CHAPTER XV.

THE FIJI ISLANDS.

First mission to Lakemba-Discomforts-Experiences at Mbau, Rewa, and Viwa-Mission established at Somosomo-Scenes of horror-Removal of the missionaries-Light dawning upon Ono-Failure of the Lakemban expedition against Ono-Mr Watsford's labours and vexations-Mrs Hazlewood's perilous position-Romish priests.

It was not until the year 1835 that any attempt was made to form a missionary settlement in the Fiji Archipelago. The Windward Islanders had by that time been in some measure prepared for the reception of divine truths by their constant intercourse with the Friendly Islands. Not a few of the Tongans who were in the habit of repairing to Lakemba were Christian converts, and sufficiently in earnest to desire that others also should receive the good tidings which had reached themselves. A certain degree of curiosity, and even of interest, touching the characteristics of the "new religion," had thus been excited among the inhabitants of the eastern islands, and the way prepared for the friendly reception of the pale-faced foreigners, who arrived off Lakemba on the 12th October 1835.

The first missionaries who ventured upon this perilous undertaking were two Wesleyan ministers, the Rev. William Cross and the Rev. David Cargill, A.M., who sailed from Vavau with a warm letter of recommendation

from King George of Tonga. The Lakemba chief at once promised protection from insult and outrage, granted them a piece of land for the erection of suitable premises, and placed at their disposal, in the meantime, one of his own largest dwelling-houses. The last offer they declined, because of the apparent unhealthiness of the town, but accepted the temporary use of a canoe-shed by the seaside.

In three days the mission-house was erected by the zealous co-operation of the natives; and on the fourth day the missionaries took possession, and set about arranging their furniture, and fixing the doors and windows. It is almost superfluous to remark that the original buildings were exceeding slight, and only intended as a makeshift, until the king fulfilled his promise to provide them with a permanent and substantial residence.

An opportune hurricane, that laid their temporary home level with the ground, brought about the tardy execution of this engagement; and a meeting-house was at the same time constructed, chiefly with the materials of the prostrate posts and pillars. The work of the carpenter, joiner, and smith devolved upon the missionaries themselves, who had to labour with their own hands, as well as superintend the rude collaboration of their Tongan wellwishers, for the Fijians themselves afforded but little aid or encouragement. Indeed, considerable vigilance was necessary to check the predatory propensities of the latter, who never scrupled to appropriate whatever they could purloin without detection. The acquisition of the dialect chiefly spoken in the Leeward group also demanded unflagging application, and, altogether, the newly-arrived missionaries found their time very sufficiently occupied.

Stores Exhausted.

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Nor were their zeal and industry doomed to bear no fruit. Within six months after their disembarkation they had a regular congregation of two hundred persons, and well-attended classes for pupils of all ages. The majority of the converts were Tongans, but with a fair sprinkling of Fijians. A still greater number grew dissatisfied with idolatry and its attendant burdens, and refused to work on the seventh day, or to offer the first-fruits of their gardens to the principal god of the island. The priests now began to perceive that their own craft would be endangered, if the strangers were permitted to prosecute their proselytising labours without interruption. All sorts of terrible threats were accordingly spread abroad, and the fierce anger of the gods was denounced against all who should adopt the new mode of worship. In two small towns, moreover, the houses of the converts were plundered, their crops destroyed, and their wives carried off and brought to the king. The meekness displayed by the sufferers is said to have produced an extraordinary effect upon their tormentors, while the beneficence and intelligence of the new-comers contrasted favourably with the ignorance, selfishness, and false promises of their own priests.

But while their spiritual labours were thus prosperous, the missionaries themselves were soon reduced to very straitened circumstances. The supply of articles for barter which had been landed for their use was soon exhausted, the Fijians exacting full remuneration for the smallest services. The awkwardness of native servants, too, proved in the long-run scarcely less destructive than the terrible hurricanes which so frequently rage amid those islands. Then the flour turned musty and unwholesome, and only at long intervals could trading captains be

induced to incur the danger of shipwreck among maneating savages. Fortunately the Fijians did not affect the flesh of white men, pronouncing it too salt, though in the absence of black meat they would occasionally devour a European. Stores, indeed, were sent to Tonga, but there they remained to spoil, while the distress of the mission families was aggravated by a protracted period of scarcity with which Lakemba was just then visited. "Pigs," says Mr Calvert, "were tabu for two successive years; and, as yet, the missionaries had not begun to feed their own pork. Even fish and crabs became rare. The articles of barter were all gone. Prints and calicoes, sorely wanted for family use, were parted with to obtain food, or for the payment of wages. Trunks, wearing apparel, and everything else available, were thus disposed of. Mere conveniences, such as cooking utensils or crockery-ware had disappeared, so that Mr Cargill had only one tea-cup left, and that had lost its handle."

At last, in August 1838, H.M.S. Conway, commanded by Captain Bethune, brought sundry stores that had been lying at Vavau for many months, and the half-starved and half-clad missionaries once more took heart, and, in spite of sickness and sorrow, resolved to remain loyally at the post of duty. Not the least of their tribulations was the long delay in hearing from home, letters being often eighteen months old before they came to hand.

Nothing disheartened, Mr Cross, though in ill-health, decided upon extending the sphere of the Wesleyan mission to the Leeward groups likewise, and accordingly removed with his family and household goods to Mbau,, adjacent to, and almost connected with, Na Viti Levu, or Great Fiji. At the moment of his landing, two human

A Missionary's Afflictions.

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bodies were being baked to celebrate the restoration of the old king, Tanoa, who, having been driven into exile by his long-oppressed subjects, had just been brought back through the craft and subtlety of his youthful son Seru, surnamed Thakombau. Tanoa was civil, and even friendly, to the missionary; but the place was so crowded and unsettled, that the latter judged it more expedient to accept the invitation of the King of Rewa, a town on the larger island, who not only offered a house and land for his use, but declared that his subjects were free to become Christians whenever they pleased.

For a while Mr Cross had reason to rejoice over the step he had taken, until he was seized with an intermittent fever, succeeded by cholera, followed by typhus fever. For six weeks he lay ill in the one low, damp room that constituted the entire dwelling-place of his family. Happily, his sufferings came to the knowledge of Mr David Whippy, an American settler, who did all that lay in his power to alleviate this sore affliction. On his recovery, the king built him a substantial house, and the people soon began to flock around the stranger and listen to his teaching. An attempt, indeed, was made to set fire to his house, and big stones were occasionally thrown at him; but the king did his utmost to protect his guest, and exhibited strong displeasure whenever he was molested.

Towards the close of 1838, Mr Cross was requested by the chief of Viwa, a neighbouring islet, to send him a teacher, as he was desirous of embracing the lotu. This chief, Namosimalua, had been distinguished, even among the Fijians, for his fierce, sanguinary disposition; but the destruction of his town by the French, as a reprisal for his massacre of the captain and nearly all the crew of the