Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/244

 214 FIJI AXD THE FIJIJlN'S. After the Avild and extravagant tales brought home by seamen about the islands of the South Seas became partly confirmed and partly cor- rected by the report of more intelligent and trustworthy voyagers, the thought of so much degradation and cruelty gave great grief to many good hearts in England ; but it was not till the year 1796 that any Missionaries were sent to the Friendly Islands. That disastrous expe- dition forms a dark and stormy morning to the brighter day of success which now shines over the Pacific. For nearly twenty years, too, did devoted men of God labour in Tahiti, ever sowing, tearfiilly sowing, but reaping nothing all that time. No wonder that, under such influences, the new missionary zeal at home flagged, and it seemed to some as though these disappointments proved that the time was not yet come for the conversion of those far- away tribes. But the heart of British Christianity had been deeply stirred with sympathy, and had fully awakened to a conviction that no power but that of the Gospel, no improvement short of actual conver- sion, could deliver the savage Heathen from the many evils with which they were cursed, or confer upon them the blessings of a genuine civil- ization. Any considerable outward reform, in the case of a nation as well as of an individual, Tvdthout an iimer regeneration, can only result in a sham success, or ever be otherwise than the skinning over of an unhealed sore. The attempt to work this thorough change in Polyne- sia had been made ; Christianity had put in her claim for those many islands, and was committed to the work of their conversion. Success came at last. Forty years after the arrival of the ill-fated missionary band who came in the " DuflT," Christianity had spread throughout the three groups of the Friendly Islands, and reached as fiir as Keppel's and Niuafoou Islands, Wallis's Island, and three hundred miles north- wards to the Navigator's Group. This extension of Christian influence was chiefly owing to the enterprising zeal of the new converts, who, longing to give others what had so greatly blessed themsevles, " went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and con- firming the word with signs following." The glad tidings of such re- sults greatly encouraged those who had thought, and prayed, and la- boured at home, on behalf of these distant " isles of the sea." The Wesleyan Tongan Mission proved to be a grand success, and the mis- sionary zeal of the churches received an impetus which pushed foward to more glorious achievements. A history of the Friendly Islands, giving details of the Mission there, has been supplied in the elegant illustrated work recently pub- lished by Miss Farmer, who has furnished much valuable information