JOHN WILLIAMS, MISSIONARY-MARTYR 



Needles are in great demand among them, indicating 

 habits of industry and a strong disposition to improve 

 their condition. They are perfectly honest and kind in 

 all their dealings. The church on Sunday presents a very 

 interesting sight. It is a large round or oblong-oval build- 

 ing, without seats or floor; the earth being covered with 

 mats made of cocoanut leaves, or some other vegetable 

 production of the island, and upon these mats the natives 

 are collected, sitting closely together. The minister 

 stands towards one side of the building, sometimes before 

 a rude desk, and there delivers that bread of life to the 

 listening audience. They have been taught some of our 

 sacred music, and always sing in the course of the Sunday 

 exercises. The natives, especially the children, learn 

 very rapidly, and often are able to read well after three 

 months' study. Men of forty and fifty years are among 

 the scholars at the schools, but their progress is much 

 slower than the younger children. I spent two nights 

 at Mr. Williams's house, the principal missionary of these 

 islands, the author of Missionary Enterprises in the South 

 Seas, a work you are probably acquainted with. I passed 

 the time very delightfully with him and his family. He 

 is a man of about forty-five years, extremely kind and 

 affable in his manners, and very zealous and energetic in 

 the cause to which his life has been devoted. He first 

 planted the Gospel standard on the Navigator Islands, 

 and a day or two before we sailed, the missionary brig 

 Camden left with Mr. Williams and eleven native teach- 

 ers, for the New Hebrides, there to introduce the same 

 standard, by leaving the native missionaries among them. 

 I spent two days at the station where the printing-press 

 is established, with the missionary, Mr. Stain. They 

 have just issued the first number of a small periodical in 

 the native language, which is to continue, and will come 

 out every two months. The printing is done by natives, 

 and for style would do credit to more experienced work- 

 men. 



" Postscript. December 5, 1839. The day after the 

 date of my letter we received the sad intelligence of the 

 death of the missionary, Mr. Williams, whom we parted 

 with at the Navigator Islands. He was massacred, with a 

 Mr. Harris who accompanied them, on Erromango, a small 

 island among the New Hebrides. I send you a paper 



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