Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/521

VrWA AND MBATJ. 485 ing up of the Eewa Mission, some of the Christians found refuge at Viwa, and were trained there, while some of their friends obtained, in their exile, the light of religion, which they afterwards carried back to their own town. When the Eewa Mission was recommenced, it was from Viwa. Kandavu and other parts were first supplied from this Station, and Teachers and Local Preachers have been raised up there, who have laboured faithfully and successfully in various quarters. Viwa was certainly the best place for printing operations, as the work could be done there better and more cheaply than elsewhere. Above all, the position was most favourable on account of its nearness to Mbau, all the time that the Missionaries were forbidden to establish themselves in that place. In political importance, Viwa had lost its former distinction. Christianity had already made a great change in Fiji, and the influence of places was no longer measured by the degree of their barbarity or treachery. The number of inhabitants on the island had been seriously thinned by war ; and Viwa, having served its political purpose, was fast dwindling into an unimportant place. While its influence was at the highest, it became the centre of those missionary operations which had now spread over so much ground, and had estab- lished themselves most firmly in the seat of supreme power. In November, 1855, Mr. Calvert, after seventeen years' service in the islands, left Fiji, to superintend the printing of the Holy Scriptures in England under the auspices of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which had liberally offered to supply Fiji with the Scriptures in its own tongue. On the Sunday before Mr. Calvert left, he preached at Mbau in the Stranger's House to a crowded congregation, all of whom were evidently aflected and impressed. It may well be supposed that the feelings of the Missionary were deep and peculiar Uppermost among them was gratitude to God for the great success He had given, after all the work and suffering of His servants. He remembered what Mbau used to be, and wondered at the change. Hitherto, when he had come there on a Sunday, the bright waters surrounding the island had been crowded with canoes of all sizes, and the noise of their many crews had made it difficult to realize that a day of holy rest had ever been given to man. Now, if a little canoe darted out on the surface of that sunny sea, it was most likely conveying a Christian Teacher on his work of mercy. In all other respects the change was as great and as remarkable. The Viwa Station was occupied by the Eev. William Wilson, who, with his devoted wife, — a daughter of the Rev. Peter M^Owan, — had arrived during the previous year, and was now labouring with unremit- ting zeal in the wide Circuit over which he was placed. He had begun