Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/319

LAKEMBA. 289 agitated, and uttered an exhortation to the other gods to speak ; but it was a sorry attempt, and none had the heart to follow. A Lomaloma priest sailed in company with several Christian canoes, and was wrecked. All on board escaped on the outrigger, which had broken loose. The Christians heard of the disaster, and went down to the shore, and found the priest's canoe had drifted in. They took out the mats and other property, dried them, and returned them to the owner, who refused for a while to receive them, saying it was so con- trary to Fijian custom. Two Heathens who had got hold of some of the mats, acted in the old style, and kept them. The priest was aston- ished, and, wherever he went afterwards, told of the wonderful effects of the lotu. He even dressed as a Christian, saying, " Where shall I go ? I have no god with me. Since the arrival of the Christian relig- ion, I have not known any god. It is right that all should be Christian. In the Yaro district of Vanuambalavu, good was done by the visits of the Lomaloma Christians and the Oneata people, so that several had already renounced their old religion and avowed their belief in the true God. These persons earnestly desired a Teacher ; but before one could be sent, the political aspect of the island suffered a great change. The town of Ndaku-i-Yaro had rebelled against Yaro, to which it was lawfully subject. The Chiefs, knowing that they could not stand alone, offered to give themselves and their district over to Lomaloma. This offer, against the wish of Joseph Mbukarau and the other Christians, was accepted, and the Lomaloma Chiefs entered into alliance with the Ndaku people, and thus set themselves in direct opposition to Yaro. When matters were so far arranged, a party of Yaro people were sur. prised, and eleven of them killed and eaten, and one taken captive. Thus war was openly declared, and the Yaro King felt himself, justly, the injured party. The Christians at Lomaloma were grieved and indignant at this un- righteous warfare, so treacherously and brutally begun ; and, in order to clear themselves from any suspicion of having consented to it, they openly sent to the Christians at Yaro, declaring their intention of re- moving at once to some neutral ground until peace was restored. At the same time they begged the King of Yaro to give up to them one of his small islands, named Munia, which was about nine miles from each of the contending districts. In time of war the Munia people were always m danger, and the island was often the object of conten- tion, and somewhat difficult to protect against Lomaloma, which was the stronger in canoes. The King of Yaro approved of the plan, and even urged the Christians in his own town to join the others at Munia, in-