Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/431

VIWA AND MBAr. murdered by Viwans. Hundreds of armed men assembled on the reef near the canoe, which lay tossing about in danger of being capsized at any moment, while the people on board worked hard to keep her right, and prayed earnestly to the Almighty to save them from the hands of their enemies, who, with brandished weapons, cried out : " You are in our power ! Now we will kill you, in return for the murder of our friends ! " A young man on board replied, with great boldness : " Kill us, if you wish ; but know, that we did not kill your friends. Before they were killed, we had become Christians ; and since that, we have left off doing such evil deeds. It will be better for you not to kill us, but come and help us to bale the water out of our canoe." These men of blood were restrained, and many of them left their purpose of cruelty, and actually went to help the Viwans to empty the canoe and lash on the outrigger, so that, in a little while, they were again able to put to sea, rejoicing in the Lord, who had thus delivered them. Even Heathens exclaimed : "It is Jehovah ! for nothing like this has been known in Fiji before." In April, Namosimalua and Verani sailed together on a visit to Vanua Levu, some parts of which were tributary to Viwa, and where their names were words of dread. On such occasions it was custom- ary for the people to refer their disputes to their powerful visitors ; and the Chief of one village privately gave Varani some whales' teeth to kill some natives of another village with which he had a quarrel. Verani and one of his men, accompanied by two Christian Tongans, who were ignorant of the true object of the journey, went in a small canoe, and found some people fishing. Learning that they belonged to the village in question, Verani and his companions at once killed two of the men ; and a woman was about to be murdered ; but the Tongans expostulated and saved her life. On presenting the murdered bodies, Verani received a sailing canoe. Similar offerings were made to Namosi on this voyage, for the same purpose ; but he invariably declined them, saying " Those deeds are evil ; and since I have become Christian, I have ceased to murder people." Not only did he refuse to repeat his former ill deeds, but he earnestly exhorted the people every- where to lotu. Whatever the actual change was in the heart of this very remark- able man, his life had become entirely altered since he yielded himself to Christian teaching. There were many things which looked very much as if his excessive craftiness had some large share in his lotu ; yet it is certain that he was outwardly different to his former self: instead of being an accomplished villain and a marvel of cruelty, he had