140 ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH SEAS 
“They attempted to leave the island in an open boat dur- 
ing a dark, stormy night; rough weather drove them back, 
as it seemed to them to certain destruction, but really to 
safety. Had they succeeded in getting out to sea in their 
open boat, heavily laden as it was, one can hardly see how 
they could have escaped. Another day and night of intense 
excitement passed, and God appeared. ot arose in the 
darkness—deliverance came! 
“On the morning of the second day after the unsuccessful 
attempt to get away from the island, a ship appeared off the 
bay in which the mission premises stood, and the mission 
party was safe. It was a very rare thing in those dark days 
for a ship to go near Tanna, but now a ship was needed and 
a ship was sent. The ship proved to be a whaler from 
Hobart Town, named the ‘Highlander.’ An arrangement 
was soon made with her commander, Captain Lucas, and 
the whole party were conveyed safely to Samoa, which they 
reached during the month of February, 1843. 
“So ended the first attempt to occupy the island by foreign 
missionaries. Captain Lucas told the missionaries that there 
had been a very heavy sea outside for several days, and that 
if they had succeeded in getting out to the open sea when 
they tried to do so, their boat could not have lived an 
hour. 
“After an interval of about two years the mission was re- 
sumed. Three Samoan teachers were placed on the island 
in April, 1845. These teachers were landed under circum- 
stances of high promise, but appearances among a heathen 
people often prove signally deceptive. The teachers had 
been but a few months on the island when another epidemic 
broke out. Many deaths occurred, and the deluded people 
again accused the teachers of being the cause of the calamity. 
They were so enraged that they determined to put the whole 
party to death, and they were prevented from carrying this 
resolution into effect only by the interposition of a powerful 
chief named Viavia, who deserves honorable mention as 
