34 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
cheered with some success. The leaven of truth has been 
introduced, and already shows itself; but the opposition be- 
comes more obstinate, and the mass of the people seem to 
be growing more debased and devilish than ever. The two 
missionaries long for help, and at last it comes.” 
In December, 1838, John Hunt and James Calvert, with 
their wives, landed at Lakemba, and almost immediately Mr. 
Hunt went to Rewa. He had no knowledge of the language, 
yet neither he nor his wife hesitated to go unaccompanied 
to any place among those most savage of South Sea canni- 
bals and take up their abode with them. Already some of 
these people had begun to reveal a friendly attitude toward 
the gospel, but as these were observed by their savage fel- 
lows to be turning from savagery to the church, they were 
made the victims of almost unrestrained persecution. 
One night a brother of the king caused those who were 
attending worship to be pelted with stones, and on that same 
night their houses were plundered. Soon after this Mr. 
Hunt was able to write the following, indicating the fact 
that the gospel was even then exerting a very powerful 
influence upon the life of benighted Fiji: 
“We expected to have our turn next. Mrs. Hunt and I 
were not very comfortable, especially about midnight, when 
the deathlike stillness of the town was broken by the firing 
of a musket. We thought, ‘Surely this is the signal for the 
attack,’ and expected nothing less than to have our houses 
plundered. Mr. Cross slept comfortably enough. He was 
the old veteran who had stood the shock of many a battle; 
we were the raw recruits just introduced into the field, and 
consequently we felt the timidity which most experience on 
the first charge. The chief never came near us; and the 
king called a meeting of chiefs shortly after, which was the 
means of checking the persecution for a time. Our people 
stood firm during these trials, and were enabled to take joy- 
fully the spoiling of their goods, affectingly referring to their 
better and more enduring substance... . 
