Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/441

 VIWA AND MBATI. 409 poor woman on board at the request of her husband, who thought, if she could be con- veyed to Yiwa, she might recover. There was, however, no probability of this ; but I was willing to do what I could. On Sunday morning she became still worse, and we were afraid she would die before we covdd reach some desolate or Christian land, on which to bury her ; for we dared not bury her near Mba, knowing that the natives would take her up again, for the sake of obtaining the box in which her body was enclosed. We made all sail, and thought we should reach a sand-island before dark. The poor creature died about noon. I made many inquiries about her soul ; but could learn very little of her state. Yet I believe she feared God, and have hope in her death. We could not reach the island ; and, as the weather was very hot, and we had but a small vessel, we thought it would be unsafe to keep her until morning. We therefore went ashore, I and my man Noah, and two of the ship's company. We had no spade, but managed to dig her grave with our hands and a pole. Here we laid the remains of poor Mary, far from her own native land, and under circumstances of a very melancholy nature. It was quite dark before we finished her grave, which rendered it impossible to read any part of the usual funeral service, as we had no lanthorn ; so we kneeled down on the spot, and prayed with hearts full of sadness and sorrow. The darkness of the night seemed to add to the solemnity of the scene ; altogether it was one of the most touching circumstances of my life. " For many successive days we had unfavourable winds : so that, although we were now not more than one hundred and twenty miles from Mbua, we did not reach it until the 11th of May. I need give you no account of this time. It was a trying, but also a profitable, season to me ; and I now began to be concerned for Mrs. Hunt, as the specified time for making the whole voyage was past, and we had no prospect of reaching home for the present. I had many temptations, many blessings, and many opportunities of speaking for my Master, especially to the ship's company. This, though the most painful, was to me the most useful part of the tour. ''May 11th. — We ran over from ISTa Viti Levu yesterday, and reached a part of the island called Thakaundrovi before dark. This morning we arrived at Mbua. I went ashore, and found the ' Triton' had been here but a few days before, and had taken away two of my Teachers as pilots. She had been to Rotuma, and is on her way back to Tonga with Mr. Thomas and Mr. F. Wilson on board. One Teacher was left to take care of their house, from whom I learned something further of the state of things at Mbua. There seemed to be no prospect of doing anything at Mbua, as the Teachers were away, and the people fully engaged in war ; so I had a conversation with the lotu Chiefs, and those of the people who were at home. I succeeded in persuading the wife of Raitono, the principal lotu Chief, to become a Christian, and then had a public service with them ; after which we went on board. " Sunday, lith. — This has been a blessed day to me. I preached to the ship's com- pany from, ' He that covereth his sins shall not prosper,' etc., and the Lord enabled me to be very plain. I am now clear, I trust, of the blood of these men. I have taught them publicly and privately the things which make for their peace. I have had, in English, family prayer in the cabin, such as it- was, ever since I left Mba, and some of them have attended to this means of grace. Opportunities of speaking to them apart have not been very numerous ; but the Lord has given me one with each of them. I do not think they will find sin quite so easy as they have done. " 16th. — We had a good wind to-day, and especially towards night, of which we thought we would make use by sailing all night ; a thing we never dared attempt before, in consequence of reefs and shoals. In the middle of the night the vessel went ashore on the point of a reef; she ran over the reef a short distance ; and before all the sails were down, we found her in a basin just large enough for her to anchor in. The next morning we found ourselves completely enclosed with reefs and shoals ; but we got out without injury, for which I praised God.