Life and Adventures of James Chalmers, aka Tamate

This biography of James Chalmers [1841-1901], martyred missionary to Rarotonga and New Guinea, was written with young boys in mind. My thanks to Redcliffe College for providing a copy of the book for digitisation. This title is in the public domain.

Richard Lovett [1851-1904], Tamate. The Life and Adventures of a Christian Hero. London: The Religious tract Society, [1904]. Hbk. pp.320. [Click to download complete book in PDF]

Contents

• Preface

1. A Birth of a Boy
2. A Call and the Answer
3. In Perils of Waters
4. A Pirate the Pacific
5. The Gem of the Pacific
6. Off to New Guinea
7. On the Brink of Death
8. The Man with the Club
9. Life in the Tree-tops
10. A Cruel Revenge
11. A Noble Savage
12. Riding Pacific Surges
13. Life on a Lakatoi
14. Among the Cannibals of Maipua
15. How New Guinea Cam under the Flag
16. Boys whom Tamate Trained
17. Life at Toaripi
18. The Wreck of the ‘Harrier’
19. How Tamate made Friends with Savages
20. Up and down the Fly River
21. The End of a Noble Life

Preface

James Chalmers was as brave a man as ever fought in the British Army or Navy. He was as true a hero as any Englishman who has ever been honoured by the nation for victories won in the field or on the sea. The aim of this book is to tell the story of his life in such a way as to interest boys. The main purpose of the author has been to show that Tamate, whose great aim in life was to do good to others, was as bold, as courageous, and as worthy of imitation as any explorer, man of science, soldier, or statesman whose name is famous in British annals.

It is a good thing that young readers, and especially boys, should see that a true Christian man can also be a hero. Tamate loved and served Jesus Christ himself, and from love to Christ spent all his time and strength in making known the love of Jesus to degraded cannibals and fierce savages. In this work he often endured hardship, hunger, fever, shipwreck and weary toil, and on not a few occasions risked even life itself. [Continue reading]