Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/282

 CHAPTEE III. ONO. We now come to one of the most remarkable chapters in the history of the Fijian Mission. The scene of the events to be recorded lies far away from the rest of the group, and at the point most distant from the place the Mission to which has just been narrated. About a hundred and fifty miles, south-by-east, from Lakemba, to which it is tributary, is a cluster of small islands, forming the most southerly extremity of Fiji. The chief island of this little group is Ono.- In 1835, the same year in which the Missionaries first came to Fiji, Ono was visited with an epidemic disease which killed many of the people, and, together with the destructiveness of late wars, thinned their numbers in such a way as to excite great uneasiness and alarm. Offerings of food and property were brought in plenty to the gods of Ono, and the rites of their worship were observed with all zeal and perseverance ; but no relief came. Just at this time, one of the Chiefs of the island, named Wai, went to Lakemba, bearing the accustomed tribute. While there, he met with Takai, a Fijian Chief, who had visited Sydney,. Tahiti, and the Friendly Islands, and had become a Christian. From this man Wai first heard about the true God ; though his infor- mation amounted to little more than the fact that Jehovah was the only God, and that all ought to worship Him. Carrying this scanty supply of truth with them, Wai and his friends went home. But far more precious than the cargo of tribute they took away was the first glimpse of light which they brought back. The introduction of that first element of Christianity, though but dimly understood, was the beginning of a new age of healing and of gladness to those lonely isles. The Ono Chief and his companions felt well assured that their o^vn gods could not deliver them from the present calamity, and therefore resolved to forsake them and pray only to Jehovah, of whom they had lately heard. Several more approved of their purpose, and determined