The Ravages of Disease 
In January, 1893, a vessel landed some Fotunese who 
were returning from the sugar cane plantations of Queens- 
land. Among these were a woman and her child, who took 
up quarters among the natives close to the mission house. 
It was soon seen that the child was sickly, though the mother 
succeeded in hiding for a time the cause of her illness. Na- 
tives from all districts came to see them, and receive their 
share of the things she had brought with her from Queens- 
-land. They praised and fondled her child. 
In the course of a little time this child became so ill that 
it needed special care. Saloki undertook to nurse it, and 
brought it to the mission house, saying, “It is ill with dysen- 
tery.” Medicine was given it, and the mother was warned 
that she should live with it in the bush, away from other 
people till it was better, as the disease might spread. The 
warning went unheeded. Natives came and went. 
Soon the malady made its appearance in other parts of 
the island, and within a few weeks it was in every village. 
Saloki, the former nurse of the mission children, contracted 
it and grew rapidly worse. One day, as Mr. Gunn was giv- 
ing the daily lesson to the children, the house girl rushed in 
great agitation into the room, asking that the doctor go and 
see if Saloki was dead. She had gone outside to eat some 
food that Mrs. Gunn had sent her, and stumbled and fell 
at the door. When they looked at her face, she was quite 
dead. They buried her in the mission ground near Mrs. 
Copeland. 
That afternoon Connie, the missionary’s eldest daughter, 
a child seven years and nine months old, was ill. She passed 
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