Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/533

MBUA. 495 mark of their respect for him, and of their love to the cause of Mis- sions. " The two Fijian Teachers placed here are steady men, and will zeal- ously and successfully help me in the great work of proclaiming Jesus to perishing Fijians. One of them is by birth priest to the chief god of Viwa. " Being removed from the sea-shore, and rather low, this Station is very close. Mrs. Williams feels it very much. We are nearly de- voured by flies during the day, and by mosquitoes at night ; and, under such circumstances, it is not very cheering to hear the resident Natives talk of how many more there will be when their month comes. My excuse for this hasty scrawl is, that I write it under many disadvantages — at night, after a day of manual toil, and smarting from the stings of my winged enemies." " This new Mission Station is at the western extremity of Vanua Levu, (the Large Land,) which is the second in size in the group, being nearly three hundred miles in cir- cumference. This Circuit includes what is sometimes called the ' Sandal-wood District ; ' but of this valuable wood, however, there is very little left. The Indian and American vessels which visited the coast towards the close of the last, and the beginning of this, century, carried away the growth of ages ; and, as the natives take no cai'e to replace what they cut down, by planting more, there remains at this time onl}'- sufficient to induce the occasional visit of a Tonga canoe. The Tongans value it highly as a scent for the oil, with which every one delights to ' anoint his head,' and ' make his face to shine.' " This District, according to report, was formerly thickly peopled ; natives and whites are agreed on this point : and what I have thus far seen of scattered people and empty villages, inclines me to the same opinion. At present it is but thinly peopled. The surface of the Circuit may be fifteen square miles : on it there are about thirty vil- lages, inhabited by Heathen, with the exception of five, which are partly Christian. Into three of these Christianity has been introduced within the past few months. Some of the villages are rather large, but the greater part of them are small, and I should not calculate the population of the whole at more than six or seven thousand. " The village of Tiliva, in which the Mission-house is situated, is divided by a river from Mbua, the chief town of the district, and from which the Circuit takes its name. The inhabitants of Tiliva are, for the most part, the collected remnants of several vil- lages, the rest of whose inhabitants have fallen victims to the demon War. Some of the suivivors are disfigued by bad gun-shot wounds. " Even since this has been their dwelling-place they have suffered much from war and famine ; the meagre personages of many of them give proof of this. For months, nay, years, in succession, they have been prevented by war from attending to their gar- dens ; during which period they subsisted on such wild roots and fruits as the neigh- bourhood supplied ; with an occasional treat of boiled leaves from the dalo planted within the village embankment. Mothers destroyed their own children,, because they could not procure food for them. " Another bad effect of the protracted wars of this district is the indolence so com- mon among the people. Having for so long a time done little besides lying on their mats, they feel disposed to little else. Poverty is a never-failing attendant on indolence. These people are poor in the ordinary products of the islands, because the useful arts practised in other parts of Fiji are neglected here. The women do not beat cloth ; and the mea