Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/578

 540 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. holy, sacred influence of the Eternal Spirit, to scatter the word that shall prove * the savour of life unto life ! ' " When * the desire of my eyes was taken away by a stroke,' I was kindly relieved by my brethren of the charge of my Circuit at Nandi, which was placed under the more efficient superintendence of my kind and sympathizing and noble colleague, the Eev. John S. Fordham ; and I received permission from the District Meeting to direct my own movements, and take such steps as I deemed most calculated to divert my thoughts from the bitter past. Placing my infant babe under the charge of my brother and sister at Mbau, I went about, with an afflicted body and a sorrow-stricken soul, striving to do such good as I could. Through the generosity of my dear but now sauited friend, the Eev. Benjamin Hurst, of Sydney, I had a small decked boat, named * The Ambassador of Peace,' at my disposal and control ; and with frsvo natives as crew, and myself as Captain, I went about from island to island, and place to place, as inclination and a prospect of usefulness prompted. Very often, in my voyages, a stormy sea and hidden reafs imperilled me ; but my Heavenly Father rode upon the storm, and the Great Pilot never forsook the helm of my little bark. Very often a mat, laid upon the earth-floor, and covered with vermin, was my bed, and some boiled yam my sole repast. " I regret that I did not journalize the events of the niter val that elapsed between my release from my Circuit and my departure from the group ; for they were full of interest, and the heart-absorbing sor- row arising from the constant remembrance of the past weakened and soon obliterated the impressions they made on my memory. " One bright spot that lingers in my recollection is one Sabbath morning at Nakama, the boiling springs of Nasavusavu. I stood in the ' dancing-grounds ' of the village, situated on the boarders of a beautiful bay. At my left hand was the wide, open sea, with the white-topped reef-wave in the distance ; before me was an extensive bay, with a beautiful island gracing the scene ; and behind this was one of the most gorgeous and charining landscapes I ever witnessed : the fertile plains, undulating ridges, and rugged, precipitous mountains, — the dense forest, and the specks of cultivation, — the mountain gorge, and the beautiful tropical sky, — were all crowded into one view that an artist would revel in. At the beach was moored a fleet of ten large war canoes, the smallest of which would carry one hundred men. Behind me was a little stream, on the banks of which were a few square yards of level ground, which was studded with ten boiling springs, one of which, up to this eventful Sabbath, had been sacredly set apart for the cooking of