ay many of the best of our Native Teachers, and
most devoted Christian helpers, are amongst those who would probably
have perished but for these Orphanages.

Every day after dinner we set the bell a-ringing--intimating, from, our
first arrival on Aniwa, readiness to give advice or medicine to all who
were sick. We spoke to them, so soon as we had learned, a few words
about Jesus. The weak received a cup of tea and a piece of bread. The
demand was sometimes great, especially when epidemics befell them. But
some rather fled from us as the cause of their sickness, and sought
refuge from our presence in remotest corners, or rushed off at our
approach and concealed themselves in the bush. They were but children,
and full of superstition; and we had to win them by kindly patience,
never losing faith in them and hope for them, any more than the Lord did
with us!

Our learning the language on Aniwa was marked by similar incidents to
those of Tanna related in a preceding chapter; though a few of them
could understand my Tannese, and that greatly helped me. One day a man,
after carefully examining some article, turned to his neighbor and said,
"Taha tinei?"

I inferred that he was asking, "What is this?" Pointing to another
article, I repeated their words; they smiled at each other, and gave me
its name.

On another occasion, a man said to his companion, looking toward me,
"Taha neigo?" Concluding that he was asking my name, I pointed towards
him, and repeated the words, and they at once gave me their names.

Readers would be surprised to discover how much you can readily learn of
any language, with these two short questions constantly on your lips,
and with people ready at every turn to answer--"What's this?" "What's
your name?" Every word was at once written down, spelled phonetically
and arranged in alphabetic order, and a note appended as to the
circumstances in which it was used. By frequent comparison of these
notes, and by careful daily and even hourly imitation of all their
sounds, we were able in a measure to understand each other before we had
gone far in the house-building operations, during which some of them
were constantly beside me.

One incident of that time was very memorable, and God turned it to good
account for higher ends. I often tell it as "the miracle of the speaking
bit of wood"; and it has happened to other Missionaries exactly as to
myself. While working at the house, I required some nails and to