46 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
number. Somo Somo is a place of rare natural beauty, and 
the visitor of today finds it hard to conjure up thoughts of 
its dark past as he lingers amid its charms, and mingles with 
its attractive, care-free, but worshipful people. 
But it is thus that the gospel always manifests its power. 
Before it, darkness and dread retreat; and with it, light and 
joy and rest and contentment spring continually forth. From 
the great sufferings of those pioneer mission families have 
come to Somo Somo all that its people now enjoy in their 
well-ordered lives, and the stranger is safer among its peo- 
ples, once so savage, than he is on the streets of our own 
cities. We bless the memories of those brave men and wo- 
men who endured hardness as good soldiers, that this great 
accomplishment might be made possible. 
