Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/406

CHAPTEE YI. MISSION SHIP.-GENEEAL SUPE EINTENDENT.-COLLE GE, ETC. It is necessary to introduce here a short chapter, containing out- lines of certain very important matters belonging to the management and machinery of the Wesleyan Methodist Missions in the South Seas. While those Missions were confined to Australia, New Zealand, and the Friendly Islands, great difficulty and embarrassment resulted from the uncertainty and delay attending the forwarding of supplies to the island Stations. Now that the operations were extended over another large group, it became unavoidably necessary that the communication with the different Missionaries should no longer depend upon the uncertain and irregular visits of trading vessels, but that a distinct means of intercourse and supply should be provided. It had been told in England that " Mr. Cargill and his family had been reduced to the greatest straits, almost needing the common necessaries of life, in consequence of the non-arrival of expected supplies ; that Mr. Cross had been left in a dangerous illness, destitute of such things as were necessary for him in such trying circumstances ; and that the work of God had been much retarded in consequence of the want of facilities for removing from one island to another." Such facts could not be known without awakening anxiety and moving to effort. Already the British IMethodists had made special contributions to increase the Mission staff in Fiji and the other islands ; and now a liberal grant ■was made from the Centenary Fund for the purchase and equipment of a vessel suitable for the purposes and wants of the Polynesian Mission. John Irving, Esq., of Bristol, gave liberal and important aid in this undertaking ; and under his careful management the brigantine " Triton" was fitted out for a four years' voyage among the islands. She took in a miscellaneous cargo of supplies, including many articles of British manufacture for barter, this being the only circulating medium by which native labour and produce could be secured. Mis-