Anthropological Approach to Vulnerability and Major Hazards - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 272

On 12 December, while the main volcanic activity had stopped on
the 10th, he again took time to write. He recounted his flight, having
crossed boiling waters to reach the cliffs:

There was no safe place. My boys and I could do more
from tiredness. We had been made up by groups of
natives from the bush fleeing in all directions, naked and
mad with terror. The seashore was covered with a foot of
ash, mixed with dead and boiled fish, with tortoises, birds
with burned plumage, and others rejoining paths of flight.
[FLE 89, p. 91]

To summarize, for the settlers, missions of religious conversion
and medical hygiene form part of a civilizing step toward education
and the saving of “dusty” peoples. When the volcanic eruption began,
while the indigenous peoples fled to all parts, they were staggered by
the “spectacle” of sublime scenes “magnicent, all inspiring awe”. On a
second occasion, but only when the lava and ash were at their feet,
were they horrifed. They then experienced and described the eruption
as catastrophic. Remember these two occasions: a metaphorical
blindness resulting from amazement followed by catastrophe, and this
double perception, the positivity of the conversion enterprise and the
radical negativity of the volcanic eruption.

7.3.2. The native point of view

It was an internal conflict that, in the words of the Ambrymais,
caused the arrival of the settlers. Disputes between families had
undermined social relations for several years, and the settlers were
welcomed in this context in the hope that they could play the role of
intercessors. Harold Temar recounts this as follows:

Before, in the time when the elders were present, there
was a conflict; there were disputes between.

therefore invited the missionnaries so that they could
restore peace. [HOS 07]

[ The elders ]