Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/312

CHAPTEE lY, LAKEMBA. Soon after the arrival of Mr. Hunt and his companions, when it was resolved that the Missionaries should separate, and thus spread their forces more widely, Mr. Calvert was left alone at Lakemba. The work already done Avas considerable. Much evil had been hindered, much light spread and actual good accomplished, the number of church-members now amounting to two hundred and thirty-eight, with many on trial, and many more in the schools. Native Teachers had been raised up and placed in four tovais on Lakemba : Wathiwathi. AYaitambu, Narothake, and Nukunuku ; and on four dependent islands : Oneata, Mothe, Ono, and Namuka. There was a well-built chapel, erected by the Tongans, near the Mission premises, capable of holding five hundred people. All this encouraged the Missionaries to push their enterprise further, and try new ground. They saw the evil of placing men alone on separate Stations ; but the demand was so pressing from several directions that they could not refuse to scatter themselves over as large a surface as possible. Tlius it came to pass that Mr. Calvert was left alone at Lakemba in 1839. He had only arrived about six months before, and knew very little of the people or their language. The cir- cuit was large and laborious, including thirteen towns on the island of Lakemba, and twenty-four surrounding islands, at distances varying from eighteen to a hundred and forty miles. The pilfering tendencies of the natives made a residence among them anything but desirable. Besides iron pots and frying-pans, and articles of barter from the store, the two tea-kettles had disappeared from the Mission-kitchen. On night the reed wall of one of the dwell- ing-houses was cut through, and nearly fifty articles of wearing apparel taken away. None of the inmates were disturbed ; and this was well ; for a heap of stones left just outside showed that the burglars were pre-