. The cannibal islands : or, Fiji and its people . HE CANNIBAL ISLANDS. by threatening to kill the first one whoshould profess the new religion. But thefirst one was his uncle, a chief of great in-fluence ; and he dared not kill him. Thechiefs motive was that he might be curedfrom a dangerous sickness. The medicalskill of the missionaries gained great creditto their religion; for the people thoughtthere must be something in the religionitself to cure disease. Although their congregations were smalland their converts few, the two missionarieswere not without encouragement to believethat they ac
. The cannibal islands : or, Fiji and its people . HE CANNIBAL ISLANDS. by threatening to kill the first one whoshould profess the new religion. But thefirst one was his uncle, a chief of great in-fluence ; and he dared not kill him. Thechiefs motive was that he might be curedfrom a dangerous sickness. The medicalskill of the missionaries gained great creditto their religion; for the people thoughtthere must be something in the religionitself to cure disease. Although their congregations were smalland their converts few, the two missionarieswere not without encouragement to believethat they accomplished some good. At onetime Tuikilakila was very sick, and all thenative remedies, the doctors, and the gods,failed to do him any good. Mr. Lyth, whohad been educated as a physician, offered toattend him, and did so successfully. Tui-kilakila was won by the kindness of , and never forgot his obligations tohim. The old king, too, took a great fancy tohim, and would often send food to the mis-sion-house,—expecting, however, occasional. SOMO-SOMO. 223 gifts of knives, iron pots, &c. Once, whenthe old man was ill, Mr. Lyth, in anxiousconcern about his salvation, spoke morepointedly than before, declaring that thegods of Somo-somo were no gods, and coulddo him no good. On being urged to turnto the true God, the mildness and friend-ship of this virtuous heathen forthwithvanished, and, seizing the missionarys coat,he called loudly for a club to kill him. Theold chief was ill, but his rage made himdangerous, and he clung hard; but luckilythe garment was of light material, and , making a spring, left his coat-tail inthe hand of Tuithakau, and, without takinghis hat, set off home, where he quietly waiteduntil his patients anger had cooled here for the present we leave and Mr. Lyth, patiently working onamidst discouragement and trial, yet seeingsome fruit of their labors in the changedlives of a few of those around them. 226 THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS. go t
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectmissions, bookyear186
