Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/247

BEGINNINGS — ^LAKEiMBA AND KEWA. 217 vigour of character which had distinguished him as a Heathen and a warrior, felt greatly interested in the spread of that religion which he had just begun to enjoy. Earnest prayers were offered that the way might be opened for sending Missionaries to the Fijians, some few of whom had already become converted in the Friendly Islands; and one had even begun to labour as a good and zealous exhorter. At the Friendly Islands District Meeting, held in December, 1834, the case was fully considered. It was felt that the spreading work in Tonga required more than all the strength of the Missionaries then out there for its proper management. But the hearts of these men were deeply moved by what they were constantly hearing from Fiji. There was much to induce them to stay where they were. The freshness of youth had passed from them. Their homes were established now, and their children gathered round them. They were beginning to reap the fruit of much toil, and suffering, and danger. But in that outcry of savage passion which reached them from " the regions beyond," they heard only the wail of unresting sorrow and unending pain. The com- fort and the cure were in their hands, and the voice of their Lord sounded to them as clearly now as ever, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." They heeded the charge, and, counting all the cost, solemnly said, " Amen." Two of their number must g^ to Fiji. The Eev. William Cross, and the Eev. David Cargill, A.M., were appointed to commence the new mission. Mr. Cross had been eight years, and Mr. Cargill two, in the Friendly Islands. With their wives and little ones they waited at Vavau for an opportunity of proceeding to the new scene of labour. While here, they began to learn the language. An alphabet was at the same time fixed, and, at the Tonga press, a " First Book " in Fijian, of four pages, was printed. A short catechism was also prepared at the same time, and put into the printer's hands. The Captain of a schooner calling in at Vavau had agreed to take the missionary party to Fiji ; and the two families embarked on the 8th of October, 1835, and reached Lakemba on the 12th. King George of Tonga had, from the beginning, manifested his sincere interest in the undertaking, and now sent an influential person with a present to Tui Nayau, King of Lakemba, and a message urging that the Missionaries should be well received, and stating what benefits he himself and his people had already derived from the presence and teaching of these men and their brethren. Early in the morning, the two Missionaries went ashore in a boat, the schooner, in the mean time, lying off without coming to anchor.