always to be relied upon. If any of his friends or fellow-workmen wanted advice and counsel in their affairs-even in their domestic troubles-it was always, "Ask William ;" "Speak to William ;" "Tell William about it, and see what he says before you do anything."

It was about this time-when William was fifty and his eldest daughter twenty years of age -that his children began to urge him to leave the small house in the bye-street. His decision you already know. He could not bring himself to leave the house in which his father and mother had died, in which the whole of his married life had been spent. He was still foreman at the printing office. Under his steady sensible rule the business had grown and improved, and was now almost entirely under his charge. His wages had grown in proportion. He was receiving four pounds a week, and could well afford to live in a larger house. But he could not find it in his heart to leave. It was about this time, too, that he began to hear of his brothers. James, in Bradford, had found out that he was able to lend money, and had applied to him on two occasions. He was in a temporary difficulty; he would be right as a trivet again in a month; that was always Jim's story. He had made the first request as a haphazard venture, little expecting to be successful; and had made the second because William had responded so readily to the first. Tom and his wife had come back from Australia penniless, and William had supported them until Tom had been able to get employment as a dock labourer. John returned from his soldiering in India, and as he had tired of the army, William had, after considerable treable, obtained a post for him as a commissionaire. Neither of them even then saw anything more in William than a slow heavygoing man, living in a small mean house in a side street. "He's just jogging along," said John to Tom, " a-making both ends meet. Just as we said he would."

At the age of fifty-six William fell ill, and no one was more surprised than he to learn how many friends he had gathered around him. The love of his wife and children, so full of tenderness, of reverence, of watchful devotion in his time of sickness--he had not even realised this to the full

until now. What a slow stupid head he had! It surprised him, too, that so many should visit him in his illness; it was a kindness he had never expected. A great lump sprang into his throat as he thought of it. His white-haired vicar called almost every day to read and pray with him. The Sunday-school teachers all came to inquire about him; and many of the children sent up bunches of simple flowers. His employer, now an aged man, sat with him throughout a Sunday afternoon, and holding his hand as he went, said

in an unsteady voice: "William, the place won't be the same until you come back again. I'm lost without !" you William fairly broke down over that, for very pleasure.

But these were only a tithe of the callers. Day after day came visits and inquiries as tokens of the respect which his simple, honest, steadygoing nature had won. He died as any man

would wish to die with his head on a breast that had proved faithful to him through life, with his children gathered round him, with the knowledge borne in upon him that they would all grieve for his absence.

The

Who that saw it will ever forget the scene of William's funeral- --a scene which struck his brothers and their wives dumb with astonishment. The wreaths lay so thickly upon the coffin that it was almost hidden from view. The vicar, the curate, and two dissenting ministers of the neighbourhood came to the house and united in holding a short service, after which they one and all accompanied the family to the cemetery. There, around the grave, was one of the densest crowds that has ever been seen, or ever will be seen, in any metropolitan burial-ground, for this rushing London of ours is too busy, and too stressful, and too noisome, to give much thought to death. members of the friendly society were there in full force, attired in their sash of membership. The men from the printing-office were there to the number of twenty or thirty. Members of the mission-church were there, officers of the Sundayschool, boys from the mission-room club, and lastly, gathered close around the grave, were a company of the Sunday-school children whom William had so loved. After reading the burialservice the vicar addressed the assemblage, and his voice faltered and halted more than once. Then one of the dissenting ministers prayed. Then the Sunday-school children sang a hymn that he had always liked to hear :—

Sleep on, beloved, sleep, and take thy rest; Lay down thy head upon thy Saviour's breast: We love thee well; but Jesus loves thee best.

Their fresh young voices floated musically upon the air and was borne by the gentle breeze far over the countryside, and across fields that were ripe with corn; and wayfarers in the roads around, and people at work in the meadows, and cottagers over the uplands paused and listened, and marvelled as to what this sound of singing might be.

Far up in the bosom of the blue was a fleecy cloud of purest white, which the autumn sun, passing down the western sky, touched with a marvellous radiance.

HARRY DAVIES

WELVE hundred miles north of New Zealand

Tw

two hundred and fifty islands lie scattered for three hundred miles across the Pacific. This is the famous Fijian group, where Christianity has won one of its most notable victories over heathenism. Quite recently the condition of the Fijian people as affected by questions of administration was brought under notice in Parliament; and the moment seems opportune for recalling their history.

