AT SOMO SOMO 43 
“ “This commencement of our work has been much favored 
by the restoration of our servant man from the brink of the 
grave. He was very ill for a long time. All pronounced 
him past hope of recovery, and the king desired to have him 
buried! But the Lord blessed English medicine and English 
nursing, and restored him to perfect health. This had a 
good effect on the minds of the people, and we trust it will 
be a lasting blessing. 
““We have at present twenty-one professing Christians 
on this station, twelve of whom meet in class. We have had 
from thirty to forty in our school at different times; but 
having no regular place of worship, their attendance at 
school, and our attention to them, have been irregular. The 
king has promised to build us a chapel, and he appears to 
be sincere. We believe the time is come for an enlargement 
of our borders and an extension of our exertions. The fields 
are whitening for the harvest; we pray the Lord of the har- 
vest to thrust us forth, and make us unceasingly devoted and 
successful laborers. At present we can only report a day of 
small and feeble things. But who hath despised it? We 
know of whom it is said, “A bruised reed shall He not break, 
and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth 
judgment unto victory. And in His name shall the Gentiles 
trust.’ 
“Success came slowly, and much of it only indirectly. In 
the following year several women were saved from strangling 
at the intercession of the missionaries. This was a great 
point to gain, and one which had been found more difficult 
to reach in other neighborhoods where Christianity had 
shown a more positive success. The lives of war captives 
were also spared in several instances; and even on the event 
of large canoes being launched, and making the first voyage, 
no human victims were killed,—a neglect which, at that time, 
was unprecedented in Fiji. 
“But perhaps the most important advantage of the Somo 
Somo Mission at this stage was in the prevention of perse- 
