ted to the care of a kindly Native to be kept for my
return, had, despite all coaxing, grown weary of heart amongst all these
dark faces, and fallen asleep too, truly not unworthy of a grateful
tear!

At our annual Synod, after much prayerful deliberation and the careful
weighing of every vital circumstance, I was constrained by the united
voice of my brethren not to return to Tanna, but to settle on the
adjoining island of Aniwa (=A-nee-wa). It was even hoped that thereby
Tanna might eventually be the more surely reached and evangelized.

By the new Missionaries all the other old Stations were reoccupied and
some fresh Islands were entered upon in the name of Jesus. As we moved
about with our _Dayspring_, and planted the Missionaries here and there,
nothing could repress the wonder of Natives.

"How is this?" they cried. "We slew or drove them all away! We plundered
their houses and robbed them. Had we been so treated, nothing would have
made us return. But they come back with a beautiful new ship, and with
more and more Missionaries. And is it to trade and to get money, like
the other white men? No! no! But to tell us of their Jehovah God and of
His Son Jesus. If their God makes them do all that, we may well worship
Him too."

In this way, island after island was opened up to receive the
Missionary, and their Chiefs bound themselves to protect and cherish
him, before they knew anything whatever of the Gospel, beyond what they
saw in the disposition and character of its Preachers or heard rumored
regarding its fruits on other Islands. Imagine _Cannibals_ found thus
prepared to welcome the Missionary, and to make not only his property
but his life comparatively safe. The Isles "wait" for Christ.

On our way to Aniwa, the _Dayspring_ had to call at Tanna. By stress of
weather we lay several days in Port Resolution. And there many memories
were again revived--wounds that after five-and-twenty years, when I now
write, still bleed afresh! Nowar, the old Chief, unstable but friendly,
was determined to keep us there by force or by fraud. The Captain told
him that the council of the Missionaries had forbidden him to land our
boxes at Tanna.

"Don't land them," said the wily Chief, "just throw them over; my men
and I will catch everything before it reaches the water, and carry them
all safely ashore!"

The Captain said he durst not. "Then," persisted Nowar, "just point them
out to us; you will have no further trouble; w