Anthropological Approach to Vulnerability and Major Hazards - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 273

The Ambrymais were delighted by the arrival of the newcomers.
But they became progressively disenchanted when they saw what the
converts became following religious conversion or education. The loss
of ancestral traditions and the progressive obsolescence of traditional
customs worried them to the highest degree. Trees were felled and the
sacred fires were violated. The Ancients were angry, they saw the
rules of community life eroded as the Presbyterian school filled with
more and more recruits. Harold Temar recounts - and this is a version
that is the consensus today among the Ambrymais population:

The pupils left for anywhere and broke the laws of our
customs. The Elders said: Christianity has arrived and we
are going to lose our customs! They said to themselves
that they would all lose their customs. [HOS 07]

The conversion enterprise experienced, indeed, a high point at the
beginning of 1913. The reports of the doctors from the hospital also
make mention of an important growth in the rythm of the mission. The
process of acculturation accelerated, but this did not arise from
community decision-making. According to the accounts of many
Ambrymais (including Harold), it was a large assembly organized by
Doctor Bowie that would unite all the locals, pushing the elders and
other members of the population to react:

This happened on 28th November 1913. On this day, the
missionnaries made an enoumous meal. All the main
chiefs were there, the Mél, the Naim Meleun, those who
had abandoned the sacred fire and become Cristians. [ … ]

Every one together. When the Big Men of the bush
received the news, they said: “no, this school has arrived
and is affecting our customs, it will make lose our
customs”. [HOS 07]

They then decided to face the situation and choose one of the
strategies at their disposal: calling on the volcano. It was the Lin Mal ,
the sorceror possessing a hereditary power of speaking to the volcano,
who alone could do it. They made an appeal to him, and he said to
them: