. Recovering, the Reverend Brown returned a year later to his mission at Kinawanua. Arriving he found that illness had swept through the village, his wife Lydia who had stayed behind was thin and weak from disease. Tragically, the Reverend found that his two youngest children had succumbed to the illness . The Reverend Brown later accompanied a British man of war to western New Britain and northern New Ireland. The Reverend left his mission at Kinawanua in 1880 for Sidney where his remaining five older children were living with friends. The Reverend Brown's missionary work also included visiting the Solomon Islands and New Guinea and its Islands.
New Britain Village Dance. From the Reverend George Brown collection.
The Reverend George Brown declined an offer by his friend Robert Louis Stevenson to write his biography, he instead wrote it himself: George Brown D.D. Pioneer missionary and explorer. See
archive.org/stream/georgebrownddpio00browiala#page/n5/mode/2up
Next . The Reverend George Brown: His Bismarck Island Butterflies Part Two. A look at the special butterflies that the Reverend collected.