Viti

Only eighty of the islands are inhabited. Levu, or Great Fiji, is ninety miles long and fifty broad; Vanu Levu, the Great Land, is one hundred miles in length, but only twenty-five in breadth. The rest are comparatively small, whilst many are quite tiny islets. Until 1882, Levuka, in the island of Ovalau, was the white-man's capital; now, Suva, at the south side of Viti Levu, enjoys that honour. The visitor who approaches Levuka is reminded of Madeira. Steep hills, crowned with great crags, and rent by deep gorges, rise to a height of three thousand feet behind the

The Capital of Fiji.

town, and are completely covered by lovely green foliage. The great rolling waves of the Pacific, like walls of green water, beat against the coral reef which encircles the island, and the passage through the reef reminds one of a boiling cauldron, but inside there is a mile of smooth water forming a lovely harbour. Unfortunately, there is only a narrow strip of land available for building in Levuka, as the steep hills rise somewhat rapidly from the shore. There were about one hundred and eighty houses at the time of the annexation, scattered over the available ground. The lower spurs of the hills might have been used for buildings, but that would have involved an expensive system of terracing. It was therefore found Recessary to fix the capital at Suva, where there is a fine harbour, and ample room for a large population, though the water supply is not nearly so good as that of Levuka. The Governor spends three months each year in the old capital, the other nine months he is resident at Suva, which has grown into a large town, with steamers and vessels of all sorts lying in its harbour.

It is difficult to describe the charm of Fijian scenery. Miss Gordon-Cumming, whose interesting sketches from the South Seas will be well remembered, often looked down from a tiny garden through a veil of glittering palm leaves, brightened by a foreground of rosy oleanders and vivid scarlet hybiscus, on to the blue waters of the Pacific. The harbour, like a calm sea-lake, was filled with vessels of all sizes trading with Australia, New Zealand, and Germany. An occasional man-of-war or merchant steamer might be seen at anchor, whilst canoes with great three-cornered yellow mat-sails, having a fringe of streamers of native cloth floating from the edge, passed swiftly about. The natives often sang quaint mékés as they approached the town, beating an odd accompaniment on a wooden drum. "The chiefs' canoes carry a flag, and sometimes a fringe of streamers of native cloth floating from the sail; and the canoe itself is adorned at both ends with glistening white shells like poached eggs. Sometimes several canoes pass us racing, or they meet, and their sails at diferent angles form pretty groups. . . . These canoes are balanced by large outriggers, that is, a beam of wood, or piece of cocoa-palm stem, floating alongside, and attached to the canoe by bamboos seven or nine feet long." A European eye is delighted with the novel picturesqueness of the scene. tween the rich blue of the harbour and the purplish indigo of the ocean is "a submarine rainbow of indescribable loveliness," caused by the gleaming coral reef. Those who know only the dead coral can scarcely realise the beauty of the living thing seen beneath the water in all its delicate shades. "The patches of coral, seaweed, and sometimes white sand, lying at irregular depths, beneath a shallow covering of the most crystalline emeraldgreen water, produce every shade of aquamarine, mauve, sienna, and orange, all marvellously blended." The shades vary continually with the ebb and flow of the tide, but the scene is loveliest at noon, when the sun's vertical rays light up the colours beneath the water.

A Cannibal

Feast.

Be

Amid such surroundings the traveller may sit and dream of the transformation that has come over cannibal Fiji. It is only sixty years since two Wesleyan missionaries sailed from Tonga, with their wives and children, to labour among these degraded natives. Their work in the Friendly Islands had been attended by scenes which reminded them of the Day of Pentecost. The chapels were filled with people seeking Christian training. King George and most of his subjects had embraced Christianity. The prince was seized by deep conviction of sin at a prayer-meeting, and fell on his knees literally roaring in distress of soul. He and his queen became "class leaders," and the king's name was added to the list of lay preachers. In the midst of this awakening a vessel arrived from Fiji. It had on board a chief of high rank, who gave some horrible particulars of a recent cannibal feast at which two hundred men and a hundred women had been killed and eaten. The Tongans were skilful sailors, and had long traded with the Fijian Islands, which lay about two hundred and

fifty miles westward. Some of these traders had become Christians, and were the first apostles of Christ among the cannibals. Through them and the Fijian sailors the Tongan missionaries learned the alphabet, and prepared a little reading-book and a catechism.

The growing work in the Friendly Islands taxed the missionaries to the utmost, but they felt that the awful heathenism of Fiji made a loud call on their pity and help. At the District Meeting at Lifuka in December, 1834, Mr. Cross and Mr. Cargill were therefore appointed to begin a mission in Fiji.

The First Landing.

