DEFENCE OF TIIE MISSIONARIES. 253 
the necessity of protesting against the unsanctioned use 
which had been made of their name. 
I shall probably be accused, by those versed in Fijian 
affairs, of an undue partiality for the Wesleyan mission- 
aries, by viewing their conduct in the light I do, and 
endeavouring to separate the doings of the missionaries 
from those of the barbarous hordes who overran the 
country. Iadmit that the latter is a matter of no slight 
difficulty. Christianity had early taken root in Tonga; 
and when, in 1835, the Wesleyans in that group deter- 
mined to extend their operations to Fiji, they naturally 
fixed upon Lakeba, and those parts where a strong popu- 
lation of Tonguese was already established, and where 
they could use a language familiar to them until Fijian 
had been learnt. Tongamen were found extremely well 
qualified for acting as pioneers in teaching the rudi- 
ments of the Christian faith; and during the whole 
period that the Wesleyans have been labouring for the 
conversion of Fiji, they have employed a large number 
of them. They were spread over the whole country, and, 
unfortunately, became in Maafu’s hand, ready instru- 
ments for the execution of his plans. They supplied 
him with reliable information about the quarrels, weak- 
nesses, and resources of the different territories, were 
never tired of praising their great chief, and ever ready 
to prompt the Fijian rulers to apply to him in cases of 
dispute and war. All these facts cannot be gainsaid ; 
and those must be strangely ignorant of the working 
of the Polynesian mind, who fancy that doctrines of 
so recent a growth as those of Christianity would ever 
induce a native of subordinate position to remain in- 
