MISSIONARY LIFE. 17 



deal to expect from an ill-paid missionary, to expatriate 

 himself, and take up his abode in such localities as these. 

 I felt the greatness of the sacrifice expected, on seeing 

 here the widow of a poor fellow who had died only a 

 short time before our arrival. Though the climate of 

 Fiji cannot be termed unhealthy, the Wesleyans have lost 

 a good number of their labourers in this field. In some 

 measure this calamity may be accounted for by their 

 having selected men physically unfit to embark in such 

 an enterprise. Excessive zeal should not be the only 

 qualification. To expect from the Great Giver and Pre- 

 server of life, that it would please Him to grant a body 

 constitutionally unqualified for the trying climate of the 

 tropics perfect health and long life, would be a miracle, 

 outside religious circles regarded as little short of im- 

 piety. Nor from an economical point of view would it 

 seem wise to go to the expense of sending out men, 

 whose lives, on their being transferred to the tropics, 

 would in all human probability not be worth five years' 

 purchase. 



On departing, our kind friends loaded us with fresh 

 vegetables, yams, taro, and plantains, branches of Chi- 

 nese bananas, heaps of cocoa-nuts, lemons, eggs, and 

 bottles full of milk, highly acceptable presents after 

 nearly a month at sea. Mrs. Harrison, who had been 

 sea-sick almost the whole voyage, seemed quite to re- 

 cover at the very sight of them, and the pleasure they 

 caused on board much reminded me of the foraging 

 parties we used to have amongst the Eskimos, Kam- 

 tchadales, and American Indians, in days gone by, when, 

 sick and tired of salt beef and pork, we would willingly 



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