A CONVERTED NATIVE. 303 
rested on the knees of Mary Taua, who had ever 
been her companion and friend. At her feet sat 
her disconsolate husband, nursing her babes, 
weeping over them, and refusing to be com- 
forted : by her side was seen her father, shortly 
to become childless : and in various places within 
and around the house were many natives of the 
settlement, mingling their tears, and accompany- 
ing with sighs to heaven the spirit of their friend. 
The scene was too much for me : I could bear it 
no longer ; but retired to my room ; and there 
indulged the feelings which I had before such 
diflBculty to restrain. 
With respect to this saint of God, we can only 
say — ‘‘ Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto 
Thy name be the praise !” I was never more per- 
suaded of the happiness of any departed spirit 
than of that of our departed sister ; nor can I enter- 
tain a doubt of her eternal state. From the very 
time when she first acknowledged her sinfulness, 
and her belief in the merits of Christ for the re- 
mission of sin, she lived a Christian life. Her 
temper, always mild, became still more gentle ; 
and her religious experience was, in its character, 
more smooth and unruffled than usually falls to 
our lot. When death approached, he was al- 
together divested of his terrors ; he bare towards 
her no frowning countenance ; he was no unwel- 
come guest. He arrived, and was acknowledged 
as a long-expected friend ; a friend, who came to 
break the fetters that had bound her soul to earth ; 
