Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/407

MISSION SHIP, GENEEAL SUPERINTENDENT, ETC. 3YT sionaries and their wives, making, in all, twenty-six passengers, em- barked in the "Triton" for South Africa, New Zealand, and the Friendly Islands, and Mr. and Mrs. Williams for Fiji. Due notice had been given of the time of starting, and presents for the Missions had been sent in with such profuse liberality, that a large number of packages intended to be sent out in the Mission ship, were forwarded to Sydney to meet her there. Followed by the best wishes and prayers of thousands, the " Triton" set sail from England on the 14th of September, 1839, and landed the Rev. Thomas Williams and his wife at Lakemba on the 8th of July in the following year. The vessel thus sent out was to be used in the annual visitation of all the Stations by the General Superintendent of the Society's Mis- sions in Australasia and Polynesia. This office was now filled by one whose name lives in the grateful and loving remembrance of thousands, though he has passed away. The Rev. John Waterhouse, after work- ing at home until the prime of his life, went out to devote to the over- sight of the South Sea Missions, all the ^dgour and matured excellence of character and piety for which he was so remarkable. He at once threw all his energy into the work committed to him, and by his labour and counsel greatly aided the Missionaries and strengthened the Mission. With faithful diligence he visited every Station, and made minute inquiry into all the affairs of each. His Journals, from which extracts were given in the Missionary Notices of 1841 to 1844, are rare specimens of condensed and valuable information. Mr. Waterhouse lived to accomplish the personal examination of the entire field of missionary labour which had been put under his care. In doing this he had toiled hard, and undergone much fatigue and exposure to danger. Worn out with incessant work, he died on the 30th of March, 1842, crying out, as he went to his rest, '^Missionaries ! Missionaries ! Missionaries ! " He, " being dead, yet speaketh." Many have given heed to that dying appeal ; and distinguished among them are the two sons of the departed man of God, who gave up flattering prospects of worldly success in the colonies, and have since laboured faithfully and suffered deeply in the Fijian Mission. In 1843 the Rev. Walter Lawry succeeded to the office of General Superintendent. For some time Mr. Lawry had been a Missionary in New South Wales, and in 1822 went boldly forth alone, and " encountered much difficulty and peril in endeavouring to commence a Mission in the Friendly Islands." After remaining for some years