basket, into which
every block was firmly tied and then let down to me by the pulley--a
Native Teacher, a faithful fellow, cautiously guiding it. I received and
placed each stone in its position, doing my poor best to wedge them one
against the other, building circularly, and cutting them to the needed
shape with my American ax. The wall is about three feet thick, and the
masonry may be guaranteed to stand till the coral itself decays. I
wrought incessantly, for fear of any further collapse, till I had it
raised about twenty feet; and now, feeling secure, and my hands being
dreadfully cut up, I intimated that I would rest a week or two, and
finish the building then. But the Chief advanced and said--

"Missi, you have been strong to work. Your strength has fled. But rest
here beside us; and just point out where each block is to be laid. We
will lay them there, we will build them solidly behind like you. And no
man will sleep till it is done."

With all their will and heart they started on the job; some carrying,
some cutting and squaring the blocks, till the wall rose like magic, and
a row of the hugest rocks laid round the top, bound all together, and
formed the mouth of the well. Women, boys, and all wished to have a hand
in building it, and it remains to this day, a solid wall of masonry, the
circle being thirty-four feet deep, eight feet wide at the top, and six
at the bottom. I floored it over with wood above all, and fixed the
windlass and bucket, and there it stands as one of the greatest material
blessings which the Lord has given to Aniwa. It rises and falls with the
tide, though a third of a mile distant from the sea; and when, after
using it, we tasted the pure fresh water on board the _Dayspring_, the
latter seemed so insipid that I had to slip a little salt into my tea
along with the sugar before I could enjoy it! All visitors are taken to
see the well, as one of the wonders of Aniwa; and an Elder of the Native
Church said to me, on a recent visit, "But for that water, during the
last two years of drought, we would have all been dead!"

Very strangely, though the Natives themselves have since tried to sink
six or seven wells in the most likely places near their different
villages, they have either come to coral rock which they could not
pierce, or found only water that was salt. And they say amongst
themselves, "Missi not only used pick and spade, but he prayed and cried
to his God. We have learned to dig,