WITH THE PIONEERS ON ERROMANGO 129 
“The darkness continued to deepen. There had been a 
few faint gleams of light, as the reader has seen, and in a 
letter written by Mr. Gordon not a great while before his 
labors closed, he mentions one case of hopeful conversion. 
“We had a man,’ he writes, ‘who died five months ago, we 
believe in the Lord. He was the first and only one whom 
we have reason to believe was a Christian. Being delirious 
for a few days, he could not recognize his friends; but when 
asked, “Do you know, then, who Jesus is?” he would answer, 
“Oh, yes; He is our dear Saviour.” That name that is above 
every name is a divine charm for the soul whose ears are 
unstopped.’ 
“Then followed a series of grievous calamities which swept 
over the southern islands of the New Hebrides, the chief of 
which were a desolating hurricane and the measles, the first 
producing great destruction among the plantations, and lead- 
ing to scarcity of food; and the other, with its after effects, 
cutting off a great many of. the natives. And while they were 
suffering from these scourges, the lives of the missionaries 
on the islands of Tanna and Erromango were often in im- 
minent peril. 
““Mana’ (the native Erromangon teacher), Mr. Gordon 
wrote, ‘has taken refuge with us during the last three months. 
We are obliged to keep watch at night, not constantly, but 
while the natives are assembled for the purpose of taking our 
lives. Six lads keep by us in time of imminent danger. Two 
months ago I just escaped being shot at one place, and con- 
sequently was obliged to discontinue my visits.’ 
“The special danger to which Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were 
exposed arose from the fact that the disease was brought 
to the islands by foreigners. “The disease, Mr. Gordon 
wrote, ‘is cutting off hundreds inland, and the people are for 
killing us and burning all that belongs to us, because they say 
that we are foreigners, and foreigners brought the disease 
which is killing them all.’ 
