Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/570

532 FIJI Am) THE FIJIAJS^S. the greatest difficulty that we reached the place ; and then you may judge of my feelings when I heard the natives shouting out the name of my little boy, and was told he could not be found. But he was safe : a native had carried him into the kitchen before we arrived, and we were truly thankful to God to find him there. Tlie people now assembled in the kitchen, and did all they could to keep it up. The wind roared terrifically, and the rain fell in torrents, and we expected soon to be again driven from our shelter. When we had been in the kitchen about half an hour, two young men arrived from the town, and told us that the water was rising around us very fast, and that if Ave did not make haste we could not escape. We saw that it was really so, and we knew not what to do. It seemed like taking our wives and children into the jaws of death if we ventured out ; and yet we saw that if we remained where we were, we must be lost. We at last determined to go. • I gave my dear little girl to Joel the Teacher, and the other cliildi^en to some of the people. Mrs. Ford was placed on one native's back, and Mrs. Watsford on another ; and then, commending ourselves to the care of our gracious God, we rushed out into the furious gale. It was a fearfiil time as we hurried along to the town. The nut trees bent over our heads and fell around us ; the nuts were flying in every direction ; the rain beat like shot in our faces ; and it was with the greatest difficulty we could keep on our feet, the wind being so strong. We had to wade through the water, and in many places it was up to our necks ; we had to cross a part of the river where a long nut tree was thrown across for the bridge ; the flood was very rapid, and we were in imminent danger, but, thank God, we got over. After some time we all reached the town, and ran into one of the Teachers' houses ; but we soon had to leave it again, as we thought it would fall upon us. We then got into a small house which appeared stronger than others ; and, being on a raised foundation, we thought the flood could not reach us. Here we remained about a hour, shiver- ing with cold, our clothes being soaked by the rain. While we were in this place, many houses fell around us, and the water continued to rise very rapidly, and now it reached the step at the door. The night was coming on, and we began to think of some plan of getting to the mountains before dark. The Teachers tied a number of bamboos together for a rafl, and we sent Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Watsford first ; the natives swam and pushed the raft along. They had great difficulty in managing it, and we were afraid they would be thrown off; but, through the goodness of God, they were landed in safety at a house at the foot of the mountain, which was only one inch or so above the