Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/465

 VrWA AWD MBAU. 433 of the son's ambitious and clever policy, backed by his vigour of action, was acknowledged in many and even distant parts of the group. The power thus wielded was purely despotic ; and the people were forced to supply native produce, chiefly cocoa-nut oil, in payment for the for- eign property which the great Chief procured from the vessels visiting Fiji. Sometimes the tuns were partly filled with water ; but a pump- test discovered the cheat, and brought upon the disconcerted defaulters a heavier levy than before. Thakombau saw clearly enough, from what he knew of Christianity, that its spread would interfere with all extortion and injustice ; and therefore, for policy's sake, he refused to give it open sanction. A quiet permission had been yielded to some in Mbau to become Christian, and among these were some of the chief women. But as their number grew, the Chiefs became alarmed, and the public services were prohibited. The old superannuated King, Tanoa, was more favourable, and allowed services to be held at Sembi, a settlement on the mainland near to Mbau, where some of his own women resided. The Missionaries went there regularly from Viwa on the Sabbath, and always took Mbau on the way home ; so that, though they might not have public worship, they could, by appearing in th^r Sunday costume, at least remind the people of the religion which kept every seventh day holy. After the usual service at Sembi, on the 22nd of October, at which Ko na Malo, sister of the King of Rewa, and chief wife of Tanoa, was present, a foreigner who used to provide food for the Mis- sionaries when they came to preach, told Mr. Calvert that he had some- thing strange to tell him about this lady. The Missionary feared that she had been doing wrong ; but was relieved by finding that the strange affair was, that the lady had been found kneeling on a hard stone on the beach, far from any town ; and that this man had heard her, long before he reached the place, praying earnestly to God. This has been, from the beginning, a common thing with the converts, to get away into the bush, or on the reef, to pray alone with their Maker. On the 31st of October, Mr. Lyth started in the " Wesley," to visit the distant parts of the Circuit, and the island of Rotumah. He first sailed to the large and populous island of Kandavu, where he found a Teacher and eleven members, and baptized eleven persons, some of whom gave good evidence of sound conversion. Nandronga, a town at the head of a large district on the south-west of Viti Levu, was next visited. Lua, the prmcipal Chief, had already become Christian, and Mr. Hunt had promised him a Teacher. A valuable Tongan Teacher