How the Gospel was First Carried, 239 
returned from the field, but soon, others took their places 
and succeeded in planting Christian Churches in various 
islands of the Southern Seas. Other societies also sent 
missionaries out to these islands, and as the people be- 
came Christianized, they exercised great influence upon the 
natives of more distant islands. By means of their frail 
but fleet canoes, the natives visited other islands, or were 
drifted thither, and those who had heard of Jesus, naturally 
spoke of the new religion. The Tongans seemed to excel 
in the art of navigation, and held much intercourse with 
Samoa, Fiji, and other islands. From the converted Ton- 
gans, as far as can be judged, the Fijians first heard about 
Christianity. The distance from Tonga to the nearest 
.Fijian island, is about two hundred and fifty miles; and 
although shipwrecked sailors of every nation and people 
were killed and eaten, much trade was carried on by the 
natives, in order to gain supplies of the fine timber with 
which Fiji abounded. Tongans dared the perils and visited 
the islands, until some of them settled there, and got allied 
by marriage with the Fijians. Many of this mixed race of 
people are to be found, even now, near Rewa, and Lakemba. 
After the evangelization of the Friendly Isles, many of 
these Tongan sailors became converted to Christianity. 
Very naturally, they informed their friends in Fiji, upon 
their next voyage thither, of their change of belief and 
practice. Not content with this, they also spread the 
tidings among those of the Fijians who came within their 
influence, and although received at first with incredulity and 
indifference, some impression was made by the news. But 
the first decided steps for the evangelization of Fiji, were 
taken in 1834. In that year, a great awakening took place 
in the Wesleyan mission Churches in Tonga, and almost 
simultaneously, the Tongans began to feel concerned about 
