NOTES. 295 



These emaciated and dying men crawled from their berths, 

 and gazed with wistful eyes upon this tantalizing scene. 

 Slowly they were borne along by a gentle breeze, and forest- 

 crowned head-lands, and luxuriant valleys and groves, bend- 

 ing beneath the burden of fruit, glided by, like the changes 

 of a kaleidoscope, and still no canoe pushed out from the 

 shore, and no huts of the natives were to be seen. They be- 

 gan to cherish the hope that the island might be uninhabited, 

 and cautiously approached it. But ere long they saw canoes 

 upon the beach, and smoke here and there ascending from the 

 cocoa-nut groves ; and still, to their astonishment, no natives 

 made their appearance, and no sound of human voices reached 

 them from the shore. 



As they rounded a promontory, which opened before them 

 a quiet and lovely bay, a thickly clustered village of the 

 natives burst upon their view, and in the centre of it was 

 reared a Christian church. A simultaneous shout of joy rang 

 through the ship as the cry passed from stem to stern, The 

 missionaries are here ! It was the Sabbath, and the natives 

 had learned the Divine command, " Remember the Sabbath 

 day, and keep it holy." And the temptation of a ship enter- 

 ing the bay did not lure a single canoe to leave the shore. 

 The crew were almost crazed with joy at this sudden change 

 in their prospects. They speedily cast anchor, furled their 

 sails, and, entering the ship's boats, went on shore. As soon 

 as the natives were informed of their sick and suffering con- 

 dition, they received them with the utmost hospitality, and 

 supplied them with all the fresh fruit and vegetables they 

 could need. 



The next day the natives aided the emaciated crew in taking 

 a sail from the ship, and spreading a large tent upon the green 

 grass on the banks of a mountain stream. And here the crew 

 reposed in inexpressible luxury. They bathed their limbs in 

 the pure waU-r, and quaffed it in its coolness and its freshness, 

 like Elysiuu nectar. They rolled with childish glee upon the 

 green grass. Cocoa-nuts and bananas, and lemons, and oranges, 



