288 Thz Triumphs of the Gospel in Fiju 
5. ROTUMAH. 
This sketch of the triumphs of the Gospel in Fiji, would 
not be complete, without a reference to Rotumah. This 
island is a rocky volcanic isle, with several long-extinct 
craters, which are now clothed with rich vegetation. The 
population is mostly seafaring, lighter in colour than the 
Fijians, and numbering from three to five thousand. The 
language is peculiar to themselves, but many of them, in 
consequence of their seafaring habits, have picked up a great 
deal of English. The small missionary band on the main- 
land of Fiji often longed to go to Rotumah with the Gospel, 
but could not. Three hundred miles of ocean lay between 
them and the island, while the work which surrounded them 
was already more than they could undertake or accomplish. 
As the next best step, however, some Tongan teachers were 
sent to the island, and they taught the people with much 
success. Then, two Fijian teachers joined them, and in 
spite of the dreadful persecution which sprung up, the new 
faith not only held its ground, but co72quered. The success 
went on, until at the end of twenty years, a white teacher 
visited the island, and found that about half the popula- 
tion had been converted. So eagerly did the people look 
and long for a white missionary, that, whenever a foreign 
vessel touched at the shore, the first question invariably 
asked by the people, was, whether it had brought them a 
missionary. They have large and beautiful chapels, and 
are civilized and Christianized to a very large extent, as the 
result of the native Christian teaching among them. 
