ertaking by the Bible
Society, it was found that the Natives had earned as much as to pay
every penny of the outlay; and their first Bibles went out to them,
purchased with the consecrated toils of fifteen years!

Let those who lightly esteem their Bibles think on those things. Eight
shillings for every leaf, or the labor and proceeds of fifteen years for
the Bible entire, did not appear to these poor converted savages too
much to pay for that Word of God, which had sent to them the
Missionaries, which had revealed to them the grace of God in Christ, and
which had opened their eyes to the wonders and glories of redeeming
love!

CHAPTER XIV.
THE GREAT BEREAVEMENT.

MY first house on Tanna was on the old site occupied by Turner and
Nisbet, near the shore, for obvious reasons, and only a few feet above
tide-mark. So was that of Mr. Mathieson, handy for materials as goods
being landed, and, as we imagined, close to the healthy breezes of the
sea. Alas! we had to learn by sad experience, like our brethren in all
untried Mission fields. The sites proved to be hot-beds for Fever and
Ague, mine especially; and much of this might have been escaped by
building on the higher ground, and in the sweep of the refreshing
trade-winds. For all this, however, no one was to blame; everything was
done for the best, according to the knowledge then possessed. Our house
was sheltered behind by an abrupt hill about two hundred feet high,
which gave the site a feeling of coziness. It was surrounded and much
shaded, by beautiful breadfruit trees, and very large cocoa-nut trees;
too largely beautiful, indeed, for they shut out many a healthy breeze
that we sorely needed! There was a long swamp at the head of the bay,
and, the ground at the other end on which our house stood being scarcely
raised perceptibly higher, the malaria almost constantly enveloped us.
Once, after a smart attack of the fever, an intelligent Chief said to
me, "Missi, if you stay here, you will soon die! No Tanna man sleeps so
low down as you do, in this damp weather, or he too would die. We sleep
on the high ground, and the trade-wind keeps us well. You must go and
sleep on the hill, and then you will have better health."

I at once resolved to remove my house to higher ground, at the earliest
practicable moment; heavy though the undertaking would necessarily be,
it seemed our only hope of being able to live on the island. Alas, for
one of us, it was already too lat