294 The Triumphs of the Gospel in Fiji. 
could only be cooked in the form of puddings ; limbs cut 
off from living men and women, and cooked and eaten in 
presence of the victim, who had previously been compelled 
to dig the oven and cut the firewood for the purpose, and 
this not only in time of war, when such atrocity might be 
deemed less inexcusable, but in time of peace, to gratify 
the caprice or fancy of the moment. Then, further, think 
of the sick, buried alive ; the array of widows who were 
deliberately strangled on the death of any great man ; the 
living victims who were buried beside every post of a chief's 
new house, and must needs stand clasping it while the 
earth was gradually heaped over their devoted heads ; or 
those who were bound hand and foot and laid on the ground 
to act as rollers when a chief launched a new canoe, and 
thus doomed to a death of excruciating agony ; a time when 
there was not the slightest security for life and property, 
and no man knew how quickly his own hour of doom 
might come ; when whole villages were depopulated, simply 
to supply their neighbours with fresh meat. 
Just think of all this, and of the change that has been 
wrought, and then just imagine white men who can sneer at 
missionary work in the way they do. Now, you may pass 
from isle to isle, certain everywhere to find the same cordial 
reception by kindly men and women. Every village on the 
eighty inhabited isles has built for itself a tidy little church, 
and a good house for its teacher or native minister, for 
whom the village also provides food and clothing. Can you 
realize that there are nine hundred Wesleyan Churches in 
Fiji, at every one of which, the frequent services are crowded 
by devout congregations, that the schools are well attended, 
and that the first sound which greets your ear at dawn, and the 
last at night, is that of hymn-singing and most fervent worship 
rising from each dwelling, at the hour of family prayer." 
