e back to Tanna; but
others, my dear friends, have seen His Kingdom planted and beginning to
grow amongst that slowly relenting race. Aniwa was to be the land
wherein my past years of toil and patience and faith were to see their
fruits ripening at length. I claimed Aniwa for Jesus, and by the grace
of God Aniwa now worships at the Saviour's feet.

The Island of Aniwa is one of the smaller isles of the New Hebrides. It
measures scarcely seven miles by two, and is everywhere girt round with
a belt of coral reef. The sea breaks thereon heavily, with thundering
roar, and the white surf rolls in furious and far. But there are days of
calm, when all the sea is glass, and the spray on the reef is only a
fringe of silver.

Aniwa, having no hills to attract and condense the clouds, suffers badly
for lack of genial rains; and the heavy rains of hurricane and tempest
seem to disappear as if by magic through the light soil and porous rock.
The moist atmosphere and the heavy dews, however keep the Island covered
with green, while large and fruitful trees draw wondrous nourishment
from their rocky beds.

Aniwa has no harbor, or safe anchorage of any kind for ships; though, in
certain winds, they have been seen at anchor on the outer edge of the
reef, always a perilous haven! There is one rock in the coral belt,
through which a boat can safely run to shore; but the little wharf,
built there of the largest coral blocks that could be rolled together,
has been once and again swept clean off by the hurricane, leaving "not a
wrack behind."

When we landed, the Natives received us kindly. They and the Aneityumese
Teachers led us to a temporary home, prepared for our abode. It was a
large Native Hut. Walls and roof consisted of sugar-cane leaf and reeds,
intertwisted on a strong wooden frame. It had neither doors nor windows,
but open spaces instead of these. The earthen floor alone looked
beautiful, covered thick with white coral broken small. It had only one
apartment; and that, meantime, had to serve also for Church and School
and Public Hall. We screened off a little portion, and behind that
screen planted our bed, and stored our valuables. All the natives within
reach assembled to watch us taking our food! A box at first served for a
chair, the lid of another box was our table, our cooking was all done in
the open air under a large tree, and we got along with amazing comfort.
But the house was under the shelter of a coral rock, and