Mr. Cargill had been detained at home by the illness of his wife, but when the news reached them, that brave woman showed herself a true hero. She said, "Well, David, I did not expect it to be so; but the Lord knows best what is good for us; and if it be His will that we should go to Fiji, I am content." On Monday, October 12th, 1835, the mission party arrived off Lakemba, one of the easternmost islands, in the schooner Blackbird. The captain was afraid to venture through the narrow opening in the coral reef, so Mr. Cross and Mr. Cargill landed in a boat. Two hundred natives armed with muskets, spears, clubs, bows and arrows, stood near the landing-place. Their faces were painted black or red, and all were nearly naked. They seemed utterly amazed by their strange visitors, but showed no sign of hostility or fear. The king received the missionaries at his own house, in the middle of the fortified town. He promised to give land for a settlement, and erect houses for the missionaries, to protect them from harm, and to listen to their teaching. Before night fell the mission families had embarked and taken up their temporary quarters in the canoe-house on the shore. Hundreds of natives watched their every movement. When at last they lay down for the night, myriads of mosquitoes disturbed their rest, so that they were glad next day to return to their quarters on board the Blackbird, which had been brought safely into the harbour. At the end of three days their new homes, made of plaited cocoa-nut leaves were ready. On the Sunday Mr. Cross, preached the first sermon in Fiji to about seventy natives and as many Tongans. Services were for some time held in the open air, but when a great storm wrecked the mission-houses, the material was used to erect a little chapel, which became their place of worship for a couple of years. On March 20th, 1836,

First Fruits

thirty-two adults, the first-fruits of the work, were baptized. All had been under careful training for some months, and gave good evidence that their hearts had been changed by God's grace.

That summer a schooner which had brought stores for the mission was wrecked on a reef. The sailors returned to Lakemba. After a few weeks four of them determined to go to Somosomo, where they hoped to find a colonial vessel. They were warned of the perils that they incurred, for shipwrecked sailors were always killed and eaten. They could not, however, be induced to abandon their plan. They had scarcely been away from

Lakemba thirty hours before they were murdered, baked, and eaten by the cannibals. Such a tragedy brought home to every heart the horrors of life in Fiji.

The

The king and his brother tried to hinder the work by fierce persecution, but it daily took deeper root. Before the year 1836 was out, one hundred and thirty-eight adults and fifty-three children had been baptized, whilst two hundred and fifty were in training at the schools. light spread to other parts of Lakemba, and in December, 1837, Mr. Cross formed a new mission in Rewa. In the important island of Ono, a hundred and twenty adults, disgusted with idolatry, embraced Christianity, though they had never heard or seen a missionary. A heathen

illustration of that doctrine, have never ceased to act as an inspiration to all who know the man and his work. He is, perhaps, the chief saint of the Methodist mission field. Mr. Jaggar had been trained at Kingswood School, so that he was well equipped as a scholar. He was also a skilled printer. James Calvert was a clever compositor, book-binder, and general printer, and had gained some experience as bookseller, postmaster, and sub-editor of a local newspaper. The work in Fiji had been outstripping the workers, who found it impossible to enter all the open doors. Now the evangelisation of the islands entered on a new stage. The new-comers brought a printing-press, and knew how to use it. Even amongst these people it was to have place and power. Hunt

took in hand the translation of the Scriptures, by which he rendered enduring service.

Mr.

Mr. Cargill was quietly shaving one morning, when he was informed that the three missionaries, who had landed on the opposite side of the island, were approaching. In his joy he rushed out with one cheek unshaved to greet his visitors. and Mrs. Hunt went to join Mr. Cross in Rewa; the other two men remained in Lakemba. Mr. Calvert showed special aptitude in mastering the language, and began to preach in Fijian within three months after he landed. The press was kept very busy, and before long the Gospel of St. Mark was printed.

A Story

"A Story of the Sea" illustrates the change that had come over Lakemba. A chief and nine men, who were all Christians, were wrecked, and after swimming a lorg way landed on an uninhabited

of the Sea.

Three canoes were

island two miles from Lakemba. They knew that shipwrecked persons were generally put to death and eaten. At last, driven by sheer necessity, one of them ventured to swim across to Lakemba. He invented some tale to account for his dripping condition, but when he thought it safe to do so, he gave the true story of his woes. sent off to rescue the other men. They had entrenched themselves on the top of a hill, armed with clubs, but came down as soon as they saw that their lives were safe. For six hours they had been in the water. Nine times, as they floated in the ocean, they drew close to each other for prayer, and when one of their number was exhausted they collected together the pieces of wood, by which they supported themselves, and thus helped their comrade to rest awhile. Their own spirit and the treatment they met at Lakemba showed that the dawn was breaking on cannibal Fiji.

