40 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
faithful ones, one after another, called upon God through 
the long hours of that terrible night, resolved that their mur- 
derers should find them at prayer. 
“Noble men and women! Theirs, at least, was the mar- 
tyr’s heart. They left their homes in England, knowing that 
they risked life in coming to the islands of blood; and they 
were content to die. Their sacrifice had been for the sake 
of God; and now, in the hour of peril, they bent their knees 
to Him, ready to complete that sacrifice. Just at midnight, 
each pleading voice was hushed and each head bowed lower, 
as the stillness outside was suddenly broken by a wild and 
ringing shout. But the purpose of the people was changed, 
and that cry was but to call out the women to dance ; and 
thus the night passed safely. 
“Every opposition was made to the work of the mission- 
aries. The chiefs forbade their people to become Christian, 
declaring that death and the oven should be the punishment 
for such an offense. The health of the mission families was 
suffering through confinement to the town; for the king’s 
promise to build them a house had never yet been ful- 
filled. 
“Early in 1840, Commodore Wilkes, with two ships of the 
United States’ Exploring Expedition, visited Somo Somo, 
and expressed great sympathy with them, placing at their 
disposal one of his vessels, if they chose to go to any other 
part of Fiji, and undertaking to remove all their goods, with- 
out allowing the natives to molest them. He writes in his 
narrative: ‘It is not to be supposed, under this state of things, 
that the success of the missionaries will be satisfactory, or 
adequate to their exertions, or a sufficient recompense for 
the hardships, deprivations, and struggles which they and 
their families have to encounter. There are few situations 
in which so much physical and moral courage is required, 
as those in which these devoted and pious individuals are 
placed; and nothing but a deep sense of duty, and a strong 
determination to perform it, could induce civilized persons 
