John G. Paton's thrilling autobiography relates a life spent as a missionary among the cannibal peoples of the South Sea Islands, and the education and development he helped bring to those remote isles. Born in Scotland to a religious family of rural Dumfriesshire, Paton was seemingly destined to live a life amid his traditional culture. However, as a studious young man Paton felt a calling from God and visited the city of Glasgow. He became versed in both theology and medicine and, in 1858 mere weeks after being ordained as a Presbyterian priest, Paton and his first wife Mary Ann Robson set sail for the South Sea Islands. Christened the New Hebribes, the isles which the missionary Paton settled upon are today part of the nation of Vanuatu. On arrival in early 1859, the primitive conditions of the natives - the fact they were generally naked, lived in simple huts, and would occasionally practice cannibalism - was a shock to Paton and his young wife.