FniENDL 7 ISLANDS. 303 



if possible medicines ought to be supplied to the missionary in 

 such quantities as to enable him to distribute gratuitously in 

 case of necessity. At present, as I have already said, the 

 medicine chest is a very serious annual expense, and particularly 

 so as the missionary is often obliged to purchase in Sydney, at 

 the extravagant colonial prices. 



Now my object is to try and raise a small sum among our 

 personal friends to be laid out in medicines either by you or by 

 Mr. Deane, through whose connection with the medical pro- 

 fession, we might be assured that the supply would be of the 

 best quality, and at the lowest possible wholesale price. With 

 the aid of our mutual friends in Dublin and London, I think we 

 might be enabled to furnish both the Tonga and Fijian mission 

 with medicines for a year or two at the least, and should the 

 fund thus raised prove, by the blessing of God, greater than we 

 look for, perhaps it might be the means of a little "Polynesian 

 Medical Aid Society" being established, which by an annual con- 

 tribution to the missionaries might enable them to dispense 

 medicines gratuitously. 



And now, my dear friend, I leave the matter in your hands. 

 Make what use you please of this letter. You must not suppose, 

 however, that I am turning " Methodist." On the contrary, I 

 honour and love the truly Apostolic branch of the Church 

 Catholic, to which we both belong, above every other phase of 

 Christianity, believing that with " all her unhappy divisions " 

 she bears the truest witness to her Lord, and has her lamp 

 trimmed with purer oil than burns in any other. But let us 

 remember that " He that is not against us is for us ;" and here at 

 least (and I trust in many other places all the world over) the 

 Wesleyans are doing the Church's work, to the utmost of their 

 ability, and seem to me to be peculiarly adapted by their 

 organization for usefulness in a field like this. Therefore, I bid 

 them " God speed !" 



Believe me, 



Ever your affectionate friend, 



W. H. Harvey. 



July 31st. Left Tonga on a cruise with Mr. Thomas to visit 

 some out-statidns. We started with a light breeze and pro- 

 ceeded over a smooth sea, threading our way between the 



