Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/323

LAKEMBA. 293 canoes should be sent. All entreaties were unavailing : the Missionary, therefore, besought each of the influential men of the expedition reso- lutely to resist any approach to war ; and they all, with Zephaniah, pledged themselves to follow peace, while giving a demonstration of their disapproval of the murder. They were absent seventeen days, having visited Nayau, Mango, Thithia, and both the districts on Vanu- ambalavu. At every place they enjoined upon the people not to repeat the act done by the Ndaku-i-Yaro people. They did not get involved in war at any place, while they expressed their strong disapproval of the foul crime which had been committed. The Lomaloma people were very grateful for the mild way in which the matter was treated, and a general impression of a favourable kind was produced. Teachers were stationed at various places on Vanuambalavu and the neighbouring islands, and some progress was made, when fresh troubles and persecutions opposed the Mission work. The Missiona- ries had now abandoned Somosomo, and, since their removal, a great change had taken place in the manner of Tuikilakila's treating the Chris- tians in his wide dominions. At the adjacent island of Mango, subject also to Somosomo, the King's sons and people had brutally ill-used the Teacher, Paula Thama, a noble-minded Christian from Ono, and had subjected his wife to abominable treatment, so that both were obliged to leave the island. To the honour of these devoted servants of God, it should be known, that they were ready to go to other most difficult scenes of labour, where also they suffered many things for Christ's sake. In 1854, some base characters at Lomaloma, freed from restraint, and instigated by the Somosomo Chiefs, attempted the destruction of all the Christians in their town. They had previously done all they could to exterminate the lotu by persecution, and by banishing the Teachers who did not belong to the place ; but now actual extinction was aimed at, and reckoned upon with confidence. The plot was laid craftily, and every arrangement made with the closest secrecy. One night the Christians' houses were set on fire, and seventeen of the in- mates murdered as they tried to escape. The rest got away in safety. As soon as the ill-news reached Lakemba, the Tongans again hastened to the relief of the oppressed. The fugitive Christians were placed in safety, and a vigorous inquiry instituted as to the origin and instru ments of the massacre, when it was discovered that the whole affair was more than sanctioned at Somosomo. While there were some at Lomaloma who were determined in their opposition to Christianity, the Chiefs and people generally disapproved of the recent atrocity, and were all the more strongly disposed now to go over to the lotu. Yet,