Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/418

 388 FIJI AIO) THE FUIAITS. * such loving zeal. Since his residence in Fiji, he had taken considerable pains to obtain a well-digested knowledge of the native tongue, and was thus, in all respects, well adapted to carry out the great task which his brethren committed to him. Mr. Lyth was removed from Lakemba to assist in making the final examinations and corrections for the press ; and Mr. Hunt successfully accomplished an admirable translation of the whole of the New Testament, except the Gospel according to St. John, a good version of which, after careful revision, he accepted from another Missionary. So vigorously was the whole work done, that entire copies of the Fijian New Testament, serviceably bound, were supplied to the Missionaries at their Annual Meeting in 1847. The next step was to complete the Bible in Fijian ; and, by common consent, this undertaking was committed to the indefatigable Mr. Hunt, who accepted it readily, and entered upon it with vigour directly after the District Meeting. He adopted a translation of Genesis already made, but revised it carefully, comparing it throughout with the Hebrew. This was unfortunately lost ; and the Native Teacher, who had assisted in the translation of the New Testament, was suspected of hadng made away with it. Mr. Hunt next went through Exodus, and then set to work on the Psalms ; but just after his completion of the forty-sixth Psalm, a severe illness laid him aside from the great work which he was never permitted to resume. A copy of the Fijian New Testament published at Viwa, was sent by the General Secretaries to the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society, together with a plea for help. In November, 1849, the Committee voted three hundred pounds towards the expenses of this first edition, and begged to be informed, from time to time, of the pro- gress made in translating the Old Testament, towards the printing of which in parts they shortly afterwards voted a hundred reams of paper. To all this munificent and welcome help they added an offer to print an edition of five thousand copies of the New Testament. John Hunt was no more. His widow had returned to England, and kindly engaged to assist in correcting the edition as it passed through the press. In the meantime the number of converts in Fiji had greatly increased, and the thousand copies of the New Testament were all gone. The de- mand for another supply was too urgent to allow of waiting for the edition from England. Mr. Calvert was the only Missionary left who thoroughly understood printing, and his time was very much taken up with Mission duties, so that an important addition of help was greatly needed. Just at the right time, and in a most efficient form, the help came. The account of the event forms a pleasing episode in the Mission history.