Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/272

 2i2 FIJI AND THE FIJIAIs^S. sacrifice had been made for the sake of God ; and now, in the hour of peril, they bent their knees to Him, ready to complete that sacrifice Just at midnight, each pleading voice was hushed and each head bowed lower, as the stillness outside was suddenly broken by a wild and ringing shout. But the purpose of the people was changed, and that cry was but to call out the women to dance ; and thus the night passed safely. Every opposition was made to the work of the Missionaries. The Chiefs forbade their people to become Christian, declaring that death and the oven should be the punishment for such an offence. The health of the Mission families was sufferincj through confinement to the town ; for the King's promise to build them a house had never yet been ful- filled. Early in 1840, Commodore Wilkes, with two ships of the United States' Exploring Expedition, visited Somosomo, and expressed great sympathy with them, placing at their disposal one of his vessels, if they chose to go to any other part of Eiji, and undertaking to re- move all their goods, without allowing the natives to molest them. He writes in his narrative, " It is not to be supposed, under this state of things, that the success of the Missionaries will be satisfactory, or ade- quate to their exertions, or a sufficient recompense for the hardships, deprivations, and struggles which they and their families have to en- counter. There are few situations in which so much physical and moral coui^age is required, as those in which these devoted and pious individuals are placed ; and nothing but a deep sense of duty, and a strong determination to perform it, could induce civilized persons to subject themselves to the sight of such horrid scenes as they are called upon almost daily to witness. I know of no situation so trying as this for ladies to live in, particularly when pleasing and well-informed, as we found these at Somosomo." The great kindness of the United States officer was much valued by the Missionaries ; but their work was be- gun, and they were resolved not to leave it. They were the right men, and their wives the right women, for such a position ; — ^men and women of prayer, and faith, and unbending fidelity. In July, 1840, the General Superintendent of the South Sea Mis- sions, the Rev. John Waterhouse, visited this Station, where he found Mrs. Hunt very poorly, while her husband was away at Rewa, whither he had gone to afford brotherly sympathy to Mr. Cargill, whose most excellent wife had just died. At this time the Missionaries reported as follows : — " We were the first Missionaries to Somosomo. No harbinger had prepared our way ; consequently we had to bear many trials, and to contend with much opposition, peculiar to a new Station.