Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/439

 YIWA AXD MBAF. 407 in every land, because there are many men, but only one God.' E ndina, e ndina ! were much pleased with our accounts of the creation and the fall of man, of the destruc- tion of the old world and the deliverance of Xoah, of the destruction of Sodom, of the love and work of Jesus Christ, and of heaven and hell, etc. " ISth. — This morning the wind was favourable ; but we were only able to reach the island of Mbengga, about twelve miles from Xdeumba. I went on shore, and had a long conversation with the Chief of Rukua, He did not seem much disposed to listen to in- struction, his whole mind being taken up with the attainment of riches. Xoah, one of my young men whom I had with me, went ashore to sleep, and conversed almost all night with the second Chief, a fine old man, who was much pleased with what he heard: so that there is a little seed sown here also. The Lord water it ! Mbengga is a pretty island : it has twelve or fourteen towns on it, and the greater part of it is subject to Rewa. Here is a large cave, which is sometimes used as a burying-place for Chiefs, and a tree which, it is said, always flowers when the westerly wind is likely to blow : it was true yesterday, as it was in full flower, and the westerly wind blows to-day. The natives say the tree will not grow anywhere but at Mbengga ; that the god of Mbengga can only make it take root and grow. " Sunday, 16th. — While we were holding our service on deck, a strong wind from the westward sprang up, but it was directly contrary. We, however, made all the sail we could, and ran over to an island called Vatulele, about fifteen miles out of our course. We came to anchor before sunset. I and Xoah went ashore. We found the principal Chief ill, to whom we preached the good Physician of body and soul. I left Xoah to spend the evening with them, as he has now got fully into the way of declaring the good tidings when he has an opportunity. We lay off Yatulele till the 19th ; so that I had many opportunities of going ashore to instruct the natives, who seemed willing to learn. On the Ibth, one of the Chiefs accompanied me to see a celebrated place, the residence of the goddess of Yatulele, about seven miles from our anchorage. The objects of the su- perstitious veneration of these poor creatures are nothing more than a number of red crustaceous fishes, larger than a shrimp. There is abundance of them in Fiji; but there they are generally of a dark brown colour when alive, and become red when cooked : the living fish being red here is no doubt the reason why they are considered as super- natural. The mother of the fish is said to be of an immense size, and to reside in a large cave by herself; and her children leave her when they are called by their name, which in Fijian is Ura. The path to the cave lies through a part of the island, which for two miles is a perfect garden : nothing is to be seen but bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, with banana plantations, the best cultivated I ever saw. About half way we found a small town, where they provided food for us, to the inhabitants of which I had a good oppor- tunity of recommending the bread of life. We reached the sacred spot soon after noon. The first part we visited consists of a large cave, perhaps twenty feet high by fifteen wide, and twenty yards long. This communicates with another, about the same width and much longer. The bottom of both these places is lower than the beach, so that the water remains in them when the tide has retired. The Chief stood at the mouth of the cave, and called out with all his might, ' Ura, Ura, come, that the Chief from England may see you.' There was no answer, however, and only a very few of the fish appeared, which were all there before he began to call. We then went to the other place, I by land, and they by means of a passage under ground, a kind of natural tunnel, which has some depth of water in it. I expected the mother would make her appearance now ; but neither she nor many of her children seemed willing to show themselves. I now began to encourage him to call aloud, and make them come, but it was all to no purpose ; a few of them moved about at the bottom of the water, but took no notice of their worshipper. I tried to convince him of the folly of considering such things as these to be gods, and he was much interested with my remarks. Sometimes he seemed all but determined to be- come a Christian at once j and I believe this was to him a day of visitation.
 * True, true ! ' was the only reply ; and then they talked about it among themselves. They