Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/436

 404 FIJI ANT> THE FIJIANS. from him to the General Secretaries, dated, "Viwa, June 6th, 1843,'^ will show what he had done, and the nature of the field now before him. After describing his success in medical treatment, and the advantage it gave him, Mr. Hunt speaks of the pains he had taken in training Native Teachers, and then says : — " Our congregations are good for such a small place as Viwa. We average from one hundred to one hundred and forty on the Sabbath. The Lord has been pleased to favour us with His presence in our assemblies ; so that we have almost invariably been constrained to say, ' Master, it is good to be here.' We are looking for more directly saving power to attend the preached word ; and we know God will hear our prayers, because He * will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.' The Class-Meetings and public Prayer-Meetings are well attended. I have a weekly meeting for examining the youths as to what they have heard on the Sabbath, etc., and have several times met the little children and the adults for the same purpose. These are valuable meetings. " Out-Statioxs. — This circuit is now rather extensive, and it takes a considerable portion of time to visit all the places in it. " Naivuruv-uru is only about three miles from Viwa, and is attended to by the young men who are under my instruction. The Chief and his wife are married ; and two other persons are preparing for baptism. " Ovalau is about thirty miles from Viwa, and we have about one hundred and forty- seven Christians at Levuka and other places, consisting of white men and their Fijian wives and children. Here we have two Teachers ; and I have paid them several visits during the year. They are, taking them altogether, decidedly the most orderly and moral set of white men in these islands. Their wives and children are making rapid progress in reading, and several of them have been baptized. I trust the children at Levuka will become a blessing to these islands. A Missionary should, by all means, reside at Levuka. There is a population of coloured people rising up, which may be of immense use to the cause of God, if they are wisely trained : their parents are desirous to instruct them aright. I can do very little for them. I must add, (though I almost fear to do so, as I know you are straitened for means,) that we can do nothing for them, unless we have more Missionaries. " Mbua is about one hundred miles from Viwa, where we have now three Teachfers. I have just returned from Mbua, having taken a tour round 'Na Viti Levu, and visited Ndeumba, Bengga, Nandronga, Mba, etc. The whole of these places are entirely heathen, and have never before been visited by a Missionary, and some of them but little by the natives themselves, from this part of Fiji. I went in a small worn-out schooner, belonging to a man residing at Rewa ; and we were exactly six weeks from leaving Rewa to reaching Viwa on our return. We should not have been more than a month if we had had favour- able winds. I may, probably, trouble you with an abstract of my journal ; but I may say here, that I found the people willing to listen to instruction in almost every instance ; and one Missionary, with ten Native Teachers, would be an abundant blessing among them, I only say, one Missionary, though it would be a shame to send one. What could a Missionary do by himself, among such a population, and so far removed from any of his brethren? I counted one hundred towns belonging to Nandronga itself; and there are many others dependent on them. There are also Ndeumba, Vitougo, Tambua, Mba, Votua, Rakiraki, all having powerful and independent tribes, and all the westerly islands, without a single Teacher among them; and scarcely any of them, three months ago, had so much as heard the name of * the true God,' or of ' Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent.' that I could make every British Christian feel the full meaning of St. Paul's question ; nay, is it not the question of the Holy Ghost put to us all ?— * How can they believe in