Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/365

 EEWA. 335 cannot save them ; but when they come here, they get a cure for body and soul ; their bodies are generally healed, and, receiving instruction, they believe in God, and their souls live thereby. Therefore this place is a true Zoar." In the early part of 1840, at the time when rough weather is ex- pected, and when the Missionaries had learned the importance of prop- ping up and tying down the houses, a fearful storm of wind and rain visited the island, making the river overflow and flood all the flat country round. Great destruction was caused by the waters sweeping on to- wards the sea, bearing with them the spoils of banana and taro beds, besides large trees torn up by the roots. The houses of the common sort, which were built on the level of the ground, were deluged ; so that the people had to live on shelves, diving under water to pass through the low doorway, or making openings in the building higher up. The superior houses, which were built on a raised foundation, and of a stronger construction, escaped being flooded by the waters and blown down by the ^vind. One of the Mission houses was of this kind, having been erected on a foundation raised for a Chief's country dwelling, but which was still unoccupied when the Missionaries came. Some of the thatch was blown away at each end of this house, so that the centre apartment was the only dry place, and became the asylum for the Mis- sionaries and their wives, and five children, wliile the wives and chil- dren of the Teachers and the servants were all collected within the same enclosure. Goats, pigs, ducks, and fowls also gathered for shelter with- in the house. Before the fury of the storm abated, two expert swim- mers came with a message from the King, offering a place of refuge, in case the Mission-house should fall. As soon as the tempest stilled, the King and other Chiefs came across, bringing presents of food ; and the Missionaries made a voyage in a canoe round their premises, where they found the fences thrown down, much property injured, and some altogether destroyed. Among other devastation caused by this unusually heavy storm, a yam-bed belonging to the King was much injured. He therefore ordered the yams to be dug up, and taken as a token of his love to the Missionaries. This caused great surprise among his people, who remonstrated with him for taking up the yams before the time, and before the offering of the first-fruits to the gods. The King, however, was resolute, saying, " The gods of Fiji are false and weak ; and as they have not prevented the earth from being washed away from my yams, I will not present these yams to them, but present them to the ambassadors of the true God."