There were many terrible hours for The Conflict the missionaries. For years indeed

thickens.

their life was full of daily peril and intense anxiety. When the Cargills moved to Rewa they found themselves surrounded by horrors. A great chief died, and his wives were strangled. War broke out, and twenty dead bodies were sent as a present to the king and queen. They themselves had already ceased to eat human flesh, but the bodies were distributed among the neighbouring

towns.

"The scene," says Mr. Cargill," appeared to the imagination as if a legion of demons had been unchained, and let loose among the people, to revel in their degradation and misery, and to lash their passions into a storm of imbruted or diabolical barbarity. The children amused themselves by sporting with and mutilating the dead body of a little girl. Human entrails were floating down the river in front of the mission premises. Mutilated limbs, heads, and trunks of human corpses were seen in many places on the banks of the river between Bau and Rewa." Two hundred and sixty people had been killed in an attack on a fortress, and the bodies were brought off to be roasted and eaten.

But though awful scenes were still witnessed the new religion was gaining ground. Ono was like a changed world. Lakemba and all its dependencies had welcomed Christianity. John Hunt died in 1848 pleading with his last breath, "Lord, for Christ's sake, bless Fiji, save Fiji." He had lived to see that his prayer would soon be answered. Calvert and his friends laboured on with growing success.

The chief hindrance to the spread of Thakombau. the work was the attitude of Thakombau, the ruler of Bau. For fifty years he had indulged in unspeakable barbarities. At the tender age of six he clubbed a boy somewhat older than himself, and ever since that time he had lived in the vilest heathenism. Mr. Calvert early set his heart on the conversion of Thakombau, and never lost an opportunity of pleading with him to accept the new religion. But the chief was a man of resolute will, and refused to listen. On his father's death five of the royal wives were strangled. Thakombau himself took an active part in these murders. Two years later even this monster of

cruelty was compelled to submit to Christ. Personal troubles and perils showed him that he must live a new life, and in 1854 he became a convert. He was baptized three years later. Mr. Calvert's heart was filled to overflowing. The natives acknowledged that Christianity had won the day. "Our chief has lotued; it is now near us; we shall all soon letu." They had been waiting for the king to take his side, and now felt that further resistance was useless. Tha kombau had lost faith in his gods and so had all his people. He lived to become a pillar of the church, a stately chieflike man with clear penetrating eyes. To hear him in his last days pray in the church at Bau was, we are told, something to be remembered as long as one lived.

The Trans

There are now 3111 native preachers formation. in Fiji with nine white missionaries. Institutions for training native teachers are established in each circuit, with a central college, where more than a hundred young men are being prepared for the work. 1322 chapels have been erected, many of which are the best buildings in the islands. Methodism has 43,339 members and catechumens, 42,807 scholars, and a very large body of attendants on public worship. There are about 10,000 Roman Catholic natives.1 Miss Gordon-Cumming, at the time of her visit, now some years back, found the frequent services crowded by devout congregations, and the schools well attended. "The first sound which greets your ear at dawn, and the last at night, is that of hymn-singing and most fervent worship, rising from each dwelling, at the hour of family prayer." She describes the people as "a body of simple and devout Christians, full of deepest reverence for their teachers and the message they bring, and only anxious to yield all obedience." No canoe will put to sea on Sunday save to carry the preacher to his appointment. A native will not climb a cocoanut tree or trade on the day of rest. Three regular services are held on the Sabbath, with a prayer-meeting at six in the morning. Every service is crowded, and the following day the people will repeat much of the sermon they hear. The Te Deum and the Apostles' Creed are chanted in native fashion; during prayer all kneel on the matted floor with heads resting on the earth. A little child will stand beside its mother; all else bowed low in prayer. No one looks up. The "closely packed mosaic of tawny frizzled heads, bare brown backs, and white sulus (kilts)" is a sight not easily forgotten by a European visitor. On Sundays no one remains at home; every door is left open whilst the inmates troop off to service. Nothing is stolen, for the Fijians are perfectly honest.

"The Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante" (i. 650), shows what impression the religion of Fiji made on the two sons of the Prince of Wales and their governor, Canon Dalton. "At nine P.M. we heard the low roll of a drum just outside the verandah, which was followed by the sound as of one reading in a monotonous tone of voice some

1 The total population of the islands, as given by Whitaker, is 122,712.