Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/250

 220 FIJI AITD THE FIJIANS. made to England for printing apparatus and a man to manage it. A Grammar and Dictionary Avere commenced, and the translation of the Scriptures vigorously pushed forward, as time would allow. There was preaching every Sunday, and during the week services were held in the Tongan language. JSIany Tongans who had hitherto roved about in Fiji in the unchecked indulgence of every vice, acknowl edged the power of the Gospel. Many became truly penitent, and mourned bitterly over their past evil ways. These converts, being desirous to lead a new life, and no longer wishing for the licentious course which was freely open to them in Fiji, returned home to their own land ; and many a warm greeting took place between them and their friends, who had also received the blessings of Christianity since they last met. Thus it was difficult, for some time, to form any correct notion of the actual results of the new Mission. On July 20th, 1836, the Eev. C. Tucker of Haabai, Friendly Islands, writes, " A canoe arrived here this morning from Fiji : it left Lakemba, the island where the brethren Cross and Cargill are labouring, on Thursday the 11th, and reached Tofuaa, one of the most westerly islands of this group, on the 13th ; but the wind becoming foul, they could not proceed to this place until to-day. There were fifty persons in the canoe, besides children, namely, thirty men and twenty women, principally Tongans. They all began to meet in Class while in Fiji ; and, prior to their coming up from one of the leeward islands to Lakemba, they were under the care of Joshua, who is a converted Fijian, and has been a Class-Leader and Local Preacher for some years. I rejoice to hear of the success which has attended the labours of the brethren in Fiji, and of the pleasing prospects which present themselves at some of the distant islands of that group. They are Tongans chiefly who have as yet embraced Christianity in Fiji." In October, 1837, a fleet of canoes left Fiji, in which " about three hundred persons removed to the Friendly Islands, who had been brought to the profession of Christianity at Lakemba, and two hundred of whom were meeting in Class." Hitherto these Tongans had been notoriously Avicked, even in Fiji. Thoy were influential, and feared. They were courted by the Chiefs to secure their help in war, and the service of their canoes for the trans- mission of property. Leading, at all other times, an easy, idle, well-fed life, they were always ready for dancing and mischief. When some of the most famous and stout-hearted of these became converted, and changed their manner of life, it had a telling effect on the minds of the Fijians, some of whom, in after years, welcomed back these men as fellow Christians. M|ny of the Tongans who became Christians