Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/266

236 FIJI AOT) THE FIJIANS. brought in a great power which should never be bound or destroyed, but should work on, with sure and mighty conquest, until the face of all those islands, in its changed loveliness and peace, should declare how the hearts of the people were become new. At Lakemba, in the mean time, the new Missionaries had been hard at work transcribing a copious vocabulary and grammar of the language, both of which had been compiled by Mr. Cargill. A printing-office was also built, and the press set up and the types arranged. All the materials had arrived in good order, and in February, 1839, the first part of the Conference Catechism was printed in Fijian ; and soon after, the Gospel according to St. Mark. Here we have a great and ever-to-be-remembered fact in the history of Fiji. Among a people who, three years before, had no written language, and the darkness of whose degradation seemed beyond the hope of enlightenment, there was now at work that engine, wherein civilization has reached her highest triumph, and humanity risen to the exercise of uimaeasured power. This fact, so great in itself was made more glorious by the certainty, that the fountain of knowledge, thus opened, should only send forth the truth, and supply to the thirsting thousands of Fiji the " water of life freely." The establishment and starting of the printmg concern greatly encouraged all who had to do with it, while it filled the heathen King and Chiefs with astonishment. The new Missionaries had passed well through the hottest months, and thus become climatized. They also had the opportunity of becommg acquainted with the terrible hurricanes w^hich sometimes visit those seas ; for twice since their arrival had the dreadful scourge come, and spread ruin on every side. By this time, too, their constant study and daily intercourse with the people had enabled them to acquire enough of the language to make themselves well understood. Mr. Lyth, another Missionary, who had been at work in Tonga, was expected to arrive soon in Fiji ; and it therefore became a matter of growling anxiety, what should be done in distributing a force which was daily becoming more effective. The occupation of Lakemba, rather than any othe r island, had been a necessity at the outset ; but all felt that the windward group was too far from the more important parts of Fiji, while it was also less thickly populated, and that by tribes whose influence was comparatively small. Urgent entreaties for a Missionary had been sent from Somosomo, a place of great importance in the north, and the seat of considerable power. Just at this time a small schooner, built by some Englishmen and Americans who lived at Ovalau, called