Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/258

 228 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. of the natives. To increase the distress of the Mission families, it ^yas now a time of great scarcity on the island. Pigs 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, w^ere thus dis- posed 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. This state of things lasted until the end of the year, when an opportunity at last came of sending help from Tonga. In August, 1838, Fiji was visited by H.M.S. " Conway," under the command of Captain Bethune, who had just taken to the Friendly Isl- ands Mr. and Mrs. Lyth, after they had waited some months in Syd- ney. Captain Bethune very kindly brought a supply of stores from Vavau for the Missionaries ; and, on his arrival, conveyed Native Teachers to another part of the group, while he offered a passage to either of the Mission families, and in other ways rendered most efficient help. On this occasion Mr. Cross acknowledges the receipt of a large supply of clothing, etc., for which he had written about three years before, and which had been nearly two years in coming. With great avidity did these Missionaries frequently read letters which reached them fifteen or eighteen months after they were written. Thus, sur- rounded with difficulties, and suffering many things, the Missionaries toiled on, often prostrated by over-working, while their families were rarely free from sickness. Mr. Cross became so ill as to make his removal to Australia seem necessary ; but before arrangements to that effect could be completed, he got much better, and resolved to continue in Fiji. Let Christians at home try to realize the state of things at the Lakemba Mission Station. Men of education, accustomed to the com- forts and conveniences of civilized life, were there, suffering privations of the most severe kind, which were harder to bear because they fell too upon their wives and little children. Looking at such scenes from a distance, a haze of romance hangs around them, hiding the common- place details of suffering. Immediate contact soon destroys the ro- mance. No ordinary gifts of grace could keep men and women faithful to their work in such circumstances. No motives of gain could support them in such a position as theirs. They came and settled there only to do good ; and seldom did any adventurers, on arriving at the scene of