Beschreibung:

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS
TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS Series of approximately 52 letters (32 typed, 20 autograph) by Eliza and the Reverend J. Tait Scott (all but 8 by Eliza) to Eliza's parents, Mr and Mrs Mitchell, Murray Island, Thursday Island and Darnley Island in the Torres Strait, six from Cookstown (Queensland), a few from other places, 27 July 1880 - 5 September 1882 (occasional splitting, creasing and soiling) tipped into an album, folio (binding split); Eliza's autograph journal for 9 April - 12 May [1882], including two drawings, 33 pages, 4to , in three gatherings loosely inserted or tipped in; painting on board of a tropical house loosely inserted, with some related letters; [ with ] Eliza Scott's typed and autograph journal, Murray Island, 15 October 1880 - 24 February 1881, including 20 watercolours and 25 drawings depicting local flora and fauna (fish, insects, lizards, snakes), the islanders, their dress and implements (including boats, a comb and a drum), as well as houses and landscapes, a further journal of the 'Cruise of the "Jessamine", 28 February - 24 May 1881, loosely inserted, together 63 leaves, 4to , paper wrappers (worn); and a photograph album, comprising approximately 36 carte-de-visite portraits, of Eliza and Tait Scott and other family members, [Scotland and Lymington, 1870s-1890s]. Letters and journals of missionaries to the Torres Strait Islands. The newlywed Scotts reach Murray Island from Scotland in early October 1880, Eliza declaring it 'the most beautiful place I have ever seen, by a long way', and are struck by the generous welcome of the islanders, who present them with yams, bananas and sweet potatoes. Initially their intention is to proceed to New Guinea, but ultimately the Scotts remain in the Torres Strait, moving from Murray to Darnley Island in October 1881, after a stay on the mainland at Cookstown during June to August while Tait recovers from a serious bout of 'dystentery of the liver' (probably malaria). Eliza's letters and journal (and the illustrations to the latter) show her enchantment with the beauty of the local flora and fauna (though their interest is not always benign, as when 'we saw a big bird with blue feathers pass, so Tait got his gun and shot it right through the head'); the letters are attentive to the behaviour and customs of the islanders, including their dances and music, and aspects of health and lifestyle ('lots of the natives just sleep on the sand, it is frightfully bad for them, gives them a disease they call Murray Island disease'); the dangerous impact of alcohol is noted, and the reckless and sometimes dangerous behaviour of European visitors ('On Friday last Bruce and Pitt got quite drunk and Bruce took off all his clothes and joined the natives in one of their abominable dances'), while the Taits also notice their not always rapid progress with arithmetic and the elements of Christianity (the journal notes a brief retelling of the parable of the prodigal son in the Murray Island dialect). The islanders' mourning customs are attentively observed, in particular after an outbreak of illness brought from the mainland which kills three of the six infants on the island ('We were awakened in the morning by the death cry very near our house ... The father and mother were sitting in the centre of the grass house with the dead child on their knees'), though Eliza notes the swift collective return to cheerful normality after the grieving rituals. The journal is enlivened by the birth of the Scotts' son, Baxter, in November 1881, 'the first white baby that has ever been seen here'; but the idyll is shattered by the baby's sudden death on 13 July 1882, the subject of a moving letter by Tait, who resentfully notes the apparent indifference of the islanders, 'when baby was dying they came on the verandah & laughed -- the girls who had nursed him almost every day'; and the Scotts take the immediate decision to resign the mission and return to Britain. The Reverend J. Tait Scott (1854-1894) p